My Story

To give you a little background, I grew up in the suburbs outside of Detroit in the late 70s and 80s. As a kid, I played sports year-round, no matter what the weather was outside. As a result, I became very competitive and obsessive about winning. That determination spilled over into the classroom and led to a full-ride academic scholarship to attend Truman State University in Missouri.

From the outside looking in, I had it made. But appearances are deceiving. As a teenager, I was rebellious and couldn’t stand authority. That led to a lot of partying, especially at college, where I had freedom like never before. Long story short, I joined a fraternity and immediately lost my scholarship. So, now I had to work my way through college. After five years, I finally got a degree, and in 1993 I moved to Atlanta, GA.

Because of my work hard play-hard mentality and average GPA, I ended up selling cars for the next 15 years because it was good money. I worked for 100% commission which led to very little stability in my income. I made great money some months and struggled the next. Back then, I worked 12-hour days, six days a week. As a result, my relationships suffered, and I went through two divorces.

During that time, I lived life on a hampster wheel, and my primary objective was to get promoted so I could breathe. For years, I was a top performer, but I kept bumping my head on what I eventually found out was an invisible glass ceiling. It took me quite a while to figure out that in retail sales, there’s a carrot being dangled in your face to keep pushing you at all times.

The frustration and the feeling of being stuck led to several attempts to break free. My first attempt to escape was in 1997 when I joined Pre-Paid Legal. That worked out for about a year but eventually led to eviction and a repo. So back to the car business again for the next eight years. By 2005, I had finally had enough, so I went and got my real estate license. It was perfect timing. I sold a few houses and was building my clientele, but guess what happened? Boom, the housing crash of 2006.

Talk about bad luck. So, once again, back to the car business. By this time, the inside of a dealership made my skin crawl. There’s nothing like pursuing a dream only to fail and end up back where you started. I was going nuts, but this time it was different. Within a year, I got the promotion I always wanted. It was 2007, and things were going great, so I married again in 2008. Immediately we moved into a big house in a nice area. But guess what happened next? The financial crisis of 2008.

Unfortunately for me, my owner went out of business, and I had to take a pay cut after my expenses had ballooned. By the middle of 2009, I ended up losing that house. And within a couple of years, I got divorced again. By now, I think you get the picture and can understand the forces behind my obsession with the online world. It finally hit me that success was all about leverage, and working a job would NEVER afford me that opportunity. But, the internet was all about automation and multiple income streams. It opened up a whole new world of opportunity, and that was just what I needed.

So, in 2011, I decided to become the master of my destiny for good. I jumped into the world of online marketing and haven’t looked back. I’ll be the first to admit my path has been rocky, but I’ve learned a lot along the way, and I can tell you that the freedom to do what you want whenever you choose to with whomever you want is life-changing. Through all of my adversities, I continue to fail forward. I guess it’s true when they say it’s all about the journey, not the destination.

Thanks for reading,
Ken

P.S. – I hope I didn’t bore the hell out of you. But I’m a Gen Xer who still doesn’t have a selfie stick. Aww, woe is me. 😎