My cousin ‘Dennis’ was murdered a little over a week ago and we just buried him over the weekend (Jun 16), and I bring this story up because it was his death that triggered memories I had all forgotten.
My cousin came and lived with us while growing up in Georgia. We grew up learning and failing at lots of things. We’ve done our share of dumb and stupid things and when I look back on those things I realize how young and dumb we really were.
But of course, the older you get the more wiser you become. I later joined the Air Force for 4 years (got out 6 months early) and came back home and my cousin Dennis was there waiting for me!
He was working at a supermarket and I was delivering pizzas for Pizza hut (i was 22 at the time). We both worked hard and after getting our paychecks each week, we were still broke.
It was during this time we figured that in order to get ahead, we had to drastically change what we were doing…
So we started our first legitimate business together… I say ‘legitimate’ because I’ve dabbled in other stuff prior to this, like mail order, selling candies and wholesale stuff at flea markets, but this was our first ‘real business’.
I can’t remember the name of it, but it was a carpet cleaning business — I think we name it DC Enterprises (DC stood for Dean (his legal name), and Cartess) or DC Carpet Cleaning.
We didn’t know what the heck we were doing but figured we’d learn as we go.
We went out and purchased a carpet cleaning machine along with all the chemicals/supplies that go along with it.
We paid someone to come to our apartment to clean it so we could see how they used their machine and to look at their routine. We asked how they got phone calls and a bunch of other stuff.
I think we had 2 different people come out (one to our apartment) and another to a friend’s apartment to clean.
After we thought we knew what we were doing, we made up some flyers and passed them out and waited for the phone to ring.
Our first call came in the same day… Can you believe that??? We got business the first day — but we didn’t make any money and here’s why!
When that woman opened that door, my cousin and I just stood there looking.
I mean this woman was so FINE you’d offer her FREE carpet cleaning for a year!!!
She showed us the rooms she wanted cleaned and asked us for the cost and my cousin and I stepped out to discuss pricing.
Keep in Mind — we were young, full of testosterone and didn’t have a lick of sense. All we wanted to do was just look at her all day, so to ensure we got the job, we told her we’d clean her carpet for FREE.
I ain’t lying when I say this woman as FINE…
Doing her carpet for free was our 1st mistake… Halfway through the job, we realized we were messing up her carpet (2nd mistake). We didn’t have insurance (3rd mistake), and had to pay for the damage.
Still none the wiser, we took a 2nd job (4th mistake)… All white carpet — it was high-end, I can’t remember the name of the carpet type. But, we screwed that up too… It was at that point we realized the carpet cleaning business wasn’t for us.
So we took all our equipment to a pawn shop (5th mistake) and got pennies for the stuff we paid soo much for.
Now… We made some dumb and stupid decisions — but we were smart enough to take action… While everything didn’t go the way we planned, this action alone set everything else in motion for our future
It was that initial taste of entrepreneurship that set us on course to working for ourselves.
We later started a pager company reselling pagers and collected a percentage of the monthly billing… We then expanded into cell phones…. While we didn’t make a fortune, it was our hustle and kept us from having to really work full-time jobs — although we eventually started working for employers again temporarily to build up cash-flow to fund our ventures and new ideas. Because some of the things we started just didn’t work out — while some did. We did what we had to do to try and make this thing work.
After my mom turned me on to the t-shirt biz, I later left and started my own t-shirt biz… This cousin later came on-board with me.
You might have heard a portion of this story before – but as our t-shirt biz grew, my cousin Dennis and I flew in another cousin of ours to help us with the super growth spurt we were experiencing. Bringing that cousin into the biz would later prove devastating; it later turned out he was stealing from us and basically sabotaged and destroyed the company we both worked so hard to create…
It was all of these experiences collectively that has allowed me to put a site together like Tshirt Riches to teach others about getting into the t-shirt business.
Nothing happens by accident and every action we take is for a reason/purpose.
