Michael Neely's Blog

Entrepreneurship • Freedom • Success

Blog

There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere

by

A Lesson in Extreme Optimism

The last few months have been nothing short of a little nuts for most people with “a little” being long forgotten. Some have lost jobs, careers, and have had to push themselves to redefine who they are, and what they stand for.

I am also in that boat. I fought for ten years to build a web design and digital marketing agency only to watch my target market forced into extinction by lockdowns over fears about a “virus” with a 99% recovery rate. One of the fundamental rules of business is “if my clients go out of business, I go out of business.”

When I am in extreme scenarios, I turn to the lessons of history to find solutions that work for me. I found this little gem when I was listening to Dr. Dolf de Roos’ Wealth Magnet CDs I bought many years ago. I don’t remember much more about those CDs but I remember this story. In searching for the story title recently, I find it attributed to my former commander-in-chief Ronald Reagan. If there ever was an optimist, Reagan would have been in that category. Donald Trump also embodies eternal optimism during extreme circumstances.

“If you’re going through Hell, keep going.”

-Sir Winston Churchill

The Story

A man and a woman fall in love, get married, and start a family. They have twin boys and they are identical in every respect. Except one. One of the boys is a pessimist. No matter how good things get, he can only see the dark side of things. The other boy is the eternal optimist. No matter how bad things get, he can only see the bright side of things.

The parents go to a psychologist to see what they can do to make the boys the same, the pessimist a little more realistic and the optimist also a little more realistic. They think that would make them both “normal.”

The psychologist has an idea. He says “Tell the boys that you have presents for each of them. Fill one room with the best toys you can buy and fill the other room with horse manure. Take the pessimist to the room filled with toys and the optimist to the room filled with horse manure. That should do the trick.”

The parents look at each other, shrug, and follow the psychologist’s recommendations.

First, they take the pessimistic boy to the room filled with toys. He opens the door and looks around and gets a sad look on his face.

The parents ask “What’s wrong? Aren’t you excited about all the toys to play with?”

The little boy replies “Yeah, that’s great but I can’t play with them. I’ll only break them.”

Then, the parents take the eternal optimist and take him to the room filled with horse manure. He opens the door and jumps in the horse manure scoping through it with his hands.

“Good Lord, what are you doing?” the baffled parents ask.

The boy smiles and replies “With all this horse manure, there must be a pony in here somewhere.”

Optimism is the Cure for a Lot of Things

The Reader’s Digest used to have a section called “Laughter is the Best Medicine.” I haven’t seen a copy of the reader’s digest in years, or even decades. But what if this is true?

Some of the more extreme military units and training arenas have the phrase “Embrace the suck.” Basically, what this means is that no matter how hard things get, no matter how tired you are, keep digging deeper to find the strength to persevere. Keep moving. It’s the only way things will get better.

If you are fighting to keep a smile on your face, remember this story. It reminds me to think about all the challenges others have overcome and those I am inspired by.

No Turning Back

by

Your Commitment to Success is Sometimes All You’ve Got

On March 30, 2020, I woke up at 3:27am. The Corona virus was just gearing up. I took a job as a web developer in Miami and was, in my opinion, doing well. On March 13, 2020, the “bosses” disagreed with me and let me go. Within a few days, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, and the whole State of Florida was under “lockdown.” This was important because that ‘s where I live currently.

On March 26, 2020, about 6 million people reportedly filed for unemployment the previous week according to the Department of Labor. As a FOREX trader, I follow economic data. These were the highest unemployment claims filed in history and it was just getting started. I was not one of them because I actually still have a trickle of business coming in. However, this meant that my clients may not be open and building websites, working on marketing, and paying my invoices.

A week before I was let go, I took my last paycheck and invested heavily into my web design and web development business. I saw that my days were numbered and that I was going to have to make money again.

Several of my friends have always asked me why I do what I do. They have focused their lives on finding a job and working for someone else. That is not a luxury I have always had.

