Ellipsing My Way...to Business School

FRIEND ADMITTED TO WHARTON FROM WAITLIST

2017-07-05T07:30:00.000-04:00

CONGRATULATIONS FRIEND! ;-).

Follow my new journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com; Personal, MBA Book www.GettingToTheCoreBook.com, Blog & Professional

My friend was just admitted to Wharton off the waitlist! I know that this person has been struggling over the prospect of potentially having to decide between two incredibly great schools. It's definitely a tough call but this person cannot go wrong with either in my opinion!

So with that I say congratulations AGAIN - seems like that's all I've been saying to you throughout this process lol....

...and to those still on the waitlists at places. KEEP HOPE ALIVE! POSITIONS ARE STILL CONTINUING TO OPEN UP! DON'T WITHDRAW THOSE APPLICATIONS JUST YET!

No Bullshit re: Optional Essay

2017-07-01T11:29:00.000-04:00

Optional Essay

I've received some questions from prospective applicants as to whether or not they should do the Optional Essay. The answer is YES, you are going to do this even if you don’t need to explain your GPA or your Undergraduate performance. You'd be crazy not too if you are serious about getting into business school. TRUST me when I say that other applicants ARE doing this essay so why would you shortchange yourself? If you TRULY want to get into the school... you'll do it.

DO THIS ESSAY as you provide the admissions committee with more information about yourself. I think that some schools give parameters around when the optional essay can be submitted, but with Cornell, it’s up to the applicant!

Please read the THANK-YOU blog post that I made to my classmates... THIS IS THE REASON WHY YOU MUST DO THIS ESSAY - YOUR INTERACTIONS IN BUSINESS SCHOOL HAS A MAJOR IMPACT ON ALL OF YOUR CLASSMATES AND YOU NEED TO SHOW HOW YOU'RE GOING TO IMPROVE THAT.

If you have questions on the other types of things you can do for this essay, just email me. My contact information can be found here www.RichardBattleBaxter.com

I'm Radioactive!

2017-06-18T14:32:00.001-04:00

You can follow my new journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com

"Vulnerability is terrifying. The courage it takes to reveal your heart is one of the most daunting...and yet rewarding experiences in life. It will set you free."

I'm just going to hop into this blog post from basically where I left off in the previous one. I have learned over time that documenting things helps me help others.

Hope you can make it to the end...

So what I did after my last blog post titled Why I Cry - was document all of the omens/signs that I would see over the next 24 hour period. I knew that I would want to tell the 1,000 people who read the first blog post about how CLARITY has enabled me to know when I am in synch with the Universe. Yeah yeah I know it sounds all crazy but that's okay... it's MY TRUTH.

So here we go... and yes many of these (if not all) of these will seem INCREDIBLY far fetched... but THAT'S THE POINT! THAT'S WHY PEOPLE MISS THE SIGNS.

1. The day that I read The Alchemist, TLC (r.i.p. Left Eye) - yes the R&B group from the 90's came out with a new album. Well, the entire album wasn't released only 3 songs. Full album drops later this month. Anyway, I digress... So I previewed 2 songs...they were up tempo...so I downloaded them. One was called "Sunny" which was a remake of Bobby Hebb's version. The other reason I downloaded it is because in The Alchemist the Sun is called upon to help for something. I won't get into it because if I tell you the story it'll take too long. But those of you who have read it - understand. So I played this song over and over b/c it was just very uplifting.

As I mentioned in the last blog post, I've been watching a lot of youtube videos. Interviews with people. Talks about The Alchemist & The Secret etc...those sorts of things. Well... as I was watching these videos a GAP commercial came on that caught my attention. Why did it catch my attention? Well... listen for yourself. GAP COMMERCIAL. I received this! I immediately went to the GAP website because that's what I thought this was telling me to do. But no... what it was confirming was that I was doing what I was supposed to be doing - watching the videos to learn more about this spiritual path that I'm on. So I just continue to put these messages in my head and now I smile when I see that commercial.

2. Some of you may know that I had also mentioned that I was looking for a full-time job. Well I had been looking HARD for what I thought I deserved! What I failed to miss is that I thought I DESERVED something b/c of my past. My eyes were not open to what I deserved in the future. I know that's tough to understand but I get it now. So... again, after being vulernable and putting myself out there... I had a friend whom I haven't spoken with in a while message me on FB telling me to send him my resume b/c his company was looking for people. This is actually the 2nd friend whom I did not actively seek out who has reached out to me. I noticed the similarities in both situations and I'll vet them if they come to fruition.

3. On Thursday when I posted the blog, I noticed someone on my FB page "Like" the post. Immediately when I saw that I said to myself, "I hope she shares this with her child (who is an athlete I coach)" Literally, 2 minutes later I get a text from her child (teenager) saying, "My mom just had me read your blog post."

4. Walking into the Dr's office on Saturday morning there was a sign outside the door that said HOPE. Now normally I would have just taken this at face value. But this time, I noticed something different. Earlier in the week, I was finding quotes for In The Loop marketing. I made an image with a quote on it that said, "HOPE, Hold. On. Pain. Ends" which was something great for me to anchor too as I walked into my PET Scan appointment.

5. I have never had a PET scan, so I didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be incredible therapeutic. I thought it would be like my CT Scan which was wham bam thank you ma'am - ok now get up. So the first thing they do for the PET Scan is have you sit - the room was nice the chair was comfy and the nurse said, "Ok, I'm going to inject you with this radioactive stuff that will show up on the PET Scan." I'm not afraid of needles, I just have to watch it.

Digression - If I don't watch it go in then I freak out. When I was younger and would go for check-ups and stuff the Dr's were always afraid that I would freak out when I would get a shot. They would look at my mom like "Why is he not scared" and she would just shrug and say "I dunno". And I would just watch them do it... not flinch or anything.

So, they gave me the radioactive stuff. I did take a picture of them doing it but I'll refrain b/c I know some people can't handle that image and I need "those" people to be able to make it through the end of this post b/c it'll speak to someone. ;-) yes, I'm ALL THE WAY THERE!

As she was putting the solution into me I saw a sign on the door that said RADIOACTIVE. Literally! And she said to me, "after you leave you can't be near any kids or pregnant women because you're radioactive." I thought it was funny but then immediately thought of the song "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons. It's a popular song that I had heard before... I knew the chorus... but didn't know any other parts of the song.

Now, you'll just sit here and not move around for 45 minutes and then we'll do the PET Scan. I asked her, "Can I be on my phone?" She said, "yes, but not too long cuz then the radioactive stuff would show up in my jaw cuz i guess it goes to muscles..." i dunno. Then she asked "do you want me to dim the lights? do you want me to recline the chair" I was like "wow this is great!" So I told myself, "Whatever, you don't need to be on your phone. Just sit here... relax and think." So I put my phone on the side table. I put both of my arms on the arms of the chair and closed my eyes and said, "ok maybe I'll mediate." I didn't know to clear my head and it just kept wandering. But I was thinking of things I needed to get done so I thought that was a fine consolation prize. Then my phone vibrated. I ignored it. Then it vibrated again. I ignored it... and then it vibrated again. I picked it up to turn it off so that I could concentrate. When I looked at who it was...it was an old friend with whom I used to talk to every day. He told me that he read my blog and that he went through the same sort of spiritual revival a couple years ago. And that's right around when he and I lost touch but never thought anything of it. Anyway.... here's the kicker... HE'S A YOGA TEACHER. So I told him that I was trying to meditate and I couldn't. He walked me through how he does it!

6. So later that afternoon... I was texting with friends who asked how the procedure went and I would joke with them and say "I'm Radioactive!" Then I remembered the song. I immediately Googled it to see the lyrics and was blown away. Here's a snippet:

I'm waking up to ash and dust

I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust

I'm breathing in the chemicals

I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus

This is it, the apocalypse

Whoa

I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones

Enough to make my systems blow

Welcome to the new age, to the new age

Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, oh, I'm radioactive, radioactive

7. Later that evening, I had someone else reach out to me telling me that she just moved to the town that I currently live in and has a spare bedroom.

8. There was something else that occurred later that day the floored me again as I was going through the motions of what the Universe was telling me to do. I won't give the details as to what that was, but just know that it brought me to tears. The person knows exactly who he/she is and the story behind it.

Of course I took a selfie... and yes I'm wearing the same jacket from the last time.

There have been maybe 20 other things that have happened including conversations with people who are in similar situations, people who say that my story moved them to change their thinking, people who have gone out and bought the book..etc etc...

I heard a quote (you know I love a good quote) (and I'm paraphrasing here) saying that when you're in tune with the Universe and recognize the signs, then they accelerate. I truly believe this because in my 0 distraction clarity phrase, I'm picking up a lot and when I do, I tell people and it's literally exhausting. I went to sleep last night and passed out - which never happens.

Today I woke up with a purpose and excited to start the day. Now reminder... I've got no where to go... I'm not allowed too... I'm in an empty house and just have my computer and my mom. But I woke up today and JUMPED out of bed because I knew that I needed to get things done.

9. So what did I do? When I wake up, I no longer grab my phone. I don't even plug it in at night any more because if it dies over night and I need to take time to charge it... I'm fine with that. But whereas I used to wake up... check my phone while in bed... then get up and brush my teeth etc... Now... I wake up... get out of bed... brush teeth etc etc... go downstairs... get set up for the day... AND THEN CHECK MY PHONE.

So you need to know that story in order to understand what's coming up. So when I checked my phone, I had a FB message from, again, an old friend who lives on the West Coast with whom I haven't spoken too. Then I looked at the previous message that he sent me in 2015 that I did not answer. See below:

I hadn't responded to him back then because I was embarrassed that I hadn't completed what I set out to do and didn't want to talk about it. I thought that I was supposed to publish the book... make money from Amazon.. .etc etc. But that went against everything in the core of me being. The book was an extension of my blog. I started my blog because I wanted the information out there readily available for anyone embarking on the business school journey. A book... with a barrier (cost)... would go against my INTENT. So that's why the book wasn't published in the "normal sense." I had "shopped" it around to some MBA application websites to see if they'd partner on it with me but was turned town. That wasn't my calling...

His message was great because literally the night before, I had already started putting things in place for the book. I had a heavy heart and felt like a hypocrite. Why did I feel like a hypocrite? Well, the night of the original blog post I emailed Oprah. Well, I didn't email her, but I sent her TV Content team a long message that started "Dear Oprah" like a letter because I wanted her to receive it. It wasn't something that I wanted from her but I basically told her a little bit about my story and how I was trying to consume all of the content that I could online where she was speaking about this message or interviewing someone who was speaking about this message etc etc... and I just couldn't get the content. Everything is hidden behind a content paywall on the Oprah.com website. I thought to myself, she repeatedly said that her intent is to get everyone to realize their potential, yet the message is hidden behind a paywall through their cable providers. To me there was a disconnect. So then I looked at my own situation and saw the parallel.

Then I revisited my book, which is why some of my FB friends saw me post that I was working on something. THAT'S what I was working on - and no not the writing of... but something else (keep reading). So when I woke up and saw this message it confirmed to me that I was on the right track and needed to take the time today to finish what I set out to do the previous day.

So what is that you ask? Well... MY BOOK IS PUBLISHED! I took all of the content... made a website using a SquareSpace template and put ALL OF THE CHAPTERS ONLINE at www.GettingToTheCoreBook.com!!!!

That's the last of the things that I wish to mention. There have been sooo many and if I continue to take the time to write them in a blog post, it's taking time away from me doing work. It's 2:21pm now and I've done so much already and have so much more to do. ::sigh:: I left out sooo much - the little things - the important things.

I just keep adding to my list because everything is clear and it feels as though I'm cleaning up my life to prepare for the next set of amazing ways I can impact others! It's Simple, but it's not easy! I realize that a lot of things in the past that I did not follow through with was because I wanted everything to be perfect first. Well, I am not perfect, nothing is perfect, so achieving perfection was an unrealistic goal. That's not to say that things can't be BETTER, but things cannot be PERFECT there's always room for improvement. (Even by me just saying that, I now, as a coach, will never tell one of my athletes that I want it PERFECT, because that's unachievable so it's already setting them up for failure.)

