Author: Henry Murphy

The culture never taught me to rest. Matter fact, if you wasn’t busy moving you was lazy where I was from. I kept that mentality when I got into business. I felt like I had something to prove to myself, because there was some seasons in my life when I had no ambition at all. 

I was about seven years into business and I rarely slowed down. Unless, my body made me. I put myself in the hospital a few times not listening to my body. I always read about the sabbath in the Bible,but I actually took it as optional. I never understood it was a command. The sabbath is a command for good reason, a day to slow down and rest and fellowship with God. 

I convinced my daughter to come to an event with me in Sarasota, Florida after getting my appendix removed. Normally for a quick turnaround like this I would work the event by myself. I maybe would hire someone from the area that I was going to. However, the doctor told me not to lift anything over 10 pounds. Every container of clothing was at least 45 pounds,so my hope was dwindling as he spoke. Literally, as he was talking, I was thinking of a method that I could use to get the clothing onto the cart and still make this work.

I figured out a system and then I got my daughter to move some of the heavier things. She was in the army and fit, so I figured she could handle it. We went to the event and we did well. A friend of mine, who was an artist at the event, I went to visit him in the green room. He told me that he haven’t seen too many people who hustle like I did. He was giving me props for that, but also rebuked me in the same conversation. He just left Jerusalem, and he got a better understanding of the Sabbath. He gave me a new perspective that I have ever heard. He made me consider truly resting on the sabbath. 

I left there with the intention of starting doing the Sabbath. It really took me some years to implement this. If you are reading this, I hope that it doesn’t take you years to do what is necessary. It’s good for your life spiritually, and for your health. God never intended us to work nonstop. As of the  writing of this blog, I have been consistent for almost 18 months now. I want to encourage you to find a day to rest and recharge. 

Anything that you set out to do, you have to do it for yourself first. You might have a few people cheering you on. That’s good, but don’t expect that. Focus on mindset. Then, focus on discipline. Finally, let discipline become your habit.

Why did I called this blog, “Who cares” ? Most of the time we get applauded after we accomplish something that most people think you can’t do. This is why it is very important to be OK with you and only you caring and not no one else. Nobody cares that you were up late working hard. Then, getting up early in the morning. That you’re  working hard month after month and year after year. Most people only see the mountain tops. They don’t see the climb. The climb is for you and no one else.

There are many benefits that come from success stories. Yet, no one may be around cheering you on while you were going through the valleys. It will be people in your future that will pay you to help them navigate through the same valleys. You must  stay focused on your goals, and you must stay diligent. You have to persevere through adversity. Because, adversity will show up when you try to become a better version of yourself. In conclusion, do it for you no one else and be content with that.

This concept is still crazy to me yet makes so much sense. The principles from “the richest man in Babylon” still reign true today. Please allow me to be straightforward before I begin.

I read this book years ago, but I am just now applying the principles. It takes a conscious effort to undo bad habits.

I believe that every entrepreneur especially should apply this principle. If you are of the Christian faith, then you understand giving 10% of your income to God. If we are honest and unaware of that, most people will begin to pay their bills. 

I believe in giving back to God for allowing us to create wealth. I personally give to my church because I know where the finances are going and what they do for kingdom work. We also give in other ways that do the same. I didn’t always do this, but God began to make my heart tender. 

I was on a trip to Ohio, and I started reading this book. I was like, “Wow, I should be paying myself, huh?” It made perfect sense and I knew that I should try to apply it right then. I honestly tried it and used the money almost weeks after I applied the principle. I begin to realize that this is a healthy habit that I was not used to. 

I recently started paying myself again. It is not an easy principle because it is foreign, but it is necessary. This money can be used for so many things, including eventually investing in stocks and bonds, and buying real estate, just to name a few.

This kind of brings us to a new perspective. Now, we give 80% of our money to pay our bills and other debts that we may have. This means that we need to look at our lifestyle closely to make sure that we are not living over our means. I can tell you right now that this is a hard reality to bear. We are all used to spending money how we want to and usually without thinking.

My dad taught me how to play basketball at a young age. He started me out with this  game called “ around the world”. The object of this game was to be able to shoot the basketball from anywhere on the basketball court.

You start out on the outside of the cylinder of the rim. You only get to move to the next spot if you hit the shot. By the time you were finished with one game, you may have been on that court for over two hours. There were some days that I might have put up over 500 shots. 

