View from my Beach Bungalow in Boracay...Life is good ;-)

Philippines...so far, so good.

"Stay thirsty my friends" The most interesting man in the world....


My goal is to be this guys predecessor.

Until then...

Keep Living the Dream my friends,

Quinton

Overcoming Adversity:"Turn #MissionImpossible into #MissionComplete". An email I will never forget

My new favorite quote I coined after reading & reflecting on the email I received below:

"Turn #MissionImpossible into #MissionComplete" QC

For mothers day I sent my mom a package from here in South Korea that contained a bunch of facial products b/c I recently realized why Asian women age so well is because they have and use a ton of natural products that we do not have in the western marketplaces...so I sent her that and this card & picture:

This is the email I got back from her copy and pasted below and I have to admit, I got a little teary eyed.

To put the context in perspective after a skype call I had with my parents and my son (my parents were in Edmonton Canada, my son was in Orange Country California and I was in South Korea Asia) and we do this weekly.  

Yup, thats my boy with a basketball on his head :)

Here is what she wrote below (I put some details in to give it context to the reader who does not know the inside scoop, to help fill in the blanks)

*Disclaimer, I did not post this email here to be some 'self righteous super hero or Avenger wanna be', but I was really shocked when I read and realized all the things have have happened recently and how intense this year and most of my life really has been....

"Hi Quinton,

I just wanted to say that I went to bed after the call with us all, and I actually HAD TIME to reflect on how things have gone, and have been, the last few years.
 
I have been well aware of the tremendous struggle that you have had all the way along, obviously. 

But what you have gone through, and had to deal with, is beyond human strength, in order to keep contact with Ethan (my son who I fought for in a 6 year court custody battle) and then, like tonight, to care enough to take the time to get us all together to talk on the phone after negotiating & re scheduling many times with his mother, while you are at work in the middle of your day, half way across the world by using the technology available juggling with our 3 different time zones and what video calling technology which you installed is an absolute WONDER to me to begin with...  


Then your intense health scare with the detection of a lump of a possible cancer treatment while in Asia dealing with doctors who spoke little to no English going to the hospitals there and having all those medical tests is an unimaginable experience to have to had to dealt with and thank God they all came back negative!! 

Wow, what a relief that was!!  

PLUS the recent investment accounts that you have set up & researched on your own to set up financially and seeking investments to include us to manage and invest ours, all the while also managing the Vancouver properties from overseas AND having to deal with that last tenant that tried to take advantage of you and take you to court and how you WON that battle as well, against all odds from the other side of the planet via a court conference call!

And if that was not enough, on top of all of that, dealing with 2 deaths in our family just one week apart after my brother and your grandmother died over Christmas holiday while you were working all alone in a foreign land were no one speaks your language, to be able to have steady work, and dealing with a supervisor that has been enough to drive you absolutely crazy, and not quitting and honoring your contract and now applying to the different universities to get the best offer for your next step in life to give you the free time to be with your son at months at a time, and continue to pay down the debt you incurred while trying [and succeeding] in the court process keeping in touch with Ethan (my son), again, AGAINST ALLLLLL ODDS....
 
But tonight, I just HAD to get out of bed, and come back to the computer, and acknowledge allll this that you have done.

I don't think there is anyone else who has walked with you as closely  and consistently as I have, over these last VERY VERY VERY difficult years.
 
And I want to say that you are truly an incredible human being, to have persisted, every day, in doing what you have had to do in order to accomplish what you have accomplished. AND I AM INCREDIBLY PROUD OF YOU QUINTON.
 
THERE IS NOBODY ELSE WHO WOULD BE ABLE TO KNOW WHAT I KNOW ABOUT YOU,
EXCEPT GOD HIMSELF.
 
Do you remember when you called me from Montreal and told me that you and Angel, (Ethan's mom) was expecting, and I said to you,
 
"Finish what you have started.."?
 
Well, I have seen every day, over the last years, your struggle to do this.
 
And thank you for not giving up, and for continuing on. 

YOU are the one who will benefit the most forever, from your faithfulness in keeping on, through all this, because of how it has formed you.

