Scott Burrows sees opportunities where others might only see road blocks. An entrepreneur, inspirational speaker, athlete and risk-taker, Scott’s three-pronged strategy of Vision, Mindset and Grit is the cornerstone to his success. His passion is to share his strategy with others and illustrate how to apply it to their own challenges and endeavours.
As a teenager and young adult, Scott was passionate about sports and applied his incredible drive and talent to everything from golf and Kung Fu to track and field and football. A member of the Professional Kickboxing Association, Scott was a top-ranked champion with a 4-0 record by the age of 18. His last fight was broadcast by ESPN.
Finishing high school in 1983, Scott turned down football scholarships to smaller division colleges - his heart was set on playing for legendary coach Bobby Bowden at Florida State University. A football scholarship wasn't offered, but rather than give up on his dream, Scott enrolled as a "walk-on" wide-receiver. His skills and determination earned him a place on the team and that year FSU went to the Peach Bowl, beating North Carolina 28-3.
Scott’s life took a dramatic turn on November 3, 1984 when he was involved in a horrific accident while a passenger in his friend’s car. This one moment in time would change his life forever. The accident left him paralyzed from the chest down and officially diagnosed a quadriplegic. The medical world offered him little hope that he would ever stand on his own again, much less walk unassisted. Despite this grim prognosis, Scott forged his own path by continuously setting and achieving goals in his rehabilitation that few thought possible.
After a year long absence, Scott returned to both college and the world of sport while still coping with his physical limitations and undergoing intense therapy. He trained and competed in wheelchair marathons and full contact wheelchair rugby, the Paralympic Sport of Murder Ball.
After completing his degree in finance, Scott sought a career which would give him a lasting and meaningful impact in people’s lives. He chose the world of life insurance as his platform, joining Northwestern Mutual Life as an agent specializing in disability and life insurance and wealth and estate planning. In just five years he qualified for the prestigious Million Dollar Round Table, a 100% commission driven award that less than 8% of agents achieve yearly.
Scott's position in the insurance industry required him to commit over 85% of his time to outside sales to build his business. In 1994, while en route to call on a client, an oncoming vehicle ran a stop sign and collided with Scott’s car. He sustained injuries that made it very difficult for him to grip his cane, and continuing in life insurance sales would mean returning to a wheelchair full-time. Rather than give up his hard-won mobility, Scott made the gut-wrenching decision to leave a hugely successful career in an industry he loved.
Scott decided to create a new opportunity for himself by using his business acumen and sales skills to form an international exporting company. Together with his brother he founded Global Golf Group, a company selling custom blended fertilizers to golf courses in Southeast Asia. Their enterprise continues to thrive today.Married in 2002 to his wife Mona, it was her encouragement that inspired him to share his story with the world. His successful strategy of Vision, Mindset and Grit and incredible life experiences move audiences while motivating them to tackle whatever challenges they face personally and professionally.
Your story and presentation are powerful. You effectively conveyed to our team of roughly 300 attendees that we all have the potential to overcome challenges...Given your situation, you have demonstrated by example that even the most overwhelming of setbacks can be converted to success... You did a very effective job of tailoring your message to our audience; personalizing your story for each of us in the audience such that we are now motivated to push ourselves harder than we would prior to hearing your inspiring words. You also integrated our company divisions, objectives and nomenclature into your presentation quite well.
Through your tragedy and real life demonstrations of unbelievable "Vision, Mind-set and Grit," you have given all of us a precious gift, a most meaningful appreciation of the true value of the human spirit and its capability to overcome any and all odds!
I believe we can learn a lot from the experiences of others, and was looking for a speaker who could help put the challenges we were facing into perspective, and could share the work ethic, attitude and beliefs they followed down their road to success, that my team could learn from. Scott Burrows was definitely the right choice!
Hearing your success in overcoming obstacles through Vision, Mindset & Grit has already put an extra "spring" in the step of our Sales Team...Like every organization, we’re faced with a variety of challenges - both internal and external. Your ability to relate your experiences to our industry specific challenges will certainly produce positive results for our company.