Reality check! 

However, let me be crystal clear right from the outset, before I make this sound like a ‘get rich quick strategy’ which it most definitely is not! If you’re looking for me to tell you this type of lifestyle shift can happen in a few weeks, then I’m sorry but that’s not realistic and you’re not going to find what you're looking here. If you do find that type of promise, then I assure you it’s not going to be genuine or real. To honest with you and keep this on the level. I’m relatively new to this Laptop Lifestyle myself. I’m not a multi millionaire nor do I wish to be. I don’t have all the answers yet, I’m still learning every day and thoroughly enjoying my journey. So who am I? And more importantly can I help you?

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Mike Jacques

Well I’m just a very normal sort of guy. I don’t have an academic mind so I dropped out of college after failing to acquire the engineering qualifications needed to pursue my passion to become a commercial diver.

Born in London, in 1965

I grew up on the south coast of England with my younger brother and my parents. At school I majored in behaving badly and very nearly managed to be expelled before my final exams. I guess I was trying to hide the fact I found learning very boring and to be frank quite difficult. After dropping out of college in my late teens I was working in a small industrial unit making computer plinths and motorbike chain guards. So if you need any welding or fibreglass work done, I’m your man! But somehow, I doubt that’s why you’re here. So at 18 years old, after my illegal CB Radio had been booming out over my next door neighbours TV speakers for a few weeks, my neighbour Peter (Area Sales Manager for Rank Xerox) called round. But not to complain, he was so impressed (or more likely amused) with my late night, on air chat up lines, he asked me if I had considered a career in sales? Not recognising a gift horse when I saw one, I expressed my doubts about being stuck in an office, sat behind a desk all day. Besides one day I was going to be a North Sea Diver, somehow… luckily, Peter insisted I give it a try and convinced me to spend a day working with him. After being out and about on the road all day, meeting different customers and ending the day with a long boozy lunch, I decided sales might just be the career for me after all. 

Who knew sales was a career!

I started working for Peter as a trainee, going door to door cold calling in towns and large industrial estates. It was very gutty, walking for many miles each day collecting information on complement slips and on the back of business cards, all the while out in all types of weather. As well as learning how to handle constant rejection, I received some of the best sales training in the industry. After less than a year I had my own sales territory to manage and most importantly I had just received a brand spanking new company car. Life surely couldn’t get any better than this for a 19 year-old! The very evening the car was delivered I called my then girlfriend and we set off for a quick drive in the countryside. Two hours later the car was vertical, nose-down in a drainage ditch, looking like the wreckage of a crashed WW-II fighter plane. So moving quickly on to my next sales job (yes I got fired) and the next not so new company car. I quickly became a very successful copier and fax sales rep for Minolta. Eventually I became Sales Director and then Managing Director of a Canon office equipment company based in Brighton, UK. My career was moving fast, just like my cars.

Birth of the Internet 1995 'Tim Berners-Lee'

Office equipment soon became digital and then network connected to computers. This quickly led me into a very successful 30 year career in the computer software industry. My time in software sales was extremely good to me. My annual earnings quickly reached six figures, with many of my years seeing multiple six figure incomes. With a very generous expense account and the opportunity to visit most of the world ether training or entertaining customers on business trips. I considered myself blessed and very fortunate, especially considering my lack of any degrees or academic prowess.

Had it all – but it felt like I’d failed

It wasn’t until I was in my late 40’s and rapidly approaching my second divorce that I began to realise I felt unhappy and unfulfilled with my life as a whole. Despite my successful business career, my earnings, my expensive seaside house, the flash cars and the jetset lifestyle, something was missing, I just wasn’t enjoying my work anymore. These negative thoughts made me feel very selfish and to be honest a little guilty. How could I possibly have these types of thoughts when clearly I had it all? I should feel extremely grateful and proud of all my achievements. After all my Dad was, so shouldn’t I be?

