Started in 2012 -- Now I'm Rich (Spoiler Alert)

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I haven't logged in here in years. I joined this site in 2012 (maybe before that) looking for clients to run facebook ad traffic for. I've sold WSOs and all sorts of stuff on here.

It didn't make me rich.

I didn't make me rich finding out what someone else was doing and doing it better.

I've made lots of software, SaaS platforms, websites for companies, etc. etc. That didn't make me rich.

Affiliate marketing didn't make me rich either.

So.. what did I do to get rich starting in 2012? The answer is all of the above. But the secret key was.....Did I reinvest in my business and make it grow, no?

I took every dollar out of my business and never took debt from others. I skinned it alive.

So how did that make me rich? It gave me the time and money to...
  1. Investing: Buying a house and paying it off and rolling up to bigger houses that gain more in value as the market goes up. The stock market goes up 10% on average yearly.
  2. Refinancing debt: Getting payments lower on my house which is half of what rents go for in the area.
  3. Continually learning new programming libraries, building things, read read read.
  4. More free time that a teenager.

Sure internet marketing made me money.
But it didn't make me rich.

What I did with my money made me rich but kept me from being a whole lot richer.

Now why am I not richer?
  1. Louis Vuitton
  2. BMWs
  3. Traveling with 4 people everywhere and paying for it (wife and kids)
  4. Being afraid of taxes and having to pay a ton of fines and fees downline when you want a house
  5. Not growing my own weed
  6. Spending thousands upon thousands going out to eat
  7. Not sticking every dollar I made in the stock market in ETFs that track indexes and sector baskets
  8. The list goes on. It was a state of mind.

Point being, when you are poor or middle class for that matter. And you never really had much. You'll soon find yourself indulging pretty hard. Not everyone. But I sure did. It felt good. It made everyone happy: the kids and wife.

I realized if I'd of stuck my money in the stock market I'd made from affiliate marketing the last 10 years instead of all the crap I did above. I'd be worth $10mill+ just from that.

This is a motivational speech to let you know that you'll succeed if you have the talent to do so. No one can hold you back in this industry. Internet marketing and software development.

It's a speech to let you know the truth about all of this.

Invest your money in real estate and the stock market from your internet marketing. Get a nice big comfy house with a low payment. Find your happiness first once you've got some money.

My wife and I missed out on a $900,000 house earlier today because we'd spent out money on stupid things all these years. We didn't have the extra $110,000 cash to put down to get a conforming loan because they're not doing jumbo loans right now.

My kids are super pissed because it was a legit mansion that needed a half million in upgrades to bring it up to the $1.5 million market value.

Who cares I have $12k+ coming in from marketing stuff. I didn't invest it properly and now sit here in my $500k house among the homes I wish I had.

I hope whoever reads this can take something from it.

No I won't teach you how to make money online. Don't ask or I'll report you. You're welcome for sharing this in the first place.

Good luck and onward!
#2012 #alert #rich #spoiler #started
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    My kids are super pissed because it was a legit mansion that needed a half million in upgrades to bring it up to the $1.5 million market value.
    A little spoiled perhaps? They can get jobs or start a business when they grow up and buy their own houses.

    Reading this - I can't tell if you are happy or not. I've seen marketers start with very little and by pouring profits back in to expand their online presence/business end up with more wealth they they imagined.

    I've seen marketers get cocky the moment the make money and start spending it on bling and anything else they fancy at the moment. It's not the IM business - it's the lifestyle and money management skills of the marketer that dictates where the money goes. You are honest in acknowledging you like to spend. Nothing wrong with that IF it makes you happy - a lot wrong with it if you regret that spending after the fact.


    We can all be rich in the stock market by looking back at 'what if' - but I've never known anyone who regretted money spent on family vacations and memories.

    What I did with my money made me rich but kept me from being a whole lot richer.
    If you can't come up with the money to buy what you want, then either you aren't rich...or your wants are TOO rich.

    Do you need a mansion? Why the desire to have more and more 'stuff'? He who dies with the most stuff - does not win.

    Who cares I have $12k+ coming in from marketing stuff. I didn't invest it properly and now sit here in my $500k house among the homes I wish I had.
    Two questions:

    1. How much is 'enough'? If you have a 1.5 million house will you aim for a 3 million house? Is that because you love the real estate - or the status...of course, location is a big deal as some areas that price range is almost a starter home.

    2. If you still have the $12k coming in - why not start investing it wisely now???

    Mixed feelings on your post - I'm happy to see someone doing well - but it's a bit sad that nothing seems to be good enough. Do you ENJOY the lifestyle you've earned?
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    • Profile picture of the author Keith Everett
      I think probably everyone has some kind of story about regrets. I had a couple of houses I used to rent out but I was a young man and I got bored, so I sold them both and went touring around the World. Sure, I would nearly be a Millionaire by now had I kept the two houses but it's all experience. My point here is that experience costs, the point is to not keep repeating mistakes and learn from them..
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  • Profile picture of the author 1SirJohn
    Nuggets! Great info for many, especially the younger crowd on the lower rungs.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jonathan 2.0
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    Hi Zephyrlon. Congrats on your success and thanks for sharing your story.
    : )

    However I must say that countless, countless, People have made all that much (and more) from Selling and Marketing online. It didn't work for you ― and that's cool you found what did work ― that's not to say it wouldn't work for other People though.

