Nearly a decade ago, I moved to NYC to become an actor. On a whim. I lived out of my car for 18 months to make it happen (two cold winters). Before I arrived, I had no connections. No training. No idea how I was going to do it. What I did have was a refusal to fail, a willingness to learn and an eagerness to succeed. What I learned was patience and the value of investing in myself and in the value of learning and working on the craft.

Despite making the decision right away to never do Background work or Extra work, over the last decade: I have done over 150 commercials, dozens of industrials, 8 feature films and a dozen co-star National TV show appearances. I earned my membership into the @sagaftra and I have representation from legit agencies around the country. I book a tremendous amount of my auditions and I’ve been able to parlay my finances into now owning three companies.

Even if you’re not an actor, there’s a lot of great takeaways from my story. Much of the information is transferable to most businesses, careers and athletics.