"Perfection is shallow, unreal, and fatally uninteresting."

Why I Cry

2017-06-16T21:07:00.002-04:00

You can follow my new life journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com

Hello Everyone... this is the 1st post since I realized that upon starting this blog many years ago I've had over 1,000,000 page views!

I haven't posted in a while because I've been incredibly busy but my heart is full right now and it's time for a blog post. I know what I want this post to be about - it's going to be very long but it's ore for me, and not anyone else although I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I hit "Publish" after writing.

If you've got a couple minutes to read this until the end, I'm sure that you'll feel some type of way. I sure do!

Stay with me here... because it'll be brought back around...

I always feel that I need to give a quick update up until the point where I want to truly begin my blog topic. So from the last post in January all I did was throw myself into coaching my cheerleading teams with the goal of getting all four of them into the finals at the Cheerleading World Championships in Disney. Throughout those months, I didn't take care of myself mentally or physically. I had my blinders on... in hindsight, a bit too tight, and neglected EVERYTHING in my life.

Longer story short - #MissionAccomplished. My 4 teams made it into finals at Worlds & one team one a World Championship.

THEN THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL BEGAN

I returned from Disney on May 2nd and was busy with cheerleading from May 2nd until May 18th. Also, during this time, I was helping my mother pack up her townhouse (where I live) to put things in storage because she told me that she was moving to Florida and I'd have to find another place to live. Now this was a disconcerting realization for me because as a coach - in my situation - I do not make enough money to afford rent anywhere in NJ and my heart was telling me not to just move in with a friend and bum off of him/her. I had already notified the gym that I would be going to Tuesday/Thursday instead of Mon/Tue/Wed/Thurs/Sun simply because I wanted to work on my app (In The Loop) on a more full-time basis.

So from May 3rd - May 18th, I started to lose a lot of weight. I felt like shit. I took over the counter medicines because - I don't have insurance. And I don't just mean insurance through the gym... but I mean I didn't have Medicaid or an HMO or anything. Thankfully, in the past, I had never been sick before - expect one time in B-School, but that was more from allergies. So the combination of having never been sick before to where I needed medical attention & not having insurance, I prolonged going to see someone. So I would wake up in the morning, help my mother pack or I would be displaced form my normal routine because I wouldn't be able to get into my room because of painters... or the bathroom was being remodeled...etc. For about a week I slept either on the floor in the living room or on a small air mattress butted up to a chair (in the living room) so that I could stretch out. It wasn't an ideal situation, but hey, I had a roof over my head.

But I was starting to feel bad physically. My back was hurting, which I thought was simply from my sleeping arrangement and from moving boxes all day. Then I would go to the gym and work until 9. So again, I thought that I felt poorly because of a lack of sleep - lack of comfortable sleep - packing & moving all day - then working until 9pm. Closer towards the 18th I started to think that something else was wrong with me because I had been losing weight. Then when a coworker confirmed that she thought I was losing weight, she said that I needed to get some bloodwork done. Well, not having insurance, I didn't want to do that because well... I had to save my money to get ready to find a full-time job and move out of my house.

Then one day - May 18th to be exact - I was at the gym and it was around 6pm and I just felt like crap. In 3 years I have never left the gym because I felt like crap so I listened to my heart and said, "Ok, today is the day when I gotta go home." So I went home...tried to sleep... couldn't... and was feeling even worse. At 10:30pm I checked myself into the Emergency Room at the nearest hospital. Turns out, I had a 102.5 fever. If it was just that, it would have been gravy. They'd bring down the temperature... tell me to take Motrin and that's that. The doctor did say one thing though that started a month-long "revival". He mentioned that I had a low White Blood Cell count. Obviously when I heard that I knew that wasn't a good thing, but I just wanted to get out of there at that point.

I went home....took Motrin... fell asleep. In the morning my mother came into my room and noticed that I had the hospital band still on my arm. She freaked out (I'm 35 btw), and told me that I needed to go see a doctor. Thankfully the Doctor she suggested is 2 minutes by my house and is affiliated with the hospital that I went too. So I made an appointment and was able to see the Doctor THAT DAY. This was a blessing because I was able to get to the point that I'm at now, more quickly - but more on that later.

So, I saw the Doctor and she said that we needed to do some tests because of the low White Blood Cell count. She mentioned that she would test for HIV and Tuberculosis, among other things. When I heard HIV & TB, I started crying my eyes out in her office. She asked, "Why are you crying?" and I said, "because this all sounds really serious!" If I can be totally, candid, which I can because it's my blog, I immediately thought to myself, "I don't want to another person to add to the high rate of HIV in the LGBT African American community." That's really what was going through my head... I was terrified.

So she drew blood, told me to quarantine myself in my house because of the low WBC, and that she'd call me when she had the results. I remember walking outside of her office, sitting in my car, and BALLING my eyes out - for multiple reasons. The fear of the unknown was the main thing. Also, my mind is a wandering one so I was thinking of all of the worst case scenarios. When I got home, I walked into the house and my mom asked me what the doctor said and I started crying again. I couldn't speak but when I could, I just kept saying - "It's not gonna be good, it's not gonna be good." (I was unaware that Doctors test - rule things out - and test again if necessary) She asked why I thought that and I replied with, "Because I don't have good luck." Well... that made no sense because for all intents and purposes I had been very "lucky" up until then.

So for 2 days, I was in an empty house (remember cuz we packed up and put things in storage) with nothing but the following in a 2 bedroom townhouse.

2 Beds

3 Tv's

1 Chair in living room

1 Cable box in living room

Bathroom toiletries

I mean in hindsight, what more does anyone else need right? Well I also think the shock of an empty house added to the cabin fever. But more on that to come...

So yes, I was in an empty house, not allowed to go out or be near anyone for fear of catching something that my body wouldn't be able to fight off b/c of the low WBC - and my thoughts & the internet. That's a dangerous combination because I was Googling everything under the sun to try an diagnose myself, which is never a good idea... EVER!

2 Days later I get a call from the Dr. asking me to come in. So this is the 2nd visit which is another $150. So the total is now up to $300 because I'm self-paying. So I sit in the room and when I see the Dr come in, I start crying again because I'm ready for bad news that I have one of the things that she said she was testing for. As soon as she saw my crying she said, "Good news and Bad news... Good News is you do not have HIV or TB. Bad news is that you have Lymes disease so I'm going to put you on medication but that still doesn't explain the low WBC." I'm thinking, "Okay, I know some people who have or have had Lymes disease and at least I don't have HIV, so what's the next step?" She said she wanted me to see a Hematologist. So I'm thinking, "Ok I can do that." but in the back of my mind I'm thinking that's more $, but what's gotta be done has got to be done. So when I get home I schedule the appoint for the Hematologist that she referred me too.

The Hematologist appointment wasn't for another couple of days but the very next day from finding out that I had Lymes, my primary care Dr calls me in (another $150 (up to $450)) and says, "Ok so in addition to Lymes you also have Mumps." Before anyone asks - YES - I had been immunized as a child, but that's not always 100% as no vaccination is.

(Sidenote - I'll get thru all this Dr stuff shortly (I'm gonna go faster), but you definitely need the backstory)

So even though I had been quarantined to my house for fear of contracting something from someone else, I was now DEFINITELY not allowed to be near anyone because Mumps is highly contagious. So here I am... an active cheerleading coach who sees about 500 athletes a week, and I'm basically a prisoner in my empty house.

Ok now to go through the medical stuff quickly... (keep in mind no insurance)

1. Lymes

2. Mumps

3. Low WBC

4. Hematologist appointment ($120, so what's that now? $570). The 1st question I asked him was, "Is it life threatening?" He looked at me like I had 3 heads as if he was thinking, "Wow, that escalated quickly! Hi, I'm Dr. (insert name here)." He ordered CT Scan, Bone Marrow Biopsy & more bloodwork.

5. Had procedures done... Bone Marrow biopsy is NO JOKE if you're the type of person who local anesthesia doesn't really work for. UGH That hurt!

6. Hematologist ruled out some other diseases, order a PET Scan which I have tomorrow.

7. Had a call with the CDC because they call every Mumps case.

8. Got the Emergency room visit bill ( ~$5,000)

8. Finished my Lymes medication...

9. Had another Primary care doctor visit ($150 - total $720) - more bloodwork drawn to see if Mumps is still in my system.

10. Still quarantined to my house. This is where the story takes a turn....thanks for bearing with me!

Ok so... It's currently 6/16/2017 and I've been a prisoner of my house since 5/18/2017. That's a lot of time to oneself.

For the first two weeks, I was "okay" because I couldn't do anything because I had Netflix. I would sometimes go for an hour long drive with the windows up because I couldn't stay in my house endlessly. But I didn't stop anywhere on those drives, just me and my music. But I would say that up until 6/9, I was "surviving" because then Orange is the New Black was released, so because I had nothing but time, I finished that in less than 24 hours...less than 18 hours to be exact. But then the cabin fever hit... I had exhausted everything on Netflix and even thought about sending them a mean email about not updating their content enough... lol.

Oh... all the while, I was submitting my resume for full-time jobs because I knew I needed something that would pay the bills so I could afford rent and my bills, and now these medical costs. So I had a lot going on. The week after OITNB, I started getting down on myself because I had nothing to entertain me so all I had were my thoughts. I did however look forward to the NBA Finals series, haha.

With my thoughts, I went through a very depressing couple of days because I was reflecting on all of the "negative" things that were happening. I was VERY DOWN. I was more mentally sick than I was physically at that point.

But then...

I started watching the news more... well that was a bad decision because that's depressing lmao...then one day...

HERE WE GO...

I went into one of those YouTube binges, where you watch a video then click on a link to a video on the side... and just rinse, wash & repeat. I ended up on an Oprah clip w/ Pharrell Williams where they're talking about the book that changed his life called The Alchemist. HERE is the link. Now I had heard people talk about this book, and I have a ton of "self-help" books and things of that nature, but I do love Oprah & I do love Pharrell. I had actually seen that entire interview before... but this time it wasn't the same.

So this time I thought to myself, "Ok, I've got nothing but time on my hands, let me see what this book is all about." I bought the book - all 208 pages - sat down and read it in 3 hours. It spoke to me.

Now something about this book, it's not the ANSWER as in will solve all your problems - IF IT SPEAKS TO YOU - but it can be life changing if it's for you. The reason I say, "If it's for you" is because the theme can be found in other books - The Laws of Attraction - The Secret... it's all very similar. But for whatever reason, this book spoke to me. So much so that I do feel that my life has been changed because my OUTLOOK HAS SHIFTED.

Upon finishing the book, I went on a spiritual journey within the confines of my bare room. I can't tell you how many YouTube videos - Ted talks - etc that I've watched & listened too. But what really got me was reading the book and RECEIVING what it was telling me.. then listening too other people whom I admire recount their own awakening and accounts of how they life by the theme that...

"and, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it." - Paolo Coehlo

That theme is throughout the book and has shaken me to the core of my being - LITERALLY BREAKING ME DOWN - (in a good way).

I was able to receive this message because alllll of the distractions had been taken away from me. Had I read this book on May 20th while I was going through the depths of my medical issues, I would not have been able to receive it. But I literally have no distractions right now. This is a picture of my room as I sit here and type this blog post.

I have 0 distractions at the moment. So what was I able to do with these 0 distractions? REFLECT... for starters the book spoke to me because of the way it's written. It's not a How-To - Step 1 Step 2 book. It's a story that allows for imagination & imagery.

The other reason it spoke to be is because with 0 distractions I was able to reflect on every single situation in which my life took a turn for the best. It was during those reflective times that I relayed situations that happened in the book and would be ROCKED to my core... like, "OMG, I remember when that situation happened... and then I felt a certain way... and then I released the energy to let the Universe control it...and then THAT GREAT THING HAPPENED." I have had an endless number of those, as Oprah calls them, "AHA" moments and when I say they've rocked me to my core... I mean, I've cried uncontrollably in the more obscure of places.

