I’ll never forget that night. My girlfriend had broken up with me and I was in a bad place. My best friend thought it would be a good idea to send a hooker over to my apartment to entertain me. When she got there she could tell I was a drug dealer. She asked me “so you got any blow?” and it started from there.

I broke out the white powder and chopped it up. Truth is, I’d never done coke before. I had been selling it a while but never tried it. I was addicted to weed and I knew trying coke would be a bad idea. That night though, broken heart and all, I let my decision making skills fail me. 

She bent over and took my $100 bill and snorted half up one nostril and half up the other. I’d watched 100s of others come to my house and do the same thing. Even though I hadn’t done it myself, I knew what to do. I snorted the entire line up my right nostril and leaned back to let it drain. 

She grabbed my hand and escorted me into the bedroom in my apartment. She said “strip down let’s do this” and I took my shirt off. As I went to unbuckle my belt, I felt my heart beat hard, like real hard. The next thing you know I was out. I don’t remember a single thing that happened after that. 

I woke up the next day in the hospital, chained to the bed with handcuffs. Apparently I had a seizure, died, and been shocked back to life by the first responders. I never got to even touch the hooker. While I was shaking on the floor she ran in the other room and called 911. 

So here I was, handcuffed to the bed, wondering what in the hell happened. When all of a sudden a police officer walks in and reads me my rights. “You have the right to remain silent…” Worst day of my entire life. Still.

I was under arrest for manufacturing and delivery of cocaine. A first degree felony that carries a strong sentence of 5-99 years in a maximum security prison. Not that I was doing anything good with my life at the time, but what was left of my life was ruined. After being discharged from the hospital, I was taken to the jail and booked in with $25,000 in bail. 

I spent a few weeks in the county jail and eventually got out. After 2 years of being released on bail, I pleaded guilty to a first degree felony. I was given a 2 year sentence to a maximum security prison in the state of Texas. At 21 years old, I was taking a ride to a penitentiary. Not exactly what I wanted to do with my life for the next two years. 

I was quickly transferred to a maximum security prison in the middle of nowhere Texas. I ended up being transferred to 5 different prisons in 18 months. Some more violent than others. Each one scary as hell itself. In the last two years I had been dead and now in prison. My nightmare was a reality. 

I made a decision while I was on the inside. I’d never get in trouble ever again. I wanted to clean my life up and never break the law again. No amount of drug money was worth prison time to me. I swore I’d never screw around selling drugs again. I got out and went to work at a car wash. A felon destined to be a working loser the rest of my life. I was willing to do anything, as long as I wasn’t locked up. 

While working at the car wash, I met a client who I always upsold washes to. One day she came in and offered me a job working for her mortgage brokerage. I knew what a once in a lifetime opportunity looked like and I took it. I became a sponge for information and worked my way up to owning a branch of her company. 

I went from prison to prosperity. I was the EXACT example tax payers want to see from someone who’s been locked up. I changed my life 100% and created jobs for other Americans. I helped people buy homes. I loved what I did for a living. I also became very good at it, funding 100s of millions in loans from 2005 – 2010. 

In 2009 I closed 183 mortgage loans in Texas. I had a license with a flawless record. Yet when the Dodd Frank Act passed, I was stripped of my license and ability to originate mortgages. My once in a lifetime opportunity was gone. My past had officially come back to haunt me. And it was again scary as hell itself. 

I had two skill sets, mortgages and washing cars. I couldn’t do mortgages anymore and I damn sure wasn’t going back to washing cars after earning over half a million each year writing loans. I had no other skills and once again had to start from scratch. 

I failed over and over again. I tried network marketing and it didn’t work out as fast as I needed. I tried odd sales jobs that I hated and I wasn’t about to get stuck doing something just for the money. I was a man lost in this world, trying to find his way. I needed to find my path fast or I was to wind up homeless again!

I discovered internet marketing and social media marketing. This was the middle of 2010 and most companies were not open to social media managers like they are now. Many business owners still thought Facebook and social media were fads. Never the less I knew I could help businesses make more sales by networking online with prospects.

I created my own marketing company and ended up running social media pages for over 70 business owners. It was a whip. Every day I had to come up with content for 70 different pages. It was no easy chore. I worked my tail off day and night. It was rewarding but exhausting and it was definitely not sustainable for much longer. 

After pulling my hair out for months I learned how to create online training programs. I took the knowledge I had gained managing all those pages and turned them into information products. This way, when I made a sale, all I had to do was send a login to the program. The clients would then manage their own pages, following my methods. 

I launched the program and it was a mild success. My first product helped me escape the pain of managing so many pages and content. Even though it hadn’t made me rich, I was making sales and seeing the possibilities that I was on to something the marketplace needed. I still sell that same product today. It’s made me a lot of money over the years.

From there, every time I found a new need in the marketplace, I’d just create a product and sell it to them. Flash forward 5 years and I’ve got over 13 different products I sell online which produce 6 figures each month in sales. 

I built my entire business from scratch, with ZERO skills, and a felony on my record, from my house. These days I have 28 streams of income and a sales staff of 6. I’ve written two best selling books and I consult for some of the biggest banks in the nation. I’m proof that no matter how many times you get kicked down, you can get back up even stronger if you try.

Maybe you’re not in the best place in your life right now. I’ve been there (obviously) and can tell you that with an open mind, hard work and determination you WILL get what you work for. It took me almost 6 years to become an overnight success. The key is to get started now. Don’t wait to make the life you want, get started now. 

I literally went from prison to the penthouse in the nicest building in Dallas, Texas. No matter what life may throw at you, you can turn it around and make the most with it still.