I am a Graphic Designer. I love what I do, I go to work in sweats, messy hair, and eat abundantly. The fridge is only a few feet away. I get paid to draw, paint and create some pretty cool things. We work on globally reaching projects and get to blast the music all day, everyday.
Things are getting rough. This past week has been a nightmare financially. Back in June, when I did my first commercial pro-bono with the hope of getting more work from it, I knew it would effect the upcoming month. However, when you take a month a ‘free’ project, it can have a negative outcome on your finances.
Isn’t that what I’ve been writing about these past months? How following your dreams is worth it. How no matter what anyone else says, just follow your heart. I have been riding the happy bus for 3 months now, giving every reason imaginable for readers to be inspired to follow their own dreams. Now things look cloudier than ever.
Being in the mortgage business for the last 3 years was like getting a masters in finance. I can not do anything without completely diving into it, and I learned a ton about business, markets, and financial institutions in general. On top of that, I discovered Robert Kiyosaki, Og Mandino, Marshall Silver, Tony Robbins, Donald Trump and a few other highly successful, inspirational authors. The information I learned will be cherished for the rest of my life, as any and every business can be helped by the lessons taught by those men.
One common main point they each touched on was….
Always put yourself first.
One of the greatest actors, martial artists, and human beings ever to live, Bruce Lee redefined the world of martial arts. He was the inspiration for the UFC, as he was the one who believed in no styles, but a mix of them (mixed martial arts = MMA).
Enjoy the weekend, and enjoy this inspirational video for Friday.
Every Saturday for the last 2 or so years, I teach a beginner’s Jiu Jitsu class. I started just trying to help out the school’s owner here and there, and worked my way to a weekly class. At first, it seemed as if teaching the class was a job. But I slowly learned that this so-called job was the best thing to ever happen to me at Jiu Jitsu. It not only helped others get better, it helped me get better than I ever thought.
Teaching anything is not easy. It forces you to have to re-learn something, break it down, and then teach it in simple, easy steps. You never know what questions are going to be thrown at you, so it also forces you to see things from different perspectives. Sounds like a chore, but actually it is one of the most beneficial things you can do for yourself.
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Yesterday, I finally was back on a set, shooting video again for the first time since 2004. My company ReImagine shot a commercial for Advanced Martial Arts in North Brunswick, NJ. It has been a long time over due. Film making just feels like where I belong. I never really felt that anywhere else. For the last couple of years, when I closed a mortgage, I was happy to get paid. That’s about it.
There is nothing wrong with doing mortgages, it just was not for me. I realized after awhile that it was only for the paycheck. If you don’t put your entire heart and soul into everything you do, then a paycheck does not make up for it. I think a lot of people’s anger is sourced from this.
This tag line from Nike is one of my favorite of all time. To me it sums up everything about the sports mentality in three words. It’s a shortened tag, from the line, “Don’t talk about it, just go out there and do it.” It shouldn’t only be Nike’s tag line. It should be yours as well.
Many people, including myself, talk about things that we want to do. We either make strong defining statements, drastic claims, or emotional outbursts to back up our fervent word. We not only convince others of our focused intentions, we sometimes convince ourselves as well.
Yesterday was not a good day for me. Nothing tragic. Just more financial runoff from my failed adventure as a mortgage branch manager. Some days, for all of us entrepreneurs hacking it out in the wilderness, it can be quite rough. If it was easy, I guess everyone would do it, but it definitely is not easy, no matter how positive I stay.
When I’m having a bad day like yesterday, where the stress kind of takes over your body till you physically feel sick, there is only one thing that helps calm the mind and ease the soul. It’s called visualization. It is one of the most important tools of any entrepreneur.
In today’s day and age, doing research is not quite the same as our parents and grandparents. It is a hell of a lot easier. However, if ease is the positive, then what is the negative? The answer is the amount of information that is false.
I was training the other night, when a respected friend of mine began telling me about a discovery at John’s Hopkins. He said they found out that if you cut refined sugar & red meat out of your diet, then the cancer cells can no longer live. They apparently feed off of the sugar.
