I'm going to go from bankruptcy/£240,000 personal debt to a life of freedom using Facebook ads.

[Vigilante]

Correct. I can't be a Director for 1 year. I can only be an "employee" of a Ltd company.

Paul.

I fell as hard and far as you did. While I never filed, I should have. I was $1,000,000 in consumer debt with no money, no job, and no income.

You can make it. I made it. You will be stronger next time around. You will be smarter next time around. You may make new mistakes, but not the old mistakes.

It took me a while, but I rebuilt bigger, stronger, better. And so will you.

Dave

 

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[Paul David]

Paul.

I fell as hard and far as you did. While I never filed, I should have. I was $1,000,000 in consumer debt with no money, no job, and no income.

You can make it. I made it. You will be stronger next time around. You will be smarter next time around. You may make new mistakes, but not the old mistakes.

It took me a while, but I rebuilt bigger, stronger, better. And so will you.

Dave

Thanks Dave, over the years your threads on here and direct responses to some of my posts have massively helped me keep pushing forward. I don't know any other way now other than marching on.

There's no such thing as quitting.

 

[StrikingViper69]

Correct. I can't be a Director for 1 year. I can only be an "employee" of a Ltd company.

Nice!

Loving the attitude. Keep pushing!

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

However If I can come out of lockdown (around July 4th for my clients) with 20-30 clients in total I'm confident that I'll have gone from bankruptcy to earning £20k a month within the space of a few weeks. The most I've ever been able to pay myself during the last 20 years is £3.5k a month so it's some turnaround.

In two months time, I'll be earning more than both of them combined and possibly 4 times as much. It will have taken me 2 months (excluding lockdown time) of planning and execution to earn that.

OPTION 2 £20,000 a month - 2 hours work a day (and only if I choose to) with an unlimited ceiling over the coming years after spending 3 months to get this point.

Your mindset is a trap. You're registering income before having the income. You need to have the income before getting into that frame of mind.

One of your posts is diminishing your wife's hard work to highlight how what she's doing is stupid, and what you're doing is far superior since it "[only took you] 3 months to get to this point"...

I don't want to be a dick and knock you down a peg, but your mindset is really shitty - especially for the person that's likely covering your bills and paying for the kids today. There's nothing wrong with having a job - some people don't want the entrepreneurial life, just stability. If they work hard for that life then it's admirable.

I wish you the best, but until you get an income coming in from those clients, your posts are just posts. There's no substance until you actually create that substance and there's money in your account.

I'd also caution against deluding yourself that in three months you'll be "working 2 hours a day for £20,000 a month"...

Right now your mindset is: This is the right choice because it's super easy and a lot higher payoff.

The correct mindset is: This shit is gonna be hard. I'm going to grind to make it and keep executing until I get that first pound. Then after that first pound, I'm going to keep grinding until I reach the point where I'm making £20,000 a month off of 2 hours of work per day. Need to keep pushing.

Best of luck, but keep your focus on the prize, not on the dream.

 

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[Paul David]

Your mindset is a trap. You're registering income before having the income. You need to have the income before getting into that frame of mind.

One of your posts is diminishing your wife's hard work to highlight how what she's doing is stupid, and what you're doing is far superior since it "[only took you] 3 months to get to this point"...

I don't want to be a dick and knock you down a peg, but your mindset is really shitty - especially for the person that's likely covering your bills and paying for the kids today. There's nothing wrong with having a job - some people don't want the entrepreneurial life, just stability. If they work hard for that life then it's admirable.

I wish you the best, but until you get an income coming in from those clients, your posts are just posts. There's no substance until you actually create that substance and there's money in your account.

I'd also caution against deluding yourself that in three months you'll be "working 2 hours a day for £20,000 a month"...

Right now your mindset is: This is the right choice because it's super easy and a lot higher payoff.

The correct mindset is: This shit is gonna be hard. I'm going to grind to make it and keep executing until I get that first pound. Then after that first pound, I'm going to keep grinding until I reach the point where I'm making £20,000 a month off of 2 hours of work per day. Need to keep pushing.

