Ladies-and gentlemen-You show me yours, and I'll...

In 2001, I was running my own "sit around and waste money" business. A couple years of the Y2K thing left me sitting on a large pile of cash, which allowed me to be a complete moron about how to run a business, until 2004 when the money started running out and I said "gee, I'd better learn how to make a profit or something."

So I joined the Microsoft Partner Program, ran my own consulting business, and made a decent living on that. Then one day I woke up and saw a commercial for careerbuilder.com where a guy was working in an office full of monkeys. And I said "That's my company!" - so I started ruthlessly getting rid of all the people who weren't up to par. I fired employees, laid off contractors, cancelled projects, dropped clients, and just basically went insane all over the place.

Once I'd stripped it down to just a couple projects for the same client, that client puffed up his chest and said "I'm your only client, I hold your future in my hands, and you will now do things MY WAY!" - so I told him where he could stick that, walked out of his office, and told my team to pack up until further notice. Then he refused to pay his final invoice, and left me holding the bag on some $80k in debt which had to come out of my personal credit as I tidied everything up.

So in 2006, I went and started working as a contractor directly at Microsoft, so I could start paying down our debts and trying to build a decent business. This is where I started seriously considering IM as a career path, but as a sideline while I worked a day job. My wife wasn't happy with this idea, and said I should stick with the security and stability of a Microsoft career instead.

I was laid off from Microsoft at the end of April.

So I came home one night, knowing that I was going to be out of work in a few weeks, and informed my wife that I was not going to go back to work in the normal job market. Instead, I was going to stay at home and build my own business, like I had done before and could certainly do again.

I went to the Five-Star Affiliate Marketing forum, where things really didn't gel in my mind, and there I met a guy named Joseph Ratliff who was doing quite well for himself and seriously impressed me. I read over his blog, found links to a number of forums, and one of them was the Warrior Forum. I lurked for a few days, liked what I saw, and joined up.

Then my wife got us evicted, moved us to Portland, and took the kids to go move in with her sister. But that's another story, and I prefer to stay focused on the positive.

Howdy Elmer, you randy ole goat sniffin salt lick lickin hoarse thief! How in tarnation are yew a doin? I shore nuff dew like to be a readin yore posts. I ain't never seen as much bull sinct ole Bodacious broke outta the pen.

Wellsir, I gots started in this hear Warrior Place when I heerd yew wus in hear. See, yore sorta my hero an I shore dew be a lookin up to ya! I had the dangdest time a gettin Mr. Says tew be a lettin me in this place but he finally gived in. He wus afeered that Mr. Paul Meyers mite get a tetch jealous iffin another hillbilly wus allowed in these hear parts. Seems like Mr. Meyers has been mity accommodatin since I been heared an a rite nice feller.

By the by, dew yew be a memberin ole Hankie? Wellsir, iffin yew dew, yewll be memberin that ole Hankie Dewberry shore ain't the smartest cracker in the barrel. That thar boy done seen somebody a stealin Dookie's truck the utter day an Hankie went a rushin inside ta tell ole Dookie!

"Dookie! Dookie! I jest seen a feller stealin yore truck!" Dookie jumped up outta his seat an hollered at Hankie, "Tarnation, Hankie, didja be a seein who done it?" Hankie replied, "I shore didn't, Dookie, but don't yew be a worrin yerself none cause I gots the license plate number of the truck!"
Yessir, ole Hankie shore nuff is a few cards short of havin a full deck!

Anyhew, I jest wanted to be a sayin howdy and Imma gonna go water them thar cluckers. Oh yeah, Miz Penelope tole me to be a tellin yew that she shore nuff had a good time last nite but yew were a needin to lurn to be a keepin yore hands to yerself! She jest ain't that sorta pig!

Whooo weee, I jest be a noticin that I am rite under Mr. Kevin Riley. Folks, being downhill from that thar Mr. Riley shore aint a place yew wanna be... nor downwind either!

The replies to this post are interesting.

Three of the six addressed the question-two extensively. Thanks to each of you for actually reading, understanding and answering the question.

One responder, Mr. Hogg, as always, seems a bit confused.

I asked the question: for a couple reasons.

The first, to give folks an opportunity to provide, by way of illustration, while not seeming to "blow their own horns", encouragement to other members who may be questioning their own reasons or motivations.