Sold my soul to the Devil

For the fist time ever I started to take a real close look at myself and I didn’t like what I saw. The realisation dawned on me, I had actually sold my soul to the devil. My personal life had always come second to my work commitments. My never-ending pursuit of money was necessary to fund my personal life; the one I never had any time for! I finally recognised I was stuck in a vicious loop. The question was, "why was I getting dressed in clothes that I bought for just for work, driving through traffic in a car I was still paying for, in order to get to a job I disliked, but needed, to pay for the clothes, the car and the house I left all day long so that I could afford to live in it?"  Even on family holidays I was always sneaking off to answer emails or make some business calls. To a large extent I had missed seeing my children growing up, I was focused on planning my week and meeting my sales targets, Not relaxing and playing with my children. I realised I was a really crap Dad, and probably also a pretty poor excuse for a husband.

The more I earned the deeper the debt

The fact was, however much money I earned, and it was a great deal, it was never going to be enough and it was always spent before I was even paid anyway. Multiple loans, a huge 1/3 £Million mortgage and credit card debts were larger than ever before, and I had a constant sense that however hard I worked I was slowly sinking deeper and deeper into debt. All of the rows at home were about money or the amount of time I was traveling or focusing on work. I felt extremely unappreciated at home and had the feeling I was locked in a never-ending loop of having to invest more time for more money to fund growing debts. I was facing a financial crisis and could see no way out! 

It can’t get any worse! 

After 20 years the inevitable finally happened. With the divorce settlement I lost nearly all of the equity in my house, I inherited all the debts, some £130K, and I gained a nice £4k per month child maintenance fee. All the while, I was having to keep up the mortgage payments of £2k per month, until the house empty house was finally sold a year later, at my expense of course. Then just when you think it can’t get any worse; yep it did! 

The Internet saved my life – twice!

It was early 2015, when one of my young techies at work was trying very hard to support me in my hour of need and attempting to lighten my mood, he told me about this amazing dating app called ‘Tinder’. Dating apps, me? You must be bloody joking! Women weren’t that high on my appreciation list as you can well imagine.

Love at first swipe!

To cut a long story short, as I’m not in the slightest bit technical, Jason my techie loaded the Tinder dating app onto my mobile phone and set it up. Over the following months I had lots of fun flirting with ladies online from all over the world. Wow! I was finally harnessing the power and reach of the internet for myself, rather than selling products to run the damn thing! Then, one evening, I unexpectedly saw a picture and profile of the most beautiful lady who for some reason was actually interested in me. What was even stranger, she lived in the town where I had first started to succeed in sales! It was love at first swipe! After our first real live date I finally felt my luck was possibly starting to change. Life had meaning again and I had something to look forward to. Christ only knows what she saw in me. I had literally nothing to offer her other than a mountain of legal and financial crap swirling around my life. I was even driving around in my daughters’ beaten up, 15 year old, rusty Peugeot car with the learner plates still on. It must have been worth all of £100! But luckily for me I quickly realised I had found a woman who had absolutely no care at all for money or guys with flash cars. What a breath of fresh air, exactly what I needed in my life at that point in time. Fast forward a couple of incredibly happy years, I did what I told myself I would never do again. I married that woman. Lisa became my third and final wife and we have a fabulous relationship and life together.

Mojo lost

I never managed to fully get back into my stride at work. I felt like I’d lost momentum and my mojo after the divorce, and I couldn’t get excited about my then software sales role any longer. I decided I needed a fresh start. With my track record head hunters were all over me, and it wasn’t long before I was introduced to a new start software company looking for their first sales director to run their European operation. After a few weeks training in Atlanta US I was raring to go and looking forward to building what was in effect my own business, even though I didn’t actually own the company.

My last ever job.

My boss, VP of WW sales was a pleasure to work with. We worked hard together to build a scalable business plan for Europe and sales were increasing quarter on quarter. Unfortunately, despite the growth he wasn’t getting the promised investment from the CEO and so he left abruptly for a new Silicon Valley venture. Now reporting directly to the CEO stroked my ego for a little while, but I began to see why my previous boss had left the company.

Fired the boss! 

After the CEO had torn down everything I had been working on for the past six months, refused to invest in resources to grow the sales funnel, and then started to micro manage my time, I quickly became disillusioned with being the highest paid cold caller in the UK. I’m good at cold calling, I just didn’t want to do it anymore. I also didn’t want be on mundane, drains up business calls till late into the evening. This was not my idea of productive or professional working. After one particular heated call with the CEO and being told, “it’s my company and I will run it exactly how I see fit” we both agreed it wasn’t going to work and so that was that. No more £10-15K per month pay cheques, I was redundant, ouch!

