How He Made $700k In 3 Months By Changing His Identity

Quazi (00:00):
All right, guys, welcome to another episode of client interviews today. We have Damon Dickson, dude. I’m so, so excited to have you on board. You’ve been like keeping it real low in the customer community, low key, and you’ve just put your head down and gotten to work. So just a brief background. Uh, Damon is an e-commerce entrepreneur. He joined us at a point where he was, you know, working like a full-time job, had three clients. He was trying to start up a coaching business to a, I believe if I’m right. Um, and he had his own e-commerce store. And, um, at that point you were at 20 K in debt, right? Because you just signed up with a marketing agency
Damon (00:40):
That was a little bit into the future. But I actually, that that month I actually made 20 cases. So that was the most I made, it was January, 2020. Like everything kind of goes crazy from there.
Quazi (00:51):
Okay, cool. So, yeah, I mean, we just saw Damon go from like 20 K in debt to getting to 300 K a month and his e-com store at a 30% profit margin. So you can imagine like, you know, what, what was your, Oh, you’re frozen. You’re there? Yeah, I’m here. Okay. So cool. Yeah. You just froze for a little bit, but yeah, we just saw Damon go from what, what was your highest profit month like ever before?
Damon (01:22):
Yeah, 20 K in January, 2020. That was the profit month. That was the highest that I ever made in my life. Um, and then obviously this year, I think it was 87 when it’s all said and done profit. Um,
Quazi (01:37):
You just went from 20 K profit month to doing like basically 90 K profit month. Yeah. Within like a year. Yup. That’s absolutely insane. But even more insane than that is the internal transformation you’ve had it. Cause I’ve seen some of your posts in the group and how you just became a completely new man. Even the beard itself is, is a representation of the new man you’ve become. But yeah, man, if you want it to add anything, I’ll just let you introduce yourself a little bit about you where you’re from.
Damon (02:07):
Yeah. So again, Damon Dixon, I’m from Northern Virginia lived here my entire life, about 30 minutes from DC. Um, ended up loving digital media from a very young age. So like when I was nine, 10 years old, I started making YouTube videos of me riding my scooter and doing scooter tricks, um, and learn how the YouTube algorithm works. So from very early on, I knew how content was made and how to get it to rank. So as I grew up, I kind of just went deeper into social media marketing, um, learned about video editing. Um, eventually found my way into Facebook ads and e-commerce so testing that stuff out while I was in college. Um, and I, it’s funny, I look back, I was good at a lot of different things, but never went deep into one and that kind of all hit me once I graduated school.
Damon (02:54):
Cause I had, like, I was working at the social media market agency, still running ads. Um, I had part-time position doing work for a local company and I still had, I had another e-commerce store that I started up then I was doing freelancing for other people. So I, at one point I was running like seven different ad accounts, still trying to graduate college. Um, I was making a little bit of, I think at one point I made like three K uh, my senior semester. I’m like, you know, this is cool. Like I’m making money, but at the same time I was burnt out. And that kind of all spiraled as, you know, as the months went on. Um, so long story short, I graduated school, I have this e-commerce business, I’m working on a couple of different brands and then I get a full-time job.
Damon (03:37):
And again, I was making money, but burnt out every single day. And I just knew that something had to change. So right around my 22nd birthday, um, school, I bought a car, but I also went ahead and looked at my life and like really knew I needed to reinvest in shift the way that I was living my life. So I went ahead and invested in one program by Sam ovens, consulting accelerator. And I ended up not going through with actually being a consultant, but what really hit me was the mindset portion in like the week two, uh, part of it. So we went into like the alchemy of self, um, and qualities program. It’s the, uh, self mastery guide, uh, stuff like that, where I was learning about who I am, how all of this stuff works, why do I feel like I’m always forcing things, things of that nature.
Damon (04:27):
And then I saw quasi post in that same group and I started watching his videos and I like knew right away. Like, you know, I got to work with this guy. So I literally remember getting on the call and I’m like, dude, just let me into the program. I don’t know you personally that well, but I can tell in your voice that you know what you’re talking about. I need to see what’s up. Um, so more or less the it’s kind of history from there. But even after I joined the program, I still went through these periods where I was like learning a lot of big lessons. That really was all from the past. I just wish I clean these things up and was more aware of them. But that’s what the program allowed me to do is like really take a step back at, you know, my life and who I am and who I think I am, um, be a lot more fluid in that be accepting of things changing. So that way I can make a holistic decision about how I would like things in my life to move or less right now.
