Ep 205 A Disabled Vet Shows Us What Entrepreneurship Is All About | Juan Baret

Juan C. Baret, a disabled veteran, is a former Staff Sergeant in the US Air Force and the founder of  Baret’s Bats. In Juan’s words “Baret Bats is the result of a transformative journey, which turned a challenge into an opportunity.” 

Juan was inspired to start Baret Bats™ because as a disabled veteran, it became harder to keep up his active baseball lifestyle. In 2012, he made a last attempt in playing in a local wood bat amateur baseball league. As the season went on, it was apparent that he was not going to finish the season. But rather than focusing on the things he could no longer do, Juan chose to cultivate other interests such as: woodworking and design. And he discovered that for more than 100 years, baseball bats were hand turned using traditional lathe and chisels. In fact, the majority of players in the baseball hall of fame used hand turned bats and as we can attest, they made baseball history along with the bat makers that crafted their bats. Invigorated with this renewed outlook, he saw an opportunity to get back in the game by dedicating himself to the art and science of handcrafting baseball bats. 

In this episode Juan:

Talked about his humble beginnings growing up in the Dominican Republic and the things he learned from his mom who was a community activist. Juan moved to the United States at age 9 and grew up  in south Bronx next to Yankee Stadium
Discussed his path to the US Airforce which saw him serve 9 years including a deployment to Afghanistan in 2011. 
Shares how his life changed when he came back. He found himself in pain, struggling to play baseball and was also the parent of 2 young children. 
Explains why he decided to start Baret bat’s
Spoke glowingly about Warrior’s Rising, an organization we learned about in an earlier Episode  with Jason Van Camp
Went deep on the challenges he’s faced in starting and scaling his business
And called out people who think that money is a sauce that will lead to happiness. In Juan’s word you need to have a purpose

Get ready to be inspired by a humble, hard working, military veteran and also get a glimpse of entrepreneurial life. Enjoy…

You can reach Juan  at:

Website: http://www.baretbats.com/ 

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to hear your thoughts, comments, and stories, or just make a connection.

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Full Episode

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