Don't Quit Page 13
My father’s retirement savings were all but wiped out in just eleven years, between 1999 and 2010. During those eleven years, my mother was diagnosed and died of lung cancer, the dot com bubble caused a recession, the attack on our country caused another recession, and then we had the great recession.
There are many things in life out of our control. We can’t predict when the next recession might happen, or if there will ever be another attack on our country, or if a major medical issue with ourselves or a loved one lingers for years. But we can be prepared. Follow the wisdom of this old Chinese proverb: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
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TWEETABLE
Wall Street is playing Russian roulette with your retirement. Take your chips off the table.
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Jeff E. Thornton, founder and principal of Velox Capital, LLC is dedicated to helping people find solutions to their retirement needs, setting them free from the Wall Street casino. Jeff uses alternative assets and private placement opportunities to rebuild an investor’s portfolio quickly and set investors financially free by providing long and short-term passive income with above average returns. He has invested personally and with his partners in real estate, energy, and collateralized loans valued at over $79.5M.
Visit www.VeloxWealth.com to find free resources, signup for the Velox Wealth Newsletter, or schedule a free consultation. You may also email Jeff directly at jeff@veloxwealth.com .
CHAPTER 18
Where Your “STOP” Becomes Your “Start!”
by Crystal Hinojosa
T he pain is real and excruciating…. They keep looking at me. All I can see is the fear in the eyes of my daughters and my husband. Why can’t I get words out? Why can’t I move? Why am I going to die today?
“Stop” is something we usually are forced into, not something we do by choice. “Stop” is a movement that we have been dictated by circumstance to do: red lights, stop signs, train tracks. What happens when your “stop” comes from an unexpected source…your body?
Three years ago, we were leaving our house to go to Costco, and with my purse in hand and laughter coming from my daughters, I knew if I did not run to the restroom before we left that it would be: BLADDER 1 vs MOM 0. “Mom, hurry we got to go!” They’re right. Let me hurry and run, I thought.
STOP! There it was―that something we have no control over. I fell, helplessly, straight into the chair, and I knew something was wrong. No. No this can’t be. The pain was stifling. An unseen gorilla on my chest was jumping up and down. I can’t breathe. I can’t move. Please….
“Crystal, stop playing.” I heard my husband. At that moment, I couldn’t respond. All I knew was that involuntary tears were slowing burning their way down my face. He saw my face, and he knew that life as we knew it would change. “Girls, get in the car now!”
The next few minutes were a blur of fear, stubbornness, and confusion. “I am fine,” I muttered after the gorilla decided to get off of my chest, but there was no turning back. Off to the ER we went. I kept thinking that this was absurd. I mean, come on, we had survived health issues with our daughters and the closing of our business during the market downturn, so why was this different? Why is everything so grave now? But I knew, and quite frankly, most of us “know” when it is time. For me, it was time to stop being the caregiver and actually take care myself.
ERs are funny. “Scale of 1-10, how do you feel? What brought you here? All of that changes with a blood pressure of 230-120. Now, everyone’s looks have changed, and you are being wheeled past everyone else waiting.
Understand this: I was still more concerned with not “having time for this” than I was my actual health. I have too much to do. How can I continue working if I have to change, I thought.
STOP! Just stop! Stop thinking, worrying, fixing, and ultimately, stop deciding that you are the last one that matters! So many of us face moments of life like this because we haven’t taken time to be self-aware. We continue to run on fumes, and then we are “shocked” that the stop is non-negotiable by the time it actually happens.
After multiple doses of a variety of medicines, I resigned to the fact that this was serious. I stopped. The sad reality kicked in that my false delusion of control was not going to serve me well for this. They couldn’t get my blood pressure stabilized, and they just kept saying, “This isn’t making sense.” These were not words that I wanted to hear, but deep down, I knew that something had been wrong for a very long time.
You see, less than 10 years prior, we had walked through the cataclysmic loss of our business. During those moments, you can choose to bury your head and die alongside your business, or you can be like so many others that pull their proverbial boots up and survive. The blessing for us was that we did rebound financially. We came to terms with the fact that we would have to work for it, and grit and sweat were the only oxygen we breathed for many years. The fact that we were back should have been enough, right? If we were back on top of the financial mountain, why in the world would my body pick this moment to decide to throw a fit? That is the quandary though, isn’t it?
Was this my body throwing a fit like a two-year-old in line at the grocery store with arms and legs flailing over the lost piece of candy, or hadn’t I felt ill for a long time? Hadn’t I known in my gut things weren’t right? You know hindsight is 20/20, and the constant headaches, body aches, hand cramps, and cloudy brain moments all felt like normal “it’s called LIFE” pain, but it wasn’t. There are many forks in life’s roads, but sometimes it is simply a dead end! Where I was going was NOWHERE.
Then came the reality that work was out for a minimum of a week, and then what? Here came that practical survival brain again. Knowing I had to be out of work for a week paralyzed me worse than the gorilla itself. It felt like a lifetime at the hospital, while in reality, it was only a few hours to get me stabilized and for things to calm down. But let me tell you, it was a life-changer.
