Jared Goetz talks with a caller who spent eight years in debt, working four jobs, and now wants to start an e-commerce business. Jared lost a $1 million business at 22 and faced a $250k lawsuit in federal court alone. He argues hardship builds resilience like a muscle, and tells the caller to use idle time and consistent daily effort to launch.
Hello?
Hey, is this Kristen or Christine?
Yeah.
Hey, what's up? It's Jared Goetz.
No way! Yay!
What do you, uh, what do you do? What are you working on? What's, uh, what's going on?
Um, well, basically, overall, back in the 8 years I was in debt, I had to pay IRS, I had to pay helping my dad out. My name was under some foreclosures, so I was working 3 jobs trying to make ends meet. And then now I'm like, I want to learn what you guys do.
So have you gotten yourself past the rock bottom state that you were at?
As of last year. Oh. Lots of sober life I was going through hell.
Okay, okay. Well, you know what? It's actually a blessing that you were able to go through that because it built up a muscle inside of you that's gonna like, you know, next time a stressful situation comes to you, you're gonna be able to just blow past it without even, you know, it's gonna be like a feather falling on you because you've been through so much other shit.
Yes! Oh my God, yes!
It's like training, it's like going to the military and training your endurance. And then when you go to battle or when you go to, you know, in your state when you're going to start a business, little things that would stress out people that are beginners, you know, like setting up a business entity or setting up something, you know, a legal document or getting served with a cease and desist letter, that would cause people to go crawl up in the corner. And be scared, you're not gonna be scared of. So you gotta, you know, you're a step ahead of the game.
Yeah, I agree with you. 'Cause like I've gone through, oh, hell. So it's like, okay, I know how to sacrifice, struggle. 'Cause like it was quite difficult.
Yeah, for sure. I mean, when I was, you know, for those of you guys who've read my book, when I was 22 years old, I lost all the money I had made in my first business And on top of that, you know, I had a big ego because when I was 21, I made about $1 million and I thought like I had everything made, so I was on top of the world. When I was 22, I lost everything and then I got slapped with a $250 lawsuit from someone who shouldn't have even been able to sue me, but I wasn't able to afford an attorney, so I was fighting it myself in federal court. And that was my rock bottom. And at the time, it seemed like the worst thing that could have ever happened. I wouldn't have wished that on anyone. But looking back, you know, 7 years later, it was actually the best thing that ever happened to me because it prepared me to now be able to take and face much bigger and stronger obstacles. So I'm like very grateful that I went through those things. So you're interested in getting into e-commerce. You have a full-time job and you're like, hey, this looks interesting. Yeah. Okay, cool. How much time do you have per day to commit to starting something?
Um, Well, let's see. I had 4 jobs at the time. Basically, I go on layovers and I have time. I was like laying in bed on layovers like, okay, I want to learn now. Because I used to work these other jobs where I had to be physically there.
Right.
When I used to serve, I used to bartend, I used to grab my uniform, put it on, and I fly to— I have to red-eye. Again, I was not doing this because at the time, like, I was getting garnishment and, you know, helping my dad out. And like, now I'm done with all that. Like, I broke down and cried like last year. I was just like, I can't believe that whole thing is off my shoulder. And I'm just looking into other things and I keep running into your videos. I'm like, My God, this is awesome.
Yep, well that's where we all started. That's where I started too, you know, not knowing anything about it. But where I did start was a very similar instinctual feeling that it was something I wanted to do. You know, getting into e-commerce. I was doing something else at the time and it was importing products. I was doing a lot of other things, but I was actually— I was grinding. I was working really hard and it was after a 3-day long trade show. I was tired, about to go to sleep. And I had a flight the next morning at 7 AM. And right before I went to sleep, I got an email and it was like, "How to sell products without ever seeing them or touching them." And I was literally like, "I gotta wake up in like 4 hours, eh." And then I opened the email, 'cause I went with my gut, and I watched the webinar on it, which gave me some insight on what the business model was, which got me even more excited, and I immediately took action. I actually got to the airport the next morning, 3 hours before my flight, and I built a Shopify store. And put up some ads before I took off. And by the time I got back, there were sales on that store. So like, the key takeaway is, well, and also that store went from $0 to $2 million in its first 60 days, which was the crazy part. But the key takeaway was like, when you get that instinctual feeling, you have to take immediate action. And then once you do, you have to be consistent with it because like, you'll get little bursts of motivation. You may have just had some motivation to send me a DM and send me your phone number, right? And like, I'm sure some days you're more motivated than others. But the key is if you get started, you have to be consistent with it. You have to, even the days that you don't want to do anything, just start with a small task. Maybe you're like, I don't really know what to do. Should I advertise? Should I find products? You know, you might not know exactly what to do. And in those cases, just pick something and start and you'll build up a momentum that, you know, you'll start doing more and more things afterwards. The key is to be consistent with it.
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