Starting Over
- Thread starter conjamuk
- Start date
I'm rebuilding now... Totally new direction too; only one site this time.
-Since I have savings it is just scary enough to be fun, but if I were flat broke already I'd probably be paralyzed with fear.
I'd offer some advice but frankly I'm still working at it so I can't say my advice comes from a position of success yet.
Good luck bro!
-Since I have savings it is just scary enough to be fun, but if I were flat broke already I'd probably be paralyzed with fear.
I'd offer some advice but frankly I'm still working at it so I can't say my advice comes from a position of success yet.
Good luck bro!
I know that feel bro, About a year ago I lost all my campaigns and SEO sites. Currently rebuilding now and doing alright. Doing a lot of things different and trying new ideas.
What I realize now is that losing everything was actually better for me in the long run. My stable campaigns and easy income made me a lazy fuck. I stopped trying new ideas, stopped building campaigns, and just let me self fall into a complacent state. There was no need to work harder, no need to put food on the table. I just became ok with the standard of living I was in and no longer had to fight or try for anything. Getting over that mental state was the hardest thing I have done recently. Making money again will be much easier than that was.
You will be fine though, hopefully you have some cash stored away or at least shit to sell. The initial impact is going to suck hard. You go ghost white and will trying anything possible to bring life back into that thing thats already dead. Best thing to do is step away from the computer and take a little vacation to get your mind straight again. My vacation was a year long...
What I realize now is that losing everything was actually better for me in the long run. My stable campaigns and easy income made me a lazy fuck. I stopped trying new ideas, stopped building campaigns, and just let me self fall into a complacent state. There was no need to work harder, no need to put food on the table. I just became ok with the standard of living I was in and no longer had to fight or try for anything. Getting over that mental state was the hardest thing I have done recently. Making money again will be much easier than that was.
You will be fine though, hopefully you have some cash stored away or at least shit to sell. The initial impact is going to suck hard. You go ghost white and will trying anything possible to bring life back into that thing thats already dead. Best thing to do is step away from the computer and take a little vacation to get your mind straight again. My vacation was a year long...
I don't mind sharing this b.c I could give fuck all about people who said "told you so" or have some comment that is not helpful.
This happened to me a couple times already ( in smaller spurts ) and most recently ( on a bigger scale ). Each time you learn something to add on to the last failure.
When I was younger ( before the Internet ) I had a couple good things going that ended up failing for one reason or another ( emotions, bad timing/luck, laziness, etc ) and I had to rebuild myself each time. This was on a much much smaller scale then what you may think, but it was all I had at that time so it was "everything" to me at that moment and time.
I lost a couple careers this way too, jumping to job to job thinking the grass was always greener and thus at times burning a bridge or 2 ( not on purpose, it just happened ) along the way. Several times I found myself without a job or income shortly afterward though.
Most of this happened in my twenties. As I entered my thirties and had at that time about 12 years online experience under my belt, I hit it big with online marketing and affiliate shit ( rebill days ). I focused on 1 thing and 1 thing only and I raped the shit out of it ( I learned to do this from NOT doing this in my 20's and failing ) until I couldn't kick the dead horse anymore.
I got lazy and comfortable, then I got paralyzed with the many options I now had. I kept thinking. "i'll work on my new plan next week". Then next week turned into next month and into 2 years. I got paralyzed with fear and options and didn't know how to take the next step.
I ended up losing it all ( not so much my house and shit, but all the liquid savings and a relationship with my wife ) and ended up taking a couple gigs to get by. A couple surprise tax bills and unexpected debt rolled in and put a lot of stress on me afterwards. I kept digging a hole I could not get out of.
A few years of this and things starting getting better. I moved "career" wise and starting finding my groove again online and the money started to flow back in. Things are a lot better now, but it was a hard climb and I am still not at the top again, but then again I had to reframe what "being at the top" actually was. Besides the "rebill" days, I make more money then I ever did before and am in a career and position I actually enjoy. I own %'s of companies instead of trying to run my own by myself.
Freedom, love, and options. If you don't lose those then you indeed have not lost everything and have all you will ever need.
It is great that your mindset is already on rebuilding; I'm not ashamed to say that I had my period of fear and paralysis after a huge failure. Like all periods however, it was temporary, so I mopped up the blood and moved on. I lost millions due to just a few variables -- some I had control over, some I did not. Model more or less died, so after cutting marketing that wasn't working and excess staff, we regrouped.
