Lex DeVille
Sweeping Shadows From Dreams
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
LEGACY MEMBER
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I don't know how many of you know my origin story. I've been around the forum since early 2013, but I started my first business before I read MJ's book.
Before becoming an entrepreneur, I worked a 9-5 job making $10/hr in hospital collections. Probably the most miserable position on the planet. My office was a closet about 10 feet long and six feet wide with no windows that I shared with three other collectors. Outside of the room was a sea of cubicles. On the far wall was a row of windows. Sometimes I'd go past the cubicles and walk by those windows to the copy machine. I'd stop for a moment and look out at the people coming and going below. Oh, how I wished I was them, out there instead of trapped in here. Free.
After the May, 2011 EF-5 tornado wiped out 30% of the town, life changed for everyone - except for me. While Joplin slowly recovered, I was forced to make collection calls for hospital bills, even to people who had nothing left. No home. No vehicle. No job. No family. It was horrible, and at some point, I realized it was a tragic way to pass through life. Those thoughts ate at me for weeks. Soon I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't live that way. I had to own my life.
I had one business idea. Making portraits of people's faces out of Lego. I had about a month's worth of savings and no idea how to sell. What I didn't have was a mentor, course, coach, guru or book to tell me what to do. In fact, one of the only self-help books I'd read at that point was "Think and Grow Rich." People still read that book, but today you'd think it was titled, "Let Someone Else Think for You and Grow Rich." I had no guidance. There were no rules. So I quit my job and put it all on black. Either the business succeeds or I go back to work.
Once I left I had a 30-day window to figure shit out or go broke and fail. So I thought about who had money that might buy my product. An old boss from a previous job had money. Plus he liked to show off things. So I went to his business to try to make a sale. Unfortunately, he was out for the day. Only his staff were there. So I asked them to get him on the phone...and they did. Once he was on the phone I explained what I had (LEGO) and that I could turn it into his logo so he could show it off as a centerpiece. He would be the only one in the town who had this. In fact, he'd be the only one in the world. My old boss paused for a moment. Felt like forever. Then he said "okay." He set a date for me to come over to his house and he'd write me a check and that's how I made my first sell ever.
After that I thought things would get easier. They didn't. I had no idea how to market my product or who else to sell to. On Google I found a novelty toy shop about an hour away. So I got in my car and drove across state lines without an appointment. Showed up at the toy shop in the middle of the day and awkwardly approached the owner with my gigantic laptop to pitch her a LEGO logo. It was an EPIC fail of a pitch. My laptop barely worked. Took like 15 minutes just to get it turned on. The shop owner humored me because there was nobody else in the store, but ultimately, I walked away without a sale, tale tucked between my legs.
When that didn't work, I tried something else. Not a coach or course. I needed to get products in front of people. I'd heard about a local festival, so I went to the Chamber of Commerce and bought a booth space. Then I bought a canopy, and when the day came, I set up shop. There was a lot of interest in my products. They were very unique for the area. They even caught the attention of the local newspaper who asked for an interview, which I provided. A few days later another local news station reached out. They wanted to interview me for television. I was scared shitless about that, but I agreed and let them come to my tiny duplex apartment to film.
The two interviews spread word of my products. A lady called me and asked if I could make a portrait of her son. I agreed, but I needed money to purchase materials. So I charged her half of the cost up front and half on delivery. She was an older lady and I didn't have any way to pay online. So I went to her house, sat with her in her living room, talked about her son, and let her write me a check for half the cost. Despite strong introverted tendencies, I officially had my second sale.
I wish this was the part where I became a huge success, but it wasn't. I booked more festival events after that, some as far as three hours away. But I didn't sell anything noteworthy, and when my time was up...it was up. I ran out of cash, and had to move out of my duplex. I moved in with my parents which only lasted a short time until I got kicked out for something silly of an argument. Now I was broke and homeless. So I took what little I had left and rented a storage unit and put all my shit in it for now. Then I moved in with my girlfriend's parents.
