MY STORY
It’s a passion, a fire inside that drives me every day to be better than I was yesterday.
I start each day with meditation, exercise, quality nutrition, and filling my mind with positivity and learning. I’ve learned that these disciplines lead to freedom and freedom equals success.
Here’s my story of how I got here.
My family is from Lebanon, and in 1970 moved to Dearborn, Michigan to live out the American Dream. My Dad got a job at Ford Motor Company. Being the firstborn son of an immigrant, the pressure was on him to succeed. I was raised Muslim in a family where our religion was really just a title. My parents practiced their faith via some traditions and rituals but it wasn’t part of our everyday lives.
My father was extremely abusive to my mother and me, both mentally and physically. I would wake up most days with my father telling me I would never amount to anything. I learned to live my childhood flying under his radar which meant keeping my mouth shut, performing well in school, and keeping myself “in line” in order to stay in good standing with my dad to avoid his abuse. I lived in constant fear at home but put a smile on my face each morning when I went to school. Most people didn’t know I was living in this hell, even my closest friends. I did have some amazing uncles who often told me my dad was mentally ill and not to listen to what he said which gave me some hope.
This was my first taste of how mindset is everything.
I survived this childhood environment. And it made me mentally strong. Through this dysfunction, my father gave me the greatest gift. I learned to tune out negativity and hate and walk my own path with a relentless work ethic.
One of the brightest spots in my life was in 8th grade, when I met my now wife, Shelly a beautiful, energetic, Catholic woman
We were a team, and for the first time, I understood what a support system could look like. She had my back. I got into pharmacy school, which was my father’s dream for my life. My dad had big plans for me. He sacrificed a lot to get to this country and also wanted me to live out the American Dream by being college educated, going to pharmacy school, and opening our own pharmacy.
I was on a mission to please my father, but I ended up crushing his dream by failing out of school. Later in life, I realized this was a blessing because I would have been a miserable pharmacist.
While I was in pharmacy school, I met some people who introduced me to multi-level marketing. I was working on the business full time and Shelly was working in real estate and would help me when she got off of work. Shelly and I were young, poor, and driven with a vision of what we wanted to achieve. Shelly and I got married, her Catholic, me Muslim.
I took what little money I had and bought a Tony Robbins CD set on mindset. I listened to it over and over and I began to change.
I started to feel confidence grow inside me and I wanted to get my hands on anything and everything that had to do with mindset.
We started making $10k/month and we felt like we were on top of the world!
Although our financial goals were much larger than that, we were paying the bills and living comfortably. A light bulb went off inside me. I started to have success and it seemed easy! I found out I was a natural salesperson and knew I could outwork anyone to obtain success for my future.
Shelly and I were traveling the country training and recruiting people in the business, speaking on stages in front of 10,000 people, and living it up.
The multi-level marketing company we were working for opened fitness franchises and Shelly and I were offered positions to consult these franchisees on sales, operations, hiring, firing, and anything to do with getting the business up and running.
We went on to have four beautiful children
Three girls and one boy. I was adamant that I would be the father I never had – a supportive, loving, and positive role model.
Like anything in life, you have ups and downs. We were at the peak of our sales career in multi-level marketing, when, like most MLM companies, the fall started to happen. We knew the company was going under and we needed to pivot. My marriage was suffering due to the demands of our jobs, four kids, and the lifestyle we were living. In order to support my family, I swallowed my pride and took a job at Pep Boys to be the service manager.
I felt like I was starting over. We shared one car, had to ask the landlord to delay our rent, and I lived in constant fear waiting for different utilities to be turned off as we couldn’t pay our bills. I was working four different jobs at the time including valeting cars, providing janitorial services, and cleaning up construction sites, just to make ends meet.
I started to fall back into the trap of negativity. I felt like I had no control over my destiny, it was controlling me.
At this point, everything seemed out of control, my faith was rocked, my finances plummeted, and I had zero time freedom because I had to work every second to make ends meet. My support system was shaky and my overall health was miserable.
In an attempt to salvage my marriage: I started going to the Catholic church with my wife.
I went for the sake of going and didn’t care to be there, but then I met a man who became my sponsor. He owned an insurance brokerage and introduced me to selling insurance. The only stipulation was I had to take the insurance exam and pass. I failed it five times because my anxiety level was so high I couldn’t concentrate on studying. The stakes were too high if I don’t get a better job and make money. I didn’t know where my family would end up. We had just had a car repossessed and bills were piling up.
I was in church that day talking to Jesus complaining that my life wasn’t getting any better. I was going to take the test one more time in the morning.
Jesus told me I was worshipping the wrong things and to lean on him.
I took the exam in less than 30 minutes and passed with flying colors. It was the easiest test I had ever taken.
I knew this was the path I was supposed to be on and Jesus was the way.
When I started with the insurance company, we were making $300,000 in revenue and I helped build it to almost $6 million in revenue in only five years. I got the sales spark back. I made $100,000 in the first six months and realized I was good at selling insurance. I felt like I had a superpower and the more effort I put in, the more money I could make. In 36 months, I was offered a partnership.
I started to take guys out to teach them insurance and realized my true calling was to help them not only learn how to sell but excel in other areas of their life at the same time.
Mentorship became my passion and I became obsessed with other people’s success!
I can tell you that freedom always starts with mindset. No matter your situation or circumstance, once you train your mind to see opportunities hidden within every challenge, it all changes. You move from a place of being controlled to being in control; you shift from negativity to positivity; this is your journey toward freedom and success.
You see, success equals freedom.
They are one and the same. You cannot have true success without also finding freedom. And I believe that when six key areas in life line up and support one another, we can be unstoppable. I’m talking about finances, time, health, support system, spirituality, and our mindset. Once I took control of these six areas of life, I started to see success and you will too!
I am obsessed with your success!
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