ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME
I'm sitting here, I just got up from my last heavy dose of medicine. Today, I got my wisdom teeth out, but it dawned on me that I could be using this time to write, research, and learn as much as I can about opportunities on the Internet as opposed to watching TV, browsing, or YouTubing.
This is going to be my "reintroduction" to the Fastlane. I've been inactive for a while, but the idea of "going Fastlane" in my mind has never stopped growing inside myself.*
This is an extremely long post. 3 reasons: 1) I type 100 WPM, 2) I just got my wisdom teeth taken out, so I can barely move. What better way to spend my time than reflecting on where my life is headed? 3) I'm just putting thing in perspective for myself.*
So here's recap of the past 5 or so years or my life.
-------------
Pt 1 - Upbringing*
(I'm going to speak in Terms used from "The Book", so if you haven't read it, I suggest for you to get it because it'll change your life by changing your paradigm and perspective on money, employment/jobs, and how to get rich.)
-I'm 20, about to turn 21 in less than 2 months.*
-Almost from birth, I've been indoctrinated by Slowlane - my father is a successful commercial pilot with and accomplished track record and some nice college degrees. And my mother used to be successful in her businesses she was involved in until she had me and my sister and decided to devote herself full-time to raising us and being the best mother she could be (and I'm extremely grateful for her decision; I definitely wouldn't be the person that I am without her.)*
-I've been taught: Go to elem/middle/high school, get good grades, go to a nice college, get even more good grades, graduate at the top of your class, be the best academically so that you can get a nice job, work for someone else for however long it takes to get to "the top", then your life will finally become bliss and happiness because you will be working in a safe and secure position where you trade your time for a large amount of salary and eventually (big key word there), you'll become rich.*
-I followed this religiously and firmly believed in it until one day, as a rather precarious youth, I realized that, "there has got to be another way".*
-I could see the beginning struggles of my father (a pilot banking over 150k+ year) as his company went bankrupt and according to him, "the company gave me a 60% paycut and my pension basically dropped 16,000/month to 2,000/month". In addition, he got himself a house that he could afford at the time, but after the housing crisis hit, he just continually complained about how hard it is for him to pay the mortgage because he has to work additional hours now to keep up with the cost of living for our family of four.*
-He explains to me the financial difficulties that he's had to deal with ever since working for other people doing that which makes him happiest as a profession - flying. Amidst him telling me all of this about his struggles, he still HIGHLY encouraged me (and encouraged maybe a litote in that sense) to continue making good grade and going to college.*
-I always wanted to be a lawyer because I believed that I had a great grasp on the English language - both oral and written - so I knew that I'd be successful about it. Plus, the idea of a 150K+ salary seemed appealing even if I did have to work 80+ hours a week to make partner and then more hours as I worked my way to the top.*
-The key slowlane concept that I continued to espouse was that of "work hard, get promoted, get more money". All I knew was the time for money trade; nothing else.*
-------------------
*Pt 2 - School
-With a lifelong indoctrination/brainwashing with Slowlane concepts, I found myself questioning more of "is this REALLY the best route for me?"
-Even though I knew that I would excel at any field I applied myself to - whether it be medicine, engineering, law, etc - there was something that felt intuitively "off" for me whenever I thought about working X many years for someone else just didn't feel right. Maybe 90-95% of me was saying "Yeah, let's go!", but the struggles that I could see at home in regards to my family started planting a seed of doubt that would slowly sprout over the years into something that would cause me to rebel against the system wholeheartedly.*
-I found myself reading books about money and how to get rich. Most of them were just Slowlane stuff (earn, save, invest in stock market, etc), but there were two books I stumbled across that were different than the rest: 1) Think and Grow Rich and 2) 12 Month Millionaire.*
-The first made me realize that our thoughts have certain bearing upon them and that our thoughts follow the pattern of thoughts>>beliefs>>>actions>>>habits>>>character>>>destiny. And the second, introduced me to my very first concept of "The Fastlane". The idea that creating a product/fulfilling a need could make you money.
