Your Worst Financial Situation and How You Emerged From It

Mr. Websites said:
Shit, that sucks.. It's one thing being financially strapped, another having something working and losing it overnight. Still curious though how they could have fucked you over that bad, what happened to all the savings?
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mentioned it in a previous thread but the UK govt shut the scheme i was involved in down overnight and cos i was young and dumb i was spending a shit load of money/profit/dividends on shit that was fun but ultimately fucking pointless.(cars boats champagne etc)
i could have gone bankrupt but in scotland that shit stays with you for a long long time and more importantly it was a pride thing.
govt owes me money to this day but i paid my suppliers paid my debts and most importantly paid my staff so that they didnt get fucked as well.

the scheme was a fucking goldmine but some dicks decided to just defraud everyone and we all got ass raped for it

Times Higher Education - ILA scheme grew too fast to afford

BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Millions lost on training scheme
 


zayd said:
never really been in debt but at 16-18 I worked part time and saved up about 6k. then I started playing poker and dropped it all in 3 months being a degen. during this time I had to move out and live on a friends lay-z boy for a few weeks. during this time I screwed around on the internet while looking for a job. screwing around meant macking on hot bitches myspaces trying to get laid. this was when myspace was just starting to take off and an idea just hit me when I posted a link to a video in this one girls comment section. the video got like 1000 hits in a few hours and I was like fuck why don't I just spam links on hot bitches profiles all day and make money that way it works for people who sell dick pills through email. so I tried this out with dumb shit and eventually settled on pay per install programs and within 2 weeks i had the whole operation scaled to like 1500 popular profiles making like $500-$700 a day. basically wrote comments for like 6 hours everyday by hand SUCH A GRIND. I didn't want to hire anyone to do it for me because I was super paranoid that anyone willing to do this for money would see how easy it is to do and start doing it themselves.

anyways I was like the comment spam pioneer because I don't think I ever saw someone monetize profile comments before me. I did this for a few months by hand and then some people smarter than me started making bots, I got one and automated everything. hit an earnings ceiling before I got the bot so I wasn't making any more but I was basically doing the same 5 hours work with about 10 seconds of effort.

in like 6 months I had my own place and about $60k saved up and tried my hand at other things but I wasn't successful and I kind of gave up with the internet marketing game. would have loved to keep spamming comments but a few dumbass 16 year olds screwed that up for everyone who was thinking about it past level 1. seriously if there's one thing that pisses me off it's the retards who thought it was a good idea to phish a million profiles to make a $1000. you shot everyone in the foot with that move. some of you even went to jail or were ordered to pay 10 fold what you made. stupid tax anyone? that makes me laugh.

but like I said no more internet marketing. luckily for me I'm a dumbass myself and tried poker again, this time though I played smart and started with like $100 and 100% focus on improving everyday. now I support myself with that and I'm thinking of moving to vegas/la to teach myself casino pokers. and by teach myself I mean learning how to keep my sanity while playing like 35 hands an hour when I normally play like 500. the money is there though which is all that matters. I'll keep playing online but I need to diversify my skillset because the future of online poker is looking a little hazy.
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I have a friend who plays poker professionally. His strategy is to play at underground illegal poker places, where a lot of "big shots" go. They are basically dudes with money, who think they can play, but in reality they are noobs and go there for socializing (girls, beers, etc...). He goes there and wins all the time.
 
This thread is awesome, except for the poker remark.

Most poker "grinders" that move to Vegas lose everything before wising up.

Hell, most poker PROS are broke and in debt to everyone that stakes them with the money to play with.

Stick to business, it pays better and you can't lose 30 C-notes in 10 minutes because someone other than you just got lucky.

-Sincerely
A guy who spent a whole year doing nothing, but grinding to pay for my bills. NEVER A FUCKING GAIN.
 
One time I had to reach all the way to my back pocket for my wallet since I forgot my money clip.
 
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I'm sort of in it right now and that's why I'm on this site. I own an Audio/Video rental company (we rent all the shit they use at conferences like Affiliate Summit - screens, projection, sound systems). I take maybe one paycheck a month and it's less than any of my employees get paid. I grind through and work my ass off because other people's families depend on me to pay their rent and put food on the table for their kids.

