CEO of Kognitive Marketing and Optimy.ai

“The best things that ever happened to me started from the worst things that ever happened to me.”

The best things that ever happened to me started from the worst things that ever happened to me.

At 15, Josh applied to summer jobs he thought wouldn’t be able to refuse him. When he was rejected from both Cineplex and Shoppers Drug Mart, Josh was at a loss. “I thought: what the hell is wrong with me?”

Instead of moping in his failure, he created his own job, and grew a gardening service with four clients to a company with over ninety. 

The necessity to be the best drove Josh from day one. “I always just felt like I needed to be the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent. Otherwise i wasn’t good enough. That motivated me enough so nothing could get in my way.”

Since then, Josh has learned the importance of balance, and the profound truth about our flaws. “My greatest wound kept me going. I turned off my emotions, and mentally willed it through challenges bigger than myself. I didn’t feel, I just did.”

Now, running numerous businesses, Josh focuses on being okay with not getting everything done. “The old me wouldn’t let that be okay. But the truth is, I don’t work around the clock, I accomplish more because I’m doing the right things, better.”

Success, however, isn’t measured by what gets done by the end of the day. For Josh, it comes down to long term joy. It is easy to get caught up in the smoke and mirrors of instant gratification, but happiness ultimately comes from knowing who you are and who you want to serve. 

“At one point I realized I wasn’t happy. I was working around the clock, and there was nothing else. After that you start fulfilling yourself in the inside, putting more heart into it. This approach brings you more success anyways as a by product, not as the main goal.”

Josh insists that there is nothing inherently different about successful people. It is easy to believe so, but everyone has challenges and personal struggles. The most important thing is to be driven by your purpose and focus solely on that. 

RANDOM RAPID FIRE WITH JOSH
1. Opportunity: take it or make it
2. Convention or unorthodoxy
3. Fate or luck
4. Respect or Love
5. Last book you read? The Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer

Josh Singer grew up in Thornhill and, after starting his first business at fifteen, hasn’t stopped since. Now CEO of Kognitive Marketing and optimy.ai, Josh looks forward to building his companies and continuing to be in tune with himself.