I look down at my row and what started with 4 desks filled has now become a full row of 12... To top it off I have another kid(as in worker, not baby) on the way.
My business partner called me up about 15 minutes ago and he said he was at the Home Depot with Uncle Dennis and he was giving him the update on what's been going on with me. He said to me, "I started thinking about it and I realized 2 years ago, we got there and you had nothing but a phone and now you're sitting managing a huge team and no one can do it better... stay level and stay focused and keep it going... I'm proud of you"
Now I'm thinking about it and he's exactly right. Two years ago on May 28th, I came here with absolutely nothing but knowledge and the dark fear in the back of my mind that I wouldn't just let myself down if I failed but I would let my new wife and my first born son down if I did not succeed.
There were tons of times during that time frame that I thought to myself, I can't believe I'm subjecting my wife and son through this. We moved from apt to apt to apt to apt to apt to apt to apt... Really bad memories stem from some of these places... eating habits were just terrible and my car situation was just bad. I went from driving my newly leased SE-R to nothing to a 96 Acura Integra in PURPLE to a 2002 BMW 3 series back to my SE-R until I got my first financed BMW 3 series in crimson RED. I still remember bringing that home... Kim never even came with me to the dealership, my credit couldn't suffice so I had to throw 15,000 down on the car!!! The fact that I had it just felt good on its own and the feeling of accomplishment even better. I brought it home nearly in tears realizing that my hard work was now coming together.
I remember moving to Leonia, NJ from the shittiest 2 bedroom railroad in Brooklyn and telling Kim, "just give me one more year, Babe. I'll make this happen..."
A few months after that summer that I got the red Beamer, we moved to a beautiful 2 br 2 bthrm condo in an elevator building in Hoboken! All the amenities you could imagine... and I told Kim, "this is the last move, I'm giving you the place that you wanted and love and that's it!!!!"
My business partner called me up about 15 minutes ago and he said he was at the Home Depot with Uncle Dennis and he was giving him the update on what's been going on with me. He said to me, "I started thinking about it and I realized 2 years ago, we got there and you had nothing but a phone and now you're sitting managing a huge team and no one can do it better... stay level and stay focused and keep it going... I'm proud of you"
Now I'm thinking about it and he's exactly right. Two years ago on May 28th, I came here with absolutely nothing but knowledge and the dark fear in the back of my mind that I wouldn't just let myself down if I failed but I would let my new wife and my first born son down if I did not succeed.
There were tons of times during that time frame that I thought to myself, I can't believe I'm subjecting my wife and son through this. We moved from apt to apt to apt to apt to apt to apt to apt... Really bad memories stem from some of these places... eating habits were just terrible and my car situation was just bad. I went from driving my newly leased SE-R to nothing to a 96 Acura Integra in PURPLE to a 2002 BMW 3 series back to my SE-R until I got my first financed BMW 3 series in crimson RED. I still remember bringing that home... Kim never even came with me to the dealership, my credit couldn't suffice so I had to throw 15,000 down on the car!!! The fact that I had it just felt good on its own and the feeling of accomplishment even better. I brought it home nearly in tears realizing that my hard work was now coming together.
I remember moving to Leonia, NJ from the shittiest 2 bedroom railroad in Brooklyn and telling Kim, "just give me one more year, Babe. I'll make this happen..."
A few months after that summer that I got the red Beamer, we moved to a beautiful 2 br 2 bthrm condo in an elevator building in Hoboken! All the amenities you could imagine... and I told Kim, "this is the last move, I'm giving you the place that you wanted and love and that's it!!!!"
In February 2010, I went to the Philippines to visit my family and everytime I go I am inspired by my uncle who has always been a pinnacle of hope for me. When I was young, I was the black sheep of the family and everyone swore I would be a failure in anything I did but he always told me I could become great. Anyway... thats another story! But whenever I'm with him we talk about the future and money and retirement and I was inspired once again to work hard and retire in the Philippines. So as soon as I got back to New York, the first thing I did was hung out with my longest standing childhood friend and confidante, Jerry. I told him what was going on and he said to me, "watch HGTV, they have shows called House Hunters that would be really cool for you" I said to him, "not here! In the Philippines!!! I don't want to live here" and he just did his usual, "okay! but I watch these shows and I would love to but can't but you can!" So i watched it and through these I was interested but not SOLD on the idea! Not until 2 months later in April.
April 11th, 2010 marked my revelation: My accountant does my return and looks at me and says "two things so you won't have such a heavy tax bill next year, 1)buy a house 2) lease your car"
Simple enough, on April 11th he told me this.. On April 13th, I bought a car over the phone for the first time. Conversation in a nutshell, "Hi Laura, I spoke to you briefly before about a top of the line 2010 BMW 535 with all wheel drive. Do you have one?" Laura, "yes, would you like to come in for a test drive?" me, "no, I'd like to lease it and I want to make my monthly payment as high as possible, can you do that?" Laura a little startled, "umm... okay" "done"
May 11th, I asked Kim to look at a bunch of listings on Trulia.com and she kept showing me a particular house amongst the 100 or so listings we were looking over... the next day, we met with Tom's realtor, Fran and she just kept insisting that Kim and I see a house she thinks we'd love. Get to the place, doesn't look like much at first sight but as soon as we walk in, it's the same house Kim kept showing me... We were under contract in about a week, we are closing on the 15th... Sounds easy right? But the house buying process was one of the most stressful periods of my life and I wouldn't want to go through that again but I will talk about that more in a separate entry of its own...
Simple enough, on April 11th he told me this.. On April 13th, I bought a car over the phone for the first time. Conversation in a nutshell, "Hi Laura, I spoke to you briefly before about a top of the line 2010 BMW 535 with all wheel drive. Do you have one?" Laura, "yes, would you like to come in for a test drive?" me, "no, I'd like to lease it and I want to make my monthly payment as high as possible, can you do that?" Laura a little startled, "umm... okay" "done"
May 11th, I asked Kim to look at a bunch of listings on Trulia.com and she kept showing me a particular house amongst the 100 or so listings we were looking over... the next day, we met with Tom's realtor, Fran and she just kept insisting that Kim and I see a house she thinks we'd love. Get to the place, doesn't look like much at first sight but as soon as we walk in, it's the same house Kim kept showing me... We were under contract in about a week, we are closing on the 15th... Sounds easy right? But the house buying process was one of the most stressful periods of my life and I wouldn't want to go through that again but I will talk about that more in a separate entry of its own...
The point of this entry:
Stay level headed and focused. I know what I have to do and I know where I want to be. Someone once told me that in this business, if you're not growing, you're dying. It stuck with me. Dreams are a window into what tomorrow will bring.
"I've failed over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed." - Michael Jordan
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