Introduction:
Disclaimer: Now, before you get your jimmies all rustled, I want you to know that I am a 28-year-old man, fully capable of making my own decisions with sound judgment.
Everything I share in this story is purely my personal experience and opinions, and is the truth to the best of my knowledge.
Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you a juicy little story that will blow your socks off and make you question your procrastinating tendencies or fear of taking action.
Background:
This begins back in 2020, a year that was undeniably difficult for everyone. I was living in a Southeast Asian country called Malaysia, where I had been residing for almost 13 years, and was in the midst of pursuing a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
The pandemic served as a wake-up call for me. It highlighted the fleeting nature of things and how we often take our day-to-day freedoms for granted.
It made me realize that many of the goals I had set for the future might never materialize. In hindsight, this may sound exaggerated, but at the time, none of us knew when this would be over.
I spent nearly a year in almost total isolation, which gave me ample time to reflect. I began to restructure my entire life, focusing on how to approach my goals without sacrificing my lifestyle and prioritizing execution for today rather than tomorrow.
Owen Cook:
Now, the way Owen Cook fits into this story is a long tale in itself, which I've detailed in another article that I will be sharing soon.
Real Social Dynamics (RSD), or Self Mastery Co (SMC) as it's known today, played a significant role in my success in business, communication, social life, and in my internal transformational growth and healing.
For the full background story of all the lessons I learned from RSD over the past 10 years, I will also leave for another article.
In brief, I've been a big fan of their work since around 2013 or 2014. I devoured every single video they posted on YouTube and even purchased some of their premium digital programs like "Blueprint Decoded" (my all-time favorite) and "Hot Seat At Home".
I had always wanted to attend their live programs, but financial constraints and visa issues prevented me from doing so.
They never hosted events in Malaysia, and I couldn't travel to the US due to my status as a broke college student and a displaced citizen from Yemen, which has been embroiled in a civil war since 2014.
By the time my financial situation improved, and I could afford to attend a bootcamp, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, leading to travel bans. Coupled with the near impossibility of obtaining a US visa as a displaced citizen from a war-torn country, I quickly realized the immense challenge of making it to the US.
But after my long COVID isolation, I knew this was not something I could put off for the future. I was at a point where I had taken a lot of action and desperately needed a mentor to assess my approach to social interactions and provide guided feedback so I can experience quantum leaps.
While their digital products were excellent and yielded results, I was striving to master this skill, and I knew the value of a mentor's live feedback would be ROI positive in my hands.
What was crazy was not just the expenses I'd have to endure to make it there, but also the impossible logistics of making this work. There were COVID restrictions, I was not vaccinated, and I couldn’t even get a visa.
Regardless, I decided to throw my hat over the fence and make an installment payment for the bootcamp, so my mind would start to make this real.
I got on a sales call with James. I immediately hesitated to fork out the payment; it became a little "too real". This was something I had always wanted, and now, suddenly, I was getting cold feet because it wasn’t just a fantasy in my head anymore, but actually required me to exert some energy into it.
Funny how your brain works. It literally gets in the way of things you want to do. Luckily, James was a good closer and didn’t let me off the hook that easily, thank God.
That was probably the best decision I ever made. After I made the payment, my RAS (Reticular Activation System) began to scan my environment and distort my reality of all the ways I could go to the US.
I spent months trying to find a way to get there. I had applied for a student visa and received approval for a university in Miami, where my bootcamp was supposed to be.
I even paid application fees for a computer science program (as I also wanted to learn coding), but my student visa was rejected by the US embassy.
It had taken me MONTHS to get university approval and process the visa, and I had burned a lot of time.Out of options, I contacted Owen's team and realized they had multiple bootcamps around the world.
None of the countries made sense to me, as there was no way I was going to apply for more student visas (they are expensive), and mostly, I didn’t have time to go through that process again only to be uncertain of the outcome.
I saw they had a bootcamp with Jeff in Mexico. Initially, I had wanted to go with Owen, but I loved Jeff's content and had no issue joining his program.
