Welcome to Valentino Crawford’s Official Blog!
Hey, my name is Valentino Crawford Jr., and I am so excited that you stopped by to check me out! The purpose of this blog is to provide a source of inspiration, motivation, and innovation for entrepreneurs through personal development and online marketing.
You will learn principles, techniques, and strategies that will lead you on the path to living the lifestyle of your choice by leveraging technology.
The internet is a powerful tool! Many people have built ‘empires’ online in the home-based business industry. With a push of a button or a click of a mouse, wealth is created. That is INSANE, isn’t it?
Wouldn’t you like to know how this is done? Or better yet, wouldn’t you like to know how YOU could do that? Well, you will find various content on topics such as entrepreneurship, personal branding, social media, mindsets, and other topics related to creating wealth here on this site.
So Who Is Valentino Anyway?
I’m just a regular guy who was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. I grew up in a household where the focus was on the traditional things: Go to school, make good grades, and get a high paying job. Sounds like a great idea, right? Of course, because education is where it’s at!
I mean, no one can take that education away from me, right? Once I get that diploma, degree, certification etc, then all of these doors will open for me right? I will get to work for someone that is going to pay me what I’m worth because I can negotiate my salary based on the level of my education. That paperwork says so, right?
(Did you notice the paradox in what I just said? Why should I have to negotiate my salary when someone is suppose to pay me what I’m worth? That’s because as an employee I only get paid what my employer thinks I’m worth. Negotiating shouldn’t be an option! Pay me what I’m worth, end of conversation. If only it were that easy…)
Well, I bought into that concept for years. I was an honor roll student for most of my K-12 years. I graduated high school with honors. Even though I had a minor setback in my freshman year of college (academic suspension-*gasp*) I still managed to get accepted into one of the U.S. Navy’s Advanced Programs as I served my country.
Back Home…
After faithfully serving my country for six years, I finished my time and was honorably discharged. It was a great experience, but I just thought it was time to move on. Now it was time to come back home to the civilian life.
I took on an apprenticeship program where I was paid to go to class as well as go to work. It was an awesome program! It was on-the-job training and I learned as I earned! I was being groomed to become a leader within the company that I worked for! Sounds like a great career path. The leaders get paid the most money. So that’s what I’m going to do…become a leader!
They were willing to pay me while I invested in my education. That education was going to help put me in position to become a leader in the company. But something just wasn’t adding up…
Something didn’t sit right with me. I had my ups and downs, just like anyone else. I understood the benefit of working hard and overcoming obstacles and all that good stuff. I understood that nothing worth having comes easy. The more I know, the more I grow, right? Typical cliche stuff we’ve all heard before.
But grow into what? What was I growing into? Who was I becoming? Was it really what I wanted? Was I living out my dreams…or my employer’s dreams?
But Something Else Was Also Growing That I Didn’t Expect…MY DEBT!
How the hell did I create more debt for myself as I made more money? *NEWSFLASH* It only takes a second to make a bad financial decision. However long it takes to swipe that credit card at the checkout counter, make that decision to eat out when you know you have food in the house, or decide to buy that new video game before you go pay that utility bill; that’s all the time you need…
All of a sudden, I looked up and realized that I was no longer taking vacations like before. Either I did not have the money or the time to take one, or when I did have the money my time was limited and I couldn’t enjoy my vacation like I wanted to. And when I got back, my bills were waiting for me in the mailbox. Lovely…
I had to figure out what I really wanted out of life, why I wanted it, and if what I was doing was going to help me obtain that. I was tired of someone else dictating how I should spend my time and how much I get paid for it. I was tired of digging myself deeper and deeper in a hole of debt. With all of this education and training I had acquired throughout the years, I was still struggling financially.
I was just sick and tired of being sick and tired! An easy solution would be to learn to budget and balance my checkbook. Sounds like an excellent idea and it definitely needed to be done. But what I was really looking for was a way to earn my freedom. Time freedom, financial freedom, peace of mind freedom! I just didn’t know what to do or how to do it. Everything I had done up to this point was to serve as a stepping stone until I figured out what to do with my life.
