With over 30 years of entrepreneurial experience, Brad Pedersen has seen every side of the journey. He has been both the founder and the fired. He has built both bootstrapped and venture-backed companies. He has shipped billions of toys around the world as the real-life Santa Claus. He even wrote a book on it. Now, as co-founder of Lomi and Pela, Brad has leveraged his battle scars with a passion for sustainability.

Through all the trials, one lesson stands out: adversity isn’t a barrier—it’s an opportunity. Challenges can build character by shaping us, teaching us, and then fueling us to design and create a bold future better than originally imagined. Brad has used his own setbacks as a foundation to scale companies into 8 and 9-figure giants.

But Brad’s story isn’t just about business. It’s about living a full life—through people, passions, and tidal waves of impact. His mission is clear: to inspire and empower leaders to become exceptional by pursuing mastery in every aspect of life, so they can experience deeper freedom and meaning.

And to help others thrive beyond financial success.

Key Moments

[04:14] Overcame adversity, faced multiple bankruptcies, sudden exit.

[07:57] Profound business advice from an unexpected source.

[10:07] Overcoming struggles led to newfound entrepreneurial freedom.

[15:27] Hope is essential for a successful strategy.

Find Brad Online

https://www.bradpedersen.com

https://www.fullspectrumlife.com

https://www.startupsantabook.com

https://www.lomi.com

https://www.pelacase.com

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Transcript Provided By CastMagic.io

Seth [00:00:00]:
Entrepreneur’s Enigma is a podcast for the ups and downs of entrepreneurship to the wins and the fails that we all face being entrepreneurs, how we learn from adversity. Every week I talk to a different entrepreneur with a story to tell. I’m Seth Goldstein. Come with me on the journey. This is Entrepreneurs Enigma. Let’s get started. Hey, everybody. Welcome to another edition of the Entrepreneur’s Enigma podcast.

Seth [00:00:34]:
You know who I am by now. I’m Seth. I’m your host with the most. I have Brad Peterson Pedersen. It depends on who you talk to. I’m sure his mom would prefer you call him Pedersen, but, you know, he’s heard all kinds. So Brad is a continent entrepreneur, an author, a toymaker, a hustler because he’s now doing 2 startups right now simultaneously because, you know, he’s a Canadian overachiever there. He has one that’s called Pella, which is eco friendly iPhone cases and gadgets for that are eco friendly for your phones and gadgets and stuff like that.

Seth [00:01:11]:
He also has Lomi, which looks really cool. It essentially makes your trash not smell again. Mhmm. But it’s a composting robot. Right?

Brad [00:01:18]:
Well, I you made it sound really, really fancy. Composting robot. Love that. Yeah. Look, it’s an electronic, It looks

Seth [00:01:25]:
like a robot.

Brad [00:01:25]:
Hey. Well, actually, we turned it into a character because it kinda has this really sort of, appealing look to it that could be cute. Exactly. And the name Lomi was, actually inspired by Wally, Disney movie, where where the robot was kind of cute. So I love that you made that connection because that’s actually part of how that came about because loam is dirt.

Seth [00:01:43]:
So let’s

Brad [00:01:43]:
go back and say, first of all, it’s a machine that turns your organic waste into dirt, into actually a nutrient rich dirt that you can use to fertilize your plant, your lawns. But it happens to look pretty cute. And the name was inspired by, like I said, Wally. So it was something that we figured that kids would, really be interested in because part of family meal preparation and at the end of meals, cleaning up the dishes is where does the food waste go? And this machine solves that problem in a really mess free, delightful way.

Seth [00:02:11]:
Oh, mess free. Delightful. Just and then then you can feed it back to your plants and get more tomatoes and carrots and stuff like that. So it’s, it’s a cycle as you wanna do. It’s great. So it kinda got these 2, these 2 things are one’s eco friendly gadget things, and one’s, you know, making life better with, you know, your solid waste. Not solid waste. That’s poop.

Brad [00:02:31]:
Organic waste.

Seth [00:02:31]:
Solid waste, but like food waste.

Brad [00:02:33]:
Organic waste.

Seth [00:02:34]:
Organic waste. There is a word, not solid waste.

