Dustin Ruzicka

The first thing you need to know about me is that I am retired at the age of 40 and plan to spend the rest of my adventurous life making a difference. I am a father of two wonderful daughters and a follower of Jesus Christ. Life has been a challenge, but God has blessed me with an abundance of strength, perseverance and 2 beautiful angels.

I grew up in a factory-driven middle class family whose members generally had very little in the way of education. I was the first in my immediate family to graduate from high school. Education was never a priority in my family, a fact which often left me feeling as if I didn't belong. Later I was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 21, so I found myself just settling for whatever was handed to me because I was told I couldn't do any better. My parents encouraged me to get a factory job like my father when I turned 18, whether or not I graduated from high school. That didn’t appeal to me all that much since my father worked 38 years for a factory that later went bankrupt, forcing him to retire at the age of 57 because no one wanted to hire and pay a man with a 6th grade education.

I married my high school sweetheart but we were divorced after 11 years, during which proceeding I won full custody of our children who were 1 and 6 years old at the time. That was a turning point in my life--a new mind set was created and developed. I discovered if I put my passion into something and never give up, success will follow.

Throughout my life, my entire family suffered different health-related problems that were mostly due to poor eating habits. As a kid, it confused and disturbed me that the ones I loved were dying at a rapid rate. So to find some way to avoid the same thing happening to me, I worked as a personal fitness trainer for a total of 12 years, at the University of Iowa Fieldhouse Rec Center, Golds Gym and later for the Cedar Rapids/Marion YMCA. It was too late to save my family—among other things, my mother had 15 surgeries in an 11-year period, five of which were stomach gastric by-passes. My father recently passed away due to high blood pressure that later caused heart failure. It didn’t take me long to figure out that what this country needs is not healthcare reform so much as healthcare education.

To help cope with many disappointments that I was faced with, I got this wild idea (which was encouraged by many) to start a career as a stand-up comedian. No matter how difficult life has treated me, my sense of humor always carried me through. I toured 36 states, performing in clubs, bars, and restaurants as well as corporate events. For the most part I enjoyed the experience and learned a lot about the entertainment industry first hand. Unfortunately, one of the lessons I learned was that entertainment is a cut-throat business loaded with shady booking agents and booking agencies that routinely take advantage of young and naive talent for their own personal gain. But through passion and perseverance, I learned to manage and book my own shows, keeping 100% of the profit for myself so that I was able to pay my opening acts and cover hotels and traveling costs. I might add that, due to my persistent and creative marketing skills, I was able to sell out shows all over the Mid-West, including venues down the street from the only comedy club in town that had banned me. I proved my point and incidentally fed my addiction for attention and laughs, but the lifestyle that comes with it was not healthy for me, my daughters, or my girlfriend. I had to make a change.

Eventually I found myself back in the health and nutrition industry, specifically promoting the "Project10 Challenge" where you feed a child in need for a month just for losing 10 pounds of unwanted weight or gain 10 pounds of lean muscle. And to my amazement, without selling or buying any inventory I was able to replace my income in 6 months, drive a brand new black BMW paid for by the company and retire at the age of 40. Life is good.

For my success, I want to personally thank Jesus Christ, and my two amazingly talented kids, gifts from God and my two best friends, Courtney and Bianca. I want to recognize them for their unconditional love, infinite patience, true inspiration and for saving my life. And for that I am forever grateful.

Now the journey begins!