Have you ever heard the saying, “You mess becomes your message?” A lot of gurus and online influencers talk about this mess into a message, but they don’t talk about that sometimes it just takes a little longer than normal to succeed at it. Don’t you agree?
We all have challenges in life, and our strength shows as we overcome them. As a child growing up with parents who immigrated from Lebanon, Albert had many challenges.
His Dad’s family were farmers in the Hills of North Lebanon. He left home at 17 and went to Sydney, Australia, with all his worldly possessions in just one suitcase. Five years later, he picked up his one bag and ended up in Massachusetts, where he met Albert’s mom, and in ten days, they were married.
Albert’s mom’s parents came into the US in the late 1920s. They had a store that sold Christmas trees in the winter and sold fruit in the summer in Massachusetts. Albert was the second son of Joe and Theresa Corey and was born in the spring of 1960, becoming the baby brother of 4-year-old Joseph.
At the age of 10, in 1970, the family packed up our bags and moved to Miami Springs, Florida, where I still reside.
A couple of years later, my parents bought a 35 room motel. This is where I learned a solid work ethic, cleaning motel rooms on weekends and all summer.
When you are a kid, you can feel like a free spirit full of life and joy, but that is not the case when you are a chubby kid. Many challenges crossed my path, one being I was bullied and picked on. Another challenge was not being accepted in school, with the unwanted feelings of rejection being the very last kid to be picked for any teams in physical education classes. This became a norm to me, no true friends through high school and college.
Between being shunned on the playground and through my schooling, I learned many life lessons. Along the way, these tough life lessons gave me experience, and I have learned that life happens for us, not to us. What we all need is to learn from the awful things life throws at us.
After graduating from the University of South Florida in December 1981, I was ready, willing, and able to join the workforce. As I searched and applied for jobs, I was getting beaten down. I was either under or overqualified. On top of these job search challenges, it was 1982, and the whole country was in a recession.
With no job and no money, my dreams of making it on my own were dashed, and I moved back into my parent’s home. They still owned and worked the motel, and one day the maids didn’t show up to work. Dad comes into my bedroom at 7:30 am telling me to get up he needs my help to clean the motel rooms. Pops said everyone has to work in his house, so I was once again working for my parents.
In 1984, my mom came into my bedroom, and it was the beginning of a big shift in my life. She says, “get your checkbook; you owe money to the IRS!” “Who and what is the IRS?” I replied.
With this new awareness of who and what the IRS is, an ad in the local paper caught my eye. H & R Block income tax service offered a class to file a tax return properly. I didn’t particularly appreciate having to write that previous check to the IRS, so I wanted to learn how to minimize how much I had to pay them. I promptly went to H & R Blocks’ office paid $275 to take the class. When I completed the course with top marks, they gave me a job preparing tax returns.
While working for H & R Block in 1984, my life took an abrupt change; for the better.
A prospective client came to the H & R Block office and asked if H & R would come to their home and do their tax return. The office manager said that yes, they would go, and the fee would be $500.
After hearing her say $500, the light bulb went off in my head, and I said to myself, I would start a business going to people’s homes and do their tax returns.
Later that day, when I finished my shift, I got in my car and raced home to tell my Dad we would be rich doing tax returns for people at their homes.
Pops didn’t see what I saw and proceeded to tell me off in both broken English and Lebanese, using words I can not tell you here since this is a PG Christian audience. He stated the question, “who is going to come to you since you have no friends and no money even to start this? Keep your job at H & R; at least they are paying you.”
Listening to Pops for almost 35 minutes and thinking the whole time, I said Dad, you are right, no one will go to Albert Corey for taxes, but everyone will go to Corey & Associates Accounting.
Pops was right on one thing I had no money to start this, but that wasn’t going to stop me.
It was 1985, with next to no money, I started my business venture, and there were no cell phones or internet, but there were photocopiers. Within days I was making my own business flyers; they weren’t pretty, but they worked. I cut the four to a page flyer by hand, and they were crooked but done beat perfect, and I was out delivering them to businesses.
My bedroom in my parent’s home became my office, and Mom was my receptionist; she even answered our home phone “Hello, Corey and Associates Accounting.” When they asked to speak to me, she would say I was with a client. In truth, I was still at my day job, but on my breaks, I would dig out some change and call mom for any messages and would write out the new client’s phone numbers and call them back. That notebook and a pocket full of change for the payphone gave me my start.
While some people go on vacation to Sydney, Australia, and bring back a coffee cup as a souvenir, I brought back my bride and married Bahia, 37 days after meeting her. We are still married today with three children, Louis, Annmarie, and Elizabeth.
I shared some of my life’s challenges, and if you think finding a job after college is one of life’s hurdles, what happened in August 1993 shook our family to its core.
Bahia and Mom were driving to McDonald’s with the kids. A 3 ton truck with a drunk driver ran a red light and T-boned the van. Killing my mom, she passed away on the way to the emergency room.
I arrived at the hospital to hear all this horrible news, including my wife Bahia was in the trauma room, and Elizabeth was over in the children’s side of the hospital in the trauma room. They released Annmaria, but she lost the ability to walk and talk. The challenges of life are like taxes; they are relentless.
On a much happier note, today, all my kids all have graduate degrees with zero loan debt, and we have had the pleasure of traveling the world on vacations that most can only dream of.
Since my days of being bullied and no friends, I have served over 85 thousand tax clients and have made many friends.
I have taken many of my life lessons and turned them into strengths in family life, friendships and business. I now share valuable lessons and tips while speaking on international stages and podcasts, instructing how to build your business with less capital and resources to achieve your dreams.
Never let life’s challenges stop you from achieving your dreams. When you need help, ask, when you can help, do help. Even though my English is darn good for a kid who grew up with a dad who spoke broken English, I ask for help when it matters. I even have an Amazon best-seller, The Art of Perception, and I am a co-author in an international best-seller, 1 Habit for Entrepreneurial Success.
I want to thank all my friends and mentors who made me dream and think out of the box.
If you are reading this, you are an action taker, go out and find a mentor or coach that will inspire you to the next level. Specially in times like this. Albert feels blessed to have impacted many lives that have had raised their hands and made the leap of faith of reading his books or contacting him for a 15-minute free call. That’s why he doesn’t charge for these calls. Albert does to others what he wished it was done to himself when he was struggling. You just never know what value and golden nugget you will receive from himself during this priceless call to help you with your business and getting the answer of something that you may be losing sleep at night.
When you text taxman to 26786, you get a 15 free consultation with Albert himself. Not a bot. Life is about being personal and helping others. Here is a gift for you or one of your friends that may need help in improving your business, please, go to http://freegiftsfromalbert.com.
To conclude, I don’t think all mess becomes our message and some things are meant to be kept private for your own family. But, if you are struggling and already going through hell. Mind as well keep walking through it putting yourself into more messes to see if they eventually becomes your message. It starts with taking massive action and trying new things over and over again until you find that one thing that will work your life and business to help you achieve your dreams.
Albert Corey
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