Going Fastlane Like My Life Depends On It.. (continued)

[mikecarlooch]

For those unfamiliar, I have a thread in the INSIDERS section of the fastlane forum detailing my journey of execution and basically giving my all to the pursuit of entrepreneurship. Why a new thread? Because I'm too cheap to pay for INSIDERS and I want to continue documenting publicly.

If you read the thread, it's basically a sh*t show - I think I tried 5 or 6 different business ideas in the life of that thread that failed and probably 8 since I joined this forum, and probably 20 in the past 5 years. Everything from dropshipping to ebay to cryptocurrency to amazon to Minecraft servers to famous tiktoker to basketball cards to video editing agency to MLMs to liquidation business to social media guru to god knows what else LOL. Yes, tekkel syndrome indeed, for those of you who read TMF .

To pick up from where I left off, I (very recently) after years of trying things out, dedicated myself to an industry, and I will not leave it. I unexpectedly fell into the world of programming, and unexpectedly fell into the world of real estate where I need to generate massive amounts of leads, do calls, make offers, the whole shabang, which was a pretty foreign (and terrifying) thing to me 3 months ago.

So.. I quickly realized that I was curious enough about these two things to become obsessed and that I'm good at them, and I could just combine them.. And there's my industry.

As someone who's conditioned myself to seek out entrepreneurial opportunities, I went in looking for needs. What does this company I'm working for need? What can I create? What do I need to learn? What skillsets do I need to learn and who do I need to partner with..?

So.. I did. I spotted a need - very quickly..

But I didn't mention it to ANYONE until two months in.

Why?

Because I KNEW that my first client.. Was the company I'm working for.

And as a new guy in the company, I wasn't just about to pitch some idea to them.. No.

I had to first gain their trust by overdelivering in what I was there to do.

I realized that the amount of leads they were getting was minuscule - a few people sitting in a room waiting for a lead to come through on a facebook ad, I noticed some days there would only be 2 leads that came through or even NONE, and it felt like a massive waste of f*cking time..

I had enough of it - so I said - hey - here's what I'm gonna do - I'm gonna generate my own leads.

So they looked at me like.. "Ok...." a little shocked but really - not believing me.

I figured that if I could deliver on my promise to get them leads, they would trust me on my other things and maybe even take me up on my idea. and be a client.

Within 5 days I had generated them more leads than.. seemingly.. They've ever gotten by utilizing some creative strategies that I had a feeling were going to work, because I've used them before in other industries. All of a sudden we had no one to call, to having hundreds of people to call. And I can't go here without referencing @Johnny boy .

So I delivered on my promise to generate leads and got a solid amount of contracts signed within my first month in the company.

At this point I felt great about myself because I actually felt valuable - like all these years of inaction and doing stupid bullshit that wasn't going to work was finally getting somewhere.

So I continued overdelivering and about 2 weeks ago I decided to ask the big question - "My programmer friend and I are looking to create something for people like you - so I gotta ask - what do you wish existed for your business that you don't currently have?"

To my surprise - remember how I said I had an idea? He mentioned the SAME EXACT idea I had in my head.

Let's back up though - I also said I was scared to ask that question because I had no idea how to build it.

How did I solve that problem? 2 ways. I have dedicated my whole life to becoming an expert in what I want to become an expert in, and I intentionally made friends with a programmer who was also entrepreneurial-minded in college.

You know what I realized? College is one of those places where a bunch of super-talented people have nothing to do all day.

So - I partnered with him. We got a software product built for one thing that was pretty cool..

After building that project - which was kind of just a thing we did for fun but didn't really have the kind of utility we wanted..

I sent a text to the company I work for and said - "Hey - we can build you this thing - do you want it?"

Not only did they tell me they wanted it - but they told me HOW and even provided things to help me out to make it as good as possible.

So.. I took that information - drew up exactly what we wanted - sent it over to my programming friend - and now we have a functional product built that is not currently public.. It's only available for the specific company that we MADE IT FOR.

The way I'm going about it is this - I figured if we can take Paul Graham's saying "do things that don't scale" and once again overdeliver for just ONE company and make it a total godsend for the company - another will want it, then another, and then 1000.

Now - I don't want to get too optimistic - I have no f*cking idea what's going to happen. The story is to be continued...

The biggest thing I've learned the past 2 months?

When you find your thing, invest deeply. The reason I now see that I've felt anxious about the future and scatterbrained and not knowing what to do with my life was because I wasn't investing deeply in anything education-wise or execution-wise.

Even though we're just a little startup, I've never felt more meaning and purpose and passion in my life than I do right now - and failures may happen - but I do know that one of the most important things in business according to many people is that if failures are not scaling, you're doing something wrong.

To be continued.....

 

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[mikecarlooch]

Getting Vulnerable... & $180M Entrepreneur Calls Out My Idea & Helps Set Me On The Right Path.. & A Weird Mindset Hack That's Been Helpful

You know what quote is extremely true?

"An object in motion stays in motion"

I think the same is true for entrepreneurs.

