Meet Michael Swift | Entrepreneur, Husband, Father, Brother & Uncle

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michael Swift and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, what do you attribute your success to?
Passion. I knew I didn’t want to have to go through the ordeal of sitting with a loved one after a death going through documents for hours to figure out what family member it was for, if it was the most recent document and could there be another of the same document in another location. To me there had to be a better way to manage this process. Although death is a topic I tend to stray away from I still wanted to ease the burden on loved ones during this time of sorrow.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with 
your business, can you tell us more?
Store and Share Vault is a secure Web Based Application created for
individuals to store online account logins, documents, information and
files to be shared with family members and loved ones should anything
happen to them.  At Store and Share Vault we believe our product and
services will help everyone, whether you are 25 years old and just
starting to put your life together, 50 years old in a terminal
situation wishing to ease the suffering of loved ones or 80 years old
preparing to ease the transition for your family Store and Share Vault
is for you.  At this moment S&S Vault only offers the portal for you
to upload, share and manage information, document and files.  In the
near future we will offer other services through our partners.  Some
of the services we will be offering are financial planning, tips on
entrepreneurship, living will declaration, power of attorney’s, mental
health and substance abuse assistance and other services related to
personal and family growth.  You will have access to all of these
services at your current monthly subscription cost.
My journey to entrepreneurship took longer than I expected.
As a now 52 year old that first started a business called Meeting
Finder more than 20 years ago, I made what I consider to be two of the
biggest mistakes of my young life and I didn’t even know it.  The
first being I didn’t look for support for what I wanted to do.  I had
no idea how to get started or where I could find support for what I
wanted to do nor did I have the money to do it all myself.  I didn’t
know about the SBA which was created in 1953 and I didn’t know of any
minority organizations that were out there that could help.  All I
knew is that I wanted to do my own thing and I had a family and a
mortgage and they took priority.  My second mistake was not to
surround myself with like minded individuals who knew more than I did
about entrepreneurship and in general, how to get stared, how it
worked, how to get funded and how to grow.  Today is so much
different.  Everyone who’s thinking about starting a business has
heard of the SBA and there are so many minority organizations out
there to help as well as other minority business owners.  Today I am
apart of multiple minority organization and committee’s that are
available to help anyone interested in entrepreneurship.  I owe much
of my success to them for their teachings, networking and their
patronage.  I was always willing to put in the hard work and even then
I found out that is only one ingredient needed in the recipe of
becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Atlanta, GA to me is the perfect location for any minority interested in being and entrepreneur. When I have guests visiting from out of town the first thing I like to do is introduce them to other entrepreneurs and people in my professional network hoping one of the stories they here will motivate them to become one. I’m a member of a couple of professional clubs so those are the places we will visit on the first couple of days, after that it’s on. I live in Gwinnett County but most of the places I enjoy visiting are in downtown Atlanta. My absolute favorite is Botica on Peachtree Rd. NW. I work hard so I play are as well and this is the perfect place to do that and the food is amazing, this place is a 2x week stop for me. I consider myself a foodie so this next place is a favorite for my taste buds. Pijiu Belly on 10th St. NW is where American food meets Asian….so freaking flavorful. Another really fun place is Tuk Tuk Thai Food Loft on Peachtree St. NE, the presentation of the food alone is amazing, the food has not been americanized at all mmmmmgood. Another favorite of mine and a staple in Atlanta is Mary Mac’s Tea Room. As a Louisiana boy when I want home cooking this place along with Louisiana Bistreaux Seafood Kitchen are my go to’s. I also like to show visitors Centennial Olympic Park and surrounding areas. Lastly, my absolutely favorite place for drinks is Park Bar on Walton St. NW. I’m a bourbon head so this place is perfect for me and I love showing it off.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My God Father who has since passed was someone who I desperately
wanted to emulate as a teenager. He’d served in the military and up to the time I left home at the age of 18, he was still working for himself. My God Father was a Carpenter primarily but he could do anything. The few years I spent working with him I had no idea some of him had rubbed off on me. During my 23 year career as a Telecommunications Engineer I started and stopped (3) businesses. It wasn’t until I exited the Telecommunications Industry and started to work for myself full time that I finally found and realized who I was. I knew the entire time I was working for someone else that it wasn’t who I was nor who I was meant to be. I had a good job in a seemingly booming industry and I wasn’t happy. This affected me at home with my wife and children. I would get home from working for someone else all day and begin to work for myself for another 3 or 4 hours before calling it a day. It didn’t stop there, my mind would be racing so fast I couldn’t get to sleep, this still happens to this very day. After I truly began my journey as an entrepreneur I haven’t looked back since and after the passing of my God Father I realized the work ethic, desire, problem solving skills and entrepreneur mind set I had I had learned from him. Then after the passing of my sister’s husband in October 2021, Store and Share Vault was born.

Website: https://storeandsharevault.io

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storeandsharevault/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Store-and-Share-Vault-S-and-S-Vault-107816765260015

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ0j9QKx8lyyGn0wcgziClw