I paid the ultimate, painful price, as many of us have probably done the same...but here is my story...

I always thought living paycheck to paycheck was “ok”, after all it’s the NORM and how most are raised…but then I had come to realize, when my third child was entering kindergarten, that I was paying the ULTIMATE, PAINFUL price. And that’s when I had my “line is the sand” moment and my life took a HUGE turn…So here’s my story

For 15 years, half my life, I had a great job (so I had thought), our bills were always barely paid, and I had settled for a life of average for myself and my family. I was a proud father of three kids and we were “getting by”.

Yet I always had this feeling that I wanted a better life for my family and their future, because they deserve it. Everything was all in my hands, but I always felt like it was not an option and way out of my grasp. I already had so much on my plate with work, the kid’s school, and “life”.

I had “settled” for average. Working 6 days out of the week, 50-60hrs, just to maintain balance. I had traded all the time I had to see my kids grow up just to keep gas in the car, food in the fridge and a roof over their head.
When my youngest started his first day of kindergarten I had this deep uncomfortable feeling that I would, yet again, let one of my children’s life flash right before my eyes Missing out on all the times he would need me the most because I had to spend all my time working to keep things maintained.

I had already missed all three of my kids first words, their first steps, their first sports games ect…

Having someone else try to explain to you how precious of a moment those were, when I would get home late at night after slaving away for the company I was working for…words can’t explain the disconnect.

I knew something wasn’t right, this can’t be how life is supposed to be. It was gut-wrenching!

I was missing out on all the important things in life and kept going back and forth in my mind…

“isn’t this how things are done? This is what everyone does right?” to “This can’t be all there is, I’ve seen others living the life of freedom that I so desperately want for my family. What are they doing that is so different that allows them that kinda life?”

Little did I know or expect, a disaster (really a blessing in disguise) was about to happen…

It was about two weeks before Christmas 2016, everything seemed picture perfect. We had our home and tree all decorated, presents and all (we scraped up just enough money just weeks before to make this holiday happen( just like every other year, like clockwork).

It was a cool Monday morning as I am driving to work, the same routine for years, dreading to start another week of work at a company I had been with for many many years, I had an uneasy feeling…and I was all too familiar with this feeling.

I get to work, throw on my boots and safety glasses and prep myself for another long week looking forward to the weekend when my shop manager pulls me aside and asks me to “help him with something” as we head to his office.

That uneasy feeling, ya it turned into almost being physically sick in a matter of seconds. I knew what was to come, they just laid off 5 other highest paid machinists in the shop the month prior.

“Nick, unfortunately we don’t have enough work to go around and we can’t afford to keep you this month.”

Really?! A fortune 500 company, with more profits in 2015 then the next largest company in Oregon, Nike, can’t afford to pay me for a month?! After YEARS of hard work and dedication, they couldn’t care less. I realized I was just another number in the books.

The icing on the cake was just months prior, our company was bought out by Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett) for $40 Billion. And they took all of the employee’s company stocks and sold them for penny’s on the Dollar. His largest acquisition yet, all with plans to automate our whole business. So machinist and programmers like myself we no longer needed.

They laid me off just 2 weeks before Christmas! So many thoughts and worries entered my mind as I walked back out to my car to drive the 30 mins to go back home. How was I going to tell my wife and kids that “I don’t know when I will be going back to work”.

That long drive home I was so angered! How could a company that I dedicated so much of myself to and worked all that overtime they asked me to…not take my families wellbeing and our situation in consideration AT ALL?!

I stopped about 10 blocks before I got home, right off the freeway exit and just parked. I couldn’t believe how quickly life can go from so well and happy, to sick and tired and feeling worthless.

At the time, it felt like one of the worst things that could happen or go wrong in my life…but like I said, there was a massive hidden blessing right there before my eyes! It was just not apparent at that moment what the silver lining was and it would be a while until I even realized it.

That first couple weeks of no work was the first time ever in our life that we got to spend time together on a holiday, and a feeling quickly came upon me that I never wanted it to end. I got a huge awakening of what life is really all about.

