Nolan Johnson is a lot like any other young man in his generation. He loves fast, exotic cars and fine dining. In fact, he cites one of his most exciting and memorable moments being the purchase of his dream car.
The experience was so surreal that upon waking up the next day, he hurriedly dashed off to the driveway to make sure it was reality and not just a good dream. However, amidst the similarities, there is one particular and distinct difference. At 28 years old, Johnson is now living the life that many only dream of – a dream that Johnson, himself, had shared as well prior to his success. However, with his consistent determination and perseverance in surpassing odds, Johnson has not only managed but excelled in achieving his dreams. He now runs his own business, NJX Marketing, which specializes in teaching digital marketing and running ads for clients and earns millions of dollars in revenue each year. And all of this by the way, is the impressive product of his own self-teachings. As successful of an entrepreneur Johnson has become, he resonates as someone that other individuals aspiring to do the same can relate to and mirror because he comes from a background than many can draw similarities and parallels to.
Johnson was no stranger to a struggle that looms over many young individuals that they both face and dread: debt. He both experienced it and knew what it meant to have a bank account in the negative dollar range. However, as intimidating as his financial circumstances were, he did not use that as an excuse to put himself in a box. Instead, he set to work.
In 2011, Johnson found himself fresh out of high school. Instead of diving straight into a university or college, he made the conscious decision to leave it on the back burner and pursue the employee workforce instead. The keyword is: employee. At this point in his life, Johnson settled for a job at an oil field and was expected to follow the guidelines set by his employer – a concept very different to that of an entrepreneur where one is self-employed and enjoys independence and mobility. Johnson reflects back on his time at the oil field as an eye opening experience in the sense that it reinforced the idea that he didn’t want to work for someone else. Instead of working to make someone else’s dreams come true, Johnson wanted to make his own dreams come true.
As unprecedented as it may seem, a major turning point that shifted Johson from an employee to an entrepreneur status lied within the pages of a book, “Rich Dad Poor Dad”. As Johnson puts it himself, “This book helped me transition from an employee mindset to an entrepreneur mindset. And that needs to happen first before you set your goals.” This is an avenue that many youth can relate to. As a young individual freshly diving into the workforce, it can be easy to get caught up as an employee and think, “this is it”, but Johnson is the example that talks back and says, “no, this is not all there is to it.” As Johnson puts it, “most people live paycheck to paycheck. Think outside the box. Observe the crowd and do the opposite.” That is precisely where Johnson differs from the “crowd” so to speak. He has mastered the art of learning to take the “norm” and sculpt it into a “new normal”.
Johnson firmly knew that he did not want to follow down the rabbithole of juggling between paycheck to paycheck. That is why after making the bold move of quitting a second job at a mortgage banking firm in 2017, Johnson cracked down on himself and taught himself everything he needed to know about Facebook advertising and digital marketing. The next year consisted of him working as a sole proprietor for a year running ads and teaching courses. By the end of 2018, NJX Marketing had been summoned to life. The numbers started to talk soon thereby after that.
To follow Nolan Johnson’s journey as an entrepreneur and business owner of NJX marketing and keep up to date with his next moves, follow his social media handles: Instagram,Facebook, andYouTube.
