Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a magical place where magical things happen. You want peace, serenity, beautiful waterfalls, and monkeys in your backyard, then Costa Rica is your dream world!

I had been to Costa Rica before while backpacking through Central America years ago. After flying into San José (Country Capital), I had been able to make it to popular places like, Puerto Viejo, La Fortuna, Montezuma, Monteverde, and Tamarindo. This time however, the agenda was a bit different. Instead of traveling through the country, I’d settle, and learn more about just one part.

Flying into Liberia this time around, the destination would be a small beach community along the northern pacific located in Costa Rica’s popular Guanacaste Province called Playa Hermosa.

We didn’t really plan our days out like most travelers would. We figured, along with a few general area google searches, we would rent a vehicle and figure the rest out by asking locals on their suggestions, then go from there. In ALL my travels I have yet to put much into the pre-planning. I’ve found the most up to date and useful information always comes from the locals.

Llanos De Cortez Waterfall Guanacaste Costa Rica

From the top you’re able to feel the depth and true power of Llanos De Cortez. Soak up the amazing view while you listen to the sounds as the water breaks into it’s fall.

Llanos De Cortez Waterfall Guanacaste Costa Rica

Just few feet away you come upon a path leading to a much smaller yet beautiful waterfall that has a coziness to it.

A few years earlier while visiting Montezuma I did a MUCH (40 feet) higher jump that made big news later when Patriots Super Bowl Champion NFL Quarterback Tom Brady also did while staying in Montezuma Falls, Costa Rica. [See Below]

Playa Penca Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Playa Penca, mostly know as a locals beach, is one of Playa Hermosa best kept secrets, that really isn’t a secret. Spectacular one of a kind views, blue oceans at a perfect November temperature. You`ll need a vehicle to get you up and down steep (sometimes dangerous) rocky hills. Once through the rocky unpaved path you discover a secluded gem of a beach. Bring your own food and berverages and of course a good book to soak up this majestic scenery

Playa Penca Beach Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Connect The Dots Like Steve Jobs

If you’re a big believer that everything happens for a reason  this is for you. If you’re not, this is for you too.

The other day I was reading “Steal Like An Artist” by Austin Kleon (a great book for the creative mind) I came across a quote in the book that stuck with me.


We all have things we can not explain at the surface occur which causes us to wonder why? Why this? Why now? Why me? Things that in our gut feel right, but in our current mind can not be explained.

What I have felt has always allowed me to get past any unexplained apprehension is trust.

To a lot of people (even myself) it was hard to understand my entry into songwriting and music in general. I had always had a love for music on a listener level but had never thought about it from the creating standpoint. I had all these people around me who were in one way or the other involved behind the scenes that I knew as personal friends outside of music. I picked up the pen figured I’d give writing a shot, with a goal of 1 placement. (this is a much longer story that I will get into another time)

When I wrote/c0-produced “Leave With You” alongside G Spence, I pictured a male pop vocalist. I wanted to get into the hands of an artist at the top of their game in order to maximize the songs marketing potential. I pitched the song for over a year to any A&R, record Label or anyone for that matter who would listen, to no avail. When I decided to release it as a my own single, it took a lot. I was scared. I spent money I didn’t have, and time I had no proof wouldn’t be wasted on a song I just felt had to be heard. So with a shy, unknown vocalist, with little experience named Bryan Bautista, who I felt had something… I took a chance.

Fast forward 3 years later..

NBC The Voice


Bryan Bautista has gone on to do many great things for himself most notably becoming a Semi-Finalist in NBC’s The Voice . He has grown as an individual and artist that I continue to root for from the sideline. The attention he has gained through his own efforts has allowed Leave With You as his first featured Apple Music single to capture an audience it would have never gotten if I had never taken action. The song has been heard all around the world and is featured in the score of a upcoming film. At the time of conception neither one of us could of known what the future had in-store, but looking backwards, it all made sense.

  Even as I write this now therapeutically I have yet to understand the happenings of my current life. I liken it to the feeling of riding a bicycle downhill with no hands on the handle bars or feet on the pedals. Trying to gain control only creates more instability as I move forward, but, I keep moving forward. As you look for ways to make sense of your life as it unfolds find comfort in knowing that  “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” JUST TRUST. KEEP MOVING FORWARD.

Available On Apple Music & iTunes “Leave With You” feat. Bryan Bautista

Stay #Relentless

What have been your connected dots looking backwards?  Feel free share below.

Give Your Life Attention

With all the distractions this world has to offer it’s easy to get lost in paying so much attention to what other people have going on that you don’t do anything to get your own life going. I found the best part of my day is the moments I take to do absolutely nothing. When all I have is myself, no phone, no tv, no ipod. My brain reveals so many things without me actually having to concentrate that  I’ve been tempted to keep a pen and pad handy. When I give my life attention I remember things I want to accomplish, come up with new ideas to be executed but most importantly I put things in perspective on how they relate to my life and no-one else’s. I give credit to where it is due to that of my own journey. I encourage you to sometimes ignore the status updates and the tweets for your own dose of mental rejuvenation. Your mind is begging for the attention, trust me. Its begging to show you how great you are and what your capable of doing if you just paid it some mind. So why not give into the pleading? after all it is,your life.

