Thank you for visiting my blog!

It focuses on personal development, purpose, peace of mind, mindfulness, mindset, and entrepreneurial topics.

 

I’m George and I believe that we all have a purpose. Something deep inside that inspires us. Unique to each of us.

The real “why” behind why we want what we want and do what we do.

My blog’s purpose is to help entrepreneurs and future entrepreneurs realize their purpose and grow into who they’ll need to become, to make a difference in the world.

By giving them hope. And by showing them that every life has a purpose. No life is a mistake. Every piece (and person) in this universe is necessary.

I believe on a deeper level purpose is indefinable. That ultimately, It’s your inner truth and beyond words. A verb, not a noun. Something that you’ll be living, doing, and sharing. Your purpose will grow, evolve, and change with you.
Completely unique to you.

Which means who we are matters. Our purpose interconnects us with the rest of the world. And what we do and who we become affects everyone around us.

With purpose comes obstacles

Today I planned to finish this introduction blog post. It’s in my new planner (that I started using a week ago) and a ‘to do’ in the first week of the Create & Go blog launching course that I’m currently taking. But the day got away from me.

Nothing new.

My two kids, the dog, housework, babysitting my kid’s cousins… My life has a lot of moving parts.

I’m a stay at home dad.

I do the housework and yard work. I get the kids up…correction, they get me up. I feed them. Feed the dog. Feed them again (my boys are always hungry). Then finally I get to sit down with my own breakfast.

If I’m lucky, I get 20 minutes of uninterrupted time to read my affirmations. If I’m really lucky, time to read a spiritual book or meditate before my oldest son asks me to play PlayStation with him. Or my toddler makes a mess that I have to drop everything and clean up.

Don’t get me wrong. I love being a parent and love the time we spend playing games and talking about superhero stuff, but I’m also doing my best to have a consistent morning routine so that I can start the day off with a positive (and grateful) mindset.

I want to grow into a better version of myself, for me and for my family.

Today wasn’t a “good” day.

I did get a decent amount of sleep. Got through some of my affirmations. But my youngest didn’t get his nap. Which is also my meditation, catch up on reading, and all-around recharge time. Which I need so that I can give my full energy and attention to the second half of my day.

And still, have something left for my nights.

Did I mention that I go to the gym to lift weights at night after my kids are in bed? Try doing that consistently while physically and emotionally drained.

Well no. Don’t. Because today I didn’t get time to go through my morning routine. I didn’t get to read or recharge. I didn’t get time to work on the important items written in my planner.

I didn’t get to move forward in my journey.

So when I went to the gym. I think I just wanted a win. Something to feel good about. A new accomplishment. Even though it was supposed to be an easy day.

Biceps. Triceps. Some legs and abs before the weekend. But instead of starting with the normal incline benching that I planned to do to keep my strength, I benched heavy instead.

Because the flat bench was there. And the incline bench was further away.

So instead of doing what I planned to do. I did what was convenient. I made a lazy decision. And it turned out to be a very bad decision.

The smith machine had been stiff since the place was remodeled. Meaning that extra resistance was being added to the weight of the bar throughout its range of motion, at unexpected times.

The result?

On my last set, I failed. Failed big.
Not a typical fail where I could simply twist my wrists to lock the bar and try again later. I took the weight down and on the way up, out of nowhere, I felt my strength give out. Fall out from under me.

And there was a sound and ripping sensation that I’ll never forget.

“Ahhhhh something tore!” was all I could yell out. While a 350 lb bar lay on top of me.

All I could think was…

Why’d I go for that last set? What did I have to prove?

How could I let my kids down again by injuring myself for the second summer in a row?

How was I going to get this weight off of me?

By now you might be asking what any of this has to do with purpose? Or asking why should any of this matter to you?
Especially since you probably don’t know me. Or if this blog is relevant to you.

I hear you. And I’m not going to waste your time.

We all have a story. And I hope you found mine relatable on some level. I’m sure you’ve had moments in your life that you wish had gone differently.

Events that set you down a completely different path than where you thought your life was going.

It could’ve resulted from an injury, a bad decision, a mistake, or something out of your control like an accident.

