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Progress Thread: Journey of 1000 miles

Twista

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Hi guys and sistas! I'm finally starting a progress thread after researching and reading tons of other threads. This progress thread isn't for a specific niche or venture I'm getting into, it's for my entire journey. I'm not going to stop until I've made it. Over time, I'll keep coming back to this thread to log in all of my successes and failures, for inspiration and learning.

I am now 18 years old. I'm still in school (junior.) I have a part-time job. I have to pay my own car payments, insurance, gas, etc. I have no credit. My mom has been talking to me to start my credit up by buying a tv and pay payments on it. Not now, I have way too much stuff to pay for. Recently I got a citation for speeding, so I'll have to pay that off :\. I live in a small town in Alabama. Nothing major happening here. After reading the book, I joined this forum in October (seems like yesterday.) Two months later, I joined the INSIDERS. This is where I got myself on the right track and learned so much valuable info.

On Sunday, I spent some time watching MJ's videos on Youtube. Each time I watch his vids, I get like an inspirational high lol. His idea video is what really hits me everytime.

As for me taking action, I've contacted some manufacturers in China for a product that's very popular and high in demand. Two have responded. One seems okay, I'm still talking to them at the moment. The other seems fantastic. They answered my questions promptly and asked for my logo for the product. I don't have a logo or anything as of yet. Just starting out.

Big ups for vigilante, biophase, and darius for their awesome threads! And thanks to MJ and your book, this site, and your Youtube videos. I wouldn't be this far in life.
 
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Twista

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I've just checked in with the manufacturer who wants to add my logo to the product. She said that a unit price for this item is $10 a piece and the sample order will be 10 pieces. It doesn't sound like a good deal. I'll keep asking her if I can get a lower MOQ or I'll just go to a different manufacturer.
 

Twista

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I've contacted the manufacturer again and talked her down to one sample. I thought I was going to pay $100 for a sample order lol.
 

AllenCrawley

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Wouldn't you want more than just 1 sample? You'd be able to test different BIN price points using ebay or see what the average sell price would be using the auction format.

Have you read thru the entire passive income thread yet?

My sample order is likely to be $100-$300 dollars.
 
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Twista

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Wouldn't you want more than just 1 sample? You'd be able to test different BIN price points using ebay or see what the average sell price would be using the auction format.

Have you read thru the entire passive income thread yet?

My sample order is likely to be $100-$300 dollars.

I plan on testing out samples from different manufacturers as well.
 

tafy

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A lot of your cost will be shipping so you may as well get more than 1 sample, you can sell the other 9 products. Gl with importing
 

Twista

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A lot of your cost will be shipping so you may as well get more than 1 sample, you can sell the other 9 products. Gl with importing

Now that the manufacturer has mentioned the shipping costs, I may have to wait until my next pay check to get a couple of samples.
 
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Twista

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I've contacted another manufacturer. They gave me a copy of their product line, awesome. Their MOQ is low and it's something I can start off with. I will be ordering samples next week.
 

Twista

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Nothing much has been happening today as far as importing. I'll have to wait until this week coming up. I wanted to state one of my failures (In life) here to keep reminding myself not to do it again. WARNING, long post:

February of 2012 was one of my happiest months ever. Mom and I were out car shopping for me. I knew exactly what car I wanted. I didn't care what it's costs were, the insurance, payments, MPG, etc. I researched this car ever since I was in the 7th grade and, at the time, I knew I had to have this car. I couldn't live without it! I was a fool. I went to many dealerships and test drove different models and years of this car. I had fun putting the petal to the metal to test how fast those cars could go. After all of the fun, it was decision-making time. Mom and I went to a buy-here-pay-here dealership, since she has bankrupt credit and they had no credit checks. The salesman was nice, he showed us different models of the car I wanted. I wanted the '08 model. It was gorgeous! So much luxury! It was too expensive. I wanted the '06 model. It was Sporty! Still expensive. There was an '03 model though. I was like, "Yes gimme the keys!" I test drove the car, without knowing that there was no oil in the engine :eek:. I still wanted that car. I didn't run a vehicle report. I wasn't worried about the 217k+ miles on it. I didn't check the engine. I wasn't worried about the sales price of this model, which was 4 grand above its average price. I didn't research this type of submodel, either. I only researched the V6 model of this car. I didn't care. I just wanted the car.

