Fastlane Fire
Contributor
I am starting this thread as a motivator to myself. Rather than living in my head or lurking on these forums, I've decided to post here.
Right now I'm pretty scattered. I told myself around December that by July come hell or high water that I would be living in beautiful San Diego, working on business ideas and generally being happy. (I live in NY) I stopped going to college, because I realized that I did not want a soulless job no matter how much they were paying me. Also, I figured mountains of debt would not help me.
I had an idea for an app, but was astounded at the price the developer wanted. Then I thought to take it down a notch, bootstrap and get this 8k together. About 5 months after this realization I have about $2400 saved. Honestly I would probably be able to fund the entire thing with that and some shiny new 0% (for 1 year) credit cards. I don't really know whats stopping me. Maybe I don't have enough faith in the app. I formed an LLC to deal with the app, spoke to developers... and then nothing. I told them I would get back to them when I had the money.
I tried paying $350 for a month long banner ad on a related website that CLAIMED to get 38,000 ad clicks per month. I figured that I should just place the ad on an existing website rather than futz with SEO and all that jazz. I did the math and figured I couldn't lose. I did. I got about 250 clicks on the ad over the course of a month and not a single sale. Lesson learned. Are there any tools I can use to see a website's traffic before I make a decision?
Recently, I quit my job as it simply was not worth the headache (80+ mile commute one way) the gas ate possible savings and the days were beyond long. I had ZERO energy for anything else afterwards. So here I am, no school, no job, no girlfriend, no distractions, no excuses. I've been reading regularly and working out every day. I feel like a new man.
After reading the "bootstrap 2K in a month" thread I started searching for items I could easily flip for a decent profit on craigslist. After a couple hours of searching, I had found the product and a dirt-cheap supplier. The deal was kind of sketchy, but it worked out in the end.
Now I'm sitting on $500 worth of product that should net me about $800. Now if only I got some bids on eBay. I know this model is not scalable but it is repeatable and a learning experience so we'll see.
I am also learning about SEO and thinking of getting a copy of Ca$hvertising to help me re-sell these products.
As far as California is concerned, I feel like it will put me in a better 'sink or swim' mindset. I'm willing to go 'all-in' live in my car, and go to the library all day if that's what it takes.
I guess I am posting this to tell you my tale and get some feedback on my process and actions now that I actually have some.
-Charles aka "Fastlane Fire"
Right now I'm pretty scattered. I told myself around December that by July come hell or high water that I would be living in beautiful San Diego, working on business ideas and generally being happy. (I live in NY) I stopped going to college, because I realized that I did not want a soulless job no matter how much they were paying me. Also, I figured mountains of debt would not help me.
I had an idea for an app, but was astounded at the price the developer wanted. Then I thought to take it down a notch, bootstrap and get this 8k together. About 5 months after this realization I have about $2400 saved. Honestly I would probably be able to fund the entire thing with that and some shiny new 0% (for 1 year) credit cards. I don't really know whats stopping me. Maybe I don't have enough faith in the app. I formed an LLC to deal with the app, spoke to developers... and then nothing. I told them I would get back to them when I had the money.
I tried paying $350 for a month long banner ad on a related website that CLAIMED to get 38,000 ad clicks per month. I figured that I should just place the ad on an existing website rather than futz with SEO and all that jazz. I did the math and figured I couldn't lose. I did. I got about 250 clicks on the ad over the course of a month and not a single sale. Lesson learned. Are there any tools I can use to see a website's traffic before I make a decision?
Recently, I quit my job as it simply was not worth the headache (80+ mile commute one way) the gas ate possible savings and the days were beyond long. I had ZERO energy for anything else afterwards. So here I am, no school, no job, no girlfriend, no distractions, no excuses. I've been reading regularly and working out every day. I feel like a new man.
After reading the "bootstrap 2K in a month" thread I started searching for items I could easily flip for a decent profit on craigslist. After a couple hours of searching, I had found the product and a dirt-cheap supplier. The deal was kind of sketchy, but it worked out in the end.
Now I'm sitting on $500 worth of product that should net me about $800. Now if only I got some bids on eBay. I know this model is not scalable but it is repeatable and a learning experience so we'll see.
I am also learning about SEO and thinking of getting a copy of Ca$hvertising to help me re-sell these products.
As far as California is concerned, I feel like it will put me in a better 'sink or swim' mindset. I'm willing to go 'all-in' live in my car, and go to the library all day if that's what it takes.
I guess I am posting this to tell you my tale and get some feedback on my process and actions now that I actually have some.
-Charles aka "Fastlane Fire"
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