I would love to say that this was all it took for me to have a good ole’ fashioned breakthrough, but it is not the truth. I share this because I know there are so many of us that have had “STOPS” in our lives of all different sizes, shapes, and pains, but the real question is, “Where do we START after the stop?” So many of us get yield signs we blow right through. As a successful and driven woman, I had not viewed this stop as a defeat, but as a very needed reset.
My start came afterwards. I decided that blood results that showed autoimmune disease would not be my end but my beginning. My start included taking care of things that I had not considered needs before. Two that I prioritized immediately were self-love and self-care. If eating or doing XYZ equated to fanning the fire that was going through my body, those things had to change.
What was difficult for me was that somewhere, deep down, it felt easy to slip into “I don’t want to be a burden” mentality. I was watched over like a hawk by my family. At the time, my daughters were 11 and 13, and they watched their mama nearly die right in front of them. Do I believe we need to be close to dying in order to live? No, but unfortunately, there is some real truth to the idea that without pain there is not change. My family and I made a decision that week to LIVE.
What decisions have you made? We decided to be the family that was of excellence (not just financially). As a family of four, we collectively lost 150 lbs. and have maintained the loss all of these years later. I now choose a walk and sleep over the shenanigans I would have previously chosen.
The gorilla still lingers every day, waiting to jump on my chest again, but I give him the hard STOP this time. He can’t jump on because he has no permission. We have decided that excellence includes being healthy, wealthy, and wise. Whether you are an exceptional employee, a business owner, or a venture capitalist, we all must hedge our future against the gorillas. How does one do that? First, we must know that all of us have a gorilla ready to do damage, but we walk around without any plan
of protection. Protection can be simple: Do you have a focus? Do you have an awareness of yourself? Are you running your race or someone else’s? There isn’t a simple answer to any of those questions, but asking them helps you be aware and puts a perimeter of truth around you. Truth is only effective if we actually utilize it.
I want to invite you all to walk alongside me on this journey. Let us focus on growth and truth versus an indictment of circumstance. Indictment, or judgment, comes from many sources, but the reality is that we are the first ones to indict ourselves. I am currently continuing my passion and conviction for truth, and I love to help others find theirs.
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TWEETABLE
We must take the time to be self-aware and run our own race rather than putting ourselves last after our businesses, our families, and anything else we think we should be doing. No one can survive on fumes forever.
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Crystal Hinojosa is a Managing Partner of The KOA Group, a strategic business/sales growth firm. Crystal’s experience in consultative sales as well as business development allows authentic communication with all of those around her. Her bold truth of “pain is the launching place for change” will meet you, your team, and your business right where you are. Crystal is also a dedicated wife of nearly twenty years, a business partner with her husband in Liberty Vision Capital (LVC), and mom of two teenage daughters. Liberty Vision Capital is a place of individual growth, spiritual healing, and business marketing breakthrough. If you dare to laugh through tears and be bold enough to tackle your most treacherous fears then she is ready to walk through it with you. To connect with Crystal, visit koasalesgroup.com/crystal or email her atcrystal@koasalesgroup.com
CHAPTER 19
From Rock Bottom to Sharing World-Class Stages with Top Achievers
by Robert J. Moore
I was totally destitute. Homeless and alone, I had alienated my friends and family with my delinquent behavior and had nowhere to turn. I thought my journey was over and my path was at a dead end.
When I was 12 years old, my dad walked into the room and told me and my brothers that our mom was not our biological mother. As a result, I created a story in my head, thinking it was all clear now, that “my mom did not love me since I was not her child.” I began to feel like I was alone, angry, and suddenly, as though I did not fit in. I felt this was the reason why I was always getting yelled at and grounded.
This thought had a deep effect on how I viewed myself. I had low self- esteem for a long period of time. I acted very irresponsibly and did not consider any of the consequences of my actions until it was too late.
I was 17 years old when I first got into a decent romantic relationship. I had an amazing job and was drinking less alcohol. Just after I turned 20, my girlfriend started to go into labor then went into an epileptic seizure and died in my hands. I realized that being with someone you love at the point of their death is a profound experience. Nonetheless, I found it to be very emotional and mentally exhausting. During grief counseling, I had learned these feelings are a normal and understandable response to a very stressful situation.
I said to myself, “Wow, what I am I going to do with my life?” It seemed that every time I got close to someone, they were taken away. This was when I started to use booze and drugs to suppress my feelings.
After feeling sorry for myself for a number of years, I decided I wanted to become someone, and I moved to a treatment center in a new town to get the help I needed. Once I became clean and sober in 2005, I became overwhelmed with emotions as all of my emotions started to thaw out.
Years later, after a lot of inner and outer work, I did end up accomplishing a number of credentials including becoming a social service worker, achieving an addiction diploma, graduating with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in psychology, earning my Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Master Practitioner Certification, and receiving an honorary doctorate degree.
