ABOUT DEREK STONE

My Journey

  Derek Stone is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Stone’s Repair and Remodel, LLC. He’s been married to his high school sweetheart, Crystal for the past 17 years and together they have two boys: Ashton, 14 years old and Noah, 7 years old. Derek came from humble beginnings and grew up in Section-8 housing located in Mobile, AL.  Derek has a fraternal twin brother and was the youngest of 4 children growing up. His parents divorced when he was 5 years old and had to raise himself when his mom started working 3 jobs to keep the lights on. He moved to North East Mississippi at age 16 when his mother re-married for the 3rd time and started his life over.

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   Through his teenage years he did hard labor working on a hay farm and a landscaping company.  Later he tried retail and restaurant management throughout out college and became a Certified Grand Opening Trainer for Chick-fil-A. This is where he learned the value of creating duplicatable systems. Derek went to a community college in Booneville, MS for 3 years and got a degree in Business Marketing and Management.

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   For 12 years Derek had dreams of becoming a musician. This road didn’t lead him to success, it led him to Nashville, TN. Struggling to live as a starving artist with a family to feed Derek did lots of odd jobs to make money while living in Nashville, one in particular almost cost him his life. It was then he thought “there’s got to be a better way.” He went through an early life crisis and changed careers through watching YouTube and the help of a few mentors. He was able to take his God given talent of Creativity and transferred it from being something that you hear, to something that you can now see.  He exposed a niche in the construction world that was hated by builders, but very much necessary in order to close houses. The construction industry was his road to success, the “better way” he had longed for in the past. He grew this small one man show to over 28 and was able to go from $68,000 to $1.2 million in gross revenue in three short years.

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  He gives all the credit for his success to one decision he made while a senior in high school. He says, “I started looking back at my life to figure out what made me so different from my other three siblings. I chose to forgive my dad and not take the same paths my parents did. I blamed dad for every bad thing I went through as a child: from being sexually abused, going hungry (thank God for school lunches), to having to take cold showers because the power got cut off. I was very bitter as a teenager and wanted a better life, so when the opportunity presented itself, I took it!”

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  In 2014 when his business started thriving, something had to give in his busy schedule. Over much consideration his music was the only thing that would free up more time. He says, “When I walked away from performing, it hurt so bad. I had given it all my heart for so long and sacrificed anyone and anything to make it happen. In whatever perspective you looked at it, my music always fell short and just wasn’t enough to make ends meet. I felt like I had this powerful message locked inside and just lost the platform to share it. In 2019 I felt a nudge to write, so, that’s exactly what I did.”

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36 years since the beginning of his story and he is currently living his best life, not someone else’s. He enjoys hunting, fishing, knife making, and hanging out with his family. He loves helping people re-tool to change their lives and empowering them to do so. He loves God, loves his family, and loves people.

Forward from the Author:

“The title of the book, “Why Should I Forgive” is actually a personal question that came from a place of deep contempt, of harsh questioning. Yet, after I ask that question often the next usually follows: But how can I forgive …...? These two questions are often hard to walk through alone. The topics and obstacles I go through in my book are from my perspective and tend to be things people shy away from talking about in public. Forgiveness can be a scary thing, especially when you don’t know what it looks like. Hindsight is 20/20 they say. Looking back at my journey I saw all the doors open: who they opened for, why they opened, when they opened, what was affected, and realize that if those doors didn’t open things would have and could have gone much differently.”

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  “I want to unpack the place of discontentment that allows most people to change their lives. Then show them how to lean on their instincts and clean out their surroundings. When that happens, we start preparations, metaphorically, for open-heart surgery. Where I hope to help people deal with their: self-critic, fear and anxiety, be able to weigh the cost of bitterness, and their ability to make a healthy choice. Then show them how to use a little faith to surrender the outcome. The final piece to the puzzle is gratitude. Most people who are happy know that happiness comes from a grateful heart. They are two sides of the same sword of joy. You can’t have joy in your life if you’re a bitter, malicious, and unforgiving person. I wanted to include a chapter on what forgiveness in marriage looks like in a real marriage headed for divorce while refusing to give up on the vow and commitment made on their wedding day. Then I leave you all with a challenge. To push past what you think you know and what you desire to become.”

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I have no formal education in phycology, M.D., Ph.D., nor a DR degree. This book comes from real life experience. It’s not a story I made up. It’s a story I lived through. Isn't it easier to cross a valley by going over a bridge someone else built? This book is that bridge for hurting people.