Inspirational Story: What a Young Blind Hustler Can Teach You About Smashing Limiting Beliefs

Because so many times inspiration is in the least likely of places.

For example, what if the inspiration you need, the life lessons that you need to hear, they come from none other than a young blind hustler.

Yes, my friend, I'm talking about a 13-year-old blind kid who's working as a DJ in nightclubs.

He's selling drugs on the side.

He is hustling for everything it's worth.

His name, Mike Calvo.

And if you tuned into our previous episode, you got to meet the man, the legend, Mike Calvo.

He's a little bit older now.

He's a little bit older, a little bit wiser.

And he's no longer selling drugs on the street or DJing in nightclubs, but instead a successful entrepreneur, all the while being completely blind.

Now, here today, my friend, what we're gonna do is we're gonna look at, though, his childhood years, those formative years for all of us.

And we're gonna learn the lessons that he taught us, going from the streets of Miami to becoming a CEO, from drugs and DJing to making a difference in the world with the companies that he's created.

So today, my friend, is the inspiration that you have been looking for, whether you realized it or not, all brought to us from the most unlikely of places.

So, my friend, that's what is inside of today's 379th episode of Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

I am so happy you're here.

So let's go ahead and dive right in.

Hey, I'm your host, Kevin Malowe, and you are listening to Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

What is shaking, my friend?

Welcome back to the podcast.

You don't even know how excited I am you're here today.

Why?

Well, because, well, I'm always excited that you're here on every episode, but I'm especially excited when I have something to share with you that I really think might be that kind of eye-opening moment that you've been needing in your life.

As I said in the intro, inspiration from the most unlikely of places, inspiration from the most unlikely of people.

And that is exactly what compelled me so much about the story of Mike Calvo as this young kid trying to make it in life, just like anybody else.

There was just that little characteristic about him, the fact that he was blind.

Now, what's cool about Mike is the fact that he didn't view being blind as anything unique.

No, it was no different than me having brown hair, you having curly hair, my eyes being brown, your eyes being blue.

He was blind and it was just part of life.

And he found ways around it.

And more importantly than even just finding ways around it, he was able to take a vision for his life and turn it into something big.

And that is where his story turns to your story.

Because, my friend, sometimes we get so caught up in the day-to-day hustle that we lose focus on where we're going, on what we truly want out of life.

And so today, my friend, I want you to stop thinking about so much as to what you see.

Instead, I want you to start focusing on what you envision.

Because the vision that you have for your life, for your future, that's more important than the here and now.

Because right now, well, it's temporary.

It's already gone.

Every moment is passing at the speed of light.

But the future, the future is where it's at, my friend.

And so if we can put your eye on the prize to have that vision clear as day as to where you want to go, well then, my friend, you are all but certain to get there sooner than later.

Setting the stage for the lessons that we're gonna go through in today's episode is this understanding of just what I said is that the circumstances that you're dealing with today, you might feel like they are all consuming, that they're gonna impact you from this day forward.

But the fact is true, is that is not true.

Every day of life brings something new.

And I believe that even though we might not be able to always choose what happens to us in this life, we can always choose how we react to it.

We can always choose what we do with it.

And we can either view it from a mindset of a victim or from the mindset of the victor.

We can choose how we see it.

The glass is either half full or it's half empty.

So I want you to remember that if you're in a place right now in life where you're looking around and you don't really like who you are, you don't like what you see in the mirror, you don't like the life that you're living.

Well, I want you to realize that it doesn't mean that it has to stay that way.

Because chances are where you are today is not where you were 10 years ago.

And I hope that if you take action today, if you really put in some intention, that where you are today is not going to be where you are in 10 years, that you're gonna be somewhere much better, much bigger, much more fulfilling and meaningful to you.

And I guess that is where Mike's story enters the picture is that he told us, here he was in South Florida, Miami, a 13-year-old kid who was blind.

And let's face it, he could have felt sorry for himself.

He could have chosen to not keep living, to not try to pursue dreams.

Instead, he could have just laid in his bedroom and wasted his life away.

But instead, what did he do?

He got out on the streets.

He started finding passions like DJing.

He loved music.

And so lo and behold, he started DJing in nightclubs as a teenager.

Then, of course, that led to other things like selling drugs.