Best of luck, but keep your focus on the prize, not on the dream.

I agree and disagree.

Firstly I didn't highlight that what my wife is doing is stupid, and what I'm doing is far superior. I said that I don't believe that £4500 a month is "great money". And that's my personal opinion. I don't and I never will do.

I also did not say that there was anything wrong with having a job and wanting stability. If everyone was an entrepreneur the world not be a better place and diversity is a good thing. I stated that it's not for me and never will be. My wife likes the stability of a job but certainly doesn't want to work another 30 years and I'll repay her by making that a reality.

I know how hard it's going to be because in 20 years of business nothing has ever been easy, I do however have as much as I can in place to enable the business to grow and scale without my input if required. I proved that my system works by signing these clients in the space of a couple of days without any real automation in place, it was only then (and having the extra time with lockdown) that I set up all the automation so that handling 50-100 clients is possible without any bottlenecks.

I do however agree with you that until I'm making money from these clients these are just words in a post. They won't be soon.

 

[CrimsonNight]

I wish you good luck, Paul.

I am sure by this time around next year your situation is going to be a lot better than now if you keep this momentum going and have a laser focus on one area. (FB Ads)

And thanks for reminding and teaching me about a few pitfalls that I should avoid with the best of my abilities in the future.

 

[Longinus]

Of course everybody is raving about your insane goal after you hit rock bottom, but just my 2 cents:

You have a crazy goal of making £20k/month in a couple of years months WEEKS, which you apparently never made in your whole life. I sincerely hope you'll make it, but... what if you don't? Is your wife gonna stay if you don't get it and you still refuse to find a job? Do you have another money chase plan ready by then?

I've never had a job at all. I've had my own businesses since 1998. I'm starting as a taxi driver which means i can earn money to take care of my family and still be able to work on my business. I wouldn't last two minutes working for someone else and it goes against everything i believe in.

Seems like your pride is standing in the way of what you really should consider.

 

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[Paul David]

Of course everybody is raving about your insane goal after you hit rock bottom, but just my 2 cents:

You have a crazy goal of making £20k/month in a couple of years months WEEKS, which you apparently never made in your whole life. I sincerely hope you'll make it, but... what if you don't? Is your wife gonna stay if you don't get it and you still refuse to find a job? Do you have another money chase plan ready by then?

Seems like your pride is standing in the way of what you really should consider.

I’ve explained in my previous posts that I have a taxi licence now (ie a job) if I have to earn money whilst waiting for my business to take off. At the moment in the U.K. it’s extremely quiet in that industry and there’s not a lot of work on.

It certainly has nothing to do with pride. If it was I certainly wouldn’t consider driving a taxi for living. However I can work the hours I want and still be able to work on my business.

The goal isn’t to make £20k in just a couple of months either. I believe it’s certainly achievable but if it takes 2-3 years so be it.

EDIT: I was already earning £2k a month from the two clients I had before lockdown began. And I’ve also got someone paying me $250 for an hour of time on Thursday to help him with setting up my system for his niche.

 

[Paul David]

I had my bankruptcy interview today and I certainly wasn't looking forward to it.

Hopefully, there will be no long term restrictions like extensions to the bankruptcy term of 1 year or a property transfer I did 18 months ago.

I've not done anything misleading or fraudulent so I shouldn't have anything to worry about. One of my creditors actually asked the trustee to look into my Father's house thinking it may be mine because we have same name. Nice try!

The trustee said because I'm not currently earning he will contact me again in two months to see if there's any excess income to pay towards the creditors. There won't be.

 

[Kevin88660]

I had my bankruptcy interview today and I certainly wasn't looking forward to it.

Hopefully, there will be no long term restrictions like extensions to the bankruptcy term of 1 year or a property transfer I did 18 months ago.

I've not done anything misleading or fraudulent so I shouldn't have anything to worry about. One of my creditors actually asked the trustee to look into my Father's house thinking it may be mine because we have same name. Nice try!

