00:00
hey you bloody legend you might remember
00:03
this if you’ve been watching my videos
00:04
for a while
00:06
exactly twelve months ago from right now
00:08
I experienced by far the biggest
00:11
business failure of my entire life where
00:13
I was working in this project called
00:15
explore you that in my mind was the best
00:17
thing I will ever do with my life
00:18
because you know that project was
00:20
supposed to inspire the power of
00:21
millions of people to travel more and I
00:23
thought that was just incredible
00:25
but unfortunately ultimately that
00:27
project failed completely
00:29
I lost a hundred thousand dollars and
00:31
even worse than that I let so many
00:33
people down you know that was a I guess
00:35
a really unfortunate events in my life
00:38
and now it’s been you know exactly
00:40
twelve months since then and I wanted to
00:42
make this other video and sort of talk
00:44
about how that event which you know in
00:47
the outside look it’s really negative
00:49
and you know really bad really
00:51
unfortunate actually ended up changing
00:53
my life for the better I think all of us
00:55
you know go through life experiencing
00:57
these really big upsets and really big
01:00
you know obstacles that sometimes we
01:01
cannot actually climb and you know we
01:03
tend to think that oh my god
01:04
everything’s so terrible what I’m gonna
01:06
do now and and you know sometimes we get
01:09
you know depressed over those things are
01:11
really negative about those things and I
01:12
really wanted to make this video just in
01:14
case you know you’re also going through
01:16
something like this
01:17
it’s our scanner hard sometimes to talk
01:19
about these things very honestly but I
01:21
really do think that it’s incredibly
01:23
important especially right now when you
01:25
know most people just show the beautiful
01:27
part of their lives and and not what
01:30
happens behind the scenes this story
01:33
basically leads me from the most
01:35
terrible time of my life the lowest
01:38
point ever professionally to me you know
01:41
sort of stumbling upon three different
01:43
projects that are just so important to
01:45
me right now and they you know with them
01:47
and I can actually accomplish literally
01:49
everything I’ve ever wanted to
01:50
accomplish and working on them I feel so
01:52
much happier then than ever before so
01:55
the first thing is obviously the fact
01:56
that when explore you failed I was still
01:59
in Bulgaria at that point and that was
02:00
the first time in my life that I didn’t
02:01
really have a new business idea ever
02:03
since the age of 15 and I thought okay
02:05
I’ll just go back to really active
02:06
traveling and will give myself some time
02:08
to relax rewind you know think about
02:09
things and you know maybe come up with
02:11
my next thing and then I heard my very
02:13
first filmmaker and so then we started
02:15
traveling and you know at first things
02:17
were really hard honestly because I was
02:19
still so upset about that failure
02:20
anything I know it wasn’t really 100%
02:23
into those travels I was you know
02:25
constantly thinking about what had
02:26
happened and why and in a way was
02:29
blaming myself and stuff and and also
02:32
the same time at that point already had
02:33
like an audience on YouTube but I’d
02:35
never really made any money and stuff
02:36
and didn’t know how to talk to sponsors
02:38
or how to make these videos or how to
02:39
really engage with my viewers as well
02:41
and so I guess even though it might have
02:43
looked that you know we were just having
02:44
amazing time and doing things and stuff
02:46
and of course we were but at the same
02:48
time it was sort of stressful in a way
02:50
it was like going from one world that I
02:51
knew to something completely different
02:53
so I was just figuring things out as he
02:56
went and I was making a lot of mistakes
02:57
you know having a lot of videos that
02:59
flopped completely and I that’s terrible
03:03
but ultimately a very interesting thing
03:05
happened you know even though I never
03:06
really expected this I fell in love with
03:09
this I fell in love with you know having
03:12
a camera being able to talk to that
03:14
camera and being able to reach you on
03:17
the other end the discrete world
03:19
wherever you are in the world right now
03:20
and I never expected this once again be
03:22
