From Rats to Riches
Usher Morgan
Copyright 2011 by Usher Morgan
Smashwords Edition
****
Headline: This book takes a no-crap, real-life approach to chasing and achieving your dreams. It is the only book of its kind that sheds light on the true road of achieving what seem to be “impossible” goals or ambitions. It is the story of a young entrepreneur, a self-made businessman who made a fortune and lost it all, had to fight for his life to rebuild his business and build an empire while struggling to make ends meet. This young businessman created his own multi-million dollar business with nothing more than $15 in his bank account.
This book is also about you—and what you can do today to achieve your life's dream. It will guide you through your own path for success and take you through experiences that no other self-help book would. Businessman Usher Morgan details the motivation, success, hard work and no-bull attitude you'll need to make your dream come true, regardless of what it is.
How can a homeless man build a five-million-dollar business in two years?
How can a woman become the first female executive in a billion-dollar corporation managed solely by older men?
How can someone who is a billion dollars in debt, in a state that most people would probably commit suicide, endure—and become one of the wealthiest men on earth?
How can someone without any money become the biggest philanthropist in the country, saving millions of lives in his lifetime?
How can someone who can barely make ends meet build a family business that endures, simply by mixing passion with sheer will power?
This is not a “get rich quick” book; it is a real life book that teaches people the guaranteed way to achieve their wildest and most unconventional dreams. We do not recommend you take the advice written in this book unless you decide nothing in the world can stop you from doing it. If you are that person, this book is for you.
Your life is about to change.
FROM RATS TO RICHES
From Rats To Riches
Published by:
Library Tales Publishing, Inc.
244 5th Avenue, Suite Q222
New York, NY 10001
www.LibraryTalesPublishing.com
Copyright © 2011 by Usher Morgan, New York, New York
Published by Library Tales Publishing, Inc., New York, New York
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Library Tales Publishing, Inc., 244 5th Avenue, Suite Q222,New York, NY, 10001, 1-800-754-5016, fax 917-463-0892.
FOREWORD
Why are you here?
That’s not some philosophical question asked by a professor in some university. It’s a question asked by an entrepreneur, one who decided to dedicate his life for a goal everyone around him said was ‘impossible’, a young businessman who figured out the answer to this question at a very young age and pursued his dreams regardless of his misfortunes.
I know why I am here, on this planet, and that realization helped me through some of the roughest, cruelest times of my life, when it seemed like there was no more hope, in a position that someone else would think there was nothing more to live for—I understood it was all a part of the plan and there is a reason why things happen the way they do. This blind faith is the reason I was able to achieve the ‘impossible’ and regain wealth I spent years building and only four months losing.
My own answer to this question—why are you here—at first was ambiguous: “To become a self-made millionaire.” It wasn’t until years later I understood this was not the reason I was here nor the result I was after; it was only a means to achieve the results I was after. To become a millionaire is a very ambiguous goal; yet when you ask most entrepreneurs, the majority will respond in a similar nature, not understanding that it is ambiguous. You see, to become a millionaire simply means to be worth one million dollars or more. If that’s your life goal, it is a pretty lousy goal, simply because one million dollars in net worth does not guarantee you'll be rich or wealthy.
Look at Michael Jackson. A brilliant artist and probably one of the most talented pop stars of our time, Michael spent most of his later years broke. Although he owned assets worth around one billion dollars, he did not have any liquid capital and was constantly in debt. Upon his passing, Michael left the world with over 500 million dollars in unpaid debt.
Look at people who win the lottery. Most of them become instant millionaires, only to find themselves broke after three or four years. By reading some of the financial books you probably already read, such as Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, The One Minute Millionaire by Mark Victor Henson and Robert Allen and many other books on the subject, I quickly understood money does not make you rich, and asking to become a millionaire was not a purpose of living. In fact, it is not even a goal. The reason I say money does not make you rich is because if you make three million dollars (a goal many people aspire to), and out of those three million dollars you spend five million, you are still poor—yes, poor, and extremely ignorant when it comes to money matters. More money will not change it. In fact, it will only make it worse.
The definition of poor, in my point of view, is someone who spends recklessly, who cannot control his finances, who cannot delay gratification, who spends more than he or she makes, and who blames someone else for his or her stupidity. Most importantly, a poor person is someone who makes poor decisions, especially poor financial decisions. These decisions are the result of a lack of financial intelligence, not necessarily the lack of intelligence. You can be a genius and still be a poor money manager.
A rich man, on the other hand, is someone who makes rich financial decisions, someone who spends less than he or she makes and someone who invests the balance instead of spending it on nonessentials. For example, I once asked a friend a simple question: “Say, if you won one million dollars in the lottery, what would you do with it?” My friend responded, “I will buy a sports car, go back to school and graduate from college, then buy a house for my mom, the best gadgets I can afford, the best clothes, and I’ll have every girl I would have my eyes on. I’ll buy a mansion somewhere in California and spend the first two months on the beach, celebrating my new fortune, then I’ll invest or save some of it. Oh—and I’ll definitely quit my job.”
Sounds promising, right? The fact is, most people think in a similar fashion. This is the perfect example of a poor person with one million dollars in his pocket. If you do the math, you will soon realize this guy will spend his million before he graduates from the new college he enrolled in and will end up being in tremendous debt because of a simple lack of financial intelligence.