Time to update CV / Resume – or maybe not… 

Not at all worried about finding another highly paid IT sales role, I updated my LinkedIn web page to ‘actively looking’ and as expected the head hunter enquires started to come in as they had many times before. This time, having time to think, I started to explore this powerful gut feeling of un-fulfilment, the feeling that I was repeating the same mistake over and over again. Changing company or the product I sold wasn’t going to make me feel happy. It might be a lucrative move in the short term, but I now knew I had needs other than just keeping the money wheel ever turning. I knew I just didn’t have the energy to do the same thing yet again. Albert Einstein “the definition of madness is, repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’’

Break the time-for-money hamster wheel

• Geographical freedom, work from wherever
• Low capital investment and no staff required
• No cold calling or face to face selling
• Profit from a genuine interest or passion
• Highly leveraged/automated, low working hours
• Unlimited earning potential – surpassing my previous income
• Ethical and rewarding, giving something back.

So when looking for ideas, I had a stroke of genius. I was going to become a famous author. That idea lasted till the end of my first week of gardening leave and about six pages in… One day, maybe… The following week with more free time on my hands I started exploring alternative home based business models that might meet the criteria I had in mind for my perfect work/life balance.I thought this extravagant business wish list just didn’t exist outside maybe the porn industry, but with nothing to lose I was at least prepared to be open minded.

When I was a lad

If, when I was 18, working in a dirty draughty factory for £150 per week, you had told me that one day, by taking the right path, I would be able to fly around the world, wining and dining customers, selling them technology I didn’t understand and earning a multi six figure salary,  I would have spat my coffee out and laughed in your face. Luck or maybe fate has always seemed to have played a significant role in my life. I had never consciously searched to better my life. I was usually dragged by someone who saw something in me, screaming towards the next door and the right path for me.

If only you know what I know

I often see very bright, young energetic people who are clearly overqualified in the human interaction skills department. They work in low paid, mundane, dead end jobs, and I think, if only you know what I know, it would blow your mind and change your world. All they are missing is that friendly neighbour next door with the guiding hand. Skills and knowhow can come later learning on the job, but I recognise they have what it takes and that’s often surprisingly just a positive, can do attitude. It’s this very same thought process that allowed me to look at myself at this point later in my life. Were there people looking at me thinking ‘if only he knew what I knew?’ I visualised myself on my familiar journey to work with thousands of others, marching like an army of hamsters into the city, climbing into our wheels, and devoting our entire lives and every into the pursuit of the next paycheque.

The Internet saved my life, the second time!

If you take a look on YouTube you will find that there are thousands of people who have adapted their mindsets and taken a path to leverage the digital world, and by doing so are reaping the rewards of becoming ‘freedom entrepreneurs’. So after watching my fill of YouTube ‘sea monsters you wouldn’t believe existed’ video clips, and then self improvement videos by Andy Harrington and Tony Robins, I stumbled across a video interview with Jordan Belfort aka The Wolf of Wall Street. The real guy, not Leonardo DiCaprio. Ignoring Jordan’s lack of morals when he was younger for a moment, and the jail term he eventually served, he is probably one of the best natural born salesmen that ever walked the earth. Anyway, at the end of what was a very interesting interview, up popped one of those ad’s. You know the ones where you have to watch the first five seconds before you can press skip and see the video clip you actually want to watch.

Let it roll

This time for some odd reason I let the video ad roll to the very end. It was an interview with a young software sales guy (a younger version of me), who had quit his successful corporate career with his six-figure salary to become a digital entrepreneur. Bingo! This was exactly what I was looking for, the next door opening. The right path. But being a Brit and therefore naturally very cynical, I had to do some extensive research before I even thought about acting on my gut instinct. After all, they were asking for such a huge commitment from me; my email address! I spent the rest of the day watching interviews with people from all walks of life, all backgrounds and all ages, who had transformed their lives to become successful digital entrepreneurs. These people were from all over the world, real-estate agents, builders, nurses, accountants, investment bankers, lawyers and working mothers who wanted to spend more time with the kids. The spectrum was broad; they even had people that had retired and were now seeking some extra income to prop up the pension and their retirement lifestyles. Many were actually Brits like me which was very refreshing but, what struck me more than anything was they all seemingly valued the benefits of their free lifestyles way above the generous sums of money that were now generating each month.

