If you've been following this years Men's Division I NCAA Basketball tournament then you know how crazy the brackets have been. In fact I believe that ESPN said there were only about 2 brackets out of the millions filled out on there site that still have the Final Four in tact. One of the reasons things are so messed up is because the 12th seed Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Rams have been creating upset after upset in stunning fashion. Obviously because of this stunning run they have been getting a lot of recent coverage. And me being the "sports junkie" I am, I've heard it all. 

Yesterday they did a piece on VCU's coach Shaka Smart, and I found out something very interesting. Out of high school Coach Smart had the opportunity to go to various prestigious schools including Yale and Harvard. However he turned down the Ivy League opportunity to play college basketball at a smaller school named Kenyon College.  Obviously, I don't know Coach personally, but I can guess that he received a lot of criticism when making this decision. I mean who turns down a chance to go to an Ivy League school? Isn't that the American Dream? Well not for him. His dream was to play and eventually coach college basketball and he followed those dreams and didn't look back.  I'm sure there were periods in his life when he questioned his decision, but at the end of the day he had his mind set and he was in it to win it.  Now at only 34 he's one of the hottest college basketball coaches on the market.

Coach Smart shares the same motto as the TRmovement. "Dive Into Your Dreams, and Don't look Back."  He did so and it paid off big time.  I had a similar conversation with my brother/co-producer of this site and he mentioned the same thing. I wasn't questioning the decision I made to start my own business, rather I was getting a little impatient with my success.  He told me that I already made the jump and now I have to see it out. Also, he mentioned that good results take time and that I just need to keep pushing.  I think Shaka Smart is a great example of a person that shocked the world, not because of his success in the tournament, rather the path he choose to get there.

 
One of Team Royalty's main motto's is "Progression".  With that being said, my brother and I are always thinking of ways to make the site better and move on to the next level.  Currently we have a million ideas on deck but that's something that you guys are going to have to wait for. However, recently I've been asking myself "why don't people visit the site?" One answer I received from a few people was because they thought it was strictly about business issues. At first I thought to myself, well if you've been visiting the site frequently you would know that this isn't the case. But then as I thought about it, and the name of the site is I Am Business and that first impression is what most people think of.  With that being said I wanted to take the time to explain why the name of the site is I Am Business and what we really meant by this slogan.

The slogan I Am Business is meant to be thought of as more of a mindset, rather than to be taken too literally. We believe that you are in 100% control of your life and it's no different than running your own business. In a business plan (from the top down) you have a mission statement, goals, objectives and tactics.

Mission Statement: Your mission statement is comparable to the morals and ethics that you follow in life. What do you stand for? What kind of person are you? 

Goals: Goals are self explanatory, what would you like to achieve overall in life? These goals don't have to be specific but simply an overall direction in which you want to take your life. 

Objectives: Your objectives are a more specific breakdown of your goals. For example, if you have a goal that says: I want to be financially stable, or I want to help others, then your objectives should be what you need to do in order to complete that goal. If your goal is to be financially stable then an objective can be to achieve that goal by becoming a doctor, or opening your own business, or working on personal money management, etc.

Tactics: Lastly your tactics are the specific steps that you need to take to achieve your objectives and goals. What exactly do you need to do to reach your goals.

All of these areas can be thought of on a larger basis or in your day to day activity. The point is that your life is your business. You own it, you call the shots and you make the difficult decisions. In many cases people get comfortable with way they are at instead of continuing to push forward and set new goals and a true plan to accomplish those goals in an organized and professional manner. 

 
Over the years I have noticed that I have a really bad habit. One that I know at least a few of you readers out there share as well. This bad habit is called procrastination.  I always wait for the last minute to get a tasks done.  Well, actually let me take that back. I wait for the last minute to complete a task that I don't really want to do.  I would always make an excuse not to do it like, "I'll be more refreshed in the morning", or something other of the sort. However, although this got me into a lot of long nights writing papers during school, I always knew that I would get it done.  But this same form of making excuses happen in our everyday life. A great example is dieting or exercise. If you have ever worked in a gym, you know that the first 2 weeks after new years are the most packed days of the year.  This is because everyone makes a new year's resolution to lose weight or hit the gym on a consistent basis. However, after those initial two weeks people begin to slack and make excuses like "well I had to much work to do" or " I'm trying to save on gas money."  I'm sure you know of some.  Shoot, I think I've come up with every excuse in the world not to do something when I don't feel like it.   My challenge to you in to try and go a week without making an excuse for a task you told yourself would get done.  And when your weeks done, see if you feel more fulfilled. I haven't don't this yet, but I'm interesting to see how it goes. I know one thing. When I complete something that I didn't want to do, I always feel a great sense of relief and satisfaction.

