What I Learned From My Business Failures

I love talking about business. Starting them. Growing them. To me, growing a business is like playing real life monopoly. It's the ultimate form of real life creativity. Sure you can be an artist or a musician, but the actual skill of turning that creativity and turning it into a living as well as a way of life, well, that's the fun part. 

 Not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur though. Everybody wants to be their own boss, set their own hours, and do what they want, when they want. But no one wants to be an entrepreneur. That's because people know the sacrifice involved. If we all lived a thousand years ago (or whenever it was before money was invented) and we could just all barter goods and services, being an entrepreneur would be awesome. Instead of creating a piece of art and trying to sell it for food, I could exchange that artwork for the food itself. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, not sure which), we don't live a thousand years ago. We live in 2014. We live in a time where your very self worth is determined by the marketplace. If the market doesn't like what you have to offer, it doesn't pay you and you don't eat. If it does however, then the sky's the limit. 

To date, I've started four businesses. The first one failed within 6 months. I was 21 and my friend turned business partner turned guy I didn't talk to for 5 years turned friend again, had a brilliant idea. At the time, he was working for a company that brokered electronic components. Basically, every piece of electronic hardware in every electronic device you could imagine, he was (and still is) the middle man to between the manufacturers and the companies that sell the devices. The business model is brilliant, and quite possibly the most recession proof business around. Well he realized after working at his company for 6 months that instead of making the sale and getting his 25% cut for it, why not start his own business and keep 100% of it. So he asked me to be his partner and 6 months later I read everything I could about starting a business, left by bartending job, put my entire savings in, and went in full time. He did the same. With dreams of making a six figure income by the end of that year, we felt on top of the world. We would work hard making and processing sales by day, and sit around discussing running the world at night. That soon depleted after hitting issues due to lack of skill, lack of capital, cash flow issues, and eventually, falling into a business scam where $12,000 worth of inventory was stolen from us. Now we were left to pay back our investors, with no inventory to sell, no more capital, and on top of personal issues, no more will to continue. So we did the only thing we could do, which was close up shop, go our separate ways, and return to our old jobs with our heads down and tails tucked, eventually paying our investors back. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. When you start a business, you learn a few things a job will never teach you. Perseverance, strength of character, and what it means to make money work for you instead of work for money. You learn what going 100% really means when you do it whether you get paid or not. 

 Three years later, I was in business once again. This time, a fitness boot camp. Leading up to this, I was working at the bar at night and spending my days getting certified as a personal trainer and working at a private studio. Seeing how "bootcamps" were the hottest new thing around and the perfect blend of personal training and group exercise, I franchised with one of the top bootcamp models around. In the year and a half with them, I learned half the equation of doing business, being marketing and sales. You could have the best product or service around, but if no one knows about it, or you can't close the sale, then it doesn't matter. Well after a Groupon and Living Social offer for my business pulling in close to 200 people in the first 3 months, my complete lack of sales experience meant that I kept about 5 of them as full time paying clients. Usually, they were the ones who said "I lost HOW MUCH weight in 3 weeks?! Sign me up!". I soon learned the basics of sales, being LISTENING to the client and OFFERING them a solution to their problem. But by the end of that year and half, the franchise was asking for more and more money while giving less and less value, which didn't sit well with me. So I left them for another franchise. 

 The second franchise (and what I consider my third business), a group personal training franchise, was a great experience. I learned the value of creating a business driven on systems. I had sales systems, marketing systems, program design systems, training systems, I had systems for everything. For those thinking about getting into business, remember this, SYSTEM means Saving Your Self Time, Energy, and Money. I hired an administrative assistant and assistant coach for a while, and things were going smooth. I also learned the second part of business, which is having an amazing product. All the marketing and sales in the world mean nothing if you fail to deliver. So I focused on delivering an extraordinary experience and soon found myself surrounded by some of the most elite trainers and fitness coaches in the country. But after 2 1/2 years, learned the hard way that a personal training business is quite possibly one of the most grueling business models to be apart of. It takes a real passion to stick in it for the long haul, and by then, my passion and fire had burnt out. 4 years of waking up at 5am and either training clients, writing up client workouts, marketing for new clients, scheduling potential clients, or meeting potential clients until 10pm every day had taken its toll. I needed a new business that would re-ignite my flame. 

