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HOVLane's Journal

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
My business is flipping websites and SEO.

Every sunday, I'm gonna review how I did last week and what my goals are for next week. Every month, on the 1st, I'm going to post an income report of my business.

My goal is as follows:
  • $10,000 in profits after taxes and expenses/month
  • Finish 4 sites/month
  • Sell 2 sites/month
  • Have a 5 day TAT for my service and have the staff to deliver that
  • Rank my drop shipping site top 3 by 31 DEC 2015
  • Reach 1,000 UV/day for my legal website
  • Max out my Roth IRA and Traditional IRA for this (and the following) years.
I'm also updating this thread daily.
 
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HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
27SEP14

Just wrapping up a day of work. Site is about finished on my end. Just gonna send out some purchases to my subcontractors. then i just gotta get my VA to finish up the posts etc. This next week will be committed to link building for this site as well as training up some new employees. I gotta find a new bookkeeper as well. Tomorrow is planning day! yeah!
 

Testament

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
166%
Dec 11, 2013
167
277
35
San Francisco, CA
Wow, I couldn't even imagine getting 10k a month pretax, let alone post! Keep us updated, I'd love to see how your progress comes along. :)
 

HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
Sunday, planning the week's goals day.

My goals this week are:
-outsource remaining work on site 1
-do round 1 of link building for site 1
-update operations for flipping sites
-train new employee 1
-hire new bookkeeper
-finish site 2
 
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HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
29 SEP 14

I had a late start today. I took a melatonin last night. I swear that shit always makes me groggy the next day.

anyways. I sat down and caught up on all my orders. I'm still looking for an employee for this one business. My primary employee is too busy with school and my secondary can only work one weekend every 6 weeks. I seriously need to get an employee on this again.

Site 1 is almost completed. I just gotta outsource the work to the remaining contractors and wait for them to deliver their work. I'll have it all done by tomorrow.

Site 2 will be worked on Wed. The operations update will happen Wed as well. I can make the major changes wed and tweak the operations once the site 1 work is delivered. It shouldn't be that many tweaks, if any.

Hmmm I still don't know how I'm gonna find a new employee. This shit requires a native English speaker who is smart enough to solve problems in new ways. You also have to read a lot and be willing to learn every time you do the task. Worse case scenario, I just launch my ads once ever 6 weeks and let my secondary employee do it all. Major decrease in sales but, at least I'll have something.

Bookkeeper candidate and I are having a chat tomorrow.

Yeah! everything is going on track!
 

HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
30SEP14

F*ck man. I got down to my desk and was planning on checking into my flight. Guess what!? MY FLIGHT WAS CANCELED A MONTH AGO AND I NEVER NOTICED. Jesus. I had to replan the next week. Took up 2 or 3 hours.

All I did was catch up on some work.

Good day though, I'm caught up with my clients.
 

HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
I got very little done today except go to my new place. However, the one thing I did do that's super important was a 20% thing that I'm testing out right now! Yeah! So F*cking awesome.
 
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HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
2 OCT 14

Man, yesterday was hectic. I have no employee right now so I had to do 5 orders myself. It took 3.5 hours. Today, I have 13 more orders!

I took a look and realize I make 3k/week on this business. Turning the business off because I have no employee is something I'll never do. F*ck that, I'm just going to work double time until I find the right person.

I realize that the first priority is the flipping websites business since I must spend time nurturing it still. The second priority of the day is the other business. Third priority are miscellaneous errands, etc. Looks like I have some full weeks and months ahead of me!

I also posted up an ad for a graphic designer to get this 3rd business rolling. If this thing works, I can charge 5k+ per order. Yeah!

I looked at it and 10k/month post taxes is 20k/month pre-taxes. If all 3 business are rolling, I can easily hit that mark. 12k on the "second priority biz" and all I need is 8k more. 2 orders on the 5k biz will do it. I'll have about 6 months at least before these flipping website mature enough to sell.

Oh, I just collected a check for 6.5k yesterday from a website sale I did the other week. yeah! I have another website sale lined up in November. That one should be 30k+.

anyways! Time to start my work day! I really need to hustle since I have a hot date tonight! hahaha
 

HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
3OCT14

I'm inches away from completing all of this week's tasks. I'm also stacked with tickets, about 13, that needs to be done too. Those will be done Sunday. Today, its all about the flipping websites biz and finishing up my weekly objectives.

My goals this week are:
-outsource remaining work on site 1 (done for all or almost all, just waiting on replies from contractors)
-do round 1 of link building for site 1 (done for almost all, my main guy is just on a holiday in his native village --whatever that means-- until next week), I'm sending him all the work still so it'll take 2 weeks to get done.
-update operations for flipping sites (doing that today)
-train new employee 1 (cancel this, I'm writing the new ad today and updating the training docs.)
-hire new bookkeeper (working on it right now, need to send in banking docs to her)
-finish site 2 (I'm stacked with work so I'm gonna use one of my 6 sites that are semi-finished here instead of the original blank site.)
 

HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
5OCT14

First off, I don't know how I missed a day. Hmm I have no idea where the time went.

Right now, its 6m and I have to wake up at 10:30 for a lunch date. Then I'm gonna go and sleep at the airport until my flight at 9pm. I F*cking hate having a messed up sleep schedule but it seems like I always deal with this since I'm a night owl and flights/check-out times are always inconvenient for me. Ughh I can't wait to arrive in Thailand on the 15th. Then, I'll have a regular place to work without having to fly every Sunday and Wednesday.

So, for last week, I have 4 of the 5 goals done. Work wise, its OK in my opinion. I used to be an all-or-nothing perfectionist but I've changed. Getting 4/5 is good. I had a great week otherwise. Positivity yo!

This week, my goals are:
-make monthly goals for OCT (done)
-Finalize site 2
-build links for site 2
-finalize site 3
-build links for site 3
-finalize site 4
- build links for site 4
-hire staff for new biz (ads posted, waiting to look through applicants)
-hire new bookkeeper (almost done, just finish some communication)
-Do testrun of new biz with alpha site (jsut have to write the testrun, graphic designer at the ready)
-Hire new staff for old biz (posted ad but have to post more ads. also have to edit the training docs)
-Get my thai visa (doing that tuesday + wed)

Pretty pump for Thailand actually. I'm planning on living on 1k/month there. Yeah! Saving money!!!!
 
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HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
6 OCT 14

Oh man. I just finished up about $800 worth of orders in about 8 hours. Well, I arrived at the office at 3pm and its midnight. I did go for lunch, and dinner, and had a nap at the office too. 8 hrs sounds right.

I really need to find an employee!

I just hired a bookkeeper today so that's awesome. I'll have someone calculate the earning and such for me now.

I'm going to re-adjust my to-do list today cuz I said I'll be here only until 1am. I have 1 hr left so I better make the most of this work session!
 

Harry321

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
49%
May 28, 2014
129
63
GREAT progress thread so far. It would be awesome if you posted some links to your current projects.
 

HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
he he sorry dude no way am I outing my niche or connecting my identities. Worse thing that could happen is that my competitors do their homework, find out how much I'm making, and step up their game!

8OCT14

So, I don't know how I missed a day but whatever. I got to work today and had crisis after crisis all morning. First, my Visa never went through so I'll have to land in Thailand with only a visa upon arrival. Eh, sorta set me back cuz I have to figure out how to get a visa there now. Plus I wasted 2 days filling out paperwork that didn't do anything.

Then, I checked on the $800 worth of work I did last night and realize a small screw up on my part resulted in all the work being obsolete. So, I have to re-deliver all the work. In addition, I'll have to do some extra work as well. another set back.

Then, the alpha test for my new $5,000 product failed miserable. I was in super-depressed mood when this hit cuz, damn, 3 failures in one morning? I haven't even checked my email yet. Oh, my date didn't reply to me on Skype either. hahaha talk about terrible.

Anyways, the nice people at this coworking center invited me to lunch and I got away from my problems for a bit. I then got back to work to watch futurama and took a nap. Now, I'm waiting on a contractor for his view on the 5k product to see where it stands, I sent an email to the guy with the $800 order explaining what happened and how its not scheduled for 2 weeks later.

So, crisis handled and its 4pm. I'll be here until the last co-worker leaves, which is like 1 or 2am.

I realized I over-booked myself for this week. Well, I might have. I have a flight to another city tomorrow so my productivity will be down. Plus I'll be spending time with a friend there.

My priority today is to find a new help desk system. My current one lacks a lot of features. After that, I'll have to customize it. Re-branding my product is the biggest thing. I can't do that before I re-launch. My contractor just finished my webapp so that's great. It'll help me out a lot.

I can quickly get the websites done for this week in a few hours if I send the work out to my employees. Whooo. I have most of the jobs written down on Evernote so its just copy and paste.

As for hiring people, that's still on the back burner. I have to research what caused the two crisis to occure this morning so I can fix that in the job details.

Also, I thought about this last night, most of these threads are from people who never went to B school. I did. I realized that a lot of small scale tech companies in my niche is missing that Big Corporate Touch that you learn about in B school. I'm distinguishing my service with Customer Service and Quality (price is so-so, not really the cheaper nor the most expensive). I'm also adding CSR, company values, and mission statement to the website. This'll give my company more of a professional stance. I'll have to do this before I hire people as well!

So, today its help desk, websites, rebranding, then hiring. I only have 1 more day at this office so I better make the most of it.
 
