{"id":50086,"date":"2017-05-10T23:02:23","date_gmt":"2017-05-11T06:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=50086"},"modified":"2017-05-10T23:02:23","modified_gmt":"2017-05-11T06:02:23","slug":"the-key-to-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/05\/10\/the-key-to-success\/","title":{"rendered":"THE KEY TO SUCCESS."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dear friend,<\/p>\n

The key to success: HUSTLE ALL DAY.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I. YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR FATE<\/h2>\n

\"eric<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been contemplating the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dckey of success\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 since I was around 12 years old<\/a>. Imagine this \u00e2\u20ac\u201d my dad gambled away the rent money, my mom was hustling 6-7 days a week, working under-the-table shitty jobs to just pay the rent and support me and my sister.<\/p>\n

Growing up poor sucked, but it actually gave me the keys to success.<\/p>\n

I learned early on this fact:<\/p>\n

\n You cannot depend on nobody else for success.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t depend on my mom to give me money (she had none) to buy some ADIDAS shoes I wanted. I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t depend on my dad to get a job, and uplift my mom (and our family) out of poverty.<\/p>\n

Rather, my goal in life was simple: I would fucking hustle hard, to one day become rich, and support my mom and my family \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and to also give back to the community.<\/p>\n

II. Thank you UMMA<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I knew early on as a kid, money wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the secret to happiness. In high school, I knew a girl who drove a PORSCHE (family was rich). But I remember I learned one day \u00e2\u20ac\u201d her family didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care about her. They didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t love her. I then realized:<\/p>\n

\n Wow, my life is so much better. Even though we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re poor, at least my mom loves me.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I love you UMMA<\/a> for sacrificing everything for me and Anna.<\/p>\n

III. The virtues of growing up poor<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Being poor taught me how to tinker. I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford a BMW, so I bought a 1991 Sentra \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and tinkered the shit out of it. I stripped the interior, spray-painted the shit-brown interior black, spray-painted my rims (bronze), I learned how to paint the scratched bumpers, and I still remember all the fun trips to AUTOZONE and KRAGEN. I bought $200 headers on Ebay, and got a Chinese mechanic in Oakland to install a 2\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcMendrel Bend\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 exhaust. I installed an intake, and learned how to fix up my car by myself \u00e2\u20ac\u201d via internet forums, and tinkering.<\/p>\n

Which made me realize: the benefit of growing poor is you learn how to make the best of what you have<\/strong>. You learn how to play the card you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re already<\/em> given \u00e2\u20ac\u201d rather than complaining what you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have.<\/p>\n

IV. STRENGTHEN YOUR BODY AND MIND<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And the funny thing \u00e2\u20ac\u201d I had a fucking blast. I loved working on my car. It was my baby. It was an externalization of me. It showed me that I could change my fate\u00e2\u20ac\u201d by changing the body exterior of my car, and upgrading the engine.<\/p>\n

So applied to philosophy \u00e2\u20ac\u201d I can change everything and anything about myself, if I just work hard enough.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I can change my exterior body. I started to lift weights to get \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcbuff.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 I started (in college) to do powerlifting\u00e2\u20ac\u201d deadlifts, squats, and bench. I broke out of this stereotypical emasculated Asian-male (small dick) prototype \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and learned how to become more power through my sheer will.<\/p>\n

I learned I can change my engine (my mind). In college, I was fucking hungry for knowledge and information. And I was voracious. I felt like I was starving my entire life for empowering information \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and once I found it, I devoured it alive.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When Cindy helped me get an internship at Demand Media, I came across social media and business books. There was a free library (thanks Joe and Mateo for letting me borrow so many) \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and I must have read at least 20 business books. I spent a few hundred dollars on Amazon, buying paperback books on business, marketing, psychology, and everything I could get my hands on\u00e2\u20ac\u201d to feed my insatiable curiosity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So the moral of the story is: you can change both<\/em> your body and mind. I believe the way to become a fucking beast is to have a strong body and mind.<\/p>\n