Ask a ‘temporarily broke’ rich person the same question, and he or she will answer: “I will invest the money in an asset and let that asset pay for a sports car, a vacation on the beach and a house for my mom.” Simple, in this case, is better.
You see, poor people buy ‘stuff’; rich people buy and invest in assets (real estate, businesses, stocks, royalty products, etc.) and these assets buy ‘stuff’ for them. But you can easily find this information out for yourself; there are countless books that explain this concept. Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad is by far the best book on the subject.
So as soon as I understood this concept, I decided to change my answer to, “I want to become rich.” I wanted to make large amounts of money and be able to double and triple these amounts, turn a simple million into five million, ten million into a billion and so forth. And so I lived for a few years with the one purpose in life—to be rich.
When I was 23 years old, I became rich; however, my answer changed again after making and losing money and spending my money and time with people who did not appreciate me, girls who did not care about me and friends who were not really my friends. My eyes were opened to the fact that although being rich is wonderful, being rich and lonely was not fun. Being rich and sick or rich and hated by everyone was also something I did not want. So I had to rethink and reformulate my answer to that question, and two years later, after a total of 24 years of life on planet earth, I finally got it. The one answer I was searching for was not to become a millionaire, not to become rich—but to become wealthy.
What does it mean to become wealthy? Well, wealth is abundance, and abundance is love, abundance is money, abundance is health, abundance is happiness, abundance is everything you need—combined. Abundance is what I was after, and it was the one thing I was dedicated to achieving; it was my dream.
Maybe you already have abundance, but the only thing you lack is money. Maybe your dream is to make a million dollars, to become rich or even a millionaire, for that matter—that’s okay. I didn’t write this book to tell you what you should aim for; that would be a waste of your time and money. I wrote this book to guide you on how to achieve that thing you want most, let it be a million, a billion or any other amount of money you may aspire to.
So, why am I here? I was created for one purpose: to get and give wealth. Wealth of money, education, love, happiness and success; to help myself and others achieve the things we want more than anything else in life, whether it’s making more money, losing weight, being happier or building a business. I am here to make dreams come true, for myself and for those around me. That is my life’s statement; that is why I am; that is the reason God decided to place me on this planet.
So, why are you here? Don’t be discouraged if you cannot find the answer to this question yet. That is why you picked up this book; you are searching, just like I did, and you will find answers only if you keep searching. You may find different answers to that question, and it may take you a while to decide which one is the right one for you, but as long as you keep searching, you will find the answer, the most important answer to the most important question you can ask yourself:
Why Am I Here? _______________________________________________
I want you to fill in the blank. Answer this question right now and put it in the blank space on the previous page. Don’t worry about details; I will give you the opportunity to answer this same question at the end of the book. This book is about more than just making money; it is about making a decision, taking a risk and finding the answer to that question, and then going after your dream. No second thoughts, no holding back, just going for it. Before this book will end, you will understand that if you don’t follow your dreams, you are fighting your own creation, because you are denying that which God has given to you, something that is more important than anything else in life—your purpose.
Without a sense of purpose in life, why are you getting up in the morning? Why are you going to work? Why did you (or will you) have kids? Why are you reading this book? Why do you do anything if you have no strong sense of purpose in life? The only thing that makes us substantially different from animals is the power to be self-aware, to go beyond surviving and achieve something. I’m not talking about just making money or losing weight; I’m talking about a sense of purpose, something greater than yourself. Living just for the sake of being alive is a terrible purpose.
If you love real estate and your dream is to become a real estate tycoon, your purpose can be as great as changing the face of your favorite city, making life more affordable or changing the life of the people who live in it. Donald J. Trump had a similar purpose, to make a statement, to change the face of the New York skyline. If you love computers and your dream is to become a wealthy software programmer, and you dream of building a virtual world in which people from around the planet will be given a second chance of life, build software and turn it into an empire. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, and Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, made similar decisions. Bill Gates had a purpose that made him the wealthiest man in world at the time: to be the link between man and the mind of the machine, for every computer sold in the world. Needless to say, it worked out perfectly.
If your dreams are not business related or world changing, that’s okay. Look at Mother Teresa. Her purpose was to serve those who are poor, who had no resources and could not take care of themselves. The Dali Lama has a great life purpose, to raise enough money and influence enough people that the city of Tibet can once again be free. Talk about a powerful statement. The NY1 Channel announces the New Yorker of the week, and every week, we see someone with a purpose. They are not billionaires, millionaires or people who change the face of the universe; they simply changed their own lives and the lives of those around them because they have a strong sense of purpose. You will never find these guys on the 'suicide' list.
But you don’t need to be a Bill Gates, Mother Teresa, Robert Kiyosaki, Henry Ford, Quentin Tarantino, Robert De Niro or the president of the United States to change the world, nor do you need to have a billion-dollar dream, a life-transforming goal or a bigger-than-life purpose. Your purpose can simply be: “To be the happiest man or woman I can be”; “To be the first woman executive in my company”; “To create the best environment for my child to grow up in”; “To become one of Hollywood’s best directors,” etc.
You just need a dream, a goal big enough that every time you imagine it, your heart begins to beat rapidly. This is a gift of God; the word desire comes from the word “From The Father.” Ignoring your gift and deciding to live without trying to accomplish your dreams just because you don’t want to take the risk or because you think a family member would not approve will eventually cause you to get into a state of mediocrity, and at the end of your life, it will be your biggest regret.