It will be the making of you.

IT IS INCREDIBLE IN MY EYES. ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE.
CONGRATULATIONS. IN MY EYES YOU ARE A SAINT. AMEN. AND I AM NOT EXAGGERATING.
 
YOU HAVE OVERCOME INCREDIBLE INCREDIBLE ODDS TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT YOU HAVE.
 
And that's all I have to say..
And things WILL get easier from now on. They just will...

And I will continue to be with you, and continue to fast and pray for you,
in all that you will ever need, as much as I am able to.

This is what life is about.

You HAVE BEEN living life to the fullest, by rising to the challenge that has been before you, and DOING EVERYTHING that you have been able to do
And good for you...

I love you very much, Quinton. [and so does God haha much more than me]

Mom"

Wow, well first of all, I am definitely not a "saint", but I guess all parents that that of their children...  but I can honestly say that my mother is a saint, this is a pic of her next to her mothers grave, Ruth Pinder. 

But talk about a heart felt email to read, it was really wonderful to know that at least one person has observed and acknowledged the efforts that I have made to be the best person I can me....even though it has not been an easy road, its been a experience for growth.

And just to be clear, because some people think I am in living in Asia just partying it up and messing around, the truth is I am here to work, save $ and make investments to and pay off the tens of thousands of dollars that the 6 year court case and child support (that I have never missed a month) that has set me back financially.

So I am currently overseas to work my ass off, get back on track and return home a better man to be the best father I can be to my little man. 
 

However, that substantial investment of time, money and a roller coaster of emotions I made 7 years ago, to go to court for my son and my fatherly rights (for 6 straight years), and to also work to make amends with his mother is the best decision I've ever made and will always be the best investment I have EVER made or will ever make to ensure I have, keep and am able to maintain the best relationship with my son I can...

And I am happy to report that even after a lot of challenges, that I have done just that.

#MissionComplete :)

A great book to put 'fatherhood after separation' in perspective is and how challenging it is,  refer this book above to any single father, its a must read.

So before you judge someone or someones actions, take a closer look because you don't know the reasons why, or what they are doing for the greater purpose that what is only visible surface deep.

The only thing that can ever top that letter I got from my mother above, is a similar one from my son....

I can just pray that he will one day understand how much I have sacrificed to be a part of his life, and how much I will always love and cherish him...

My best,

Quinton Carlin, on behalf of my big boy Ethan Carlin

PS I was fortunate enough to take this mentality and ability to 'just do it' to over come obstacles in my first business en devour and be one of the very few people who actually 'make it' in the home business online marketing arena.

I was actually even interviewed and added to this speaker line up on a CD series coaching program that included Mark Victor Hansen, the co founder of "Chicken Soup For The Soul" who is Jack Canfield's business partner from the movie "The Secret".

So that was a huge honor to be apart of that project helping to inspire others to also overcome their adversities & persevere

Picture of Mark Victor Hansen and I together at the Canadian Marketing Summit Conference in 2011

Stoked to have my name on the same speaker list with some of the hero's & industry legends:

The best part of all of this is yesterday when I was talking to my son about a basketball move, "I said that would be impossible" and he quickly responded stating "dad, nothing is impossible".

That was one of the proudest moments of my life hearing him adopt & share this limitless and positive mindset I have worked relentlessly to develop.

Sounds like I have a lot to learn from this kid of mine :-)

"Onward and upward" as my mom would always say...

My 1st FX Trade...Slaughtered

I've been studying the economy, investing and finance more in the last 12 months that I have in the last 31 years of my life.

I recently just entered the FX (forex) market yesterday after studying it for the last couple months and got slaughtered on my 1st trade making a rookie mistake by not installing one plug in to enable the software to close trades.

Long story short, I had 16 trades open and could not close any of them, resulting in me loosing a couple hundred dollars in under 14 minutes of 'trading' 

Wow!


I had to call NYC from South Korea to freeze my account until the plug in was installed.

I found out that the trades would have been profitable, IF it was installed properly (which is a good sign :)

I am just greatful that I stopped it when I did or it would have drained my entire account.