Along the journey of life there are people who enter for long & short periods. These CERTAIN people enter for a reason. There's a quote that I found (I've been on a big quote kick lately) that says, "Life is Simple, but it Won't Be Easy"... so those certain people enter to give you signs to stay on your path. I'm not saying that they tell you - "Hey, what you're doing is right." It may be through their actions (both good and bad) or just through their energy... or through their words. Those people are not to be forgotten because if you get to a place where you're in synch with "all that is", those people will have helped to get you there.

So the reason I would cry is because with 0 distractions I was able to thread the needle between ALL of those types of interactions with people in my life and connect the dots and understand why certain things happened at the time that they did.

Now I'm going to try to give some examples because those are more fun than just speaking at a high-level.

I will repeat the quote that now sits by my bedside (I did a craft project this morning haha)...

"and, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it." - Paolo Coehlo

First Story:

1. When I think about my journey to (the application) business school there are soooooo many people who were present and helping me when I didn't ask. That prophecy...quote... theme would not have been true, unless I was willing to do the work beforehand. Just from reading my blog you'd know that I definitely was doing the work. So how did the Universe Conspire to help me achieve my goal of going to business school?

- Simply by being myself online I formed a community around me.

- My GMAT tutor ask ME if he could help me. Like he was a blog reader of mine who lived in NYC and saw I was in need. He approached me..

- The kind folks at BeatTheGMAT.com paid for my 3rd GMAT sitting because I couldn't afford it at the time.

When I was walking to my 3rd GMAT sitting, I remember being on 5th Avenue right by the building and I started crying. At the time, I didn't know why I was crying but as I sit here today, I know that it was because no matter how I did in that sitting the Universe was conspiring to get me into business school. That was my only goal for 1.5 years - ask anyone who knew me back then. I was immersed in that goal and at the time it was no longer up to me. It was definitely a tough time in my life because I had no idea what I was doing lol, I was just doing everything that needed to be done.

So in the book it talks about sometimes you'll have these moments when you're in synch w/ the Universe and those are the moments you have to look out for and acknowledge when they happen. They actually happen ALL THE TIME and that's called INTUITION, but people ignore it most of the times. With 0 distractions I've been able to realize that FOR ME, this is true and there is a synchronicity with the Universe that I have to be aware of at all times. So yes, Life IS Simple, because being aware that there's "something" that you need to attach too - is simple. Being aware of it is simple. Living to attach yourself too it, is the difficult part - because we are human.

As I sit here and think now, I'm thinking about all of the people who have crossed my path who have told me that I'm great... that I'm meant to do great things... that I'm smart... etc all of that stuff. I HEARD them, but up until a couple of days ago, I didn't BELIEVE them. Did you catch that? Let me repeat... I could hear people (and I'm not talking about my close friends, but I'm talking about tertiary ones or people who I had just met) tell me -

@BusinessSchoolFriend - "Rich, you're a leader. I sit here in this classroom right now listening to you speak about b-school attire and the only reason why I'm here is because of you."

@BusinessSchoolFriend - "Richard, thank you for being you." which made me cry.

@SomeoneITriedToDate - "There's something about you. You're special and you don't even know it."

@BusinessSchoolFriend' - "Rich, do you remember when you met my GF in Collegetown infront of 7-11 in passing? Well she said that you have a great spirit."

To be honest, the list goes on and on and I'm oaky saying that NOW, and I HEARD them in that moment, but I wasn't read to RECEIVE those messages.

I will say that up until now when people asked me, "Why aren't you dating anyone." I would tell them, "I wouldn't even date myself right now. I'm a mess." That was the headspace I was in for a LOOONG time because I thought that I had to have everything, not only figured out, but IN PLACE. Now looking back at that... that's so stupid and it was holding me back from greatness.

Second Story:

2. This is more recent and is cheerleading related as it just happened this year. In order to understand, I've got to go back a year and explain something. The Cheerleading gym that I work at is a powerhouse in the industry with many athletes.

- In 2015 we brought 4 teams to Worlds, and all 4 teams placed top 10 in 4 divisions, with one of those teams winning their division.

- In 2016 we brought 4 teams to Worlds and 3 teams didn't make top 10 in their division and the team that had won the previous year didn't place Top 3, which they had done for the past 10 years. So basically that was an embarrassing Worlds for us. The day after everyone competed we had a coaches meeting in our Gym Owner's room and most of the coaches cried and we talked and we planned. I remember telling myself, that I never wanted to feel that type of pain related to cheerleading ever again.

- So for the 2017 year I took what I learned the previous year and applied it to the new season. I never lost sight of the goal of getting 4 teams into finals. When I say that I NEVER lost sight... I mean it. That was the only thing that consumed me every single day. I strategized on how I could make it so...

As the season went on, it was not looking good - at least not to me... every team had it's issues and for some teams the issues were HUGE and were occurring every single month as we were approaching a big competition. But, I had faith and I knew that it would all come together. Now remember,

"and, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it." - Paolo Coehlo

We were at a competition in Orlando at UCA. The team that I had put the most work and energy into was also the one that was having the most trouble all season. But this competition in Orlando was the one where we could get that invitation to Worlds. Day 1 comes along and while they were competing there was synchronicity with the Universe and I felt it. There's a video of me watching them and it was like an out of body experience.

Physically it is me in this video, but that was when I was in tune with the Universe and it was confirming that it was conspiring. So now I know that when I get a sudden bout of emotion - that's what's happening. I now recognize that.

So long story short - we did get the invitation at that competition. We had all 4 teams go to Worlds and this one team I did not expect to make it into the Top 10. I thought we were going to have 3 teams make it into the Top 10 and this one team that had a rough season would do very well, but would fall short. Then, as the scores started coming in I thought - "OMG, This Could Happen!" What I failed to realize, is that the decision had already been made that we WOULD make the Top 10. We ultimately finished 8th.

Ok So -

it's not that these things have happened that made me cry uncontrollably today... it was the recognition that yes - this is all really simple - and just by following MY journey - I will be blessed beyond my wildest expectations (and I do have some outlandish ones lol). Then when I thought about all of the people whom I admire - it matched up with how they think.

THAT'S WHY...

When I was driving around today, I had to pull over twice because, I was listening to a song and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I pulled into a Walmart parking lot and cried... UNCONTROLLABLY... then took a selfie because I knew I would want to remember this time and prove it. This has happened a couple of times today for seemingly no reason at all.

These were HAPPY TEARS.

So now you may saying, "Okay this is all well and good but what have you done?" - "HOW has it changed your life?" Well, A) the recognition is the first part and I'm still dealing with that emotionally. However, I have started to listen to the signs - omens - that I would have missed even a couple of weeks ago because I would have been distracted. I remember the morning after finishing the book I first had to tie up loose ends.

What loose ends do you ask? You know, emails I had neglected... projects I wanted to complete... things like that. I threw myself into In The Loop and some things that needed to be done....only to find out that my developers had finished the major project that has been weighing me down mentally for 2 years. They had actually finished it a month prior, but when I was going through the health issues I couldn't deal with anything else that was "heavy". So all the while I'm having that be something that weighs on my heart - it was actually completed. But again, in that moment I wasn't ready to tackle it being completed - if that makes sense.

But my outlook on everything - the impending move... In The Loop... finding a job... coaching... has shifted to where I am no longer worried about any of it. That's not to say that I'm going to be lazy and not "do the work" because the work has to be done. But it is to say that the days after I read the book - I would wake up around 9am... and just start doing things. One of the days, I did so much before 2pm that someone asked me on the phone, "What did you do?" and I responded with, "To be honest, I have no idea... I just did everything." I can remember sitting in front of my computer with my fingers typing - just as they are now and everything is a blur.

I would randomly text people or post on FB -

If this all sounds Cheesy... oh well... find who moved yours. ;-)

So I'm Ready To Say To The Universe - LET'S DO THIS - I am a conduit!

I'm not sure where this road will lead, but I know it'll be somewhere great and one that I hadn't expected. Another outcome of this new thought process for me is that I've realized that I play a part (sometimes big & sometimes small) in other people's lives. I will no longer take that for granted because I look back on how others have impacted mine whether they've known it or not.

I have not only been noticing the signs - but also following them - and already in this short amount of time (2 days) the self-fulling prophecy is in the works. It's a beautiful thing...odd... but beautiful. In this blog post I won't go into all the positive things that have already come my way. I'll write a follow-up one for that.

Now...that all being said, I'm going to end now because, yes I still have my health issues that I need to take care of. I have my PET Scan tomorrow morning which means I can't eat anything and TBH I'm mentally drained (being writing this for about 4 hours). Also, once I post this on FB I'm going to "zone out" and watch another Oprah video on YouTube that I found earlier.

If you've made it this far in the post... YOU'RE A TROOPER! Hahah... I hope this adds clarity to everyone about what I've been dealing with lately. Best case scenario - this is exactly what someone else needed to read right now in this moment. I will leave you with the craft project that I felt so compelled to complete this morning which involved Hobby Lobby, Kinkos, & Photoshop haha...

Until next time... stay true.

My Start-up Struggles & 4 Lessons Founders:

2017-01-14T03:05:00.001-05:00

You can follow my new life journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com

I'm writing this blog post because I just simply need to vent and purge and re-calibrate. I had been having a great month due to the help of my best friend from business school! He helped me out big time last month for no other reason than he's a good person and he believes in me. December through today has been my most productive month in terms of honing in on my vision for In The Loop. Previously, I had just wanted to reach a couple of milestones... be able to pay myself & investors and continue growing day to day. As 2016 came to an end I really began to reflect. It's been 2 years since starting In The Loop and while a shit-ton of progress has been made.... LIKE A LOT..... I couldn't see a way out of a hurdle that's in front of me. So true to form, I know how I operate.. I dove into data...metrics...calculations...formulas...research... et. al. with no goal in mind but something came over me and I really dove into whatever it was that god was telling me to do.

It paid off in the end because I now have an incredibly detailed plan for 2017. It's exactly what I needed. Some nights I would spend 9 hours straight pouring over information and spreadsheets all to spend 2 hours perfecting a powerpoint slide. Now I didn't have anyone in particular to send/show the slide too per se but I just went with the flow and it helped me process a lot of information. ::shrugs:: I don't know what I'm trying to say here... in any event, everything was going great up until about 8pm today and then I was "knocked down" again. Earlier in the day I had lunch with one of my investors and I felt really good about my to-do list. Then I had a phone call around 8pm and it just didn't go the way that I wanted it too... granted it was also an un-planned phone call so I guess I shouldn't feel beaten down by it. But I can't help that...

Now, don't get me wrong because the hurdle that I'm trying to jump over is a good one. A very good one in fact, but figuring out how to jump over it is frustrating.

So then I got thinking about just some of the stories that I've heard from other people about their struggles during the start-up phase. I found this article from Entrepreneur.com that is providing me with some solace at the moment, so I'd like to take the time to recap the bullet-points along with my situation.

ARTICLE: 5 Tips To Help You Overcome Startup Struggles

Realizing That You're In Good Company

Summary: Henry Ford failed....Bill Gates failed... Steve Jobs was kicked out... etc etc....

My Journey: I've got a bunch of friends who have struggled and failed. I, of course have failed before too, but I've also never been the founder of a start-up so I try to hedge against failing because there's so much invested - time & money & other people's money. I feel the weight of the pressure every single minute of every single day. Sometimes that makes me a bit more cautious than I probably should be. What I probably need to do more of is talk to people around me who haven't gone through the process, but who are going through the process as there's a huge difference.

I can ask my friends who have sold companies (or closed companies) about their struggles, but they're not going to remember everything. Just as I don't remember exactly how hard it was for me to go through the MBA Application process. Sure I have this blog that I can look back on and reference, but when you're IN IT... YOU'RE IN IT and it feels different. That's probably what I should do on a more regular basis.

Embrace Change - Get Creative

Summary: The struggle will force you to get creative about how you're approaching your startup.