Never in a million years did I think the actions I took back then would be the things that allowed me to be successful.
I’m a husband and my wife and I have 5 children — we support them with the revenue generated from the businesses we’ve started… Some of it is passive income and some we have to spend some time working the biz.
If you want to have your own business — and it doesn’t have to be t-shirts… But whatever your goals and dreams are, you must take some calculated risks. You must take action!
My cousin was fearless… Whenever I had some crazy way to make money, the only thing he asked was “will I have my money back in 2 weeks”. If the answer was ‘yea… I think so’, he was in…
He knew we had to take a chance… We didn’t have much growing up, but my God — he and I enjoyed some of the finest things in life… There were times when money was coming in so fast we couldn’t spend it all… And we tried too… Whatever we spent that day was replaced by the time we got home.
And then there were times where we didn’t know how we were going to pay the rent/mortgage… Again, we were young and only knew what we knew then. We didn’t know about investments and diversifying money/assets. We blew it all on foolish stuff.
Put a kid in a candy store and he’s going to eat as much as he can and that’s essentially what we did.
My cousin and I lived and took chances — some were calculated and many were just downright foolish — but those foolish ones seemed to give us the greater return, while they also cost us the most in terms of loss.
My cousin Dennis was my best friend. My brother. My cousin.
You only live once folks — don’t live another day hating your job, or hating your life or circumstances. Change it, and change it now — you have absolutely nothing to lose.
Looking at him in that casket made me realize how important it is to be living the life you want to live RIGHT NOW… Tomorrow ain’t promised and I never saw this coming.
Plan like you’re going to live forever and live like you’re going to die tomorrow, because you never know when your last day will come.
The older we got, the more responsible we became.
He had a life insurance policy that took care of his burial expenses without having to be a burden on his family. After he was killed, I immediately contacted an insurance friend of mine to upgrade my policy because I hadn’t in a long time. I wanted to make sure everything was square.
If you don’t have a policy, give my friend Mr. Wilson a call: 770-881-4006 — don’t leave your family members holding out cups to collect money to bury you… It happens more often than you think. Do that right now before you even think about buying my course. Just get enough to cover your burial expenses at least. This was the first funeral I went to where monies didn’t have to be collected — we were able to mourn without the added stress!
Folks… Change your life… Do it Now, Don’t Delay.
Whether it’s starting a t-shirt business or starting an earthworm composting company, do whatever makes you happy. Whatever actions you take today towards reaching your goals will set in motion the life you’ll have 5, 10, 15 or 20 years from now.
It’s starts today with a decision to do what you want…
If t-shirts is your thing….. Take a look at our course – my experiences will help you move along faster!
About Cartess Ross
am so sorry to heard about your bro man,God’s grace to be with him and the entire family…
Thanks Rimus.
I’m sorry to hear about your cousin. Unfortunately some of us don’t relise what we have until we lose something or someone close to us. You have to enjoy everyday of your life!
Absolutely right… Thanks!
Your message was presented very well. You are experiencing a tru tragity, but yet have enough strength in your time of need to share your experiences with others. A true testiment. I pray for you and your family.
Thanks for the kind words… I enjoyed writing this piece — brought back lots of memories from the ‘good ole days’.
Hi Mr. Ross I want to leave my condolences to you and your family. And thanks for all the help and info you give us. God Bless You.
No problem and thanks for the kind words.
Wow I am sorry to hear about your loss Cartess but happy to know that you two shared a great life together! That story about the first carpet cleaning customer being FINE had me cracking up at my computer. It was so REAL! Helped me to know your cousin was a real dude! Thanks fro sharing all this information with us I really appreciate you for that brotha!
Thanks Dawud… We had lots of fun together. And yes, that was one fine woman — still get goose bumps thinking back
(some memories are better left in the past
Sorry to hear of your cousins death, very powerful story. You have inspired me
Thank you… Glad it helped.
At work with tears in my eyes! this is a life changing article. I agree with everything you’ve said! Your family is in my prayers! Thanks for sharing..you just may have saved me!
