I love January.
Besides the start of the new year, the fresh ambition and motivation (and finishing all those pesky holidays)… something very important happens.
It’s tennis month in Australia.
During January there is tennis on all day and most nights on TV. It’s the only time of the year it happens here and I love it.
I don’t play so much anymore, but every day throughout the year I log into my favourite tennis websites and see who is winning what, what controversy is occurring and all the other behind the scenes events.
For me tennis is a little bit like my soap opera. I enjoy the characters and the relationships just as much as the tennis.
You see, tennis is about stories.
There are rivalries, records to break, nostalgia with past champions, the respect and the emotion of winning and losing.
I admire the skill of the players during the match, but for me it’s more important to see the human characteristics of the players.
This is why I love the post-match interviews, when we get to hear what the player thinks and feels, what their personality is like and gain an insight into their lives outside of tennis.
I also love it when players who have never won a big tournament – the grand slams like the Australian Open – manage to win one.
It’s the realisation of a dream, something they strive for as the pinnacle of what they can achieve in their career.
Consequently emotions are intense, especially when someone breaks through for the first time.
As much as I love the Federers, Nadals, and Williams of the sport, they’ve won so many big tournaments that it’s not quite the same as when a first timer break through.
A Story Of Redemption
This week during the men’s quarterfinal Novak Djokovic lined up again Stanislas Wawrinka.
Stan is in the second tier of top tennis players.
He’s very very good – good enough to make the top ten and win tournaments, just not win the grand slams.
This current era of men’s tennis has been dominated by four men who have won every single grand slam besides one for almost the last ten years (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray – only Juan Martín del Potro snuck in and won a US Open in 2009).
Just this week Stan had once again fought his way to the final eight of the Australian Open, and once again he was slated to play against Novak Djokovic.
Stan has come really close to beating Novak. He went to five sets last year in Australia and also five sets in last year’s US Open.
As close as he gets, Novak always finds a way to win. That’s just what the very best champions always do.
For a guy like Stan, making it to the final and giving yourself a chance to win the big tournaments is like a mountain almost impossible to climb.
There’s also something else you need to know about Stan – he’s from Switzerland.
You probably know one tennis player from Switzerland, his name is Roger Federer.
Everyone knows Roger, but no one but the die hard tennis fans know Stan. He’s had to follow in the footsteps of a guy who casts a huge shadow, and not just in this era – as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
This week, just like the last two big matches between Novak and Stan, they managed to fight their way to a fifth set of tennis to determine a winner.
This time, the third big five-set match, things were different.
Stan was supposed to lose. Novak was the three-time defending champion, four time winner overall. The Australian Open is his favourite tournament and he knows how to win there even against the very best.
As they progressed towards the final games in the fifth set, it was still tight.
Five-all became six-all, which became seven-all (you need a difference of two games to win the final set at the Aussie Open).
Stan held his serve to get to 8-7. He then managed to open a window on Novak’s service game and found himself with a match point.
Novak served, Stan returned and Novak ran to the net to hit a volley winner.
However instead of hitting a winner it went out.
It was game over. Stan had won 9-7 in the fifth set. He had finally beaten Novak.
Stan had his moment of redemption.
The Highest Mountain To Climb
As I write this Stan has progressed to the final of the tournament. I don’t know if he will win, but he’s given himself a chance by making it to the final for the very first time.
During his post-match press conference after he won through to the finals, Stan explained how Roger had sent him a text congratulating him for winning his match.
Stan joked that Roger was used to being at this late stage of the tournament, and for him it was the first time – a new experience.
The interviewer then asked if he expected to be there, and Stan very honestly said “No”.
Although Stan hadn’t given up on the dream, he was pretty clear with his expectations. He just didn’t expect to be in the finals.
In an era where four guys dominate, everyone else loses, including Stan.
Stan has a tattoo on his left arm. The tattoo, in old English-style lettering, is from Irish playwright Samuel Beckett and reads:
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail Better.
Now that’s an ode that every struggling entrepreneur should wholeheartedly embrace.
What Is Your Redemption Story?
I feel we all have a story of redemption we are living out, especially as entrepreneurs.
By going against the script that society has written and choosing to forge our own paths, there’s always a sense of being the underdog.