If anything, I rationalized that being in Mexico, not many students would sign up for that, and there would be a low student count and more attention from the coaches.
So, in hopeful despair, I agreed to be transferred to the Mexico bootcamp crossing my fingers I could get a visa.
I went to the Mexican embassy and applied for a two-week visa to Mexico.
Now, the crazy thing is, this was during 2022, when Mexico was the only place in the world that didn’t have quarantines, lockdowns, or medical passports.
So, it was the perfect storm for me. However, there was one caveat: Malaysia did have restrictions, which meant that if I left Malaysia, there was a high chance they would not let me back in. This was problematic as I was a Master's student graduating in six months. Basically, Malaysia has no citizenship routes or permanent residency unless you are a high net-worth individual willing to deposit $250k for a 10-year visa (which I didn’t have), or you get a job.
As a foreigner not in the tech, F&B, or tourism industry, the chances of me getting a permit were slim to none. And as soon as I graduated, they would send me back to war-torn Yemen, where I could be in danger due to being the son of an ambassador. At this point I started to get pissed. This bootcamp was supposed to be a treat for myself after years of hard work and saving to learn from the best coaches on the planet in social skills.
Yet, here I was, trying to “live my life,” but unable to do something as simple as signing up for a bootcamp which literally involved just booking a flight, hotel and giving a company my money.
I had all these grand dreams and aspirations of “I’ll be happy when,” but I couldn’t even book a flight and go to another country.
For years, I told myself the reason I haven't went after xyz, was because about a lack money, but that wasn’t it. The money was there now; I had done well in trading the 2020 crypto bull market and was at a humble point financially.
However, I faced a harsh reality check: money was the least of my problems. My bureaucratic situation was so complex that I couldn’t go anywhere, and the only place I could be in wanted to kick me out in six months.
I always thought I had some options, but when I actually started executed on those options, it seemed like nobody wanted me.
But I had already paid a large sum for the bootcamp. In Malaysia, that was equivalent to paying four times the price because of the currency exchange and the economy, so I was paying four times more than say an American would.
But that was good in a way; it gave me the mental leverage to take action because now I had skin in the game. Pair that with the anger and frustration from my COVID experience and the realization that 99% of my dreams and goals were never going to happen, I made it my life's mission to go to this bootcamp. I was willing to do whatever it takes..even if it meant ruining everything i've built. BECAUSE IF I CANT EVEN DO THAT! IF I CANT EVEN GO ON A PRODUCTIVE VACATION WHEN I HAD THE MONEY AND TIME FOR IT, HOW THE FUCK WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO ANYTHING ELSE?! THIS WAS THE LOWEST HANGING FRUIT AND IT SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE. Now to my luck and hopeium, I stubbornly applied to mexico not knowing if it would work but I felt I had nothing to lose. To my surprise, because I had a diplomatic passport, the Mexicans were willing to give me a visa, also because I had a valid student visa in Malaysia still, so they accepted my application and gave me a 2-week pass, and it only cost $45 USD. Go figure.
*Side note: I make this sound so easy, but you have no idea what I had to do the 9 months prior to get to this point. Not only did I have to increase my income to be able to afford the bootcamp's monthly installments, but I also had to research tons of universities for months to find the right course with the right price in the right city (US IS HUGE, BRO), and then figure out visa requirements, etc., etc., and accommodation, and that yielded nothing.
In the end, Mexico worked in 2 weeks.
Now things were in gear, this was happening... am I out of the fire? Hell no.
What happens when I leave Malaysia?
Will I ever be able to come back?
What if I don’t?
Will I get stuck in Mexico?
What happens if I'm stuck in Mexico, will they send me back to Yemen?
If I stay in Malaysia, I will 100% get sent back to Yemen, but I don’t want to stay in Mexico, at least I have friends in Malaysia... damn, I need a new passport, dude.
Knowing all this, I had no answers, all I kept repeating to myself was, one dish at a time.
