I Took Off a Random Afternoon to Go to the Beach with My Wife & Son - 8 Years Ago, I Visualized It

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Transcript:

Today is a Thursday, and this afternoon I decided to take some time off, head down to the beach and a nearby park with my wife and son. It got me thinking about having a vision for what you want — writing that vision out and setting it with intention.

Having the ability to just take off on a random Thursday and spend family time — I would say 7, 8, maybe 9 years ago, I sat down and wrote out what my dream life would look like…

And that's exactly the type of thing I had written down: living in a beautiful place, being able to go to the beach, having time freedom, being able to spend family time whenever I wanted — not just when we could squeeze it in. Planning your life around your work rather than your work around your life.

It also made me think about college, when I was building a skillset in filmmaking as a journalism student. I was thinking, maybe I could do documentaries or video journalism. But if I'm honest with myself, what I really wanted was to make Hollywood movies. It just took me a long time to admit that. Once I did — once I said, you know what, this goal is big and crazy and probably very unlikely, but it's what I want — I just set the goal and decided to see how it went.

As soon as I graduated, I interned at a film festival. That went well but was short-lived. I was living in San Diego, and all the film work was up in LA. So I thought, why don't I just sit down and write a screenplay? I didn't know where it would lead, but at least I could say I tried and saw it through. I started going to a coffee shop every day, showing up consistently, writing and writing…

And then something happened that really shouldn't have happened: I met someone there who was also writing a screenplay, and they just so happened to have connections in Hollywood. Before I knew it, I was up there interning.

That was a pretty unlikely thing to happen from a coffee shop in San Diego.

Ultimately it didn't work out — I was not cut out to be a personal assistant in Hollywood — but even though it was a failure, it taught me an important lesson: if you set a goal, set an intention, and work toward it, things can come to fruition.

When you admit to yourself what you want and can say it out loud to others, they can help you get there. But if you don't know what you want, or you do know but you're not open about it and not going after it, other people can't help you along the way.

I had that same feeling today — getting to go out and enjoy a nice afternoon at the park by the beach, playing with my son... It brought me back to when I returned from LA and was in San Diego reconsidering what I wanted to go after professionally and what I wanted my life to look like. I was part of a course and mastermind at the time, and I watched a Frank Kern video — an OG internet marketer — where he talked about describing your ideal day.

My ideal day included having a family, living in San Diego, having time freedom, being able to get up and do what I wanted when I wanted…

It wasn't instant, of course...

I had to build skills, build career momentum, find my wife, have a kid.

But it's a good reminder that no matter what you're after, if you can visualize it, set the intention, and be honest that it's what you want — then watch as it comes to fruition.

Michael McGovern

The Wildman Path

Who I am and how I work:

I'm an ex-filmmaker turned direct-response marketing strategist who co-founded the Business Acquisition Summit (the premier virtual M&A event for entrepreneurs)...

I’ve worked with 7-and 8-figure companies in different niches like financial publishing, precious metals, online education, business coaching, real estate, eCommerce, and health & wellness.

Now, I help entrepreneurial businesses unlock hidden growth with campaigns that actually sell & drive real enterprise value — using Hollywood storytelling techniques and deep buyer psychology.

I work in one of three ways:

1. Creative strategy and/or copywriting for companies ready to grow via marketing that pays for itself [driving a LOWER cost per customer acquisition (CPA)… and a HIGHER average order value (AOV) and lifetime customer value (LTV)]

2. Equity “growth partnerships” where I bring an owner’s mindset to your long-term growth as we prepare to win back your time & freedom via an exit (either of the day-to-day operations or of the business fully) in 1-3 years, together

3. Full acquisitions of $1-10M businesses as an investor alongside my experienced M&A team at Relentless Growth Group

Behind the business stuff — I'm a former digital nomad now resettled back in my hometown of San Diego, California, a lapsed Jiu Jitsu blue belt, a student of Portuguese (because of my Brazilian wife), and a newly minted Dad of the world's cutest baby boy.

To get a conversation started with me, simply reply to this email with the word "GROWTH” now. Feel free to add extra info/ context if you’d like.