The Garden of Life
Before I left the Philippines, I was determined to write a book that I would use to help launch my speaking career. I forced myself to go to Puerto Gallera, an island in the Philippines I would normally vacation at, and told myself I could not leave until I finished the first rough draft of my book: The Garden of Life.. at first I thought it might only take me a week or two with dedicated writing, but that was the problem .. I had never written a book before and I was far from disciplined in my writing schedule. It was only after the first 10 days had passed that I realized, I either need to get more serious about writing this book or I will have to leave this island a failure. I doubled down on my commitment and started writing more aggressively and finished it in about a month after that. Still way more than I thought, but at least I got it done!
A RELATIONSHIP WITH YAME
During my time in Manila after a couple of years of playing around, I finally settled into a wonderful relationship for a couple of years with a girl named Yame.. I broke up and got back together with her 10x before things ended.. She was a lovely girl who could have brought me great care and peace, but I was having a hard time committing to anything.
On the positive side, this break up would be the start of a journey that would be the start of a new freedom.. An adventure that would take me around the world.
I looked in the mirror one day and I could see I wasn’t going to get any younger. And the business was still far from automated and perfect.. But if I didn’t leave soon I would end up spending most of my youth in Manila.. Not somewhere I wanted to be for the rest of my life. I decided that even though I might be taking a huge risk and I could lose everything.. I was going to venture out into the world and leave the people I had in place in charge of everything. I pre-signed some bank forms .. I added people onto accounts and put them in direct communication with clients.. I became extremely vulnerable to betrayal.. And some did take advantage. But surprisingly, none of the actions were fatal to the business and I began the new chapter of managing the business remotely. And more importantly I suddenly had more freedom!
In a short time I also brought my brother on from the US, to come help run things onsite.. Even though he didn’t have the call center experience, I knew he was someone I could trust to be my eyes and ears .. and that I could help him with training and skills needed to run the business.