"An entrepreneur in motion.. stays in motion"

-

I've recently realized that things like social media addiction, eating too much, wasting time - these activities are the children of misdirection.

When we have no direction, everything just feels so.. bland, depressing, neutral.

The problem with being an entrepreneur is that we are bound to experience these times of misdirection often.

When we fail a business, we don't know where to go next, until we do.

When in a phase of misdirection, we start scrambling around asking everybody in our path if idea after idea sounds like a good idea, and we lose hope in that idea quickly.

I've begun to realize the reality - entrepreneurship, while the rewards are large, we need to have a purpose for doing it beyond money. Sometimes, it's just very cutthroat.

The reason I'm writing about this is because I'm there right now.

I find myself in these feelings of misdirection once in a while, and I've actually developed a little "mind hack" which is what I like to call a "checkpoint"

Similar to a game, whenever I'm in a phase of misdirection, I say to myself "checkpoint"

What this means is that the low will motivate the upcoming high. And also that this low is higher than your last low, and that the next low will be higher than your last one.

Even if you feel as low as you did in any other low, you're still at a higher low than the low you had a year ago.

-

I met today with someone who was very generous to meet with me.

The fellow is the co-founder of a cryptocurrency mining company valued around $180 million currently.

Since I'm in my "checkpoint", I naturally seek out ways to go from misdirection into full-fledge purposeful direction again.

So, I reached out to him and asked if he'd meet with me (someone in my family knows him)

I wanted to ask him about the crazy idea I was about to pursue, and maybe get a hint of direction with a bit of caution mixed in there.

We met at a gym and walked in the back to a tiny room where he sat down and talked to me for an hour..

He asked me about my failed project, and also about the new project I was planning.

When I told him, he said the unexpected:

"You're not going to need $1 million in funding, you're going to need $15 million."

"On top of that, you're going to need to attract hundreds of thousands (or millions) of users on one end, and thousands of users on the other end of the spectrum to make this work. On top of that, the business model will be extremely difficult to break even on the funding you received"

In essence: it's stupid. Don't do it

I was actually quite relieved by what I heard, because to be honest..

This new idea had me feeling like a nervous wreck, having such an arduous project to complete.

He said..

"First of all, what is the fastest way that you can take this concept and make put a deal together in a way that does not involve building a company with $15 million in funding?"

"Second of all, the two most important things for you to be doing right now:

Learning, and Meeting People"

I then asked..

"Ok learning, what do you mean by learning?"

his response

"Doing, and reading."

"If you're going to be out there pitching deals, you need to know what you're talking about, and you need to be an expert in the eyes of the person you're pitching for the deal. However, you don't need to know EVERYTHING. You just need to know more than your audience knows. When I started raising money for my crypto company, I knew nothing. But since I knew 10% more than the people I was pitching, I still raised the money."

He then said something counterintuitive, that really struck a chord.

"Why are you trying to reinvent the wheel in real estate? Nobody is going to find a new way to build a building.."

"My company is worth $180 million, and guess what - my company is not different than others. Maybe differentiation matters for building a product, or SaaS, but for bitcoin mining operations or real estate, it really doesn't. The people that win in these industries are the ones who are able to build a reputation, play the rules the right way, and implement scale."

"When people ask me what is different about my company, I say there's 1,000 small things that are different, but other companies also have 1,000 small things that are different since no company is the same. But we don't have some kind of super secret sauce that makes us better than anyone else. That stuff is all bells and whistles"

Oh...

Why am I trying so hard to reinvent the wheel?

You can scale anything if you're good.

"Just take what you're wanting to do, and instead of making it for everyone (we wanted to make it a platform for non-accredited investors to invest), play with the big boys, and make sh*t happen. You don't need a fancy app. My company website looks like it was made with webflow (it was) in 1 hour. You would never think we are a $180 million company. But no one necessarily cares, because we're just out there in the real world making things happen, and scaling it with software and employees"

I then asked him

"I think I know what you're going to say, but that requires a ton of experience & deep pockets"

he said

"Yes, you partner with someone who has the experience"

This part was actually really impactful to me.

I think a lot of us young people underestimate the power behind apprenticeship, mentorship, and partnership with someone who is way better & more experienced than you are.

You can think of having an experienced partner or a mentor as hopping on their "slipstream".

By being onboard with them, you are essentially hacking time, bypassing years of mistakes that you would otherwise make.

If you don't have an in-person mentor who is truly invested in your success, it's almost an absolute necessity, otherwise you'll be tinkering like you're supposed to but it may or may not take 10X longer for you to find something significant.

I've noticed books are not really enough. Having an in-person mentor invested in your success is like reading a book, on steroids.

Then I had the realization..

You can go fastlane in an old industry like real estate young..

As long as you hop onboard other people's slipstreams, and with that newfound credibility under those people, leverage other people's money.

And you don't necessarily need to reinvent the wheel, all you need to do is pick the right system.

I've met real estate agents that work for themselves (and are super stressed)

I've met real estate agents that have 150 agents under them (and don't work much).

New concept? No. Good marketing, great reputation, and the right system? Yes.