The trustee said because I'm not currently earning he will contact me again in two months to see if there's any excess income to pay towards the creditors. There won't be.

I see the fire in you. Having 20 years of experience surely you are not naive to think that good things will come easy.

Take care of your health and good luck!

 

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[Bobby_italy]

Your mindset is a trap. You're registering income before having the income. You need to have the income before getting into that frame of mind.

One of your posts is diminishing your wife's hard work to highlight how what she's doing is stupid, and what you're doing is far superior since it "[only took you] 3 months to get to this point"...

I don't want to be a dick and knock you down a peg, but your mindset is really shitty - especially for the person that's likely covering your bills and paying for the kids today. There's nothing wrong with having a job - some people don't want the entrepreneurial life, just stability. If they work hard for that life then it's admirable.

I wish you the best, but until you get an income coming in from those clients, your posts are just posts. There's no substance until you actually create that substance and there's money in your account.

I'd also caution against deluding yourself that in three months you'll be "working 2 hours a day for £20,000 a month"...

Right now your mindset is: This is the right choice because it's super easy and a lot higher payoff.

The correct mindset is: This shit is gonna be hard. I'm going to grind to make it and keep executing until I get that first pound. Then after that first pound, I'm going to keep grinding until I reach the point where I'm making £20,000 a month off of 2 hours of work per day. Need to keep pushing.

Best of luck, but keep your focus on the prize, not on the dream.

damn you stole those words from my mind, just kept reading after that post to see if someone else commented on it...

So basically she's been supporting you without judging (at least from what I could gather) and makes some GREAT money(nearly twice the normal salary per google in england), also she's been thinking about the expenses while you can sort everything out, yet she's the one who's making the "wrong" decision in life, to slave away at a job.

Let's reverse this and say she was an entrepeneur too, guess what maybe with 240k debt because it COULD happen, now what?
500 k combined debt and practically homeless?

I say this from the bottom of my heart, be more humble, appreciate your wife and be grateful she's making what you consider little money, I don't know your complete financial picture maybe your parents are rich etc.. and you have some safety net other than your wife.

I would stay away from stating such things in real life, even if you may be right, also before talking the talk you should be walking the walk, be glad you're in England because I know for damn sure if you did that in other countries you could be held accountable for that money no matter what and it would be slowly be detracted from any income you make in your whole life.

Good luck with your journey, looking forward to the actual 20k x month post, until then keep grinding and stay humble, don't act like you made it until you make it and then make your own conclusions, wheter it was easier/more effective than the safe job, which by the way removes a lot of stress from your life, someone else has to make the money so you can get your paycheck, if they fail you just get another job while they go bankrupt.

 

[Paul David]

yet she's the one who's making the "wrong" decision in life, to slave away at a job.

Who said she was making the wrong decision? I said I don't consider it great money and it's something I personally wouldn't do. And I'm saying that even now when I've just filed for bankruptcy. I didn't say it was the wrong decision for her. It's the wrong decision for me.

I'm also not saying to my Wife's face I don't think it's great money nor my friends. The same as you wouldn't say to your friend that his Wife wasn't attractive. You may think it but you wouldn't say it to their face.

I say this from the bottom of my heart, be more humble, appreciate your wife and be grateful she's making what you consider little money, I don't know your complete financial picture maybe your parents are rich etc.. and you have some safety net other than your wife.

Humble has nothing to do with it, I can still appreciate that my wife is a slowlaner and has earned regular income but don't share the same views. I've contributed just as much over the last 20 years to our income as my wife has. However the last couple of years I took a risk to benefit both our lives and it didn't work out. I would go back and do things differently but I don't regret taking the chance of trying to change our lives financially for the better so that we can both have more freedom.

Do you know what I think about when I go to sleep at night? I think about how to surprise my Wife by meeting her after work, booking a nice restaurant and then telling her that my business is now doing so well she can reduce her working hours or stop working altogether if she wanted. That she now has a choice.