Quazi (05:24):
That’s absolutely fantastic. Dude. The most notable pop for me is like seeing you change as a person and then seeing the external results follow out of that. So can you tell us a little bit about like where you were at internally before you joined the program? What kind of person were you, you know, what kind of, how did you make your decisions?
Damon (05:44):
Yeah, I, again, I always prided myself on being a hard worker. So like that was never a question. I was just very confused on what I should be doing. Um, what is my ultimate passion? I was in what you could probably call the social media megaphone or, uh, amplify, what’s it called? I was just in an echo chamber, right? Like I had all these ideas couldn’t really make decisions and I didn’t know what I personally wanted at my core. Uh, so that would be the biggest thing that I just didn’t have clarity on your feel excited to have clarity. Yeah. I didn’t have clarity on what I wanted to do. Um, and yeah, that was probably the extent I just didn’t have clarity. Um, and I was lot more anxious stuff. I didn’t know how to approach things. My confidence was a little bit lower as well. Um, used all the different things I was doing that more or less like compensate for that lack of confidence. So right when I dialed everything back focused a lot more on myself, what do I actually want? That’s when I noticed a lot more change happening in life in general,
Quazi (06:54):
One of the big leaps that we see, or like a lot of our customers taking, the first thing they’d do is quit their full-time job. And I think when you joined, that’s one of the very first leaps you took, you know, you had a really big month, you joined and you, you saw some great results real quick and then your store is doing really well. And then you made the decision to quit your job, but it wasn’t an easy decision to make. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? Why it wasn’t easy? You know, what kind of resistance as you came across and how you overcome those and took that leap.
Damon (07:20):
Yeah, I think it stems back from just knowing like, Oh yeah, you need to get a job. You need to work for somebody. Right. Um, and internally, like, it was funny before I started working this full-time job. Um, I was hanging out with one of my buddies and I said, dude, would it be bad if I quit before I even started? Cause I kind of knew, I didn’t really want to do it. Um, but I went through with it anyways and I’m just like, yo, this is not good. But then I always thought like, dang, I just bought this car. I can’t just like, not pay my bills. Um, may I have food, service delivery and stuff like that? You know, what if I, I can’t eat. So you start to put all this stuff into this lifestyle and bake it in and all this, all this convoluted, I don’t want to say crap on your, but like just BS in your head and start just filling up, filling up, filling up. But it got to a point where I think it was, yeah, right around end of February. I just knew it was like, you know, if I took a couple of days off from this job, I’d probably never come back.
Damon (08:25):
And lo and behold, I opt into the program, I think the end of March actually. So I’ve been thinking about it for a little bit. Um, it was kinda like in that paralysis state and literally it got into the program, I think I’m like March 24th or something like that, like that. Um, and March 30th, I’m like, you know, I’m going to quit then April 8th, I ended up quitting. Um, but once I went through that, I think it was like the first module or something like that where we just talk about clarity. It’s like, well, dude, I, I don’t like this job. Like that, just let it go. Um, and it might be scary initially, but I have to do what’s necessary to keep moving. So right.
Quazi (09:05):
I think it was the, one of the uncomfortable actions that you’ve got to do. Like what’s the uncomfortable thing that you’re going to do.
Damon (09:12):
Yeah. It was that in some social media, uh, relinquishing, so
Quazi (09:16):
Right. Yeah. That was great. So after you quit your job, like what was the journey like from there? Let’s, let’s look at the period of, you know, you joined the program, you’re going through the program. What was your internal journey like and how did that reflect that externally? Because I know it wasn’t just like up and up and up, but there was like a down period as well.
