SUCCESS STORY - Cantwait2

[Moneymadness]

WOW! This story really hit the nail on head! It truly opened my eyes to the amount of hardship, sweat, determination and tears one has to shed to achieve this level of greatness. You always see this "events" happening, but actually never realizing the process that goes unheard behind the scene.

After reading this amazing story, I am confident I will be able to execute my business idea within a few years. You know, you should definitely write a book and if it ever becomes a movie, it will definitely be a box office hit!

I know have a long road ahead of me, but many thanks to you! One day I will be back on this forum posting a new thread in this success stories.

 

[dii]

OMG, your story is amazing! and when I read in the end that you have 28years, I was
I confess that i was reluctant for read this because the size, but something told me to read this (intuition? lol) . . .

one thing your story reminded me that there still things you want to protect, in my case, for example..
I live with my aunt and my mother, my father died when I was 2 years old and my two brothers went to Japan to work :/
so yeeah, i want to protect my family :>

 

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[Kid Money]

I am glad that this story found me. Its amazing how similar my life story is to yours. One of my first jobs was a sales job when I was 19 and I did succeed quite a bit at it....lots of cold calling, door knockin and so on. Another similarity is the rises and falls that come with the life of a business man, and I can totally relate to your story. I just turned 23 in January and last year I started a business that I had a lot of knowledge and practice at and made well into the 6 figures working only 8 months out of the year. That business taught me all about the presistence, temporary failure, and feeling of success that anyone would love to feel. This year I am dealing with some unrelated problems and at this point it isnt looking like a mirror image of last year. But thats where I feel like sucessful people are made in this world....if you can make it through a hard time, easy times are nothing to deal with. I have basically stopped my business and am trying to make a transition to the web/technology side of the world because I know thats where we are headed. My website is in the process as I type this and I know for a fact it is a multi-million dollar idea.... Your words have truly inspired me man. When I hit my web idea full speed and if a detour or a road block comes along I can GUARANTEE you I will think of your hard times and persistance that has more than paid off for you.

 

[Lionhearted]

I believe there is a natural law of selection when it comes to opening the treasure chest, while others can give you a map, everyone must go in search of their own key.

Thank you so much for sharing your story. I could not put it down until I read it all. Anyone who thinks that attaining wealth is going to be a Cinderella story better return their copy of Pretty Woman. I know it is a cliche but the old adage of "A winner never quits and a quitter never wins." certainly applies. God bless you and your wife. She is a trooper as well.

 

[hotshot]

Definitely deserved the bump. Great story!

 

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[GravyBoat]

So glad this surfaced! One of the first things I read when I was "just lurking" a while ago, and God damn it is good! Congratz on the success OP!!

 

[Jez Davis]

Few hours ago i was just having coffee in "Parramatta" talking about business haha. Inspirational story!!

 

[Blair]

What a fantastic story, a true inspiration. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us all.

 

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[PDeezy]

Thank you for posting this in such detail. Your journey has been amazing and your persistence is a real inspiration - reading things like this when you're in my position (at the very foot of the mountain of entrepreneurship) goes along way to showing what it takes to achieve any kind of success. Massive respect!

 

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[joocenasty]

Thanks for the post man, Reading all of these threads helps me know I can make it.

 

[rivertucky]

The persistence in the OP's story is awesome, it seemed to turn good relatively quick. Not sure if I correctly caught the timeline of that section.
Either way, well worth the read!

 

[Chillarparty]

Mother of all gold threads.

A must read for fastlaners..

Thank you friend,

 

[Patz]

Amazing story, thanks man

 

[Lionhearted]

I totally understand his adversion to the question of "How Can I Afford That?" question when driving around in his Murci. Just yesterday at the gas station I had some guy pull up to me and ask "What team do you play for?" (I came from the gym and probably looked like an athlete). I responded I didn't play pro sports.

He retorted back with "What do I have to do to get one of those!?" The question is so loaded and most people don't have a clue. I was kind and told him I was an internet entrepreneur. But the reality is, if I told him EXACTLY what to do, he wouldn't do it as most people can't survive the hardships like those described above. It really is a question that exposes human nature as CantWait2 stated "Have you found the easy way to riches, and if so, can you tell me!?" I can see being offended.

