I'm an entrepreneur from the UK, who after being made redundant from the world of corporate jets, started his first eCommerce business in 2007, aged 22.
Fast forward 6 years, I was burned-out battling it out in a savage niche, but generating over £1.5m GBP/yr. Out of financial tatters I built a successful specialist clothing store from scratch generating £50k in revenue in just 2 months.
Pivoting, I invested in and became a joint founder of a home & clothing brand, responsible for marketing and growth, signing up major fashion labels globally. Revenue quickly grew to £4.5m/yr.
Again I learned painful lessons...!
Too many staff, not enough systems, no free time, no vacations... and not enough profit.
I closed down this second, big business and took a few months to reflect. The penny finally dropped when I started to ask "why?" a lot more.
I re-kindled a love of systems and engineering and heavily researched the 80/20 principle. It was pretty clear how I had failed.
My next businesses were far more profitable, far more enjoyable, and far less work.
From the freedom and space that resulted, I had the time to think about what was important to me, and what I wanted to do for "work".
As I'd helped a couple of friends-of-friends brands to grow, I decided to move into coaching and support fully.
After seeing how many businesses are badly 'burned' online, my passion turned to helping people with great ideas and prospects to turn them into profitable businesses.
I was tired of seeing too many great businesses decline or close because of repeats of the mistakes I had made in the past.
After creating a successful marketing agency, I continued to invest in myself and made coaching my full-time focus.