Wild Bodybuilding Champion Changed My Life
One day, this blond bodybuilding champion, Wade Lightheart, walked in the gym in Moncton and we started talking.
He told me he’s a successful trainer from Vancouver. I get excited since he’s doing exactly what I want to do.
A few months later, my wife, Joel (the singer) and I throw all our belongings in a U-Haul truck and drive 5500 kilometers (about 4000 miles) to beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia.
Wade then proceeded to get me hooked up with World’s Gym downtown Vancouver.
So I decided to put this “marketing stuff” to use. I had no idea if it was gonna work or not.
I started working on my marketing. I wrote the best copy I could. What happened blew my mind…
4000% Return on Investment
I ran a classified ad that pointed to my webpage. I was making 4000% return on my ad costs. I was spending $50 a week and I was making $2000 on average (that’s 40X). Plus I was keeping most of my clients for years – so my ROI was way higher than that.
I became one of the busiest trainers in the gym, 100% because to my marketing skills.
I was always hungry to expand my knowledge and “neural net”.
The Power of Seminars And Events
I flew to NYC to attend Gary Bencivenga’s retirement seminar. Gary is one of the greatest copywriters of all times.
Despite being over $40,000 in debt from student loans, plus credit card debt and business debt – I started investing in seminars and events.
I went to events by Dan Kennedy, Gary Halbert, John Carlton, John Reese, Armand Morin, Gary Bencivenga, Clayton Makepeace and on and on…
Several of these events costed $5000 plus expenses to attend.
I kept training my copywriting skills.
I made friends and allies.
I built a new circle of influence.
I was reinvesting every penny I made from personal training back into NEW knowledge.
My 2nd Darkest Moment
But it wasn’t all peach cobblers and whip cream dreams.
Four significant events absolutely rocked my confidence in the Universe all within the span of a year.
First I got scammed into buying a $7,500 stock investing course. It was useless information and the money was gone. Not the end of the world. Let’s keep on truckin…
A couple of months later, I received a message from my ex-wife frantically asking me to call her back while I was in NYC on a trip.
She revealed that someone had broken into our apartment in Vancouver and stole a safe with $25,000 in cash I had saved up (which was almost all my savings at the time) plus my video recording equipment worth thousands. It was soul-crushing.
But wait there’s more…
We had hired a software company for $50,000 to build a fitness website. It would’ve been one of the best fitness websites in the world at that time (this was around 2001).
They ended up declaring bankruptcy leaving me with useless code. $50,000 GONE. POOF!
Last and worst was, sending $15,000 on my #1 marketing mentor at the time. I won’t mention his name out of respect.
I flew down to his home. And unfortunately, he was an active drug addict who had lost his touch.
He proceeded to change 5 words from the copy I had wrote. He put me on a totally new direction (that I didn’t want to go) and sent me home.
I tried his ideas and it bombed.
This was the most heartbreaking event because my hero had fallen. I was devastated. The world felt like a brutal, grim place.
The Turnaround Call
After this happened, I called a friend of mine Dan Gallapoo (very respected marketer). He said “Bro, you’ve got all the skills you need to make this work. You don’t need anyone else.”
That was the exact message I needed.
I picked myself off the floor and went to work.
I spent 40 hours learning how to edit video and edited my first product: “Anti-Grappling Secrets”. We sold 5 figures worth of that DVD.
My First Big Success
My first real hit. Sold well into the 6 figures of this little guy.
One of my personal training clients owned a skin care company. She knew I was a marketer and decided to create a unique formulation for me: The Anti-Aging Super Serum.
I worked my fingers off for weeks on that sales letter. My marketing mentor kicked my ass and kept upgrading my copy.
Finally, he said “It’s really good”. It felt like I had arrived.
I turned on Google Adwords for it and BOOOOOM!
Within a couple of hours I made my first profitable sale. Then another… and another.
I could barely sleep for 3 days. I was too jacked.
We proceeded to make 5 figures on that skin care product the first month. It was a great cash machine for many years.
Becoming A Marketing Machine
Then I went on a run. I became a marketing machine and created several products in many different categories: dog walking, addiction, success and more.
My next big success was in the instructional guitar market. I partnered up with a student of mine and we proceeded to build one of the biggest instructional guitar companies in the world.
It’s been running for a decade now and it’s still going strong. We’ve sold 8 figures worth of instructional musical products.
I also partnered up with Wade Lightheart and built a company who sold natural bodybuilding products and supplements. It quickly became a 7 figure company in less than 2 years.
Career-wise, I felt on top of the world.
Personally, things weren’t that good.
My wife and I had grown apart during our time in Vancouver. It felt like neither of us were happy in the relationship.
I decided it was time for a change.
After 4 years of marriage, I decided to file for divorce.
Click here to read Part 4 of my story: international partying, drinking, and my darkest moment …
And comment below — tell me which part of my story resonated with you!