My Journey: This is very much true for me because it happened just a couple hours ago. Because I am one who likes to do his due diligence and plan plan plan before diving into something, I think it prevents me from pivoting when I need to. I feel as though I've become very good at understanding my work process - which is why I don't really sleep, unless I'm hungover. :-) Lately, I've been taking 2 long(ish) naps. I haven't wanted to go to sleep because I didn't want to miss a moment of inspiration. I usually get those moments between the hours of 1am - 7am when I am not distracted by anyone.

If you've followed my blog for years, which I'm assuming you haven't cuz... why would you? then you'll know that I've always had a very weird sleep schedule. I've been this way since I was a teenager and it's not going to change... ever. So I've embraced it since my teens and now others are realizing that they should stop asking me "Don't you ever sleep?" The answer is "yes., for a bit"... but you're usually at work.

Anyway... when I can just be with my own thoughts and essentially mentally beat myself up that's when I have my most creative moments and am able to add things to my to-do list that usually then direct how the next couple of days will go. So when I'm sleeping, I can't have those moments. Now, bringing that back to what happened just now, I was really thinking about the thing that beat me down earlier and how I could get around it. It revolves around revenue... so how do I get more revenue right now when I don't feel 100% comfortable going out to get said revenue?

Well, I'm just gonna say "Fuck it" and do what I gotta do and stop waiting for the moment when everything is perfect. That moment will NEVER occur and I can get to the end goal by going a slightly different route. My mind wants to think that the company is larger than it is because that's where I want it to be, but realistically, it's not. So what I'm going to do now is be hyper-aware of where we are in the ebb & flow that is the cheerleading season and capitalize on what I can capitalize IN THE NOW! I'll figure the rest of the stuff out later. Basically, I gotta get scrappy.

Develop Your Resiliency

Summary: Resiliency is about taking punches every day and not falling down.

My Journey: This is essentially the reason I wanted to write this blog post. Before this last month's round of inspiration and probably 500 hours of work over the last 30 days, I would have liked to think that I was resilient. In some regards I'm sure I was. To outsiders, I'm sure I was. But deep inside I was scared shitless to do certain things. But as of late, I've just been so determined to "get it over with" mainly so that I didn't have to spend any more mental energy dreading doing it. If that makes sense... Now that's not what resiliency is or is referring too, but in doing the thing that I dreaded doing, the outcome from them was made me more resilient because I've been beaten down from them. Well, no... let me not say "beaten down" but rather "discouraged" from them. Sometimes it was because the outcome was exactly what I thought it would be and other times it was worse than I thought it would be.

The startup side of things is the fun part to be honest. I can get through that relatively easily because I know that there will be ups & downs. Where it gets very tough for me, and I'm sure for others as well, is when the struggles from the startup life intersect with the personal. For me that happens financially, for others it may happen with relation to families or health. I won't go into the details here - that'll be for later in life one day when I'm being interviewed by Andrew @ Mixergy. It's tough... really tough. What has really helped me lately is the last bullet point.

Focus On The Big Vision

Summary: Big vision can help you look past obstacles and tough circumstances.

My Journey: This is kind of self explanatory, but I want to explain what my vision is. I haven't done it on my blog and maybe this will hold me semi-accountable for it as it did when I was ellipsing my way to business school ;-)

My vision no longer includes just my investors and myself. It includes a team. It includes new co-working space in Holmdel, NJ in a new tech hub building. It includes training. It includes fostering an environment with which people can grow professionally. It includes incorporating design into my product unlike anything that has been seen by the cheerleading industry before. It includes more than just a mobile app but rather a "solution" that will help in a larger capacity because the shit out there is just terrible. I've got the vision in my head and I see it clearly. I also see the path to get there if I think backwards from that point. Where there's a little gray area is right in-front of me. I always think "Once I get beyond this, then everything will work out." and then something else comes up.

I do feel like that right now, but I'm now aware that once I get beyond this, it'll put my closer to that vision but then something else will come up but that I'll be able to get through that too. I just have to keep pushing - that's - the - only - thing - I - know - how - to do. Giving up is not an option because I've never done that in the past and I don't plan to start now at 34. Failing is a possibility but giving up is not.

So with that... I'm going go take a mental break and then probably play a couple of games of Command & Conquer: Zero Hour. :-)

RBB Over & Out!

Start-up life after Business School

2016-12-28T02:02:00.000-05:00

You can follow my new life journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com

First Order Of Business - I'm working on something that business school applicants have been asking for. So I'm starting to collect email addresses and will let everyone know when it's ready:

Click Here to Submit Email

So I've never really liked the holidays. It's usually a very lonely time for a lot of people, myself included. But over the years I've learned to deal with it. Of course, as the year comes to an end, I start to think about what I have (and have not) accomplished this year. It's tough for me to look back over the last 3 years since business school ended, and think to myself - "Well, this isn't where I thought I would be 3 years later." But, I've come to terms with I've got to be on my own path and not anyone else's.

To the outside, it may seem like I haven't gotten very far, but when I think about what I've been able to do and I list everything that I've done this year, I'm proud of myself for trying new things. Every decision that I've made this year has revolved around whether or not it would benefit In The Loop as making this a success is my main focus and it will continue to be my main focus until the end. That's all that's really important to me as I go into 2017. I have to have faith that everything will work out as it should.

Now, please please please do not mistake my optimism to mean that I have not experienced hard times this year. Quite the contrary, in fact... but there are a couple things that keep me going and I'm going to lay them out here for you in this blog post. I haven't really opened myself up on here lately, but I think it's time to do so again.

Start-up life is no joke at all and ask everyone says, it's not for the faint of heart. I didn't really know this until I was in it. No matter how many times my friends, who have been through it, told me this. When others have told me in the past that they had an idea for something, I would think to myself "Well, why don't you do it." and now I can totally see/understand why they don't move forward.

It's tough! what is tough about it?

Well for one, the unknown is a big part of it. Or the fear of failure is another factor that drives people away. I'm lucky because I don't have the barrage of bills that many other people my age have. I've only got a couple. Now... while that makes things easier on the mind, in my case it's not so much because I don't have a 9-5 nor is the business making enough money for me to pay myself. So that makes things tough, but I've been through that before. I always tell myself, "Hey, if you can live in NYC making $50,000/yr and pay your GMAT tutor $200-$300/week, living on Pizza & diner food, then this is nothing!" or I'll say, "Hey, if you can get through the Core @ b-school, then you can do this." Going through those experiences made me - STRONG LIKE BULL - lolol.

But I digress... so yes, the unknown factor of a start-up. Well, there's no manual to doing what it is that needs to be done and in what order. There are a shitload of books & podcasts and resources online on what one should do and how, but to be honest - they don't provide the full picture. They're great for starting out and maybe making one think about how to approach getting over a hurdle, but there isn't 1 book that would give someone the answer. You must read & re-read, or listen & re-listen...etc. You'll only be able to pick out information that you're ready to hear in that moment.

Similarly to how to approached applying to business school, I throw myself into something that I'm engaging in. What does this mean? Well, if you go back to my blog posts from 2009-2011, you'll see that I didn't have a life, basically. The business school application process consumed me to the point where I told my friends - "Do not call me. I'll call you." I lost contact with my "normal friends" and my fellow b-school applicant friends became my "full-time" friends. I don't know why it is that I do this, but when there's something that I really want to achieve, I have to eliminate every other factor in my life so that I can totally focus and make sure that everything I consume is related to the goal that I'm trying to reach.

So, I did that with b-school applications and now I'm doing that with this start-up life. There isn't a minute that goes by that I'm not inspired by something or mentally taking notes on what I need to do when I get back to my computer. When I'm in the car, I'm listening to podcasts. When I'm at home and I get tired of looking at my computer screen (because I sit infront of the computer for a loooooooooong time each day), I'll read a couple chapters of a book that was recommended by one of the interviewees from a podcast.

Now I don't want to just ramble and say that I do X & Y and not tell you what some of the resources are so here's my plug...

I love these two podcasts: MIXERGY & Growth Everywhere
2 most recent books: The Hard Thing About Hard Things & Impossible to Inevitable
I also re-read Purple Cow and I have Zero to One

I thoroughly enjoy hearing the experiences of others. I've read all the "how-to" books and shit. I know HOW to do things and WHAT to do. But I'm learning a lot about how to juggle all of the things that one has to do. I know how & why to segment a market, but juggling that and knowing that I need to reach out to potential customers while waiting for the timeline from my developers for a new imperative feature release is where things get a little shady. That's where everything becomes grey. Those are the decisions that no one else can make and/or that you won't find in a book because every situation is different. Taking the leap of faith faster to be able to deal with the outcome is what I'm learning to deal with now. That way in the future I can move much faster.

On top of that, as I make little steps forward, there are some things that push me back a couple of steps. I thought that would be more difficult to accept but I've gotten to the point where I've got data & analytics. I don't mean in-app analytics or website analytics - although I do have that stuff, but what I mean is when something happens in terms of a customer, I know what will happen a couple months down the road.

There's one major thing that I'm tackling right now in terms of the app and I know that if I sign on customers now, that in 2-3 months they'll be asking about this major thing that I'm working on. So I no longer get surprised when this comes up. I basically simply prepare myself for when the time comes. Then when it comes I'm not surprised and am actually prepared to handle it. Now that's not to say that I don't freak out about it, but that's a daily struggle so I'm pretty much used to THAT by now...haha. I frantically think of ways around doing what it is that they're asking for, but with limited $$$ it's tough.

Now, some may say, "if you've got paying customers & people who use your service but are strapped for cash, why don't you raise more?" Well... good question. I've talked to some of my friends who are VCs in other spaces and/or Angel investors and I'm in that weird space where I've got customers, but not enough. I have traction now, but not quite enough yet. Everything is "not enough" or at least that's what I'm hearing. So I'm just going to keep my head down and continue along this bootstrapping road for as long as possible. If I'm on the precipice of absolutely needing more money then it'll present itself within the next 6 months. I'm 100% sure of that because I've got some things on the roadmap that says so!

I've been learning more and more about myself but more importantly about how to capitalize on the process that works for me. There will be weeks where I'll stay awake at odd hours or pull all-nighters, just because I'm feeling inspired and I've got shit to do. Those times are easy to push through because I'm just motivated by life. Then there will come a couple of days where I don't even want to turn on my computer or answer emails Unfortunately, no one else is going to do it so it may be easy to say "well, just do it" but it's not that simple. I'm starting to realize what motivates me to not let myself get in a slump like that for too long so now I can take steps to not get behind. I definitely do give myself a day to binge on netflix or watch some new documentary series on National Geographic, which by the way, I just came across one: Years of Living Dangerously.

I've just got to keep an eye on the future and maintain that I'm on the right road. The emails that I get from potential customers saying how they love the idea and want to get more information on the app is one of the things that keeps me going. I made a collage of their comments that I look at when I'm feeling defeated. That's definitely one thing that keeps me going.

Meet the Founder of BeatTheGMAT.com - Eric Bahn

2016-11-30T14:54:00.000-05:00

You can follow my new life journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com

First Order Of Business - I'm working on something that business school applicants have been asking for. So I'm starting to collect email addresses and will let everyone know when it's ready:

Click Here to Submit Email

For those of you who have been following my journey for a while now, you know that I would have not been successful in my MBA journey had it not been for Eric Bahn & BeatTheGMAT.com. I can definitely give credit where credit is due and Eric and the BTG team most definitely get the most credit.

Just a quick recap - when I started my MBA journey, I didn't know anyone who had gone to business school and as such, no one who knew about taking the GMAT. So when I found BeatTheGMAT.com it was a god-send. (This is also the reason I started my blog - because I wanted there to be a resource for those candidates who are similar to how I was. 446 blog posts later and almost 1,000,000 page views over the last 6 years, I still love receiving emails from people seeking my advice).

Throughout my MBA/GMAT Journey, I was so invested in "the process" that I started helping Eric & the team with some BTG side-projects (one was the development of the logo that you now see on the site. :-) #Thanks99Designs! I also remember giving my input & helping out with MBAWatch, which has definitely taken off! I still visit the site from time to time and answer questions that current applicants may have. I don't want to think too much about that last point because I get so pissed off when I see applicants asking the same questions that I had when I was an applicant. I want to yell at them all, "STOP ASKING THE QUESTIONS, ALL OF THE ANSWERS ARE OUT THERE. You just have to find them!"