The Awakening…
In the summer of 2007, I eyes were opened! I was introduced to a Robert Kiyosaki free seminar on wealth building in my local area. No, Robert Kiyosaki was not there, but his certified trainers were there on his behalf. It was a real eye opener for me. I learned that there was a reason why I had not obtained the lifestyle I had wanted. It was all about my mindset. I had a middle-class mindset, but I wanted to live a wealthy person’s lifestyle. All the money in the world would not have helped me at that point because even though I was book smart, had some common sense, I was financially dumb! I found out that it was not about how much money I make, but how much money I keep!
What good does it do if someone works a job and earns $4000 a month, but has $3900 in expenses? That means at the end of the month, they only have $100 to work with. And don’t let an emergency come up in which they may have to spend that last $100! What if that person lost their job or was out of work due to an injury or something? How long would they be able to maintain their present lifestyle with no additional income coming in? Not very long!
The name of the game is earning residual income, or passive income. That means after your bills are paid, money still flows into your pocket whether you work or not. THAT’S how you live the lifestyle of your choice!
After reading books like Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad, and Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, I started to learn the ‘secrets’ of the rich. Oh yeah, here’s a little education on so called secrets. When most people see or hear the word secret, what may come to mind is something that is mysterious, hidden and kept unknown to but only a few. But did you know that secret also means something taken to be a specific or key to a desired end? So these ‘secrets’ I learned were actually keys to success.
The answers to my financial problems were in plain site! The answers were never hidden from me, they were hidden by me! My mindset kept me blinded from the knowledge necessary to live in abundance. I was even keeping myself from taking action on the knowledge that I did acquire. Through skepticism, self-doubt, and even procrastination, I was preventing myself from reaching my unlimited potential. It was time to make some changes.
The Unleashing…
So now it’s on! You couldn’t tell me anything! I was determined to earn my freedom at all costs! The formula was simple: Buy assets (things that put money in my pocket) and reduce my liabilities (things that take money out my pocket). But what kind of assets? Now that I had a little knowledge, I was running around like a mad man buying up courses and books that were going to help me find some assets to invest in. I bought courses and books on real estate, stocks, and businesses. I joined groups where I could network with like-minded individuals. I even made a few business partners along the way.
I then got introduced to network marketing. I was loving the fact that I was getting exposed to this business model and I was meeting so many motivated individuals looking for the same thing I was looking for. It is the ideal business model for people who do not have thousands of dollars to begin with. Home-based businesses have relatively low start-up costs and enormous tax savings. And the fact that I could do it part-time gave me the confidence that I could work on my B Plan while I was still on my A Plan.
The Good News Is That…Anyone Can Get Into Network Marketing. The Bad News Is…Anyone Can Get Into Network Marketing
Like most folks that come into the home-based business industry, I had no business sense. Of course I was excited and ready to do whatever it would take to be successful, but excitement only gets you but so far. I did what my upline told me to do, which was:
1. Make a list of friends and family to talk to
2. (Tactfully) Invite them to the opportunity meetings
3. Use the 3 foot rule and pass out your (company branded) business cards to everyone within your reach
4. Expose your business to at least 20 people a day
And a whole bunch of other out-of-date “tactics” that worked for only a select few who seemed to already have a large network due to their occupation, or networking experience from previous companies.
Actually, #4 was not a bad idea, I just couldn’t figure out how to do it consistently. I was bugging all of my friends and family about this business opportunity and that business opportunity, all while working my 9-5 job. And when I wasn’t seeing the results I thought I should see, I would jump onto another opportunity that had a “better product” or “more lucrative compensation plan.” Yeah, that will get me more prospects, right? Because:
The products practically sell themselves, right?
Do you see all of the money this company is paying out?
You would be a fool not to join me, right?
These were the thoughts that went through my head as I successfully recruited people into my opportunities. It was also my thought process as I successfully brought in new customers. So I’m thinking to myself, “Wow! This network marketing thing actually does work!” I was making some sells, building my team, I was in business! But each time it was short-lived, because it was also the very mindset that eventually caused me to successfully lose people on my team as well as stop finding new prospects and customers.
As a matter of fact, I know the majority of network marketers have been fed or are presently feeding themselves this mindset that will forever keep them from reaching the level of success that they deserve.
