Dr. Terrance Bell is a veteran with a doctorate in behavioral psychology and a successful entrepreneur from Memphis, Tennessee. He is also an example of vision and perseverance.
Dr. Bell grew up in his grandmother’s house because his mother was ill for most of his childhood and eventually passed away due to breast cancer. As the oldest of six, Dr. Bell had to take some of the burden of responsibility.
“The burden of responsibility was heavy but I was able to pull through.” Dr. Bell shares. “When I hear the word ‘poor’, I feel like I can identify with that life because we didn’t have much growing up. I wore hand-me-down clothes and occasionally missed some meals.”
When he was 17, Dr. Bell joined the Marines as a way to escape his situation. This started a new phase of his life, which was tough but it helped him grow. With the Marine Corps, Dr. Bell had to learn how to make decisions fast, learn fast and move fast.
After his time in the Marine Corps, he entered the corporate world for a while where he worked for different companies, and he earned his doctorate in behavioral psychology. Soon after, he started his own businesses.
“I started doing business as an entrepreneur after I left the corporate world.” Dr. Bell recounts. “After my executive post ended at this one company, I took my golden parachute and started to make investments on my own behalf. I decided to become an entrepreneur because I wanted to control my own destiny, and also help the many people who have worked for me to realize their destinies, too.”
Today, Dr. Bell runs an entrepreneurial conglomerate which comprises motivational tools and products, consulting, big data intelligence, augmented reality (AR), and financial technology. He is also a coach for multiple enterprises and companies, as well as a public speaker.
“My vision motivated me to start doing business on my own. I saw things that other people couldn’t see. I saw opportunities in certain situations that I wanted to seize without need of anyone else’s opinion or approval.” Dr. Bell says.
Along with vision, mindset was also key in Dr. Bell’s entrepreneurial ventures. He believes that mindset is everything and that clichés like “you gotta see it before you can achieve it” are true.
“Vision is not just what the eye can see but also how far the eye can see.” Dr. Bell adds. “Your mindset also plays a critical role in how you cope with life’s challenges. People with a growth mindset show greater resilience and are more likely to persevere during setbacks.”
But there are still challenges to starting a business. Besides having or acquiring the funding necessary to build a business from the ground up, which is commonly a huge challenge, there are other challenges in the way.
“Another challenge is gaining the key skills to do what you are trying to do. It takes a lot of know-how to know how. Get it? You have to learn everything about your business in the pursuit of making it successful. And once you get a firm handle on knowing, then you start adding your own style or flavor to it.” Dr. Bell says.
Furthermore, Dr. Bell also argues that common obstacles such as fear are nothing to him. For him, fear is just false evidence appearing real, and so it means nothing to him. He does not think about it or focus on it.
“Don’t give up and prepare yourself for the long game.” Dr. Bell advises those starting their own business or brand. “Don’t play the short game because it’ll be over before you know it and you won’t have accomplished anything.”
Understanding that some days are good and some days are not so good, along with the other pieces of advice shared by Dr. Bell, will lead anyone to success. For Dr. Bell success is precisely what you achieve everytime you overcome a trial or tribulation.
“If you want to talk about success as it pertains to money, then I would say success is a tremendous responsibility.” Dr. Bell adds. “Where there is money, there is responsibility.”
This is also what differentiates Dr. Bell from his competition: he takes everything seriously and is always trying to be the best that he can be. He loves what to do and loves to deliver products and services that help people. He also takes the time to keep learning and growing.
“Always remember that doing comes before the being.” Dr. Bell shares, and in reference to learning and growing he adds: “My favorite quote is by Wintson Churchill, ‘Success is going from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm.”
At the moment, Dr. Bell is focusing on growing his financial services and fintech business, as well as helping people thrive in the new gig economy. He also has other plans in the long term.
“I am working toward a soft retirement in order to dedicate more time to my charity, The Terrance Bell Foundation, through which we help the homeless, single mothers with multiple kids, and so much more.” Dr. Bell explains.
To find out more about the uplifting story and lessons of a self–made multimillionaire who grew up in and out of foster care, on welfare, yet despite a challenging upbringing still rose to become a beacon of light, go here.
