Hello, my name is Raymmar Tirado
I’m A Creative Entrepreneur & Concerned American Citizen.
I want to change the way the world works. That vision starts by restoring faith in people, not products.
My Values
My Philosophy
Question everything. Learn something new every day. And leave the world a better place for having been here. I challenge the status quo of life on a regular basis, push the boundaries of acceptability and challenge others to do the same.
I see all the angles
I always tell people that if I had a different upbringing that I would have been one hell of a criminal. I do however, have an undying faith in people and society although I think as a whole we are on crash course to communism and a totalitarian regime here in America. I try to do the right thing when I can but we all screw up. I have made my share of mistakes and I am not too big to admit when I am wrong (I think that happened once, a few years ago).
I prefer common sense as opposed to ideological positions or fairy tale fantasies. I am a realist and that often causes people to mistake me for a total asshole. In reality I am a fun-loving guy, who loves his country and thinks that if we all did a better job at minding our own business we might actually be able to get back on track as a society.
My Story
A Brief History Of Me
My parents moved to Columbus Ohio from Puerto Rico a few months before I was born. I guess you could say I was a journey man from day one. I grew up and lived a modest life on the north side of Columbus, Ohio graduating from Northland High School.
After High School I enrolled in the industrial design program at College for Creative Studies in Detroit Michigan with the desire to become a car designer. After a year in the program, unsure if I would be able to afford the next 4 years or be able to sit in a room and draw all day for the rest of my life, I decided to leave school and moved back to Columbus to “figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up”.
Shortly thereafter (March 2004) my mom and I went to visit my dad who had just moved to Manatee County Florida as the county surveyor. I saw an ad guaranteeing $36,000 a year to sell cars and figured “Why the hell not?”. I delayed my flight a few days so that I could take their sales training classes and flew back to Columbus the following Saturday. I packed all my stuff into the back seat of my 1999 Hyundai Tiburon, worked my last day as a lifeguard, had one final hurrah with all my friends before hitting the road back to Florida the next day. In one week I had gone from vacationing in Florida to living in Florida and shortly thereafter, my love for sales was born.
I was recruited from the car dealership to a local insurance agency to sell commercial property and casualty insurance. Things were going really well for me until one day they weren’t (I am skipping a few details here, but that’s 3rd date material). I ended up moving back to Columbus in November of 2009. Floundering around for a while, working misc jobs here and there, pretending to be a consultant, working at the swimming pool as a lifeguard again and I even managed a kitchen, all while trying to get back on my feet after my fall from grace.
Struggling to find a direction in life I felt lost, alone and worthless. I never gave up hope and I always knew I was put on this earth to do something amazing. I moved back to Florida in March of 2012 to chase my dream with reckless abandon. I figured if I was going to struggle and flail around in life, I would at least do it for myself. More than a year later I am doing well, building a reputation in the community as a thought leader in the world of sales and marketing, inspiring people through creativity and free thinking and I am now testing the waters with a few of my own ventures.
I have a variety of talents spread across a number of disciplines. I am an artist at heart but I am also a skilled graphic designer, writer, web designer, user interface designer, I shoot and edit video in my free time, handle SEO, blogging, social media, write a couple thousand words a week and so much more. I am the modern day renaissance man with a passion for learning and everything creative. My quest for world domination is really a shill for me to learn and explore as much of the world around me as possible without having to do it under the constraints of someone else’s corporate philosophy.
I firmly believe that I have struggled in life as preparation for what is yet to come and am looking forward to the next chapter in my life. This website is my voice to the world. A place for me to speak my mind, stir conversation and show off my creative talents. Stick around for a while, bookmark the site and feel free to keep in touch as I claw my way from nothing to the top of the world!
What’s In A Name?
What’s In A Name?
I was named after a Japanese Anime cartoon character that my parents used to watch when they were younger in Puerto Rico. The character’s actual name was Rayman (AKA Captain Harlock) which means, not only did they name me after a Japanese Anime cartoon character, they made up the spelling along the way.
From Wikipedia: Harlock is the archetypal romantic hero, a space pirate with an individualist philosophy of life. He is as noble as he is taciturn, rebellious, stoically fighting against totalitarian regimes, whether they be earth-born or alien. In his own words, he “fight[s] for no one’s sake, only for something deep in [his] heart”.
Main article: Captain Harlock
http://en.wikipedia.org/
My Politics
Its a love hate thing really
I am extremely active (and opinionated) when it comes to politics. That being said, I really do hate the games we are playing.