Nothing that I am recommending that you or me get into.

But nonetheless, Mike Calvo back in the day, he was making it happen however he could.

And the biggest lesson here is that he didn't allow this disability to keep him from believing that he could do something big with his life.

And in with that lies the mindset that we all have, the stories we tell ourselves.

And the stories that you tell yourself can do one of two things.

They can either keep you stuck or they can set you free.

You're the one who gets to tell the story yourself.

So whatever that mindset is that you have to adapt, whatever the story is that you have to change, I want you to realize that you hold the secret.

You hold the pin, my friend.

You're the one writing the darn story, nobody else.

So you get to tell the story however you want.

And what I hope is since you're listening to today's podcast, you're gonna realize that you can begin to write a whole new story for you.

Now, here is the first big truth that I want you to understand, taken from the story of Mike Calvo.

Your circumstances are literally just the starting line, they are not the finish line.

Now, the fact is true is when you listen to Mike tell his story, his story really could have gone many different ways.

He had no real parental support when he came to school.

He had no one advocating for him.

Instead, he was out there figuring things out pretty much on his own.

Now, maybe he got involved in some things that weren't quite so beautiful and okay.

He didn't just set up a lemonade stand.

No, he started hustling, he got into some stuff.

But you know what he started doing?

Even as a kid, he started making money.

He started supporting himself, he started making dreams come true.

The biggest lesson here is he wasn't waiting for anybody's permission to succeed.

No, he was just pursuing it himself.

And I mean, again, like I said, DJing one thing, selling drugs, a whole other thing.

While a blind teenager at that, and yet he's playing the big leagues, he's making the money.

And what's cool about that is he didn't view his blindness as a limitation.

It was just something that he had to work around.

It was just part of him.

And so what's fascinating about this is that, yeah, even though we're not encouraging anybody else to go do the hustling that he was, the type of skills that he acquired during hustling, well, that would help him out in entrepreneurship.

Because I mean, you think about it, his skills that he developed in working the deal, in networking, and figuring things out and innovating are exactly what a good entrepreneur needs.

And so when he finally figured out how to change course, to change the direction of his hustle, well, then everything else in life began to change as well.

And so I remind you that whatever you're going through, your circumstances are just the starting point.

They are not the finish line.

Your circumstances, they do not decide where you're gonna finish.

No, you get to decide where you finish.

So whatever you're going through right now, whether it's financial difficulties, struggles in your relationship, or maybe it's just your own internal mindset.

Maybe it's just your emotions, maybe you're just feeling a little bit down here lately.

I want you to realize that that does not hold control.

Only you do.

And that you are bigger and better and stronger than anything you're dealing with.

I promise you that.

So remember, what you're dealing with today is not the finish line, it's the starting point.

From this day forward, you get to make the choice.

You get to run the race how you want to run it.

And you ultimately get to decide what is the finish line.

Figure out what that finish line is, and then I want you to start moving forward one step at a time.

The next truth that I took from Mike's interview that I want to relay to you is the simple fact that the world around you will try to define you.

But the fact is true is that you're the only one who gets to make that decision.

And I bring this up because one of the biggest things that Mike had to overcome weren't his own limitations, wasn't his own blindness, but rather the world around him and their expectations of what he could do, somebody who was blind.

Matter of fact, in our interview, I think I even brought up the fact that a lot of times, as somebody who myself am blind, I forget that I am any different than anybody else until somebody else reminds me.

Now, maybe they don't mean to do it purposeful.

They don't mean anything by it.

But again, I've been in this life as somebody who's blind for now over 21 years.

And it's just part of life.

But then all of a sudden the outside world gets involved and they bring up something reminding me of, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry you can't see this.

I wish you could see this.

And again, they don't mean anything by it.

They're just trying to help out.

But in ways, it's a reminder of, oh, yeah, thanks.

Thanks for reminding me that I'm not like everybody else, that I don't get to see it.

Instead, I've learned to just see the world in my own way.

So again, back to the situation of Mike, he had to deal with the expectations that others set on him.

And that makes you wonder is how many times do we allow others' opinions on us of our life, what we should be doing?

How many times do we allow that to actually matter, to actually dictate what we do in life?

If you've been living in the same world I am, well, then my friend, you will know that that has happened way too much.