That day will come.

The only reason I brought salary up on here was to emphasise what MJ says in his book about not trading 5 days of your life in exchange for 2 at a job you don't like for 40 years. Also to show what's possible.

Good luck with your journey, looking forward to the actual 20k x month post, until then keep grinding and stay humble, don't act like you made it until you make it and then make your own conclusions, wheter it was easier/more effective than the safe job, which by the way removes a lot of stress from your life, someone else has to make the money so you can get your paycheck, if they fail you just get another job while they go bankrupt.

Thanks. A lot of people quit before they make it. They go and get a job forever. Not me. I'm prepared to get a job/drive a taxi short term if need be. Long term employment isn't for me in the same way entrepreneurship isn't for most slowlaners. There's no right or wrong. Only that you remain true to your beliefs and philosophy. I'll keep trying until I'm on my deathbed.

 

[Bobby_italy]

Who said she was making the wrong decision? I said I don't consider it great money and it's something I personally wouldn't do. And I'm saying that even now when I've just filed for bankruptcy. I didn't say it was the wrong decision for her. It's the wrong decision for me.

I'm also not saying to my Wife's face I don't think it's great money nor my friends. The same as you wouldn't say to your friend that his Wife wasn't attractive. You may think it but you wouldn't say it to their face.



Humble has nothing to do with it, I can still appreciate that my wife is a slowlaner and has earned regular income but don't share the same views. I've contributed just as much over the last 20 years to our income as my wife has. However the last couple of years I took a risk to benefit both our lives and it didn't work out. I would go back and do things differently but I don't regret taking the chance of trying to change our lives financially for the better so that we can both have more freedom.

Do you know what I think about when I go to sleep at night? I think about how to surprise my Wife by meeting her after work, booking a nice restaurant and then telling her that my business is now doing so well she can reduce her working hours or stop working altogether if she wanted. That she now has a choice.

That day will come.

The only reason I brought salary up on here was to emphasise what MJ says in his book about not trading 5 days of your life in exchange for 2 at a job you don't like for 40 years. Also to show what's possible.



Thanks. A lot of people quit before they make it. They go and get a job forever. Not me. I'm prepared to get a job/drive a taxi short term if need be. Long term employment isn't for me in the same way entrepreneurship isn't for most slowlaners. There's no right or wrong. Only that you remain true to your beliefs and philosophy. I'll keep trying until I'm on my deathbed.

Good on you man, you genuinely seem like a nice guy and I'm sure that you have what it takes to make it.
Also about the taxi license I'm very fascinated, to get it in Italy you have to spend 180/200k which is insane if you think about it, I envy you so much having the freedom to do such things without the country punishing you for taking action!
How much have you made until now with your agency?

 

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[Paul David]

Good on you man, you genuinely seem like a nice guy and I'm sure that you have what it takes to make it.
Also about the taxi license I'm very fascinated, to get it in Italy you have to spend 180/200k which is insane if you think about it, I envy you so much having the freedom to do such things without the country punishing you for taking action!
How much have you made until now with your agency?

thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my posts.

Here in the U.K. you can get a taxi licence relatively cheap. Unfortunately due to Covid 19 it’s quiet.

With my agency from December to March I made around £10k, but then lockdown happened. Since then I’ve made a lot of progress with my offering and hopefully my clients will be able to open first week in July.

I’ve got another 4 weeks to get as many on board as possible!

 

[Bobby_italy]

thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my posts.

Here in the U.K. you can get a taxi licence relatively cheap. Unfortunately due to Covid 19 it’s quiet.

With my agency from December to March I made around £10k, but then lockdown happened. Since then I’ve made a lot of progress with my offering and hopefully my clients will be able to open first week in July.

I’ve got another 4 weeks to get as many on board as possible!