Maybe you just woke up one day and realized that you’ve been going down the wrong path for a long long time.

It’s ok if you have. Don’t be so hard on yourself because it happens to most of us at some point.

What matters is what you do next.

How it all started

I remember being where you are now (or where you’ve been recently). It was about 15 years ago. While I was at Penn State. After five or so years, three different majors I didn’t enjoy, and three different schools, I’d finally had enough of college.

In hindsight, I only stayed that long because it was what I was “supposed” to do.

(Insert facepalm).

You know. Get good grades, go to college, get a good job. Spend the rest of my life trying to climb the corporate ladder…
In the 90s, parents and teachers preached that message as if the “good job” part was a guarantee.

But the longer I was in school, the less anything seemed like a guarantee. The less I felt like I knew where I was going … or why I had wanted to go there so bad in the first place, besides for the money.

Something felt “off” about this path

Instead of being excited for my future, I felt depressed and hopeless. I dreaded the future. I usually felt worried about what was going to happen to me next and I rarely felt at peace.

I wasn’t at peace with who I was, with the things I’d done, or where my life was going.

There wasn’t a light at the end of the tunnel. Not one that I could see or imagine anyway. Just more pain. And more meaningless work that led to even more meaningless work.

Something had to change

What I wanted was a release from the mental and emotional pain that I lived with daily. But at that time, I didn’t believe there was a way out.

Not a way that I could afford. I was a broke college student, with a ton of debt, on anxiety, depression, and insomnia meds.

While in that state, believing there could be a better future seemed improbable. I felt eternally broken. Stuck in a living hell that was partly my own doing and the rest was just how the world had made me …

… combined with what it had done to me.

I hit rock bottom

The strangest thing happened while I was at my lowest, during a panic attack. This time it’d been triggered by a mental hurricane of failures and regrets playing on repeat during a sleepless night.
Through the despair, an inner voice screamed out, “heal me or kill me”. It happened for the second time in my life.
There was more conviction and confidence in it’s “voice” than my usual doubtful, anxiety-filled thoughts. I felt called to change or die.

What followed was a curiosity to learn everything I could about why I was the way I was. And why the world was the way it was. My journey into self-discovery and personal growth had begun.

Every journey needs a guide … or five

It was 2005 and free internet research became my new favorite hobby.
As the inner curiosity took me on a journey to uncover the mysteries of my mind and the universe. My passion for learning grew the more I learned. I was obsessed with finding answers to everything I had ever wondered about. And every answer led to a new set of questions and new topics to explore.

There was so much that I didn’t know and even more that I didn’t know I didn’t know.

I studied my way out of my diagnosed depression and cognitive decline and kept going. It took awhile before I noticed that the hopelessness had also vanished.

Although I started the journey to learn about my thoughts, mind, emotions, and past, in an effort to heal myself, I had discovered so much more than that. So many other areas of life and the world that were interconnected and they all played a part in why I had become the way I had.

Luckily, each area provided its own guide. Telling me what to study next and what goals to set. Passion was my fuel and the synchronicities happening around me signaled when I was on the right path. Monotony alerted me when I wasn’t.

1) Emotional intelligence, energy work, and metaphysics

I found layers of life that I didn’t know existed. And learned how they had been affecting my life and my interactions with the world around me. Both my inner world and outer world changed.

The book Emotional Genius by Karla McLaren was the first book that really changed my life. It changed my entire understanding of the difficult emotions that I had been going through. I had to stop judging them as ‘good or bad’ to hear the messages they had to deliver.

Learning the overall purpose of each emotional state helped too.

2) Personal growth and self improvement topics

I found hope and optimism for the first time in my life. Along with the realization that I wasn’t doomed to be who I had always been. I learned that my skill sets, mindset, and competences in different areas of life weren’t “fixed”.

I didn’t have to be the black and white thinking, pessimistic, math and science person anymore. I didn’t have to be any of what I had always been expected to be. So I released my creative side and started to write.

3) Meditation, mindfulness, and “mind skills”

Another first for my life. I learned how to relax through breathing and concentration exercises. Sometimes I used visualizations or voice-guided meditation exercises.

