Meet David Bullivant | CEO and Professional Underdog

We had the good fortune of connecting with David Bullivant and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi David, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Risk is a part of all of our lives and I think for some it is more daunting than others. A healthy respect for risk I feel is necessary to achieve any sort of long-term success, though a flash in the pan is certainly possible for those who believe they are impervious to risk too. My risk tolerance is relatively high by most people’s standards, and this is something that I think has played a large role in my life. I wasn’t generally someone that I think would be described as impulsive or unpredictable growing up, but I do think I had many instances where taking a risk was positively reinforced, and through these experiences, I learned to be more confident in myself, and confident that things do work out in the end.

One of the craziest risks I took when I was younger is part of my story for getting into the welding field. I was attending welding school full-time at a technical college close to an hour from the small town where I grew up. An hour past my school was the Twin Cities in Minnesota. I was nearly through my first semester of school and I decided it was a good time to start looking for a job that I could use to gain more experience, help me pay for school, and build some new skills by applying what I was learning. For a few weeks, I drove far from home after school to attend job interviews and make introductions. I had never considered moving to the city to be closer to the industry until someone I knew from high school a few years older than me had posted online that they were looking for a subleaser at their apartment in the city.

This opportunity was the spark that made me think a little deeper, and I was quickly convinced that doing this was the right choice. 13 days later I was moving into that apartment in the city and leaving home behind at age 17. I hadn’t graduated high school yet, I didn’t have a job, and I didn’t have any furnishings for an apartment. I moved in with 2 strangers in grad school, a cat, and someone from my small town who was better friends with my older sister than she was with me. I moved fast and I moved decisively. I thought I would be able to find a job much easier if I was in the heart of the industry, and I believed going home to an empty room every day would give me the time and motivation I needed to chase a job aggressively until I found one. I had a little money saved up from delivering pizza in my hometown, so there was a month to figure it out before I would start running out of money. I was going to be buying groceries and paying rent for the first time, but that didn’t seem too scary.

My parents did not love this idea. They felt it was quick, and they also thought moving into an apartment before I had a job was probably a bad idea. They were probably right. In the end, though, I did it anyway, and I’m glad that I did. 11 days after I moved in, I got my first full-time welding job and was hired at 3 times the rate I was earning at the pizza shop as an entry-level production welder. This was the period in my life where I had the most disposable income that I’ve ever had. I had been hired for a great starting wage after performing well on the weld test and my expenses were meager as someone so young. My parents felt better as soon as they heard the good news about my new job. In the end, I learned to trust myself, take the leap, and then work like hell to make sure I wound up in the net below.

Three or four years later I embarked on a cross-country hitchhiking trip that spanned 7000 miles, from the east coast of Maine to Seattle before turning down to Los Angeles. I traveled alone for 40 days relying on the goodwill of strangers across 15 states, meeting about 80 individuals who offered a mutual exchange of trust. My parents did not love this idea either, and just like before, it was a seed that quickly sprouted into being.

At that time, I was finishing a semester of school at OSU where I had been struggling to keep up with the difficult coursework while I was working my first job as a design engineer. I was laid off unexpectedly a few weeks before finals, and I got a tax return that was a little larger than expected. These three things combined meant that for the first time, I had money, I had time, and I didn’t have anywhere that I needed to be. I decided to take a trip. I had been working very diligently for years while others studied abroad, took vacations, and explored the world. It was hard not to feel a little left out. I wanted to do something different. Maybe I could find something that nobody I knew had ever done. I wanted to be challenged. I wanted to be tested. I wanted to take this risk.

Hitchhiking from coast to coast came to mind, and it wasn’t long before I decided that this was what I wanted to do more than anything else. I marked a date on my calendar 13 days after finals as the day I would get on the Grey Hound to head East to Maine and I bought my ticket. 13 days should be enough time to put a pack together and figure out how I was going to do the trip, I thought. I already bought the ticket, so I guess there’s no turning back now.

If I’m being honest it felt fun and exciting right up until a day or two before my departure. I started to wonder if this was a good idea. I wasn’t sure if I was prepared. How do you prepare for something like this exactly? I had never hitchhiked before and I wasn’t sure if I knew anyone who had that I could ask for advice. What if it doesn’t work out like I thought it would? It began to feel scary as it loomed closer. I could have backed out, but I didn’t. I got a ride to the bus station and over the next 40 days, I had one of the most interesting experiences I will ever have for as long as I live. I saw people from all walks of life. I saw the goodwill of strangers every single day. People took me sightseeing. I went to the zoo. I went to a Renaissance fair. I saw historical sights in Michigan, Sand Dunes in Oregon, and the Redwood Forest from the bed of a truck. It felt like I had armor around me. Being kind to others and believing in their goodness manifested it into being all around me. I learned to live my everyday life with that perspective and I haven’t looked back. Risk can be the splash of color a canvas needs to become something more.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Something I’m proud of that I believe plays a large part in my growth and success professionally is a philosophy of adversity. I was inquisitive early on and for the most part that’s never changed. Asking difficult questions and confronting the harshness of the world was compelling and gave me a lot to think about. It still gives me a lot to think about. This harshness reminds me to be kind and patient, to live earnestly, and to face obstacles head-on.

