Network Marketing Journey

The first couple years after High School would bring my first exposure to the idea of being an entrepreneur. It would also be the start of a cycle which repeated throughout the next 10+ years (More on this in a bit).

Do you remember a gentleman named Don Lapre, who marketed a information product called ‘Making Money Secrets’ in 1998? Don and his products have been labeled as scams but I’m not here to consider such things. The truth is, I’m not concerned with whether I was scammed or not. The victim mentality is never the right way to go and decided I would never return to that way of thinking. I learned something from purchasing the package and that is what counts.

I watched his infomercial for this package and decided I’d give it a try. However, based on the backtalk I got from family and my own tendency to talk myself out of trying for fear of failing–I didn’t even get it off the ground. In fact, I didn’t even bother to try. Thus, the cycle began. In the coming years (as I’m about to detail) I would try different means of finding my way in the world and a career that mattered.

I look back at this as my first step towards being entrepreneur because it was the first time I recognized a desire for more than I currently had going in life. Each of us has a deep seeded knowledge of who we are and this was the first time I felt the calling–I knew I was intended to accomplish more in life.

For the next six or seven years I would try various means of finding my place in the world. All of them were hard on my parents but they would also take a toll on me.

The downward spiral began when I decided with much enthusiasm to move to Salt Lake City, Utah. Salt Lake is far from being the most glamorous of places to live but it’s absolutely gorgeous in the winter. After some months looking for the right direction I applied for a job as a programmer for Continental Airlines. I didn’t get the job and about the time I was reaching a year anniversary in Salt Lake I decided to return home.

Shortly after returning back to Hollandale I moved in with a friend and would work at Wal-Mart for a year. During my time at the store I would agree to make another move, this time to Oakland, California. I was hired by a web design startup after being assured of the training and pay I’d receive if I made the move. Like last time. I lasted about a year and in this case I’m not really sure how or why I stayed.

They did not follow through on their side of the deal (in other words I wasn’t trained) and on a couple of occasions I was enlisted to save their behinds from lawsuits. By the time I finally made the decision to leave, the situation had deteriorated to a very unhealthy level. Informing them of the changes I intended to make upset them a bit. My life was threatened, they removed all ties to me, kicked me out of my housing and left me to find my way with $40 to my name (As an aside, I recently contacted them, having found the same dry, half-ass website design on their site from a decade ago and thanked them for all of this).

Ahh, life lessons.

But I’m not bitter. I recognize they did what they felt was right for them and in time I would learn a lot from the experience. I actually miss the friendship of the people involved. Some people tell me I’m crazy to feel that way but I am what I am.

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