From Zero to $9,682,830.21 at 21 (High School Dropout Success Secrets) (26)
From Zero to $9,682,830.21 at 21 (High School Dropout Success Secrets)
Hey guys,
This should be a fairly long post so hang in there. I’m going to share the story of how I went from a confused (but driven) 14-year-old with $100 in my pocket to over $9,682,830.21 in revenue in just the last 2.5 years.
Which allowed me to drop out of high school, travel to 30+ countries, live in Hollywood, New York and other cool places while living the "IM Dream".
Most importantly, I’m gonna share what I believe are some of the key factors that helped me achieve this that you can (hopefully) learn something from.
DISCLAIMER: I’m not gonna share the « one weird trick » here. You don’t make millions on the internet with a few tactics, you do it with consistent focus and habits.
STAGE 1 - SKINNY, CONFUSED AND HORNY TEENAGER TO $2,500 PER MONTH
This one is simple: at 14, I decided I’d never have a real job and I would become a millionaire in my 20s. Why? Probably a mix of hormonal confusion that led to horniness and ambition, maybe something else, who knows.
The bottom line is I invested half of the whopping $100 that was at my name at the time into my first internet marketing course about making money on Kindle. The other half was invested into buying my first book from an Indian writer on Upwork and a $5 Fiverr cover.
A few weeks later I published this first book on Amazon. And a few days later, during a school break I decided to check my traffic stats…and BOOM. There it was. 3 sales. I had already made roughly $6 profit without any promotion. My first dollars on the internet ever - that I made while listening to all the stupid, boring stuff my teacher was rambling about.
This is when I realized this stuff was real, and I never stopped believing from that moment on.
At that point, I started promoting the hell out of this book, which made me around $200 during that first month. I kept re-investing the money into publishing and promoting more books…kept refining my promotion process to get better rankings from my books.
This is when I first learned about building an email list, started promoting a lead magnet in my ebooks and making backend money with affiliate offers. After around a year of running the business, I was making a net profit of around $2,500 per month which was awesome at 15.
Now, being the lazy, confused and horny teenager I was, this is when I made the (obviously great) decision to stop working on my business to focus on trying so spread my wonderful genes.
And…surprise…after about 8 months, my « passive income » started to tank. After 12 months, at 16, I was only making $200-300 per month and I felt like a complete idiot.
Lesson learned: if you stop working on your business, you stop making money. Never made that one again.
STAGE 2 - THE STRUGGLE
At that point, I finally started having the typical behavior of any wanna-be internet marketer: THE OPPORTUNITY CHASER. I thought my previous success was due to the « amazing » opportunity of Kindle (whereas it was really my tireless work ethic and non-stop learning that probably made it work), so I figured I had to find the next « big thing ».
I’d saved most of the money I made from my Kindle business, so I was the DREAM client for IM dream-sellers. Money in the bank and a belief that anything is possible.
Net result: I bought around 10 different (expensive) IM courses that I proceeded to never implement to maximize my chances of success. But surprisingly enough, buying courses without implementing them didn’t work, so after a year of intellectual masturbation, at 17, I realized I was doing something wrong.
I obviously dabbled here and there, but never committed to one thing and didn’t make a single dollar from these « promising » ventures in 12 months.
I was feeling like an idiot - I didn’t have a social life, was working on internet marketing day in and day out, knew more about the business than almost anyone, and yet I wasn’t making any money.
STAGE 3 - THE WAKE-UP CALL TO 6 FIGURES
The day I turned 18, still not making any money, is when I decided it was over. I was DONE with everything. I quit playing sports, quit everything, cut the few friends I had left, and decided that by the end of the school year (7 months later) I’d be making enough money to drop out of high school and travel the world (we have 4 years of high school in my country and this was my 3rd year).
At this point, I joined a mastermind of committed action-takers and started focusing 100% on copywriting. I started reading all the classic marketing books, hustling every day to get clients on Upwork, hand-copying, etc. I focused on becoming a MASTER of direct-response marketing and copywriting.
Turns out I also had a knack for writing and persuasion…and so things moved up quickly from that point on. After a month of focus, I had my first $1,000 client. Then $1,500. Then $3,000. In April, I had my first $4,000 month. After 5 months, I hit $6,000. After 6 months, I hit $8,000.
I proceeded to drop out of high school and never looked back.
Note: it sounds « easy » when I write this here. But I was literally working 40h a week at that point IN ADDITION to 30-35h a week of school work. I basically had no life. It was the classroom and the computer all day, every day, weekends included, vacations included.
