Nick Unsworth | Business Coach

MY STORY

I was six years old when I picked up my first pack of matches. Wait. That makes me sound like a pyro. What I mean is that my own entrepreneurial fire started at a very young age. You see, my mother emboldened me with the idea that I could do anything and be anything if I put my mind to it. I proved her right at a young age by running a paper route empire at age 6 (maybe not an empire, but still, I was a balling 6-year old). Growing up, I watched my friends parents struggle with money. I saw the toll it took on their families and remember vividly them not being able to attend the important things like little league games because they were always working. I remember stories of uncertainty that comes from working for other people. I vowed to never let that be me. I’ve been an entrepreneur on a mission for about 11 years now. Here’s my journey…

MY FIRST HOME RUN

While in college I discovered network marketing and built a very successful business. I made the typical mistakes of a reckless 21 year old…I leased a $50k car and was spending money recklessly. Sure enough the parent company that I was selling products for went belly up out of the blue. That’s when I experienced my first true hardship. I literally lost it all and then found myself 30k in debt going from business opportunity to business opportunity.

CHASING THE DREAM INTO THE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY

I then got things together and jumped into the real estate business. This was is 2005 mind you. I missed the whole bubble where money was raining out of the sky but I figured I could build a good lifestyle from it. In 2007 I ended up moving to San Diego to work on a lending project for the Hard Rock Hotel. Not more than 2 weeks after I landed the US economy experiences the “mortgage meltdown” which was the biggest financial catastrophe since the great depression. Again, I found myself up shit’s creek and was left in a tough spot. In 2008 I returned home to CT where I focused on building my real estate business and knew that I needed to get my name out in the marketplace as fast as possible.

CREATING MY FIRST BUSINESS THAT GIVES BACK

That’s when my new venture the “NU Perks Card” was born. It was a not-for-profit business where I got 45 local businesses in town to put discounts on my NU Perks Card. It looked like a business card that folded out that was meant to carry in your wallet or purse. Basically, consumers could go to some of the nicest restaurants in town and flash their NU Perks Card and get 15% off the bill or half off a bottle of wine etc. I built NU Perks Card.com to sell them for $20 each. From there, $10 of the purchase went to the charity of their choice. My goal was to get my name out in the community while raising thousands for non-profits. When I launched the business I made a huge mistake. I went against my gut and trusted a “traditional” advertising company that recommended TV commercials.

All said and done I spent about 50k launching the business and things were rocking. I was featured on “Better Connecticut” which is a morning show, I was all over the papers in town and things couldn’t be better. The problem was that the advertising was insanely expensive and the ROI was unbelievably negative. I pulled the plug on the costly TV commercials and I experienced something that would change my life forever…my website was ranked on the first page of Google. Even after I pulled down my marketing the traffic kept coming and coming. It was unbelievable to experience the power of Google. Furthermore, a large national company that had a similar name saw that I was ranked higher than them on Google and decided to sue me for Trademark infringement. Long story short I didn’t have the capital to fight it so I had to take the business down.

LOSING IT ALL

So again I found myself on the verge of bankruptcy trying to figure out the next business that I was going to start. Quitting and getting a job definitely crossed my mind as I was living off of credit cards but I kept clinging to the hope of actually finding my passion and loving what I do. That’s when I got into internet marketing. I spent a good year and half learning everything from everyone. I was traveling the country on credit cards going from conference to conference to figure out how I could build an online business. I was so broke that I would bring protein powder with me in sandwich bags and sneak up to my hotel room when everyone else was enjoying meals together. I was at the proverbial rock bottom but knew that the pain was temporary. I saw an opportunity with Facebook marketing and I decided to dive right in and take no prisoners.

GETTING MY MOJO BACK

I built out my blog www.nickunsworth.com, my fan page and officially stopped selling houses for my real estate business. At that point, I was in severe debt and had to figure out how to pay my bills that were just over $3,500 per mo because my credit card debt was close to $1,200 per mo. I made the leap of faith, started NU Media 2.0 and picked up my first 5 clients within 30 days and was able to pay my bills. From there, I worked my tail off and started helping clients get results online and it started to snowball. By my 90th day I had trained over 50 businesses and was starting to pick up speaking engagements. By my 4th month I landed a $50,000 contract for 90 days and then things just exploded. I ended up picking up larger clients like Keller Williams Realty, BMW, and others. This has led to a complete transformation in my life and in business. I quickly paid off my debt and was rocking and rolling. I continued to train over 1,100 business owners and entrepreneurs how to get customers using Facebook marketing. Along the way I built a Facebook application called “Fan Reviews.”

 

SELLING A BUSINESS BY THE AGE OF 30

The tool created incredible results for my clients and as a result I had multiple offers to buy equity into my business. Selling a business had been my dream for years and I even have a tattoo on my chest of the goal. How’s that for goal setting!? It worked. Since that experience I went on to sell the rest of my shares in the business so that I could put 100% of my focus on helping entrepreneurs build kick ass lives and businesses that have real purpose and meaning.

AND THAT’S WHEN LIFE ON FIRE WAS BORN!

It’s truly amazing what happens when you’re in “alignment” with what your “purpose” is in life. I now know that my purpose is helping other people and love every minute of every day making Life on Fire a “journey worth living.” My hope is that my story makes you stop and think about your life and your business. Are you doing what you love? You can do anything you put your mind to and I hope that you are pursuing you’re your dreams. Life is too short not to. Either way, if you made it this far I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Also, if you’ve found your passion and you’re living out your dreams then share your story with me via the comments below. Looking forward to speaking soon, Nick