ian leahy – Page 14 – stop waiting, start doing

Confession: I am 41 & on food stamps

I recently watched one of Gary Vee’s videos and at the end of it he asks a question something like: “What’s the conversation that you are most scared of having in the world?”

Is it with your parents, your relationship, etc. He suggests that letting the world know that may clear the kink in your pipes.

Time to expose some of my dirt.

The truth is I am broke and stuck here in San Francisco. I can’t manage to save money and I have to pay high rent. I can’t seem to escape.

I have been getting food stamps pretty much since I have been here.

I usually make most of my money by street performing. I often make less than minimum wage.

I owe $28,000 in student loans. It’s hard to keep up with interest. I started with $30,000 in loans and my grandmother paid off a big chunk of money then I had $17,000, but unpaid interest grew it back to $34,000.

Some might say get another job. You see that’s part of the problem. My resume is kinda shitty now after spending 6+ years out of the country and street performing for 3+.

On top of that. I don’t really want a “resume” or a job.

Because I never found one that I liked. Every job was a means to an end. Something I did to get somewhere else.

I guess I always wanted to do my own thing. My parents were never like that. They were practical people.

For a long time it was art for me and that was what I wanted to do with my life. Make art. Then I got burn’t out on painting. Maybe I gave up too soon. IDK, but I wanted to travel so I did.

Pretty much spending any money I earned on it. Since then I have lived in 7 different States and in 3 different countries.

In 2009 I started my project ESLinsider. It wasn’t until the end of 2010 that it got online with videos and an ebook. I tried selling a subscription to the videos.

That failed and approximately one person paid. Then I made the videos free and then like a year later or so I was making $80 a month with ads. I never made more than that with ads.

I decided to make it a course and for a few years I averaged maybe $300+ a month from it in donations or paid courses. Just last year I had one month where I made $1700.

But the month that followed was like zero. When I told my dad that he snickered. Over the last 3 months or so it’s been pretty bad.

Sometimes I wonder if I should quit. I have been doing this for 7 years! And I can not support myself with it. I mean I probably wouldn’t totally erase the site, but just change my focus.

I think that’s what I am doing and that’s why I changed my Youtube channel name from ESL Insider to Ian Leahy.

I have gone back and forth about that and starting a new channel.

Being 41

It’s not that different from when I was 26. Seriously my life hasn’t changed much. On some levels it has (like instead of snowboarding I am passionate about jiu-jitsu & instead of painting I am more into the music thing), but not by usual standards.

Most people are married, have a career and kids.

Not me. I don’t really desire those things. Sometimes I think I’d like a relationship, but kinda fear it and getting attached to someone. Japan is where I want to move to next and I kinda think getting into a relationship is not really going to help that.

Also I don’t think many women are interested in a street performer who’s on food stamps.

As far as kids go I still think the same thing I thought way back when and that was maybe when I am older.

Like when I was 26 I was all about getting to next place – a better place. I am not sure if it’s searching or exploring. I just get bored with places so the same could happen with Japan, but if I don’t do it I’ll regret it. I don’t want to be 50, 60, 70 saying, “what if?”

But at this rate I won’t get there until something changes or rather I change something. I guess the point of this post was just to share some of the things that get swept under the rug.

Jiu-jitsu: 2 Ways To Help Stiff & Sore fingers

If you are doing jiu-jitsu or judo then chances are at some point you will get sore fingers from all the grabbing of the gi.

In this video I’ll show you 2 ways how I deal with finger pain and soreness.

I used to dunk my hands in cold water and that helped for the pain. Yet I didn’t think it did much for helping them heal. I also used to tape my fingers a lot. But I am not sure that it did much.

Then I started soaking my fingers in warm water and that helped. Your fingers like your toes are on the end of your body so they get less blood flow than other parts of your body.

So I think the warm water will improve blood flow to them and help them heal as they sometimes get micro injuries from the grabbing.

You can try it out whenever your fingers are sore. You can soak them in warm water for 15-20 minutes a time.

I also combine this with meditation. So I am doing 2 beneficial things at once.

The other thing I do is use DMSO. You can apply this to your fingers after you have showered or at least washed them.

I notice less stiffness and soreness after doing this.

Jiu-jitsu wear and tear you’ll probably get

In this video I cover the different kinds of wear and tear most people get from jiu-jitsu (bjj) and judo. The topics I cover are fingers, bruises, scrapes and cauliflower ear.

Your fingers will get beat up a bit from grabbing the gi. They will get a little raw around the knuckles at first. Over time you will develop calluses on your top knuckles.

I think everyone will get this unless you do no gi.

Some people don’t bruise, but I do. I tend to get bruises on my legs and arms.

Toe injuries are common too and one thing you’ll probably get are scrapes on your feet from the mat.

Cauliflower ear is also common amongst grapplers. I noticed recently that I have a little in my right ear and I wear a head piece most of the time.

You are NOT homeless if you live in your car

I recently saw a bunch of videos on Youtube where people sort of said they were “homeless” but lived in their cars. Then there was another video that really looked down on people who lived in their cars/vans after 2008.

But you are not homeless if you have a car and live in it.

On a positive note your mobile and living frugally. It’s not a house but it’s some place to go to that you can also take with you.

There’s a lot of homeless people here in San Francisco that live on the street. They don’t have a car, job or any way of making money.

That is what real homelessness is.