All I could do is laugh, yet another life learning lesson and I will be back at it again tomorrow....

#Perspective

Boracay, Booked!

I think I have never needed a vacation more than I do now...its been an intense year living & working in Asia and I need some R & R.

I just booked a flight to Boracay, a paradise island in the Philippines were I will cross of country # 27 off my travel list, all I want to do there is rent a bamboo beach side bungalow with a hammock and chill out for 7 nights on a white sand beach.

I will updated with video and pics after I return to "The Rock" (Korea).

During this time away I will also have to decide what my next move is gonna be because my contract is over at the end of August and decide what is next...

Decisions, decisions...

Super Moon

Had a friend over Sat night and we watched the super moon (that only is this close to earth once every 30 years) from my rooftop in Jangsan.

We enjoyed a bottle of wine after dinner at this restaurant and watched the show.

It was a great night to kick of summer, hope you caught it as well.

Forget Materialism....Try Minamilism.

This is a email from John Reese below (if you do not know who that is, he made over 1 million dollars in 1 DAY doing a product launch online...Google the guy, he used to charge thousands of dollars to attend his marketing seminars)

However, now he has sold or gave everything he owns away over 1 years ago, this is the first email he sent letting his client list know about this experiment.

I also posted his 2nd email he sent a year latter below it and you will see the incredible lessons and experiences he has discovered from this minimalist lifestyle change:

Why I sold all my belongings and deleted my facebook account
Leonardo Da Vinci slept only about 3-4 hours a day by taking short 20-45 minute naps throughout a 24 hour cycle. Many years ago, I tried my own sleep experiment after I found myself pulling a lot of “all nighters.”

 I decided to go every other night without sleep. So I would stay awake for stretches of 30-35 hours straight and then crash for 9-12 hours. I got a lot of work done by doing this.

And I was able to do this for about 3 months straight – sleeping only every other night. There was only one problem… it put me in the hospital. It had weakened my immune system and I ended up with a bad case of vertigo. 

Horrible, horrible stuff. I was basically DIZZY all day, everyday, for about 2 weeks until it finally went away. So I, obviously, went back to a normal sleep schedule and refused to pull “all nighters” anymore. I had bad insomnia for a long time but eventually got over it. If you’re pulling all nighters and going without sleep, I recommend you don’t. It’s just not worth the damage it can do to your health.

But I’ve done many other “full immersion” types of experiments on myself over the years, and most of them didn’t have bad health results – thankfully. My point is… you can learn a lot about yourself if you take yourself out of your normal comfort zone and really ‘challenge’ yourself by trying little experiments and personal challenges.

AND I’M DOING IT AGAIN.

Check this out. I just finished selling (or giving away) all of my personal possessions. Not too long ago my life consisted of a massive 6-bedroom house (with many rooms I never even went into!) and 5 cars. Yes, FIVE cars. I’m a car guy, what can I say.
I had accomplished what many consider to be the “American Dream.” I had the huge house and all the toys. The Lamborghini, Ferrari, BMWs, a Rolex collection, an expensive wardrobe, amazing furniture, a massive home theater, a 1,000 gallon saltwater aquarium, the works.
And now I have NONE of it. And I’ll explain why in a moment…
Here are some “quick facts.” For the first time in over 20 YEARS:

• I don’t own a car.
• I don’t own any furniture.
• I don’t own a TV.
• I don’t own any books.
• I don’t own a huge closet full of clothes.

AND…

• I don’t have a HOME. Not a house, or apartment, or anything.