This book will not magically turn you into a millionaire overnight; no book will. It will not teach you the secret formulas to wealth, simply because there are none. It’s no secret one can become wealthy by building a business, selling a product or investing in income-producing assets or products, whether they are real estate, toys, paper assets, TV repair, deodorants or drinking water. It’s no secret that to lose weight you need to exercise and eat right; it’s no secret that to be happy you need to get rid of negative thoughts; it’s no secret that to be healthy you need to use your body and your mind in a healthy way. There are countless books, seminars, self-help gurus and preachers who teach you how to accomplish these things, but didn’t you already read them? Didn’t you read the “How to Get Rich” book that teaches you how to start a business or invest in real estate? Didn’t you read the “How to Lose Weight” book that teaches you how to take better care of your body? Don’t you know cigarettes will definitely kill you? Yes, you do, but you don’t do anything about it. Maybe you want to, but you just can't bring yourself to take action. Maybe you are already trying but not getting any results. Maybe you are getting results but want to take it one step further. Regardless of where you are, I believe this book can help you.
This book is all about identifying your wildest dreams and doing whatever it takes to achieve them. Just like building wealth, it sounds simple, but it will be the hardest thing you will ever have to do. If you want to stay where you are, I advise that you do not read this book; it will only confuse you and may cause you to take risks you would otherwise avoid, and then I’ll get an angry email from your lawyer threatening to sue me because I ruined your life. So, if you are happy, if you are satisfied, if you are filled with joy and abundance, I salute you, but I also advise that you give this book to a friend or someone who is unhappy. But I must warn you: if you decide to read this book and act upon the advice I give you, you will become temporarily unhappy. I can pretty much guarantee it.
This is real life. Anything really worth doing will not be as easy as you think it is and will probably cause you a serious deal of stress and pain during the first few months before you can finally reap the rewards.
Starting a business from nothing is easy, making it a success is hard; deciding to be an actor and moving to California is easy, living in the back of your truck with no money to eat without going home to cry to mommy is hard; deciding to overcome people’s judgments of you and climb the corporate ladder to be the first female executive in a billion dollar company is easy, actually doing it is a totally different story; making a sketch of a skyscraper in Manhattan is easy, turning that sketch into reality is not; deciding to run for Congress is easy, making it happen is a different story altogether. So if you want an easy fix, buy a quick magic pill or a “get rich quick” book and see how that works out for you. But if you decide to follow the advice in this book, know that you will become frustrated, you will be unhappy and you will want to quit. You can bet your life on it. However, when you do achieve it, when you reach the peak, when you master the process, you will not only be happy, you’ll be satisfied. You will not believe you failed to act upon your dreams sooner, you will discover a new world and a new you in the process.
This is not the advice you were hoping for from a book about how to build wealth and achieve your dreams, but do you want some author who will sell you pink stories about how beautiful and simple the process is? Or do you want to hear the truth? This is real life, and it is real-life advice; when you are happy and satisfied with your life, finances or weight, you would not take any action to make any changes in your life. But comfort is the worst place you can be in. The one human emotion that can help create more millionaires, help people lose weight and help more people achieve their most desirable dreams is frustration. Yes—frustration is the best motivator; if you know how to use it, if you can hone it and turn it into motivation, it will serve as the much-needed fuel which will drive you towards your goal. If you fail to understand it, it will only give you a heart attack and will lead to more frustration. In this book you will also learn how frustration can be used to create the ‘you’ that you want to create and how to use it as fuel to push yourself towards achieving your dreams, whatever they may be.
However, as I said before, frustration is only the beginning; you will need to start the business, write the plan, invest the time in making it real and then you’ll need to manage it and close your first deal—and it will not be easy. To sign your tenth client, while at the same time feeling frustrated, will not be easy. To jump from making $400 a month to making $4,000 a month will not be easy; to manage the money will not be easy; to deal with angry clients will not be easy; to handle a lawsuit will not be easy; to reach deadlines and battle stress will not be easy; convincing banks and raising money from investors will not be easy—but you can enjoy the process if you only understand your purpose. If you can really answer the question above, it will not be as bad; even if you lose the business, gain the pounds back, lose the big client, get rejected by agents and get the door slammed in your face, even if you turn homeless in the process, if you are forced to sleep in the back of your car, or suffer a defeat, it will not be the end of the world. As long as you get up the next morning and try again, as long as you don’t quit, as long as you stay focused, as long as you learn to use frustration to push yourself forward, if you let it fuel you and drive you forward—you will succeed. After all—you can’t fail if you never quit.
A good example is one of my personal heroes, Mr. Donald Trump. Back in the early 1990s he was very close to bankruptcy, with nine-hundred million dollars in personal guarantees and over eight billion dollars in business debt. It seemed like it was all over for Trump; newspapers were writing nasty articles about him, and the media presented the 'fact' that Trump will never rise again. In a situation where most human beings would quit or run away, and some people would actually commit suicide, Trump stood in the line of fire and negotiated with the banks, slept for three hours a night, fought, stayed optimistic and did what no one else in the world would do. He even managed to convince the banks he was too big to fail, and in the midst of all the debt and the problems, he managed to raise an additional sixty million dollars to save his empire. Today, he is still amongst the richest men on the planet, and that’s just one example.
