My Story.
A Personal Read from David.
“Here’s to the crazy ones,
the misfits, the rebels…”
-Steve Jobs
Well, where do I start…
I guess I’ll start around college, when I was pressured to go out and get a job.
(This was a very long time ago btw)
But, the thing is, I was bitten by the internet bug.
I’ve had some experience on this thing called the internet during my college years and I’ve been able to make some money from it…
So I said,
“Screw the job, let’s make this internet thing work.”
Before I continue though, this story is just to provide you with some context of where I was and how I got to where I am.
I’m offering it to instill hope & to inspire you. The same way that I was inspired.
Having been through the trials and having used all the tools out there with lots of experience on the internet as an entrepreneur, I hope I can help forge your own path to a life of freedom.
Back to the story:
So I always knew it was possible to make money online.
I just didn’t know how far I could take it.
Because I had done it in college,
There was no longer this psychological barrier of this fantasy internet dream.
My Roger Bannister moment had already been achieved.
I hope this story, unlocks that same Roger Bannister moment for you.
So that’s how I started on my first, real business ventures.
- 3 months in, I lost a lot of money trying to do paid ads.
- 6 months in, lost even more money with even more failures and attempts at half a dozen business strategies.
- But about 8 months in, I discovered a business opportunity that just resonated with me.
It was the idea of a blog and using SEO to organically rank in Google.
I was so used to the idea of paid ads, that organic traffic didn’t really cross my mind.
But the way I see it, I knew going down the organic way, would ultimately be best for the long term vision.
So that’s how I started down this path.
Two things that tremendously helped me on this journey.
- A course on Blogging, SEO and affiliate marketing
- The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
#1 - The first one,
I gobbled up the course on SEO and studied SEO like a madman – digging through all the SEO forums (this was back when forums were cool), and absorbing everything like a sponge.
It helped me to make my first profit online.
At almost 100% profit margin.
I hit my first aha moment & my equivalent of the four minute mile.
#2 - The second thing that helped me,
I was always a big avid reader and learner and so I spent a lot of times in the bookstore.
On afternoon, I picked up a book I never heard of:
The Four Hour Workweek.
I was first put off by it, because I thought it was a scammy book title – but as the saying goes, never judge a book by it’s cover – or a title in this case 🙂
I remember reading The Four Hour Workweek in one sitting – it was so good I couldn’t stop reading!
I had chills reading the thing because it gave me so much inspiration and hope.
It was the exact lifestyle I wanted to live.
Traveling, working remotely and having a semi-passive business online.
In fact, it was so good to me back then, I tried reading another business book after I finished The Four Hour Workweek, but it was so boring, that I went back to reading The Four Hour Workweek for the second time!
It was the first book that I’ve ever read back to back, two times in a row.
And I thought to myself – this is me!
That’s where I want to take my business online!
I also love Tim’s (he has an awesome podcast you can check out) unorthodox business mindset that cuts away from the traditional way of doing things.
And it resonated perfectly with my philosophy as well.
He’s written several books since, and I’ve read nearly all of them.
It also made me question things in a good way.
It made me a much better critical thinker and operate from first order principles, rather than just following a route because someone told me to.
My first success
So, after many failures in my first few ventures online, with both the inspiration from Tim’s Book and that SEO course…
I was able to see my first success.
See this is where people would usually post screenshots of their first success.
But at this time, I wasn’t smart enough to take a screenshot as a naive 20 year old kid.
Wish I did for the retrospective story 🙂
But I vividly remember the amount I received for my first affiliate check:
- It was for $400 that month.
Back then, they used to send real, physical checks.
It took me a few months for my posts to be able to rank, so the real time from birth of blog to first check received was about 3 months or so.
But the next month on month 4, my check doubled:
- $800.
I also gave some of that to my mom (I was still living at home with my parents at that time), because she didn’t believe me that I was making money off the internet!
- And within a few months I hit my first $2,000.
- Then $4,000 a month.
I was now getting paid more than the equivalent salary amount had I gone out to get an actual job.
And within a year or so, I hit my first $10,000 months – all passively.
But there’s a twist to this story.
I made a big mistake – so if you pay attention, maybe you can learn from my mistakes so you don’t have to take the same detour that I did.
This is where the my internet fantasy dream took a big detour
You see at the age and time, I was all into nice shiny and trendy things.
Not only did I go out and party and spend most of my income…
But I chased after new and shiny things…
What I mean is that whenever someone came out with a new internet business course, I would be the first to buy.
And so I tried out many other business ventures.
I wanted the next big cash out.
- I tried out Ecommerce – did okay, but wasn’t lucrative.
- I tried my hands on in FBA – Fulfillment by Amazon – again did okay, but wasn’t lucrative.
- Tried CPA marketing – lost money.
I tried many different businesses…
But,
what I should have done, was double, triple, quadruple down on what was working and what I was good at:
My Blog, digital marketing & SEO.
So fast forward, many years later and here I’m now helping others in their internet marketing journey.
Whether I help you with your digital marketing directly such as PPC and SEO with my Agency, or whether I help you by providing valuable content to you, I hope I can add just a little bit of value to your life, prior to coming to my site.
With everything I do, I try to do it with authenticity, with passion and adding value to people wherever I can.
Because that’s my inner philosophy and I just couldn’t imagine my life, without those ingredients.
Throughout those years, I’ve also gained a lot of knowledge.
And with this newfound wisdom, I always wanted to help others along the way.
So I started consulting & coaching and really tried to add value to other people and other people’s businesses.
So in parallel to coaching & consulting…
I setup this blog that you are reading right now.
I wanted to start from scratch to show people what can be done with just a little bit of work, effort and some time.
I’ll be documenting the process, so others can learn from my journey.
I hope you’ll be joining me, not just in my story,
But also alongside your own story and your Rebel’s Journey as well.
Much prosperity and love to all of us.
-David
PS
I don’t have them up yet, but I plan on releasing income reports for this blog, so it can bring some inspiration to your journey.
