May 15th 2017. That date marks a
decade of me living on this rock called Kauai
in this video, I'm going to share with
you my experiences spending the last ten
years in Hawaii
Now when I first moved out here,
all I wanted to do is get a job, work my eight hours,
get paid and when I was off surf,
party and just screw around.
I was over having to carry the load of being
a self-employed graphic designer.
But it didn't really work out that way.
Once I got out here I still ended up
being a subcontractor.
But in the big picture, it all worked out for the best
It's like my grandpa used to tell me
"I've never worked harder, but I've never been happier."
than working for myself.
and in that same breath we would also go on to say
that his boss is a real jerk.
After about two years of just being a beach bum,
it just got old. I was asking myself "you know,
what am I going to do with myself
for the rest of my life?" Is that how I want
to go out just being basically a drunk on the beach?
The answer is no.
So I took a break from drinking and partying,
took some online courses about
finding my passion.
And really got focused in on what it was that I wanted
to do with myself.
And the answer that question was
Man I just want to make art. I want to be able to
make a living doing what I love.
I really turned my life around in the
last ten years out here. I quit smoking,
I quit drinking and I got rid of a lot of
my unhealthy habits.
Taking those online courses really kind of kick-started
my game and got me off my ass and really
got me to thinking about what I wanted to do.
The key thing that really stuck
with me is like what do I want to have
on my tombstone? And I just didn't want
to be another ding dong surfer on the beach
I wanted to be more than that.
And it actually was like the Phoenix
rising from the flame, just things got
way better for me after that I really
did some soul-searching and got very serious
about my art. I got on top of my health.
Really started addressing my own
spirituality in a more serious framework.
And from that time on things just got
better for me.
So I took a few more online courses and did
my best to learn about internet marketing.
And I was on it for about four years.
I was blogging once a week.
I was making tutorial videos for YouTube.
It was a good experience and I learned alot,
but sadly I wasn't able to make a
living selling my art online.
I was spending countless hours online using
played-out strategies learned by the Gurus
and I wasn't making art or content
that I enjoyed anymore.
I really started to see my art sell once I got it
into a retail locations and started
putting the focus on face-to-face sales
in the real world locally here on Kauai.
Since I got here, I've had a lot of cool experiences.
I met a lot of good people,
made a lot of good friends.
I was a stand-up paddle board instructor.
I started our ART-TEA-KI, my small little
Hawaiian tea business.
I'm getting ready to open a new venture
with a good friend of mine.
I got my first motorcycle out here.
I learned how to screen print.
I've been on a biplane with Uncle Sasquatch
What do I like about living on Kauai?
Oh, it's obvious, you know the weather is
just amazing. It's a beautiful place to live
I love riding my motorcycle out here.
I love going to surfing and there
is aloha out here.
Theres a lot of it. if you put the Aloha out
the aloha comes back to you. I firmly believe that.
I've been blessed with cool people to work with
and work for.
What do I not like about living out here?
Not having my people close by.
Not having my family and friends, you know
within spitting distance.
not that I would spit on them,
but you know what I mean.
Theres email, there's Skype,
there's Instagram, there's social media.
But it's not the same as having your peeps,
one-on-oneing with your peeps. So I miss that.
Another thing I don't like about living out here
is the bugs.
I am constantly getting bit by bugs.
And if they're not biting me, they're moving into my stuff.
Or eating it.
The geckos are not much .
There little buggers too. They like to crap
all over my things and startle me when
I'm not paying attention.
The chickens suck.
I don't like a chickens. I think they are
the little Jerkies responsible for the mites
that bight me.
Plus there're noisy and they wake me up
and they crow all day and night.
I try to use them as a... you know
some sort of a reminder that, look where
I live, I'm in this beautiful place. It's like
"Welcome to Kauai"
"Welcome to Kauai"
"Welcome to Kauai"
But I'll tell you what, I would rather have
roosters crowing than car alarms going off.
I had a particularly bad year
where my car broke down, I lost my job,
I was moving out of a house and getting into it
my landlady.
Yeah it was just bad and it all happened
during New Year's weekend, so I couldn't rent a car.
It was a pretty bad situation.
People ask me a lot
"do you ever get island fever out here?"
And to be honest, I don't.
Every now and again, I get a pang to take the bike out
and drive a little further than 45 minutes North
or 45 minutes west.
I can't even do a loop.
But there's still a lot of ground
on this island that I haven't covered.
So I can't really honestly say that
I've covered every square inch of this rock.
Now another question I get asked fairly frequently is
"Do I ever have problems with the locals out here?"
And the short answer to that is nope.
Yeah I've got some stink eye here and there.
There was a guy in the water one one time
that was giving me some static. but it wasn't
a haole/ local thing. It was a jerk in the water thing
He was giving the little Korean girl problems,
so this guy just had issues.
Those are my complaints out here.
I live a pretty peaceful life out here
and I couldn't be happier.
Living out here has been
a wonderful, amazing experience
I am so blessed and so lucky
to be able to call this island my home.
I can't imagine living anywhere else
to be honest with ya.
Hey if you're down with my Kung-Fu,
why don't you do me the fine favor by
doing a little dance on that subscribe button
so you never miss a beat.
I'll see you next time. Aloha
you
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