My Story
I am Etienne Duguay Laliberté, an entrepreneur.
I started as a paperboy in 1969. Then, when I was twelve, I built a telescope, yes, I was already reaching for my dreams!
My dad called me a dreamer as if it were a sin. My dad was a psychiatrist. Maybe that is why people said I was crazy. But I didn’t care; I already figured out that with only one life to live, being a slave was not an option.
In high school (1976-78), they came to me to teach them the guitar; I guess playing in a long-haired rock & roll band was good advertising. I swapped the paper run for the guitar teacher. My dad gave me good advice on how to handle the trade with my new customers. I’ll tell you what it was later if you ask.
I went to business school at Concordia University in Montreal to learn; I didn’t really care about the diploma, which made my dad even madder at me. I was not the good guy he wanted me to be. It’s ok, I know now that my emotional intelligence was quite low, and so was his. As you can feel, I had to go elsewhere for Mentorship at that point.
While in college, I became fascinated with Chess. A friend beat me in three moves. I asked for revenge, and he beat me again in eight moves. I saw a pattern, and I decided to learn it. He gave me a computer called the Chess Challenger at the time; it had seven levels. It took me three months playing every day to beat it at level seven 100% of the time. I decided to play in tournaments, and the short version is that even after taking lessons with a Russian grandmaster (Roman Pelts ), I had to practice every day for three years to get into the top 200 players in Quebec. I have learned the lesson: everything you want to master takes time. I decided I was much better off investing that time in learning business; the plans aren’t limited to a chessboard. One of my first good decisions.
I freelanced as a sound engineer and got my first corporation, which was an old charter from my grandpa. I modernized it, used the same accountant, but changed the name to 1130 Productions INC. My dad laughed at me when I was president. He valued a college diploma more than my untested business potential.
I then started producing records and became a music publisher and artist manager, which taught me a lot about people, business, contract drafting, negotiation, and money. For nine years, I have struggled and had no serious success, and in the end, I’ve lost it all. My only real gain was the experience and disgust I gained with the music business. That experience helped me much later in life. My dad was right for this part, but against all odds, I persisted.
I went to work as an employee at some big corporations such as Minolta, Air Canada (1987) but after two years that was it, I just couldn’t lose my life in this environment, so I started a new business: Dircomm information services selling fax machines, became an information broker before the Internet, I managed the Quebec division of The Project Management Center (1992-93) for Robert Happy, worked for a few months with Louis Miller at Cytech Training Center, and then started from scratch Puzzle Solutions Inc. (1994) a web site production company. That landed me a publishing contract for the book you saw above. Not too bad after all.
The 90s were good for me. I skipped the part about sleeping in the car for a few months because I was too broke to pay rent. Louis Miller, a real survivor, gave me the break I needed to get back on the saddle. He was a great man who saw something in me, and I’ll be forever grateful to him.
I wanted to spend my winters in tropical countries, and I knew the Internet would let me achieve that lifestyle. For ten years, I told myself THIS is my last winter here in Montreal, Canada! That was when I decided to focus on web hosting automation, long before cPanel was born. I invested a few hundred thousand dollars with others to build a pretty good piece of software, but it failed, as rule number one in project management says: don’t make your project depend on one key player.
By the time I realized we needed to invest way more capital to get this software to market, cPanel was already on the market alongside other capable players, and the opportunity was gone. I had settled on using their products and just sell web hosting, which I still do with Virtual Space International Inc. I moved to Costa Rica for the winter in 2004.
Bitcoin came along, and I missed the first wave opportunity. I missed many good opportunities in my life. But it sharpened my decision-making and ability to evaluate new opportunities, and there are plenty out there! Aren’t we in the golden age of business? What happened with the second wave? Well, let’s say we accept most cryptocurrencies as payment and validate the saying that a good investment is worth a lifetime of hard labor.
To win web hosting customers, I decided to help my girlfriend with her direct sales and social marketing business, and I’ve just realized this is the next big thing in business and society. In fact, I believed that if most people understood what it is at this point in history, they would all do it. This is July 2026.
In the next two to five years—possibly sooner—I anticipate that 50% of the population will use multiple Marketing Network Channels. As an experienced businessman, I’m confident this is the next big thing. To clarify, I invite you to schedule a brief 15-minute call. You’ll find the booking option further down this page.
Personally, I decided to get trained to face the last challenge I set out to tackle: training 25,000 new millionaires by 2030. To achieve that, I bought coaching from Strategic Coach. I got the Strategic Coach® Signature Program. This program is over three years long, and I am halfway through.
I also took the FRC training to live and work in a flow state, which allows you to achieve more in less time:
A flow state is an optimal state of consciousness where performance, both mental and physical, go through the roof. In flow, all the skills most needed to thrive in the 21st-century workplace skyrocket.
Finally, I am a member of the Black Swan Group and am currently being trained by them in strategic negotiation.
I also partnered with numerous Enagic© international leaders, building a large organization trained specifically on Marketing Network Channel Building.
The old saying, ‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail,’ suggests this might be the plan you’re looking for, unless you are proactive.
Connect with me and see where it leads you!
Etienne D. Laliberté™ (Canada +1.450-232-2345)
Book a discovery call here, or fill out the form below and tell me your story.s6