Solo Success Stories: Edition #1
Featuring: Boysie Gordon
Welcome to the first ever edition of Solo Success Stories! Each week, I’ll feature a fellow solopreneur with an instructive story to share about how the pursuit of solo business success has shaped their life so far. Let’s dive right in with
!Normal Beginnings
My childhood was nothing to cry home about, but I’ll cry anyway.
As a kid, you don’t quite grasp how much each interaction and experience shapes who you become. My childhood was NOT bad. In fact, it was awesome! But that doesn’t mean it was devoid of imperfections.
I was expected to do well in school
I was expected to become an engineer
I was expected to listen to adults
I was expected only to speak when spoken to
I was expected to play basketball
I was expected to be an active participant in social events
… the list could go on, but I think you get it.
I was expected to be perfect — that’s how it felt.
It felt like my whole life was designed on my behalf, and there was nothing I could do to make it my own.
I was living a lie.
I have been introverted for as long as I can remember, but I was often showcased as a “golden child.” There was internal resentment that came with that label and attention that I didn’t want. For most of my childhood, I chose to play soccer in resentment of the expectation that I play basketball (passive). Then, I got to high school and felt socially obligated to play (I resented that, too).
I made A’s and B’s until my senior year of high school when I stopped caring. Then, I received my first ever D, something that severely limited my college acceptances (passive).
In college, I was a mechanical engineering major until I attended a thermodynamics lecture — I immediately swapped to psychology (fear-based). Three years into the college experience, I made the decision to drop out of college (active? Yup). Before that, I had never directly disobeyed an adult.
And I had never made a decision like that on my own before.
My Defining Moment
Announcing the decision to my family was like I was detonating a nuke.
Finally, I managed to shatter the last of the expectations that were placed on me! My decision to drop out of college sent shockwaves through my life and the lives of everyone around me. But I don’t want to get into that — let’s talk about me.
I left college to pursue an entrepreneurship opportunity.
Three words:
Multi
Level
Marketing
MLM, for short
A sales job where I’d stand in the middle of a grocery store trying to sign people up for various services. If I sold enough, my name would move up on a chart. If I kept my placement on the chart high, I would be able to interview new candidates.
If I interviewed enough candidates and they performed well, then I’d be able to start my own office to repeat the process. It was a job that felt filled with opportunity!
So I’m absolutely crushing it!
Just bought my first car, a sports coupe.
I’m making hand over fist ($1–2k a week).
Every day felt like a holiday.
Well, one day, I get the ‘opportunity of a lifetime.’ One of the more senior members of the MLM firm was being promoted into a new market. All I had to hear? “You could get promoted faster!”
I was off!
Me and all my belongings got stuffed into my car and we were on to the next part of my journey. I won’t bore you with the details, but let's just say things did not pan out how they were supposed to.
My car note wasn’t getting paid —huh, you have to pay it every month?
I was burning through my money — what’s a budget?
Money stopped coming in —what, this market is a holiday destination?
I got fired — wait, I really have to be on time and perform every day?
Money really stopped coming in — oh no,what do I do?
I worked a hotel front desk & did door-to-door sales—who’s humble now?
The MLM firm closed down — my roommates and I had to move again.
I moved back home — no job, no money, no place to go.
I stayed in my girlfriend’s dorm — so embarrassing.
Car finally got repossessed — how can I get a job now?
Relentlessly Chasing Opportunity
I needed a job, and I needed it quickly.
I revised my resume to include the now total of 3 jobs, all of which I had for less than a year. “Who’s going to hire a 22-year-old college dropout who can’t commit to anything longer than a year?” — what I would have thought if I weren’t backed into a corner.
I had no time to think — apply, apply, apply!
I’d spend hours applying for jobs, maybe over 100 a day. After a week of silence, I’d revise my resume and reapply again. And again. And again. I was not going to stop until I got a job.
After a month of nothing, I finally caved.
