I went to serve in the military

Hey Friend,

In 2010 I went to serve the military in Cyprus.

I absolutely hated it and it felt like prison.

But by law. Every 18 year old had to do it due to a war that went down in 1974 that split the island into two.

I had long luscious hair, was a member of a progressive rock band about to tour the world, after our album launch.

From one day to the next.

Shaved head. Big black boots. Green military attire. Scorching 40 degree heat. Locked up in a camp 3 hours away from home.

The food sucked. All I ate was watermelon for 40 days straight! (Yes it goes that far). I’d lost close to 8 kilos. I weighed 58 kgs, was a skinny little boy who felt lost and confused.

Growing up I had Turkish friends sitting by me in class. We literally graduated together. Had our first memories together. Got our first medals together. Experienced our first break ups together. We had our first nights outs together. Then had to be separated due to the 1974 war here in Cyprus and each were on opposite sides being trained that the other was the enemy.

I won’t drift into that today.

What I want to say is - we all looked & dressed the same.

We were stripped of our character and had to obey.

No matter what your past was - you were now one of many other green soldiers prancing around cleaning toilets, doing pushups and listening to unhappy old men who bossed you around, made you memorize prayers and army chants.

The only way to stand out was to sit by the fire in the evenings, and tell stories of who we were before the army.

All of a sudden we created bonds. Lifelong friends. People resonated. People cried & cheered, or distanced themselves and formed other groups of men that were more like “them.”

I couldn’t speak Greek properly but thankfully I hung out with 2 mixed breeds like me - Stelios & Alex. We still keep in touch today.

This is a very long winded way to say…

Tell your story. And tell it often.

Because in this little bubble we live in, people forget the actual person behind the words we type.

And all of us have something beautiful to share.

Something no branding exercise, or content framework can teach you.

Because it lives inside you.

Your biggest fan,

Jacob “salute” Pegs

ps. Now I got my grade 8 music certificate from the royal school of music London, by pretending I was sick - so they gave me a room with a guitar in my 5th month in the army - and things got a bit better.

I also had requested to run for 45 mins a day due to how unfit I felt after the initial training. That also got an “OK” from the lieutenants above.

So it did get easier. Though I didn’t hate it any less.

ps. new week I’ll be showcasing a series of people very close to me and speaking about what they’ve done. Prepare for name dropping.

oh look, a hooman!

---

Whenever you’re ready, here’s 3 ways I can help:

- Get your $5 Gameplan - your personalized plan to an inbound marketing engine that brings in $3k+/mo, here (https://jacobpegs.swipefast.io/gp).

- Spend 30 days with me + the Modern Maker MCP building the offer, funnel & content that lands your next client, here (https://skool.com/modern-maker).

- Want it done for you? I'll build and install the whole system, land your first 5–10 customers, then mentor you 1:1 to run it yourself (video here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYnLdKyPCms)). Reply " install " for the details - only a few spots.