Hello, Steemit Community!
I am very excited to become part of this awesome awesome group of people with such varied interests and hobbies!

Thank you very much @cinci1 for introducing me to this awesome website!

Introducing Myself

My name is Dan, I am 17 years old and I live in Romania.
I will begin by telling you a little bit about my background, my current situation and, the best part, my future plans.
Let the feels begin!

Early Years

I grew up in a small town called Drobeta - Turnu Severin, where there was pretty much nothing to do.

In the first 6 years of my life, I had virtually no friends in the neighbourhood so I had to go out with my older sister and her girl friends, playing with dolls and listening to girl talks.

It was not that bad, I don't have bad memories from that time period and, looking back, I am very thankful to my sister for taking care and looking after me and bringing me with her. She also used to take me to some birthday parties which were really fun and I am surprised she was not too embarrassed (she probably was, thanks sis).

Kindergarten and Elementary School

I was an extremely shy and awkward kid that couldn't really socialise with new people. I have always had a small group of friends I spend time with. I was never one of the "cool kids" or "popular".
One event I remember from Kindergarten is when some colleague made fun of me for eating a banana and licking my fingers. I remember lifting the chair and hitting him in the head with one of its legs, although it was unintentional. (whoops).

In Elementary school the trend continued, I was still extremely awkward and looking back, I was becoming more and more self conscious. I didn't see myself as good looking and I hated having to wear glasses.

At that time, the crushes also started to appear. Being the pussy I was, for YEARS I waited for girls to like me back, not having the goddamn balls to make a move, see what happens and move the fuck on. I stood there expecting the Universe to owe me something for being a good and attentive guy. Oh boy was I wrong.
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THE UNIVERSE DOESN'T OWE ANYONE, ANYTHING.

If you want something, go out there and WORK FOR IT.

I think that is the problem with most graduates these days. They get a degree and expect people to offer them well paid jobs without doing anything else to deserve them.

Anyone can get a degree, few people can actually bring value in a company. We have enough robots.
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Let's continue. So yeah, I continued hoping and complaining that life isn't fair.

During Elementary School, I started going out with my friends less and less. All I did was play video games with some guys I met online. I was having a great time, it was fun and challenging (I've always been extremely competitive and I can't stand being second at something I like doing).

I pretty much stopped talking with my parents for a few years. I was sad and depressed, I listened to Three Days Grace songs very often and I used to sit in my room all day long. I was not in a happy place back then.

Highschool

I got accepted in the best class available in my school, studying Maths and Computer Science. Back then I dreamt about becoming a programmer.

In highschool, my life changed radically. In the first year I finally started going to the gym and I fell in love immediately. I absolutely adored the feeling of lifting weights, the burn I felt, the pump. When I stepped into the gym, I forgot about everything bad that was happening, about all the stress from school and about the arguments with my parents. I was going to the gym almost every day and I was so excited to see my body transforming.
But....
Unfortunately, due to school work I was going to bed extremely late, getting 3-5 hours of sleep every night. My body did not have enough time to recover and my results suffered drastically.
On top of that, in my first year I didn't know squat about nutrition so I didn't eat enough, further decreasing my recovery and progress.

Scouting

In 10th grade I joined the Scout Movement and I am very glad I did. I got to attend a lot of awesome events, meet wonderful people, develop my social skills and go hiking, climb mountains and much much more.

And now the good part - Getting into Business

At the start of 10th grade, I started working for some guy that had just started posting fitness videos on YouTube. I was creating subtitles for his videos.

Soon, that guy became one of the most respected in the fitness community and his channel became one of the best in terms of content. His name is Radu Antoniu (incredible guy, btw) and he is still posting to this day, improving with every video he puts out. Check out his channel here, you fitness enthusiasts. I promise it is great.

Having worked with him for a few months, he started to be confident in my lifting and nutrition knowledge and I started responding to people's questions on a fitness forum, helping people break through lifting and dieting plateaus, assisting them throughout their journey and basically being a fitness coach.

I loved seeing how people progressed and changed their lives.

Then, I started translating his Cutting Program and his articles.

My plan was to also become a fitness influencer and YouTuber (currently, that is put on hold).

Radu was an awesome employer. I got to see his journey from a startup to a successful business and he gave me a ton of valuable information.

I grew up with the poor man's mentality, thinking that only a few select people could actually make big things happen and you had to be born rich in order to be successful. I grew up surrounded by mediocrity and small thinkers.

Radu literally CHANGED MY LIFE. He opened my eyes and showed me that anything is possible if you work hard enough and are patient. He taught me about entrepreneurship, helping people and self development.

He got me into books such as Think and Grow Rich, How to Win Friend and Influence People, Rich Dad Poor Dad etc.

He accomplished what school couldn't, in more than 10 years. He made me love reading.

And for all those things, I am forever grateful to Radu. He gave meaning to my existence, I no longer see myself doing the same thing every single day, hating my job and my boss and living my life in mediocrity.

But this transformation was not easy. Being surrounded by negative people, like my parents and teachers, it is hard to keep yourself motivated and positive, being sure that you can make it. I had to get through depression, because I was used to having good grades but my priorities needed to change if I wanted to reshape my future. Also, I had to go through a lot of arguments with my parents who also grew up with the poor mentality. They did not think I would be successful, they were afraid of me failing and wanted me to go to college to have a "safe future". Nothing is safe, especially if you work for someone else.

A few months ago I opened my first online store and got into E-commerce and DropShipping.
I still need to learn more and become more experienced, but I have reached the 1k in sales milestone and I know the future is very bright. Currently I am searching for a true winning product and trying to master Facebook Ads and Targeting.

I am learning about social media marketing, influencers and affiliate marketing and I can't wait to be able to fully sustain myself and live the life I want.

Recently, I also got into Cryptocurrency Investment and I am still trying to learn how to read the charts, know more about Bitcoin and Ethereum and I am looking forward to making my first investments. I am still very new to all this so if you guys and gals have some insights and tips, I would be more than pleased to read your advice in the comments below!

I still have some money in my savings, from the work I did for Radu and my plan is to invest them in E-commerce and Cryptocurrency Trading. Also, in the near future I will start writing on my fitness blog again and will make youtube videos on the side.

The Goal

Although in the long term I will shoot for millions, right now my BIG goal is to be able to fully sustain myself by the time I finish highschool. I still have one more year left and I am very excited to make this happen.
I will make enough money online to travel whenever the heck I want, anywhere I want. First I want to see S-E Asia. I want to have my own apartment, live with my beloved Rocky (see below) and buy myself a Tesla Model S in the next few years. These are just short term goals. The potential is limitless and today the opportunity is bigger than ever! Anyone can live the laptop lifestyle from anywhere in the world. Make it happen everyone!

Please write your goals below. I'd love to know more about your plans, Steemians!

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this post about myself!

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If you enjoyed this post, you can follow me to see when I post more -----> @danutstinga

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