The path of least resistance is most taken.

Let me add. "The path of least resistance is the most taken and offers the least reward."

 

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[The Abundant Man]

Wow! Truly an incredible story. Should turn this into a movie.

 

[TheRedShaman]

The below is one of my favourite passages of writing. I felt I could relate closely to it and I was taking a lot of inspiration from its message. I thought I’d share it as you may take something from it also…I don’t want to get all soft and philosophical but I think it’s a good enough passage to risk it on this occasion as it relates closely to these lessons. I don’t know who wrote it, I wish I could say it was me.


Man is made or unmade by himself.
In the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself, he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy, strength and peace.
By the right choice and the true appreciation of thought, man ascends to divine perfection. By the abuse and wrong application of thought he descends below the level of the beast. Between these two are all the grades of character, and man is their maker and master.
Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul, none is more gladning nor fruitful of divine promise and confidence than this: That man is the master of thought, the molder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment and destiny…



Lesson 5: To achieve, first begin.

Coming from the Netherlands where temperatures were maxing out at 6 degrees C, Brisbane was a nice change with consistent high 20’s and low 30’s.

I had organised for an old friend of mine to pick us up from the airport and he was nice enough to put us up until we were able to find work. We were focused now on getting back on track so the day after arriving we were both on the trains and working the agencies and applying for all the roles we could. I could legally work in Australia with no restrictions and could dismiss my overseas period as a holiday so given my previous experience I was confident to find a good job quite quickly with the strength of my resume.

The problem I kept running into was the length of the recruitment process for the roles I was applying for. First the applications were normally open for a month, then the recruitment company would conduct there preliminary interviews and then refer their short list to the client who would conduct the final interviews. If you made it to their final call back list, you then went through all their additional physcological testing etc etc and then they would make their decision, I could be waiting at least 2 months to hear if I had the job and we didn’t have two months…we were living on our last dollars and needed work yesterday.

We moved out of my friends house and into a shared flatting arrangement with two other people, they were nice people and it worked in well because we were able to share their furniture and cutlery etc as we didn’t have any of our own furniture just a suitcase and an inflatable air mattress.

We had been chasing jobs for a couple of weeks and I was getting knocked back from some pretty basic jobs, given my previous roles they just couldn’t accept that I would stay with them for any length of time so would dismiss my resume. Things were starting to get desperate. We were literally down to about $20, we had found a cheap fruit and vege shop which sold $1 loafs of bread and $0.50c packets of pasta. This is what we were living on but now we were even running out of loose change for these basics.

I’ll never forget when after another day of job hunting, my girl had managed to secure a temp assignment in a milk factory on a production line, the type of job they advertise on the “stay in school†ads. Even so it was like winning lotto, we were literally bursting with excitement, we were jumping around like a couple in one of those strange celebratory Russian folk dances, it was a real high, the first natural one I’d had in a while.

A few days later and she received her first part weeks pay, my God what a relief. We walked down to the supermarket and were actually able to buy meat, we brought half a dozen bags of groceries and were acting as if we were the king and queen of Babalon with more money than a small country. We went through the checkout and proudly paid with our new found riches.

We were saying very little to each other when we left the supermarket, just walking in a weird kind of silence, maybe we were both rolling back the last months to this point trying to draw some meaning from them…I know that’s what I was doing. We made our way through the parking lot and across the road, we each had a few bags and for a couple of moments just sat on a nearby brick fence, still saying nothing just blindly staring back at the supermarket and the cars racing buy in front of us…it was a really emotional moment and my girl quietly started to cry, the type of tears where you want to hold them in and be strong but the emotion is simply too much and they just start to flow...I had just court a bit of dust in my eyes so any passers by probably thought I was crying too. Even typing this now brings back the clarity of that moment and the emotion that surrounded it. Total Relief.

