Can one single person change someone's life forever? In this special episode, I share the keynote I gave at Portage Atlantic about the time I spent at the center for at-risk youth when I was just a teen. WATCH: Everything In My Power:
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Why are you here? … What are you doing here?
Those are the 2 questions Brian asked me.
… Brian.
Brian was one of the guards in the Saint John Regional Correctional Facility where I was doing an eleven-month sentence for the severity of my crimes.
I was 16… And Brian was the guard who got me out of the room where I spent 3 days in solitary confinement (aka The Hole), because of a fight.
At the time Brian was already working in the facility for almost 10 years. He was a stern but fair person. And a person inmates held a deep respect for.
… and his question - to which I had no adequate answer for at the time - and his following statement was a turning point in my life.
"You don't belong here.", he said "You're different. You're a good kid."… And he talked to me for a few more minutes...
I was baffled… I'm sure other people in my life had said something similar to me before… But Brian was the one who had a profound impact on me.
That conversation cracked me wide open and helped me see things differently…
For many reasons, but the big one was that I had someone who believed in me in a way I could never believe in myself…
And here I am. 22 years after that moment and after doing another 11 months in Portage - a therapeutic center for adolescents with drug addiction.
I'm crazy thankful to all the people that helped me get to where I am now. The life I get to live, and for my family and friends who've supported me along the way.
I shared my story last week at the Portage Atlantic Fundraiser… and would love to share it with you.
You can watch it here.
- The beginning & the downfall
- Saint John & Brian
- Portage New Brunswick & first steps in programming
- The special gift & our obligation as adults
- Creating success stories
I end by sharing a quote from my good friend Josh Shipp (who has an incredible story himself when his Foster Father challenged him and showed up to support):
"Every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story."
And me being here, doing what I am doing, I consider this a somewhat success story that's still being written because I'm only getting started :)
I'm crazy grateful to all the caring adults that helped me get here.
So with that, I want to let you know that I believe in you. I can say that because you're reading this. It shows me you're the kind of person that believes in betterment and pushing yourself to be a better version of who you are.
Very few people do that, and you should give yourself credit for being one of them.
So lean on me... if there's anything I can ever do to help, just ask.
We are all trying to figure it all out but I believe in the power of positive peer pressure… and TOGETHER we will figure it all out!
So here's my ask of you:
Dream Big
Take Action
Be Grateful
An incredible life can actually live on the other side of those simple steps.
Insanely grateful.
Dan "Believing In Others" Martell
Don't forget to share this story with your friends, so they can learn too:
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ABOUT DAN MARTELL
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“You can only keep what you give away.” That’s the mantra that’s shaped Dan Martell from a struggling 20-something business owner in the Canadian Maritimes (which is waaay out east) to a successful startup founder who’s raised more than $3 million in venture funding and exited not one... not two... but three tech businesses: Clarity.fm, Spheric and Flowtown.
You can only keep what you give away. That philosophy has led Dan to invest in 33+ early stage startups such as Udemy, Intercom, Unbounce and Foodspotting. It’s also helped him shape the future of Hootsuite as an advisor to the social media tour de force.
An activator, a tech geek, an adrenaline junkie and, yes, a romantic (ask his wife Renee), Dan has recently turned his attention to teaching startups a fundamental, little-discussed lesson that directly impacts their growth: how to scale. You’ll find not only incredible insights in every moment of every talk Dan gives - but also highly actionable takeaways that will propel your business forward. Because Dan gives freely of all that he knows. After all, you can only keep what you give away.
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