My mother started the business and needed help - it would have easily gone under years ago if I didn't get involved. She doesn't even have a high school diploma so her options are severely limited with out this business, but I have to credit her for grinding through and keeping it sustainable for so long.

The following happened before I became intimately involved with the business and before I had executive decision making. 6 years ago, we got screwed by a big client on a $50,000 job. They paid with an AmEx, we ran the event and we then found out that on the last day of the event, they filed for a charge-back and stated to AmEx that we never showed up and didn't provide any service (I personally worked the 7 days of their show). With vendors and employees to pay, we didn't have the money to hire a lawyer. Losing all that money ended up causing a snowballing effect that put us well over $100,000 into debt.

We are still digging out of it and the company's credit is shit.

Thus, why I'm on WickedFire. I signed up forever ago and never posted. Got distracted with the real world business to get any IM stuff going. I'm back here, reading as much as possible and looking to utilized my business intuition to get some AM stuff off the ground.

My goal is to be financially stable enough through IM to be able to not have to depend on the other business for living expenses. We'll see.
 
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The worst thing that happens to me is when Google bans another account. Make $2-3k a day and then right down to ZERO, thanks to the big G. That's happened several times but I continue to rebuild it. I'm either relentless or just a fucking idiot to continue to deal with there shit.

So yeah I've experienced some shitty times in business, but I've always managed my personal money good for the most part so never really had a bad personal fiance situation. Like not being able to pay rent, bills, food or any of that shit.

Kind of scary because almost everyone has a bad personal finance time and I haven't had mine yet...so it will probably happen sometime in the near future. FML.
 
Soupyone said:
This thread is awesome, except for the poker remark.

Most poker "grinders" that move to Vegas lose everything before wising up.

Hell, most poker PROS are broke and in debt to everyone that stakes them with the money to play with.

Stick to business, it pays better and you can't lose 30 C-notes in 10 minutes because someone other than you just got lucky.

-Sincerely
A guy who spent a whole year doing nothing, but grinding to pay for my bills. NEVER A FUCKING GAIN.
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not going to throw out numbers but my online hourly is like 6 fold anything I could make with my education/background and I'm still a nobody when it comes to the games I play. but with that said I am easily in the top 1% of poker players who play more than 20 hours a month, which is a big enough edge for me to make a comfortable living and reinvest in my bankroll so I can continue moving up to play bigger games. as I move up I'm constantly learning and adjusting to stay at level and eventually move past the people who take the game as serious as me. as far as "grinders going broke" my worst downswing was about 22 buyins in a day and I didn't tilt once. swore like your drunk grandma but never have I let those feelings lead to significant losses at poker. that's the thing that separates good poker players and people who wash out, being able to grind through bad periods. you think I'm going to risk my lively hood by putting myself in a spot where a few weeks or even a month of running bad is going to leave me broke? no and anyone who does is a bad poker player.

the people you mention who can only play because they get staked live that way because they have no discipline and approach life the same way a teenager does. a serious poker player understands their edge and how it affects the standard deviation for the games they play and is prepared to have their psyche messed with for weeks on end. we are a sick group of human beings and even before I learned the emotional control and money management skills to beat poker disregard for money came naturally to me. like I mentioned in my original post I dropped everything I had in a few months. how do most people take that? they run to their family, sign up for GA, and become victims for the rest of their lives. some go into debt chasing their losses and ruin their lives. how did I take it? fucking laughed and had another go at it realizing how profitable it is. if I lost 6k someone else won it, that's simple logic and it shouldn't be hard for someone like you to follow.

as far as business being more profitable than poker I agree with that 100%. don't go into poker if you have the ability to make millions a year in business. go into poker because you love the game and love competing. money just follows. if you have work ethic and the right sensibilities you will make a million in poker but if you aren't a natural competitor stay the fuck away from it because it will burn you out and laugh at you.

btw I kind of chuckled at the 30 c note comment. i assume you are talking about live poker and if dropping 3k in a live games gets you shook you were right to quit. run a variance simulator and factor in the conditions for live poker, that shit is funnyy.
 