-I found these somewhere between my 10th and 11th grade year and that was like the first rays of hitting the soil where my Fastlane Seed was planted. Slowly, it started growing more and more.*
-During the summer before my senior year, I stumbled across the Fastlane Forum. I devoured it and seemed to almost read every single post/thread that was made since this was a completely new way at looking at money that I always intuitively knew about, but could never explain in words until now. The Fastlane forum started adding more and more water to my already growing Fastlane Seed and as Robert Frost said, "and that has made all the difference".*
--------------------
Pt 3 - School Pt 2
-With my introduction to the Fastlane Forums and another series of events that happened in my life, I started growing a strong aversion towards to path that I was taking in life. Up to that point, I was always gung-ho about getting good grades in both college and high school and getting a nice "traditional", high-paying job (doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc), but something internally had changed.*
(NOTE: At the time, I just thought I was confused, depressed, and or going through an adolescent phase in my life, but in retrospect, I was subconsciously examining the world around me and determining which path would be best for me to take. Even without explaining in words, I knew that time was short, so it's up to me to pick a path that would bring me happiness and freedom. This was simply me preemptively *mid-life crisis.)*
-I was the Honors/AP student who took all of these classes that say "I'm smart/I'm good college material, blah blah", but it all started to seem like a big scam to me. I wish I could trace back the point at which I started disliking the entire education system, but I think that it just started as my Fastlane Seed kept growing inside of me.*
-It's hard to explain, but it just felt like more and more, I was wasting my time when I knew that there were opportunities out there in which I could be making money for myself. I was still confused at the time and not sure which path I should take.
-Fortunately, I still finished my senior year with high marks, and began my quest towards college. 3 or 4 years before graduation, I always saw myself going to an Ivy League school for my "traditional" degree, but now, I knew that whichever college or University I'd attend, there would eventually come a time where I'd leave to "start my own business" and I wouldn't be graduating with my peers.*
-Knowing that I wouldn't be finishing my college education completely, I chose to go to a college that was still well respected, but "free" public college. Georgia's HOPE Scholarship covers full tuition and most major expenses (minus room and board). My parents would simply pay the rest, and I would have no college loans or debt.*
-------------------
Pt 4 - College
-The beginning of college was a great experience. Freedom from mom and dad, parties every night, co-ed dorms with beautiful Georgian Southern Belles wearing short shorts and tight t-shirts. It was heaven...or so it seemed.*
-Everything about the college experience was great - I got to meet new people, go to places I'd never been, get a little taste of different cultures here and there, and ultimately have a fun time.*
-Everything seemed great about the college experience EXCEPT for the classes. My friends and I often joked that, "The classroom seems to be getting in the way of our college experience". And looking back, that seems to have some validity to it, ha. (At least based upon my experience).*
-I'd attend class, take notes, do what the teacher asked, turn in my homework, and eventually take the tests, but I'd go, "Okay...where is this getting me?" Long-term I knew that this was training me and helping me to reinforce the habit of completing tasks and projects, but knowing that I was going to be prematurely leaving in respect to my fellow classmates, the doubt and skepticism grew inside me and started growing the Fastlane Seed bit by bit.*
--------------------
Pt 5 - Time to Leave
-Eventually, the stars aligned and I met some people who encouraged me to follow my dream, and although I wanted to deny that I was "not being true to myself", I eventually came to terms with the fact that college was simply "not for me".*
-In that moment that I decided to leave, everything changed. It was if though I had taken a huge boulder and dropped it into the middle of a lake that had been placid and tranquil for all of eternity. It created a ripple effect that changed me internally the most, but started slowly having an effect on everything and everyone in my life.
