The Most Expensive Bag Of Tools...

Have you ever been in a situation in your life where you thought, "I would be freakin' amazing if only I had the money!"

If you ever did something everybody else told you you will never succeed and even you doubted, then - congratulations! - you've created a powerful psychological anchor that will take you over anything life throws at you.

In 1991 I paid $1000 for a bag of antique collector's chisels and planes to start my own # violin-making studio. Not a big deal? Wait! In Leningrad, in 1991 $1000 was the equivalent of around $300,000 today... Because this was the price of a one-room flat in those days.

I did not have the money. Anything near the required amount. So, I could have told, "I don't have money" and that would be it. The story would have been over in 1991.

Or I could have told myself, "What if I borrow the money and I cannot repay? I just can't take that risk". I could have made one of the obvious choices: just get stuck because, look, objectively, I just did not have the money.

I would have been proudly screwed up. Not by life but by my choices. And I would freakin' believe I made all the right choices!

Everyone in their sane mind told me to NOT do commit to this insanity. I was told I should be realistic. And I freakin' doubted myself too!

I remember my hands were sweating cold as I was giving the borrowed thousand bucks over to that old lady.

Fear in my mind was shouting, "You're done, idiot! Everybody told you!" And another voice in my mind whispered: "Just do it, dude! This is your dream!"

What would YOU do in my place?

I chose my passion.

In less than 12 months I earned back everything I've invested and more, so all the debt was repaid and I also saved some money for my move to Brussels because my dream was to live in Europe and study the thought process of the ancient masters so I can craft great instruments for great musicians. And also eventually share my knowledge.

I appreciate it might be quite impossible for the majority of readers to understand, how could one-room flat cost less than a new iPhone.

Here is how.

Firstly, real estate was the property of the state during Soviet rule. When the property market was suddenly privatized, in around 1990, nobody believed the state would not expropriate it again.

Secondly, the US dollar had just become legal in a country that mentally had not yet change, it still was the Soviet Union. A short couple of years earlier owning foreign currency was a criminal offense.

So, do not rush to Russia with your thousand bucks to buy real estate in St. Petersburg.

Instead, if you're still thinking, "If only I had the money, I would have achieved everything I could"... Just do it.

Remember: it is never about lack of money and almost always about the abundance of fear. And little or no faith in oneself.

Tap into your power and say YES first and later figure out how it works. In acts like this, you tap onto a different kind of energy. And that does not go unnoticed. It's the law of the Universe.

p.s. Picture: myself in 1991, Leningrad, making my first violin on my lap. I did not have tools, but I have that burning desire to create outstanding original instruments for great musicians, based on the thought process of the Ancient Masters, rather than on posters of violins by the masters. Learn more about what I do on my website: https://badiarovviolins.com