The powers that be have succeeded in getting us to spend all of our time fighting each other and bickering about republicans and democrats that we have been blinded to the fact that they are both power hungry beasts on the verge of tyranny and total control. We are being watched, legislated and regulated into a tyranical state and I am not sure we can actually turn this thing around. I think we might be on our way to a whole new America and that is a little scary.
I love America but we have forgotten what makes this country great and that bothers me. You will see my passions and my politics through much of my work as my passion and patriotism are deep seated and endless.
Learn more – Redefining American Politics. Meet The Conservative Hippie.
I used to focus on politics a lot more on the website and you will still see the occasional rant but the website is evolving and we will be shifting to more of a philosophical approach to politics. I want to help people understand the root of why we were such an amazing experiment in individualism and why I think America is still the greatest nation on earth but we have a lot of hurting left to do and it is going to be interesting to see how it all plays out.
My Religion
I used to be a Christian. Now, I just have questions.
I was raised in a Christian household and was quite involved in the Christian church for a while. I am no longer sure I believe in God (not in the context of the Bible at least) and have huge questions about large scale organized religions. I do fear the thought of an ultimate judgement but I can no longer accept the mythological fantasy that most religions would have you believe as truth.
I believe that if there were no god we would have created one, and I also believe that if I were going to present an argument to the world that would allow me to control man in perpetuity then it would look a lot like religion.
I believe in a higher power and I even consider myself spiritual but I have a firm distaste for organized religion. I love science, and this leaves me conflicted with religion although I think there is a place for understanding both and do not think they are mutually exclusive. This often leads me to ask questions like “Are we alone?”, “Why are humans here?” and “Is there a God?”.
I belive in good and evil and I believe we all know what is right and what is wrong. I believe that we all know how we should treat other people and I also know that not being “religious” is not an excuse for being an ass.
I think that an individuals religion is a part of their personal philosophy and that the rest of it is just for show. Church is nothing more than a place for people to go and build community, submit to a higher power in front of your peers and an open display of hypocrisy. I know the church does a lot for the community but I also know that religion has been the catalyst for much hurt in this world. The concepts of the bible are allegorical references for how we should live our life and in that context the Bible is good. It is not however a literal guide for how the world works. We would all be well served to learn and understand the tenets of the Bible but I think we would quickly see that those are just the values of a good and just people.
I also believe that we are allowing technology to become god and that is a scary thing or humanity. I think we are not far from a point where we plug in to computers and blur the lines between man and machine and that will redefine our entire existence. I am not sure what comes next but I know I am anxious to find out.
My Skills
Basic Skills Overview
I am always thinking, ideating and conceptualizing. The brain never turns off, hence the lack of sleep. I started out in art, cut my teeth in the world of sales and am now finding a way to combine those two powers for good in an attempt to leave a lasting mark on the world as a whole.
Sales/Marketing Experience – 10+ years
I have been an entrepreneur from the get-go, I used to walk the neighborhood offering to mow lawns and do random chores and had a my own paper route when I was 11. My formal sales career started when I was 20 and moved to Florida. From there my sales experience has grown and expanded to include experiences in Direct Sales, B2B sales, extensive cold calling, lead generation, long term relationship development, short term impulse driven sales, complex account management, sales training, Interviewing potential team members and more. I also have extensive knowledge of online marketing, inbound marketing and Search Engine Optimization. You will be hard pressed to find a more well rounded individual when it comes to sales and marketing.
Creative Skills - View My Portfolio
- Adobe Creative Suite – I work primarily in Photoshop but I will use Illustrator, InDesign and other Adobe Creative Suite software when necessary.
- Microsoft Office – Entire suite. Strength in PowerPoint, Excel, and Word.
- WordPress – Custom theme installations and CMS support – Blogging and content management. Minor customizations and troubleshooting.
- Copywriting – Featured on the Huffington Post and have had the #1, 3, 5 and 7th most popular articles on Medium.com. Basically, I write words people like to read.
- Ideation/Content Creation – Helping outline content strategies, team management and creative direction.
- Video Editing – I am currently learning and experimenting with Adobe Premier and Adobe After Effects.
- Audio Editing – I produce and edit my own podcasts and other audio in the listen circle of influence.
- HTML and CSS – I know how they work, and how to read them. I am not a developer but understanding how the code works is vital to the design process.
- Various Software Mock-up Tools – Online mock-up tools to create prototypes of software I design. Makes for an immersive presentation and easier visualization for the client.
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