 What's happening guys, it's Shane here. Today I have the story of Fabian who went from a factory worker to a very high paying remote digital marketing job. So go ahead, gently tap that like button and let's jump right into this one. Fabian, thank you so much for coming on the channel and sharing your story with us. You're about five years or so into your career. So I think this is gonna be great perspective for people to kind of see what they can expect like four, five, six years down the line if they do decide to go into digital marketing. So I really appreciate you, you know taking your lunch break to do this interview really quickly and coming on the channel. Thank you so much. Hey, Shane, yeah, I appreciate it, man. Thank you for having me on the channel. Like it's really exciting to just be talking about, you know, digital marketing and like, you know where we are now and like how we're going and it's a pleasure, man. Awesome. So can you just give me a little bit of a background on yourself before you discovered digital marketing kind of a background on your education as well as your career history and all that sort of thing up to the point where you discovered digital marketing. Yeah, man. So I graduated back in 2009. So I'm almost 30 years old now. I am 30 years old now actually. And yeah, so I graduated, went to college and, you know, was trying to get my four year degree through a community college first and transferring over and I was a business major, you know and I was very, very eager to start my career. And as I was going back in 2009 to 2014 I was working multiple jobs. I was trying to learn as much as I can and I started in working for a t-shirt manufacturing company. You know, we would make t-shirts. We would build them. We'd use them from like any like, I don't know man, society six was one, one client, you know just different random clients that we have. We have our own print shop, print there. So I was working there for about three or four years. During that time I was listening to a lot of inspirational podcasts, books as much as I could get in my hands on it and just learn. I really wanted to learn and just better myself and just learn as much as possible. So I started like listening to podcasts like Johnny Dumas, Pat Flynn, you know entrepreneurs on fire, like passive income and just trying to learn from those guys. And I did that while I was working at a pret shop. So you can imagine myself just working from like nine PM to six in the morning, you know like a sweatshirt shop vibe, just printing t-shirts listening to podcasts and trying to just like improve. And yeah, man, so like I started there and I was just trying to start like, you know an e-commerce brand, a website built from there. It was crazy, man. Like I just that experience alone was definitely life changing because I was doing that while I was working and then I tried to start a website back in the day. And I started my own e-commerce brand, you know I had like this little website I called it Motivation Daily, inspirational quotes inspirational t-shirts and just printing those t-shirts and little do people know I was actually working at a print shop trying to start an e-commerce brand and build from there, right? But I didn't know marketing. So that was the craziest thing. Like I didn't know digital marketing and I wanted to learn it. And I figured, you know, if I learn digital marketing I can expand and I can grow. So I literally searched on YouTube back in, it was 2000, like 17 or 16. I was like, how to make a, I don't know like a six figure or how to make a, how to land a good job without a four year degree is essentially what I started, right? And I was like trying to find that. And then I found this interview with Seth and engineer truth and they were just talking about digital marketing, right? They were talking about like, okay so let's talk about Google ads. Let's talk about, you know what you can do in the field and all that kind of stuff. So I was starting to search there and I figured them out and I was like, okay, I need to take this course. I need to figure this out. I need to like research and try to do my best to try to like learn as much as I can Google ads at the time. And yeah, man, that's long story short. That's how it started, right? Got it, got it. That's an awesome story. And so after you discovered Seth's course you discovered digital marketing and Seth's course how long did it take you to decide to actually invest in the course and actually buy it and try it out? Yeah, good question. Okay, so I think it took me maybe like a few weeks. I was like at the point where I was just like, you know what, I gotta do that. Because I was skeptical at first, right? Cause I was like more of like a, I'm not sure if this is real. You know, I'm kind of like a, my mindset was like, you need a four year degree to get a good job. That was my mindset, right? And then once I started listening to these podcasts about like all these entrepreneurs and how they started and like how they started their jobs I was like, okay, maybe this is truthful. So I gotta check out all these interviews. So I think I'd check like five, 10, like a bunch of these interviews, trying to, of these people just like saying like they started off really well doing this. Took me two weeks, two or three weeks I think. And then I decided from that point on I'm gonna buy this course. I'm gonna give myself like 30 to 60 days to land a job in digital marketing. So if you are interested in digital marketing but you're not a hundred percent sure what it is or you wanna know a little bit more about it there's a bunch of different verticals in digital marketing. You've got like paper click, you have Facebook ads, you've got social media marketing, SEO, et cetera. If you wanna learn what all of that is Seth does have a free masterclass you can check it out down below. It's a few hours I took it myself and I thought it was very useful I learned quite a bit from it. So you can check that out. I'll put it in the description and the pin comment down below. And when I was listening and when I was doing that I actually did something I wouldn't really recommend to people but I actually quit my job, took the course and gave myself like a limited amount of time to get a job. And I had an apartment, right? So I was like trying to do everything at the same time I was like, okay, I do 60 days I have enough to survive within the 60 days. And I just like literally spent like