Archive for the ‘appreciation’ Category

October 23rd, 2009

On Business: My Brother is Kicking My Ass at Ecommerce

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It has been well over 2 months since I have started my business experiment. Each day that passes by I get a clearer view of the next step with it. The post isn’t about me and the struggles I’m having to sell vintage wear (4), but about my bro, so here it is.

I didn’t think I would be saying this, but my youngest brother is kicking my ass at the ecommerce business of etsy.com. I don’t know how to explain it, but it is actually bitter-sweet at the same time. When I started, he was at 40 or so sells. I told him that I would catch him in no time—now he is well over 100 and making over a sell a day.

I didn’t know if he truly had it in him, I have been the one talking about business and expressing what I’ve done in the past, but just sitting back and watching him operate is quite amazing.

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September 23rd, 2009

Appreciation to Esther

Many times, we don’t know what we will learn from somebody else. It could be one aspect of our daily routine that this person sees and politely or not tells you to change. We are in our own world and feel that the world is centered around us. Most of the time we feel that we are the makers of our own destiny and steps in life. BUT, this is a big BUT, this shit isn’t true. We need people to help us and we need to give back and help others, too. At times, we just don’t know the best way, but, for the most part, I feel the best way a person can help out others is to be aware and just say something: this is what this person has done!

This is what this appreciation is all about that this very person gave me. A realization that life is all about helping each other and not asking for anything in return.

I’ve known this person for almost 2 years, I met her through my girlfriend. During the first year of my girlfriend and I’s relationship I didn’t see her much. But since the beginning of this year she and I have been helping each other stay on track with our writing–she more of the keeping me on track than the other way around.

For now, this person is a high school teacher, but wants to be a full-time writer, and in fact, has just finished her first novel. I’ve read a couple of pages, and would like to read the whole novel, but just holding the notebook filled with pages of her work was quite amazing.

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August 4th, 2009

The Road Trip was Great, Thanks to…

This post is a thanks to all of the people who helped and cheered me on during my trip. In no specific order:

-Troy - thanks for the low down about Detroit and the live-time help navigating through the streets of Detroit.

-Ellen - thanks for the insight of Detroit and trying your heart out to get me to go to Flint and Pontiac, and guiding me through Dearborn.

-Esther - thanks for your encouragement on writing while on the roadtrip and cheering me on.

-Girlfriend - thanks for putting sense into me in getting a hotel and not sleeping in my car, and telling me to be safe as much as possible.

-Ben - Cheering me on and worried about me roaming the streets of Detroit, and talking to me during the first couple of minutes during my 9 hour-speeding-through-Michigan-Ohio-PA-New Jersey road trip.

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June 24th, 2009

My Friend Richard Doing His Thing…

Dedication

Goes home to write blog post at lunch because he wanted to.

Knows the field he is passionate about from salary cap numbers to scouting report of most of the players in the league.

Will watch all the games from start to finish and have the ability to give you a in depth summary chart of what the player or team is going to be like in the games to come.

After the end of the season, there are no more games to be played, with the busy off season soon to get rolling, he is breaking each team down with their needs for the upcoming draft!

If that isn’t passion, than I don’t know what it is. He can be spending our time doing other things to occupy our existence on earth. As everyone knows, my passion is writing, and I’m taking those steps to become the very best possible. However, it is a distinguished feeling when one notices the talent and love for something in someone else, and lets them know about it.

It Wasn’t Easy!

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May 29th, 2009

Appreciation to Ben!!!

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I don’t know where to begin. Sometimes it is hard to write about people you admire and letting them know so. I have known Ben most of my life. Our mothers are best friends and all 6 boys were always around each other as we were growing up (him and I, Ben’s brother, and my 3 brothers). We drifted a part in college; I went to the big state school, he went to the local university. We formed an untouchable basketball duo that was called, Hot Brothers, nobody could beat us if both of us were playing on the same team. We did some crazy shit I can’t even mention on the blog, because one, people wouldn’t believe it, and two, it will surely get me in trouble or frowned upon (I’ll just say we were curious kids). We even started a business together that almost dismantled the friendship altogether, but we learned from it and are better friends because of it.

The Ben I Know

Most of the things Ben and I talk about were business related, our futures, or what movie we were/are going to make. We also talk to each other about our girlfriends, and his year plus child who he constantly thinks about. We also talk to each other about our families, and when he is going to come home from working abroad. He is also the one who comments on my blog and gives me pointers, but more importantly, encouragement to continue my passion of letting the world know the true me. We joke around about many things and at times can remember something in our childhood and start laughing about it.

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April 24th, 2009

Appreciation to Ash B!

I met this person via email a year or so ago. I, for the most part, thought I was writing for myself and simply documenting my life to the known world. I have told a couple of people of my website, but not much. However, when I checked my email one afternoon or day (I can’t remember now), I saw a message from someone who was from Canada, we’ll call her Ash.

She was letting me know that what I wrote really helped her get her life in order and gave her the confidence to do what she always wanted to do in her life. She said I was kind of an inspiration to her and wanted me to know. After I read that email I paused, I was actually feeling I was falling back in my commitment to myself to write in my blog, but I couldn’t believe what I wrote was helping somebody else. Little did I know I started to understand my purpose in life and went back and forth with a couple of emails with Ash. At the time I was 26 and still trying to figure out things (actually, still am) and wrote because I wanted to. I realized that people can take charge in their lives by a couple of paragraphs a couple of times a week and multiplied in months.