Living there was one of the worst experiences of my life, but I wasn't out yet. I had to get another job (this time it was $8/hr) and figure out how to get myself out of that hole. Nobody had a clue what I should do. So I tried to imagine myself as a great sith lord like Darth Bane or Darth Sidious and formed a grand master plan to get myself out of there and take back control of my life.
When Christmas came around, it was time to put the plan into action. I drove three hours to my aunt's house in Kansas City and stayed with her for the holiday. During that time I applied to jobs like a mad man and secured several interviews. Once I had an interview, I waited until my aunt was in good spirits during our holiday party and then asked if I could stay a little longer until I found a place of my own. At first she said no, and I thought all hope was lost. But she thought about it overnight, and then gave me that chance.
Next I secured a job as a night time security guard for the Kaufmann Center in downtown Kansas City. The pay was $11/hr. I used that job to get a tiny one-bedroom apartment and braved an hour of freeway commute to make it happen each day. Once my pay stabilized, I started to regain confidence. I'd been through a wild series of events, but I was still alive. And I still craved freedom. But to get that freedom I'd need to become someone better than I was before, and I desperately wanted a change of identity so I could start over. So I took a paycheck and legally changed my full name to something that felt more empowering to me.
Kauffman Center
Having done that, I started the next phase of my plan. I used my time at the first job to figure out how to get to the next level. Soon I landed a part-time job with a law firm that was closer to home. The position paid slightly more which sort of compensated for the hour loss. But being part-time I also had free time to figure out how to get my business going again. I tried to be smarter this time. Figured I might reach more people through Etsy. So I set up shop and what do ya know? I started making sales.
Once that got going, competition rose up, but they only wanted to sell their goods at high prices because LEGO portraits are expensive to make. Plus, my competitors would only list one to three items at a time. Unlike them, I had a catalogue of hundreds of portraits because I'd make them, photograph them, and then dismantle them so they could be turned into other portraits. I used all of those photographs to dominate the etsy listings for my product, and because I purchased used LEGO, I could undercut competitor prices by a significant margin. So I started doing pretty well with part-time sales.
From the time I started on Etsy to the time I joined the forum, I made about $10,000 in sales. That happened in a little less than a year, and it was my first real win. And now?
I started a shed business.
I don't sell LEGO anymore. I don't know the first thing about building sheds. But that's what I'm doing.
You might wonder why I told such a long story for it to end this way. The reason is because in between the decision to start that first business, and what I'm doing now, I built a nice part-time income with LEGO. I built two full-time incomes with freelance copywriting. I built a coaching business. A course business. A full-time income with ebooks, and several other semi-passive income streams. I also wasted tens of thousands of dollars on trial and error on business ideas I thought might work that didn't pan out. I wasted years hopping from one idea to another taking aim and firing again and again, and I did all of that without a coach.
But now, here we are. It's 2020, and I've not had a job in seven years. I do what I want when I want. I'm not a millionaire. I own my home. I spend all of my time working on things I'm interested in, and not giving a F*ck what anyone thinks of my decisions. And throughout all of that, the only mentors I've had were people I met through this forum that let me bounce ideas off of them. Sometimes I took their suggestions and ran with them. Other times, I completely ignored their advice and went my own way. I did not pay any of those people for that service.
The grand point of all of this is to let you know that I believe success in business is 100% tied to your choice to own yourself, your decisions, your wins and failures every single step of the way no matter what happens. It's okay to ask for advice. It's okay if people help you out along the way. But it is my opinion that each of you needs to be completely committed to your own success, even in the absence of every other person on the planet. Even if you reach the lowest pits of hell, lose all of your money, your family, your friends, and every connection you've ever had, you as an entrepreneur, must be prepared to claw your way back out using nothing but your own hands, feet and mind because sometimes that's all you've got.
Nobody is responsible for you, your business, your freedom, or your life. There is no "right" way to do things. There is no "step-by-step process" that will make you rich. There are no shortcuts.
There is only you, your decisions, your actions, the outcomes of those actions, the path you walk, the journey you go on, and the people you meet along the way. But nobody is responsible for your life (good or bad) but you.