The second reason? Totally personal. I'm insatiably curious and I always like to know the back story. From time I first learned to read I've loved and learned much from biographies.

So--if you have a couple minutes--humor me.

Maybe, just maybe, your story will help someone...

Thank you,

Elmer "I-got-into-this-accidentally" Hurlstone

Guess the wind that was the Internet, that I was exposed to early on in my software career, kinda picked me up and plopped me down.

The commercial possibilities were pretty obvious. I, however, somehow missed the point when Al Gore invented the Internet....er, actually, as I understand it, he made it possible for commercial activity to occur on the Internet.

Was that post or pre Web? I don't know. I just know I was shocked when I saw people selling stuff on the Internet. Because, you see, it simply wasn't allowed.

So, being a geek -- the winds just blew me along, thru the microcomputer revolution, the Internet revoluion, the Web revoltuion.

Hey Elmer,

How I came to be a Warrior Forum Member...

Well sir, as I recall, I was kinda fumbling around on another forum when someone posted about a big fight going on at the WF. Being bored, I left the site I was on and navigated my way on over here expecting to bear witness to a big, name calling. knock-down, drag-out brawl.

What I got instead was a well thought out discussion between ladies and gentlemen. All of the participants made good points and, although they disagreed about certain aspects of the topic, they still remained amicable.

It didn't take long for me to decide that this was where I wanted to be and I have never strayed since.

I can't remember the topic of the discussion that I referenced but that's not unusual. I just realized a few minutes ago that I was wearing my shirt inside out.

Have a good weekend

MikeRogers

WARNING - stream of consciousness -

I had done some IM work between '99 and 2001 while working in various startups. In fact I made more money than 2 of them that had like 46 million in VC money between them. I learned a lot watching them waste all that money.

I made most of my money writing computer books in the mid 90's, but by 2000 I had had spent it all on IVFs and adoptions in order to have children - but my son had VATERs syndrom (think 9 weeks in pediatric intensive care) and the money and investments were gone. My day jobs evaporated in the dot com meltdown and I was back in the rat race until about 2004.

Then I started my own company with a former boss. I never heard of the Warrior forum until Dec 2006 during the end days of my mom's cancer. While siting in the hospice I came across some posting on day job killer and it started me thinking about IM again. While ramping back up getting to know what was going on in the industry it was then that I learned about the Warrior Forum. I lurked for a bit and then replied to a posting about publishing your own hard back books - and a technique called reverse shop lifting to help it get into book stores. The first reply to my post was by Dr. Mani - someone I knew of from my '99 days in IM - I was like - WOW this is a great place. I've been lurking & posting since then.

See you on Friday Elmer!

--Jack

Amusingly enough a stupid scam mini-site I bought when I first got started in IM suggested the forum. That did more for me than the site did.

Hi Elmer,

My girlfriend & I started some online retail shops years ago (in hopes to replace some lost income from a health issue that my girlfriend developed)...in searching ways to better SEO & better market our online shops, I came across a link for the warrior forum....I swear I spent months reading thread after thread...lurked for months...never participated in chat....never signing up...
I fell in & out of the warrior forum for the next year or two....
I fell back in for good after hearing Willie Crawford mentioning it on his blogtalk radio show...affiliate marketing was the topic & I was totally entrenched in the conversation...wanting to learn more...
I came back to the warrior forum in search of ways to get into & profit from affiliate marketing...
I've since ventured into "web design...offline marketing / consulting", doing quite well with it...
I'm still trying to fully grasp affiliate marketing...
The online retail shops are doing great now...thanks in large part to the WF...

Thats my story & I'm sticking to it...lol
Ken

I downloaded a viral report by Allen somewhere circa 1999. I popped into the Warrior Forum and was mistakenly unimpressed. Then a few years later I found that same report in my hard drive and came back to the forum, but with a different mindset. I lurked for awhile before registering in 2004, and the rest is history. Made some great friends and JV partners in this forum. Life-changing to say the least. It's definitely been a rollercoaster ride! Where else can you meet "old geezers", "hamster kings", cigar-toting marketers, zen Rednecks, front-porch attitudes, video-making mommies, article marketing wizards, disciples of the "Darth" variety, and everything else inbetween?

RoD