You probably aren't ready to have your own business.

[Zizu]

Probably gonna get bashed down here on what is an entrepeneurship forum, but hear me out.

Young people all over the world are F*cking LOST. I've started seeing this more and more the past few years with more and more gurus and "entrepeneurs" showing up on social media. Telling everybody they can become an entrepeneur and earn thousands with NO experience in life whatsoever, with anything.

So what happens now is you have a shitload of gullible teenagers and people in their 20s splurging out hundreds every month on the newest course or private community. I'm going to come clean to you, me (25) and my girlfriend (20) were also one of them.

I paid like 500$ and an additional 99 monthly for Hamza's Adonis School. At the time this wasn't a problem, because if I hadn't stumbled upon him one day I wouldn't be here writing this right now.

But, what a freaking circlejerk that was. Just like most other internet communities. Took a few months to see it's basically a training school for wannabe self-improvement youtubers. It was mostly teenagers in highschool which were told daily that going to college or getting a j-o-b is the worst thing that can happen to you, just keeping them paying the 99 per month because they will succeed if they work hard.


And this is just one of the way how young people are deluded into thinking they are entitled to a 10k/month business.

Are you scaling to 10k/month with your business which helps others scale 10k/month? Or better yet are you a life coach at the age of 16? Give me a break.


Some time later, either a few months in or a few years in - they finally come to the realisation that for most people, this isn't how life works out. Yeah, a few gain success and traction but even from those few, a small percentage will actually succeed long term.



Why?

Back to what we always talk about here. They just care about the money. They don't have a clear vision. The end goal of their business is to upload an instagram story from a co-working space in Bali, with a poke bowl (or whatever) by the food. These are the people who've tried all the internet trends in the past few years, from dropshipping to private communities now, just waiting for the newest thing to earn a dime more.


"But Zizu, you're just ranting cause you're still stuck in your 9-5, you'd also love to work remotely and have your own business".

That's true. At the end of the day I'm just a stupid motorcoach driver. People look down on us all the time. But I'm grateful to be one, because I'm doing the job I love. And it wasn't until recently that I realised YEARS OF EXPERIENCE ARE NECESSARY IF YOU WANT TO HELP ANYBODY WITH ANYTHING.

Since I've discovered that you can earn money online and whatnot, it took ages for me to find a good idea. And the first idea flopped. I saw that I had zero experience and that I was just a wannabe. After a few months hiatus I got to the second idea.

This second idea (a blog about being a motorcoach driver) started taking traction. But only because people see I'm not faking it. I've been in the industry for 7 years and I can share some valuable knowledge. Seeing people with much more experience than me commenting and finding my content valuable brings a smile to my face. This is when I realised how fake everything else was.

And whether this will work or not, I'm not too worried about it. A few hundred bucks on the side would be great, but having a stable income and being responsible towards yourself and your family is much more important than quitting and being some "go all in, take cold showers, eat meat and exercise twice a day" bullshit.

My girlfriend is a similar situation to mine, but I'll respect her privacy and let her share her own story someday.



If this was a TLDR, here are the key takeaways:

• Don't let anybody demonize a 9-5. Plenty of people actually enjoy it and more probably than not, you'll need to work for a few years in a field to gain experience to be able to help somebody.
• College - If you're just going for the sake of it (e.g. everybody else is doing it) and you have no interests - then sure, think about not enrolling. But if you just read book XY or saw a video about having your own business and now you're thinking about quitting, think twice.
• If you see anything advertised as "you don't need any experience" - steer clear. They're just there to take your money.
• Some of you may disagree with me, but everybody should work with a few shitty clients at first - other than the lessons and experience, you'll have something to show for in your portfolio. Otherwise you'll just be a high school graduate with no proof you can help your customer.

/rantover

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[piano]

Nice post, agree with most.

However:

And it wasn't until recently that I realised YEARS OF EXPERIENCE ARE NECESSARY IF YOU WANT TO HELP ANYBODY WITH ANYTHING.

