Look! Up in the sky…it’s a bird…it’s a plane… no it’s Antonio!

My Passion – Living It
I’ve had a passion for helping others reach their potential every since I could remember. They called me “The Professor” in elementary school because I was the kid who broke up fights, helped people with their homework and helped the teacher clean up after class. Yes! I was a nerd…and proud of it!

Around the age of 13, I found one of my mom’s books, Think And Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill and I thought to myself, “Hey, I want to be rich!”, so I picked it up and started reading it. Though I really couldn’t grasp the concepts at 13, it sparked my curiosity. It made me realize that there was information ‘out there’ that could help me make my life better than what was ‘handed to me’. I didn’t touch the book until about 2 years later.

My mom had a doctor friend come over one night and I heard him talking to my parents about Amway. He was talking about how you can make money doing the stuff you already do, (toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc) but, what really got me excited was the fact that you could make money while you were sleeping. At that time, I was selling candy in school (making good money 😉 ) and I thought making money while I was sleep would be even better. My parents didn’t join Amway, but I convinced the good doctor to let me lie on the application so I could join (you had to be 18 at the time).

We’ll, long story short: when I joined Amway, I signed up for the tape of the month series. (Kids: Cassette tapes are these little rectangle objects that were used to store analog music back in the olden’ days 😀 ) I was absolutely amazed at the stuff they talked about on the tapes. They had people like Zig Ziglar, Dexter Yager and bunch of other people who talked about living this ‘extraordinary’ life that seemed to elude my family. I found Think And Grow Rich again…but this time I was older and it started making more sense.

This was my first real taste of personal development (called “self-help” back then). Not only did this start me on the journey of personal enlightenment, but it lead me down the path of helping others. I saw the destructive things other people did in their lives and I could easily tell them what they could do to ‘fix’ the problems they were going through. It was exhilarating seeing people grow right before my eyes. From then on, helping people was a part of my life. But there was one glaring problem for me. Religion

I remember leaving church one Sunday afternoon (this was back when the pastor stood at the door and shook your hand as you were leaving), he looked at me and said, “You’re going to be a minister one day. I see you behind the pulpit and preaching to thousands of people. At the time, I said, “Is he crazy?!? He doesn’t know me very well.” (I used to get in a LOT of trouble when I was a kid).

Anyway, religion never made sense to me….even as a child. I used to sit in church totally confused and frustrated…Half the stuff didn’t made sense and the rest just went over my head (so I thought). As I got older, I found out that it wasn’t the Bible that was confusing, but the people teaching me the bible. So when I got old enough, I stopped going.

I always wondered why my father never went to church (more accurately stated – why my mom didn’t make him go like she did me). So I asked him one day. And in so many words, his response was, “because it’s all bulls**t….I know it, the smart people in the church know it all the pastors know it, but they keep preaching bulls**t”

Wow.

Imagine as a child, your mom making you go to church every week, but now in the back of your head, you’re hearing your father saying over and over “…it’s all bulls**t”. My father was an extremely smart man…very abrasive, but a genius in his own right. He got me thinking… If I was confused, then maybe other people were.

So I started this campaign of asking people the questions I had about Bible and surprisingly enough, I was shunned and ridiculed by these ‘loving’ Christians. The majority of the responses were, “You shouldn’t ask questions like that” or “Don’t question God” or two of my favorites: “You just have to believe!” and one lady said I’m going to hell for asking questions like that. So as a kid, I came to the conclusion that they didn’t know the answers either.

My quest began.

I remember one incident that totally changed my life. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a chilly Saturday morning..I remembered it was cold because I wasn’t outside playing…and the doorbell rang. It was two Jehovah’s Witnesses. My father was never the type to dive behind the couch and pretend that we weren’t at home…no, he’d open up the door and invite them in to talk!

It was awesome…

They’d sit there going back and forth talking about the bible, pulling out concordances and reference guides…it was amazing to see and it truly changed me. My father wasn’t arguing or disagreeing with them, he was seeking the truth. After they left, I sat there with my mouth hanging open and it made me hungry to study religion.

Since then, I’ve done in-depth studies of 11 different religions and 19 different ‘cults’. Everything from Catholicism to cat worshipers…I soaked up everything I could because it was so fascinating to me. Then I took up studying human behavior…then on to mainstream psychology, then to Eastern Philosophy. Everything I could get my hands on….to where I am now.

For the last 11 years, I’ve been teaching people how to get the most out of their lives. Everything from my “Access Your Wealth” financial seminars to Business and Marketing Coaching to Personal Development. I’ve spoken to thousands of people of all ages and walks of life and by far, I enjoy teaching the Law Of Attraction and Psycho-Cybernetics the most.

I’ve been teaching the principle for years, but until I reread Psycho-Cybernetics (which is a GREAT book) I didn’t grasp how powerful this principle was. Psycho-Cybernetics is what lead me ‘down the rabbit hole’ onto The Hidden Power and Whole Brain Thinking, onto What The Bleep, then to the study of quantum physics. Of all my study and teachings, I discovered two things:

1) Everything comes from one source
2) Everything is connected

But what I recognized, which was even more powerful for me is: everything is directly impacted by thought. Thought controls what we feel, what we see, and ultimately how the world shows up. That’s why the focus of all my teachings (including business and marketing) is around thought. That’s where the phrase “Control Your Thoughts, They Control Your Future” came from.

Now I’m having an absolute blast learning and teaching others how to “Put Thought To Practical Use” and together, we’re creating a world of true love and peace that was once only imagined.

My Business Life
I started my first business when I was 13 years old in the 8th grade selling candy. Before school, I would go to a convenient store on my way to the bus stop in the morning to buy candy for myself. One day, a guy on the bus asked me for my Now-And-Laters candy and I said no. He offered to buy it from me and I agreed. I sold it for a few cents more than what I paid for it. The next day someone else asked for a piece and I sold them as well.

The next day, I bought 5 extra packs of Now-and Laters and sold them all. I made whopping $1.25! Enough money to buy candy for myself for the rest of the week. Eventually, I got the crazy idea of selling enough candy to make money, not just support my candy habit. So, I did the math and came up with a pricing structure. About 2 months later, I was making a steady $200 per week – which was a lot of money for a 13 year old in the 80s (umm…I think I’m dating myself). Eventually, I found other people to help me sell and I shared some of the profits with them…and from there I went into my first “business”.

Since then I’ve owned/managed 13 businesses including: a magazine, a music production studio, a paging/cellphone company and a computer network design firm. 9 of which, were ‘complete failures’, but the great learning lessons helped make the successful ones really successful.

Currently I own a contingency-based marketing and business development company, Money Mouth Marketing, LLC and we develops low-cost and no-cost marketing solutions for small to mid-sized business.

My Personal Life
Currently single… but manifesting the woman of my life. I’m using the process in the relationship recipe to attract her to me I can feel her getting closer and closer everyday. I’m sooo excited 🙂

I have absolutely great friends! I’m so happy to say that 100% of the people in my life bring me joy! YES! EVERY SINGLE PERSON!! Ive never had a time in my life where every time the phone rang or I went to hang out with someone, I knew that it would be a joyous and wonderful experience. Most of my friends are in “The Secret Society” Law of Attraction Group. By the way, I was recently told that we are the largest locally meeting Law Of Attraction Group in the world WOO HOO! 🙂 Come join us.