About Me

Hello!  I am Eric Larry Figueroa.  I am 46 years old and I am from New Jersey.  My wife's name is Diana.  My daughter's name is Penelope and my dog's name is Lucy.  I'm the only male in our home.

After High School, I enlisted in the United States Navy.  I was on track for college, but I lacked the finances to pay for higher education.  I was a Sonar Technician and my highest rank achieved was E5 / Sonar Technician Second Class.  I attended 2 years of training in San Diego for Sonar Technician Class A, Class C and Acoustic Analysis.  After training, I was assigned to the USS Anzio CG 68 out of Norfolk, Virigina.    I spent 4 years onboard USS Anzio.  I made some great friends during my time there, but shipboard live and sonar just were not for me.  I was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in August 1998 after my 4 year contract and 2 year extension expired.  I remember the Chief's Mess onboard USS Anzio warning me not to leave the Navy.  The Chief's told me they didn't want to see me flipping burgers at McDonald's.  They warned me that I had a young wife to support and I just wouldn't be able to make it on my own.  I admit I left the Navy without a plan, but I just could not continue on in the Navy.  My spirit just would not accept being held down any longer.  I took that long drive from Norfolf, Virginia back to New Jersey did not look in the rear view mirror until I hit Delaware.  I just tossed and turned during my last night in the Navy.  I was dead tired and dreaded the lonely drive home due to being, so tired.  As I started driving, I remembered to stop at the Family Services Center to input my resume on the Department of Defense Resume Board.  It was like someone was guiding me there.  I have no idea what I wrote down on that message board, but that resume set up the rest of my life.  

I met my wife, Diana, while I was in training in San Diego.  One of the guys from the barracks was gonig to meet a girl he had met the night before while we were partying in Tijuana, Mexico.  This girl was going to bring along a friend, Diana, & this guy from the barracks needed a wing man.  None of the other guys from the barracks were interested in tagging along.  I was the last one asked to join and I took him up on his offer.  I figured it would be nice to meet new people outside of the Navy.  I went into the situation without any expectations and as things turn out Diana and I have been together ever since.  We got married in 1996 and are still married.  Penelope was born in 2014 and she's 6 years old.  

I was discharged from the Navy in August 1998.  I admit I had no plan and I was going to wing it with regards to what my next move would be.  Diana had just finished her bachelor's degreee in education in May 1998.  Diana also landed a job with a Charter School in town, so I had a decent safety net upon my exit from the Navy.  I remember applying for a security job at the World Trade Center in Manhattan.  The manager from the security company found my information on the Department of Defense bulletin board.  I had the job, but something in my spirit was telling me it was all wrong.  My thoughts were to work this security job at night and go to Devry Univeristy during the day until I earned my degree and was able to find a better job.  This seemed like a decent plan on paper.  I end up turning the job down.  Something inside of me just did not want any part of that place.  Good thing because September 2001 the World Trade Center was attacked by terrorists and they are no longer standing.  I was in limbo as far as a job the rest of August.  I wasn't sure where I would work during this time.  The end of August rolled around and I was starting to have trouble getting interviews.  First week of September, I was starting to get a little nervous.  Devry was starting September 15, 1998 and I was getting close to my registration date and I still did not have a job.  Jimmy McCabe found my resume on the same Department of Defense bulletin board and called me in for an interview with Rapistan Systems.  Jimmy told me it was a technical job and he thought I might have to aptitude to learn the trade.  Things went well with the interview and instead of starting my college career at Devry on September 15th, I started my conveyor automation career at Rapistan Systems instead.  I haven't looked back since.  I have yet to flip a hamburger for pay.  I've made my living working on conveyor systems since that day.  

The conveyor maintenance trade can be tough at times.  At one point in my career, I was a traveling field technician.  The travel was burning me out and I was looking for a way out.  I started a franchise carpet cleaning company with my younger brother while I was a field tech.  Huge mistake.  Lots of lessons learned.  I stuggled to find leads for the business.  We opened it up on 2007 and the economy crahsed in 2008.  I had no idea it was coming.  The bad ecomony kept people from doing things like cleaning their carpets.  I paid an agency to handle my SEO and Pay Per Click Campaigns.  I tried a telemarketing service from India to try to find leads.  The carpet cleaning franchise would occasionally send me a job that I had to pay them for.  It was a mess and nothing worked.  I sent out black and white printed post card mailers that were my best source of business somehow.  I had to pay for mailing lists and stamps plus spend my off time puttng these things together.  By 2011 I was broken mentally, physically, emotionally and financially.  I closed the business at that point.  Failure really hurt.  I still have to pay my creditors off which took another year or so.  Good thing I did not quit my conveyor job.  I needed the money more than ever at that point. 

Fast forward to April 2020.  I'm feeling burnt out again from the conveyor trade.  I go home from work with flu like symptoms, likely a Covid-19 infection.  I am forced to self quarantine for 14 days.  During this time, instead of watching Netflix, I started purchasing marketing courses.  I spent my days and nights trying to figure out how to make money online.  I studied things like Google My Business Page Optimization, Online Reputation Management, Text and Email Campaigns, etc.  I then started buying software apps to create services to sell potential clients and software apps to find qualified leads.  Times at work were a bit rough and I found Jono Armstrong on YouTube.  I started watching his reviews thinking maybe I'll find the right app or training course that will speed up my results trying to find potential clients.  At one point, I thought, maybe I should do what Jono is doing.  He's promoting these software apps that people like me are purchasing and he's making a commission for promoting these apps on his YouTube channel.  I didn't think I would be good enough though.  YouTube sent me one of Jono's older videos.  In this video, Jono gave an outline of how he got into affiliate marketing and from there I thought wow, I can probably do that as well.  I didn't know it at the time, but Jono had a coaching program for affiliate marketers.  The day I learned of Jono's coaching course, I got called back into work after working a 12 hour day due to a power outage.  I got drafted due to living, so close to work.  I got so, upset I pulled the trigger and purchases Jono's coaching course.  Now I'm still looking to work with local business clients as well as doing affiliate marketing.  

I recently got invovled with a Online Reputation Management Software App.  I'm excited to launch.  Hopefully the app will be ready before the end of August 2020.  I already have one client ready to sign up and he reached out to me.  I did not have to sell him.  I'm hoping this is going to be the beginning of something big in my life.  

Stay tuned!

Eric Figueroa