Well, that’s where I spent most of my time…

Though on New Year’s Eve I was in Park City, Utah, at a party with my parents and their friends…

Telling everyone that I was going to law school after I graduated from college.

That was the plan.

I’d taken the LSAT, applied to several law schools, and been accepted at the University of Miami.

It seemed like a perfect fit because I loved the tropical climate of South Florida…

And, being a lawyer – that was prestigious.

Lawyers made lots of money…

So, despite having been a bit “lost” for stretches of my life since turning 18…

(attended CU Boulder for a semester then dropped out, worked a stretch of minimum wage jobs, struggled with both a weed and cocaine addiction, started a music company with raised capital and failed, decided I missed learning and enrolled in Junior College, transferred to UWF, reconnected with nature, discovered philosophy, finally found my place)…

It looked like I’d end up being a respectable member of society after all.

Internally though, I was having my doubts.

I graduated from college in May, of 2010.

And, by June…

I’d written the University of Miami to tell them I wasn’t going to be attending.

Why?

I knew in my heart that I’d be going to law school for all the wrong reasons.

I’d be doing it because being a lawyer “sounded” impressive…

And because they made lots of money…

But I’d probably be miserable.

Especially with the insanely long hours…

And the fact that I just wasn’t all that interested in law.

I also knew there was a good chance I’d drop out of law school before finishing…

And the idea of taking on another $150,000 in debt…

For something, I wasn’t that passionate about…

It wasn’t a risk I wanted to take.

So, I didn’t go.

And, for a time, it seemed like a questionable decision.

I couldn’t find any jobs in Pensacola…

So I ended up working on a failed congressional campaign in Houma, Louisiana…

But left before Election Day.

When the leadership decided we needed to spend less time out in the community…

And more time cold-calling Cajuns to see who they were voting for…

Which meant using an autodialer to make 200-300 phone calls a day from a stuffy room with little AC or natural light.

When I quit, I was told by the campaign director that I would never work in politics again.

But I didn’t care.

And I drove from Houma directly back to San Diego…

Where I moved in with mom and dad…

And started looking for work.

After that happened…

There was a stretch of time where I worked as a promotional model/brand ambassador…

Which I actually did really enjoy…

Except, it wasn’t permanent.

You'd get good pay for a few days, but then the event was over…

And you were back to scrambling for your next gig.

This was followed by my time working at a for-profit, online college…

Where I’d cold call people and try to get them to take on massive amounts of debt to pursue a worthless degree…

Which also didn't feel very good…

Because I knew that, statistically…

Over 80% of the people who I convinced to enroll in the college…

Wouldn’t end up completing their degree program and would just be saddled in debt.

There were stretches of depression…

Then, one of the happiest times of my life.

The four months I spent living in a double-wide trailer in Marble Falls, Texas…

Teaching kids about nature at a place called The Outdoor School.

That was followed by my dad’s cancer diagnosis, death, and more depression…

And then, a fateful trip to Las Vegas after my dad died…

Where I sat down to a poker table…

Met Laura Catella…
And found out what copywriting was for the first time.

Many of you have heard the story by now.

Someone asked her what she did for a living…

She said, “I’m a writer”…

I asked, “what kind of writer?”…

She said, “I’m a copywriter”…

And I said, “that’s awesome.” Then, pulled out my phone and Googled “what’s a copywriter,” because I had no idea.

That was the beginning of a major turning point in my life.

But, it didn’t happen overnight.

First, there was one last corporate job, this one back in South Florida.

Me working on several business ideas that didn’t take off…

And then, me finally trying out “this copywriting thing” for myself…

And realizing people would actually pay me to write for them.

That was the “A-HA!” moment.

And I quit my corporate job less than 30 days after that.

But, it still wasn’t all roses from there…

There were times where I’d have to pawn musical instruments or my Xbox to pay rent…

Tons of mistakes I made (starting an agency then becoming trapped in it)…

Laura and I both doing shady shit behind each other’s backs…

And just more growing up that needed to happen.

Finally, things started to click in 2014 when I began writing for the guys at Lion’s Publishing full-time.

It was only then that I knew I’d developed competency and a skill-set that would ensure I’d never be broke again.

And after that, there was a health supplement company that went from $0 to $23MM in two years…

Several other successful brands I partnered in…

Then more recently, Copy Accelerator with Justin Goff…

Creating this email list…

Starting to teach more…

Marrying Laura…

And the birth of our beautiful daughter, Eden Rose.

Plus more mistakes too.