I definitely don't agree with this. Sorry but what? You need years of experience to help someone?
Just taking a tiny peak at all the teen service businesses alone should persuade you to think otherwise.

Just start complimenting people.
Help with the dishes.
Like my posts.
Ask if someone needs any help.
Ask if you can give a car wash.

All these things you can do instantly and you help someone with it.


Though there are teenagers, for example, that do a shit job and would rather not even spend a 5 minute youtube video on how to properly squeegee a window but this is a mindset problem imo, not a "I didn't study window cleaning for 3 years". I think these are the people you're talking about in your post.

 

[heavy_industry]

I've said this previously:

The new wave of "entrepreneurs" that need a guru to teach them how to get rich (for an easy one-time purchase of $xxxx) are nothing more than covert CONSUMERS trying to appear as PRODUCERS.

As soon as the novelty wears off and they wake up from their Lamborghini pipedream, they hit the mighty barrier of ENTRY - the impassable wall of competence, skill, knowledge, discipline, vision, work ethic, etc. A wall that will take years of blood, sweat, and tears to demolish.

Once they hit this wall, they do what all money chasers do: pivot to the next shiny object.

---

Many people wonder why the top 1% have more success than the bottom 80% - and they blame the evil capitalism for this outcome.

Wrong diagnosis, sweetheart:

• Out of 100 people, 90 don't even start.
• Of the remaining 10, 9 give up before the tree bears fruit.
• 1 of them WINS.

This has nothing to do with luck or capitalism - but has everything to do with your willingness to keep working, learning, adapting, pivoting, experimenting, working even more, etc. in pursuit of your goals.

Ask and it shall be given.

But you need to really F*cking want it.

 

[Lex DeVille]

I know someone in their 20's who claims to want to start a business.

He has no money and doesn't want to work a full-time job. Also, when work comes his way, he says things like, "I turned them down because they only pay $X/hr. I know my worth!"

He follows that with, "Dang, I really need money right now. Hopefully I find a way to make enough to pay my bills this month."

And I'm like, bruh...you can't pay your bills and you got no skills. Your worth is negative.

I don't feel old, but I feel like I think old compared to everyone I meet. The mindset difference is so vast, I can't comprehend it.

"I know my worth."
"I don't get paid to do that."
"That's not my job."
"Pay me more and I'll do better work."

FFS...

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Exy_]

They just care about the money. They don't have a clear vision.

get a job to gain experience , learn and build a foundation to help build yourself up since growth is slow and we all start at level 1

Funny youtube man said college is a scam and if i start dropshipping or an agency without any prior research or experience i will be worth millions in 2-4 business days

 

[Johnny boy]

I’ll write a book called

“There’s more than 5 F*cking business ideas you moron: why dropshipping, selling courses, trading crypto, running a SMMA, and real estate wholesaling are dumb and how to start a real business”

And the whole book is just roasting how everyone is addicted to talking about only a handful of very difficult, low income, saturated business models promoted on social media and how there’s a million other businesses that will actually make you a ton of money that are in the real world. With like 500 examples and instructions on how you would get into them.

Example: someone makes the marble baptismal pools that go into churches that cost like 5 grand. Some dude is just raking in hundreds of thousands each month and he doesn’t even have an Instagram.

There’s a million examples of this but all you hear about is the guy on social media talking about the social media marketing agency he runs.

 

[ZF Lee]

Don't let anybody demonize a 9-5. Plenty of people actually enjoy it and more probably than not, you'll need to work for a few years in a field to gain experience to be able to help somebody.

I think its OK to hate a 9-5 because of the time-wasting commute, office politics, limits on learning (not everyone can meet good bosses or co-workers), etc. It shows you are alert on what's going on around you...and don't just go about your day like a zombie.

It's only bad if you just hate and don't do anything about it. Plenty of folks on Reddit who do that.

