Freaky Good Man

The Big 35! Today is my 35th Birthday. I decide to write about how I feel at this time in my life. I have had a wonderful life. I had a great childhood being mostly raised in my grandparent’s home by a single parent mother with the help of my grandparents. High School was a fun experience; I was a popular student and good with academics although I didn’t apply myself as much as I could have. I did well in NJROTC and sports (baseball and football). I was one of the fortunate ones that was accepted by the ghetto kids, the athletes and the smart kids in school.

After HS I ended up going to Morehouse College. It was one of the best experiences I have ever had and wouldn’t trade it for the world. Made some life long friends and had some great times. Not to mention receiving a great education.

After school I went into the insurance industry and learned a great deal about business and personal finances. My second job out of college I got a wonderful opportunity to work for a fellow Morehouse Alum that had done extremely well in the insurance industry. Being mentored by him I was able to get very hands-on skills with working with other business owners and developing a desire to be an entrepreneur myself.

After working with him for a few years I moved into another field that still had the insurance component to it, but was a more comprehensive tool for working with small to medium size business owners. After gaining a great deal of experience and learning more about business, I decided to take the plunge and started my first business at the age of 28.

I learned first hand that starting your own business is not all glam. You hear people always talking about wanting to start their own thing. The idea is a good one, but it’s not easy being your own boss. Everything falls on you and you only. If a client doesn’t pay or a deal falls through, it directly affects you. You do not feel that when you are working for someone else.

While having my own business successfully for 4 years I was not overly happy in doing what I was doing. I enjoyed working from home and developing the business from an idea to a viable entity. It paid the mortgage, but it didn’t get me excited to get up in the morning. At the same time, one of my best friends had gone back to college to get his bachelors and decide to pursue his MBA as well. One day we were sitting around and he told me that as much as he was happy to get his degree he couldn’t see himself working for anyone long-term.

A few days before that conversation, I had been going through some old files and ran across a business idea we had come up with a few years prior. As I read through the files I thought that the idea was still very doable and that we should give it a shot. I ran it by him and we immediately got to work on putting our idea in motion.

The business got off the ground and was a success in concept, but as we moved forward with it, other avenues for the direction of the business came open. We followed those avenues and have just recently celebrated our year anniversary with the new business model. That business is growing and we are expanding into new markets on a regular basis. It is not where we want it to be, but it is going in the right direction.

I have had a great time dating. In my life I have had some good women in my life as girlfriends and as friends. I have not found that one woman that is “the one” for me. Until recently it hasn’t even come up in my mind about not finding “the one” as a missing piece in my life. I am truly living a fun bachelor life and I am content with where I am in life. However, when my mother got sick recently, I truly missed not having someone there for me. I missed not having a partner to just talk to intimately as I was going through this with my mom. Of course I had God and my other family. But, having that “one” was truly missing.

As I look back over my 35 years I have a smile on my face. There are a few things in life I would have done differently, but not many. If I was to cash my chips in now (which I don’t have plans on doing anytime soon) I can say I have lived a full life.

As I look forward, I look to starting a family and hitting my stride as an entrepreneur. Hopefully I will continue to have fun and exciting times until then as a bachelor. Life is good for me at 35 and I hope that it continues to get better. Thanks to everybody that reads my blog and shows me love. Writing this has been a fun addition to my life and I look forward to continuing this journey with you a little longer.