Don’t think the mistakes stopped after 2014 LOL…

I've continued to make plenty…

Including the affiliate network, I created in 2017, thinking I was genius…

And that's cost me at least $1.5 MM between 2017-2019.

I'll give you a whole email about that damned affiliate network at some point…

But, the point is…

It's been quite the decade.

And I guess I'm just feeling sentimental and wanted to write about it.

I also want to make the point that nothing is permanent…

And while it can feel like things aren’t moving in the right direction, or like you’re stuck…

The truth is that change is the only constant.

A single year can be impactful…

But a decade?

You’re virtually guaranteed not to be the same person at the end of a decade as you were at the start.

And, for me personally…

I’m so thankful for the last decade.

Even with all of the ups and downs…

Because this last decade is where I finally became a fully realized human being…

Where I went from an unguided missile…

To a mission-driven man.

Of course, I'll still continue to evolve…

I have no doubt that there will be numerous lessons I'll need to learn in the new decade as well – some easy but some hard and painful…

And, I can tell you that there are still plenty of areas in my life where I want to improve too.

But I’m entering this decade with a profound sense of confidence…

Along with an unbridled optimism…

And for that, I’m incredibly grateful.

– SPG

P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.

The post Reflections on the Last Decade first appeared on Stefan Georgi.

But I doubt you know the reason why.

It’s because of a guy named Bobby Johnson.

You see, when I transferred to the University of West Florida in 2008…

I was originally a Political Science Major…

And I was completely content with that decision – I thought politics and government were super interesting.

During that first semester though…

I elected to take an Intro to Ethics course…

And Bobby was the professor.

Bobby was this skinny, shaggy haired kid…

He was only 26 at the time.

And honestly, he looked like he should be a student in the class, not the teacher.👨‍🏫

It was a fairly large class, with a lot of freshmen in it…

And during the very first class…

One of the freshmen – a girl who couldn’t have been much more than 18 – asked Bobby why anyone should study philosophy?

“Well for me, it’s because I’m no longer afraid to die”…

That’s how Bobby responded.

And while yeah, I know it sounds dramatic…

It also caught my attention…

Because I’d never really heard someone talk about death like that before…

Especially not in a way that showed complete peace and acceptance.

So, that moment really stood out…

But, that’s not the reason why I switched to philosophy.

The switch happened when, a month or so into the semester…

I was outside the library, smoking cigarettes with some friends…

And Bobby Johnson came walking by.

He joined us (didn’t smoke, but sat down) and we all talked…

And then at some point it was just me and him, and he goes, “so what’s your deal?”

Well, I had no idea how to answer that…

But I started by telling him that I’m from California…

And I remember him responding with:

“Oh, so that’s why you have good taste in music!”

I'm not 100% sure why he said that – I think he must have been looking through my iPod or something…

And I don’t remember exactly how the rest of the conversation went…

But I do know that Bobby made a pretty impassioned plea for me to study philosophy…

And, at the end of the semester, I made the switch.

So, why am I sharing this with you?

Well, a few reasons…

I think that studying philosophy has helped me to be a better copywriter.

Because it’s all about logical arguments (Want to improve your copy? Read Plato/Socrates – it’s easily digestible dialogue with razor-sharp logical arguments) …

But, it’s also about “weird” arguments and thinking outside the box.

It’s also about trying to find concrete ways to explain very abstract concepts…

Which comes in handy when you’re trying to make mitochondria or autophagy sound interesting to people.

More importantly than that though…

Because I chose to study philosophy…

I basically got to spend two years examining myself, who I really was, and why I did the things I did…

And I spent dozens of hours each week…

Meditating and writing about “big” topics like love, eternity, God, morality, and death.

I think that really helped me in 2011…

When my dad was diagnosed with cancer…

And died five months after.

It was an awful experience…

But because I had spent so much time thinking about the inevitability of death…

And how we only have a finite amount of time on this earth…

It made the diagnosis and death of my father less shocking.

Not easier…

But I wasn’t blindsided.

And, I think if you can get to a place where you're comfortable with the idea of death…

It can make a big impact in your life too.

Because here’s the cold hard truth:

We’re all going to die.

Every single one of us.

And every person we love.

So, we can either accept that fact…

And use it to empower ourselves and others…

By trying to savor every moment of this life…

By trying to spread love to every person we encounter…

By living big, bold, and fully…

Or, we can live in fear and denial.

