I'm curious as to your biggest obstacles before you started having some real success. The one that has held me back has been self doubt, and not following through.
So you gave up on it? If so that's not really a hurdle if you just said "fuck it."
Personally mine was absorbing the fact that it was possible to make substantial income online and get deep enough in the "game" to feel secure doing it. I'm still working on getting to my goals, which seem to keep getting further away the more I grow my business (a good thing), so I'm sure I have way more hurdles ahead of me.