He Doesn’t Pop, Lock Or Do The Robot

Here’s a video that I made that combines some of the street performing that I do as well as some dj scratching.

I came up with the idea for this show since before pushing play many people thought that I was the robot kind of guy. They assumed I did the robot or danced.

Not really, but I do beatbox and scratch. And in this video I mix the beatboxing up a bit and then scratch it.

How to Meditate Using Counting

Here’s a technique for learning meditation that’s simple and practical. In it you use counting. This counting can be done to yourself when you are breathing.

First find a comfortable place to sit. Close your eyes and keep your eyes closed. Make sure all of your muscles in your face and body are relaxed. Set an alarm on your phone for a few minutes if you are just starting out.

You can do longer if you want. I do 40 minutes a day that usually includes 2 sessions of 20 minutes. But sometimes I might do 3 with 10-15 minutes or so.

There are a few different ways to count. Pick a number that seems right for you usually anywhere from 4-9. The first way that I learned goes like this:

Inhale and count to yourself as you do.
Pause and count to yourself as you do.
Exhale and count to yourself as you do.
Pause and count to yourself as you do.
Continue until your alarm goes off.

I started with that way yet found the following worked better for me.

Inhale.
Pause and count to yourself as you do.
Exhale.
Pause and count to yourself as you do.
Continue.

You could also try the reverse of that and just count on the inhale and exhale.

Blu Man Fu Tells Secret Sauce Story Then Scratches It

Here’s a video I made that combines a little of the street performing I do and some of my dj scratching.
The secret sauce is a sort of joke I made that was inspired from a kung fu teacher I had in Taiwan who used to break bricks with his hands.

It was tricky matching the video to the sound. It has quite a few layers to it with the music, the scratching and the video and getting it all to sink together was a challenge.

How much money do street performers make?

Are you wondering how much money street performers or buskers make? I can only speak for myself. I think a lot of people lie or don’t want to tell the truth about what they make.

I asked a few in San Francisco before I started and they didn’t seem to want to tell me, one did and another I think told me a lie. Then I found a video on Youtube with the title “Make $800 a day as a street performer”.

That’s a good click bait title. But obviously a lie if you watch the video and read the comments.

It really depends on you and what you do and how you do it. I make anywhere from $0 an hour to $20 an hour. But really most of the time the average is probably a bit less than $10 an hour.

It’s not lucrative for the most part. I have made over $130 bucks in a day on several occasions, but that came with like 7-8+ hours worth of work.

Some days suck and I might go out there and spend an hour and make no money.

It’s also up and down and erratic. A lot of it can depend on the time of the year, the time of the day and day of the week. Relatively few people tip (a small percent).

The more of a crowd that you can gather, the more you ask for money then the more money you can make.

How To Meditate – Using Your Breath

Here is a simple guide on how to meditate using your breath. This is a basic meditation. One of the first things that you will need is an alarm.

If you are just starting off I’d say it’s best to start with a few minutes. Let’s say 5 minutes for starters or you could try two if that’s daunting.

I have practiced yoga for 16 years and have been meditating about 40 minutes a day since 2009-ish.

I highly recommend that you start it now and remain disciplined about your practice.

It’s like anything if you want results you have to be consistent.

You breath controls your emotional state. Your breathing is different if you are happy vs. angry or depressed vs. calm.

So to meditate:

Sit somewhere comfortable.
Straighten your back.
Relax your body and face.
Inhale slowly through your nose.
Pause.
Exhale slowly through your nose.
Continue until your alarm goes off.

My 2nd Jiu-jitsu Competition – Facing fear

It’s kinda scary. You feel those nerves starting to twitch days before the competition whenever you start to think about it. Come the day you start to think why am I doing this? I don’t have to do this.

But you do it. And it’s pretty intense cause the other guy is probably just as scared and is trying to throw you, choke you or get you in a shoulder or arm lock.

Here’s a video of some of the highlights from the competition.

I got 3 submissions (armbars from mount). If you get the guy to tap out by arm/shoulder lock or a choke then you win.

You can also win by points, but they are secondary to a submission. Certain positions are considered more dominate and you can get points from those like mount, back, side control.

Then you can get points from sweeps (going from bottom to top) and guard passes (getting out from between the guys legs).

I just focus on trying to get the submission as I think that is more martial art like versus a sport.

I won 3 and I lost one by points.

The guy I lost to had a wrestling background. He was pretty athletic. He won because he got 4 points for a mount position, but I got out. I had only 2 points from a hip sweep.

My friends said I was only a second away from winning. I just got my leg out but just a hair of a second too slow as the buzzer went off.

I guess losing is not really a loss. For one he didn’t submit me. So losing by points is not like losing from tapping out and avoiding a broken arm. It’s a game.

It’s still not quite as tasty as a win, but there’s something to learn from it. I saw my technique for guard passing towards the end to be pretty sloppy and there were a few things I would do differently.

It’s more intense than practice. You get tired really quickly if you are going 100%.

It’s cool to watch the matches over and over again. You can see what you did wrong and what you can do better next time.

My judo throw

I did do one judo throw called harai goshi and followed it with an armbar. You can see it in the video above at 1:36.

Face your fears

That’s why I did it. That’s what my teacher said was incentive to do it.

It’s a lot more intense than class. It’s more like a real fight with a few rules.

It’s scary, but fun.

I got nervous, but being around your friends makes it fun too. And then after our teacher took a bunch of us out to Chinese. It was a great time.