The Work That Shaped Me

I am a child of the 1960s and 1970s. I grew up in a blue collar family. My father, a smart man with a 10th-grade education, owned a car repair and towing business. His hands were permanently stained from oil, rusty chains and the dust and dirt that accumulates on cars. Hard physical work and long hours characterized his days. My mother kept the house functioning. With four bedrooms, one bath, four kids and not a lot of money she someone managed. We lived in a good working class neighborhood in a decent town that has now become gentrified and entitled. But is wasn't that way when I grew up.

Deep within me, I knew that the path to success was to work harder, smarter and longer than anyone else. That's how I plowed my way up from my blue collar roots to solid corporate jobs, a bachelor's degree from Penn State, and a master's degree from the hallowed Ivy League halls for The University of Pennsylvania. No doubt, I overcame a lot, but something tells me that's the job of every generation -- do better than the last.

My corporate career took at turn in 2007 when I decided it was time to call my own shots and start my own business. It hasn't always been easy, but let me tell you, this is the life for me. I work with amazing clients, I partner with amazing other professionals, and I do things the kid who started out following in his father's footsteps never would have dreamed of.

When I was pushing transmissions into place and holding them in place with brute force while my father started bolts, while I was dragging steel cable to winch wrecked cars out of ravines, while I was scraping 100 percent of the paint off a car then hand sanding the whole thing to repaint it (I did that twice!), I never dreamed where my life and career would take me.

This may be a bit of an offbeat call to action, but I've written this book as a call to action for anyone who really wants to succeed in their life and career to out think, outwork, and outperform everyone else who wants the life and career that you want. Pardoxically, I believe in abundance. But not everyone is willing to do the things necessary to harvest that abundance. If you don't want more and are note willing to do the things you need to do to achieve more, then please don't read this book. If you're ready to win in the area, then please jump in. I'm here for that.