Good, I'm getting around 1/2 calls a day from digital marketing agencies and I'm so pissed off, I started not listening and telling them off the bat "Sorry I don't need your services have a nice day" if they keep pushing I hang up.
To me they feel like a scam right now, in my sector it's very difficult to get leads and once you get them it's very difficult to convert, YES I do need their help but not in the way they propose it, like they propose making a good website and then running ads on specific keywords, guess what I can do that too, if they sent me an email with 4 companies in my niche and some example of the work they provided to them I would drop anywhere from 2 to 5k without hesitation(after veryfing), because honestly in real life it's not uncommon we pay 1k for a job we get for the person who introduced us, usually between 2 and 5% of the total job.
That means that if a serious agency got me 4 jobs in a year for a total revenue of 160k they would get anywhere from 3 to 8k €, BUT I wouldn't care how much they spend on ads or my website or whatever, that's the whole point.
Also 4 jobs in a year on automated ads etc.. in my opinion are not impossible, I've been debating making a post about this old school company for quite some time but never pulled the trigger because it's boring and not what the forum is used to.

 

[Longinus]

I've been debating making a post about this old school company for quite some time but never pulled the trigger because it's boring and not what the forum is used to.

The forum loves old school business, write that post already!

 

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[Paul David]

Good, I'm getting around 1/2 calls a day from digital marketing agencies and I'm so pissed off, I started not listening and telling them off the bat "Sorry I don't need your services have a nice day" if they keep pushing I hang up.
To me they feel like a scam right now, in my sector it's very difficult to get leads and once you get them it's very difficult to convert, YES I do need their help but not in the way they propose it, like they propose making a good website and then running ads on specific keywords, guess what I can do that too, if they sent me an email with 4 companies in my niche and some example of the work they provided to them I would drop anywhere from 2 to 5k without hesitation(after veryfing), because honestly in real life it's not uncommon we pay 1k for a job we get for the person who introduced us, usually between 2 and 5% of the total job.
That means that if a serious agency got me 4 jobs in a year for a total revenue of 160k they would get anywhere from 3 to 8k €, BUT I wouldn't care how much they spend on ads or my website or whatever, that's the whole point.
Also 4 jobs in a year on automated ads etc.. in my opinion are not impossible, I've been debating making a post about this old school company for quite some time but never pulled the trigger because it's boring and not what the forum is used to.

This is the reason why I created my partner program. I don't approach my clients as a marketer, I approach them as a fellow business owner in their niche. My clients pay NOTHING upfront, they only pay me after a customer I've referred has walked through their door. I tell them the reason why I created the partner program was because of digital marketers contacting us, wanting money up front and providing us with a list of leads. Nobody wants leads, they want paying customers. I've solved that bridge.

I've been guilty in the past of trying to "replicate" other businesses, this time I've created something which no-one i've come across does. Some marketers are now trying to go a step further than connecting a customer with a client, by booking appointments etc but it's not as in-depth as the program I've created. I've basically developed a business that I control from start to finish that simply utilises contractors (ie my clients) to do the work and I make a cut off the top.

 

[Paul David]

Update.

I started running some paid ads to get more clients last week. The response has been unbelievable. Signed up two new clients and I've got 50 more leads to call. It's going to be a busy week.

I've also had a couple of people paying me to set up a similar pay per show marketing system for them in their niche. I've done 3 hours work at $250 per hour and 3 hours at $150 per hour.

Today I've got two more calls for a couple of hours and will earn $300 in total.

The aim is to sign up at least another 10 clients this week. Lockdown should be finally over around July 4th and my clients can open and then this referral program I've been working on for 5 months can finally start cranking and change my life.

 

[Simon Angel]

Update.

I started running some paid ads to get more clients last week. The response has been unbelievable. Signed up two new clients and I've got 50 more leads to call. It's going to be a busy week.

I've also had a couple of people paying me to set up a similar pay per show marketing system for them in their niche. I've done 3 hours work at $250 per hour and 3 hours at $150 per hour.

Today I've got two more calls for a couple of hours and will earn $300 in total.