like the more I did it the more I
03:23
realize how impactful it actually could
03:25
have been and how many people I could
03:27
actually you know reach and how many
03:29
people’s hearts I could actually touch
03:30
with my work which was crazy it was
03:33
something I had never done before I had
03:35
never experienced before with any any of
03:37
my businesses and I decided from then on
03:39
that you know everything I do on this
03:41
platform has to be a force for good in
03:43
the world once this thing to do as many
03:47
good things as possible so you know
03:50
throughout the time I gave away two
03:51
thousand one hundred dollars in free
03:52
flights to three of my winners moving
03:54
forward I also decided to do this you
03:56
know do good campaigns that I organized
03:58
in India in one of the campaigns we you
04:00
know give away a lot of you know food to
04:02
hundreds of people in a local
04:04
slum in New Delhi and then we also
04:06
organized this amazing you know cleaning
04:08
campaign with over 25 people who showed
04:10
up in Mumbai and then we were cleaning
04:11
this in a slum area and you know the
04:14
video ended up getting well over a
04:15
hundred thousand views and a lot of
04:16
people were so excited about it and they
04:18
told me that they’re also organising
04:19
similar campaigns and that was you know
04:21
completely insane and once again if that
04:24
project never failed I would never have
04:27
been doing YouTube because I was just so
04:29
100 percent busy with that and I never
04:31
had time for this you know I’d be making
04:33
one video in three months and not
04:35
anything close to you know what I’m
04:37
doing now moving on when I finally began
04:41
understanding more things with YouTube I
04:43
started researching what other channels
04:44
are doing and stuff I became a lot more
04:46
knowledgeable about you know this
04:47
business as a whole and ever since the
04:49
failure of explore you I promised myself
04:52
that it doesn’t matter what happens in
04:54
my life I will work incredibly
04:57
incredibly hard to figure out a new way
04:59
to accomplish exactly the same mission
05:01
which was to inspire and empower as many
05:04
people as it possibly can to travel the
05:06
world and it took me a very long time
05:07
but I realized that there was one
05:11
project idea that could actually help me
05:13
accomplish exactly the same mission and
05:16
that project idea was this you know new
05:18
food channel that I started just a
05:19
couple months ago the food channel is
05:22
called world foot adventures and so they
05:23
see what we’re doing here is were paying
05:26
money to various filmmakers and
05:28
travelers to basically travel the world
05:29
to very is really really interesting
05:31
locations around the world to actually
05:34
shoot different foods then they send us
05:36
the content we edit that content we
05:38
publish that on the channel and the
05:39
channel has just started we only have
05:41
like three thousand subscribers or so
05:43
hardly any views if you’re a subscriber
05:44
thank you so much means the world to me
05:47
but we’ve already spent well over ten
05:49
thousand dollars to support you know the
05:52
travels of you know various filmmakers
05:54
around the world for those few people
05:55
whose travels were funded by that dad
05:57
was a really big thing because you know
05:59
they went to some countries then they
06:01
might never have gone and they were
06:02
actually paid for that I know it’s you
06:04
know we’re still sort of taking baby
06:06
steps there but once again no good thing
06:07
you know comes overnight and stuff you
06:10
really need to know work hard Fred and
06:12
I’m not saying that that project has
06:13
taken off big time and we’re making good
06:15
money and
06:15
no I’m actually spending a lot of money
06:17
there but I really want to focus on it
06:20
and I really want to turn it into one of
06:22
the world’s largest food channels
06:23
because if we’re making a lot of money
06:25
we can be spending all of that money to
06:27
support more and more and more and more
06:28
filmmakers to travel tomorrow to our
06:30
locations a little more and more and
06:32
more foods and that to me is just so
06:34
incredibly important and lastly I you
06:37
know sort of kept thinking about what
06:38
else I could be doing with with the you
06:40
know sort of this activity to make it
06:41
even more impactful and you know
