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Prisons, Cults, and Freedom! From Zero to $150,000 a month.

Shamrox

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You think you can't make it? Here's the thing...

When I joined this forum in 2017, I didn't have a dime to my name.

I embarked on a journey and worked my a$$ off.

Fast forward 4.5 years and I'm in the millionaire fastlane .

Great to be back :)

I was born into poverty (the kind of poor other poor people mocked). My dad spent my childhood in prison (same with most of my friends). When he got out, he'd beat the living sh*t out of my siblings and I most days. My family joined a cult when I was 10. I became a cult leader by the time I was 28.

All the usual stuff.

Then along came The Millionaire Fastlane .

Driven by ambition and a desire to escape the gutter, I'd already made a lucrative career for myself as a Microsoft ERP technical consultant, but I knew there had to be more than trading my time for money (and someone else's yacht payments).

TMF was the key to unlocking the door.

2016: I read TMF and my mind was blown...(I was already in the process of escaping the cult...it took 5 years to exit successfully with my family intact...I could have left sooner but would have lost my wife and kids)
2017: I joined this forum in January. I'd already begun writing and selling content online, but absorbing valuable info on here revealed that I had a lot to do before changing lanes. I got to work!
2018: I canned my IT career and dove head first into self publishing full-time. (Cue underwear change) My books were making money, but nowhere near enough to cover my salary. We had zero savings, but I had faith and my family's full support. In retrospect, there are so many things I could have done better, but you learn from living, not the other way around.
2019: The grindiest grind in all of grindington! Towards the end of this year, it looked like it was all over. In desperation, we designed a product launch and put all our eggs in one basket. If it didn't work, we'd be living on the streets.
BOOM!
The launch saved us and launched the company to a new high.
2020: I registered my publishing house as a limited company. Hired my first employee. Sales became steady. I identified a new opportunity in the market, pivoted, and invested in a strong team of freelancers.
2021: I hired 2 new employees, with another 2 joining us by the end of the year. We launched a new product and made $150,000 in sales in June. After years of shoe-string living while the business gained traction, I was finally able to pay myself a meaningful salary again (more than when I worked for the man).

Next? Embark on a JV and take the company to the next level. We've barely scraped the surface in terms of potential market share. We're currently implementing an aggressive growth strategy to scale the manufacturing & digital side of the business. 2022 will be...interesting.

Why am I posting this? Well, with all that ambition, I thought I could jump the gun, walk before crawling, and cut corners. But the biggest lesson I've learned is that you can't rush art. And that's what building a business is. A form of ART!

In his book, MJ DeMarco said that success is a process not an event. And that process usually takes time...In fact, it never ends!

So for anyone out there recently setting off on this journey, it takes time.

But you got this!
 
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Speculatooor

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Respect! Awesome journey

I see this so often. When people have a true last resort before ruin, it is highly succesful. I'm curious to this phenomenon. Why would you think this is so prevalant?
 

Beebop27

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Dude, this is so awesome..

Congrats on both your success, but also for getting out of the cult. I have spent a lot of time researching cults. Have you heard of Steven Hassan?

High five to you mate
 
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Shamrox

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Congrats man. What type of books are they?

Novels and game books. We have others in the works. What do you do yourself?

Great, what a story. You should write a book about it ;)

It's on the cards, but who knows when I'll get around to it :D Have you written a book about your accomplishments?

Respect! Awesome journey

I see this so often. When people have a true last resort before ruin, it is highly succesful. I'm curious to this phenomenon. Why would you think this is so prevalant?

I'm not sure where I heard it, but I remember several time hearing that hunger is the greatest motivator. This is why I left my job. If the safety blanket was still there, I wouldn't have pushed as hard as I did or taken the risks I had to take to make a success of my business. When things get tough, the tough get going. This is why I have a lot more respect for people who burn their ships when it comes to building their empire. What do you reckon?
 
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Shamrox

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Dude, this is so awesome..

Congrats on both your success, but also for getting out of the cult. I have spent a lot of time researching cults. Have you heard of Steven Hassan?

High five to you mate
Thanks man. I have indeed. I've read his book on combatting cult mind control. Very mind opening whether you are in a cult or in a cult...Spoiler alert, we're all in cults :D What has you so interested in cults?
 
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Beebop27

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Thanks man. I have indeed. I've read his book on combatting cult mind control. Very mind opening whether you are in a cult or in a cult...Spoiler alert, we're all in cults :D What has you so interested in cults?
No, I was in knee deep in one..

Knew something was off, but didn.t truly appreciate the extent of the manipulation until about 5 to 6 years after I left.
 
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Shamrox

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No, I was in knee deep in one..

Knew something was off, but didn.t truly appreciate the extent of the manipulation until about 5 to 6 years after I left.
I get that dude. Having been in it and having seen people who left but didn't truly leave until later, it's insane how our minds can be so twisted :)
 

karakoram

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Respect! Awesome journey

I see this so often. When people have a true last resort before ruin, it is highly succesful. I'm curious to this phenomenon. Why would you think this is so prevalant?

The stories you hear have "survivorship bias". In other words, you don't hear the stories about the Hail Mary's that were tried but failed.

It analogous to the "unicorns" we hear about originating out of Silicon Valley. We don't hear about the hundreds or thousands of failures that were tried in Silicon Valley. We only hear about the wild successes.
 

Shamrox

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The stories you hear have "survivorship bias". In other words, you don't hear the stories about the Hail Mary's that were tried but failed.

