Do you know the story of Charlize Theron? Before Charlize was a Oscar-winning actress, international brand spokesperson and one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, she had a grisly beginning. Charlize’s father was an alcoholic who verbally and physically abused Charlize and her mother. When she was 15, her dad came home from a night of heavy drinking and threatened her mom with a gun.
After he began shooting, her mom grabbed another gun and shot back, killing her husband in self-defense. Charlize's dream was to become a dancer. So at 17, she moved by herself to New York City to study ballet. She was broke and living in a windowless basement apartment. While practicing, she hurt her knees so badly that her dance career was completely ended. Trying to process the news that she couldn’t dance anymore, she fell into a deep depression. Her mother came over from South Africa to visit her and told her she had two choices: go home or go forward. Her decision? She sold all her stuff and moved to California to give acting a try. Broke and unable to support herself, her mother would send her money for rent. When a bank teller refused to cash one of those checks, they got into an argument. A talent agent standing in line behind Charlize admired her spark and offered to represent her which would set her on her course toward stardom. And even after that, two full years of rejections followed before she got her first speaking role. But Charlize had FOUND HER LIGHTNING. Today, she’s one of the most famous women on the planet, with a net worth exceeding $100 million. Stories like this – whether you want to work in entertainment, start your own business or just create a sense of accomplishment in life, love and career – show us that ANYTHING is possible. No matter how lost or hopeless you might feel, there is always a way to move forward. Charlize Theron found her lightning. AND SO CAN YOU.
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“Finding Your Lightning” is about:
Solving problems creatively. Getting “unstuck”. Bouncing back from disappointment. Overcoming obstacles. Accepting responsibility. Discovering a purpose. And most of all, creating movement for yourself, to move closer toward any goals you deem worthy. In this book, we share the stories of famous entertainers and business legends, focus on the obstacles these super-achievers overcame and make them relatable to YOUR life and career challenges. For instance, Dwayne Johnson wasn’t always one of the highest-paid stars in the world. He was broke and depressed in his mid-20’s, sleeping on a mattress he found in dumpster -- but he fought back and Find HIS Lightning. We also share stories from our OWN lives, to show that finding your lightning isn’t just for household names.
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The company behind "FIND YOUR LIGHTNING" is infused.xyz. Founded by a group of friends who graduated from Columbia Business School in New York City, our mission is to take our business experience and help people regardless of their personal circumstances. The authors have over a half-century of real-world experience, across areas such as marketing, sales, business development, tech development, law, product management, digital media, sports + entertainment. We’ve started companies (John even took his public), raised money, sold multi-million dollar deals, and dealt with office politics, difficult clients, evil bosses plus about a thousand other business issues. And most of all, we’ve experienced failure. Loss. Rejection. Disappointment. And we’ve bounced back from ALL of it. Our hope is to inspire you to find YOUR lightning, whenever you need to.
