I still remember the first sale I ever made online like it was yesterday.
I was a sophomore in college at the time.
And since I had a $1200 gambling debt that I couldn’t pay, I decided to try and make money selling my betting picks online.
I had no clue what I was doing.
So I found a pre-made website builder, that patched together some pages.
Honestly it was the ugliest thing ever.
It looked like a bad MySpace page with all the flashing HTML.
But I had a website.
However like most newbies I just assumed the sales were going to roll in once the site went live.
Like people were somehow waiting on pins and needles for my site to go live.
Well, that didn’t happen.
In fact, no one showed up.
And no one bought anything.
Which was a real kick in the teeth.
My dream of getting rich overnight didn’t happen.
So I changed course…
I had no idea how to drive traffic…
Or how to make sales…
So I resorted to the only thing I could think of…
I started spamming forums.
I went to all the major forums where guys talked about their betting picks and started making posts.
I had multiple user names…
I posted free picks under different names.
And I told everyone they needed to buy Justin’s picks.
It was a terrible strategy to get traffic.
However I was too stupid to realize that.
So I did it everyday.
Each day inbetween classes, I’d spend 2-3 hours posting on all the various betting forums.
I did this day-in and day-out for nearly 6 months.
And guess what?
No one bought anything.
I remember wondering if my Paypal account was broken…
Or if my website had something wrong with it.
I just couldn’t understand why nobody was buying anything from me.
I remember thinking about giving up numerous times along the way.
My grades started to suffer…
And my mom was asking me what was going on.
The reality was that I was spending all my time trying to make this site work.
But it was starting to look like it wasn’t worth it.
However luckily for me, around Christmas time that year, I finally got the big break I needed.
I was at my parents house over winter break…
And I logged onto my OSU email account to see what was going on.
I remember seeing a notification from Paypal.
“You’ve received a payment”
I had no idea what the payment was for.
Maybe a friend sent me some money…
Who knows…
But I opened the email, and soon saw the words that pretty much changed my life forever…
ChrisJ3897 has paid you $149 for “College Basketball Pick Package”.
“Holy shit” I thought to myself.
“This can’t be happening”.
Some guy actually went to my website and bought my college basketball picks.
I couldn’t believe it.
I was stunned.
But elated at the same time.
I remember jumping up and down and running around the room screaming like a 12-year old girl.
My heart was pounding through my chest.
For as much effort as I had put into this website, I didn’t really think it was going to work.
It still felt like it was a fantasy.
So seeing that first $149 changed everything for me.
It made me realize this was REAL.
And that I could make money selling stuff online.
Now-a-days it’s funny to look back on this..
Cause since then I’ve had days where I’ve made over a million dollars in a single day…
I’ve built four multi-million dollar businesses…
But I remember the day I made my first sale more than any of those other days.
I remember the ugly brown shag carpet in the computer room I was in.
I remember the red sweat pants I was wearing when it happened.
I remember it all.
Even though it was only $149…
That first sale was proof that what I was chasing was real.
I wasn’t on some fool’s journey like my parents and all my friends thought.
It was real.
And that was a big moment for me.
It’s why I still remember this moment 17 years later.
And why I’m sharing it with you today…
If you’re just getting started online…
And wondering if this is all “real”…
I know how you’re feeling.
I was there myself.
I doubted myself for months and months.
I went through a lot of struggle to get that first sale.
Friends made fun of me…
My mom told me I was wasting my time…
I went through it all.
So my advice to you is to stick with it.
It IS real.
You can do this.
It won’t be easy…
But it will be worth it.
Keep that in mind…
– Justin
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