The aim is to sign up at least another 10 clients this week. Lockdown should be finally over around July 4th and my clients can open and then this referral program I've been working on for 5 months can finally start cranking and change my life.

I noticed you often mention of pricing per hour, here's a book that could potentially lead to a lightbulb moment for you: https://www.freshbooks.com/fbstatic...te-assets/other/Breaking-the-Time-Barrier.pdf

If you've never read it before, I'd really recommend it. It's a really short read too.

 

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[Paul David]

I noticed you often mention of pricing per hour, here's a book that could potentially lead to a lightbulb moment for you: https://www.freshbooks.com/fbstatic...te-assets/other/Breaking-the-Time-Barrier.pdf

If you've never read it before, I'd really recommend it. It's a really short read too.

Great suggestion thanks. I think i've definitely undervalued what i'm offered to the guy paying me hourly. I just however needed to earn "some" income this month as all my clients are still closed with lockdown.

 

[LiveEntrepreneur]

Ok, where do I start with this? This is long so i'll break it up into smaller more readable posts. Your time is valuable so I hope you can get something out of my story.

Yes you read it correctly, my name is Paul and at the time of writing this, I'm £240,000 in personal debt and on the verge of bankruptcy.

If my story prevents just one person from making the same mistakes I've done then this will be worth it. This will also help me document what I'm going to do to fix it.

I opened a computer repair shop in 2000 (aged 20), and at the time I used to buy and sell computers but didn't know how to repair them. So I taught myself. Business was good for the first few years but instead of thinking of ways to grow the company I decided at aged 22 to buy myself a brand new Mercedes (£34,000). I paid a £10,000 deposit and put the rest on finance. Mistake number 1. (Not the finance, buying the car!).

To be Continued.......

Just read your whole story, sorry to hear about the tough situation. Thanks for sharing all your insight, the mistakes that you mentioned on personal debt I feel is really important, how we should spend our money once we receive it. I wish you all the best man.

 

[Paul David]

Ok so it looks like I'm coming out of lockdown with 20-21 clients in total.

I could have easily signed more but as I'm the one paying ad spend up front I want to ensure I can make profit from the clients I have.

I'm actually feeling a bit anxious now, some of my clients are opening this week and after 3 months of improving and building my pay per show system it's finally time to see how good it works.

It's do or die time so to speak.

 

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[theag]

My wife and friend have both worked their way up to £4500 by doing their jobs for nearly 20 years. 40 hours a week in my wife's case and my friend used to work weekends also just to get that amount. In two months time, I'll be earning more than both of them combined and possibly 4 times as much. It will have taken me 2 months (excluding lockdown time) of planning and execution to earn that.

I lost sympathy for you at this point. It took me a long time and hard work to reach the imaginary profit numbers you are throwing around here. And I paid back my debt.

It would probably not be the worst idea to treat yourself to a big piece of humble pie.

Also not a big fan of your business ethics, with huge profits (if it works out as you plan) and bankruptcy at the same time.

Your new business sounds promising. Be careful not to underestimate the coming fallout from the lockdowns though, as you seem to be relying on offline businesses as customers, who might be on the way to bankruptcy themselves.

Good luck.

 

[Paul David]

To be honest, I lost sympathy for you at this point. It took me a long time and hard work to reach the imaginary profit numbers you are throwing around here. And I paid back my debt.

It would probably not be the worst idea to treat yourself to a big piece of humble pie.

Your new business sounds promising. Be careful not to underestimate the coming fallout from the lockdowns though.

Good luck.

Firstly I don't need your sympathy or anyone else's. I'm old enough to know that I'm the sole reason why I've ended up in the position I am.

I also wasn't saying there was anything wrong in spending 20 years of your life working your way up to £4500 a month either. I was just comparing what's possible when you create a business for yourself. You're right though those figures are imaginery until I start earning that. The same as any other business plan and the figures mooted about on them.

I don't know about you but I'm here because I want to earn enough money to create the lifestyle I want and that doesn't include working for 5 days a week in exchange for 2 days freedom of a weekend. Everybody's different though.

