Small Business Today Magazine JUL 2014 PHENOMENAL PRODUCTS | Page 9

Howard speaking at one of the Howard Partridge Round Table Conferences that are held three times a year. Photograph courtesy of Howard Partridge. Howard and Denise received money as wedding gifts and they were delighted to rake in $3,000. While in New Jersey, Howard met a friend of Denise’s family who was 23 years old (the same age as Howard) and was driving around in a red Mercedes SL convertible. That really got Howard’s attention. He wanted to know what the friend did and if it was legal! As it turned out, the friend owned his own business. With the $3,000 in cash that Howard and Denise had been given at their wedding, Howard emulated the friend and began his first business working out of the trunk of his car. In 1987, about three years after he got married, Howard had a spiritual awakening. He reflected, “I still wasn’t working smart but my wife said I had the potential. The “Holy Spirit” just came over me and I gave my life to Jesus Christ. It came completely out of nowhere. When I was 15 years old, I started smoking pot and I became addicted to marijuana but when I came to know the Lord, that addiction that I had tried to quit many times and couldn’t was completely and utterly broken. I was delivered from it. It was just broken and all of a sudden I had my mind back and it was like this weight was lifted off my shoulders. I could actually think clearly for a change. That really was the turning point of my life.” Howard elaborated,“When you have a spiritual awakening, you start looking at all parts of your life. I felt like I got my mind back and all of a sudden I wanted to be more successful and to just understand life. It’s a wonderful world and I want to understand everything that I can.” Even with his epiphany, for 13 ۙ