November 22, 2009, Las Vegas, NV, Paris Hotel.

Status Report:  I am on vacation, I have money in the bank, my wife is out shopping, and I'm not worried about anything.  In short, life is good.

This is significant, especially today.

It was 1 year ago today that I was checking my email (gmail account) and I clicked one of those ads.  You know, the ones that run right above your inbox and seem to reflect the content of your emails...

I know now, a year later, all the things that went in to that ad running on my account on that day.

I know the guy who placed the ad.

I know the ad platform he used to place it.

I remember the exact text of the ad.

I know the keywords he was targeting for that ad to run in my account.

I know all the details of his marketing system, and how it is that I started getting emails from him that day.

I know the company that taught him how to market online.

I know the product he was marketing.

And most importantly...

...I know...

...that when he said I could change my life if I would dig deeper into what he was saying...

...he was telling the truth.

He was right.

I am now where I am for only one reason - I was willing to believe him.

To understand how unlikely it is that I would buy into an internet business you have to know how I grew up.  My Dad is a nationally known money manager.  A serious, successful, white-collar investment professional who always thought I'd end up working in the finance industry.

My Mom is a retired attorney, a former partner at one of the Big 5 firms, who was as successful in her own right as my Dad and every bit as professional.

These are not the type of folks to raise a piano-playing, high school dropout who failed in the first 5 businesses he tried to start and wound up an internet marketer.

Except they did.

1 year ago today, I was 29 years old, with half a million dollars in business debt, a $253,000 judgement against me by my bank, 2 failed restaurants, a beautiful wife who deserved better, parents who must have been disappointed (or at least scratching their heads), and nothing to show for any of it but a few scars and a willingness to fight another round.

Then I found online marketing.

So I took another chance.

This was it, this was my Waterloo.  I was going to win big or crash in a blaze of glory.  I had one more shot and I knew it would end in either bankruptcy or freedom.

I was actually okay knowing that I might end up pushing pencils, working a humdrum day job, fighting traffic to and from work, numbing myself with sitcoms.  But I would only accept that if I also knew that I had given my all in trying to create a different life for myself and my family.

Of course I would take care of my family, but first I had to try to do it my way.  If this last try didn't work out, I would head into my 30's like most people head into their 20's... looking for a job.

(Honestly, when you're in that much debt at only 29 years old, just about anything sounds better than "doing it on your own" any longer.)

But there was this ad, enticing me to seize the moment.  It was like God was saying "Don't give up on being an entrepreneur quite yet.  You've got one more in you."

The ad said this verbatim:  "I Quit Ignite.  Now I Make $79,172 A Month From Home.  $395 Start, Serious Inquiries Only."

(In case you don't know Ignite is a multi-level marketing company that I had tried and failed at previously but still had some emails lingering in my inbox).

The ironic thing was that the guy who placed the ad hadn't been in Ignite, it was just clever marketing.  He told me this when I first spoke to him on the phone and I though it was great!

See, I didn't care if he'd been in Ignite or not, the thing that stuck out to me was how interested I was in what he was saying.  He hadn't called me or pitched me, he let the website do all the work.

By the time I got to talk to him (his name is Michael) I was so excited I just needed to know where to sign.  And that was when I realized the power of the internet.

Between videos, articles, press releases, blogs (like this one), social networks, search engines, banner ads, and many more outlets, the internet can introduce you to a million people while you rest comfortably in your own home.

Michael told me what it was like to work 15 or 20 hours a week and make sales all over the world.  All without having to leave the house.

(Oh yeah, and the income he was generating was ridiculous... He actually UNDER-exaggerated in his ad because nobody would believe the real number.)

So I bit, or rather... I bought.

I actually got started in secret.  It was right after the holidays (beginning of 2009) and I was working full-time during the day.  So every night after my wife Laura went to bed I would get on the computer and work on my new internet business well into the night.

During those first few months sleep was at a major premium.

The worst part was that Laura began to get seriously concerned!  She wanted to know what I was doing so late at night on the computer and I didn't have a good answer.

Finally in an effort to convince her that whatever she was thinking wasn't the case I caved and told her about my new business.

Imagine that conversation... here I was on the verge of bankruptcy telling my wife that I had spent money we didn't have to get into an internet business based on the word of a guy I had never met.

Oh yeah, and we needed to spend a little more money we didn't have to go to a live event in a few weeks in Lake Tahoe.

Amazingly, she didn't divorce me or murder me.  In fact she was relatively calm.

I still to this day don't know how I got off this easy but she actually said she understood and that if I really thought the business was legit then she would go with me to Lake Tahoe.

This was huge since honestly I needed her money to pay for the plane tickets!

And the rest, as they say, is history...

I went to Tahoe, met the leaders in the company, learned more and more about how to market on the internet, and have gone on to become a top earner and a leader in not just one but two online marketing companies.

I now own three business websites, coach a team of over 150 marketers, and consistently generate upwards of $50,000 a month from my own online marketing efforts.

Laura and I take a vacation about once a month, she has quit her job (I quit mine after 3 months), and we are preparing to move to a home in the Rocky Mountains.

And as I sit here by the Paris Hotel pool, reflecting on the last year, I'm trying to think of one thing to say to anyone reading this who needs help believing that it is possible to transform their life with a few decisions.

I am thinking of all the words of wisdom that have been shared with me over the last year by some of the best marketers and entrepreneurs in the world.

Things like:  "What you believe determines what you think.  What you think determines what you do.  And what you do determines what you have.  So if you want to change what you have you have to start by changing your beliefs." - John Jackson

That's a good one.

Also there's the famous, "Whatever the mind can conceive it can achieve" - Napoleon Hill

And of course, "If you want your life to change you have to be the one to change." by the great Jim Rohn.

All of these are phenomenal quotes and there are many more like them that carry me through each day of this journey.

These quotes focus on what we should do (or where we should start).

But I think most of us know the things we need to do.

And yet we don't do them.  Day after day goes by...

We're in the same job, or repeating the same bad habits, falling consciously and unconsciously into years-old patterns that leave us stuck and unfulfilled.

Why?

I think it's because of fear.

Fear of failure, fear of looking foolish, fear of change, fear of loss.  Fear, fear, fear!

It's a global epidemic and it rules most of us.

So here's my one piece of advice...

When something scares you don't run away.  Run towards it.  Attack it.  Tackle it head on and slay it dead.

Because it is better to face your fears than be controlled by them.

And most often, once a given fear is vanquished, we realize it was just in our mind.

What a difference a year can make.