In December of 2009, I was laid off from my job at Project City Center.
I was a Project Engineer, and it was something we all knew was coming.
The economy was collapsing, and Vegas was hit hard.
There were no plans for any type of construction on the Las Vegas strip.
The layoff was something I was looking forward to, as I was putting in 60-70 hour weeks, working one 22 hour shift.
I was a salaried employee, so I was making about $3.79/hour.
I had stashed away some money, and collected unemployment.
I had every intention of sitting on the couch for six months, and not do a single thing.
Well, that got old…fast.
In February of 2010, I was searching on Amazon for a book on motivation as I was feeling down.
Had a degree in Construction Management (took me 6 years), but lost my desire to work in that field.
While searching Amazon, I stumbled upon a foul-mouthed New Jersey native, who I had never heard of before. I had no idea how that man was going to change the trajectory of my life. HIs name was Gary Vaynerchuk, and I am still a fan.
Fast forward to October of 2010, and I launched my first ever business — AMD Web Services.
That was the first of many businesses that I’ve launched over the last 9 years.
Over the last several years, I have been very open about my business (and relationship) failures.
It’s for selfish reasons, to be honest.
It’s therapeutic for me.
And the really cool thing, people find value in it.
So I will continue doing it.
Sure gives me a plethora of content to share ?
One lady replied to an email of mine last year about me being the marketer who talks about his failures most.
I took pride in that.
It’s an easy way to stand out in the look-at-my-perfect/life/business/marriage-highlight-reel life on social media.
<Fart noise>
Anywho….
On Saturday, I stumbled upon a YouTube video, where a fellow entrepreneur talked about his 9 business failures.
It was a cool video, and have seen similar ones in the past.
I thought it would be cool to take a trip down memory lane, and share my business failures.
I jotted them down on a piece of paper.
That was the only “script” I had.
On Sunday afternoon, I flipped on the camera, and for the first time in years, I recorded a video from start to finish in one take.
No pauses.
No take 2, 3 or 67.
One take.
That’s all it took.
And it was incredibly freeing.
And my buddy took notice, as he texted me this:
There will be more videos like this.
Off the cuff.
Just feels more natural.
Now, in my past videos, I do not use a script, as you likely have noticed.
I have been spending more time on the editing on the videos.
Something I have self taught myself over the last 10 weeks.
It’s been a skill I have wanted to learn from YEARS now.
I spent close to three hours editing this master piece.
And yes, I fully expect Steven Spielberg to call any day now to start filming E.T. 2020.
In the video, I share three of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the last 9 years.
Three things that I would have known years ago would have saved me an incredible amount of time money and trips to the liquor store.
Probably would still have my 401k, too.
Live and learn.
You can learn from my mountain of mistakes by watching the video below.