And by this point, I started getting a reputation as a « genius » marketer - I could literally sell almost anything on a sales letter. People were lining up to give me copy work, and my copy’s performance kept going up.
At that point, I also started traveling to a bunch of different places (usually wherever the hottest girls were), having fun with some fellow digital nomads / internet marketers. The dream had come true - I was finally free.
But wait, there’s more…
STAGE 4 - MAKING AND LOSING MY FIRST $1 MILLION AT 19
This is when it all started accelerating. At the time, I had 3 clients that I had built funnels for crushing it on cold traffic. I was getting a % with all these clients, so I was basically making a profit of around $8-10k per month without actually having to do any work.
This is when I decided it was time to go to the next level. I figured I was 18, motivated, with loads of energy - there was plenty of time to relax later.
I decided to start a health supplement company (I’m really big on health and fitness), and started manufacturing my very first product. My native language is French, so I saw a big opportunity in the French market at the time. It took me a few months to get the product manufactured, to declare it and to be able to sell it legally. I spent a good amount of time writing an INSANE video sales letter - probably my best piece of sales copy ever to this day.
And then, it was finally time to launch. I launched my VSL on Taboola at first. I’ll always remember getting the ads approved right before going to bed.
The next morning I woke up early, frantically checked my stats…and there it was. I’d spent and capped out my budget of $300 that day at just 7:30am, and I had already made $1000 which was around $300 profit minus the product cost and ad cost. All while sleeping…and this is when I realized I was onto something big.
I kept reinvesting all the money into the campaigns, and things went quickly. The 1st month was $30,000 revenue…then $40,000 the 2nd…then $100,000 the 3rd…and finally the 4th month, January 2019, was $470,000 revenue (which was around $150,000 of pure profit).
I couldn’t believe it. As a 19-year-old high school dropout, I’d made more money in a month than most Wall Street traders and lawyers…
That year, 2019 was simply unbelievable. My business had great moats and entry barriers around it, so my business made over $6 million in revenue, and I personally netted over $1 million.
However, I was a dumbass about it. I started buying designer clothes…living exclusively in 5-star hotel suites…traveling business and first class…and so overall, I literally spent ALL of that money.
At the end of the year, I hadn’t even saved a PENNY of all that money I was making.
Lesson: It’s not how much you make, it’s how much you KEEP. Never made that one again either.
STAGE 5 - CLIMBING BACK TO 7-FIGURE PROFITS
At this point, early 2018, some huge players in my space with a lot of capital started copying my strategy, which nearly bankrupted my business.
I couldn’t afford the elevated ad costs anymore, so had to rely exclusively on my 100,000+ customer list for an entire year. This is also when I started taking things MUCH more seriously.
No more non-stop travelling - I started living in one single place for 6 months at a time. Hired an assistant to handle all the non-work related stuff (food, cleaning, washing, etc). Started waking up at 5:30am every single morning, taking nootropics such as modafinils 2-3x per week, no more nightclubs, etc. I was ALL IN and set on actually becoming a true liquid millionaire.
I spent a year working on this, and eventually started to experiment with e-commerce offers on native. At this point, I had over $3.5 million in ad spend on native networks, so massive amounts of data that I could use. I also knew the native algos like the back of my hand.
And when I started playing with e-commerce, I started seeing insane results. I kept refining my approach, and started spending profitably $1,000 per day….then $2,000…and scaled to $5,000 per day in spend with around 30-50% ROI.
I was also very conservative with my expenses, so started saving most of that money and keeping it safe for future investments.
Ever since then, I’ve stayed focused despite making more money than ever. I’ve been 100% focused on being the best at what I do, and it’s paying off massively. Right now, I’m close to spending $10,000 per day with 50-60% ROI, and things are looking amazing. Unless something goes terribly wrong, I’ll have way over $1,000,000 in liquid assets by the end of the year.
Right now, my goal is to consistently get to an average of $30,000 per day in spend at around 50% ROI, which would mean $15,000 a day profit. In terms of all the money I’m saving, I will split it between investing in 1 or 2 long-term brand-based businesses, some real estate, and some stocks. My goal is to get to $1,500,000 invested by June 2020 to generate around $100,000 per year of net passive income after tax.
After that, I’m looking to start several big brands and get to a net worth of $20,000,000 by age 25, which I think is definitely doable.
MY BIGGEST SUCCESS LESSONS/PRINCIPLES
Now, let’s talk about what you can learn from this.
