From Homeless to Six Figures: : How I Quantum Leaped into Abundance

Last year, I was homeless.

Now, just like that—seemingly overnight—I went from making $13,000 in a year to $130,000. My last commission check alone was $45,000 after taxes. I’ve never in my life seen that much money in my bank account.

It’s still hard to believe, as I type these words, that this is actually my story, and not some internet marketing gimmick. 

A few years back, I decided, on a long drive from Chicago to Boulder, that I was going to be a millionaire.

So I stopped playing small. I started speaking up at my job—and I got fired for it.

For the next 12 months, I said fuck working and sold everything I owned to live out of my ‘96 Camry. Now? I drive a Mercedes.

I narrowly escaped a cocaine addiction that carried me through the remains of a neuroscience degree.

Nothing in my life has felt normal. I always felt like an outsider looking in.

And now,

I’m. 

So. 

Fucking. 

Glad.

Because I don’t want what everyone else has.

I used to hate the rich.

"They don’t know how hard it is."

But then I asked myself—so what?

They figured out how to not work hard for money and instead have their money work hard for them. Why was I mad about that? Because some of it was handed to them? And now I’m finding more and more that isn’t usually the case. Most millionaires start off exactly where I did and sometimes worse.

I used to reject anything that was "handed" to me. Even when people genuinely wanted to help, I turned them away.

I didn’t realize how much I was blocking my own blessings.

I never wanted to be average. But deep down, I didn’t think I could be above average either—so I tried to impress people by being below average.

I secretly wanted to be the winner of the Trauma Olympics. I wanted everyone to know how hard my life was.

• 39% of Americans struggle to cover a $400 emergency expense.
  → Well, I can’t even afford a $200 emergency expense!

• The average full-time employee works 47 hours a week.
  → I work 80 (and make less money than them!)

• 92% of Americans have health insurance for some or all of the year.
  → I grew up without it. We avoided doctors like the plague.

• The average household income in 2012 was $51,371.
  → My family made $31,000 that year.

I ran through the numbers every single day, building a story about how hard my life was.

But I never looked at the other side.

I never thought about how:

• 50% of kids witness their parents’ divorce. But mine? They stayed together—even after bankruptcy, losing a house, and moving us in with my grandparents.

• Your zip code can change your life. We moved from the South Side of Chicago (60608) to Elmhurst, IL (60126) when I was a kid, then moved myself to Boulder, CO (80302) at 20—and these shifts likely changed my entire trajectory of my life.

• Having an entrepreneurial parent makes you more likely to succeed in business. My dad ran his own business for years before the 2008 financial crisis hit.

When I was homeless, I wanted everyone to know how GOOD my life was (mostly out of shame).

This coping mechanism paid off because the more I focused on abundance, the more abundance I saw.

More people reached out with opportunities—asking me to teach, collaborate, or lead.
I started learning new skills.
I saw abundance everywhere.

I leapt from one opportunity to the next. It was hard. It was scary.

But somehow, things always worked out.

I never spent a single night on the streets.
I never had to sleep in a shelter.
I always found someone willing to lend me a bed.

And that’s why I am an abundance coach.

• As a former educator, I know what it takes for people to learn new things.

• As a former yoga teacher, I know that flexibility starts in the mind.

• As a salesperson, I know how to help people shift their behavior.

I know just enough to be dangerous.

And by that, I mean dangerously impactful.