Not money, not physical things, not living for the weekend…It’s about taking advantage of the little time we have here on earth and experiencing it with the ones we care about the most!!!

But I knew I would get a call to go back to work soon and all that joy we had together would come to a screeching halt. I had to do something…I MUST find a better way!

But how? Where would I even start?

Those two questions I kept asking myself, it seemed like it was too late. Working for a paycheck is all I know and I am too far into life to learn anything new…So I thought.

As I sought out for other lines of work and other opportunities, I took action IMMEDIATELY when one presented itself. I had been doing research and tried a few things here and there, and while I made a few mistakes along the way….Something huge come across my laptop!

I was staring at it right in the face EVERYDAY! And when I saw it, I KNEW I had found exactly what I was looking for. Everything I needed to make a HUGE change in my family’s life for the better was right in front of me and I grew up watching it evolve…The INTERNET!

It was an ad on social media of all things. Pretty much like the one you are reading right now, but on a different platform obviously. I had that “click” moment. Something was different about THIS ad that stood out from ALL the others.

It had sincerity and transparency too it. It had HEART! It was an average everyday guy, like myself, behind it. Not just some sales guy with the same old promises and garbage. A real person with a real message.

I reached out and got in touch with him, we had a chat, and what happened next I am truly grateful for!

He shared with me his story and background in construction for 20 years and how he had locked arms with a huge community with a training system in place just few months prior, and had built a business online that virtually runs itself. With the help of some great mentors and learning a few new skills, he learned how to build his own affiliate marketing business online and was living life on his own terms traveling all across North America

As he shared with me his journey and how he did it, I quickly started getting more and more of the same similar ads popping up while I was scrolling online. Gotta love how FBibook tracks your every click and interest, right?! ALL these videos of other people with a very similar story and outcome!

And they all talked about how it all started for them by starting a business online. I soon realized that all these people were all talking about the TYPE of business, they were all using the same training, and they all had the same mentors teaching them how to become an affiliate marketer.

That is the moment where I put it all together and it all made sense now, I had to see what this marketing was all about and see what all these people were doing to create such huge success and time freedom.

I learned some new skills, got a mentor that was successful online, and dove right in to learn this whole "online" world.

Now just 5 months later, I have also been able to create a successful marketing business online that runs 24/7. My business has allowed me to live that life, just months prior, I never though was possible.

And here is the kicker!!! Ready? That same company I was trading all my precious time to, just to live a life I had settled for….They called me back after 2 months, in February, to come back to work…

Except I was in a WHOLE different position in life and had a WHOLE new outlook. I had already had days in my business where I literally made more than I have ever made in a WHOLE MONTH working for a paycheck.

I boggled their minds when I was in a position, in just a few short months of starting my business, to tell them “no thank you, I don’t need to come back”!

It was one the best moments and feelings in my life, next to when my children came in to this world of course!

And THEN...They called me again after 4 months and offered me nearly double what I was making before, practically begging me to come back to work with them. Again, “No Thanks, I’m enjoying life more than ever before and have met some of the most incredible people ever in my life”.

Oh the Irony!

So Just like I was shared this information, I soon started learning other ways to earn an income from a wifi connection and started following many people online I would have never associated with before. I learned about Cryptocurrencies, governments, ect. Some of my favorite views and learnings are from people like Jeff Berwick and Geoff Hughes, Balasz W. Kardos ect.

Building a business online is FUN! And the people in this space are some of the most incredible people I have ever met.

Looking forward to meeting more and watching where this Digital Age brings us.

“It’s good to learn from your own mistakes. It’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes”
–Warren Buffett

Thank you for taking the time to let me share my personal story. It took someone else sharing their story with me to get me on this incredible journey I have been on. And I am truly grateful every day for that.

And now I am able to share my story and keep this huge ripple effect going. It’s just a matter of who chooses to notice this enormous movement and ride the waves with us!

Take care and Godspeed to your Success!

-Nick Schneider