Which leads me to my current business. While the core of my work is in a network marketing company, I like to say I'm now in the "freedom" business. I work from home, with no alarm clock (actually set at 7:30 in case I oversleep, which I rarely need), and create my day exactly how I choose. I've found the business model of the 21st century. One that has minimal overhead, unlimited income potential, no brick and mortar to pay rent to, is built around creating success for others and help them achieve freedom in their lives, and no employees to hire, train, pay, or fire. It's given me the opportunity to write and publish my first book, "Think The Fat Away" on Amazon, and unlike a personal training business, has interstate and international potential.  It's the perfect blend of doing what I love, and a sustainable business model that I can leave as a legacy for my children.

So my journey continues, but before this blog post is over, I'd like to leave you with 5 tips about starting and growing a business based on my own failures.

1) Get into something you love. Your business will only succeed to the extent of how much effort you put in, and if you don't love what you do, it will show in your effort.
2) Use leverage.  Leverage the use of systems to save yourself time, energy, and money.  Team up with a franchise or network marketing company to leverage their knowledge, experience, and support.  Read books, listen to podcasts/audios, attend seminars, and leverage the wisdom of people who have reached the heights of success you wish to achieve.  Leverage your money by reinvesting profits into growing your business instead of immediately spending it to "ball out".
3) Build your social capital.  Network like a fiend and build strong relationships with others.  As they say, it takes a village.  None of my success would have been possible without the support of certain individuals.
4) Business revolves around 2 key steps: having the best product/service possible, and making sure everyone knows about it.  If you have the best marketing in the world but a crappy product, you'll market yourself out of business once everyone finds out how bad you are.  If you have the best product but no one knows about it, you're out of business just as fast.
5) Kaizen. The Japanese term for practicing continuous improvement.  It's what made Toyota the highest selling car maker in the country.  While everyone was waiting 3-4 years to reinvent their models, Toyota focused on making small improvements over time.  Focus on being 1% better every day.  That's 365% better year over year.

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Mark Lopez blogs about leadership and personal development in order to strengthen his own leadership skills.  As a Christian, father, husband, and CEO of his own life, Mark looks to empower others so they can lead life by their own design.  To learn more about Mark, follow him on Facebook.

How To Not Get Your Nose Broken

I fully believe in karma.

Or, more specifically, in the idea that what goes around comes around.

For example, I've been fortunate enough to have only broken a bone once in my life.  Plenty of sprains, strains, and maybe a tear or two, but only one break.

And I've done a lot of dangerous stupid stuff in my life.

But back to the one time I broke a bone.  It was my nose.

And I must have deserved it.  Because I'm almost positive that I broke some kid's ribs just moments before.

I was working security/barback at the club I worked at.  It was a special event of 17+ party.  Always the worst kinds of parties.  Partially because you always have to worry about teenagers either trying to sneak alcohol into the club, or show up already drunk.

But mainly because 17 year old girls think its okay dress like hookers, dance like strippers, and act like groupies.  And their 17.  Not cool.  I've got two daughters.  Really not cool.

Anyways, things were the normal level of hectic.  Kicking kids out for trying to sneak in "water bottles", or leave to drink in the car to come back, only to find out they couldn't come back in.  Well, as the night drew to a close, things got a little out of hand towards the front door.  A small fight of some sort broke out, and all the security including myself were right on the scene.

Well, after kicking one kid out, we start breaking up the rest of the ruckus inside.  Then SMASH!

The kid we kicked out throws something at the glass window and shatters it.  He dashes, and is chased by myself and 2 other security guards.

One guard manages to catch up to him and catch him in a headlock, dropped onto his knees.

The next security guard comes to his side and gives him a swift uppercut to the ribs.

In which I decide to come around the other side of this kid, on his knees, in a headlock, put my hands over his back, and drive my knee into his ribs with so much force that the other two security guards get shifted over.

Then karma and absolute mayhem ensue.  Every 17-20 year old in the club sees what happens and its an all out war of 20 or so kids versus us 6 security guards scattered across the parking lot.  I see one staff employee running over towards me only to get cold cocked from the side from another kid.  I rush over to catch that punk and give him a taste of his own medicine.