Some of you may disagree with me, but everybody should work with a few shitty clients at first - other than the lessons and experience, you'll have something to show for in your portfolio. Otherwise you'll just be a high school graduate with no proof you can help your customer.

'Shitty clients' might also turn out to be pretty decent folks, but you just didn't have the right offer or system to onboard them. And yes...great clients can turn into shitty clients overnight too. People can be strange creatures.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Subsonic]

I make twice the money I would with an age appropriate Job for half the time spent.

In a year or two I'll be at the 10k a month point.

I am just finishing high school.

The work doesn't care about who does it. It just needs doing.

Most people don't want to battle dozens of large spiders defending their nest. I took a broom and went into the garage ready to never come out again. 200€ earned in 3 hours.

The model hamza teaches works if you have something new or interesting to say and two years of patience. The reason his fans don't get anywhere is because they don't do anything fun in life and parrot his things in lower quality.

My best friend is 20 and takes home 4k a month online by editing audio. He doesn't even know what entrepreneurship is and is still in school. He's on track to have 100k invested this year.

The process doesn't care who your are.

 

[Kevin88660]

Probably gonna get bashed down here on what is an entrepeneurship forum, but hear me out.

Young people all over the world are F*cking LOST. I've started seeing this more and more the past few years with more and more gurus and "entrepeneurs" showing up on social media. Telling everybody they can become an entrepeneur and earn thousands with NO experience in life whatsoever, with anything.

So what happens now is you have a shitload of gullible teenagers and people in their 20s splurging out hundreds every month on the newest course or private community. I'm going to come clean to you, me (25) and my girlfriend (20) were also one of them.

I paid like 500$ and an additional 99 monthly for Hamza's Adonis School. At the time this wasn't a problem, because if I hadn't stumbled upon him one day I wouldn't be here writing this right now.

But, what a freaking circlejerk that was. Just like most other internet communities. Took a few months to see it's basically a training school for wannabe self-improvement youtubers. It was mostly teenagers in highschool which were told daily that going to college or getting a j-o-b is the worst thing that can happen to you, just keeping them paying the 99 per month because they will succeed if they work hard.


And this is just one of the way how young people are deluded into thinking they are entitled to a 10k/month business.

Are you scaling to 10k/month with your business which helps others scale 10k/month? Or better yet are you a life coach at the age of 16? Give me a break.


Some time later, either a few months in or a few years in - they finally come to the realisation that for most people, this isn't how life works out. Yeah, a few gain success and traction but even from those few, a small percentage will actually succeed long term.



Why?

Back to what we always talk about here. They just care about the money. They don't have a clear vision. The end goal of their business is to upload an instagram story from a co-working space in Bali, with a poke bowl (or whatever) by the food. These are the people who've tried all the internet trends in the past few years, from dropshipping to private communities now, just waiting for the newest thing to earn a dime more.


"But Zizu, you're just ranting cause you're still stuck in your 9-5, you'd also love to work remotely and have your own business".

That's true. At the end of the day I'm just a stupid motorcoach driver. People look down on us all the time. But I'm grateful to be one, because I'm doing the job I love. And it wasn't until recently that I realised YEARS OF EXPERIENCE ARE NECESSARY IF YOU WANT TO HELP ANYBODY WITH ANYTHING.

Since I've discovered that you can earn money online and whatnot, it took ages for me to find a good idea. And the first idea flopped. I saw that I had zero experience and that I was just a wannabe. After a few months hiatus I got to the second idea.

This second idea (a blog about being a motorcoach driver) started taking traction. But only because people see I'm not faking it. I've been in the industry for 7 years and I can share some valuable knowledge. Seeing people with much more experience than me commenting and finding my content valuable brings a smile to my face. This is when I realised how fake everything else was.

And whether this will work or not, I'm not too worried about it. A few hundred bucks on the side would be great, but having a stable income and being responsible towards yourself and your family is much more important than quitting and being some "go all in, take cold showers, eat meat and exercise twice a day" bullshit.