Happy Friday and have a good weekend.
Before becoming an entrepreneur, I worked a 9-5 job making $10/hr in hospital collections. Probably the most miserable position on the planet. My office was a closet about 10 feet long and six feet wide with no windows that I shared with three other collectors. Outside of the room was a sea of cubicles. On the far wall was a row of windows. Sometimes I'd go past the cubicles and walk by those windows to the copy machine. I'd stop for a moment and look out at the people coming and going below. Oh, how I wished I was them, out there instead of trapped in here. Free.
After the May, 2011 EF-5 tornado wiped out 30% of the town, life changed for everyone - except for me. While Joplin slowly recovered, I was forced to make collection calls for hospital bills, even to people who had nothing left. No home. No vehicle. No job. No family. It was horrible, and at some point, I realized it was a tragic way to pass through life. Those thoughts ate at me for weeks. Soon I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't live that way. I had to own my life.
I had one business idea. Making portraits of people's faces out of Lego. I had about a month's worth of savings and no idea how to sell. What I didn't have was a mentor, course, coach, guru or book to tell me what to do. In fact, one of the only self-help books I'd read at that point was "Think and Grow Rich." People still read that book, but today you'd think it was titled, "Let Someone Else Think for You and Grow Rich." I had no guidance. There were no rules. So I quit my job and put it all on black. Either the business succeeds or I go back to work.
Once I left I had a 30-day window to figure shit out or go broke and fail. So I thought about who had money that might buy my product. An old boss from a previous job had money. Plus he liked to show off things. So I went to his business to try to make a sale. Unfortunately, he was out for the day. Only his staff were there. So I asked them to get him on the phone...and they did. Once he was on the phone I explained what I had (LEGO) and that I could turn it into his logo so he could show it off as a centerpiece. He would be the only one in the town who had this. In fact, he'd be the only one in the world. My old boss paused for a moment. Felt like forever. Then he said "okay." He set a date for me to come over to his house and he'd write me a check and that's how I made my first sell ever.
After that I thought things would get easier. They didn't. I had no idea how to market my product or who else to sell to. On Google I found a novelty toy shop about an hour away. So I got in my car and drove across state lines without an appointment. Showed up at the toy shop in the middle of the day and awkwardly approached the owner with my gigantic laptop to pitch her a LEGO logo. It was an EPIC fail of a pitch. My laptop barely worked. Took like 15 minutes just to get it turned on. The shop owner humored me because there was nobody else in the store, but ultimately, I walked away without a sale, tale tucked between my legs.
When that didn't work, I tried something else. Not a coach or course. I needed to get products in front of people. I'd heard about a local festival, so I went to the Chamber of Commerce and bought a booth space. Then I bought a canopy, and when the day came, I set up shop. There was a lot of interest in my products. They were very unique for the area. They even caught the attention of the local newspaper who asked for an interview, which I provided. A few days later another local news station reached out. They wanted to interview me for television. I was scared shitless about that, but I agreed and let them come to my tiny duplex apartment to film.
The two interviews spread word of my products. A lady called me and asked if I could make a portrait of her son. I agreed, but I needed money to purchase materials. So I charged her half of the cost up front and half on delivery. She was an older lady and I didn't have any way to pay online. So I went to her house, sat with her in her living room, talked about her son, and let her write me a check for half the cost. Despite strong introverted tendencies, I officially had my second sale.
I wish this was the part where I became a huge success, but it wasn't. I booked more festival events after that, some as far as three hours away. But I didn't sell anything noteworthy, and when my time was up...it was up. I ran out of cash, and had to move out of my duplex. I moved in with my parents which only lasted a short time until I got kicked out for something silly of an argument. Now I was broke and homeless. So I took what little I had left and rented a storage unit and put all my shit in it for now. Then I moved in with my girlfriend's parents.