We end up squaring off face to face, but I hesitate.  Before making a move I think "this guy is under 18.  One hit and it's charges pressed and jail time for me."  By then, I've already hesitated, opt to shoot in for a takedown instead, and get caught with a hook to the side of the head and fall over.

I stand up vision blurred thinking I dropped a contact lens, only to have 3 other kids fly by and give me a quick shot each.  One to the head, one to the back, and the last directly in the face, cracking the bridge of my nose.

By the time I regain composure, the party is scattered, kids have ran off, and I'm in a blind rage with my security shirt off, blood pouring down my face and chest, screaming to the air looking for the person who hit me, as if they would step up with their hand raised.

The fight dies down, cops are called, and I head to the bathroom to readjust my nose which is shifted about 1/4" to the right.  To this day, you can slide your finger up the side of my nose and feel a notch of bone that juts out.

But then it makes me think, there was some kid who went to the hospital that night with at least a few broken ribs.

Moral of the story?

What goes around comes around.  What you put out the universe comes back.  Sow seeds of hate, jealousy, envy, greed, and violence, and you reap it all the same.

These days, I'd rather master my ability to communicate effectively.  I take pride in my ability to control my emotions as well as influence others through proper use of the right words.  Less bones broken that way.

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Mark Lopez blogs about leadership and personal development in order to strengthen his own leadership skills.  As a Christian, father, husband, and CEO of his own life, Mark looks to empower others so they can lead life by their own design.  To learn more about Mark, follow him on Facebook.

What Kids Taught Me About Leadership

I have 2 daughters. One is 8. The other is 4.

Studies show that they are the two most beautiful, precious daughters in the world.

It's been proven. By science.

When the topic of leadership gets brought up, I instantly think of how I am a leader to them.  Now I have to admit, I've never led a massive sales team, or infantry, or anything of great magnitude, though training upwards of 20 clients at a time in my personal training business should count for something.  In fact, the largest "team" you could say I've led was a team of 24 high school boy's varsity baseball players as we put together and managed a course for a 5K race/walk to benefit a charity.  Which some might say is more difficult to lead, considering they were teenage boys doing it on a Saturday morning for community service hours versus a motivated sales team or trained soldiers.

Any who, back to my daughters.

Looking at them, I realize there are few roles in this world more important than a father raising daughters (possibly only topped by a mother raising sons).  And it's in this role that I realize a few things:

1. Who I am and how I treat my daughters is the exact kind of man they will bring home one day.
2. How I treat my daughters is how I should treat everyone.
3. How I raise my daughters is a direct reflection of my own level of personal development.
4. My daughters truly are the future. If they're going to make a difference in the world, it will be based on the values I've instilled within them in their developmental years.

So based on those realizations, I've come up with my top 3 lessons my daughters have taught me about being a leader.  The point of these is to use them in growing and developing your own team as well as yourself.

1. Monkey see, monkey do. No matter what I tell my kids to do, if my actions speak otherwise, they won't listen.  If I tell them every day the importance of telling the truth, and turn around and never uphold a promise to them, they'll do just that in life.  This has really put my feet to the flame because my daughters, I'm sure like most, ask a million and one things starting with "Daddy can I..." and ending with some odd request either for a toy they saw in a commercial, or a grandiose place they want to visit.  I have to be very careful to not just say "Yeah honey sure" to everything and just not follow through.  Which also helps my kids learn to hear the word "No" every once in a while when its the most fitting answer.  The point is, if you want to instill integrity in your team, you have to be it.

2. Empower them.  So many times, I'll ask a request of one of my girls and they'll reply "but I can't."  Now I have a bit of a rule in my household, and kind of a general rule about life.  Never say "I can't." Instead, I make them ask themselves "how can I?"  By doing so, they learn the value of being independent and even interdependent in order to find a solution to a problem.  This is much better than the alternative, which is to do everything for them and raise them in a state of constant dependency. While many leaders are capable of doing all the roles within their team, its much easier to trust and delegate those roles to focus on the most productive and strength-driven tasks.

