Nice to meet you.

Every beginning is tough.

My beginning was back in 2008.

It went something like this:

I got married at the age of 20. We had our baby boy before I turned 21, and then I had to move out of the security of my parents' house and move in with my wife and kid.

I'll spare you the details, and all I'll say is that I was completely clueless and lost.

Clueless of what I'd do for a living, how I'd support my new family, and how we'd make rent in 6 months when we finally run out of our cash reserves...

Fun times!

I was a gambling man (read: kid) back then, and I loved betting on sports. Soccer/football and tennis were my particular vices.

I also played basketball throughout my teen years and was on a verge of signing a pro contract when I was 19.

That didn't happen. Obviously...

I tore the ligaments in my shoulder during a pick-up game and had to say goodbye to my basketball 'career'.

(I'm still playing, though.)

Sports and competition have always been a huge part of my life. I supplemented that adrenaline rush I got whenever I stepped onto the field with gambling.

And that turned out... eh...

I was doing OK (read: loss, loss, loss, win, loss, win, loss, loss...), but, since I grew up around entrepreneurs, I always had the desire to progress further...

I hated the lack of control that came with sports betting. Yeah, sure, I had my sheets, stats, H2H comparisons, and whatnot, but that wasn't it...

So, I decided to educate myself on how to tie my weird affinity for gambling and entrepreneurship together.

Ta-da!

I finally had my 'A-ha!' moment...

I learned that you could make websites AND sell something on them!

I instantly started researching on how to make money online, how to create a website, etc.

I was hooked immediately.

The first website that I ever built was Tips1x2.net

You can check out Archive.org and find the stuff I had on the site back then.

Fun times, indeed.

The site was a basic Joomla site with a paint-drawn logo. Nothing fancy. I had a 'vision' that I was an expert in the field and that I had enough credibility to sell my betting picks for a monthly fee.

Oh boy, was I wrong.

Now, here's the thing.

Considering the fact that I was practically a nobody in the industry, the site did pretty well. I kept it live for about 8 months before I decided that I hated gambling and everything that comes with it.

I notified everyone that we were shutting the 'business' down and I stopped working on the site. It made a couple of thousand Euros via monthly subscriptions – more than enough to give us a solid cash injection.

(Note that I was running a membership site way before membership sites were a thing.)

And then the inevitable happened.

We ran out of money...

I had to give my dad a call and ask him to hire me.

My dad is a contractor. He works with hardwood, and he's an excellent craftsman. This was just before the economic crash in '08 when the construction business was booming. He, of course, gave me a simple job, but it was more than enough.

Then the '09 happened, and the construction businesses around the world got their a**es kicked.

No surprise there...

I was jobless, my wife couldn't find a job, there was still rent to pay, and I had to figure something out. And I had to figure it out QUICKLY.

Enter Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

I said f*ck it. Let's ditch the rent, trim all our expenses down and move back in with my parents (and my sister).

There were 6 of us in a small 48m2 (500ft2) apartment, and we somehow managed to pull it off without killing each other.

Time passed and I finally put it all together.

My father was having trouble finding work since traditional advertising seemed to stop working altogether. Everyone I asked had told me to look into advertising on Google.

So, how can we get him on that weird thingy called THE INTERNET so that both he and I can start making some moolah?

(This was my first experience with lead generation without even knowing it.)

I did some research and learned that all I really had to do was learn SEO.

I read, and read, and read, and then I finally decided that I was ready.

I created a basic WordPress site targeting local terms such as 'hardwood flooring city' and 'flooring contractor city,' etc.

The next step was to spam those inner pages to death with my keywords and get some directory backlinks (can anyone say DMOZ?).

Don't forget, this was back in 2010.

Two months later and my dad was getting 5-10 calls per day and managed to close 50% of them.

I had to start a new company to look more professional and to establish trust, but that was easy.

(Note: my dad still runs this business and gets hot leads from the website every day.)

The business started booming, so money wasn't an issue anymore.

Yet, I wasn't happy.

I wasn't happy because I hated the physical work and I wasn't my own boss.

I worked with my dad till late 2012.

During that time, I never stopped learning about SEO, marketing, psychology, and entrepreneurship.

I knew that I needed to move on and do something on my own.

