Terrance is a longtime Stoke member who’s a joy to be around and has never met a stranger. He leads the life of a side hustler with a 9-5 gig and enjoys the simple things in life (along with cars, electronic dance music, and big cats). Read more about what he does & his motivations in this Stoke member spotlight!
What industry/industries are you in?
I am an entrepreneur. I am in the event hosting and automotive design industry.
What is your job title?
I am a contract worker at a family owned computer refurbishing company. My position there is Technical Manager. This job pays my bills as I build my business to replace it. I am CEO of Beast Meet, Beast Exhaust and soon to be President of MrMenyweather Foundation.
Can you tell us a little bit about what you do?
For my 9-5 job as the Tech Manager, I direct and assist other employees with their job when they are working on complicated units and help customers troubleshoot any issues or questions with their product.
For my companies, I am building a foundation to help me be more proficient at what I really want to do. Right now I am focusing on event hosting and what that entails. My goal is to host a yearly event called Beast Meet and be able to generate funds to fund my companies.
How did you begin working in your current field?
I began working in my field by deciding to go out and do what I was passionate about after high school. I felt that I could do anything that I wanted as I had a wide range of talents and interests. I eventually settled on a set of goals and went into the world knowing that my dreams would come to me. I started BeastExhaust/BeastMeet.
What is a memorable project or moment that you’re most proud of?
I think so far my proudest moment came from when I received my business banner. It was something on my to-do list for a while and had even tasked it out to some of my business partners. Possibly half a year went by and I didn’t even have a concept for the banner. One thing led to another and I eventually sat down and combined what I had available and made the banner myself. It was really amazing and motivating to know that something from my mind could be built and brought to life physically.
What is your day-to-day like at work?
I am accustomed to manual labor jobs and heavy lifting. Only recently have I gotten a job that the manual labor part was small. Right now my day to day is simply going into work and fixing things. Typically the highlight of my week is going in to work at Stoke and working on my own business. At Stoke, I am surrounded by motivated people who understand the life of an entrepreneur who sincerely are out to help one another.
What was your path into your business/doing the work that you do?
I have always had a passion for cars but it was always something I did on the side. The universe led me to learn the aspects of business, which started with uncontrollable events that led me down a path of discovery.
(Long Story Short) I was in the National Guard going to school at UNT while working a part time job. I had barely enough to pay bills with and I grew tired of just making ends meet so I went into a special exercise for my guard unit to earn more money. I found out the 1st day that I wasn’t on payroll, which meant I was working for free the entire time I was there. Upon making it back home, there was a government shutdown and at that time there was no precedent for what the military would prioritize financially which affected my education benefits.
I was inspired to create my own business by revisiting a favorite movie of mine from Jurassic Park. There was a scene where Grant (one of the main characters) blows into a velociraptor vocal chamber and a strange sound comes out which enabled him to communicate with the other dinosaurs. I wondered if this was even possible and so I set out to research the possibilities.
How do you feel about the coworking environment at Stoke and what it’s like to be a member here?
I really enjoy the coworking environment at Stoke. I heard about Stoke through some local friends and was excited to check it out. I was not familiar with coworking at that time and had previously went to a startup event in Addison. My first impression of it while walking into the startup conference in Addison led me to believe that it was a pyramid scheme business. No one was soliciting so I stayed and found out that I actually liked this type of environment.
How would you define success? What are your measures of success?
My current definition of success is living a life filled with joys and happiness and being able to spend time sharing experiences with the people and world around me.
What has been your biggest business/work challenge?
My biggest challenge in work/business of my life came when I realized that I was in the process of going homeless. I had just gotten electrified in the military during a special exercise and dodged death due to my intellect and knowledge of the equipment I worked on. Basically an independent contractor whose sole role was to plug my equipment into the power box had mixed the wires. The power cables that extended from my satellite equipment was about 2 inches in diameter per wire. Because of the mishap this caused a current of electricity to cross over the unit. We didn’t know this since the power box was locked and covered wire connectors. Against my advice, my superiors ordered me to connect a grounding cable from the power box to the frame. This never happened as I was stopped 6 inches away from the frame by an arch of electricity that was vaporizing the steel frame. Long story short, it wasn’t pretty and I was left in a lot of pain. I was still able to carry out my mission and I am personally proud for carrying 3 states on my back when it came to my equipment specialization.
Finally home, I found employment at a startup company with high hopes and evidence of success. I spoke with many types of people and saw the results of actions and inaction. Towards the end of my employment, I was starting to become privy of things that I did not agree with morally and debated mentally the idea of quitting and having to start over. Should I become rich and “successful” living an angry, regret filled life or should I set out to redefine what happiness and abundance meant to me, I wondered? I made the decision to start over and to pursue something I was truly passionate about.
What's your definition of an entrepreneur? How would you describe one?
My definition of an entrepreneur is someone who goes out into the world with an idea and sets out to fulfill that goal or dream.
Do you have any advice or insight that you would offer to someone starting out in your field?
As for insights or ideas for others, I sincerely believe with an open heart that if you have a dream or idea in mind that it will start to unfold. The only thing a person needs to do is learn to surrender expectations and allow for the universe or dream to unfold itself. Along this path I believe that a person is made to be who they truly are. No matter what the struggle or obstacle is, a person is meant to go through them as they are being transformed. Also, from my experience I feel like those with big hearts are the type of people you want to be surrounded by. They are more likely to help you get to the next level and will do so with good intentions.
What are you looking forward to in the future for yourself or your career?
At this stage in my career, I am on year 3 in realizing my business as a full time employment. I feel like I have everything I need to in order to be successful. Because I want to be great I am delaying my gratification in observance of the process it takes to really create something amazing. In the future I see these companies standing up and being ran professionally as I move on to other endeavors as I plan to enter the aerospace industry.
Is there anything else that you would like for us/readers to know about yourself?
I have always been a spiritual person due to my experiences as a kid growing up. I meditate almost every night and really think over the things that I am experiencing. One of the things that I would like to share is my understanding of being in an optimistic state of mind. There is no need to worry about the negative when you can spend the same time thinking of the positive and about fulfilling your dreams. Sometimes I was not able to will my mind into a positive state because of looming situations so I would have to do so manually. For example, if I was in a bad place mentally I would watch funny animal videos on Youtube to raise my spirits to get me back to that positive state of mind. I think the most important thing of all is to realize that the universe or God is there to help you and that you are more than capable of building your dream. Every day is a great day truly but once you realize it, the world around you will echo it back. Even if you go through hardship after this realization you know that the best is yet to come.
Share your website and/or any social handles you feel comfortable putting out there:
People can follow/find me on LinkedIn at Terrance Menyweather and on Instagram,
Twitter, & Facebook at MrMenyweather, BeastMeet, BeastExhaust. My websites are www.beastmeet.com & www.beastexhaust.com
Thanks for sharing such relatable, down to earth responses, Terrance!