I’m heading out the door, so today’s email is a re-print of one of my favorites.
It’s about how I went from being dead broke (and not being able to afford a burrito at Chipotle) to how I hit 6 figures just shortly after that.
Enjoy…
—–
About 9 years ago (the summer of 2010), I was so broke that I couldn’t afford to buy my girlfriend and I lunch at Chipotle.
I still remember that day like it was yesterday.
I was sitting in the living room, typing away on my laptop, when my girlfriend burst through the front door with a big smile on her face…
“I’m hungry. Let’s go get burritos at Chipotle” she said.
Fuck.
My heart sank into my stomach.
Not cause I didn’t love me a big burrito from Chipotle, but because I knew I’d be paying for both of us.
And that was a problem…
Cause I was damn near broke at the time.
I was on a STRICT budget of $2100 a month to live on.
So there was no wiggle room for dropping $20 on lunch at Chipotle for the two of us.
But I didn’t want to admit this to my girlfriend.
“I’m not really that hungry” I said to her. “I’ll probably just make a salad here”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I could tell she was suspicious…
“Why don’t you ever want to do anything?” she fired back.
“What do you mean? We do stuff” I said.
“No we don’t. We stay cooped up in the house now, we never go out to eat, or go get drinks with anyone. I don’t get it”
I was hoping she’d drop it, but she didn’t.
It went on and on and caused a big fight between us that lasted for a week.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth.
I was broke, and couldn’t afford to spend $20 at Chipotle.
If you want to know what shame feels like, this is it.
Not being able to afford to take my girlfriend to Chipotle was about the most emasculating thing ever.
And what made it worse was this was a girl that could have had any guy she wanted.
She routinely had professional athletes and rich dudes hitting on her…
Yet she was dating me and I couldn’t even buy her a burrito.
Talk about a gut-punch.
But as sad as this was, luckily for me this story has a happy ending…
Because even though that relationship didn’t last, I eventually got my shit together and dialed-in my first fitness offer in late 2010.
That offer was called The 31 Day Fat Loss Cure.
And in a span of 3 months, it brought in like $90k.
Which was much needed.
And that money kind of kick-started a big year for me…
One where I ended up making over $200k.
Now the reason I’m telling you all this is simple…
It’s easy to look at someone like me who’s built a $23 million dollar company, and has been in Forbes, and gets 6-figure consulting checks – and think “yeh, he’s probably always been successful”.
But that’s simply not true.
I’ve been dead broke.
I’ve thought about quitting this whole thing and getting a real job.
At one point, I even seriously considered tucking my tail between my legs and moving back in with my parents (which would have been a nightmare given my rocky relationship with my mom)
So my life certainly isn’t a cake-walk.
But the more I go through this kind of stuff, the more I realize it’s the struggles, and the low points that make you great.
Sure they suck when they’re happening…
But when you get past ’em, that’s what changes you as a person.
And that’s how you become a multi-millionaire entrepreneur…
Or a world-class copywriter…
You don’t learn a whole lot from the easy wins.
You learn from the times that you’re curled-up in the fetal position, wishing it would all go away.
So if you’re struggling now…
Just know that this is part of what’s going to make you great.
I’ve gotten through it.
And you will too.
Keep that in mind…
– Justin
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