For the first time in a year, fear was stopping me from making a move. I knew I needed to go back to sales. See, while I had taken accountability for my failures, I could no longer trust myself. I knew sales would require me to hold myself accountable for a long period of time. I knew I’d have to perform at peak levels in all environments. But none of that mattered anymore! I was approaching rock bottom, and I promised myself I’d never go back.
I quickly repurposed my resume and began applying for sales positions.
One week goes by… I get four interviews. FOUR. Two of them were multi-level marketing sche, I mean firms. No dice there. I was still traumatized. The other two were account management positions, both paying a base of $40k a year. BASE.
The base alone would have been 2x the most money I had EVER made!
I no longer needed these jobs, I WANTED them, and nothing was going to get in my way! I proceeded to ace both interviews. I turned on the humble charm to max strength. I asked questions that they had never been asked. I answered questions in a way only I could answer them.
I showed both companies every ounce of potential I had — I knew I had at least one in the bag. A couple of days went by, and finally, I got an email from the company I really wanted to work for, a logistics company. I had been here before. Normally, these emails read, “Thank you so much for your interest… you suck. Better luck next time.” and this one… did not.
“HOLY SH*T, I GOT THE JOB!” — I yelled to my girlfriend after hearing the news
I was going to be a national account manager, a.k.a. freight broker. We threw a miniature dance party in celebration. She knew all that I had been through. She saw all the work I had put in. She was there through it all, and it was obvious how much weight this news took off her shoulders.
But even that weight couldn’t compare to the weight this took off of mine!
My Time to Shine
Going into this opportunity, I knew I had to be a monster!
Work hard every day to the best of my ability. I’d have to push myself as hard as I could possibly go. I had to be the undisputed best! I was never again going to let lack of effort or complacency be the reason for my failure.
I hit the ground running, and I’d keep running at pace that whole year.
Came early, stayed late — 12 hour days were cake.
Shadowed best performers to learn their ways — easy money
Crushed all my quotas — Even during COVID, I continued growing
Closing various Fortune 500 accounts — I was going ballistic
Lead in monthly account acquisitions — averaging 4–5 accounts closed
By the end of that first year, I was raking in over $40,000 in monthly account profit margin. I was then promoted to senior account manager in early January, my first promotion EVER. Pulling in fists full of cash at almost $50,000 per month in profit margin, I was easily cruising to 6-figures that year!
I was at the peak of my career, then I quit.
Taking Control for Good
As it turns out, I suck as a corporate employee.
I’m not a yes-man.
I don’t like being political.
I demand to be respected.
I don’t put money over my personal values.
I hate feeling like I’m always on the chopping block.
…And the straw that put the camel overweight,
You know that scene in ‘Cars’ where Chick Hicks (the green car) gets smacked with confetti and punched with a trophy? Yeah… that’s what my promotion felt like — the only difference? I actually earned my place. The thing that I had been chasing relentlessly for one year straight was seen as nothing more than a formality by my superiors.
“Oh, you’re still here?” — how it felt once I had reached my goal
See, the higher up you go, the more you start to realize the truth: No one there cares about you as much as you do. It’s their job to pretend to care, but that doesn’t mean they actually do.
The congrats were obviously forced and done with haste— I barely spoke to any of these people. There’s no way they could have known me the way they pretended to.
So, once I got the vibe, I began looking for a way out…
But work was now based on a lie. I used to think people cared, that they thought highly of me, but they only saw dollar signs. I worked hard alongside my coworkers day and night, and I thought we were all on the same page, that is, until we’d snake each other’s accounts the second they became available. My eyes were open, and I couldn’t stomach the harsh reality — this job was killing me.
So, in one fell swoop, I woke up, decided to quit, went back to sleep in peace, and then scheduled a vacation to Aruba. Little did I know that this decision would lead me to a lifelong journey of self-employment!
A Fast Forward to Now
Shortly after leaving that job, I started my first company!