I decided to use all my new and (somewhat) tested SEO knowledge to start making some 'passive income.'

This was my trigger.

That was the first article I read on affiliate marketing and the concept of making money online without actually having to sell anything.

I started doing some niche and keyword research.

After the initial brainstorm, I had a list of 20 or so niches in front of me.

Of course, I decided to tackle the worst niche possible for someone with no money and experience:

I targeted the 'how to lose weight naturally' keyword.

I had $500 saved up and decided to invest it into a solid article (5,000 words), a premium theme, and a nice domain. HowToLoseWeightNaturally.net.

You can imagine how that played out...

I won't even elaborate.

I lost $500, a lot of my time, and, most important of all, I felt like a failure.

But, here's the thing.

I had to learn from my mistakes and not let them define me. I'd followed what the gurus preached, and that got me in trouble.

It was time to put my thinking hat on and not make the same mistake again.

Here's what I did.

I went to Flippa and pulled out a list of all the sites that recently got sold for more than $20,000.

There weren't a lot of those, but I filtered them so I could only see the sites that used Amazon's Associates program — popularly known as Amazon Affiliate sites.

Finally, I ended up with a list of 10-ish websites in front of me.

The idea was to find a site that got sold, but that looked and felt like crap.

That was easy.

Better content, better design, better user experience... Better everything.

That was (relatively) easy as well.

I went all out with keyword research, design, and creative monetization, and built the site for less than $1,000.

I worked on the site for 8 months before listing it on Flippa and selling it for $8,400.

I was in shock.

I knew this was what I was meant to do.

And I wasn't wrong.

I took that $8,400 and reinvested 100% of it into another site. I started to think a bit bigger with this one and moved from being in a micro-niche to being in a (broader) niche.

That site started to make solid money by month 6, but this time I wasn't in a rush to sell it. I used the revenue to launch new sites. Yes, sites. Not just one.

I sold that site for $51,900.

Guess what I did first?

I bought myself a nice car ('10 BMW 1 series, pics below). This was the first time I took the money I made online and bought something real.

Something I could actually see and feel.

Something that made people around me wonder what the f*ck am I doing for a living.

And it was a freaking CAR. I was once again, shocked.

It felt weird.

I felt like some weird hacker sitting behind his desk printing money. And the thing is – no one in my (broad) circle knew what I was doing for a living. And I was, and still am, perfectly fine with that.

So, I'd sold my site, bought a car, and still had a handful of sites producing low-five figures per month in affiliate commissions...

Then I got in touch with my, soon-to-be, business partner, Jon Gillham. He runs an SEO blog called Authority Website Income.

Jon was actively buying content sites on his blog, so I decided to reach out.

He was intrigued with what I'd been doing with my sites, so he asked me if I'd like to re-do one of his sites.

Heck yeah! Of course I'll do it – I said.

He liked what I did with the site so much that he ended up purchasing a website from my portfolio.

And then...

...two months later we started a company called Brand Builders.

We utilized my site-building systems and mixed them up with his audience to create one of the fastest-growing businesses in the industry.

We were growing and scaling like crazy.

Our first client signed up in December 2015.

In 2016, we generated a bit over $250,000 in revenue.

My systems improved over time as I learned new skills.

I learned how to set up, grow, and sell a business the right way. A lot of stuff goes into this, so I won't bore you with details...

In 2017, Brand Builders generated over $1,100,000 in revenue.

Yes, that's seven figures. Lots of zeros!

This was almost unimaginable for a guy that was sanding hardwood floors just a few short years back.

Who would've thought that a guy from Eastern Europe, who married and had a kid so young, could make that amount of cash... ONLINE... I mean, c'mon...

definitely wasn't one of those people.

I was, and still am, shocked by the opportunity we all have in this day and age to make money from anywhere we want.

And it doesn't have to feel like a J-O-B.

I love this shit.

I never, ever, feel like I'm working. It's like I'm playing a video game.

I love strategy games (Civilization & Sim City fanatic in the house!), so this concept of making money online was right in my wheelhouse.

Plus, building a business, putting all the pieces together, tweaking, moving, shaking, baking... It feels like a strategy game, so what's there not to love?

But I digress...

We sold a pretty big piece of the company to outside investors. That got me out of my comfort zone because all the joy of running my own show went out the window.

