Kamjah .. The Chronicles

Coach Geoff here!  In my last blog I promised to write a series on my life as an entrepreneur and what it took for me to start and grow a company into a sellable asset. I’m not going to leave anything out as it is my intention to keep this as ‘real’ and as down to earth as possible. For privacy purposes though I am not going to make mention of specific names of individuals involved or my company name.

This series is going to illustrate my trials, tribulations, challenges, and teachings on a business and spiritual level. If you follow this series you will really get to know me. Are you sure you are ready?

So lets begin..

The company I built over a span of 4.5 years and then sold was a result of the universe’s master plan of intention and causality and was by no means a coincidence. For most of my life I have had a passion for the activity I love - surfing. In pursuit of that passion I created internet websites that celebrated the sport and brought surfing enthusiast together. On the weekends and after work if there were waves I was out in the line up riding them. Through my connection and passion for the activity that I so wanted to be closer too I ended up starting a company that provided for me all the surfing opportunities an individual could want as well as a way to allow others to share their love and passion for it too. In 2003 the idea emerged to start a travel and tourist industry focused surfing company and in 2004 the business was officially born.

As a huge enthusiast I was never a pro, but that did not replace the love I felt being out in the ocean and catching waves. To me surfing was all about the connection I felt with the ocean.

I remember living in a 1 1/2 bedroom apartment with my ex-wife who was my girlfriend at the time talking about leaving my day job to start my company and venture out on my own. She didn’t oppose, but let me tell you…the rest of the world opposed and in a big way. Parents, friends and family all thought I was crazy. I heard things like, “you’re only 26, what do you know about starting a company?”, “Who are you to be doing this?” “It will never work, you’re more twisted than a pig’s tail.” As you can imagine I paid no attention to the negative energy being thrown my way, because I just knew what I was doing is what I was supposed to be doing - I felt it deep inside that I had a calling to answer. Besides, in life, you’re not living your life for people to always agree with you. Real people doing real things, making real changes with real impacts will always face obstacles and criticism, and I mean always. The difference is how you choose to respond to it. Heck, people will complain if you decide to take your trash out on the wrong day, so pay no attention to the negativity and know it comes with the territory. So, get used to it.

After undergoing verbal berating after verbal berating I did not flinch and continued on my path towards achieving my purpose. In the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey, I must be honest it wasn’t easy and I must point out that when I started my company I had a full time job and worked my new venture on the weekends and the off hours. I can remember spending the day at the office going in at 7am and getting home at 6:30pm, then hitting the gym, eating dinner and finally able to work on my company at 8pm. I use to drink two red bulls to keep my energy up and stay awake (p.s. I don’t recommend doing this - it’s not healthy). At the time I was responsible for everything. Designing the website, writing the marketing materials, creating the programs, finding people to work for me, making sales and everything else. My day back then typically ended at 2 am and then I got up again at 6 am to do it all over again. That lasted about six months and then I willingly decided to take the ultimate leap of faith that would test my conviction and prove my purpose….

More in the next blog: Part two of Walk the Fire - The Birth..

~ Geoff

Business Lessons from part 1:

- Passion..find your passion and you are halfway there
- Vision..have an idea of where you want to go
- Confidence..you first need to believe in yourself before anyone else will
- Commitment..be willing to do what ever it takes to succeed, and remember we are all born to die so you may as well make your time worthwhile and without regrets. Don’t let yourself wonder what you could have done.

Geoff is a former CEO who started and sold his last company and now provides holistic Life Coaching, Business Coaching and NLP services.  Kamjah calls home: Miami - Palm Beach - Los Angeles - Boston

Tags: build a company, business, Business Coaching, entrepreneur, Life Coaching, real people, surfing

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 8:39 pm and is filed under Applies to All, Business Coaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.