30 Nov The First Million That Almost Destroyed Me
At twenty-one I sold my first piece of software for seven figures.
I thought that meant I made it.
No parents.
No guidance.
No mentor.
No understanding of taxes.
Just a kid who saw a million-dollar check and believed life had changed forever.
I bought a boat.
A house.
A car.
I thought I was set.
Then reality hit harder than any loss before it.
Taxes took most of the money.
The rest disappeared when people I cared about came back into my life and asked for help.
I believed they were there for me.
I wanted to believe it.
I loaned money.
I bought cars.
I paid for housing.
I trusted.
Every person who reappeared disappeared again when the money ran out.
That year taught me two things that shaped my entire career.
Money does not change who you are. It exposes who everyone else is.
And success means nothing if you do not have the discipline to protect it.
I lost almost everything.
But I gained something more important.
A sense of reality.
A sense of responsibility.
A sense of what it actually takes to become the type of person who can keep success, not just stumble into it.
It was a painful lesson.
But the founder I became later was born from that loss.
I’m the founder and CEO of Chargezoom, helping businesses stay alive, get paid, and protect their future. My focus now is simple: build companies that solve real problems, create opportunity for others, and use discipline and resilience as my compass.