When I look back upon my life I remember quite vividly the people who influenced me along the way.
You may find it rather surprising that some of the people I will mention in this post have nothing to do with Flipping Websites, Internet Marketing, Business, and one was (now deceased) even against the notion of making money altogether.
I will present to you a very strange and rather diverse list of people that I guess possesses a common ground that apparently made a huge impact on me, and made me the person I am today.
So, here is the list (according to the order of years)
1. Roy Lazarovich – The first person who ever influenced me is actually a friend from way back when. We met in the seven grade, and are still good friends to this date.
Roy was really the person who introduced me to the ’sophisticated’ way of using computers.
Up until I met him, I was only using the computer to play simple video games like: Digger, Prince of Persia, Golden Axe, etc, which are all great games, but don’t require one to do a lot of thinking.
Roy introduced me to ‘adventure games’ (quests) which require the player to use his / her brain to progress.
Furthermore, Roy programmed games and software, and thus propelled me to learn programming myself.
Lastly, and maybe most importantly to what I do today, Roy taught me how to create an online presence even before the Internet was popular. Both I and Roy have each created a membership site, 16 years ago, on a BBS platform.
2. David Bowie - If ‘Roy Lazarovich’ was the first one to influence me business-wise, David Bowie was to go a step further, and influence me “business-wise-and-spiritual-wise”.
David Bowie is probably the #2 person who influenced me.
I remember sitting on my chair in the army with a few of my close friends, all very much bored of doing the daily routines, when someone suddenly insert one of David Bowie’s CDs (Hunky-Dory) in the compact disc. The first song that played, which is the first song on the cd, was ‘changes‘.
It was the first time that I have ever heard this song, and I thought it was pretty good.
After I finished my day in the army I rushed to the local record shop, and asked the vendor to hear a good record by David Bowie. He gave me to hear David Bowie’s first official album ‘Space Oddity‘.
As I side note, I recalled hearing the ‘Space Oddity‘ song (the same name for the album) in the background while I was cleaning my room a few years back (back then I thought it was good song, but didn’t thought much of it afterwards) so I decided to start listening to the record from ‘track 2′.
The song was ‘Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed‘, and I simply can’t forget till this date, the chill I got when David Bowie started singing (in around the 0:14 seconds mark).
I am not a religious guy, but I have to admit that at that instant I felt (and still do) that something religious had just happened.
I felt that David Bowie’s voice on that track was like a voice that I have never heard before, a voice that is not quite of this world.
From this incident I was determined to learn everything I can about David Bowie, and I have actually brought pretty much everything that he produced, and now I have a huge David Bowie collection of CDS, videos, books, interviews etc…
It’s funny, but this incident also reminded me that my favorite movie in the whole world was the – Labyrinth. I always find it funny that I actually didn’t notice that the main actor in this movie is DAVID BOWIE.
This movie came out when I was 7, and I remember that I always fast forwarded the parts where David Bowie sang.
As I said, I was very young then, and I actually didn’t want to hear songs while watching a movie. Yet, later I got tired of fast forwarding the movie, so I actually sat down and listened to the songs which are just amazing.
Now, it’s the one of the albums that I like the most.
David Bowie was always much more to me than a singer. He was really a “tool” for me to view life in another way.
Jiddu Krishnamurti -Okay, twist my arm, I’ll tell you. Jiddu Krishnamurti is the person who influenced me the most. David Bowie is a close second.
Jiddu Krishnamurti came to my life at a time when I was so dissatisfied with everything around me.
I had so many questions that occupied my mind so badly that I just couldn’t sleep at night.
Questions like:
What is the right way to earn a livelihood?
What is an action that is always right?
Why I am confused?
How to overcome fear?
I asked other people I knew for their answers to my questions, but even though most of them tried to help, no one has given me answers that satisfied me.
So, I actually maxed out my credit card by buying literally hundreds of books on Amazon.com, all on the areas of Motivation, Self-Help, philosophy, science, etc…
BUT….nothing.
Now, I had a lot of knowledge which enabled me to talk for hours about my problems, but at the end of the day - I still had these problems.
Many of these books were written by psychiatrists, psychologists, philosophers, and even hypnotists who just made me very wary of ever going to one of them.
I also tried to paste my burning questions in the Google and Yahoo search lines, and search for quotes and answers, yet nothing helped.
There were people like Osho, Nisargadatta Maharaj, U.G krishnamurti, Anthony De Mello, don miguel ruiz, James Allen, etc…
That really helped me in seeing things in a new way, but even though I respect them all, none left a huge mark on me.
Now, let’s finally talk about the one who did – Jiddu Krishnamurti.
One day, I again searched for an answer to one of my problems online, when I suddenly stumbled upon a site full of quotes.
One of the quotes was by a guy, who has already passed away, by the name of Jiddu Krishnamurti.
The quote was:
“Everything that you have conquered has enslaved you.”
I actually read this quote over and over again for about 20 minutes to fully absorb it, and then started searching frantically for more quotes by him on the Internet.
And like I said about David Bowie, the same thing happened to me with Jiddu Krishnamurti, I actually read everything he has ever written.
There is a parallel funny thing that I always experience whenever I read a book by Jiddu Krishanmurti or listen to a song by David Bowie:
I always feel that I am reading / hearing something new – I can take one single talk from one of Jiddu Krishnaurti’s books, and read it over and over again for years, and I always learn something new from it. The same goes for David Bowie’s songs, I am listening to the same songs over and over again, and I am always excited.
Also, when I hear / read / watch something from Jiddu Krishnaurti I always feel that even though I don’t fully grasp him, he is speaking the truth.