Now I am just speculating here. As I said in the beginning of this post I've been in a misdirected state for a little while.

But the conversation with this entrepreneur helped me and set me on a new direction, that is much more practical and isn't focusing on hypergrowth.

I hope this also helped someone else reading this.

 

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[Antifragile]

Getting Vulnerable... & $180M Entrepreneur Calls Out My Idea & Helps Set Me On The Right Path.. & A Weird Mindset Hack That's Been Helpful

You know what quote is extremely true?

"An object in motion stays in motion"

I think the same is true for entrepreneurs.

"An entrepreneur in motion.. stays in motion"

-

I've recently realized that things like social media addiction, eating too much, wasting time - these activities are the children of misdirection.

When we have no direction, everything just feels so.. bland, depressing, neutral.

The problem with being an entrepreneur is that we are bound to experience these times of misdirection often.

When we fail a business, we don't know where to go next, until we do.

When in a phase of misdirection, we start scrambling around asking everybody in our path if idea after idea sounds like a good idea, and we lose hope in that idea quickly.

I've begun to realize the reality - entrepreneurship, while the rewards are large, we need to have a purpose for doing it beyond money. Sometimes, it's just very cutthroat.

The reason I'm writing about this is because I'm there right now.

I find myself in these feelings of misdirection once in a while, and I've actually developed a little "mind hack" which is what I like to call a "checkpoint"

Similar to a game, whenever I'm in a phase of misdirection, I say to myself "checkpoint"

What this means is that the low will motivate the upcoming high. And also that this low is higher than your last low, and that the next low will be higher than your last one.

Even if you feel as low as you did in any other low, you're still at a higher low than the low you had a year ago.

-

I met today with someone who was very generous to meet with me.

The fellow is the co-founder of a cryptocurrency mining company valued around $180 million currently.

Since I'm in my "checkpoint", I naturally seek out ways to go from misdirection into full-fledge purposeful direction again.

So, I reached out to him and asked if he'd meet with me (someone in my family knows him)

I wanted to ask him about the crazy idea I was about to pursue, and maybe get a hint of direction with a bit of caution mixed in there.

We met at a gym and walked in the back to a tiny room where he sat down and talked to me for an hour..

He asked me about my failed project, and also about the new project I was planning.

When I told him, he said the unexpected:

"You're not going to need $1 million in funding, you're going to need $15 million."

"On top of that, you're going to need to attract hundreds of thousands (or millions) of users on one end, and thousands of users on the other end of the spectrum to make this work. On top of that, the business model will be extremely difficult to break even on the funding you received"

In essence: it's stupid. Don't do it

I was actually quite relieved by what I heard, because to be honest..

This new idea had me feeling like a nervous wreck, having such an arduous project to complete.

He said..

"First of all, what is the fastest way that you can take this concept and make put a deal together in a way that does not involve building a company with $15 million in funding?"

"Second of all, the two most important things for you to be doing right now:

Learning, and Meeting People"

I then asked..

"Ok learning, what do you mean by learning?"

his response

"Doing, and reading."

"If you're going to be out there pitching deals, you need to know what you're talking about, and you need to be an expert in the eyes of the person you're pitching for the deal. However, you don't need to know EVERYTHING. You just need to know more than your audience knows. When I started raising money for my crypto company, I knew nothing. But since I knew 10% more than the people I was pitching, I still raised the money."

He then said something counterintuitive, that really struck a chord.

"Why are you trying to reinvent the wheel in real estate? Nobody is going to find a new way to build a building.."

"My company is worth $180 million, and guess what - my company is not different than others. Maybe differentiation matters for building a product, or SaaS, but for bitcoin mining operations or real estate, it really doesn't. The people that win in these industries are the ones who are able to build a reputation, play the rules the right way, and implement scale."

"When people ask me what is different about my company, I say there's 1,000 small things that are different, but other companies also have 1,000 small things that are different since no company is the same. But we don't have some kind of super secret sauce that makes us better than anyone else. That stuff is all bells and whistles"

Oh...

Why am I trying so hard to reinvent the wheel?

You can scale anything if you're good.

"Just take what you're wanting to do, and instead of making it for everyone (we wanted to make it a platform for non-accredited investors to invest), play with the big boys, and make sh*t happen. You don't need a fancy app. My company website looks like it was made with webflow (it was) in 1 hour. You would never think we are a $180 million company. But no one necessarily cares, because we're just out there in the real world making things happen, and scaling it with software and employees"

I then asked him

"I think I know what you're going to say, but that requires a ton of experience & deep pockets"

he said

"Yes, you partner with someone who has the experience"

This part was actually really impactful to me.

I think a lot of us young people underestimate the power behind apprenticeship, mentorship, and partnership with someone who is way better & more experienced than you are.

You can think of having an experienced partner or a mentor as hopping on their "slipstream".

By being onboard with them, you are essentially hacking time, bypassing years of mistakes that you would otherwise make.

If you don't have an in-person mentor who is truly invested in your success, it's almost an absolute necessity, otherwise you'll be tinkering like you're supposed to but it may or may not take 10X longer for you to find something significant.

