Ten years ago, I graduated from Valparaiso High School in Valparaiso, IN. Valparaiso, nicknamed Valpo, is famous for a couple of things, most notably Bryce Drew and Orville Redenbacher Popcorn. I can still remember those times standing at the lockers planning out how my buddies and I were going to conquer the world. In retrospect, it was more like where we were going to party that upcoming weekend.

Do they even have 10-year reunions anymore? I do not have a clue but just the other day I was thinking, “Wow what a crazy 10 years it has been!”

One word sums up the past ten years: UNPREDICTABLE.

Why did I choose this word? There is no way I could have scripted how the past ten years have turned out. The knowledge I have gained, the people I met from all over the world, and the places I have traveled in the past two years all have made it quite amazing!

Let me explain…

I attended Purdue for a crazy, insane, off the wall, or whatever you want to call it, five years of college (Those of you who are reading this right now that went to school with me know exactly what I am talking about). I managed to graduate with two degrees, Mechanical Engineering Technology and Organizational Leadership and Supervision (2006). I started my first ‘Real’ job, and was laid-off from that job three years later. I bought my first house in 2006 and sold my first house in 2009.

On a side note, I don’t understand why owning a house is the so called “American Dream.” If you ask me it is a big pain in the butt plus I would be crazy to even think about buying a house in this market. Once I discovered a house is a money pit vs. an asset, my entire thought process has changed. If you disagree with me, ask yourself this: “How much money is my house paying me every month?” The banks, politicians, the media, and many other people who have left people in the worse financial situation of their life organized this ‘American Dream’. There are more people BROKE today from owning a house in addition to a surplus of 3 million homes sitting empty. Hopefully you can understand this point (I could talk about this forever).

So let’s get back on track. After 3.5 years in NC, I decided it was time to move to Tampa, FL, then 7 months later I relocated to Phoenix, AZ (2010). That is right-I moved my entire life twice within 7 months.

Moving required me to adapt quickly to new places, people and surroundings. People always ask the question, “why are you moving to these places?”. I always tell them “Because I wanted to, so I sold everything and moved”. I get this reaction, ‘YEAH RIGHT’ But it is the truth because I wanted to do, similar to Julia Roberts in the movie “Eat, Pray, Love.” Great movie, by the way.

I have been in AZ now about four months and I can HONESTY say I feel at home here. This is a statement I haven’t said about any other place I have lived in my life previously, and it only took 3months/3weeks to say that about living in Phoenix.

Few Tidbits about moving around the country:
1. Do not get attached to material things. People have a tendency to hold on to things and do not know when it is time to let things go.
2. It is great to get out of your bubble and experience other cultures. Moving different places has given me the ability to learn different areas of the country.
3. The US is a beautiful place, but I still have not visited the Northeast & Northwest corner of the states. Each and every state has its own beauty besides OHIO. I just like to make fun of that state as much as possible.

What else has happened over the past 10 years outside of my life? There was this little known website called Facebook developed. I watched the movie “The Social Network” this week, actually watched it twice. Purdue was one of the first schools part of “The Facebook”, and the growth of this website is incredible. My buddies and I in college used to waste hours on this site in our 3-hour lab checking out girls (Rob Hathy, Manny Buck, Dave Lambert)

Facebook is a tool allowing me to stay in touch with people all over country, which is beneficial when I am traveling. The world is literally flat now, as I can communicate with people in Australia, Pakistan, and other countries every day.

“Where do you see yourself in the next 10 years?” This question was asked to all of the seniors during the final year in high school. My answer was as follows: I will be an engineer or a garbage man. There is something about being a garbage man that still intrigues me to this day. Now 10 years later, both of these desires have been achieved.

I graduated from college with a Mechanical Engineering Technology degree and decided management was a better route for me. I started working at Philip Morris USA in Concord, NC and my first couple of years I was making $93,000/year and I thought I was riding high. My life came to a crashing halt when I was laid-off from my job while I was completing a $61,000 MBA from Wake Forest. I thought to myself, “CRAP now what do I do?”

Even though I was making great money right out of college, there was a thought that never left my head. I had little control over my life and how I wanted to live it. Do not get me wrong, I had a relationship with a great girl, great friends, and we all traveled together for trips and adventures. But When I was at work, there was theme I would encounter on a daily basis. I was the supervisor for about 50 people at the plant and there was this attitude people had when they came to work, especially the people who were working there for over 20+ years. The attitude came from being in a working environment where there is little personal responsibility and accountability. Let me explain. I would have to force people to stay over 4 hours extra everyday. That is right, they were not[D10] allowed to leave the plant. When individuals are paid by the hour or on a salary, people out there who do not take pride in what they do. They are working to get paid. This is not how I wanted to live my life.

