A quick story-
I was 25 years old, it was early 2006. I was renting a small basement room for $100/month, which included bills. That is extremely cheap for Austin, Texas. My room was extremely small.
I was running a food cart, the construction of which I financed ($8,000) with a credit card that had a recklessly high limit. The idea was to sell organic food to UT students as they passed back and forth from class to their houses.
It had been a flop. By month 2 I had chalked up $22,000 in credit card debt, working about 75 hours a week, and was too busy, tired, and scared to figure out what to do. I was losing money every day. I couldn’t call it quits and go get a nice job… I had an art degree, for Christ’s sake…
Further complicating things, my brother had begun sleeping with my recent ex-girlfriend. I had very few friends, and even less time… and even LESS money- to do anything with them anyway.
Those 4 months- the spring semester of 2006- were the hardest I had ever known at that time, and among the hardest I have known since. I often contemplated suicide in a way that was surprising to me- the thought would just pop into my head. I didn’t otherwise feel sad, and never once actually considered doing it- I think I was rubbing up against a biological stress threshold which causes that impulse. I was working way too hard to actually be depressed.
As difficult and scary as that was, it was bearable. I had found something that had until that point eluded me. Finally, I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. And that was deeply, deeply comforting.
I wanted to create works of art that existed in the ecosystem of dollars and cents. I wanted to be an entrepreneur. If the Green Cart was to fail, if I was to go into bankruptcy… well, that would be my first lesson on my path. I would simply pick myself up and keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Fortunately, it didn’t come to that.
My name is Jeff Jackson.
This blog is about the middle journey for me, about charting a course through one of the greatest, most powerful, fastest-changing, and darkest terrains of the business landscape. This blog is about marketing.
And it is called Big Baby Marketing because I am a big baby.
Right now you are on the homepage; check out the blog for more.
Intriguing snapshot of yourself, Jeff. I saw your post on Tim Ferriss’ 8-steps post, and I dropped by to see how it’s going. Also to wish you all the best as you start down this new path. Congratulations on taking up the 3-month challenge — no doubt your life will be dramatically different as you step into the new year.
I’ll be following your progress and cheering you on!
Wishing you success,
Heidi
Hi Heidi,
Thanks for the feedback and encouragement!
You are the first stranger that has ever given me a comment… it’s exciting! Do you have a blog? Would love to check it out if you do. The 4HWW blog, where I posted that comment about starting this blog, has been referring like 15 people a day to the site (!).
Anyway, I’ll be posting on a Dan Kennedy book I read about price strategy soon, be sure to come back and check it out!
Thanks,
Jeff
Also, sorry for the huge lapse in time for the reply. I didn’t realize I had to approve my own comments here
Jeff,
I miss Austin and all of its color. I am glad you kept your head so to speak and continued on with your wholesaling business. Austin is a place of dreams and dreamers, but you managed to hang on and come out very well. I’m excited to see how your marketing blog comes to shine. We all need a few dark moments in our life to really give us the push to just say “What the Hell” and hang on. Congrats.
Gavin