Yes, the money I got was nice. But it wasn't the money that motivated me.

I had more than enough to live a simple but comfortable life.

I loved building things.

And now, after I'd sold a large percentage of my business, I felt like I wasn't doing that.

It had started to feel like a job.

On top of that, my wife gave birth to our wonderful daughter. That made my next decision practically a no-brainer. I didn't have time to mess around. Especially with two awesome young ones running around.

It was time to give the investors and my former business partner notice.

I'm out.

Six months later, June 2018, to be exact, I transferred all my responsibilities to other people and started to focus more on my own portfolio.

I had 5 sites in my portfolio that generated a large amount of cash. I also had a lot of capital just sitting around doing nothing.

I hate that.

You'll get this next analogy if you're a fan of Shark Tank...

Mr. Wonderful's metaphor of sending his troops (money) to battle is what resonates with me the most.

So that's exactly what I did.

I bought one site for high-five figures, another one for a similar amount, the third one for a bit less than that, etc.

My forte is SEO, CRO, building sales funnels, and developing strategies and systems. I applied all my knowledge and started improving those sites across the board.

The ROI is crazy in this game. If you know what you're doing, of course.

It's not risk-free, though.

These days, I'm lucky enough to have hundreds of projects under my belt, so I have a good sense of how to mitigate and avoid risk.

Time went by as I bought, sold, and built new businesses...

I'll be upfront and say that I made a lot of money doing what I do.

But money is not my motivation.

Not anymore.

As I said, I LOVE to build businesses.

I got bored (yes, I get bored quite often) doing everything on my own, and I started to feel that 'itch' again.\

I wanted to engage with other people. I wanted to create a community. A tribe.

I learned more than I can express during all of those years I spent understanding the industry.

I learned how to hire, how to fire, how to manage, negotiate, buy, sell... All that's needed to run a successful business.

I learned and developed new skills whenever the situation required them.

Whenever I hit a roadblock, my slight OCD kicks in, and I have to find a perfect solution to that problem. I won't stop until I do.

That said, I felt (and still feel) that I had solid systems and processes for buying, selling, and building online businesses at scale.

So, I decided to use all that experience to help other people, who were struggling in the same way I had.

• It's not easy.
• It's not fast.
• It won't make you rich overnight.
• Heck, it probably won't make you rich, period.

But, if there's even a slight chance that it could help you to turn your life around – the way it turned my life upside down – you should strongly consider it.

What we do is pretty simple.

We help people skip all the boring and draining work of having to learn how to create, run, and grow a profitable website.

It sounds simple, I know. But there's a LOT that goes into it.

I hired a lot of talented people who are way smarter than me. That means that I'm challenged on a daily basis and forced to evolve both as a person and as a business owner.

We're building our own projects, buying, improving, and selling sites regularly. All while working together with our clients on their own projects.

I couldn't have asked for more.

I have a chance to do what I love while helping others do the same.

But here's the thing.

We're only at the beginning. We're only getting started. I'm sure you'll be hearing from us for many years to come.

That being said...

I'm pretty sure you're tired of reading through almost 2,800 words (not talking to you, skimmers!), so I'll wrap it up.

It's been a fun ride!

If you came this far in this novel, you (probably) know that I sold my holding company, Sharp Capital, in April 2022.

Sharp Capital was a Holdco for Alpha Investors, Investors Club, Buzz Logic (an agency that helps clients manage and grow their online businesses). At our peak, we had 48 full-time employees on our roster. The team we built was a pleasure to work with and I wouldn't be where I am now if it weren't for all of them.

But, in all honesty, I was at a point in my career where I needed a change. The burnout was 100% real. After talking to my business partner, Jason, we decided it was time to sell. You can read more about that process on the link above, but it was a very smooth and fast transition.