If the failure was in a LLC and you're in the US one of the greatest things you can do on a big tax loss after a few years of taxable gains is go back 2 years to re-open filings and clawback; or you can carry the loss forward as a credit against future gains. That's such a saving grace and another reason the wealthy have a leg up on staying wealthy...some losses can be made into gains. Sincerely, good luck.
If the failure was in a LLC and you're in the US one of the greatest things you can do on a big tax loss after a few years of taxable gains is go back 2 years to re-open filings and clawback; or you can carry the loss forward as a credit against future gains. That's such a saving grace and another reason the wealthy have a leg up on staying wealthy...some losses can be made into gains. Sincerely, good luck.
~Men do not fail...they give up trying~
~Perseverance is more important than talent~
~Well I guess if people didn't quit anything when the goin gets tough they wouldn't have anything to regret the rest of their lives~
Failing and losing everything is by far the best thing that ever happened to me. True failure will change your core being. The fear of knowing you have $3 worth of gas left for the week.
That kind of failure builds a fire and a hunger that can lead to amazing results. That or you just give up and become a lump of shit
~Perseverance is more important than talent~
~Well I guess if people didn't quit anything when the goin gets tough they wouldn't have anything to regret the rest of their lives~
Failing and losing everything is by far the best thing that ever happened to me. True failure will change your core being. The fear of knowing you have $3 worth of gas left for the week.
That kind of failure builds a fire and a hunger that can lead to amazing results. That or you just give up and become a lump of shit
Those were some really funny times in SEO.
It was about 2 years ago. Had dozens and dozens of sites, all ranking so easily with a bunch of scalable linking methods that it was funny, lol. It was going good, but those good n easy times had to end, I guess. So about 3 months into 2012 and all sites were suddenly gone.. You gotta keep going
It was about 2 years ago. Had dozens and dozens of sites, all ranking so easily with a bunch of scalable linking methods that it was funny, lol. It was going good, but those good n easy times had to end, I guess. So about 3 months into 2012 and all sites were suddenly gone.. You gotta keep going
Most of the people I know who have made it big have also failed more than once so I would not consider having to start over more than a minor setback.
The SEO game however is not an area where I personally spend a dime of my own money. The playing field is no longer in your favor and getting wiped out again has high probabilities given for example Google's unannounced changes to algorithm's.
Find a defendable niche and competitive advantage with either unique relationships, product, or delivery platform and you can build significant wealth.
Good Luck
The SEO game however is not an area where I personally spend a dime of my own money. The playing field is no longer in your favor and getting wiped out again has high probabilities given for example Google's unannounced changes to algorithm's.
Find a defendable niche and competitive advantage with either unique relationships, product, or delivery platform and you can build significant wealth.
Good Luck
Surprised no one has mentioned SkyFire's thread, only the best starting over thread on WF - http://www.wickedfire.com/enlightened-members/166511-returning-financial-awesomeness.html
I am in this situation right now. I got lazy and spent around 100k at the bars this year (yes you're reading that right) much to the demise of my health and bank account. I'm just freelance writing to pay my bills while I build sites on the side which are allowing me to pay off about the 6k in credit card debt I have. Sucks, but I've learned from it and I'm not drinking any more.
Let this experience give you himility and kindness if that is possible with the brain damage you have undergone. Next time you making a couple grand per day don't think you are the final boss. Abide as a peasant and all will be well. Sucks though.
Read: Black Swan Theory
All of us were turkeys (sadly some still are). SEO was so easy pre-2011 that a lot of us relied on it 100% and couldn't imagine doing anything else. Penguin came and furiously beheaded all of us like Ned Stark.
In hindsight, I'm happy it happened, because since then I switched to paid traffic and I'm already making much more than in my years of SEO. I'm still doing SEO though, but it has taken a backseat in my overall marketing strategy. Glad it did.
All of us were turkeys (sadly some still are). SEO was so easy pre-2011 that a lot of us relied on it 100% and couldn't imagine doing anything else. Penguin came and furiously beheaded all of us like Ned Stark.
In hindsight, I'm happy it happened, because since then I switched to paid traffic and I'm already making much more than in my years of SEO. I'm still doing SEO though, but it has taken a backseat in my overall marketing strategy. Glad it did.