Dabble? HAH! I am All in!

[GPM]

Hello everyone

I am posting this as a thank you to everyone who has ever posted nuggets of wisdom on the board.

I want to start out with a summary of where I have been and how I got to where I am not. I will update this with achievements as they come since I am in the baby stages still.

Big shout out to a few key inspirational guys...


@Vigilante – you were the first “gold” thread that I ever read on the board. It was many years ago and I guess I was not yet serious about becoming self-sufficient. It was always something that I wanted to do, but I guess deep down inside I never truly believed that I could do it. I always remembered reading your posts, and thinking about them again last year is what made me come back to the board and start changing my life. I believe that I read that thread before I even read MJ’s book


@biophase – you were kind enough to let me go on a trip with you on the other side of the world. The act of me booking this trip completely changed my outlook on what I could do. You have such confidence and kindness in what you do, you made it so attainable. By exhibiting such an outstanding character I booked the trip as soon as I read about it. At the time I didn’t know how I would afford it, how I would get the time off work, and how I was going to tell my wife that this was something that I needed to do alone. By the time I went, my relationship with my wife was so strong, this was no longer something that I would have needed to do on my own. I found more than enough money to make it happen, I ended up with more time off than I ever expected and added a Europe and Mexico tour to my trip


@Eskil – you blew my mind in Arizona when you said that you didn’t know anything about manufacturing, but figured it all out as you went. That inspiration is what lead me to actually do what I am currently doing. I would have probably kept making excuses for another 6 months, but that one nugget of wisdom INSTANTLY changed my view. From then on I understand that I can honestly do anything, there is no reason that anything will ever stop me in life


@throttleforward – Going all in. Quitcrates. Wow. No matter what life threw at you, you kept going. My friend, you are going to be bringing value to so many people. No matter how hard you got stepped on, you just kept going. Great things await


@Kung Fu Steve – YES! YEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! Big things don’t worry me anymore. Always think bigger. Ceilings are in your head, don’t be such a pussy and smash right through them. Limiting beliefs don’t belong in our lives, and you smashed mine away

 

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[GPM]

So what have I been up to and where am I now?

I joined the forum in 2012. I did the cool trend of “dabbling” for a few years, and then just disappeared into obscurity without ever doing anything with my life. Lots of lows and a few highs in this mystery period. Fast forward to 2015 and the day that I logged in again after many years, MJ posted his “stay tuned for the 2016 meetup”. I had always wanted to go to Capitalism and Bacon, and then Beer and Pancakes, but always made stupid excuses as to why I couldn't go. When I saw MJ’s post I said to myself that I HAD to go this year, no more excuses. I was buying a ticket and that’s that.

Leading up to the end of 2015 I made a pact with myself that every day I was going to do something that made my life better in some way. Physical, relationships, and business.

At the meetup I was not 100% sure what I was going to do, I had a few ideas but nothing solid. Shortly after the meetup I decided exactly what it was that I could do. I had an idea for a custom made product from over a year ago, that I never did anything about. I thought about having it made in China and going the route that so many others do, but the more research I did on it, the more jaded it made me. I finally decided that importing something was not for me, and the quality that I wanted was absolutely not there.

I went from thinking about importing something cheap from China and putting my name on it. To custom making something locally and making it the best quality item that is sold online (that I could find anyway).

I had no idea how to prototype something, so I started reaching out to people who I knew who were in a manufacturing line of work. I was referred to someone, who referred me to someone, who referred me to someone… I was always the shy guy who was intimidated by getting on the phone and asking a stranger for help with something. This experience was absolutely amazing. I didn't even need to know these people, I just used the name of the guy who referred me and instantly I was treated like a close friend!

I ended up finding someone local who could manufacture my product. I fired him off some drawings that I had done up on engineering paper and we got to work refining and putting it into CAD. I had one prototype made up, ended up not liking a few things and had another one made up. Seeing the final product took my breath away, it was even nicer than I ever thought it would be in my head. A very cool feeling indeed!

I emailed every store in my city that sells something related to my product, and told them what I was doing and asked for a discount on what I needed to buy to compliment this product. I needed this for my product photography. Most stores gave me stupid answers like “I will give you a small discount (10-30%) if you say that you got these items from my store”. Yea, I don’t think so! I am trying to build my own brand here!

One store’s owner was super pumped with my idea, and we talked back and forth a bit. I ended up trading my item in for the products that I needed. Straight trade! If I were to have bought this product at face value, comparing my costs and the trade in, I was ahead by $150 on this! So I was very happy. But what made me even happier was the validating. This woman was ecstatic over what I had, and wants to buy several of my product once I have it made. There must be 30 stores in my city alone, if even some of the other stores end up being that receptive if I bring the product in, I should be able to turn over enough product to do a large production run almost immediately.

