This episode of Swindled may contain graphic descriptions or audio recordings of disturbing events which may not be suitable for all audiences.

Listener discretion is advised.

And so in 1996, Tony and I started all over again and we started that magazine in the front room, and we started over our next

business, which became options at 50 plus, and in six weeks, we put that magazine in the

black, and anyone that's ever done magazine publishing will understand that most magazines,

most publications lose money for many years or many months.

Jonathan Paul Maroney had seen it all in his three decades as an entrepreneur,

the triumphs, the failures, and everything in between.

From selling his first business, a T-shirt company,

to losing everything and filing for bankruptcy,

to rebounding by launching his own magazine.

Success, he would later say, was never guaranteed, but always within reach, if you kept striving.

That became one of J.P. Moroni's favorite lessons to teach his students.

That's right. After acquiring all of that experience, there was only one thing left to do.

Share it. He evolved into one of the world's most insufferable archetypes, the self-annointed success guru,

a man who claims to have unlocked the secret to wealth and wants nothing more than to sell it

to you. The difference, at least according to JP, was that he had the resume to back it up.

In 2000, J.P. Moroni took what he had learned in the advertising and marketing space and launched

his own publishing and media consulting firm, and for the next decade he made himself the product.

Moroni toured the world as a keynote speaker, preaching the gospel of entrepreneurship, digital marketing, and strategy.

At his peak, he was booking 150 seminars a year.

When JP wasn't on stage, he kept the grind alive at home, hosting virtual webinars on topics like how to make money with webinars.

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