Glad you found it helpful… Him dying has changed my life for the BETTER. I know do things differently and starting to spend even more time doing the things I enjoy and that includes much more time with the family.
I am so sorry to hear about your Cousin. It is devasting when someone passes young. I just lost my sister in March. She was living with me for almost 4 years and had liver failure. It was heartbreaking watching her deteriorate. All the while I was pursuing my t-shirt business but it was extremely hard for me because I really could not focus on it. I was still in the start up stages, basically getting all of my designs done, hangtags, sourcing tees and that sort of thing. When she passed away, it was really a shock only because she finally decided to have the liver transplant and was doing very well according to the doctors. She was recovering better than normal when a week later she had a massive brain hemmorhage. She had absolutely no life insurance, no money put aside at all. She could not get a policy because of her health conditions that she had. Anyway, my Mom and I were stuck with the funeral costs and my mother has a foundation that she started about 4 years back, ironically to help families bury a child that they lost.Well now we were faced with this situation and had to try to raise the funds. It was awful. I had money put aside to start my t-shirt business that I have been trying to do for almost 4 years now, I know, sounds ubsurd, but I was helping my sister and her children who were living with me. But anyway, I had to use the money that I put aside for the business to help pay for the funeral costs and to attend her funeral in Pennsylvania. We live in Florida so I had to travel and stay for a few days. I am still mourning the loss of my Sister, but I now have no money to start my business either. This has been such a stinky 4 years for me and I hope it gets better soon. I have some awesome designs for infant tees and I am dying to print them. I hope something changes soon. Well, I am very happy that things have finally worked out for you, and hang in there, they are in a better place now. If you would like to see my sister’s memorial and my moms site her address is; http://www.buriedwithdignity.org
Sorry for the rant, I just needed to get it out.
Sherry
threadsofserendip@yahoo.com
Thanks for the kind words and I’m sorry to hear about your sister. We have a few organizations we donate too and yours serves a good cause. Please follow-up with me at the end of the year so i can get your organization on our list for next year 2013.
Regarding your biz, keep on pushing through. I know it’s hard, but it’ll turnaround. Don’t feel like you can only start once you get all of your designs made — if you can only afford to start out with one or two designs, start there.
Don’t delay — just get started now. It’s important to get activity out into the market place. Nothing happens with out actions/activity. So start now — don’t delay!
We’re rooting for you over here at Tshirt Riches!
I’m so sorry to hear about your cousin. I pray you and your family are comforted in this time of sorrow. Thanks for sharing
Thanks Anacelia… It’s appreciated.
Thanks I needed that.
Glad it helped… Thanks for reading!
Sorry for your loss, Cartess. Still, in God we trust
Thank you for your kind words… they’re appreciated!
Sorry to hear about your Cousin , what great memories you have to look back on though. *hugs*
Thanks for the hug — I have many great memories — as time go by, I’ll share more stories. God knows I have a bunch of them with this character
It’s amazing to me reading that story. Because believe it or not, thats me. The only difference is, im living it right now. Ive made so many mistakes in my life. It dont make no kind of sense.
I recently enrolled in school a few weeks ago. Sadly to say, I was denied because of my past convictions dealing with drugs. Now, I havent been in prison for at least 11 years now. I committed those crimes,, almost 20 years ago. But still, im viewed as a criminal. So, at this moment of my life. I take real serious. It might look like im a bad person on paper. But I’m nothing like that. But I wrote this just to say that. It doesnt matter what you have done in life. No one is perfect. You can be anything that you want to be as long as you at least try. I just started my tshirt company not too long ago. And thank god its going great. I do everything in my power to encourage people all over the world. Promoting peace through fashion(Hood Politics) The Authentic Truth. So god bless you man. You most definitely keep me going.
It’ll get better… I don’t think people realize how it could have been themselves locked up. God knows I’ve done some stupid things when I was younger. And I think many of us adults now can think back to the many stupid things done as a young teenager or young 21 year old. At that age, we think we’re invisible and just young and foolish to realize we’re not.