-I kept going to class and giving the best that I could, but I just could NOT internally find the motivation to really get things going for me. I would do my work, I would put in the hours, but it felt like I was hurting my soul in a way. It was just...not a good feeling for me. I condemned myself for being lazy, unmotivated, and this bad quality and that bad quality, but in retrospect, the Fastlane Seed was simply coming to the surface and I was confused as what to do to with my life knowing that I'd be leaving college before my peers.*
-Then, the Universe spoke. I set my cell phone alarm the next day for 11:00 AM as I had a computer programming test at 11:30. Funnily enough, I actually set the alarm for 11:00 PM and ended up waking up at 12:30 PM.*
-I checked my phone and wondered, "why hasn't my phone rang already? HOLY SHIT, I'm late".*
-I hurried out of bed, frantically and walked quickly to the bus stop to get to my destination, but for some reason, even though I knew I was going to fail that test (due to time's sake), there was a crazy internal peace that was in my soul.*
-That day, I got to the classroom, and the entire class looked up almost to give me a "Dude...this test is hard. You're F*cked" look all in unison. The teacher shook her head as if though in pity as she gave me my test. I took the test from her hand grinning from ear to ear. This would be the first test that I would ever Christmas tree.*
-Even though I was the last person to start my test, I actually became the first person to finish. As I stood up, everyone (including the teacher), gave me a look of bewilderment almost saying, "WHAT??? How did you finish so quickly???"*
-I just lol'd because this was my way of saying, "Peace out college".*
-I left and never attended that class again.*
-And in that moment, I realized that I was free.*
----------------------
Pt 6 - Freedom
-I realized that I didn't actually have to go to any of my classes and I didn't have to really do anything.*
-If I wanted to go to class, I could. If I wanted to party everyday and sleep till noon or 1 PM, then I could. There was nothing holding back.*
-I didn't want to leave my friends yet, so I simply stayed enrolled in my classes, but I told my teachers to "fail me". Some of them were confused as to why a bright student like me just wanted to be failed straight-up, and once I told them about my decision to leave, they understood and (with reticence) did as I requested.*
(NOTE: I've had people ask me over the years why I didn't keep continuing to go to class and finish on a "strong note". I could've done so, but the best analogy I can put it to is this. When you realize that you're no longer going to be in a place and that the world is going to continue without you, you no longer care about the BS, you have an urge to spend time doing the things that you love and those which make you happy. You want to spend time with the people who make you happiest, you want to do the things that make you happiest, and "everything else" just kinda falls away naturally.)
-Little by little, my class load dropped from 6 to 2. (Spanish and Chorus). I was attending the two classes that made me happiest and I kept doing all the work that needed to be done because I ENJOYED these classes and they didn't feel like work.*
-Most of the "free time" I had, I spent either networking, meeting new people, playing piano, or doing this and that.*
-During that time period, the most valuable thing that I did was learn to type using a DVORAK keyboard format. Before, I used to type 60-70 WPM. Now, I easily type 70-120 WPM depending on type of content I'm writing about. 100 WPM is the average. This is a skill that would come to my rescue in the future.*
------------------------
Pt 7 - Snap back to reality, op, there goes gravity.*
-I got back home. Told my parents that I wasn't going to be going back to college. I told my dad first, and the facial expression he had seemed like all his dreams and aspirations that he held for me as his son just got taken a pissed on and flushed down the toilet.*
-He was pretty mad that I kept staying in college at his expense for room and board (and rightfully so), but we agreed that as long as I would do something with my life, then I'd be okay. In retrospect, my father could've disowned me at just told me to fend for my own, but he didn't and rather, encouraged me to get some type of certification or licenses to generate some type of income for myself.*
-I ended up getting my licenses to sell Life and Health insurance as well as my Property and Casualty (home and auto) insurance license. I got my Adjuster's License (which I thought was a waste at the time) because the test was easy.*
-This time period is a little bit of a blur to me. All I know is that I studied extremely hard (more than any test that I've ever studied for in my life) because I was actually MOTIVATED for this. I was going to be making money and to me, at the time, money = freedom from parents.*
-I planned on getting signed up with different carriers, learning the products inside and out, and really selling and performing my best. It's something that I knew I could do. All the time that I spent in college getting my social skills honed and polished would come to pay off as the field I was going to be entering would be one where it was face-to-face sales.*
-I was able to sign up with one of the Southeast's most prestigious insurance agencies that had one of the best track records and portfolio to offer its clients.*
-From this point on, it seemed like the road was all clear for me to go and that I would start my selling in a matter of days, but someway/somehow, the entire registration process with me and these companies took months instead of days to get registered with. I don't know whether or not there was a hold up on the side of my agency or on the side of the insurance carriers, but for some reason (still unknown to me today), it just didn't work out.*
------------------------
Pt 8 - Realizations
-Up to this point, I'd still been living with my parents and I was still unhappy with my living and financial situation. I thought and believed that I'd be able to "hit it big" as an insurance salesman and really get to shine in that field. I knew that I'd be able to build a stable income and probably make anywhere between 100k-1 mil+ in a year.*
-This was extremely enticing and I was about to be willing to do whatever it took to make it happen.*
-Then, MJ DeMarco's book "The Fastlane Millionaire" came out and made me re-evaluate my entire life up to that point.*
-----------------------
Pt 9 - Paradigm Shift
-I believe that I read TFM in 3 straight sittings. It really made me see that even though I had dropped out of college and was about to start a life of "making a lot of money", there were still some problems with it.*
1) I wasn't in control of my income. Yes, even though I was a 1099, I was still 3rd of 4th down the chain of being paid. It made me realize that even though I might have been getting paid a lot of money, the guy who ran my agency was actually getting paid a lot more (because he had dozens-hundreds of agents working for him), and the insurance company definitely made the most amount of money (because it had all the agencies working for them, and ALSO had clients paying over and over again for a service; they fulfilled the greatest amount of need in the chain).*
2) I was still in a time for trade money. Albeit, it seemed rather an APPEALING time for trade money and was certainly higher than any body that I knew at the time. But nevertheless, it was still a time for money/effort trade. If I didn't work, I didn't get paid. The only thing that was increased as an insurance salesman vs. Me working as a regular minimum wage employee was that my intrinsic value was higher, that's it. Someone else simply dictated that the job I did was worth XXX specific rate for YYY specific action, that's it.*
-Knowing this, I knew that I wouldn't be in the insurance industry "for the long haul", but I still wanted to make money so I could live independently and be on my own.
