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Anything related to matters of the mind

Andrew J.

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Good morning from Greece,

I apologize in advance for the length of this post and my English. I will share with you my journey so far and the lessons I learned trying to build an online business in year one.

I had my first "F*ck this" event at age 25 in 2013. It was another shitty day in my job doing meaningless work when I realized that I hate what I am doing. I imagined myself doing the same thing for another 35 years and I was terrified.

Nevertheless, my mind managed to protect the status quo: “there is no better option”, “you should be grateful for your situation”, “Greece is the worst country to start a business”, etc.

After a few days I couldn’t find a better way to earn my living so I went back to the script and continued to live yolo: Eating and drinking a lot, seducing one beautiful woman after another and traveling with cheap tickets the world.

Three years later, in 2016, my stress skyrocketed. I couldn’t rest, I realized that I was a slave.

When you don’t control your income, you are a slave and have no real choices.

The thought that I don’t control my destiny made me insane and I began to read books on entrepreneurship. I hoped to find answers and for the first time in my life I have started to believe that it may exist a way.

So, I kept reading and reading one book after another and some months later I had in my hands the Millionaire Fastlane ! F*ck!!! I couldn’t understand everything from the book (my English was very bad then) but the book was a revelation!

The first time in my life I saw that I can escape my fate. The Millionaire Fastlane was the first book that spoke about mathematics, not some fancy theories or MLM.

After finishing the book, I joined the Fastlane forum at the beginning of 2017 and read every post from MJ DeMarco.

Now my a$$ was really on fire. I couldn’t wait anymore. I needed some real word experience in the online business. Nobody has ever learned to swim reading about it, but where should I start?

Everything looks so chaotic when you are new to this.

The first thing I realized was that I should make my first project in my native language (my English was really bad).

But where should I start? What can I offer to the world that is in need?

Then it hit me! I tried to write a book about dating but never finished it. I was great in finding and dating new women and a lot of men are looking for dating advise online.

It is already done, thus there is definitely a market for it. I will make a website, write some blog posts, write my book and sell it, I thought.

And so I began my journey in the online business world and it was not so easy as expected!

Money was scarce so I did the most by myself. My first task was to make a website. Shit!!! How the hell do I make a website??? It seemed like learning Chinese to me (no offense to our Chinese members).

The only things that I know so far about the internet are to watch movies, to play games, listen to music and to hang out on Facebook!

Fortunately, with the help of a good friend I managed to create my first WordPress site. I was so excited… and then horrified.

I learned that I must drive traffic to my site, write good content, learn SEO, copywriting, design my website, make a logo, find good images etc. and finish my book. Shit, I was overwhelmed!

Additionally, I couldn’t find any valuable information in my language. Therefore I understand that I must improve my English and fast! Shit…

I had my job that consumed 10 hours per day, thus there was little time to do all this.

Nevertheless I had made a choice to become a millionaire and when you make a choice you must find a way, there is no way back.

I changed a lot of my old habits to be more productive. I rarely left the house and have done everything possible to work more on my online project.

The first great change that happened was that I had less and less in common with my old friends. The most of them thought that I am crazy and that I am wasting my time.

Fortunately, I have learned not to give a F*ck about what other people think. The only person that I wanted to believe in me was my finance. I had I hard time to convince her that this could work, but after a few months she saw how determined I was and supported me totally.

I worked like crazy and a few months later I realized that it will take me another 99 years to become financially independent. I have done everything possible, lost 10 kilos from exhaustion, but nevertheless the process was going to slow… really slow.

The main problem was my stressful job. It consumed the biggest and best portion of my time. In addition, I worked in shifts, so I had to deal with insomnia problems very often.

To quit my job right now was not a choice. I provided around 70% of the housings income and with unemployment to the roof in Greece there were not really good alternatives. Shit…

But the must be a way. I must find a solution.

I thought about it for a while… and decided the best thing to do is to be transferred from the capital in a rural area in Greece. In these areas there is low criminality and the day is not very demanding for a police officer.

We talked with my finance about that. She was really upset to leave her family, relatives, and friends but decided we should try it.

I applied for a transfer and I was moved to a small island. She quit her job and followed me a week after.

The beginning of our new life was very relieved for me. I worked less, had fewer responsibilities and more free time! I used every minute I had to finish my book and grow my website.

In this time Unscripted was released! I bought the book and I fell in love with it. I read it twice and from now on I read some pages every night before I go to bet. This way I am staying focused on my path.

Until the first months of 2018 I managed to finish my book at 55.000 words, write some good articles for my website, and improve my English.

