Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Darrin Wilson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Darrin, great to have you with us today and excited to have you share your wisdom with our readers. Over the years, after speaking with countless do-ers, makers, builders, entrepreneurs, artists and more we’ve noticed that the ability to take risks is central to almost all stories of triumph and so we’re really interested in hearing about your journey with risk and how you developed your risk-taking ability.
Risk has a bad reputation. It’s often perceived as enormous acts of recklessness. But that’s a broad and inaccurate portrayal of risk. Taking a risk can be as small as exploring a new way home from work. For Pibborafi that was the key, starting small. Those small risks resulted in failures (many failures) that forced me onto new paths. I came to understand there was a fine line between risk and purpose where one directly leads to the other. The fear that goes along with risk started to diminish and eventually, the act of taking risks lost its bite and instead became a way for me to measure my personal growth. At the end of it, risk allowed me to see that I could start an international import business, compete with multi-billion dollar companies in a cut-throat industry without any money, mentors or experience. That’s how the fire was lit. If you find yourself confronting risk, don’t let it scare you. Instead, control the risk by starting small. Push your boundaries in tiny, manageable steps. Soon you will see risk paying off and you’ll grow.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Pibborafi’s mission is to help as many volunteer-run animal rescue shelters as possible by donating a portion of sales from custom-made children’s plushies designed after real rescued dogs. Each plushie’s sales help the rescue that dog was rescued from.
Pibborafi started by chance when I decided to recreate our rescued Boston Terrier, Angus, as a plush gift for my (then) wife. She was elated and posted the gift on social media. Dozens messaged her back asking where could they get one. I decided to order a small run of 1500 dolls and christened them ‘Wugadogs’. He sold out fast so I launched a small business in 2013 doing people’s rescued dogs in plush.
In 2016, I changed the name to Pibborafi and began doing many other people’s rescues in a new, palm-sized design and began donating 30% of net to the rescues and shelters where each dog was found.
We launched an annual global contest “The International Pibborafi Rescue Hero Contest” held exclusively on Instagram where the public votes for which dog gets to be the next Pibborafi Rescue Hero Plushie from hundreds of submissions.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The most impactful qualities that I found most useful in this journey is, firstly, the management of failure. Secondly, the will to adapt to change, and lastly, an understanding that just because I didn’t know how to do something didn’t mean I couldn’t do it.
All of these can be tied together to form an ability to navigate your own resilience. I had to learn that. To firstly understand that I could be resilient, then to apply it.
Anyone can become resilient by forcing yourself to look at failure as a good thing that reveals your true purpose – to fail and change direction until the path that works for you is revealed. Then understanding that change won’t hurt you, it will strengthen your resolve. Then finally, to know that it’s okay to not know something, to strive to learn it. If you can work on these things, suddenly a great many things will become possible.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
Feeling overwhelmed comes often. In business and in life.
Not that I’m any expert but I have found that a quick refocus helps immensely. The best strategy that seems to work is simply, breathing. Three slow, purposeful breaths in and out have the result of calming the nerves and centering the mind. Once there, you can gain insight in how to proceed. And it’s usually taking one thing at a time. Not to worry about getting everything done immediately but to simply move forward. Doesn’t matter what speed. As long as you’re moving forward, you’ll make it.
Contact Info:
- Website: pibborafi.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pibborafi/