I've noticed books are not really enough. Having an in-person mentor invested in your success is like reading a book, on steroids.

Then I had the realization..

You can go fastlane in an old industry like real estate young..

As long as you hop onboard other people's slipstreams, and with that newfound credibility under those people, leverage other people's money.

And you don't necessarily need to reinvent the wheel, all you need to do is pick the right system.

I've met real estate agents that work for themselves (and are super stressed)

I've met real estate agents that have 150 agents under them (and don't work much).

New concept? No. Good marketing, great reputation, and the right system? Yes.

Now I am just speculating here. As I said in the beginning of this post I've been in a misdirected state for a little while.

But the conversation with this entrepreneur helped me and set me on a new direction, that is much more practical and isn't focusing on hypergrowth.

I hope this also helped someone else reading this.

Hey Mike, I've been rooting for you, and in the DMs we've spent countless hours talking, didn't we? But let's cut the crap.

You've got an addiction that's holding you back from achieving your goals. It's not the fun kind of addiction, like collecting vintage comic books or binge-watching cat videos.

No, you're addicted to asking questions!

And not even good ones. You're like a squirrel on caffeine, bouncing from one topic to another, thinking you're making progress. But guess what? You're not. You're just spinning your wheels like a hamster on a wheel, going nowhere fast.

It's time to stop the madness and actually do something. You know, like putting together a real estate deal instead of just talking about it. I'm disappointed in you, Mike.

You talk a big game about being an entrepreneur in motion, but all I see is a guy stuck in neutral.

So, put on your big boy pants and get moving. No more excuses, no more 'revelations' from people you meet or self-help books or textbooks or whatever the heck you get into next. Just go out there and make something happen.

Why am I being so blunt? Because I've raised hundreds of millions for GP/LP structures and billions in debt structures without asking for help. I figured it out on my own, and that's the only way you're going to succeed too. No, I am not bragging, I am pointing out that entrepreneurship is about solving problems, figuring out what others find hard to do.

So, Mike, it's time to stop asking questions and start taking action. Go put a real estate deal together and show the world what you're made of. No more stalling, no more excuses, no more vague business ideas, plans, etc.

Just do it!

 

[mikecarlooch]

BEST. $350. EVER (FIRST SALE)

Do you guys know the story about how coca-cola started out as a pharmaceutical company? Or how Sony started out selling rice cookers?

Wow, business is really like that. We've had to change our approach and offer multiple times to offer something great, and that includes changing the demographic that we were going after.

We started off wanting to sell a software product but morphed into something completely different.

Anyways, today.. Is VERY emotional for me.

Because we've gotten our..

first sale

Months of work to finally see results on what I've built. It's a beautiful thing.

My learnings from business so far?

Never ever let someone tell you that you can copy their business and it will work for you.

Most business books are an absolute waste of time.

Randomness is abundant in business. And change will be required.

You can't read it in a book.

Thank you to @Antifragile @MJ DeMarco @WillHurtDontCare @BizyDad @Kak @Andy Black @Black_Dragon43 @Johnny boy @LightHouse and more for your amazing help on my journey thus far. I appreciate all of you even though we're basically strangers on the internet LOL

 

[Antifragile]

My immediate thinking to become 1% less likely like what you’re saying..

Is to read books that help me understand them more

And that's where I am trying to correct you, Mike.

My mind goes the other way! I can't help think "let me try this way and see what happens". For example: let me ask for money from an investor, that experience will teach me what I don't know. I'll fail at first, I am not an idiot, I know that. But then I can tweak how I did it, what I didn't know and do it again, it'll work when I get better at it.

Same with sites, when a broker tells me "hey, this group has more money than anyone we probably will go with them" I can't help but think "what can I do to test a new way of working with a broker"... so I came up with "what if I paid more commission? What if I offer them ability to invest in the project? What if I let them sell the project which would 10x their commission later?" 100s of ideas emerge, I start testing them one by one from most likely to succeed to the "whacky crazy stuff least likely to work" ...

If you wait until all the stars align to do your thing, you'll wait forever. (this holds for family, kids, business, fitness, happiness - everything).

Nothing wrong with books, I love books, I am a voracious reader! But they only have value if you apply what you read.



edit:
You seem worried about losing investor money that you never had. Get the money, let the investor worry about their due diligence on you. This act alone will lead to an experience.

You ask "hey, can I have $1MM to do this and that" and they go "Show me a, b, c and d before I decide". Boom, 100x better than any book. It's current. It's market telling you what it wants. Now you may have "a" but missing "c" and need a textbook to improve your pro-forma, fine - buy the textbook and rip off the best pro-forma model you can find.

Go after investor 2, 3... 15. Each one will have similarly valuable feedback. It become REAL fast. YOU become better.

 

[mikecarlooch]

Starting Up Again..

We are almost in business (a new one) again, and hired a simple developer who is creating a basic MVP that will allow us to provide the initial solution to those that we are looking to serve.. Then we will push it to the market and see what happens!

A Mindset Shift..

