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 ۙ