What your life was like, prior to First Steps To Success

I was close to $300,000.00 in debt. I was working long, endless hours, and I didn’t get to see my wife; I didn’t get to see my kids. There was a moment where I came home, and I literally dropped to my knees and weeping, because I was so far in debt – I wasn’t making any money. And I looked at the dinner table, and I didn’t know how I was going to feed my family.

I got to a point, basically, where I think you hit a wall, where it’s just, “I have to do something different. My life cannot stay this way. I’m gonna whatever it takes to change.”

And for me, it just took a few years till I hit that point. But I finally hit it, and that’s really what changed.

Prior to attending First Steps To Success, did you know Dani?

I didn’t know her at all. I met her through First Steps to Success, as a client in a seat, with the 1,200 people attending the event. It was amazing, and if you really want your life to change, if you want to see the type of change that happened in my life, crazy, crazy success… it all comes out of First Steps. And the countless stories from friends who have since attended and said, “You know, First Steps is – this is amazing.” They said, “It’s real stuff. It’s not hype, and people can actually use this and go make money with it.”

Has your path always been a smooth one?

JEFF: Even after having a stroke and a losing a baby I resisted; I’m really stubborn. My wife, Jennifer, spoke to Dani at Creating A Dynasty event, crying and saying, “Please talk to him. He works nonstop, and I’m so worried about his health. He’s not listening to this message.” I wasn’t cutting back hours, wasn’t using that time management thing.

I just wasn’t listening at that time. My wife was pregnant with our third child and we were pretty close to the due date. I was really working long, long hours. And my wife woke up and said, “Something’s wrong.” She went to the doctor before I knew it. I got a phone call, the kind you never want to get, where she’s just bawling on the other side of the phone.

And my wife’s words were, “There’s no heartbeat.” And I actually prayed over him to come back to life. I learned about my wife during that time and how strong she was, because I couldn’t have done that.

JENNIFER: And I had not personally been able to see pictures (of the baby, James) from that day. I have not been able to look at any pictures around that time…even any pictures of me pregnant with him. They even made molds of his hands and feet. I’ve not been able to open that box. In fact, his ashes are still in our closet, because we’ve been moving so much, I can’t bear the thought of his ashes being buried somewhere that I’m not. So, he’s with us still. But yes, it was tough and so hard.

So how did your life change as a result of becoming a part of the DaniJohnson.com community?

I’ve been attending First Steps To Success and using DaniJohnson.com materials for six years. And the first year, I wanted Dani to sit down and let me teach. And then the next two years it was a matter of my pride and ego, and admitting where I was, and what was my fault, and what I had to take responsibility for. And when I finally grew to that point and decided to take action on what Dani teaches and trains, that’s when my life really changed.

After implementing “War On Debt” and really plugging in and becoming teachable, getting past my ego, I became debt-free in about 8 months, created a million-dollar – multimillion-dollar income within about 18 months.

And there was a season of growth, becoming millionaires and multimillionaires out of First Steps To Success and we didn’t ever want to tell anybody, never giving the actual figures. We would say, “Oh, I paid off $280,000.00 worth of debt in eight months…and talk about grooming the next generation for success.” But we didn’t want anyone to know we were millionaires, because we had been burned in the past with jealousy from family and friends who treat you different because you are.

The, Dani sat down with us and gave us this advice: “Listen, your life is not your own. You’re an ambassador for Christ. Your life is not your own, and you can’t rob God of the glory of your story. He’s blessed you, not for you to keep it to yourself. I’m not talking about the money part, but I’m talking about the excitement of it and the security of it. But your life is not your own; it is to inspire other people.”

And now I’ve even had to chance to be blessed by appearing on ABC’s Secret Millionaire.

What would be your final words of advice?

JEFF: There’s always hope. You know, as I was on the floor, I shared about how I didn’t know how I was going to feed my family. I lost my son. I had a stroke. I mean I just felt like I was getting the snot beat out of me. I just always had to believe there was hope, and there always is hope. And there’s a way out. It doesn’t matter how much you’re drowning in whatever you’re in, there’s always hope, and you just need to keep pushing forward. And that’s what I did.

JENNIFER: If someone had told me back then our life would look like it does now, there is no way I would have believed them, because we were so desperate. I mean we were I such a place that it just seemed impossible to have it all happen this quick…

Things can turn around – and turn around fast. So, you don’t have to think, “Well, maybe 10 years, 20 years…or more, from now.” It can happen next week, next month, a year from now.