I have decided from here on out to stop taking advice.

I have come to believe that beyond the basics (fundamentals) of any industry or discipline, that advice is destructive to innovation and action, whether from books or from others, even those more successful.

Understand the fundamentals, then invent, don't copy. It seems like THAT is how real expertise is built.

As young entrepreneurs, we need to TRUST ourselves more. Our OWN judgement.

It's helpful to think from first principles. Function over form. Human needs are written in stone. The process to getting people those things in a new, frictionless way are not.

Example: We have a lamp not because we want a lamp. We have a lamp because it gives us light. If someone gives us a better way than a lamp to give us light, and the lamp is not needed, then we do not need a lamp anymore.

Change the process, not the problem..

Anyhow,

Most of history was created by young people!

We tend to see ourselves as stupid because we don't know anything. But our stupidity could lead to a serendipitous (positive) sequence of events that no one else could've given us advice on.

Taking advice might be the worst thing we ever do to ourselves.

 

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[mikecarlooch]

Okay.. I have a somewhat BIG update that is quite exciting.

The FOUNDER of the company I work with had a one hour conversation with me today (the person I was originally going to sell the product to, because they're the target market)..

And pitched ME on partnering with me and my co-founders product.. Offering guidance.. AND offered to invest.

Whoa. Ok. Now I feel like I just cannot let myself f**k this up.

This occurrence also got my programmer on board with the vision way more. As a matter of fact, I am taking my programmer co-founder to work tomorrow so that he can meet the company owner that wants to partner, invest, and guide us.

The founder of the company has 15 years of experience in the industry we're going into. Wow.

I cannot.. fk this up. I'm basically the glue holding both sides together.. And built trust with both parties to get them onboard and to see the value in the idea.. (which again, we already have a beta version created)

The company founder just completely enhanced the vision for me, and really got me thinking how this could work.

To be continued..

 

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[mikecarlooch]

Wow congrats, this is fantastic progress @mikecarlooch !

I remember when we last spoke via DMs you were perfecting the website and you were looking at adjusting the offer.

How have you changed the offer since we last spoke? Feel free to DM if it’s sensitive info you don’t share publically.

It seems like you’ve nailed down the process a lot more so you’re getting much better results. You should be looking at some more minor adjustments and then try to push marketing harder. I’d look at getting cold email set up with Instantly.ai and reaching out to 100+ businesses per day. But before that it may be wise to make a few more shifts to the offer, maybe you can get it even more viral!

Thanks Tudor!

We switched from wanting to provide the software, to providing the end result that people are trying to get by using the software. we take away everything they need to do including the usage of software and just sell them the end result they're wanting to get.

The problem now actually is that we need to scale our internal systems to handle more demand, so we need to start putting people on a waitlist until we're actually able to handle them.

This shouldn't take too long, it's really just a matter of getting organized and working with a developer.

 

[mikecarlooch]

Omg . We made $700 in sales today. We have 3 people on a monthly subscription

 

[mikecarlooch]

Why Was I Being So STUPID..?

I realized something lately as I've been trying to piece together every part of this product I am trying to create so that just me and my programmer are putting the product together, technically speaking.

A couple of days ago, I was listening to a talk that an author and speaker named Douglas Kruger was giving to a group of college students.

He was talking about the concept of authority, and how the rich teach their kids to USE authority, and the poor tell their kids to fear authority.

I had a one of those "Ah-HA!" moments when I heard this.

Why am I sitting here trying to figure out how to build this product myself? SURE, knowing the technicals helps a lot.. Because I can go out and USE the worlds RESOURCES.

Sure, I can go and figure out how to build this thing. But there are already resources (people) that have the skills already to build what I want to build. It would take me 100X longer to get on their level in order to build the product to the point we want it.

So if someone can build exactly what we want, and do it in 1/10th the time, AND i personally know enough technical logic in order to be able to iterate (with a little bit of chatgpt), I would basically be STUPID not to put up the money for it.

My investor and I are both putting skin in the game and going to hire to get this thing built so we can get selling and acting, assessing, and adjusting.

I make money, I'm not going to starve, why the hell not put skin in the game?

@Kak @Antifragile are absolutely right. The ability to influence and lead people is THE skill of entrepreneurs. Being able to communicate with those people and understand their worlds is also important, but you don't need to know EVERYTHING they know to USE THEM.

Immerse yourself in their world, but only to the point that you gain the skills to communicate and use those people...

Wow. What a breakthrough..

 

[mikecarlooch]

I'm not going to lie, it's one of those times right now where I feel a little helpless, depressed, unsure of what direction to move in.

For the next month we don't really have a way to push our product out unless we come up with some way (we spent $5k to get what we need built, and it's going to take a month).

The truth is, we may lose clients and need to start over.

We thought ads would cut it, but unfortunately it won't.

I know it's part of the process, but wow. This has been a massive series of highs and lows. Getting calls from clients asking what's going on and needing to tell them the situation is not fun.