eight hours a day learning from the course, getting my certifications doing as much as possible to study. So like I would know these terms right off the bat like right click, right click some pressure search for pressure share, you know, Google Analytics. Okay, how do I connect Google Analytics with Google ads? Like what can I do to make to give myself the knowledge? So when I get that interview and I'm applying for a job I just know it like you're back in my hand. Like, yeah, this is what I would do. This is how I would do it, you know this is my experience. So I use that e-commerce brand I use that website as leverage for my experience. So I would say, okay, I've had this brand for three years I have social, I have, you know like all the stuff for Google ads like I did all the stuff, right? And I would use that as leverage as experience and then I would try to apply for the job. So I think I applied five different jobs. I had one job that landed as far as like the interview process goes. So I literally got, I remember getting like three or four resumes just to backtrack a little bit. I had three or four resumes and I told myself I'm gonna go to the highest person that I can possibly talk to back in the day. A director or a VP of these marketing agencies go up to them and say, hey, I just wanted to put a face to a name. Here's my resume. I'm really eager. Is there, just let me know if you guys give me an opportunity to do an interview. And that's what I did. And then one of them actually stuck. I looked for the, for this like VP of like marketing for what these marketing firms he wasn't there. And I got the director and when I got the director, the lady she talked to me all these questions all this kind of stuff. I nailed the interview and I got the position that night. Like I literally got the call that night. It was like, they told me like hey, we really like your experience. We really think it would be a great fit. We're really, it's really awesome that you came in and you just wanted to interview and you just showed initiative and all this kind of stuff. And then she just like hired me right off the bat. And then a month from when I applied is when I started the position. So I think it was like July 2016 or 17. I think right after Labor Day. Oh no, right after Fourth of July, sorry. Wow. So when, so you basically went through the course like you had a 60 day sort of like take off period, right? Like if you're trying to take the you're trying to fly the plane and you've got 60 days to get it off the ground basically, right? And you know, and then pass that, that wouldn't be good. And then it took you approximately one month or so when you really tried to get that first job offer basically, is that? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, so like I quit my job and then I gave myself a limited amount of time. I would like schedule my days. I'd say, okay, I got to finish this module by this time. I got to apply here. I got to do this. I got to get the certifications by this time. So I literally planned it all out. Like I was like a type A person like, okay, scheduling this is how much time I have. And I would take like maybe I use like the Pomodoro method. I was like, okay, and I have like five minutes to go take a quick walk, come back, study in the focus. So I did that. And I was able to finish the course in 30 days. I also took a Udemy course to learn more. I got my certifications. I applied for the job. And then the first job I applied to, I landed that night. So that is freaking awesome. Wow, that is so awesome. How was the course just in general? Like how did you enjoy it? How useful was it? Yeah, man, back in 2017, what I really enjoyed about it to be honest when I got when I was applying when I was learning through it was how easy to understand it was. And then my favorite part was the application of it. Like this is what you want to do. This is a spreadsheet you want to start. This is how you want to do your resume. Back in the day, you know, before like the whole like website as your portfolio thing came into about, I kind of like used all the things that set that as far as like how to land the job, which is the most important thing, right? And I kind of like wanted to utilize that as much as possible. And simultaneously, you know, I really enjoyed like how in depth it was like we went to the platform, we talked about it, you know. And at the time too, I think he also recommended a different course in UDB. I forgot the guy's name. He had an agency back in the day too. And it took his course simultaneously while it took Seth's course and I didn't learn as much as possible. But I think the application of like how to land a job is the most useful for me. And, you know, simultaneously, you know, learning about clicks impressions and all that kind of stuff is important. Got it. Yeah. You know, that's the thing that almost every other course lacks actually is the whole how to land a job thing, which is kind of important, right? Like there's a lot of courses out there that are like, oh, I'll teach you pay per click. Oh, I'll teach you Facebook ads. I'll teach you this, but it doesn't really teach you the whole landing a job part, which is, you know, in my experience, that's where you learn like 70, 80% of everything you need to know is on the job, right? So yeah, that's pretty important. Of course, there's like boot camps that'll teach you that, but they're $15,000. So that's out of most people's price range. So that first entry level job, if you're comfortable, can you share what the salary is like? And if you're not comfortable, you just kind of give a range of what people would expect. Yeah. Okay. Cool. So let me, let me backtrack. I was making $14 an hour at the sweatshop and that's 2014. I went from 14 to 21 from the first position. And then I went up from there. So I even, I left the first marketing position after three years at like 65 came back in 2017. And then now I make way more. Like now it's just like nine days. Like I don't even have to worry. Now I have like experience using that as leverage. Like I'm a senior feed manager, like get bonuses. Like I, 65 is like, I don't know. That was like back in the day now. But yeah, man, imagine barely making above minimum wage, taking Seth's course. I think it was back in the day was $300 or $400. And I took it and I went from getting out of a sweatshop, doing community college, working nights. I also worked at Little Caesar at the time, I