Damon (09:34):
Yeah. So right when I quit was so e-com, if anybody’s in econ, they they’ll know like the Q4 COVID era packages getting super delayed stuff like that. So it wasn’t like it was the easy transition. Um, just going full time in e-com if you didn’t have experience, I’d say so I was, again, listening to a lot of people. I was obviously doing the program work and stuff, but still had all these thoughts in my head. Like, what am I going to do? What I’m going to do when I’m at do so, still working on that whole anxiety thing. Um, but I’d say right around may, there was a shift in what happened with how the business was operating. I kind of lost track of my self. I was like, okay, I need to grow this thing. And so I was doing like a hundred plus K a month in revenue, um, making a little bit of profits, but then I kind of just pooped out with all my energy and ended up hiring a marketing agency to help run my stuff.
Damon (10:34):
And here I’m thinking, you know, I need to invest in myself. I need to keep doing this. I need to keep doing all this stuff. Right. Long story short, I overpaid way too much. And they under-delivered a lot, uh, to the point where at the end of the day, that contract value is about 26 K and I was down 20 on the year. Uh, so I made no money in 20, 20, 20, well, um, at the end of September, right? Because that was a three month contract. Um, I signed them in June and then everything is said and done by September. Um, again right around my birthday, like I knew I needed to make another change. So I go deep into my reality mastery bag again, uh, go back through the program, um, the worksheets and I did these every four months anyways, but I would notice a slight changes.
Damon (11:24):
This one was the biggest change though. I knew this one was like, all right, David, I’m going stay back against the wall, but you got to figure out how to come out of a 20 K deficit, come out on top and then make sure that that situation does not happen like that again. Um, and I had to really reflect on myself, really reflecting my decision-making. Um, and that’s when I kind of blocked out all the noise, any listened to anybody. Um, my parents would tell me, like, I literally didn’t talk to them for a little bit. It was, it was kinda I to say scary, but like I went dog mode almost. Um, and I just went to it, man, uh, every single day showing up doing what’s necessary. Yeah, dude, it was, it was serious. Um, I knew that just stuff needed to change and I just went at it.
Damon (12:16):
And this time though, I went in and went at it in a sustainable manner. Um, so first things first I knew how to keep a leaner business structure, uh, to how to keep my internal self on a system. So I’m not in my ads manager every single day, pushing budgets and things like that. I have a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I do this Tuesday, Thursday, I’m doing this. So really just trying to keep it sustainable for myself. So I’m not just going all over the place and the, the end result is just scaling up and profiting a good amount. So
Quazi (12:50):
Got it. So you basically systemized, not just your business, but you began with, first of all, getting that clarity on what you actually want, right? Like you felt the pain of the 20 K debt and your past decisions and that put you into a mode of self-reflection instead of turning outwards and seeking more solutions to get out of debt. What you did was something completely opposite. You turned inwards. Yes. Because it’s been interesting to see you go from, like, you were pretty active on social media, right? Like you were posting on the groups even, but then all of a sudden you just withdrew that completely. What was that experience like internally and what kind of like led you to doing that?
Damon (13:37):
You know? So it kind of goes with that self reflection, right. You start to look at, where am I putting my time? What am I getting out of that time? Um, I was thinking about this for like, if you looked at my screen time, back in like summer of 2019, I was on my phone for like eight hours a day. Uh, that’s crazy. Now it’s literally 10 minutes a day, if anything. Uh, so I really just realized, okay, this social media stuff, me trying to talk the chicks, me posting on Instagram, thought that stuff’s not doing anything for you. So I just started, you have to peel that stuff back and I’m not gonna say it was easy. Sometimes it feels lonely, especially like growing up with social media. But overall, like, I feel like it’s improved my quality of life and some of my closest friends, like I now know who my closest friends are and we have actual like zoom calls, like on every week.
Damon (14:31):
And I talked to my one, uh, my old mentor actually is now my good friend. Um, we just talk every weekend and like it’s actual genuine conversations and it actually enriches my learning because I can learn from his mistakes. He’s a little bit older than I am. Um, same with one of my other buddies actually in dental school right now. Um, and I told him, I put them some of the reality Massey program, uh, showed them your videos and dude’s getting straight A’s and dental school. Nice releasing all that stress. Because one thing I realized, especially growing up in this era is like, we compare ourselves so much to the point where it’s just overwhelming. So going back into that state where like I wasn’t looking at anyone’s business anyone’s life, it was different, but it was such a, it’s a peaceful state. And I still kind of removed myself from the whole social scene. Um, but I I’d come in every once in a while when I feel it’s necessary.
