Bryan Ford

1.

Growing up, I was a very talented soccer player and wanted to someday play professionally, but my immigrant parents couldn’t afford to send me to the critical camps and programs.

2.

I wasn’t sure what else to do, so I followed in my mom’s footsteps to become an accountant.

3.

After an accounting internship, I got a job with KPMG—one of the Big Four accounting organizations—but I was miserable.

4.

I wanted to open a bakery but needed to save the necessary startup capital, so I went back to accounting—despite working hard at it, I failed the CPA exam 13 times in a row.

5.

I was offered an opportunity to transition into the restaurant industry, which helped improve my outlook—I kept baking, too, but still needed money before I could revisit the idea of opening a bakery.

6.

When I finally passed the CPA exam, I still wasn’t happy and felt as if something was missing, so I quit accounting less than a year later.

7.

I made an Instagram account to showcase my bread—at first I was just playing around with it, but then I tailored the account to be more professional in hopes that opportunity would arise.

8.

My Instagram video of sourdough pan de coco launched my career as a baker—I now have tens of thousands of Instagram followers, a recipe blog, and a book deal.