Just like that

You ever unexpectedly recieved an opportunity for somthing you really wanted. It felt like things were going your way only to have it fall apart. When enough of these instances happen you become wary of ever getting your hopes up.

Countless times I’ve been excited from the chance of great things to come. I’ve envisioned the possibilites only to have those visions fades as if they were just a dream.

Rather than get upset, next time it happens (because it surely will) look not from an angle of despair but from that of great optimism.

I think of it as a way to keep my fatih and ambition steady in the forefront when doubt is lingering in the background.  It’s a helpful reminder to follow through with aspirations & to not let doubt distract from accomplishing goals.

That unexpected e-mail, call, offer wasnt to get you hopes up but to keep your hopes up. You may have been slacking on your grind or losing focus on the goals. Whats for you is waiting, but not ready for you just yet. This is Gods way of reminding us that just like that things can change in our favor.  Turn that feeling of despair to gratitude because those who are left sleeping always miss their stops.


-Grand Hustle

He Has Never Failed You



No matter how long it has taken or how it came about, God has never failed me, ever. Every single thing I have felt and saw myself accomplish has happened. I’m not talking about playful hopes and wishful dreams, but the real deal feeling and knowing of something actually taking place. As I am about to embark on new opportunity I can’t help but thinking “wow, I actually envision this very moment a while ago”.  There are many things we want that don’t end up happening for us or the way we intend them to. Think about the things you have actually felt happening before they did. The things that meant so much to you it would be all you could dream of. It might not have played out the exact way you intended but that was only in order to make the end result even better than envisioned. He has never failed you. Remember that. What are some things you have wanted to happen and saw come to past miraculously? Share your stories if you believe he has never failed you.


Nick Brown

Follow me @NickBrownOnline

How Do You See Your Life?



In my readings today I was made to ask myself the question of how do I see my life. I feel that throughout my life I have been consistent in the way I have perceived it. I grew up hearing many different views on how life was. The older people in family view life as being “hard”. To them your always a victim of the things happeing around you. I’ve realized that mindset can actually be true if you believe in it enough. What happens is when you view yourself as the victim and never having control of your surroundings, you actually do become a victim of life by your own doing. You do very little to change outcomes and assert your will. That lack of optimism keeps you in a state of submission. You submit to all that happens, constantly blaming life.

Some may view life as a dance, with twists, turns, highs and lows. I think whatever metaphor you use to view life is fine as long as it contains hope. The older I get I change my views on life. When I was younger I didn’t think much about life to be honest. I thought about the day to day operation and what consisted of living, but never a worldly spectrum. I always felt that we are had  destined to do something but never gave much thought on how the discovery of what that was took place. Everyday we awake is an opportunity to come closer to the manifestation of that destiny by learning and growing from the day before. In what a friend once perceived as a head to head competition in sports, I said to him “Im not trying to be better than you, but a better me from yesterday”.

There is no one way to view life. There are many. Take note of the journey. Approach everyday with greater insight than the previous. Strive to achieve. Trust in yourself and your faith. Knowing that the possibilities are endless is very important. Whether you make the best of a bad situation or the best of a good is what you can make it from whatever situation. Life has many trials and tribulations that test you. These test are there to sharpen your sword of character. Change your view on the world as you know it, and change your life, the world will surely show it.  ( I didn’t mean for that to rhyme lol)

I’d like to know how do you see your life? What are the metaphors you use to describe it and how does that shape the way you carry on living.

Grand Hustle,

Nick Brown


The Crippling Options


Options are good. When I was child multiple choice test use to be my shit. At 16 I started driving, no longer was I subjected to just the metro north, but I had the option of taking my car into the city. Options are cool for the most part. What happens when your options don’t share a vast difference? When the multiple choice test answers all look as if they could be the right one? You get stuck. If your like me you leave the answer blank thinking “I’ll come back to it” hand in the test only then realizing you forgot to go back and decide on a answer for the question. That 25% chance you had at a correct answer went to 0% simply because your options crippled you in making a decision, but why? Is it your lack of decision making or fear of failure that pulls the rug from under your feet of options.

The map of life becomes a pleasurable road to travel when there are not that many of them to wear you out. Your options are blessings. Wether your options bring your comfort or confusion behind each one is the path to the right choice. It’s up to you to choose. You can fail yet grow, but if you never go, you never know.

Grand Hustle.

Nick Brown

Follow me @NickBrownOnline

Is It too much?

Had this dream the other day…

The lord said, “I ask many things of many people. They go through pain, fear, lost and much more in order for them to get to the place I have reserved for them. All I ask of you is patience. It will be your greatest struggle and most triumphant victory. All I ask of you is patience”

“Am I asking for too much?”