At the time, relaxation was just a means to an end. Getting into a relaxed mental state was the prerequisite to most of the mind skills and abilities that I wanted to learn how to do.

Photoreading, for example, was a big one for me. I wanted to learn everything about everything … and retain it. And photoreading was the next step past speedreading.

The energy work and emotional release work also required getting into a relaxed, defocused state. To get the best results. The more relaxed you are, the slower your thought processes and emotions move (making them easier to work with and unravel), and the easier it is to sense and feel subtle energy.

Beyond that, I never would’ve guessed where meditation would eventually lead me. I was agnostic at best during that time of my life.

4) Financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and marketing

Low paying jobs and meaningless majors at expensive universities led to despair, a feeling of worthlessness, and tens of thousands of dollars of debt. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do with my life once I left school but I did know that I wanted to work for myself.

Owning a business has always been my long term goal.

Besides reading Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad and running a small photography business for a couple years, I’d ignored my entrepreneurial dreams.
That is, until a knee surgery in 2018 left me immobile and out of the gym for four months.

I needed a way to make money from home and pay off some debts. At first I considered doing transcription work online. A relative had had some success with that. But after listening to Dan Lok’s F.U. Money audiobook, and his insistence on learning a “high-income skill”, I remembered how much I used to love reading those long online sales letters. And as a result, that led me to my next guide.

5) Copywriting, sales, and internet marketing

I fell in love with the idea of internet marketing (more specifically affiliate marketing) when I stumbled onto it in 2005. It seemed like the perfect business model for me. Low risk but high returns.

In other words, I wouldn’t need a lot of money to get started. Nor would I have to be around people all the time.

Remember, I was recovering from a long depression and wasn’t ready for that yet.

The best part was I didn’t even need my own products. Just build a website and get paid a commission to help other people sell their products. It sounded simple enough. And if it worked, I could pay off my debts and have a better career than I would’ve ended up with if I’d stayed and finished college.

Also, it would be a more meaningful career.

Personal growth and metaphysical information gave me my life back. So I wanted to help other people who were going through similar problems to find information that would do the same for them.

What I didn’t understand at the time was that to do that, I needed to learn marketing, the sales process, and copywriting. Writing that highlighted the benefits of using the products and persuaded the customer to take the desired action.

So fast forward to 2018, while I was out of commission and couldn’t go to the gym at night, I spent time learning about copywriting, marketing philosophy, sales, closing sales, the science of persuasion, consumer psychology, and every other related subject that I thought I would need to know.

It didn’t take me long to realize that my assumptions about marketing and copywriting had been wayyy off. Like most people, I had always been uncomfortable with the idea of using persuasion to make sales.

That’s also why I had avoided marketing altogether while doing photography.

But once I learned what marketing really was, I saw the necessity of it. Real marketing is finding problems that people already have and providing a solution to them exactly how they want it.

The same with copywriting. When done correctly, copywriting is all about win-win situations. Persuading someone to take action on a product or service that is in their own best interest.

Marketing and the philosophies and sciences behind it are fascinating. To really understand it, you have to study the mind, human behavior, and emotions.

Why I Started This Blog

When I was depressed, agnostic, and feeling hopeless, I didn’t feel a sense of purpose. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe life could have a purpose, I just couldn’t figure out what it was.

What was my reason for being here and why did it involve so much suffering?

Why did I spend most of my life feeling like I didn’t belong in this world?

In other words, it felt like a mistake.

In my experience, people want to know (or at least believe) that they’re here for a reason. And They want to know what that reason is. It helps us justify the problems we have to deal with and the pains we go through on a daily basis.

My solution was to find my purpose… my reason for being… my ikigai. And letting that purpose become the driving force that determined the direction my life would go in.

This involved setting goals from that purpose. Growing to become the person who could fulfill that purpose. Deciding on career paths that were aligned with my values and that purpose.

As a result, I now feel passionate about helping others do the same.

I picture a world where we spend more time talking about our passions, new goals and latest personal growth accomplishments than we spend complaining or gossiping about other people’s lives.