You may not like or adore Trump as I do, and if that's the case, look at Tim Blixseth, who refused to quit after going bankrupt. Today he is worth over a billion dollars in net worth. Look at Steve Jobs, who suffered through a severe case of depression after losing his job at Apple in 1985, or David Murdock, who almost lost everything he had when the real estate market crashed. T. Boone Pickens is a genius billionaire who had to 'start over' after losing everything when oil and gas prices tanked; Stephen Ross is a brilliant real estate developer who was on the verge of bankruptcy in the early 90s and went on to build a sixteen-billion-dollar empire in less than four years.
Be honest with yourself: if you wake up tomorrow and get a call from the bank telling you that you owe nine hundred million dollars, what would you do? Seriously, would you run away? Would you commit suicide? Would you get a job and try to repay it? What if you had a family? Three young kids? And what if, in the midst of the mess, your wife files for divorce and decides to sue you for everything you have? Can you handle that amount of pressure? Can you handle such stress?
As mentioned before, I do not make any promises of changing your life in this book, nor can I promise you that your life will change instantly. I can only hope to educate you and help you better understand the process of going against the odds to achieve what you really want; how not to quit and hold on while everything around you seems to be collapsing; how to identify what you want and how to get it; how to handle enormous amounts of pressure and stress; how to go against the tide when everyone around you is saying ‘no!’; how to ignore the remarks of sarcastic friends, unsupportive spouses and disappointed fathers; how to go beyond defeat and be determined to achieve your dreams.
Yes, I achieved my dream of becoming wealthy. I am abundant in money, health, happiness and success, and I even lost a few pounds. And yes, I still have a long way to go to get to where I want. But I really hope you follow some of my advice and join me in this journey towards making a dream come true, whatever that dream may be.
If you decide to take my advice and chase your dreams, you need to understand you will no longer be in the “Safe Zone.” When you make that decision, you will enter the jungle of life, and for a lion cub who lived in the safety of his zoo cage to move into the jungle is a frightening experience; the chances of failure are great, and you can lose everything. But if you are determined enough, if you work hard and refuse to let your fear of failure dictate your life, and most importantly, if you love what you do—you will succeed! The ability to take action is what separates the winners from the losers. So before you begin reading, understand you will soon be in a position in which you will be forced to act or waste the money you spent on this book and let it sit on the shelf and collect dust.
I wish you luck on your journey and hope you enjoy this book.
Best Regards,
Usher Morgan
Acknowledgments
First of all, I want to thank my parents, without whom I would not be here today and would not have achieved true happiness in my life; they stood by me at times when I thought I was over and helped me understand the value of my life’s experiences. I want to thank and dedicate this book to my brothers, sisters-in-law and every member of my terrific family who, in some way or another, inspired me to write this book and go after my dreams of becoming the best me I can be. I also want to thank Becky Moore, my good friend who convinced me to publish this book. To my authors, clients, friends, enemies, mentors, business partners, associates, ex-girlfriends, heroes and teachers I had over the years I've spent on planet earth, some were good, some were bad, but every single one of them helped shape me into what I am today.
Thank you.
Notes
Thank you for taking the chance and investing in your dream. Before we begin, I would like to give you some information about how this book is written and how it is formatted. To achieve maximum benefit of this book, please turn off your cell phone, lock the door and give yourself a few hours to read through it once, and then a second time. Do the exercises mentioned in the book only when you are reading the book for the second time, since it will help you make the process practical and easier.
When you read this book, you will notice I use explicit language to describe certain things—these words are used loosely in this book. Some people believe the use of such words indicates a lack of intelligence, the inability to communicate a thought articulately or simply a juvenile lack of self control; I use these phrases in this book to shock you. Freud said the use of language can change the way we perceive certain thoughts and can be used to interrupt our thought patterns. This tool is also used throughout the book to convey certain emotions and help you understand the emotional stress I am referring to. And if you are under a lot of stress right now, the last thing you need is some author who holds back because he is afraid he would not sell as many copies. I tell it like it is, and I hope you understand the use of such language throughout the book. And if you don't like it, you can go fuck yourself! (I'm only kidding!)
Before you begin, please answer the following question:
What is your dream?
What is the one thing you always dreamed of doing? Something you never got a chance to do because ‘other things’ got in the way? A dream that is so powerful if you close your eyes and imagine it, your heart will begin pounding and a smile will gently reshape your facial expression. Think carefully and give yourself a few minutes to write it down here. What is the one thing you would do if you knew you could not fail? What would you give your life for? What would you do for free, just because you love it so much?
Is it to become a famous actor? A model? A film producer? An executive? A philanthropist? To build your own company? To move to Europe? To get into the Olympics? To get into the NBA? To build schools in Africa? Or simply to create a good financial foundation for your family’s generations to be? Pick a purpose that, if realized, can change your life forever, something that is bigger than life, something you desperately want but did not pursue because you thought it was “impossible.” Write it down here, your ‘impossible dream’:
(Try to forget about reason for a moment. Questions like, “Well, if I work for free, how would I pay my bills?” will be answered in this book.)
My dream is:
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This Book
Unless you read this book all the way to the end, several sections may be confusing at first. This book is divided into several parts: a true story, a fiction tale and a 'how to' segment, but I promise by the time you get to the last page, you will understand it all. So stick with it! I hope you enjoy this book and find value in it.