So after we decided that we want to buy the car, we had to put down a $1500 down payment. Too high! I had to take $300 out of my account to pay for this car. You know what? I still didn't care. I should've. After I drove the car back home, I started smelling burned oil. I asked my mom what was wrong. I didn't have much car maintenance knowledge back then. She checked the engine oil and said the engine had no oil. So we went to the store and got some oil and put the whole bottle in the engine. After driving the car back and forth to work, school, and home for a week, I checked the engine myself. No oil. So I did a little research to see what the heck was going on. I found out that this model has a bad catalytic converter problem, which is causing the oil consumption and the only solution the problem is to replace the whole engine. After finding this out, I was pissed. I was pissed at myself for being in a hurry to get a car that has a faulty cat converter.

To ease the problem, I bought a header for my car to replace the catalytic converter. I also got some engine oil stop leak stuff, to stop the oil from dissipating. This helps for about two weeks. And I bought two quarts of oil. This eases the problem I have every two weeks, until I can afford a new engine. So from now on, every two weeks or so, I have to buy two quarts of oil and engine sealant. I have nobody to blame, but myself. I have to suck up this failure and keep trucking. The car is almost paid for, so I'll start saving up for a new engine and I'll be working on my Fastlane plans.

Lesson learned: Do research first before buying ANYTHING. Pay cash for cars, if you can afford it. Don't be an idiot and check the car out first before buying.
Consequences: $2700 out my pocket for a new engine:headbanger: + $300 monthly payments + $150 bi-weekly insurance payments. Ownership of a car with an engine that consumes oil.

I know this is a little off topic, but since I'm not posting much, I thought I'd share a failure of mine.
 

tafy

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Ok yes you should have checked the oil and price before buying that much is obvious now. But its easy to get caught on a 12 year old car, the mileage should have been a red flag too!

But the one thing you did that you dont give yourself credit for was to get an old car that wont take long to pay off, you could have gotten a much more expensive car and still be paying for it in 3 years. Now you mention a new engine but if I were you I would sell the car as soon as possible or part exchange at a dealer and take someone who knows about cars with you. Dealers dont particulary care what kind of car you trade in. Get a car thats cheap on insurance and use the money for your fastlane ideas. Not many people would post about their failures but you did, shows humility which is something few people have.

I just bought a 14 year old VW Polo 3 months ago, 85k miles, good condition £900 which is $1500. I may have been lucky as it runs great except a small problem (hopefully) with the Auto transmission when its cold. I could have gone for a new car easily but I would rather have the cash to start something fastlane. Dont get into showing off by getting something flashy as it will cost you, get something practical with a few dents in it that runs great, doesnt sound very fastlane but you are not fastlane yet.
 
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Twista

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Ok yes you should have checked the oil and price before buying that much is obvious now. But its easy to get caught on a 12 year old car, the mileage should have been a red flag too!

But the one thing you did that you dont give yourself credit for was to get an old car that wont take long to pay off, you could have gotten a much more expensive car and still be paying for it in 3 years. Now you mention a new engine but if I were you I would sell the car as soon as possible or part exchange at a dealer and take someone who knows about cars with you. Dealers dont particulary care what kind of car you trade in. Get a car thats cheap on insurance and use the money for your fastlane ideas. Not many people would post about their failures but you did, shows humility which is something few people have.

I just bought a 14 year old VW Polo 3 months ago, 85k miles, good condition £900 which is $1500. I may have been lucky as it runs great except a small problem (hopefully) with the Auto transmission when its cold. I could have gone for a new car easily but I would rather have the cash to start something fastlane. Dont get into showing off by getting something flashy as it will cost you, get something practical with a few dents in it that runs great, doesnt sound very fastlane but you are not fastlane yet.

That was my first time ever buying a car, so I didn't know. After I pay this one off, I won't be getting another one anytime soon.
 

Twista

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Back on topic, I planned on getting samples this week from the manufacturer. Due to the extremely cold weather, my alternator went out and I also have to pay for a new tag insurance, and my car note. I have to buy an alternator so I can get to school and work. So I may not be posting for a while. My plans have been postponed :(.
 

tafy

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Trade in the wreck for something else
 
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Twista

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Trade in the wreck for something else

I would, but I think my Fastlane plans are more important right now. It turns out that there was a minor problem with it (damn weather!), all is fixed and I should be starting back up this week with my plans.
 

Twista

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Sold some video games and fiction books on eBay to increase my purchasing funds and my selling feedback.
 

Twista

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I just sent a payment towards my first sample order. They say the samples will be ready on the 16th and it will take 4 days to get here. My past orders from China usually took two weeks. We'll see how fast they'll get here, though.
 
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Twista

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My sample orders have been sent today. Can't wait to get them!
 