06:43
potentially that’s even even more
06:45
people’s hearts and then I thought well
06:47
you know I still had that domain name
06:48
you know explore eurocom right and there
06:52
are a lot of people that you know began
06:53
calling themselves explorers which is so
06:56
important to me they also said that
06:57
their slogan in life was you know stay
06:59
curious and and obviously they wanted to
07:02
wear the same clothes that I’m wearing
07:03
right now and a lot of people actually
07:05
have to ask me when I’m when I’m gonna
07:07
start you know selling my clothes and
07:09
stuff and somehow initially I didn’t
07:11
really feel comfortable doing that
07:12
because I don’t know I thought maybe not
07:14
not a lot of people want would want it
07:16
but some time ago around this very very
07:19
short test with you know my email list
07:22
and we’re selling these clothes for for
07:24
just a couple of days and you know a lot
07:25
of people bother me more than I ever
07:28
thought possible
07:29
and seeing them you know share this
07:31
explore your idea this explore your you
07:35
know mission which is so important to me
07:37
and ever since then I I kept thinking
07:39
that you know wow like if if there’s so
07:42
many people that actually want to be a
07:43
part of this movement and we should also
07:45
obviously have our own shop but then I
07:47
thought I just wanna I don’t want to
07:48
just have a you know a shop that sold my
07:51
merch I wanted to create something that
07:52
was once again a movement you know for
07:55
the for the good of the world and and so
07:58
and so the really interesting thing is
07:59
that throughout my travels I very often
08:01
meet these really interesting people
08:03
anywhere I go where for example
08:05
craftspeople let’s say you know in yours
08:07
Beca Stan or you know literally anywhere
08:09
you go like Indonesia and stuff and a
08:11
lot of those people for them they cannot
08:12
really sell their products to the big
08:14
markets around the world because they
08:15
don’t speak English they don’t they
08:16
don’t have a computer
08:17
know what the internet is and with my
08:20
store I actually want to help them I
08:21
want to you know keep traveling the
08:23
world and everywhere I go I want to find
08:25
these amazing crafts people that are
08:26
making some really local really
08:29
traditional you know things that I want
08:30
to buy those products as many as I can
08:32
and I obviously want to be selling them
08:34
on my personal star because you know for
08:37
someone in the US I guess buying like a
08:39
bracelet from Pakistan which isn’t
08:40
really possible otherwise would be a
08:42
really beautiful thing is you can learn
08:43
about that culture and most importantly
08:45
you can actually help that local person
08:47
not by giving them you know the fish but
08:50
giving them the rug because they have to
08:52
work for they have to build their
08:53
business and stuff that being said today
08:56
on the 4th of November 2019 I’m
09:00
relaunching explore yo calm the brand
09:03
that is telling you all obviously all of
09:05
my stuff but also I’ll start looking for
09:09
those craftspeople that we can actually
09:10
help support together as a community and
09:13
you know if you were one of those people
09:15
that were commenting under my videos are
09:17
sending emails or messages and stuff
09:18
about you know buying some Explorer yo
09:21
you know clothing and stuff definitely
09:23
check out our link in the description
09:25
box down below we have quite a few
09:27
different beautiful designs that I
09:28
haven’t even shown in my videos yet you
09:30
know designs that I love to the women
09:31
back here they’re so new so minimalist
09:34
yet so inspiring a guest check it out
09:36
see if you like anything if you end up
09:39
purchasing some of those clothes
09:40
definitely send me a picture on my
09:42
Instagram at Jacob Lok itis I absolutely
09:46
can’t wait to feature you on my stories
09:47
as a proud member of our Explorer
09:50
community so that’s pretty much it I
09:53
guess ultimately you know none of these
09:57
three projects that right now are just
09:58
so important to me they would never have
10:01
happened had had my my project never
10:04
failed I want to leave you with this
10:06
story that completely amazed me there’s
10:08
this philosopher called Alan Watts and
10:10
he initially told that story many many
