OMG! (We all start somewhere) · Growthworks Community

Aaron Fletcher

Aug '23 (edited) • General Discussion

OMG! (We all start somewhere)

Hey folks - just a quick but IMPORTANT reminder:

All that matters is that you start!

Let me explain...

In March of 2012 I made this riveting video you see here :)

I was driving 2 hours each way to a job (I had to get up at like 5:00AM to beat Bay Area traffic)..

The only upside was I had 4 hours a day to listen to podcasts...

Freedom Ocean with my now friend James Schramko, I Love Marketing with Joe Polish and Dean Jackson, SPI with Pat Flynn, May Wolfe, the list goes on!

But each night I would greet my wife, have dinner together and then work from 7:00PM to as late as 1:00AM devouring courses, books and podcasts related to digital marketing...

(I started doing this in 2009 - 4 years before I had the courage to publish this YouTube video)

Actually our honeymoon in August of 2009 planted the seed for my wife Liz and I to pursue a life of more freedom - while working in San Francisco from around 2005-2008 I would read business 2-3 growth books each week riding the BART train, but I still believed I could never actually quit my day job - that level of success was for other people...

Between 2009 and 2012 I was lucky enough to land a handful of consulting clients - mostly lawyers. My background as VP of sales for Nolo.com afforded me with enough credibility and knowledge to provide SEO and web design services for this niche...

I was making a whopping $6K per month!

So around April of 2012 I said F*@K it and quit...(I actually got fired because I went to a friend's wedding on the east coast without telling my boss - sorry Andy!)...

I was terrified! We had a 3 month old daughter and I had like $5K in the bank - this was our complete net worth!

The only good news: there was no safety net. I learned and optimized Google Ads, figured out how to run one of the first ever webinar campaigns on Facebook Ads...

I took 3-5 sales calls per day and enrolled 1-2 clients (thankfully these firms paid us 2-5K per month)...

All the while I consistently invested in courses, coaching, events - anything to get better at marketing and business...

I won't bore you with the entire hero's journey but here's the cliff notes:

Grew up with no father, mother passed when I was 11
Zero confidence, ability or path forward
Enrolled in the NAVY as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Diver to shake things up and get the f*ck out of Akron, Ohio.
Now the "guru" (hate that word) you see $10M++ later blah blah is just one person with no skills or resources who did the only two things required for success: 1) START NOW and 2) DON'T QUIT!

I see lots, actually MOST folks here waiting, watching, planning and dreaming.

The right opportunity or idea will NEVER come. These things reveal themselves down the path. The secret is, if you're not sure what to do, just so SOMETHING. Learning guitar online will give you the blueprint for success and confidence you need to tackle starting a business!

So let's go.

Deal?

Much Love

--Aaron

P.S. - for a laugh, watch 10:30 "grape juice gone bad"

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