-------------------------
Pt 10 - Opportunity*
-During this time, I did some amazing things with my life (joined a wonderful chorus, learned a couple of new skills, and set a couple of life goals for myself), and I did some "not so amazing" things (treacherous choices as MJ would call them), but I found myself getting the opportunity for me to "escape" being presented to me.*
-I got a call in regards to my Adjuster's company. I thought that Adjusting would be one of the most boring things to do (even though I was extremely good at it), so I didn't put much stock into it. However, I wanted money so that I could accomplish certain things in my life.
-My Adjusting dispatcher called me up out of the blue and asked, "Would you like to go to South Carolina and work some of the wind/hail claims?" I was still on the fence and started to almost make an excuse of how I'd rather not go, then she cut me off midsentence and said,*"You'll be paid 1200/day for each day that you work".*Needless to say, my jaw dropped, and I jumped at the offer.*
-This was my opportunity to get things started and actually break free from my parents. There was finally a light at the end of the tunnel, my enthusiasm was renewed and I was willing to do whatever it took to make sure I succeeded.*
--------------
I'm sitting here, I just got up from my last heavy dose of medicine. Today, I got my wisdom teeth out, but it dawned on me that I could be using this time to write, research, and learn as much as I can about opportunities on the Internet as opposed to watching TV, browsing, or YouTubing.
This is going to be my "reintroduction" to the Fastlane. I've been inactive for a while, but the idea of "going Fastlane" in my mind has never stopped growing inside myself.*
This is an extremely long post. 3 reasons: 1) I type 100 WPM, 2) I just got my wisdom teeth taken out, so I can barely move. What better way to spend my time than reflecting on where my life is headed? 3) I'm just putting thing in perspective for myself.*
So here's recap of the past 5 or so years or my life.
-------------
Pt 1 - Upbringing*
(I'm going to speak in Terms used from "The Book", so if you haven't read it, I suggest for you to get it because it'll change your life by changing your paradigm and perspective on money, employment/jobs, and how to get rich.)
-I'm 20, about to turn 21 in less than 2 months.*
-Almost from birth, I've been indoctrinated by Slowlane - my father is a successful commercial pilot with and accomplished track record and some nice college degrees. And my mother used to be successful in her businesses she was involved in until she had me and my sister and decided to devote herself full-time to raising us and being the best mother she could be (and I'm extremely grateful for her decision; I definitely wouldn't be the person that I am without her.)*
-I've been taught: Go to elem/middle/high school, get good grades, go to a nice college, get even more good grades, graduate at the top of your class, be the best academically so that you can get a nice job, work for someone else for however long it takes to get to "the top", then your life will finally become bliss and happiness because you will be working in a safe and secure position where you trade your time for a large amount of salary and eventually (big key word there), you'll become rich.*
-I followed this religiously and firmly believed in it until one day, as a rather precarious youth, I realized that, "there has got to be another way".*
-I could see the beginning struggles of my father (a pilot banking over 150k+ year) as his company went bankrupt and according to him, "the company gave me a 60% paycut and my pension basically dropped 16,000/month to 2,000/month". In addition, he got himself a house that he could afford at the time, but after the housing crisis hit, he just continually complained about how hard it is for him to pay the mortgage because he has to work additional hours now to keep up with the cost of living for our family of four.*
-He explains to me the financial difficulties that he's had to deal with ever since working for other people doing that which makes him happiest as a profession - flying. Amidst him telling me all of this about his struggles, he still HIGHLY encouraged me (and encouraged maybe a litote in that sense) to continue making good grade and going to college.*
-I always wanted to be a lawyer because I believed that I had a great grasp on the English language - both oral and written - so I knew that I'd be successful about it. Plus, the idea of a 150K+ salary seemed appealing even if I did have to work 80+ hours a week to make partner and then more hours as I worked my way to the top.*
-The key slowlane concept that I continued to espouse was that of "work hard, get promoted, get more money". All I knew was the time for money trade; nothing else.*
-------------------
*Pt 2 - School
-With a lifelong indoctrination/brainwashing with Slowlane concepts, I found myself questioning more of "is this REALLY the best route for me?"
