A Message from the Founder:
I was the youngest of four children, raised outside a small rural town in northeast Ohio. My father only had a 7th grade education because he decided to quit school to join the workforce. His attempt to provide for his family abruptly ended in 1984 when the aluminum foundry plant he worked for decided to relocate. This transition was hard for my family, especially my father because he now had to support his family through the welfare system. As I grew into adulthood, my childhood poverty became my motivation.
I decided I was going to be the first in my family to go a different route and be successful without using my hands for labor so I started attending Kent State University. It didn’t take long to realize that my motivation not to be poor didn’t prepare me for what I would face in college. I soon faced time management challenges that would make me decide between work, school, sleep, and an ambitious social life. I couldn’t have them all at the same time and within a year and half it came to a boiling point. I failed out of college and I was staring at my childhood poverty face-to-face again.
After a few years of not having any significant career opportunity, terrified I would never breakout of my childhood poverty, I decided to go back to school at a local community college. There I read a great book by Stephen Covey in a professional development class titled, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” This book changed my perspective by providing valuable principles and effective planning strategies to become successful.
As I neared the end of my associate degree program, my hope of obtaining a bachelor’s degree became revitalized. I decided not to take a break but go straight into a bachelor’s degree program at another school. As obtaining my bachelor’s degree became eminent, I began having new dreams!
In 2005, I earned my Master’s of Business Administration degree! I was not only the first in my immediate family to get any kind of degree but I was the first in my known distant family to get a master’s degree. I made it, I finally did it. Now all my problems would be over, at least so I thought.
After the honeymoon of my educational accomplishments ended, I felt more lost, more discontented than I ever did before then. It didn’t make sense but something was missing. I soon discovered that “something” was my purpose.
When I found my purpose or I should say when my purpose found me because I wasn’t looking for it, my whole life not only began to change but to be transformed! There’s a priceless freedom and exhilaration that comes from knowing who you are and what you are born to do. When you experience that freedom, you can’t help but want to share it with others so that they can experience the same freedom you have, that precious ability to breathe again! This is what Live Strategic.com is all about!
We are not going to tell you to imitate us, act like us, talk like us, dress like us, or to fulfill our purpose. We want you to connect with your purpose and fulfill it with your own style, qualities, and attributes. We are not going to tell you to look deep inside yourself for answers but we are going to tell you that you should live from the place where you are going to be in the future. We are not going to tell you to try new things to find your purpose but we are going to tell you to position yourself to be found by your purpose! This is the Live Strategic difference!
I am thankful that you will consider making us a part of your life!
Sincerely,
Mike Thompson
Founder
Live Strategic.com
