Today we’d like to introduce you to Rusty Bettis.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I set up Mpact Sports in 2014 after spending 20 years as a Wholesale Executive with Bank of America. My daughter was an exceptional volleyball player at an early age. After playing a team from a low income area in Austin, she asked “dad, how can they be so bad?”. I responded “you don’t understand, they aren’t in a position to get year round Olympic style training in volleyball, it’s expensive”. I realized my daughter(and her friends in DS) were disconnected to the real world. This always stuck with me.
A few years later, during the 2008 financial collapse, my wife and I, both, lost high income jobs in finance. After several years of being unemployed, we were forced to cut back on extra caricular activities. My daughter had always dreamed of playing college volleyball, this threatened to end her dream. I watched my daughter work tirelessly to earn extra money to continue the pursuit of her dream. Realizing the gap between the “haves & have nots” I decided to try to create a solution to help fill the gap, believing “every child should get the opportunity to participate”. Mpact Sports was born, the idea being, open a store(similar to Play It Again Sports) in an affluent area, and cycle the revenue back to the low income kids in the community.
In the early stages we were blessed to have two donors that believed in the concept, and committed to help us get the store up and running, plus fund scholarships along the way. Neal and Elaine Huckaby were instrumental in providing assistance as we navigated the journey, funding over 90% of the $175k in scholarships we provided. We’ve been bless to have helped 300+ kids since our inception.
PS: my daughter did achieve her dream, playing VB for Midwestern State(Whicita Falls), ending up on the Top 10 all time kill list.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Everything takes longer than you anticipate. Everyday is about overcoming obstacles. Not everyone sees your vision. Lack of funds was a major obstacle, Our major donor, Neal Huckaby had experienced a similar financial situation during 2008, fortunately a few miraculous things occurred in his life, and he donated a disproportionately large amount of his earnings to help us continue the vision. My favorite quote is “head down, back to work”. You can’t give up. If you have a great idea and you don’t execute on it, who will?
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
During the three year stretch of unemployment, I created a marketplace called ProvenTeams. The idea is to connect teams looking for opportunities to entrepreneurs, business sellers, and employers with opportunities. I believe we are going to have major unemployment problems as the US dollar loses its status as the global currency. When this happens all of our manufacturing will come home, creating a demand for teams to be hired, not just individuals. We have to come up with solutions for mass unemployment. After developing the Marketplace I realized it was ahead of its time, until the dollar expires as the global currency people are going to be slow to adopt the concept. So, I pivoted for the time being, changing ProvenTeams to a business directory. Think of Yelp or the Yellow Pages, everyone gets a basic listing, however the only way you can get your page enhanced is by giving back to the community. There’s no way to buy your way into an enhanced ad. We’ll build your page out if you support any charity or a veteran owned business. Right now it’s a static site, but someday consumers will be able to search for business services by the charities they support. This concept will allow the customer to align their purchases with like minded folks, supporting the same causes in their community. I’m extremely proud of ProvenTeams, and believe it could be one of the great social media platforms to come along in the internet age. The Marketplace(global) will connect teams to opportunities and the Directory(local) will allow customers to align with local companies that support causes close to their heart. Our website is www.proventeams.com. You’ll notice on our home page, we promote local charities. We believe in giving back!
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was blessed to grow up in a small town in Arkansas. Bono, Arkansas. We grew up with the phrase “Bono-Capitol of the world, center of the universe”. I was always outdoors, the foothills of the Ozarks was our play ground. I played sports, loved football. I was a marginal student. I think I finished 86th out of 88 students. I was never one to take a book home. I preferred fishing after school. I never felt like I wasn’t smart, I just wasn’t interested in trying to get a better grade than the person sitting next to me. I just wanted to pass and move along. I suspect I have A.D.D, dyslexia, and a few other things. I believe A.D.D. is a super power. I enlisted the Army, departing for boot camp right after graduation. I’ve always felt like growing up in rural Arkansas was like winning the lottery, an authentic simple life where your word is your bond.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mpactsports.org