It’s dissolved now, but in 2021, we raked in $1.1 million in revenue in under eight months of business. By the end of 2022, we doubled to $2.5 million in revenue. And by September 2023, we had made another $2.2 million in revenue… shortly before making the decision to close up shop.
What happened?
Life happened.
I had started the venture with some close friends. The goal? To reach the top together, of course. However, it didn’t pan out that way. Not only did I not know a single thing about running a million-dollar company, but early on, two of the friends I hired that first year began operating competing LLCs while still employed at my company. Crazy right? The worst part is they’d continue to defame our business to steal clients and win business once they were finally let go. But that wasn’t the most significant problem this caused.
The biggest problem was the silent death of our company culture.
The vibrant and upbeat culture became a wasteland devoid of trust. People who I continuously vouched for turned out to be duds. Now, my words mean almost nothing to the others, and I also had a tough time recovering mentally from the betrayal. Knives are really hard to pull out yourself, especially the ones on your back. These cuts were simply too deep, and any attempts made to get us back on track were met with endless skepticism.
One day, things looked grim — cash flow was negative, the market was trending down, vendors constantly asked for money, and morale was running low.
But this wasn’t abnormal — I was a wartime CEO for most of my tenure. Rallying the troops for a big push wouldn’t really be a difficult task, I had gained back their trust by now. Surviving and thriving in these poor conditions was something I had done once before, but this time was different. No longer, could I feel the passion. My purpose and vision seemed to disappear overnight.
But the truth is, I was operating without them for years at this point.
The straw broke the camel's back. And again, getting out of bed was impossible. I just had enough. The sacrifice was no longer justified, and I just couldn’t pull myself together to keep fighting. So, I informed the team of my decision, and with the help of my VP and best friend, we made sure everyone was able to avoid a complete setback.
Now?
I am a writer!
Well, this is only the initial phase of my master plan! I am building a personal branding agency. My goal is to use my writing to build my own personal brand and then use my social proof to reach more clients (currently at 2). I want to help people build themselves up, and I think personal branding is a way I can help with that.
Goals?
Pull in $15,000 per month in income by the end of 2024.
That’s it.
For most of my career, I have chased multiple goals. That has only led to distraction, inconsistent priorities, and contradicting objectives.
Things like wanting to buy a house AND travel the world at the same time.
I realized the irrationality of those competing goals. However, if I had $15,000 per month, I could probably do both works. If I had $15,000 per month, I could probably make a lot of things work!
So, as an experiment, I am only focusing on this one goal…
And so far, I have done more in my first 60 days than I did in my best year as CEO. I’m growing so much faster, getting more work done, and I don’t feel overwhelmed.
In fact, I feel energized by each day!
My Advice to the Future Self-Employed
By now, I hope you have already learned something of value,
But here is a list of the lessons I would want you to know if you never read anything else above.
Learn from other people’s mistakes.
Learn from your own mistakes.
JUST ALWAYS BE LEARNING (make it a daily habit).
Celebrate your wins like it’s your birthday.
If you want something, GO GET IT! (don’t be passive)
Make plenty of NEW mistakes (cut out repeated ones)
Learn from someone ahead of you (find a mentor)
Use your fears as a compass (follow fear)
Take your mental health seriously (get therapy if needed)
Surround yourself with like-minded people (grow with a group)
This only scratches the surface of the things I wish I’d done earlier on in my journey! However, if there was one thing I learned that helped me grow the most, it would be:
Your ego is not your friend!
Get rid of your pride as fast as possible, or your growth WILL be stunted. I’m not saying confidence isn’t okay. I am saying that believing that you and your actions are 100% absolute isn’t okay. At best, you are only 99% right at any given moment — obsess over that 1%, and you’ll go far! I couldn’t accept feedback or learn from my mistakes because I refused to acknowledge them.
I am still a work in progress, but I hope what I have shared can help you on your journey!
If you'd like to hop in a coffee chat/free consultation with me to discuss your personal brand, schedule it here.
Read this next:
 | A guest post by
|