What Influenced Me to Start a Business

by with No Comment InfluenceLifestyleThe grind

Over the years I have been asked where I got my drive to start my own business,exposure to people in my life who either had full blown,to part time businesses to others who had hobbies which payed for themselves.My mother was my greatest supporter.
My mother,and aunt,and uncle supported my reading habits.My mother and father,and a couple of others taught me how to draw.That was my young childhood,then I began to mow lawns in the summer and shovel sidewalks in the winter.Not long into my early teens I worked for a gentleman named Sonny,his business was cleaning out attics and basements,my first real job.
I have two uncles ,both who have run their own businesses who were very influential in my life,unbeknownst to them.One had a catering business with a couple of friends,to me he was happiest at that moment.I didn’t know much about running a business at the time,but knew he was very busy on a regular basis.The other uncle worked at a sports shop which he took over ,and opened another store in a different town.To me they are my influences to try my hand at starting a business,didn’t matter what just a business.
While in school I use to sell candy with a 15-20 cent mark up,after school I started a paper route.I enjoyed mowing lawns and painting houses and the such more,it gave me more time to draw and ride my bike.
My greatest influence in starting a business,Ed “Big Daddy”Roth creator of Rat Fink and other such characters,and some crazy custom cars and bikes.My mother being my monster drawing mentor,father for cars,custom and sports cars.I got to meet him at a World On Wheels car show,got a picture somewhere.
This was where I decided I would start my own clothing line,t-shirt designs in the 70’s and 80’s were wicked creative from cartoon characters,sci-fi,and surf/skate prints.Graffiti was a new medium for the youth at that time also,when our friends came back from overnight trips to New York,Philly,and other areas with graff rags,black and white newspaper printed magazines featuring different graffiti writers of the times.So my appetite for new techniques of this new style of art was practiced in my rap music filled bedroom.
There were many others who influenced me such as a Marine I knew in Okinawa Japan,he was a Amway man,but well spoken and intelligent in those pursuits.Mr. Shea back home,was into real estate and garages,intelligent and very on point with investing.Mr. McDermott whom I worked with for a short spell,he knew how to read the market and invest in different stocks,plus he was slowly building a home shop,machine business.
I feel for each one of my influences that I’ve been exposed to at different chapters of my life,have been great learning experiences,and I still need to learn more to get to where I want to be in life.
And to Mr. Letendre my high school guidance counselor who gave me the talk about the two directions in life I could from….up or down…I have been a firm believer in if you want to do something in your life you got to work at it,persistently,consistently,and believe you can……

Gato 21

Unplug from the matrix

by with No Comment Uncategorized

Last night on a wild spur of the moment idea,I decided to go out dancing with my wife.No big deal right,well it was a big deal,it had been month’s since we last unplugged from the matrix to unwind and just enjoy one another’s company without the smart phones,facebook,instagram,pinterest.We danced for like 3 full hours,wow it was great just moving and seeing the look of pure pleasure in her eyes.The music could have been a bit better in my opinion,but do you know what it didn’t matter as we moved as one and lived in those moments not worrying about anything else in the world.
Just as in the morning I will stop and look Heavenward and enjoy the sunrise or spectacular skyline for a moment and have my coffee.When I get out of my car and look skyward and gaze at the stars that line the sky,sometimes even sit with a cold drink and watch the fireflys in the empty lot next door.Those moments are Instagram moments in my mind,living in that moment just enjoying that one thing.
We are being trained to not live in those moments,to hashtag it and not truly immerse ourselves in those fleeting instances.
Which brings me back to the night of dancing,glimpsing around the dance floor seeing so many people awkwardly standing around talking and watching us dancing in the corner.While they text,drink,and update statuses,and never truly letting go and living in the moment,,,,dance like no ones looking,sing like no ones listening,I’m not sure how to fully explain those feelings at those moment and throw cautions and inhibitions to the wind and fully immerse yourself in life ,and enjoy..

Gato 21

Positive Thinking

by with No Comment Lifestyle

Well here we are again talking about effects of how we feel and how it effects us both physically and emotionally.I like the positive reinforcement side of this.
If we are what we think and believe,how come we all aren’t millionaires or movie stars,or super successful?
It comes down to our own mind,how we view everyday things and how we react to differing circumstances,how we feel about ourselves in general.
This is also talking about attraction and the laws of it.positive energy,thoughts,ideas,and emotions attract the same positive environment.

When we say we’ll give it a try,it means I will do it but it will probably fail.

If you say you can’t do that,you can’t you just set up limits for yourself just by saying it.

I can and I will have become very important words in my vocabulary.I try to keep myself in a positive frame of mind,I know that it is not easy.But if i say I can then I can………

