My father’s influence on me was strong, and it instilled in me a tremendous sense of work ethic and ambition. He showed me, by example, how to work hard, never give up, and chase your dreams. Discipline was high on his list of priorities as a father. He was a man of few words. He rarely told me how to do things, but rather showed me how. I grew up, along with my older brother, in an environment that today would be frowned upon as a method or form to raise your children. My father would not accept failure, quitting, or complaining of any sort from us. He demanded unquestioned obedience and perfection. If we failed, quit, or complained, he would make his displeasure immediately and well known to the point that we would not dare repeat the same infraction, whatever that infraction was at that day and time. He gave us a lot of responsibility, at a young age; sometimes, I felt it was too much. His influence over us and his strict form of discipline and control did not emanate from a sense of dominance or from a dark place, of that I am certain. He loved us very much, of that too, I am sure. It came, I feel, from a sense of duty and responsibility. It was his job to teach us and prepare us to be men in a very tough world. He had come from a similar upbringing, much worse than what he imposed on us, or so I am told. He was strict, but fair. I can say that only in hindsight. I do not dare ask the 15-year-old version of myself that same question for fear of a vastly different answer. My eyes swell and tears form around them as I write this and begin to recall my relationship with my father. But not because of the hardship, not because of the punishments, not because of the hard work or sacrifices he imposed upon us. You see, I was a stubborn young man, much like him I am told, and I could, and did, take anything he threw my way. No, the tears form because I miss him so much. He died without giving me a chance to say goodbye, without giving me a chance to get to know him. You see, I never knew my dad. I spent most of my childhood mad at him. We rarely talked about anything, except work. I was mad at him for making me miss out on my childhood. I was mad at him for a countess number of reasons. My father and I never really had an open relationship. Based on that lack of personal foundation, as a young man, I did not know how to talk to him or what to talk to him about. All our communications were short and to the point. Eventually, we stopped talking all together. As I grew older, he lost control over me due to a tragic incident where he was shot and paralyzed. An incident that I partly blame on myself. In my mind, if I had done what I was taught and told to do, and if I had been ever vigilant and warned him of the oncoming danger, perhaps there may have been a different outcome to that night. A night that changed his life forever.
Not too long after, I then lost control over myself. I did not know what to do with my newfound freedom. Because of that, I struggled early on at the university. The benefits of being gifted with so much responsibility early on in life is valuable experience. The cost of being burdened with so much responsibility so young in life is the sacrifice of youthful whims and folly. I started paying my dues early in life. Do I regret it? His strict and formal way of teaching? I still struggle answering that question to this day. Am I better off for it, as a professional? Absolutely. Am I better off for it, as a person? That is a harder question to answer, and I would not be the right person to ask. I had to learn that part, the social part, the soft skills, later in life. Life tossed me around a bit, early on, socially, and academically before I learned to right the ship. If it not for a very understanding and caring university official, I would not be on my second book on inspiring people to never give up and always follow their dreams. You see, I had help along the way.
The steering currents of life are ever-changing; you must be ever vigilant and improvise, adapt, and overcome or risk being swept away, drifting aimlessly in your life or in your career. You must take control of your life, both in the professional and the social aspects. Do not let life take control away from you. It will if you let it. There are many other good books out there to teach you how to take control of your social life. This book will teach you how to take control of your professional life, by following the path of entrepreneurship.
As I got older, and closer to entrepreneurship, I learned a lot from some colleagues on how to carry on as a professional, especially from my late, former, boss at my first engineering job and from a very tough city building official. Both showed me the importance of being well rounded, versatile, meticulous, to pay attention to detail, and to be honest and dependable.
Early on in life, I found very few resources on how to manage my career until I happened upon a book titled Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. That book inspired me and introduced me to the concept of entrepreneurship. It taught me to think outside the box and break away from the social conventions of play it safe, do not rock the boat, save your money, put in your time, and do not take any risks. I would go on to write my own book to try and inspire others to follow the entrepreneurial path titled Engineer to Entrepreneur: Success Strategies to Manage Your Career and Start Your Own Firm (e2E), published by the American Society of Civil Engineers. That book was geared more to help those in my chosen profession of engineering, and because of its success, and after many requests from nonengineering students and professionals, I decided to write this book and make it applicable to all careers and disciplines. Whereas my first book is more technical and practical, it teaches you the actual steps to plan for, and start, your own company, this book is more motivational and touches on the concept of entrepreneurship and the mindset and tools needed. In chapters 10 and 11, I reference and use excerpts from my first book (e2E) to provide the reader a source of additional information. “Excerpts from Engineer to Entrepreneur © 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers used with permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.”
My fathers’ influence on me is forever engrained in my sense of hard work and determination. His influence not only provided lessons on what to do, but it also provided examples and taught me what not to do. It gave me a sense of wanting to find ways to accomplish the same goals differently and finding the right balance in life. The inspiration for this book comes, as a tribute to him, and, as a sense of duty and responsibility. It is my attempt to teach and prepare you, to the best of my ability, to be successful entrepreneurs in a very tough world. You all have it inside of you if you just learn to TAP into your potential. Think like an entrepreneur, act like an entrepreneur, and practice like an entrepreneur.