Living there was one of the worst experiences of my life, but I wasn't out yet. I had to get another job (this time it was $8/hr) and figure out how to get myself out of that hole. Nobody had a clue what I should do. So I tried to imagine myself as a great sith lord like Darth Bane or Darth Sidious and formed a grand master plan to get myself out of there and take back control of my life.
When Christmas came around, it was time to put the plan into action. I drove three hours to my aunt's house in Kansas City and stayed with her for the holiday. During that time I applied to jobs like a mad man and secured several interviews. Once I had an interview, I waited until my aunt was in good spirits during our holiday party and then asked if I could stay a little longer until I found a place of my own. At first she said no, and I thought all hope was lost. But she thought about it overnight, and then gave me that chance.
Next I secured a job as a night time security guard for the Kaufmann Center in downtown Kansas City. The pay was $11/hr. I used that job to get a tiny one-bedroom apartment and braved an hour of freeway commute to make it happen each day. Once my pay stabilized, I started to regain confidence. I'd been through a wild series of events, but I was still alive. And I still craved freedom. But to get that freedom I'd need to become someone better than I was before, and I desperately wanted a change of identity so I could start over. So I took a paycheck and legally changed my full name to something that felt more empowering to me.
Kauffman Center
Having done that, I started the next phase of my plan. I used my time at the first job to figure out how to get to the next level. Soon I landed a part-time job with a law firm that was closer to home. The position paid slightly more which sort of compensated for the hour loss. But being part-time I also had free time to figure out how to get my business going again. I tried to be smarter this time. Figured I might reach more people through Etsy. So I set up shop and what do ya know? I started making sales.
Once that got going, competition rose up, but they only wanted to sell their goods at high prices because LEGO portraits are expensive to make. Plus, my competitors would only list one to three items at a time. Unlike them, I had a catalogue of hundreds of portraits because I'd make them, photograph them, and then dismantle them so they could be turned into other portraits. I used all of those photographs to dominate the etsy listings for my product, and because I purchased used LEGO, I could undercut competitor prices by a significant margin. So I started doing pretty well with part-time sales.
From the time I started on Etsy to the time I joined the forum, I made about $10,000 in sales. That happened in a little less than a year, and it was my first real win. And now?
I started a shed business.
I don't sell LEGO anymore. I don't know the first thing about building sheds. But that's what I'm doing.
You might wonder why I told such a long story for it to end this way. The reason is because in between the decision to start that first business, and what I'm doing now, I built a nice part-time income with LEGO. I built two full-time incomes with freelance copywriting. I built a coaching business. A course business. A full-time income with ebooks, and several other semi-passive income streams. I also wasted tens of thousands of dollars on trial and error on business ideas I thought might work that didn't pan out. I wasted years hopping from one idea to another taking aim and firing again and again, and I did all of that without a coach.
But now, here we are. It's 2020, and I've not had a job in seven years. I do what I want when I want. I'm not a millionaire. I own my home. I spend all of my time working on things I'm interested in, and not giving a F*ck what anyone thinks of my decisions. And throughout all of that, the only mentors I've had were people I met through this forum that let me bounce ideas off of them. Sometimes I took their suggestions and ran with them. Other times, I completely ignored their advice and went my own way. I did not pay any of those people for that service.
The grand point of all of this is to let you know that I believe success in business is 100% tied to your choice to own yourself, your decisions, your wins and failures every single step of the way no matter what happens. It's okay to ask for advice. It's okay if people help you out along the way. But it is my opinion that each of you needs to be completely committed to your own success, even in the absence of every other person on the planet. Even if you reach the lowest pits of hell, lose all of your money, your family, your friends, and every connection you've ever had, you as an entrepreneur, must be prepared to claw your way back out using nothing but your own hands, feet and mind because sometimes that's all you've got.
Nobody is responsible for you, your business, your freedom, or your life. There is no "right" way to do things. There is no "step-by-step process" that will make you rich. There are no shortcuts.
There is only you, your decisions, your actions, the outcomes of those actions, the path you walk, the journey you go on, and the people you meet along the way. But nobody is responsible for your life (good or bad) but you.
Happy Friday and have a good weekend.
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