Questions for ESFiness:
What where you convicted of? How long and in what state did you serve your sentence? How have you become successful after being released?
first 2 questions can be found by yourself.
last question?
how have I become successful after release?
well, where I was, you get to sit and think.. you think about all the opportunities you wasted.. you compare yourself to the other guys in there and you realize that most of the guys there are lifelong drug addicts/drunks and even if given the best circumstances, they'd still fail at life.... so you plan, plot, scheme, and whatnot, so when you get out, you can hit the ground running. you realize that everything that went wrong in your life was because of something YOU did... and on the flip side, everything that went right in your life was because of something YOU did.. in short, you control EVERYTHING in your life. success and failure.
I'd already lost everything I had.. family, cars, home, possessions, ect... and I'd been in what many people could see as the worst possible place in life there is. I'd delt with dangerous people and even had a stand off with SWAT... I could be dead, easily. so in my mind, compared to the situations I've been in, everything else is sooooooo fucken easy. applying for a job? borrowing money for a business? brokering deals? negotiating contracts? big fucking deal... if you try something and it doesn't work out, it ain't like the end of the world. it could always be a helluva lot worse.
so.... what separates successful people from non-successful people? the successful people actually TRY things and if they fail, big deal, they try something else... but at least they get and idea and TRY. you just fucking DO IT. there's tons of people who have all these ideas but never fucking doing a damn thing about it. why? because they're afraid... they're afraid of failing... they're afraid of what they'd do if it actually WORKED and what to do next.
how did I become successful? I didn't sit on my ass and talk about what I 'wanted' to do or what I 'could' do.... I actually DID things and didn't give a shit if it didnt' work out.
i have a few income streams... and only about 50% come from ugl stuff.
what constitutes 'successful'? (I'm not sure about your question, so i'll answer what i think you may have been asking... whether it was a legitimate question or a condescending question)... well, i have a nice home in a nice neighborhood, nice vehicles, great relationship with a great girl who'll be successful in her own path, my kids are healthy and smart, great relationship with my father, i can afford to buy what i want and eat nice sushi dinners throughout the week, i can go to bed not worrying about bills, i can loan friends money if they need, and more importantly i provide jobs and opportunities for friends.