Tom First
Nantucket Nectars
Boston, MA USA
"There's a million different paths to get there, but everyone thinks there's just one when they're giving you advice."
Career Roadmap
Tom's work combines: Entrepreneurship, Food, and Accomplishing Goals
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Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
American History (United States)
Brown University
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
People have approached him to write a book about the history of his business, but he'd always wanted to talk about finding himself.
2.
After graduating from Brown University, he decided to defer any career plans and move to the island of Nantucket.
3.
He got his commercial fishing license, because that was how you made money on the island.
4.
At night, he'd have to wash the fish guts off the boat and out of the buckets.
5.
One Christmas Eve, he slipped on the dock; he laid there in the freezing cold and thought, "What the hell am I doing?"
6.
After that, he started buying clams from local fisherman and reselling them to local markets.
7.
Now that he had a feel for the local markets and their distribution, he was able to start Nantucket Nectars with a foot already in the door.
8.
Says no one could have ever predicted his path, so you can't limit yourself to thinking there's only one "right" way to succeed.