It analogous to the "unicorns" we hear about originating out of Silicon Valley. We don't hear about the hundreds or thousands of failures that were tried in Silicon Valley. We only hear about the wild successes.
Which I believe is a great disservice to people in general. Folks should get to see both sides of the coin. I believe a lot of poor decisions are made and that risks are not properly calculated because they think they can emulate such success without failure. If would-be entrepreneurs could see the failures too, as you pointed out, their expectations would be more realistic.

That said, failure is just another step on the road to success. Quitting is accepting a failure as the end of the journey instead of recognizing it as part of the journey. In fact, it builds character. I've failed more times than I can number. It takes a lot of resilience and tenacity to keep going, and one rarely builds such character in a life of convenience and comfort.

Also, knowing what it truly means to live with nothing offers a unique perspective. If you loose everything, you already know what to expect. And you clawed your way up the first time, so you know you can do it again, and again, and again, and as many times as it takes.
 
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Stargazer

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I was born into poverty (the kind of poor other poor people mocked). My dad spent my childhood in prison (same with most of my friends). When he got out, he'd beat the living sh*t out of my siblings and I most days. My family joined a cult when I was 10. I became a cult leader by the time I was 28.

All the usual stuff.

I had to chuckle at the 'matter of factness' in this statement. :)

Well done on changing your life around.

Dan
 

Odysseus M Jones

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When I joined this forum in 2017, I didn't have a dime to my name.

I embarked on a journey and worked my a$$ off.

Fast forward 4.5 years and I'm in the millionaire fastlane .

Why am I posting this?

In his book, MJ DeMarco said that success is a process not an event

So for anyone out there recently setting off on this journey, it takes time.

But you got this!

I love helping folks who are in the position I was. Hopefully such folks will find my words in time and use them
I couldn't find your progress/process/execution thread, is it on the Inside?
 
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IPrincz

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Respect & Admiration! Thanks for the motivation
 

Alijahmo3033

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You think you can't make it? Here's the thing...

When I joined this forum in 2017, I didn't have a dime to my name.

I embarked on a journey and worked my a$$ off.

Fast forward 4.5 years and I'm in the millionaire fastlane .

Great to be back :)

I was born into poverty (the kind of poor other poor people mocked). My dad spent my childhood in prison (same with most of my friends). When he got out, he'd beat the living sh*t out of my siblings and I most days. My family joined a cult when I was 10. I became a cult leader by the time I was 28.

All the usual stuff.

Then along came The Millionaire Fastlane .

Driven by ambition and a desire to escape the gutter, I'd already made a lucrative career for myself as a Microsoft ERP technical consultant, but I knew there had to be more than trading my time for money (and someone else's yacht payments).

TMF was the key to unlocking the door.

2016: I read TMF and my mind was blown...(I was already in the process of escaping the cult...it took 5 years to exit successfully with my family intact...I could have left sooner but would have lost my wife and kids)
2017: I joined this forum in January. I'd already begun writing and selling content online, but absorbing valuable info on here revealed that I had a lot to do before changing lanes. I got to work!
2018: I canned my IT career and dove head first into self publishing full-time. (Cue underwear change) My books were making money, but nowhere near enough to cover my salary. We had zero savings, but I had faith and my family's full support. In retrospect, there are so many things I could have done better, but you learn from living, not the other way around.
2019: The grindiest grind in all of grindington! Towards the end of this year, it looked like it was all over. In desperation, we designed a product launch and put all our eggs in one basket. If it didn't work, we'd be living on the streets.
BOOM!
The launch saved us and launched the company to a new high.
2020: I registered my publishing house as a limited company. Hired my first employee. Sales became steady. I identified a new opportunity in the market, pivoted, and invested in a strong team of freelancers.
2021: I hired 2 new employees, with another 2 joining us by the end of the year. We launched a new product and made $150,000 in sales in June. After years of shoe-string living while the business gained traction, I was finally able to pay myself a meaningful salary again (more than when I worked for the man).

Next? Embark on a JV and take the company to the next level. We've barely scraped the surface in terms of potential market share. We're currently implementing an aggressive growth strategy to scale the manufacturing & digital side of the business. 2022 will be...interesting.

Why am I posting this? Well, with all that ambition, I thought I could jump the gun, walk before crawling, and cut corners. But the biggest lesson I've learned is that you can't rush art. And that's what building a business is. A form of ART!

In his book, MJ DeMarco said that success is a process not an event. And that process usually takes time...In fact, it never ends!

So for anyone out there recently setting off on this journey, it takes time.

But you got this!
Very true, it's so much work and heart ache at times.
 
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Zoobs

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Good morning, I enjoyed your post - thank you for sharing your story. You are clearly driven and are ambitious. I wish you great success.

Z
 

aaronpeak

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Hi Shamrox. I understand your struggle. I was born into a very notorious cult as well. Not allowed to go to school etc. We moved around alot to avoid our being taken into care etc. I'll spare you the unpleasant details but some of my siblings unfortunately are not surviving due to behaviors adopted in response to that upbringing.

However one advantage of coming from that background though i think it gives you a good insight into how psychology works on people. I think this is a very transferable skill to many walks of life including business and investment. Cults make heavy use of power and control psychology in order to manipulate people. Your comment about how we're all in a Cult shows you recognise this frameworks and how it works. So i guess thats one benefit at least.

I'm interested about your publishing business i did write the bones of my own story but im abit hestiant as i dont think the world really needs any more misery memoirs. Whats your outlook on KDP ? That has been interesting to me as i think i could be a good editor/manager of writers, my wife has also had articles published in magazines. I have been considering acquiring a KDP business on empire flippers but im certain there is a fair bit more to it than meets the eye.

Anyway thought id bump this thread as it resonated with my background and i want to wish you all the best.
 
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