Community giving back

They were also all more than happy to invest their time back into helping others achieve the same lifestyle transformation and business success. They felt fulfilled and rewarded by giving something back. They had built a community over the past decade of like minded entrepreneurs who had mastered the many different online business models, strategies, tools and platforms to generate significant incomes.

The rest is history

So yet again lady luck or fate was guiding me. I had no job, but being a positive person I saw this as an advantage. I had plenty of free time to focus and invest in myself. I had some, but not a lot of capital to invest in my digital education, and also to invest in my new business, whatever that was going to be. However, reality check! I still had significant monthly financial commitments to meet, so a ticking clock and a time limit helped put a rocket up my ass and compelled me to take immediate action and make this work! I had a burning desire not to repeat the easy comfortable path, and just find the next job. Yet another hamster wheel, as I saw it, which would trade yet more of my life for money. The knowledge I had stumbled on, and the research I had done showed me there was better way than the old 9-5, 70-hour weeks and the 8:00am morning sales meetings!

Guilty confession

After I left my last job I still used to dial into my old company sales meetings and listen in to all the management BS. All the unnecessary stress inflicted on my ex colleagues, but thankfully no longer me! If ever I need it, this was my proof drug, listening to this showed me I had made the right decision! Looking back I really can’t explain the sheer elation and rush of joy listening to my past life brought me….

Overnight I became millionaire – Errr no! 

Now you’re probably expecting me to tell you I’m a multi millionaire writing this on my private beach and working one day a week, counting the mountains of cash I make each month. No. I’m not quite there yet, but for once I can see that with continued perseverance, it’s quite achievable. But I no longer have the same ego or need to chase money to try and buy my freedom lifestyle. I now have it already! You won’t understand this until you’re in my shoes, which you will be soon if you have a genuine need to change.

So what have I achieved then?

Well to be fair, at the time of writing this blog, I’m only a few months into my journey. But wow what a difference it’s made to my life already. I’m now permanently working from home as and when I feel the urge to work. Which very strangely, is quite a lot as I now thoroughly love what I do. However, these days my personal life will always come first. I work while I’m travelling and I’m constantly learning amazing new marketing and business strategy skills that I didn’t know existed. I’m blessed to have been welcomed into a wonderful supportive community. These are real, like minded people, who meet up face to face and share knowledge, experience, skills and ideas to help others make the online transition. They expect the same knowledge and support in return. Thanks to this community, my first business is now built and running on autopilot. So when I’m walking the dog, travelling or even sleeping, I’m still able to earn an income. It would have taken me years it get to this point without the tools, tips and constant training they provided. Without them I would have given up before I had even got started.

Tell me why I love Mondays

I’m genuinely excited to wake up each day and get to work. Researching new products and revenue ideas, experiment with marketing strategies and most importantly, having the opportunity to give back a little and have a positive impact on other people’s lives. “If only you knew what I know now”!  I now realise I had 30 years of experiencing significant success without fulfilment. Don’t get me wrong, I am truly grateful for the all the doors and paths that were opened to me, but I have learned the hard way. Success without fulfilment is the ultimate failure! Do me a favour, take a few seconds to read that again and a few more to think about it!

What about you – What can I do for you?

It’s important for you to know that there are three kinds of people I unfortunately cannot help: 

First, if you’re not willing to invest in yourself with both time and a bit of money, I can’t help you. If you think you can figure this all out on your own without resources, and step by step hands on help, then I wish you the best of luck in doing so. I know for me finding a like minded community with real hands on mentorship was key, and the only option. 

Secondly, you need to have a real problem in your life as well as a burning desire to change this. A problem like mine, where you’re in a job or a business that is stopping you from living the life you really want. Maybe a job that’s actually destroying your life. Maybe, like me, you have a feeling you just don’t fit in where you work, or you’re feeling unsafe in your career, or feeling like you just need a “Plan B”. A burning desire is something you want really badly, like travelling the world, or being able to spend way more time with your friends and family. If you don’t have a problem or a burning desire I can’t help you. Why? Let’s be frank, because you know and I know you won’t have the willpower or the desire to make it happen. You will quit and that’s the only way you can fail with this business model. 