 
Growing up I can honestly say that I was a full blown pessimist. I didn't plan to be this way , rather I noticed a trend of whenever I wanted something to happen so bad and it didn't turn out the exact way that I wanted it I would feel let down. For example, if I wanted to get picked for a part in a play or for a specific team, I would get really excited about the possibility, only to later find out I didn't get picked. More recently I had an all-star recruiting class set to come to the school I coach at, but by the time the season came around none of them were able to compete due to various reasons. During the period when I thought they were still coming, I got so worked up thinking about the future possibilities only to be crushed by the reality of the situation. Instances like this throughout my life have shaped my mindset to the point where I am very even keel and emotional-less until the food is in my mouth per say.  What's strange is despite having this mindset when it comes to things I can't control, I have the exact opposite mindset for things that I can.

When it comes to myself and my personal actions I am humble at my heart, but very confident in my affirmations.  Over the years I have really noticed and accepted how much the mind really controls the body. Yes, we all know the brain controls everything, duh, but I meant how powerful the human mind is that you can actually will things to happen.  I have always believed that if you want something bad enough (as long as it's under your control) you can make it happen.  There are plenty of different methods to achieve this, mine personally is backing myself into a corner until I have nowhere else to go but forward. When I'm looking to achieve a goal I talk myself up so much that I get to the point where I have to step up and get it done, or I'm going to look and feel like an idiot. I'll put it straight forward to you so listen up. "I DON'T LIKE FAILURE, AND I DON'T FAIL." Failure is my biggest fear, and because of this I constantly tell myself not that I want to win, but I have to win. Now before I move on let me explain my feelings on failure and losing. Those words to me are an end to all. Meaning that if I hear that somebody fails, it means that it's over and they have given up.  I look at everything in the big picture. I hate to use military references especially when my brother is a member of the proud forces that serve us. But I think of it as the battle versus the war. Losing the battle is a setback while failure to me is losing the war.  You can learn valuable thing from losing battles, but as long as you still have the desire and drive to push forward and fight then you are still in the war. But when you accept the loss and stop fighting, that's when you have lost the war and have failed.

I make it no secret that I don't like to lose and that I straight out don't fail. And because of this mindset, I often get characterized as being arrogant. "Ooooohhh I hate that word!" Personally I don't think I'm arrogant.  Especially when looking at the definition that says: Making claims or pretensions to superior importance or rights; overbearingly assuming; insolently proud.  The key words I took from this definition was superior importance, overbearingly, and insolently. 

Superior importance: Me thinking that I'm better than you.  Ok well I fail on this section because I do think I'm better than you.  Not in the case where I'm a better person, or have more talent than you, but if we're involved in the same task, I want to win. If I'm worse than you, I can and do fully except that, but at the same time I don't want you to know that and have it feed your confidence.  I'm fully aware that there are many people better than me at everything I do in the world. But answer this question, why go into a fight knowing and telling yourself that you're going to lose? if you do a study on any military force, or even look at movies like 300, Robin Hood or Braveheart just to name a few. pay attention to the mindset that they have before going into battle, even if they are the underdogs.

Overbearingly assuming/insolently proud:  I completely pass this test, because although I talk myself up (to myself) to the point where I have extreme confidence, I never assume anything about my competitors. When going into a job interview, I may tell myself that I am the best candidate for this job and here is why. But I never enter with the mindset that John over there is a loser or that Sally can't do the job as well as I can. I'm simply worried about myself and my own abilities. My "self talk" is just that, talk for me and my mind only. I'm never rude to others or proud to the point where I try to make others feel bad.

I have been involved in sports sine I could walk, and mentally I am one of the most ferocious competitors you'll ever meet because I don't like to lose at anything I do. With that being said if you ask anybody that knows me they will tell you that I'm probably a little crazy, but at the same time I have never taunted, boasted, or belittled anybody in my life time. I'm actually quite quiet when it's time to get stuff done. My way of taunting and boasting is by simply attempting to get the job done better than you can. "What you call arrogance is simply my confidence." 

I know it's a little long but thank you for taking the time to read this entry. - I Am Business

 
Howdy Readers!

Gary here wanting to thank all of you on behalf of Iambusiness.weebly.com for your patience and diligence when it comes to being apart of the mission for positivity. All of us have been extremely busy lately so we do apologize for the lack of updates but as you can see, we're pushing forward as time allows us! Please look forward to more blogs with the upcoming week as Mr. Stokes returns from his journey! Thanks again so much for what you do everyday. Keep reading and keep INSPIRING!

Much Love,
Team Royalty