Trevor DeShaw

The Right Direction Without the Wrong Intention

Living with a Giver's Mentality

Story by LISA ANDERSON Photos by JOSHUA JACOBS

Did you see him—the man who walked the Square for six months carrying a briefcase full of letters demanding money for debts he owed? It was another beginning for Trevor DeShaw. Like many serial entrepreneurs, Trevor has stumbled, he’s tripped, and he’s fallen flat on his face. But he always gets back up. “I’m enjoying the ride. So many people just want to get to the dream, but it’s so important to enjoy the journey. That’s the blessing part, because guess what? I know a lot of people there, and they’re bored. It gets boring, if you don’t have a goal or an objective anymore. For me, you’ve got to fall in love with the journey—fall in love with the failures. I love messing up, being able to admit it, learn from that, and find out how much I don’t know. It’s incredible.”

His hair is crazy, his demeanor wild, and his heart is two-sizes too big for his chest. “I really believe in the people first culture. If you start treating people [right], and start caring, having empathy, putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, and treating them the way they want to be treated—not the way you want to be treated, because there’s a difference.”

FINDING THE WARRIOR WITHIN

Trevor was born in a tiny town of about 300 hundred people in Savage, Montana. “We were the Savage Warriors. I use that in every hustle I do. I’m a savage warrior. I won’t quit until I win.” He moved with his family to California when he was eight years old and again to Pennsylvania when he was 16. After attending college in Boston, he married his first wife in 2001. About two years later, he felt a calling to go into the Navy but dismissed it. “I’m not a Navy guy! Look at me.” He gestures to himself in an elevator motion.

Nevertheless, he kept feeling the call, and a week later, he was selling all his real estate investments and joining the Navy. He admits to not having any direction or idea of what it would be like or what to strive for in achievements. He hadn’t done any research and just “jumped off the cliff.”

Trevor enjoyed bootcamp, being one of the oldest recruits at age 27, but he found “real life Navy” to be difficult. Along the way, he fell in love with another woman and, eventually, divorced his first wife to marry her. “We built an empire off of a mistake. We’ve been together now for 15 years. My wife is my hero. She inspired me to become the best version of myself. She deserves everything, and I will continue to grow every day for her. She is my why.”

In 2010, after living through a bankruptcy, Trevor and his wife had the opportunity to buy a business in Gainesville. They left upstate New York, where they had been living, and set off on their new adventure, taking a gamble. It wasn’t long before they moved to the Ocala area, while still maintaining clients in Gainesville.

BUILDING THE EMPIRE

Trevor and his wife built the American dream. They owned and operated several cleaning franchises across Northcentral Florida, and while they were making good money, they were still struggling and living paycheck to paycheck. They couldn’t figure out why they were not able to get ahead.

When a mistake snowballed and nearly caused the family to lose their dream home, Trevor hit the streets with his briefcase full of the letters demanding money for debts he owed. “I was like, ‘No! My wife is not losing this home that she worked so hard for. I’m gonna make sure!’ And I put every [letter] in my briefcase, and I put it over my shoulder. I went and started going around Ocala Square every day for six months. Talking to everybody, anybody that would listen to me. I would tell them I know something is coming. I was just getting into this new financial thing. I didn’t know anything about it, and everybody knew I was a cleaner. Then, slowly, I made it work, and slowly we got caught up.”

Trevor had read a book by Tony Robins that shifted his mindset on money, and that book changed his life. He now works in the financial services industry under the supervision of Andy Albright and his team. In just three and a half years, he made it to the Top 10 in the industry, competing against 30-year veterans.

“When I hit 40, I knew I was built for something more. I didn’t know what it was,” he admits.

Trevor believes that he has found his calling, and his mentor, Tim Goad, is teaching him to believe in himself. “He’s helping me become the leader I want to be for my people, and the fact that they see something in me means the world to me. I don’t know. I’m just this crazy kid from Montana. I just want to shoot basketball or something, and they tell me I’m destined for something.

“As an entrepreneur, you have to get used to [failure] because it’s part of the gig. Every single one of [us] is destined to be great. Everybody, if they took the chance on themselves, could do it. Take a gamble. I believe money is a tool. I want to help train people how to use the tool, so they can unlock this freedom. I tell my kids, don’t bring me problems; bring me solutions.”

LOOKING AHEAD

Trevor, his wife, and their two teenagers love to travel. “We want to move to Costa Rica, eventually. We want to spend our money on travel and find a way to enjoy this life. We’re not meant to just work. We’re meant to be happy. We’re supposed to help one another. We’re supposed to love one another.

“I love the giver’s mentality. I want to help inspire people in the right direction without the wrong intention.”