I wasn’t a bad kid — raised up in the church from the time I was walking and I think we rebel a little when we become ‘grown’.
Sorry to hear you couldn’t get into school… That should motivate you to make your biz pop even more because now you have that motivation/drive to get out there and make this thing work.
Keep your head up — you will see light if you keep on keeping on
Sorry about your lost knowing that he is in a better place is awesome and I was reading your memories there is always one in the family that you can relate too and be closer as if you where brothers. My prayers are with you and your family and Happy Belated Fathers Day.
Thanks for the kind words… They’re appreciated Mon’Jae.
sorry for your loss
thank you Terry.
Wow man! I get your emails and read pretty much every one too but I wasnt prepaired to read this about your cousin. My condolences to your fam. I love what you do with the web site and Im trying to be like you when I grow up meaning Ive been trying to get my t shirt thing going but just recently moved into a new house and its tough getting this thing in order but im going to get where I know I need to be. You motivate me a great deal so thanks C. Stay up bru!
Thanks for the kind words Duane… Much appreciated it. Now that you got the new house — perhaps that’ll motivate you to get that biz up and going quicker
So sorry to hear about your lost, stay strong Mr. Ross my thoughts and prays are with your family
We appreciate it. Thanks!
God Bless you and your family. This email really touch my husband and I, because we have been in a struggle for many years now…we are tired. I told my husband that it is time for us to get it in gear we will be signing up for your course this Friday when we get paid. Thank you for your inspiration!
Glad to hear my story motivated you to take action… Whether it’s a t-shirt biz or some other type of hobby — sometimes we just need to force ourselves out of our comfort zones in order to live the life we’re really meant to live.
Keep us posted on your progress as you navigate your way through this new journey.
Sorry for your loss. What you have said is so true we should take a chance and do what we enjoy instead of being in a job that makes us miserable and still cant make ends meet. Dare to dream comes to mind. I think we are afraid to do that sometimes.
Hi Paula… You’re soo right. They never really taught us in school to dream. And oftentimes, our parents without even thinking about it, generally ‘bring us back to earth’ when we dream/fantasize.
I think I over compensate now because I now encourage my kids to Think BIG.
The more outrageous, the better.
Imagine what they thought when JFK said we were flying to the moon.
I mean really… Think about the guy who made air travel possible.
Dream BIG… It works!
Thoughts & prayers to you and your family.
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing
Not a problem..
Very sorry for what happened to your cousin, my condolences to you. RIP. Yes, life is only one and we have to live it to the fullest. I’m in!!
Awesome… Thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated.
term life insurance is best
Agreed!
Hey brother Ross First I like to say, sorry for your loss. Everything you talked
in this was so true. Everyone needs to wake
up and realize what is truly important and make
a move on the present b/c you our future in most
cases is depended on today. I always say, “You
can’t expect to continue to do the same thing and
expect different results”. It won’t happen.
Again, many prayers for you and the family and
may God continue to bless and enrich your family.
Thanks for the kind words Jimmie.
A favorite quote of mine is ‘in order to have the things that others don’t have, you must be willing to do the things that others won’t do…”
DREAM BIG… and LIVE LIFE!
That’s a great quote!!
Thank you! =}
I am so sorry to hear about your loss. I guess we never know when something like this will strike in our lives. My heart goes out to you and your family. I hope justice is served toward the person or persons that harmed your cousin. GOD BLESS!
Well they finally caught the guy… Actually on the day of the funeral. We’re now just waiting for the details surrounding the murder.
Thanks for the kind words!
Accept my sympathy and may Yahweh console you and your family.
Accepted… And thank you very much.
Thanks for sharing your personal story with us…. very inspirational! Its good to hear about failures as well as successes. We learn more from failures than successes.