Quazi (15:30):
Totally, man, the comparison trap is so huge. I fall into that. Sometimes you look at other people you’re like, Oh, but they’re doing this. Why can’t I do this? You know, but do you fail to realize that everyone’s journey is different? That’s how you fall to the pendulums of, Oh, do, as I do do this, you know, I’m doing this, come join my program, join my this and join my that and do that right. Instead of actually understanding what you truly want and what would best serve that. Awesome. And so, yeah, that’s, um, I, I’ll be curious to know out of the program, what was the, what were some of the biggest takeaways for you that kind of like one or two key things that help you go from that place of 20 K debt, anxious, stressed, you know, unfocused and trying out a million different things to actually finding yourself, having faith. Cause you talked about faith a lot, you know, even when we messaged you, you were talking about like having faith in this and the unknown, not knowing how it’s going to happen, but just, you know, believing anyways, how did that, you know, what in the program really helped you get to that place?
Damon (16:38):
Do you know? It was funny that it was really a big transition for me because I got to a point I have to scroll back a little bit. Um, like I didn’t believe in any sort of God, nothing higher power. It was just street force. Like you just do the stuff. Um, you know, I, it was a transition, I would say the biggest thing for me was journaling every single day. Um, I have journal now every day since about October, 2019, um, in February, I kind of took a little bit of a break, um, more of the reality mastery guide, speaking to myself every single day, knowing what the longer-term goal and vision is. Um, one other thing I did too, was write out my, I do more or less. The I’ve kind of chunked down how reality mastery works. Um, so where I do these exercises every week, as opposed to every three months, I’m recalibrating is often as I can just to make sure that I stay on track and that I know that I’m doing what’s necessary.
Damon (17:45):
Cause that was the biggest thing is showing up for yourself, doing what’s necessary. Eventually it pays off, especially amongst say like someone with my experiences. I’m like, I’m not that experienced what I’d say, Hey, I’m not a Joe Schmoe. When it comes to running Facebook ads, like you have to believe in yourself to an extent to like, dude, you can do this. You just got to put the right pieces into place. So focus on putting those bricks down, lay that brick down. Eventually you’ll build that wall and eventually it’s game over. Um, and that’s the way I I’ve tried to just look at how I’m going through life. Like I’m going to keep learning something every single day. Um, and eventually it just snowballs on itself.
Quazi (18:25):
Awesome. So you’re saying you like recalibrated the self-mastery guide every week?
Damon (18:31):
Yeah. Didn’t know it was not the full thing. I, um, every week I have something called the growth chart where I document what’s going on in my life, what am I trying to accomplish? What roadblocks do I feel like I have? And then more or less, how do I relinquish those and then keep it moving. That’s amazing. Chunking it down a lot. When do you do that? On a Sunday? Every Saturday at 9:00 AM. Nice.
Quazi (18:58):
It’s actually very great. Um, that kind of like keeps you accountable in the right direction all the time. It’s like, um, that’s why we do the self-mastery guide in the program. Right? You it’s top of mind what you really want to accomplish. And once you keep it top of mind, you find a way to move towards that. Right. So are you going to say something?
Damon (19:17):
Yeah, I wouldn’t say that on top of like yeah, just holding yourself accountable is the biggest thing. Cause I know when I was younger, like you just kind of let things slip and the more you let stuff slip, it becomes unconscious. Then once it’s unconscious, I’m not going to say you’re screwed, but like now you gotta really ask yourself, what do you again, what do you want? So when you have that bigger vision and you keep recalibrating that and you hold yourself to it, even if you slip every once in a while or just take a break, you know what, you’re still actually moving towards. So you can just get back right on track. So that was, that was definitely a huge thing.
Quazi (19:52):
Got it. Yeah. That’s awesome, man. I’m also curious to know how you dealt with the downtimes in your life. Like what in the program helped you coordinate or let go of, or, you know, cause you mentioned anxiety, you mentioned like, you know, having that debt and it couldn’t have been easy on you and turning around from that. Most people aren’t able to do that.
