how i got here

^{This is part 2 of my 2-part origin story series. If you missed part 1 you can read it here.}

It’s 2017. My brother and I graduated college and were most certainly not getting real jobs.

We caught the entrepreneurial bug in high school. There was no going back.

Our programs (Commerce & Engineering) were not designed for such a decision.

They were conveyor belts to Corperatlandia. When students stepped OFF that conveyor belt, it was quite strange.

Our friends were supportive, but we knew they had their doubts.

My girlfriend at the time was the least supportive.

She grew up in a traditional family and thought I was destroying my career.

She was right to think that.

I failed HARD those first few months. So did my brother Jordan.

Let’s start with him. He decided to get rich selling dog toys and wooden cutlery on Amazon.

It was totally random and a terrible career match for his engineering degree.

He started to make sales after 2 months but was losing money on every unit he shipped.

He ended the summer down a few thousand dollars with a newfound respect for what it takes to succeed in e-commerce.

In the meantime, I was hitting the pavement with a brand-new scheme.

It was called “Go Local Kingston”.

I would interview local business owners in Kingston, Ontario (our college town), and turn those interviews into Youtube videos.

The Youtube channel still exists with an incredible 4 subscribers.

My strategy was to give first by making the video for free.

I would then offer my paid service (Facebook ads) once I had built up some trust through the free video.

After filming 18 interviews I made $0.

Looking back, I can see how terrible both the idea and execution were.

The YouTube videos were cool but didn’t get them any business. Why would they then trust me to run Facebook ads?

It would have been way easier to run Facebook ads for free and start charging once I got a result.

Anyways, when you start in business, you suck really hard. You must suck before you get good.

By the end of summer, my brother and I had moved back home with our tails between our legs.

It was one of my life’s deepest lows.

Our friends were all off to the bustling cities with high-paying corporate gigs.

We were getting part-time jobs in our hometown, sleeping in our childhood rooms.

I used my commerce degree to get a job as a barista, and my brother used his engineering degree to repair refrigerators.

My girlfriend also broke up with me as her doubts were confirmed.

I felt like a loser. Truly.

Then, I got a call from one of the businesses I interviewed during the summer.

Although their interview didn’t take off, he WAS down for my Facebook ad services.

He was my first “legit” client and paid me $797/m for 2 1/2 years.

This was a turning point. I had a taste of success and decided to really get serious.

It was now or never. My path was forking between becoming a real person or a 32-year-old stay-at-home-son basement dweller.

I began my Rocky cut scene.

I went to bed at 9 every night, got up at 5, ate, cleaned, exercised, and worked on the biz nonstop.

I had no social life and became a one-dimensional loner.

Being a loner had its perks. I was never hungover and wasn’t distracted by social media or dating apps.

To say I was “locked in” would be an insulting understatement.

From the vacuum of this mundane life, emerged a deep focus where success started to take hold.

I became obsessed with marketing & copywriting. I then deployed those skills to help my dad promote his medical spa.

We launched a Facebook ads campaign and it blew up. He made an extra $60K in one month.

Boom. There it was. Case study numero uno.

I teamed up with my brother to create Forever Booked - the business we continue to run today.

My dad was our advisor and gave us some much-needed credibility during those early years.

That was 6 years ago. We've since built Forever Booked into a thriving business that fuels my entreflâneur lifestyle.

The trajectory has been anything but smooth. Here's a quick timeline:

2017-2018: Instead of offering a done-for-you agency service for medical spas, we tried selling a COURSE on how to run Facebook ads.

This was a terrible idea. It failed because we only had success with my dad’s clinic and not others.

Lesson: Don’t sell a course unless you have solved the problem many times with many different people. Duh.

2018-2020: We ditched the course to build an agency instead. We got up to $30K/m in revenue but had no systems and went crazy trying to fulfill our obligations.

It was a blessing when COVID hit because it gave us some time to breathe and reassess.

2020-21: We switched to a pay-per-show model where we charged for each appointment we delivered to a med spa instead of charging a monthly fee.

We got up to $50K/m but once again went crazy trying to deliver.

2021-22: We returned to the monthly retainer model with more experience and better systems. We got up to $200K/m but once again found ourselves over our heads with our client’s needs.

2022-23: After reaching a breaking point we decided to fire 70% of our clients and start fresh with a new model.

By this point, we had a ton of experience running ads for clinics. We were finally ready to start teaching them how to do it themselves.

2024: We’re now again approaching $200K/m as a consultancy and not an agency. The business is more profitable and way more fun to run.

I’m no longer a slave to the business and am actually at Burning Man as you read this.

😉 

As you can see, success does not happen in a straight line.

Things don’t happen as you want them to and everything takes longer than you think.

Extreme disappointment is guaranteed. The job of the entrepreneur is to persist.

My #1 lesson: do the same thing for a long time.

If my brother had stuck with the Amazon thing for 6 years, it would have worked.

If I had stuck with Go Local Kingston for 6 years, it would have worked.

Try a bunch of stuff in the beginning until you find some traction.

Then, dig in your heels and commit at least 3 years to that one thing.

That’s all I got.

Life story: Let’s let this baby continue to unfold.

Talk next week ✌️

Cool things I found during my weekly internet stroll.

Neuralink’s second paralyzed patient can play Counter-Strike 2 with their thoughts.

The biggest diamond in over a century was just found in Botswana.

1.3 gigapixel image of the moon. Would make a cool wallpaper.

I really want one of these wooden bikes.

This exists. Finland hosts the world heavy metal knitting championship.

Served up by Spijker & me.

Lately - Adam Ten & Mita Gami Remix | RÜFÜS DU SOL, Adam Ten, Mita Gami

Me Pierdo | Spijker

Along Came Polly (Konstantin Sibold, ZAC & CARMEE Remix) | Rebūke