Kudos for paying back your debts too, I've spent the last couple of years swimming against the tide trying to pay mine back and great cost to my own sanity at times. The only reason I've eventually given in was when one creditor would not discuss a reasonable settlement figure (which I believe went against his clients wishes).

I agree with you about the fallout from lockdown, I'm also trying to create a modest income from affiliate sales of the software I've white labelled which I use for my marketing agency. Be nice for that to bring in maybe a couple of thousand dollars a month.

I will also begin driving a taxi in a couple of weeks as the bars and restaurants are now open again here in the UK if I need to bring extra income. I always thought I'd be a multi millionaire by the time I was 30 never mind bankrupt and driving a taxi at the turn of my 40th birthday next week. That's humble pie for me, believe me.

 

[tonibob]

Firstly I don't need your sympathy or anyone else's. I'm old enough to know that I'm the sole reason why I've ended up in the position I am.

I also wasn't saying there was anything wrong in spending 20 years of your life working your way up to £4500 a month either. I was just comparing what's possible when you create a business for yourself. You're right though those figures are imaginery until I start earning that. The same as any other business plan and the figures mooted about on them.

I don't know about you but I'm here because I want to earn enough money to create the lifestyle I want and that doesn't include working for 5 days a week in exchange for 2 days freedom of a weekend. Everybody's different though.

Kudos for paying back your debts too, I've spent the last couple of years swimming against the tide trying to pay mine back and great cost to my own sanity at times. The only reason I've eventually given in was when one creditor would not discuss a reasonable settlement figure (which I believe went against his clients wishes).

I agree with you about the fallout from lockdown, I'm also trying to create a modest income from affiliate sales of the software I've white labelled which I use for my marketing agency. Be nice for that to bring in maybe a couple of thousand dollars a month.

I will also begin driving a taxi in a couple of weeks as the bars and restaurants are now open again here in the UK if I need to bring extra income. I always thought I'd be a multi millionaire by the time I was 30 never mind bankrupt and driving a taxi at the turn of my 40th birthday next week. That's humble pie for me, believe me.

@Paul David I hope you wouldn't mind me suggesting you to do what you think is best for you and your family. You make your own choices, despite the fact you have made numerous mistakes, you have learned great deal, which a lot of us won't be able to do. We live on this earth to learn, experience and be better than yesterday. My advice is don't explain yourself, defend yourself, these are your own decisions, so your business is your business. When you decide to defend yourself or explain your actions you are switching to negative mode, which in your situation doesn't help.

You are on the right path and we are here to support everyone who is trying to get grip of life!

Best wishes,
Pete

 

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[LiveEntrepreneur]

Firstly I don't need your sympathy or anyone else's. I'm old enough to know that I'm the sole reason why I've ended up in the position I am.

I also wasn't saying there was anything wrong in spending 20 years of your life working your way up to £4500 a month either. I was just comparing what's possible when you create a business for yourself. You're right though those figures are imaginery until I start earning that. The same as any other business plan and the figures mooted about on them.

I don't know about you but I'm here because I want to earn enough money to create the lifestyle I want and that doesn't include working for 5 days a week in exchange for 2 days freedom of a weekend. Everybody's different though.

Kudos for paying back your debts too, I've spent the last couple of years swimming against the tide trying to pay mine back and great cost to my own sanity at times. The only reason I've eventually given in was when one creditor would not discuss a reasonable settlement figure (which I believe went against his clients wishes).

I agree with you about the fallout from lockdown, I'm also trying to create a modest income from affiliate sales of the software I've white labelled which I use for my marketing agency. Be nice for that to bring in maybe a couple of thousand dollars a month.

I will also begin driving a taxi in a couple of weeks as the bars and restaurants are now open again here in the UK if I need to bring extra income. I always thought I'd be a multi millionaire by the time I was 30 never mind bankrupt and driving a taxi at the turn of my 40th birthday next week. That's humble pie for me, believe me.

