We recently connected with John Gaber and have shared our conversation below.
John, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?
I believe how my parents raised me as an only child set me up for success in the real world.
When I was younger my parents gave me a list of chores that I had to do every single day. During the summertime when I was off from school I had eight hours worth of chores to complete every single day. With that being said I was able to do whatever I wanted around the house I could go outside to run around and play or stay inside to play video games etc. I could essentially do whatever I wanted as long as I didn’t have friends over and didn’t leave the property until all my chores were done. However being a kid and putting off my chores until the evening time by the time I’d start working on them I might only get half of them done. Well what I didn’t get done that day was then added to my next days chores so instead of 8 hrs of chores I had 12 hrs worth to do. So with them not hounding me to do my chores they were teaching me the phrase “Don’t put off till tomorrow; what you can do today” by allowing me to learn it myself from my own actions or in this case lack there of it taught me how to not procrastinate because when I let the chores pile up and getting 16+ hrs of chores behind and a new 8hrs of chores everyday then with my friends stopping by to see if I could come play and me having to tell them I couldn’t. That stung and it would take me days to get caught up. Now before you think it was too harsh for a kid I’ll give you the flip side. So if I got up to start my chores at 6am and busted my ass to get them done as quick as possible let’s say I was motivated to play with my friends all day because they were having a pool party. So I got all my chores done by 10am I was allowed to go play with my friends all day until the street lights came on with the only condition for me to come home for lunch and dinner. It taught me how to stay ahead of what needs to be done and to not procrastinate. It’s the premise of adulthood because you won’t have someone always pushing you to get things done. You need to create the self discipline because if you don’t then that’s when you get anxiety and the feeling of being overwhelmed. Which can trigger depression. Then most people point fingers and play the blame game. Where I was able to learn from a young age that we are in control and our actions dictate our future.
John, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
C9LYFE is about instilling self-confidence and teaching people how to shut out the noise of “societies standards”. You have to: Live You; Forget Everything that’s how you get to your version of a Cloud 9 LYFE. Motivational speaking has come naturally with a gift of being able to articulate impactful messages in a unique and raw manner. I’m going to give you what you need to hear not always what you want to hear it’s because sometimes self growth is painful but always rewarding in the end. I care and want to see others living better lives and growing their internal peace/ happiness.
The most proud I am of C9LYFE and the impact I’m making is all the messages from people telling me they were going to commit suicide before they found me/ my content and now they are living a completely better life mentally, physically, emotionally and financially. Changing peoples lives is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done and is my purpose.
Motivational/ Inspirational speaking at seminars, events, schools, guest/ key note speaker, starting to create our own clothing line and zoom personal help sessions are all apart of what C9LYFE offers to the public.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When I was 18 years old I ate one meal a day for a year, grabbed peoples leftovers out of the trash can at work for a little extra food, struggled to not commit suicide weekly, about to be evicted from my apartment. I’ve been at rock bottom pacing back and forth babbling crying on multiple occasions with a bottle of vodka and a handful of pills ready to end my life at 18yrs old. However I made up in my mind I was NOT going to put that burden on my friends and family. I got myself into the situation and I was determined to get out of it myself. I knew I’d be unstoppable and limitless in life if I could. I didn’t accept help from anyone and just put all my effort/ focus into becoming positive, optimistic and changing my mindset to figure out how to become successful, gain internal peace and be in control of my life. Really focused on and accepted that I was at where I was in life is because it’s all a reflection of my mindset and actions. I had to learn how to control my mind and not let my mind and negative thoughts control me.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
This is very short and simple. When COVID hit in 2020 one of my businesses was where I did fitness on-site with corporations to help reduce worker compensation costs. Well we weren’t allowed to have groups of people together and then companies started making majority of their employees work remotely so we adjusted to hold out and pivot with the situation and eventually I realized that everything wasn’t going to go back to how it was. So in 2021 I ended up closing down that business and shifted our focus to one of my other businesses where it focuses on motivational speaking and mental health which was taking off because of COVID. So the point is you can’t be emotional about a business because the world and markets are always changing and sometimes a business idea just doesn’t work anymore so don’t let it drain you and drag you down into a hole you can’t get out of. On the bright side if you keep diversified in multiple different markets you can always stay afloat and thrive. In an essence it’s expecting the unexpected.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.C9LYFE.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/c9lyfe
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/c9lyfe
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-d-gaber-99882074
- Twitter: www.Twitter.com/c9lyfe
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVoTxkH9kfsZX9-kh3oDrEg?view_as=subscriber
Image Credits
Kyle Fedrizzi Alex Vainstein Sami Patrick