    2C
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    "Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem and turned it into an opportunity."―Joseph Sugarman
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  • I had a small business when I was in grade school. I sold the imported chocolates I got from a relative to my classmates. I wish I kept at it. Not the exact same business but I wish I just continued starting businesses as I was growing up. I was discouraged because my school told me it wasn't allowed. Scared me shitless when they sent me to the principal's office and called my mom.
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  • Profile picture of the author Eagle07
    Wow Glad to read your story buddy! As long as you enjoyed the experiences, that is priceless... I'd personally go for the experiences and where I am happy and go from there! Make some money and enjoy as we go through many experiences. That's a life!
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  • Profile picture of the author Bertha09
    nice , truth if life, never give up friend.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan Shaw
    I too started in 2012. Thought the stock market was a scam and so I invested everything I made from IM into a sports car, travel / party lifestyle, and timeshares to promote the image of success because I thought this was needed to grow my business. I had to invest in vacations, parties, cars, girls to show others to buy my products.

    I really thought all my moves were the best for my company and my net worth.

    I could be worth $10 million right now looking back over these 9 years with all the right moves, but instead made all the wrong financial moves.

    The moves I saw people like Tai Lopez, Alex Becker, Rich Jerk, CB vendors, and others promoting.

    I thought I had to do this too. Show up at the IM parties with the hottest girls, buy bottle service, take JV's out to the strip club to get new business. Something that today, Dan Blitz and others promote today. Man children I would call them.

    There's plenty of successful vendors bigger than me who are now broke again or even worse off after they made a few million here.

    Just because you make over $10k per month profit in a business, doesn't mean you have anything. In fact, still coming out of the below $0 net worth because of all the stupid decisions I made in my 20's.

    But, now at 33, finally I quit drinking, smoking weed, buying cars, dropping money on travel and girls, I am now for the first time looking at buying land, starting multiple cash flow positive businesses, and getting into the rental property game along with stock ETF's, bitcoin, etc.

    I invest in my relationships, friends, staff, partners and build together rather than looking for the short term gains and just thinking about the money.

    Its easy to get to $10 mil net worth, even if you only make an average income in business of $50k profit per year... really...

    Its even easier to burn through $10 million.

    My total expenses are now $800 per month vs $4500 per month and I live an even better lifestyle with a cleaning lady, nice villa, food, laundry delivery and much more. (Bali vs SoCal.)
    My taxes are now 0-15% vs 45% living in Bali vs California with an offshore LLC.
    My loans and CC's every month are now $0 vs $2500 per month. (I never get any loans unless its for RE investments now.)
    My party / drug lifestyle is now $0 vs $1200 per month.
    My gaming addiction is now only sub 15 hours per week vs 60+ hours per week. This costs you a lot. I still enjoy games, but they can't replace reality or be used to escape reality.

    As someone who did $10 million online in my 20's and had too big of an ego, you can change overnight your habits.

    Only takes 3 weeks to change everything.

    However, it takes years to earn $10 million and a lot of hard work. I know how I can earn $10 mil in the next 3-5 years, its 60+ hours per week of work and a ton of stress. Real growth phases of business require massive sacrifice and effort.

    Change your poor habits first, then make money. I grew up poor and never had anything nice of my own.

    For most of us on the forum, this is the case. We learn how to make money here, but we don't fix our "poor" habits that we learned from our family, friends, and environment.

    I "quit" IM multiple times to try other things, but then come back here because I'm so good at it. There's almost no one better at selling digital products online.

    Now, I'm focused on ethically selling and leading with value with my products and clients.

    I want to change the "self help" "mmo" industries to become more transparent and better for the end customer (99% are living paycheck to paycheck or on their retirement income.)

    There's no age where you are too old / young to change your habits. I had great habits until I made my first $100k in this industry. A lot of the culture in IM, self help, pickup, dating, mmo teaches you to spend big, buy sports cars, get girls, have a huge ego, and live for today because you will even have more money tomorrow.

    Its nice to see people trading in their lambos in this industry for a more realistic vision. Tai Lopez, Alex Becker, etc are no longer using them to pitch to young guys like me, but rather lead with more value for free, and with cheaper products.

    Tai went from $997 to $97
    Alex just gives away everything free now.
    I personally don't sell anything about $99 to the MMO crowd.
    Only 7,8 figure businesses should be buying my HT courses and consulting. ($2k-$10k)

    Everyone who's successful in this industry has problems. Even those who have $10 mil plus net worth now, have the same problems I have, and most of them are not nearly as happy as I am now in 2021.

    They struggle with all the same issues, fears, doubts, health problems, relationship issues.

    What you do in one area of your life, you do in all.

    This is why you must be health in all areas of your life and never compromise. Don't allow any relationship, business partnership, client, friend, your addictions, bad habits affect the other areas of your life... because they will.

    If you have multiple issues here, you can start heading down a dark path that spirals you down in the pits of hell until one day you wake up at your lowest point and realize you MUST change. You MUST take responsibility. That only YOU can save YOU. And that you can start NOW.
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    • Profile picture of the author ZephyrIon
      Hey brother. Hope you figured it out. I am almost at a million in assets (half debt) and we bought a vacation home in California. Couldn't be happier.
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      Buy new book and be entered to win $100 to your Zelle, PayPal or CashApp! Plus, check out the free sample on https://Amazon.com/dp/B0BPL5VQ34. Thank you for your support! Contest ends at 1,000 purchases.

      See the life of a real affiliate on Instagram https://instagram.com/ckrecicki

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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    I put time and effort n still get almost nothing

    Putting time and effort into promoting spam links - is a waste of time and effort here. Just sayin...
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  • Profile picture of the author TobiMDD
    I can totally relate to this. I had the same experience..but then something weird happened. I woke up.
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  • Profile picture of the author ZephyrIon
    Hello everyone. Love your replies
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    Buy new book and be entered to win $100 to your Zelle, PayPal or CashApp! Plus, check out the free sample on https://Amazon.com/dp/B0BPL5VQ34. Thank you for your support! Contest ends at 1,000 purchases.

    See the life of a real affiliate on Instagram https://instagram.com/ckrecicki

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