“13 Years Ago I Woke Up in a Motel Lobby”
And why I’m so grateful it happened
13 years ago this week, I woke up in a motel lobby.
So the question becomes,
“Why did you wake up in a motel lobby, Jeff? “
Well, that’s where I slept that night 13 years ago.
And here’s how it happened...
Got divorced in October of ‘05. That was not a surprise. What was a surprise was my new exes’ decision to move from Tallahassee to Atlanta with the kids.
And although I could have stopped it, I didn’t want to put the boys in the middle.
So I thought, all right, I’m going to have to get mobile and maybe make some changes here. And I’d already started playing on the internet in addition to my successful private counseling practice.
And so I spent all of ’06 driving back and forth between Tallahassee and Atlanta.
Sunday through Wednesday in Tallahassee, seeing a week’s worth of clients in 3 days. Then late Wednesday through Sunday seeing my sons and trying to get something going in Atlanta.
And you know, I’d listen to Internet Marketing training on the way to each place and when I got there, I’d implement what I’d listened to…
For a year I’d been supporting my ex and 2 sons, my own place, and my business office, all on a therapist’s income.
So I found myself on Saturday, December 23rd, 2006 driving up to Atlanta kinda taking stock, you know, and realize that, while there are some orders coming in from the fledging Internet business, I won’t have that money until late next week because of the holiday bank delay.
A decision to make
I realized I had a decision to make. I could stay in the motel I’d been living in when I went up to Atlanta and then not be able to afford to do a thing with my sons on Christmas Eve.
They were with me Christmas Eve, with their mom on Christmas day, and then with me the week after Christmas.
Choice two was not stay in that motel and have some money left over to do something with the boys on Christmas Eve.
Easy call really.
So sat I in Starbucks across from the motel for as long as they’d have me, with my laptop, working and just kinda watching people and finally they closed.
Next I found myself on a cold night driving all around Alpharetta, Georgia just seeing what was around and then it hit me.
I thought:
“You know what, the wifi from that motel goes out into the parking lot. I can just sit out in the van, sleep a little bit, work on the laptop, sleep a little bit, it’ll suck, but it’s just for one night.”
I parked out there and started to do that, but it was in the teens that night and I realized that was not going to work for too long.
Then I realized, wait a minute, they recognize me in this motel. I’ve been in and out of this place frequently for the last year. I can just sit in the lobby on the couch or one of the chairs, work on my laptop and doze and I din’t know what they would think, but I did it.
Wee hours of Christmas Eve
There I was in this lobby watching drunk people come in, working on my laptop, dozing a little bit. About three o’clock that morning when my pity party was at its height I got this email from a guy I had met once at a Tom Antion workshop down in Orlando. It was this guy on guitar playing a Christmas Carol. Mike Stewart had sent out a video email back when that was an unusual thing to do.
And it was just a comfort to me. I felt like God was saying,
“Look, I know this sucks, but I got your back and we’re going to figure this out.”
Another big decision
And it was right there that I decided that, you know what, I’m going to get so good at something with content online that I’m never going to be in this situation again.
And thank God Hampton Inn has breakfast, right?
Side Note: That Hampton Inn where all this happened is where we hold workshops now up on the 5th floor. And what I’ll do to start the workshop, introduce things and then I take them down to the lobby and tell this story.
And the last time I did the chair I slept in was still there.
So the next day the kids and I opened our presents in the park.
That’s how we spent Christmas Eve Day.
It turned out to be a really great day.
The next week
That night I found a really cheap place at a Motel 6 that once the orders came in, we could stay there all week.
That’s where I spent Christmas Day, 2006. And I ate at Waffle House, got in a great conversation with an old cook while I was in there.
The boys had gotten me a DVD for Christmas, which was a new thing still back in 2006, not DVDs, but playing it on your laptop. So I spent the afternoon watching the DVD of Jeremiah Johnson. One of my favorite movies. Watched it a couple of times.
And that next week, Caleb and I were talking about this last night, that next week we were staying in this Motel 6 place. Lots of Waffle House meals.
Collecting change
Later in the week we wanted to go see a movie. And so we went through every suitcase, every backpack, every briefcase and the van to find enough change to get the three of us into the theater.
And we walked up with a big bag of change and got in.
We still talk about that day every now and then.
Before I was able to move up full time, the next step was I found a hotel where, well, here’s what I figured out.
My original template package was $37 for 11 templates or something like that. And I figured out that if I could sell just one a day, I’d be able to live in this motel when I was up there.
Eat their breakfast, take enough of it up with me to their room to have lunch, find a cheap dinner somewhere, have a little bit leftover to do something with the boys on the weekend.
And all I had to do was sell one template package a day.
And that part will be 13 years ago, next month.
And I’m telling you this story folks because if you’re at a place of struggle or if you’re ever at a place of struggle, I’ve been there.
I remember when there wasn’t enough change left to do anything but see the movie.
I remember waking up in that chair Christmas Eve morning thinking, wow, it’s gotta get better than this.
And it did, and a lot of that was God’s grace and a lot of that also was making a decision, I’m going to get really good at something online so we won’t be here again.
And a big part of that was templates because that was my first product. It went from 11 to 14 to 21 and God knows how many there are now.
The last version of that particular product was the 5.0 version. And then Jim Edwards and I turned it into the Custom Content Wizard.
And so, to wrap this up, a lot came from that lobby that night. Early Christmas Eve 2006.
And I guess I’d be remiss if I didn’t invite you to get a version of those Content Creation Templates — get 21 Free & Fresh Content Ideas at
Brought to you by Jeff Herring — Creator of the 21 Fresh Content Ideas Guidebook