A Timeline Of My Business Career
A brief summary of accolades and challenges over a near 20+ year career below.
2006
Phase 1 - Becoming A Digital Marketer
19 years old & attending Western University in London, Ontario (Canada) - curious about how to make money online.
Learn about online investing platforms from talkgold.com forums and make my first $20k in a few months — but it inevitably shuts down
Got first ‘taste of success’ with making money on the internet — and discover “Affiliate Marketing” through WarriorForum.com & network with other Digital Marketers at local events in Toronto & New York
Told by an ‘industry figure’ that I’m better off sticking with School & not cut out for this line of work. Let the discouragement get the best of me all summer and begin reevaluating my priorities.
Persist & make friends with my first mentor who shows me the ropes of the industry.Build an audience of 5-million MySpace followers through a series of MySpace accounts
Learn how to make money with Affiliate Marketing using MySpace accounts for free traffic - ran Affiliate Campaigns for CPA Networks - and make my first $100k profit by promoting dating websites, ringtones, short-form registrations & ebooks for commissions
At the recommendation of my mentor, I built my own MySpace Software that helps with my Affiliate Marketing — sold the rights — first attempt at selling software online - and makes $5k in a week.
2007
Get an invitation by Yanik Silver to speak at Underground Online Seminar III about MySpace Marketing in Washington DC
- Meet several industry figures including NY Times Best-Seller of 4-Hour Work Week, Tim Ferriss
- Key Moment: At a speaker-only dinner, instructed that I have to leave early for class the following day, I get asked why I’m still in School. Begin to reevaluate my priorities
Continue to make money as an Affiliate through Social Media
Drop out of University - now full-time in Digital Marketing.
Launch my first info product — sharing my affiliate marketing strategies with MySpace in an ebook (“Ready Aim Wired”). Generates $30k in a week. Discover the power of info products
2008
Continue to make money as an Affiliate and scale campaigns online.
Begin to focus on marketing through forums to generate affiliate revenue
Parents discover what I’ve been up to - get their support and continue to work harder online.
Begin to attend more conferences & network with industry figures
Doing six-figures a year now
2009
Launch a $2997 lead-generation software for Affiliate Marketers & Real Estate Agents (“The Lead Portal”) with co-partner through webinars. Million in sales in a few months with very few promotional partners
Sell a coaching program with co-partner on the backend for $4997 to the Lead Portal customers that sells out with just 1 webinar. Several customers experience immediate results & success
One of the first to ride the “webinar + software” trend before it became mainstream.
Launch first Clickbank info-product (“Dirty CPA”) with co-partner - $250k sales + $30k/mo recurring income, a video training course teaching CPA Affiliate Marketing.
First million dollar year achieved 🎉
2010
Bought my first property in Toronto, Canada
Officially a millionaire
Co-sell the info business “DirtyCPA” on Flippa.com for $100k and go back to being a solo business owner.
Launch “Commission Cloner” & “Alpha Affiliates” — a $497 video training course teaching my Affiliate Marketing strategies. $1.5 Million in 5 months — with high profit margins.
One of the first to ride the “VSL” trend before it became mainstream.
Build a strong email list to promote my products & others for commissions
2011
Speak @ Dan Kennedys’s workshop event in Orlando, FL.
Develop a blockbuster $47 affiliate marketing course (“Commission Crusher”) - makes $15 million in sales & hits #1 Clickbank in days, with 50,000+ customers and successful students becoming millionaires.
After years of financial success, begin reevaluating my reasons for living in Canada and start thinking about where in the world I would want to live
2012
Sell my property — leave Canada for good & move to the Principality of Monaco — in the South of France.
Re-launch “Commission Crusher” and hit #1 on Clickbank again
2013 / 2014
Phase 2 - Trying Different Businesses
Leave Monaco & move indefinitely to London, UK
Sell “Commission Crusher” website to a US company.
Launch a high-ticket Consulting business ($8k to $30k per person) to help people with their own online businesses, which ran for two years.
