𝗜'𝗺 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱.

Like really surprised. Normally the alarm bells in my head would be clanging and shrieking, forcefully demanding attention.

Why? 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: You come back from a mini-vacation that you spend with friends over the weekend. Feeling recharged you decide to turn on your phone and open the Facebook app to catch up with your notifications. It says you are logged off. Hm... strange. You could have sworn that you have been logged in since leaving for the trip. Not expecting anything too out of the ordinary you put in your login credentials.

"𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗱."

What? How can it be disabled if you were literally AWAY all weekend? O.K. You get on your laptop to try logging in again. The same message pops up. By now the voice in your head is SCREAMING because your whole business was built on that one account. Breathe... Breathe... Keeping your cool you go to the Facebook website to "appeal" their decision.

It has to be a mistake right?

I wish it was.

Well, 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: You write up an honest appeal that is written from your heart. They ask you to submit your "id" which is to be expected since they've done this before. You click on "submit an appeal".

Loading...

"No way." as the world around you collapses.

"𝗦𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆, 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗱."

Gone.

Years of work, effort, and relationships flushed down the drain overnight. Your only source of leads and income vanishing in the air.

This is what happened to me.

𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻: You have to make it crystal clear in your head that FB owns ALL of your information. At any moment they can shut you down without any way of recovering.

So what can you do to avoid taking the "L"?

𝟭) 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘂𝗽 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮!

Right NOW (seriously do this right away): Go to your "Timeline Settings", Click on "My Facebook Information" then "Download my information".

From this week onwards you want to make this a habit of backing up your friend list, posts, likes/comments, and images/videos.

Like most people, I never took that part seriously. If I had someone give me this advice I wouldn't have to start from zero.

𝟮) 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁! 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁! 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁!

Make it a primary focus to move as much of your following to your email list as possible. Social media platforms can snuff out your account overnight, but your email list is YOURS. If I had focused more on building my list things would be MUCH different. Do better than me.

𝟯) 𝗕𝗲 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺𝘀!

This is more of a speculation, but I DID share links in my post that MAY have flagged my account. Although there is no way of knowing: Be careful with placing links in your post, short bio, and making any sort of big claims.

After reading the community standards yesterday FB HATES BIG CLAIMS. Get creative when using them. Their robot is very very smart. (Except the part where it disabled me. DUMB! DUMB! ROBOT! LOL)

𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿: There is always a massive positive to any situation if you look for it.

Let me take a moment here to say that, at this point, you may be saying, "How could any of this be Positive? What happened SUCKS." Well, what I say is that the Universe has a way of teaching you lessons that will be for your highest good. Even when it looks like the opposite.

So why am I shocked?

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲.

It's thrilling.

And I'm more determined than ever to document this journey so you can tag along with me as we Start From ZERO!

𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿: Someone once said every man's life has value if for nothing else than to be used as a bad example. Maybe that's me. You're a dumb bunny if you fol