In 2012, Eric sold Beat The GMAT to Hobsons. I remember when this happened because I was a 2nd year at Johnson at Cornell University. I wasn't at all surprised that it happened because I know how useful that resources is for applicants.

Needless to say, as I continue along my start-up journey with In The Loop, I've been listening to a lot of podcasts. One that I find incredibly useful is Mixergy.com. As I'm typing this blog post, I'm listening to the Podcast interview w/ Andrew & Eric. That can be found here:

Eric Bahn - Mixergy Interview

I've had a shitload of contact with Eric over the last 6 years, and even I can say that I find this interview to be incredibly helpful. So I do recommend it! It's interesting to hear Eric speak again about why he started the site and in the early days, and know that I am a product of his vision.

I subscribe to their email list and to be honest, I rarely open the emails. But, today when I woke up, I clicked on the email because the Subject Line was slightly different. Instead of promoting a certain podcast, Andrew Warner (Founder of Mixergy.com) was promoting Mixergy Dinners, where his listeners can pay to have dinner with some Entrepreneurs that Andrew has interviewed.

So, I opened the email, and scrolled down to see which entrepreneurs were going to be attending these dinners and I see Eric's name. So... if you'd like to learn more and possibly attend, here you go...

Event Brite: Mixergy Dinner w/ Eric Bahn & Andrew Warner

Advice to Military MBA Applicants

2016-10-27T11:48:00.001-04:00

You can follow my new life journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com

First Order Of Business - I'm working on something that business school applicants have been asking for. So I'm starting to collect email addresses and will let everyone know when it's ready:

Click Here to Submit Email

Good Morning! Apparently I still follow some well-known MBA Consulting companies on twitter. I saw a post from Stacy Blackman a couple days ago from an interview she did with one of my classmates! I wanted to share it with you all.

Military MBA Applicants: It's Not About You...Until Now - Stacy Blackman

I just did a google search for some other articles for Military MBA applicants...

Top 8 Military MBA Applicant Mistakes

Overcome 3 MBA Application Challenges Facing Military Veterans

Do Veterans Need Unique Admit Advice?

I do remember being in school and having Military applicants reach out to me for advice. I tried to help them as much as I could but would usually find myself forwarding them to some of my classmates who had military backgrounds as I knew they would be able to offer them more pertinent advice.

Toshia - I know you still reach my blog, if you have any other advice for applicants seeking an MBA, just lemme know! ;-)

Clear Admit - Poets & Quants - GMAT Ninja thoughts

2016-10-04T13:49:00.000-04:00

You can follow my new life journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com

**Disclaimer** - I do not receive any compensation for talking about Clear Admit... Poets & Quants... or GMAT Ninja (who was my GMAT Tutor). I've actually never received any type of compensation for any of the resources that I write about on my blog!

It's been a couple weeks since I wrote a blog post but I've been meaning too. Lately, I've been pursuing around the GMAT & MBA Admissions blogs because I'm working on a couple of outside projects and I've found myself becoming more and more frustrated at what I'm finding out there.

Why do I get frustrated? Well it's because I'm seeing applicants ask the same questions and make the same mistakes that I made when I was going through the application process form 2009 - 2011. I know WITHOUT A DOUBT that all of the answers one may seek related to the MBA Admissions process are out there in the internet world. EVERY SINGLE ANSWER. Here's what you do:

If you're really serious about submitting the best application & GMAT score that you can in order to gain acceptance to a top MBA program this is what you'll do.

1. Search every forum, blog, website.
2. Find every MBA admissions related book and either buy them... or just go to the bookstore and read them. (I did both).
3. Speak to as many people ask you can who have gotten into top school.
4. Pick the brains about the application process from GMAT Tutors.

Keep a notebook of everything you learn about every nuance of the process. Summarize the topics... find the underlying themes... then in your application recreate those themes. It sounds easy, but I know that it's not, but if you're don't have the 750 GMAT score + "perfect" work experience + "perfect story", then you must acknowledge the fact that this is what you're going to have to do in order to be able to convey your fit to each school.

DO NOT.... I repeat... DO NOT simply say, "Oh I'll just hire an admissions consultant and then I'll be good to go." Nope, sorry not going to work for the majority of people. YOU MUST do your own due diligence before seeking out this type of help to put you in the best position possible otherwise I can guarantee you that the Admissions Consultant will say to themselves, "Ugh, here we go again with another candidate who has unrealistic expectations." Admissions consultants work with a great deal of applicants and I'll venture to say that most of them are very similar. If you are going to use an Admissions Consultant, try to make yourself an exciting candidate for them to work with.

So why is this post titled the way it is? Well, as I said before, I'm working on a couple of projects related to this industry. I looked at my blog traffic and noticed that I'm still receiving a great deal of traffic from Clear Admit. I'm not completely sure why, but hey I'll take it.

CLEAR ADMIT - In thinking of the list that I provided above about the steps one should take to research the process, Clear Admit is not a bad place to start and here's why. They've got school guides & interview guides on their site. What I would suggest is to get the school guides of the schools you're interested in, but get the interview guides for not only the schools you're interested in but a couple other guides of similar schools. The reason I say to get interview guides of similar schools is because interviews are all very similar and you may find information in a guide that's not directly related to a school you may be interested in but can tailor the information to your desired schools. To put that more simply... a questions asked in a Bank of America Investment Banker interview will be very similar to the questions asked in a Goldman Sachs interview.

Sure you've got to pay for the guides and shit but hey... it's the cost of doing business... and kind of the reason I'm working on something. More to come on that a bit later once I've got the logistics figured out. There are some things that I'm not too keen on about Clear Admit, but nothing spectacular that I care to mention. They were really good to me throughout my process so I don't mind giving them a shoutout! ;-)

POETS & QUANTS - This has become the holy grail of the MBA admissions world. When I embarked upon my journey, this site was not around but it was around during the tail end of my admissions process - thankfully. People give this site a lot of credit - and rightfully so - as John has created a platform that gives more of an "Insiders Look" into the MBA admissions world. And because it's a 3rd party the site is not beholden to many of the things that prevent other sources from being candid.

If you want to understand where some of my frustration comes from related to applicant questions... just take a look at the posted comments on some of the P&Q articles. If you've graduated from an MBA program and stumbled upon this blog post, you'll see what I'm talking about. Looks familiar huh? Well, people are like "Well the rankings this..." or "My GMAT that..." and I'm like... dude, figure it out. It's not that difficult... time consuming, yes... difficult? No. But you've got to be willing to put in the work. There are a shitload of people criticizing others and I warn you - be careful because you've got nooooooooo idea what these interviewers are looking at before you are sitting across the table from him/her.

!!!!! When I did applicant interviews at Johnson at Cornell University as a 2nd year, I would research my interviewees before I got to him/her. Yes, I went on GMAT Club, BeatTheGMAT, P&Q, etc etc to see what they were "really" like. Now I couldn't find people often, but sometimes I did. !!!!! Trust me, I can give you ALLLLLL the insider secrets!

GMAT NINJA - This was my GMAT Tutor in NYC. He has since re-located to Denver, CO but still tutors. Earlier today I got an automated email form his blog and found myself reading the whole thing. THANK GOD I am not applying to business school now because these mean GMAT scores are terrifying although I do have some thoughts on what he's talking about in this blog post about the mean GMAT increasing. I now look at data in a much different manner. Well maybe I don't look at it differently because it's just numbers, but I look beyond the numbers in a more meaningful manner, if that makes sense. I won't re-cap his blog post for you because I want to generate traffic to his website , so you can read about his rant on the increasing GMAT scores on his blog. ;-) HEY CHARLES!!!

This post didn't really have any direction, but I just had to purge information that's been building up. Maybe it can help at least one person. If not, then oh well... no big deal.

I'm gonna go run some errands now... ::deuces::

Why does death make you introspect? #GoneTooSoon :-(

2016-09-13T10:00:00.000-04:00

You can follow my new life journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com

I really don't know what to say right now, but I'm just going to write (because is therapeutic) t'd see where this ends. I need to express the way that I'm feeling right now because I'm sure many people have experienced this. I've always "kept it real" on my blog and I'm not about to stop now... sorry not sorry...

It's 2:00am on the East Coast right now (3:00am by the time I finish this) and about 4 hours ago I found out that a friend & colleague passed away. For those of you who don't know, I am not only the founder of In The Loop, but I also coach all star cheerleading. Around 10:30pm I saw a post from another coach referencing my friend Kyle. I immediately called her and said, "What happened?" She gave me the details that she knew at that moment and I was speechless. After hanging up with her I called a couple other coaches because I didn't want them to find out on social media just as I had. Some of them had heard already and some hadn't heard yet, so I had to break the news to them. They had the same reaction that I did - silence.

After a couple more phone calls, I didn't know what to do. I didn't feel that it would be "right" to be happy about anything for the rest of the night, so I took to Facebook which in hindsight was very therapeutic. I began to see posts pop up from the coaches and some athletes that Kyle coached. Then I lost it. I started crying while reading the comments that people were saying about him. I last hung out with Kyle 3 weeks ago. At the gym we had a very great conversation about coaching and how he was excited for the upcoming season. He didn't think that he had reached his full potential so he was excited to prove himself.

And here is where the story begins for why I need to write. Lately... for me... there's been a lot of death. There isn't a "good" time for anyone to be "taken away" but the last two people really hit home for me and I honestly don't know how to process it all. On Sunday, I saw that a friend from about 10 years ago lost his baby girl 1 day short of her 12 week birthday. I remember telling my another friend that I could not imagine a loss of that magnitude. Then today, around 10:30pm, I find out that I lost a friend.

Now, I'm not going to put up a front and say that Kyle and I were best friends, because we weren't. We worked together - albeit in two different locations about an hour and a half apart, but I would see him about once a month. However, every time we were together it was as if we went back a long way. But that's not where the story ends. At this juncture, I don't know any details as to why he was taken away from us.

What I do know, however, is that he'll be terrible missed and I want him to know that. He had an impact on me because I tip my hat to anyone who is 100% invested & fully dedicated to their craft. This was Kyle! In this moment, I'm wishing that I knew more about his situation & struggles, but I guess it's too late now. If I say that I feel bad, I know that the sentiment is echoed by some others who worked with him - because I talked to them.

As I posted on my FB page earlier tonight, I've opened a bottle of wine (It's really a box of wine) but a bottle sounds less crazy. I never drink by myself, but this situation was warranted. I should be drinking some Fireball because that was Kyles shot of choice, but I don't have any stocked. He's probably laughing at me writing that sentence... but Kyle... come on.. you know it's true! ;-)

The reason I'm writing this on my blog is because when there is a death I cannot help but think about how short life is. It always hits harder when someone is young. For me, I think about what I was struggling with when I woke up this morning and how minuscule that was in the grand scheme of life. While the things that I thought were important - are/were - the fact that I was dreading doing them because of FEAR make me rethink how I prioritize things. I won't go into detail about what those things were, but I will say that I am forever a changed person because of the events from the past two days. Me stressing about the things that I stress about are my reality and I never try to unload those on to other people for the simple fact that I have no idea what they're going through. But when something like this happens, I ALWAYS revert back to saying to myself "Richard what the fuck is wrong with you? You were worried about THAT? You're insensitive."

I don't want people to read this and think, "Richard you're insensitive that you're thinking about yourself at a time like this." Honestly, what am I supposed to do? If there's a manual on how to mourn, someone please let me know. That could also just be something that I'm making up in my head. Who knows?

I stress about a lot of things on a daily basis, as we all do, but I think what I need to do is take a step back and not let the things that I stress about hold me back. I can't let those things hold me back because I believe that I've got a lot let to do in my lifetime but those things won't get done if I keep being a baby (not the operative word I would have liked to use... so read into that if you want). I have proved a lot to myself over the last couple of months and I've done a lot of soul-searching to be satisfied with my trajectory. On a daily basis, I wake up unhappy with where I am in my life. That unhappiness is a function of the life I've always envisioned for myself as well as the lives that I see others living. I know, I know, that I shouldn't compare myself to others, but... it's life... I do. What I am well aware of, however, is the notion that I am the only one who can change it. And that's what I'm doing.