We can pretend death doesn’t exist…

We can tell ourselves NOT to enjoy anything today, because there’s some undefined time in the distant future where we’ll actually ALLOW ourselves to be happy…

We can slave away in jobs we hate, stay stuck in relationships with people we don't love, and continue to hide our true nature from the world because we’re afraid…

Or, we can view life as a beautiful and thrilling journey, one that we’re grateful to be a part of.

It’s really an either/or situation.

Either you embrace the inevitability of death, and you make the most of the time you’ve got…

Or you don’t, and you die surprised and disappointed.

So, knowing that you have this choice…

Why the F**K would pick option “b”?

Man…

Honestly, as I’m writing this…

I have to be real with you:

It’s been a while since I thought this way…

Since I’ve pondered my own mortality.

Or since I’ve remembered that my eventual death is one of the greatest gifts I have in this life.

There's no better motivator than knowing the cosmic stopwatch will eventually hit 0:00…

It’s a motivator not just to “accomplish” great things…

But to ENJOY as many moments as you can too.

Because it could all be over in the blink of an eye.

That’s how it was for Bobby Johnson.

You see, during my two years at the University of West Florida, we grew pretty close…

I’d take whatever classes he taught…

But I’d also go over to his house for potlucks and get-togethers.

These would inevitably end with all of us on Bobby’s patio at 2 am…

Drinking beer and talking about the meaning of life.

As we grew closer, I learned that Bobby had cystic fibrosis…

And while it didn’t seem to be affecting Bobby a lot at the time…

Sure enough, in 2014…

Bobby passed away due to complications from his disease.

I wasn’t expecting the news…

Because to be honest, we hadn’t talked much since I left UWF…

But when I first heard of Bobby’s passing…

As heartbroken as I was…

I also couldn’t help but think back to that first class, on my first day at UWF…

When Bobby told that girl that he was no longer afraid to die.

And it made me smile.

Suddenly, that comment from Bobby made a lot more sense to me…

Because while no one in the class knew it…

Bobby knew it:

He would almost certainly die at a very young age…

And so, he used philosophy to come to terms with that reality.

To be at peace with his life and his death.

And it worked.

Bobby was hands-down one of the happiest guys I ever knew.

I hadn’t thought of Bobby in a few years…

But he came up last night when Laura and I were at dinner.

And I wanted to write and share this with you…

Because by sharing the lessons I learned, thanks to Bobby…

It’s a way to ensure that he continues to have an impact on people’s lives…

And that his spirit lives on.

Hope you guys have an incredible day 🙂

-SPG

P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.

The post I’m No Longer Afraid to Die first appeared on Stefan Georgi.

Jason started running traffic to my Holy Land Health offers back in early 2016, and for a while, he was by far my biggest affiliate.

But, what’s funny is that for close to a year, I didn’t actually know Jason’s identity. 

Instead, both me and my team at Holy Land Health only knew Jason as “1345,” because that was his sub ID on the affiliate network we were running with.

That changed in February of 2017 when Steven Patton, who was with the aforementioned network (Ad Health), introduced us directly. 

I give Steven a lot of credit for this, because at that point in my career with affiliates I didn’t really know as much as I do today. 

In other words…

I was fine running blind with a network, and I didn’t realize that I should be cultivating direct relationships with the actual affiliates (instead of just the networks). 

Steven helped change my thinking on this.

Especially because he felt like, given the amount of volume we were running together (millions of dollars), me and ol’ 1345 should be connected directly. That way if 1345 (aka Jason) needed changes made to pages, he could come straight to my team. 

After meeting in person for the first time, in a suite at T&C in February of 2017…

Jason continued to run traffic to the HLH offers for another six months or so…

And ultimately we did over $10MM in revenue together on HLH alone 

Then, when I wound down Holy Land Health in the summer of 2017…

Jason and I maintained a good relationship. 

He and his partner, Jon, came to my copy intensive in Vegas in 2018.

He’ll still occasionally run an offer that I bring him…

And sometimes, we just connect on Skype to talk business and catch up.  

When we had lunch yesterday, it was the first time I’d seen Jason in close to a year.

It was a really nice time.

None of us (Jason/Jon/Me) had any agenda…

It was more just a bunch of war buddies catching up.

The conversation hit on a wide range of topics including:  

• The crazy stuff my call center is doing and how with rising ad costs, it’s more vital than ever to sell more to your existing customers 
• The next big frontiers of media buying (Jon says YouTube, Jason says ConnectedTV)…
• The Copy Accelerator Mastermind (Jason and Jon may come to our event in February and be on our Media Buying Panel)…
• The best places to live in San Diego…

Plus lots more…

And, throughout our whole conversation…

The one thing that really stood out to me… 

Was that no matter how “permanent” things seem at the time…

They almost always change. 