Let's just go to the bootcamp we aimed for, that’s my north star. Yes, I'd be jeopardizing my life in Malaysia, but that was a sinking boat anyway.
I had tried too many years to settle down here, but this country tried so hard to kick me out. I figured... well, it looks like I have a lot to lose, but in reality I don’t.
So, I planned for the worst and packed 14 years of my life into a backpack, one carry-on, and a sling bag. I reduced my life to my essentials and prepared as if I would not come back to Malaysia in the situation that I don’t.
It was a turbulent 9 months, but here came June 2022. I wished my friends and cats goodbye, and off to Mexico I went. Now, all the while, my friends and family tried to discourage me from doing this. They thought I was suicidal or giving up on life; they thought I'd lost it, and maybe I did. But all I kept repeating to myself is, "if you can’t even do the things that you want, how the hell are you supposed to do the things you don’t want? That's not a winning strategy."
This is a path to failure, and while to some going for a bootcamp doesn’t deserve all this risk, but to me, it was a simple equation. I want this, simple as that. I want to go to this program, and I will pay the cost necessary.
I knew it wasn't a magic pill, I knew exactly what I was signing up and what i was getting.
And once I do this, which is a simple program, I'm going to do the next thing that I want, which is more important, and so on.
It was about the principle.
Now, what's interesting is when I arrived at Mexico customs, despite only applying for two weeks, when they saw I had a diplomatic passport, they stamped my entry pass and gave me 180 days!
A huge change of events; I now had 6 months in Malaysia and 6 months in Mexico.
No one could have expected that. I didn’t plan for this; I just took one step at a time and focused on my north star, just getting to the bootcamp.
At this point, I had solved many obstacles:
1. The money, by increasing my income.
2. The visa logistics by going to a country without COVID restrictions.
3. Expanded my options in case I couldn’t go back to Malaysia.
But I don’t want to stay in Mexico; I don’t speak the language, I don’t know anyone here, is it even safe? I only have money for 2 weeks.
Never mind, let's not deal with that right now, focus on bootcamp. Bootcamp came. It was my wildest dream, it was everything I had expected, straight out of the book "The Game." 3-4 students, one instructor, Jeff, and 3 assistant coaches, just like the classics.
We had his full attention, picked his brain for 3 days, all of us got massive results, saw each other soar. If you want to see all the lessons I learned from Jeffy's bootcamps I will write another article, otherwise, this will be too long.
Long story short, it was one of the best weekends I’ve had in my entire life because I saw new altitudes of what I can be. I saw my personality was malleable, and that what I did in the past, what I think of myself, the identity of who I am, if I detach from that, I can have any confidence I want, I can be who I want, I can be “the guy,” and that right there is core confidence. Core confidence is knowing the past identity of who you think you are has nothing to do with who you are or can be at this present moment. This allows you to be flexible and not contextual confidence. If you know you know. Safe to say this became my new north start, anytime I feel like giving up I just look back to that weekend, not only did I pull on my second day, but I pulled within 10mins of going out, I didn’t even spend time with the instructors that day. Bootcamp started and boom, I was back in my hotel room an hour later LOL amazing. After spending time with the guys whom were all Americans, we talked about the future and I began to see a new possibilities. I felt like I could pull off the impossible, look where I was, having drinks with someone ive watched on youtube for years, I was making stuff real. You really gotta put yourseslf in my shoes here, imagine you were playing God of War for 10 years and suddenly you met Kratos, like actual Kratos, the video game character has come out of the video game! It was all a little too surreal..I felt a rush of gratitude and fulfilment. Before we departed bootcamp, It was around June 20th I think I had heard the coaches talking among themselves saying that the US no longer needed proof of vaccination to enter anymore. A light bulb lit up in my head. Maybe this was my inlet? I had given up on the US, but maybe ill do some research tonight to see if it was possible. After the bootcamp was over I had money enough for one week. I had made stuff real, what else could I make real? I need a new passport bro... I talked to a lot of digital nomads in Mexico, Cancun was full of them after all, locals, internationals, the news wasn’t good thou. Mexico was as I thought, not a safe country. Don’t get me wrong its beautiful there and you can have whatever life you want, but on closer examination people that had actual registerd businesses there were being extored by cartel. And I mean everyone. The taco stands the Airbnb hosts, everonye had at least an encounter with them, at least that’s what I was told by local business owners. They had to pay them off or they they were threated with death. Im not going to into detail as to why I didn’t want to stay in mexico or this story would be too long trust me, but you can read that here if you are interested
So I went on google and I had heard somewhere that people have been applying for asylum in Canadian and US/Mexico borders.
