If there’s one thing I love more than most, it’s the process of creating, building, and expressing myself.
That’s why I’ve always been drawn to business, or what people call “entrepreneurship” these days.
When the journey began
Born and raised in South Manchester, Levenshulme. An area next to Longsight, Gorton, and Fallowfield.
I started from the bottom of the bottom, and I’m proud of that. There’s an advantage to growing up like that.
It made me tougher, stronger, and gives me a wider perspective than most would have if they already “had it all”.
Especially since I’ve been stabbed, robbed, jumped, been in or avoided life-threatening situations, and other bullshit. As well as health issues and problems I’ve battled with over the years.
Throughout my teenage years, I was lost, but very observant and curious. My curiosity is really what kept me going.
“Hood” mentality held me back in a lot of ways, but helped me in other aspects. All I knew was that I wanted to be in business and make a name for myself. And create something.
On top of that, I dealt with a lot of bullies, and my level of self-esteem was in the toilet. But I always stood up for myself and fought back.
Even if outnumbered.
I was first bullied as a 6 year old, by who I thought was a “friend” no less.
I loved cars. So with failed grades and being a so-called “failure” at school, I went to college for 2 years studying mechanics, then went onto study music tech for a year.
While in college (17+ onwards) I bought and sold products to make money. I always had an inclination to it and business overall. My mindset wasn’t “there” yet.
Both college courses were useless, except for the fact I was exercising my curiosity, learning more about myself, and how I wanted to go about starting a business.
College meant nothing to me otherwise. It was never my “true” path. I was self-aware enough to know it.
I loved music and started writing lyrics out of curiosity. Then I started making music for 2+ years (rap) and found myself at a crossroads again after becoming disinterested. And realizing I had no interest long term.
It wasn’t until 2011 that I started to get the ball rolling off my own 2 feet, especially in 2012 after being made redundant.
The Big Transition
That same year, months before I started this website I was working at Mc Vities. Smelling chocolate all day every day.
It was a toxic environment full of people who moaned, bitched and complained about their situations.
They gossiped and did whatever it took to make others feel as miserable as they were.
After just 3 months I was made redundant and that’s when the time had come.
The journey of “legitimate” entrepreneurship
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I use the word “legit” for a reason. I used to sell a lot of products (clothing, phones, music CD’S, etc). It was never a legit business under a name or whatever.
I won’t lie. But it did help me exercise my business muscle.
Part of not going legit had to do with mindset.
Not to mention the whole “college is the only way” and you “have to get a job to succeed”.
I never followed that by instinct, but it was baked into my mind and that caused inner conflict.
So I started diving into everything I needed to know about self-employment, starting a business, taxes and so on.
That leads me to my journey of personal development.
That’s when I later started my top 100 personal development site: Just Be Real back in November 2012. With the purpose of sharing my life and expressing all the opinions I’ve kept bottled up for so many years.
Since then I’ve been expressing myself for the past 6+ years. And have learned how to attract 1,000,000’s of visitors online.
Once you make cash, there’s no going back. Especially when it’s residual.
Along the way, I also started my first business in 2013 after selling ALL my video games, a TV, and anything else that would distract me from my goals.
I went from playing video games to selling them, making ££££’s in a matter of months after expenses.
To me, I’ve “never” been unemployed, because even if I was, I spent my time selling things. Whether it’s CD’S, music, video games or clothes.
The irony of that though is you could say I’ve always been unemployed (I employed myself) but I never took it all the way, and that slowed me down and caused a lot of unnecessary shit.
Fast forward to the future
The #1 thing I strive for is to make a difference with the things I build and create.
Freedom is a priority alongside that.
