Meet John Damstra

Hi my name is John Damstra and I’m the creator and author of this blog, www.JohnDamstra.com. Thank you for giving your time to find out a little bit about who I am.

The reason I started this blog is to share the skills I’ve learned as an online internet marketer and business owner. After I was given the axe from my career job (more on that later) I decided to focus on my own internet business online, and I haven’t looked back. But before I get into all of that, let me just tell you a little bit more about myself…

While I do think of myself as an entrepreneur, leader and mentor, the most important thing in my life is my family, so I prefer to define myself as a happily married dad. I live in sunny San Diego with my beautiful and caring wife, Janet; three incredibly bright and handsome sons; one dog; one King-Beta fish; two hermit crabs and four fire-belly toads. Living in San Diego is, well, in a word, “Totally Awesome!” Or is that two words???? The sun is always shining (mostly) even in winter. We are just a short jaunt away from the mountains, snow, deserts and of course the ocean. I enjoy outings with my family and friends, camping, skiing and hanging at the beach riding jet skis.

I’ve had a traditional job for most of my working life but I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit. This spirit has been a constant in all aspects of my life and has allowed me to be open mined to try new experiences. I’ve adopted the acronym “PGE” as my personal motto and lens through which I view life. It stands for Personal Growth Experience and I believe that each new thing we experience adds to who we are. I’m always looking for PGEs and am grateful to say that I have experienced many. Some were crazy like parachuting from a plane. And some were more “healthy” like running triathlons, developing as a musician and now running my own business. I commit to the PGEs that I become passionate about with a drive to be successful.

I grew up in Chula Vista which is in the southern part of San Diego in California. And after only a brief period living in northern San Diego, I find myself now raising my children about 2 miles from where I grew up. I graduated from Bonita Vista High School back in ’83 and enjoyed being a Baron. And to this day I am still close to the core group of friends I had back then. Around that time I began my passion to play music on bass guitar and frequently entertained the tool chests and oil cans of my friend’s garage.

I experienced college as a Gaucho on the fun and beautiful UC Santa Barbara campus. Because I was the first in my family line to attend college it was never a ‘given’ nor expected that I go to college after high school. In fact my parents could not afford to send me, and didn’t. But to satisfy my PGE spirit I was driven to find a way to get accepted and continue to pay for housing and tuition myself until I graduated. I did just that and in 1989 I graduated with a degree in Mathematical Sciences. My passion for the bass guitar followed me to college and I played in Isla Vista bands which was great fun.

After graduating I started my career as a Software Engineer. Spanning 18 years I’ve worked for exciting companies like Telesoft, Syscon Corporation, Expersoft, Persistence Software and Progress Software and my experience ranges from Ada compilers, to embedded hand-held meter reading devices to enterprise level cross-platform distributed applications using C, C++ and Java. Sorry if I got too technical here. I do have to confess that I grew tired of the 9 to 5 job lifestyle. It didn’t start out that way. As a young programmer I was eager to learn new skills and coding techniques and I sought after projects and companies that were on the bleeding-edge of new technology. However, as my experience grew, so did my realization that having a career did not provide the job security that I naively expected. Also the 8+ hour work days and 1 hour commute each way kept me away from my family more than I cared to sacrifice. So I kept my PGE radar turned on in hopes for something, even though I didn’t know what…

In 2004 I resurrected my bass guitar after laying it to rest since the ol’ college days. I got together with a neighbor friend and we formed a fun high-energy cover band called 5South. We were 5 dudes from the South Bay living near a local highway also named 5 South. The name seemed appropriate so we went with it. The band started out as just a hobby, but we began playing local venues and grew a fun and loyal fan base. We would announce to our audiences, “The more you drink, the better we sound”, which was always good for a chuckle. But seriously, we were pretty good and kept pretty busy. We jokingly considered this our mid-life crisis and claimed that we could not afford Harley-Davidsons so we bought instruments instead. And of course our fun loving wives fully supported and enjoyed our music too.

Like any other industry the Software industry had its ups and downs including the dot-com bust in the 90s, outsourcing work to other countries and the recent downturn in the economy. Each fiscal year it was far too common to be in the midst of a layoff as the higher-ups planned their budgets for the upcoming year. The annual farewell luncheons seemed to occur like clockwork. Well, in December 2009 it was my turn and I was handed the proverbial “pink slip” after 11 years of employment with that particular company. So much for job security and company loyalty, or have those terms become oxymorons by now? I don’t begrudge any single person or the company because I’ve accepted that this is just how the corporate system works.

I was working on a backup plan though. A couple years B.P.S. (Before Pink Slip), I was introduced to network marketing by a close family friend. I was intrigued because for the first time I was able to see an alternative way to take control of my livelihood and reduce the “risk” of having a corporate job. My entrepreneurial spirit took interest leading me on a path of discovery to learn and master the network marketing industry. So, I joined my first work from home businesses with my friend and worked it in my “spare” time while working full time at my software job.

Initially my friend taught me what was taught to her. If you’ve done traditional network marketing you know the drill… I made my list of family, friends, co-workers and even my kids’ friends’ parents. I used the three-foot rule to talk to strangers in the local mall, purchased leads and made cold calls. And yes, I even hosted home parties – ughhh! Although these methods worked and I did have some success, it was not the success I was looking to achieve. And when a company I thought was “better” came along I jumped ship hoping that all I needed was the right opportunity. Only problem was that the methods, and thus the results, were the same.

Although frustrated, I was still fascinated about the industry and I was committed to learning how to make it work for me. My inner-entrepreneur was not ready to call it quits just yet. I searched for other methods to build my business and sifted through lots of flotsam & jetsam out on the internet sea. Well, I discovered two very important things… The first discovery was that the top network marketers didn’t chase family and friends as I was taught. They actually had people chasing them by using the internet and applying Attraction Marketing strategies and techniques. The second discovery was that I did not need to be a master or guru in the industry to make a lucrative income.  You just need to build a team of ordinary but like-minded people all working together toward a common goal of success.  How?  Well that’s what I can help you with.

Finally! My eyes were open to real and practical marketing techniques using the internet to connect with people looking for what I had to offer. Not my family, friends and acquaintances but rather other business people looking to do business with me.

Once I learned and applied these fundamental strategies and techniques for myself my whole business changed… Dramatically! I’ve gained incredible skills and can now effectively market online and build teams of networkers. I’m continuously learning and applying what I know and best of all I’m having fun and my business is growing. Again, I am not a master or guru, I just know how to apply the basic fundamentals and then go and get ‘er done. I can share these strategies with you too.

Using the lessons I’ve learned, my goal with this blog as an entrepreneur, leader and mentor is to help others live their best lives now. Whether you want to be a work from home parent like I do; or if you were given the axe from your job like I had been given; or if you just have a burning desire for a better life like I desire, I hope that we can connect! And if you are a newbie in the same situation just like I was, hopefully my story can help inspire you to discover a better alternative just like I found when I started working from home, being my own boss, and making money online.

I sincerely thank you for giving your valuable time to read about me.

“Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.” –Jim Rohn

I’ve been taught how to apply the basic fundamentals for marketing online. Let me share what I know so that you can add these skills and experiences to your own PGE arsenal.

Live your best life NOW!

Warmest Regards,
John Damstra