A Sea Of Geniuses For You

Hi, I’m Jason “J-Ryze” Fonceca, and I’m thrilled David’s given me the chance to share my experiences and wisdom with you. I want you to succeed, so let’s start with a story about success, as told by Eric Thomas.

There was a young man who, y’know, he wanted to make a lot of money and so he went to this guru, aight?

And he told the guru “I wanna be on the same level you on,” and so the guru said “If you wanna be on the same level I’m on, I’ll meet you tomorrow at the beach!”

So the young man got there at 4am, he all ready to rock and roll, got on the suit — he soulda wore shorts — the old man grabs his hand and says “How bad do you wanna be successful?”

My man says “real bad.”

So he says “Walk on out into the water”, so my man walks out into the water — watch this — when he walks out into the water it goes like waist-deep, so he’s like “This guy crazy, ah..”

…

He thinks “I wanna make money, he got me out here swimming, I didn’t ask to be a lifeguard – I wanna make money – he got me out here man…”

So guru said “come out a lil further”, my man walked out a little further, then the water was right around this area…the shoulder area

Thought “This old man crazy, said he makin’ money, but he crazy.”

Old man said “Come on out a little further.”

Water’s right at his mouth…my man like, “I’m about to go back in, here, this guy out his mind.”

The old man saw and said “I thought you said you wanted be successful!”

He said “I do,”

He said “Walk a lil further…”

He came and BAM–dropped his head in, held him down, holind him down — my man, kickin’ scratchin’ — holdin’ him down, he had him held down, and just before my man was about to pass out..

…he raised him up.

He said “I got a question for you.”

He told the guy, he said “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.”

How bad do you want it?

The story above is one of my favorite stories for a lot of reasons, but the main reason I’m sharing it with you today is the mentor.

• “You gotta get a mentor.”
• “Maybe you can ask someone.”
• “Hire a coach.”

You’ve probably heard stuff like this before, it’s boring, hollow advice. It makes no impact and it’s not something you can really act on. It’s sh*t advice.

Let me tell you a few things that aren’t.

Info sucks, understandings ok, and knowledge rocks.

Here’s something we can all get behind. We have more information coming at us than ever, and it’s really not as helpful as you’d think. In fact, it kinda sucks.

Today, when you venture out on to the net, to ‘accomplish’ something, all things being equal, chances are massive that you’ll be distracted.

Then there’s ‘understanding’.

If you read enough information and pay attention, after some time and effort you’ll begin to understand.

You know what rocks though?

Knowledge.

Actually knowing something on a deep level will rocket you forward.

But how? Well, there’s an easy way.

Get yourself a mentor, a coach, a teacher, a helper, whatever you call them, connect with someone with wisdom who cares.

Learn from someone who’s effortlessly delivers choice, filtered info specifically tailored for your success.

The world’s best have mentors.

Successful people in every industry have coaches, mentors, and a hand from others.

Jay-Z had Russell Simmons.

Peyton Manning pays high salaries to three coaches.

You’d think it nuts if either of ‘em suddenly dropped their coaches.

In my experience… if you don’t have a mentor, you’re screwed, or at least making it really tough on yourself.

Think about this.

There’s 7 billion people on earth, what percentage of them do you think have lived enough life to mentor you and give you a leg up?

Here’s a hint… it’s not “none”.

There’s plenty. There’s a sea of geniuses out there.

There are people who’re paid to scout for brilliant people, and if there wasn’t any, they’d be out of a job.

You can find them too. In whatever field you’re in your chances of connecting with someone who’s a match for you is high, but you’ve gotta take some different steps.

I want you to understand something. Every human being has inside them tons of value, that includes you, and other people you walk by and interact with every day. Mentors are people who express their own value and help you unlock yours. Take steps to get one, now.

 

Your ‘normal’ friends don’t count

There are enough mentors to go around, there really is.

There’s lots, and they show up when you really want one. The reason they seem rare to most people is because most people do the same things. They hang out a place that was just like the last place, buy another shiny object, and watch another TV show.

It’s almost painful to watch.

Seriously, it practically kills my soul.

You can’t do the same things as usual and believe you’ll somehow magically connect with a mentor, that’s an indicator that you’re not ready.

You can find one, but you have to grow.

Ever heard that phrase, “the teacher appears when the student is ready?”

Well, it’s true.

Do something different, show that you’re ready.

If you want a business mentor start asking around about creating products and a brand that you can stand by, or google “forums to succeed in business”.

Buy the book of an author you like — or borrow one from the library — and then write them and tell them you enjoyed it. They all list contact info in their books, and they tend to enjoy connecting with people.

Whatever you do, be prepared to ‘be yourself’ – mentors have great x-ray vision – they’ll see right through you.

When you’re bad@$$ enough to share your personal stories, mistakes, and flaws, then your coach’ll ‘appear’.

You can’t fake it.

You want people to know that they have someone ‘real’ they can work with, and not just another chump looking to waste their time or be babysat.

That’s not something you can fake.

When you start checking out forums like this — not just once in a while, but truly caring about the community there, you’re on the right track.

‘Cause yes, caring is what it comes down to. Care about yourself, care about your mentor and care about both your community and theirs.

I want you to succeed.

Look, I don’t know everything, and I might be biased ’cause I passionately make money through ‘mentoring’ people at RyzeOnline.com – so write me off if you want to.

You judge and label me, or you can realize the value of my message, your call.

I’ll tell you this though:

I spent 7 years in mediocrity and failure, until my CTO friend swooped in like a guardian angel helped me out, mentoring me a bit and giving me a stable platform to build from.

From that leg up, I connected with business champs Evan Carmichael + Danny Iny. How? By getting involved in their community — no agenda, pure love — because I care.

Then I met David Hurley on the forums, and now I’ve been invited here to share with you.

So the question is…

…if it takes someone with an IQ of 174 (or 184, I can never remember ) 7 years and many failed businesses to finally learn how important a mentor is — wouldn’t it be a damn good move for you to start really keeping an eye out for one?

You know it.

So, let me know in the comments how you feel about mentors + coaches! Are you truly ready for one? Kinda ready? Think you don’t need them?

Whatever stage you’re at, I’m all ears

P.S. The story at the beginning of this post came from an incredible speech from Eric Thomas, The Hip-Hop Preacher, video’d by Greyskale Media, and I love it. Watch the full thing here.

P.P.S. This post was inspired by Eric T. Wagner’s post on mentors over at Forbes, check him out

Note: Jason Fonceca is a positive badass who helps young, urban entrepreneurs who know they’re capable of more and feeling stuck, rocket past any plateau. He brings fresh views on taboos, delivering clarity + insight, to help you expand physically, mentally, and emotionally at RyzeOnline.com and you can follow him @ryzeonline.

By the way, if you’re new here then I’d like to invite you to join my friend list by putting your name and primary e-mail address in the little boxes below. Thank you! DH.