The Books
Journey Began: Carrying a Brown Paper Bag and a Borrowed Pair of Shoes
An inspirational business memoir about building from nothing while working a full-time job — plus the companion journal that puts its lessons in your own hands. For readers who loved Shoe Dog.
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Carrying a Brown Paper Bag and a Borrowed Pair of Shoes
The business memoir for the entrepreneur who didn't start with money. No investors. No inheritance. Just the honest story of building something real from almost nothing — the failures, the losses, and the family grit that carried five generations.
Not sure yet? Read a free sample on Amazon
Inside the Book
In 1957, a twenty-two-year-old woman boarded a bus from Dawson, Georgia, to Miami with a brown paper bag and a borrowed pair of shoes. Generations later, her grandson built a business from nothing and kept the promise he made to write it all down.
Journey Began is two stories braided into one. It's the memoir of Dorothy Bell Hunt — five generations traced from a man born to slave parents in southwest Georgia, through a cotton field, to a hospice bed in Miami Gardens. And it's a working-class field guide written for the person reading on their lunch break, between shifts, with four hundred dollars in their checking account and an idea that won't leave them alone.
This isn't a first-act story. By the time Eddrick Javon Trumpler listed his first car and built a South Florida fleet operation — real vehicles, real revenue — he had already started one business, lost it, and rebuilt from the wreckage. He did it all while working a demanding full-time job, with no investors, no inheritance, and no safety net beyond the paycheck that kept the lights on while the business learned to walk. He taught himself the trade at two in the morning after closing shift, and he learned the hard lessons the only way most working people can afford to: by making the mistake himself.
This is not a victory lap. It's a confession and a blueprint at the same time — the bad decisions he had to unwind, the months he almost quit, and the systems he built when no one was watching. It's a story about overcoming adversity and generational resilience: the grit that didn't start with him, but with a young woman who stepped out on faith with whatever she had.
If you've ever searched for a business memoir like Shoe Dog, or for the true story of someone who figured out how to start a business with almost nothing, this is that book — told from the lunch break, not the corner office. Read the story behind the book →
If you started with money, this book will still be useful.
If you didn't, this book is for you.
An inspirational memoir of faith, perseverance, and a Black family's legacy — built on the belief that faith without works is dead.
Is This Book for You?
Who This Entrepreneur Memoir Is For
- Readers who finished Shoe Dog and want another honest founder story
- Anyone starting a business with little money and no investors
- People building something while working a full-time job
- Readers looking for an African American business memoir rooted in family legacy
- Anyone drawn to stories of faith, perseverance, and generational resilience
Want the practical side first? Read starting a business with zero capital, or get to know Eddrick Trumpler, the author.
Part Memoir, Part Field Guide
What Makes This Working-Class Business Memoir Different
Most business memoirs are written after the money arrived. Journey Began is written from the edges of a full-time job. Part memoir, part field guide, it is for readers who want the truth about building something from nothing: the paperwork, the credit, the mistakes, the family pressure, the faith, the grief, the late nights, and the decision to keep going anyway.
Business Lessons Inside Journey Began
- Building a business around a full-time job, one step at a time
- Rebuilding after a first business fails
- Protecting your credit and reading the paperwork before you sign
- Spotting financing that looks like a lifeline but works like a trap
- Running a real rental operation: vehicles, guests, and logistics
- Using modern tools like AI to do the work of a bigger team
- Naming and building a brand after the business is real
Look Inside
Read the First Page of Journey Began
Chapter One · The Paper Bag
In 1957, my grandmother got word that her sister was planning to separate her three children.
She was twenty-two years old. Her name was Dorothy Bell Hunt. She had been born on March 19, 1935, in Dawson, Georgia, a small town in Terrell County in the southwest corner of the state — the kind of place that doesn't show up on most maps and doesn't need to.
She had a third-grade education, maybe a fifth. The family is not exactly sure, and she never bothered to correct anybody — because she did not believe a piece of paper from a schoolhouse was the measure of a person.
“
Each failure is in here as tuition — paid, so you don't have to pay it twice.
Early Readers
What Readers Are Saying About Journey Began
★★★★★
“This book is raw, authentic and vulnerable.”
Amazon reader review, June 23, 2026 · Read reviews on Amazon
Finished Journey Began? Your review helps another working-class founder find this book.
Leave a review on Amazon →The Companion
Coming Next From Eddrick Trumpler
Borrowed Shoes: A Build-From-Nothing Journal for Entrepreneurs
A Build-From-Nothing Journal for Entrepreneurs
The companion to Journey Began. Where the memoir tells the story, the journal puts the work in your hands — a guided space to plan, build, and push through, mapped to the lessons that carried the whole journey. The lessons of the memoir, made practical.
Get notified when it's out →Common Questions
Frequently asked questions about Journey Began
What is Journey Began about?
Journey Began is a business memoir by Eddrick Trumpler. It tells two stories at once: how he built a business from nothing while working a full-time job, and the five-generation story of his grandmother, Dorothy Bell Hunt.
Who is Eddrick Trumpler?
Eddrick Trumpler is an author and entrepreneur from South Florida. He built a vehicle rental business while working full time — after starting and losing an earlier business and rebuilding from it — and wrote the memoir Journey Began about the whole journey. Read his full story →
Is Journey Began based on a true story?
Yes. Journey Began is a true memoir. It follows Eddrick Trumpler's real journey building a business from nothing, alongside the true family history of his grandmother, Dorothy Bell Hunt, beginning with her 1957 bus ride from Dawson, Georgia.
Is Journey Began similar to Shoe Dog?
Journey Began was written for readers who loved Shoe Dog. Like Phil Knight's memoir, it is an honest, first-person story of building something real from almost nothing, including the failures. For more titles, see this list of business memoirs like Shoe Dog.
How did Eddrick Trumpler build a business while working full time?
Eddrick Trumpler built his business in the hours around his shifts, with no investors and no safety net beyond his paycheck. Journey Began shares how he taught himself the work and grew it step by step without quitting his job. He breaks down what worked in how to start a business while working full time.
Start Reading Journey Began
Read the story first. The journal that turns it into action is on the way.
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