3. Let them explore their free will.  I've never understood parents who jump at their kids the moment they try and do something on their own (sorry if you're one of those parents).  Children are naturally curious.  They're naturally creative.  They naturally want to explore. (Interesting enough, so are adults) I say let em.  My wife disagrees.  When they're at the park, they have one rule, "be careful."  With those two simple words, they get to run around to their heart's desire and be kids.  If one tries to jump off a slide and gets hurt, they get the "were you being careful?" from me.  They say no, I say "next time be more careful" and then they're off again.  Let them explore their own limits, don't set them for them.  When they're home making pictures or crafts, it's "just don't make a mess", which gives them the opportunity to use up all their creative energy on any project they'd like, as long as they don't make a mess.  Now the opposite of all this is the dreaded "micro manager" who watches their every movement and tells them "don't do that" or "do it like this" at every turn.  My goal is to develop my kids to use up their full potential for themselves and be leaders, not set predetermined limits on them they might never have the courage to explore for themselves as they grow older.

As my kids grow older, I learn more and more not just about myself and what kind of leader I am, but I also get to see their growth as a sort of feedback loop.  I can reexamine how I've taught them life lessons, and compare it to the results.  If I see my kids are polite, generous, respectful, bright, talented, and creative, then I can use that as a reflection of my methods.  If, on the other hand, my kids start showing signs of greed, disrespect, bitterness, and even violence, well, then, maybe I need to rethink the kind of monkey my kids are following and do something to change those results.

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Mark Lopez blogs about leadership and personal development in order to strengthen his own leadership skills.  As a Christian, father, husband, and CEO of his own life, Mark looks to empower others so they can lead life by their own design.  To learn more about Mark, follow him on Facebook.

The Law Of Attraction

Probably my favorite "success principle" if you will, in earning and achieving anything you want, is the Law of Attraction.

Here's Wikipedia's definition:

The law of attraction is the name given to the belief that "like attracts like" and that by focusing on positive or negative thoughts, one can bring about positive or negative results. This belief is based upon the idea that people and their thoughts are both made from "pure energy", and the belief that like energy attracts like energy.

Basically you attract what you think about most. For those who are fans of the book or movie "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne, you should have a better idea of what I'm talking about.

If you start your morning thinking "Man today is going to be a miserable day! " well guess what? Chances are you're going to have a miserable day.

If, on the other hand, you wake up Monday morning and the first thought that goes into your head is "Today is going to be great!", those thought vibrations will not only get sent out to the universe and attract things that are "great" in your life, but your subconscious will begin to look for things that are "great" instead of things that are "miserable", and your brain will begin to be more open to opportunity instead of misfortune.

I've found there are five ways to use the Law Of Attraction to attract anything you want into your life.

1. Affirmations. I put this first because as soon as I began doing them, I noticed an almost immediate positive effect.  An Affirmation is simply a declaration to oneself a statement that is true.  For example, I have a list of affirmations written on my bathroom mirror so it is the first thing I see and read every morning.  One of them is "I am so excited to be working with hundreds of positive, motivated leaders."  I recommend writing down a list of 5-10 things that excite you, that you're grateful for, or that want to attract more of, write it in the present personal tense ("I am", "I have"), and place them somewhere to see and read to yourself (out loud works best) daily.  Believe without a shadow of a doubt that what you want is already yours. You just need to go out there and get it.

2. Asking questions.  I attribute a lot of my journey and where my life has taken me to the questions I ask myself and the answers I've come up with.  I think it starts with asking the big questions first. "Why am I here?" "What is my purpose?". Yeah, those big questions.  The other part is asking yourself empowering questions, questions that lead you to take more action.  Instead of saying "I can't do that.", ask yourself "how can I do that?" and force your brain to think up of a solution.  And don't be afraid to ask for big requests.  When you ask for something wild and out of your comfort zone and follow with a "now how can I make this happen?", you'll be surprised what comes your way.

3. Be the person.  It's been said that when building a team of leaders, the first step is to write down a list of the top 10 things you want to see in a leader.  Character. Integrity. Confidence.  The second step is to be that person.  Like attracts like.  Lions don't spend their time around the company of rats, and lions can smell a rat from a mile away.

4. Take massive action. In the words of Jim Carrey, "you can't ask the universe for ten million dollars, and then go make a sandwich." Your thoughts and words will attract to you all the people and events you need to succeed at anything you want.  But when that opportunity comes up, its your actions that make it all come to fruition.  Remember, you are 100% responsible for everything that happens in your life.  No one will change it for you.

