The Narrow Path to Independence
Two years ago I decided I wanted to create my financial and personal independence.
I had grown tired of depending on others to determine my future and I felt the desire to create my own job so that I could provide for my family in the way I felt necessary and with all my capabilities.
I had enjoyed for many years the corporate life, climbing high in the management chart and netting a nice monthly salary.
Yet I didn't like what I heard around me almost every day: people complaining on how mean the company was or how bad was their personal situation, and yet were not doing a single thing to change it.
And it looked like they didn't even know what their real situation was.
I feared I might some day hear myself say the same things and become the slave of my own prison by laying on others the responsibility for my condition.
Unfortunately some of the people who were moaning were senior to me and they had the mission of developing the company and charting my own future.
It didn't sound encouraging.
I looked around in other companies and competitors and the scene wasn't any better: the publishing industry was bent on its knee by the advent of the Internet and the only way they could think of selling more copies in the newsstands was by adding fancier and crazier gifts on the top cover.
People were buying a magazine no more, they were simply buying perfumes, movies on DVD, computer games and even apparel that had been wrapped up with the magazine or the newspaper.
Not a nice scenario to look at.
I knew I could have kept my job: I had enough experience and good name to survive any crisis, but I really wanted to make a change and to feel I was making a positive impact in the life of other people while also securing a stable future for myself and those who worked with me.
There came the decision to leave Italy for a while and come to the US to tackle a totally different field: real estate.
I had experience in investing and rehabbing from the work I had done on three houses in Italy, but most of all I was intrigued by the opportunities that this great nation had always offered since its discovery.
The change was so deep that I had to completely reinvent myself becoming an entrepreneur, learning a totally new field with all its complexities and also creating the condition for me and my family to stay here long enough so that the business could actually take off (the acquisition of the right type of visa was probably the most challenging step).
Now that I have crossed the chasm successfully, I want to thank the people who have helped this transformation along the way and that have challenged me so that I could really abandon my previous "bad habits" and get in tune with the new reality that we live in today.
The path to independence is narrow and steep most of the time, until you reach a certain plateau.
And then you start to climb again to the next one taking possibly an even narrower route.
This is not only because you have lots of competition and the economy is "bad", but because you need to overcome your own barriers: those huge forces that are holding you back in your mind and that nobody will ever be able to defeat except you.
And the only way to defeat them is to charge forward and keep charging even though you yourself feel like giving up, like you are bound to disaster and maybe don't even see or know what these barriers really are.
You must be constantly alert to the conditions around you and always willing to tackle them and disagree with those that are ready to ridicule or devalue your power and possibilities.
It won't be always comfortable, despite all the reassurances you can get from mentors and "gurus" that are trying to sell you some type of system.
You will need to always be on the watch on the work of other people so to make sure it meets your standards: people today are more worried and confused so it is easier for them to mess things up.
Be considerate of them but be relentless in demanding what you need, and don't hesitate to replace them if they don't want to do it.
The quality of your work will eventually set you off from your competition and people will start coming to you without you running after them.
Keep your position when you know it is correct despite "experts" trying to show you otherwise.
Nobody ever invented anything new and profitable by doing the same old safe stuff over and over.
When the going gets a bit difficult many people will desert you or they will try to persuade you to change your course.
Ignore or leave them behind: you can't overcome their inner barriers and you can't force them through.
Find other people like you that are looking ahead toward a dream and are willing to make it true.
Thank you to this wonderful country that has given me the opportunity to learn all of this.
I know it could not have happened elsewhere.
I had grown tired of depending on others to determine my future and I felt the desire to create my own job so that I could provide for my family in the way I felt necessary and with all my capabilities.
I had enjoyed for many years the corporate life, climbing high in the management chart and netting a nice monthly salary.
Yet I didn't like what I heard around me almost every day: people complaining on how mean the company was or how bad was their personal situation, and yet were not doing a single thing to change it.
And it looked like they didn't even know what their real situation was.
I feared I might some day hear myself say the same things and become the slave of my own prison by laying on others the responsibility for my condition.
Unfortunately some of the people who were moaning were senior to me and they had the mission of developing the company and charting my own future.
It didn't sound encouraging.
I looked around in other companies and competitors and the scene wasn't any better: the publishing industry was bent on its knee by the advent of the Internet and the only way they could think of selling more copies in the newsstands was by adding fancier and crazier gifts on the top cover.
People were buying a magazine no more, they were simply buying perfumes, movies on DVD, computer games and even apparel that had been wrapped up with the magazine or the newspaper.
Not a nice scenario to look at.
I knew I could have kept my job: I had enough experience and good name to survive any crisis, but I really wanted to make a change and to feel I was making a positive impact in the life of other people while also securing a stable future for myself and those who worked with me.
There came the decision to leave Italy for a while and come to the US to tackle a totally different field: real estate.
I had experience in investing and rehabbing from the work I had done on three houses in Italy, but most of all I was intrigued by the opportunities that this great nation had always offered since its discovery.
The change was so deep that I had to completely reinvent myself becoming an entrepreneur, learning a totally new field with all its complexities and also creating the condition for me and my family to stay here long enough so that the business could actually take off (the acquisition of the right type of visa was probably the most challenging step).
Now that I have crossed the chasm successfully, I want to thank the people who have helped this transformation along the way and that have challenged me so that I could really abandon my previous "bad habits" and get in tune with the new reality that we live in today.
The path to independence is narrow and steep most of the time, until you reach a certain plateau.
And then you start to climb again to the next one taking possibly an even narrower route.
This is not only because you have lots of competition and the economy is "bad", but because you need to overcome your own barriers: those huge forces that are holding you back in your mind and that nobody will ever be able to defeat except you.
And the only way to defeat them is to charge forward and keep charging even though you yourself feel like giving up, like you are bound to disaster and maybe don't even see or know what these barriers really are.
You must be constantly alert to the conditions around you and always willing to tackle them and disagree with those that are ready to ridicule or devalue your power and possibilities.
It won't be always comfortable, despite all the reassurances you can get from mentors and "gurus" that are trying to sell you some type of system.
You will need to always be on the watch on the work of other people so to make sure it meets your standards: people today are more worried and confused so it is easier for them to mess things up.
Be considerate of them but be relentless in demanding what you need, and don't hesitate to replace them if they don't want to do it.
The quality of your work will eventually set you off from your competition and people will start coming to you without you running after them.
Keep your position when you know it is correct despite "experts" trying to show you otherwise.
Nobody ever invented anything new and profitable by doing the same old safe stuff over and over.
When the going gets a bit difficult many people will desert you or they will try to persuade you to change your course.
Ignore or leave them behind: you can't overcome their inner barriers and you can't force them through.
Find other people like you that are looking ahead toward a dream and are willing to make it true.
Thank you to this wonderful country that has given me the opportunity to learn all of this.
I know it could not have happened elsewhere.