So at the time I had never considered asylum because well, to be honest I didn’t know much about it and was prideful. I wanted to be a working class citizen that got citizenship with regular means rather than throwing themselves into country welfare of a foreign country.
But after closer examination, I realized that I didn’t have much of a choice anymore. I was forced into asylum. But there was no information online about the exact way to go about this; it was very vague, so I had to figure it out myself.
Just like I had learned from RSD: "take so much action it stops the thinking mind"
When you go about your social interactions, just leave the damn house, most guys over think it and never leave the house. Then when you actually go out, just say hi to people. Stop thinking so ahead of how you're going to get the final result when you're overwhelmed with thought. There's a time and place for that, all you need to know is that it's possible by the laws of physics. And I knew it was possible by immigration law to do it.
So all I had to do was get to the border. I took the last bit of money I had, booked a flight to Tijuana because it was the only border city in Mexico with an airport that’s smack on the US border, so it was the safest option. Again, this story is far too long to explain in one article, click here if you want the full asylum story.
I get to TJ and I didn’t even book a hotel because I was planning on making it to the border straight away. If it didn’t work, I was going back to Cancun. I got to TJ past midnight, I get scammed by a taxi driver for $100 USD to drive me 5 mins to the border, I was scared and felt vulenrable with all my luggage and thought they were maybe cartel affiliated so I didn't put up much of a fight and just negotiated $20 off.
I get off the taxi and go to the CBP officer at the post and try to use my new social skills thinking I had some new social voodoo powers. Safe to say I crumbled instantly and did a terrible open.
He straight up rejects me within the first minute, says "wrong port of entry for this."
I head back to the airport and spend the night there, I had no money and it was the weekend, there would be no flights till Monday nor could I receive any bank transfers.
So I wake up first thing at dawn and decide to try again at another port of entry the CBP officer recommended.
This time I take an Uber instead to avoid scams. This guy was cool and trying to be helpful, he had seen many refugees come to TJ from Russia to Africa to Ukraine and could spot a refugee a mile away.
He advised me against my idea and said I should go to NGOs, it was better. Something told me to listen and I took his advice.
I spent that morning hopping between 3 different NGOs, each telling me they had no ability to get me to the US and that they were only experience in helping me get asylum in Mexico.
The last one told me the same thing, but said they know a shelter that could help me sleep and eat until I figure my shit out. I had been awake for 38hrs and exhausted. Took up them up on the offer, I needed sleep.
I get to this magical little shelter in TJ that was actually few meters away from the US border of San Diego, you could actually see the border fence from the street of the shelter.
They give me free food and accommodation, and to my suprise it also turns out they are the only shelter in TJ that helps you legally and safely cross the US border in order to apply for asylum.
What?!! Even the NGO that sent me here didn't know they did that.
The only catch was you had to stay in the shelter until your case was over, and there’s no telling how long it could be, weeks, months, no one knows. I took this as a sign from the universe and made the gamble.
I stayed there for 40 days and on day 40 they said it was my turn to cross.
My brain was melting. This was actually happening.
Those 40 days I gotta be honest were really tough mentally, I sound ungrateful but you would have had to be in that situation of uncertainty cramped with 50 other people to get it.
If you want to learn the RSD principles that prevented me from going crazy, I will write an article on that.
On the day I was being sent to the border, I had to spend 10 hrs at the US border doing background checks with the other refugees I entered with. Once we were done they sent us to a quarantine hotel in San Diego.