I have seen that in my life, in the people who I do life with, I've seen it in their lives as well.

Everybody has an opinion about somebody else's life.

And the fact is true is that unfortunately, all their opinions really and truly do not matter.

The only opinion that matters is you.

And the reason is because nobody knows you better than you.

And as Mike was telling us stories about his career is moving out of dealing drugs and DJing and getting into more professional settings, he had to deal with these types of limitations that others would put on him.

Because the fact is true is that people will put you in a box.

They will put limitations on you.

And they will find it so easy to come up with assumptions as to what you can and cannot do.

And that is not just for Mike.

That is not just for me.

That is not just for somebody who is blind or any other quote unquote disability.

All of us, whether we like it or not, people around us will put limitations on us all.

What's important is for us to not allow their perceived limitations of us to truly define us.

Instead, I want you to use that as rocket fuel to have you bursting out, to breaking through those barriers, proving that you know what, you have no clue what the heck you're talking about.

I'm capable of way more than you could ever imagine.

And so, you know what?

Let me just show it.

That is what we call a little in-your-face action, my friend.

I want to hit home with the most powerful lesson of all.

When we look at the story of Mike Calvo, he could have used every excuse in the book.

I'm blind.

I came from Cuban immigrants.

I didn't have teachers growing up who believed in me.

The system, it wasn't built for people like me.

I was dealt a bad hand right away in life.

And the fact is true is that any of those excuses could have been valid.

And I will say the same is for you.

Any of your own excuses are completely valid as well.

I am not here to make you believe that the things you're going through are any less traumatic than anything else.

Because I believe that what you are going through, if it is tough, then my friend, I'm sorry.

But I want you to hear is that even though they are valid, they do not have to become permanent.

They are temporary little obstacles.

They are not permanent roadblocks.

You, my friend, are able to overcome, to move past, and to thrive in spite of each and every one of them.

And that brings me to one of the favorite stories that Mike told us during the interview.

And that was about him when he started working for the first time.

He was so excited to be DJing, I believe he was DJing at the skating rink.

And here he was thinking he was rich.

He was making 60 bucks a week as a kid.

And yet, then his dad had a very important life lesson he taught him is that a man who works is a man who pays rent.

And so here he was making 60 bucks a week.

And his dad was going to start charging him$50 a week for rent.

And yeah, we could have said, well, man, that's not fair.

That's horrible.

But you know what Mike did?

Is he allowed it to teach him some extremely valuable lessons in life that I can't help but believe set him up for success from that day forward.

That simple yet profound lesson taught to him by his father would mean something impactful for him.

Now, maybe then he didn't realize it.

Probably at that moment, he was probably pretty irritated.

But instead, you know what it did is it taught him to be resourceful.

It taught him responsibility.

It taught him to start working a little bit harder.

And every one of those lessons learned about responsibility, about business, about survival, all of those would go on to impact him as an entrepreneur moving forward in life.

And so I go back to one of the key lessons that I talked about at the beginning of today's episode.

I've talked about it on many episodes, and I'm going to reinforce right now is that you can't always control your circumstances, but you can absolutely control how you respond to them.

Mike, he could have allowed that moment with his dad to be discouraging.

Man, I'm making 60 bucks a week and now my dad wants 50 a week.

I'm downloading 10 bucks a week.

What's it even worth?

Why did he even start working in the first place?

Instead, no.

Instead, it propelled him forward to become a bigger, better person, even as just a kid.

My friend, the biggest thing here is I want you to start looking at life differently.

I want you to start seeing inspiration in a different light.

Sometimes inspiration comes from the most unlikely of people, the most unlikely of places.

Like a 13-year-old kid living in South Florida, blind, and yet he's DJing in nightclubs, selling drugs on the side, doing the thing, hustling, leaving an impact, and inspiring us all.

So, my friend, whatever you're going through in life, please know that you are not alone.

You got this because you are worth this.

And listen, if there is ever anything I can do for you, even if that is simply sitting down and talking with you, well, check out today's show notes where you will find a link to book a free 30-minute coffee date with me.

We will meet virtually over the phone and can just sit down and talk, figure out what you got going on in life, and see if we can't get you on the right track.

So, my friend, again, I'm Kevin Lemo, and this, of course, was another episode of Grit Grace and It's Greek.