Damon (20:15):
Yeah. As far I asked myself that not every day, but it was definitely an interesting space to be, especially being 23. You don’t want to find yourself in that situation, um, kind of early, but then you have to say like, well, that’s a blessing. I can experience this now so that I know how to keep moving forward. Um, so I’m not gonna say it’s easy. Like you just look at the future or you look at what you can do, but you have to keep the focal point on what you can do, what you can control, what you do have be grateful for these things. Um, yeah. And I’d say enjoy life. Like, um, there is actually somebody in the group, he messaged me. He’s like 14. Um, and he reached out, he lives like 20 minutes from me, which is kinda wild. So I just got on a zoom call with him because he had a couple of questions about, um, that type of being anxious about, am I doing this?
Damon (21:12):
You know, when’s this going to happen? I thought I put in X amount of hours for this. Why is this happening? And I’m down and out, not making any money, blah, blah, blah. Like that whole story you tell yourself. And it’s like, you have to realize, dude, you’re so young, there’s so much life. You still have so much opportunities where like, when I was 14, there was no click funnels, man. Like you can still do this. And I have to tell myself that, like I have to humble my self a lot. I’m saying, dude, you have great things that you can do. You have things that you can do things, um, pretty well. And you just gotta keep reminding yourself that, you know, you’re working towards something. So that was my way of working with it.
Quazi (21:54):
Hmm. So you just reframe that instead of focusing on, what’s not going well and what’s not working right now to what you do want and moving towards that.
Damon (22:03):
That’s totally, that’s literally it.
Quazi (22:06):
That’s awesome, man. I suppose looking back at where you were now and seeing how you are now, even though it wasn’t that long ago, right? Like people go like 10, 20 years without changing much, but what does it feel like, you know, like looking back at where you were that day you joined the program versus where you were now.
Damon (22:31):
Well, first things I was, uh, I had no beard and I was about 60 pounds heavier, so that’s one thing. So it’s like, I feel like a different person and looked like a different person. Um, but I look back and I’m just, I was, I’m almost like perplexed as to how all that happened. And I realized a lot of it stemmed from my childhood right. In the way that I was. Yeah. The way I grew up, especially around money, um, in, you know, clearly I’m African-American and I live in, uh, I lived in a neighborhood where there’s a lot of Caucasian people, a lot of upper-class middle-class so on and so forth, like owner, the Redskin daughter, like that type of stuff. Um, so I never realized how that made me feel anxious about who I was around and things like that. And that also just kept reflecting on through my adult life until again, I made those switches and made those changes that I could kind of move on from them.
Damon (23:33):
So now there’s, we’re at a point now where, you know the idea of wealth or growth, it used to be very scary. It’s still, it’s like, Whoa, how do, how do you do this stuff? But then you experienced it and you’re all right, no, this is cool. I like this. I’m not anxious about it. I don’t feel weird about it. Like it’s okay for this to happen. Um, so that was the biggest thing for me is like just being an acceptance of what can happen in acceptance of growing and being okay with, you know, learning your lessons here and there. So that’d be the biggest change for me.
Quazi (24:06):
Yeah. That really is that aspect of having faith, right? Because you don’t really know the complete picture. You don’t know what could happen. You’re going to get to what you want, but maybe not in the way that you want to. That’s basically it. But I suppose being someone who has invested into, you know, that much into a marketing agency, into all of the tactics and strategy versus investing into mindset, you know, changing your internal world, turning the attention inwards rather than outwards onto the shiny objects, because there’s so many out there. And so many business owners right now, so many people looking to get started right now are looking for all of these tools, all of these there’s there’s great tools and great opportunities out there. E-commerce businesses, coaching businesses. What would you say? Like, what would you say is the number one priority? I mean, I’ll be biased here, so I don’t want to say your honest take on it on what’s given you the biggest bang for your buck, the greatest ROI
Damon (24:58):
Being patient, um, not jumping around for coach, that coach, I have I’m in your program, that straight mindset, my self, you know, inner work. I haven’t invested in another coaching program for that type of area. Um, I’m going to continue to work with what I have here and know that it’s going to continue to evolve. Um, I’ll read books from time to time, but that’s about it for the most part. And then I have one Facebook ads, coach point blank. Like I, I just try to keep it as simple and look at who’s the best at what they’re doing and keep working with them. See if I can get into their groups, see if I can get into the material, follow what they’re doing. And then obviously I have to go ahead and experiment on spearmint with my own self. Um, so yeah, just, it’s literally not jumping around, look at who’s doing what they’re doing and see who’s the best.
