Category: Blog
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How I became a homeless activist
My son, who is currently 16, asked me why I no longer run a marketing firm with a bunch of employees. At our peak we had about 16 employees and, as Wikipedia reports accurately, we were generating about $1.5 million in sales. (please keep in mind that top line revenue has nothing to do with…
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How Addiction Has Shaped My Life
Simply put: If you judge addicts you either A) don’t understand the first thing about addiction or B) you’re lying to yourself. Have you ever found yourself binge eating an entire family size bag of Doritos because you’re stressed? That’s addiction. You lost control of yourself. Have you ever spent an entire sunny Saturday binge…
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Is Doing Good Things Insane?
The thing about it is: I don’t feel like a “good” human at all. I also don’t feel like a bad human. I’m just a human. But I do like to learn about other humans doing good things. It kind of helps me keep my game up. Like, “Don’t get cocky Sage. You really are…
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We Are Emma Gonzalez
I hope you’ve had the chance to watch the speech Emma Gonzalez gave as a survivor of the recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Speeches like this transcend human constraints like age. Don’t we wonder how such a young person to be so articulate, clear and inspirational? They also transcend politics and dividing ideologies. Politicians and…
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Dementia Overseer
“Congratulations! You are the proud new overseer of a healthy, old, mentally decaying parent.” Dementia is everything backwards. But it’s not just backwards. It’s sideways. Inside out. Reverse. Forward. Stop. Go. It blurs dreams, this world, other worlds, decades ago, today. Dementia is a fucked up cut form of LSD that you’d ask your drug…
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A Call For Podcast Guests for Sage and Friends
I’ve been committed to creating a podcast. I am at a place in my life where I feel more like an artist than a business person. It’s actually a message I’m trying to instill in other business people. Coke gets it. I want you to get it too. When you are passionate and in love…
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Sage Lewis – Chosen to Chair Project RISE Auxiliary Committee
I’m not the kind of person other people typically entrust to important jobs. “Loose canon” is a common phrase I’ve heard to describe me. But for some reason, Debra Manteghi, the Program Manager of Project RISE, the only group in Akron solely dedicated to homeless children, has appointed me to the position of Chair for their Auxiliary…
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Homeless Kids Can’t Get Housing Help if they go to college
So let me break this down for you: Let’s say you are a homeless kid. Good news! There are programs to help you get a place to live. Let’s say you are a homeless kid that wants to go to college. No more housing help for you! The IRS says you are no longer eligible…
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Ohio Auctioneers Sample Contract in Word and Google Doc Format
The Ohio Department of Agriculture Auction Program offers an example contract for auctioneers here: http://www.agri.ohio.gov/public_docs/auctioneer/Auct_Sample%20auction%20contract.pdf The problem with it is that it has a big “SAMPLE” watermark all over it. And it is also in PDF format. So you can’t edit it easily. We’ve reworked that contract and put it in Microsoft Word. That way…
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My Friend Is Doing A LinkedIn Event In Cleveland
My friend, Harry Lader, Ph.D., is doing a LinkedIn event on using LinkedIn more effectively. He’s a super smart guy and really nice too. His day job is that he’s a trainer for Excel. But he has applied that Excel knowledge to using LinkedIn. The extra cool thing about the event is that it’s a…
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Why I Want You To Go Camping
We started camping as a family when Indy, our kid, was 2. It rained. The tent leaked. The fire wouldn’t start. And you know… We had a 2 year old. This seems to be a very common story. Many people seem to have rough first camping experiences. Our saving grace was we went with a…
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It’s official: I’M AN AUCTIONEER!!!
