Happy Thanksgiving!

I originally posted this to Facebook, but it seems equally appropriate here, and something worth sharing in the "My Successes" category... I hope you gain some inspiration or something from it.

Considering that it's Thanksgiving, I suppose a status post about things I'm grateful for makes sense... it's long, but I hope it's a worthwhile read for you...

Whenever the path you’ve based your life on comes to a sudden and unexpected dead end you need to take some time sitting by the side of the road picking the gravel out of your knees. And for anyone who has ever experienced a sudden, shocking setback in their professional lives, this quote from Conan O'Brien's 2011 commencement address at Dartmouth College rings so very true:

"Nietzsche famously said, 'Whatever does not kill you makes you stronger.' What he failed to stress is that it ALMOST KILLS YOU. Disappointment stings, and for driven, successful people... it is disorienting. What Nietzsche should have said was that whatever does not kill you makes you watch a lot of Cartoon Network and drink a lot of mid-price Chardonnay at 11 in the morning."

He goes on to say that in order to move forward to "the most satisfying and fascinating year" of his professional life and the most conviction he'd ever experienced, he had to make some drastic changes and engage in what some would call “radical acceptance”.

Ultimately, the thing that makes the difference is surrender.

Surrendering to the notion of failure. Accepting the fact that we didn't make it where we wanted to go is the first critical step because, as Conan says, there's nothing more liberating than having your worst fear realized. Only from there can we realize our innate ability to creatively apply ourselves to ANYTHING because it's more than the nothing you're accomplishing watching Cartoon Network and drinking cheap wine.

In other words, you have little left to lose... which (given the right mindset) puts you in the position of having to accept that anything is possible.

JTeam REI is the result of me applying myself creatively to something I've thought I should be doing for a very long time. The real estate aspect of it is fairly new, a year old or so, but the ideas of sales, marketing and management aren't new to me... they're things I've thought about and dreamt about for a very long time. The only thing interfering with my progress on those goals was an existing career, and a successful one by some measures. The funny thing was that I loved the technology and the community... but I hated the work. Not a particularly effective approach to a career, but one that I could only grasp in hindsight.

So after 22 years in technology, it was taken away from me. I didn't willingly give it up, but I knew I couldn't keep trying the same thing over and over again and failing at it. I had to fess up to the fact that it wasn't working and deal with the consequences. So I did... and I quite literally spent several months watching Cartoon Network and licking my wounds. And occasionally taking the first tiny steps toward the wholesaling career I'm building today. At this point I'm wholesaling real estate, but it doesn't matter what the product is, I know I can wholesale just about anything.

Today I have a verbal commitment from a buyer to close the very first real estate deal I've ever done. I expect that the paperwork will get done this afternoon. It's been a year, almost to the day, since I was involved in any tech-related for-pay professional activities. I basically took a year off from work... and it was a year of deep soul searching, great pain, triumph and ultimately a taste of success.

It's worthy of note, to me, anyway, that over the last 18 months so many things have been stripped away. Simple things, like a checking account that I had for over 10 years that got charged out and closed because I didn't have any consistent tech income to cover some charges. My job, my career, my identity, a large part of my sense of self... ripped away. For me the last months of 2011 and all of 2012 have been about reinventing myself, starting over from scratch in may ways, and starting right.

Dear God it was painful... but my parents taught me not to fear painful things. They taught me to embrace my reality and endure the pain because it inevitably leads to the next phase of life. My grandma was a firm believer in the concept of the sliver lining for every cloud. I hadn't ever thought of it this way until just now, but I really was brought up to believe that "failing forward" is the only way to make it to your dreams.

I just want to take a sec to thank those who have been there for me, for us, over the last year. You know who you are... thank you for your help and your support. The encouragement you’ve provided has meant more to us than you could possibly imagine. Your belief in this new direction in my professional is more important than any sort of financial help you could have given. And even at that, some of you helped out with the financial side of things too... and it saved our butts while I was busy just trying to figure out how the hell to pull what looked like the tattered shreds of my life out of the fire.

As it turns out, tossing the whole wardrobe into the fire was actually the best option. I feel stronger now than ever before. I've learned new skills that will help me in any endeavor. Having my worst fear realized wasn't only liberating, it was empowering. And this is just the beginning. I'm excited about life and the prospects are unlimited.

I am, more now than ever, grateful for the mind and skills and friends and family that I've been given and especially for the people in my life who constantly believe in me even when I don't. And trust me, there are plenty of those times.

Thank you, friends, family, colleagues... for your support and encouragement. I have more to be grateful for than most, and I just wanted to share a small part of it.

Happy Thanksgiving.