A Brief History as an Entrepreneur

I began my entrepreneurial career in 1989. I was fresh out of the Navy and thought I never wanted to work for anyone else again. Since I thought my successes would come quickly, I didn’t see the need to go back to college. Besides, as a former nuclear operator on submarines, I was already “smarter” than everyone I knew who was going to college. I saved a little money from the Navy and started my own business as a credit card distributor. The only lesson I knew about entrepreneurship was never give up. I thought that would be enough and I poured all of my self-proclaimed awesomeness into my first business because it was all I needed. Or so I thought.

I fell flat on my face. I repeatedly fell on my face for another 13 years or so while studying what they taught about business management in schools in my own library. . In 2003, I was working as a commission-only commodities broker and was just shy of living on the streets. I went into work that day and said that I was being forced out of the place I was living while working as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant (no, I’m not making this up). That’s when the CEO of our new company told me that I need to learn when to quit. That was also my first night of sleeping on a picnic table.

This was the first time I heard someone tell me that I “need to learn to quit.” In all the network marketing businesses I got into, the main message was never, never give up and you will be successful. That was the extent of my business education at the time. Later, I figured out that the network marketing game required me to “never, never, never give up” buying someone else’s products and for someone else to receive their commissions on my purchases. More lessons to learn.

Getting Better One Day at a Time

I’ve had other issues too such as struggling with alcohol abuse while in the Navy and alcohol and drug abuse after I got out of the Navy. That’s another reason that I ended up on a picnic table. That was several years ago and I hope I never have to relive that.

After a while, I went back to the restaurant business and got a roof over my head. After a few years, I dabbled in a few businesses but never really got another started until 2011 when I started my marketing support business. I was always bad at sales but good at marketing, especially according to one of my previous bosses in the auto industry. Based on that, I thought that marketing was the way to go.

The Next Steps…

I learned that I could also work from my creative side also. Building creative marketing campaigns really appealed to me although I had no formal schooling in the field. I didn’t have a degree or any credentials to get in that field. Some would say that I still don’t. I started my own business in 2011 because it was the only choice I had. Waiting tables wouldn’t last forever. I had to start my own business and I had to get money coming in.

Starting my busienss was my only choice. It’s the only way that I would be able to get out of the restaurant business and create a life for myself that I would thrive in.

Here are a couple of pointers that can get you on the path you need to be on:

1. Don’t Ask the Wrong People for Advice

I have always thought that people are inherently good and that no one would intentionally hurt someone else. Harming others has never been on my agenda unless they were trying to hurt me, my family, or my country. I held this belief for years into adulthood.

It took me a long time to realize that there are people out there whose purpose in life is to cause harm to others. Usually these people end up in prison (we hope). Now, it seems that some are elected to Congress.

I never understood that people would manipulate, lie, and misinform others to get what they wanted. That’s why I didn’t do well in selling cars. My heart wasn’t in it and therefore, I didn’t do well. I didn’t understand why people needed to buy a new car every six months. The sales people who thrived in the 90’s were those who would sell against what I thought was acting in the best interest of their customer.

Later, I realized how wrong I was. People were misinforming me the whole time. My parents didn’t want me to be an attorney, an accountant, a doctor, an executive, or, as it turns out, anything. One of my clients whose sale collapsed and cost me a ton of money told me that he was happy that I was going out of business (in 2002). He thought business is like warfare. I saw it as a partnership. He set me up for failure from the beginning.

Getting away from people who give you bad advice, is one of the best things you can do for your busienss and your life.

2. Never Take Unsolicited Advice

Everyone has an opinion of what you should do with your life. Sometimes they will walk up and dump a load on you because they are having a “bad day.” They think you should also be having a bad day and will do what they can to make that happen. That is how unsolicited advice works. Someone else wants to dump their theories of what you should be doing. Most don’t even know who you are or what makes you tick.

Don’t fall for it.

3. Don’t Keep Bad Advice

When you keep taking bad advice, you hear it over and over again. If it conflicts with everything you are doing, your brain repeats it often. Your brain starts screaming at you that you are doing the wrong thing. When you take bad advice repeatedly, you make bad decisions based on that bad advice. Those who are constantly selling you on the wrong thing to do take pleasure in watching you fail repeatedly. Believe it or not, these people exist.

Discard bad advice as fast as you can. This requires taking control of your thoughts and deciding what is best for you.

