I know it's super-late, but I just had to tell you about my inspiration today.

I met the most fantastic person on the bus this evening. His name -- and I know I'm butchering its spelling -- is Sumaje. We were both sitting at the bus stop at Fullerton and Western, waiting for our ride. As I finished my chapter in Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale, he struck up a conversation, asking me about books.

"What book is that?"

"Secrets of Closing the Sale, by Zig Ziglar. Why do you ask?"

"I've been reading lately, and I'm always on the lookout for new books."

He read two books this past two months, more than he -- or most people for that matter -- had in a while. When he asked for a recommendation, I immediately jumped to Moneyball. It's an ultra-accessible book, a fun read, and teaches a valuable lesson: even when you think you're not "judging a book by its cover," you still (probably) are. 

He mentioned that he wasn't into baseball, but it sounded like a good book, and he would trust me because I mentioned that I, too, ramped up my reading this summer.

We then spoke about what we're up to. He works at a Walgreens, but really wants to work in the videogame industry. In fact, he was in school, learning to be a video game designer, up until recently. He dropped out because he "was staring at a computer screen all day, writing code, and that just wasn't what [he] wanted to do".

He's worked a couple of other jobs since, and described one of his bosses to me.

"So, Sumaje. What do you want to do?"

"I want to work with videogames."

"But there's no money in that. You'll never make a living."

"You have a kid. Have you ever bought them a videogame?"

The manager nods, getting his point.

Sumaje's a hustler. He's working his current job, but he knows he's working himself towards something greater. You should have seen the sparkle in his eye when he spoke about hanging out on the Penny Arcade forums, or other notable video game communities. About how he's meeting people there, getting to know them and trying to find some exciting work with them.

You should have seen how enthusiastically he spoke about visiting his friend who just moved down to California, in order to develop iPhone games where the community was hot.

You should have heard him talk about how he was going to open those books he still had from video game design school and try going at his own pace, modifying the exercises to write code that's exciting to him, not that the teacher wants to see.

Sumaje knows that he's "destined for greatness." He knows that where he is now isn't where he wants to -- or is going to -- be in 5 years. And he knows that nobody's going to take him anywhere but himself.

And he really seemed to take it to heart when I told him my philosophy, one that I've internalized from knowing my parents, reading Zig's book, and working with Seth and Andy:

"Everything in this world is selling. One of the best services you can do for yourself is learn how to present your ideas, your products, and yourself in ways that others are able to understand."

I hope he took that to heart, and that it helps him on his path. I already know that, on my end, meeting him was the most positive thing to happen to me this month.

--Aidan