Danc1122 said:
The worst thing that happens to me is when Google bans another account. Make $2-3k a day and then right down to ZERO, thanks to the big G. That's happened several times but I continue to rebuild it. I'm either relentless or just a fucking idiot to continue to deal with there shit.
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From the close people I know who still do what you're doing with Google, after their 3rd or 4th hit they finally said "fuck it" and spent 30 days creating/structuring 10-20 LLCs or so, getting everything set up, approved, etc so there was always 5-10 LLC's ready to roll the moment the one on the frontline got popped. This way they took a 30 day hit while preparing everything, but never were down again...
 
Gotta say this thread is inspiring.

I'm in mine right now, mostly self inflicted - 150k student loan debt from law school....bad grades + bad job market + despising law and not wanting to practice = up shits creek.

Got into AM and Poker at the same time, didn't lose money in either, but would switch from one to the other just as I was getting momentum in either. Put my loans into deferment for a couple years because I couldn't pay at the time and cost my self $xx,xxxx more in debt.

Realized I was self sabotaging and could not afford to not be making money for any more time periods. Got a job doing PPC a few months ago to barely meet the bills while still working on AM on the side. So I'm just at the beginning of the digging myself out process. Sucks but I'm getting out one way or another.
 
Lambo said:
Realized I was self sabotaging and could not afford to not be making money for any more time periods. Got a job doing PPC a few months ago to barely meet the bills while still working on AM on the side. So I'm just at the beginning of the digging myself out process. Sucks but I'm getting out one way or another.
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If you stick with getting your shit straight, this ^^^ will be a very valuable lesson which will help you make money later in life.

Good luck. I think you're on the right path.
 
i am so fucked right now, don't even want to go there. but my inspiration is this guy that had 5 dealerships and a hottie wife, lost it all, and I have seen him go from shinola to shit and now back to shinola in another field. his parents did give him start up capital, but at least he is doing something with it and rocking again. the ever elusive start up capital... gotz to get me some of dat!
 
barman said:
Hahaha that was you?
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Yesir, think I saw a link to a similar (but insanely biased) blog article on your Twitter feed relating to it at some point! Huge learning lesson this entire experience was.
http://www.thedomains.com/2010/05/3...an-only-sell-a-domain-once-yes-e-mails-count/

FTC-Hater said:
If that was you I'd love to hear more about your side.
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If you, or anyone else, want to discuss what happened with that or anything else related to the wide world or internet marketing, Skype or AIM me some time.
Skype: craigssnyder
AIM: iPhone
 
I get myself in pretty bad shit at least once per year. Right now I'm at that place because I've had some issues with my bank and I can't fully access my company's funds... though that's not the main problem... I wasted a lot of my money on campaigns that never took off.

I usually get the best ideas when I'm in these kinds of situations because it makes me rethink my current strategy and go full on into new ideas.

Being in a place where you don't know if you'll be able to pay rent the very next month truly kicks your ass and puts your brain in ultra-working mode.

This is why I've learned not to dwell on my situation too much and I rarely stay "depressed/nervous" because of it for more than a few days. You have to accept the shit you've pulled yourself in, find a way out of it and stick to it.

In fact, the moments I love most were those of total desperation and hopelessness where I made myself work for hours and hours for weeks and I produced some of my most successful campaigns this way.

Sometimes it's easy to wish everything will get better all by itself but it never does.
 
guerilla said:
If you stick with getting your shit straight, this ^^^ will be a very valuable lesson which will help you make money later in life.

Good luck. I think you're on the right path.
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Thanks Guerilla. I think it was immaturity more than anything, thinking that a break was around the corner to solve everything, but in reality I didn't have the work ethic in place. I feel like that's what I'm building now.
 
If you need motivation watch this.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UizlkbS61mQ&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - ‪Success...How Bad Do You Want It?‬‎[/ame]
 
You guys are going to hate me for this.

In 6th grade, I wanted to get a new portable CD player. It was a Panasonic with 3 second skip protection... the thing fuckin ruled and lasted forever. Anyway, it cost $120, and I had about $125 saved up from my paper route.

However, there was 3-month 0% financing at Best Buy, which my mom told me to take advantage of. This is sound money policy, right?

3 months later when the bill was due, I had $100 to my name. It sucked and I felt like shit. My mom spotted me the $20 to pay the bill, and made me go out and hustle my past-due paper route customers like mad to get the cash back.

I promised myself I would NEVER take a loan out from anybody ever again, and would never be sucked into owing anyone shit that I couldn't pay back with a simple visit to the ATM.

Been in the black ever since.
 
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