This is my approach to life and entrepreneurship. Sometimes the deterring factor of making that shot was my arch, sometimes it was the position of  my feet. The more I played the more I  had to tweak my shot. But I got better and better. 

This is the takeaway, go all in with what you are doing. Take your time, pivot when you have to. But keep putting up shots.

can’t begin to express to you the importance of surrounding yourself with solid people. Solomon said, “Surround yourself, my wise counsel.” Negative energy is such a poison.

Have you ever truly watched a creator create? There are times I walk in on my barber when he is not talking, and I watch him when he is cutting someone’s hair. You can see the love and passion in his eyes, and his work shows it. One day, I heard him talk about things that he wanted to do as a barber–goals that I have never seen anyone dream of. As soon as the words left his mouth, you could feel the tension in the air. There was a discussion towards him because of his ambition and it was automatically clouded with negative energy.

We never talked about it, but I witnessed it. Months later, my barber got his own suite. He had obviously had enough of the negative energy at the barbershop. Some of the things that he was talking about, like selling his own products, showed up in the suite. I was super excited for him. He also talked about things as an entrepreneur, like charging premium prices for a haircut. At first, I thought, “Hold on now, this involves me.” 

The crazy thing is, no one can deny his work or his respect of time. I have yet to see anyone stay on schedule like he does, week in and week out. I happily pay $45 for haircuts every single week. I believe that this subject would be a great chapter for a book because I can go on and on about keeping dream killers out of your circle. Let me end like this: be conscious of the people you keep around you.

One of my friends, Emmanuel “Da’ Truth” Lambert, who has been a rapper for a while now, said a line that I love dearly, “Now is time for application like the iPhone.”

When he spoke these lines, he was referring to principles in the Christian faith. He was telling us to be doers of what we read and hear. 

I think the same can be said about entrepreneurship. How many of us read blogs, listen to podcasts, and watch Instagram Live or YouTube Live, every single week? Oh, let’s not forget books. We consume a ton of information every single day. 

I have a question, though. How much work are we putting in to apply what we’ve watched, read, or heard?

Knowledge is good, and understanding it is even better. There is nothing greater than applying what you know and understand. I don’t care how simple the principle is, if you never put it to work then you will never know its worth. Don’t wait another day; start now.

I love Facebook memories for this one reason. It shows me pictures from 2012. It’s when I first started the brand and some of the things that I was doing. It made me remember things that I totally forgot about.

When you make a certain amount of money, and the business is doing well. It’s easy to forget about how you started. The memories reminded me of the foundation that I’ve built with the brand from the beginning.

This is important for two reasons. One, is that I can teach others how to build a brand from the ground up. Secondly, I can build another brand similar with the same concept that I used to build the first brand.

People will always tell you that it’s easy to build something, but that’s not true. It takes perseverance, hard work, and trial and error. But, the good news is that it’s attainable. I have been in Los Angeles, California for one year. I can see the opportunity on how to build my active brand from the ground up.

I would not talk about the details here on how I plan to do it, but I will share at a later time. I am excited about the possibilities of what I can do, and you should too. Now, go and build something great.

I am an advocate for self-education. I was never that guy who was made for traditional school. However, I do think that school has its place. Teaching in institutions–apart from specifics like counseling, or being a doctor or a dentist–is pretty broad.

I think the social aspect and showing up on time is very important, along with other things. As the world changes so quickly, self-education gets more and more important. You must ask yourself, what do I want to learn? Who do I want to be? 

Once you have answered those questions, then see who is doing it well and learn from them. You also have the opportunity to make things better and be innovative. 

I am currently learning about real estate and stocks. There’s so much information out there that it can be overwhelming sometimes. But I get the opportunity to soak up information from people who look like me and talk like me. This concept has been a game changer. 

This is why a guy named Wall Street Trapper can teach me about stocks. He was a former inmate who, upon his release, started applying the principles he learned. He has taught me many concepts, from understanding graphs, growth stocks, value stocks, ETF stocks, and so much more.

I believe so much in self-knowledge that I purposely made my podcast short segments. The reason for this is because of the way I learned. I personally tap out after 30 minutes, and it’s hard for me to retain information past that point. My goal is to connect with people who learn like me. Remember, as you learn, give back.