We hear a lot of different stories about how people
got into vaping. And while many are inspiring,
they do tend to follow a similar formula. Person
starts smoking at an alarmingly early age, struggles to quit
cold turkey or with nicotine replacement therapy, eventually
finds vaping and then switches for good.
But then there’s Innevape’s Jeff Connell.
A man with an unbridled passion for music, Jeff was
destined to be a creator. While life initially got in the way
of his music career, he would find profitable outlets for his
creativity.
“My investor had a couple of telemarketing companies. He
knew that I had ability as a writer so he suggested I put a
couple of scripts together.
“I immediately started making a lot of money. I took over the
place and started managing it.”
Within a couple of years, Jeff had started his own company.
He travelled around North America training, setting up
telemarketing and trying out new scripts.
Meanwhile, he channelled his creativity through a novel
and the self-help book, Guiding Light for Consumers (GLC).
“I ended up putting that together and I sold that to ATC
broadband and made a couple million dollars off of it. I
thought okay this is my answer.”
Now with financial security, Jeff could plough $1.8million
into a home studio that would allow him to record after
hours while also taking care of his kids. He recorded some
videos, performed some live shows. But, before he knew it,
his money was drained.
“I screwed up because I was supposed to update GLC but
“I’m in the hospital bed
with a mask on my face
and they’re telling
me that I’d stopped
breathing and died”
I was distracted by the music stuff. I dropped the ball and
lost the contract. “I went from a couple million dollars
in my bank thinking that everything was gonna be great
forever and then next thing you know I turned around and I
had 30 grand in my bank.
“It was just enough to leave the place and go back down to
Florida and start all over.”
He spent the next few years doing sales and other projects.
It was during this time that Jeff started a screenwriting
class. Through the class he was hooked up with a manager
who helped him land some screenwriting and ghostwriting
gigs, including working on a script with Lost actor, Matthew
Fox.
One night after spending the evening doing rewrites and
chain-smoking, it started to feel like his big break had
finally come.
“I thought, ‘man this is it, I made it. I’m gonna have a movie.’
“I went and laid down and I couldn’t breathe. About an hour
later, I look up and my wife is yelling on the phone. I can’t
even hear what she’s saying. The next thing I remember,
I’m in the hospital bed with a mask on my face and they’re
telling me that I’d stopped breathing and died and they
brought me back around.
“And so, from that day, I never never smoked another
cigarette”
And so began his vaping journey. But Jeff being Jeff,
making do with the meagre products available at the
time wasn’t an option. He needed to do it right if he was
to succeed and survive. The ever-present fear that a single
slip up could kill him was forever on his mind.
Vaping became Jeff’s new obsession.
“I got psycho into vaping. 3am, watching German videos
about guys building tube mods.
“I didn’t understand what they were saying but I was
watching it desperately ‘cause I had to know how to make
it work.”
A period of creativity followed, where Jeff brewed his own
e-liquids which he would then give to smokers at the
construction company where he worked. One of those
people inspired by Jeff’s enthusiasm would go on to
become his partner and launch a vape company with him.
But they needed a name. Something catchy that captured
what the brand was all about.
Jeff churned through literally hundreds of names but
nothing was clicking. That is, until an email arrived with the
subject ‘Re. In Escape’ - the title of a script he was working
on.
In Escape… Innevape. He had it.
It worked because, after all, this was about innovation. But
it was also about the arts that feed into Jeff’s creative
process.
“I put heavy thought process behind what I do. All of our
liquids are either cinematic or musical.
“Everything themed is out of my soul so it’s either cinema,
you know, writing for screenplays, or it’s music or television.”
Television like Breaking Bad: the inspiration for Heisenberg.
The now-iconic e-liquid changed the game for Jeff as a
vaping entrepreneur. Now, with the security of a global
vape brand, his musical aspirations can now once again
take centre stage.
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