Hi everyone!

My name is Brandon, I'm 23 years old from Ontario, Canada. Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians!

All my life I've always stayed inside my comfort zone, never putting myself out there. I've just recently started getting used to stepping out of this comfy place. When steemit asked for an introduction, I took that as another challenge. So here it is, the real me.

A quick little introduction about myself and how I got here:

Being a canadian some may assume I grew up playing hockey, riding polar bears and guzzling maple syrup by the gallon. Sadly I can't skate, I've never seen a polar bear and I hate maple syrup.

I actually spent most of time growing up skateboarding and playing video games.

(That's the legendary skateboarder Rodney Mullen who created the kickflip!)

Fast forward. I graduated high school confused because I never considered which career path I wanted to take. I worked full time at a grocery store for a year and a half while trying to figure out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I decided to look into heating and air conditioning as a career. I figured it pays well and it would be a job in demand so I went for it. I got accepted into a 2 year program at a local college and was excited as hell.

3 months in the program I injured my back from squatting in the gym. I herniated 2 of my lower discs and after that, it was a downward spiral.

I ended up dropping out of the program shortly after due to the pain. I thought I'd take half the year off to fix this injury then continue where I left off. I'm sure things would of went that way if my doctor would have stopped and listened. I didn't know I actually had the 2 disc herniations until 7 months after I injured my back. My doctor refused to give me an MRI scan because she believed it was a temporary strain. It turns out an MRI scan costs about $1300 to run. Since we have free health care in Canada, of course, the scan would be free. But, if my doctor were to request an MRI scan and no injury popped up then the $1300 would be a waste and make her look bad. Once she finally allowed me to get that scan I learned I had the 2 disc herniations. Due to those 7 months of improper care, the pain got worst but I started to get the proper care which was needed.

Shortly after, my aunt who I was close with all my life passed away from breast cancer. A couple months later I lost my grandfather. I hit the darkest point in my life. My emotional pain only amplified my physical pain. I started to lose hope in everything. My back seemed like it was only getting worst. I was unemployed, not in school, my parents were spending a fortune on physiotherapy, and I had no idea what I was doing with my life. I resorted to pills to help numb the pain.

I spent the next year in bed, puking and playing video games. I knew my parents couldn't stand seeing me like this so I had to change and get out of this rut. It was time to consider a new career which isn't physical. Since I had no skills besides playing video games I decided to start streaming on twitch to just do something with my life. When my grandfather passed away I was fortunate enough to be left with some money. I invested the rest of it into a new computer and started streaming within a week.

(My baby)

I was nervous at first(Sort of like now)because I was afraid of it backfiring on me.

What if people made fun of me?
What if I wasn't entertaining?
Why would people watch me?

All these thoughts ran through my head. Thankfully, I had some really supportive friends who pushed me to do it.

It turned out to be the complete opposite of what I thought. In the first couple of days, I stopped the pills instantly. I met hundreds of people all around the world. I now had friends in Sweden, Alabama, France, Brazil, who would come hang out and talk to me every single day. I went from feeling completely alone, empty and lost to having meaning. It was now hard to sleep 90% of the time not because of my back pain, but because of the excitement to learn and hear about everyone's day.

After a couple weeks of streaming, my cousin's wedding was coming up. She was the daughter of my aunt who passed away the previous year. For her wedding and in honor of her mother, I came up with the idea of hosting a 24-hour breast cancer fundraiser on my stream. I instantly e-mailed my cities newspaper and a week later...

I couldn't believe it! They loved the idea. I now had a community of friends and family helping me create this fundraiser for my aunt. We made t-shirts which we sold to raise money for giveaways, local pizzerias sponsored the event, McDonald's gave us coffee to stay up for the 24 hours. I couldn't believe the support I had and I definitely couldn't have done it without them. We raised $3550 towards breast cancer research and donated my 3 years worth of hair. It was one of the best days of my life.

A couple month after the charity, I started to teach myself how to code. I wanted to make a website for my twitch stream because I was now streaming 7 days a week. Once I realized the endless possibilities with code and what one could create though... I thought bigger than my stream.

I always found it to be a pain in the ass to find things to do in my city. So I came up with the idea of an app where one could find things to do in their city in a fun/affordable way(I'm sure this idea was thought of before). I had no idea how one would create an app. I decided I would stop the streaming temporary to learn how to do this.

Summer was almost over so I applied to college again. This time it was for a 3-year Computer Science program. My plan was to go to school to make my parents happy, learn how to code and make this app. I got accepted and within a couple weeks went to school for the second time.

Sadly, college wasn't what I thought. It stressed the hell out of me and I had so much work that I slowly forgot about the app. I completed the first semester(barely) and right before Christmas break my good friend and I had a different idea. It was to partner and create a music submission platform for artists to gain exposure to their music.

We organized a team within a couple of days and went all in. We started planning and developing 5 days a week in my buddies basement. Since the second semester of school was about to start soon, I had the choice of continuing this or going to school. I followed my gut and convinced my parents to drop out of school for the second time to pursue this.

I spent the next 7 month developing with the team and found a new interest in cryptocurrency while doing so.

Now, it's July 1st and we're all caught up.

FINALLY!

Our team just launched our website a couple days ago and I couldn't be happier. Regardless if it goes well or not I have learned so much this past year. It's been a rollercoaster. A big scary roller coaster. But I would never take it away.

My back? It's basically fine now. I've been going to the gym 5 days a week(Still not squatting). I honestly think the emotional pain is what cost almost 90% of the physical pain. It's crazy how the body works.

A little bit about why I'm here.

• I love learning. Therefore, I love reading. Preferably non-fiction but everyone enjoys a good story here and there. I'd love to connect with anyone who holds the same passion. I'd be thrilled to share some of my favorite books with you or hear some of your favorites!

• Back issues. Seriously. If anyone here is stumbling upon this or made it this far and has a back injury....hit me up. I went through physio, acupuncture, spinal decompression... you name it. I also read a couple books on pain and back pain specifically. I'll try to help the best I can and tell you what worked for me, obviously, I am no doctor but there is no chance I'd ever want anyone to go through what I went through.

• Entrepreneurs. I know there is a big difference between the term "Entrepreneur" and a successful Entrepreneur. But what I mean by this is, I'm looking to connect with anyone who is trying to pursue whatever there goal is because to me that's waht an Entrepreneur is. I'd love to hear about your experiences and your speed bumps. I'd also love to help in anyway I could. I've done a lot of experimenting the past year. Even if you may hesitate because you doubt I have no knowledge in the field...hit me up.

• CRYPTO. I've been investing in crypto for only a couple months now. So I may still be considered a rookie. BUT. I've been learning how to read and analyze charts. Starting tomorrow, I'm starting a 60 Day Challenge on steemit. I will be doing a Technical Analysis on a different alt coin every day. Follow Me if you'd like to be the first to see those TA's :) Also hit me up if you'd like to discuss crypto.

• Hip Hop. I listen to hip hop all day every day. If you want to discuss music or share some tunes. I'm down.

Well, It may have not been super quick.
But, If you actually made it this far....Thank you.
I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read my story,
I'm looking forward to joining the steemit community :)

P.S If the "find things to do" idea interested you. Use it! I still believe that could be something huge. If it was done properly.

Don't forget to keep smiling,
Brandon.