Neil Patel

jobs, like working after school and weekends. Combination of both of them gave me enough capital to really get a kickstart into whatever I really wanted to do.

Yeah, so when I started my first website, I was looking for actually a job. My sister at this time, I was young in high school, 16. She worked for Oracle Financial Consultant. So to give you an idea, imagine a grocery store. This was quite a while ago. This was more than 20 years ago, 23, 24 years ago, somewhere around there.

Yeah, so when I started my first website, I was looking for actually a job. My sister at this time, I was young in high school, 16. She worked for Oracle Financial Consultant. So to give you an idea, imagine a grocery store. This was quite a while ago. This was more than 20 years ago, 23, 24 years ago, somewhere around there.

And he would end up telling them what to place where to maximize the revenue. And at that time, he was getting paid a few hundred bucks an hour. Imagine getting paid 250 bucks an hour. In today's world, that's a lot of money. But 23, 24 years ago, that was definitely a lot of money. So I was like, huh, I want to be this Oracle financial consultant.

And he would end up telling them what to place where to maximize the revenue. And at that time, he was getting paid a few hundred bucks an hour. Imagine getting paid 250 bucks an hour. In today's world, that's a lot of money. But 23, 24 years ago, that was definitely a lot of money. So I was like, huh, I want to be this Oracle financial consultant.

I started going online and I started searching for these jobs on sites like monster.com. Keep in mind, back then, I don't even know if LinkedIn existed. But when I was searching, there were requirements. There were no kids who were just graduating high school and making tons of money. Most of them had college degrees, which were prerequisite for most jobs.

I started going online and I started searching for these jobs on sites like monster.com. Keep in mind, back then, I don't even know if LinkedIn existed. But when I was searching, there were requirements. There were no kids who were just graduating high school and making tons of money. Most of them had college degrees, which were prerequisite for most jobs.

And to be an Oracle financial consultant, you need all these Oracle certifications. Keep in mind, I didn't even know what Oracle was other than there was this rich guy named Larry Ellison. So once I realized I didn't qualify for any of the jobs, browsing these jobs, I realized they were making millions of dollars. I'm like, you know what?

And to be an Oracle financial consultant, you need all these Oracle certifications. Keep in mind, I didn't even know what Oracle was other than there was this rich guy named Larry Ellison. So once I realized I didn't qualify for any of the jobs, browsing these jobs, I realized they were making millions of dollars. I'm like, you know what?

I can create a job site like monster.com or career builder or hot jobs. And if I make 1% of what they make, I'm going to be a millionaire, right? Because if they're making hundreds of millions a year, take 1%, that's rich. Little kid doesn't understand the concept of there's revenue and profit. I just look at it as I'm collecting money if I can make 1%.

I can create a job site like monster.com or career builder or hot jobs. And if I make 1% of what they make, I'm going to be a millionaire, right? Because if they're making hundreds of millions a year, take 1%, that's rich. Little kid doesn't understand the concept of there's revenue and profit. I just look at it as I'm collecting money if I can make 1%.

And I paid someone to help me create a website and I launched it, got little to no traffic. And I learned you need to do something called marketing. And that's how I got into it. And I realized you can build whatever you want, but if you can't market, you can't convince people to come to your site, you're not going to make any money.

And I paid someone to help me create a website and I launched it, got little to no traffic. And I learned you need to do something called marketing. And that's how I got into it. And I realized you can build whatever you want, but if you can't market, you can't convince people to come to your site, you're not going to make any money.

Yeah, so then I found a marketing agency, one in Canada, one in California, paid both of them, didn't get any results, lost my money, and I didn't have a ton of money. Maybe I wasn't paying the right marketing agencies. Got little to no results, had no choice but to learn it on my own. Got decent at it. My site started getting really good traffic within six months.

Yeah, so then I found a marketing agency, one in Canada, one in California, paid both of them, didn't get any results, lost my money, and I didn't have a ton of money. Maybe I wasn't paying the right marketing agencies. Got little to no results, had no choice but to learn it on my own. Got decent at it. My site started getting really good traffic within six months.

I still wasn't making any money, but I was like, huh, I can do this marketing part. I'm terrible at this revenue generation part. And at that time, I really wasn't thinking about entrepreneurship. I was like, you know what? I was a little bit of a book nerd. I'm like, I'm just going to go to college, get a degree and go get a job at Microsoft or something.

I still wasn't making any money, but I was like, huh, I can do this marketing part. I'm terrible at this revenue generation part. And at that time, I really wasn't thinking about entrepreneurship. I was like, you know what? I was a little bit of a book nerd. I'm like, I'm just going to go to college, get a degree and go get a job at Microsoft or something.

But I started college early with nighttime classes while I was in high school. So I did a class on speech 101 when I was around 16 at a local community college. And my first speech was on how Google's algorithm works. And someone in that class worked for a power supply manufacturer. None of us would really think power supplies, big industry, but there's power supplies in everything.

But I started college early with nighttime classes while I was in high school. So I did a class on speech 101 when I was around 16 at a local community college. And my first speech was on how Google's algorithm works. And someone in that class worked for a power supply manufacturer. None of us would really think power supplies, big industry, but there's power supplies in everything.

Heart resuscitators, Boeing airplanes. And the company I was working with provided the power supplies to a lot of these corporations. And through digital marketing or SEO, I was able to drive them around $20 to $25 million worth of additional revenue. And it wasn't all me because you had the sales team who had to close the revenue, product had to fulfill.