Life & Work with Vernon Arias of Seven Seeds Society

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vernon Arias. 

Hi Vernon, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My wife and I have always shared an entrepreneur spirit. We are both very spontaneous, and like adventure, we are passionate about family, we travel and explore the outdoors as much as possible, and have always enjoyed health and fitness. 

My wife has so many creative abilities along with her professional training background, and I have always had a draw to anything in the field of protection, whether it was for studying our military, skilling up in situational awareness and survival training, or with my experience in executive protection. As you can see, we had no shortage of options to explore. So, we set out as an ambitious couple to pursue life and find our calling. We started a few different businesses over the years, but it’s been in the last several years that our pursuit became clearer and laser-focused. 

We spent time mapping out our thoughts, narrowing our ideas, and planning and testing the ones that made the final cut. In total, we spent a little less than 1 year and nailed everything down to launch our umbrella company, 7 Armor. That’s been almost a year ago now, but it’s how we grew into Seven Seeds Society. 

Despite our fumbles and stumbles along the way, we started seeing clearly where we felt most passionate and could invest our heart, our skills, and time in a way that would serve others and leave a legacy. It starts with family. Our family is our passion in life, aside from our faith, and we have always said, “If we have a need, how can we be the answer?” Most of the time, if we experience a frustration or an obstacle that we can’t find an answer to, it begs one to wonder, “Is anyone else out there needing this same thing?” or “Is anyone else looking for this same thing?”. We can’t be the only ones, right?” So, we started researching what types of ways our boys can get outdoors and have a safe hands-on experience that also focused on mindset. We were wanting them to learn about survival, preparedness, and what to do if they ever found themselves turned around while exploring the great outdoors or even lost in the concrete jungle. After a lot of time spent Googling, we just couldn’t find what we were envisioning for our boys. 

That was it; that was THE moment we knew that we were the answer to our problem. We had an epiphany, my passion in security, preparedness, and survival training combined with my wife’s creativity and teaching background; we had the answer to our own problem. Instead of looking outward for the answer, we began looking inward to create a solution. 

We brainstormed with fervor and came up with several concepts for what is now Seven Seeds Society. We surveyed parents, friends, and family, tested out a few of the lasting ideas, and launched this year! It’s been so incredible, a wild ride so far, full of excitement, anticipation, doing things scared, and learning to trust in our faith in bigger ways than we ever have. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Our journey so far has been full of wonder, lots of learning curves, and victories. It has felt like the more we pursue what we’re truly called to do, the more challenges we’ve faced. Relying heavily on our faith is truly how we navigate life, and because of that, we’ve persevered and overcome the challenging situations we’ve encountered along the way. Renewing our mindset, so we don’t lose sight of the bigger picture is how we handle challenges. Keeping the right mindset is so important in every area of life, and that’s one reason it’s such a critical part of who we are at Seven Seeds Society. 

We have had to learn to do things neither of us have any idea how to do. Some days my wife would look at me and just say, “This is overwhelming; how are we going to get all of this done?”. We both had moments where we had to dig our heels in and lean on the fact, we knew the direction we were supposed to go and refused to give up. We would find encouragement along the way in what we call “the bump blessings,” blessings that come right when you hit a bump in the road, at just the right moment. Even in the moments where it felt like we were in over our heads, we would remember our “Why” and encourage one another. We are thankful for our community because whether it was being connected with someone who knew what we needed to know or talking with someone that would give us a word or idea that we needed to get unstuck, it’s been that extra support to help us persevere and stay in faith to lead us to the next steps. 

It has taken a lot of grit and dedication to get us launched. It’s tested our boundaries, our limits and helped us persevere to pursue our dream. We are so excited to have this fun, adventurous and family-focused society to offer central Ohio! A fun place to let your children explore the outdoors, grow in their abilities and confidence, connect as a family, and learn new things together. It’s a family adventure dream! 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I am originally from the island of Curacao, Netherlands-Antilles; I grew up playing just about every sport available, and I was in Boy Scouts until I graduated high school. As a child, I was a protector. I was always keeping an eye on the younger kids or noticing if someone else was in a potentially dangerous situation or be the first to help. I had a very strong academic upbringing and surrounded by family that was in the police force or military; I had a strong pull for any field that involved protection. As I reflect on my youth, I could summarize it by saying it was made up of academics, athletics, and developing my passion of protection and survival. 

During my last year of high school, a lot of decisions needed to be made. I moved forward with pursuing the military as a pilot; I was scouted for a few AAA baseball teams in the USA and also had some academic and athletic scholarship options from a few colleges here in the USA, too. At the time, it felt overwhelming to have so many options. I decided to pursue the path of being a pilot for our military but ended up being too tall for the position at the time. Once that box was checked, I had to decide whether to skip college and pursue professional baseball or head to college on athletic and academic scholarships. It was a very tough decision, but I landed on taking advantage of the scholarships and moved to the states where I continued baseball and completed college. 

In that time, I was still trying to understand what to do with that desire to be in a field where I can leverage the protective nature I so strongly felt. I wasn’t a US citizen at the time and wanted to join the US Military, but it wasn’t in the cards for me back then. I spent a lot of my spare time studying the military, connecting with people I knew to learn, and that desire grew and grew over the years. I tossed around the idea of becoming a State Trooper, also. 

Along that journey, I ended up working at a restaurant bar, where I quickly became a manager and then onto General Manager. In that role, I was responsible for all security measures, both physical and procedural, from top to bottom. It was a time when I really started studying, learning, and applying my skills directly to a position that required the knowledge. Over time, we moved, and I started a new career, but I was able to find a place where I could grow in executive protection. I was trained by a friend that currently works for Homeland Security, later completed training in Texas with executive protection professionals, and completed other professional executive protection training. 

Through that time, my family was growing, and our two sons were born. I started serving a multi-million-dollar company with real-life application of my security knowledge and skills over the last 10 years and completed a lot of training focused on survival, mindset, executive protection, and situational awareness. 

As time went on, I continued spending every additional moment studying security, preparedness, survival skills, and situational awareness, to name a few. I knew this was my calling in life and through that progression is where our security company, 7 Armor, was born. If 7 Armor wasn’t birthed, then I am not sure we would be here at Seven Seeds Society today. We have the passion to bring families together through preparedness and survival adventures while equipping others to have the right mindset. 

I am thankful for this journey, and we are so excited to see how we can serve other families and help them adventure together through preparedness and survival activities as a family! 

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Columbus is a great city with a lot of growth and opportunity! My family enjoys all of the Metro Parks, and there are so many great places popping up that combine outdoor and indoor shopping, strolling, and dining opportunities. Columbus is also an awesome place to find new restaurants or foods to try, and definitely, a lot of sports to go see with family and friends! We tend to love the country-side and slower-paced living, so it’s hard to say what we like least about the city, but the one thing that could make it really great is invest in more outdoor spaces and activities that can be enjoyed no matter what our unpredictable weather brings us here in the Midwest. I feel strongly that all kids should have access to outdoor play and adventure, an area where families can experience the outdoors together and grow together. 

Pricing:

• Starter Survival Boxes $75 (not a subscription)
• Youth Preparedness Classes $150 (in-person)
• Family Preparedness Classes (Coming Soon)

Contact Info:

• Website: www.7armor.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sevenseedsociety/