A year later, and after all this hard work I sold 3 copies of my book and made my first 15$ online. And these 3 copies were bought from friends so I think my real profit is 0!

This is not exactly what I was hoping for bud I don’t care… I will stick to my path, try and fail again and again and again until I succeed. Until I am financial free...

Because when you make a choice there is no way back.
 
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Genka

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Oct 6, 2015
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This is really inspiring story. I wish you the best of luck on your journey!

About the book:

What is your marketing strategy?
 

Andrew J.

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Jan 21, 2017
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This is really inspiring story. I wish you the best of luck on your journey!

About the book:

What is your marketing strategy?

SEO and Facebook.

I tried to rank high for some longtail keywords with some success but I don’t see the traffic I wished for.

Some people subscribed to my mailing list but nobody bought a book.

Now I am experimenting with Facebook ads.
 

Bhanu

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Oct 23, 2017
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Hi Friend ,
Thanks for this post ...you are an inspiring person .It takes guts to tread a path which majority of people dare not tread.
Please keep up the work and dont be bothered about sell/profit as yet . Just keep working and producing good content .You will definitely figure out a way because you looks like a person who can preserve .

In the meanwhile start reading good books .I list a few(besides M J's book)
1. The One thing
2. The go giver

Check out the strategy used by Victor Pride from Bold and Determined . He started a blog first . Got crowd interested in his content (good content except misogynistic portion) ..and now when he has thousands of people visiting his blog he is able to sell his books online . He also does some affiliate marketing /sell some pills etc. Guy has been doing it for past 8 years and I think a millionaire now.

Bhanu
 
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Last edited:

Andrew J.

Contributor
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Jan 21, 2017
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GREECE
Hi Friend ,
Thanks for this post ...you are an inspiring person .It takes guts to tread a path which majority of people dare not tread.
Please keep up the work and dont be bothered about sell/profit as yet . Just keep working and producing good content .You will definitely figure out a way because you looks like a person who can preserve .

In the meanwhile start reading good books .I list a few(besides M J's book)
1. The One thing
2. The go giver

Bhanu

Thank you for your recommendations Bhanu!

I read as much as I can :) I will definitely read this two books.
 

eagleye101

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Jul 24, 2013
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Leaving the script is a state of mind.

Quoting Morpheus from the Matrix "You are starting to believe" and once you start to believe things are possible, things suddently become possible.

I recall a story from the Olympics, correct me if I'm wrong, where people thought it impossible for a human to brake the 20 second barrier for 200m sprint. Until someone did brake it. Then 4 more runners broke the barrier. In the same year! What happen? Did the impossible suddently become possible? They saw it possible. They believed it was possible. But they had proof. They saw someone *alive* doing something impossible. With us is different. We read about people making it but we haven't had live experiences. And that's big.

I have read a ton of books. For years. But when I started to receive payment notifications on my email... I can't really describe you the feeling, the click inside me. It was possible.

But it took time, and I had a lot of help from mentors, books and seminars.

So at the point you are now, I think someone that is further in the same path can help you see, belive it possible. And maybe share a few tips and tricks.

***where are those unscripted gurus when you need them :wideyed:
 

Andrew J.

Contributor
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User Power
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Jan 21, 2017
35
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GREECE
Leaving the script is a state of mind.

Quoting Morpheus from the Matrix "You are starting to believe" and once you start to believe things are possible, things suddently become possible.

I recall a story from the Olympics, correct me if I'm wrong, where people thought it impossible for a human to brake the 20 second barrier for 200m sprint. Until someone did brake it. Then 4 more runners broke the barrier. In the same year! What happen? Did the impossible suddently become possible? They saw it possible. They believed it was possible. But they had proof. They saw someone *alive* doing something impossible. With us is different. We read about people making it but we haven't had live experiences. And that's big.

I have read a ton of books. For years. But when I started to receive payment notifications on my email... I can't really describe you the feeling, the click inside me. It was possible.

But it took time, and I had a lot of help from mentors, books and seminars.

So at the point you are now, I think someone that is further in the same path can help you see, belive it possible. And maybe share a few tips and tricks.

***where are those unscripted gurus when you need them :wideyed:

Thank you for your motivation eagleye.

I think it is crucial to have some small wins on your journey and hope to have them soon!

Must be an amazing feeling to see your first payment for all the hard work you have done.
 
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Andrew J.

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Jan 21, 2017
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GREECE
Good evening!

Small update to my dating site progress:

I have not posted for some months because I was very busy to implement everything I learn to make my website work.

To be honest, this time was very hard for me. I worked long hours every single day and I am exhausted.

