Ladyboys, Poo Coffee, and a Rocket Launcher Changed My Life...

“Holy f*ck!” I yelled as the missile exploded…

Adrenaline surged through veins while burnt smoke filled my nostrils.

7,535 miles away from home, and here I was:

Shooting a rocket launcher at a Cambodian military compound.

It was 2017 and 19-year-old Dakota was 3 months into a backpacking trip around South East Asia.

I never imagined all the things I’d experience during that trip:

• Trying the infamous “Weasel poo coffee” in Vietnam (don’t ask)…

• Getting cat-called by ladyboys while walking the streets of Thailand…

• Paying some sketchy strangers to let me shoot a rocket launcher in Cambodia…

(And other things that’ll remain classified for now)

But for the first time in my life, I felt complete freedom.

I hated the idea of going go back to the traditional path of going into debt to get a useless degree, wasting 40+ years of my life at a job I hated, and waiting to "live" my life when I was a retired old man.

I wanted:

• Time freedom – so I could focus on things and people that mattered, instead of grinding away for a boss.

• Financial freedom – so I could ensure my family never had to worry about money again (and buy the extra guac without flinching).

• Location freedom – so I could take off for Cambodia to shoot rocket launchers on a Tuesday, just because I felt like it.

But There Was One Big, Glaring, Problem:

I was working jobs that controlled where I could live and what I could do.

So I tried countless ways to make money online for the next 3 years:

• Blogging

• Podcasting

• Day trading

• Web design

• Amazon FBA

• iPhone repair

• Dropshipping

• Flipping garage sale items on eBay (shoutout to Gary V)

Spoiler alert:

I failed at ‘em all.

Why?

I'd try one side hustle for a couple months (or days lol)…

Get bored because I wasn't interested in the work…

And bounce to the next shiny object in hopes it'd be my ticket to freedom.

But In September of 2020, Things Were Never The Same…

While doom-scrolling, I stumbled upon a corner of Twitter where people in their 20s and 30s were posting about how they were making money online.

And one of these ways was a little-known industry called:

*Cue dramatic drumroll…*

Ghostwriting.

Ghostwriting was this new emerging industry that a few regular everyday people were getting into.

With no English degree or professional writing background, they were charging 1000s of dollars per month to turn their clients words into online social media posts and emails.

And they weren’t just getting paid well…

They were doing meaningful work they loved.

It kinda broke my brain.

I thought to make a career from writing you were either:

1. Doomed to be a “starving artist.”

Or…

2. Born with an insane amount of talent and getting offered book deals by the age of 13.

But I saw ghostwriters no smarter than me (hell, one guy even had Dyslexia) making more money in one month than I made in an entire year.

Seeing what was possible gave me the confidence to take a leap of faith.

So I Put It All On The Line and Made The Biggest Bet of My Life…

In December of 2020, I went ALL in to make money writing online:

• I quit my job at Domino’s.

• I dropped out of my 2nd year of college.

• I told myself “screw it, I’ll figure it out” and gave myself a year.

Now, I won’t sugarcoat it:

I had absolutely 0 idea what the hell I was doing for those first year.

Ghostwriting was this wild, uncharted territory, with no “how-to” guides, no courses, and no one really explaining what it took to succeed.

Just me, a laptop, and a vague idea that I might have to fend off starvation by stringing words together for strangers.

And let’s just say I made every roadblock along the way.

• Fear of failure

• Lack of direction

• Imposter syndrome

But as brutal as those early days were, I stuck with it.

And more importantly:

I stopped chasing every new “shiny object” that came along, and committed to making ghostwriting work.

So after months of writing online for myself, I finally built up the confidence to offer ghostwriting as a service.

And I couldn’t have guessed what happened next…

In my first week, I landed my first client for $3,000/month.

A week later, another client for $5,000/month.

10 days after that, a $3,000/month client.

Now, I wish I could say it was all sunshine and rainbows from there.

But truthfully?

I lost one client because I couldn’t get good results and I fired one because they were a pain in the ass.

However, over the months that followed, I leveled up my skills and developed a system.

One that helped me scale to $30K-$50K months as a ghostwriter.

And getting results like this for my clients:

And sure, it felt good seeing my bank account go up…

But Ghostwriting Also Opened Up Opportunities I Never Thought Possible

And making friends all around the world in places like Dubai, Colombia, and London.

Ghostwriting wasn’t just another “side hustle.”

It was work I loved that created a lifestyle I loved.

But Here’s the Thing They Don’t Tell You About Freedom…

Most people will never be free.

Not because they’re not smart enough.

Not because they’re not lucky enough.

But because they can’t commit to anything longer than it takes to scroll through TikTok.

Freedom isn’t some magical prize you stumble across while binge-watching "success hacks" on YouTube.

It’s earned by picking one thing, sticking to it, and beating on that drum like it owes you money—even when it’s boring.

But hey, who am I to ruin the fantasy?

Go ahead, keep bouncing.

Jump from dropshipping to crypto to selling haunted dolls on eBay.

(Don’t laugh, it’s probably a “hot niche” somewhere.)

Spoiler alert:

You’ll still be broke, bitter, and blaming the algorithm by the time the next shiny object rolls around.

Because here’s the unsexy truth:

Freedom feels like a trap at first.

Because it demands focus. Discipline. Commitment.

But once you stop bouncing like a meth’d-out squirrel and commit to one thing?

Your results begin to compound.

So, here’s the $1,000,000 question:

Are you gonna grow up and pick a path?

Or keep treating your “side hustle strategy” like a Tinder profile—swiping on the next thing the second it gets hard?

Your choice.

Your Canadian friend,

Dakota “Take The Leap” Robertson

P.S.

Do you love writing and want to turn it into a business you enjoy?

I’m opening up my flagship program, Growth Ghost, in late November.

In it, I show you the systems and frameworks I’ve used to help 150+ members start their own ghostwriting business.

If you want to join the waitlist and get first access, click “I want to join the waitlist” below:

I also got some exciting details I’ll share about the program closer to launch ;)