The Hard Way

By Brad Lea

This book is to help people avoid challenges, heartache, and pitfalls in life and business. You no longer have to learn these lessons The Hard Way like Brad did. If Brad had this book growing up and applied what's in it, his life would have been much better, and he would have found success much sooner. The g

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brad Lea, LLC
• Release date: Sep 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9780578970790

Brad Lea

"You can't get rich making poor choices" Building an industry that propels you from a D- drop-out to CEO takes intelligence, trustworthiness, and diligence-just three of many qualities that have enabled Brad Lea to build a multimillion-dollar training system and forge enduring relationships with clients that often span decades. Over more than 20 years, Brad has devoted himself to focusing on the specific and individual needs of every client to provide them with the ability to track, measure, monitor, and avatar themselves to train hundreds, thousands, and even millions of people at one time. As CEO and Founder of Lightspeed VT, a technology solution that enables people to create, launch and market their own interactive courses, revolutionized the training industry. Brad leads an esteemed team of various departments with expertise in technology, configuration, marketing, branding, production, and of course sales and closing. Brad brings a mastery of knowledge to clients, employees and students in a myriad of industries including healthcare, construction, real estate, hospitality, business, sports, and personal development. With an extensive understanding of his proprietary technology, Brad expertly navigates through all the processes he and his team have created to ensure success, avoid pitfalls and achieve the highest value of monetary gain for those he works with. Inspired by Brad's example, his company's professionals take time to understand goals, are responsive and transparent in their communications, and earn their clients' trust and loyalty. In a field that typically runs on fleeting transactions and minimal innovation, Brad has elevated the concept of tailor-made client service in developing a hallmark approach centered on personal attention, customized solutions, industry acumen, and client success. Brad is a natural born teacher as well as a natural born student. He says, "You can't get rich making poor choices" and with what he has built as a learning system, poor choices are hard to make. From a young age Brad has always been resourceful but the main lessons he has learned in life is to always be authentic, kind, generous and aware. In personal time, Brad enjoys spending time with his family, and says that his favorite job he has ever had is the one of a Father. Brad follows the profound ethics that he was born with and lives in integrity every day. This D- dropout has always had A+ potential and today we see that in the industry that was created with effective training, astounding influence, and smooth charisma from Brad Lea.

Book preview

The Hard Way

Lessons I learned the hard way,

so you don’t have to.

Brad Lea

Copyright © 2021 Brad Lea

All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher.

Hardcover

978-0-578-97180-3

Ebook

978-0-578-97079-0

Dedication

I dedicate this book to the only two people that matter. Me for writing it and you for reading it.

Introduction

Life is what you make it. I learned that the hard way.

It’s simple, yet we complicate it. It’s easy, yet we make it hard…at least most of us do. The question is, why? Why do we seem to put difficulty into living when living is so damn easy? I always told myself, when I get rich, I’ll... [fill in the blank]. I would always think about what I would do and how I would act when I got rich.

Technically, I still do, but that’s not really germane to my point. Here’s what is:

After many years of making crucial mistakes and learning everything The Hard Way, I stumbled upon one of the most valuable lessons I never learned... until much later in life.

It’s Always Better to Learn From Someone Else’s Mistake.

I wish I knew this when I was younger! I would have saved myself a ton of pain and a lot of money over the years. I, for some reason, had to learn everything The Hard Way.

Anyway, that’s why I wrote this book. These are the lessons I learned the hard way, so you don’t have to.

They say, Leopards can’t change their spots. I say, Who gives a shit?

I’m not a leopard and neither are you. People can change. I have and so can you– never forget that.

The Bottom Line is, if you want to succeed in life you must change. Change is inevitable and absolutely necessary to create Real Success in life.

The problem is most people refuse to do it, don’t know how, or even realize that it’s necessary which is why most people spend their entire life chasing their dreams and searching for happiness when in reality, we build our dreams and choose happiness.

I have always been one to question things, especially authority. I never liked being told what to do, how to do it, or what to think. I’m not sure why, I just never liked it. That’s why I had to learn The Hard Way.

If you randomly came upon this book or perhaps a friend gave it to you, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Brad Lea, I have been learning the hard way for most of my life. For whatever reason, I’ve always had to figure things out for myself, and it has cost me dearly. Looking back, the part that pisses me off the most is that I didn’t have to pay the prices I paid or waste as much time as I did to learn how to make millions of dollars, build my dreams, and become a good human. Trust me, there is no honor in overpaying.

I was the type of kid that if you told me the fire was hot, I would’ve had to get burned to believe you. You would think that after a few times of getting burned I would have gotten a little smarter and started to take people’s word for it, but that was not the case.