The BIGGEST lesson you can take away from this: It’s not the tactics man. The best results I’ve had have always come from massive focus - good habits and focus. Here are in my mind some general non-negotiable habits that every internet marketer needs to have to succeed:
1. Waking up early - between 5 to 7am. Allows you to maximize your productivity and get more stuff done.
2. Meditation - 10 to 20 minutes per day. Maintain emotional coolness, optimize focus.
3. Gym - 3-7x per week. Keeps your brain focused, testosterone high for ambition, etc.
4. Reading 1-2 books per week. Keep learning new things to gain an edge.
5. Deleting all notifications and social media apps on your phone to train your brain to focus and avoid distractions.
I also highly recommend having a FIXED schedule with SET hours that you follow every single day without any exception. My current routine from Monday to Friday:
- Wake up at 7am.
- Morning routine until 8:30 am: Meditation, exercises for my abs, breakfast, 20-minute walk.
- Work from 8:30 am to 12.
- Lunch and gym from 12 to 3pm.
- Post-workout meal.
- Work from 3:30pm to 5-6pm.
- Sleep ritual at 9:30pm, in bed by 10pm.
- Rinse and repeat.
I take Saturday and Sunday off at the moment. And when I say work, it’s REAL work: high leverage, no distractions, value-producing stuff. Launching campaigns, writing copy, creating processes and systems. No bullshit.
And if you’re wondering: yes, I lift weights for 2h per day - it trains my discipline and willpower. I don’t party much anymore, rarely go out, and keep a tight circle of friends that I go to dinner with.
My dating life is super simple, it’s just 2-3 girls that I see regularly, no emotional commitment to stay focused on the business and winning. Meet them on dating apps (using the body gained from the lifting and health stuff) to avoid bars and nightclubs. Anything that can distract you from your goals must be ruthlessly eliminated.
Which leads me to the other thing: SACRIFICES. Every sacrifice you make is fuel for your goals and dreams. From the age of 14, I’ve made massive sacrifices. I’ve many times sacrificed my social life for extended periods of time. Sacrificed junk food and short term pleasure for years. Sacrificed thousands of hours working on things that I wasn’t sure would work. Sacrificed tons of time and energy reading over 1000 books about business, personal development and success.
But this is how it happens, there’s no other way. The more disciplined you are, the more money you make. It’s really that simple.
That’s pretty much it. Hope you take something away from this and feel free to ask me questions - I’ll do my best to answer.
UPDATE 2020 - If you want to learn more about some of my top advertising secrets & principles, I've recently created a blog where I'll be sharing everything I know about online marketing. You can check it out here: Ultravertising.com
As an aside:
- I’d love to meet some more fellow internet marketers who are also around that 7-figure profit zone to mastermind and crush it even more.
- I’m always looking for more and better merchant accounts (I run big volume on my own e-com offers so it’s always useful).
- Always interested in cutting-edge stuff for native networks (tools, scripts, etc.). I have a great tracker and automation, but anything new in that area I’d love to try it out.
- Also always interested in great offers to promote on native, so if you have mainstream / mass-market offers that convert well I have tons of amazing traffic in US, FR, DE and UK.
Cheers!
"Lesson: It’s not how much you make, it’s how much you KEEP. Never made that one again either." Keeping money will not make you happy man. Spending it on stuff what makes you happy, or makes life a bit easier isn't a crime at all. It's just the balance you need to keep in mind. But I understand going from 0 to a million would make it very tempting to burn it, especially at that age!
I have the luck I never had 0, so for me the "gap" between starting point to where I am now was quite a natural process. Big up yourself and let's hope you inspire people with this!
Great story man and so relatable! I also started to make above-average $$$ at an early age and I certainly blew pretty much all of it on not-so-important stuff... Sometimes I wish I could travel in time and give my younger self a few pieces of advice 
But at least I got the memories to laugh at
Thanks for sharing your story with us!
Super post!
I can relate in so many ways here.
Awesome post you crazy mof***er lol - I noticed your comment the other day on TigerJ's thread and was curious of your story :P Thanks for taking the time for an epic read, glad you're wising up on those early moves but you seem like a total beast so just keep crushing haha - like those above I'm entirely relatable albeit a little different but things often work out in wild ways lol, its all lessons!
After that, I’m looking to start several big brands and get to a net worth of $20,000,000 by age 25, which I think is definitely doable.
One of the greatest success story posts I have ever read all these years! You certain deserve it!
You know what's the best thing about your story? It's the fact that you're able to climb up from scratch without putting the blame on things. That's the spirit of a successful entrepreneur! Pretty sure if you maintain your motivation and work ethic you'll have no issue reaching your goal!
