Succeeding often means a sustained tolerance for failure. It sounds paradoxical, but winners are not people who never lose, they are people who can tolerate losing long enough for things to go their way.
1/ Excel Communications – Networking Marketing – Age 19-20
Tom, fast talker who worked with me waiting tables at Birraporetti’s sold me on this multi-level marketing idea. “Everyone uses a beeper. Everyone uses long distance. Why not get paid for it?”
He told me that he was making easy residual money on the side with this company and for $200 I could be a part of it. I was sold. I didn’t even have $200 in savings but I was able to save some money here and there working extra shifts.
Over the course of the next 12 months, I took 20 people to live presentations of Excel. Some were held at restaurants where I bought the person lunch or dinner. Other presentations were at hotel conference rooms. 20 live demos, 0 signups.
All in, when you factor all the time, gas, money spent on trying to recruit people to signup and be a part of my ‘Excel network’, I estimate I spend hundreds of dollars. A lot of money for a 19 year old who is waiting tables part time and is driving a used car with no air condition in the hot and humid Houston weather.
About Excel Communications - Excel— was a billion dollar publicly traded long-distance company. Excel reached a billion dollars in revenues nine years faster than Microsoft was able to and became the youngest company to have ever joined the New York Stock Exchange
2/ Acting – “Pecuilar Larceny” – Age 20-21
One summer I was looking through the Houston Press (a popular weekly newspaper about what’s happening around Houston) and I saw an ad about a casting call. A movie that was going to get produced locally was taking auditions for various roles. Since the movie was about high school teenagers, I thought why not?
Nervous as hell, I went to the audition not knowing what I was getting myself into. Luck has it, they were looking to cast a Hispanic kid that would play the role of one of the main actors friends. Since there were no other Hispanic kids auditioning, I got the part.
I didn’t have that many speaking parts in the film – which never got produced because the writer/director didn’t secure funding. But one part I did have was a joke which I sucked at telling –
"A Frenchman, an Englishman, a Texan, and a Mexican are riding a plane...
…when the plane's engines fail and it starts to go down. The pilot grabs one of the parachutes and jumps from the plane. The remaining passengers see that there is only one chute left, and quickly do the math.
The Englishman stands up, straightens his tie, says "God save the Queen!" and jumps from the plane.
The Frenchman, not wanting to be seen as less noble than the Englishman, says "Vive la France!" and jumps to his death.
The Texan stands up, straightens his cowboy hat, says "Remember the Alamo!" and throws the Mexican out."
Rehearsing the lines with the other actors took up 2 hours of my time twice a week for an entire summer. At that time, and probably still am, I wasn’t good at acting. So to feel more relaxed and calm myself down, I actually drank a couple of beers before the rehearsals. This helped.
Well the movie never got funding. But I did get to lose a lot of time practicing lines, going to rehearsals, and skipping out on work shifts.
Real Estate Assistant – Age 21
While in college, I waited tables the entire time except for the stupid decision I made to go be a real estate assistant and work just for commission.
The lady who found my mom a nice home to rent was a friend of the family and had mentioned to my mom that she was doing a lot of business and could really use an assistant.
Well, my mom, always looking out for the best for us, told her about me and sold me on the idea. She figured it was a step up from waiting tables which I had been doing the past 4 years.
So, I quite my restaurant job where I was making around $250 a week and dove right in to my real estate gig. Truth be told, the agent was really attractive and that influenced my dumb decision to go and work for no base salary. But heh, I was going to make up for it in commission, right?
Well after three months of working as an assistant, I had zilch, nada, not a damn penny to show for it. No homes were sold and the agent had hit a dry spell. It was probably because she was too busy having an extramarital relationship with another agent in the firm and not focusing on closing any deals.
And how did I get by during this time with no income coming in?
Credit cards of course. I got into around $4k in credit card debt which is deep for a student who has no money coming in. When you factor in the interest that accumulated, this dumb decision probably cost me around $10k.
Luckily the restaurant I left took me back.
‘Buying a new car’ that turned out to be a Lease – Age 22
Not long after this dumb decision I made working for no money at the real estate firm, I made another spectacular dumb decision.
Do you know those advertisements you get in your mailbox? They are called Direct Mail. And they work for gullible people like 22 yr olds who are suckers for good copy writing.
Well I got a direct mail piece from a Toyota dealership. I don’t remember exactly what the copy was but it was something like get a new Toyota for:
- No money down
- Includes service and maintenance for 4 years
- Low interest rate
Now mind you I had been driving around in my old Mazda RX7 that had no working air conditioner in the hot and humid Houston weather.
How hot is it in Houston?
To give you an idea, my friends from Egypt who also lived in Dubai a number of years visited Houston for 4 days. When they got back to Bucharest (they are expats like me), they said “Eric, we now know why you left Houston. The heat is worse than Egypt and Dubai!”
Back to the story, after looking at that mail piece a number of times like it was a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, I decided it was time I got a new car!
Well the whole process was easier than I imagined. I was in and out of the dealership in less than two hours and the sales and finance agent were super nice.
Driving into the driveway of my father’s house, I had a lot of pride. This purchase, the largest one in my life so far, I did on my own without anyone’s help. Of course my dad was very shocked that I didn’t inform him of what I was planning to do or take him with me to the dealership. But I didn’t care, I was my own man.
A couple of weeks later, I get a call from my car insurance company. They inform me that my monthly insurance cost is going up because of the new car I was leasing.
Come again?
Leasing.
No, I bought the car. It’s not a lease.
Did you read the contact? It’s a lease.
(I had to pull over because I was about to have a heart attack)
So after 4 years of paying this ‘new car payment’, instead of owning the car outright, I would have to return it back to the dealership. And if the mileage was over a certain amount (and it would have been since I live in Houston after all), I would have to pay extra.
I went in person to the dealership and spoke with the manager and salesman, but they didn’t give a car. I was legally stuck. So, I left the keys with them and left the dealership on foot.
I ended up taking the bus for the next couple of years because my credit was ruined. Oh man, the things you experience when taking public transportation. Especially the 101 which cuts across the Montrose neighborhood on Westheimer (people in Houston know what I mean).
Lesson learned – always read the contract.
