Building Your Business
Most of us have had some point in our lives when we feel like we are starting completely from scratch with nothing and no one to fall back on. This might be when we do our first job hunt out of college. Or maybe our first job hunt ever. Or it could be after a turning point when you are getting divorced or changing careers. For most of us this feeling isn't completely validated. Most of us do actually have something or someone somewhere that we could fall back on if we really had to, even if it means moving back in with Mom or Dad.
I recently had the chance to talk with 22-year-old Digital Nomad Ben Malol. For him, the feeling of starting from scratch with nothing and no one to fall back on as he boarded a one-way flight from Israel to America at 18, was nothing short of the truth.
Before we got on our call I was curious what kind of story I was going to get from an internet marketer who was only 22. I mean really, how much life experience does anyone have at the tender age of 22? But as we got talking I remembered how often I am surprised by what incredible stories lurk in people's past if you just take the time to ask questions and listen. Ben's story is fascinating enough that at the end of our zoom call I told him I thought he should write a memoir one day. He responded with a Justin Bieber joke and said maybe he'd revisit that idea in 10 years or so. Probably a good idea. Which for now leaves his story for me to tell.
Ben's story is one of international intrigue, dual passports, FBI investigations, arrests, deportation, fleeing mandatory military service, selling cosmetics at kiosks in malls, eventually making that first precious $10 sale of a Captain America key chain online, and finally building a business based on an analytical understanding of the back end of the Facebook ads algorithms.
Back in 1995, Ben's Israeli mother was visiting the United States after doing her mandatory service in the Israeli Army. She met and fell in love with her husband, also an Israeli citizen, in New York City, where Ben and his sister were both born. His father started a moving company that grew to have a few locations and employed over 100 people. Unfortunately, many of those people were Israelis who were either working illegally on tourist visas or had illegally overstayed their visas. When Ben was 8 years old the family was living in luxurious style in Miami. But in the aftermath of 9/11 the federal government cracked down on anyone and everyone in the US on an overstayed visa. One day the FBI came to Ben's home, took his father away and confiscated all of their money and belongings. They even took his mother's wedding ring. She was deported back to Israel with her children and forbidden to ever travel to the United States again. His father was sentenced to 10 years in prison, most of which he served before being released and deported as well. He returned to Israel when Ben was 17.
The following year Ben turned 18 which meant it was time for him to do the mandatory 3-year service in the Israeli Army. But Ben had other plans. He had no interest in the army or personally engaging in the middle east conflict. He spent several months going through the process of being determined mentally unfit for service, something that disappointed and dishonored his family, ostracized him from his community and made it nearly impossible for him to get a halfway decent job in Israel. But he didn't care. A US citizen by birth, Ben had a US passport and at 18, without any family, friends, or acquaintances to rely on back in the States, he bought a 1-way ticket to the east coast. His first job when he arrived was in sales. He was one of those guys at a kiosk in the mall who hands out samples of lotion or perfume and tries to get you to try on and buy cosmetics on the spot. Ben surprised himself with how good he was at this. He went from a kiosk in New Jersey, to one in Pennsylvania to one in New York before he topped company sales and was pulled to teach sales techniques to new recruits. Along the way he also waited some tables and folded pizza boxes for pizza restaurants while saving money.
After two years of working and saving he returned to Israel to visit family. While there he started exploring ways to make money online. He knew it was possible, he'd heard the stories, and eventually found someone in Israel who was doing it as well. They arranged to meet so Ben could learn from him, and after driving two hours to get to the coffee shop, he discovered that his new mentor was actually a 15-year-old boy who was making $1500 or so a month by running an ecommerce site.
Ben started learning about e-commerce, moved back to the states with a partner and lived in a tiny rented room in Austin trying to learn all he could. As his funds dwindled and $14 an hour jobs at AT&T started to look inviting, they finally made their very first $10 sale! It was a Captain America Key chain, and because of a mistake in the way they listed the item, shipping wasn’t included so they didn’t actually make any money on the sale at all. But it was the tipping point and soon they were making $50 per day, then $150 per day. And once Ben started learning about targeting through Facebook Ads, finally it all started coming together.
Today Ben runs a successful business with 3 branches. The first is his is Facebook Ads agency where he runs ads for other people, the second is his educational platform where he teaches what he has learned to others, and the third is his own e-commerce site. Between these three branches Ben has been able to create a solid and stable income for himself and has established himself as a prominent figure in online marketing. If you would like to learn more about Ben and his business, you can learn more right here.