Thursday, May 28, 2026

Today was an interesting day.

Not because anything crazy happened.

Not because I suddenly made $10,000 overnight.

Not because I cracked some secret code that instantly solves all my problems.

It was interesting because I spent a lot of time thinking.

Thinking about money.

Thinking about business.

Thinking about the future.

And maybe most importantly... thinking about when it's smart to keep pushing forward and when it's smart to change directions.

Let's get into it.

The Numbers

First, let's start with the stats.

The amount of money that has hit my bank account during May is now:

$5,465.10

That's a pretty nice jump from yesterday.

The biggest reason?

My regularly scheduled paycheck from my call center job arrived today for $1,607.64.

I'm grateful for it.

I've said this before, but my call center job is actually pretty decent. The people are nice. The work isn't physically demanding. The pay is fair.

If I absolutely had to work a traditional job, this is probably one of the better ones I've had.

That being said...

My ultimate goal hasn't changed.

I'd still rather have no job at all.

Not because I'm lazy.

Not because I hate working.

But because I want complete control over my time.

I want to wake up and decide what I work on because I choose to, not because I have to.

That's still the dream.

My Email List Stayed Exactly the Same

Something interesting happened today.

My email list didn't move.

Not up.

Not down.

It stayed at exactly:

3,870 Leads

Honestly, I was expecting it to drop.

Usually every day I lose at least a few subscribers.

That's just part of email marketing.

People unsubscribe.

People change interests.

People get busy.

People forget who you are.

That's normal.

But today, the number stayed frozen.

Which means roughly the same number of people joined my list as left it.

And you know what?

I'm completely fine with that.

Would I prefer growth?

Of course.

But staying flat is still better than moving backwards.

Sometimes progress isn't explosive.

Sometimes progress looks like holding your ground.

I Think I've Identified My Biggest Missing Piece

This morning I spent a lot of time thinking about what I actually need to reach my goal of $40,000 per month.

Not what sounds exciting.

Not what sounds trendy.

Not what looks good on social media.

What do I actually need?

The answer I kept coming back to was:

Recurring Income

Affiliate marketing has been great to me.

It's helped me make more money than I ever imagined when I first started this journey.

But affiliate marketing can sometimes feel like constantly starting over.

You make a sale.

Then you go find another sale.

Then another.

Then another.

It's great income.

But a lot of it isn't recurring.

And the more I think about my long-term goals, the more I believe I need something that produces income month after month after month.

That's one reason I've become increasingly interested in rank-and-rent.

For those unfamiliar, rank-and-rent is a business model where you build local websites, get them ranking in Google, generate leads, and then rent those leads or websites to local businesses for recurring monthly payments.

At least in theory.

Whether it's as easy as some people claim remains to be seen.

But I like the concept.

So today I booked a call to potentially join a rank-and-rent program.

The call is next Tuesday.

And yes...

Apparently I'm buying another course.

Some people collect baseball cards.

Some people collect stamps.

I collect online business courses.

The Thought That Wouldn't Leave My Head

Buying another course got me thinking about something.

Something I've never really heard anyone talk about.

We hear people talk about toxic negativity all the time.

People who think everything is impossible.

People who complain constantly.

People who believe every opportunity is a scam.

But what about the opposite?

What about toxic positivity?

That's the term that popped into my head today.

Maybe someone else has used it before.

Maybe not.

But here's what I mean by it.

It's when positivity becomes so extreme that it stops being helpful.

It's when people convince themselves to ignore reality because they're terrified of admitting something isn't working.

You'll hear things like:

• Never quit.

• Just trust the process.

• Keep going.

• Success is right around the corner.

• Winners never quit.

And look...

There's truth in those statements.

Persistence matters.

A lot.

Most people quit far too early.

But there has to be a line somewhere.

There has to be a point where you honestly evaluate the situation and ask:

"Am I making progress, or am I just refusing to admit this isn't working?"

That's a much harder question.

The Most Expensive Lesson I've Learned

This whole topic reminded me of one of the most frustrating business experiences I've ever had.

A few years ago, I invested over $20,000 into a mentorship program focused on faceless YouTube automation.

The promise was simple.

Build faceless YouTube channels.

Get views.

Monetize them.

Make thousands per month.

I was excited.

Very excited.

I genuinely believed it could work.

And to be fair, I don't think the creators were necessarily trying to deceive people.

I think they genuinely believed in what they were teaching.

The problem was the business model itself.

After joining, I went all in.

For 6 straight months, nearly every free hour outside of my call center job was dedicated to that business.

I hired freelancers.

I studied the training.

I rewatched lessons.

I attended the weekly calls.

I purchased additional coaching.

I optimized videos.

I researched niches.

I tested ideas.

I treated it like a second full-time job.

And after all of that...

Nothing.

No meaningful income.

No traction.

No signs that profitability was around the corner.

The more I looked at the model, the more I realized something.

The entire strategy depended heavily on one thing:

Going viral

And that's where it lost me.

Because once your business depends on virality, you no longer have much control.

You can create the best content in the world and still get ignored.

You can do everything right and still fail.

Meanwhile, a random video can explode overnight.

That started feeling less like a business and more like buying lottery tickets.

The winners became testimonial videos.

The losers disappeared quietly.

And that's what made me uncomfortable.

Did I Quit Too Soon?

It's a fair question.

Maybe I did.

Maybe if I had stuck with it for another 6 months, it would have worked.

Maybe another year.

Maybe two years.

I honestly don't know.

But here's the question I kept coming back to:

How long should someone continue investing time, money, and energy into something that isn't producing results?

At some point, persistence becomes stubbornness.

At some point, loyalty to a strategy becomes attachment.

At some point, the smartest move isn't pushing harder.

It's changing direction.

I don't regret trying.

I learned a lot.

But I also don't regret walking away.

Because sometimes the most productive thing you can do isn't working harder.

It's choosing a better vehicle.

Why Rank-and-Rent Has My Attention

Now, I'm not saying rank-and-rent is the answer.

I haven't even joined the program yet.

Maybe I'll love it.

Maybe I'll hate it.

Maybe it'll become a major part of my future income.

Maybe it won't.

We'll see.

But what attracts me is the possibility of recurring revenue that's tied to providing real value to local businesses.

That's something worth exploring.

And honestly, that's all any of us can do.

Test ideas.

Learn lessons.

Keep what works.

Discard what doesn't.

Then repeat.

Final Thoughts

One thing I've learned over the years is that success isn't just about persistence.

It's also about adaptation.

The people who eventually win aren't always the people who work the hardest.

They're often the people who recognize when to keep pushing and when to pivot.

That's a skill I'm still learning.

Maybe I'll be learning it for the rest of my life.

But today reminded me that changing direction isn't failure.

Sometimes it's wisdom.

We'll see where this next path leads.

If you're trying to build income online and potentially create more freedom in your life, I've put together a free training that walks through some of the strategies I've used and learned from along the way.

👉 https://jacksdigitalventures.com/freetraining

And if you'd like to connect with me on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and everywhere else, you can find all my links here:

👉 https://jacksdigitalventures.com/linkinbio

Thanks for following along with the journey.

I'll see you tomorrow for Day 105.