The turning point in my life that shaped my perspective on work happened at age 12. I had just done some landscaping for a friend’s dad and I thought I had done a great job. I overheard the father telling his wife that although he really cared for me and thought I was a great kid, that I just “didn’t know what it meant to work hard.”
That was the changing point in my life. From that point on, I worked harder, and hopefully smarter and more than anyone that I knew. Since then, I have made a commitment to effective work habits, and excellence in all I do. The key is to make sure to focus on working smart and not just hard.
[Editor’s note: To tap the wisdom of our distinguished group of Xconomists, we asked a few of them to answer this question heading into 2016: “What is a key relationship or turning point that helped you get to where you are today?” You can see more questions and answers here.]
Author: Trey Bowles
Trey Bowles is a serial entrepreneur, social capitalist, and educator. Trey helped establish the Dallas Entrepreneur Center (DEC), a central location for entrepreneurs to learn how to start, build and grow businesses through training, education, mentorship, promotion, and capital investment. As Co-Founder and CEO, Trey leads strategy, vision, and drives the overall planning and development efforts for the DEC. Trey oversees the day-to-day operations of the DEC, including management of all areas of the business. Trey also works closely with the DEC staff to engage executives, mentors and other valuable experts within the Dallas community and across the country to maintain a strong and robust resource offering for DEC startups/members).
In addition to his work with the DEC, Trey works closely with the Startup America Partnership, a non-profit organization started by Steve Case and the Kauffman Foundation, leading a team of entrepreneurial experts across the state to help high-growth startups find greater success through Startup Texas. Trey also helped launch the Arts Entrepreneurship Department in the Meadows School of Arts at Southern Methodist University and currently serves as an Adjunct Professor on staff teaching Social Entrepreneurship.
Trey has spent his career starting and building companies in both the for-profit and non-profit space with an expertise in strategy, operations, and marketing. Bowles has held key leadership roles in the industries of music, entertainment, and disruptive technology including running the popular peer-to-peer file-sharing site, Morpheus. He most recently led the turn-around and sale of Big Jump Media Inc. to Salem Communications (NASDAQ: SALM) in 2010.
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