Building a foundation of values

I speak about my values a lot on here. Recently I have clarified a key piece of foundation which was sticking me in my idealogical butt every time I sat down in my ideological house.

This may fly in the face of what you normally hear from me. I want to share with you - this is solely another brick in the building of the same value foundation. A clarification of where Passion stands, and how to properly build your foundation for passion to work its magic.

I hope reading my experience will help you understand your sticking points, show you a new viewpoint and illuminate your path in a new light so you can discover the areas which were once hidden, so you can confidently stride forward with a new perspective on your path allowing you to overcome your current and future obstacles towards a passionate, congruent life.

Cue October 2016. Kicked out of my home I rented with 5 friends due to fundamental differences and stupid mistakes, lack of communication and emotional problems on both sides, I was forced to live in my car, which I used for Uber and would drive during the day.

I felt humiliated, with all my stuff in the trunk, building up blankets around myself, as the cold bled through the thin sheet metal of my 2016 Camrey LE Hybrid.

It was a nice car. Smooth, quick, efficient.

Until the day I totaled it.

Already near 0 in my bank account, I was now responsible for the $1,000 deductible. And as an entrepreneur, I was struggling, with yet a profitable business to show for my efforts.

I was forced to go from friend's couch to friend's couch, with some nights sleeping in the University's library, even though I had dropped out.

I was lost, working super hard on my businesses (and making a little bit of money, barely enough to live on) while I couch surfed New York City.

I realized I needed a mentor.

Ask and you shall receive, said the Universe. A guy in my network shared his contact, a 21 (now 22) year old Lithuanian guy who was mentored by Tai Lopez, an internet entrepreneur I was following at the time.

Over the period of 5 months, Matt brought me through my first profitable ($100 avg a month so while it's an AWESOME badge in my memory bank, I can do way better) online business using eBay and taught me the foundation of business and philosophies to build my own wealth.

To be transparent, my financial sheet shows I am deep in debt right now and have no income, and it is correct.

The road to riches takes you through poverty if you don't have the support while you go through it. The great thing about temporary poverty is that you can easily transform the frustration you get from being in a shitty situation and transmute it into drive towards wealth.

So already $10,000 more in debt from buying information products, both good and bad, Matt reveals his retreat to me around June, to be held in November. I take out another credit card and immediately attend. I know networking with successful business owners will enable me to evolve my mindset and amp up my lifetime earnings by at least 100x what I paid for the retreat.

Fast forward to arriving in cold, cold Vilnius, Lithuania, meeting Ted Pocius, Matt's brother without a coat. Could you believe you can't buy a coat in Florida???

I quickly buy one at a nearby mall and head to the resort for the retreat.

More posts will share the experience at the retreat, but let's just say hot tubs, a cold lake, tons of valuable information, one-on-one time with some highly successful, valuable and influential people, a castle on an island, and inner transformation.

Graduating a mentorship retreat is one thing.

Graduating in a group is another. It would not have been the same without my friends from the retreat. I have <3 for each one of them. I thank them for supporting me along the journey. I hope I helped each one of them in return some way during the weekend!

Through this all, as I learned concepts and techniques, I explored my inner reasons why I wanted what I wanted.

Was I seeking wealth to feed a void? Was I seeking entrepreneurship for less-than-valid reasons?

My inner searching for congruence allowed me to open my heart in the presence of support and take into account what I desired, and also how that affected others.

I took home some great lessons.

I haven't been consistent in my action. I asked myself why. Why haven't I followed through?

I told myself it was because of a lack of passion, so I had to find something new. I had to search for a new project.

But each project I chased, I abandonned another.

In the end, I wound up with a ton of failures and barely anything to show for it, lesson-wise, wealth wise AND passion wise.

I discover that passion as an utmost purpose in life can only exist with proper discipline. There will always be hard parts, even - no, especially - if you are on the right path. These hard parts must be confronted and pushed through. The point is this:

"If it is to be, it must be me." Passion is a temporary benefit of effectively helping others in a way we enjoy.

~Joe Buchoff