How Entrepreneurship Chose Me!
Ever since I could remember, I always knew that I wanted to do something that I loved and would allow me to be free. Just like every kid who plays sports, I naturally thought that I would be a basketball player or football player. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t talented enough to take my sports career to the next level.
Once it was determined that my future as an athlete was looking grim, I started to shift my thoughts toward something else. I knew that I didn’t want a typical job because I’ve never liked authority. I’ve never liked being told what to do, and I knew that being an owner would eliminate that. I also couldn’t see myself doing more work for less pay than the person telling me what to do. The typical job concept just never added up tome.
It wasn’t until my parents divorced when I was 16 that I finally got my first real attempt at testing out my entrepreneurial aspirations. My mother could no longer give me all the things I was used to having so I had to figure things out for myself. My dream of playing basketball was also ripped away from me almost at same time because I had to choose between sports or making money.
I quickly found out the value of supply and demand before I’d ever taken any economics class. I knew what kids wanted and I gave it to them anyway I could. High school is a perfect market for commerce because there are thousands of kids right in your face and many of them have money that doesn’t necessarily have a purpose. They’re carefree and most of the time don’t have car notes and mortgages to worry about. I begun selling my shoe collection, which enabled me to make quite a bit of money as a 16 year old. I also knew a lot about electronics, and there value, so I sold anything that I could get my hands on. From old phones, to brand new iPod touches, if it had value I sold it.
I acquired many things for free because most kids didn’t know what they had. This was about the same time that eBay became popular so I knew that I had an instant marketplace if I could get the items that I wanted. I would go around asking kids if they had any old cell phones that they didn’t want or didn’t need. Many people offered up their phones for free, which shocked the hell out of me but hey I didn’t complain. I also sold first generation iPod touches to as many kids as possible in my school. I was able to get them cheap and sell them at a premium. They were brand new and we had seen nothing like it before so people were willing to pay top dollar for them.
After I exhausted my avenues, my friends and I moved on to selling cds which didn’t pan out well because the iPods that we were selling ended the cd era. From that point on I was always trying to sale something to someone, everything I saw had a price.
My hustle faded a little once I went to college as that became my main focus. As a student I became a consumer and fit the stereotype as a broke college student. I continued to struggle financially and I felt like I had lost my mojo. While in school I tried to invent things, start businesses, and create websites but nothing stuck. It wasn’t until I picked up the book Rich Dad Poor Dad that my life had changed forever. I embarked on a new journey which was trading stocks. Although the book is not all about that, I had remembered something my father had tried to get me involved in a few years earlier, which was options trading. At the time I blew it off but after reading Rich Dad, I decided to give it a try.
After years of trying and failing and losing money, I decided that I needed to keep educating myself and find out what I was doing wrong. I was passionate, driven and motivated. Losing the money didn’t matter to me because I knew that eventually I would get it back. Losing money while at least giving myself a shot to make money was a lot better than wasting it on items that depreciate or didn’t have any value. I struggled for years but I was determined and I knew that once I got good then I could fund all of my ventures. I wouldn’t have to rely on anyone else to give me money or buy my products and the only factor that determined whether I made or lost money was myself.
The passion was the driving force behind everything I did. I stumbled upon an industry that changed my life, and it is allowing me to seek other opportunities. Ever since I was a kid I knew that I wanted to own everything and I was told that I couldn’t. Obviously I didn’t mean everything but I wanted to own as many things as I could because I understood that having multiple streams of income can provide financial freedom. I found the vehicle to get me there and I’m now well on my way to my destination. It’s been many years, tons of failure, and a lot of struggle but not once has my passion wavered. The journey isn’t over but I’m excited about the twist and turns that I’m going to encounter along the way.