I spent the next 40+ years learning everything the hard way; getting burned over and over. This includes losing friends, losing money, losing time, losing opportunities, and most of all losing myself. Regretfully, it did not only cost me, it cost everyone around me.

I must admit I’ve learned a lot, and everything I’ve learned I know to be true. I won’t say I regret paying the prices I’ve paid because it has helped shape who I have become, but I will say that I regret not asking for help, seeking advice, and investing my money more wisely along the way.

I guess I was too stubborn, too proud, and too insecure to realize that the solutions and answers I needed were readily available...all I had to do was ask. It took me way too long to understand that.

Thankfully, I finally learned that I could avoid many of the costly mistakes, wasted time, pitfalls, scrapes, bumps, and bruises (as well as few heartaches and divorces) simply by asking for help, seeking advice, and investing money more wisely. Trust me, that is the easy way and there is no shame in making things easy for yourself. In fact, I highly recommend it. We get taught to believe that life is hard and/or unfair, but it’s not. Life is what you make it. The goal is to create Real Success as fast as you can so you can spend most of your life on easy street. To do this, you will need to learn some things, but ironically, you’ll most likely need to unlearn some things too. You’ll need to reprogram yourself and reboot the hard drive. It will be uncomfortable and require you to change, so if you are like most people who really don’t want to change and give up at the first sign of discomfort, I advise you to close the book and write off the 25 bucks you wasted. However, if you are willing to pay the price (far less than I did) and do what it takes to build your dreams, create real success and end up with everything you’ve ever wanted, read on…

I realize there is a certain value and feeling of accomplishment in learning things the hard way but if you ask me, it’s not worth it. According to statistics, you won’t make it anyway, unless you’re extremely lucky like I am, so why pay such a high price if you don’t have to? It’s too risky, time consuming, and quite frankly, painful. As long as you learn and end up where you want to be there is no reason that it needs to be hard. Anyone who tells you otherwise is wrong. I am fortunate and have many multi-millionaire and billionaire friends, clients, and acquaintances that are happy as hell and living the life of their dreams and every one of them would agree.

That’s what this book is about. It’s lessons I’ve learned The Hard Way, so you don’t have to.

All I ask is this. If you get any value out of this book, plaster that shit all over the internet.

Chapter 1

Lose Your Patience.

Death is the best teacher. The problem is we can’t afford the lesson unless you’re extremely lucky like I am.

I can almost guarantee that you were taught to believe that patience is a virtue. Well, so was I, and so has pretty much everyone else on this earth. It’s wisdom that’s been passed down for generations. The problem with this wisdom is it can be deadly, especially when it comes to building your dreams and getting what you want out of life. Now, don’t get me wrong. There are times when patience is great advice. Like if you are getting to know someone and feel like jumping in the sack with them, or when a girl says, wait here while I slip into something more comfortable. By all means, be patient…

But, when it comes to creating success and building the life you want, do not be patient.

Patience is extremely dangerous when it comes to achieving goals and getting what you want out of life. In fact, it’s not only deadly to your goals and dreams, it can actually kill you or somebody else.

When I was about two years old, I was extremely curious. I would always want to investigate everything. I would constantly be walking around getting into things and tearing things up. I wish I could remember it for myself but I can’t so I can only go on what I was told.

As the story goes, one day I was curious to see what was underneath the kitchen sink. This wasn’t the first time I wanted to investigate what was in there, but it was the first time I successfully accomplished my mission without parental supervision. As luck would have it, there were cleaning supplies, dish soap, a few Brillo pads, and a bottle of turpentine. I still wonder why anyone would have turpentine underneath the kitchen sink or even what it was used for, but it was there, and I was determined to see what it was, and apparently what it tasted like. I was told several times to stay out of there but didn’t listen. I remember growing up getting spankings anytime I did something wrong, so you would think I would have learned, but I didn’t. Don’t feel bad, I wasn’t abused but when I got spanked it was usually with a leather belt that my dad had on. He would take it off, grab me by the hand and proceed to blister my ass. I would try to evade by running and ended up just going in a circle trying to cover my ass with my hand. It never worked, not once. I had no choice but to take the very painful consequences of not doing what I was told. Perhaps this is what started my dislike of being told what to do.

I digress… Anyway, I got under the sink when my parents weren’t watching and drank the turpentine. I was quickly found and rushed to the hospital.

When my parents ran in and started screaming for a doctor, they were approached by a nurse who told my dad to calm down. He was obviously a bit frantic and kept demanding to see a doctor. The nurse insisted that my Dad be patient and remain calm.