So after the trade I took my photography. Sent the pictures in to someone on Fiverr to be edited. I saved myself probably 10 hours of work and it cost me a whopping $6.50, not too shabby.

So now where am I? I have my first run being finished up now, and I will have it in about a week. All set up to have it shipped down for FBA.

My new mission in business? To help as many people as I can. I am going to be selling the highest quality product that you can possibly get, in a market filled with junk. The store owner who I talked to spent 25% more than I was planning on selling my item for, on something that I would call an “ugly piece of crap”. So that’s a win for everyone who has to deal with garbage like that and use it in their professional world.

I want to keep my manufacturing local. I want to give as many jobs to locals as possible. The economy up here is hurting, and if I can bring enough business to these guys to keep a few of their employees around instead of laying them off, that would be amazing.

I have been spending a lot of time sourcing out some small parts that I need and have managed to bring my cost per unit down by ~$15, but these were all parts that are not made locally anyways. This means I can still bring my unit costs down, and support locals big time.

And most importantly, I came to the realization last night, I want to help those who are not able to help themselves. A large portion of all my revenue will be donated to charity. I want to help out women in areas where they are treating like chattels, and education is shunned. I want to build my business with these donations from the very start. Thinking about being able to do this is amazing, it is not something I would ever be able to do in any meaningful way as a regular old employee. Something absolutely horrible happened to a family member this year. It was a one-off random event. There are areas of the world where things like this are normal parts of everyday life. Thinking about this breaks my heart, and if I can do anything to help stop this through empowering women gives me a real drive to succeed.


I have left out a lot of what has gone into what it took to be where I am at now, but going forward I might use this as a bit of a journal to highlight my successes and what I have discovered along the way. I hope that I can inspire at least one person who reads this.


I know with 100% certainty that I will succeed and accomplish my wildest goals (not dreams, those are for when you are sleeping). I know this because I will never give up.

 

[JokerCrazyBeatz]

Did you get to escape the rat race ?

 

[biophase]

And most importantly, I came to the realization last night, I want to help those who are not able to help themselves. A large portion of all my revenue will be donated to charity. I want to help out women in areas where they are treating like chattels, and education is shunned. I want to build my business with these donations from the very start. Thinking about being able to do this is amazing, it is not something I would ever be able to do in any meaningful way as a regular old employee. Something absolutely horrible happened to a family member this year. It was a one-off random event. There are areas of the world where things like this are normal parts of everyday life. Thinking about this breaks my heart, and if I can do anything to help stop this through empowering women gives me a real drive to succeed.

I know with 100% certainty that I will succeed and accomplish my wildest goals (not dreams, those are for when you are sleeping). I know this because I will never give up.

This is the kind of stuff that will keep you motivated. Because if you ever give up on your business, the giving stops too and you just cannot let that happen.

 

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[Supa]

Thinking about this breaks my heart, and if I can do anything to help stop this through empowering women gives me a real drive to succeed.

This is one of the most powerful drives one can have to succeed imo. You may not be able to help every woman or man on this planet, but you can create something that has the power to help them. Or support organizations that do.

Something absolutely horrible happened to a family member this year.

I'm sorry to hear that.. Had something happening to my ex-girlfriend that I would've never expected to happen to her, that kinda changed my view on a lot of things. It's those kind of horrible events that can give you the power to create something that will help to prevent those events from happening to other people. Not every product has to save another person's life, of course. But making other's lifes saver or better is a great goal to have imo

 

[Andy Black]

So what have I been up to and where am I now?

I joined the forum in 2012. I did the cool trend of “dabbling” for a few years, and then just disappeared into obscurity without ever doing anything with my life. Lots of lows and a few highs in this mystery period. Fast forward to 2015 and the day that I logged in again after many years, MJ posted his “stay tuned for the 2016 meetup”. I had always wanted to go to Capitalism and Bacon, and then Beer and Pancakes, but always made stupid excuses as to why I couldn't go. When I saw MJ’s post I said to myself that I HAD to go this year, no more excuses. I was buying a ticket and that’s that.

Leading up to the end of 2015 I made a pact with myself that every day I was going to do something that made my life better in some way. Physical, relationships, and business.

At the meetup I was not 100% sure what I was going to do, I had a few ideas but nothing solid. Shortly after the meetup I decided exactly what it was that I could do. I had an idea for a custom made product from over a year ago, that I never did anything about. I thought about having it made in China and going the route that so many others do, but the more research I did on it, the more jaded it made me. I finally decided that importing something was not for me, and the quality that I wanted was absolutely not there.

