Greetings all. I'm new here. Read the book, loved it and now want to contribute here in a meaningful way, based upon my own experiences.
A quick background:
I'm from West Philly, born and raised. (And yes the playground is actually where I spent a lot of my days) Changed majors a few times in university. Started off comp sci, then finance, and finally got my degree in rhetorical theory. God i love my major! Saw a need in the personal computing marketplace while a sophomore, started a small computer company building custom computers for people and a dynasty was born. Please keep in mind, at the time, the major players were Dell and Micron...and eveything they sold was $1k and over. More like $1200 and up. After hearing the gripes of some of the student body about computer lab time not being enough yata yata, i decided to start a company similar to Dell and Micron, but selling computers on the opposite end of the scale that were $1k and under. So i did some digging and found out who some of the major suppliers and distributors were, setup a company, got accounts with 3 of them and off i went. I wasnt Mr. popular, but i was super cool with all the popular kids. Word spread and next thing you know i had an assbly line in my suite where i was building computers for people. Business was good. I made 60k my sophomore year. (Thats gross not net, hahahaa)
My buying power wasn't that great so my margins were a little better than abysmal. So although 60k sounds great, I only sold about 70 or so computers. But hey, whatever, it was an unknown market, I through myself in it and learned as I went. What a great time. The girls swore I was rolling in money. After sophomore year I hung it up, got involved in fraternity life, girls, and partying. Loved my major so I joined the debate team and started dominating my matches. I really got into it. I sucked initially but learned from my losses and kept reading and studying.
Eventually Graduated university and went to work freelance in the TV/film industry in NYC. Worked for 1.5 years in NYC, moved to Venice Beach on a whim where I worked freelance for a production company that shot for all the major networks. Best time of my life.
Finished my project there and moved to DC where I worked for a TV network for a couple years full time. Uh oh! This fulltime thing sucks!
Spent 4 years in DC becoming a gentleman really growing as a man, started a few business ventures that tanked miserably or only had moderate success, but I was having a blast. I love DC, best time of my life.
After 4 years I moved back to NYC metro. I needed a job so I became a digital marketing consultant. What the hell is that you may ask? I'm still not really sure. But for the next 4 years I became a pretty darn successful digital marketing consultant. (I was an internet marketer working for major corporations) The only problem was that it was fulltime.
Ya see, I started off freelance and loved it. I made more than all my friends because I didn't have company benefits like staffers, and I work my own schedule. I would work 4 weeks and be off 3. Work another 3 months and be off a month. It all depended on whether or not I wanted to start another project.
So when I went fulltime, geez what a drag. I remember all the days I got to work late, but worked until 9pm the night before and I would get "talked to." Lol. After a while it started to make me laugh and people would leave me alone. The debater in me came out one day when my manager called me in her office. She said, "do you know what time it is?" "Yes." "Well you're a half hour late.!" "OK no prob, its just that I was here until 9pm last night, and you being a caring individual with a family and good family values I'm sure can understand that right?" (The family values had nothing to do with nothing but I was amused and wanted to see where she would go with the scolding.) So she said it doesn't matter that I was here that late, I have a start time that I need to adhere to, its company policy. So I asked her what exactly was I late for?......(jeopardy music playing) It doesn't matter, the clock starts at 9. So I asked when does that clock end. 5:30!
From that day forward I never stayed late again. I actually walked out of meetings led by the vice president and president because it was 5:30p. They looked at me like I was crazy but I made it very clear that my manager will tear me a new one if I don't stick to the time deadlines at the job. (I said that right in front of her) I know I can be an a-hole sometimes, but hey people are sheep in this corporate world we live in and nobody questions anything. I question things I don't understand.
Fast forward to current day, I was a consultant and my contract came up for renewal. I didn't renew. The job just got boring. I know I know, I live in the NYC metro area where rent is sky high, and I allowed myself to get laid off. I know I've heard it all before. But let me reassure you, I was happy as a clam to turn down my renewal.
Here's the thing, I know a lot about my current field and do the job well. And despite what they say about a recession, I don't buy into it. I get hit up by headhunters at least 4 times a month wanting to poach me. So if I want another "job" I'll get one. Office politics just don't suit me that well. I could care less about your daughters recital, who she's dating, why we can't wear jeans everyday especially when we're not client facing, why you feel the need to email me whenyou sit 2 desks oover, why IM is mandatory...when you all sit 2 desks away from each other...etc etc.
The one thing that kept me sane through all that drudgery was the gym. As bored out of my mind as I might have been I always perked up at the end of the day so I could go to the gym. I trained very hard. Eventually others started tagging along with me. Then I became a personal trainer and would train others on the weekends.
So that this doesn't become just another glorified job, I'm going to take this being laid off time to figure out the loophole and create a mega fastlane business based on my fitness niche.
So with all of that said, its a pleasure to meet you and I look forward to contributing.
