About
It can be hard to find your way. The Starter Academy was created to help you get to where you need to be a little faster.
Whether you want to improve your current business (or blog) or if you are just starting out and looking for direction, this is the place you need to be right now to get on the right path.
All of us end up going through the daily grind of the same old stuff at some point in our lives and we simply want to make a change.
Change is hard though and change can be scary.
I know. I took the plunge a little over 15 years ago and went from serving in the U.S. Army full time to not having a job. I was scared and didn't know what I was going to do, so I decided to take action.
Who am I?
My name is Mike Johnson and I am the creator/ owner of the Starter Academy This isn't my only business, but it is my passion and I hope it becomes yours too.
I live in York, Pennsylvania in the USA with my Wife of 20 years, my 2 sons, and my little dog Fox!
My Journey
I was in limbo when I left the Army and the only "job" skills I had were not going to get me a really good paying job. I did have some things I was "messing around with" though.
I had been teaching myself how to build websites since 1998 as a hobby and in 2002/ 2003 when I got out of the Army I really jumped into using WordPress blogs. Back then there wasn't all the information on the web like their is now.
I must have purchased over $1000 worth of courses trying to learn as much as I could. I was almost broke, but I was desperate to figure out how to make money online to support myself. My wife was freaking out and she didn't have a lot of confidence in my "dream" of internet riches.
I got a spark though when I figured out a technique for making money on autopilot in 2003/2004. It was called Auto Blogging. Creating blogs that ran by themselves with crappy content and Google Adsense.
I did this by diving deep into Black Hat SEO and even had a blog for about 6 years called BlackHatSoftware.net. I was making $2-3000 every time I wrote a new blog post about a new auto blogging tool and my auto blogs with Adsense, my Affiliate Links were making me over $10K per month, and my profits were going up drastically every month.
It was a whirlwind and I couldn't have been luckier. I did countless hours of research to get better and better. I worked my ass off. In fact, I was working 16 hour days and decided I needed to come up with a system to put everything on Auto. I needed a break.
This system eventually morphed into an entire network of auto blogs and my first product launch in late 2009 and into early 2010 with the Auto Blog Blueprint. I did this launch strictly from the Warrior Forum as a special offer and did $20K in sales in the first day. This was huge for me!
6 months later, I really tuned things up and launched the Auto Blog Blueprint 2.0 and everything erupted. I had learned how partner with JV's (Joint Venture Partners) and I had accrued a huge mailing list of 10,000 people waiting to get in. When I hit the launch button my server crashed in the first 30 minutes. By the time I was up and running again I had already done $50K in sales in a little over 2 hours. I couldn't believe it!!
This is how it all began for me. I learned how to be an expert in SEO and WordPress. My blogs could always rank, my sites would always make money. I parlayed this into 2 more versions of the ABB. I created and sold 2 businesses. ProfitMarketer and WPSocial where I co-created over 35 WordPress plugins and themes with my business partner Daniel Waser.
Since then, I have created multiple Amazon and Shopify based businesses and I have over 20 Viral Marketing blogs actively running right now making me money via Google Adsense every day.
Why the Starter Academy?
After going through some family issues the last few years where I had no time to do anything other than just keep running my business, I finally have been able to free up my time again and decided it was time to give back a little.
After all, I started out with the Auto Blog Blueprint by actually giving it away and was helping other entrepreneurs like myself simply learn how to get ahead. I never thought of selling it until it was suggested to me.
That is where I am with the Starter Academy. I wanted to create a resource where you can learn how to truly start and grow and online business where long term passive profits are not just a dream, but a reality.
I want You to take the lessons I have learned throughout the last 18+ years and the systems I have created to help you create the financial freedom that I have.
Anyone can do this!
If I can do this, anyone can.
I'm nothing special. I'm an average guy from an average working class family.
The thing I learned though was to be successful you must have focus and you must use systems. You can't do it all yourself. You have to use tools and automation to make things work so you don't have to.
This is the only way you can truly achieve the financial freedom you are looking for.
So how do we do this?
We work together here Step by Step. By doing this, we can take you from anywhere you are in your online journey and give you whatever you need to take that next step towards success.
We can do it through Authority Blogging, Simple eCommerce, Social Media Marketing, Lead Generation and List Building, Product Creation, and more!
Are you ready?
The best way to get started is to understand the keys to Business Success. You can do this with my Ultimate Guide to Starting and Growing an Online Business.