Whatever he asks of you is specifically designed to make YOU the best you possible. Do not let present treats distract you from future fortunes. Continue to get better and let go of the how and when..

I’m there with you..I’m desperately trying to practice what I preach..Grand Hustle

Follow me @NickBrownOnline


BOOK COMING SOON..Entitled “Who’s the Crazy One?”


Walk of Shame

I think I first heard the term “Walk of Shame” my freshman year of college. If you were wearing clothing from the night before and were not leaving but coming to your own was obvious you forgo-ed your bed last night for someone elses. In my freshman year of college we would always be able to spot those on their “walk of shame” through the quads, an area surround by 4 of the major dorms. People would shout you out to let you know they saw you creeping and knew where you were coming from. Maybe you did have something to hide or maybe you didnt. Either way the attention was something you did not want, so people started to develop clever alternate routes to get from dorm to dorm without walking to through the crowd of the quads. LOL.

When I did Real World Hollywood if there was ever a “shot” they never missed, was the opportunity to capture the sleepover buddies way out from bed to door, literally. The Camera guy would hover over us in the morning and simply just wait. Its not like we were doing anything at that point but sleeping, but you could always feel their presence over you. Make-up smeared, eyeliner runny and the look of confusion upon their face, I can only imagine this was not the time any girl would want to be on camera. Nevertheless as I walked them to the door wearing an old shirt of mine (yes I am that good of a guy) with their heels in hand I would leave them with a hug and words of reassurance..”So, I guess I’ll call you?”

What makes “the walk of shame” shameful? Whats so shameful about having a great night and doing you? Back in my day I would do the electric slide all the way home..sometimes even topping it off with the running man.

But If it’s that serious and you would like to alleviate some of the anxiety that the walk of shame may bring here are a few things I have learned over the years:

1. Fix Up Nice: comb your hair, fix your clothes, and wash your face. Cool water on the face keeps down some of the swelling as well as gives you a nice fresh look.

2. Give em The Deuces: Earlier you leave, the less people awake, the less humiliation bullets to dodge.

3. Take the Back door: Like our alternate routes through te quads, find an alternate route with less traffic to your home. Walk the stairs, instead of the elevator,  use a side door instead of the front.

4. Be Gangsta about it: Walk with your head high and with a look of empowerment. People will look at you with more of sense of dominance rather than submission.

What are your “Walk of Shame” stories and advice? I want to hear them!!! 🙂

Till next time snitches!

hit me on twitter @NickBrownOnline


***BOOK COMING SOON!!!! “Whos the Crazy One?!***********

Leave it all

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a complicated person. I like being complicated. Complicated is exciting to me. People are attracted to how complicated I am so I stick with it. I meet a lot of very interesting people who possess many talents and gifts. Some are entrepreneurs, singers, writers, dancers, athletes , actors, and some are just jack of all trade hustlers. Usually when I  meet someone I fish through their qualities and see if there is anything I want to keep for myself. That’s what you have to do when you want to be great. Use every and any opportunity to make yourself better from what you can learn from others.

We look at people and rate them at face value. That’s kind of how we are programmed. What you see is what you get. Very seldom do we take the time to peel away the layers to see what is at the core of the person. Why or why not? Usually because you figure this person has nothing to offer you by the look of things. Maybe you have something you could offer them?

A while back I met this guy who was very timid, quiet, and maybe didn’t fit society’s definition of “normal”. a friend of mine referred to him as “weird” and I corrected that same friend and said I didn’t think he was weird, just insecure. There was much more to him than what met the eye and he wasn’t outwardly comfortable with letting people know that.

I had the chance of sitting with this individual and talking to him about life,work, love and so much more. Now if you had asked me prior to this conservation I would have guessed this guy was probably a virgin who had never been anywhere outside the state and who probably sat home on his computer playing video games all day. In that short amount of time I learned he had lived in brazil, Canada, Mexico, backpacked through Japan, Europe, had a daughter, spent a lot of time volunteering for habit for humanity, had teachings in yoga, Pilates, ballroom dancing, taekwon doe and so much more.

I was literally blown away by the things this “simple” individual had experienced sitting in front of me. He had been more places, seen more things than even a more outgoing person would have in double the time. He was also dealing with a lot of emotional baggage over the years which I feel is why he has become this timid, quiet soul. The conversation got so deep that at times he seemed to be getting a little choked up.

We pass people by too often who we deem a waste of time. Is it a waste of your time if you have time to waste? Can you be the spark they are desperately seeking? I guess what I’m trying to say is deeper than don’t judge a book by its cover, but strive to be better by not what you take but what you leave. Leave great impressions, an open ear to the world and an open soul to sky. They say when you leave this world you can’t take anything with you so get as much as you can now. But if we can concentrate on leaving the unique things we have that make us who we are as people, that can and will last forever.

Grand Hustle Pimp

Nick Brown