Hi Everyone!
My name is Andre and I live in Malta ( a tiny island in the middle of the mediterranean, the most bombed place during WWII)
After reading the book and reading some inspiring stories, I decided to add mine here, so maybe someone could learn something from my mistakes perhaps?
It all started couple of years ago, when I definitely had more hair |
I was a sales manager in a very big organization, earning a very good amount of money but most important of all, I was a stupid arrogant prick.
I thought that just because I was leading sales every month I was the impersonification of a God, A Rock star, a Divinity with infinite sales powers: I was the market and decided what was good and what wasn't. But I was W R O N G, oh if I was...
My biggest regret of that period is that I started from the bottom like every dog that was working with me. I guess it was just luck that set me apart, one day, the classic 12 hours grinding of cold calling and emailing, I managed to score finally a great account and from there I "surfed the wave" that deal led to another and another and another.
You might think that I earned that, after all, I spent the previous 3 years really working EVERY single day of my life, taking shitty flights, sleeping in shitty hotels, eating shit (at meetings and at dinner) and having shitty thoughts on why I couldn't score big deals.
But the first lesson that I've should have learned (and I do have to thank the book for reminding me that) is that the process is what matters: beach bodies are made in winter by daily training and diet.
Since I thought I was the smartest around, I decided I had to take control of my life and take a shot at entrepreneurship, after all, I was the smartest no? what could possibly go wrong? I know sales, I know marketing, I will just find something to sell and all will take care of itself... wrong, again.
I launched my first product and after the initial success the market experienced a sudden crash, in just one night no one needed this new "hot" category that I launched myself into...
I grinded my brain into dust on how to re market and re position the product, cold calling and getting rejected like the old/bad first days... The only problem was that at the beginning it hurted because I wanted to have some success...then started to hurt because I was successful and couldn't understand why people weren't buying...
I developed tremendously negative habits, such as eating junk food, not working out and smoking 2 boxes of cigarettes every day... My mood was dark every day, I felt like the world was finishing and my self esteem went in the trash.
After a year, I gained almost 20 kilograms of fat and can barely run 5' minutes... I totally transformed myself from the brilliant smart athletic guy to a fat sociopath leaving home just to buy more coke zero.
I thought that my problem was I wasn't following the advice from the GURUS, I wasn't all in!!!
So I took all my savings and "rainy day funds" and took a new offices, hired two more people and started more products...
I got scammed by a bad partnership with my manufacturer that left me short of a boatload of money...suddenly the thoughts of "how will i pay for rent" started to manifest in my mind.
That's when I started to look in the mirror for days asking myself "how I got here?" I felt like I was in hell, but the idiot I was always thought hell was a cool place for cool people, were badasses were drinking tequila and scoring hot chicks.
I realized that was the trap on how hell gets the door always swinging, and I wanted out.
I created a plan to stop the bleeding: move back in the garage of my parents, take cold showers to wake up in the morning, eat only healthy foods and started intermitting fasting...
Then I decided I had to clean my mind: I decided to cut every person that wasn't making me grow, I removed all music from the phone and downloaded only quality podcasts, started to read 1 hours every day ( yes, 1 hour every day...no more netflix and coke zero for hours at night)
Then I decided to tackle business: I fired everyone (people that I created a good relationship in the meanwhile) and liquidate at a big loss the whole stock, take a job in sales in another company and start from the bottom, once again...
After a year of this new "emergency plan" I stopped smoking, lost 25 kilos of fat and have my own place, finances aren't amazing but they make me sleep at night. I even took a holiday in central America and had a blast! most important I have now a set of healthy habits (eating clean, reading, sleeping enough, work out, journaling, meditating) that allows me to grow.
I have to confess that while writing this I went back in time with my mind and had to live again for a second what happened, the bad taste in my mouth it generated is compensated immediately with the value of the lessons I learned along the way, be humble, be crystal clear on what you want, have a solid plan and an exit strategy, do your homework properly, aim high! but also more specific skills such as marketing, facebook advertising and what is really selling.
Well..this took a while, whops!
