We Lost Everything — And Came Back Stronger

Back in 2015, I quit my corporate job and we moved to the Dominican Republic. I know you're probably saying — I thought you quit in 2020 and moved in 2021. That's true, but the first time we did it was in 2015.

The First Leap

What I did was take everything in my 401k. We moved to Dominican Republic to open up a hair salon and a restaurant. The restaurant was taking up so much of our time that we decided to close the hair salon down and focus more on the restaurant.

Needless to say, after a year, that restaurant closed down in May or June of 2016. And to be honest with you, I had no clue how to run a restaurant. My wife had no clue either. We were working ungodly hours. My daughter at the time was a year old. My wife was spending so much time away from her, and I could just tell by the look on her face that she didn't like it.

Rock Bottom

Not to mention, we ran out of money. I had maxed out all our credit cards. I was down to nothing. And the last thing you want to be in a foreign country is broke without any money.

We didn't even have money to get back to the States. I had to borrow $1,000 from my sister so we could buy plane tickets to get home.

Starting Over at $10 an Hour

Our plan was to move to Fort Lauderdale. We had friends who had recently moved there and they said we could stay with them until we got on our feet. So we flew back to Alabama, picked up our car from storage, and drove to Fort Lauderdale.

My first full day there, I went to the temp service and found a job making $10 an hour loading trucks. Keep in mind — before I left Alabama, I was making $60,000 to $70,000 a year working in HR. But there was no shame in my game. I knew I had to do what I had to do.

The friends we were living with — the landlord found out we were staying at the house. It was seven people in that house. We had to get out. From there, we were bouncing hotel to hotel for about a month, using PayPal Credit to book rooms from Pompano Beach all the way to Hollywood, Florida.

No Furniture, No Problem

We found a new luxury apartment running a special — $75 deposit, first month free, second month half off. My mom loaned us $2,000 for the deposit. We got the apartment.

But we didn't have any furniture. From August to the end of November, we ate, slept, and watched movies on my laptop — all on the hard floor. When maintenance would come by for fire alarm checks, we'd fold everything up and put it in the closet as if nobody lived there.

The Grind

My wife found a full-time job as a recruiter, worked part-time at Dunkin' Donuts across the street, and did event work on weekends. I was loading trucks for about 2 weeks, then started doing Uber full-time until I found a clerical job at the City of Dania Beach.

I ended up getting hired at the fire department in Davie, Florida — $13 an hour. After work at 5:00, I'd go clean an elementary school until 7:30. Then I'd clean a rental car office until 9:30. I did this for almost a year.

The Turning Point

By mid-2018, we started to breathe just a little bit financially. We were still working two jobs, doing Instacart on the side, and on my lunch breaks I'd turn the app on and try to make money.

During this whole time between 2016 and 2018, we were trying everything to make money online — dropshipping, affiliate marketing, I was even learning to trade options. None of it made real money. But what I didn't know at the time was that I was gaining experience and understanding of how these platforms work.

In July 2018, I came to Dominican Republic for an event and met Russell Taylor. He told me how much he was making doing YouTube — about $2,500 a month. That was always the number I had in my mind for what we'd need to move to the DR.

When I got back, I told my wife: we're starting a YouTube channel. In August 2018, we launched it. Two months later, I started my cooking channel. And the rest is history.

The Lesson

We were at our lowest point as a family. We could have stayed down — even though that option never crossed my mind. Instead, we fought. We fought to figure it out.

I had no clue that everything we were doing was going to lead us to the life we have today. All I knew was I did not want to be in that position financially.

Here's what you need to understand: I was just working. I wasn't worrying about the results. We have control over the why — why we want to do something. We have control over the what and the how. But the when? That's not up to us. It's up to the universe.

A lot of people work but they're so focused on when something is going to happen that they can't focus on what they're doing, why they're doing it, and how they're doing it. Stop worrying about the when. The when is going to come when it comes.

Like Henry Ford said: whether you think you can or think you can't, you're always right.

Keep fighting. Stay working. It's all going to come together.