By now you’re probably thinking, “John, what the hell are you doing!?” I decided to do all of this because I wanted to do a new experiment on myself. It’s a challenge of MINIMALISM.
If you haven’t yet heard about minimalism, or read anything about it, you should. Not only can it (I believe) improve the quality of your life but it can also make your business a lot more profitable. Minimalism is essentially focusing only on the 3-4 most important things in your life (or business) and ELIMINATING THE REST.
There many opinions on minimalism and how to apply it, and some approach it differently. Do some Google searches for “minimalism” and you’ll find lots of great blogs about it. It’s really a growing ‘revolution’ of sorts.
I don’t agree with everything he teaches, but a decent book you can read is The Power Of Less by Leo Babauta; and he’s someone with 6 kids. That will get you started. Everyone will have their own take on minimalism. But I’m willing to bet you can benefit from it.
WHAT I HAVE LEFT…
So you’re probably wondering, if I got rid of all that stuff, what the heck do I actually have left? And how will I live? Here’s a full list of the only things I now own:

• A small 28L backpack (that holds everything below)
• 5 t-shirts (4 short sleeve, 1 long sleeve)
• 1 pair of jeans
• 1 light jacket
• 2 pairs of shorts
• 1 pair of running/trek shoes
• 5 pairs of boxer briefs
• Assorted toiletries
• Clothesline & large ziplock bag (for washing clothes)
• 1 MacBook Pro 15″
• 1 64GB Wifi iPad
• 1 iPhone 4
• 1 Livescribe Pen & small notebook
• My passport & credit cards

THAT’S IT. That’s all the ‘stuff’ I own. ALL OF IT. Here’s a photo of my backpack (with everything in it) except for my 15″ MacBook Pro which is in the photo next to it.

But it’s also important to note. I still have all of my money and investments. I didn’t pull a Christopher McCandless (“Into The Wild”) and burn all of my money. This experiment isn’t about that. So I still have all of my businesses (and their assets) as well as a valuable .COM collection, etc. But as far as personal “things” go, I currently only have what I listed above. I’ll explain more as to the “WHY” in a just a second…

WHERE ON EARTH WILL I LIVE?
The answer is… Everywhere. I am just going to travel the world non-stop for awhile. It may be for a year or for 10+ years. I don’t know yet and that’s part of the adventure. I have structured things so I can travel the world INDEFINITELY and plan to do so for a very long time.
As many of my long-time subscribers know, I love to travel. I’ve been to every continent in the world except for Antarctica. (And hope to visit their soon.) But even as much as I love to travel, I was only taking a few trips a year. So now that’s all going to change.

BUT TRAVEL ISN’T THE ONLY REASON I’M DOING THIS…
Here’s what I’ve discovered about myself. My level of happiness all comes down to my level of STRESS. And my stress level is mostly due to having the feeling of being OVERWHELMED. I had so many possessions to manage and so many things going on in my life that it was making me a bit crazy. (More than I already am.)
I found that my CREATIVITY has really suffered because of this. It’s like the brain only has so much available RAM like a computer, and everything we own and do and manage takes up that space. It doesn’t leave a lot of room left for creativity. So essentially, I wanted my brain back.
I wanted to have what I call “Freedom Of Thought.” I want to have so few distractions and things taking up space in my brain that I’m free to use as much of my brain as possible to think of exciting new ideas and fully appreciate new experiences. I did also realize that all of that “stuff” that I thought was the “American Dream” was mostly based on EGO. But that’s a discussion for another day.
As many of my customers already know, late last year I started a new company to develop Video Games. It’s been a dream of mine for many years and I finally decided to pursue it. Well, this new business (along with other projects) really demands maximum creativity from me. So I wanted to try this new ‘experiment’ to give myself the best chance at being able to come up with amazing new ideas.

AND IT’S ALREADY WORKING.
I’m currently on Day 3 of my journey. I moved out of California about a week ago, then spent a few days visiting my family in Florida, and then 3 days ago I ‘officially’ set out on this “Minimalism Adventure” and flew up to Toronto, Canada (where I am now) to visit my good friend, Dean Jackson.
In the first 3 days, I’ve already come up with some unbelievable new ideas for my businesses. And this is only just the beginning.