Brad [00:02:36]:
You don’t

Seth [00:02:36]:
put poop in there. Yeah. I should be interested to see what happens if you put poop in there. It might it might make some really good fertilizer. Who knows?

Brad [00:02:43]:
We I’ve you

Seth [00:02:45]:
Well, you did not what it’s made for. And FDA in America would would put you out of business so you put it up in there. So don’t do that. We already digressed already.

Brad [00:02:52]:
No comment.

Seth [00:02:53]:
But you’re also an author and a toymaker too. So let’s talk about a little bit about that. So what’s your book about?

Brad [00:02:59]:
Yeah. So I was the real Santa Claus for close to 30 years. I made kids toys. And, you know, Ramsey probably familiar with, Lite Brite, Mashums, K’nex, Tonka, Care Bears. They’re part of a company called Basic Fund, which is still, you know, around today. And, yeah, I was a toy maker from the north. I lived in Canada, made kids’ toys and shipped, you know, billions of pieces of playthings around the planet. And, it was, it was a really, really awesome experience.

Brad [00:03:32]:
Experience. And so the book is really telling this coming to that story of how I went from a kid living in the prairies of Canada, had no business being the toy business, getting into the toy business, scaling a toy company to crash and burn it, not just once, but three times because I’m a slow learner. And eventually building this this this business that I was very proud of and today goes on to still produce these iconic toys.

Seth [00:03:55]:
So your your baby is grown up and, you know, mature and you can watch it from afar saying, wow, look at it go. That’s kinda cool. As an entrepreneur, it’s kinda neat to see your baby grow up and then live beyond you even, like, kind of just keep going. Are you still involved in that at all? Or is it kind of like you’re just trying to step back and move on to the next.

Brad [00:04:14]:
Yeah, no, I’m not involved anymore. In fact, the book kind of tells that story as well as that, you know, I, I sort of secured his path from being a toy distributor to a toy maker, again, through a lot of adversity, like, you know, doing it the wrong way. I tell people I don’t have an MBA in business, but I have a PhD and DUMB from the School of Hard Knocks. Because, you know, I I I’ve definitely made most of the mistakes, maybe not all of them, but most of them, but you know, went bankrupt once and then twice and then a third time. And then by the time that I got on the other side of that, hired a new toy company that started to thrive, merged that company with another company based in Florida, which I’m at today. And then that company, after 90 days of merging it together, got fired from the company. So the company that I co founded got fired. So I had a, a sudden exit from business I co founded.

Brad [00:05:03]:
Fortunately, it was a soft landing and it really just freed me up to imagine a new future. And by the way, that company and I are still in great relationship. It was the right thing to do at that moment in time based upon what the company.

Seth [00:05:16]:
And would you would you quit if you weren’t let go? Because I I like asking that question because a lot of people are like, they they have trouble quitting. And it’s knowing when they quit and sometimes it has to be handed to you

Brad [00:05:25]:
Yep.

Seth [00:05:25]:
Because I I will be I I have to go. I have to do something else.

Brad [00:05:28]:
Yeah. It’s a great question.

Seth [00:05:29]:
We’re gonna take a quick break, hear from our sponsors, and get right back to the show.

Brad [00:05:33]:
And, you know, I I I would say I’m pretty stubborn person, so I’m not sure. It may have been the only way I would have gotten out, but it has really been my inconvenient blessing. Right? In fact, as I look back in on my life, I literally say, like, the best gifts have come wrapped in ugly paper. You know, going bankrupt, getting fired from a company I co founded at the moment sucked. It was like a terrible, terrible experience.

Seth [00:05:55]:
Oh, it’s the worst feeling in the world. Yeah.

Brad [00:05:56]:
But as I look back, I’m like, wow. I got freed up to start again and imagine a new future. And the point, like, should I have quit? Yes. I should have because the the other cofounder of that company and I were at were just oil and water. We just did not have our, we’re our cultural value.

Seth [00:06:11]:
It’s a marriage. It really is a marriage. It’s it’s as much of a marriage as a real marriage. It’s and if you don’t get along, you probably should break

Brad [00:06:19]:
up. Yeah. Yeah. I I I say that. I actually say the 2 most important decisions you’ll make in your life is who do you marry and who you get into business with. Like, pick those carefully.

Seth [00:06:28]:
Big time.

