Sunday, March 29 through Saturday, April 4, 2015

Sunday, March 29 (Five podcast interviews)

The podcasting commitment requires that I make invest several hours every day, but I’m more passionate than ever before about this project. Today I created podcasts with five people. A student from CUNY reached with a request that i respond to questions she had about how much access prisoners had to technology. Then I completed interviews with several other inspiring people, including Shon Hopwood and Ron Dupard. Both of those individuals served lengthy terms in prison. Yet they emerged successfully. Shon recently graduated from the University of Washington Law School and he now serves as a judicial clerk for the second highest court in the United States. Ron Dupard emerged from prison to build a thriving career in real estate. Both are men are licensed professionals, demonstrating that with commitment, an individual can become more than past bad decisions.

Monday, March 30 (Purchase New House)

Carole and I signed a contract and gave a $25,000 deposit to purchase our second house. We agreed to pay $785,000 for a brand new home in Orange County, California. This investment advances a goal I set of earning my first million dollars within five years of completing 26 years in prison. Part of my strategy was to control $1 million worth of real estate. We purchased our first house while I was still locked inside of the halfway house, just days after I transitioned from federal prison. That house now has an estimated value of $525,000. Since our mortgage now stands at about $350,000, we have about $175,000 equity in that property. Fortunately, we’ve got great tenants who take care of that home. We’ll finance our new home with a $625,000 mortgage on a 15-year note. The downside is that we’ll need to make larger monthly payments. Yet a significant portion of those payments will apply to debt reduction, boosting our equity each month. I anticipate that we’ll live in this house for between two and three years. Assuming that property values continue to increase in Orange County, this investment should position us for a more stable retirement.

Tuesday, March 31 (Chris Poulos)

I interviewed an inspiring character today for the Earning Freedom podcast. Chris Poulos is nearing completion of his second year of Law School at the University of Maine. He described a past that had some significant challenges. I’m impressed with anyone who makes a commitment to grow and become more than past bad decisions. Chris not only approaches the final year of study that will lead to his career as a lawyer, but he devotes significant amounts of time toward improving outcomes of our nation’s criminal justice system. His podcast has quickly become one of the most popular on the Earning Freedom network.

Wednesday, April 1 (Logos)

Today I worked with a graphic designer to improve the branding strategy for the Earning Freedom network. He built a beautiful new banner that I published on Facebook and Twitter. He also created artwork to better establish my brand when I reach out to prisons and schools where I will strive to offer my premium content. I’m really enthusiastic about this opportunity to build a platform that inspires more people to work toward overcoming struggle and reaching a higher potential–regardless of external challenges.

Thursday, April 2 (Chris Samples)

The Earning Freedom podcast has now been live on iTunes for a full week. I’m thrilled to see that the show has climbed up the “New and Noteworthy” section of iTunes. I don’t know what factors the Apple iTunes system uses in its algorithms, because they show doesn’t receive the number of downloads that I would expect for a top-rated shows. Typically, I’m receiving between 100 and 200 downloads a day. It’s my hope that within a few months, this show will receive more than 1,000 downloads a day. Don’t know whether I can reach that goal by working five times harder, or whether I simply need to learn how to work five times smarter. In any event, I’m passionate about bringing more value to the world by the dissemination of knowledge that I can spread through podcasting.

Friday, April 3 (Washington State DOC)

Today I received notification from a deputy director at the Washington State Department of Corrections. He told me that the prison system is working on a plan to make the Earning Freedom podcast available to 10,000 people in prison. It’s my hope that I can distribute the Earning Freedom podcast to every prison in the nation. That effort would allow me to work toward inspiring more than 2.3 million people who need to learn how they can use their time to prepare for law-abiding, contributing lives upon release. I follow a simple of formula of providing daily podcasts:

• They share strategies that empowered me through imprisonment.
• They describe adjustment patterns of other people who emerged from prison successfully.
• They provide insight from business leaders who discuss strategies people in prison may follow to prepare for the labor market.

The Earning Freedom podcast allows everyone who participates to be the change we want to see in the world!

Saturday, April 4 (Family)

Although I continue working seven days each week, today I was able to leave my office early to spend some time with my mom and my sister and my niece. Julie and Sophia are in town to celebrate Easter with my mother and grandmother. Although Carole was at work, I was able to leave early to join my family for dinner. We visited the house that Carole and I purchased and they expressed joy that we have this incredible blessing of a new home. My preferences were to purchase an income-producing property and continue renting a house here in Orange County, but Carole really wanted to purchase a house for us. She has been giving so much of herself to me for so many years that I wanted to provide her with what she wanted. We plan on moving in to the new house in early summer. By then I hope to have my podcasting platform in a much more predictable state, with many podcasts recorded ahead of schedule so that I can keep my commitment of producing at least one new podcast each day.

 

• Earning Freedom Podcast downloads as of 7:00 pm, Saturday, March 28: 1,283
• Earning Freedom Podcast downloads as of 7:00 pm, Saturday, April 4: 2,564
• Weekly change in Earning Freedom Podcast Downloads: +1,281

 

Miles for week: 11.76

Miles for month: 6.23

Miles run for year: 252.41

Weight: 166.5