80 hours of classes in Kentucky. Finding a sponsor, which is incredibly difficult. Or maybe I was meant to be with Chuck Kreiner and we just had to find each other. He is amazing! Get a background check. Get a $25,000 bond. Notarize all paperwork. Send paperwork not earlier than 4 weeks before the next…
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Learn About Adoption Meetup
I friend of mine, Jackie Smigel, runs a non-profit adoption agency. She has just announced a meeting she is having in Kent Ohio on Wednesday, April 27 from 10:30am-11:30am. here: Fred Fuller ParkOld Jail497 Middlebury Rd; Kent OH 44240. This meetup is for anyone who has ever had a question about adoption. When I think of…
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Why I Don’t Speak In Person Much Any More
I used to speak anywhere and everywhere. I once did an SEO speech at a Golden Corral Buffet. My van broke down on the highway on the way to a speech. Both to and from the speech, actually. I’ve driven in more white out blizzards than I can count rushing to get to a speech. …
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Ep. 3 Picking a Product. Making an Entrepreneur
I think people get really hung up on what product or service to sell in a business. I know I do. I’m always trying to come up with something totally new and innovative. The big problem with this approach is that no one has any idea what it is you’re trying to sell. You end…
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Homeless GoFundMe Accounting
I have another campaign coming up so I wanted to get my finances together. (I’ll tell you more about it soon.) But I wanted to post where we are with our money. In a nutshell: The Shoes for Homeless Kids program has raised $1310. We’ve spent $1068.82. We have $241.18 available. The Socks for Homeless…
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Ep. 2 The Other Side. Making an Entrepreneur
I’m a little unsure about this post. The world is filled with pie in the sky visions of what “taking control of your future” looks like as an entrepreneur. Fancy trips. Working 4 hours a week. Fancy cars. Big houses. That end result, if it happens, is the product of all the things I talked…
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Ep 1. Why I like abusing myself. Making an Entrepreneur
When we first started SageRock I told everybody how great owning your own company was. “You should start your own company,” I’d say like some kid who just discovered gummy worms. I don’t say that any more. In fact, while I don’t tell people not to start their own company, I rarely encourage them if…
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Making an Entreprenuer – Intro
Sure. I stole that title from “Making a Murderer.” There’s a reason for my plagiarism. But that’s a story for another time. This is my written documentary of (hopefully) making a successful company. My plan is to outline how it’s going, how much money I’m making, how much money I’m spending and what I come…
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Here’s the biggest thing you can do for homeless kids right now…
How much money do you think the national government spends on helping homeless kids? Before you guess, let me give you some budgets the government does spend money on: Printing Costs ($930,000,000) Maintaining Vacant Buildings ($175,000,000) 118 Medical Clinics that never existed ($35,000,000) European Legislators ($2,600,000) I get it. America is a big place. It’s…
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Unadopted Akron Family Needs Your Help This Christmas
I got an email last night from Debra Manteghi, the Program Manager for Project RISE: the only group in Akron that solely focuses on homeless kids in the Akron area. They organize an “adoption” of families for Christmas. The idea is that a family “adopts” another family and gets them presents for Christmas. Debra emailed me…
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Um… Wait. What????
Yesterday, a large, but simple box came to our office from Paris Hatters in San Antonio Texas. That was strange because almost all boxes we get come from Amazon, or recently from Wal-Mart for the shoes we bought for the homeless kids of Akron. I would have remembered buying something from a hat shop in…
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Harvest Dinner for Local Families Experiencing Homelessness
Probably the most influential post I’ve ever written was discussing the 2200 homeless kids that are in Akron and the only group that is solely responsible for helping them: Project R.I.S.E. (Realizing Individual Strength through Education). You, as I, were incredibly moved by these kids and Project RISE. I wanted to let you know about an…
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Who Are We?
I’m 44 years old. I’ve spent this first half of my life collecting. Collecting things like: An amazing wife A mind-blowing kid A mediocre business A couple properties Various cars A pop-up camper The wife and kid part are perfect. I will tell anyone that asks: I won the lottery with Rocky. I could not…
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One Last Marijuana Plea – Yes on Issue 3
I know why most of you say you don’t like Issue 3. “It’s a monopoly. I mean it will say that on the ballot. So it must be one.” It is not a monopoly. In 2009 you voted to allow only four casinos in Ohio. By definition you were in support of a much…
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A Completely Selfish Post. Please Read.
This is a really selfish post. So forgive me ahead of time. But Im going to gloat a bit here. I can’t help myself. About 6 years ago, during a hellish part of the Great Recession, Rocky and I bought 15 Broad Street in Akron. This was probably the most terrifying business move weve ever…
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Who I Endorse For Akron Mayor
As I attempted to run for Akron mayor, I was given a unique front row seat to the candidates. I also got a lot of interesting off the record insight into these people too. There is a part of me that really wants to tell you all the gossip I heard. Much of what…
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Ohio ACLU Supports Issue 3 and So Do I
You may wonder why I care about a marijuana bill when my focus is the homeless. It’s simple: the war on drugs is an easy way to hurt minorities of all kinds, including the homeless. Issue 3 will stop this. Please vote YES on Issue 3 and stop letting the law hurt the weakest in…
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Accounting Update for No Feet Left Behind – Socks Edition
I’m a big believer in transparency. So I wanted to upload my completed order from Sam’s Club for socks and Ziploc Freezer Bags. It’s for a total of $269.62. There have been $325 in donations at our “No Feet Left Behind” campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/akronsocksThey deposited $296.95 into my account.That puts us at positive $27.33. I was…
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Shoes For Homeless Kids: 11 Donations, $214, 2 Days
https://www.gofundme.com/akronshoes Because so much of my work is on email I tend to take an email break over the weekends. Email can get a little overwhelming. But this Monday morning, today, could possibly make me LOVE email again. I woke up to a slew of supportive comments on last Friday’s post talking about all…