I would like to challenge you to look at your business (and life) and see how you can apply the Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule) and eliminate the things that aren’t essential to your goals — or things that take away from the more important parts of reaching your goals.
I recently deleted my personal Facebook account (that had 5,000 ‘friends’) and it was one of the best things I ever did. I was finding that Facebook was one big waste of my time. I was logging in multiple times a day and it was robbing me of time I should have been spending on more important things.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Facebook has decent marketing uses, but I think for most entrepreneurs it’s better used for brands (with Business Page accounts) than as a personal account. For me and all of the businesses I am involved with, Facebook does not fall into the “20″ part of the 80/20 rule. PPC, SEO, buying media (which includes Facebook Ads), and other strategies out-produce it by a massive amount. But that’s a rant for another day.
After recently telling someone about what I am doing they said, “But, John, I gotta tell you. It really sounds like you’re just running from life.” To which I replied, “No, you don’t understand, I’m running TO life.”
Okay it’s time for me to go and pack up my stuff — even, though, it only takes me about 5 minutes. I’m heading to Europe for a few months tomorrow as I continue on my journey. I’ll be in touch soon.
Yours For Online Profits,
John Reese

So that was his PRE TRIP message, here is his POST TRIP Message upon returning after a year of "walking the earth"

Email 2: 

"In early 2010, I decided to get rid of all my possessions and literally set out to just walk the earth for awhile.

I still had my money in bank accounts, but I got rid of everything else except for a small backpack that carried a few days worth of clothes, a MacBook, and an iPhone.  That’s a photo of it above, taken right before I left on my journey.

I even shutdown or got rid of many Web sites and business projects I had at the time.  It was literally like wiping the slate clean and starting from scratch.

I’ve never been a big “reseller” of items that I’ve owned.  So if I had something, anything, that I didn’t want anymore I would usually just give it away to a friend or family member.  And this is exactly what I did with most of my furniture, clothes, and other “things.”

I sold my house and the multiple cars that I owned at the time.  So I literally went from a massive house, multiple exotic cars, a huge collection of clothes & watches, every toy & gadget anyone could ever want, and tons of other STUFF down to just a small backpack that contained a few essential things — all told I was down to like 19 total items.  This included a few days worth of clothes, a pen, a toothbrush, razor, etc. etc.

I’m writing this post because a lot of people have asked me about it.  I’m going to cover this experience by breaking it down into two parts…

1.  Why I Decided To Do This

2.  What Happened

Why Did I Decide To Get Rid Of Everything?

The answer to this question is a bit complex, but I will try my best to explain it…

I was unable to think to the best of my ability due to all the chaos around me.

That’s the easiest way to put it.  I had so much stuff in my life that my brain was busy managing it all.  I had very little thinking power left to use for creativity.

The core concept behind Minimalism is to get down to only the things that are most important to you so all of your focus will be on just those things.

To quote a great line from the movie, Fight Club…

The things you own end up owning you.

This is so true and most people don’t realize it.  Those boxes in your attic.  That extra stuff shoved into the bottom of your bedroom closet.  All that ‘crap’ you have in your garage.  The gazillion things stuffed into that one drawer in your kitchen.  Everything that you have in your life your brain knows about it.  You may not always think about it, but a part of your brain is being used to manage having all of that stuff — even if you aren’t actively using those items.

Think of your brain like RAM in a computer.  Your brain can only store so many thoughts, memories, and tasks.  The less “free RAM” we have available I believe the more overwhelmed we begin to feel and the less brain power we have available to be creative.

Even if you put things away in storage, somewhere in your brain it still knows that you have those things and it uses some of your mental RAM to be prepared to remind you of those things should you ever have a need for any of it at some point.

The other reason I did this is because I was very UNFULFILLED.  I was unhappy, and even a bit depressed.  I had everything I had ever dreamed of owning and yet it wasn’t making me happy.

The huge house, all the cars, and all the other stuff.  I had always worked hard to be able to one day buy that stuff, yet once I had it nothing magical transpired with my happiness level.  I wasn’t suddenly brought to this place of amazing happiness like one would be led to believe.

Dreams are very powerful.  Dreaming about certain things you hope to eventually have in your life, etc.  Yet I’m here to tell you, when it comes to material possessions I pretty much had everything I had ever dreamed about since I was about 12 years old — and it didn’t make me happy.

I realize now that a lot of that stuff was simply for EGO purposes.  For example, I used to drive a black on black Lamborghini Murcielago.  It was the ultimate head-turner.  Everywhere I went people would take photos of the car and ask me about it.  Driving down the road people would point at the car and even go around other cars just to get close enough to check it out.

