Today we’d like to introduce you to Terrence Sani.
Terrence, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
When catastrophic things happen in your life, you can’t help but naturally self-evaluate your current way of living. Everyday life was telling me I had a purpose. Each excuse buries who you want to be, where you want to go, and diminishes your drive. I majored in procrastination, pink slips (both termination and late notice letters), pushing priorities to the limit, and stretching deadlines out as much as possible. I even took time to get out of the womb. My birthday is the last day of the year (December 31st).
My mother called me one morning at 2 am. Usually, phone calls at that time aren’t for anything good, and this wouldn’t be an exception. She told me that my stepfather Carl wasn’t breathing. After staying up late, she tried waking him up but he was unresponsive. My wife and I got the kids ready and I headed over to my mom’s, trying my best to drive safely I arrived at her apartment and got out of the car only to realize it was the wrong apartment! I’ve always known where my mom lives but I was so oblivious that I hadn’t realized I was at the wrong apartment. Finally getting my bearings together, I saw an ambulance a few units over. Nobody had a sense of urgency. I walked up to one of the EMS workers and was told Carl didn’t make it.
Finally, I got the right apartment and saw my mother, she collapsed in my arms and I instantly started crying. I’m not one to cry but when you see your superhero down, it tends to project emotion. All I remember saying was “sorry” a million times. It was at that moment I realized everything that my stepfather had aspired to do and accomplish had been diminished.
The following day was my anniversary, that Friday was his funeral but ironically the same date that my biological father had passed away years ago from a heart attack. Saturday was my son’s birthday. I didn’t know if I was coming or going. I proposed to my wife that very Saturday, it was well overdue and I didn’t wanna leave this world not being her husband.
I was so comfortable with my stepdad being alive that I never thought of death. I was so comfortable that I didn’t know my life was built on the foundation of a rug that could get pulled from beneath me at any given moment. I was face to face with a man whose wishes, goals, and intentions all had an expiration date.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The journey to being a leader and an entrepreneur has been a very rough road with many obstacles. I wrote the book on it. Literally. It’s called You Are Your Outcome – How to eliminate, self-made obstacles, setbacks and fear. Learning to stop pointing the finger at others and start pointing the finger at yourself was the biggest pill to swallow. Knowing that my setbacks were self-caused was pretty humbling. I’ve been fired multiple times, wasted a lot of money with so-called leaders and experts in the field of speaking and personal development. Taken out loans and lied about covering expenses because I couldn’t manage my bank account or my life at the time.
Every Sunday, I’d feel the burden of supporting my family with a job I absolutely couldn’t stand. I’ve learned that when you’re in your own lane or road, you never have traffic. I tell both students and employees in my speeches and keynotes that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. But you can control the speed, duration, and direction. I struggled to try to get everyone to see my vision when the lenses of my life were only prescribed for me. Entrepreneurship has been nothing I’ve ever seen and everything I never expected I love it. It’s truly a blessing to be able to feed my family and keep the lights on with the words that come out of my mouth and by bringing my thoughts into action.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Sani Creative story. Tell us more about the business.
I own and run Sani Creative. We’re a web and graphic design agency here in Houston, Texas. My target audience are speakers, authors, and small business owners. My background is public speaking. I’ve dabbled in web and graphic design in the past back when I performed in a few local Houston bands (The Kidnap Soundtrack, Eyeagainst, Closet City, Mouther, etc). But I had left it alone. Over a decade later, when writing my first book, I hired someone off of Fiverr to design my cover and it was very bad. I figured as good of a communicator as I claimed to be nobody will care about my design as much as I will. So I put my work into my own hands while finding a gap within the influencer market and Sani Creative was born.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck is defined by chance however I believe its intention. The result of what you lack and welcome into your life it’s simply a byproduct of effort. For example, someone could win the lotto from a scratch-off ticket. But without the intention of purchasing the ticket to begin with, there’s no chance of winning and the ticket would simply sit on the shelf. I’m not “lucky” to be where I am as a speaker, designer, and entrepreneur. The desire started over a decade ago, why wasn’t I lucky enough to obtain everything then? Because I hadn’t put in the effort. Through various years of intention and effort, I’ve learned how to fire my comfort and hire my purpose.
Contact Info:
- Website: SaniCreative.com & Yo
uAreYourOutcome.com - Phone: 1-832-934-4246
- Email: Info@SaniCreative.com
- Instagram: www.Instagram.com/sanicreative
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/sanicreative
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