Lessons Learned From: Ship It Holla Ballas!

Ship It Holla Ballas: How a Bunch of 19-Year Old College Dropouts Used the Internet to Become Poker’s Loudest, Craziest, and Richest Crew.

 The subtitle of Ship It Holla Ballas is what drew me in to the book. I was like “what?” when I saw it. I’m a blogger who has also been fortunate enough to make a little money online over the years and I’m looking forward to the day when I can work at home completely online. I’m a firm believer in the power of the internet and its capacity to change people’s financial lives. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to make it online whether you’re a gambler or a shop owner, you have to put in the work. When I first saw this book I instantly thought about online business success and knew that I would get inspiration from the success stories in this book. Little did I know that I would be affected more so by the real-life lessons that make up the stories of the professional poker players in Ship It Holla Ballas.

I’m still in my twenties and learning a lot of the lessons they learn in this book. You see it with more famous celebrities like Lindsey Lohan, when you’re young and blessed with a lot of money, often times that can spell disaster. I am dealing with the repercussions of being the manager of a lot of money in my early twenties. One of the lessons the characters in the book learn is that they are making a mess while having the time of their lives and even though it’s a high chance the good times won’t last, they’re young and they have time to clean up their messes. I’m not going to tell you how everyone turns out, I will say that most of the people are okay by the end (even it’s by a regular person’s standards).  Cleaning up the mess you make as a young twenty-something can be a scary realization. No one wants to admit that perhaps they’ve made a mistake and now have to pick up the pieces; however, this is how you learn some of the greatest lessons of your life.

The other lesson that really stayed with me after reading this book was the sentiment that you should trust your gut no matter what. If you know you’re meant to do something, stick with it even if it looks really bleak at the moment. I overcame homelessness in New York City because I firmly believed this is where I am supposed to be. I’m doing better now but I will never forget the lessons that I’m currently learning and have learned over the past six months. As many of you know the government came in and swooped down on a lot of online gambling sites which ultimately changed the lives of a lot of professional poker players. It’s interesting to see the different paths that everyone decided to take once the online gambling landscape changed. It’s also great to see the people who continued their careers as professional gamblers in spite of the changes because they knew that this was their calling. Most people don’t grow up saying I want to be a professional gambler when I get older. I of all people know what it’s like to firmly believe in or do something that is so outside of the norm or frightening to people who aren’t a part of the community you are a part of. One thing I learned a long time ago is that if you firmly believe you can achieve something, keep going until you do. Most people live their lives afraid and that’s why they don’t succeed. Go against the grain (do it in secret if you must) and see what happens.

Ship It Holla Ballas is a very interesting read. The shenanigans they talk about and all of the adventures they have are very entertaining. I was surprised by the lessons I learned and the introspective nature of the stories. It’s definitely worth picking up.