5. Let Go Of The Brakes.  What dominating thoughts about yourself and who you are is slowing you down? Do you constantly tell yourself "you're not smart enough to do that" or "you're not good enough" or "you don't deserve that"?  What if you instead started looking at all the things you want in life and started telling yourself "yes you are smart enough and talented enough to have that, and you deserve it too!"  Now that would be a game changer.  Before you go full speed and tackle life, make sure to let go of the brakes first!

Using the Law of Attraction as a tool in my journey has been powerful. Empowering, even.  And if you'd like to learn more, definitely check out "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne.

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Mark Lopez blogs about leadership and personal development in order to strengthen his own leadership skills.  As a Christian, father, husband, and CEO of his own life, Mark looks to empower others so they can lead life by their own design.  To learn more about Mark, follow him on Facebook.

Defining Your Core Values

During my lifetime, I'm sure as in yours, I've been faced with difficult decisions.

In fact, come to think of it, I'm faced with decisions every day.

Some more difficult than others.

What makes them difficult is not so much the decision itself, but the consequences of those decisions.

Positive or negative.

Big or small.

And most importantly, where that decision takes me on my path.

Through it all, I've learned to base every decision based on one key factor.

My compass.

My guiding core values that have allowed me to make the best, most sound decision with the resources and knowledge I have at the time.

Today I want to share with you what my compass looks like.  Yours may not look anything like mine.  Yours might be exactly like mine.  But the point I want to reach is to decide today what your compass will look like.  It will help each major and minor decision you make from this point on that much easier to make.  With fewer regrets and more personal fulfillment.

Here it is...

GOD

FAMILY

BUSINESS

FRIENDS

SELF

In that order.  That is the hierarchy of my core values.

What do I mean by this?

Basically, any time I come to a crossroads and need to know which direction to take, I look at those core values.  God first, then family, then my business, then my friends, then myself.

I understand that as long as I focus on doing what God wants and asks of me, everything else falls into place.  From there, I check to see if the decision will benefit my family. Then business, then friends, and so on.

Based on these values, I can always know how to divide up my time, my money, my energy, and my focus.  For example, when I had my personal training business, I was my own boss.  That means I set my own hours, set my own rates, and designed my life and schedule however I wanted to.  When you have unlimited choices, sometimes the hardest thing is to make a choice.  Which is why I placed the importance of my business beneath my faith and my family.  Because I knew that if left unchecked, my business would take full control of my life and my higher values would suffer.  But based on that hierarchy, I had 2 rules for my business.

1. I never trained clients on Sundays.

2. If I sensed my family needed my attention, I put my work away.

Simple.

And sure, I could have probably made a lot more money if I buried myself in work all day every day, but again, making a ton of money wasn't and isn't my top priority in life.  As I like to say "chase the dream and the money will follow."

Another example is with my friends.  No doubt, over the years, my circle of friends has shrunk.  Not that I was Mr. Popular in my younger years, but the time and energy and focus I've put into my friends has certainly diminished.  That's because I've devoted all my time, energy, and focus on my faith first, then my family, then my business.  But still, my friends' needs come before my own.  Which is why I'm always open to helping friends move.  Because while everyone else is suddenly "busy" when it comes to helping friends with the tough task of relocating, to me it's an opportunity to help out even though I could be at home taking time for myself.

Now notice I put myself at the bottom.  I do this for two reasons. One, because deep down I believe I am a selfless person instead of a selfish one.  It's been a long time since I've had the "me me me" attitude towards life.  But mainly, because I know that as long as I take care of the first four, that I've served my God, and my family, and my business, and my friends, then I will be taken care of regardless.

Now again, what I set as my hierarchy of priorities doesn't have to be the same as yours.  What I think is important is setting them and sticking to them.  It not only makes decision making that much easier, but I believe it sets a standard for living.  It creates integrity within yourself to say "these are the 5 most important things in my life in this specific order.  This order will not change, and everything I say and do will be based on serving this order."

So I encourage you to create your compass today if you haven't yet.  Allow it not only to be the guiding light towards every decision you make (I know I know, I've probably overkilled that word in this post), but also allow it to define who you are.

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Mark Lopez blogs about leadership and personal development in order to strengthen his own leadership skills.  As a Christian, father, husband, and CEO of his own life, Mark looks to empower others so they can lead lives of success, happiness, and personal fulfillment.  To learn more about how Mark can help you live on purpose, e-mail him at thatninjamark@yahoo.com or follow him onFacebook.