Man reading your story scares me because i can see alot of myself in you and the same goals. Since i was 18 i wanted to get rich by 30 and im not even 1% there. Only got s few years ago and the doubt of me reaching it keeps growing because ive made too many mistakes. My previous business failed after working on it for a year and all my previous projects have failed. Makes me wonder if i should keep going. But if i quit i got nothing, ill be stuck in my miserable day job.

 

[Paul David]

Man reading your story scares me because i can see alot of myself in you and the same goals. Since i was 18 i wanted to get rich by 30 and im not even 1% there. Only got s few years ago and the doubt of me reaching it keeps growing because ive made too many mistakes. My previous business failed after working on it for a year and all my previous projects have failed. Makes me wonder if i should keep going. But if i quit i got nothing, ill be stuck in my miserable day job.

Yes i do doubt myself more than I used to. What you always have to remember is that just because you've found ways that don't work doesn't mean you won't find a way that does.

There's plenty of people in my situation who would have given up, got a normal job and spent the rest of their lives working for someone else. Now I know that I feel so strongly against that even after the stress of everything I've been through.

So i've sort of found out who I am. I know I'm the person that will keep going no matter what. The only thing that's going to stop me reaching my goals and dreams now is death. I die before it happens.

 

[LiveEntrepreneur]

Yes i do doubt myself more than I used to. What you always have to remember is that just because you've found ways that don't work doesn't mean you won't find a way that does.

There's plenty of people in my situation who would have given up, got a normal job and spent the rest of their lives working for someone else. Now I know that I feel so strongly against that even after the stress of everything I've been through.

So i've sort of found out who I am. I know I'm the person that will keep going no matter what. The only thing that's going to stop me reaching my goals and dreams now is death. I die before it happens.

Yeah man, I've come to realise life is a numbers game it's like picking up a chick at a night club. Though you can increase your odds, so life is less a numbers game but will always be one regardless. Really hope you make it man, business besides coding has to be the hardest thing I've done. It takes its toll, 5 years ago starting the journey I didn't really think I'd encounter so many personal challenges.

Entrepreneurship really tests your character I think and what you're made out of. Choosing this path, we create new problems for own selves by introducing more things into our lives but I think it's the right type of problems to have.

 

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[Paul David]

Update.

So I have 28 clients in total. I'm about to start referring customers to them this week.

Woke up this morning and one of my new VA's who's role is to call any leads and book appointments has quit before he's even begun! I went through an agency to find him - never again.

The second VA (also from the same agency) was told via skype that we would begin training at 3.30pm UK time, when I contacted her on skype at that time she didn't reply. I thought that's two new VA's I now need to find.

She's actually just contacted me on skype an hour or so, she got the time mixed up. She thought it was 3.30am Philippines time.

This part of the system I've created is very important to the success of the business. We aim to call every new lead within 5 mins between 9am and 9pm 7 days a week. Getting the lead on the phone as fast as possible increases the chances of them converting massively. Studies have suggested by 400%!

Therefore I need VA's who I can trust to turn up for their shift and make these calls. As I thought I needed two (as both had vanished) I decided earlier today to source my own which I've done before from onlinejobs.ph.

Literally within in an hour of posting the job I've got 11 candidates who've passed two stages of the application process. Tone of voice and accent is the most important, I can train them on anything else.

By tomorrow I should have the VA's in place and the campaigns to attract new customers for some of my 28 clients begins.

 

[didicoimp]

Nice thread, good luck mate.

I'm sorry but I think I didn't get quite well what you doing right now. You went from an ecommerce (laptops batteries/chargers) and now you're running a digital marketing agency focused on FB ads? Is that right? How do you look for new clients?

Good luck man, specially in the UK. Damn,I lived in Lodon for 3 years, one word: EXPENSIVE

at the same time, so much money flowing, it's ridiculous. You dont understand how people manage to live in such wealth although at the same time it's so hard to earn good money. Definetly a place of opportunities, good luck mate