MJ, great book my friend.
A quick background:
I'm from West Philly, born and raised. (And yes the playground is actually where I spent a lot of my days) Changed majors a few times in university. Started off comp sci, then finance, and finally got my degree in rhetorical theory. God i love my major! Saw a need in the personal computing marketplace while a sophomore, started a small computer company building custom computers for people and a dynasty was born. Please keep in mind, at the time, the major players were Dell and Micron...and eveything they sold was $1k and over. More like $1200 and up. After hearing the gripes of some of the student body about computer lab time not being enough yata yata, i decided to start a company similar to Dell and Micron, but selling computers on the opposite end of the scale that were $1k and under. So i did some digging and found out who some of the major suppliers and distributors were, setup a company, got accounts with 3 of them and off i went. I wasnt Mr. popular, but i was super cool with all the popular kids. Word spread and next thing you know i had an assbly line in my suite where i was building computers for people. Business was good. I made 60k my sophomore year. (Thats gross not net, hahahaa)
My buying power wasn't that great so my margins were a little better than abysmal. So although 60k sounds great, I only sold about 70 or so computers. But hey, whatever, it was an unknown market, I through myself in it and learned as I went. What a great time. The girls swore I was rolling in money. After sophomore year I hung it up, got involved in fraternity life, girls, and partying. Loved my major so I joined the debate team and started dominating my matches. I really got into it. I sucked initially but learned from my losses and kept reading and studying.
Eventually Graduated university and went to work freelance in the TV/film industry in NYC. Worked for 1.5 years in NYC, moved to Venice Beach on a whim where I worked freelance for a production company that shot for all the major networks. Best time of my life.
Finished my project there and moved to DC where I worked for a TV network for a couple years full time. Uh oh! This fulltime thing sucks!
Spent 4 years in DC becoming a gentleman really growing as a man, started a few business ventures that tanked miserably or only had moderate success, but I was having a blast. I love DC, best time of my life.
After 4 years I moved back to NYC metro. I needed a job so I became a digital marketing consultant. What the hell is that you may ask? I'm still not really sure. But for the next 4 years I became a pretty darn successful digital marketing consultant. (I was an internet marketer working for major corporations) The only problem was that it was fulltime.
Ya see, I started off freelance and loved it. I made more than all my friends because I didn't have company benefits like staffers, and I work my own schedule. I would work 4 weeks and be off 3. Work another 3 months and be off a month. It all depended on whether or not I wanted to start another project.
So when I went fulltime, geez what a drag. I remember all the days I got to work late, but worked until 9pm the night before and I would get "talked to." Lol. After a while it started to make me laugh and people would leave me alone. The debater in me came out one day when my manager called me in her office. She said, "do you know what time it is?" "Yes." "Well you're a half hour late.!" "OK no prob, its just that I was here until 9pm last night, and you being a caring individual with a family and good family values I'm sure can understand that right?" (The family values had nothing to do with nothing but I was amused and wanted to see where she would go with the scolding.) So she said it doesn't matter that I was here that late, I have a start time that I need to adhere to, its company policy. So I asked her what exactly was I late for?......(jeopardy music playing) It doesn't matter, the clock starts at 9. So I asked when does that clock end. 5:30!
From that day forward I never stayed late again. I actually walked out of meetings led by the vice president and president because it was 5:30p. They looked at me like I was crazy but I made it very clear that my manager will tear me a new one if I don't stick to the time deadlines at the job. (I said that right in front of her) I know I can be an a-hole sometimes, but hey people are sheep in this corporate world we live in and nobody questions anything. I question things I don't understand.
Fast forward to current day, I was a consultant and my contract came up for renewal. I didn't renew. The job just got boring. I know I know, I live in the NYC metro area where rent is sky high, and I allowed myself to get laid off. I know I've heard it all before. But let me reassure you, I was happy as a clam to turn down my renewal.
Here's the thing, I know a lot about my current field and do the job well. And despite what they say about a recession, I don't buy into it. I get hit up by headhunters at least 4 times a month wanting to poach me. So if I want another "job" I'll get one. Office politics just don't suit me that well. I could care less about your daughters recital, who she's dating, why we can't wear jeans everyday especially when we're not client facing, why you feel the need to email me whenyou sit 2 desks oover, why IM is mandatory...when you all sit 2 desks away from each other...etc etc.
The one thing that kept me sane through all that drudgery was the gym. As bored out of my mind as I might have been I always perked up at the end of the day so I could go to the gym. I trained very hard. Eventually others started tagging along with me. Then I became a personal trainer and would train others on the weekends.
So that this doesn't become just another glorified job, I'm going to take this being laid off time to figure out the loophole and create a mega fastlane business based on my fitness niche.
So with all of that said, its a pleasure to meet you and I look forward to contributing.
MJ, great book my friend.
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