4. Turn off Your TV

Yeah, I said it. We now have a 24-hour news cycle where journalists have become propagandists. The problem is that no one can fill the void with anything meaningful so they become the news instead of reporting it. You can see the disgraceful actions of “reporters” every day in President Trump’s press briefings. Every day it is the same.

Nothing is going to happen that you need to stay propped up in front of the TV waiting for the next big thing to happen. You could be making the next big thing happen.

5. Don’t Be a Victim

Things will work for you and they will work against you. Even when people are targeting you, make sure you never take on the attitude of a victim. Victims never do anything great in life. Most of the time, victims don’t do much of anything in life. No one owes you anything. Don’t be a victim. Do great things in your life.

This is Just Getting Started

Finally, I’m not trying to run anyone’s life. I’m just saying what works for me. I honestly don’t care of you take my advice or if you even read this far down. The point is that instead of complaining about your lot in life, you could be a changing it.

Whose Voices are Inside Your Head?

by

What’s the Chatter in Your Head?

If you were raised like I was, you have heard before that only crazy people have voices in their heads. You’ve seen the “psycho-killer” movie where he (or she) seeks revenge until it becomes an all-consuming obsession. They hear voices in their heads that make them do the things that they are not responsible for. As most TV shows illustrate, only crazy people hear voices.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

We all have voices in our heads telling us what to do based on our conditioning. Our parents may have taught us how to avoid risk. “Don’t touch that.” “Play it safe.” They were just making sure that we didn’t hurt ourselves as we were growing up. At some point in our lives, we have to begin deciding what is better for us. Sadly, most  people go to their graves still listening to their parents’ warnings.

Are They Helping You or Hurting You?

I can’t count the times that I have had a thought run through my head that I have had to stop and question where it came from. These thoughts usually begin with “I can’t.” Many times these thoughts get in my head from past experiences or people in my past. Sometimes those people aren’t even alive anymore. An old drinking buddy tells me that we have to drink every day because we were waiters and need to be “products of the product” we sell. He’s dead from alcohol and drug abuse and I’m not a waiter anymore.

The people you are around the most are the ones who influence you the most. Jim Rohn said that you are the sum of your five closest friends. Your income will be about what their income is. If they go to more ball games than concerts, you will most likely go to more ball games than concerts. Whatever you and your closest friends believe, you will also believe. This can work to your advantage or to your detriment.

Basically speaking, your closest friends and associates have a huge influence on how your life turns out. That can be either inspiring or depressing and it’s something you have control over.

Your Self-Talk Decides How Your Life Turns Out

If you believe that you are a failure, you’re right. If you believe that you are an outstanding success, you are also right. Whatever you tell yourself over and over, becomes your reality. This is no longer something that some self-help guy said decades ago, it is a psychological fact.

Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become reality. -Earl Nightingale

Here is the ugly truth. Assuming you don’t have a disease that robs you of your physical and mental resources, you are responsible for how your life turns out. What you hear consistently is responsible for that. In sports, it’s called mental conditioning and it can decide the outcome of a sports event, a business deal, or your life.

Choose What You Hear, Choose Your Life

Occasionally, the TV cameras following a big sports event will catch the players coming off the plane or walking from the bus to the locker room. Almost all of them have headphones on. They also have an almost laser-like focus on anything but the media and the attention they are getting. What are they listening to? They could be listening to a special recording their coach has made for them. They could be listening to inspirational music. They are staying focused on one thing- winning the game or match. In life, just as in sports, if you aren’t focused on winning, you’re losing.

I listen to Grant Cardone for my inspiration. He faced financial disaster in the financial meltdown of 2008 and has rebounded to real estate holdings of $800M in AUM (accounts under management) according to his Twitter account in September 2018. He is a winner in the business world and I want winners in my corner telling me what move to make next.

If you are serious about changing your life, I would highly recommend listening to Grant Cardone’s Core MP3 Package. You can download and start listening today. I have a personal testimonial that listening to these four audios were key to my earning the largest commission check of my life at over $41,000. I invested $179 for these MP3’s in 2014. Would you invest as little as $100 to develop the skills and mindset to earn $41,000? I thought so. Order them today.