"When you land on the Island, burn the f-ing boats”!    A famous Viking quote! Most probably… 

Thirdly, you need to be a positive person. We all get frustrated from time to time, but if you’re always angry and defeatist, I can’t effectively help you. There is no “get-rich-quick” or “easy quick-fix” other than keep paying into the lottery. Sorry!

Still here? OK here’s who I can help:

Driven and enthusiastic people, individuals and couples of all ages who are ready to apply what we teach and create meaningful and fulfilling work with infinite opportunities. Subject to effort. Imagine what you would do if you made at least what you make right now, but completely on your terms from your laptop or computer. Now, imagine what it would be like to be able to scale that income 2, 3, 4 x over the next few years because of the leverage you get with the Internet. Internet sales now = $2.5 Trillion per annum. Well that’s all I can offer. To show you a path and share with you what I and many others now know. How to start a profitable online venture, I can help to guide you and walk you through a step by step process of building a digital lifestyle. You don’t need to quit your job like me. The majority of students in our community are much more sensible and are working towards replacing their 9-5 income at their own pace. Their ultimate desire; to walk in one day and fire their boss.

The sales pitch – well was a salesman

So by joining this community I’m now part of one of the fastest growing private digital education companies in the world which includes students from over 120 countries (there are only 196 countries at my last count). They have helped people make their ‘first million’ online in under two years, starting from scratch. Doubtful? Well come meet them.  They have helped thousands of people make their first sale online. That’s a major first step as the next sale and the one after are fully automated! They help hundreds of people every month improve the quality of their lives within 30 days of working with them. (not necessarily just money related). They have built a company to help source, import & export virtually any product you can imagine directly from the factories in China, with no middle men. They help build fully automated Amazon business models for selling physical products and Affiliate business models for selling software, services and physical products. They have been directly investing in building a DNA health company. What I am most proud of is the hundreds of people they help every single week to find more meaningful work.

Purpose and passion – fulfilment

You just can’t put a price on that. Waking up every single day with purpose and passion for what you do, it’s quite simply the best feeling. So, if you’re looking for help creating a freedom business that you are truly excited to work on and be passionate about, I know I can help you figure this out. Even if, like me, you have no clue what that business might look like to start with. We can help with business ideas too, via hundreds of up and running examples. The real question is “do you want my help”?

You going to stay on the wheel?

So how do you know if this stuff is any good? Well make sure you do your due diligence. Why not do what I did and apply for the free video series and then you can watch one any of the 50 in-depth behind-the-scenes videos. You can see all the tools, training and our community in action, all in one place. We have helped hundreds of individuals like you get their online businesses up and running and into profit (it’s documented and you’ll meet these people, face to face in our community)… I hope I will get to meet you in person at one of the meet ups. Like me you can’t change your circumstances or even know what’s possible until you take action. As people, we are programmed to avoid change. Change is risk and there is always comfort in the norm. Squeak, squeak, that’s the noise of your comfy, rusty hamster wheel.  So let me ask you: do YOU really want a change, can you change? If so, and you’re tired of not living the life you really want, tired of being tired, and tired of not having the freedom you want, then let’s at least explore the possibility of working together. Stop Wishing for this. Start creating it! Just email me @ mike.jacques@me.com or just dive straight into the same step by step training and global community that got me started Start Here or the same in the above Menu bar. You will have access to the same training platform and support network provided by my mentor Stuart Ross. This will show you how simple it can be to build your first online income with a little time and effort on your part. 

*[Straight-Talk Alert]: While the above reflects my real-life experiences and represents my individual achievements, they are not guaranteeing any results. The effort you put in is what will make or break your own particular success levels.

While I was on a business trip to the US, my now ex wife gave away our two dogs during the separation process. Then the final kick in the nuts, Rock bottom, nope! Then I was diagnosed with skin cancer, probably brought on by all the stress I was going through at work and at home. All I had left was my work and my boss although supportive, had made it very clear that my work was suffering due to the meltdown in my personal life. At this stage in my life I couldn’t see any way forward. I won’t go into the thoughts that were running around my head, but after reaching 50 and losing absolutely everything, I’m sure you can imagine what I was contemplating...

She Gave Away Our Dogs! 

My Dogs Lady & Alfie - Expletives extracted!