-Even though I knew that I would excel at any field I applied myself to - whether it be medicine, engineering, law, etc - there was something that felt intuitively "off" for me whenever I thought about working X many years for someone else just didn't feel right. Maybe 90-95% of me was saying "Yeah, let's go!", but the struggles that I could see at home in regards to my family started planting a seed of doubt that would slowly sprout over the years into something that would cause me to rebel against the system wholeheartedly.*
-I found myself reading books about money and how to get rich. Most of them were just Slowlane stuff (earn, save, invest in stock market, etc), but there were two books I stumbled across that were different than the rest: 1) Think and Grow Rich and 2) 12 Month Millionaire.*
-The first made me realize that our thoughts have certain bearing upon them and that our thoughts follow the pattern of thoughts>>beliefs>>>actions>>>habits>>>character>>>destiny. And the second, introduced me to my very first concept of "The Fastlane". The idea that creating a product/fulfilling a need could make you money.
-I found these somewhere between my 10th and 11th grade year and that was like the first rays of hitting the soil where my Fastlane Seed was planted. Slowly, it started growing more and more.*
-During the summer before my senior year, I stumbled across the Fastlane Forum. I devoured it and seemed to almost read every single post/thread that was made since this was a completely new way at looking at money that I always intuitively knew about, but could never explain in words until now. The Fastlane forum started adding more and more water to my already growing Fastlane Seed and as Robert Frost said, "and that has made all the difference".*
--------------------
Pt 3 - School Pt 2
-With my introduction to the Fastlane Forums and another series of events that happened in my life, I started growing a strong aversion towards to path that I was taking in life. Up to that point, I was always gung-ho about getting good grades in both college and high school and getting a nice "traditional", high-paying job (doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc), but something internally had changed.*
(NOTE: At the time, I just thought I was confused, depressed, and or going through an adolescent phase in my life, but in retrospect, I was subconsciously examining the world around me and determining which path would be best for me to take. Even without explaining in words, I knew that time was short, so it's up to me to pick a path that would bring me happiness and freedom. This was simply me preemptively *mid-life crisis.)*
-I was the Honors/AP student who took all of these classes that say "I'm smart/I'm good college material, blah blah", but it all started to seem like a big scam to me. I wish I could trace back the point at which I started disliking the entire education system, but I think that it just started as my Fastlane Seed kept growing inside of me.*
-It's hard to explain, but it just felt like more and more, I was wasting my time when I knew that there were opportunities out there in which I could be making money for myself. I was still confused at the time and not sure which path I should take.