PART 1
MY STORY
PREFACE
“You know why we called you here? We want to know, what do you really want to do with your life?”
I looked at my mother and father with a puzzled expression. I didn’t really want to be there. I was in the middle of playing a new computer game when my parents called me over to have 'the talk.’ There I was, a fifteen-year-old kid, sitting across from my parents having the dreaded conversation I desperately wanted to avoid. But they didn’t care; they needed me right then and there. So there I was, an adult who needed to make an adult decision. I didn’t want to be an adult; I wanted to go back and play Warcraft (needless to say, I was quite the computer geek growing up, something that would later save my life and help me build a business). I needed to train for my tournament with my older brother Roy. I was the undisputed champion of that popular strategy video game amongst the family, and all three brothers always tried to beat me, with very little success. They would invite their friends and bet money on me winning the game. I don’t remember ever losing a bet, but then again, it may just be my selective memory.
“What do you want to do with your life?” my mother asked again.
I knew what they wanted me to say. They wanted me to join the family business, but I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to be left alone. I wanted to do what I wanted to do. Ever since I could remember, I dreamt of being a rich man, the self-made billionaire with the gorgeous wife, the big yacht, and the black Ferrari parked in front of my mansion. As a kid growing up in Israel, these were my fantasies, my dreams and my goals. While other kids in my class would dream of one day becoming firemen or police officers when they grew up, I was dreaming of the day I would join the ultra-rich club: wake up in my mansion, get in my black Ferrari and drive to the office, where I would mingle with the stars and close a few blockbuster deals over a game of golf. That was my fantasy ever since I can remember. In fact, my mom told me that when I was only five years old, I ran into the kitchen where she was cooking the family dinner and boasted, “Mom! I will become a millionaire by the time I turn twenty-five!”
She would always bring that up, and I would always feel proud of myself when she did.
“I want… I want to be... a millionaire.”
As soon as I said the first three letters in the word “millionaire,” both Mom and Dad rolled their eyes as if I had told them I dreamt of becoming a male prostitute or was accused of manslaughter. It was a look of disappointment, a look of “get back to reality, would you?” I hated that look.
“Come on, Son,” my dad said with a frustrated tone. “Be serious. What do you really want to do with your life?”
I honestly didn’t know what else to tell them. I never had any other dreams; that was pretty much my life’s inspiration. It was the only thing on my mind. We shared an uncomfortable moment of silence.
Then my mom said, “We want you to join the family business.”
“Shit.”
(Many Roads Can Lead to the Same Destination)
CHAPTER 1
Say Hello to my Little Friend
Oh my god… I am so screwed.
I had just lost half a million dollars, my bank statement now showed $0.90 and everything I owned was now gone; I had nothing. My life was going to hell—and I was sleeping in a fucking New York City subway station!
My situation was really bad, and I couldn’t see a way out of it. The real estate crisis knocked me off my golden chair and kicked me right in the balls while I was down. The emotional pain was so strong that inevitably it became physical. I could literally feel my body aches; the emotional scars were bleeding. I was in agony.
I didn’t know what to do. I was in New York City—my dream city, the city I always dreamt of living in—but still, life didn’t seem like the enjoyable journey it was just a few months back. The path I was on led me straight to the poor house; the stupid things I did had caused me to be locked in an invisible prison. I could not see one ounce of positivity in my current situation. I was beyond depression; there was no more hope, no purpose, not even a point in being depressed. It didn't matter anymore; everything was lost, over, done for.
There I was, lying on a dirty, filthy subway bench at the West 116th Street subway station in South Harlem. The only thoughts going through my mind were destructive ones, and my head was split into two voices, one telling me what an idiot I was, and the other quickly agreeing. My mind became my worst enemy. It was slowly killing me from the inside, like a Trojan horse.
This is the end.
You’re done for. This was the big leagues and you screwed up. You had it in your hands, but you let it slip away… you fucking idiot! How could you let that happen?
The West 116th Street subway station was empty, and it was late at night, around 2:00 a.m. All I had with me was a big red bag and a suitcase with a small laptop, paperwork, paperwork and some more paperwork. I was using the bag as a cushion between myself and that filthy subway bench I was laying on. In my hand I held my Blackberry and headphones, and I was wearing an expensive suit, the only suit I had left. I threw my Blackberry into my small red bag—the battery was about dead anyway, and the wallpaper photo of myself on an expensive golf course was not helping me feel any better about myself or my current situation. What was I doing here? How did I get here? What happened?
I was counting the seconds before I had to go back home, as a loser, to my family, friends, neighbors and those disgusting critics and people who call themselves friends, who all said I would fail in New York City. None of them held back, and I knew once I was on a plane back home, my critics would say, “See, I told you that you were a loser…”
I am in deep shi…
“Hi, Mister.”
An old voice from afar interrupted my train of thought.
I thought some poor soul entered the subway and saw me lying on the bench.
“Leave me alone,” I said quietly, keeping my eyes closed.
It was silent. I opened my eyes just for a quick second to look at the guy but didn’t see anything. The platform was still empty, and I was the only one there. For a second I thought I was losing my mind. I placed my head back on my bag and closed my eyes again. When I did, I saw that dreadful image again, as clear as daylight. The one thing I feared most throughout the past few months, it frightened me more than anything else, more than being homeless in New York, more than losing everything, and more than death itself at that point: I saw myself coming back home and being laughed at.
