Too many brothas and sistas are out here looking for validation and acceptance from someone else, especially when it comes to their purpose. They want recognition from others, they want validation from someone perceived to have higher status, they want acceptance from a group. 

You must realize some basic truths – you have a singular life on this earth and each day is a passing day towards your end. You also get up every morning and have the opportunity to try to make your day mean something and be better than yesterday. But most importantly, you have a purpose and calling. 

I have been on this journey of life a lot longer and deeper than others out here but there is a truth I accept – this is my life, my story, my journey. I don’t seek validation and acceptance from others because that is a given when I wake up in the morning, I’m validated and accepted to still be alive and given another chance to do better, be better, and work closer to my dreams. 

Why am I’m talking like this? The reason is I, Ed Dunn could easily have run with just having a complex Toshikiso API that wealthy tech peers who are experts around the world can easily quickly adapt and I could have started billing them. But I decided to take a few years to make a low-code platform for those of you to make your journey easier through the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Great Reset we are experiencing that me and you saw coming years ago. 

When you see me talk about Tristan Walker or Morgan Debaun like a dog, when I see you clowns following Dr. Umar or Dr. Boyce Watkins or Tariq Nasheed or Cythinia B, Gary V or whatever, Jason Black and all that bullcrap out there, it’s not because of them, it’s because of you selling out your own journey to celebrate someone else stuff. You brothas and sistas in this follower culture don’t understand how bad you are harming yourself not knowing your own damn journey and following other folks in this world instead of your own purpose. 

First, no one in the real success circle will ever respect you following others because you cannot verbalize your own journey – you talking about someone else stuff that you follow. You need to talk about where you came from, what made you realize what you want to do and what you have done to realize that purpose into reality – then real folks will respect you and realize you are in this game as a player to win to get what’s yours. That’s what real folks out here respect, not some clown talking about they follow Dr. Boyce Watkins. 

You got to know exactly what you want and what drives you to go out and get it. Nobody out here can teach me proper programming, proper engineering to create what I created, I was motivated to learn what was necessary, travel where I can learn what I want to do, and work on the actual work. The fact that you hear people say they don’t understand what I do when you explain Dream and Hustle is proof-positive I’m explaining my true journey and not some boilerplate template that everybody needs to understand at their level – this is my level I made for myself. 

Frank Sinatra's song “My Way” has a deep meaning – he sings about no matter how life turns out, he can leave this world knowing it was done his way because it is his life and no one showed him but him to do what he is on this world to do. This is where you guys mess up and why I can easily tell you not going anywhere special because you don’t take the same kind of ownership of going through this world doing it your way. 

Life isn’t fair and life isn’t a set of rules and life is not binary if you win or lose. Life is the gift you get to experience your freedom, your decisions, and your purpose – take ownership of it. That’s what is respected at the end of the day, not how much money you got being a cornball sellout. With that said, stop being a fan follower, stop clout-chasing, stop selling out because you not impressing anybody real up in this game, you just look like a tool for someone else and none of this is about you doing for yourself. 

Make sure when you wake up when you step out that this game, this hustle, this empire chasing is 100% yours and your way. You take ownership when you start it, you be the ultimate shot caller as you run it and when it’s over, you make sure you leave knowing it was about you and the experience along the journey. 

Toshikiso is a platform with many components to having an entrepreneur navigate their journey with augmented technology assistance and enablement. The way I designed it, you will realize I spent the extra time making sure whoever uses it is doing for themselves to carve out a niche for themselves in this world. It’s going to be for those who take full ownership in their dreams, their ambitions, and their growth. My platform is not going to be for some cornball that trying to conform or make sense or rank or compare to others. 

Seriously, cut out all the following and take ownership of your own destiny – that’s why you living right here and right now. That is what people respect and want to do business with. It is annoying to hear some brotha or sista come to Ed Dunn and tell him they have been following some dude/chick on YouTube and then think that’s the kind of person I should be to them as well. I’m not playing with those kinds of people anymore because I’m old; they will get abruptly cut off and we ain’t doing anything together and got nothing to talk about ever. Folks better show up with their own story in their hand and talk about what they are doing for themselves. 

I never worry about what someone thinks out there and I don’t even process thoughts about it. I know on my journey; the real challenge is me versus myself. Do I want to do this? Am I’m prepared to do this? What value does this bring to me? These are challenges I have to face for myself and what is your biggest challenge in this world, not what other people think or act. 

Right now, I have the power that I have been seeking to build and help enable and empower others. I have also cut off a lot of people, mostly hood folks that I should have cut off a long time ago, including my own direct family members. I blocked and canceled a lot of fake friends and folks showing up trying to play interference with my personal goal or just not adding any value. Each time I have done that, I cleared up the journey for myself and was able to progress better as a result. 

For real, don’t ever approach me talking about you follow someone else and I can easily tell you a follower when you open your mouth and start talking. I only deal with folks who know their story and journey and don’t need to reference a third-person; it’s about them and they ask me to add value to their purpose-driven journey and want nothing more. That is what going to get you places around this world the moment you realize all this shit should be about you and doing it your way.