Grade school was a tale of two seasons.  In my first season, I was the chubby little kid who had the “smart” girls in the class stay in from recess to clean my desk out.  That was a bad experience – for them!!!  The second season brought involvement with sports.  I still managed to maintain a bit of a rotund physique, and that kept the girls away, but I was a pretty good athlete in my own right.  I played the typical three sports (football, basketball, baseball) and was captain of the football team in eighth grade.  It was this experience that started to build the foundation for understanding team and hard work.  I also understood that I sucked at basketball!!!

One other lesson I learned: If you want to look good, play against people who suck worse than you.

OK, while true, it goes against every competitive bone in my body.  I believe in competing against the best, testing yourself and pushing yourself to the limits.  I also developed my work ethic at this early stage in my life.  My dad worked hard to provide for us which seemed to be a trait that was popular in America at one time.  When I was in sixth grade, I accepted the responsibility of being the local paper boy.  This meant that every day I rose at 4:45am to deliver papers (5:30am on Sunday), 365 days per year.  It also meant that every weekend I collected my money so I could pay the driver on Monday morning.  This was a huge lesson in capitalism for me.  I ran my business, I was responsible for customer service, I was responsible for growing subscribers if I wanted more money and I was responsible for finance.  I did this for five years, and outside of a one week vacation each year, only one day did I miss because I was sick.

I carry this same work ethic with me today, which is why I know my business will be successful.  I am willing to do what it takes from a time perspective, and I will compete to the death if I have to.  As a fan of the Cleveland Browns, there have been many games where we were losing, and losing big as the game moved toward the end.  Even in those situations, I always believed there was a way to win.  If you are going to beat me, you will have to kill me.  You may win a battle, but I promise you this, I am more resilient than you.

This is important, because gaining wealth and starting a business that doesn’t own you is not easy because the business will own you for a while.   I have to be patient in this endeavor and do it right.  I want the book published, but I had to send it back to an editor.  Just could not live with myself if there were grammatical errors as it would be a reflection of me.  I am also doing some work cheap and sometimes pro-bono because I have to.  I have to perfect the platform and I have to build the base.  So, while the book is being finished, I am starting on the web design.  Another week in the books – THAT SUCKS because I want it now!

Until next week

Rayford Remington