“What happened?”
“You failed?”
“I told you so.”
“You should never have tried—now you learned your lesson. You learned there are just some things you can’t do; besides, what’s wrong with being just another normal person?”
“I hope you stop your daydreaming and fantasizing about becoming rich in New York and come back to planet earth. Some things are just not meant to be, so forget about it…”
I couldn’t help myself. I started to cry.
I had dealt with enormous amounts of pressure in the last twenty-five years of my existence, pressure no other twenty-five-year-old business owner ever had to deal with. I served as the vice president of a large organization from a very young age (it was my parents’ company, but it was still a business, and the responsibility was the same), I managed employees, I was giving presentations to investors when I turned 21 and closed my first deal a few months later, a brokerage deal for a 1.3 million dollar venture capital investment I helped close all by myself. I handled pressure. And I did it well; I never shed a tear, not once. Well, it all changed that moment; that was my breaking point. I cried like a sissy for ten minutes straight.
“Hi, Mister,” the same voice said. “Why the long face?”
“Shut up!” I yelled. I was ready to get up and kick his ass.
I opened my eyes, stood up and got ready to punch the guy in the face. All that anger I had in me was about to explode. I am by no means a violent person, but at that moment, I didn't care; I rose up but saw nothing. I looked around, took a peek into the subway tunnel, but nothing. I walked towards the empty toll booth… nothing. Am I going crazy?
(When you are getting into a state of depression, do whatever it takes to take yourself out of that state as soon as possible. do not sink into depression. watch a funny movie or do something outrageous to get out of that state, fast.)
I started walking back towards the bench. I sat down and was ready to place my head back on that pillow of mine, when I saw it and screamed, getting up as fast as a speeding bullet.
My heart was beating heavy in my chest. I was a bit dizzy from the sudden shock but managed to quickly pick up my umbrella from the dirty subway floor. I held it like a sword and started banging it on the bench. I tried to make enough noise so it might run away, but it didn’t move; instead, it stared at me like I was its two o’clock meal. I wasn’t scared of it; but I was disgusted by it. I couldn’t stand the thought that this thing was actually sitting where my head was just seconds ago. I just prayed it wouldn’t sneak its way inside and start chewing on my stuff.
No, it just stood there, looking at me, almost human-like, almost like it had a soul of its own. I settled down for a second, only to be startled again.
“What the hell is your problem?” it asked.
“Haaa!!!” I shouted, heart pounding.
Now I was sure I was really losing my mind. I had heard of people who lived in the subway and went completely crazy, but I never expected it would happen so fast. I thought it would take years before I started talking to myself, but never did I think I would start imagining speaking rodents.
“What, what, whaaa… What the fuck!” I mumbled. Was this rat speaking to me? Had I gone mental? Now I was really screwed. “Holy, shit.”
He looked at me as if he were surprised by the fact that I was shocked to see a speaking rodent.
I was at a loss for words, and I could barely breathe. I felt like I was going to faint. I slowly reached for my bag, but the rat was still sitting on it and didn’t budge.
“Shoo, shoo!”
I grunted. I just wanted to get out of the station, but the rat kept looking at me.
Finally, it started slowly crawling away from the bag and onto the other side of the bench.
I cautiously reached for my bag and quickly picked it up, examining it, as if I were looking for any infestation or a nest or something on it. I found none, thankfully. I grabbed my umbrella and red bag in one hand and my briefcase in the other and started walking out of the subway. As I headed towards the exit, I heard it again, behind me.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
I stopped, and my heart began to beat fast again. I felt like I was going to faint.
“Oh my God,” I mumbled.
I started running. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could, and when I reached the street, I stopped. I decided to wait outside. When I heard the subway train approaching I’d quickly run down the stairs and make my way into the closet subway car. That rat couldn’t hurt me there.
While I was sitting outside, I was freaking out, playing those last five minutes in my head.
Did I really go mental?
I placed both my hands on my head and began contemplating the situation.
Not a minute went by and I heard it again.
“Psst.”
I quickly jumped and looked around, but saw nothing.
“Psst.”
I turned my head for a second, and there it was again.
I jumped and fell down the subway stairs, hitting my head against the wall so hard I heard a crack.
It was climbing down the stairs, coming slowly towards me.
“Get away!’ I screamed.
It stopped. “Would you calm down? What's wrong with you?”
“Hell, no!” I yelled. Then I lowered my voice and struggled to breathe. “This is not happening,” I said quietly, then started mumbling over and over. “This isn’t happening.”
After a minute or two, I stopped. I looked at it, and it looked back at me.
“Is this for real? Or am I losing my mind?” I asked, as if I were talking to myself.
“Oh, I’m real alright. Are you real?”
I stood up, dumbfounded. I was completely focused on this rat, imaginary or not. Slowly my muscles relaxed. I took my first breath in what felt like minutes, breathing in some unexplained smell floating around the station.
“Oh, perfect,” I said. “Now, I’m talking to an imaginary mouse.”
“My name is Bruce.”
I didn’t laugh—only because I was still shocked. But a sense of amusement started to break through.
“Bruce? Really? Give me a break.”
“My name is Bruce, and I am not a mouse,” he declared.
