I was always the girl everyone secretly hated.

Straight A student, captain of the volleyball team, president of everything, full college scholarship winner, boy magnet, outgoing flirt, lover of life, gag-inducing optimist, holds-the-fuckity-door-door-door-for-everyone kind of annoying human being.

Fast forward to adulthood, and I still somehow managed to stay that girl–with a far better wardrobe, of course, and much less door holding, because apparently, when you’re hot and you have money, men seem to like to do that shit for you.

Fancy Philly apartments, new sports cars, a job title to die for, national awards in sales + marketing, vacations in Hawaii, and later, even a brand new home custom built with stone fireplaces, vaulted ceilings, hardwood, jacuzzi tubs, flat screens in every room.

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For years I was that girl.

Right up until the day I wasn’t.

:::  Until the day life’s demons caught up with me, like I knew they someday would.

:::  Until the day my restlessness got in the way, and shoved me face first into the pavement, yelling, “What the fuck are you doing? You know this isn’t you living–this is you dying.”

:::  Until my own standards mocked me, whispering in my ear, “You stupid bitch. What happened to your dreams of travel? Of experiences? Of learning new languages? Of doing something that mattered? Of doing something you were proud of? You turned out just like the rest of ‘em.”

:::  Until the day I realized how much being an orphan affected the way I looked at everything, finally able to grasp the fucking fleeting nature of it all.  Time, people, and all of the opportunities we’re given to experience, but don’t take, because collectively, we’re a bunch of chicken shits.

:::  Until the day I left it all, including my job, and my home, and moved in with an illegal Mexican immigrant who I loved passionately, madly, irrationally…in order to start anew.

:::  Until the day soon after when he nearly choked me to death, leaving me puffy-eyed and homeless with $26 to my name, where I spent the night in a K-Mart parking lot with nowhere to go, and no one to turn to.

:::  Until the day I had no choice but to savagely claw my way out from devastation, destitution, and the dirtiest fucking pit of despair I’d ever imagined.

Me.

That girl.

Except I wasn’t that girl anymore.

I was nothing more than the hollow, empty, listless shell of that girl.  So much for gag-inducing optimism.

…But…know what’s good about empty shells?

They’re empty.

And when something’s empty, it means that there’s lots of room to fill it up with whatever you please.

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:::  That emptiness is a second chance to be who you want.

:::  That emptiness is a second chance to fill that shell with what you want.

:::  And most importantly, that emptiness is a second chance to LIVE.

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This is the story of how I filled that empty shell back up.

Clawing. Scraping. Fighting. Sweating. Bleeding. Thrashing. And using my own two hands to hoist myself up, turn around, look defeat in the eye, and spit right in its face. Victoriously.

Homeless to 6 figures.

-

Hey, defeat?

I didn’t come to play games.

I came take your ass to school.

And that’s exactly what I did.

Nice to have met you.

Now get the fuck out of my way.

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If you want to know exactly what I did, step-by-step, to go from $26 to $100,222.37 in 2011, the full set of archives of 97 in ’11 is now available.

97 in ’11 was the program I ran in 2011, sending out regular updates detailing my plans, my strategies, my reasons, my financials, my thought processes and anything I learned along the way through trial and error….that you can use to apply to your own business.

There’s lots and lots and lots of stuff on product creation and launches–actually, that’s what most of it focuses on.

Now that the year has wrapped, I’ve gone ahead and made all of the archives available in one place.

There are 31 segments, totaling 211 pages of classified business strategy, secrets, advice, tips, and practical, actionable information you can use to help your business spit in the face of defeat this year, as I have.

It’s a blueprint, if you will.

From my very own marketing techniques, to client acquisition strategies, to handling clients, to finding media opportunities, to the entire product development, creation and launch process (detailing everything I did to make each successful, from A to Z), to the challenges (and solutions) to running a business as a solopreneur–it’s all here.

Everything I did.
How I did it.
And what the results were.
Step-by-step.
January through December.
Unedited.
Unapologetic.
For your eyes.
If you’re ready.

:::  To gain access to the full set of archives ($97), click here.

[Note: If you purchased the first 6 months of 97 in '11 midway through the year, and are interested in gaining access to the second half, please email me at ash @ themiddlefingerproject.org.]

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You ain’t goin’ down without a fight, baby.

Better make it a good one.

If you liked that jazz. . .check out some of these:

• 2012 Costa Rica Beach + Biz Retreat: Registration Starts Wednesday!
• How to Get More Clients and Stop Sucking at Business. And at Baseball. Maybe.
• Take Off Your Skirt + Do the Work, Sissy. Or It’ll Eat You Alive. (VIDEO)
• Part II: The X-Rated Guide to Doing Everything Wrong, and Still Getting It Right
• The Definitive, Step-By-Step Guide to Getting Off Your Butt, Finding Some Focus, And Jump-Starting Your Biz…So You Can Stop Feeling Like an Procrastinating Asshole (And Start Making Some Cashola)