A New Year brings such joy and anticipation. We make resolutions to do less of things that we don’t like, and promises to do more of those that make us feel better.
For me the opportunity to have lived the last 19 years without a regular 40-hour-per-week job has been nothing short of a gift from the Creator; as well as my commitment to prove the critics, and a few of my friends, wrong. Those who have sold us, and many young people who are now saddled with unfathomable student-loan debts, that to make it in American society one must graduate from some college/university.
Now before you allow your imagination to cast away from shore too quickly, and think that I have not sought some level of post high school learning, I did attend community colleges, earning a certificate in management and supervision in 1984. It was the lessons learned working during the daytime managing a home care services agency and attending school at night that gave me the impetus to merge theory and real-life knowledge in order to make life successes become real for me.
For the next 15 years I enjoyed an amazing level of personal and professional success. Along the way I soaked up information, connections, communication skills, marketing expertise and more importantly, the courage to know that I had ability to craft messaging for another persons business; and that the day would come when I would do all of that for mine.
That moment came December 10, 1999…and I have been on the pathway to using those skills while building my media and video production services business. The courage to continue in the face of economic downturns, equipment failures, and always present variations of racism never deterred me from going forward. I knew I had to never quit.
Now we are in the first month of the year 2019, almost two full decades after the media had people believing that the world would come crashing down once the computers reached the unknown configuration of 01-01-00…January 1, 2000. Y2K. Psych
Mind you we were still figuring out cell phones, laptops, and the rise of the Internet. None of my cameras or editing equipment was computer based. We were still recording on magnetic tapes. Why should I worry? And I did not. Matter of fact, I was filming an evangelist who spoke at a church on January 1, 2000… and nothing otherworldly transpired. That morning I knew I had made the right choice to launch my business, and to never go back to the corporate world again.
We now all too often see how insecure our corporate entities are, with loyalty only to their shareholders; employees and communities be-damned. Again, I am grateful that I have yet the courage to continue. What will you now do to prepare yourself and your family and loved ones for the ever-changing American economy? How many jobs will you need to work? What new skills will you learn to stay relevant in a global economy?
Take the class? Buy a smart phone and learn to use more of its features. Read more. Write more. Get uncomfortable. Those are things I do regularly and that have assisted me along this journey.
If I can be of assistance, to encourage, to be an accountability partner/mentor, let me know. There have been many who’ve been all of that for me, and their contributions to my success are invaluable. It is my mission to pay it forward to those who are now looking to have more…as was my position 20 years ago. To be continued…
Courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability, and the willingness, to continue in spite of the fear. -Mark Lampkin
The Traveler Weekly 