“Okay,” I mumbled. “A rat, then.”
“I am not a mouse, or a rat.”
“Then what are you?” I asked
He looked at me for a second, puffed his chest out, took a big breath, smirked and proudly stated, “I… am a millionaire.”
Now the shock was gone, replaced by pure amusement. I started laughing. I laughed so hard I dropped my bag and almost knocked my briefcase down the stairs. I couldn’t remember what I was crying about five minutes ago and was in such hysterics I couldn’t stop myself for a few minutes. It was loud, it was uncontrollable, and my stomach began to ache. I was cracking with laughter, but that rat didn’t seem to laugh. Instead, he appeared to be aggravated.
“Stop,” he said quietly.
I didn’t stop; I couldn’t. It was uncontrollable. I was laughing hysterically; as some would say, I was laughing my ass off.
“Enough!” He raised his voice.
Now I slowly stopped, not because he asked me to, but because his voice was not like one would imagine a rat’s voice. It was more human, more like the voice of a king, deep, strong and powerful. I looked at it for a minute, and could not help asking.
"What’s going on? Is this for real?" I was no longer depressed, nor was I amused or shocked; I was just fascinated.
“How is this possible?” I whispered.
The rat did not respond; instead it quickly shook its head and ran down the stairs.
Now fully alert, I got up and ran after him.
“Wait!” I yelled.
When I got to the platform I could see the rat running into the tracks, and then it was gone.
“Hey, rat!” I yelled.
No response.
“Hey, ummm… Bruce!” I yelled again. Nothing.
“Hey, millionaire!” I screamed, frustrated.
I threw my things on the subway bench, not minding the filth and dirt on it, and sat down with amazement. Was it over? Did I miss my chance?
“Why did I have to laugh like an idiot?” I whispered. “He must have been insulted.”
“Because…”
I heard his voice again. This time it was a lot stronger. I turned my head and saw him standing on the edge of the platform, looking right at me.
“Rats,” he said, “can’t become millionaires.” He slowly approached me. “But you already know that, don’t you? I mean, they told you that whenever you said the word… right?”
He stopped.
“How is this possible?” I asked. “How can a rat be a millionaire?”
“It would seem most unfathomable to you,” he replied. “So bizarre, that the first question you think to ask a millionaire, who happens to be a speaking rat, is how he can be a millionaire rat, and not how it is possible for a rat to speak.”
He didn’t wait for me to respond. “September the 10th, 2008 is my last day on this earth and you… you were supposed to be my last client,” he said confidently.
“Client?”
I saw the lights from a train draw closer to the station. My little rat friend looked at me quite suspiciously. “That train approaching is the C Train,” he said. “It will take you to 42nd street; from there you take the E uptown towards Queens, get off at JFK, get on the plane, and go back to wherever you came from. Go back to being the rat,” he said with a sad voice.
“Wait!” I yelled. “How do you know so much about me?”
The train arrived and slowly came to a stop.
“Go back home,” Bruce said again. “You are just a rat…” He looked down and started walking towards a crack that stood between the train and the wall.
“Stop!”
There were four people inside the train, all of them looking at me. What a sight I must have been: a young man, only twenty-five years old, but looked like thirty, unshaved, unkempt, and dressed in a suit, talking to himself in a subway station at two o’clock in the morning. I managed to catch a glimpse of one of them shaking his head from side to side, as if I were some weirdo. But Mr. Millionaire Speaking Rat did not stop; he continued to go inside the crack and then disappeared, right when the subway doors closed.
“Shit!” I said, as the train began to drive away. “Great! Not only did I manage to scare away a speaking millionaire rat, but now I’m not going to catch my flight… fuck!”
I had bought the plane ticket back home with the last of my money, and now I missed the flight because of that moment of insanity I just had…
Maybe I had imagined the whole thing?
“I told you to go!” Bruce said.
I jumped, startled. “Stop doing that!” I said.
He was back on the platform. “Why didn’t you get on the train?”
“I think I’m still in shock,” I joked.
He started laughing. I was actually making a rat laugh. By this time I didn’t care that I was talking to a dirty subway rat—this was starting to get interesting.
“I know why you didn’t go,” he said. “It’s not because you met a speaking rodent. All rodents can speak.”
“What? I never heard a speaking rodent before.”
“Yes, you have. You just never understood what they were saying. To you, it sounded like this…”
He started to make the well-known sound of a rat. “Yeep, Yeep, Yeep.”
“So… I can talk to rats now?” I asked.
“No. In fact, after tonight, you will never speak or hear a rat speak again. You have been given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to enjoy it. Will you take advantage of it?”
“Okay. What the hell is really going on? Is this some kind of a practical joke?”
He didn’t answer my questions.
“The reason you didn’t get on that train is because you saw something that should not exist. You saw something that, in your eyes, seemed impossible. You saw a speaking rodent who claimed to be a millionaire, and by your logic, rodents cannot speak, nor can they become millionaires, so you laughed at the idea. However, you received the same response yourself, right? When you told your friends you wanted to become a millionaire one day? Did you not?”
Suddenly it seemed this little rat was smarter than I gave him credit for.
“Did they not laugh in your face?” he asked. “What about your friends? What happened when you told them your dream was to become a millionaire rat? How did they react?”
I stood there for a minute and thought long and hard about what this rodent asked me. I had reacted to this rodent in the same way the people in my life had reacted to me.