It made me feel good.  It made me feel important.  At least for a short while.

I liked being admired and getting the attention that the car brought.  Now I do love sports cars and the performance aspect, but if I am to be completely honest, I had that car because NOT MANY PEOPLE ALSO HAD IT.   And that’s the important point.  I really enjoyed the fact that I had something that 99.9% of people didn’t have.

Unfortunately, this mindset is how our culture trains us to be.  Keeping up with the Joneses.  Having better stuff than our neighbors so we can in some way feel more important about ourselves.  And I got caught up in all of that like most people do.

All of that is obviously nonsense.

In recognizing this, I wanted to see how I would feel if I simply got rid of not only my fancy cars, but EVERYTHING.  How would I feel and think if I just got rid of everything and was only left with MYSELF?

So I got rid of all my stuff, packed my little backpack and I set out to travel for many months.  I started in Europe and then made my way to Central America.

Here’s What I Discovered From This Amazing Experience

While it was really scary to start that journey, it was also very exciting.

The biggest difference was in my MINDSET.  I now had all this free brain RAM available to think about anything I wanted.  It was an awesome feeling.

My creativity, that I felt like I was lacking for many years, came back full force and I started to come up with some of the most powerful ideas I had every thought of.  I also got my passion back for my business ventures and some other things I wanted to work on.

I was finally able to use my mind to figure out what was most important to me, and to allow me to focus just on those things.  The same benefit of doing some house cleaning and getting rid of tons of material items also happens when your brain is emptied out.

I also discovered that my core happiness had nothing to do with EGO.  The reality is, the world doesn’t really care about me, not in a way that I’m so important that it matters that much.  So all that matters is how I feel about myself.

What if I lived on an island without any neighbors or anyone else to try and impress.  Would I still want some of those fancy show-off things that I had before?  No, because there would be no reason for it.

Now please don’t get me wrong, I still appreciate nice things.  But there’s a difference in having nice things only because you enjoy them or having them because it makes you feel good because others know you have them.

A lot more pleasure and happiness comes from much simpler things when you strip away all that other stuff… like how much we value not being stressed-out, being able to relax, not having health problems or body pain, being able to enjoy and appreciate the outdoors and the planet we live on, and to cherish our valued friendships & relationships.

Ultimately, the highest valued parts are our experiences.  Creating many little happy moments.  When it comes time that our life is about to end, those are the things that we will remember and cherish most, not all the other stuff we had going on in our lives.

 How This Can Help Your Business

If you took a moment to read My Story then you will have noticed a common theme… spreading myself too thin.  Having too many ideas I was working on at one time.

You should apply the minimalism concept to your business.  Get rid of all the tasks, ideas, and things that aren’t absolutely critical for you to move forward and bring in more money in your business today.

Get a notebook and log all of your other ideas.  Then put that notebook in a safe place and know that those ideas will still be there when you’re ready to come back to them.

Then go and simply focus on your current business projects, at least the one that can bring in the most money the fastest; because that’s what will accelerate all of your business growth.  Otherwise, having too much stuff going on is a major distraction and it is costing you money everyday.

As Morpheus said to Neo in the movie, The Matrix…

Free your mind.

UPDATE:  I am no longer traveling at the moment.  I decided to setup a new, simple home base back on the East coast to be closer to my family and to take a break from traveling — being on the road is very tiring.


Best wishes,


John"

Very cool message from John Reese indeed.  

As someone who has traveled to over 26 countries, I feel that EXPERIENCE, not material consumption, is the most important virtue someone can accumulate, and until society realizes it is not 'stuff' or money that makes us happy, but merely a intimate & conscious connection with ourselves and others is what really matters, the world will continue to spiral in a uncharted, downward direction of depression, both economically, and emotionally.

I highly recommend the documentary called "I AM" produced by a Hollywood Producer who got rid of everything to teach Political Science at Peperdine University asking the question, Whats wrong with the world, and what can we do about it? 

The answer is at http://www.iamthedoc.com
Cheers,

Quinton