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HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
F*ck. its 6:30pm and I realize I way overscheduled shit for this week. My plan is to just get my tickets done, figure out where I'm gonna live in Thailand, and get back to the other stuff once I'm settled in. I've figured out a new help desk system so thats taken care of.

God damn it, running your own biz is stressful enough, why did I decide to travel to a new city every Sun and Wed as well?
 

HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
Ughh traveling takes up so much time. I was planning on getting work done on the train last night but, F*ck, the train had no WiFi. Odd how buses have Wifi but train's done.

Yup. Just chilling and getting stuff done before I go to Thailand and get massive amounts of work done.
 

HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
Yesterday, I went to starbucks to work and got all the stuff I was required to do done. Nothing more. I really hate not having an office for myself. Can't wait for Thailand on the 15th! (I'll arrive on the 16th).

Today, the web app got finished and I've been using since early this morning. Pretty awesome. Tons of intelligence has been coming in since.

A huge pile of writing came in too, so I'm sending that to my VA today as well.

My biggest task for this week is rebranding. That'll take up a lot of time, probably all day.

I realized, when I was making my to-do list for the day, I had a little bit too much coffee and, hence, it was a little too ambitious. lol.

I also received my deposit for the 6k website sale. I've put 2k into my IRA. Yeah! I feel so responsible, planning for retirement.
 
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HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
I'm currently at a "drinking resort" so nothing will get done until Thursday.

[edit] F*ck that place. I checked out early and got a place on airbnb. I'm back to work now.
 
Last edited:

HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
OK. In Chiang Mai now. Currently working 12 hour days. I was working 4 hrs in one biz, 4hrs in another biz, and 4 hours in the first biz again but realized that switching biz (and mindsets) is pretty hard. I'm now gonna work one biz on odd days and another biz on even days.
 

HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
Ok. Chiang mai is all right. I just got back from an hour long massage that was only 180 baht (a little less than $6). Pretty awesome. Great way to end a 12 hour work day. I'm getting this whenever I want now.

Right now, I've set my goals for the next 4 weeks and, at this rate, the biggest stuff are done or almost done. Sickness.
 
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HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
Damn. Its 7pm and I still have several hours left on today's to-do list. Oh well, first world problem. Way better than the peasants who have no jobs.
 

HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
I just realized I lost $250 hiring a shopify developer to design my hompage. Dude was such an idiot, he edited the .css but forgot to check (or didn't bother to check) how the css changes would affect the rest of the site. The theme is totally useless now. I'm just gonna go and buy a premium theme and tweak the css from there. It'll take a few hours at most. Should have done this from the beginning and saved a few months of waiting.
 

HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
Second hire failed as well. Looks like I'm not gonna find someone to do this for me. I've narrowed my search down from Fluent English speaker to Native English Speaker to US College Educated Native English Speaker and yet they still can't do my tasks. WTF.

College doesn't prepare people at all. Like, these idiots can't read a biology paper and tell you what they just read.

So, to combat that, I'm hiring more cheap $4/hour laborers to do my easy work while I focus on the big money work. I also spend most of my days planning, testing, and then writing job orders for the $4/day guys.

yeah, this is much better.

My 14 sites are 1/2 done in link building. There are 4 sites being finished by the writer within a week. This big legal site will be finished by this week (or so she says...). Pretty good overall.

I also was an idiot. I shouldn't view it as "finished work on site 1" then "finish work on site 2" etc. It should have been "Finish X task for all 14 sites" then "finish Y task for all 14 sites" jesus, that would have been much easier.
 
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HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
Wow, my 4 weeks in Thailand is ending in a few hours. Here's the results:

-14 sites link building done. I'm just focusing on easy to send to my VA ones as well as the ones with the most bang.
-5 new sites in the works
-Selling a site for 30k right now. We're at $33,400 + maybe 2k for the mailing list.
-No employee, looks like I'll just do the work myself + outsource the website work instead.
-Got a VPS up, yeah!
-I now only work 8hrs/day 40hrs/week. Got all the heavy lifting done.

HCMC next!
 

HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
Just sold a site for 33.5k. I'm finishing up these 5 sites and then tinkering around with a few tech stuff and, on the 20th, i'm going on a 3 months vacation.

C ya
 

HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
Just sold a site for 33.5k. I'm finishing up these 5 sites and then tinkering around with a few tech stuff and, on the 20th, i'm going on a 3 months vacation.

C ya
 
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HOVLane

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
175%
Sep 25, 2014
28
49
34
WTF was i thinking. I got bored of being on vacation in one day and started working on my sites. I'm taking 10k of the 33.4k and putting it into 20 sites. ha!

As for this forum. Its shit. No way am I going to delve into the specifics of my operations.
 

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