Look, I’m gonna be straight with you…
A few years back, I was pulling in $10-13K days like it was nothing for a client. Affiliate marketing was my jam, and man, I thought I had it all figured out.
Here’s the kicker though…
I was working with this one guy – brilliant dude – who basically got my services for pennies on the dollar. (Yeah, I know… not my brightest business move.)
But get this: He took what I taught him about Google AdWords and turned it into MILLIONS.
Me? I got cocky.
The Fall That Humbled Me Into Dust
You know what they say about pride, right?
Well, mine came crashing down HARD.
See, God had been whispering to me – and when I say whispering, I mean practically SHOUTING – about diversifying income, building savings, being selective with clients.
Did I listen?
No.
I thought I knew better. Classic mistake.
So there I was in North Dakota, chasing after time with my daughter, when one of my “too-smart-for-his-own-good” clients decided he’d learned enough from me to stop paying.
Boom.
Money dried up faster than a puddle in Death Valley.
Rock Bottom Tastes Like Dandelions
Picture this: Former Marine Corps Drill Instructor moving back in with Mom.
Yeah, that was me.
But here’s what I didn’t see coming – God wasn’t done with me yet. He was just getting started on the deep work.
The anger. The bitterness. The unforgiveness.
All that poison had to come out, and brother, it was UGLY.
Fasting became my new normal. Praying wasn’t optional. I got gutted like a fish – weeping, sobbing, healing from the inside out.
The Plot Twist Nobody Saw Coming
Right when I thought I was ready to throw in the towel, God dropped my wife into my life.
And thank God for that timing, because without all that healing?
Total disaster.
But we weren’t done with the humble pie yet…
We lived in a VAN for 5 months. A freaking van. Two grown adults, trying to figure out life, relying on my tiny Marine benefits and whatever God decided to throw our way.
Some days it was Aldi gift cards from Dad. Other days, a used car from the in-laws.
And yeah, there were days we ate dandelions from the baseball field.
Don’t knock it ’til you try it though – those greens, washed and cooked with oil and sea salt? Pure gold.
Why I’m Spilling My Guts to You
Because somebody needs to hear this.
We’re not perfect. We mess up. We fail.
WARNING: If you stick around long enough, you WILL have the opportunity to be offended by something we say or do.
The enemy loves that stuff – uses it to distract God’s warriors from what really matters.
Maybe you’re one of those warriors.
Maybe you need to hear that success isn’t linear, that God’s plan doesn’t always make sense, and that sometimes the best thing that can happen to you is losing everything you thought mattered.
The Real Point
Through all of this – the highs, the crashes, the van life, the dandelions – God was doing something bigger than I could see.
He was preparing us for what came next.
A transformed life. A marriage that works because we both got broken down and built back up the right way.
And a business that’s built on something more solid than my own ego.
So here’s my question for you:
What’s God trying to teach you right now that you’re not listening to?
Because trust me, He’s gonna keep teaching until you get it.
The easy way or the hard way.
Your choice.
This is just the beginning of our story. If you want the rest – the part where everything starts clicking again – stick around.
But fair warning: We don’t sugar-coat anything here.
