If I Can Do It, ANYONE CAN!

By Glenn Brandon Burke, M.Ed.

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If I Can Do It, Anyone Can!

I'm often asked "Glenn, you're a Motivational Speaker with two college degrees, and a million dollar sales company, but you were once a high school dropout. What made you go back to school and do all you've done?"

Since this is so often asked, I thought I'd put it here for all to read. Please allow me to break it down for you as simply as possible. (An abridged version.)

I was kicked out of HS when I was 16-Y-O. Being ignorant back then, I thought it was cool. It allowed more time for a venture that made me money -- though it wasn't legal.

Someone told me of the GED, which I took -- twice -- in order to pass. Oh well, at least I passed.

When I was 19-Y-O, I was seeing this college chick who said, "If you couldn't even get a high school diploma, then you're stupid!" It bothered me that she said I was stupid.

I said to myself that I'd show her! I went to an adult education school, which was a branch of the Poway Unified School District in California, and told them I wanted to receive my HS diploma.

Based on how well I did on my GED, they said I had enough units to graduate, but in order for them to issue me a diploma, I would have to take one class at their school. I did, and 16-weeks later I had a HS Diploma. Well the girl was long gone, but hey! I now had both a GED and HS Diploma. But in reality, I learned two valuable lessons that has served me well in life.

Lesson 1: If I want something BADLY enough, then I WILL achieve it!

Lesson 2: The girl was gone...I really did it for myself!

For the next several years (until I was nearly 23-Y-O) I continued my life of illegal activity. It was then that a business associate of mine was gunned down to death during a raid at his home, and it was only 15 minutes after I left.

It was then I realized that I had been doing so many wrong things and could've been in prison or dead! Hey, some of you, I could've been your cellmate. LOL.

I sat alone for the next couple of days trying to decide what I should do. All I knew was that I needed a new life. Come Monday morning I flushed all my illegal substances down the toilet, went to see a Navy recruiter, and enlisted for five-years.

Since I had 45 days until I had to report to boot camp, I moved to my father's and worked out daily so I was in shape for the physical activities I would endure.

Long story short...toward the end of my enlistment while working directly for the unit commander, he one day called me into his office and said, "As your commanding officer and direct supervisor, it's my job to encourage you to reenlist for another five-years. However, to do that to you would not be doing you a service. Based on what I know of you over the past two-years, I think you'd be better off getting out, going to college and one day run a corporation."

He saw "something" in me and it was "something" I hadn't seen and what he saw was enormous business potential. So, I left the Navy at the age of 28 and began my first college class.

I was on a mission! I completed a four-year degree in 36 months all while going through a marriage, a divorce, my father's death, and working full time.

I now own a million dollar sales corporation (www.TheBurkeAdvantage.com), have two college degrees (BA Communication & MA Education), am an adjunct instructor at a college teaching Oral Communications/Public Speaking, an advice columnist with The Student Operated Press (www.TheSOP.org), and a Motivational Speaker.

In all honesty, I am no different than anyone else. Just an average person who set his sights on the bigger picture and went after it with all I had! And if I can accomplish what I have...ANYONE CAN! ESPECIALLY YOU!

You just need to do the following:
1. Prioritize
2. Manage time effectively
3. Focus on the task(s) at hand
4. NEVER forget why you're doing what you're doing
5. Be willing to forgo some things to accomplish what you truly desire
6. KNOW that at times it will be hard, and you may lose sight of the goal, but if you stay with it, I promise...IT WILL BE WORTH IT!
7. Bottom line, it's simple...it comes down to CHOICES! The RIGHT CHOICES can take you to the right places, and the wrong ones...well, you know where they lead.
Success isn't always about dollars and cents. It's about what makes you happy! But hey, we do live in a monetary world, make it work for you!

The Power of CHOICE©! (Education * Life * Career)
www.GlennBrandonBurke.com (Online Press Kit)
Copyright© 2009

Author's Bio:

Glenn Brandon Burke, M.Ed., shouldn’t be where he is today!

Statistically speaking, Glenn should either be dead or in prison! However, he used The Power of Choice© and overcame the adversity in his life only to succeed with his education, life and career.

