From Electrical Contractor To Full Time Online

His days were filled with jobs and his nights were filled with paperwork—not exactly the life he envisioned. Ryan Harper was a self-employed electrician working 80 hours a week, rarely finding time to be with his wife and two young children let alone hang out with friends.

"Friends? I didn't really have any back then. Who has the time or energy after a long day of work to drive across town and do something with friends? It was all I could do to keep up with my business and my family," Ryan said.

So what did he do? He took the steps to change his life, and change it he did by becoming an online entrepreneur.

Ryan literally started his journey in the world of online money-making with zero practical online experience. In fact, he didn't even use e-mail regularly and still describes finding the "on" button to the computer his biggest challenge.

Although he had a lot to learn, Ryan persevered, plugged into the Nitro Blueprint System, and went from zero to 100 in a short amount of time.

Now, instead of longing for more time with his family and a little relaxation, he has the freedom to take the kids to school, attend soccer practice, go to the gym in the middle of the day and even take long vacations — something that was completely unheard of during his previous life, working 80 hours a week.

Ryan said one of the most vital things he learned from Nitro was to utilize others to help him build his business. As a guy with little experience, he could either spend hours upon hours of time learning every aspect of how to run and promote his business, or he could outsource.

"I realized I didn't actually have to do everything; I could delegate and monitor and get it done," Ryan says. "Although it was initially hard to let go, I learned I didn't need to be in the middle of things, I could simply set the systems in place."

And now the question everyone wants to ask: "How long did it take youto actually make money?"

Here's Ryan's timeline, starting from zero:

January 2008 - bought the Blueprint
February - came up with idea
March - worked on creating it, and launched site
May - passed 500 total customers
August - passed 500 new customers in 1 month
September - $10,000 in 1 month
October - $10,000 2nd month in a row
November - $10,000 3rd month in a row. PLUS, Garmand, the biggest GPS manufactor, contacted us to do a JV.
December - first $20,000 month!
January 2009 - record month with 1600 new customers and $18,000 in sales
February - passed $89,000 in total sales

While Ryan's path to success was relatively fast, he's the first to admit he made some mistakes along the way that possibly prevented him from reaching his financial goals even sooner.

The biggest mistake?

Shiny Object Syndrome

Like many aspiring entrepreneurs there was always the latest book or course or method to draw his interest. Each time after he experienced disappointment with the latest fad, he would return to the Nitro Blueprint System. Ryan said, "I stopped trying to reinvent the wheel and started believing that the simple way could actually work."

Ryan found that sticking with the basics and understanding them forward and backward—before moving on to more advanced techniques—helped him to build the kind of business foundation from which success grew organically. That's why he kept coming back to Nitro, sometimes shutting himself in a room to read through the entire System, in order to keep him on the right track.

"The Blueprint lays it out step-by-step and there's really no way you can't make it if you just stick with it; it takes you from nothing to a great finished product," says Ryan. "You can sell your own product or someone else's, and Nitro will help you get out of your head and get started."

Did Ryan beat himself up when he made mistakes or allow mess-ups to become major setbacks? Not at all! Instead, he believes putting himself out there, making changes along the way, and accepting his screw-ups allowed him to really get in the game, not just stand on the side-lines in research-mode.

Although Ryan says his success could have happened even sooner had he stayed focused on the system that works, the money started coming in within three months, and he was able to cover living expenses within six months. Since then, his business has experienced exponential growth.

Ryan believes one of the keys to his business success has been his emphasis on customer service. He focuses on asking customers what they want rather than trying to give them what he thinks they want. In addition, Ryan has utilized blogs, viral videos, YouTube and other Web 2.0 sites to put his SEO strategies to work. Of course, he hasn't done it all on his own, but has wisely chosen to outsource projects to ensure he is doing things the best way possible.

So how has this changed Ryan's life?

He traded his electrician's tools for a computer and now lives the life he envisioned when he began the online journey not so long ago.

His typical work day involves spending about two hours a day on his business (www.pigtones.com) and "hanging out a lot." He even took an 8-week summer vacation traveling with his family.

"The best benefits of my new lifestyle are intangible," explains Ryan. "You don't think about how much you miss when you are buried in work, but you begin to fully realize it once you are doing what you want and can enjoy life.

Ryan's advice for anyone who'd like to get their life back: Find a proven online business system and use it to create a steady stream of online income.