From $150k in Debt to Right Here, Right Now (thank you, Skool Fam)
4 years ago I found myself $150k in debt The anniversary is coming up in a few days I went from a $500,000 ARR business to that reality within 2 months In 2016 I started a Youth Development Centre We grew to 6-fig in 6 months - and continued growing from there We mentored international, national and youth level athletes When COVID hit we lost 85% of our revenue overnight All our school contracts and sporting contracts were null and void We couldn't recover I made mistakes on risk management I'll never make again After the doors closed it took me a month to process and stabilise I was in a place where I had no thing except the skills I'd acquired I went all in on writing copy I freelanced and consulted Over the next four years I'd quickly scale back up to ~$150k I paid off the debt I worked with some fucking banger companies I flew around the world to write It was fucking epic Then in 2022 I was offered an opportunity It felt too good to be true at the time (turns out it was ... remember, there's always a trade off) It was with an agency that had generated $2.3B at the time I'd be a Marketing Exec, Copy Chief and manage millions on ad spend every month while managing a team of creatives It was like tapping into the matrix - personal & professional growth wise We'd routinely turn $100k spend into 7 figures, and take companies from $50k/mo to $100k/wk in a few months It taught me a lot ... and one thing in particular about myself My highest values in life are freedom and mentoring Helping others makes my cup overflow I couldn't keep up the 3am client calls I couldn't keep up the 18 hr days, 7 days a week I couldn't keep working to build someone else's dream So I transitioned away earlier this year I burned everything to the ground Started from zero again I took a forced sabbatical For months I'd start building something and then stop It never felt right The one thing I was looking for was a community of ambitious people chasing their very best self