Anyone else feel this way? Just things you start doing more of when you're not aiming in the direction you want to..

for me it's too much reading. In order to cope with the fact that I have no idea what to do I turn to books to waste time, or the gym, or this forum (lol)

Or spending time strategizing shiny ideas of doing something else that seems more attractive.

This thread is about being honest on my journey, and right now it's not so good!!

 

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[mikecarlooch]

It's happening.. a realization that the business I'm in currently can make a good living short term, but not a fortune.

We face two challenges -

1. If we obtain too many clients, we have a higher chance of breaching legality and facing consequences
2. In 1-2 years there will likely be even stronger regulations on what we're doing

So you know what..?

I feel like the reason I've chosen a business that is on the border of legality is because I'm looking for some kind of "quick" way to do it.

No. We're starting something new.

My business partner and I had a long conversation. We can keep doing what we're doing, but it's just going to make a living in the short term. Our company has some valuable assets and a great offer.

What does this new project entail?

Let's put it this way. It's not some internet marketing thing or something where some corporate oligarch can shut us down.

It requires us to obtain government licenses, capital, and software.

Step 1 & 2 is figuring out the cost of the software and how we can obtain the legal contracts

Step 3 is - after we show that we're able to get those licenses, we pitch investors because when we have these licenses we know we have something that has very difficult entry barriers.

We will need to obtain legal advice from attorneys.

Aka, this is a REAL business, and we got the insight from my partner who is a 20 year real estate veteran and spotted the need for what this company will do.

Going fastlane like my life depends on it.. Yes.. We may have a potential failure on our hands, but we're going for big with this next company. If we can obtain - the required legalities, good development, a lot of users, and a lot of capital, the goal is 9-10 figures long term.

As a matter of fact, this type of business is way more aligned with my personal 10 year long term goals.

And I'm going to do it completely legally, providing real value that creates true wealth in the world.

Let's see where life takes us.

 

[Robdavis]

@mikecarlooch

Hello Mike, it sounds to me like you think that "you aren't good enough" in some way...

So when you have an idea, you dismiss it, because it is yours.

When you face competition you recoil, because you think they will crush you.

When you need to take action, you guess what to do and then dismiss it, because it was your idea.

When you come up with a plan, you don't believe in it because you wrote it.

So you spend your time mining other people thoughts, either by talking to them, or by reading books, so that you can get ideas that are not your own.

When you plan to get some results, you dismiss the magnitude of those results because some other people are doing much better than that, so you need to find a better model.

When you finally get started, you obsess over that thing because you think that that is the one thing that will "fix" you and make you as good as everyone else. When that doesn't work, you quit and pivot to something else.

All beliefs around "we aren't good enough" are typically garbage, because they dismiss the idea that we can learn and grow.


You've admitted in a post above that you have done $100k - $300k deals in the past. Why can't you do another of those to get some momentum and then look to shoot for something a bit bigger like $500k and grow that way?

Hope this helps.

 

[mikecarlooch]

Through the process of this startup, I have recently (officially) began understanding the concept of not knowing what you need, until you know..

My team and I realized something.

A part of our product requires a niche branch of Artificial Intelligence, and my programmer didn't know how to do it, or even what it was, even though it's a derivative of Python, his strongest programming language.

Because my programmer is focused on other parts of the product, I had to step up to the plate on something I knew ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about 2 weeks ago, because the problem in front of me required learning it.

I have obsessed over it, and now, with the help of some software, understand it enough to implement it and solve the problem for the product, allowing for a major piece of the puzzle to be put in place.

I also noticed something important, that I was able to understand partly from @Kak -

When you understand something, you understand better how to communicate with the world's resources, and therefore they become more available to you.

That's my learnings today. Talk to you all soon!

 

[mikecarlooch]

And just like that, we’re profitable. All we had to do was stop spending so much money. Sometimes you just need the right person to come and tell you you’re doing shit wrong in order to set you on the right path. In this case for me it’s @Black_Dragon43

Wow, it feels so good. We’re starting to enjoy some of the fruits of our labor

My business does require my time of course. But just 10 minutes ago I’m at the gym and make a single sale that profits me what a $20 per hour employee would have to work hours for.

I smell the fastlane.

But now is the time to go harder than ever !

 

[mikecarlooch]

You know what, I’m actually very happy this happened.

Thank god it didn’t happen when I have 100+ clients. I can catch it early and solve the problem.

This problem is going to be the single reason why we are able to scale the company to new heights.

If never happened, we’d have stayed small longer.

The biggest curses will become the biggest blessings! Antifragile!

 

[mikecarlooch]

I'm not going to lie, it's one of those times right now where I feel a little helpless, depressed, unsure of what direction to move in.

For the next month we don't really have a way to push our product out unless we come up with some way (we spent $5k to get what we need built, and it's going to take a month).

The truth is, we may lose clients and need to start over.

We thought ads would cut it, but unfortunately it won't.

I know it's part of the process, but wow. This has been a massive series of highs and lows. Getting calls from clients asking what's going on and needing to tell them the situation is not fun.