Worst Blogger Online

by with No Comment BlogUncategorized

Ya like that title,kind of an attention grabber but not far from the truth! Okay well maybe I’m not the worst blogger,I could add more content regularly.Here we are the end of the year holidays seasons,updating the blog once again.I apologize for the lack of posts here,as I just completed a lifestyle shift from one field of employment to one a lot closer to my aspirations in life.As some who have followed our journey here with SLO MO know the clothing brand has always been a big dream of mine/ours the crews past and present.Working a full time gig and grinding on the side to bring this to fruition…..
Working full time and side grinding kinda gave me excuses to not post as much on the blog and more on the Facebook and Instagram sites.Also cause they’re more convenient to post content on a cell phone,while not having the tablet handy.So my blog postings have been few and far between! Once again gaining some forward momentum after picking up the ball.
As I am still learning this blog thing out I didn’t respond to a lot of remarks and messages about the posts.As a matter of fact a ton were deleted by yours truly,trying to sort the good ones from the spam at the time was mind numbing. I did read almost every one sent,so with that said I will answer some of the questions we received :
-A lot of problems with the blog uploading on Internet explorer and others,sometimes words running off the screen…..I will be researching this.
-Problems with the RSS not working,will be researching.
-Our fault as we have not set up email subscriptions or e/newsletters
-Others using WP having been hacked,yes we had the same issue here ie I deleted a ton of comments cause was not sure if one had been used to hack the blog.
-Plagiarism of my articles by others on the web,I mean if you use one of my posts please give me a little credit.
-None of my post topics were paid for by any groups,companies or others that were mentioned in the articles.I wrote about them because they either inspired or taught me something or just the experience was just that good.
-And no we haven’t started a Twitter account as of yet,I could see all my blunders fueling some major laughter.
And to get back to what matters the most,you the readers.Thank you for all the comments both good and others.Thank you for visiting the blog and referring it to others…almost forgot you can use the info laid out here in your groups and classes,just remember pass on our name. And with that I bid thee goodnight and stay warm as it is about 28 degrees fahrenheit here…..

 

And before I forget  Happy 242 years Marines,and don’t forget those who had,are,and will be serving in the future thank you for your service to our country and for the freedoms we enjoy due to your sacrifices.Semper Fidelis!

Gato 21

Pittsburgh World of Wheels Car show

by with No Comment Car show

The World of Wheels Car show was a ray of sunshine in a dreary January.There was just as many new school cars as well as old school customs.Not as many cars and stuff as expected,but the quality was good.The highlight for me was meeting Gene Winfield custom car legend.I was amazed at how many people walking by unknowingly passing by a living legend. I asked if I could get a picture with him,he said jump the rope around his shop set-up.Met some really cool people this year and years before at these type of shows.My other favorite was Ed”Big Daddy”Roth.Will post more pictures on Instagram.

The Search for the Legal Graffitti Walls of Odessa Texas

by with No Comment Graffitti

                   Next stop after Muncy was Odessa Texas to work at one of our sister shops. Man was it hot it ranged from God it’s HOT,to damn did that guy just burst into flames……..hahahaa. But seriously it ranged from 98 to 113 degrees f,almost the whole time we were there. We worked an awful lot of hours in our two week rotation there.

Now I’ve been to Odessa before,and since then I had heard they had a Graffitti contest and some outdoor calisthenics workout areas in the surrounding areas Midland/Odessa. So I found out I was going there again,so I started researching but didn’t get anything concrete till I got down there. Once I got to work down there began asking coworkers if they had heard about the Legal graffitti wall.During my previous visit a coworker told me about the wall,but didn’t have the time to show me during that rotation.Another coworker found the location of the wall through one of his friends(thanks Javier and Sammy for the fatcap info),another colleague did find out about an outdoor calisthenic course at a local park but was too hot to workout outside after 10+ hour days.

So onto the Holy Grail”Legal Wall”,the shops that use to carry the caps locally went out of business.And once I did have a chance to go and find the Wall it was two days before I was to fly out,needless to say I didn’t get to paint this time around.But I did get some pics of what was there,so to all you Aeroheads out there try to contact people local to the area you’re traveling to. It felt good to find it this time around. I had even asked a local working at Lids in Odessa Mall who didn’t know these walls existed right there in his backyard. He showed me some pics of a recent trip he had made to Austin Texas,they have a crazy Legal graff wall…….Other places and events to checkout in the future.

Thanks to the crew in Odessa for help finding the wall and related items,and for putting up with me (Gato 21) for two weeks! Peace Love and Hair grease…….Check out the Instagram account for the rest of the pics…..

 

Gato 21

 

Are You American Evil……

by with No Comment Music

Finally getting this one posted,sorry for the late post as time and distance have kept me from writing while traveling.While working in Muncy PA,a coworker and myself happened across a poster advertising a couple of bands playing that weekend at the very hotel we were staying at.It was a benefit show for the SPCA,well we decided to go on the night of the show.We had put in a lot of hours while working there,we knew we needed some R&R to unwind a bit.Awesome decision by the way,no sarcasm whatsoever.

It turned out to be a good night,met a lot of cool people and a couple of dogs.Remember we said SPCA! Well we didn’t know what to expect from the bands except the first one was metal/party rock and the following act was steampunk. Well the first bands name is American Evil hailing from central PA.The crowd wasn’t exactly what I expected at a rock show,only about 30 or so people and no Metal Head types, other than my coworker and myself everyone was sitting down for the actual show.For not being Evil Americans type of crowd,they played like it was a larger and more packed venue than what it was.

Awesome energy and antics,wicked pissah as I would say.My colleague and I were probably the only people really listening and standing next to the stage.I would love to see these guys in a regular type crowd,IE their natural crowd….rock,metal heads,having fast loud fun.Seeing them made being up there a little bit more bearable.When they were done I chatted a bit with their merch salesman,who was their friend and local artist.So I wound up buying a couple of tees and some art he had prepared for someone else who never showed up.So here are a couple of pics of the tees and other art I had purchased.And to American Evil tell your friend and yourselves to hit me up on facebook….Sorry no pics from the show as I was actually watching it….peace,love,and hairgrease….

Gato 21

 

#Americanevil,#metal,#partyrock,#greatshow