Sometimes events light a fire under your ass because it puts things in perspective for you. I'm wondering if "the man above" is trying to signal something to me, but I guess that's what we all wonder - daily. ::shrugs::

I'm going to keep pushing forward for myself, and for everyone who is no longer with us who also had unfinished business on this earth. I hope that makes sense. If not... oh well... I'm going to end this post now.

Kyle you will be missed. I know you and Cory are looking down on us having a blast! #GoneTooSoon <3

Back 2 Cornell for 3rd MBA Classmate's Wedding!

2016-09-10T10:00:00.000-04:00

You can follow my new life journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com

Tis the season I suppose! Last weekend (Labor Day Weekend), I was back up in Ithaca for the wedding of two of my classmates. I love a good wedding especially when it's a wedding where I know a good amount of the attendees. This was one such beautiful occasion. I haven't been to THAT many weddings of friends, mainly because a lot of my friends are still single. I say that because this is the first wedding that I've been too where I've seen said relationship evolve from initial introduction to nuptials.

Since these two classmates Nora & Kenny, met during school it was a very special event to have the wedding back up in Ithaca. I was very excited to be able to spend time with classmates whom I hadn't seen since graduation day. Once we all graduated, we dispersed throughout the world. What was so great is that Nora & Kenny had different groups of friends during school. I still tell everyone that we were all very close and knew everyone pretty much, but inevtiably some people will drift towards others. Kenny and I lived in the same development at school. I actually remember the first time I met him in person. I remember where I was standing, what we talked about, and why we talked about it. Lol... I won't post that on here haha... However, I will say that because he's from NJ and I'm from NJ we bonded over that. Also, he was a hockey player in HS and my town had a hockey rink that he's played in. So yeah, after that we had many mutual friends and interests.

Nora had a different core group of friends, who if I remember correctly, lived much further from Kenny & myself. As their relationship progressed she began spending more time up near Kenny so that's when I really got closer to her. As they were saying their vows and described one another I just kept thinking to myself, "They have the relationship that I can only dream of having!"

Additionally, they both lived in NYC post-MBA, so I was able to see them relatively more frequently than some other classmates. I think the wedding was relatively small <150 and I would say us MBAs & Spouses comprised almost 1/3rd of that.

In any event, the weekend was a blast as 7 of my classmates and I rented a lake house for the weekend. It was a perfect spot for us to just relax and catch up when we weren't attending a wedding event. It was epic to say the least. I'll leave the details to those of us who were there, but it was perfect!

Here are some pictures of our mini-reunion.

And true to form, the night ended with this....

Surrendering to MY START-UP JOURNEY through networking, Thanks Oprah!

2016-08-31T11:48:00.001-04:00

Follow my new journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com; Personal, Book, Blog & Professional

In the past, people have asked me how frequently he/she should blog and what my cadence is. For me it's always been that I write a blog post when I've had some time to reflect on some recent situations and feel the need to tie the themes together. If the theme then relates to something I heard in business school or during the admissions/application process then I decide to open up blogger.com and write a blog post.

This blog is no different. Quick background - I'VE GOT A START-UP. I'm chugging along. It's tough. It's grueling. It's fun. It's stressful. It sucks. Its rewarding. It's challenging. IT'S MINE.

Ok now you're caught up. I think the real reason why I wanted to write this blog post is because I'm now going through another process that I don't really understand. Very similar to when I embarked upon the business school process and the whole impetus for starting this blog "journey". I guess my MO is that when I start something I'm not too familiar about, I write about it so that when people do find my blog, maybe, hopefully, it offers him/her some solace in knowing that he/she is not the only one. ::Shrugs:: I dunno...

But what I do know is that

- yes, I ramble.

- no, I don't write in the proper prose.

- no, I will not start to use proper grammar or punctuation.

If I were to edit myself in the ways above, I would never write anything. It's my blog and I'll do what I want. I write this way, because it's EXACTLY how I process things in my head. Ok ok ok, back to the story.

So, as I continue to try to navigate gaining traction with my company, I've been reaching out to friends as well as friends of friends to get their advice on what my next steps should be or as to whether I'm at least on the right track. If you can't tell by now, I'm a researcher... I really try to do as much due diligence as possible into a subject so that I don't sound completely crazy when speaking to someone.

What I've found from speaking with some great people who have had similar experiences and who are able to give me insight into the processes of things, is that if I know them personally or if they're a friend of a friend I'm able to "cut through the bull-shit" more quickly and be more candid. Now, I know that some people ARE able to do this without any problems, but maybe because I over-think things, I tend to hold back a bit and try to be formal at first and then as time progresses - ease off the brakes. I'm not quite sure. What I do know is that in doing so I waste a lot of brain power trying to figure out HOW to say something instead of simply saying/asking it in a polite manner and then letting the chips fall where they may. I think I'm getting better but I'm not where I'd like to be just yet. That article I wrote about a couple weeks ago, really helped.

One topic that I've been looking into lately is the topic of funding. It's a black box industry. I've listened to podcasts, read articles, stalked other blogs...everything you can imagine, but they just didn't do my justice. Don't get me wrong as I've been able to take a piece of information from each of them and apply it to my business, but as one can imagine overtime a great point would be brought up, I'd inevitably have other questions. Then, I'd have to find another podcast or article - to answer those questions... and the cycle would continue.

What I've been able to find out by using my MBA, B-School, Johnson, Cornell, MLT, Consortium network is that - GOOD GOD IT'S POWERFUL! Warm intros are unbelievable and I can unequivocally said that I wouldn't have been able to get in touch with nor simply know the people with whom I've spoken with in the last couple of weeks had I not gone to business school.

I don't mean for this to simply be a blog about "OMG GO TO CORNELL CUZ OUR NETWORK IS AMAZING". The takeaway for someone who isn't quite sure if the ROI of attending an MBA program is for him or her would be this - FROM MY EXPERIENCE ---- IT IS ----IF, AND ONLY IF --- you know how to use it to your advantage. Now, I don't mean TAKE ADVANTAGE of people, but USE IT to your advantage.

Each conversation I've had - no matter how long or short - has provided me with some key components that I then take to heart and into the next conversation that I'm going to have. I'm still learning, and learning from the best I might add. The more these people reaffirm my thoughts, ideas, traction, processes the more I then believe in myself.

It's something I constantly deal with - and I know why, but that's a topic of a much longer blog post that I'm just not quite ready to write - and won't be for a loooooooooooong while, I think only 2 people know why. One is someone who will read this blog - Hi Mr. Hatanaka! ;-) It's not that I'm "ashamed" of it or embarrassed by it, but I haven't quite figured out exactly how to write up that message without it coming across the wrong way.

I know WHERE I want to go but not necessarily HOW to get there so these conversations provide some clarity into that. I'm become more okay with not knowing the HOW and trusting more in the process. In the past, I've done this and everything has worked out. I recently listened to about 3 hours of speeches given by Oprah - yes, Oprah and her message reaffirmed my process. Here is one of the one that I listened too from her speech at the 2016 Essence Festival (link below). In the speech she talks about... intention... and submitting to a higher power - whatever that may be. If you listen from 26:00, where she starts talking about The Color Purple listen until 37:00. That 37:00th minute is when it really HIT me that I've done that before and that's the moment I knew I would get into business school.

- If you don't believe me, then please just watch those 10 minutes.

- THEN, read THIS BLOG POST, where that's essentially what I did. Now, THAT'S reaffirming to me.

Now some of you long-time followers may be thinking, "Richard, you've had so many friends who have been through this whose experiences you can rinse, wash and repeat... you've been to business school... you've got the experience... the connections...you're all set." To that I say, yes, but, I've got to be true to my own path. I've recently come to terms with that and that's mainly because I didn't know how. I'm now slowly learning after a lot of self-introspection how to do that.

BTW - if you've made it this far.... Thank you for trying to follow my thoughts. This weekend, I'm going back up to Cornell for the wedding of two classmates - Kenny & Nora! I get to see 30 of my classmates, many of whom I haven't seen since school. It's going to be absolutely incredible!

Ok that's all for now, I've got to go and work on my business haha... until the next time!

Please support a fellow MBA graduate's start-up - Elu: Made-To-Measure Apparel for Plus Size Women

2016-08-29T23:44:00.001-04:00

Follow my new journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com; Personal, Book, Blog & Professional

One of the great things about having the blog is that I'm able to bring awareness to whatever it is that I deem necessary! This is another one of those posts but it's not just a random post that has no meaning to my life post-MBA, so the story does still continue. I'm really trying to reach 1,000,000 page views!

Ironically enough, this is another post about another friend's start-up who is in the final hours of her kick-starter campaign. I met Christina during the summer of 2011 - I'm guessing June/July - timeframe. Christina is a fellow Class of 2011, Consortium Alum who attended the University of Southern California where she graduated with her MBA from the Marshal School of Business.

Christina's personality is not one that can be forgotten as her kind & bubbly spirit is contagious! I do remember she always had a smile on her face. I'm writing this blog post because Christina has founded a company called:

Elu - which is her own line of Made-To-Measure Apparel for Plus Size women.

For more information about Elu & Christina's vision visit her

KickStarter Campaign

Many of my friends who are doing "big things" out there in the start-up world don't know how much inspiration their journey's provide me, but one way I feel I can thank them is by giving them a shout out on my blog and by doing as much as I can to share their businesses with those who read this blog.

I haven't directly spoken with Christina in some years now, but I know she'll read this post - HEY GIRL! I just want you to know that I've been following your journey and respect your hustle & vision. I'm rooting for you!!!

2 Tuckie start-ups & Me: Chatdesk.com and JoinReflect.com

2016-08-23T11:42:00.000-04:00

Follow my new journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com; Personal, Book, Blog & Professional

Here I am again with another blog post. This one is is inspired by a couple of situations that I've had over the last couple of weeks. They're relevant to this blog because as I reflected on each situation, I noticed a common thread that I'd liked to discuss.

Back in 2010 (Jesus Christ!) I was up in Hanover, NH visiting Tuck @ Dartmouth. I recounted my entire visit in THIS blog post. During this experience I came to learn more about the Center for Digital Strategies (CDS), which I'm sure you can Google to find more information on. In any event, when I wrote my Tuck essay I remember specifically mentioning that I wanted to be involved in the CDS as a way to not only learn more but also a way to allow my "future classmates" to leverage my digital marketing knowledge for their benefit.

::cut to:: the fact that I did not attend Tuck but rather Johnson at Cornell University, but I did keep in touch many of the folks who I met during my visit up there or met through various events throughout school. Two of whom, they're who this post is about, are Tuckies. One, I've written about before because he's the one who was so kind to connect me with the LGBT group at Tuck and the other is a someone who I met through MLT during the summer prior to b-school. So what's this post all about you ask?

*Full disclaimer - I'm writing this as I'm trying to work on a couple other tasks so I keep getting sidetracked, so bear with me.*

So now that I'm 3 years out of school, I'm beginning to notice that many people are switching jobs. While some are staying in the industry they went to work for, others are realizing that they'd be better off on their own. A lot are going the start-up route. I don't see this as an uncommon progression but it brought me to have 2 very positive conversations with these 2 Tuckies recently.. So who are these folks?

Ironically enough, they both posted on FB inquiring about some digital marketing/industry knowledge help with their "newly minted" start-ups. If I see/receive a request from a friend and I think I can help him/her I'll always respond. So naturally I did just that. Now that I think of it, I wonder if these two gentleman have met each other. Tuck is a small school, but one of them graduated in 2011 while the other graduated, my year, in 2013. Knowing the culture of a small school, I'm going to go with the answer - YES - they either know each other or know of each other.

In any event, I know they both need backlinks to their start-up's websites so here we go...

- The first person I had a 2 hour-long conversation with a couple weeks ago is the Founder of Reflect

"Imagine if therapy was designed by clients, not clinicians. Say hello to reflect. Talk therapy for modern life."

