Something from nothing! (A calling to those who never try)

So many of us watch others become successful and yet we do little ourselves. Some of us take action and risk our entire savings accounts for just 1 shot at being successful. I was one of those people that took what little money I had in the bank to invest in something I believed in. I know I asked myself, why do I believe in something that I do not know beyond a doubt will work? To answer this you have to know how I was introduced into real estate investing. I worked as a contractor for an immigrant house flipper who just made something from nothing! In my life I have had failure after failure. I also know what some small measure of success feels like too! I have had dreams shattered, hopes dashed, and I am still here to do what I can. After being diagnosed with a debilitating back condition that keeps me from so many things that I love to do: running, construction, car and truck modifications (mechanics), I have to work with what I have left. I do not have the luxury of complaining, nor the time to feel sorry for myself. Neither one of those will ensure my family is taken care of financially, and neither will give me the drive to focus on the positive things in life.

I had to take action-not as an impulse, but as an instinct! You see, I have been reading material about real estate, going to seminars, local meetups all because I wanted what other people have. I am driven because I want to be a positive person in this world that does not give up in the face of adversity, but a person who rises from the ashes of defeat! After sitting on my couch for almost 2 whole years from the date that doctors said that I would never be able to run again or to work construction jobs (my only secure income), I decided to get up off of my rear-end and fight! Fight for a will to survive, fight for a purpose in life! I became so depressed and lost in my own pity that I was literally starting to die. I was down to 125 pounds in weight (currently I am around 170 healthy for 5'10") and I seriously could not even look people in the eye when they talked to me. I was always labeled as "the quiet guy in the corner type" and really wasn't much for conversation. Now you cannot get me to be quiet.:)

For so many of us who just wander throughout our lives aimlessly, we lack hope. Hope for a better way of life; hope that we can someday be happy with the hand that has been dealt to us. It is all a choice. We choose to knock on doors driving around town. We choose to write endless amounts of letters by hand (until we can afford for yellowletters.com to print them) until our hands cramped so bad it is hard to take a drink of water. We choose to answer the phone knowing that it might very well be another person telling us to "take me off of your list." We choose to listen to someone get mad when we make an offer on their home that we are frankly embarrassed to offer, but we know the numbers have to work or there is no deal to be had! Choosing what we do and who we are in life is what truly defines us as people. I chose to lay around a one-bedroom apartment with no hope and no meaning to my life. Yet, I found the inner strength (through God's grace) to get me out of that crummy apartment and into a life that I am so proud of! I measure success not by how many deals I have done, but by the dreams I have put into action! We put our dreams on hold and give ourselves excuses like: "I do not have the money", or "I do not have the skill." I had neither of these when I first started and now I know we walk by faith not by sight.

When you have lost everything many times over like I have you really start to realize, it is just the start of a new beginning. I lost my father around the age of 7 from suicide and I really blamed myself. I beat myself up for something I had nothing to do with. Why do we give up so easily when victory is just around the corner. If we can just keep getting back up after falling down then, I believe, we have a real shot at success. I lost my dream to run and my dream to build million dollar houses, but now I will just have to build them using paper and pen. I am ok with that now. I had to really just give it over to God and realize "this is life on life's terms" not "life on Stephen's terms." When you find yourself hitting a great big brick wall, if you cannot tear it down-jump over it! If you cannot jump over it, then climb over it. If you cannot climb over it, then get someone to throw you a rope and help pull you over it:) Many of us had nothing when we started out in any business. For entrepreneurs, there is some sort of fighting spirit that burns inside of us. At least, I feel this way. I was raised by a single mother who loved me, and who worked herself so hard to just keep a roof over our heads. We ate beans over buttered bread many nights for dinner, and yet, I am still alive to tell the tale. It turns out, many of us have a story to tell. I have spoken with so many people who were homeless like I was. Sleeping in a car in the winter time, worrying whether there would be enough gas in the tank to make it through the night. This is a call to all the so-called losers, the failures, the forgotten ones. Stand up, rise, from your worst enemy-yourselves! You too can be...Something from nothing!