“We’re not so different, you and I…” – Dr. Evil
Do I have your attention yet? No? Ok, well what if I told you that this is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember: all I’m offering is the truth. Nothing more.
I know you took the red pill (as did I), so let’s dive in to my story and how I got to this point…
I grew up like any other kid in Pittsburgh, PA. I played all the sports, football, basketball, hockey, and was even forced to play a couple that I wasn’t too fond of *coughbaseball*. My parents put me in karate when I was 5 because my older brother, Jon AKA Goosie, wanted to give it a try. We both received our black belts 6 years later.
The teenage years were very typical…for a home schooled boy who slept until 1pm and lived on Hungry Man dinners. Being home schooled from 6th grade through high school, I didn’t really have the chance to acquire a girlfriend until I started working at age 17. On the plus side, I watched every Cheers, Wings and Roseanne episode…more than twice. Thanks Nick At Nite!
My work career started in retail at one of those large discount stores with two x’s where I served as a cashier and then “backroom guy”. As a senior in hi-ome school I was able to work “full time” and do my school work in the evening. After 1 year in the biz, I transitioned to the automotive industry and became an entry-level technician changing tires, oil and batteries. I decided this would be my life’s career, so i went waist deep and took automotive classes at my local community college. I was promoted to an full-fledged mechanic now, and stayed in that role for 3 years. What I learned: You have to rip people off to make money as a mechanic, and what SOME mechanics do is incredibly unethical. That wasn’t for me.
Lesson Learned: I found out that I was highly ethical is an industry that didn’t reward that, so i made a change.
I then started a mechanics job for the county, where a friend helped me get my foot in the door. This was the complete opposite of working for a big tire shop, because the county wanted to SAVE as much money as possible! Mind you, I’m working on police cars and public works vehicles, and we are being told to “let things slide” unless they are 100% broken. Remember that next time your in a police chase, you may just need to run long enough for the police vehicle to breakdown! 🙂
Anyway, after 2 more years as a mechanic, I realized that this industry just wasn’t for me. Part of it was because I was making $29K a year, and would have arthritis in my hands before I turned 40! My brother had gotten a job at a newer software company in Atlanta the year prior, and was trying to get me in. The only question: do I want to move to Atlanta, GA? Well it was either that or live in the same neighborhood I grew up in, as most yinzers do if they don’t ever leave Pittsburgh (this may not be true, but seems true).
Lesson Learned: I had a job that I knew was no longer right for me, so I made a change.
So now it’s July 2011 at I’ve landed a job at this software company. This was my first experience in sales, with my only other image of a sales rep in at the tire shop where they were trying to evoke as much fear in the client as possible in order for them to buy additional services and parts, some needed and some not needed. At this point I still have no sales training, but the sales reps that I’m now seeing are playing a different game…they are selling the product’s features!
I learned what I could during my first 3 years, and was even promoted twice! I was now making about $70K a year, single, saving money and being a total cheapskate. It was at this point that a friend got me into a technology reseller company, and I thought it would an easy transition because I had been in sales for 3 years and worked with resellers the entire time.
Get ready to learn a lesson here…
It turns out that I didn’t know as much as I thought about selling, or what the reseller’s job entailed! BUT, this was a great learning experience because even though I didn’t exactly know what I was doing, I had the belief that I could be successful just based on my past experience. I did work hard during my time there, hard enough to reach 96% of my quota in year 1, but looking back i could have worked 10 times as hard as I did. For the time, I had overcome the challenge of having to learn something new (again), and didn’t fall flat on my face…totally. Winning!
After a year and a half at this company, I made a push to go back to the previous software company, as I now knew much better what these resellers are dealing with, and thought that I could do my previous job better! So I landed a job doing the same thing I did previously, there was just one catch – I had to move to Phoenix, AZ…and I had to convince my *then* girlfriend to move with me. Not only that, but I singed the offer letter on a Wednesday, gave my resignation notice on Thursday, and had to be in Phoenix to start by Friday.
Lesson Learned: Life can move very fast!
Fast forward 2 years and I had convinced my *then* girlfriend to marry me and spawn my child. Yes, I had to seduce her with my many riches and gifts for her to accept this offer, but it still counts and she says she loves me too!