I Believe…

I believe that we can see ourselves as unique, lovable, and perfect just the way we are and also see the benefit of continued growth, personal development, and life-long learning. The two mindsets can co-exist. And personal development is healthier when it comes from a place of love for both ourselves and for the people around us instead of from a place of lacking something or not being “good enough”.

I also believe that bettering ourselves isn’t a selfish pursuit. Some of our goals might be. And that’s normal. But continued self-growth also means becoming a better person all around.

For some of us it means becoming more tolerant of others, more patient, having healthier boundaries, or even becoming less irritable when having a bad day.

As someone with a naturally busy mind, when I don’t meditate on a regular basis, I even irritate myself!

Bringing it all together

So you can see how personal growth, mindset, and mindfulness are all interrelated and necessary components of living a purpose-filled life. They are all tools to aid you in uncovering who you really are, what you really want out of life, and help you become who you need to be to go after it.

But why marketing?

When it comes to marketing, I believe it all comes down to finding out what people want and then giving it to them, in the way they want it, and at the price they expect to pay for it.

Like I said earlier, I did photography for a few years. Ran a business. Most of my earlier customers came from word of mouth. They were either my girlfriend’s coworkers who saw my pictures on Facebook or family members.

It wasn’t until I took pictures at the York Halloween parade (for fun) and posted them on a few local businesses Facebook pages that I landed jobs doing big events for nonprofit organizations.

One thing I learned was that I loved feeling like I was a part of what they were doing!

Their missions centered around better treatment of the women and children in our communities. And they believed in justice and equality for everyone.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that I used marketing techniques to get those events. Like most people, I didn’t want to do (or even learn) selling or marketing. I’m an introvert by nature. An INFJ to be more specific. Marketing was the last thing I wanted to do. But it turns out that it’s the most important part of any business. And without it, you won’t be able to turn your passions or life’s purpose into a career.

Hard to hear. But it’s true and that’s a good thing. You will love the idea of marketing after reading what I have to say about it on this blog! My opinion on marketing changed last year and the passion to learn everything about it (and everything related to it) is still alive and well.

Why a Blog?

My original plan was to become a freelance copywriter because it’s a “high income skill” (a skill that can make you over $100,000 per year). So I had been researching copywriting, marketing, and taking some cheap courses (Udemy/StackSkills) since last July.

In the process, I learned a lot about the philosophy, techniques, formulas, terminology, and best practices, but how was I supposed to develop the SKILL of copywriting without real-world writing practice or sample assignments?

Only one writing blog had a “look over my shoulder” type example from an assignment they did for one of their first clients. And only one of the courses I took used a real case study.

Needless to say, I don’t have any professional writing experience. And learning to write copy at the expense of clients and their businesses doesn’t sit well with me. They deserve a writer who can deliver results.

As much I love to write, I don’t know if I see myself as a typical writer because, for me, it isn’t about the writing.

I’m more of a life-long learner who likes to simplify and share information with people who I believe will be helped by it.

Writing for me has always been more subjective. I journal, free write, wrote tons of introspective poetry and made a few books from it while I searched for ‘truth and enlightenment’.

I use writing to explore my mind, emotions, belief systems, and to make sense of the world. To share and put into words relatable experiences and the emotional traumas that we all go through.

Writing is what helped me figure out my passions and purpose.

Plus, I have too many hobbies, interests, and areas I love to learn about, so it seems like I’d get bored only writing for a narrow niche or only writing what a client tells me to write.

So blogging seems to be where I belong. The type of blogging that invites like-minded readers to join me on my journey. While we learn and grow together.

Why Me?

Good question! I’m just a 38-year-old father of two boys from Pennsylvania.

I’m not a six-figure blogger/personal development expert with a perfect morning routine and 16 hours of uninterrupted time each day to work on myself or my blog. My kids come first and I have to make time whenever I can just like you.

Investing in your growth and development is worth making time for. If you want a better, more meaningful life, you have to become a better version of yourself first.

Listen, I’m not an expert when it comes to any of these topics. But I do know how frustrating it can be deciding what to learn first or which personal growth areas are most important and will move your life forward the fastest.

