Starting From Scratch

It has been almost exactly 11 months since I posted to this blog. Despite my honest and ambitious intentions for this website, I simply let it fall in the list of my priorities, and I completely stopped writing on it, updating it or even dealing with the slew of spam comments it was receiving.

However, in spite of this, over the last 11 months, there has been a tiny trickle of traffic consistently finding it’s way to this blog, and a lot of that seems to be coming from people coming here directly, from the Warrior Forum, or from searching for this website on Google.

So, after a brief chat with an old friend in the Internet Marketing space, I have decided to start working on this blog again as a genuine live project.

Lets Wind Back the Clocks….

At the end of 2009, myself and the rest of the staff at an Internet Marketing company were made redundant. We were all working for a $50k a month information marketer (the kind who makes a killing on Clickbank). We had all been working in various capacities (affiliate managers, seo operators, customer support agents etc) but with very little direction. After a year of acquisitions, turbulent product launches and various other shenanigans, our boss walked into the office and announced he had to let us all go and do some serious re-structuring in the business.

We all left that company on good terms with our boss, and although at the time it didn’t seem like it, I learnt a lot from the 12 months I spent there.

The following year, at the age of 22, I went into business with an old school friend back in our home town. Armed with bucket loads of enthusiasm, a total lack of capital (read: cash) and experience we ventured into the World of offering online marketing services to traditional business owners.

Things went well for a time, and we picked up some reasonable clients. By the end of the first year we were earning enough to keep the business running and pay some one a full-time salary. Unfortunately, we needed to pay 2 people a full-time salary! My business partner went into business with another friend and I offered some input and help on the venture. Our time became fractured, and in the end, we decided it was a business model we both hated, and we decided we were better friends than business partners! We wrapped up the business, and I found myself at the start of 2011 looking for a new venture/job.

I found my new job in business to business sales, and that is what I am doing to this day. I have enjoyed my time in my current role immensley, and I have made some of the best friends I have ever had here, but it still doesn’t seem enough.

You see, like many people of all ages, cultures and backgrounds, I find myself wanting more control over my time and more freedom to do the things that I want to do. I also want financial security. Not incredible wealth, or untold riches, but financial security. I want to know I can weather the storms, enjoy my life in relative comfort, and assist those people I love in times of financial hardship.

To do any of the above, I know I HAVE to ditch the job, and escape the rat race.

When I first started this blog, it was intended to be a written documentary of how I left the rat race and found my own freedom. I now find myself firmly stuck in the rat race with a job (with very limited holiday time), debt, student debt and a rented apartment. Its not the life I thought I would be living right now!

What I do have though is years of experience in online businesses, and I have had the pleasure of working with some of the most successful people online in one way or another. I am now going to use that experience to launch a niche website and begin a project that I am certain will allow me to escape the rat race once and for all.

What The Rat Race Lab is All About

So, starting in 2012, I will be documenting, on a week-by-week basis my progress with this project. What I get right, and what I get wrong. Essentially, its going to allow anyone reading this blog to literally watch over my shoulder as I build an online business and escape the rat race. Most of (if not all the content) will be delivered in the newsletter, which you can sign up to here, or on the top right-hand-side of this page.

Essentially, I will be starting from scratch (perhaps like many of you reading this article) and you will be able to see how I deal with many of the challenges that are typical for any aspiring online entrepreneur. You will see first-hand how I deal with these challenges. Where I succeed, and where I fail.

And unlike many bloggers out there, I won’t solely be making my money through “teaching people how to make money online”. I still maintain contact with a number of old clients, and I do offer my consulting services to them on request, but  apart from that, I will be looking to make the majority of my money through my niche project.

This blog, website, newsletter (what ever you want to call it) will effectively be my experimental lab. This is where I will come back and make my notes and observations on my tests and experiments. This is where I will write up everything I have done, and what results my actions produced.

What This Means For You:

1. You can learn from my mistakes.

2. You can discover what is actually working right now. (Not what worked a year or 2 ago when the latest make money online guru made it big).

3. You can see the exact tools and resources I am using.

4. You can ask questions and get get detailed up-to-date answers.

5. You will be able to apply these techniques to your own business today as well, and we can build our online empires from scratch together!

I am not saying I have all the answers, but I am resourceful and motivated enough to go out and find those answers. And if you would like to cut out some of the hard work involved with getting the lifestyle you have always dreamed of by running your own Internet business, then join the Rat Race Lab Newsletter today.

Thank you for reading and thank you for sharing this journey with me. If you have any questions at all, then please feel free to leave a comment underneath this article. I answer every comment I receive!