My girlfriend is a similar situation to mine, but I'll respect her privacy and let her share her own story someday.



If this was a TLDR, here are the key takeaways:

• Don't let anybody demonize a 9-5. Plenty of people actually enjoy it and more probably than not, you'll need to work for a few years in a field to gain experience to be able to help somebody.
• College - If you're just going for the sake of it (e.g. everybody else is doing it) and you have no interests - then sure, think about not enrolling. But if you just read book XY or saw a video about having your own business and now you're thinking about quitting, think twice.
• If you see anything advertised as "you don't need any experience" - steer clear. They're just there to take your money.
• Some of you may disagree with me, but everybody should work with a few shitty clients at first - other than the lessons and experience, you'll have something to show for in your portfolio. Otherwise you'll just be a high school graduate with no proof you can help your customer.

/rantover

It’s not a bad thing in the grand scheme of things, to start to take some actions.

When I was a teenager and into my 20s I was surfing zerohedge and buying gold coins and silvers bars and waiting for world to go into flames.

That was much worse than doing drop shipping and running a marketing agency.

Starting to run to nowhere is also a decent start. The search for the right path for you has to start from somewhere.

 

[Zizu]

Nice post, agree with most.

However:

I definitely don't agree with this. Sorry but what? You need years of experience to help someone?
Just taking a tiny peak at all the teen service businesses alone should persuade you to think otherwise.

Just start complimenting people.
Help with the dishes.
Like my posts.
Ask if someone needs any help.
Ask if you can give a car wash.

All these things you can do instantly and you help someone with it.


Though there are teenagers, for example, that do a shit job and would rather not even spend a 5 minute youtube video on how to properly squeegee a window but this is a mindset problem imo, not a "I didn't study window cleaning for 3 years". I think these are the people you're talking about in your post.

I should've said it to avoid confusion, but I was talking specifically about online businesses. I definitely agree with starting a service based business in your teens or whenever actually. Things like than you know since day 1 and you just improve on them, however too many young ones nowadays don't want to get their hands dirty because its not fun. It's not popular and they think it doesn't earn you the bucks, although that is far from the truth.

I know someone in their 20's who claims to want to start a business.

He has no money and doesn't want to work a full-time job. Also, when work comes his way, he says things like, "I turned them down because they only pay $X/hr. I know my worth!"

He follows that with, "Dang, I really need money right now. Hopefully I find a way to make enough to pay my bills this month."

And I'm like, bruh...you can't pay your bills and you got no skills. Your worth is negative.

I don't feel old, but I feel like I think old compared to everyone I meet. The mindset difference is so vast, I can't comprehend it.

"I know my worth."
"I don't get paid to do that."
"That's not my job."
"Pay me more and I'll do better work."

FFS...

That sounds way too familiar, couldn't have said it better. Thing is most of the gurus they follow say this among other things:

"Here's 5 mistakes I did when I just started out: One of them are cheap projects"

Then, the poor sucker with zero experience who hears this will never take any work, even on the rare opportunities he actually gets do to this. Like, F*ck. One of my (ex) friends who worked as a bartender said collecting the pillows from the seats wasn't their job. Got fired the next morning bahah.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Pain Brain]

The new wave of "entrepreneurs" that need a guru to teach them how to get rich (for an easy one-time purchase of $xxxx) are nothing more than covert CONSUMERS trying to appear as PRODUCERS.

As soon as the novelty wears off and they wake up from their Lamborghini pipedream, they hit the mighty barrier of ENTRY - the impassable wall of competence, skill, knowledge, discipline, vision, work ethic, etc. A wall that will take years of blood, sweat, and tears to demolish.

The feeling of doing something towards their goal of getting rich is what appeals to this crowd.

That barrier of entry has a lot to do with comfort. And it just so happens that one-time purchase may be the most comfortable decision a person can make.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

I’ll write a book called

“There’s more than 5 F*cking business ideas you moron: why dropshipping, selling courses, trading crypto, running a SMMA, and real estate wholesaling are dumb and how to start a real business”

And the whole book is just roasting how everyone is addicted to talking about only a handful of very difficult, low income, saturated business models promoted on social media and how there’s a million other businesses that will actually make you a ton of money that are in the real world. With like 500 examples and instructions on how you would get into them.