think for a short period just to get enough money to pay for some of this stuff because I was outside of the apartment. Yeah, man, it was, it was crazy, bro. Like I mean, 30K to 60K to what I make now is crazy. So you were skeptical about the course, which I always say is a good thing. Like everybody should be skeptical. There's a lot of claims out there on the internet. Seth has overwhelming amount of evidence that it works. You know, at this point, he's got like the LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube channel, Instagram, between all four of those probably has thousands of reviews and testimonials at this point. So I mean, there's pretty much just overwhelming evidence that it works. And but I totally get it, like to be skeptical. I would just, you know, urge everyone, you know, I've got a playlist on my channel and go check out the playlist. Got lots of other videos of people that have had phenomenal success with Seth's course. But what would you say to somebody who is kind of on the fence about digital marketing in general or maybe Seth's course specifically? Yeah, it's kind of like a motivational thing or like kind of like a boost tone like that is possible. I think half of it is believing in yourself and half of it is like believing that you can do it. Because if you think about it, okay, say for example, you start on Google, right? And you want to learn Google, Google ads. Google is like a multi-billion dollar company that makes money, actual money from just Google ads. And the people that use Google ads and the search volume that's there is tremendous. That means like there's going to always be opportunity for these multi, like mid-cap companies or small-cap companies to really like, you know, make profit off of this as simultaneously having Google make profit, right? So if you just think about the sheer volume of what's going on in digital marketing is tremendous. e-commerce is conquering tons of like brick and mortar storage, right? And if you think about, you know, pure imports, if you think about like how they went from like brick and mortar stores to only a website now, if you think about Amazon and how much money it's making, like it's insane. And I think that we are at a stage where web, I think it's 2.0, right? That is currently web 2.0. Is that the cusp of its, I don't know if like, the Wild Wild West is a great word for it. But you know, like talent in the beginning, nobody knew web. Everybody was barely learning web. Email was like, what is email? Like, you know, all this kind of stuff in the 90s, all this stuff. And then everybody's now like, honestly being born in the 2000s, knowing what digital is and growing in that. I definitely think that there's a lot of opportunity. I would just say like, believe in yourself, take the course and figure out like what you can do to get your foot in the door. Half of it is believing in yourself, half of it is doing it and the rest is just like, you know, just going for it. You know what I mean? I feel like a lot of people get stuck in like this position where they just learn and do anything about it, right? Absolutely. If you think, yeah, if you think like you don't even have experience like that doesn't matter. It really doesn't just get your foot in the door, get an interim position, learn from these people, you know, because that's the majority of everything that's gonna happen there anyways, because you can learn only so much through a course, but after you take that course and after you learn your like foothold, after you build, you know, you build those foundational steps, then you can grow from there, right? Because after that, it's about you. It's about your hunger. It's about you wanting to learn more. It's about you wanting to stay up to date. You want it to like, you know, help other people achieve their goals and also be a part of a good company that's gonna give you that salary that you want in a living way that you want. So yeah, just have a bit of believing in yourself and, you know, knowing that it's possible. So one thing I forgot to ask, and this is actually really important, probably even more important than salary, is work-life balance. How do you enjoy your job and your work-life balance now versus before when you were working in what you call the sweatshop? Yeah, that's a really good question, man, because like the life in balance is 90, literally 90. Like I, working from like 3 p.m. to like, you know, the butt crack of dawn and then just waking up to like the sun rising and you're still working like super tired and just like out of it. And then working from a nice nine to five job, essentially it's just like, it's so good, I mean. And when I did that, that was crazy. Like with that first like transitional period was so amazing, I loved it. And then COVID hit and then we're like a work-from-home vibe now. Like it's just, it's crazy. Like I literally am at home, I'm working and I have the luxury of going downstairs. I mean, I tell people, I have like the longest commute, right? I have to listen to a song and then I'm downstairs and then I'm like, you know, so I'm just like, I'm like, sometimes they say, that's like, you know, my longest commute. But I mean, like, dude, I love it, man. It's the best. Being able to have like, you know, the luxury of waking up and just being on meetings and then working from home and then grabbing my laptop using a hotspot and going outside to a park and work is great. You know, I kind of love that kind of stuff. And when I'm in meetings, I'm in my office and I'm just working in the office. So I love it, dude. I wouldn't have tried it for the world, I think it's phenomenal. Awesome, so hey, thank you so much again for coming on and sharing your experience. I think people are gonna get a lot out of this, Fabian. So thank you. I think a lot of people are gonna be inspired out there. There's probably quite a few people who listen to podcasts while they do their job and so they can really resonate with your story as well. And you know, they're just trying to better themselves. They're trying to get into a career that is gonna pay them well, that's gonna have good work-life balance and it's gonna teach them really valuable skills in case later on they wanna go and start their own business. So I'm sure a lot of people are gonna be really inspired by you. So thank you again so much for coming on. Yeah, of course, Shane. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time, man. Thank you.