I stepped back and looked at my situation. I was working 70 hours a week, attending 8+ hours of graduate school on Saturdays, my health went down the tubes, and I honestly felt that I was a hamster running on a wheel (wake up, gym, work, school, bed) over & over & over again. I would attend class, and spend more time on the Internet or figuring out how we could get out of class then paying attention. It was supposed to further my career, right? Well all I have now is a big piece of paper somewhere in my house. I could not tell you where it is at this point in time. Rather funny….

Side note: There are website now that teach you everything I learned in my MBA class for FREE!! I will say, the part of college that cannot be experience in an online course is being able to interact with other intelligent, critical thinking individuals that one may not encounter in every day life. But is it worth the tens of thousands of dollars? No.

I realized that I was living every week waiting for Friday to come because that was the start of the weekend. This bugged the living crap out of me, I was slammed with work and school, I went almost six months without seeing my friends who lived 10 miles away. I was so stressed out every single day. I wanted to live every single day as a Saturday, and this thought changed my life. Why a Saturday, not to sit around but to have the freedom to do anything I want to do during the day.

Getting the job with Philip Morris was a fantastic starting point out of college. It gave me a change to experience the working world, and starting your own business right out of college is a challenging proposition.

This is where my dream of becoming a garbage man comes into play[D14]. I decided one day that it was time to eliminate all the trash out of my life. This is exactly what I did: negative influences, TV shows, books, magazines, and anything else that took me down the wrong path.

I am now the engineer of my life, meaning I am the one who determines what will happen everyday from the time I wake up to go to bed. I decide when I want to work, how long I want to work and what I want to do each and every day. I discovered the power of running my own business. I started a business having absolutely no business experience or knowledge on what the heck I was doing. Not only did I start one, but I am now running 3 businesses and helping others do the exact same thing. If we are talking about having a purpose in life, well, I have found mine.

Over the past two years, I cashed out my $48,000 401K, this money was supposed to be my safe guard until I am 70 years old. I threw that idea out the window and discovered another life that was hidden somewhere deep inside of me.

I have taught myself how to use the Internet to make money, improved my communication skills and discovered the power of helping others. The more people I help, the more my dreams and goals become true. I have sat down with people who are completely broke to people who are multimillionaires and I have learned from each and every one of them.

How did I go about doing this? Learning from others that have done the exact same thing: mentors, different courses, conferences, and using the Internet. I have taught myself webpage development, sales skills, how to market, and just basic daily activities to be more productive. The venture led me down a path to discover Who Mike Watts is down to my core and soul.

Was this easy? HECK NO!

It was the most challenging process I have ever put myself through:

Excitement, the unknown, fear, depression, confidence, no confidence, more depression, fear, trusting unfamiliar people, losing trust in familiar people, lack of motivation, focus on the wrong education, getting lost in LA-LA land, working dead-end jobs, losing friends, long-winded, heart-felt discussion with parents & friends, and living in a world where you thought no one was on your side.

There was one thing that always kept me going-I continued to meet people who have been through the same struggles, read good quality books, developed my mind, watched endless hours of training on the internet, and flew all over the country to attend training events…..Then one day, IT JUST CLICKED!

I started to put things into action and small steps were accomplished. It is awesome to see things get completed and literally have to force myself to go to sleep every day.

I started to produce checks, everything started with a $100 and the checks have continued to grow. I knew everything I have been working on was paying off when I learned a new skill and turned it into $585 on my first ad campaign. I knew at this point, I discovered the key to success and achieving my goals I never imagined possible.

I had the desire to take action and that is all I did. It is literally that simple. I wanted to do something and I did it. It is not that t hard. I discovered that people tell themselves they are not ready and that is what stops them. I have not looked back in past two years.

Closing this out, the past ten years have been an adventure, an incredible mind blowing experience with a few down days and uncertainty, of course

“The Excitement is in the Journey not the Destination.”

My passion in life is building successful businesses to better this planet, educating others on how they can create another source of income for themselves, and living every day as it is my last.

Bottom Line: LIFE IS ABOUT SERVING OTHERS!

If there is anything I have written about that has hit a chord with you, take the appropriate action and conquer your fears. If you need a person to help you through this trying time then do not hesitate to contact me.

Have a Great Rest Of The Day!

To Your Success,

Mike Watts