These milestones played a big part in changing my behavior and my negative outlook. This took me back to when I was 12 years old and my dad told me Mom was not my biological mother.
My experience of this was that my parents did not love me and wanted to punish me for something, but I realize now that, in fact, they did love me, as they were the ones raising me and my two brothers. They put food on the table and clothing on our backs and would try to help with our homework.
I did not need to take drugs or alcohol to clearly see the truth, as this moment of realization was very strong. I teared up like Niagara Falls, allowing me to miraculously receive the sense of comfort I had been missing and feel like a huge weight was lifted from my body.
That was my breakthrough. That was the moment it came to me. I then knew that I want to help people. I want to make a difference in the world. I want to coach people. I want to speak on stages to share my message. I truly want to inspire more people to transform their lives and make a massive difference in the world. That’s when I realized I would have to start working on myself and start standing for who I am.
I started to study the top influencers in the world to learn how they became successful and what I needed to do to reach their level. Over the last decade, I have studied 46 very successful top influencers and motivational speakers in the world who allowed me to either interview them personally or share the stage with them. What an honor it has been.
One of the top influencers stated in a video, “If I want to be the best, I will have to learn from the best.” So, I decided to hire a few of the top life and business coaches. These included the operations manager from Think and Grow Rich, Eric Thomas, Ted McGrath, and even Les Brown himself. I ended up getting the first book in my The Magnetic Entrepreneur series endorsed by Les Brown and the second book endorsed by Don Green, CEO of Napoleon Hill Foundation.
Chapter two of Think and Grow Rich had a significant impact on my life, as it taught me the power of visualization and allowed me to see the end result in my mind.
I dreamt I would meet Les Brown, number one motivational speaker in the world, Bob Proctor, number one for wealth in the world, Douglas Vermeeren, who developed the top three personal development movies in the world, and Raymond Aaron, New York Times bestseller. Not only have I met them, but I have also shared the stage with them. My vision has come true.
All through my life, I wanted to become someone but had no clue where to start. When I started my process of sobriety in 2005, I was told that I had to find my WHY.
By “WHY,” I mean, What’s your purpose? What’s your cause? What’s your belief? Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care?
Through school, I had to do many presentations in front of my peers.
Each time I knew I was going to be in front of the class to present, I would feel knots in my stomach. My thoughts would be racing. I would create a PowerPoint slide on the topic. This would help keep the focus off me and allow me to focus on the topic. Surprisingly enough, once I started to present, my nerves seemed to calm down, and I became relaxed enough to finish my presentation.
Today, I am on world-class stages with the top influencers in the world, and it does not make me nervous, as I have learned that the message is not for me. I already know what I am going to say. The message is for the audience.
Today, I am the founder and CEO of Magnetic Entrepreneur Inc™ where I have a number of programs―a magazine, entrepreneur co-authoring program, business mastermind, and red carpet gala event for all Magnetic Entrepreneur authors to gather for an amazing time of knowledge with top speakers from around the globe and to win an award for their hard work.
Studying 46 top achievers, I learned that the old-school business techniques no longer work. When I first began coaching and speaking, I was just throwing money into television and print ads that did not bring the results entrepreneurs want.
We have built mind-blowing programs that have become internationally talked about and have had
a lot of well-known celebrities, like CEO of Napoleon Hill Foundation Don Green, former MLB player and 3x World Champion Todd Stottlemyre, New York Times bestselling author Raymond Aaron, and founder of Jim Rohn International Kyle Wilson just to name a few, writing forewords for the Magnetic Entrepreneur book series or asking me to join them on world-class stages.
As early-stage entrepreneurs strive for progress, the incredible programs and strategies that Magnetic Entrepreneur Inc™ offers enhance their knowledge and up-brand anyone willing to take on the challenge. I will never forget the challenges I had to take on to become successful, nor will I forget the feeling of being 12 years old and my dad telling me and my brothers that our mom was not our biological mother.
Magnetic Entrepreneur Inc™ is by far one of the greatest works I have ever created. I am honored to share it!
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TWEETABLE
If you want your dream to come true, take it from your head to your heart.
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Robert J. Moore is the founder of Magnetic Entrepreneur Inc., an internationally awarded speaker, and bestselling author. He is an international speaker and business coach that has impacted the lives of over 120,000 people through the work associated with Magnetic Entrepreneur Inc. Robert has studied 46 of the top achievers in the world in the past decade to be able to build amazing programs. He states, “My programs are by far one of the greatest works I have ever created. I am honored to share them with you.”
Email - info@magneticentrepreneurinc.com
LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com/in/magneticentrepreneur
Facebook - Magnetic Entrepreneur Inc.
CHAPTER 20
Community College Drop Out to Multimillion Dollar
Real Estate Fund Manager
by Brad Niebuhr
I t’s amazing to me to look back at a sequence of events in your life and ask yourself, if one little thing had changed, if one decision you made was different, where would you be right now?