Anyone else feel this way? Just things you start doing more of when you're not aiming in the direction you want to..

for me it's too much reading. In order to cope with the fact that I have no idea what to do I turn to books to waste time, or the gym, or this forum (lol)

Or spending time strategizing shiny ideas of doing something else that seems more attractive.

This thread is about being honest on my journey, and right now it's not so good!!

We actually managed to find a way around it, no cost to us. It actually automates the business a lot more than we were doing it.

It is not empirical yet. But sometimes the biggest breakthroughs are right in front of your face.

Regardless, it's not a long term company. But it can in fact become a 6-7 figure company and earn a good living.

ANYWAYS, In regards to our new (bigger) project...

With some advice from @Antifragile , carefully studying books on real estate, internet search rabbitholes, and chatting with another expert (partner), we will be moving forward.

We had a meeting today to get clear on exactly what our app is going to do, the functionalities, design, and layout.

I have meetings lined up with 3 developers for tomorrow and will be choosing one of them to begin building for us.

While the developer is in the process of that, we're going to be hiring a securities attorney to tell us what we can and can't do. and what we need to do in order to do what we want to do. For what we're doing, we're likely going to have to register under Regulation A (t1) to make it work, and probably some other things.

I'd also like to share something from @Antifragile that he said in DM's that really struck a chord with me. If you're someone who feels bad for failing, just read this:

Are you saying the skills that you pick up along the way..

Even though I haven't necessarily picked up riches in terms of money, I have picked up the ability to create wealth?

AF: Correct. You have created something, even if it yielded no $ gains, next time you can re-create something similar at 10x speed and efficiency. YOU have grown, YOU are 10x better, YOU are now firmly an entrepreneur because you cracked that "virginity" of never having done anything.

 

[mikecarlooch]

Hey @Black_Dragon43 your strategy is working.

We have 10 clients paying us $100 / month + performance.

We essentially have people giving us money in order to give us more money. The business model works like a charm. We don't auto-bill them, they actually make a decision on whether or not they want to purchase further.

And yes, we have repeat buyers.

Our end-of-year goal by January of 2025: 100 people on subscription + performance

Our 10 year goal?

Pivot, and put an absolute dent in our industry. Beat zillow.

Current situation:

I have VA's and 1 employee doing a lot of the heavy technical lifting. My main focus currently is sales and leadership.

 

[Antifragile]

You nailed it.

I unfortunately have deep down thoughts (that I like to stay away from and act like I don't have). It might be from past childhood programming:

- If the deal is available and another investor hasn't already taken it, then i'd probably end up a sucker by buying something I don't understand

What one thing can you do now to make the likelihood of being a sucker just 1% less?

-They probably won't choose me to buy the property because as soon as 1 other group comes in that's more experienced, I'm out

What one thing can you do now to make the likelihood vendor choosing someone more experienced over you just 1% more?

-Who the heck would give me their money and why would anyone want to partner with me on a deal worth millions of dollars? I've only been part of deals worth like 100k-300k.

What one thing can you do now to make the likelihood of someone giving you $1MM in equity just 1% more?

-If I put together something wrong and fail, and lose people's money, my reputation and confidence are screwed

What one thing can you do now to make the likelihood of putting something together all wrong just 1% less?

-The only way to know what to do is to ask people that know what to do

You've been on this forum how long? And you still want others to tell you the exact 67 steps to success? You know better than that.

-If I go and contact brokers to find me a commercial deal that meets my criteria, and then I think that deal meets my criteria but I'm actually just deluding myself that my "criteria" is good, then i'll end up a sucker.

What one thing can you do now to make the likelihood of being a sucker just 1% less?

-If I have a good idea for something that could be done on a property and I tell someone, why don't they just do it and exclude me?

Ideas are worth NOTHING.

“The owner of an idea is not he who imagines it, but he who executes it.”
― M.J. DeMarco, The Millionaire Fastlane

“Execution takes the neurological fart that is an idea and makes it smell like a rose.”
― M.J. DeMarco, The Millionaire Fastlane

-If a deal is already on the market, it's bad

Often this is true. What one thing can you do now to make the likelihood of seeing an off-market deal just 1% more likely?

-We are kind of just like, here in the moment right now. Like what do I do? Oh, there's a book over there, that'll give me something to do.

Squirrel, nut... yum.

Action breaks this pattern once you are aware of this.

Just dumb shit like this.

And trust me i'm heavily aware of it.

And it really bothers me. It stresses me the f*ck out a lot.

“Many people want to change their life, but they are not will to change their choices, and ultimately this changes nothing.”
― MJ DeMarco

And I see what this type of thinking leads to in my family. Nothingness. Complete risk aversion. I hate it, and want to be the outlier who breaks the stupid cycle.

And just so you know, having done this for as long as I have, every single thought you pup up there crosses my mind on every single deal I do.

What's the difference? I work on lowering those risks, instead of letting fear freeze me into complete inaction (or action-faking as it is properly named on this forum!). The way to be courageous is to get things done.

Didn't @MJ DeMarco have that useful saying along the line of "done beats doubt"?