We fight, struggle and despair when all our efforts appear to be in vain.
That moment when you finally make your first dollar online is like winning your first match.
When you have a good month and realise your business just made enough money to cover all your bills, it’s a big victory.
Then a crucial day arrives – you hand in your resignation to your job. That feels like winning a tournament.
Then the big one, the Grand Slam – that’s the day you realise your business has done so well that you are finally financially free. You will never worry about money again.
Along the way you feel moments of redemption. When your doubts are finally laid to rest and you get the win you have been working towards for so long.
For me, the biggest moment of redemption as an entrepreneur was the day I calculated my income for the past few months and realised my business had made enough for me to live off. To earn that income I was only working a couple of hours per day.
My “victory” criteria was always about achieving income AND time freedom. To look back and feel that I had delivered on both goals and it was possible from a business I created by myself, was incredibly gratifying.
What About You?
I’d love to know, have you had your story of redemption or are you still working towards it?
If you are not there yet, what is the achievement or goal that will be the win you have struggled towards for so long?
Yaro Starak
Tennis Fan
Hi Yaro,
Have enjoyed watching the tennis too. Good to see Stan do so well; he perseveres, he believes.
IM perseverance: Been trying to make a full time living for too many years (just ask my family about that, not!).
But, I’m making gains towards the goal. My model is ads to landing page to email follow ups. Sell my own eBooks/videos.
I was at about $100 profit/week for quite a while but with ongoing tweaking and long follow ups momentum (I get some subscribers buying after 4,5 or 6 months), I went up to $1000 profit in October ($250/week) then up to $1600p in November ($400/week). December wasn’t as good as traffic went down from 400 to 300 opt ins (seasonal; niche is golf).
Now, been working for two months on implementing upsells (videos turned into DVD’s, shopping cart implementation, Dvd fulfillment place sorted; sooo many hurdles…but I persist towards my goals).
Assumptions: Up sell/down sell will hopefully up revenue by 50% and profitability by 100% (based on 3/10 conversion rate). All based on 80/20 principle by Perry Marshall which I read in November.
If this new up sell addition works, it will be close to a full time living (a simple one). From there with greater profitability, I will have more ammunition to go by some bigger media and greatly increase traffic from 400subs/month to 50/day.
I keep going. I take heart in little victories, I keep focused on what needs to be done, I keep learning and take action every day.
The journey is character building, the small wins “stoke the fire”, and the victory will be oh so sweet!
“Keep going”
Hi Anthony,
Thanks so much for your lengthy comment. I can feel your story reflected in my own with so many things you have to set up and the slow process of improving things over time.
Unlike you though I have not gone down the buying traffic path yet, but I am eager to do so once I have my products all lined up ready to help people.
I take it you work on your business at night and on weekends around your full time job?
Yaro
As I write this, Stanislas Wawrinka had won his second set against Nadal in the Men’s singles finals.
A great read for me at this moment when I am still undecided what to do with my life. As I watch the final unfold, I am taking some mental notes and hopefully, I start with a bang come tomorrow.
He won! That makes my article just that little bit more valid too. Thanks Stan 🙂
Hey Yaro,
Yes, I have been personal training the last 10 years so it’s a job that gives you free time to do other things.
But now, I had a on-line consulting job for 8 weeks up until the other week (first online consulting job). Stopped personal training Mid December because I moved to…Queensland.
The consulting was $650/week for 8 weeks so along with building my own business, that was good (got to talk to employer and get a couple more months with them).
I don’t have the PT income now as I moved to where your from! (Dam hot up here!) So, gotta get that up sell working.
Yep, paid traffic takes some perseverance, but, if you get profitable, there is a lot of scale-ability.
Do you do much consulting to the private sector Yaro?
Hi Anthony,
It sounds like you have had some big changes recently to your life, hopefully all good!
I have not done any private sector work besides the odd talk at events targeted at the corporate world (and I think I ended up luring people away from their jobs to become entrepreneurs anyway!).
I have thought about some kind of productized services for the corporate world because it would be great to work with people who have the resources to implement things and see how they go. That might happen in the next few years, or if someone approaches before that possibly too.