Congrats once again!!!
@jkl2117 This is one of THE most inspiring success stories ever - thanks so much for sharing!
The major takeaways you've listed are worth their weight in titanium.
This is one thread I'll be recommending to aspiring affiliates as a "must-read".
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Amy
Sent from my SM-G930W8 using STM Forums mobile app
That's quite the story!
Very cool to hear you utilized native to accomplish those numbers, and with e-com offers & your own products specifically. That's something that seems very untapped for the moment with everyone being focused on Facebook for their
Would be very curious to hear more of your thoughts on that - I think a lot of people would.
Cheers,
Kelly
Interesting share and generally these types of post are pretty boring or unbelievable. Thank you
Where are you from?
We are in FL and have a pretty big FB Ecom operation
Good stuff homie. Great to hear you learned that its not about what you make, but how much you keep.
I personally know more than a hand full of people in my closer circle who took the money for granted and as business and investments turned bad, they are back to nothing now and don't know how to afford the lifestyle they got used to so fast. Not a spot anybody wants to be in.
Settings some goals and budgets likes this will set you and your family up for live. Good you learned this at such a young age! Good luck!
Hey guys,
Glad this post was able to inspire some people. Here are some answers to the questions/posts on this thread:
- I'm definitely not living with "zero" either, but I strive to save at least 90% of what I make now. It still leaves me with a comfortable income to live with while still investing for the long term.
- Honestly I used to think what I'm doing now would've been impossible just a few years ago and it seemed "huge", so at this point any goal/vision I set I think of it as a small stepping-stone on a bigger journey.
- I'm from Switzerland but have been living all over Europe / the US for the past few years.
- I hate Facebook Ads and have had 10+ accounts banned despite running super clean stuff. I also have no edge on there, and I don't like competing with everyone else. I know people netting $1M+ per month on Facebook, but it's just not my cup of tea at the moment. I do also have a strong back-end so even a campaign running at break-even will eventually become profitable.
Cheers!
Originally Posted by thedudeabides
Originally Posted by jkl2117
WOW I love this! HUGE congrats on ALL of your success!!!!
Compliment man, it seems you have quite a particular soul
How's going your adventure?
Man, wow. The ups, the downs and the breakout success
I've read this at least 10 times over the past couple months and it's probably one of my favorite posts.
Thank you for writing it.
Thank you for writing it.
It`s really inspiring story!
->Gym - 3-7x per week. Keeps your brain focused, testosterone high for ambition, etc.
I've been going to the gym regularly for 3 months or so, and everytime after workout I can't focus on ANY work what-so-ever, takes around 2 hours before I can think straight to do this work.
Maybe it's just me but GYM doesn't really help me in any way do better in work at all. It just made me stronger so far and add what was missing, some physical activity on top of me sitting and working 12 hours per day usually on a computer.
Great post mate !
Hey @jkl2117,
What an epic post. Congrats on your success!
I have a question for you: I noticed when you were laying out your story that you mentioned committing to copywriting 100%, then you were building funnels that were crushing cold traffic which led to launching your product on Taboola. I'm curious how and where you picked up the skills to run native ads since media buying and copywriting are different disciplines? If you could give some insight on how you were able to hone your media buying skills so quickly that would be great!
Great .......Go buddy ......to you focus and dedication....
Wow man, This was Amazing 
.
I see a lot common in "successful people." I remember reading this thread earlier and looked with awe. But now matured a bit and now see "the millionaire habits" here. Everyone seems to wake up early. 
P.S. Elon Musk 100 hour work week vs. Tim Ferris four hour work week ( I bet Tim Ferris worked REALLY hard to get to that title).
This is one of my favorite posts on STM...
Favorite parts:
-The emphasis on massive study AND massive daily action
-The mention of keeping testosterone high to ensure ambition is high (so spot on)
-He completely rejected public education and dropped out of high school (I did the same)
-Its a perfect example of the "skipping the j.o.b." strategy I think is best for really young guys... where you never allow yourself to work a 9/5 job, and just go straight from 'childhood' to 'self-sustaining income'. I'm not a huge fan of Taleb, but one quote of his that's spot on are that "the two most dangerous drugs are heroin and a weekly paycheck". Its so much easier if you go straight into entrepreneurship when your monthly expenses are still super low, but if you get a job for 5 years and get a mortgage and other monthly payments/responsibilities, its sooo much harder to make the jump into entrepreneurship.
Wonderful, wonderful post.
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