“There’s a profound difference between interest and commitment. Interest reads a book; commitment applies the book 50 times.”
― M.J. DeMarco, The Millionaire Fastlane

 

[MTF]

Love it. That's how I started a SaaS for real estate agencies as well (by first working with just one real estate agency).

In the end I couldn't scale it beyond a handful of clients (this was for my country where the real estate agency industry is very poorly developed and few people use them). I sold the business for a very small amount. But the experience was eye-opening nonetheless.

Wishing you dynamic growth and a lot of scale.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Omg . We made $700 in sales today. We have 3 people on a monthly subscription

I don't know what your margins are, but $700 in profit is the same as working for 46 hours (a hellish week) at $15/hour.

This is how you escape the rat-race paradigm.

 

[mikecarlooch]

We recently made another big decision, we're going to be getting a $15,000 feature built since what we're doing is working so well.

The reason for this feature is as follows:

It allows us to charge more for an even better service which takes our customer's perceptions & value received from us from good to great, even though they're paying more for it.

Our plan is to get this built, get it profitable, and then we'll have a very nice case for investors.

Yes, I said investors.

We're not aiming for a lifestyle business here. We're aiming for enterprise.

Honest long term goal for this company?

I'd rather have a medium-sized piece of a high 8-9 figure pie
than a huge piece of a low 7 figure company

Could bootstrapping give me freedom & autonomy quicker? probably.

But we want to take it big. We want to create something generational.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Congrats Mike on this entire process, it's a win regardless of outcome.

Upgraded to GOLD (a bit late on it!)

The brokies have no idea how to work a lead and then come back mad at us because they are trash sales people with no track record.

LOL, as someone who worked in the lead business for 10 years, this is always the most frustrating as people don't want to follow leads, they want the lead to call them and show up at their office with their wallet open...

Your service didn't work!
Of course it doesn't—I sent you 100 leads, and you followed up on none of them.

 

[mikecarlooch]

OK..

The money has not hit the bank yet,

But I'm close to securing our first client at $1750.

The lead came from a facebook ad and the acquisition cost was freaking $7 lol

 

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[mikecarlooch]

We formed the LLC today and made it real!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I just take 70% of this money, put it in a fidelity account, then use the rest for biz and life

Congrats, but you forgot about the 40% for the tax man.

Want to know what's worse than getting a phone call from your accountant saying you owe six-figures? Not having the six-figures. Had the former happen, but thankfully, not the latter.

 

[mikecarlooch]

This is GOLD — how did you come to this perspective?

Contradictions.

One person says one thing another (equally as successful person) says another.

It was driving me nuts.

Here’s a great piece on this from Arthur Schopenhauer:

You know what's funny?

I caught myself as soon as I came to this realization:

I started looking for blog articles and books about how to think for myself.

Crazy, right? I had to stop myself forcibly.

I vowed to stop taking advice and then went looking for advice on how to stop taking advice.

Yea, that's a problem that needs fixing.

 

[LightHouse]

Let's go dude. As always I am bullish on your success.

You may think about your past as ridiculous, but I see it all as effort. I have done plenty of things that didn't work out in my career as well. The thing is, you just never stop going after it. You only need to be right once in a big way to change everything.

None of us are pre-disposed to know what that win will be. Some get lucky and hit it out of the gate(rare) but most have to keep pursuing. Each time something fails, we are that much smarter and more focused on what works.

Keep the focus dude, you will get there!!

 

[mikecarlooch]

Getting closer and closer to launch..

And I secured my first JV partner!

There are a few things going on..

1. The product is being tested and built still by the developer, and it is turning out way better than we expected it to.

2. I have completely handed off the building portion of the product (besides my own judgment and judgments from potential customers and experts) to programmers. My job is right now is STRICTLY to build the list, test an offer, and then when the offer works on a small scale, create joint ventures with influencers and pay them commission.

Basically, make them an offer to promote me that they can't refuse.

As a matter of fact, I already secured a JV partner already for when we launch, so we should have a good amount of traffic come in from that.

How? By looking at WHO in my market I already have provided value to, who already KNOWS ME that has a large audience. Relationships compound.

As suggested by @Antifragile @Black_Dragon43 @BizyDad and more, I have jumped into Jeff Walker's product launch formula work, and I am glad I did.

I kept it simple so far, I created an incredibly valuable resource that people in my market will download, put it on a squeeze page, and have a small backend funnel that leads with value and then eventually sends an email linking to a survey. (this is my pre-pre-launch)

My goal with this small list I build on my own will just be to get some people to get on the waitlist, or pre-order.

The way I'm going to build the list is using facebook, since that's where most of my target audience is congregating.

 

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[mikecarlooch]

So.. what happened?

We got feedback from the market about our offer.

Quite simply, the way we were doing it, they did not like.

However, the feedback was incredibly valuable.. And ALL of them said "if you did it this way, it would be great"..

So this gave us a challenge and we had to be creative.

It was hard, and we had to test and were uncertain, but we figured out how to do it. It worked. and, admittedly, this way makes the service MUCH more valuable than it was before..

Now we're diving back into the market for round 2..

Stay tuned