Origin Story

So there I was.. Fast approaching 40. Working in Retail my entire life, feeling like I wasn’t getting anywhere.  I just knew in the pit of my stomach, there had to be something better. I was recently married, which was great, but I didn’t own my own home.. I felt a bit lost in my work life.  The real problem was… I didn’t know anything else. I didn’t want to head to university for 4 years and then start at the bottom of a company.. have to work for 10 years to get anywhere…  I STILL didn’t know what type of long term career I wanted. Do you know how worrying it is, to NOT know what you want to do for work at the age of 40??

Scary as shit!

I had done well in the retail sector.. always worked my way up to the Store Manager.. but then what? I left one company to go to another.. and I just kept changing jobs every few years.  I didn’t have any money to BUY my own store.. so I kept making other people money..  Off MY hard work.. they would make more and more money..

For YEARS I felt frustrated.

Sitting at home scrolling through Facebook one afternoon, i came across an AD.  A Video Ad. The ad was from a Guy named Vick Strizheus. He was talking about something called the 4% group and 7 Steps to Results.  He said something about.. Work Now – Build your own online business – Create a Passive Income.  I watched a few videos and I was hooked!

I could put in hard work now.. which I certainly wasn’t afraid of. Build MY very own online business.. and have my very own income stream… EVEN WHEN I STOPPED WORKING!!

Even When I Stopped Working??? How the hell is this possible?

Something sparked inside me.. got me excited. I hadn’t felt this type of working excitement before. I watched more and more videos and read more and more about this Online Marketing & Affiliate Marketing. I watched and read for hours.. I even signed up to Vick’s course.. 100K in 90 Days.. where he would walk you through.. day by day and help you build your 100K Online Business.

I started the course.. followed the daily steps.. and eagerly awaited the following days e-mail training.. I was like a kid in a candy store… waiting for the doors to open.

I wanted to make this work. I would make this work!

As the days and weeks went on, I continued my training… I would talk to my friends about it, and tell them how I will be retired in just a few short years.. This Internet Marketing thing is so amazing… and I didn’t know why everyone didn’t do it. I mean.. Why would you want to travel to a workplace every day, work your guts out, and make your boss rich.. We are all suckers!

And ALL my friends and family gave me the same response..

“It’s harder than you think”

“That’s not going to work”

“Sounds like a scam”

None of them seemed to see the big picture like I could. None of them seemed to understand.. I must have explained it wrong.  You just wait.. You will see.

So I continued to learn all I could…

As I carried through all of Vicks training, the daily E-mails and training stopped. I waited days… weeks.. sent E-mails asking when the next round of training was coming.. even waited months.. I was so disappointed. Vick and his training seemed to disappear completely.

I couldn’t Wait Any Longer. I needed to learn more.. and I had to find a new teacher.  I searched and Googled as much as I could. Plenty of information was out there.. and it all sounded so easy..

Part of Vicks course introduced me to Clickfunnels. They used the platform to build out their own affiliate marketing funnels. When I dove a little deeper into Clickfunnels, I found their Affiliate Program, and the best find yet.. The Clickfunnels 100 Day Affiliate training Course.

WOW.. I was in heaven!  This was a well structured course.. more so than Vicks.. And i followed through every day.. Reading, following the steps and learning.. ALOT.

The WALL The Problem

Problem was.. I’m not Super Smart.. Nor do i have a long attention span.  And As I realised much later on… I skipped a few parts here or there. I thought I knew it well enough to go out on my own. “I Know Enough, I will take it from here.. Thanks Russell”.

I dived into the deep end.. Built out a few funnels, which I really enjoyed.. found some other affiliate products to sell.. I thought I had it SORTED!

I set up my first Facebook Ad Account and dropped about $500 bucks into some ads. Hit the RUN button and lent back on my chair like i was retired on a beach… which I was.. In my head.

Crickets. Nothing. Nada.  Something’s wrong.. I will have to increase my ad spend.. So I did. I will have to change a few things around on my sales page.. So I made countless changes and threw more money at ads.

This carried on for 12 – 18 months.

Bullshit. This sucks.  This whole thing is a scam.  Maybe it’s me.. Am I too stupid to do this?? I’m not smart enough. I really should just be happy to work for someone else..  At least I have my health eh?

But throughout ALL the anger and doubt.. these other peoples words kept creeping back into my mind. All the hours and hours of video I watched.. In amongst the thousands of words I have read..  The lingering words still ring through..

Don’t Give Up!

I have heard it a thousand times.. read it just as many from so many different faces.  On more than 1 occasion I even quit and closed some of my affiliate accounts… Even My Clickfunnels Account!

…But without doing what I was doing.. Without that excitement of building an online funnel, creating an offer, placing an ad, and watching traffic, even a small amount, come through.. I felt Empty.  I needed to feel this…

So I made a hard decision.

I started again. From Scratch.

I Knew this worked. I had seem proof of people making money.. and I had paid a lot of money to a lot of people .. so I knew SOMEONE was making money.

I wound everything back and started like a complete newb. But THIS time.. I was going to go slow.. I was going to listen.. I was going to get away from my TV distractions.. I was going to make this happen.

I started new courses.. an bought books.  I read the books. They seemed to make more sense when I read them the second time. And then… after working for a few more months, the Third time I read them… they Really Made Sense. It was like reading a whole new book!

I was learning ALOT… and I couldn’t get enough of it.

I carried on with my Affiliate Marketing journey.. and I seemed to understand it much better than the first time. I had a few wins.. I was making a few sales here and there.. which felt GREAT! So great.. I wanted more. The drive you feel when you see your first sale.. makes you strive even harder for your second..and third, and fourth..

I pushed and pushed and pushed.. but I never felt like any of my (many) offers really succeeded. I never felt like i had “Made It” !

Once again i poured (quite a lot) into advertising.. and saying to myself.. this time it’s going to work. After about a month of constant advertising.. Nothing.  I was Devastated.

I felt bummed out again. I felt like a failure.. Again.

But this time I really tried. I really listened, I really learned….

Those words STILL came through.. Don’t Ever Give Up.

the achievement

I never made a million dollars and got to join the Clickfunnels 2 Comer Club.. and I still haven’t managed to quit my 9-5 job.  But they are my mountains to climb.. and I’m still climbing.

transformation

I have learned SO much over the last few years.. and I thoroughly Enjoy this online Marketing Journey I’m on.

I’m not going to stop.

Every day i learn something new. and every day it excites me to get home, turn on my computer and try a little something new.

Every Time I learn something new, I think of a way I can apply that into my current day to day job. I tell my friends and family the new things I learn, and they now listen with interest and excitement.

This Journey Is exciting. This Will work. I Will reach the top of this mountain. I will see you there!