Hey everyone...hopefully this won't bore everyone to tears.
Entrepreneur-ism started in junior high school for me. I broke 3 packs of super balls and sold them to students. Later that turned into making cinnamon toothpicks I made by hand with cinnamon oil from the pharmacy. Just a start.
I started playing guitar in a band in junior high school and played for money as early as the 7th grade.
In high school I turned to electronics and hand built strobe lights, color organs and guitar sound effects. I sold some of these as well.
I played in bands for years in small clubs all while going to college. Made it hard on the grades for sure. Nevertheless I completed my electrical engineering degree and worked designing consumer electronics in the outdoor industry for about 33 years with one decade of interruption.
This happened when a decade ago my wife's mom went down with COPD and needed to live with us. That lasted a couple of years. I volunteered to take care of her when the company I worked for nearly 30 years was sold & myself and many others got laid off. No gold watch, nothing. Remember that. The day job is NOT secure!
So I tried to make money online while taking care of my wife's mom (all while my wife worked) with machine generated affiliate websites. AKA destined to fail. AKA money chasing. I made significant money for sure but only for about a year or two. At one point I had over 400 websites. Customers were OK with them but Google HAAATED them! And POOF they were gone. From thousands per month to dollars per month in no time.
Next dad went down with severe dementia and lived with us for 5 years until he no longer knew who I was and eventually passed. Meanwhile I was still working from home doing the "shiny object" path to failure. Desperation was setting in. Our retirement income disappearing after 10 years of no work and a high burn rate. (Note the mistakes in those last few sentences.)
During those years I created my own line of products manufactured overseas and sold on Amazon. This went well for the first year or so. Unfortunately it was difficult to create a USP that separated me from the Chinese competitors and others who FLOODED the market. Sales have spiraled down. Could it be saved ... maybe. I still sell some. But I had to get a JOB! We were getting very near disaster.
As I go through MJ's materials I realize the many mistakes I made over the many things I have tried. I wish I had them many years ago. His books are an insightful, no BS look into a brilliant mind who has spent MUCH more time analyzing these things through than I have.
FYI I still at age 66 am designing electronics put on $100,000 boats, ATVs, motocycles and so on. The day job makes it difficult to go forward with my entrepreneurial ventures, but far from impossible. My intention is to keep pounding away until I succeed!
Mistakes, I have made plenty. Hopefully someone can learn from my story that there is NO security in the day job chasing shiny objects are a waste, high burn rates are bad and that it is never too late to succeed. Keep at it!
Thanks so much to MJ for great books that have and will continue to help me.
Best wishes for everyone in achieving their personal goals
Rex
Entrepreneur-ism started in junior high school for me. I broke 3 packs of super balls and sold them to students. Later that turned into making cinnamon toothpicks I made by hand with cinnamon oil from the pharmacy. Just a start.
I started playing guitar in a band in junior high school and played for money as early as the 7th grade.
In high school I turned to electronics and hand built strobe lights, color organs and guitar sound effects. I sold some of these as well.
I played in bands for years in small clubs all while going to college. Made it hard on the grades for sure. Nevertheless I completed my electrical engineering degree and worked designing consumer electronics in the outdoor industry for about 33 years with one decade of interruption.
This happened when a decade ago my wife's mom went down with COPD and needed to live with us. That lasted a couple of years. I volunteered to take care of her when the company I worked for nearly 30 years was sold & myself and many others got laid off. No gold watch, nothing. Remember that. The day job is NOT secure!
So I tried to make money online while taking care of my wife's mom (all while my wife worked) with machine generated affiliate websites. AKA destined to fail. AKA money chasing. I made significant money for sure but only for about a year or two. At one point I had over 400 websites. Customers were OK with them but Google HAAATED them! And POOF they were gone. From thousands per month to dollars per month in no time.
Next dad went down with severe dementia and lived with us for 5 years until he no longer knew who I was and eventually passed. Meanwhile I was still working from home doing the "shiny object" path to failure. Desperation was setting in. Our retirement income disappearing after 10 years of no work and a high burn rate. (Note the mistakes in those last few sentences.)
During those years I created my own line of products manufactured overseas and sold on Amazon. This went well for the first year or so. Unfortunately it was difficult to create a USP that separated me from the Chinese competitors and others who FLOODED the market. Sales have spiraled down. Could it be saved ... maybe. I still sell some. But I had to get a JOB! We were getting very near disaster.
As I go through MJ's materials I realize the many mistakes I made over the many things I have tried. I wish I had them many years ago. His books are an insightful, no BS look into a brilliant mind who has spent MUCH more time analyzing these things through than I have.
FYI I still at age 66 am designing electronics put on $100,000 boats, ATVs, motocycles and so on. The day job makes it difficult to go forward with my entrepreneurial ventures, but far from impossible. My intention is to keep pounding away until I succeed!
Mistakes, I have made plenty. Hopefully someone can learn from my story that there is NO security in the day job chasing shiny objects are a waste, high burn rates are bad and that it is never too late to succeed. Keep at it!
Thanks so much to MJ for great books that have and will continue to help me.
Best wishes for everyone in achieving their personal goals
Rex
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