Saturday, July 31, 2010

About Chris Record


Santa Cruz California Aerial View of the Beach

Santa Cruz California Aerial View of the Beach

I grew up in Santa Cruz, CA which was an awesome experience.  I loved living close to the beach and being in such a diverse town.  At age 21 I started designing websites for a living, which ultimately lead to organic search engine optimization (getting the websites listed on the first page of google for their chosen keywords).  I never made much money, but always made enough to do it full time and not have to work for someone else at a job.  I am “psychologically unemployable”!

During the day I would design and market websites, and in my spare time I was always trying to succeed in some kind of multi-level or work from home opportunity.  Although I never “got rich” through those work from home opportunities, I definitely learned a lot and have become a student of personal development which has made me the man that I am today.  I am very grateful for the experience that I had and the journey that I traveled during those years although it was a struggle getting by financially every single month.

When we first started dating

When Vanessa and Chris First Started Dating

I was 25 years old when I first started dating Vanessa and after only a year together my internet business started to really take off.  I went from making a few thousand dollars per month to making a six figure income literally overnight.  My best friend George at the time was a milkman waking up at 4am every morning and working his tail off, so I showed him how easily I was making money on the internet and somehow I convinced him to quit his job and move with me to Roseville, CA to get focused on business.  Vanessa also quit her jobs and moved with us along with George’s girlfriend at the time.  It was exciting to be trying something new, in an area where we didn’t know anyone, and at a time where we were making more money than we had ever made in our lives.

As I look back, those days were a trip.  We would work 20 hours per day, 5 days in a row just sitting behind our laptops while the girls would watch movies in the background, and then we would take entire weeks off at a time and travel to Disneyland or Six Flags, or take jetskis out on the lake.  Basically we would work hard but party hard as well and have a lot of fun.  It was awesome to be able to take a week off, but still be making $300-$500 per day in passive income!  We still worked a lot those days, but I would hardly call sitting on a massage chair watching movies with your laptop, work!

Then one of my friends decided to be an investor in my business.  I figured it was the perfect time to exit and turn my business completely residual.  One thing lead to another and it ended up being a huge mess.  We didn’t have proper paperwork, and the business was slowly starting to fall apart.  I had a choice to jump back in and try to fix it all, or to step to the next level in my life, so I decided to change my routine and become a real estate investor!  At the time we had several friends who were making huge income just investing in properties, so George and I started looking at how we could carve out our niche.

Real Estate Boom

Real Estate Boom

We decided to start as loan officers, and learn from the inside how the entire process worked.  This was great experience but definitely wrong timing to become a loan officer!  I was late 2005 and we are on the backside of a major refinance boom that had just happened.  In a six month period we were only able to earn $10,000, and we ended up spending our savings in that time frame as well just to stay afloat.  Then, times got really tough.  We were rear ended in a car accident, and I had whiplash and was unable to drive.  We were unable to pay our bills and before I knew it my credit score was below 500!  We had some financial assistance from friends and family but only enough to keep us going for another month or so.  We were not sure what we were going to do.

Then things started turning around for us.  George had run into a local doctor that was a successful real estate investor who said he was willing to mentor us.  He was part of a direct sales company that focused on real estate investment education.  Since we were flat broke we started off as marketers by promoting events and assisting people with purchasing education.  We were able to clear over $10,000 our first month, $20,000 our second month, and $30,000 our third month!  We started averaging over $1,000 per day and finally we were back on our feet!  We went from a negative bank account and a 485 credit score to nearly $500,000 our first year in business!  What looked like a disaster was actually a blessing in disguise from God.

Chris and Vanessa in California

Chris and Vanessa in California

Then we started investing and building our business and were frequently asked to become public speakers to share our story with people around the country.  We were featured in Success From Home Magazine as 20-something entrepreneurs who had turned their lives around.  We were living in a 3500 sq ft home on a golf course and driving 2 luxury cars, and basically pinching ourselves at how unreal it all was.

At this point, our company asked us if we would be interested in opening up the East Coast for them.  Since we were still young and didn’t have kids yet, I figured if we were ever going to take a chance, now would be the time to do it, so we accepted.  We sold everything that we owned and started over from scratch on the east coast.  We literally only took 6 suitcases with us, all of which fit on a plane.  We spent 6 months launching the Raleigh, NC market and then ended up moving to Reston, VA just outside of Washington DC.

Proposal in Bora Bora

Proposal in Bora Bora

It was during this transition to the east coast that Vanessa showed me amazing loyalty and friendship, and I knew that I wanted to marry her!  I knew just the perfect time and place to propose.  Bora Bora!

We had won a company sales contest which got us an all expense paid trip to Bora Bora so I picked up a ring before leaving and waited for the perfect opportunity to pop the question.  We found a private beach all to ourselves with amazing views and I took a knee and proposed to her in one of the most amazing places in the world!  There is quite a funny story that goes along with the proposal but I will have to save that for another time ;)

Getting Married in Carmel, CA

Getting Married in Carmel, CA

Then on August 1st, 2009 we got married in Carmel, CA with a view of the ocean behind us and it was just absolutely beautiful!  We had over a hundred friends and family members travel to join us and we now have an amazing memory that will be with us for the rest of our lives.  After our honeymoon we returned to the DC Metro area and got back to work!

Then our lives took another huge turn and we got the opportunity to co-star in a new Reality Show for Entrepreneurs!  Being the young risk takers that we are, we put it all on the line and moved yet another time down to San Clemente, CA to startup a Social Media Marketing company and share the entire journey with our friends and followers on YouTube!

So now we live and work in Southern California and help like-minded entrepreneurs build their brands using social media.  We feel blessed every day that God has continuously shown us great opportunities and given us the strength to act on them no matter how difficult they may be.  We hope that in some way we can inspire you to live your full potential and take massive action on your dreams!

Thanks for taking the time to get to know me!

- Chris Record