Welcome to Michael’s Blog!

First of all let me say thank you to everyone for all the birthday wishes, emails, text messages, phone calls, offers for meals, etc. I really, truly appreciate it. I find that receiving all of these and hearing from you are all I could ask for and more. It means so much to me.

Being that I have been working my tail off for the last 3 years on creating the whole MIchael The Maven / Michael The Mentor gig, I am happy to say that it is getting to a point where I am starting to see some real results and I feel some of my efforts have paid off. I have taken some pretty huge risks, including quitting school/not getting my phd, staring bankruptcy in the face for 6 months straight right after that and living with friends and/or in hotels for the last 2.5 years. Above all, I feel I have been very, very lucky to have the support of some great friends, and especially you, my supporters. It wouldn't be possible without you.

My Dad always said that the ideal career revolves around 3 things:

1. What you do.
2. How much you make.
3. Where you live.

He also said that most people typically have at least one of these and occasionally some can get 2. That said, the dream career "trifecta" is extremely elusive, if not impossible to achieve.

I am very happy with what I do, I have thought about this many times. I am much happier now than I was in school and believe would be working in the Biotech Industry. I cannot think of anything else I would rather be doing.

As far as money goes, I am super lucky in that I do not feel like I need a lot of money to be happy, I am content with what I have now and could be for the rest of my life. I don't have a lot of money, but I also do not have a lot of debt now either- I think this is the key.

So- this is it- I am going for it. Starting tomorrow I will start putting everything in motion to move to Maui, and I expect I will arrive there in the second week of September. There isn't a whole lot involved, just stuff like getting my car shipped over, what few possessions I have shipped, and running a bunch of little errands here and there. Sept 1-7 I will be in Idaho with my good friend Warren, and we will drive down to the BYU vs Washington game. I pretty much plan on going from Idaho directly to Maui.

What I do know:

- Everything as far as "Maven" goes will continue, only I imagine it will get better. I find myself shooting continually when I am on island, and I do not think this will change. I also find in general I am in a better mood on Maui.

- Photography Contest(s) will go forward as planned- Announcement coming this week on big contest.

- Maui Picture Pack 2010? Most Likely.

- Lighting Crash Course DVD will be mostly filmed and completed there.

- Photography Workshop is in the works…on Maui- it should be AWESOME! Please plan on joining us- I will try to get us a group rate at a resort and keep it affordable for those interested and available.

- Looking forward to getting into underwater/scuba diving photography more.

- I have some other very specific, very fun goals and business ideas while I am there. I think the gist of it is- the blog should start getting really interesting.

- I also know that I will be coming back to the mainland as often as necessary. Maui will be my home base, but even now I have scheduled jobs here in Arizona and other states. I may even have my first directing job coming up, nothing too major or serious- but still a lot of fun and exciting nonetheless.

What I do not know:

- How long I will stay.

- Where I am going to live. This includes what part of Maui, as well as housing accommodations.

- If I will be able to "last" there financially. Because my family lives there, we have seen this many, many times, that people come over without a job/plan for a job and figure they can make it by waitressing, or doing manual labor, etc. What normally happens is they work like crazy for a year or 2 and eventually have to leave because everything is so expensive. Last I heard was that 95% of all new businesses on Maui fail in the first year, so the turnover of new comers is staggering. Most people without a job there only manage to get themselves in to a tremendous amount of debt, which I have no intention of doing. It should be interesting, but I am willing to give it a go and give it my best shot.

You only live once right? I am looking forward to bringing you along on this journey.