Beginning from the End
From Trauma to Triumph: The Journey Back Home
Over 15 years ago, back in 2008, during my deployment in Afghanistan's Sangin, I sustained a life-altering Severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). It left me weakened and distant from who I was. For over 13 years, I battled frustration, anger, suicidal thoughts, and deep depression. And, as hard as that all was, I didn't allow these circumstances to define me. After a couple years of rediscovering myself, trying to understand my new life, I began to redirect my energy into crafting a fresh life vision.
In 2011, about a year before exiting the Marine Corps in late 2012, I played with the idea of starting a business. I ended up starting a small business, and it wasn't because I was too good for a job or gung-ho about entrepreneurship. I simply knew that I couldn't work a regular job after getting out of the Marines. In fact, I had no idea what I was doing and was extremely nervous about whether I could make any business work.
My major concerns were the fact that I suffered from many symptoms from the brain injury, and one of the major ones to impact me was the extreme fatigue I would experience day-to-day. I only had about 3-4 hours per day, at most, to fully function. When I would push myself too far beyond that, I would pay for it by experiencing even higher levels of fatigue for the following few days, and sometimes up to a few weeks. It would lead to extreme brain fog, confusion, lots of irritability, and often weight loss.
The Journey Ahead
Breaking Through Limitations
I knew that any full-time job I would decide to do would put a massive strain on my brain and body, and ultimately my mental health. I knew something had to change. I knew I had to go back to the business idea and make something of it.
The business I started in 2011 I didn't do much with for a couple of years, but I stayed active because I would occasionally earn money from the minimal effort I would engage in. This helped me begin to realize that there may be some bigger and greater potential here with having a business than I had originally realized.
In late 2013, I began to engage and go all-in. Over that time, even with my limited time, I learned from the best. I read the books, took the courses, and took all the action I could. Often times I would end up crashing, trying to work as hard as my old self. With these hardships came my understanding of the timeframes I had to work with before I would energetically, emotionally, and physically crash. This is when I began to realize I only had about 3-4 hours each day to fully function.
Between 2013 and 2016 I developed a system that capitalized on my limited work hours, fostering gradual growth and generating multiple 6-figures annually by 2014. Following the impact of the 2020 lockdown, I was ready to come back full throttle. In 2021, my system underwent a stringent test, involving six months to build a team and foundation. By 2022, I grew a two different companies to over $7.5 million in revenue collectively in less than 12 months. Along with that I developed two 7-figure earners, multiple people who earned 6-figures, and over a dozen people who earned an average of $40,000 on a part-time basis.
Acceptance
