How cool the president (Calvin) really is...

Hey there, everyone. Calvin here from Simplero here. It's good to see you. Still early in the new year. I want to talk to you today about the one thing that kept me going when my life was really tough and I had a lot of years struggling as an entrepreneur where I didn't know what I was doing and nothing seemed to work and I felt very alone.

I had this moment where everything kind of came to a head. Is that the expression? I think is it. Where my mom was like hey, my dad and I have been talking about maybe you should just take a job with Microsoft. Doesn't have to be forever. It could just be for three years or something and I was like "Wait, are you kidding me?" Like of all the places in the world that I could possibly work, you're suggesting ... Microsoft is like the last person ... Microsoft has changed but still today, I would say ... Yeah. If you suggest Microsoft for me, I don't think you know who I am or how I work. It hurt kinda quite a bit. I know they came from a perfectly loving place, so I don't blame them but it was tough. It was tough for a long while.

I didn't feel like I had much of any support and I was struggling.

I was struggling and then eventually things turned around and it started to work out but there was one thing that kept me going. There was one particular quote that kept me going that I kept returning to and I was thinking about this the other day because I met this guy, Duran, at a coffee shop and he was talking about making music, that music had kept him going through the tough periods and that's why he wanted to share music with other people. He wanted to create a record label that would put out music, that would help people get through those tough periods.

So, I actually thought of making a song, making a track that would have this on it as the record. So, without further ado, I'm going to reveal to you what that quote is of what is was that kept me going. It's a quote by former US President, Calvin Coolidge and I'll tell you something really cool about that because my name's Calvin too if you haven't noticed. But here's the quote. I'll show it to you on the screen.

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

Hey, I can have a picture of me as well here. There we go. The slogan press on has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. So, persistence. That's the thing. That's the only thing that had kept me going. I was like all right, just gotta keep trying. For me, getting a job was never really seriously an option. It didn't appeal to me. I did think of taking a job for a short period of time just to learn some particular business skills and things like that before starting my own and it was actually my dad who talked me out of that. He was like "You'll learn by doing. You're just get started and you'll figure it out." And then when he saw me struggling a few years later, he was like "Oh my God. I should've never told him that." I should get a job and learn things but I didn't. I did start out and the first couple of years, it worked really well but then I got into the slog and all this stuff and it didn't work. And so, just revisiting this quote over and over again helped keep me going, right.

It's not about talent. It's not about genius. It's not about education. It's just about keep going, Press on.

And so that ... When I had these questions in my mind, do I have what it takes, am I cutout for this thing. Maybe I'm not an entrepreneurial type. Maybe I should just get a job and just resign myself to the fact that I don't have what it takes. This quote kept me going. Just keep going. Keep going. Keep going. We'll figure it out eventually. Just keep trying. And so it made such a big impression on me that when I went to change my name ... So, I've changed my name. I was born ... Actually, not born but baptized, I guess. Is that what it's called? I think it's baptized. The name my parents gave me was Lars Pind. I was never crazy about that name. It had some cache kind of In Denmark but its also very ... Its very hard to work into English Lars Pind. How do I pronounce ... I don't even know. Lars kinda ... Nobody gets it but then they're like Lars Ulrich and stuff.

So, I never liked that name much. So, when I met my wife here, she had changed her name already using a numerologist and all of a sudden, I met a bunch of people who'd done that and I was like that sounds cool. That sounds fun. Let's try it. And so I met with a numerologist and he was like ... He painted this diamond shaped thing based on your number and birthday and the number means certain things and it's all math and then he's like "This is what your life is like now." The top part ... I can tell you guys about this some other time but the top part is how you relate to the outside of the world. The bottom part of the diamond there is how you relate to yourself and he was telling me all these things.

I'm like "Yeah, that sounds like me. That sounds really painful. It sounds really awful actually but that sounds like me." And then he was like "And here's the number I suggest for your name and so this is what your life would be like with that, according to the neurology. I was like "That sounds pretty amazing" and then he was like "All right. So now here's some lists of names that you can choose that match those value and then go pick you name. I was like oh God, whoa. I have to change ... Oh shit. I have to change my name. Oh my god.

And so I was like "What are people gonna think? What are people gonna say? Or am I gonna lose a lot of friends. They'll think I'm super weird, which I am, so hey. But then ... It took me a year to actually go change my name but I did change my name. I ended up changing my name and the name that I picked was Calvin because of this. I picked that name because of this quote that kept me going through all these years. So, I'm paying my dues to former president. Calvin Coolidge. I actually don't know much about his presidency. I thought I should read a biography about him at one point. As I understand, he was actually a pretty good and slightly underrated but really awesome president. I don't know. Maybe you guys can educate me or I'll read the biography at some point, but point being here, perseverance. If I can make it, you can make it.

It's taken me a long time to get to here. It's taken a lot of introspection, self-awareness like working through shit, becoming a better version of myself, a better person. In the first place, figuring out who the hell I am.

I had no idea. I was so busy trying to be what I thought I should be that I just had no clue who I was and it took me kind of five years from 2003 til 2008 to even start to break through that hole. In 2003, a friend of mine looked me in the eyes and he's like "I don't know what you want and I don't hear you." We were strategizing. I'd been busy and he's like "I have no clue what we want. We've talked three hours, I still don't know" And I was like "What do you mean what I want? Is that even relevant? Like I just wanna be successful. Just tell me how to make a successful company. That's all I want." And it took me like five years until I was even remotely able to start to answer that question.

So, it has been a journey, man. It's been from like 2003 and now we're 2019. It's been a ride. It's been a journey but perseverance, just keeping at it, keeping at it and here we are today. I'm incredibly blessed, have a successful software company and amazing amazing wife and a relationship, most incredible kids in the world and just .., I have great health. I've got everything, honestly, and I'm so grateful for it and it's only because I just persisted because none of this I had. I didn't have a good relationship. I didn't have good health. I didn't have a successful business. I didn't know who I was. I didn't have ... I was like a mess inside. I had none of this when I started this journey like 15 years ago and here we are today and it's thanks to Calvin Coolidge.

So, I just ... I'm so grateful that I'm just like screw it, I'm going to take his name. Once again, here's the quotes. Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan press on has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

So, with that, guys, go and persist whatever it is that your dream is, whatever it is that you feel is your path and the thing that you're here to create or do. Press on. Whatever your vision is of what your life can be like. Relationship, health, business, success, friendships. Whatever that vision is, stay on it. People may think you're crazy. People may disagree. People may think you should just take a job at Microsoft and just pay the bills or whatever.

Just stay true to your vision and your belief in yourself and persevere. Persevere. All right. Thanks, guys. Have a wonderful day. Talk soon.

Calvin Correli.