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Tell me about your vision when you decided to begin writing.

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Um, it goes back, like I said, two decades at that time, I was working at a, um, uh, one of the,

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um, the top hospitals in New York City.

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And, uh, I worked there for over 20 years and originally I started in security and then I went

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to, and I became, I specialized in mental health, uh, what we call Moab of aggression.

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Um, we dealt with aggressive behaviors and all, all types of behaviors.

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So I specialize in that and I specialize in customer service.

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So a lot of the doctors said, you know, you really, you know, you got to report with the

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patients and everything.

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And, and with people, um, he said, well, tell me a little bit about yourself.

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And I started telling people about my story and they were like, I can't believe you would

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do all that stuff.

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So, cause at a very early, very early age, sorry about that.

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Um, at 15, my mom put me out.

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So I come from a very strong mom and a very strong dad.

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Um, but my mom was, she was a single, single mom.

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So I would see dad once in a blue moon.

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But, uh, the reason why I put this book together, because over the years I've helped to inspire

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a lot of young folks, um, not only young folks, seniors, um, people, all walks of life, you

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know, because sometimes we need to get back to that, you know, we need to sometimes since

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COVID we've been disconnected and we need to get back in touch with that.

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And our young folks are suffering for that big time.

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So, um, I want to be a blessing to them, you know?

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Yes.

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And I, I can understand that.

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And I believe that our story tells so much more sometimes than just, uh, preaching per

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se at individuals.

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Uh, they have to really truly know where we're coming from.

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And that's a part of Vision Pros Live and you being on here with me today is getting

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to know the person behind the book, right?

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Um, I'm this, I say myself and many others are judged books by their cover, right?

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And they don't truly know if the book isn't designed with colors or anything flashy or

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great pictures, one tends to look it over.

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So my goal is to know the person behind the book.

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Um, how did you get started?

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And I do understand it was decades ago, but when you decided to, to buckle down and get

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to it, how did you get started?

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Where'd that focus come from?

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That, that focus came from, uh, I was watching the infomercial and it talked about doing,

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you know, a book and I was like, and it just so happens that that company that I was looking

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at, they went out of business.

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Thank God I didn't get hooked up with them.

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And I was about to send them my money to help them get me on track with everything.

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And I found this other company, um, S P, uh, SPS, uh, self publishing school.

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And they took me by the hand and, uh, they helped me to get everything focused and ready.

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And, um, it was, it was a blessing.

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It was a blessing in disguise.

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You just never know, you know.

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And, um, yeah.

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So what was the technique behind SPS that allowed you to truly want to begin and move

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forward and finishing the book?

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Well, they, they were very encouraging.

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Um, plus, you know, they're Christian based.

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So, um, that spoke to my spirit.

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So if I don't, if it doesn't speak to my spirit, I really don't kind of get involved with that.

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Sometimes when you're in a situation and it's that little voice that says, don't do it.

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And sometimes we do it anyway, and then we regret it.

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I try to listen to that little voice as often as possible, you know?

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Yes.

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And, and I totally, I totally get that.

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One thing we say in the spiritual world is that that voice is when somebody's speaking to you.

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And, uh, uh, delayed obedience is no different from disobedience.

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So, so, and also, you know, that cliche statement of everything happens in the right time and for

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the right reasons.

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Right.

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And so that was definitely your timing.

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Interesting enough.

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Do you feel like those decades you had to, in hindsight, you had to actually go through

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more to create this book?

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Um, whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

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I always do than that.

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So, and going through it at the time, I thought, man, you know, what was me?

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Uh, man, how could this happen?

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Um, you know, what do I do?

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I was 15 years old, you know?

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And so three years of wandering the streets, uh, living in shelters, abandoned buildings.

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Uh, I even slept in the cemetery and told the, uh, caretaker shot at me.

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And that's a whole nother story for, for another time.

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My wife asked me to keep that out of the book because it was a little dark, you know?

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So I try to put a positive spin on it.

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But the most important thing is not forgetting where you came from.

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Absolutely.

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And, and also guiding the way for the future, future generations, because a lot of them,

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they don't know.

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They look at social media and, and they think, uh, just cause this person's got this, they're

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doing that.

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And a lot of that stuff is fake, you know?

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And I understand in the business field, we always say, fake it till you make it.

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Yeah.

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But those young kids, they don't know, they can't discern whether or not this is fake

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and this is real.

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So they think, oh, yes, everything is happy, go lucky, you know, and it's not.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And it's, it's, it's scary.

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It's definitely scary times, um, in order to be able to guide and, and make sure that

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they're not misguided as they're going through and trying to be coached by someone like

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yourself with the experience.

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So what has coaching been like for you?

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It's been revealing and rewarding, um, because when you see the lights come on and someone,

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no matter what age they are, male, female, you name it.

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Um, when the lights come on and they get it and you help them to get it, it's, it's, it's

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a fulfilling, it's a fulfilling, uh, feeling that you don't, you don't forget.

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And, um, I look forward to being able to help folks on a larger scale now.

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So that's the reason why I'm doing this online and the whole social media, even though I'm

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challenged with a lot of this stuff, but you know, like I said, you know, it's nothing

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to it, but to do it.

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Absolutely.

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I have been speaking with many, many, many guests, um, since I got into the field of

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podcasting and I, it seems to be significant and very, um, intuitive.

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Um, intentional that everyone says, and it's not to quote Nike, but just do it.

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The procrastination is what delays the destination, which leads us to being so unsuccessful

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or feeling unsuccessful when, you know, it's really the procrastination.

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So it's, it's good that you're out here and your, your goal is to inspire and to

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coach individuals to, to just doing it and, and being okay with that.

