Bouncing back from hopeless situations is no easy feat. The journey to getting one’s life back on track may be more taxing than the circumstance itself. Carmelo Rodriquez knows this all too well. After overcoming grueling challenges from an early age, he decided to take matters into his own hands, stop merely existing, and quite literally, fought for his life.
Carmelo Rodrigues is a crisis specialist offering services in confidence coaching, motivational speaking, and personal fitness training. His background as a combat veteran of the United States Army equipped him with the knowledge and strategy to help people develop a lifestyle filled with discipline and purpose. Carmelo also obtained a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s degree in science. Furthermore, he acquired various certifications in crisis management, conflict management, and negotiations.
Behind the confidence and motivation he portrays today and strives to teach his clients, Carmelo Rodriguez has an inspiring story to tell. After surviving a combat tour in Iraq, he returned home only to find out that he was declared dead by the government, a glitch within the Veteran Affairs (VA). Carmelo found that fighting to prove that he was alive was far harder than fighting in combat in a foreign country or the deprivation of his childhood. The fight to regain his life lasted for over two years.
“Even though I could prove that I was alive, my situation got worse,” shared Carmelo Rodriguez. “Before I knew it, the IRS and Social Security followed suit. My death certificate was confirmed, I lost all of my veteran benefits, and my bank accounts were frozen. That trickle-down effect touched every area of my life until I found myself shut up in my apartment, self-medicating for days on end. Literally, I found myself in a nightmare that was personally worse than anything I had experienced in combat,” the veteran added further.
Swarmed by the faceless entities who insisted on declaring him dead, Carmelo Rodriguez developed a burning desire to seize every moment and reclaim the rights that were supposed to be his. Carmelo soon realized that over 4,000 other soldiers were facing the same situation as himself. He fought for his life, and when he finally succeeded, Carmelo wanted nothing more than to help others overcome the feeling of being shortchanged or cast aside, realizing that there are many things in life himself. With his background in the military, law enforcement, and crisis intervention, Carmelo strives to help others live to the fullest.
“Sometimes, it is within the hopeless situation that the gifts of resilience and abundance house themselves. Fighting for your life means pushing through your hopeless situation until resilience and abundance reveal themselves,” Carmelo Rodriguez explained.
Today, Carmelo Rodriguez is best known for his unique approach in coaching and motivational speaking. He efficiently analyzes his clients’ lifestyles and strategically creates a blueprint that would lead them to reach their goals. Carmelo supplies them with the necessary knowledge and promotes awareness of self-destructive actions for his clients to develop a specific and clear action plan filled with burning motivation.
“The ’11th hour’ is defined as ‘the latest possible time before it is too late to still make changes.’ My target audience is people who find themselves fighting in the ’12th hour.’ Being declared dead by our government was the 12th hour for me. After all, I was dead. The 12th hour requires a miracle, so my audience is made up of those people who find themselves in hopeless situations,” said Carmelo Rodriguez.
Carmelo Rodriguez is also an author of six motivational and self-help books. Learn more about the confidence coach, motivational speaker, and fitness trainer on his official website.