Brad [00:06:28]:
Because if you don’t get that right, your happiness, your joy in life is gonna be highly correlated to making the right decisions about picking people that you can do, long term relationship with. Absolutely.

Seth [00:06:42]:
Because I remember I was a journalist for 6 years Mhmm. And literally being walking to my my boss’s office and having a conversation with him and saying, look, I’m done. And he’s like, I know I was about to fire you. Because he’s like, and I was making that decision, but like, literally, because literally I was burnt and I was making mistakes and things were happening. And I would’ve, I would’ve been there. It would’ve killed if I stayed that long. Yeah. And it was just like, you know, knowing when to quit is so important and it’s underrated.

Seth [00:07:11]:
It’s knowing it’s like, yeah, you built something fun. Literally, you built something fun. Yeah. Like, literally, you you’re an epitome of fun. And but knowing when to quit and move on, and now now you have a Wall E robot, Loomi Loomi, And you have Eco Family iPhone toys, and you’re also a visor for a bunch of companies too, which is kinda cool. So I put paying it forward.

Brad [00:07:32]:
Yeah. You know, actually, just if I can riff on that for a second because, I’m I’m in I’m in a business forum, and one of the the members is Dave Lineker, and he’s the, founder of REMAX. Just incredible guy. Like, talk about living life to the full. I mean, his he has done it all. He kinda raced NASCAR. He did 3 tours in Vietnam, hot balloonist around the world. Plus he built one of the top 10 brands in the world with REMAX.

Brad [00:07:55]:
You know, I already knows REMAX. Right?

Seth [00:07:56]:
Yeah.

Brad [00:07:57]:
And, we had this, like, jam session with him one night. You know, it’s kinda like listening to the sage in the room around the campfire. And it literally was a campfire in Minnesota. And question came up and say, what’s your greatest ring riding business? And I’m sitting there going, oh, some deal he missed out on some thing he wish he would’ve got in or got too late. And his answer, which blew me away was I didn’t fire people fast enough. And I was like, what? And he went on and said, like, there’s 4 people you’re letting down when you know somebody’s best buy date is past due and you’re not acting on it. So first yourself, because you’re not trusting them. Right? You’re not you’re you’ve now have to fill in for their work.

Brad [00:08:35]:
Cause you’re basically, you’re creating this codependency that you have to inspect their work because you don’t trust their work anymore. So that’s that’s a problem. Number 2, you’re letting your family down because you just took a bunch of time away from them so you can help this person along assist. Right? Number 3, you’re letting their peers.

Seth [00:08:49]:
I wouldn’t say it’s not bad for anybody.

Brad [00:08:52]:
Yeah. Either peers down because the unsaid truth in the building is, is that the person is not meeting standards and you’re accepting it. And by the way, that’s the new standard by which you’re accepting excellence in your organization. So So it sets a bad precedence. And then finally, and this is your point, you’re letting that person down because there is some place that they’re gonna thrive. It’s just not with you at this time.

Seth [00:09:13]:
Yeah. And, like, honestly, my editor in chief who let me go, essentially. You know, it was kinda mutual. It was more him than me, but, you know, he needed to let me go. We’re still good friends. We stay in touch.

Brad [00:09:24]:
Mhmm.

Seth [00:09:25]:
Like like, you know, he sees what I do with our newsletter and all that other stuff, stuff, and we stay in touch because he’s a good guy. Then there’s no hard like you said, there’s no hard feelings with the with your with your your cofounder. It’s just it wasn’t right. You had to move on, and know you’re on the bigger and better things. It was a soft landing, and it all works. A 100%.

Brad [00:09:42]:
Yep.

Seth [00:09:42]:
It’s great.

