The book that changed my life!

Hi Friends,

This week I wanted to share with you a little story of how a single book was the catalyst I needed to change my life.

I’ll get back to all the fun deliverability and email engagement stuff next week.

It all started back in 2010. I had just shut down a Penny auction website that took off like a rocket.

We grew very fast, but the margins we were getting back for every dollar we were investing in advertising kept shrinking.

The model was becoming too risky, so after 2 years of total grinding, we decided to shut down the business.

Not sure what was next, I reconnected with an old high school friend who was also looking for his next opportunity.

In a matter of weeks, we launched our agency SoVi Digital.

The next 5 years were a whirlwind.

We scaled from the two of us meeting up at Panera Bread to a downtown West Palm Beach office with 20 employees, plus another 20 remote workers.

The problem?

I was a slave to the business.

Since 2008, all I did was focus and think about work 24/7.

I always told myself and my wife, “I’m doing all this for the family.”

But what it really was doing was destroying everything that should’ve been important to me.

I was never present.

I may have been at a get-together with family and friends, but mentally, I was never there.

Instead… I was always on my phone looking at work, checking my websites, and even taking my laptop to the restroom during a holiday gathering to get some work done.

I could tell my wife was just about done.

My kids were always saying Dad never wanted to be with us.

I was also losing connections with the friends I always had.

Things were looking bleak.

Then a mentor of mine told me to read the book, “First Things First” by Stephen R. Covey.

Now, books were never my thing when I was growing up, and by the time I was 35, I could probably count on one hand how many books I had read.

For the next two weeks, I dove head-first into the book.

And what I learned, unlocked the best in me.

• How to balance work with my personal life.

• How to determine what is most important to me.

• How to focus on the most important things and not all the other noise.

I was totally reinvigorated.

Work was still a focus, but so was my family, my health, my friends, and even my philanthropy.

If your feeling lost or overwhelmed, it may be time to put your head into that same book.

Let’s focus on first things first,

Chris Miquel
Co-Founder of SoVi Digital

PS: Want more tips? Reply to this email with your biggest challenges—I’m here to help!

Follow me on Twitter: @miqchris

and on LinkedIn: chrismiquel