I do prefer working with motivated individuals who are looking to build their own lifestyle business. That’s an area I have an entire career’s worth of experience in, so it makes sense to focus there.
Yaro
For ten years I’ve had a music band with which I tried to compose, rehearse and play gigs. It never went the way I wanted it to be. Band members had very different expectations. For me, money was never an objective. My pay check was the applause for songs I wrote. For another band member, being part of it was sufficient. Two others wanted money, money that organizers were not willing to pay for a band with our song material and musical prowess. We had about 5 gigs a year. We participated in several contests but never made it to the finals (contests were the only gigs the other members would do withoug being paid).
Late 2012 we decided to part. My girlfriend told me that I should change my repertoire too. I assembled a whole new list of songs, stripping it from melancholic moods and hermetic poetry, making the songs musically more accessible and writing about thoughts and emotions with which audiences can connect more easily. I did a couple of try-outs with friends and then went out with my programme, which you could compare to a “Flight of the conchords” of sorts (for the sake of comparison – these guys are geniuses).
In 2013 I had 15 concerts and great critical acclaim. I could really feel the connection with the audience. They were genuinely asking “encore!”. There was no band noise interfering with my the lyrics. There was no band making rehearsals complicated, in terms of organization or resisting when I wanted to rehearse bridges between songs as well. There was no quibbling about money.
Of course I’ll miss the vibe of making music together. I’ll miss the boys. I feel lonely after each gig. I’m not as strong instrumentally as the rest of them were. So things are amiss too, but in a minor way. In a major way I’m happy with what I’m doing.
I’m not getting a penny for my gigs, just drinks and laughs. I have a job for that. It doesn’t really accord to the entrepreneur’s journey most of you are pursuing. In my case, giving up the ambition to earn a living through my passion has relieved me from a lot of pressure. I can now freely pursue my quest for recognition as a songwriter, singer, performer and musician. I make a living otherwise. This is my redemption!
Cheers
Hello Dieter,
Thank you so much for sharing your story here. I believe musicians have a lot in common with entrepreneurs – in fact I seem them as the same thing, a person leveraging their creative passion to turn a living.
Of course like you said you do it for the applause, not the money, but obviously the money gives you the freedom to do it more often, so there is an undeniable entrepreneurial aspect to it.
I am curious are you now doing music as your full time living?
Yaro
No, not at all. This was never within reach, not with the repertoire I’m building, but the (lack of) remuneration often presented a hurdle for continued activity. Nowadays I play for free and make a living through a regular professional activity, as an employee (but it isn’t dull at all).
That’s why I mentioned that the way I’m doing things is probably far from the entrepreneurial journey. Still, the activity of making, recording and performing songs is very much entrepreneurial.
Maybe one day recognition will transform into money again, but for now I’ve given up on the monetization and go for the creative side full speed. Removing the pressure to get money was key for me to find a path of fulfillment.
I have been online since ’07, in fact I ‘started out’ with your Blogging Mastermind Yaro, and it this day I remember you as my initial inspiration it live the laptop lifestyle. So thank you, firstly!
As for redemption, well –
The journey has been long, and tough. I’ve failed at far more than I’ve won, and I tend to be very hard on myself; think I have to do what everyone else is doing. However, my business now makes more than a full time living, and as of Nov ’13 my family and I are officially location independent! So that’s some redemption 🙂
The flip side is … Just as I’ve ‘made it’ to where I wanted to be from a lifestyle point of view I’ve also realised my business is just not aligned with the me I want to be. Right now I am teetering on the precipice, having deliberately halted programs that were making me high 5-figures a month in order to pursue my real dream, which is to make a difference as a ‘dream life’ and success coach, working with women on purpose, passion, why and success mindset. The reason I’m teetering is, I am scared. I don’t know quite yet how I will match my previous success selling the ‘intangible’. I feel I’m being in some ways completely insane to effectively walk away from that income, particularly as doing so is already impacting on our day to day cash flow! But yet I refuse to go on without truly giving my all to creating success on my terms.
Redemption would be to make it despite all of that 🙂
Hi Kat,
Great to hear from a long time Blog Mastermind member!
I can see the dilemma you face, I have had a similar problem in the past making money from something that I knew wasn’t what I wanted to focus on anymore, yet it was my main income stream. The solution for me was to automate the one income stream as much as I could so I could free time away from it without losing all the income, giving me the opportunity to start something new that I enjoy more and build it up as an income stream. Then you can transition from one business to the other, maybe even selling your previous business so you have a nice cash buffer too.
Congratulations on the location independence! I’m curious what market are you in?
Yaro
Hey Yaro,
I guess your post was what I needed to read today. Let me share my story:
I started a blog 2 years ago with several setbacks:
1- I talk about self-help, meditations and new lifestyles (there’s millions of blogs about that now).
2- I write in English while I’m French (takes me 3 X longer to write a post than a native speaker).
3- My “voice” as an author is unconventional, hence turning off a good part of the regular self-help audience.
My attempts at making connections with other bloggers met no success (lately, a celebrity that I won’t name replied to my interview request by asking to clean his house in exchange), and I made 15$ with my blog in the last 3 quarters.
I think I fully qualify for the underdog status.
But wait, there’s still something that might play in my favor: I don’t quit. I kept posting every week for the last 2 years and connecting with readers via all possible means.
I keep going, refining my content, understanding how I can serve my readership, making a brand that can’t be ignored.
I feel that my efforts have forced me to make huge progress, and to me quitting would be really wrong in this chapter of the story.
So I don’t quit, and I’m not going to wait for my redemption, I think I’m going to have to make it happen, the hard way, the Sam Beckett way (he was Irish and wrote in French).
Wish me luck! It’s good to read your posts when the uphill run gets tough 🙂
Hi Gael,
I am curious – why did you not write a blog in French? You could cover the same subjects, it would be easier for you to write in your native language I presume and there are enough French speakers in the world that you could have a great niche blog business.
That’s what I would do!
Yaro
Yaro, thank you for your advice, I really appreciate it. Writing a blog in my own language is what common sense would dictate, and I’ve considered it. What held me off from starting it is the French mindset: it’s really different from the Anglo-Saxon one and I know that the type of content I provide doesn’t work with my fellows.
And maybe I like huge challenges, too. I will prevail though, and in 6 months from now, I’m sure I’ll have better news to share with you.
I too watched the Aussie Open final and really enjoyed the match. So pleased to see Stan win his first Grand Slam event, especially as he was the first player to beat the world #1 & #2 in a grand slam tournement since 1993 – great achievment. I’m an avid tennis fan and looking forward to the GB team beating the US in the Davis Cup on Friday!!
I’m in the process of starting my IM business in a niche that combines my passion, knowledge & personal experience, which I feel is a good foundation to build upon.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you Yaro for your ‘Blog Profits Blueprint’ ebook which has given me the knowledge and inspiration to build my blog and my subsrcriber list right from the word ‘go’.
I’m super excited to build my business, and my silly dance is all prepared for when I earn my first dollar online. Climbing the IM rankings is my objective, point by point, game by game, set by set…………
Hi Jon, It’s been a while since you could be so confident that the UK team will beat the US in Davis Cup after all those american champions in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
I’m glad you liked my ebook too Jon, I hope that first dollar comes quickly!
Yaro
Hey Yaro,
After reading this post I had a somber moment. I have this crazy background that is a piece of a puzzle. After I graduate college in 1996 as a High School teacher, I give teaching a good 7-10 years. 7 in Guyana my home country and 3 in the US. Then I jumped into health care after completing another degree in Psychology. It was there I started getting the Entrepreneurial itch. I worked as a Psychiatric Counselor but I was not doing theraphy I was doing admission screening, discharge planning and working the floors as a tech, a very unique position for someone who is not a therapist. I saw a pattern of teens and youth in the hospital with no psych issues but needed direction and I created a business to address it. That was how Youth Connex was born. I started as a weekly talk show on a local radio station and provided referrals, in 3 months, the show grew to 26 radio stations and I introduced a magazine with a print run of 25,000. After the third issue, I was in so much over my head, I shut shop. Although I was fortunate to get interviews with Mary Mary, Hill Harper, Joey Kibble of Take 6, Dominique Dawes and many other celebrities, I did not have structure or sustainability. I made about $90,000 and spent about $150,000. I feel hopeless and I was done.
I was preparing to go back into Teaching as I have bills and I had owed a few friends, family and other people. Although people keep asking for more of Youth Connex, I was just do burn out and tired to think again of it.
I was about to sign a contract as a teacher when I got a phone call I and excuse myself to answer it. It was a parent asking me to tutor their child in Math for the SAT (back story…I did tutoring while in college and Main a tidy living). The contract was not what I was after, I wanted an income and they were gonna give me the insurance, benefits and the like but I was bitten with the entrepreneurial itch and asked to think about the offer for just a night and come back tomorrow and sign.
Cutting a long story, I call and turn down the contract. Last year, I teach 35 students in a small 10 x 10 office in a 1-on-1 fashion and was able to make 1.5 of the contract they were offering on my own. That was a BIG Redemption Moment. I now know I can pay my bills, sleep at nights and even go back to some of those half bake projects with more focus.
This year, I will establish a website, add a mentoring program (membership model) and triple my student count.
Half Bake and Park: Yes I wrote a book. Yes, I pitched a product at Whole Food and had it distributed, yes I wrote a course but the focus part was not in tack as I was chasing money. I know am happy now and that I can say I am focused now and on my way up that mountain.
When I look at last year seeing progress without chasing 10 other things, I am happy I found the online links, hacking tools and from the Insiders Club…I listen and read those Action Guides and gather focus each and every week.
Hey….This is just my Redemption story.
Thank you for sharing your story Nigel. I really like that the entrepreneurial option won in the end. Have you ever hired other teachers to expand the business even more or do you just want to keep it with you as the tutor?
Hey….I have hired 2 other tutors to work with me, one a college professor to handle the upper classes and I have another grad student with some of the junior students. Last year I almost hit $100k….$87k to be exact but I did that without any online efforts…from website right back…I use a few flyers and a few signs that was it. Now I am pushing to add more tutors, add mentoring and even some online classes.
Math is always a tough subject and teaching it has been fun.
Nigel
Still working.
At least you are still here too Evan. I can’t even remember when you left your first comment on EJ.
Hi Yaro,
This is one volley of a post so thanks for serving it up! Oh dear…..I’m sorry thats my poor attempt at humour.
I have not really been following the Australia open as been too busy of late working on a new project but wanted to thank you for enlightening me! I too have heard of Stan before and it’s great that he has finally made it to the finals! I should imagine now that he is going to be a big name to watch out for at Wimbledon later this year!
Did you ever see the 2012 grand final there between Andy Murray and Rodger Federer? Now that was a final and if Andy had won it then he would of made history being the first Englishman to win there after over 70 years. Dude that was a match and a half and will never forget it. I think the whole of the UK felt the same as Andy speaking to Sue Barker just after Federer beat him too it yet again! For someone who is reserved and not keep on showing emotion that was prob one of the emotional interviews I or the world have ever seen.
His redemption came the following month winning a gold medal beating Federer again on that same court and finally winning the grand final last year. It’s quite amazing what a year makes. My story is somewhat different but there are a lot of similarities though.
I started blogging five years ago and I did become quite popular and at the time I was looking up to bloggers like your good self, Darren Rowse and John Chow basically I wanted the freedom living the laptop lifestyle brings not a lot to ask hey! i quit though and carried on working my 9-5.
End of 2012 I found me out of work, in debt and struggling to pay the bills. I was doing everything in my power to get work and bring the money in and the whole of 2012 I had no less than 21 job interviews and had applied for hundreds more but with an average of 60 people for every job it’s difficult. I was not even entitled to what we call “Jobseekers allowance” as I am classed as self employed. Sucks right!
I knew that I still wanted to live the Lappy Lifestyle though and I still missed Blogging with a passion. So I started back up again at the end of September 2013. It’s been a little over four months now and although I am not yet fully secure financially, things are looking great as I and another top and globe trotting blogger Ryan Biddulph have just launched a new project together!
My battle for redemption is nearly over and finished and I am exited what the next few months are going to bring! So my tip for other bloggers struggling to gain blogging success is to Never Give Up as you never know what’s going to happen next!
I learned the hard way and I quit but this time round I have learned from my success! I will never know but I keep thinking that If I had written just one extra blog post all of those years ago then there was a chance that it could of gone viral and the past 4 or so years would of been so much different!
Hindsight hey! Really enjoyed reading this and it has inspired me! Thanks for all the help over the years Yaro and have a good rest of the week!
– Phillip Dews
Hi Yaro,
Just wanted to address my obvious typo’s normally I am very good at proofreading before submitting but this time round I think it failed me!
Most notably in the third, fifth and a few other paragraphs as there are a few obvious mistakes.
The big one though is the second to last as I did not learn from my success rather my mistakes as I have today by not checking what I write thoroughly before submitting!
Apologies on that and I will do better next time!
Hope that cleared a few things up with you and your readers!
Thanks again.
– PD
No problem Phillip, typos are a natural part of life on the internet 🙂
Hi Phillip,
That was a cracker of a joke to start off with, lol. Yes I did keep track of all of Murray’s results – I was so glad when he won that US Open, it must be hard to lose four finals – how you can keep the faith that you will get one eventually at that level is very impressive. When he won Wimbledon I felt his career was now satisfied even if he never won another slam, he has two, and the important one at the old England club for a guy from Britain.
It sounds like you have returned to the world of blogging with renewed passion Phillip. You should let us know what your new project is so interested people can check out what you are doing?
Yaro
Glad you liked it buddy! part of my sense of humour actually. Adrienne Smith keeps asking these “Question of the Day” type question on FB most days and one was “What’s underneath your bed?” Floor was my answer. Sorry but stating the obvious when everyone answered green slimy monster! Digressing again. Apologies.
Yep lets hope he hold onto that trophy this one more time! Funny actually he wan the BBC Sports personality last year as well and his speech on the video was very understated yet heartfelt though!
My new project! Hmm more of a collaboration really with my globe trotting friend of a blogger called Ryan Biddulph asked me a few weeks ago to help him with his book and help build a site for it which I was more than happy to do after all he is a non geek but a brilliant blogger!At the mo he’s in Thailand blogging on a daily basis. Happy to drop a link to it If I may!
Thanks again dude and have a great rest of sunday!
– PD
Hi Yaro; thanks for sharing this story. I had that tingly moment you get when you witness something special at least twice while reading it. I have thought I reached that moment a couple of times. Last year i sold a double decker carousel. I found the buyer in the first 30 minutes after posting. the sale went through in only two months. the ride sold for 230,000 and i was due to receive 25,000. I thought I was on my way until i realize the seller wasn’t going to pay the commission. and just this month i found out that the company i sold a major ride for last year doesn’t have the funds to pay me. i am actively seeking ad revenue hoping that i can start generating more clear money. i feel like i am close. I am starting to be thought of as the guy to go to. people call or email mor often asking me to help them locate a given ride game inflatable concessions machine etc. i just started recording youtube videos and i will consider myself successful when i can start traveling the world doing more shows and helping more people sell their items resulting in more commissions. thanks for sharing and motivating me. Stan had a much bigger hill to climb than i do even considering that I am a blind business owner and work in a small inch. Take care, max
Hi Maxwell,
I do like a good tingling moment and even happier to hear my article could create that for you twice!
It sounds like you are in a unique market, is it selling theme park rides? And why didn’t the seller pay you the commission? It sounds like you need a more formal contract for referrals!
Yaro
Finally getting an adsense check was a big victory. I’ve been trying to make money online for years and I’ve been a member of adsense since 2005. I started a niche site in 2011 and finally got my first adsense check in 2012. Yes, it took seven years to get the first check. I’ll be getting another one this spring. Getting the first subscribers to my email list, getting emails from people who visit my site – these are all victories for me. It’s those little things that keep me going on, writing and continuing to create. Thank you for all of your valuable information. It keeps me motivated too.
Your story reminds me of my first amazon cheque Christina. I only got it a couple of years ago after blogging for six years. Then I got another a year later. It’s never been my biggest source of income (obviously!) but there was something really nostalgic for me when it arrived – like the good old days of blogging.
I hope the checks keep flowing for you!
Yaro
For now my start up is only able to pay my employees salaries & cover overheads…I’m willing to keep keeping on until I’m able to pay myself as well.