About Me
When I was really young my mom asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up – I told her, “A house soldier.”
Thinking about it now I guess, it's kinda funny, that I did in fact, end up working from home.
In University, Marie and I ended up starting a “side hustle” online and because of it, we made 7 figures before the age of 30.
Needless, to say we've been online entrepreneurs, and living life on our own terms ever since!
The Early Years
I've known my wife, Marie, since we met at a Santa's breakfast when we were 3 years old, lol.
We grew up in the same neighbourhood in Toronto Canada, had the same friends, went to neighbouring schools, and our lives intersected over and over again until we ended up in the same high school.
In high school we sat together in the same classes, grabbed coffee after school, hung out on weekends and after graduating and spending a year apart at separate universities, I ended up transferring to the University of Toronto so we could be in the same city again.
It's while we were studying for our degrees that all this “online entrepreneurial stuff” first found us.
To be honest, Marie and I were not really looking for anything when we started our “side hustle” back in our University days.
In fact, it was purely by accident that we realized that people were using the internet to make extra money – but the concept of making extra money online while we poured over Russian Literature and Linguistic text books sounded appealing.
Little did we know that our minds would be opened to a completely different way of thinking about “making money” and we'd literally start another education about sales processes', copywriting, sales funnels and more…
Realizing that with the internet we could create income by setting up systems to run for us (whether we were there or not) started our minds thinking about how our lives could be spent in the pursuit of our passions. It was this idea versus versus “trading time for dollars” that “hooked” us and we became “obsessed” on achieving this dream of automated systems, passive income and true location, time and financial freedom.
The Path
Now, the path wasn't always straight. There were a lot of frustrating times staring at computer screens watching nothing happen. There were many missteps, different business models to try and fail at before we figured out our own steps to getting our own “formula” right.
But 3 years into it, and post university degrees, we finally put our strengths together with the right information and we had our first year where we made our first quarter of a million dollars. We doubled that the next year making $548K and before the age of 30, we'd made our first million.
What We Learned
What we learned in the years we struggled is that information is important, but it has to be the right information.
We also learned that there is too much information to wade through before you can even start making sense of it all, let alone getting down to a concrete plan to execute.
That said, much of what worked and were the fundamentals of online entrepreneurship are still the same today (minus a few tweaks) as they were years ago when we started.
So as we work with our clients and students, we're sure that they first understand their strengths and what it takes to build the type of business they want to pursue. Now, make note, if this is something you lack clarity on, take our quiz to help you define what your online entrepreneurship “archetype” so to speak is. It will help moving forward and building your company, so much easier.
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Blog posts
A Day In My Life..
The above picture – with the beautiful sunset and the kids playing on the shore – was taken on Jack's birthday.
This area, is just outside the window, on our property that overlooks the Bay of Fundy and we're so lucky that is has given us gorgeous sunsets like this almost each and every single night.
The reason I bring this up is because at least once a week I get the question, of “what does daily routine look like?
So when we're not travelling (and with Covid-19 sadly there isn't much of that going on) we've been staying close to home, usually going between our primary residence and our lake house/cottage.
Jack & Marie
Henry
At the cottage, canoeing.
International Spy Museum
Jack and Henry
Orlando, Florida
But typically, a normal day is getting up when my internal clock goes off. I'm up first to get a jump on the day. I make myself a cup of coffee and one for Marie, which I always bring up to bed. ☕️
Personally, I don't eat breakfast – I intermittent fast since that feels best for me and in just the last year, I've lost 40 lbs (that's another story but hit me up if you're interested – I'm a big believer in IF and can always talk about it!).
Once I've delivered coffee in bed, I like to get down to work. I always write a list of the things I need to get accomplished the night before, so there is no guesswork for me and I can get going right away – before the kids wake up!
Once the kids are awake, I generally will make the family breakfast – I like making frittatas and smoothies – a smoothie because our little one can't stand eggs, but our eldest loves frittatas or an omelet. ????
Once that's done, Marie gets down to homeschooling, I go back to work.
In the next couple of hours, the kids are done their schoolwork and they are free to pursue whatever it is that interests them.
Marie and I then get together for a brief meeting, we have lunch and she gets down to work in the afternoon.
Usually we are done after a couple of hours and then the extra curricular activities start – our kids are heavily into sports, and Jack plays soccer 5-6 a week so we spend a lot of time at the training center.
After that's done, dinner from scratch – we rotate who cooks between the 3 of us – yes, Jack is an excellent cook at 12, and is a Brand Ambassador for Raddish Kids, a kids cooking subscription – along with being a Brand Ambassador for a number of soccer related gear – be sure to check it out!
A when that's done, we often choose a movie or documentary to watch with the kids in evening or we play a board game – oddly enough, the favourite right now with the boys is a board game called, “Pandemic ????”.
You know it's a simple existence.
Not terribly flashy, but the ability to balance my life and work is a blessing.
The most important thing is spending time with my family and helping shape my kids into kind and compassionate human beings with a great outlook on life is my priority.
I am just incredibly lucky that my work has allowed me to be financially. secure, to create generational wealth and be free to pursue the things I love in life because I can.
It's an absolute gift we've been given and so, we're giving back in which ever way we can hoping the dreams you have for your own life can be manifested, at least in small part, with the knowledge that we are sharing with you: our clients, students and mastermind partners.
My Why
People ask me what made Marie and I pursue this above all other things — And it's simple – our online company allows us the freedom to live the kind of life we want.
Don't get me wrong, there are tough times for sure, but the benefits are so rewarding in comparison.
I can't even begin to explain what it's like to know that my eldest is 12 and I that because of what I have chosen to do, I that spent all those days with him, especially because we chose to homeschool.
Time is precious, and kids grow up so fast. I didn't want to miss it. Building my own online company has given the most important thing – time.
Get To Know Me Better
Since 2005, Marie and I have made a yearly 6 figure income through my online company.
The first year we cleared 6 figures in one year, in January we made $7000, the next month $18,000 and at the end of the year, we made over a quarter million dollars ($250K+) selling a digital, knowledge based course!
At only 28 years old, Marie and I were made responsible for training thousands of marketers for an online company. We taught on online marketing and the importance of mindset. We ran over 10 conference calls a week.
We are multiple award winners and won the “Gold” Top Sales Award for outstanding achievement x2.
We have also won the coveted “Outstanding Sales and Leadership” award
We are recipients of the Peak Performer Award!
We are often invited to be flown out to check out new and emerging online start up companies.
We were featured in Mike Dillards “Magnetic Sponsoring Heroes”
We were featured in the magazine “Home Business Connection” for our outstanding success for online entrepreneurship
I am a digital course creator (I love sharing what I've learned) and one of my products did $140K in it's first 7 days of launching.
On the flip side, I help people market their passions by creating their own digital courses!
Listen To The Hustle Up Podcast!
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