Thankfully, my dad wasn’t the type to follow directions either. He refused to calm down and have patience and decided to stop trying to convince the nurse I needed help and walked directly towards the door to the E.R. He kicked open the door and started yelling for a doctor or someone to help. Upon hearing the commotion, a doctor came over to see what this guy was yelling and screaming about and saw a man, holding the lifeless body of a two-year-old.

Now, I’m sure the doctors were busy and so were the nurses, but in that situation, was having patience the best advice? I think not. It may have been an inconvenient time and I’m sure there were other people that needed attention, but at that particular moment, my dad wasn’t thinking that patience is a virtue. Don’t wait for things to get dire before you learn this lesson; lose your patience.

Again, it probably comes in handy in certain situations, but when it comes to building real success, attaining your goals, and getting what you want out of life, throw it out the window! When you want something in life, you need to lose patience. Go after it with every ounce of energy you’ve got, as if your life depends on it.

I understand that things take time and you can’t run around throwing a tantrum every time you don’t get your way, but when it comes to building your dreams, reaching your goals, and getting what you want out of life you need to understand that patience has no place in the matter. It will only cause you to rationalize why you don’t have what you want and make it more acceptable. Don’t allow that to happen. If you want more, and I’m assuming you do, do more. The more you do the more you’ll get. Remember that.

Most people are taught to have patience. That things take time and good things come to those who wait. Not necessarily. Patience causes people to rationalize not having the things they want and pulls them into remaining calm. It is a built-in mechanism that we all have to seek comfort, so we justify having patience so we can avoid the discomfort caused by taking massive action. We use it as a crutch to do less work, less planning, and spend less time doing the things that are uncomfortable which are necessary in getting what you want. Without focus and attention things wither and die. With focus and attention things grow and develop; this is a universal truth. The more you focus on something, the more energy you put into it, the more it grows. If you put extreme focus and attention on something for long periods of time versus an occasional glance, the difference is astronomical.

In order to build your dream life and acquire Real Success as quickly as possible, you must understand that having patience is not going to do anything but make you feel better. Do you want to feel better or do you want to get what you want?

Listen, having patience is not always a bad thing, but when it comes to getting what you want it will never pay off. Trust me. I used to have patience just like I was taught, and I had no clue that it was inadvertently causing me to rationalize doing less work than I should’ve been doing. It caused me to justify not having the things I wanted by allowing me just a little bit of comfort knowing that things take time. Naturally, if I was doing less work than I was capable of and spending less time focusing on my goals, the longer it would take to reach them. It’s not rocket science yet so many people miss this very simple fact that if you want more, do more. Don’t complain or get frustrated because you don’t have the life you want when you are basically choosing not to have it. When it boils down to it it’s just a choice. People spend their whole lives chasing after success and settling for less than they want or deserve mainly because they chose to. Isn’t that crazy? The whole time I was bitching and moaning that I wasn’t rich and successful, but it never occurred to me that I was choosing not to be.

You must unlearn that patience is a virtue and come to the realization that everything is a choice. Instead of using patience as a crutch to justify not having what you want, make the choice to get what you want and put every ounce of focus and energy towards it. If my dad would’ve chosen to have patience, I wouldn’t be here today, and you wouldn’t be reading this book.

After the doctor saw me, he told my dad that there was nothing he could do. My dad went nuts and refused to accept that. He grabbed the doctor by the throat and said, You need to try! He refused to have patience and accept the circumstances. He increased his level of intensity and took massive action, regardless of what the experts were telling him. He went against all of the advice from his past and demanded that he gets what he wanted so he did. That is my point. You need to lose your patience and choose to get what you want. You must block out all of the noise and advice telling you to have patience and that it’s okay if things take time.

Both the nurse and the doctor thought I was gone and there was nothing they could do. If not for my dad demanding they try and losing his patience, I would have been a distant memory. After I was revived, the doctor told my dad that if he would have waited even 5 minutes that it would have been too late. Upon entering the hospital, I was flatlined, within a few minutes of my dad losing his patience and the doctor doing whatever he did, the goal was acquired, and I was back in action.

I literally had to die to learn this lesson; patience is not a virtue. When it comes to becoming massively successful and getting everything, you want out of life in the quickest time possible patience will kill you.

Thank God my dad wasn’t a doctor, otherwise he would’ve had patients. (Get it? ;))Having patience would’ve cost my dad a son and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. I can’t imagine the pain of losing a child. Fortunately, my

Reviews for The Hard Way

[Kenneth Menard · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So much knowledge in this book!! Everyone should read this.

[Alan Marin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Everything in this book no makes so much sense so I’m glad I read it

[d-fbuser-422795420 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I already consume all the podcast and content from Brad and he's is inspiring to keep believing in my path as a entrepreneur. I keep pushing and aiming from the same results he has in life. This book is real and easy to read.
Keep up bringing the content please!