I know it may sound rather simplistic, but for me this is a huge thing. Whenever I hear / read / see a GURU speak, I always experience what he / she conveys with a grain of skepticism – automatically and unconsciously. Yet, the only person who differs in that respect for me is Jiddu Krishnamurti.
I don’t know why, but his voice just radiates honesty to me, so I don’t even consider if what he says is true or not, I somehow know it is.
It’s very hard for me to explain to someone else why I feel this way, moreover, I can’t honestly say that I have changed dramatically since I started reading Jiddu Krishmaurit.
The best way for me to describe it is that when I listen to Jiddu Krishnamurti speak I feel like listening to a tuned instrument. For some reason or another, what he says has the right ’sound to it’.
So many times I don’t believe to what people say to me, even though I can’t prove them wrong, just because of some strange feeling in the pit of my stomach that just sends me warning signs about them.
That’s never ever happened to me with Jiddu Krishnamurti.
It did happen to me with other “Spirtual Figures” like the ones I mentioned above – U.G Krishnamurti, Osho, etc…
So, in conclusion, as I mentioned, even after reading Jiddu Krishnaurti for years I don’t feel in any way ‘enlightened’ or can say that any of my core problems have been solved.
As a matter of fact, I now have the same problems, I started with.
Yet, I guess I look at things (most of the times) differently now.
Not through “progression” (trying to add something to my life to make it orderly) but rather through “negation” look at my current life, and see why it has become chaotic, and thus create order.
Mike Litman – Mike had a radio show in which he interviewed the most successful businessmen in the world. Mike’s radio show format was nothing unique, but the enthusiasm and the knowledge he brought to the show were. He actually knew more about the products he promoted on his show than the people he interviewed (the ones that created the products).
I was a salesman for Dominos Pizza when I was young, and the thing I implemented in my “sales talk” was really Mike’s enthusiasm which really helped get more commissions, and win many sales contests.
Robert G. Allen – Mike interviewed many millionaires on his show (and thus created the successful book “Conversations with Millionaires“) one of them was the bestselling author Robert G. Allen.
In his interview Robert talked about the idea of passive recurring income which was a brand new concept for me. I obviously knew that people like Bill Gates are making such an income, but I actually never thought much about it.
In the interview Robert explained that one should consider creating such an income for oneself, and gave an example of the person who invented the Duracell’s battery tester. Seemingly a simple idea, but the guy who created it earns (maybe till this date) a few pennies each and every time a battery pack is sold.
So, Robert was the first to plant in my head the idea of multiple streams of passive income.
Even though, I was already doing it as a hobby with my BBS, that I told you about, I was never conscious about it, and wasn’t making a significant income from it.
After I listened to the Mike and Robert’s interview, I went to Amazon.com, and bought two of his books.
Multiple Streams of Income, and Multiple Streams of Internet Income.
These two business books are probably the best books I have ever read, and in hindsight made me embark on my quest to make passive income online.
John Thornhill – I found John while I was randomly browsing on eBay. If I remember correctly it was the first time that I ever saw a seller selling eBooks online (and very successfully). Moreover, John was the first seller that I have ever seen that is using eBay ‘About Me’ page as a lead generator.
I was so inspired by how well he operates that I have signed to his newsletter, and later to his coaching program (which he still runs).
Jim Cockrum – I don’t know why but Jim just has a voice that is so pleasant to hear. I could just take all his interviews and listen to them 24/7. In one word Jim is best in giving – hope.
Hope that there is a new great method out there that one simply can’t ignore. I may sound cynical, but please believe me when I say that nothing can be further from the truth. I just love this person.
I remember registering to his membership site (which is just FULL of products that cost THOUSANDS of dollars), and downloading a video case study of a woman who is making a lot of money by flipping WEBSITES online.
Yes, that video made me stop everything else I was doing to make money online, and for the first time in my life get focused in doing one thing really well – flipping websites.
The name of this woman is Kate Anderson.
Kate Anderson – Till this date, Kate is one of the people who always make me strive to better myself.
After watching her case study on Jim Cockrum’s website, I immediately went to the SitePoint’s Marketplace (now Flippa) and looked at all her listings. After looking at her listings, I was actually quite shocked, and for two reasons:
1. I saw a person who is making a lot of money, and I can actually see real current proof of that– not proof from 10 years ago.
2. Even though Kate was creating astonishing websites that it will take me some time to reach her level, I actually believed for the first time (and it’s a crucial point) that I can actually do the same.
Chris Farrell – there is no way you are trying to make money online, but you don’t at least heard of Chris Farrell.
And, the funny thing is that Chris Farrell is extremely new to Internet Marketing.
Yet, he seems to have a natural talent for teaching things in a manner that everyone can understand.
Also, and I fell like a parrot saying this again, I just love to hear him speak. His voice is so pleasant to the ears. When I hear him I feel like hearing a reporter from the BBC.
So, as I said, Chris is superb in explaining things in a manner that everyone can understand, and also he is amazing in over delivering. He constantly adds value to his membership site without ever increasing the payment for membership.
Now, I feel that after writing this blog post, I can precisely say the exact common attributes that I find in the people I admire:
1. Going the extra mile – giving much MUCH more than you are asking in return – best examples: Jim Cockrum, Chris Farrell.
Constantly give value to their members yet asking for very little in return.
2. Radiating Honesty – it’s very difficult to “sell” anything (product, idea) if the people you are trying to sell to don’t believe you. All the people I have mentioned in this post are people who radiate honesty – best examples – Jiddu Krishnamurti, Mike Litman, and John Thornhill (and obviously Jim and Chris)
I really enjoyed writing this blog post, and surprisingly I actually learned quite a lot about myself while writing it.
I would like to hear who influenced you, and why?