SchwartzBlog

Hi All!

Wow it has been a while since I have put one of these up. Since we last spoke, I’ve traveled eastern Europe and had a semester of college (and joined a fraternity, Delta Tau Delta). That, however, is for another post. In addition, since I start my second semester tomorrow, I doubt I will actually ever get to blog about it. If you really want more info, you’re welcome to shoot me a text .

What got me back on my blog was a different post I had read by a dear friend and mentor, Tom Krieglstein. He was asked by a friend if he had a mentor. And his response (in a blog post of course) was that there was never a specific person who fully inspired him to do what he does today.

I am paraphrasing considerably, so I recommend you just read his post, but here what I drew from what he said.

Tom mentioned that he “had this idea planted in me that I’d find “the one.” Not in terms of love, but in terms of mentors”. I would like to reflect on Tom’s current status. He has a love, but no mentor.

I never planned on finding Tom, and even when I did I never assumed he would become the type of influence on my life that exists today. I don’t think he planned on it either. But I think one of the reasons our relationship exists was that there was never a bar. I know Tom, and I think based on his personality that if he ever met someone who he thought could be his mentor, he would set the bar very high for this person. And this person who would not know they were being tested.

I think the reason Tom never found a real mentor was because he was looking for one, and an incredible one at that. Tom was looking for the next great entrepreneur, capable of creating something from nothing and inspiring the world around him.

What Tom failed to mention in his blog post is that instead of finding this person, he became it. Tom has grown multiple ideas from a single thought to a multi-million dollar business. He has inspired thousands of people all over the country. He has inspired more people than most of us will ever meet in our entire lives, and this guy is 30.

We all have dreams, and most of us have people to look up to. But no one is perfect, and the only people we can truly motivate are ourselves. Don’t look for success in others, find it in yourself. At the end of the day, how awesome would it be to become the exact person you looked up to?

Tom never found a mentor, but I am kind of glad he didn’t. Because if he found his, who would have found mine?