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Tom First
Tom First
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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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Day In The Life

Founder

I started a juice company while working as a fisherman on Nantucket.

Skills & Education

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.