Like I was just thinking about it today.
Around this time last year, I was literally sleeping in my car under the wilson l stop bridge on central ave. I remember using what money I would have that week to buy snacks to last a week. I used my laptop to find work by going to the burger king on myrtle ave and knickerbocker and using the internet there. I would drive around at night before I went to bed (slept) with the heat on so I wouldn't freeze. I bought four blankets and wrapped myself up in those and curled up in a ball and slept in the backseat of my Chevy Cobalt. When I'd wake up my car windows would be frozen solid and I've have to take 30 minutes to heat up my car. Why did I make such sacrifices? Cause I knew that if I really wanted to make it in life and succeed doing what I wanted to do on my own terms I had to make sacrifices.
After being back in Pittsburgh in the fall of 2014, I just realized that there was nothing there for me. At all. I just drove around the majority of the time. The city was just too racist for a black man like myself to even try to make a living for myself or even get a basic opportunity to make money and succeed. I applied for work in the area and every job I interviewed at turned me down even with my college degree and extensive resume. I knew if I stayed there I would be doomed to a life of living at home with my family back in the burbs doing nothing with my life. That and it was severely depressing. So I took what money I made from the oddjobs I worked, drove up to Baltimore to visit my friend in January, stayed at his place, and drove back to NYC the next night.
I'm happy I made the sacrifices I made cause now I have actually made progress in my New York City journey.
I went from being homeless, to finding that job working at said company at 14 wall street with my insurance license, to taking what money I made to make my dreams happen. I didn't want to be somebody's 9-5 slave for the rest of my life.
I've managed a store for my own brand (even though it was a pop-up shop, I loved doing that method cause having a permanent fixture like that in NYC would be too taxing), hired people had that responsibility and now I'm doing it again this year.
Life has been good to me over the past couple of months. I'm appreciative to be alive. To have money in my pocket, to not have to do the 9-5 thing and still pay rent, to see the sunrise over and over again when I wake up in the morning, to have my family still with me especially my mother, father, and grandmother, and I'm appreciative of all of the things I went through cause it gave me the foresight and insight I have now.
Around this time last year, I was literally sleeping in my car under the wilson l stop bridge on central ave. I remember using what money I would have that week to buy snacks to last a week. I used my laptop to find work by going to the burger king on myrtle ave and knickerbocker and using the internet there. I would drive around at night before I went to bed (slept) with the heat on so I wouldn't freeze. I bought four blankets and wrapped myself up in those and curled up in a ball and slept in the backseat of my Chevy Cobalt. When I'd wake up my car windows would be frozen solid and I've have to take 30 minutes to heat up my car. Why did I make such sacrifices? Cause I knew that if I really wanted to make it in life and succeed doing what I wanted to do on my own terms I had to make sacrifices.
After being back in Pittsburgh in the fall of 2014, I just realized that there was nothing there for me. At all. I just drove around the majority of the time. The city was just too racist for a black man like myself to even try to make a living for myself or even get a basic opportunity to make money and succeed. I applied for work in the area and every job I interviewed at turned me down even with my college degree and extensive resume. I knew if I stayed there I would be doomed to a life of living at home with my family back in the burbs doing nothing with my life. That and it was severely depressing. So I took what money I made from the oddjobs I worked, drove up to Baltimore to visit my friend in January, stayed at his place, and drove back to NYC the next night.
I'm happy I made the sacrifices I made cause now I have actually made progress in my New York City journey.
I went from being homeless, to finding that job working at said company at 14 wall street with my insurance license, to taking what money I made to make my dreams happen. I didn't want to be somebody's 9-5 slave for the rest of my life.
I've managed a store for my own brand (even though it was a pop-up shop, I loved doing that method cause having a permanent fixture like that in NYC would be too taxing), hired people had that responsibility and now I'm doing it again this year.
Life has been good to me over the past couple of months. I'm appreciative to be alive. To have money in my pocket, to not have to do the 9-5 thing and still pay rent, to see the sunrise over and over again when I wake up in the morning, to have my family still with me especially my mother, father, and grandmother, and I'm appreciative of all of the things I went through cause it gave me the foresight and insight I have now.
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