While we were planning our wedding and trying to figure out how to pay for it, it made it ever so clear that we did not want our children to have to go through this. Somehow knowing we would have a little girl (we did, and she is an angel), I needed to find a way to make more money. A LOT more money!
So I did like everyone does, I asked the smartest person I knew how I could make millions, and Google did not disappoint! After a solid 8 minutes of research, I had found the stock market and knew this was the answer. This is where I would make my millions, and this will take care of my daughters wedding!
I went all-in and learned as much as I could about stock trading, specifically trading penny stocks. Long story short, I lost $500 in 3 month and put that on hold. I put that on hold because my wife and I were buying our first home, and we needed the trading funds to close on the condo.
At this time my wife was pregnant with Mia, so all of our money went to buying baby things in preparation for the princess to arrive. Unluckily for our bank account, Baby’s R Us was going out of business at this time, which was major incentive to spend way too much money there every weekend. At least Mia has some cool stuff to show for it!
Lesson Learned: The child comes first. ALWAYS!
Here’s where the new Jake was born, and he will never be the same…
Soon after Mia was born, I had an incredibly strong urge to change my life. My reason why? Because now I not only had to take care of myself and my wife, but this sweet, little, innocent, delicate, 6 lbs 11oz human baby. What’s more important, I knew that I would have to be a much better role model for her so she ended up better off than her parents! And so, I got back to basics an dpicked up a book that my mom had read to me while being home schooled around age 14 (I was 14, not my mom)…Rich Dad Poor Dad. *clap at each period* This. Book. Changed. My. Life.
Suddenly I was learning how the world really worked, and why i was in the place I was in mentally and financially! I learned about assets and liabilities and the cashflow quadrant. I learned that investing money was what rich people did, and spending money was what I did. I learned that the rich solve problems, and the poor just complain about problems.
Lesson Learned: I don’t know everything. In fact, I know nothing.
I went in again, but this time it was much more provocative than to the waist. I attended a couple seminars on real estate and stock investing through the Rich Dad group, and started reading and listening to as many books as I could. I would literally finish one book and start another the same day, same hour, same minute. Now I was on a mission!
Mind you I was NOT a reader before this. They say that the average American reads 1 book a year, while the average CEO reads 60. I was reading about 1 book every 5 years at this point in my life. But because I now had a purpose to learn and earn, I was enjoying every second of it!
Lesson Learned: ALL successful people read, and I was starting to see why.
I made it a goal in 2019 to read 50 physical books and listen to 50 more audiobooks. I can tell you that I think I actually read about 40 books and listened to around 65, so I’m counting that as a success! The great thing about books is that the material in them is the accumulation of a lifetime of knowledge from someone. Where else can you get that from all of these successful people?
All I can say is that after almost 2 years of reading and using the information that I’ve acquired, I feel like a completely different version of myself, a boosted version! Like, I’m still me, but with a much higher level of understanding and confidence because of the new skills and habits I’ve acquired. I feel like I’m on another level!
Lesson Learned: I read as much as possible so I could extract the similarities between all of these successful people, and steal their thoughts and habits. But the goal was always to gravitate towards a select few that really clicked with me and my personality, and focus on their work.
Which brings me to today and the reason why I’m writing this blog. I have gained so much knowledge, understanding, faith, lifelong skills and purpose that I know I NEED to share it with the world. This is not some spiritual mumbo jumbo, this is me knowing that what I’ve learned thus far has completely changed my existence and set my up for HUGE success, and I want to share it with anybody that will listen, in hopes that I can help them change their life for the better too!
I’m still learning, but I can’t wait any longer. I want to help change lives now…2 billion as a matter of fact. That’s my goal, and I hope to have to set a new, higher goal at some point in my life because I crushed this one! As far as I’m concerned, if you only live to serve yourself, your existence was pointless. The goal is to serve others, and in return you will receive everything you’ve ever wanted! And then obviously after you serve them you scream in their face “You just got served!”
People change the world, so let’s be those people!
Witty Sing Off,
Jake
JakeMartincic.com 