My #1 Lesson from American Ninja Warrior

It was Sunday.

Two days before show time.  Denver was giving us some wicked weather all week, but today was especially brutal.

A group of about 30 competitors had been in the walk on line for American Ninja Warrior for about 5 days at this point.  Park policy wouldn't allow us to camp out overnight, so we would stay there from 5am when the park opened until 11pm when it closed, with 3 hours of breaks each day and roll call at the beginning and end of each.  If you missed roll call, your name got bumped to the end of the line.

We were a hungry bunch.  Most had taken off of work, traveled across the country, essentially becoming homeless for 2 weeks in order for a chance to tackle the World's Toughest Obstacle course.  Their dream and passion and the reason they trained so intensely year after year was upon them.  Some had even spent 3 days camped out at other regional locations, didn't make the cut, then traveled to Denver for another shot.

Most of the week was spent sitting around watching the course get built, playing football or light workouts to get used to the mile high elevation, or hanging out in local coffee/sandwich shops during break.

Today was different though.  The elements put everyone's will to the test.  We all arrived from our warm cars/hotel/hostel rooms promptly at 5am to make roll call, where it had already started to drizzle rain.

Traditionally everyone showed up for roll call, then tucked away to sleep for another few hours until the sun came up.  That didn't happen.  By 6am, the rain turned to freezing rain.  And it continued.  By 7:30am, every single sleeping bag was soaking wet in freezing rain and every tent was seeping water inside.  The mental fortitude to take on the course was there, but no one expected our biggest enemy to be the weather.  Hypothermia was a very real threat for all of us that morning.

In the end, we all decided as a group that it was safest to find warmth and shelter, and reconvene
 every couple hours to do roll call.  Smart move considering it snowed until noon the following day.

--

Tuesday. Game Day.

A year's worth of training and preparation came down to today.  As a walkon in the first 10 spots, I expected to be one of the first athletes to take on the course.  "Between 9-10pm" I told myself and others all week. "I'm running the course between 9-10pm".  I based my training, nutrition, and sleep around that time.  I wanted to make sure I was in peak performance mode by then. Traditionally, they take the first 10 walkons run the course first before letting the call-backs go.  I was #9.

Unfortunately, it didn't happen that way.  After the first 5 walk-ons took on the course, they pulled myself and the other 4 competitors to the side with a "hey we're going to let a few call-backs go then we'll bring you on."  So the logical thing to do was to stay light, stay warm.  Pretty tricky to do in 36 degree weather.

--

2:30am.

Time to run the course.

After letting 65 athletes go in front of us, then taking a lunch break, they finally let us go.  By then it's too late.  The 5 of us are exhausted from bouncing around trying to keep warm in the freezing weather for 4 hours.  We missed our peak and still had the course in front of us.  The first man goes and falls on the 4th obstacle (out of 6). Next goes and falls on the 3rd.  Next goes and falls on the 2nd.  I go and fall on the first. Yup. First. The quintuple steps.  The obstacle I had the least worry over after 4 years as a track and field jumper
and hurdler wipes me out. Ice buildup on the steps may have had a part to do with it, the weather and poor timing may have as well.  But excuses aside, I didn't respect the course or the elements and took it on like it was a warm sunny day and I was at my peak.  There's always next year.

But I'm grateful to have run the course.  #10 goes and falls on the 5th obstacle.  And that's it.  Of the 30+ athletes camping out in freezing weather for 7 days, they only let 10 walk ons run. So yes, it certainly could have been worse for me.

--

So what do I have to learn from the whole experience? What is my #1 take home lesson?

LIVE FOR THE JOURNEY, NOT THE OUTCOME.

Of the 10 days I spent in Denver, I had the least fun on actual competition day.  I spent 6 days building relationships and bonding with fellow ninjas, learning training tips, tricks, and techniques, networking and finding out all the best gyms to check out.  On the day of, we were all just treated like cattle with a number, herded into this section and that, pictures here, interviews there.  It's still a TV show after all.

