Friday, November 3rd, was the day everything I’ve been working on for the past 2-years finally came to life – StupidEasy.com launched.
For those who don’t know, I quit my 9 to 5 job at Apple back on November 6th 2015. In fact, here is the Facebook post I wrote marking this special day:
Today’s the day! Today everything changes. Everything I’ve done on a daily basis for the last 4.5 years will change. Everything I’ve worked for has brought me to this point. While today is bittersweet it marks a huge milestone in my life. Today I reflect on everything that has brought me to this point. I have no regrets. Everything I’ve done has helped me grow and evolve into who I am today.
Ever since I was a kid I’ve always had multiple jobs. What can I say, I like to work. For me to actually quit a full-time, decent paying, job with benefits is crazy! But crazy are “the ones who see things differently” and that’s exactly what I do. Working for someone else is easier for sure but now it’s up to me to take a chance on myself.
Today’s the day I start working full-time for myself. That doesn’t mean I can’t or won’t work for someone else. I mean, let’s be real, it’s me we are talking about (I’m already getting some calls.). 😝 It just means I am focused on my business and everything that relates to it. Am I scared? Not really. It feels right! Yeah, knowing you have a steady paycheck and health benefits each month is nice but everything will work out, it has to.
I met all of you for a reason. At one point or another, you have all made an impact on me. At some point I know I must have done the same for you. So stick with me and continue to follow me through this wild ride we call life.
Happy Friday, quitting day, fresh start day, birthday, payday, you name it day! 🎉
At the time that was the biggest career move I had ever made – saying “Yes to entrepreneurship” and saying “goodbye” to a full-time, decent paying job with benefits and a 401k as well as stock options. Some might think I was crazy for leaving a job at Apple but others were very impressed.
I can confidently say that it was the best career move to date and at the time I could not ignore the strong calling I had to give entrepreneurship another shot – my first entrepreneurial journey was back in 2008 when I created MIX IT UP Magazine.
The journey hasn’t always been easy. There have been many days when I question what comes next? What if things don’t work out? What if I don’t make rent this month? Should I get another part-time job just in case? There have been days when I’m on such a positive high that nothing can stop me. Then, of course, there have been days where I didn’t want to get out of bed even though I knew I should.
Make no mistake, entrepreneurship is no easy walk in the park which is why you need to not only be passionate about what you do, but you also have to totally immerse yourself in your work – this includes researching, learning, networking, and testing things out to see what you like and more importantly what you don’t like.
Over the past 2-years – since starting my consulting business Ed Troxell Creative – I have grown, my business has grown and most importantly my relationships have grown.
You see relationships are the key to a happy and successful life.
Relationships are not how many followers you have or how many likes or views you get. Relationships are those connections you have with real people where you actually communicate with each other.
Relationships are the people you can turn to and ask questions, listen to the answers, and then have a discussion. You can see now why I say you need to be passionate about what you do because it’s a lot of work and in order to build relationships you have to actually care and be involved in what you are doing.
When I quit my job at Apple I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen next, we never really do right? I did know though that if I didn’t leave when I did I would miss my opportunity at “What could have been…”
I live my life trying not to regret anything because I feel it all happens for a reason.
Even when I thought about getting a part-time job – trust me, I always keep an eye out – I knew I had to keep going just to see where it all takes me. When I ran my magazine business back in 2008 I said then what I’ve said now which is,
Even if I have to work a part-time job in order for this to work I will as long as this can sustain itself I’m ok with getting paid elsewhere.
You have to remember, that everything leads us to something and in that moment we might not realize exactly what or why – sometimes we may never know.
I know from looking back on what I’ve accomplished – make sure you are keeping track of your milestones please so you too can reflect back – I’ve been very successful! That’s not being cocky, that’s giving credit where credit is due.
Success isn’t about how much money you make or how many fancy things you have.
Success is a feeling, a sense of accomplishment. It’s you actually starting something, doing the work to the best of your ability and seeing where it takes you – doesn’t really matter if it works out or not even though that is the goal.
Well, my friends, my work has taken me to this moment – the launch of my next business Stupid Easy. Stupid Easy started as a phase on the back of my business card 2-years ago and quickly caught everyone’s attention.
People would turn my business card over and read “The guy that makes technology stupid easy” (this was the first draft which has now changed) and every time it brought a smile to their face. That simple magical phrase lead me to believe there’s something more there. At the time I didn’t know what specifically which is why I not only paid attention (listened) but also started to do my research.
It was early 2016 when I immersed myself into this online business world, discovering Facebook groups and online courses – I mean, I took an online course in college but this was nothing like that. I’m a researcher and a resource for people. I connect the dots and keep things moving forward. So naturally, I was curious about everything going on in this new world of mine.
At the time Periscope was still fairly new and a hot social media platform.