Brad [00:09:43]:
You

Seth [00:09:43]:
know? And then so and look, you have a house in Florida, you have a house in BC, you go to Peru and break your arm, which no, we’ll go back on his mountain biking and broke his arms. No, you know, but like, yeah, living his best life, even a little painful best life, but still, you know? I mean, you’re able to live your life how you want, which is kinda nice. And,

Brad [00:10:05]:
yeah. And I mean,

Seth [00:10:06]:
it’s like,

Brad [00:10:07]:
yeah, no, I was going to say, you summed it up so well that literally it’s was my inconvenient blessing. Like these things sucked in the moment. They were terrible, but they freed me up to imagining a new future and new possibilities. And I think as an entrepreneur, I’ve I’ve spent a lot of time thinking, like, what is the definition of success? Because I think it just gets watered down so much, but what it means to be successful or achieve success is just such a generic term. And as I think about it from a founder’s perspective, I think the one word that always lands on me is freedom. Right? The freedom to do what you want, when you want, the way you want it done with those you wanna deal with. Right? Like that ultimately is what we’re striving to achieve. And all these like little, you know, inflection points on my path, which make no sense looking forward.

Brad [00:10:50]:
You don’t have to connect the dots all backwards.

Seth [00:10:53]:
Yeah. Always. Oh, hindsight’s always why. Yeah. I’ll always connect.

Brad [00:10:57]:
100%. Right. Otherwise you have a narrative bias about what your life’s gonna look like, which mine looks nothing like what I thought it was gonna be again, Prairie.

Seth [00:11:04]:
Oh, you never done. Right.

Brad [00:11:05]:
But I’ve achieved this incredible freedom to live a life of abundance and and do the things that I wanna do and be involved in things I wanna be in and and focus on what I’m good at.

Seth [00:11:14]:
So Yeah. Which is clearly mountain biking until you hit a rock.

Brad [00:11:20]:
Okay. Just so over clear 4 days of mountain biking in Peru And then and the last day, 200 meters left, I caught a little air in the wrong direction and hit some rocks. And, well.

Seth [00:11:31]:
I know it, it, it, but that’s, but that’s kind of a good metaphor to entrepreneurship. Sure. Is you can be going as you can be going and we’re gonna go with this. I’m I’m picking on you and your poor broken arm here, but like, you’re gonna be going great. And then you catch some air, you’re getting some progress and then you hit some rocks. And then you’re like, like, sort of like your bankruptcies. You’re like, oh, crap. You know, and you had to repair yourself, get up, dust yourself.

Seth [00:11:54]:
Well, well, dust yourself off with one hand at that point. And, you know, kind of just go with it and say, like, look, now you’re one handed for a little while till you get repaired, you know, and all that. You know, we you kinda gotta get up and dust yourself up off and keep going. And I mean, it’s it’s a great metaphor, actually.

Brad [00:12:11]:
Let me

Seth [00:12:12]:
you know, you’re right. You broke your arm. Do you have a good metaphor to talk about this?

Brad [00:12:15]:
Yeah. I’m it’s going into my next week’s newsletter. I’m gonna actually think that because here’s the other piece of it that I’ll add to it because, Ernest Hemingway had this this quote that said, you know, the break world breaks all of us. And then he said, and some of us are stronger in the broken places. So his metaphor was broken bone that if broken bone is given the opportunity to heal properly, it actually heals back stronger than before it was broken. But Yeah. If it doesn’t, it becomes gangrenous and people can die. Right? Like, that’s why they used to cut off arms and legs and stuff back during the civil war because They

Seth [00:12:46]:
know how to fix it.

Brad [00:12:46]:
Know how to fix it. Exactly.

Seth [00:12:48]:
So Now you’re bionic.

Brad [00:12:49]:
Now. Yeah. Now I’ve got, I told you, I look like Wolverine. I’ve got meddling in the front end, but, he’s a Canadian too. Wolverine’s cool. So, Yeah.

Seth [00:12:59]:
We’ll we’ll need to get right.

Brad [00:13:00]:
I think it’s it’s, I I promise you my newsletter is gonna have this story in it coming up exactly how you just laid it out and adding on to

Seth [00:13:07]:
It’s so true. And it just kinda came to me. It was so like, well, that’s a perfect metaphor because you catch air and you crash Mhmm. Sometimes. Sometimes you don’t and your unicorn, you keep going, and it’s a miracle that you didn’t hit the rocks. Right. Most of the time you hit the rocks and then the varying degrees of breakage. So Okay.

Brad [00:13:25]:
I think there’s there’s very few that it becomes like as a narrative bias or a survivor bias, right, for the people who don’t hit the rocks. The reality is is that the vast majority of people who are in business should expect it’s gonna be hard. You’re gonna hit the rocks. You’re gonna scrape your elbows, break some bones, get up. But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Like, if you if you choose, you can use all of those experiences as a way to turn your struggles into strength. You know, your your wounds into wisdom. So that is the opportunity.