I took almost six months off to decompress and focus on my family. We moved into our new house and finally managed to properly settle in. So, to give you a quick update on where I am currently (November 2022):

1. I'm working with Jason on re-launching a 20 y/o MMA brand, MMAWarehouse. That's a pretty big project for both of us. We'll need to use all our knowledge and experience, put it together, and be open to failing miserably - because eCommerce is new to us, but we're more than ready to learn. However, if we manage to pull it off, the rewards are going to be very juicy.
2. I recently visited a family entertainment center in Zagreb with my fam. We really enjoyed it. While we were driving back home, I started thinking... (more often than not, that means I'm on to something). There was one specific game that was not (yet) available in my hometown, so I spent hours thinking about the concept and I tried really hard to find a reason to NOT pull the trigger. I was not able to find one. And now, a couple of weeks later, I'm preparing to sign a lease on a 500m2 commercial facility and am flying to the Netherlands to see the merch first-hand ;). Fun times are ahead. More on this later...
3. I'm a hardcore CrossFit enthusiast. I work out 2-4h 5-6x a week and am loving it. It became a crucial part of my life. Together with my buddy, Milan, I decided to turn that passion into a (soft) business and open a local CrossFit gym where we'll work with people on changing their lives. I'm not doing it for the money (there's not a lot of money to be made), but more for doing the stuff I love and making new friends while doing so.

Eh, I thought I'd take 6 months to decompress but it ended up being two years 😄. Not a lot has happened business-wise in that period, though. Well, until now...

My focus was primarily on the CrossFit side and getting myself into the best shape possible. It became like an obsession. Those aren't really healthy for one's mental health, so I decided to tone it down a notch and start focusing on actually being a productive member of society for once 😅.

Quick summary:

1. After my business partner had a horrific traffic accident, we had to postpone the MMA Warehouse launch so he could properly heal and get back to his old self. He's the most positive and strongest person I know and it's something he's been tackling for a while now. But, I have no doubt he'll be back rolling on the BJJ mats very soon. That said, we've just placed our first purchase order and are ready to start selling some of the best-looking and high-quality stuff currently on the market. We also have a third partner, Shawn, who's going to handle shipping, fulfillment, and everything from that side of the biz. Very happy about that!
2. My local B&M business launched in August 2023. Getting that thingy up and running was an actual learning experience in how hard it is to pivot from the online world where we have all these nice, high margins, into something physical where you have to actually hustle and spend LOTS of time to make a decent living. Not complaining at all, though. It just helped me put everything in context. It's a great business and, if everything goes right, I expect us to open a second location within the next 12 months.
3. I just got back home from a SE Asia 'expedition' where I went from Croatia to Bangkok to Saigon to Bangkok to Pattaya and finally back to Bangkok and Croatia 😄. I met up with Jason and Shawn and with a bunch of other people from the MMA Warehouse side of the business. That was very productive and AWESOME! However, I also met up with Alex from Odys Global and got myself a very nice, challenging (in a good way) job as a CMO at Odys. I'm so stoked about that opportunity and can't wait to showcase my skill set. This GIF explains it all:

It's been a wild couple of months.

MMA Warehouse is progressing nicely. Our shipments are on the sea, and we expect to have a grand opening by mid-September. Still need to work on some logistical and marketing stuff, but the progress is definitely there.

My Odys venture ended a couple of weeks ago. It was a good fit at the beginning when I started implementing strategies and tactics I've gathered over the past 15 years. However, both Alex and I realized that I'm not a good fit for a large team.

I have my way of doing things. It's 99% instinct-based. It has worked well for me so far, so when someone asks me to ditch that MO and focus on something completely different - I start having a hard time executing. It's no one's fault. I just prefer to work alone and be accountable only to myself (and my clients - if there are any).

Note to self: Don't do that ever again

So, with that in mind, I decided it was time to get back into the trenches and launch something new.

I did a LOT of brainstorming, going through my skillset, what I actually enjoy doing, and what I'm good at.

It didn't take long for me to realize that I REALLY enjoy building out and optimizing sales/marketing funnels. From the simple ones to 20-branches-eCommerce-automation ones, I LOVE them all.

That led me to launch Funnel Catalyst.

I have big plans for that project.

It's just getting started, but I expect to spend a fair amount of time growing it. It's my way of giving back to entrepreneurs who are struggling with (email) marketing. And specifically e-commerce marketing.

More on that in the next update.

That's pretty much it for now. I'll try to update this page once or twice per year, but I can't make any promises ;).

I'm a simple guy, with a great family, who loves to travel, enjoys sports, and loves to build businesses that matter.

See you in the trenches! Andrej