Start a business with $0 and live on the beach in 3 years

Hello,

My name is emmanuel, I'm french, 30 years old and I was on this forum about 3 to 4 years ago (I had another account before this one). I learned a lot here, and I got motivated. Today I was just trying to find extra ideas on how to improve my youtube rankings and I dropped by here again. I didn't find my answers, but I found a lot of people struggling. Exactly like they were 3 or 4 years ago.
I have nothing to sell to you guy, and I wont spend hours answering comments asking for specifics after I told my story. I just hope SOME people could read between the lines, and find some tips on how to make their dreams come true. Anyways, that's my story.

I decided to leave France 8 years ago to travel. I arrived in the Philippines and freakin' loved it. People are just awesome here. Found a girl, fell in love, and 4 years ago, my girlfriend got pregnant. I was living in Manila at the time, working night shifts in a call center. Good salary, crappy job. I knew that I didn't want to spend my nights earning money doing something I didn't like, and my days sleeping while my girlfriend and kids were growing up. So I decided to work online.

Now where could I start? I had absolutely no ideas on how to make a website. No coding experience, no experience in building a business, online or offline, I had a basic English, good but not real good french, a few things I liked but no huge passions.

So! A friend told me about TCA (the content authority). I was able to pass the test and was received to my surprise to be a writer level 1. During the 2 first months, I was writing articles for SEO. The people asking for the articles obviously didn't care about the level of english as long as the keywords were there. I worked a lot and ended u with a $100 in my paypal account.

All that was nice but I was just not able to live from it... even in the Philippines. At the same time I was still working in the office and replaced all my MP3s with audio conferences. Conferences about sales, about marketing, about how to start a website, how to build products. All free stuff I could find on youtube or else were. I was craving for it. For my wife, for my baby, I wanted to be there for good.

With the first $100 I bought a domain name, and hosting. The website has to do with a passion of mine. Not something I was completely crazy about, not something I was really good at, but something I truly enjoyed. I then spent all my free time learning all I could about creating a website with wordpress, and the basics of htlm and css. At that point I had absolutely no credit cards, and no bank accounts beside my payroll account dedicated to receive my payroll.

I opened a facebook page, twitter, and of course, Youtube account, as my website would be mainly filled with videos. I maid my first video with the crappiest camera on earth. The image was disgusting and the sound was a joke. I then proceeded with sharing my videos all the ways I could. Mostly on forums with related topics. Trying to help other users, and putting my videos URL in the signature. Most of the time I didn't know the answer to the questions asked, but I made the research to be able to provide true value to them.

After 2 month of doing so, I launched my first paid offer on my website. I basically sold the access to one video with special content, using wordpress and S2member. A month later, I made my first sale. I earned 5 euros! Enough to pay for the month of hosting. At that point I was like: "As long as this site pays for its own hosting, i will keep it up."

Just to put things in perspective, I started writing articles in may 2011, and my first sale on my own website was in October 2011. I spent ALL THAT TIME with absolutely nothing to show, beside 5 euros and a crappy website ( I have to be honest here. It was lame). I was working like if I had 2 jobs, and my girlfriend was starting to get pissed talaga!

From that time, the website always had paid for the hosting. And then, hosting and a few investments, like a new theme, and a few paid plugins to add features. I only came back to this forum to find SPECIFIC information, and not to hang out and browse, as I was already too busy to do so.

After a year, this site was paying for small vacations, and helped with Christmas gifts. I was continuing working on it, but things were getting kind of easier.

After a while my company closed, like it happen a lot in the Philippines. I managed to find a way to help a guesthouse with their website, plus a few other things on the side, plus my website. I was already working from home. That was in October 2012 (I never worked in an office since).

In 2013, my website was providing me with a full time income. Tight during some months, but I never had to cry for help to anyone. 2014 I moved on the beach. The life is simple, cheaper, and healthier. I am with my wife and kids everyday, and I often tell my girlfriend how much I feel lucky to be in that position.

I did all of that by learning and persevering.
I learned to use the tools I NEEDED AT THE TIME. I cut down on pleasure time, to be able to free myself for good. I invested as much as I could back into my website to help it grow. I learned how to use youtube properly (I ended up not using FB or twitter as much).
I learned to listen and take constructive criticism without taking it personally. I learned to overcome my fear of being infront of a camera. I learned to film, take the sound, and basic lighting techniques. I invested back in better equipment.

Never I spent $1 from my own pocket in that website. It paid everything on its own and then some... and then some... and then some...

However, I am not completely free yet and im still learning. I am learning to get things rolling without me now. After almost 4 years of this topic that is not a big passion for me, I have enough. I know why and when the money is coming. I know how to boost my sells if the moment requires it. And I know how it can run without me.

I will then do other websites with the same system I created and I understand. Also without me to put the basic work in because I know how it should work and I will just need to over look at the operations.

I will become financially free.

Thanks for reading