"And this response is from the people who love you, not to mention your enemies..." He paused for a moment.
“People have their own ideas and beliefs about how you should behave, how you should walk, talk and dress, and how much money you should be making,” he said.
I hated to admit it, but he was right.
“Same goes for you and your own ideas about how a rat should behave, since a rat is just a rat. He cannot talk or make money, now, can he? If a child saw a speaking rodent he would be as excited as if he had just seen Santa Claus; this is because kids can still dream. Adults, on the other hand, do not have that ability to dream. For them, their dreams must be in the boundaries of reason, which make their dreams not half as exciting. They have a special set of rules of what’s possible and what’s impossible. Did you know it is physically impossible for a bumble bee to fly? Its body is too heavy in comparison to its small wings.” He paused dramatically.
“But… bees don’t care what people think is impossible, and I don’t care either, and you shouldn’t as well.”
“Yes,” I said. Some of it was starting to make some sense to me. “But… who are you?”
(You Are Who You Think You Are… So Answer This: Who Are You?)
The rat remained quiet. He turned around and began slowly walking into the subway tunnel.
“Wait!” I yelled.
He stopped, looked back and gave me the “follow me” signal.
I slowly approached the edge of the platform, nervous about the big red “DO NOT ENTER” sign.
“I can’t go down there,” I said.
He stopped and turned around.
“What’s stopping you?” he asked.
“It's dirty, it's dangerous, it’s filthy… What am I supposed to do?”
“NEVER MIND!” he yelled. He turned around and began walking into the tunnel.
I then heard a whisper. “He's just a rat.”
What?
Where is he going?
After all this bullshit he gave me about what's possible and impossible, he just jumped into the tunnel and walked into the darkness.
After a second, I heard nothing but silence.
A minute passed, two minutes, three minutes.
“Mr. Rat!” I yelled… nothing.
“Mr. Rat!”
I was still standing at the edge of the platform, like an idiot, waiting for that speaking rat to reappear, but nothing.
With hesitancy, I picked up my bags and slowly, cautiously, went down the small stairs at the end of the platform and into the subway tunnel. I began walking towards the darkness.
“Mr. Rat…” I whispered.
I walked and walked and walked, keeping my eyes on my feet, scared. I didn’t want to get bitten by anything; only God knew what was down there. It was filthy, scary and dark. I couldn’t see anything and was scared for my life.
What happens if a train comes by? Where can I run?
As I made slow progress, I looked back and noticed I could no longer see the light off the platform.
And then I heard it—the horn. The train was coming and I was right in its way.
I looked for a place to hide, but I didn’t know where to go. I couldn’t see anything. I didn’t know how wide the train was or if I had any chance of running away from its path. I panicked and turned around and started running. I was running for what seemed like an eternity, while the white light drew closer behind me.
That’s it; I’m done for. Is this how I am going to die? What an idiot I am. Why did I go in here?
I should have left well enough alone; that fucking rat…
Everything turned white and the horn was screaming.
TOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!
TOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!
CHAPTER 2
The Decision
It’s January of 2008 and I’m cruising down Taylor Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana in my brand new Chrysler. I just purchased another piece of property on South Harrison, a three-bedroom house in horrible shape. The roof was caving in, the foundations were a mess and the property needed major renovation, inside and out; just the way I love it.
I had about $21,000 set aside for the deal, which wasn’t much at the time. After all, I bought the house for a poor $7,000, and I knew the neighborhood pretty well, so the risk was not as big as you might think. That’s the thing about knowledge—it minimizes risk. The amount of risk involved might have been bigger for someone else, but for me? I knew what I was doing.
I parked my car on the corner of the street and waited for the contractor to arrive. It was freezing outside and the house was a wreck, so there wasn’t much reason for me to go inside. As I waited, I thought for a minute about how this was the life I had been planning for. It was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. A wide smile reshaped my facial expression as I searched for a Frank Sinatra CD in the glove compartment.
I love Frank Sinatra, and I was the only twenty-three-year-old I knew to admit it.
I had to make some difficult changes by that time, including my taste in music. The music you listen to says a lot about who you are and what your personality is like; and as my personality changed, as I dumped a lot of bad habits, my taste in music changed almost automatically.
It's amazing how a song can make you feel and how that song can influence the way you think and the way you see things in the world.
I was listening to the words, while quietly singing to myself:
“I want to wake up
in that city that doesn’t sleep
And find that I’m king of the hill
Top of the heap…”
Knock, Knock, Knock…
I stopped day dreaming for a minute and looked outside to see Larry, covered in layers of clothing. A man I didn’t know, who didn’t seem as troubled by the cold as Larry was, was standing beside him.
I got out of my car. “Larry! It’s a pleasure meting you again.”
Larry was my general contractor in Fort Wayne. He was doing a hell of a job renovating my properties there.
I was buying properties, renovating them and putting them on the market for rent. I will always remember what Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, said: “Speculators are not investors, they are gamblers.”
So, I never really gambled with my money or with my real estate; I was relatively careful with both. I grew up in a middle-class family, but we were broke most of the time, so I didn’t grow up with a great personal ‘financial education’ from my parents or brothers. I did, however, grow up with some solid business smarts (which surprisingly, is not always in direct relation to money management) and the one principle my parents always insisted on was: “Follow your heart.”