One of my major goals for 2013 was to reinvent myself. Since I’ve been an Entrepreneur since 2001, I’ve been doing the same thing for the last 11 years. Back in 2001, I had a lucrative job at New Horizons Computer Learning Center instructing graphic design, networking, MS Office programs and a little bit of everything else. After Sept 11th, the economy took a turn for the worse and I ended up losing my job.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Before I was working at New Horizons, I was in Corporate America for a long time and I hated it with a passion. It wasn’t necessary a bad job but I was starting to get sick of it and I felt there was no room to grow. Sure, the pay was decent and I made a lot of friends at work but at the end of the day, it was only a paycheck.

Right after I got laid off in 2001, I had unemployment for 6 months. I went to Buy.com and bought a book by Robert Kiyosaki called “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.” This book literally changed my life when I learned that there were 4-types of people in this world and that the employee was just one of them.

  1. Employee
  2. Self-Employed
  3. Business Owner
  4. Investor

Although my family has an Entrepreneurial background, it was never introduced to me by my family so I never really understood what it meant to “make money” aside from getting a job and this is why “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” opened a new world for me.

After reading the book and researching, I was making more money through my online business than I was at my previous day job and this experience gave me the enthusiasm to charge ahead. Some of the things I learned from having my own business were:

  1. Enthusiasm
  2. Self-managment
  3. Leadership
  4. Discipline
  5. Focus
  6. Self-control
  7. Money management

Today, I feel I am back where I started in 2001. For starters, my current business is not doing too well online. It seems SEO is completely dead and I may have hired the wrong people (from India) who may have gotten me in trouble with the big G – the situation is quite complex as I’ve been completely booted from the Search Engines for the last 2 years. I’ve tried nearly everything that was suggested to me by the online community to recover but I kind of given up hope. With all the latest Panda/Penguin algorithm  updates, no one is really safe out there.

While no one has immunity forever, I firmly believe that we grow from challenges in life so all is not completely lost If it weren’t for getting laid off in 2001, I would have never started my own small business and today, if it weren’t for the failure of my current business, I would not be on this web site giving you my reasons to blog / write / start a new business. Everything has a beginning and and an end cycle.

Top 5 personal reasons for starting this blog:

  1. I have this new passion for adding value to society by sharing my knowledge. Since I read 4-books a month, it would be nice to write about my takeaways.
  2. I always share inspirational quotes on my Facebook page and write details to inspire people, I would love to do the same here.
  3. I have made a lot of mistakes and have learned from them and this blog is going to be a great hub to tell everyone about it.
  4. I have quite an interesting life. I love to share stories both good and bad.
  5. We live in an unprecedented time in history — through this blog, I would like to help people realize there full potential. Being an optimist, it is my personal mission to do just that.

Top 5 professional reasons for starting this blog:

  1. For the last 5 years, I wanted to become a seminar leader, speaker, writer and coach but never became serious until recently.
  2. This site will act as the platform for the new business to share my knowledge and thoughts. Later, I will create additional sites for my products and services.
  3. This new business platform will be my new lifelong career. It will showcase my authenticity, transparency and genuine urge to helping people succeed.
  4. Since this new path will be my lifelong career, the knowledge and value I bring to this world will become part of my legacy and I want to be remembered this way.
  5. For selfish reasons, I want to make a lot of money doing it too.

I firmly believe in my heart I have found something that makes me feel good about what I am doing (finally!) It really feels authentic and I’m excited to begin. First off, I am not a writer but I am warning you now that it might not be above standard in the beginning but I promise it will get better in time.

What would really help me in my journey is if you can comment below and share a similar story and catch up with me on Facebook and Twitter.

“When was there a time in your life when you had to make a do-or-die decision and how has it changed your life personally and/or professionally?” 

I would love to hear from you!

Your Friend,
William Shaker