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You know, when you said in the mental health field, as you were, well, as you

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specialized in that, how has that shaped you to be come who you are today?

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It shaped me because when someone's going through a traumatic situation, a lot of times

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they think they're the only ones or people don't understand them and having, sometimes

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people just need to talk and get that out of their system.

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And by doing that, it allows folks to know that, okay, I'm not alone.

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Um, I can get help.

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There are people that care about me, you know what I'm saying?

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And as long as we remember that and we get back to those basics, um, we need to get back

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to caring about folks more and more.

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So that's the reason why coaching is so important.

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And I can't tell you how many folks I've helped, um, especially in the business

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field with coaching.

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I worked in sales and marketing here in Miami, Florida, and, um, I became the

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number one trainer.

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So our numbers, we did over a million dollars in sales and, and this was in one

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year, me and my team.

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And some of the folks I had to retrain the trainers to retrain.

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So, you know, cause a lot of times when you're doing something, you need a

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different perspective on some things.

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And I'm a solution oriented person, you know, whenever it is a challenge,

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whatever, uh, I dissect it and then get to the heart of it and then help the

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person to be able to move on.

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So, and that's what I do.

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That's it's, and definitely in business, I think that that might be a little bit

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more challenging than someone coming to you for, you know, life coaching

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because the goal of a business is to actually have all the answers and to be

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able to have employees and to guide them.

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But when you have to be coached into guiding other people, uh, it's, it's a

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different story.

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So how many people do you have on your team?

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Right now?

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Well, right now I have about 10 people, but on my launch team, I had about 75

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people for the book and everything.

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So it's been pretty chaotic.

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Um, but also challenging.

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And I, and I look forward to challenges because, you know, whatever doesn't

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kill you makes you stronger.

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And, um, another thing is that, um, with, with doing it with the team, you're

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not doing it by yourself.

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You're also being able to, to help tons of other folks.

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So, uh, there's always a lesson in the blessing, you know, absolutely.

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And, you know, when it comes to the challenges, the struggles and the

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thoughts that you have looking in hindsight, I know that, you know, going

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through something is, is usually always a challenge, but kids, you name

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anything specific that held you back.

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That held me back.

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Yeah.

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A lot of things helped me back.

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Um, self self-esteem, um, a lot of people focus and, and now they have, they

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have this new term is called imposter syndrome, you know, so, but basically

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if you've been there and done that, you should not have imposter syndrome

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because you're basically referring someone to what you have done and how

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you came out on the other side.

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So, you know, in the beginning, I was like, well, you know, I don't think

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anybody will really listen.

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And then I started sharing my story more and more and people like, yo, D

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you need to, you need to write a book, man.

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You coach me, you know, train me.

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And, um, I had one young lady when I was doing the, uh, the nonprofit charity,

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she was not understanding it and it got to be most throughout the whole day.

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And I said, well, you know, I've been working with you and, um, how

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can I help you?

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You know, and she was like, I got ADHD.

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And I'm like, okay.

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Um, you didn't tell me that.

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Yeah.

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So, you know, it's not written on your forehead.

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So I don't really know that.

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So, you know, and I felt bad, you know, but the next day I came because my wife,

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you know, we both, I have a touch of that and my wife has that also.

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So the way we work that is that once again, I'm a solution oriented person.

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So I helped her to come up with a system and the next day transformed.

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She was a brand new person and she was making sales.

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She was killing it, you know, she was like, thank you so much.

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And then, um, a few other people wanted to sort of work with me.

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And then there was a list of people that wanted to work with me and everything.

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But, you know, like I said, it's not about me.

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It's about helping the next person.

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Absolutely.

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Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

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And that, that, that statement or that label of imposter syndrome is really,

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really big now, because now again, as we mentioned before, social media is,

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it's a whole different, um, challenge.

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All of what?

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Yeah, to overcome.

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So if you wouldn't mind, um, just elaborating it for those that are watching,

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if this will be a part of the clip, what is imposter syndrome?

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Imposter syndrome is thinking that what you're presenting to someone is kind

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of fake.

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Um, you're, you're making up stuff.

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You're not really who you say you are.

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Um, and a lot of people suffer from that because of the way they think.

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People suffer from that because of a lack of self-confidence.

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Yes.

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So, um, being at also, I'm a retired police officer from New York.

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Um, I, in the beginning, I was an introvert.

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The police department brought out the extrovert in me.

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So, and my wife still, she still bugs out because sometimes she's like, no,

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no, no, no, you were never introverted.

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I said, yeah, I couldn't eat two people in silent prayer.

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So, you know, but when you find that confidence and you find your why,

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the how runs all over on top of it.

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And, and you talk about one thing that a lot of people focus on and their why,

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what, you know, a lot of people don't really know what their why is or they define it as

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an individual, right?

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Or individuals often hear children are their whys.

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Yeah.

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I'm going to ask you, what's your why?

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Because every morning I wake up and I have this picture of my family.

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And, you know, my mom in September, she'll be 93 years old and I almost lost her a few years ago.

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And, you know, but it's a blessing to still have your mom with you.

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You know, she doesn't, she doesn't remember a lot, but you know,

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I'm just glad she's here.

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And I also have my two children and my wife and every day, you know, facing challenges.

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I've even had folks say, oh, D, you know, you won't be this and you won't be that.

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And you can't listen to the naysayers.

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Yeah.

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You know, it's like bugs on a windshield.

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You know, you drive in and the bugs hit the windshield.

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Some going to stick, some not going to stick, but just put your windshield wipers on and keep moving.

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Thank you for being here today.

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I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.

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I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward.

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This is going to get more and more fun.

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We'll have more and more engagement as well.

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We'll invite people to participate in the show and thank you for giving us your time and attention.

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Have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.