Glenn fell through nearly every crack in the public educational system, only to be suspended six times in the 5th grade and expelled in the 6th. During this time, Glenn, his Mother and his siblings were abandoned by his Father. Life went from a happy, safe and secure place to a two-bedroom apartment in Federal Housing – Food Stamps – Free Lunches at school, and Glenn was completely unsupervised and left to his own device.

Neither his parent’s or teachers seemed too concerned with how well or what he did, and the fabric of the public educational system seemed to tear further and further apart, and Glenn continued falling through the system. It was then that Glenn became the original juvenile delinquent – Breaking and Entering, smoking weed and other petty crimes.

At the age of 14, feeling she could no longer control him, and feared he would crossover the line one-two many times and end up incarcerated, Glenn’s Mother sent him to live with relatives in Southern California. Shortly after his arrival he was arrested! After paying his debt to society, and still on probation, Glenn’s Father reappeared in his life and felt he could do a far better job raising him.

At 16-Years-Old, Glenn’s Father sought permission from the court to allow him to leave Los Angeles County and move to Northern California, so he could raise him. Ironically, and unbeknownst to himself at the time, it was Glenn’s Father who started him in the entrepreneurial world of selling drugs. Glenn attended high school for only three reasons:

1. Girls. 2. Sports. 3. To Sell Drugs. During his senior year Glenn was “asked” (euphemism for expelled) to leave school, along with his 1.2 GPA.

Once completely out of high school, Glenn felt the easiest way to earn money was to continue selling drugs. He maintained this unlawful lifestyle for the next several years, until he had a life-affirming situation show him that he had been doing the wrong things for so many years and realized that he could’ve been dead or in prison!

What was so life-affirming that made this high school dropout, drug salesman ( use The Power of Choice© to make a 180 degree change for the better and succeed with his education, life and career? Well…It turns out that Glenn was at his supplier’s house and left roughly 10 minutes before the house was raided, and his supplier was shot to death. WOW!

At the age of 23, feeling he had nowhere else to go, Glenn joined the U.S. Military for a five-year enlistment. Nearing the end of his enlistment, and through the encouragement of his commanding officer (who saw "something" in him), he decided to go to pursue Self Improvement and registered for college once his contract ended with the military.

At the age of 28, Glenn walked on to his first college campus and attended his first college class. He completed his undergraduate degree in Communication in 36 months, thus leaving the door of opportunity open to become a Motivational Speaker. He did all this while going through a marriage, a divorce, his father's death, and working full time.
Today, Glenn is a…

Top Motivational Speaker.
Successful Entrepreneur and CEO of a million dollar sales company (www.TheBurkeAdvantage.com) in Las Vegas, Nevada
Columnist with The Student Operated Press (www.TheSOP.org).
Contributing writer for Urban Avenue Magazine (www.UrbanAvenueMagazine.com).
Contributing author of the book Walking with The Wise for Overcoming Obstacles, along with such notables as: Brian Tracy, Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield, Les Brown, John Assaraf, Lydia Proschinger, Loral Langemeier, Vic Johnson, Stuart “GuruStu” Rosen, Bob Doyle, Glen Curry, Ibn Ali, Chuck Norris, and many other top speakers and celebrities.
Former Board of Trustees Member for the Community Alliance to Reform Education (C.A.R.E.) in Clark County Nevada
Glenn also spent several years as a very popular and well respected adjunct instructor with the College of Southern Nevada (www.CSN.edu), teaching Communication 101 (AKA: Public Speaking). He was a Professor of Communication with DeVry University in Henderson, Nevada (www.Devry.edu), as well as a substitute teacher for the International Academy of English, in Las Vegas, Nevada (http://www.sdiae.com).

Glenn now takes his incredible life story as a Motivational Speaker and intertwines positive, motivational and inspirational messages to succeed with one’s education, life and career (business).
Glenn’s presentations are tailored made for each specific audience – Corporations / Community Colleges / Colleges and Universities / Career and Technical Colleges / At-Risk High School Students / Teachers Associations / Incarceration Facilities.

Glenn truly believes that if he came overcome the adversity in his life and come out on top, then so can each and everyone of you, regardless of your circumstances!