10:11
years ago and it’s called the Chinese
10:14
farmer story so the story is very very
10:16
simple I’ll I can obviously tell it as
10:18
as well as he would but I’ll try
10:21
sorry goes like this there was a Chinese
10:23
farmer who had a horse and one day the
10:25
horse ran away so all of his neighbors
10:28
and friends
10:28
family and stuff he came to his house
10:30
and you know they they said oh my god
10:32
can’t believe the horse ran away was you
10:34
know your your most expensive possession
10:36
was such a good horse oh my god that’s
10:38
so terrible what did the farmer say he
10:40
said well maybe I don’t know maybe Lucy
10:44
Lucy what happens the next day the horse
10:46
came back from from the from the
10:48
mountains and brought seven wild horses
10:50
with it that were you know as expensive
10:53
as dad horse and then once again all the
10:55
friends and neighbors and everyone came
10:56
around and they said oh my god this is
10:58
the best thing ever he can’t believe it
11:00
it’s amazing Wow what did the farmer say
11:02
he said well maybe Lucy the next day his
11:06
son was trying to tame one of these
11:08
horses and so you know the son was
11:09
riding the horse and because the horse
11:11
was well you know he he was thrown off
11:13
and broke his leg
11:14
big time then once again everyone came
11:17
came came to his house and he said oh my
11:19
god that’s so terrible why was he riding
11:21
the horse again and believe it what did
11:23
the farmers say he said maybe and the
11:26
next day the Conscription office came
11:28
around from the army they said literally
11:30
every guy in the village but didn’t take
11:33
his son he’s had a broken leg and so
11:36
once again all the friends and neighbors
11:37
and everyone came around and they said
11:38
oh my god it’s so good I can’t believe
11:41
in my son was sick and yours wasn’t
11:42
congratulations oh my god that’s amazing
11:44
and what did the farmer say the farmer
11:47
said maybe and the reason I really love
11:50
the stories that I know it’s it’s it’s
11:54
obviously it’s funny and you know but it
11:57
really does show you that all the things
12:00
that happen to you in your life you
12:02
don’t really know whether they’re
12:03
positive or negative because everything
12:05
is interrelated and car-related and
12:07
stuff you might win a lottery like a
12:10
million dollars and you might think oh
12:11
my god that’s amazing but then that
12:13
might actually ruin your relationship
12:15
your marriage your your kids lives in
12:17
slep you know or you are something
12:18
really bad could happen too but maybe
12:19
that would lead to discovering the love
12:21
of your life are starting the business
12:23
your life and stuff this story actually
12:24
taught me that it doesn’t matter what’s
12:26
what happens to me I’ll I’ll never think
12:29
that it’s really bad or really really
12:31
good or whatever I’ll just I guess go
12:33
with the flow and and you don’t see
12:35
what’s in start from here I had to just
12:36
have this sort of positive outlook on
12:38
things and you know keep learning from
12:39
my mistakes and just keep seeing where
12:42
life takes me and I think all the things
12:44
that have happened to me in the in the
12:46
last 12 months ever since explore your
12:48
field was exactly that the failure of
12:50
Explorer was in my mind the most
12:52
negative thing that ever happened to me
12:54
professionally but apparently it wasn’t
12:57
bad it was
12:58
maybe because that maybe led to me the
13:01
star in these three new projects that
13:02
I’m so excited about and once again I
13:04
think I’ll experience a lot of failures
13:06
but that all experienced a lot of
13:07
successes because of those failures and
13:09
just keep going like this and this and
13:11
this and this and this all year round
13:13
all throughout our lives so if you’re
13:15
going through something don’t worry your
13:18
boy Jacob is also going through a lot of
13:20
things but together we can keep saying
13:23
maybe keep the start of new things we
13:26
never knew existed and you know
13:29
accomplish everything
13:32
we ever wanted to accomplish
13:40
you
13:53
you
◊♦◊
Have you read the original anthology that was the catalyst for The Good Men Project? Buy here: The Good Men Project: Real Stories from the Front Lines of Modern Manhood
◊♦◊
Talk to you soon.
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