I went from thinking about importing something cheap from China and putting my name on it. To custom making something locally and making it the best quality item that is sold online (that I could find anyway).

I had no idea how to prototype something, so I started reaching out to people who I knew who were in a manufacturing line of work. I was referred to someone, who referred me to someone, who referred me to someone… I was always the shy guy who was intimidated by getting on the phone and asking a stranger for help with something. This experience was absolutely amazing. I didn't even need to know these people, I just used the name of the guy who referred me and instantly I was treated like a close friend!

I ended up finding someone local who could manufacture my product. I fired him off some drawings that I had done up on engineering paper and we got to work refining and putting it into CAD. I had one prototype made up, ended up not liking a few things and had another one made up. Seeing the final product took my breath away, it was even nicer than I ever thought it would be in my head. A very cool feeling indeed!

I emailed every store in my city that sells something related to my product, and told them what I was doing and asked for a discount on what I needed to buy to compliment this product. I needed this for my product photography. Most stores gave me stupid answers like “I will give you a small discount (10-30%) if you say that you got these items from my store”. Yea, I don’t think so! I am trying to build my own brand here!

One store’s owner was super pumped with my idea, and we talked back and forth a bit. I ended up trading my item in for the products that I needed. Straight trade! If I were to have bought this product at face value, comparing my costs and the trade in, I was ahead by $150 on this! So I was very happy. But what made me even happier was the validating. This woman was ecstatic over what I had, and wants to buy several of my product once I have it made. There must be 30 stores in my city alone, if even some of the other stores end up being that receptive if I bring the product in, I should be able to turn over enough product to do a large production run almost immediately.

So after the trade I took my photography. Sent the pictures in to someone on Fiverr to be edited. I saved myself probably 10 hours of work and it cost me a whopping $6.50, not too shabby.

So now where am I? I have my first run being finished up now, and I will have it in about a week. All set up to have it shipped down for FBA.

My new mission in business? To help as many people as I can. I am going to be selling the highest quality product that you can possibly get, in a market filled with junk. The store owner who I talked to spent 25% more than I was planning on selling my item for, on something that I would call an “ugly piece of crap”. So that’s a win for everyone who has to deal with garbage like that and use it in their professional world.

I want to keep my manufacturing local. I want to give as many jobs to locals as possible. The economy up here is hurting, and if I can bring enough business to these guys to keep a few of their employees around instead of laying them off, that would be amazing.

I have been spending a lot of time sourcing out some small parts that I need and have managed to bring my cost per unit down by ~$15, but these were all parts that are not made locally anyways. This means I can still bring my unit costs down, and support locals big time.

And most importantly, I came to the realization last night, I want to help those who are not able to help themselves. A large portion of all my revenue will be donated to charity. I want to help out women in areas where they are treating like chattels, and education is shunned. I want to build my business with these donations from the very start. Thinking about being able to do this is amazing, it is not something I would ever be able to do in any meaningful way as a regular old employee. Something absolutely horrible happened to a family member this year. It was a one-off random event. There are areas of the world where things like this are normal parts of everyday life. Thinking about this breaks my heart, and if I can do anything to help stop this through empowering women gives me a real drive to succeed.


I have left out a lot of what has gone into what it took to be where I am at now, but going forward I might use this as a bit of a journal to highlight my successes and what I have discovered along the way. I hope that I can inspire at least one person who reads this.


I know with 100% certainty that I will succeed and accomplish my wildest goals (not dreams, those are for when you are sleeping). I know this because I will never give up.

My favourite line is by Mother Teresa:

"Never worry about numbers. Help people one person at a time, and start with the person nearest to you."

Good for you.


(PS: If you're a charity, you could get $10k+ in AdWords spend per month from Google.)

 

[FiftySeven]

So what have I been up to and where am I now?

I joined the forum in 2012. I did the cool trend of “dabbling” for a few years, and then just disappeared into obscurity without ever doing anything with my life. Lots of lows and a few highs in this mystery period. Fast forward to 2015 and the day that I logged in again after many years, MJ posted his “stay tuned for the 2016 meetup”. I had always wanted to go to Capitalism and Bacon, and then Beer and Pancakes, but always made stupid excuses as to why I couldn't go. When I saw MJ’s post I said to myself that I HAD to go this year, no more excuses. I was buying a ticket and that’s that.

Leading up to the end of 2015 I made a pact with myself that every day I was going to do something that made my life better in some way. Physical, relationships, and business.

At the meetup I was not 100% sure what I was going to do, I had a few ideas but nothing solid. Shortly after the meetup I decided exactly what it was that I could do. I had an idea for a custom made product from over a year ago, that I never did anything about. I thought about having it made in China and going the route that so many others do, but the more research I did on it, the more jaded it made me. I finally decided that importing something was not for me, and the quality that I wanted was absolutely not there.