I bet you were told that you were in the right place at the right time. You got all hyped up and felt empowered, because you had found the solution to all of your friends’ and family’s problems! You were going to create a legacy for your children and your children’s children! You were going to live the lifestyle of your choice and show others how they could do the same by joining this company that you are a distributor for.
Well after 27 months of making a little money (while losing even more); 27 months of recruiting people who wanted handouts; 27 months of people who didn’t buy my products after I had referred them to my replicated websites (AND even walked them through the checkout process); 27 months of prospects “too busy” to check out my opportunities because they wanted to put more overtime in at their jobs (that wasn’t even paying them enough in the first place); and 27 months of hearing, “You’re doing what? Oh…for real? Businessman now? Uh…that’s nice…I wish you the best with that…” I was a little frustrated to say the least. However, I was still confident that I would succeed. I wasn’t going to give up. Giving up was not an option.
But there had to be a better way! How did these top earners within these companies recruit doctors, lawyers, restaurant owners and other successful people while I’m over here recruiting people that are in the same boat I’m in? Even the network marketers who were making decent money were bringing in more quality prospects and customers than I was. What were they doing that I wasn’t doing? On top of that, the job that I used to look forward to becoming a ‘leader’ in began to look less attractive as I became more aware of the politics involved. It was time for an exit strategy.
Now there was a greater sense of urgency! I went from “Working on Plan B while working Plan A,” to “Time to turn Plan B into Plan A.” But how? I learned about leveraging other peoples efforts as a network marketer, but even other people’s time is limited. I needed more leverage. I needed a system of promoting my business so that it could grow while I was asleep, at work, vacation, etc.
Then It Finally Happened…
I came across an ad online while searching for better ways to market. It was an ad from Jonathan Budd. It took me to a capture page where he had a short video providing some pretty valuable information—and it was FREE! I could tell that he knew what he was talking about, because he talked about the same struggles I was going through. It was as if he was reading my mind!
I said to myself, “This kid is good! He’s onto something.” I’ve heard similar things before from other successful network marketers, but in bits and pieces. Jonathan Budd put it in a way in which it just clicked for me. He identified my problems, and he provided solutions; solutions that I saw realistic and attainable. And it all centered around leveraging technology and the power of the internet. Everything he said just made sense.
What really got my attention was the fact that he provided so much useful information upfront! I could have easily started applying some of the things I learned from the capture page and be in a better position than before. But when he offered me a chance to try out the 7FigureNetworker System before making a commitment to subscribe, I knew that I had found what I was looking for!
I’m On A Mission…
With renewed confidence, I absorbed myself into the training, tools, strategies, and anything else I could get a hold of! I learned that what I was lacking was the ability to market. I also learned that people do not join companies, products, or compensation plans. People join people. Your prospects trust that you will deliver for them. They trust that you will help them solve their problems. They trust that you will produce results.
Well, that’s what I’m here to do! I’m on a mission to bring fellow entrepreneurs out of the same “darkness” I was in. There are so many people out here suffering and they shouldn’t be! We need to empower and encourage each other so that we can find our purpose here in this plane of existence and live within our creative element.
I’m here to provide whatever value and content necessary for your journey towards Self-Mastery. I have developed skill sets that produce results and I look forward to learning a lot more! I look forward to growing as an entrepreneur and hope that my growth is reflected here as time progresses. Even has I type these words, I am evolving, thinking of new ways to serve those who may need guidance.
So In Closing….
I consider myself a life-long student and I believe that by keeping an open mind is how we truly tap into our unlimited potential. Even though The Ultimate Goal is Self-Mastery, I find fulfillment in the journey as well as the destination. I challenge you to take this journey along with me. Unlock your unlimited potential so that you may live within your creative element. Every one of us has this potential. What will it take for you to unlock yours? I’m interested in hearing your story. Go ahead and leave a comment. Let’s get the creative juices flowing!
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P.S.- Make sure you opt-in for your FREE special gift. I am certain you will find the information invaluable to your growth as an entrepreneur and just overall as a well-rounded individual. You will not be disappointed!
P.P.S- Don’t forget to connect with me on Twitter and friend me on the other social media sites! We’ll speak more soon…
A Few More Pics…
I love cruises!
Cozumel, Mexico
Miami
St. Louis
Me enjoying life like I was meant to. The saga continues…