I knew that sending my resume was getting me nowhere so I started calling the managers advertising the roles and trying to sell myself straight into the interview, eventually I struck it lucky with another large FMCG company who was looking for a delivery driver, they invited me in for an interview the following day. The Manager I met was a really nice lady and we had an instant repore, once we had finished the interview she said “look, I think this has been very positive and if you wouldn’t mind I’d like you to meet our state managerâ€.

Obviously I had no objection and she led me to another office down the hall. I waited and a few moments later they both returned, we exchanged pleasantries and he began to flip through my resume…â€hmmm†he’d say nodding his head as he flipped back and forth through the pages. I didn’t really know whether this was good or bad but then he calmly looked up and said “What are you doing here?â€,
I replied “I’m not sure I understandâ€â€¦

â€You should be in my seat, it doesn’t make any sense, are you fully aware of the role we are hiring for?â€

“Yes sir, I would just rather prove myself in any capacity you have available and I’m sure if I do that well and something more senior comes available then you’ll consider me for itâ€. I was confident that was the best answer as “well actually I’m totally broke and currently living on bread and pasta I’d probably polish your shoes for a fiver if you asked me†may have come across a little desperate.

They agreed to give me the job on the spot and took me outside to show me what I would be driving to make the deliveries. Damb it was a good sized truck, I may not be able to go through the McD’s drive through but it was going to be transport and that was a huge bonus. I took the truck home and while strictly meant to be for work use only, my manager eventually worked out what I was doing and chose to ignore it, I thank her for that.

$527 a week. When that first payment hit my account I felt like a new man. I was back in the game…we had money coming in and food in our stomachs…It was funny, I’d never been so poor but I felt good, we’d pulled ourselves up off the ground and I could start to see a little break of light. I drew up a budget on how much money I could put towards my debts and now knew exactly how long it was going to take to pay them off.
We were on the rails and now I was ready to raise the bar…It was time to bring back the dream of starting a business but this time it wouldn’t just be a dream…


It simply had to meet these criteria…
1/ require no money to set up.
2/ require no staff other than myself
3/ require no connections, friends, or family to assist (because I only new one person in Australia)
Ok, I then thought to myself…I might need a few days on this one…

I started coming up with lots of different business ideas and going to the library to use their computers to research them on the internet. I was looking mainly at online businesses as they would require the least start up money. In the real world I was looking at possibly being a freelance sales person and finding a really good product and negotiating distribution rights in exchange for selling the product.

I was also looking at utilising my corporate history to contract my services to companies in order to run sales incentive strategies.

All could potentially meet my very restricted criteria. I eventually decided to sell a set of quality products on behalf of their manufacturer, I would not need to hold the stock I would simply promote and sell them and they would drop ship them to my customers. I wrote a business plan and I was ready to take the next step.

I needed a website and a computer, my only hold back was I didn’t have any money. By presenting myself in the right way I managed to commission the building of the site I had designed with no money down. I figured buy the time the site was finished I would be able to save enough money to pay for it, well that’s what I hoped. When asking myself how I was going to afford a computer it came to me in a moment of clarity…I had been given $500 of shares from each of my parents for my 21st birthday which I had totally forgotten about. I quickly sold them and was able to by my computer…oorrrh yeah things were starting to hot up.

The total cost of the website was $1100 and by the time it was finished I had saved the money to pay for it in full, it meant slowing the speed at which I was repaying my debts but I thought it was for the greater good. I won an incentive prize at my work which gave me a $350 voucher to a department store which was great timing because I could now get a small computer desk.

So there I was sitting in front of my computer, looking at my website...watching...watching...waiting....hello....is this thing on.....anybody out there?
...now what?
So I guess it’s not that easy…it was time to get serious...