Reflect is currently in the pilot stage out in San Franscico. Their matching algorithm takes the guesswork out to finding a therapist to speak to. Find out more information at the Reflect website.

- The second person I met with last week is a Founder of Chatdesk, which helps companies deliver sales & customer care in mobile apps. ------- Reduce customer care costs, scale up efficiently & free up your team.

Chatdesk is based here in NYC only a couple blocks from me. So after my friend posted on FB, I messaged him and we connected over lunch.

The great thing about these start-up grind connections is that I not only offer my wisdom, but I'm able to leverage their contacts as well. The people that I've been connected to as a result of these two connections is invaluable. I'm just going to keep chugging along so that I can reap what I sow, but I just had this epiphany the other day that 5 years after writing an essay about helping people @ Tuck leverage my knowledge - even though I didn't attend that school - I'm still doing it!

Thats all for now... I've gotta cross some things off of my checklist for the day before I take my intern out to lunch for his final day! :-(

Until next time!!!

Don't give any FUCKS when starting your MBA program...

2016-08-17T11:01:00.001-04:00

Follow my new journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com; Personal, Book, Blog & Professional

Good Morning! This isn't the next blog post that I truly wanted to write but, it's top of mind right now so I've got to do it. I just had morning coffee with my friend who suggested to me in 2009 that I look into getting my MBA. I haven't seen her since 2011 so grabbing coffee with her this morning was a big treat.

We started off with the obligatory catch-up question & answer session re: updates about both of our lives. Once that was all settled we were able to have fun again. Long-story short, she suggested that I read an article titled:

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck

It's precisely what I needed to read today, so I wanted to share it with everyone else. I've been finding myself giving too many fucks lately about things that I don't really need to give a fuck about because the outcome would be the same yet I would spend less time & mental energy on deciding how to proceed. Does that make sense? I need to remind myself of this every day - so now it will become my computer background - my iPad background - my iPhone background - and my lock-screen.... well, maybe not my lock screen because I laugh when I open my iPad as my lock screen is this image...

For those of you who will be starting your MBA programs soon, this article may help you during the core. This is more or less the attitude that I had because I knew everything would work out in the end - and it did - I graduated. But what seems to happen during the core is that people put waaaaaay too much importance on the little things.

Not giving a fuck doesn't mean to be rude or to not care about things. But it's another way to say, "It is what it is" or "::meh::" or "Don't sweat the small stuff"

Here are some snippets that I found to stand out to me.

I mean, if we could only give a few less fucks, or a few more consciously-directed fucks, then life would feel pretty fucking easy.
on the contrary, what we mean is that Mark Manson doesn’t care about adversity in the face of his goals, he doesn’t care about pissing some people off to do what he feels is right or important or noble.
They say “Fuck it,” not to everything in life, but rather they say “Fuck it” to everything unimportant in life.
They reserve their fucks for what truly fucking matters.
There really is no such thing as not giving a fuck. The question is simply how we each choose to allot our fucks.

I'LL TALK TO YOU ALL LATER!!!

::throws up the deuce::

How Networking as a Pre-MBA can pay off

2016-07-15T12:26:00.000-04:00

Follow my new journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com; Personal, Book, Blog & Professional

I've got to find two posts that will add some context to this current post. But I'll start anyway and then back track. Per my blog you should recognize by now that I'm a networker. I love to meet people... stay in touch... friend them on FB & LinkedIn and keep it moving. Recently, I was able to re-connect with two people who I didn't go to school with as neither of them went to Cornell, but I did meet them through the process of me applying to business school. The reason for the "re-connection" is simple. Both are working on start-ups themselves and via FB I saw that one is still in NYC and the other is in SF. So of course, this presents an opportunity to learn from each of them and trade war stories.

So that's the beginning, now let me search for the original posts from over 4 years ago when I first got in contact with both of them...

::searches through blog::

The first person I'm going to talk about is now the founder of SkyMD - "Say goodbye to appointments, commutes, and waiting rooms. Visit the dermatologist without leaving home." I initially met him when he was a 2nd year at HBS.

Here is the incredibly long post where I met him (Harvard Business School LGBT day) back in April of 2010!!!!!

If you don't feel like reading the whole post, I actually gave him a shout out in my blog because he made a positive impression on me.

"I struck up a conversation with someone else who was in Fashion retail... he works for Piperlime, so we discussed our backgrounds and then a current student joined us because prior to HBS he was a buyer for the Gap (I think he was a buyer)."

I think I may have taken his business card but I was able to keep in touch with him. He offered to be a resource to me and help me navigate the b-school application process. I do remember meeting him, after he graduated, near Union Square in the Summer for coffee to pick his brain about what I should be thinking about when applying to business schools. He's always been incredibly truthful to me over these years. Needless to say, after that meeting, I don't recall seeing him again in person until last month.

He made a post on FB that I found pertinent. So then I clicked on his profile to see what he was up to these days... saw that he had a start-up here in NYC... reached out to him... met him for coffee! You never know how people are going to come back into your life so it's always good to keep in touch.

The 2nd person I'm going to talk about is now the founder of Reflect Therapy - "Everyone can benefit from having someone to talk to. We've made it easier than ever. Imagine if therapy was designed by clients, not clinicians. Say hello to reflect. Therapy built for modern life."

This person wasn't mentioned in my blog but in hindsight, he very well could have been. He is an MBA graduate from Tuck (Dartmouth). I was initially in touch with him because he was involved with GSA, which is the Gay/Straight Alliance, at Tuck. When I first contacted him via the email provided on the website he was studying abroad. He too was a 2nd year at the time so he also graduated in 2010. Unlike the other founder above, I did get to meet him in person finally at a Reaching Out MBA conference (when I was a 1st year at Johnson at Cornell University). I think he was passing by and someone called out his name which sounded familiar to me. Then I asked what his last name was... introduced myself... yada yada yada...

So last week, he posted on FB asking if his friends could provide any references to him for some SEO/SEM help. Seeing as thought that's what I did for 6/7 years prior to business school, I responded to him. We set up a call - and spoke for about 2 hours on Tuesday night - also trading war stories as well as me giving him some steps to take for his company.

Needless to say, I'm blessed to have these types of people in my network who I can be very candid with and vice versa. They both know that if they need any help from me, I'm only a phone call or email away. It's just nice to know that we're all working on the next chapter in our lives.

So with that being said, I feel better now that I've written this post, but now I must get to sending out the rest of these emails. I'm so determined to get through my whole to-do list for today!

Until next time! RBB over and out!

1st Month Back in NYC - Start Up

2016-07-14T11:34:00.000-04:00

Follow my new journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com; Personal, Book, Blog & Professional

Hello hello! I've been meaning to get around to writing another blog post that recaps the last 4-5 weeks of me being back in the city "full-time" working on In The Loop because, well, it keeps me focused. As such, I'm quickly learning that in building a company there are always OTHER THINGS that I could/should be doing. There won't be any structure to this blog post as I'm just going to do what I do best, and that's ramble, and I'll see where it takes me.

Quick recap - I'm working on building my company In The Loop and I'm still coaching All Star cheerleading at World Cup All Stars. There you go - you're all caught up now! :-)

So since I started working out of WeWork in Times Square, I've learned a lot about how I personally operate. When I first made the decision to get office space in NYC (I live in NJ mind you) a lot of people questioned if it would be the best move for me at this stage. I thought about it for a while and decided that I would AT LEAST TRY it and see if it would in fact increase my productivity. If it turned out that it didn't then I would simply retreat back, but I'm glad to announce that it has increased my productivity. For starters, it allows me to start building out a team. So I now have a college Sophomore intern who comes in 4 days a week as well as a fellow cheerleading coach who comes in once a week to help. This has been so incredible (and weird - which I'll get too in a second).

I wouldn't say that the company is pre-revenue right now because there is revenue, just not enough as of yet to sustain any payroll, so the two people that I've got with me know are aware of that. However, what I am able to offer them is not only valuable experience, but also AN EXPERIENCE. I remember when I had my first internship in NYC when I was a college Junior. It was for a boutique online advertising agency on 80 Broad St. and owned by a college freshman and high school senior. I remember a lot from that experience so I'm taking that into account as something that I can offer. Flash-foward to my MBA internship at Craft-Coffee which is/was (not sure of the status at the moment) a VC-backed start-up. That start-up (at the time) was based out of General Assembly in the Flatiron District in NYC. That REALLY opened my eyes to the world of start-ups & how an environment is very important. So yeah... not sure where I was going with that, but I say that all to say that I'm starting to build a team around me who understands what is trying to be accomplished. :-/

In building up that team, it's very odd to have people buy into something that you've been working so hard to create. Every time I hit a milestone I get more and more buy-in from those around me and to be honest, it's very surreal. The same goes every time I get an email from a prospective customer. I go through a range of emotions from - "YES!" to "I'M TERRIFIED" but the validation is definitely helpful. I don't think I'll ever become accustomed to it but that's fine because that sentiment will keep me on my toes.

But being back in the city as opened up a lot of doors already and has allowed me to reconnect with many of my classmates & friends from other schools who are doing great things. Sure, I could have always just conversed via email, but that's not always efficient. Face 2 face works better. So I've had plenty of meetings where I say, "Hey can we grab coffee?" or "Hey, want to grab lunch?" Since I'm on my own schedule it's not a problem for the most part. I will say that I don't like to leave the office too frequently because, well, I've got shit to do. I get very stressed when my to-do list gets too long. Don't believe me? Ask my intern lmao...

I've also been listening to a ton of podcasts. I'm kind of addicted. Here is a screenshot of the ones that I've got on my phone right now.

While I am obsessed with Beyonce, I feel that learning from others who are going through or who have gone through this start-up process is more productive. Since I'm on the bus commuting for about 2 hours each day, at least I'm generating ideas in the process instead of trying to "out-riff" Beyonce in my head.

Hmm let's see... what else?

That's it for now. The next thing that I want to blog about will be a separate blog post because it's directly related to business school. Actually, I think I'm going to write it now and post it later. #Deuces

First Week in NYC (classmate visits from Australia)

2016-06-03T19:19:00.001-04:00

Follow my new journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com; Personal, Book, Blog & Professional

I think this is the perfect time to write this blog as I sit here at WeWork Times Square and reflect on the last couple of days. Let me just preface this by saying that it was been an incredibly exciting couple of days. I feel rejuvenated being back here in NYC working on my own gig. Maybe the excitement of it all will wear off one day, but for right now I'm not going simply take it all in.

As I was taking the bus into the city today (at 3:30pm) I was texting a friend about why I was coming into the city and I said, "It's all very surreal because I'm living part of my dream right now." The reason for me saying that was that I very much had a "full-circle" moment and here's the reason why...

So, I don't normally set an alarm clock. The last time I set an alarm clock was during the Cheerleading Worlds back in April because I had to be up early for competition. Since then, I haven't set my alarm clock (AT ALL) because I don't have to be awake in the morning. I usually had to be at the gym at 3/4pm which obviously doesn't require an alarm clock. So since I started commuting into the city, I've had to set my alarm clock for 6:30am so that I can hop on the bus and beat the traffic. Last night, I was so tired that I forgot to charge my phone, which then led me to "oversleep" and wake up at 10am. I was kinda pissed when I woke up but then was like "wait, I can just work from home." So that's what I did after I ran some errands.

Now, if any of you read my first blog post since being back, I referenced my friend Colin, from Australia, who was one of my team members who helped me to vet In The Loop & pitch to VC's during a project during business school. So like I said, he's from Australia and has been in the US for the last week visiting people and what not.

I had not planned to come into the city today, but around 2:30pm today he posted on FB that he was in NYC and that he had dinner plans at 6 and then that there was an open invitation to anyone around to meet for drinks at 8pm. As soon as I saw that I knew that I had to come into the city. So I messaged him and told him that of all people, he had to meet me at my office to have a drink - on the rooftop terrace of the WeWork co-working space. I hopped on the bus and told him that I would be there by 4:30. I added him to the guest list and was on my way. I mean the notion that my first guest to my office space would be a classmate who lives in Australia and just happened to be visiting the week that I decided to start here in the city was in fact that "full-circle" moment. Like what?!?! Huh? This can't be real... but nonetheless - it is very real.