But if I let my previous 2 years of training and week of essentially being homeless be defined by my performance the day of, I could consider myself a failure.  But I don't.  Because it wasn't about the outcome.  It was about the journey.  They gyms I've gone to and continue to explore.  The training I've done and continue to push myself in.  The people I've met and continue to meet.  And the community I've grown to be apart of.  Those things can't be defined by the 3 minutes of potential network television time we all look forward to getting.

So for today, I ask you to look at all the things you aspire to be in your life.  Your goals, your visions, your passions.  No doubt you've had failure along the way.  Roadblocks.  Obstacles.  You can't let those define you though.  It's the road you take and the experiences you have and the person you become along the way that really matters.  The same goes for your successes.  Bask in the glory of success, but not too long.  Set bigger goals, cast greater visions, never stop improving.

I'm still training for American Ninja Warrior.  And I'm going to continue training for as long as it's around.  Even if and when I do complete the entire course, I'll make sure to train harder and show up the following year.  Because it's not about the course at all.  It's who I'm becoming along the way.

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Mark Lopez blogs about leadership and personal development in order to strengthen his own leadership skills.  As a Christian, father, husband, and CEO of his own life, Mark looks to empower others so they can lead lives of success, happiness, and personal fulfillment.  To learn more about how Mark can help you live on purpose, e-mail him at thatninjamark@yahoo.com or follow him onFacebook.

Where There's A Will There's A Way

I was hanging out with a good friend the other day, and we started reminiscing about "the old days".

High school.

During the summer before my junior year of high school, my parents had a finished basement that my sister and I lived in.  2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a living room, full kitchen, and a back door entrance so we didn't even have to go upstairs and see our parents to leave or enter the house, guests included.  Basically, we were two high school teenagers with our own apartment.

And there was only one word to describe that summer before junior year.

LEGENDARY.

I mean this to the point that my friends who I still talk to today still refer to it as "Mark's Basement Days".

For nearly 3 months, we partied EVERY NIGHT.

Now I'm sure some of you have had some wild party days, so I'm not going to go off on how my party days were harder than yours...but we partied hard.

So much so, that by the start of the school year, we managed to accumulate a total of 24 handles of liquor with NO repeat bottles, and 3 trash bags full of beer cans, which at 5 cents per can, made us $50. (read: 1000 cans collected.)

Sometimes it was just 5 or 6 of us, sometimes 10, sometimes more.  For my 17th birthday which was a week before school started, I asked a couple friends to come by and told them I was having a party.  This led to about 120 kids from my school showing up and many many stories I won't be sharing with you, probably ever.  What I can say though was that no one got hurt, arrested, or hospitalized, so good times overall.

But I tell you all this to ask you a question.

How the hell did we do it?

We were a group of teenagers, some with part-time jobs, some without, who no matter what, for 3 straight months always managed to pull together $30 for a bottle of liquor (or 2), a case of beer (or 2), and a tip for the guy who pushed grocery carts at the local Shoprite and would walk to the liquor store to buy us booze.

So the simple answer? We wanted it bad enough. No excuses.  We were all broke as hell, but somehow, some way, we always had enough to drink ourselves into oblivion.  There was no such thing as "Oh hey, everyone is broke so we're not going to do anything tonight." No. It just didn't happen.  We sacrificed things that weren't a priority.  Like proper nutrition ($1 McChickens for all!), our livers, and our brain cells.

So ask yourself, How badly do you want to live life on your own terms? And what excuses have you been telling yourself why you can't do it? Is it money? Is it time? I don't believe it. Why? Because if someone were to pull out a briefcase in front of you with $1 million in and and said "I'll give you this briefcase and everything in it if all you do is give me $20,000 and take a month off from work", I GUARANTEE you would find a way to pull it off.  You just have to want it bad enough.

My challenge for you today is to ask yourself "What kind of life do I want to live, and what do I have to do to get there?" And please, don't think small.  Be grand with your vision for yourself.  And don't let excuses and blame cloud your thoughts.  Take 100% responsibility and understand it's all a choice.

If a group of young, dumb, full of...pride teenagers can make it happen, trust me, so can you.

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Mark Lopez blogs about leadership and personal development in order to strengthen his own leadership skills.  As a Christian, father, husband, and CEO of his own life, Mark looks to empower others so they can lead lives of success, happiness, and personal fulfillment.  To learn more about how Mark can help you live on purpose, e-mail him at thatninjamark@yahoo.com or follow him onFacebook.