<posts between chapters>
You've got to respect the fact that almost all people who have reasonable wealth have there own story which will often involve a huge amount of tough times, hard work and sacrifice.
When people come along and ask “What do you do?†or “I must be in the wrong business†bla bla it’s almost insulting because they without realising it are trivialising your achievement. They think that you have just stumbeled across the next mouse trap, the fact is it’s not what you do most of the time, it’s how you do it and what you’ve done.
If you have a good body the first question a lot of people ask you is, what roids are you on? Same thing…
The fact is while they were scratching their balls lying in bed for the past 3 years, your balls were sweating while you were pushing weights at the gym at 6am in the morning.
People’s what do you do questions are often translated to “I’m looking for an easy way, have you found it, if so what is it†That’s why I don’t think many people like those questions…my 2c anyway
<end of posts between chapters>



Lesson #6 – Self Belief

I was starting my delivery runs at 5am and working as fast as I could to be back at home with my full days work completed by 11am. I’d then knuckle down researching competition and trying to figure out how they were getting their business. I heard through the grapevine that one of my competitors was advertising in the TV guide on the Gold Coast…I thought to myself – if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me.

For the next 6-8 weeks I used every penny that was left from my paycheck after food and debt repayments to pay for this little ad, I had the phone number on an automatic divert to my company mobile so if I was driving my truck along the motorway and the phone rang I would pull over as fast as I could, turn the engine off, and answer the phone in my most professional voice, hoping they didn’t pick up on the traffic noise relentlessly hammering at the side of the truck.

I was getting calls and making a very small amount of sales but I was making no where near enough sales to pay for the ads I was placing. There had to be a better way, I was spending $200 to make $30, as nice as it was to make sales, it obviously made no sense. My next angle of attack was to try and spin the PR wheel…I had no experience dealing with the media and I was in no position to hire a PR firm, I did have a phone so it was time to start calling the newspapers and talking up these great products I was selling.

It was difficult to actually get through to the person who could make the decision and I seemed to be making no progress, I was about to chalk it up as a dead end when I got some interest from a local newspaper.

“Sounds interesting†this anonymous voice on the end of the phone murmured.

“I think it’s a story, I’ll have a photographer meet you tomorrow and we’ll run it†he said. I’m listening to every word attentively trying to play it cool while throwing my fist in the air several times while he’s ending the conversation.

The photographer meets me the following day and I’m all dressed up for the occasion, he does the shoot and we both leave. This was the break I had been waiting for, this newspaper goes out to approximately 1 million readers, photo and copy would be taking up at least a third of the page…I could smell the C-notes on there way.

The next morning while I was making my deliveries I had the most intense butterflies in my stomach, I couldn’t eat with anticipation, every petrol station or convenience store I drove past I would be staring in to see if the bundle of papers had been dropped outside. I didn’t have to wait long, on my second stop the delivery guy comes in and drops the bundle of papers on the floor. I’m hanging around like and annoying blow fly and convince the worker to cut the bundle tie and sell me a paper.

I grab the paper and still trying to play it cool walk to the truck trying not to break into a jog. I get in the truck and start whipping through the pages, my mouth is now totally dry with anxious excitement...then I spot it, there it is, I’m in the paper, the picture is much larger than I expected, and the story is longer than I thought it would be, the article is taking up just shy of half a page. I start reading the article out loud to myself ensuring I digest every word. It’s reading well and really getting behind the benefits of my products…money, money, money...this is my break, right in front of my face.I get to the last paragraph and then it ends. No mention of my company name, my phone number, website, nothing. Devastated.

The do it yourself PR campaign hadn’t quite set the world on fire like I had hoped, so I had to find another angle. I never thought starting a business would be this much of a battle.

Almost a year had past since arriving in Australia and I had now repaid all my debt.
Now that I was debt free I was looking at things in a different light, I really needed to concentrate on the business full time and to do that it was going to mean putting myself out on the edge once more, the business was far from generating enough money to house, cloth and feed us so I needed a better plan if I was going to give up my constant pay check. We were also approaching another hurdle, my lady was on a work permit in Australia and that was fast running out, she had already had the only possible extension. That would mean if I left my job I would have to support both of us and the business, it was a big ask and a decision that could break us before we even really started.

I decided to roll the dice, the way I saw it we had to give this everything we had, I just wasn’t prepared to stay where we were. I knew that once I left my job I would need transport and I had an idea on how we could spin it…before I resigned I utilised my work history and income to apply for a car loan, this was really pushing my buttons because after almost a year of paying off debt the thought of going back in was almost sickening. The fact that it could be sold again if necessary was my only consolation. All of my previous debts had been overseas luckily didn’t interfere with the approval process, I was given the thumbs up for my new car, well not exactly new, but a car nonetheless. We were now the owners of a ’94 Nissan Maxima, good reliable car.