My day job demands more time and I have a hard time to move forward with my dating site.

However, with small steps every day I managed to do some serious work.

And for the first time after two years of hard work I made some good money the last two days.

I felt for the first time in my life how it is to make 4X as much in your job while you are literally sleeping or are doing something trivial.

What an amazing feeling, it is an addiction!

And the most amazing part is when you receive messages from happy clients that thank you for your excellent service.

If I can sell like this every day I will be able to quit my day job much sooner than I thought…


BUT to make this dream true I miss two major components in the big internet game puzzle:

1)I have really not much left over after my day job has taken most of my time, energy and mental well being. I try to work hard every day and for that reason, I am exhausted. There is so much to do… how can I possibly make thighs work and at the same time find some good time to recharge?

2)I have made my sales through my mailing list, but my list is very small… And it grows very slowly. I drive some traffic organically by SEO and mostly by boosting my posts on Facebook (To be honest I am little afraid to make new ads on Facebook since it has shouted down my account twice).

Is it worth it to become better at Facebook ads, despite the fact that it will be always the danger of Facebook to shout down again my new account down?

Or, should I perhaps invest some serious time and money to learn Google ads to drive clients to my site through this channel?

I must think carefully about the two questions above and would appreciate every feedback.

P.S. I remember the first time I read the millionaire Fastlane back in 2016... I thought at first that it was impossible to make an income online and now the first money rolls in.
Thank you, MJ you showed me that this road exists.
 

srodrigo

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Congrats for getting your project making money!

1)I have really not much left over after my day job has taken most of my time, energy and mental well being. I try to work hard every day and for that reason, I am exhausted. There is so much to do… how can I possibly make thighs work and at the same time find some good time to recharge?

Would it be possible for you to either ask for part-time, or look for another job that's only part-time? If you are making some money and think you could grow your business if you had more time, it might be worth considering.
 

Andrew J.

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Jan 21, 2017
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Congrats for getting your project making money!



Would it be possible for you to either ask for part-time, or look for another job that's only part-time? If you are making some money and think you could grow your business if you had more time, it might be worth considering.

Unfortunately, it is not possible at the time.

My wife is unemployed at the time and with the unemployment rates at the roof in Greece, plus with the ridiculously low salaries most jobs offer our home can't afford to lose my salary.

If I see that I make money online on a regular basis then I can take the risk to quit being a police oficer.
 
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NMdad

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What other channels can you get traffic from? Test out different channels & platforms to see where you get the most & best traffic, ideally where you aren't at the mercy of some random algorithm shutting you down (like Facebook).
 

mentalic

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Congrats on making your first sale online. I understand the hard work required to start from zero. You've proven that you can learn new things and make some money, now you have to prove that you can maintain that passion to the point that you will be able to quit your day job.

Unfortunatelly dating is a 'sensitive' subject, and getting shut down from Facebook ads or Google Ads can always be an issue. Having said that, you should definitely try to diversify your traffic. Have you seen what works and what doesn't already? Are you keeping your content updated every day?

Cheers!
 

Andrew J.

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Jan 21, 2017
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GREECE
Congrats on making your first sale online. I understand the hard work required to start from zero. You've proven that you can learn new things and make some money, now you have to prove that you can maintain that passion to the point that you will be able to quit your day job.

Unfortunatelly dating is a 'sensitive' subject, and getting shut down from Facebook ads or Google Ads can always be an issue. Having said that, you should definitely try to diversify your traffic. Have you seen what works and what doesn't already? Are you keeping your content updated every day?

Cheers!
Thank you for your kind words mentalic!

I have realized already that some actions bring money and others don't. Thus I am focusing on those that bring money.

Unfortunately, my day job is very demanding and I am not in a position to update my content every day. There so much to do on my website..and so little time.

My first goal is to become good in one ad channel. Then to expand to another. Would you recommend a specific ad channel for dating ads?

Thank you for your time and advice!
 
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mentalic

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My first goal is to become good in one ad channel. Then to expand to another. Would you recommend a specific ad channel for dating ads?
Well, I've seen lot of dating site ads in Facebook for sure. I think that this could be a valid channel, not sure about instagram. The thing with fb and all these social media channels is that you actually need to build an audience with the 'hope' that you make the sale sometime
 

Andrew J.

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Jan 21, 2017
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Well, I've seen lot of dating site ads in Facebook for sure. I think that this could be a valid channel, not sure about instagram. The thing with fb and all these social media channels is that you actually need to build an audience with the 'hope' that you make the sale sometime
Thank you! I highly appreciate your advice.
 

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