Example: someone makes the marble baptismal pools that go into churches that cost like 5 grand. Some dude is just raking in hundreds of thousands each month and he doesn’t even have an Instagram.

There’s a million examples of this but all you hear about is the guy on social media talking about the social media marketing agency he runs.

Why are these business models to be preferred? It’s easier to acquire clients because of weak competition but margins are lower, you’re stuck to a local geography (which may be shitty depending on where you live), and you have to deal with loads of crappy people.

It also scales slower and is victim to a lot more risks in the process. Car breaks down, lawn mower breaks down, etc. How long did it take you to get to average $10K/mo profits? With an online business if you’re smart you can do it in 1-year.

Your business wouldn’t work in Europe because everyone would treat you like shit and would pay you nothing. Americans tend to be more retarded and they throw money away on nonsense. I’d pay no more than the equivalent of $25/week for someone to maw my loan — and I’m the guy who would pay a lot more than most here. That’s why there are almost NO landscaping or lawn care businesses in Europe (and I actually researched this, for a client who was targeting this industry).

Your business can be shut down any day by the government — a new law can double or triple your costs.

A worker puts his hand in the lawn mawer and it gets cut. Worker protection comes, and if you didn’t check all the boxes, you’re dead. And so on. There’s a million and one risks.

Whereas my business is simple. I only directly work with 4 people — there’s 12 on the team but only 4 are part of the core team that I interact with personally. I spend all my time acquiring clients or working on creative, high-value projects for those clients I notice have potential and deserve extra attention. I can work from anywhere. I get Western clients and charge Western fees but pay 3rd world costs. My work mostly involves intelligence, not physical labor. I don’t work with annoying or unskilled people. I can work from anywhere.

And there’s no limit to the scale I can achieve. Acquiring clients is initially much harder than it is for you — because there is less trust and the service is a lot more “intangible” than yours. But… once those clients are aquired, once you have a lot of social proof, and so on, things get easy. If I want to get more clients today, I can just send a few emails. That’s because of the social proof I’ve built around my company.

So I’m sorry, but I disagree with your take. I think you yourself would do better in a more challenging industry where you have the ability to do higher level, creative work, that provides for higher margins and much larger impact than just cutting people’s lawns lol.

 

[Jon822]

Why are these business models to be preferred?

The point isn't the time it takes to 5 figure months or maximum scalability -- of course online businesses are objectively better in most cases. It mostly has to do with saturation and people following trends instead of looking for value to provide, especially in an industry that isn't sexy. There have probably been thousands of entrepreneurs that have missed a gold mine right under them because they were too busy masturbating to the trend of dropshipping or SMMA.

So it's not that "local, geographically confined businesses are objectively superior in all cases", it's "don't ignore local or unsexy opportunities just because there isn't a TikTok guru pitching them." Lower entry barriers and having a maximum potential customer pool that reaches wherever the internet does increases competition, so some local opportunities can compete with or exceed saturated online businesses. It's better to succeed in a space that has a lower maximum potential income than it is to fail in another just because it has a higher maximum potential income.

To reiterate: online businesses are almost always going to be superior to physical businesses but an entrepreneur limiting his view to only the "best" when looking for an opportunity can blind himself to a "good enough" opportunity that he's standing on. And good enough in this context means life-changing, not some 80 hours per week bagel shop that nets $70,000 per year.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Black_Dragon43]

To reiterate: online businesses are almost always going to be superior to physical businesses but an entrepreneur limiting his view to only the "best" when looking for an opportunity can blind himself to a "good enough" opportunity that he's standing on.

