My “Overnight” Success Story

It was early 2014 and I had just finished my 5th year in a maximum security prison. I had gotten in trouble at 21, ten months of bail put me in prison from 22-26, and drug dealing from 26-28 gave me another year in prison at 28. My life had been an absolute MESS of poor choices, drugs, hustling, and anything else bad that you can think of. I was 29 years old. I didn’t have even $1 to my name. I was living in a halfway house of sorts, a clean and sober living Oxford house that my PO paid for, but I only had 30 days for free. After that I was on my own.

Thanks to Iain Duncan and Kyle Davis, I was able to get a job immediately at Flat Tail Brewing in Corvallis, Oregon. I had worked for them before when I got out the first time, but completely flamed out of course. Drugs are bad. Against all their better judgement, they were there again to give me a second (i.e. third) chance, and I wasn’t gonna mess it up. The job they gave me was the dishwasher. Full time, 5 day a week, and I was thankful to have it. I took my first paycheck and I moved out of that Oxford house before the 30 days was up.

I didn’t have a car, hell, I didn’t even have a drivers license. I rented a room from a guy that had an ad on Craigslist. He even let me just move in with the money I had and pay him the rest later. Blessed! With no means of transportation, a guy that worked in the brewery offered to sell me a bike for $100. I didn’t have it at the time. After paying back my landlord, it took me one whole month to save that extra $100 for the bike. I was so happy to not have to walk an hour to work each way. You see I bought lights for my bike so I would look cool, and I DID look cool! That bike was the biggest achievement in my life at that moment. I was so proud.

It’s easy to see my life today and not fully understand that what you see is almost 10 years in the making! I had NOTHING. I really came from the bottom. The grease, the dirt, the mud. My parents love me, but they gave me tough love. The first time in prison could be called a fluke and they were there to support me when I got out. All I learned in prison though was how to sell drugs and who to buy them from, so I took their goodwill and trashed it. Now I had nothing coming. I was a complete and utter disappointment to them. I was told to “figure it out.”

That bike and the years after, until now, showed me that I could take care of myself with hard work. Legally. The grind was gonna take longer, a lot longer, but it was safe and I wasn’t gonna go to jail. So with only a pocket full of dreams, I started. Now I’m Robdoesitall. I’ve traveled to 40 countries, lived in 6, and speak 2 languages. I’ve been to all the places I dreamed about when I sat in that prison cell. Paris, London, Dublin, and Berlin. Santorini, Mykonos, and Naxos. I’ve sailed in the Bering Sea, swam in the Mediterranean Sea, and floated in the Dead Sea. Now I’m living the life of my dreams in Norway, but it all started 10 years ago with a bicycle. I’ll never forget it. Everybody needs help, but you gotta help yourself first. Get out of your own way. That’s what I did. Finally.

“There was a man I wanted to be, and yet, was not. So I set out to become him.” ~ Robdoesitall