With that done, I resigned from my delivery job. I was now feeling really exposed to the wrath of failure which had plagued me so much in recent years. I now didn’t have a job, I had car repayments, my lady had approximately 3 weeks left to work and the business was sitting there, to say it was ticking along would have been an over zealous exaggeration.

The internet just wasn’t working for me, I didn’t really know much about it, I had a website but it had been developed on a shoe string budget so was put together using frames. Basically what that means is the search engine can’t access the content of the pages so they largely ignore it, not that it really mattered because it wasn’t optimised to make a dam anyway.

....

Quite the read, I really valued these two lessons ( 5 and 6 ) the most from what you stated. More people need to believe in themselves, we are the future after all, what we do will impact the lives of generations of people who aren't even born yet. Beginning is literally half the battle, persistently making that choice every day is the second half.

Thank you for your post, hope to learn more from you.
Stay cool

 

[andrewsyc]

Things take time but sometimes not as long as you might expect... came across a pic of the last car which I had prior to buying my Lambo...(and yes I did live in one of those units

Only the wayback machine had this copy, only saved once!

Keep the Lambo dream alive... - Lambo Power

web.archive.org

When this forum started some of the people over on the lambo forum came over here to share their stories and provide inspiration.

I figured adding this to this thread provides prospective for all those in a psychological rut.

"memories just started coming back and thought those of you chasing the lambo dream would take heart that where ever you are now, it can still be done."

Been busy. Noticed this thread was bumped. I discovered this doing detective work from last summer.

Thank God for this forum archiving this wonderful story else it would have been lost in the ether.

Happy Holidays everybody!

 

[XxThelionxX]

People usually say they're story will be long. And it isn't. But, wow! This really is. Exciting

 

[EternalStudent]

Man is made or unmade by himself.
In the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself, he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy, strength and peace.
By the right choice and the true appreciation of thought, man ascends to divine perfection. By the abuse and wrong application of thought he descends below the level of the beast. Between these two are all the grades of character, and man is their maker and master.
Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul, none is more gladning nor fruitful of divine promise and confidence than this: That man is the master of thought, the molder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment and destinyâ€

For those interested I'm pretty sure this is as a man thinketh by James Allen. It's in the public domain now so available for free online.

Truly a one in a million story, OP. You and your girl earnt your success and then some. Thank you for sharing

 

[andviv]

awesome story!!!
Thanks for sharing

 

[DustinS]

Amazing man you deserve all your success and I must say your very lucky to have such a good girl!!

 

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[Yankees338]

Yip sure am Dustin, :love2:


Was taking her around dealerships looking to buy her an Aston Vantage, so all things considered she's doing ok out of the deal too...:smxF:

Hahahaha

 

[vinnie]

OMG! cantwait2 your story is truly inspiring. im going to have to read it again :thankyousign:

 

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[Luke12321]

Just finished your story....wow! Awesome!

 

[mini ferrari]

Absolutely brilliant story, very inspiring. The best part really is going to another country to get your girl back!

 

[pohutukawa]

Interesting words Cantwait2.

If I may ask, where are you now and what are you doing?

 

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[dbeck29]

great read!!! Your story is truly inspirational. Im sure it wasnt the easiest thing to write as it probably brought up some not so fond memories, but i want to thank you for sharing! Congrats on your success and may you and your family continue to reap the benefits of your long hard work and struggles.

 

[PWog]

Great story, Cantwait2. :eusa_clap: Have you considered writing a book about your life?

Interesting words Cantwait2.

If I may ask, where are you now and what are you doing?

I second Pohutukawa's question. What's your next step from here?

PWog

 

[WheelsRCool]

Cantwait2, looong time no see, where've you been!? Or have you been here all along, just lurking...? Good to see you back

 

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[WheelsRCool]

Great, wishing you the best!