I think it’s also about capability. There are many people who simply lack the capability (intelligence, skill in a particular domain, and so on) to succeed online or in tech. They simply don’t have what it takes and are unwilling to learn it. For such people, yeah, go to series B, compete in there, do well, and that’s it. Say if someone works in construction, has worked in the trades their entire life… it’s probably not a smart choice for them to go in tech or online. They will be OBLITERATED, and it won’t even be funny. But someone like Johnny who is smart, creative, he built his own non-code app, and so on… someone like that can definitely compete and win online.

That’s why for someone who has the intelligence and capability, to compete in series B and be proud of being its champion, is selling themselves short in my opinion. You shouldn’t be proud of winning against weak competition — come play with the big boys in series A, and let’s see how you stack up against people in your league. Why shy away from the competition, if you actually have what it takes to be a contender?

So I agree with you on that. You need to be able to recognize the opportunities that are actually relevant to where you are in life.

 

[Kevin88660]

I think it’s also about capability. There are many people who simply lack the capability (intelligence, skill in a particular domain, and so on) to succeed online or in tech. They simply don’t have what it takes and are unwilling to learn it. For such people, yeah, go to series B, compete in there, do well, and that’s it. Say if someone works in construction, has worked in the trades their entire life… it’s probably not a smart choice for them to go in tech or online. They will be OBLITERATED, and it won’t even be funny. But someone like Johnny who is smart, creative, he built his own non-code app, and so on… someone like that can definitely compete and win online.

That’s why for someone who has the intelligence and capability, to compete in series B and be proud of being its champion, is selling themselves short in my opinion. You shouldn’t be proud of winning against weak competition — come play with the big boys in series A, and let’s see how you stack up against people in your league. Why shy away from the competition, if you actually have what it takes to be a contender?

So I agree with you on that. You need to be able to recognize the opportunities that are actually relevant to where you are in life.

I think this will bring a lot of disagreement with many members but there is an element of truth in the saying that a 9 who thinks he is a 10 will underperform a 8 who thinks he is a 7.

Tech and online business have more scalable outcomes and hence attract the best and brightest talents, and as a result a lot more competitive. So it generates polarized outcomes, you either win big or achieve practically nothing.

Let us say you run the best brick and mortar shop serving the local 3000 population in your district, the ivy league drop out receiving peter theil’s money to change the world is not interested to steal your lunch.

 

[Jon822]

I think it’s also about capability. There are many people who simply lack the capability (intelligence, skill in a particular domain, and so on) to succeed online or in tech. They simply don’t have what it takes and are unwilling to learn it. For such people, yeah, go to series B, compete in there, do well, and that’s it. Say if someone works in construction, has worked in the trades their entire life… it’s probably not a smart choice for them to go in tech or online. They will be OBLITERATED, and it won’t even be funny. But someone like Johnny who is smart, creative, he built his own non-code app, and so on… someone like that can definitely compete and win online.

That’s why for someone who has the intelligence and capability, to compete in series B and be proud of being its champion, is selling themselves short in my opinion. You shouldn’t be proud of winning against weak competition — come play with the big boys in series A, and let’s see how you stack up against people in your league. Why shy away from the competition, if you actually have what it takes to be a contender?

So I agree with you on that. You need to be able to recognize the opportunities that are actually relevant to where you are in life.

I get where you're coming from -- I am competing in the software space. But If I was in Johnny's position, I wouldn't care about my capability or "full potential" if it meant starting over in a different industry. I'd rather just keep printing money since $1 earned in lawn care = $1 earned in SaaS.

If you want to compete against the best, then by all means go for it. Personally, my philosophy on business is the path of least resistance. If I really want to compete intellectually, then I'd do it outside of business.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[anarcho-jamaican]

naah. 9-5s suck. they should be demonized.

that being said. Literally. Nothing pisses me off more than somebody crapping on your pay when you need money and have none and making it look like you cant feasibly live off a 9-5 like 90 percent of the population. like literally. Some ppl just leap into success. others need training wheels and thats fine. you need a 9-5 to get em gears turning go.