I haven’t emailed Ash for some time now, I know she seldomly reads at the blog, but happy she is living for her self, taking life by the horns (I got of think of another saying, lol)! I want you to know A, I appreciate the effort you had emailing to let me know how much you admired my writing.

As we grow up and feel we have to give back to others, there comes a time where others lift us back to continue our motivation of life. I know I will never fully understand how much I touched your life and you will not know how much you have touched mine, but a couple of words should let you know I do care for your kind gesture of letting me know.

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February 7th, 2009

Appreciation to Adam McFarland

These post are the hardest for me to write, but also some of the more rewarding ones.

I met Adam first through his blog and then by emailing him about how we had similarities with what we were going through, followed by his company doing my first ever redesigns of my blog and personal website, and now through his continue efforts to give the no-bullshit story of his ups and downs of running a successful business and a touch of his personal life sprinkled here and there through his blog. I still think our journeys are similar, but I have learned so much about him as a person through his writing. I think that his blog has given me the strength to continue to write because through his writings you can see very evidently that he is passionate about his business and more importantly about his life. Lately I have been on a cutting binge in everything in my life; either working out, eliminating my apartment clutter, loosing some mediocre friends, deleting time wasting podcast and blogs. Adam?s blog always is one that is there and look forward to reading whenever he releases a new post.

Some of the things that I have learned from Adam McFarland:

1. Don’t take bullshit from no one.
2. Find out what you are passionate about and give your all by dedication, hard work, and to always keep learning about your field of expertise.
3. It is important to have a work-life balance.
4. Gives thanks to people that he admires and learns from.
5. Through the art of routine find a better way to do task or implement solutions to existing problems (The million dollar idea doesn’t happen over night, but is refined over time).
6. Does not apologize for his decision to start his own business!


There are many more examples like these that show the real person of Adam. Sometimes I think of all the things that I have done for myself ever since I got out of college, almost 4 years ago. I think of all of the business courses that I wasted my money on, spending $10,000-15,000 dollars on my ?race car? that was worth $2700 bucks when I finally sold it, buying 2 cars in the span of 3 years, excess amount of spending on my credit cards for stupid shit I can?t put a finger on now, wasting time doing hobbies or suppose passions because it looked good to people around me, and many more things that I can?t take away from nearly 4 years. I always think of things that I could have eliminated out of my life, but I don?t think my life would be the same, if I never came across Adam?s blog in the very short time after college. Yes I am still at a 9-5, but now I have goals, dreams, desires, and am taking steps to get to where I want to go. I am very happy in what I am doing now in my life, partly because of watching someone else grow through his writings how ever many times per year he sits behind his computer to take some time to write his thoughts, insight, blowing off steam rants, and encouragement to live the life he ultimately wants to. I am so proud of myself searching for what I truly want out of life and I thank Adam for giving me the reason to continue the exploration of my journey.
Update:
Just this past week Adam helped me out in a big way. I was in the process of moving my websites over to a new hosting and registrar site and didn?t backup this website. I have worked nearly four years at my craft and was going crazy making sure I could do something in order to save the work that I have been doing. I emailed Adam and he had a link to my existing database and I was able to download my backup and my website is still alive. Just for that kind gesture of helping me out I am going to give the charity that he sponsored last year $100 bucks for helping me out. He isn?t looking for money, but I thought that would be a kind way to pay him back for the help that he gave me when I needed it most.
Challenge:
Adam, my challenge to you is to write an appreciation to someone that you admire. I would love to see how far it goes. Thanks again for all you have done for me!

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October 11th, 2008

I Really do Appreciate you Baby!

This next person that I am writing about for the appreciation section is my girlfriend. We have been dating for 10 months and all I can say is that it has been a magical ride so far… We met in a cocktail bar while my friend was visiting from out of town one of his old college friends. My friend’s college friend was and obvious still is my girlfriend’s cousin. We got to chatting about the typical topics and even made a bet over whether a gimlet was a cocktail or not (which she won the bet). We have been together ever since that and the relationship is still blossoming each and everyday that we are together.

I always thought of myself as a well rounded person and tried my best to include people in my journey through life. My girlfriend (we’ll call her sbr) has directly and indirectly reminded me that I am indeed a great person and still growing. She has taught me patience, timeliness, appreciating each day that we are given on this earth, living by the motto of, “treating others the way you want to be treated”, being honest with yourself on what you want to do in your life, and many other life lessons that I can and have had already blog post about.

I believe that our relationship is so organic that it seems we were meant for each other. At times people think we are married because we spend so much time with each other, however we do give each other space to spend on our own or with friends and family. Throughout our relationship we have helped each other in our careers, passions, caring and spending time with friends and family, giving each other encouragement and not being intimidated to let each other know when they aren’t being true to themselves in a nonjudgemental way, and the continued growth of our love for each other.

Some things that people may not know about sbr are that she is by far the smartest woman I have ever met; loves cooking (a great chef that doesn’t know how to make rice); is an attorney that doesn’t wear her career on her sleeve; has the sexiest voice God has ever given a woman; loves playing and beating others in board games; spending time with her girlfriends; takes care of a crazy dog to others, but is her baby; whom lives the life of a strong independent woman, however doesn’t vocalize that claim; has tons of friends that consider her as their best friend; and will always fight for whatever she believes in.

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