Damon (25:49):
See if it resonates with you. Um, I know for me, like I knew that quasi was around my age. I’m like, okay, again, that’s something I can resonate with. That’s something I could see. Okay. Eventually we could grow together some capacity or maybe have a meetup at some group. I don’t know. But I still thought that was a cool thing. Um, just look again, looking at, who’s doing it. See if you resonate with them. Um, and just going with that, like, it shouldn’t be hesitant if there’s no hesitation, like especially if it resonates with you just do it.
Quazi (26:18):
Yeah. Yeah. Cause I remember what you were like on the call. You were like, I’m ready to go. Like no hesitation from you at all. I was like, Whoa, hold on. Let me see if I can actually help you first.
Damon (26:28):
Yeah, I would say again, that’s just because I’ve been watching the material for so long. I’m like, yeah, this makes perfect sense. I’m I was very, also very logical with what I was doing. Wasn’t coordinated, but I was logical. Like I knew there’s whole bunch of stuff you can do. Uh, just to know exactly what that one thing was.
Quazi (26:48):
So got it. All right, Damon. Um, I suppose just to end it, who would you recommend this program for and why?
Damon (26:58):
Yeah. Um, say anybody, anybody who come across it comes across your content there in the comments they’re thinking about it. Um, you were meant to see that I’m going to go ahead and say, yes, the algorithm makes these suggestions, but if you start to resonate with the content, um, you check out the book and call stuff like that. You’re probably ready for a change in your life. Um, also if you feel like you’re in a place where you are definitely stuck, um, you have, especially if you have the tactics, um, you have all the strategies you’ve been doing something for X amount of years. Um, you just got to pull the trigger, man. I like, there’s nothing else to say. Then you just have to have faith. You have to take that chance and you have to be patient and invest, uh, not only in the program, but in yourself and hold yourself accountable to actually doing it. Like I, when the, when I first got the program, like I didn’t miss a week, like I straight up did that work, I’m getting it in. I’m not making excuses for it. Um, and just doing it, like that’s literally it.
Quazi (28:02):
Absolutely. And I 100% agree with that as well. You can never know beforehand what’s going to happen until you actually get your hands dirty. Right. And even if you do like make a bad investment, like maybe you look at your marketing agency where you dumped like 24 K into that as a bad investment, but it was a big lesson. It was a $24,000 lesson that you learned and it actually led you to coming to here. So it wasn’t so bad.
Damon (28:29):
Yeah, dude, I literally, I was sitting in the shower. I’m like, man, that was 26 grand. And then I almost laugh because then like, okay, you can make that back. So that’s one thing I also say is like all investments, all investments are, is like, uh, well, monetary investments, that’s just money. You can get your money back. You can’t get your time back. So always look at how you’re utilizing your time. The lessons learned with that time and then just keep moving from there
Quazi (28:58):
A hundred percent. All right guys, Damon, thank you for joining us. Any last things you’d like to say,
Damon (29:05):
Uh, quasi changed my life, grow in an interesting way, man. Um, there’s no shot. I would’ve thought about, uh, the laws of attraction or just self-improvement inner work, right? Like, so this capacity, uh, to the point where like, I feel like I’m not saying I can control myself totally, but I feel very much more like I can, uh, yeah, just center my attention and have a lot more intention on what I’m doing is the best thing. So
Quazi (29:35):
Fantastic. Damon, thank you so much for giving us your time. This was so valuable and I’m sure you guys, it valuable as well. Um, I’m going to attach Damon socials. If you have any socials down in the comments below and uh, yeah. Guys, feel free to leave a comment, letting us know what you thought of this. If this was useful to you
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Till next time, peace.