This means that I won’t preach to you or try to tell you what you ‘should’ be doing.

We’re all different and on different paths.

I’m here to:

• Share the knowledge and research I’ve acquired
• Share what I’m currently learning, reading about, or experimenting with
• Share new discoveries and ‘best practices’ happening in each niche that I cover
• Connect my readers to the information from the real ‘experts’ that I think will help them best. Whether that be through other blogs, books, or products
• And to answer the questions that my readers ask me. I love to research!

More than anything, I hope that you find this blog helpful and relatable.

How I feel about starting a blog

I’ve posted on social media (of course), on free blogging platforms, and poetry sites, but this is my first attempt at a professional blog. It’s also self-hosted on WordPress, which has a steep learning curve in itself.

I’ve already experienced a full range of emotion just setting up the blog these past few months. Nervous, excited, terrified, hopeful.

I’ve dealt with insecurities like insignificance and imposter syndrome. Working to improve my mindset and gain confidence has helped to keep me moving forward.

I feel like I’m finally doing what I’m supposed to be doing. Something that both means a lot to me and will make a difference in the lives of others. By serving people, being useful in a way that utilizes my strengths, and expresses my creativity at the same time.

I’m extremely curious to see which topics will be the most popular and what shape this blog will evolve into.

What you can expect from this blog

Although this blog will cover a lot of different topics, the information will be of value to those committed to living a purpose-filled life and making a difference in the world.

As a purpose-driven entrepreneur myself, these are the areas of study that have helped me the most.

In other words, they’re the subjects that I read blogs and books about, experiment with, and take online courses on when I feel the need to cut through the different opinions and go straight to the professionals.

Purpose and Passion

• The study of purpose
• Finding your calling
• Techniques to find your purpose
• Igikai
• Using want lists and patterns to find your passions
• The journey from pain to purpose
• Core values
• Aligning your career with your purpose and core values
• Letting your purpose evolve
• Purpose-driven businesses
• Conscious entrepreneurs and changemakers
• Social entrepreneurs
• Why purpose-driven businesses perform better than profit-driven businesses

Personal Growth

• Confidence
• Assertiveness
• Soft skills
• Communicating effectively
• Overcoming obstacles
• Taking action
• Goal setting
• Planning
• Productivity
• Time management
• Relationships and people skills
• Networking
• Problem-solving
• Decision making
• Inner voice, inner critic
• Imposter syndrome
• Motivation
• Willpower
• Sleep
• Morning routines
• Journaling
• Writing want lists
• Daily successes lists

Mindfulness

• Meditation
• Developing self-awareness
• Living mindfully
• Introspection
• Breathing techniques
• Getting centered and grounded
• Relaxation
• Alpha and delta brainwaves
• Self-care

Mindset

• Positive thinking
• Growth mindset
• Entrepreneurial mindset
• Scarcity/fixed mindset
• Limiting beliefs
• Affirmations
• Self-discipline
• Self-esteem
• Self-efficacy
• Sharper brain
• Reprogramming your mind
• Fear of failure
• Fear of uncertainty
• Overcoming self-doubt
• Overthinking

Marketing

• Copywriting
• Marketing philosophy
• Marketing plans and strategies
• Target marketing
• Niche marketing
• Internet marketing
• Content marketing
• Affiliate marketing
• Sales and closing
• Writing a brand story
• Crafting a compelling tagline
• Homepages, about pages, landing pages, and product pages
• Email marketing
• Opt-in forms
• Social proof and testimonials
• Catalog and product description writing
• eCommerce businesses
• Product/sales page conversion optimization
• Sales page and copywriting formulas
• Writing course descriptions
• Customer psychology
• Price psychology
• Color psychology
• Problems that businesses face

Plus, Entrepreneurial topics like:

• Cashflow
• Small business accounting
• Taxes and tax ID numbers
• Domain name registration
• Website hosting
• WordPress basics
• Monetizing a blog
• Choosing a niche
• Using a planner