Twista

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I got my samples today! They're great and high in demand. Next step is to see if the market likes this item and we'll go on from there.
IMG_20140120_131800_521.jpg
Sorry for the mess that's around. I've been real busy lately. Like now, it's a school night and I'm up at almost 1AM lol.
 

Twista

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I've listed my item on eBay a couple of days ago, to see how fast it would sell. Somebody already has placed a bid in it on the first day I listed it for sell. I'm just testing the waters for now with eBay. Since the Chinese New Years is here, I won't be able to get more of my product until their holidays are up. That's not stopping me though. I've been researching the next design of the product, configuring up the profit margins and shipping costs, and debating on how to build up a great functional website. I know the basics of building a site so I guess that's good. If I get stuck on something, I'll just use trial-by-fire.

All of this is happening around my bills I have, so bare with me. I may post slower on some weeks than others. I'm trying and I'm proceeding slowly, but damn surely.
 
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Twista

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My item sold the other day. I'll be getting more of the product this week.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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Thread moved outside per request.
 

Twista

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My item sold the other day. I'll be getting more of the product this week.

It's been a couple months since I last wrote on this thread. I had to drop my Gold membership, due to current finances, having to work 40 minutes away for 1-3 months, and school. But a lot has happened and I'm working my way back to getting that membership back.

Btw, that product that I was selling ended up not being a great product. I have chosen another niche, I've been learning and reading books as I go on. I found a thread by @RichKid about buying stuff from CL and eBay for dirt cheap, fixing up/cleaning the product, and then reselling it for at least 2x of what the purchase price was. So far I'm broke, but that hasn't stopped me. I've already been selling stuff on eBay for a year so I have experience selling on eBay. I have a couple of video games and books that I don't play or read any more that I have posted on eBay. Yesterday I posted up some games, today those games sold for a total of $30, enough to get started. My goal is to pay my car off so I can get started in my next niche, by reading that thread and others and selling stuff via eBay, CL, Amazon, etc. I'll be able to pay my car off quickly. Maybe by December! :)


I've also read @IceCreamKid threads. Those are very uplifting and inspiring which lead me to get my a** back to work and stop being lazy. I haven't forgot about you IceCreamKid. I'm getting the ice cream!

This is gonna be fun! During free time I'll learn about marketing and self improvement (I'm shy as heck lol). I've already started on the Gary Halbert 30 Day Challenge. We'll see where this will take me. Again, thanks MJ for moving this thread for me and sorry I had to drop my Gold membership. I'll be back though, I promise.
 

Vagabond 007

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I LOVE seeing younger people doing what you're doing! Most people your age are worried about drinking/partying.

Good luck and keep pressing forward. Seems like you have a good head on your shoulders, you'll be fine.

Look forward to hearing about your future successes.
 

Twista

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I LOVE seeing younger people doing what you're doing! Most people your age are worried about drinking/partying.

I just can't get into partying. I've seen what that stuff does in the long run. My friend call me boring and say I act like a grandma lol, but I don't care.
 
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MoneyDoc

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I just can't get into partying. I've seen what that stuff does in the long run. My friend call me boring and say I act like a grandma lol, but I don't care.
But when the grandma can retire at 35 and he's just beginning to make 50k a year at 35, he'll be the one wishing he didn't party.

I'm also young (20), and have multiple businesses. Glad to see you haven't quit, keep on pushing!
 

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Twista you can have a business, you can hustle and still go party.

Dont make the mistake of spend all your day working and not hang out with your friends.

Its better for us to define time for work and play (you need to recover energies), even if it means "play" less time than your friends, than let your 20´s being only used for work and hustling.

Have some fun. It help us work better.

If things dont go in the way you want, what memories you will have left?

Spend your days only working? NO friends and No good stories to remember?

Every one have their own concept of fun, find yours.


Burnout isn´t some fancy word used only for people that have jobs.

Human condition.

Now if you work hard this week, now you deserve some fun, even if it only one hour.

Better than nothing.
 

tafy

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Take the sat night off and go nuts
 
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Twista

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Someone donated a Fastlane INSIDERS subscription to me! I am very very pleased. Whoever did it, you don't know how happy I am. This morning I signed in and was like "whoa, something's different" and realized that I am a Gold member again. Then I had seen that MJ had posted that someone had donated an INSIDERS's subscription to me.

This is also a learning lesson to me too. I'm learning to be as giving as you are. Giving is good. It makes you feel good knowing that you made someone's day/year. Again, stranger, thanks. God bless you! :happy:
 

Twista

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Today I am selling more books, games, etc. I've reached my selling limit on eBay lol. I'll have to contact them to raise my selling limit.
 

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