The truth about building a multi 6-figure business at 22
I was 19 when I dropped out of college and started my first business. It was a ecomm business which seemed smart during covid. (Turns out a lot of people thought that) Now I wasn’t the kid who flunked classes, or rebelled like crazy. My mom actually homeschooled me, and when I went into high school I was a few years ahead of most people my age. I got straight A’s, graduated early, and received multiple college scholarships. But those all led to some version of a desk, a boss, and salary capped at 6-figures. I didn’t like the idea of anyone telling me what to do. So instead? I worked 12-hour days, while building my business on top of a 9-5 job. First in construction, then in fashion, and then in politics. From 5-10 were my business hours. I took no vacations, weekends off, and invested my spare cash into my business. But at the end of 2 years I had nothing to show for it… At least not monetarily. I’d actually lose about $3,000 paying for inventory that had almost no profit margin. And that’s only when I managed to get people to buy my overpriced health supplements. But after pitching and recruiting team members for 24 months, I became pretty good in people skills. My 9-5 was getting old…but the business was still in the red 😫 My town’s pretty small. So there’s these little meet ups that local businesses go to and “network.” You best believe I showed up to each and every little dinner and networking party. These people might need my help someday I figured. I switched businesses (had to stop bleeding money trying to sell random health supplements no one wanted)... And I pitched social media marketing for $800 retainers to my local network. People laughed. They were literally making less than 40k/year in their brick and mortar businesses. And here I am trying to get them interested in online marketing. A close friend agreed to let me build her website for $150… then backed out the next day saying it was “too expensive.” I remember quitting my job last February with this timer in my head: