Have Your Ever Lost It All?
 

We are headed for some wicked hard times. Some of us are already feeling the sting. Some of you are just getting out of college with a monster load of debt and are going to have a hard time finding a job. Some of you are going to lose your jobs and be out of work for quite a bit of time. Some of you are about to hit rock bottom. Some of you have hit it years ago. Some of you wont hit rock bottom for years to come.

I hit rock bottom about 8 years ago. I was fired from my job and lived on credit cards for months while trying find another job. After several months of no luck and not being able to make credit card payments, the credit card companies started to close my accounts and send me to debt collectors. I soon was evicted from my apartment after missing payment(s).

So there I was.. 25 years old, about 50k in debt with a lot of it being super high interest credit card debt spread among about 5 different cards, no job, no place to live and if that wasn?t bad enough I was also super fat.

Rock bottom. I will tell you its the best thing that ever happen to me. Its when you hit rock bottom that you find yourself and it gives you an amazing education that is priceless. At the time it happens its very painful but if you can fight through it and do the hardwork that needs to be done the rewards will be that much sweeter on the other side.

A lot of people ask me why I do not have super flashy cars or fly first class? or whatever super luxurious thing other cool people are doing? the answer is pretty simple. I have a hard time wasting money. I remember how much it sucked when I hit rock bottom and I never want to feel like that again. Some people might hear that then look at my h2 and think that is flashy?. guess what? Its a lease and it was practically free because we traded out work with the hummer dealership.

Hitting rock bottom taught me the value of money. It also taught me to hustle. Most of all it taught me what truly matters in life is family and friends. After all it was my friend George Schaeffer who volunteered his couch for me to sleep on in Des Moines IA. which got me back on my feet and also made me not settle for a 9-5 job. Its also where I met my wife.

A few years ago when we were killing it in the mobile space we were satisfied with success and not really challenging ourselves? then the mobile industry took a huge hit. We had to come up with something new. Because of the adversity AuctionAds was invented and in 4 short months we went from launch to selling the company.

This of course put a bunch of green in our pockets and made us pretty happy with our success but it also meant we needed to come up with new revenue streams (or retire). I am not ready to retire yet so we started fighters.com, busted ass on the elite retreat, and started other ventures also.

Some of the biggest success today came out of the worst dot com crash ever. (highly recommend you read that article). Google being the biggest example.

Every time I have been hit with adversity it has opened up some amazing oppourtunities. Hang in there.

http://www.shoemoney.com/2008/10/10/...r-lost-it-all/

I read that earlier today. Shoe does have some good points

Yeah. I found it an interesting read as well.

Eventually, when not stirring the pot or doing self promotion, he has a motivational thought.

The EMPIRE is going down down...

Who is guilty?

Those of you who asked for a 1 million loan and could not pay it. Blame yourself guys.

I am foreigner.

Definitely some good points there.
Nice article.

Then STFU....


:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

You don't have a clue :2 cents:

We lost everything about three years ago. Our house, our car and most of our belonings.
I lost a very well paid job and could not get a job that paid the same amount of money. In the end we just could not afford to pay the bills we had coming in. Its a shit situation to get into and very hard to get back on top of things. We had to stay with my brother because we had nowhere to live. I will never go down that road again I dont even have credit cards anymore. I only have debit cards so I can only spend what I have. I will never buy a car on HP again. The current car I now have was bought with cash. The worst part of it was seeing my family with no where to live. The last Chritsmas we had in our old house was the worst Christmas my family has ever had. We had no money to even buy a chistmas dinner for our kids and if it wasent for family and friends who gave us hampers we would have had nothing. I will allways be in debt to those who helped us out and never forget what they did for us. But we have worked hard over the last 2 years and are now getting back to the life style we had before. I just do not buy anything on credit and If I cant afford something I save until I can afford it. You never know whats round the corner and if you are earning a good wage now like I was ..Dont waste it on needles things that you dont really need. I learned the hard way and It taught me to repect what I have and never take anything for granted.

heh, sure dude..

I didn't say that, Bernanke and Paulson did.

u got owned, heh.

I've reinvented myself a few times, but always end up back on top - it does take persistence and effort.

read that whole thing thinking it was you.

you always need to have a backup plan, that is what I keep in mind at all times.

me too :error

-Hitting rock bottom taught me the value of money.
-Most of all it taught me what truly matters in life is family and friends.
-It gives you an amazing education that is priceless.
-A lot of people ask me why I do not have super flashy cars or fly first class… or whatever super luxurious thing other cool people are doing… the answer is pretty simple. I have a hard time wasting money. I remember how much it sucked when I hit rock bottom and I never want to feel like that again.

Best wise words I ever read on GFY.
Respect
You know what you are talking about (let me sum it up for readers):
-never loose faith or give up
-always fight & be positive
-adapt or die
-never spend more then is wise unless it gains somehow
-be prepared to learn no matter what
-use money wisely and save for shitty times

But you also believe in "the secret" don't you ?

My friends dad has been a millionaire THREE times. Lost it all TWICE, third time is a charm I guess.

first time was ambition
second time was experience
third time was wisdom
I guess your friend is still a millionaire now ?

Nope never have but I have risked it all several times. I am by nature frugal or used to be so I do have a nice cushion at most times for the unavoidable.

I love how the writer thinks leasing a h2 is frugal....

nice thread.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:thumbsup

that's a good read

if you build it.. they will come..

Dear god... That is straight up genius. Best thing i've heard all week.

But on topic.. There is a reason I drive a second hand Ford these days rather than the 5 Series BMW I used to have a couple of years ago. Business is going better than ever but fuck me if i'm going to piss it away like I did in my mid 20's.

I'm doing really shitty right now. Haven't had a job in 4 years. Google adsense banned 4 of my accounts, and I can't generate traffic for shit.

But I will never give up.

I am a gambler deep down so money doesn't rule me

I am most inspired by stories like the professional poker player who was up a million and then lost it all and had to go home to tell his wife that they were flat broke

easy come easy go, why worry about it... as long as you have a vehicle you can sleep in if times get really bad then you will survive ok ( and a laptop with a strong wifi card :1orglaugh )

I am a young gun like you mentioned early in your post, found this thread very interesting. Reminds me a lot of Startup.com (the movie) if anyone here has seen it.

water always seeks its own level

I lost my virginity.

man exelent find .. i wanted to post something big in here but i decided it's better to keep my hands of the keyboard :) ... but had similar situation...

To have nothing is the best motivation builder you can ever get.

Amen Bro..

Im in the process of losing it all... Car- apartment... I have no family or friends-- and everyday I think my mental state is getting worse.... I AM ANGRY!!! Suicide is an option.


I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD GO HUNGRY- but food is limited--- Death to Amerikkka--- If I make out of this one it will be a miracle.

{And I know you big Affiliate companies are shaving- I KNOW IT!!!! Your all thieves!!!! My presence will be felt from the grave you fucking faggots!}

Great fuckin' post.

A couple of years ago.....
But without losing everything i woudn´t be where i am today.
Kinda everyone i meet with money lately, has lost it all once..

That's life in pompey folks...j/k

Respect :thumbsup

Look it, don't ever drink, don't buy the finest automobiles, don't trust human beings outside of good hard reason

At one time I was making more than probably 90% of you and now I make probably less than 90% of you.. If you fuck around playing games you might fall, you might not make it back up either. I was young when I made mine. I never bought a car over $5000.. one smart thing I did. Thanks to that I survived alot longer than I would have when I fell off.

Poverty hurts like words can't say.
Let's do it like this, it feels like a reverse blowjob.

Be cool and play your position, don't worry about Mr. Jones with a better car, don't trust the wrong woman, DO NOT DRINK

I never made millions but I made good and I was too young for an example I had a 30k month and it was all gone in a couple more man, was doing about half that almost every month and I was a young ass, but so stupid, don't ever stay two bit- build some thing solid. Grey area bullshit doesn't last.

I still eat pretty good and enjoy alot of blowjobs but I don't even own a home, now, that drinking will bring you down, that and wasting money are the two killers if a scandalous ass bitch like I got ahold of doesn't do it. She didn't get a dime of mine but I became a drunken maniac when she was gone, man, never saw any of it coming I was so drunk.