I went from thinking about importing something cheap from China and putting my name on it. To custom making something locally and making it the best quality item that is sold online (that I could find anyway).

I had no idea how to prototype something, so I started reaching out to people who I knew who were in a manufacturing line of work. I was referred to someone, who referred me to someone, who referred me to someone… I was always the shy guy who was intimidated by getting on the phone and asking a stranger for help with something. This experience was absolutely amazing. I didn't even need to know these people, I just used the name of the guy who referred me and instantly I was treated like a close friend!

I ended up finding someone local who could manufacture my product. I fired him off some drawings that I had done up on engineering paper and we got to work refining and putting it into CAD. I had one prototype made up, ended up not liking a few things and had another one made up. Seeing the final product took my breath away, it was even nicer than I ever thought it would be in my head. A very cool feeling indeed!

I emailed every store in my city that sells something related to my product, and told them what I was doing and asked for a discount on what I needed to buy to compliment this product. I needed this for my product photography. Most stores gave me stupid answers like “I will give you a small discount (10-30%) if you say that you got these items from my store”. Yea, I don’t think so! I am trying to build my own brand here!

One store’s owner was super pumped with my idea, and we talked back and forth a bit. I ended up trading my item in for the products that I needed. Straight trade! If I were to have bought this product at face value, comparing my costs and the trade in, I was ahead by $150 on this! So I was very happy. But what made me even happier was the validating. This woman was ecstatic over what I had, and wants to buy several of my product once I have it made. There must be 30 stores in my city alone, if even some of the other stores end up being that receptive if I bring the product in, I should be able to turn over enough product to do a large production run almost immediately.

So after the trade I took my photography. Sent the pictures in to someone on Fiverr to be edited. I saved myself probably 10 hours of work and it cost me a whopping $6.50, not too shabby.

So now where am I? I have my first run being finished up now, and I will have it in about a week. All set up to have it shipped down for FBA.

My new mission in business? To help as many people as I can. I am going to be selling the highest quality product that you can possibly get, in a market filled with junk. The store owner who I talked to spent 25% more than I was planning on selling my item for, on something that I would call an “ugly piece of crap”. So that’s a win for everyone who has to deal with garbage like that and use it in their professional world.

I want to keep my manufacturing local. I want to give as many jobs to locals as possible. The economy up here is hurting, and if I can bring enough business to these guys to keep a few of their employees around instead of laying them off, that would be amazing.

I have been spending a lot of time sourcing out some small parts that I need and have managed to bring my cost per unit down by ~$15, but these were all parts that are not made locally anyways. This means I can still bring my unit costs down, and support locals big time.

And most importantly, I came to the realization last night, I want to help those who are not able to help themselves. A large portion of all my revenue will be donated to charity. I want to help out women in areas where they are treating like chattels, and education is shunned. I want to build my business with these donations from the very start. Thinking about being able to do this is amazing, it is not something I would ever be able to do in any meaningful way as a regular old employee. Something absolutely horrible happened to a family member this year. It was a one-off random event. There are areas of the world where things like this are normal parts of everyday life. Thinking about this breaks my heart, and if I can do anything to help stop this through empowering women gives me a real drive to succeed.


I have left out a lot of what has gone into what it took to be where I am at now, but going forward I might use this as a bit of a journal to highlight my successes and what I have discovered along the way. I hope that I can inspire at least one person who reads this.


I know with 100% certainty that I will succeed and accomplish my wildest goals (not dreams, those are for when you are sleeping). I know this because I will never give up.

Inspiring action-taking!

 

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[GPM]

Time management – I have been doing a few things to maximize my productive time throughout the day. When I wake up now, if it is less than 1:45 to when my alarm would normally go off, I just stay up. The body goes through 1:30 sleep cycles through the night, and if I go back to bed and don’t get a full cycle I will wake feeling groggy. I am using this extra time to be productive.


At work I have a 6am-6pm schedule. Alarm is set for 4:50am. I have woken up every day at 3:30am on my own and used that extra time to be productive rather than go back to bed. It has been amazing! Extra bonus – I don’t have to listen to an alarm, which automatically makes me feel bad (even if I am awake and doing stuff when it goes off).


Video games – I used to play those stupid “match 3” games on my cellphone. I would plan on spending like 5 minutes on them while I was cooking or something, and before I knew it hours had passed. 100% wasted time. Now I will use my eBook instead and actually get something out of that time. I also have not played any PC or PS4 games this year. The last time I actually played a stupid game on my phone was in February of this year, after which they were all deleted.

 

[GPM]

Well this was exciting!