I started to meet some amazing people on there like Chalene Johnson, Coach Glitter, Kim Garst, and Nicole Walters. If you don’t recognize these names you should look them up – amazing women!
So I followed them on Periscope, said hello on other social media platforms and soaked up the business info they were sharing as if I was a kid – you know how kids brains are like a sponge and they soak everything up.
While I connected with many it was Nicole Walters who I became close friends with, maybe it’s because of her personality, the fact that we’re close in age or the pure fact that we quit our jobs around the same time to make a greater impact. Either way, our friendship has grown over time.
Celebrating 2-years of Entrepreneurship & giving you business advice Click To Tweet
In fact, it was her 1K1Day course that was really my first real online course. I took a chance on her when she first started out and I invested in the first cycle of her wildly popular course which at the time of writing this is on its 7th cycle.
Investing in that course and being in these Facebook groups (groups are such a powerful tool, please join some and take notes) like I briefly mentioned above is what made me realize the opportunities that are out there.
You know, there’s this whole online course world that can feel saturated at times. However, when you look at the options out there for creating an online course none of them are really “easy” to use or have that sense of community behind them.
Many online course platforms feel clunky, complex, and all about making money off you
That’ when I knew there had to be a better way. You see, my brain is always asking, “How can I make this better?” Even when I don’t have time or interest it still says that ha! I guess it’s a good problem to have. This is also why I always joke, but I’m serious, that ad agencies should have me on retainer. The stuff that I come up with is pretty crazy and it’s a waste to let it just sit on the sidelines when someone could actually use it.
Since I’m passionate about business and tech and am able to break things down for people I knew tackling the online course platform world was going to be my next big project – the project known as Stupid Easy®.
I wanted to build a learning platform that not only looked good and was easy to use but also one that was built with the user in mind. I’m all about the user experience and building a community. That’s why I built StupidEasy.com.
I invested my own money into developing a website that I hope you as well as others like and more importantly use. One could argue that I built this off of “hope marketing” – building something in hopes people come to it. Which in one aspect is right.
I mean, I am hoping people come to it and actually use it, but the more important aspect is the fact that I did the research. I researched what the market is doing and what it needs. Of course that still doesn’t guarantee me success, but it does put me in a better position. I also paid attention to the costs and most importantly how I would actually make my money back.
Successful people have fear, successful people have doubts, and successful people have worry. They just don’t let these feelings stop them. – T. Harv Eker
When I meet with clients or go to these networking events everyone has these great business ideas which is awesome! What I often find is missing though is the answer to this question, “how are you going to make money?” This question for me doesn’t come from greed – as long as the business can pay for itself, cool! Keep it going if you’re passionate about it – it comes from reality.
It’s one thing to have a great idea and want to build it, but it’s another thing to look at the financial part and make sure it’s sustainable. The last thing you want to do is invest in yourself, pour your blood, sweat, and tears into something that will never be sustainable. Let me give you a quick example.
Ex. You have a great app idea and want to build an app. Great! However, have you ever looked at how much it actually costs to build an app? While prices can range you’re probably looking anywhere from $20,000 (cheap) to $50,000. I don’t know about you but that’s a lot of money and really anything over $10,000 is hard to quickly pay back – especially if you’re an entrepreneur. So you have to step back, do your research, and ask yourself, can I start with a mobile-friendly website first?
That being said, don’t let the money issue hold you back because let’s face it, we never have enough money right? However, I want you to be smart about what you get yourself into and know the costs going in as well as you having a plan on how you could make the money back – this all happens before actually building.
Trust me, I would not have built Stupid Easy just for fun or because it was a good idea.
I built it because I did my research. I know there are so many talented people both online and more importantly offline that want and need to share what they know. I didn’t want the complicated platforms out there to hold these people back any longer.
We all have something worth sharing whether or not we want to put a price tag on it.
You see, my goal has never been to make millions of dollars off Stupid Easy. My goal is and has always been to build an easy to use platform that provides to the point resources for others.
Stupid Easy is not about me, it’s about us – the community. It’s about cutting out all the fluff in an online course and getting straight to the point. Many online courses are jam-packed with content which could be great if you have the time for that – most people don’t though.
So I took the power of social media and the online course platforms and combined them into one easy to use online learning platform. This learning platform – Stupid Easy – allows anyone to take, create, and share an online course.
I’ve also made Stupid Easy the first online learning platform to limit each video lesson to 5-minutes or less. Remember, no one has time for all the fluff. Short. sweet. To the point and keep it moving. While some may think they can’t possibly cut their content down to 5-minutes I’m here to say, you can and you will. Trust me, this 5-minute video rule works in everyone’s favor.
It’s very exciting because no one knows what will happen next.
Stupid Easy can be a huge hit and a game changer for the online learning world (my hope) or it could be a flop (doubt it, but anythings possible). It really all comes down to you and everyone else who visits and shares Stupid Easy. Teamwork = success!