Begin focusing more on e-mail marketing as a form of generating affiliate revenue for cash flow
Launched Commission Cloner 2.0 - An Ad Spying software tool.
Decided to stop working so hard and get more balance in my life.
2015
Develop & launch an e-mail advertising network with a co-partner.
Launch an ‘online dating how-to’ course with a co-partner
Experiment with other business ventures
Projects fail & issues arise
Continue to generate income through e-mail marketing
Ends up being my worst financial year
2016
Losing interest in the info product industry & observing new industry trends.
Buy a popular Kickstarter watch project from a Facebook Ad which ends up being my worst purchasing experience online
Discover an opportunity in e-commerce, and decide to take a risk and shift industries after 10+ years in Digital Marketing
Dived into the world of direct to consumer brands — knowing nothing about watches — seeing an opportunity after reading the success stories of MVMT, Daniel Wellington and others.
Begin focusing more on e-mail marketing as a form of generating affiliate revenue for cash flow
2017
Phase 3 - Becoming A Brand Builder
Register ‘forgeandfoster.com’ - begin the process of building my own e-commerce brand.
Launch F&F after 6 months of development - packing & shipping orders myself from my flat in London to UK customers only.
Feel a renewed sense of excitement for work again - begin to develop a series of new skills in Logistics, Supply Chain Management, Photography, Quality Control, Advertising, Product Development, and much more
Launch first brand video - not knowing anything about DTC brands
Start investing in growth stocks while I focus on building a brand, which ends up performing exceedingly well
2018
Learning the ropes of e-commerce but struggling to make F&F work — but didn’t give up. Realise the product fit & marketing was incongruent.
Pivotal Moment: Redefining my USP - Create watch designs inspired by high-end luxury watches at an affordable price point.
Business begins to experience success by the end of the year after launching new products.
Switch from packing & shipping orders myself to using a UK warehouse for fulfillment
Begin to utilize Ad Agencies which helps F&F to experience success through Facebook Ads
Expand F&F into the US market.
F&F begins to experience its first successes outside FB Ads through Influencer Marketing
2019
Start 2 drop shipping brands after understanding how to grow e-commerce brands
F&F grows up to $50k/mo in sales by the year-end.
F&F is now predominantly selling in UK & USA
2020
Partner with a great ad agency
Forge & Foster blows up during COVID and scales from $50k/mo to $500k/mo in revenue in 6 months through a set of unique strategies
Launch a variety of completely bold new watch styles that do exceptionally well.
USA Warehouse added to the supply chain — UK servicing Europe, and USA servicing everyone else.
Drop ship businesses begin to generate $30k/mo with minimal work
F&F is now selling worldwide
2021
F&F continues to experience growth with a widening collection
F&F now making several million a year
F&F became one of the top watch advertisers in the UK on Facebook.
Ad buying channels diversify into Google Ads, Google Shopping & TikTok
F&F experiences extremely turbulent supply chain issues during Covid, but continues to succeed through clever strategies.
F&F team grows to 10 people + ad agency.
Sell 2 of my drop shipping brands on Flippa.com
F&F gets featured in Men’s Health, British GQ, Esquire & several other publications
2022
F&F hits 8-figures as a brand - with over 2000+ ad creatives produced & tested
Became a British Citizen.
F&F begins to get interest from various companies.
F&F receives a term sheet (LOI) from a Private Equity company for $7 Million with 70% cash deal, but inevitably falls apart during diligence.
2023
Reduce focus on F&F - put the business on autopilot
60,000+ watches now sold with 2000+ 5-Star Reviews
Recoup my investment from F&F
Allocate attention to focus on personal goals and improve health & fitness
2024
Stock portfolio continues to perform well
F&F continues to run on auto-pilot - with new models still being launched to existing customer base.
Personal life goals are prioritized during this time.
After 7+ years of e-commerce, begin the transition of looking back into Digital Marketing with several new interesting opportunities being available to monetize.
2025
Phase 4 - Build A Publishing Group
TBD