A Chronic Entrepreneur: Michael Nova

There’s a Japanese proverb “Nana korobi ya oki” which means fall down seven times and rise up eight. This proverb speaks to the Japanese concept of resilience, no matter how many times you fall down you simply get up again. This concept was introduced to me by today’s Chronic Entrepreneur, Michael Nova and his website Riseupeight. I believe that this proverb perfectly sums up living with a chronic illness and also the life of an Entrepreneur.

You can read Michael’s inspiring story below.

What’s your Chronic?
Chronic kidney disease.

Where/when were you diagnosed?
2009.

What does being an entrepreneur mean to you?
I love being an entrepreneur. For me, it means freedom.

What came first, the chronic or the entrepreneurism?
The entrepreneurism.

How did this path come to you?
I was miserable working for someone else. It felt like being a slave, having someone look over your shoulder every single day and tell you what to do. I could not take it and eventually decided to start my own business. I always tell the story of how the day I quit, I literally jumped up and down in the street, saying, “I’m free, I’m free!”

I had a tough couple of years but eventually built up enough clients to keep going, and eventually found myself as a successful entrepreneur.

Did you go through any sort of 12-stages of grief with the diagnosis or take it in its stride? How did the process manifest itself? Did you immediately reassess your life?There was something wrong with my eye so I went to see an eye specialist who diagnosed conjunctivitis and gave me the wrong medication, which caused unbearable pain. Luckily, I got a second opinion just in time to save my vision. This time it was correctly diagnosed as iritis. During testing they discovered that I also had chronic kidney disease.

All of this happened while I was in production for my music and multimedia film with a positive message called X: The Human Condition, which was created as a ‘message in a bottle’ sent out to everyone who felt like they didn’t quite fit in, like they were searching for their place in the world, which is how I felt. The message was: you are not alone.

The film was self-financed which caused major stress in my life. I nearly went bankrupt and my health was threatened. Everything went down the tubes but I fought back. The nephrologist that I was seeing told me I had to immediately be put on prescription drugs for the rest of my life, but I refused after seeing what my mother went through with a virtual pharmacy by her bedside.

I researched my condition and consulted with alternative health practitioners. Eventually, after several years I was able to save my vision and begin to reverse the process of kidney disease through alternative medicine and nutrition.

Did you seek out or join organisations representing your chronic for support or did you find comfort and answers elsewhere? What would you recommend in hindsight?
I did. I distinctly remember going online and joining support groups. But consulting with alternative health practitioners and doing research online is something I recommend to everyone at this point. It changed my life.

In hindsight, I can see that I did everything correctly except going to the wrong doctor at first! : ) Always get a second opinion!

How have you changed, if at all, in your relationships, decisions and values?
What I learned from my experience is that it’s important to appreciate the small things that we never consider to be important. When I lost my vision, I nearly went blind. I began to appreciate being able to see! I also appreciated every other little thing, like the other senses we have. The people in our life that are important to us. The things we take for granted. Don’t take anything for granted because you never know when it can be taken away from you.

What is your life philosophy and has this changed?
Appreciate everything in life because it’s precious. All of this led me to create the nonprofit website, RiseUpEight.org, where I now interview people from all over the world who have overcome adversity to inspire others to never give up.

The magical thing about this community that we are creating is that it is fulfilling my original mission from X: The Human Condition, which as you know, was created as a ‘message in a bottle’ sent out to everyone who felt like they were alone. Now with Rise Up Eight, here’s a community of people who have gone through adversity on their own, but now share their stories to prove that you are not alone.

Isn’t it incredible that my story led me to create the next level of X: The Human Condition, where the music and film led to creation of a worldwide community of people coming together with this one common thread of proof that you are not alone? It blows my mind.

What do you wish you’d known before?
I’ve interviewed enough people to realise that we all have one thing in common: we would not be who we are now if we didn’t go through the adversity that we experienced. We had to go through that to become wiser, stronger and able to help others.

It was painful, but necessary. I guess if there was one thing I wish I had known, it would be: Don’t worry, everything will turn out in the way it should.

Are you on any treatments? Why/why not?
I now take about 30 supplements a day and exercise 30 minutes per day. I will need to keep doing this probably for the rest of my life, but it sure beats prescription drugs any day!

What advice do you have for others starting out on this journey?
Seek out others who have been through what you’re going through now, whether that be in person or online, and research your condition. Become an expert so that you can speak with your doctors as an equal, not as someone who knows nothing and needs to be told what to do. That is a recipe for disaster.

People died because doctors make mistakes. I almost went blind for the same reason. Don’t let that happen to you. And if the doctor you see does not respect your opinion, and is not open-minded to try alternatives, go to one that does and is.

What is a ‘bad day’ for you?
A bad day is a day that I let my problems get to me and affect my state of being. I have to consciously fight that every day. Luckily with the tools I have learned through studying hypnotherapy and NLP, I can fight that. I recommend those disciplines for everyone. Learn about it and apply it to your life. It helps with pain management as well.

What do you do on a ‘bad day’?
Keep going. Don’t let anything stop you from achieving your goals, no matter how painful. It’s okay to take a break for a day or two, but keep reminding yourself you’ve got to get back to work. Write it down in your date book, and keep reminding yourself to push forward after the break.

How do you deal with stress?
Again, the tools I learned through hypnotherapy and NLP. There are mind exercises you can do, that train your mind just like aerobics or weightlifting! Sometimes I take a break and do something fun, so that I can come back to the stressful activity with a fresh perspective.

What do you struggle with the most?
Being in the music industry is about the most difficult thing you can do. You have a lottery ticket, and that lottery ticket is one in one million, and you have one million competitors. All you can do is keep pushing forward, and try to touch one person at a time with your art.

When I get an email or when I’m approached by someone who is a fan and is touched by my work, it means the world to me. That’s why I do it.

What are you most proud of?
I’m most proud of the work that I have done to inspire people around the world with my music, my film and RiseUpEight.org. I’m also proud of the fact that I can stand on my own two feet with my business. Growing up, I held jobs from being an ice cream scooper or to a shoe salesman. I practically did everything under the sun, so to finally be able to support myself in a successful way is a big deal for me. I’m grateful.

Best bits of being a Chronic Entrepreneur?
I’ve been through hell and come through the other side wiser and stronger, and able to help others with the same.

Worst bits of being a Chronic Entrepreneur?
Going through the pain is not fun.

Are you a 5-year planner or are you winging it?
I do my best every day and keep my long-term goals in mind. I have created a vision board of which three of the five visions have come true. The last two are extremely difficult but I will do my best to achieve them no matter how long it takes.

Dream weekend plans and have these changed?
I’ve never thought of the dream weekend. It doesn’t seem important to me.

Ultimate dinner party guests?
I always think Abraham Lincoln would have been a great person to speak to. He went through incredible difficulty in his life to become successful.

What advice would you give your younger self?
Looking back, I think I always did the best I could under the circumstances. The only thing I would say is, you are not alone.

What’s next?
Keep building RiseUpEight.org and keep touching people all around the world with our stories, and with our music from X: THC.

We have a new album coming out later this year. And on RiseUpEight.org we are giving away a free e-book called “8 WAYS TO TAKE BACK CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE… NOW!”.
I highly suggest that if you are encountering adversity right now, download this free e-book which will help you.

How can people find you?
Facebook.com/RiseUpEight
Facebook.com/XTHCmusic
Facebook.com/Novacustomprinting
twitter.com/RiseUpEight
twitter.com/XTHCmusic
twitter.com/Novacustomprint

Let us know what you think below and share your story with us on Instagram tagging @achronicentrepreneur and using the hashtag #achronicentrepreneur.