Aside from catching up about his most recent trip to Vegas with some of my other classmates, we inevitably talked about In The Loop. It's changed A LOT from what he remembers, even back to when I was calling it "Information Overload" ;-)... but the conversations that we had about it and the questions he was throwing at me are the reasons why I miss being around people such as himself. I'll be honest in that it was very hard for me to articulate a lot of things because I haven't used much oft hat vernacular in a while, but then again, it's fine! :-) I'm ecstatic... Here we are just having a beer on the rooftop terrace - that he even very much enjoyed!

I'm going to wrap up this blog post right now because my Seamless order should be coming soon and I'm gonna grab it and take it upstairs to the roof and just reflect. I already got some work done because I of course, couldn't come into NYC and NOT work... Got too much too accomplish. Later, I'll be meeting my classmates downtown for the rest of the evening lol... let's see where the night takes us!

#LivingTheDream (finally)

I'm Baaaaaccckkk ;-)

2016-05-31T10:00:00.000-04:00

Follow my new journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com; Personal, Book, Blog & Professional
If you've been a blog reader for years, as many as you have... then... well well well, hellloooooooo again everyone! It's been a long fucking time since I've posted on my blog, but I can say that I definitely didn't forget about it.

To my classmates - I miss you guys & thank-you for still pushing me even though each of you have no idea how you've impacted me since b-school! (had to throw that in there)

Now, if you met me post-MBA (2013 - now) and are visiting this blog for the first time, well I'll give you a short backstory. I worked in NYC prior to business school - decided to go to business school - decided to started a blog documenting my journey TO business school - got into business school and decided to keep the blog going - then graduated business school, made a couple of posts and haven't revisited it until now. There, you're all caught up! Feel free to read through the more than 400 blog posts if you'd like.

So it's been quite some time since I left business school (Johnson at Cornell University) if you've forgotten. I still do think about it every single day because for starters, Sallie Mae is real! Secondly, it's just a part of me... for example I'm sitting here now at 5:21am on Tuesday morning typing this outside with my Cornell fleece on. Sorry, not sorry. In any event, while I still think about it everyday, I do not talk about it everyday. The only time I talk about my experience is when someone else introduces me as "This is Richard, he went to Cornell" and yes it does happen - often. It's weird when that happens but whatever it's a talking point... albeit an expensive one. There is a reason I bring that up...but let me first start with what I've been up to since business school.

So my recruiting "journey" post-MBA was a difficult one. I did recruit all throughout the summer after graduation as some of my other classmates did. I finally received an offer - for the EXACT JOB that I went to business school for but decided to turn it down. Reason being... the money wasn't what I was looking for. So, like any competent person, I retreated back into my old life of being a cheerleading coach. So from 2013 - till the present I've been back at World Cup All Stars (in Freehold, NJ) as a tumbling coach. So you can imagine my reluctancy to tout my degree and what not. When my fiends would introduce me as "Richard, who graduated from Cornell" people would always ask me - "Oh, so what do you do now?" Which is a normal question. However, I realize that my response was the abnormal one as I would then say "Well... I'm coaching." From that I could count the number of seconds that it took them to process that information and give me a blank stare. Rightfully so, I mean who would pay all that money to get an MBA and then go back into coaching, right? Well, I didn't know at that point but I just knew that I couldn't go back into the rat race as I thought I would have wanted too.

Then there came a point where I was very embarrassed over not having "accomplished" anything beyond graduating from business school. There were a couple of very dark months for me. Not that I was planning on anything drastic (so get that out of your heads) but I was just... like I said, embarrassed. You can tell if I'm in a "happy place" by what I talk about on social media...

- To those of you who knew me before b-school (you know I'm obsessed)

- To those of you who now know me post-MBA (you probably think I'm obsessed, but you don't know my previous life). My FB posts post-MBA have been littered with many cryptic messages, leading one to think I'm bi-polar or schizo...

anyway, I digress.

So back in business school during the fall of my 2nd year, I was in my Entrepreneurship & Business Ownership class working on a group project with a couple of classmates (Kevin, Adam, & Colin). Our final project was to pitch an idea to VC's (including our professor) and for that we received a grade. No, before you ask, I have no idea what my grade was on that project. BUT, that project led to where I am now. The idea at the time was called "Information Overload" which was a scheduling app for freelancers - mainly coaches - which allowed me to leverage my experiences from my previous life as a cheerleading coach. When I went back to coaching after the whole recruiting debacle, I decided to run with this idea for "Information Overload" and find some capital to make the dream real.

To be honest, I was just a "kid" with a dream and didn't know how difficult the process would be. I was now living back at home - with student loan debt (again) - coaching cheerleading and for a while, I fell into rut, which was incredibly depressing. I saw all of my classmates working hard, making money, going on vacations (well the vacations are really starting now because I guess that first year, is not the time to do so) and seemingly living their post-MBA dreams. However, the grass is always greener! I was very depressed and threw myself into coaching cheerleading, which I must say, I'm very good at. It was my outlet but after a couple of months I really wasn't truly fulfilled. I had been through that before and knew that it wouldn't take long before I needed to add something else to my not-so-busy day to keep myself occupied. So as time went on, I kept talking to people about "Information Overload" and changed the name of it to "In The Loop"... found 2 investors who believe in me... and was off and running.

So here is where I have to address the "Is business school worth it?" question that I don't hear much of anymore, but I heard it very frequently immediately upon graduating. Yes, of course, the hard skills were important, still can't name them all and yes I can put together a mean deck and scan financial statements, but more importantly, I know who to go to in order to get all of those things done by "professionals" so yes my network is ridiculous and I'm about to "go HAM" and finally utilize the shit out of it. (Sidetone - I never used to curse on my blog, but I'm from Jersey, and it's just part of my vocabulary so... ::shrugs:: I really have to dial it back when I'm coaching, so when I'm not at the gym I let loose.) In any event, there were times (post-graduation) that I would go back up to Cornell for various reasons, and meet with my professors and get a much needed recalibration. I'd always bounce things off of them, not because I didn't know the answers, but because I guess I needed that reassurance that its as okay to venture off into unknown territory. Granted they would remind me that the territory isn't really that foreign to me because I've been through - or had a taste of - everything by going to business school. Those mental reminders are always helpful!

The reason I'm putting this out there like this is because blogging about my b-school journey helped to keep my on track and I'm hoping that blogging through this start-up life will keep me on track as well. I know that I will make a shitload of mistakes along the way, as I already have, but I am no longer scared of doing-so. Ironically, (and I should have known this), but each time I make a mistake, there's a great little nugget to learn from. Funny how that works huh? You'd think that I'd have learned that by now, but whatever.

So.... my app, 'In The Loop' is a safe & easy way for cheer coaches to connect with parents & athletes. I'm in the process of switching of the old website to a new one, but feel free to take a look.

I may have mentioned this in a couple of posts previously, but when something isn't going quite right, or I'm not "feeling it", I don't talk about it much. Many of the things that I've encountered over the last 3 years haven't been known to anyone. The sacrifices are real but only I can change the circumstances with which I find myself. I won't say anything further because tomorrow is a big day for me. Yes, you will hear about it.

So, per usual, I'm finding myself rambling right now and I can't really say much about what's in store, other than you will find out tomorrow and I'm BEYOND excited! Back to where it all began! ;-)

I do plan to keep this blog going.... no I will not be changing the name.... and yes you can comment! There are many exciting things on the road ahead, and I look forward to you coming on THIS journey with me. HERE WE GO!!!!

P.S. - I have not forgotten about my book either! But, kinda wanted to wait until this all panned out to flush out the full story.

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Viral B-School Graduation Speech

2014-06-25T03:06:00.003-04:00

Follow my new journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com; Personal, Book, Blog & Professional

I know I know, it's been a while since I've updated my blog, but trust me - I will be doing it again. I'm working on something very important at the moment. But, if you have not seen this viral b-school speech then this is a must watch! You can learn a lot about a business school from the speeches that the student speaker at each graduation gives.

Enjoy! I'd also like to announce that he's an MLT Alum! #NotSurprising.

My MBA YouTube Channel

2013-11-02T08:50:00.000-04:00

Follow my new journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com; Personal, Book, Blog & Professional

Hello everyone,

This YouTube channel is looooooong over-due and it's basically an extension of this blog and the video blogs that I did for MBA.com, but now I have time to devote to it whereas before I did not. Typing up blog posts is time consuming - although I will continue to do so because it generates a ton of organic traffic - but I will also continue to update my YouTube channel as it's a source for new traffic and views and questions.

I also started it so that I could promote my upcoming book, but then I decided that I wanted to just be able to speak candidly and have people see my mannerisms and emotion when speaking about certain topics related to business school and the MBA experience that one cannot get from a blog post.

In the video below I speak more about exactly why I wanted to start this YouTube channel.

Challenging Aspect of Business School

2013-10-31T08:46:00.000-04:00

A while back when I started this YouTube channel, I initialy came up with a list of topics to talk about from a list that a friend who graduated from HBS sent me. It was a list of questions that he frequently received from people. One of the questions that people asked him was, "What is most challenging about business school?"

That is where this particular video blog stems from as it's a question that I frequently received throughout my business school experience at Johnson at Cornell University. The thing about business school is that if you only had to go to classes and study for exams, business school would be MUCH MORE competitive than it already is because people would be able to focus on doing just that. But the challenging thing about business school is elaborated on in this video! ;-) you didn't think I would tell you what it was here did you? ;-)

Drinking in Business School - Copious Amounts

2013-10-23T08:02:00.001-04:00

Follow my new journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com; Personal, Book, Blog & Professional

I made this post to my YouTube channel because if I remember correctly, there are quite a few references to the copious amounts of drinking that goes on in business school ESPECIALLY in the 2nd year. I probably even made reference to it when I was in school, so if you were to go back through my blog posts from September 2012 - May 2013, you'll read a lot of reference too it. In any event, when I was going through the application process, I didn't realize that this was a big part of business school. For those of you who think that it isn't.... well... it is! If you don't want to be a part of that scene then that's quite alright too, but I'm very confident in saying that A LOT of drinking goes on when you get 25-35 yr old people away from jobs who have $, whether it be loans or their own savings, together for 2 years...

What's a student to do? hahaha... I also found this article on Poets & Quants (ARTICLE) that gives another perspective to the drinking that goes on in business school. Where was this article when I applied?!?!

Calling all CPG Marketers

2013-10-22T03:28:00.000-04:00

Follow my new journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com; Personal, Book, Blog & Professional

I wanted to write this blog post because I think that it adds a unique perspective to the role of someone who wants to go into CPG marketing. I saw this article come through on my FB news feed and didn't just want to simply "share" it to the people who I went to school with but the very people who want to go to business school - some who may want to become brand managers themselves.

As such, this article is authored by one of my classmates - although she was a 1st year when I was a 2nd year, who did her internship at Johnson & Johnson over the summer. To spin this into an article that can be related to the business school application process - when they ask in the essays (or interview) what it is that you want to do short-term or even long-term, don't just list a career. Give the WHY behind that. If you can do that step then you'll be further along than most people. Now do I think that's all that you have to do to write compelling essays? Definitely not, but it's certainly a start.

If you are reading this article and are not necessarily interested in CPG marketing, then just take note of the way that Teyren talks about her role and impact. That's how you know that it's something special...

Teyren Brown: Johnson at Cornell University: Use It or Lose It

Tips for Visiting B-School Classes

2013-10-18T01:58:00.000-04:00

Follow my new journey at www.RichardBattleBaxter.com; Personal, Book, Blog & Professional

Contrary to popular belief, visiting business schools and business school classes are incredibly important. As I always tell people, it's not important to do for the simple matter of being able to say, "Oh okay, yes I visited." But rather it's a chance for you to shine. That's how I took it and that's how other people should take it. You want to make sure that you have ample opportunity to get all of the information about each school that you require. As such, in my opinion there is a way to PROPERLY visit business schools.

Yes, I go more in-depth in my book: Getting to the Core, but here is a preview of the types of things that I think are important.