A strong body means you have strong self-confidence (mind). Having a strong mind means you can have a strong body (to have the mental fortitude to know you can one day, become an Asian-American male who deadlifts over 405 pounds at bodyweight of 160).<\/p>\n

V. ALL DAY.<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kanye West<\/a> is my hero \u00e2\u20ac\u201d I jam out to his music (listening to \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcAll Day\/I Feel Like that<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 while I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m writing this).<\/p>\n

The secret to success is to hustle all day. Everyday, and all day.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let me give you an example: This is what I do in my life.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m rich (I feel rich, because I no longer need more money, and I have 100% freedom in my life to do whatever I want to do, because my living expenses are very low, while my income is high \u00e2\u20ac\u201d around 200,000 USD a year as of 2017) I have actually 10x\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d my hustle. Because to me, the only use of wealth is to give you freedom of time and mind \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and to use that opportunity to create art<\/a> to empower others.<\/p>\n

For example on some days I wake up at 5:30am (without alarm clock), because I am fucking pumped to write and create value to society. I take an icy-cold shower, I might shave, and look at myself in the mirror, and think to myself:<\/p>\n

\n Damn, I can see all these bags under my eyes. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m starting to feel fucking old.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But then, I go outside, make a cup of coffee, then listen to some \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcempowering\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 music (KENDRICK LAMAR\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s DAMN. album is good) via my earbuds. I then open up IA WRITER (my writing app on the Mac), and start jamming away on the keyboard, and writing.<\/p>\n

VI. EMPOWER OTHERS<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

To me, I feel the purpose of life is to empower the rest of humanity.<\/p>\n

To me, the only way I measure \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcSUCCESS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is by how much I can help others. And how proud my 18 (or 12-year old self) would be of me.<\/p>\n

I personally get the most happiness and joy when I am helping others. When I create information that can empower others.<\/p>\n

For example, I want to make a change in the world for the better. Because I grew up poor, and it fucking sucked. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want others to suffer the same way I did.<\/p>\n

VII. You can make your own luck<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I also was lucky enough to get \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsuccessful\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in life by pursuing my passion for a full-time living, and making a good living out of it. So I write that \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcHow I earn $200,000 a year as a photographer<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 not to brag\u00e2\u20ac\u201d but to encourage others<\/em> to do the same, based on the information that I have learned through my experiences.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Of course, it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to work for most people (there is no formula) \u00e2\u20ac\u201d but at least it can encourage<\/em> and empower<\/em> others to know that they can do it, if they just hustle hard enough (and if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re blessed enough to be given the right opportunities in life).<\/p>\n

Because in life, we are given a few pitches \u00e2\u20ac\u201d it is our choice to swing the bat or not. And the more we swing the bat, the more likely we are to hit a home-run.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

My friend Todd Hatakeyama has at least 10 failed businesses, before he found his successful business with SIMPLE STUDIO LIGHTING selling Lighting equipment on Amazon. He is my biggest inspiration \u00e2\u20ac\u201d someone who refused to be a slave to the 9-5 cubicle prison, and to do something that gave him freedom of time, and to create, and help others.<\/p>\n

CONCLUSION<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I feel successful not because I have XXX,XXX amount of followers on social media, or because I have XXX,XXX dollars in my bank account.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I feel successful because I am not a degenerate in life. I feel successful, because I hustle fucking hard, and have found my purpose in life (sacrificing myself for the collective).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And friend, I want to encourage you to study philosophy<\/a>. To study what is important to you in life, to ask yourself \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWhat were my morals and ethics at age 12<\/a> and 18?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 And to write an imaginary letter between your 18 year old self and your today self<\/a>, to see whether your morals are still in accordance with your present self.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I know for myself, my 18 year old self would have said:<\/p>\n

\n Eric, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gone fucking soft.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And I would tell my 18 year old self (my old nick-name was \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcEKIZZ\u00e2\u20ac\u2122):<\/p>\n

\n Ekizz, I will hustle harder, and not let you down.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Only let your 18-year old self be the judge of yourself.<\/p>\n

Be strong,
\nEric<\/p>\n

\n

STOCISM ><\/a><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Become invincible against fate:<\/p>\n