Brad [00:13:54]:
Love it.

Seth [00:13:56]:
Alright. So now onto the 3 questions. What is the best thing about being an entrepreneur in your mind? I

Brad [00:14:02]:
mean, I love to imagine the future. I just, I think that imagining the future and going and creating it, like, I tell people that, you know, you need both a telescope and a microscope. The telescope is the vision casting piece. You looking into the future to see how far out what things could look like. Mhmm. And then you come back and use the microscope to inspect what you’re expecting in terms of putting the building blocks in place to help you achieve that vision. So, you know, just to me, vision casting is such a powerful part of being an entrepreneur. Mhmm.

Seth [00:14:30]:
And then obviously, what’s the hardest thing about being an entrepreneur? It’s falling down and getting back up again, obviously.

Brad [00:14:36]:
Yeah. I think so. Uncertainty, right? Like, here’s the thing, like I’m a kite kite surfer. I won’t be for a few few word weeks now, but, you know, you can’t control the wind. You can just adjust just the set of the sail. Right? So the winds of of life and business, they they’re gonna change on you. Yeah. And you’re can’t predict that.

Brad [00:14:55]:
Absolutely. Yeah. So you you have to know what you can control and control those things, knowing that there’s uncertainty. That’s just part of what makes entrepreneurship worthwhile.

Seth [00:15:04]:
It’s so true. And what is the most important thing to carry with you all the time? Besides the first aid kit?

Brad [00:15:13]:
Look, I I get asked the question, like, when should an entrepreneur quit? And I said, well, there’s 2, 2 points. I feel like you should quit versus the run out of money. But more importantly, if you run out of hope,

Seth [00:15:26]:
Yeah.

Brad [00:15:27]:
Hope is, they say hope is not, this is not a strategy, but hope is certainly a precursor to your strategy. You have to be able to have hope and possibilities. Cause you know, when you get knocked down, if, if you stay down, then you’ve truly become a failure. But getting knocked down and failing is a part of succeeding. And you just have to be maintaining the hope that, okay, this was hard. I’m gonna learn through this. And I have the whole, the inspiration, the imagination that on the other side of this will be a better future. If you lose hope,

Seth [00:15:54]:
you’ve

Brad [00:15:55]:
lost, I think, the essence of life. Yeah.

Seth [00:15:57]:
Absolutely. Well, that’s awesome. Well, Brad, hopefully, you will heal just fine and come back stronger. Yeah. I’m sure you will. I mean, I mean, look, he’s a kite sir, for crying out loud. I mean, at least this is solid. I mean, water’s a little bit more dangerous in a way.

Seth [00:16:12]:
So, you know but, so everyone go check out Lomi. Check out Pella. We’ll have all the links in the show notes. You know, we’ll have the link to your book and all that stuff. But, thank you so much for being on. This is such a pleasure. I know we had to reschedule a few times. You were out of the country.

Seth [00:16:27]:
I had some kids sick and half days and monsoons where the internet didn’t work. Like, oh, that’s crazy. It’s life. It’s life. It’s life. Life goes on. It’s just a matter of rolling with the punches.

Brad [00:16:39]:
100%, man. Yeah. I know it has been like, you know, the the what is it? The duck on water underneath you’re kicking like crazy, but it just smooth on the surface. You look like everything’s drink.

Seth [00:16:48]:
I know. I know it’s so funny. Ducks are hilarious because they they just they don’t look frantic, but they are frantically kicking.

Brad [00:16:54]:
Absolutely. Yeah, man.

Seth [00:16:55]:
Alright, Brad. Well, thank you so much for being on, and we’ll see everyone next time.

Brad [00:16:59]:
Cheers.

Seth [00:17:00]:
That was a great show. If you’re enjoying Entrepreneur’s Enigma, please view us in the podcast directory of your choice. Every review helps other podcast listeners find our show. You’re looking for other podcasts in the marketing space, look no further than the marketing podcast network at marketing podcasts dotnet. Goldstein gee. I hope you have enjoyed this episode.