That’s it, holy shit, I am now in the US!!! My brain couldn't process it... At this point, it's been 2 months since I left Malaysia. I had no idea what I was gonna do, but now I was in the fucking USA with no visa or vaccine or anything, and I didn’t break the law.
I was dumbstruck. My brain was jacked up now on juices. But I had a big problem to solve I had $300usd left and was in the most expensive US state, California. I didn’t know anyone in the US except one guy in NYC who lived with his family and didn’t have the means to assist me with any housing. So I I started making calls to people I knew and asked if they had friends in California that needed help with their business. I’d work for free in exchange for a sofa to sleep on. As crazy as this sounds, my north star here was to come see Owen's free tours, meet all the people there, and build a circle of people in social dynamics and somehow survive that way until my asylum paperwork cleared and I could get a job, but that would take months. I saw the nearest free tour was in San Francisco a week from my last date at the quarantine hotel. I was in that quarantine for 7 days, and on August 7th, I got a call from a friend of a friend of a friend who had a place I could crash if I could help him out with his business. I had 4 people calling to offer me a similar gig, except this guy was in San Francisco… I know, the universe felt like it was bending the simulation at this point. In a heartbeat, I take the offer and take an 11-hour train from SD to SF. I end up in the back storage room of a smoke shop with a mattress on the ground, lots of cockroaches, and a couple of mice. The room had no windows, but it was free and it was a roof, and I was so happy. I felt like the first level of a GTA character after they got off the boat, seriously, I was so happy. I felt like I was living my personal mission, my personal championship. I stay there for a week and on August 14, I go to the Marriott Hotel in SF for Owen's free tour. I was blown away, Owen came 20 mins after I got there, his vibe was electric, I was fanboying so hard. KRATOS WAS OUT OF THE GAME. But seriously, if you’ve ever seen Owen's videos on Youtube, please do yourself a favor and go see him live. The energy alone will change your life, videos and images never capture the true depth and sense of presence of actually being somewhere. Hearing his voice boom across the room, the energy that is exudting in the room. I am convinced he is probably one of the best public speakers, marketers, and teachers on the planet. His ability to break down concepts and teach them in a way thats executable is some of the best I’ve ever seen.... and I've seen a lot.
Of course, I end up signing up for his bootcamp that same day, how could I not, i've went through hell to be here. It was a actual mircale I was here.
Additionally because of that, the company ended up doing bonus sessions after the event for those that signed up for the bootcamp. It was around 6 of us, and it was a very intimate discussion with the students and Owen.
I forgot how it came up but I end up telling him the short version of my story. His facial reaction was priceless, he couldn’t believe it. Lol, it took him some time to internalize my story and he didn’t even get the full details.
Owen, if you are reading this, this is for you in case we never meet again. I've written 4 articles breaking down this journey from many angles and all the context you'd ever need to never doubt that the work you are doing is changing lives. This is the universe manifested telling you "THANK YOU, KEEP GOING"
After the event, I was looking for a place to stay, I had no money and SF was too expensive for me. After all, literally a week ago I was in quarantine and in an asylum camp, now I'm at the Marriott lol.
I thought I’d meet someone and crash at their place but didn’t work out. On the way out Owen saw me and asked me what my plans were, he was worried whether I’d be ok, I told him I’d find a place.
He walks out and walks back in and asks his staff whether they have a sofa in their place, they say yes. (power of not being needy lol)
He’s also a really great guy. Little did I know this was Owen's place, I thought I was gonna be crashing at his assistant's sofa but we end up going in a van to their Airbnb in the hills of SF all the while watching Owen rizz some chick up on a video call, it was hilarious.
I was shocked at how quickly he made a decision on trusting me. This guy let me into his home, where his kids were, after knowing me for a couple of hours. He’s either the nicest guy on the planet or has met so many people that he knew I was harmless.
Anyways, he literally tucks me into bed as a joke for being in a refugee camp, and then there I was ‘trying’ to sleep on his sofa, I was shell shocked. Out of all those people in that room, hundreds of them, me, Goober Stoods, ended up on Owen's sofa.
