How I Like To Start My Day
To: contrarianconsulting
From:
Joe Tatulli
Message:
Hi Alan,
I was asked to write about how a piece of media had deeply affected my
life for my English Comp class. Below is my submission. Thank you so
much for hosting the free workshop and giving me the book to read!
Cheers, Joe
There have been many times in my life that I was deeply affected by a
piece of media. For this assignment I am going to write about one that
happened about nine months ago. It all started on Twitter when I
stumbled upon a very smart person by the name of Alan Weiss. Alan is
the rock star of consulting, obviously a professional independent
consultant, author of over 40 books and a speaker. One of the coolest
things about Alan was that he lived in East Greenwich, Rhode Island,
which was about fifteen minutes from where I lived. He was known
worldwide for his consulting practice and contrarian strategies, yet
he lived in the same state I did. I started following Alan on Twitter,
and everyday he would post three or four “hits of energy” as he coined
them. I would read these snippets of energy and a lot of them would
make me laugh out loud to myself, and boy I always could use a good
laugh, who doesn’t? The snippets were always so true, and as he would
describe them, “contrarian.”
Alan announced a free speaking engagement in Warwick, RI. A way he
gave back to the community that supported him. Alan would normally
speak to sold out rooms for thousands of dollars per person. For me
this was a chance of a lifetime, even though Alan didn’t really know
me at all, I felt he was helping me change my life for the better. To
hear Alan speak in Warwick, all you needed to do was send him a check
for $50 made out to the East Greenwich Animal Rescue League. I sent in
my check as instructed and received my confirmation to attend the
speaking engagement. I also had to request the day off from work,
which I did.
The day came and I attended an amazing event, I learned so much in
just a few short hours, and hearing and seeing Alan in person was
better than reading his tweets on Twitter and his blog on his website.
That day, Alan also gave me a free copy of one of his newer books, the
book was titled Thrive- Stop wishing your life away (Weiss, 2009).
That book was the piece of media that so deeply affected my life. Even
the title resonated with me so much, I couldn’t wait to read it, and I
didn’t wait too long!
I followed through and did exactly what the book told me to do, stop
wishing my life away! One of the things I had wished to do for the
last 24 years was get my Bachelor’s Degree. I signed up for and now
attend school here at Full Sail University working on a Bachelors
Degree. I had wished to be an entrepreneur my whole life, I knew I was
very creative and had an amazing gift to be able to apply that
creativity and create things. I was always being put down by others,
laughed at, and became a victim of my own low self esteem. I quit my
dead end job and went back to working for myself, as a Marketing
Expert. The name of my business is Startegies, which is an idea I came
up with over 14 years ago, it meant to start using art with a
strategy, thus Startegies. With Startegies, I am now monetizing my
intellectual property and helping others exceed their marketing goals.
I am now working for myself again, instead of working for someone else
for over 50 hours a week. This has given me the ability to spend more
time with my wife and three young children, the real wealth in life.
Real wealth is not monetary, it is the ability to spend time each week
on hobbies and interests, and spend more time with loved ones, and
that is why I stopped wishing my life away! (Weiss)
Weiss, A. (2009). Thrive- stop wishing your life away. (1st ed., Vol.
1). Las Brisas Research Press.
Alan Weiss’ website http://www.contrarianconsulting.com
Daryl Gerke
Congratulations Alan,
Makes it all worthwhile, doesn’t it?
And sincere best wishes to Joe! Never regretted my move into consulting over 25 years ago – neither will you.
Wishing both of you all the best.
Daryl Gerke
(Consulting Engineer)
PS – As an aside, in Boston on a project this week. Please remember our friends and colleagues there.
Alan Weiss
Boston puts it all in perspective, you’re right, thoughts and prayers.
Noah
This is great!
Joe is heading in the right direction, fast!
Jared Lazaro
Good for that guy… And thanks for sharing, sir. 🙂