Just wanted to say I'm happy to be here with like minded people ^_^
My name is Andre and I live in Malta ( a tiny island in the middle of the mediterranean, the most bombed place during WWII)
After reading the book and reading some inspiring stories, I decided to add mine here, so maybe someone could learn something from my mistakes perhaps?
It all started couple of years ago, when I definitely had more hair |
I was a sales manager in a very big organization, earning a very good amount of money but most important of all, I was a stupid arrogant prick.
I thought that just because I was leading sales every month I was the impersonification of a God, A Rock star, a Divinity with infinite sales powers: I was the market and decided what was good and what wasn't. But I was W R O N G, oh if I was...
My biggest regret of that period is that I started from the bottom like every dog that was working with me. I guess it was just luck that set me apart, one day, the classic 12 hours grinding of cold calling and emailing, I managed to score finally a great account and from there I "surfed the wave" that deal led to another and another and another.
You might think that I earned that, after all, I spent the previous 3 years really working EVERY single day of my life, taking shitty flights, sleeping in shitty hotels, eating shit (at meetings and at dinner) and having shitty thoughts on why I couldn't score big deals.
But the first lesson that I've should have learned (and I do have to thank the book for reminding me that) is that the process is what matters: beach bodies are made in winter by daily training and diet.
Since I thought I was the smartest around, I decided I had to take control of my life and take a shot at entrepreneurship, after all, I was the smartest no? what could possibly go wrong? I know sales, I know marketing, I will just find something to sell and all will take care of itself... wrong, again.
I launched my first product and after the initial success the market experienced a sudden crash, in just one night no one needed this new "hot" category that I launched myself into...
I grinded my brain into dust on how to re market and re position the product, cold calling and getting rejected like the old/bad first days... The only problem was that at the beginning it hurted because I wanted to have some success...then started to hurt because I was successful and couldn't understand why people weren't buying...
I developed tremendously negative habits, such as eating junk food, not working out and smoking 2 boxes of cigarettes every day... My mood was dark every day, I felt like the world was finishing and my self esteem went in the trash.
After a year, I gained almost 20 kilograms of fat and can barely run 5' minutes... I totally transformed myself from the brilliant smart athletic guy to a fat sociopath leaving home just to buy more coke zero.
I thought that my problem was I wasn't following the advice from the GURUS, I wasn't all in!!!
So I took all my savings and "rainy day funds" and took a new offices, hired two more people and started more products...
I got scammed by a bad partnership with my manufacturer that left me short of a boatload of money...suddenly the thoughts of "how will i pay for rent" started to manifest in my mind.
That's when I started to look in the mirror for days asking myself "how I got here?" I felt like I was in hell, but the idiot I was always thought hell was a cool place for cool people, were badasses were drinking tequila and scoring hot chicks.
I realized that was the trap on how hell gets the door always swinging, and I wanted out.
I created a plan to stop the bleeding: move back in the garage of my parents, take cold showers to wake up in the morning, eat only healthy foods and started intermitting fasting...
Then I decided I had to clean my mind: I decided to cut every person that wasn't making me grow, I removed all music from the phone and downloaded only quality podcasts, started to read 1 hours every day ( yes, 1 hour every day...no more netflix and coke zero for hours at night)
Then I decided to tackle business: I fired everyone (people that I created a good relationship in the meanwhile) and liquidate at a big loss the whole stock, take a job in sales in another company and start from the bottom, once again...
After a year of this new "emergency plan" I stopped smoking, lost 25 kilos of fat and have my own place, finances aren't amazing but they make me sleep at night. I even took a holiday in central America and had a blast! most important I have now a set of healthy habits (eating clean, reading, sleeping enough, work out, journaling, meditating) that allows me to grow.
I have to confess that while writing this I went back in time with my mind and had to live again for a second what happened, the bad taste in my mouth it generated is compensated immediately with the value of the lessons I learned along the way, be humble, be crystal clear on what you want, have a solid plan and an exit strategy, do your homework properly, aim high! but also more specific skills such as marketing, facebook advertising and what is really selling.
Well..this took a while, whops!
Just wanted to say I'm happy to be here with like minded people ^_^
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum:
Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
