Someone asked me about how I started my entrepreneurial journey, and how I ended up doing what I do.
I love telling that story, so here goes.
Basically I got fired from a $650/month fitness trainer job.
Started teaching group classes in the park because I needed to eat.
In 6 months, this group grew from 7 friends training together to about 60 members every week.
Some investors noticed.
"Open a real gym," they said.
"We'll back you."
About a year after that I was managing a 2000 square feet gym.
Top revenue hits $70K monthly.
Friends congratulated me.
Family proud.
I thought I'd made it.
Then competitors arrived.
Better brands and celebrity trainers.
Influencer founders with millions of followers.
Our revenue started bleeding. First a trickle. Then a flood.
I tried everything.
Longer hours. New programs. Desperate discounts.
My favorite: Facebook ads I couldn't afford.
Nothing worked.
One night after closing, I just sat there in the front counter for two hours.
My apartment was right across the street. But I couldn't move.
Just sat there watching other gym owners post their wins on Instagram.
I didn't understand why I felt so defeated.
That clarity would only come later, after I'd lost everything.
Looking back, I understand what happened.
I'd let it get to my head.
From there I learned that early success can be more dangerous than early failure.
When you fail early, you know you need to learn.
When you succeed early, you think you've already learned.
I'd mistaken beginner's luck for business acumen.
Confused momentum with mastery.
The investors saw energy and they assumed competence.
The initial clients came from novelty rather than excellence.
The revenue reflected good timing, not strategy.
But I thought I was a business genius.
I never learned operations. Never studied retention. Never built systems.
I was playing business while my competitors were running businesses.
Over the years I've observed that many entrepreneurs hit this moment eventually.
That first win that convinces them they've figured it out.
And then reality shows up.
The lucky ones recognize the lesson before losing everything.
I wasn't that lucky.
I did lost everything.
But the loss also got me determined to find my first mentor.
My rationale is simple:
If I'm paying lets say $10K/year for mentoring, but as a result I can save $100K in mistakes, why WOULDN'T I make that investment?
Because the truth is, the failure of my first business cost us $175K not including all the time, energy, pain and suffering that preceded that.
All because I keep making stupid, avoidable mistakes during my first few years of business.
And I convinced everyone to follow suit.
As a result, I failed my clients, my team, my investors, and above all, myself.
So I made that investment in mentoring.
I didn't even have the money for it - had to be extremely resourceful in raising funds.
(No, I didn't borrowed any money - thankfully)
But the rest is history.
Went from zero income → USD5-figure/mo income.
Being depressed and defeated to serving international clients.
But most importantly, rediscovered my self-worth and confidence as a capable person.
Except this time, from a more grounded space.
I will never again let success get to my head.
Over time though, I saw an opportunity to be involved in an industry that has impacted me so much.
The money niche.
So I took it.
And today I am fortunate enough to earn a living through teaching AI and marketing skills.
What fulfills me now may sound kind of cringe, but it is my God-honest truth:
I simply want to be for others what my first mentor was to me.
That's my story.
Hope you got some value out of it.
FELIX
P.S. What's your story?
I like it when my subscribers talk to me.
Feel free to ask me questions too, if you have one.