Like the journey I made dude, all that struggle, those 9 months in Malaysia, then the other 2 months in Mexico, and then 2 weeks later I'm on this guy's sofa??????!!!!
Dude, I lost it. I had manifested for real for real, and I never believed in that woo woo stuff.
My friends back in Malaysia didn’t believe me, they think I do voodoo or something, my odds in hindsight were close to none.
The amount of refugees that try to make their journeys and die on the way is a lot, I was profoundly lucky, and god was watching me or something.
I had made shit real. Remember what I said back to principles?
Was the bootcamp worth it?
All that risk?
Look what I went through?
The journey to make the bootcamp real, something so simple as wanting to just fulfill a desire that didn’t even have something that seemed like a direct ROI on the spot, was the biggest ROI ever in life experience.
Wheather that translates to material ROI I honestly don't know and don't care, that requires action and only time will tell.
But best you can bet that being someone hardcore who is also resourceful and adventureous will lead to alot of material gain.
I’m now in the USA, one of the best countries in the world, I'm now in asylum proceedings and hopefully once it's concluded I can become a resident and no longer be a displaced citizen thats all ways being threatened of being deported to a place where he would die.
Just because I followed my intuition to do something I wanted purely for me, led to me writing this article here in front of you, hopefully making you question procrastination and self-doubt and doing those “dumb” things that you think aren’t worth the risk or the ROI or the time and place.
I didn’t have the time and place or logistics to do any of this, yet I am here today, and Owen and his team know who I am now, but that’s beyond that.
This guy inspired me for years and in going out of my way to meet him I created a story that sounds like a movie that inspired HIM and is continuing to inspire anyone I tell it to.
The journey there became the reward. I had eventually ended up going to Owen's bootcamp, and that was amazing too, but it was nothing compared to the insane journey of getting there.
This is my life now, this is how I live now.
I am just hardcore in everything I do, that’s why I made this blog.
I have so many stories to tell and lessons, and I am making social dynamics part of my life and something I will build concepts out of and share with the world.
MAKE STUFF REAL.
After my first free tour I had attended 5 more in 2022 that same year. I then spent the entire 2023 executing on the knowledge I had gained: I traveled to 9 different states, 13 major cities, drove around the country, saw heaven on earth, spent an entire month living in nature, lived 9 months without a bank account or work permit, learned to ride horeses, build ai chatbots and documented everything. I am still in the process of discovering that "crack in the dam" that I can OCD on for the next 10 years but while I do that I am honing my sales and marketing skills and have become a certified badass. I do hardcore outragoues things that 99% of people would never dare to try.
Its become my ethos for life: I do what I want and have fun doing it ethically of course. As I am writing this I am still in my asylum process in the US and have not had a conclusion on my case. Only difference now is I have a social security and work eligibility so that’s cool + a bank account LOL
I am meeting Owen again soon, and I am just grateful I had access to this kind of information let alone the value that’s made me a different individual from the shy awkward guy that couldn't ask for directions to an approach machine that’s going through borders and cartel cities and traveling the world.
I hope this story shows the side to Owen not many people talk about online, the undying testimonial that this is my story and my life changed because some dude posted videos online that were life changing and I decided to go the extra mile to take his premium content just cause thats what top-g's do.
Yes theres a lot of fake gurus out there and it sucks to hear people finally jump the gun on paying for something online to better themselves and to only have a bad experience and never try again, I empathize with that, but I am lucky I had found these teachers in the life journey that I had. They truly gave me the piece of information society didn’t give me. These guys are the real deal and will turn you into a badass if you let them
If you’re interested in learning more about Owen Cook or his company I will include a list of links below to some of my favorite videos and programs you can check out.
Alternatively, if you wanted to ask me anything about my journey or business / social dynamics related leave a comment below or click this link here. Subscribe to my email list if you want to stay updated with my adventures. Stay Frosty GG -Goober gooberdigitalstudios@gmail.com
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