For example…

We talked about a guy I’ll call GC. 

He’s an affiliate who ran several million dollars’ worths of CBD traffic for me and a partner 2017, then freaked out because he thought maybe he’d go to jail for selling drugs (he didn’t LOL). 

The guy’s a total beast, though…

And today he spends his time building up eComm brands…

And has a connected TV Company that he’s pushing towards a large exit. 

We talked about Jason Akatiff. 

Akatiff owns an affiliate network called A4D, and he’s very much an OG in our space. 

It was cool hearing how Akatiff has really found his passion for building up eComm brands and scaling them. His affiliate network is still chugging along, but Akatiff doesn’t put most of his focus there. Instead, he’s really enjoying the product development side of things.  

Jason then asked me about an ex-partner in some health businesses named Dane. 

I told him how Dane and his new partner are doing extremely well with their health offers. They’ve dialed in their numbers, figured out how to be profitable at scale, and are chugging along. 

Next, we talked about Nick, Vince, and Kevin from VShred and Sculpt Nation. 

These guys came up because we were talking about how so many people say they’re going to build a real brand, but never actually do.   

Well, Nick and the gang have actually pulled it off. 

Now they have a nine-figure brand that is just exploding.

So, these guys are a great example of how building something “real” can be much more rewarding than just doing a “money grab.” 

Then there’s Steven Patton, the guy who is responsible for introducing me and Jason in the first place. 

Jason told me about how Patton is making a transition from his current role and shifting gears. He’s sick of the CPA game, and he wants to pivot to CPM and email stuff. I don’t blame Steven – the guy’s been doing CPA for a long time and burnout happens. 

Plus, we talked about Jason himself.  

When I first met Jason, he was running a media buying team that was focused on running offers on the big ad networks.

Two years ago, he started a publishing company that creates and sells children’s books. It’s called Puppy Dogs and Ice Cream, and it’s a multi-million-dollar book empire that most of us have never heard of. 

This is now by far the main focus of Jason and his team. They still run a few offers here and there, but about 90% of their time goes towards growing their book company. 

They have tons of SKUs, and Jason recently sent my daughter, Eden, a huge bundle of their books in the mail, which she loved.

I’m also really happy for Jason because it’s obvious he truly loves this business. 

Honestly, that’s just a fraction of what we talked about.

But, the reason I felt inspired to write this email to you today is because our conversation reminded me of a simple but profound fact:

Everyone and everything changes over time…

And that’s important to remember for at least three big reasons: 

1. Don’t define people by what they’re doing at any given moment in time. It’s smarter to have a flexible mental model of people. To understand that just because they are doing “X” today, doesn’t mean they won’t be doing “Y” tomorrow. 

2. Tangentially, this is why relationships and networks are so important. And why I go out of my way to have relationships with everyone I meet, no matter if they are “big” or “small” in their industry, and no matter if we seem to have nothing in common. Just because that’s the case today, doesn’t mean there won’t be some incredible synergy a few years down the road. 

3. It’s helpful to remember that change is a constant in your own life too. And to embrace that. This is valid regardless of whether you’re crushing it right now, or you’re in a personal hell. In both cases, there’s going to be an “endpoint.” That doesn’t mean you can’t keep crushing it, but it does mean whatever you’re doing will eventually change. And it’s really helpful to remember this when you’re going through a rough spot. No matter how “stuck” you feel – the truth is that your hardship will ultimately pass. 

I feel like there’s a lot more I could write about all of this…

But the sun is just coming up over the Pacific ocean, and I want to watch. 

Then, I’m going to be waking up Eden and spending a bit of morning time with her. 

And at around 9 am, I’ll be heading to the “day office” I rented at a Regus that’s just down the street to get some work done. 

Workwise, here are my biggest objectives for the day: 

• Work on a sales letter I’m doing for a client (want to be at least 50% done with the copy)…
• Take care of a few things for Copy Accelerator…
• Have an hour-long Zoom call with the leadership of my call center to discuss 2020 strategy.  

Then this afternoon, we’ll be taking Eden to my mom’s house (aka grandma’s), where she’ll be spending the night. 

And this evening, Laura and I have a dinner date, which I’m really excited about. 

So it should be a busy day! 

-SPG

P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.

The post Lunch With a Multi-Million-Dollar Affiliate (My Big Realization) first appeared on Stefan Georgi.