Agreed… If I’m on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, I definitely want the guy whose been through some wild and crazy boat rides…
The guy or lady who hasn’t had to ever navigate rough and tumultuous waters will never be able to get us out of harms way…
Failures are GREAT and needed.
Dearest Cartess,
I wanted to share something with you…
Today is my birthday and (my niece who I have always called my SISTER and who is actually just a few years younger than me) always calls me. Well, the phone rang early this morning and it was her husband, calling to tell me that she had just passed away from an accidental over-dose of medication that was prescribed yesterday in the emergency room. Needless to say, I am devastated!
This morning while standing outside crying and talking to God, I kept asking Him to talk to me and please give me a sign of some sort that He hears me. (I know we should not ask for signs but I am just devastated.) I also decided that I have to change my stressful life and I told my 22 year old son that I no longer want to have “fear” of change or anything else. I was going to move forward and change our lives! Well, I have been numb all day, so just a while ago, I decided to check my emails. I saw this new post from you ( I just recently purchased your training videos and my son and I just finished watching all of them)
I could not believe what I was reading! The story of you and your cousin (brother) is almost exactly the same story of me and my niece (sister)! Cartess, I am so, so sorry about your cousin and your loss! I know you must be devastated as well! I then read what you said about when you looked at your cousin in that casket how it made you realize about living the life you want to live RIGHT NOW and don’t live another day hating your job! I couldn’t believe it! God had heard me this morning when I asked Him for a sign and you confirmed the exact words I spoke to my son this morning about; no more fear of starting this T-shirt business or anything else! My son read it again with me and we both knew God sent you to talk to us; both, in our tragic loss and changing our lives. (I have been to the emergency room several times, (last time not quite 2 weeks ago; because of my stressful sales job. The doctors keep warning me to find another job or else!)
Cartess, when we found you by accident a few weeks ago, we knew that God had led us to you. And as they say…with God, there are NO accidents! Both my son and I both love you and really enjoy all the videos (the one with your son was also inspiring) and we both have prayed for you and your family ever since! Please know that you are in our prayers regarding the loss of your cousin (brother) and May God bring you comfort and peace during this time and May God Bless You and Your Family with health, happiness and prosperity!
I am sorry for the long post but I just wanted you to know how God keeps bringing you into our lives! For all that you do to help people, I know He must have something very special and wonderful in mind for you!
Shalom!
Shirley and Nicholas Looper
Shirley and Nicholas,
Thank you for taking the time to respond. Your niece (sister) sounded like someone you loved very much. I’m truly sorry for your loss. Like you, I’m still numb and shocked. I find myself thinking about him quite often throughout the day.
I called his cell phone so I could try to capture and save his voice on the recording but they already turned his phone off — I missed it.
I found myself working a little longer than I should have, but even your story reminds me the importance of living in the now and not putting things off.
One thing I’ve always wanted to do was hop from and live in different countries a few months out of the year — with 5 kids in school, we discussed and decided we’d spend future summers in other countries while the kids are out for the summer break… We thought about doing it when we retired but have sense decided “Why wait, when we can do it now”.
So Shirley… I’d encourage you to move forward on your plans and start living now without fear.
It’ll be a little nerve racking at times, but a little bit of independence will be empowering.
You and your family are in our prayers and please keep us posted on your progress… Would love to hear from you!
Wow you guys have some stories on here, My deepest sympathy for your loss. Thank you also for turning your pain into yet another useful lesson in life.
Not a problem…. Thanks for the kind words. We learned a lot during those young start-up years. I’d do it all again to know what I know now. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Thanks for the kind words… Dennis was a GREAT guy. I’m glad the story inspired you.
Don’t hesitate to ask questions if you get stuck on anything!
Thanks for the kind words… It’s appreciated!
Absolutely… Live now.
Thank you!
So true! Don’t allow the small stuff..
Thank you for your kind words!
Anytime! Thank you!
Sorry to hear that Sharon… We’ll be praying for your recovery. Check your e-mail, I just sent you a follow-up note!