Experimenting with the difference between danger and discomfort has been a useful exercise. I have been a student of this for as long as I can remember. Growing up in the cold winters of Minnesota was one of the earliest environments where I tested my resolve. I learned that though the danger was worthy of fear, the discomfort wasn’t. Embracing the inevitability of discomfort in life meant I didn’t waste my energy on fighting against it or being fearful. It couldn’t create any lasting harm unless it were dangerous instead after all. Denying myself this fear allowed me to build grit, resilience, and resolve. I learned I didn’t need to satiate every desire I had, like the tantrums of a child, and I could choose how to gratify myself with more intention and purpose. Whether it was putting on a jacket to feel more comfortable, eating immediately when I felt hungry, buying a new game that I wanted for my Gameboy as a kid, or any other number of things, I practiced mastery of myself and my desires until I was able to regulate them with clarity and purpose.

Patience and delayed gratification are also a natural evolution of these ideas. Thinking on longer time horizons is an important part of longer-term success as a business and also as an individual. Someone introduced me to Wu Wei when I was in my early 20s and, at the time, I hated every bit of it. I was resistant to the lessons it was teaching, and I couldn’t understand the value of living without expectation or desire in this way. Years later I found myself adopting many of these ideas that I had initially been very resistant to. In The Book of Law there is a quote “For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect”. I believe this way of thinking holds many keys to the mastery of ourselves, finding peace, and living honestly.

Most of my job now is about making tricky judgment calls, learning to measure new things we need insight into, and keeping a team aligned and engaged. Some days are peaceful and I spend much of my time responding to emails, consulting with my team on upcoming objectives, and managing the nuts and bolts of the business. Other days can be more chaotic if I am booked with site consultations, introductions, or site supervision.The team leans on me for guidance and one of my roles is to instill good judgment and confidence in them so they can operate more independently when faced with challenges. This is one of the harder parts of what I do. Sometimes support looks like stepping in to protect the team against a negative outcome. Sometimes support looks like letting someone fail. Failure can be a catalyst for growth, learning, and humility. Walking the best line between those extremes can be challenging, each member of my team responds differently under pressure and requires support in a different way. It’s my job to understand them and be there to uplift them.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Pho Thahn has the best Bahn Mi in Columbus, so we’d have to go there. Kafe Kerouac is a long-time favorite of mine for its eclectic atmosphere and interesting patrons. The walking path along the river downtown is an excellent place to get some fresh air and admire the city. There are also many excellent dog parks in Columbus where you can visit (even if you don’t have a dog) and meet many new dogs that would like to say hello.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

So many people deserve credit in my journey, it’s daunting to try to think of them all. I owe a lot to my parents, Bud and Joan who instilled curiosity in me and gave me a good example to follow in my early adulthood. I owe so much to Sean for seeing more in me than I saw in myself and trusting me before I could trust myself, to make the hard choices, and take a leap of faith in this business. I owe Tommy Isaac for dedicating himself so completely to making my goals and dreams his own and working diligently to be what I couldn’t, be where I wasn’t, and support me with kindness and compassion through the periods of highest uncertainty. I owe my friends Miles Meckling, Melissa Bethea, Jesse Bethea, Lyndsey Andray, Michael Davanzo, and Matt Baugher for investing modest sums into the business that cumulatively were tremendously impactful in the survival of the business in the very beginning. I owe my Grandpa, Garland, who taught me many lessons about life, showed me how to work hard and enjoy doing it, and took every opportunity he could to pass down his wisdom. Thank you Matt for giving me a place where I could grow, learn, take responsibility, and test myself. Thank you Tom Reber for being a consistent source of knowledge and guidance while I clawed my way into a path of my own. Thank you to Lori Sanders, Lucinda Sanders, and John Sanders for supporting Sean on his portion of this journey and encouraging his growth and devotion to this business.

I am also thankful to everyone who didn’t support me. I’m thankful for the days I felt less than, incompetent, and incapable. I’m thankful for all the things I wanted that I didn’t get. These are the ingredients of drive and ambition and without them, I could have very easily, accidentally, had a life that looks far different from the one I have today. I could have accidentally become less than I am now, satiated by the routine, and afraid to demand more from myself.

For the good and the bad, I am thankful.

Website: https://www.yellowweld.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yellowweld/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbullivantyw/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YellowWeld/

Image Credits
Marina Carey and Collins Laatsch