Former Navy pilot Mike Brown built a successful investment career but failed to apply those same principles to his own money, buying a distressed e-commerce company and ending up asset-rich but cash-poor. He shares what his mistakes taught him about translating professional discipline into personal finance.
I started my journey by flying jets in the Navy, and then after I got out, I took those skills and moved back to my hometown in Midland, Texas, and worked for a mentor in the oil and gas industry where I eventually started my own firm. My first business was actually an investment business, and I've always considered myself an investor first and an entrepreneur second. You know, for my entire career, I've been building portfolios. And the irony is that I wasn't translating that skill set into my personal life. And even though I could build a portfolio professionally, I was making really risky investment decisions, but then I acquired a distressed e-commerce company. Even though I'm a multimillionaire on paper, I can't access any of that money. You know, for me, if I can translate that experience, that's the conversation I want to have, and that's what I'm here to do.
