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I made $111,600... in a day.
• Working a few hours a week
• With no experience
• While working a stressful full-time job and being a dad.
Here's how and the 7 lessons I learned:
I've been a professional firefighter for over a decade and while it's an amazing career, it can be stressful.
• Long hours
• Baseline is sleep-deprived
• Hard on the body
I no longer wanted to trade time for money. I wanted leverage.
But where to start...
I started doing research - it's astonishing what you can learn online- But I was flooded with information.
I was in over my head and terrified. Clueless.
• My writing skills were 4th grade, at best
• Zero knowledge of building websites or coding
• I thought affiliate marketing was a pyramid scheme
I'm sure you can relate. Too many choices are a real problem these days.
But I've accomplished lots of challenging things in my life.
--Ever try to cut a morbidly obese person with a spinal injury out of a steel bathtub using the "jaws of life" while they are screaming in pain?--
If it's been done before, I can find a way.
Then, I found it!
A blog!
Make money with ads and product links, even when I'm not working on it?
Sign me up!! But how to start? What did I need to know?
- How do I get ads?
- Where do I host a website?
- What's website hosting?
- How do you write a blog post?
- What should I write about?
- Would anybody read it?
- How long does it take?
- Who am I talking to?
I realized I knew less than nothing and sought out someone who did.
1. Find a Mentor
I know, you don't want to spend a bunch of your hard-earned dollars on this. I didn't either.
But this is the best ROI you will get on anything, ever.
Learn a valuable skill set that will pay for itself 100 times over.
Now I had a path to follow. Someone who had done this before, successfully!
Note: I'm not going to link to my coach, because I don't recommend this path anymore. I'll explain why in a minute...
Once I started learning, the fear wasn't gone, but at least I had direction.
I remember getting my site set up, a good, brandable domain, and all the basic technical stuff handled.
But then it took me another 2 WEEKS to post my first article.
Do you you know why?
FEAR.
What if it was awful? What if my best friend or co-worker reads it?
I know putting yourself out there is tough and scary. I've lived that too.
2. Just start. Do something. Take action.
Millions of people research how to make money online. But you know why 99.9% of them never make anything?
No action.
They read, watch, learn, consume. But nothing happens.
So, start small, but you need to start.
--"You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great." - Zig Ziglar--
Once things are in motion, it gets easier. Motivation flows. Passions emerge.
When I found something I didn't know how to do (which was a lot, especially in the beginning), I went to my coach or watched a YouTube video.
Figured it out. Worked through it. Learnt as I built.
They call this "Point in time education". (Thanks @theharrybeadle).
Learn what you need, when you need it. Nothing else.
Then back to it. Try something and iterate. That's the name of the game.
I created an informational website about my job (Firefighter/Paramedic), answering people's search questions about my profession.
It would rank on Google search (when I did it right) and get free SEO traffic.
Then, I monetized it with display ads and affiliate product links.
It was slow going.
It took forever for even the first few visitors, which meant no money for a looooooong time.
Ghost town.
3. Be patient. Really patient.
It takes longer than you think.
For people who do start building online, this is the #1 reason they never make a dime.
They expect it to happen quickly and when it doesn't, they call it quits.
Most of these folks would be successful if they kept working, experimenting, and learning.
It was 8 months before I made my first dollar. And after that, it was just a trickle.
As it grew, I had setbacks and confusion all over. But I enjoy learning new things and working through challenges.
So, when I got something dialed in, I would find a way to automate or delegate that task.
This sped things up and focused me on solving new problems.
4. Value your time.
It's the most valuable, finite resource you have. So, spend it wisely.
(Why are people so careful with money, but spend their time aimlessly?)
Once you know how, you can train someone to do it for you (probably cheaper and faster).
Just remember to check the work, because it's your reputation on the line.
Quality matters.
So, I hired writers and became an editor. This allowed me to step back a bit.
It also allowed me to increase content production, as I could edit faster than I could write.
I was the bottleneck and found a way to open the floodgates up.
5. Find the 80/20. Leverage.
Since your time is limited, find the tasks that are the biggest levers of progress/growth and wrench on those suckers!
How do you find the biggest levers you ask? That 20%?
--Consistently reassess--
As my site grew, I got distracted. Things slipped between the cracks. And sometimes, this made my growth come to a halt.
But, other times...nothing happened!
This told me those tasks were not important and so I ignored them.
Once you find something that doesn't move the needle- ignore, automate, or delegate.
They are not worth your time.
As I built, with persistence, I was eventually raking in $3k - 5k per month, regardless of how much work I did.
Though traffic was volatile.
That passive income was sweet!
I built an email list with a lead magnet. I learned basic email marketing and sent readers to a course.
After some time (while the money was great) I was no longer challenged and was losing interest.
I enjoyed the writing, but was incredibly bored writing about "Why are fire trucks red?"
6. Be a quitter. I mean...pivot.
If you don't enjoy what you are doing, quit.
I know this is controversial advice, but I feel strongly that you should have passion for what you are building.
The quality of your work depends on it.
Due to my lack of drive and the fact that my traffic (and cash) was so dependent on the almighty Google, I sold it.
100k richer...overnight.
Nice fat paycheck. Felt good.
So, while I made some great money for a side gig, I don't recommend this route for you. Why?
95% of my readers came from Google searches.
And they can turn that off like a light switch, whenever the all-powerful algo wants to.
And there was little I could do about it. Not a good feeling.
No control = No bueno.
I learned a ton. But the biggest thing I got from this experience wasn't:
• Money
• SEO skills
• Web design
• Affiliate tactics
• Email marketing
• Over half a million words written online
It was...
7. Confidence.
Worth way more than anything.
You know why?
Because there is no doubt in my mind.
As I'm working on my new personal brand and learning about:
• Twitter growth (X is stupid)
• Copywriting (I'm building a cool resource for you)
• Email newsletter (link in bio)
• Personal coaching (next)
• Digital courses (eventually)
• Writing (from @kortexco bootcamp, @thedankoe, @joeyjusticeco)
I know I can do it. No question.
Others have done it and I will too. Period.
And guess what?
The same goes for you!
We can build whatever we want.
And I'm going to build this next successful project in public. So you can see and learn.
Summary:
1. Mentors
2. Take Action
3. Patience
4. Value your time
5. Find leverage
6. Adapt
7. Confidence
I'm all about personal development and human potential.
For you and me.
For weekly, battle-tested methods, on how I earn an online income, and more about personal growth (digital business, fitness, mindset, confidence, dating), join my newsletter.
Thanks for reading.

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