{"id":4,"date":"2011-11-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/perfectpitch\/empowerment-experience-the-freedom\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T08:14:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T08:14:47","slug":"empowerment-experience-the-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/perfectpitch\/empowerment-experience-the-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowerment \u2013 Experience the Freedom!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What does the word EMPOWERMENT mean to you? Is it the feeling of being on top of the world after conquering or overcoming an obstacle? Or, is it the completion of a goal that has allowed you to live out your dreams? When you think about it, how many people really feel empowered every day?<\/p>\n

For me, the feeling of empowerment came when I had the opportunity and privilege to play Major League Baseball. Many people told me I would never succeed; which only motivated me more. The odds were certainly not in my favor as only 1 in 750 people actually achieve this goal. Well, I like my odds no matter the circumstance when I feel empowerment and you should too!<\/p>\n

When I \ufb01rst signed with the San Francisco Giants, I was lucky enough to become friends with as well as draw inspiration from a veteran locker mate in Shreveport, LA in 1998. Chris Hook, a right-handed pitcher with a little Major League time, was making the most of some of his free time before the game. He had his laptop and was writing up some business plans and ideas that were being put into place. <\/p>\n

I was amazed that someone who had the opportunity to play professional baseball was taking time to think about business and life after baseball. <\/p>\n

Over time, I realized that Chris was doing the right thing. I was so focused on one goal my entire life that I put on the blinders to not open my mind to see other things besides baseball. Hook changed my perspective that day. <\/p>\n

Like Chris, little did I know that I was also running on borrowed time. Our time here on this planet is actually borrowed as well as a gift I thought at age 20, I had a whole golden path paved for me and would become a poster child for the team that drafted me. Probably because I was a 1st round pick and was ignorant to think that life doesn\u2019t always go as you planned it. I never wanted to just be fat and happy. I was going to achieve so much more.<\/p>\n

I get this question asked of me all the time\u2026<\/p>\n

Why Would A Professional Athlete Also Be Involved With Internet Marketing?<\/p>\n

Like many online and Internet marketers, many people told me to stay away from network marketing<\/a>, and internet marketing ventures. Why? The odds are against you.<\/p>\n

Once again, if anything, I wanted to dive in more to \ufb01nd out the deep secrets of why
\n97% or more people fail in this industry. It is because they don\u2019t know how to market their business! There are no deep secrets. We all have been conditioned to have a mindset<\/a> to get a job.<\/p>\n

I will be candid with you. Here are my reasons:<\/p>\n

1. Injury & Uncertainty \u2013 I have been injured and had 3 major surgeries. My latest was the worst with a complete quad tear. Many said my return was questionable! Even the world\u2019s most renowned knee surgeon said this. What if I could never play again?<\/p>\n

2. Financial Security \u2013 What would I do after my professional athletic career is over?<\/p>\n

3. And of course, to prove the nay sayers wrong<\/p>\n

My biggest asset of being a public \ufb01gure I thought would make this business easy!
\nWRONG!<\/p>\n

Like many people exploring this \ufb01eld, I was not comfortable entirely at \ufb01rst. Many of my own negative thoughts got the best of me at times for several reasons:<\/p>\n

\u2022\tWhat are my teammates going to think?
\n\u2022\tI was not a marketing guru & don\u2019t they make all the money?
\n\u2022\tI purchased tons of courses.
\n\u2022\tHow would I \ufb01nd the time to test this \ufb01eld out?
\n\u2022\tFinancial Uncertainty \u2013 I have never had a guaranteed contract and I have 5 years of MLB service time!<\/p>\n

Sure, you can live the American Dream that way too, but many entrepreneurs and people who hold onto a dream rarely try to defy the numbers because they cannot remain focused on their goal. It always seems so unattainable.<\/p>\n

In order to be successful, it requires a ton of sacrifice. Being 1 of 750 people took a lot of sacrifice in order for me to become as successful as I want to be. My definition of success is this: <\/p>\n

To be able at any moment to sacrifice what you are for what you will become.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am empowered because I have reached the top of the mountain in some areas of my life. Others I need to continue to develop. <\/p>\n

Just because you have accomplished one obstacle doesn\u2019t mean that you wont have to deal with another. We all have a defining moment in our lives where we had to overcome a huge obstacle. It is hard to go through the pain, but know that when the fight and struggle reside and when you come out of it, Empowerment is on the other side. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What does the word EMPOWERMENT mean to you? Is it the feeling of being on top of the world after conquering or overcoming an obstacle? Or, is it the completion of a goal that has allowed you to live out your dreams? When you think about it, how many people really feel empowered every day? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1772,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,5,3,1],"tags":[6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20],"class_list":["post-4","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspirational","category-reviews","category-sports","category-testimonials","category-uncategorized","tag-define-empowerment","tag-definition-of-empowerment","tag-economic-empowerment","tag-em-power-youth","tag-employee-empowerment","tag-empower-network","tag-empowered","tag-empowering-employees","tag-empowerism-review","tag-empowerment","tag-empowerment-community","tag-empowerment-definition","tag-empowerment-quotes","tag-empowerment-theory","tag-jason-grilli"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/perfectpitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/perfectpitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/perfectpitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/perfectpitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1772"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/perfectpitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/perfectpitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/perfectpitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions\/23"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/perfectpitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/perfectpitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/perfectpitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}