What You’ll Learn

1. You’ll learn how to find your unique purpose so you can take your life in a direction that brings you more meaning, fulfillment, and happiness
2. You’ll learn basic marketing strategies so that you can turn your purpose into something that makes you money
3. You’ll learn mindfulness techniques that’ll help you feel more focused and relaxed throughout your day
4. You’ll learn how your mindset affects things like your mood, productivity, goal setting, and energy levels
5. You’ll learn the step by step technique for better problem solving and decision making so you can keep moving forward without getting overwhelmed
6. You’ll learn what copywriting is, why it’s important to your business, and how to use it to get your customers to subscribe to your email list and buy your products or services
7. Why copywriting is the #1 most valuable, must-have skill when it comes to doing business online
8. You’ll learn how to write both short and long product descriptions for your eCommerce site in a way that makes your prospect visualize themselves already owning your product
9. You’ll learn the importance of selling the transformation, not the product
10. You’ll learn how to use positive affirmations in a way that motivates you to take action to achieve your goals faster
11. You’ll learn what niche/target marketing is and how to pick the best audience to market your unique products or services to….and why it’s the most important step in marketing
12. You’ll learn how to uncover and overcome limiting beliefs … and how they’ve been holding you back from reaching your goals
13. You’ll learn why positive affirmations don’t work for everyone and other techniques that might work better for you
14. You’ll learn why positive affirmations can have the opposite effect (depression, self-doubt, and less confidence) when used incorrectly, and how to prevent this from happening
15. You’ll find out what your kids can teach you about handling objections and using social proof
16. You’ll learn the importance of product page optimization and how to increase your conversion rates
17. You’ll learn daily meditation techniques that’ll allow you to be in a more peaceful state throughout the day
18. You’ll learn the benefits of having a meditation or mindfulness practice and some of its applications to daily life and for your business
19. You’ll learn how to use mindfulness techniques to uncover your life’s purpose, your inner values, your biggest obstacles
20. You’ll learn how to clarify your marketing message so that your customers know exactly who you are, what you’re offering, and why it’s right for them
21. You’ll be able to write a value proposition tagline that speaks to the right prospects so that the wrong ones don’t waste your time or theirs
22. You’ll understand why the world needs you and your “purpose”
23. You’ll learn what marketing is and isn’t….and the common misconceptions we all hold about marketing
24. You’ll learn the sales process and why closing the sale is a win-win situation
25. You’ll learn the fascinating science of price psychology and how it affects consumer behavior so that you know which numbers, fonts, and colors to use, how many packages at different price points to use, and even where to position the price in relation to other numbers. You don’t want to get this wrong!
26. You’ll learn the information product pricing sweet spot … as well as the reasoning behind it
27. How to keep your eyes on the bigger picture so that you don’t get buried in the day to day tasks
28. Time management tips for working from home when you have kids so that you get more done and “guilt” less
29. Time management tips for stay-at-home parents, because your kids are your most important tasks, not the distractions
30. How to meditate anytime, anywhere
31. Meditation and mindfulness tips for parents who work from home. You’ll be able to meditate anytime and anywhere once you learn these techniques.

What kinds of posts and how often will I be posting?

• “How to” articles
• List posts (ex. 10 things you can do to make your life more meaningful)
• Lists of the best sites and experts to learn from for certain topics. I’ll summarise who they are and list the benefits they offer.
• Creative posts that cross categories and merge marketing with personal development.
• Posts that find new ways to simplify and explain information and techniques
• Examples of product descriptions, email marketing, and copywriting as I practice in the real world
• Case studies and comparisons
• Product and course reviews after I use/take them
• Articles about the mistakes I’ve made so far and what I would’ve done differently (so you can avoid making the same mistakes).

I intend to post once a week to start, then move up to two blog posts per week as I become a better (faster) writer. Those who join my email list will be notified first about new posts and will have access to information and insights that won’t be on the blog.

This is a community

Feel free to comment, give your experiences, offer advice, and ask questions on any of my blog posts. I’ll do my best to answer each one.

All I ask is that you be respectful. Disrespectful and offensive comments will be deleted.

Thanks for visiting and reading!

 

What was your journey from pain to purpose like?