-Fortunately, I still finished my senior year with high marks, and began my quest towards college. 3 or 4 years before graduation, I always saw myself going to an Ivy League school for my "traditional" degree, but now, I knew that whichever college or University I'd attend, there would eventually come a time where I'd leave to "start my own business" and I wouldn't be graduating with my peers.*
-Knowing that I wouldn't be finishing my college education completely, I chose to go to a college that was still well respected, but "free" public college. Georgia's HOPE Scholarship covers full tuition and most major expenses (minus room and board). My parents would simply pay the rest, and I would have no college loans or debt.*
-------------------
Pt 4 - College
-The beginning of college was a great experience. Freedom from mom and dad, parties every night, co-ed dorms with beautiful Georgian Southern Belles wearing short shorts and tight t-shirts. It was heaven...or so it seemed.*
-Everything about the college experience was great - I got to meet new people, go to places I'd never been, get a little taste of different cultures here and there, and ultimately have a fun time.*
-Everything seemed great about the college experience EXCEPT for the classes. My friends and I often joked that, "The classroom seems to be getting in the way of our college experience". And looking back, that seems to have some validity to it, ha. (At least based upon my experience).*
-I'd attend class, take notes, do what the teacher asked, turn in my homework, and eventually take the tests, but I'd go, "Okay...where is this getting me?" Long-term I knew that this was training me and helping me to reinforce the habit of completing tasks and projects, but knowing that I was going to be prematurely leaving in respect to my fellow classmates, the doubt and skepticism grew inside me and started growing the Fastlane Seed bit by bit.*
--------------------
Pt 5 - Time to Leave
-Eventually, the stars aligned and I met some people who encouraged me to follow my dream, and although I wanted to deny that I was "not being true to myself", I eventually came to terms with the fact that college was simply "not for me".*
-In that moment that I decided to leave, everything changed. It was if though I had taken a huge boulder and dropped it into the middle of a lake that had been placid and tranquil for all of eternity. It created a ripple effect that changed me internally the most, but started slowly having an effect on everything and everyone in my life.
-I kept going to class and giving the best that I could, but I just could NOT internally find the motivation to really get things going for me. I would do my work, I would put in the hours, but it felt like I was hurting my soul in a way. It was just...not a good feeling for me. I condemned myself for being lazy, unmotivated, and this bad quality and that bad quality, but in retrospect, the Fastlane Seed was simply coming to the surface and I was confused as what to do to with my life knowing that I'd be leaving college before my peers.*
-Then, the Universe spoke. I set my cell phone alarm the next day for 11:00 AM as I had a computer programming test at 11:30. Funnily enough, I actually set the alarm for 11:00 PM and ended up waking up at 12:30 PM.*
-I checked my phone and wondered, "why hasn't my phone rang already? HOLY SHIT, I'm late".*
-I hurried out of bed, frantically and walked quickly to the bus stop to get to my destination, but for some reason, even though I knew I was going to fail that test (due to time's sake), there was a crazy internal peace that was in my soul.*
-That day, I got to the classroom, and the entire class looked up almost to give me a "Dude...this test is hard. You're F*cked" look all in unison. The teacher shook her head as if though in pity as she gave me my test. I took the test from her hand grinning from ear to ear. This would be the first test that I would ever Christmas tree.*
-Even though I was the last person to start my test, I actually became the first person to finish. As I stood up, everyone (including the teacher), gave me a look of bewilderment almost saying, "WHAT??? How did you finish so quickly???"*
-I just lol'd because this was my way of saying, "Peace out college".*
-I left and never attended that class again.*
-And in that moment, I realized that I was free.*
----------------------
Pt 6 - Freedom
-I realized that I didn't actually have to go to any of my classes and I didn't have to really do anything.*
-If I wanted to go to class, I could. If I wanted to party everyday and sleep till noon or 1 PM, then I could. There was nothing holding back.*
-I didn't want to leave my friends yet, so I simply stayed enrolled in my classes, but I told my teachers to "fail me". Some of them were confused as to why a bright student like me just wanted to be failed straight-up, and once I told them about my decision to leave, they understood and (with reticence) did as I requested.*
(NOTE: I've had people ask me over the years why I didn't keep continuing to go to class and finish on a "strong note". I could've done so, but the best analogy I can put it to is this. When you realize that you're no longer going to be in a place and that the world is going to continue without you, you no longer care about the BS, you have an urge to spend time doing the things that you love and those which make you happy. You want to spend time with the people who make you happiest, you want to do the things that make you happiest, and "everything else" just kinda falls away naturally.)
