Broke Student --> $50k/mo SMMA In Bali

Jun 12 (edited) in General 🌎

What's up everyone,

My name's Ebrahim, been in the agency space for 8 years now, who remembers the infamous Tai Lopez Lambo ad?

I saw that ad when I was a broke student, studying economics, I thought it was a scam, but I was tired of being broke so I bought his course.

When I graduated from university, all of my friends were applying to work at investment banks, even though I'd just spent £50k on education, and invested 5 years of my life, I knew the real risk was going down the 9-5 path, and looking back at 80 years old with regret.

So I said F it, didn't apply for a single job and started an agency.

I did whatever it took to get clients, I'd be at my local barber barber pitching him social media content...

I was at the dentist mid-way through getting a cavity fixed... "Hey, you guys running Facebook ads?"

I faced a tonne of adversity at the beginning, but then the words of Tai Lopez echoed in my subconscious "Find a mentor"

I found my first mentor Marcus who ran a 7 figure Google ads agency, he was a previous student at my university.

In truth, it wasn't anything crazy that he told me that changed my life, but it was getting to see how he operated, how he handled a meeting, how he led his team, and the pitches he made to 8 figure companies, it gave me one thing...

Belief.

One day he told me that one of his clients needed to run some Facebook ads to promote an event, and they didn't have anyone in the team who had the skillset.

What I didn't tell you was, that I also invested all of my money ($1997) into a course by a guy called Jason Hornung to learn how to run Facebook ads. Bear in mind this was 8 years ago before Facebook ads were a big thing.

God presented me with my shot, Marcus gave me full autonomy to put together a Facebook ad campaign for his client, and he told me to bill me the number of hours I worked at the end of the project.

I ran back home and googled "What is the average hourly rate of a marketing consultant?" It was £83.

I was earning £6.50/hr working in retail at the time, my mind was blown.

I completed the project in 14 hours, and when refreshed my banking app and saw £1162 appear, my life changed forever.

After university, my friend went on to make £100k/yr in their corporate jobs, while I moved back into my parent's shed, to do whatever it took to make the agency work.

All I wanted to do was get out of that shed, have my own place, and live life on my own terms.

I scaled to £18k/mo and moved out into the dream penthouse I always wanted in London (I watched too much Sam Ovens back then)

When my parents dropped me off, I looked out at the smokey London skyline, surrounded by my life in a bunch of brown boxes, and said "I guess this is it?" to myself.

Iman reached out because I was in his community

The problem was, internally I felt deeply unfulfilled. I achieved EXTERNAL freedom (time, location, financial) but I hadn't figured out INTERNAL freedom (thoughts + emotions).

So I started to go out partying, drinking, doing drugs, hooking up with girls. I was trying to fill a bottomless black hole.

It wasn't until I started going within, meditating, doing breathwork, and getting closer to God that finally I started to feel a sense of peace inside of me.

That peace was a better feeling than any penthouse or fancy watching.

I dedicated the next period of my life to developing spiritually. I hired mentors, traveled the world, tried plant medicines, and worked with Shamans and it all pointed back to the same thing:

Internal State = External Reality.

It doesn't matter how much money you make, nothing can buy love, peace, joy or true fulfillment.

Now I prioritise the internal just as much as the external. I'm sure to some of you it sounds "woo woo" I was just like you trust me.

But when you get to a point where you have enough money and still don't feel fulfilled, it forces you to search for answers.

If any of you want to start going on that journey, I recommend breathwork, you can go on the call recording here in the group and try it out. I hope it gives you what it gave me.

(if you've already done that and want a daily breathwork practice, comment "breathwork" below and I'll send you a Google Drive link to the one we have in the S/O community)

Anyway, that's all from me, shout out to

@Matt Shields

for putting this incredible community together, and for all of the help you've given me (not just scaling to £50k/mo but personally as well), it's an honor to call you a friend and see your journey unfold.

Peace,

Ebrahim

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