-Little by little, my class load dropped from 6 to 2. (Spanish and Chorus). I was attending the two classes that made me happiest and I kept doing all the work that needed to be done because I ENJOYED these classes and they didn't feel like work.*
-Most of the "free time" I had, I spent either networking, meeting new people, playing piano, or doing this and that.*
-During that time period, the most valuable thing that I did was learn to type using a DVORAK keyboard format. Before, I used to type 60-70 WPM. Now, I easily type 70-120 WPM depending on type of content I'm writing about. 100 WPM is the average. This is a skill that would come to my rescue in the future.*
------------------------
Pt 7 - Snap back to reality, op, there goes gravity.*
-I got back home. Told my parents that I wasn't going to be going back to college. I told my dad first, and the facial expression he had seemed like all his dreams and aspirations that he held for me as his son just got taken a pissed on and flushed down the toilet.*
-He was pretty mad that I kept staying in college at his expense for room and board (and rightfully so), but we agreed that as long as I would do something with my life, then I'd be okay. In retrospect, my father could've disowned me at just told me to fend for my own, but he didn't and rather, encouraged me to get some type of certification or licenses to generate some type of income for myself.*
-I ended up getting my licenses to sell Life and Health insurance as well as my Property and Casualty (home and auto) insurance license. I got my Adjuster's License (which I thought was a waste at the time) because the test was easy.*
-This time period is a little bit of a blur to me. All I know is that I studied extremely hard (more than any test that I've ever studied for in my life) because I was actually MOTIVATED for this. I was going to be making money and to me, at the time, money = freedom from parents.*
-I planned on getting signed up with different carriers, learning the products inside and out, and really selling and performing my best. It's something that I knew I could do. All the time that I spent in college getting my social skills honed and polished would come to pay off as the field I was going to be entering would be one where it was face-to-face sales.*
-I was able to sign up with one of the Southeast's most prestigious insurance agencies that had one of the best track records and portfolio to offer its clients.*
-From this point on, it seemed like the road was all clear for me to go and that I would start my selling in a matter of days, but someway/somehow, the entire registration process with me and these companies took months instead of days to get registered with. I don't know whether or not there was a hold up on the side of my agency or on the side of the insurance carriers, but for some reason (still unknown to me today), it just didn't work out.*
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Pt 8 - Realizations
-Up to this point, I'd still been living with my parents and I was still unhappy with my living and financial situation. I thought and believed that I'd be able to "hit it big" as an insurance salesman and really get to shine in that field. I knew that I'd be able to build a stable income and probably make anywhere between 100k-1 mil+ in a year.*
-This was extremely enticing and I was about to be willing to do whatever it took to make it happen.*
-Then, MJ DeMarco's book "The Fastlane Millionaire" came out and made me re-evaluate my entire life up to that point.*
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Pt 9 - Paradigm Shift
-I believe that I read TFM in 3 straight sittings. It really made me see that even though I had dropped out of college and was about to start a life of "making a lot of money", there were still some problems with it.*
1) I wasn't in control of my income. Yes, even though I was a 1099, I was still 3rd of 4th down the chain of being paid. It made me realize that even though I might have been getting paid a lot of money, the guy who ran my agency was actually getting paid a lot more (because he had dozens-hundreds of agents working for him), and the insurance company definitely made the most amount of money (because it had all the agencies working for them, and ALSO had clients paying over and over again for a service; they fulfilled the greatest amount of need in the chain).*
2) I was still in a time for trade money. Albeit, it seemed rather an APPEALING time for trade money and was certainly higher than any body that I knew at the time. But nevertheless, it was still a time for money/effort trade. If I didn't work, I didn't get paid. The only thing that was increased as an insurance salesman vs. Me working as a regular minimum wage employee was that my intrinsic value was higher, that's it. Someone else simply dictated that the job I did was worth XXX specific rate for YYY specific action, that's it.*
-Knowing this, I knew that I wouldn't be in the insurance industry "for the long haul", but I still wanted to make money so I could live independently and be on my own.
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Pt 10 - Opportunity*
-During this time, I did some amazing things with my life (joined a wonderful chorus, learned a couple of new skills, and set a couple of life goals for myself), and I did some "not so amazing" things (treacherous choices as MJ would call them), but I found myself getting the opportunity for me to "escape" being presented to me.*
-I got a call in regards to my Adjuster's company. I thought that Adjusting would be one of the most boring things to do (even though I was extremely good at it), so I didn't put much stock into it. However, I wanted money so that I could accomplish certain things in my life.
-My Adjusting dispatcher called me up out of the blue and asked, "Would you like to go to South Carolina and work some of the wind/hail claims?" I was still on the fence and started to almost make an excuse of how I'd rather not go, then she cut me off midsentence and said,*"You'll be paid 1200/day for each day that you work".*Needless to say, my jaw dropped, and I jumped at the offer.*
-This was my opportunity to get things started and actually break free from my parents. There was finally a light at the end of the tunnel, my enthusiasm was renewed and I was willing to do whatever it took to make sure I succeeded.*
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