Fastlane bicycle

[Yury]

I'm a 30-something fastlane cyclist from Russia.
After having my portion of ups and downs I got my fastlane bicycle up and running.


Wait! WTH is this fastlane bicycle!?


Well I call my vehicle a 'bicycle' because while it's light years away from sidewalk & slowlane, it's not as strong as a real fastlane vehicle yet. Hence, the bicycle. It already does the most important thing though - frees up nearly all of my time (as it's 90% automated), pays all our day-to-day expenses (I have a family to feed), and leaves me free to take on a new bigger challenge.

My current vehicle is a content-based online system with low magnitude but rather ok scale.

And MJ's book got me thinking and experimenting alot as so many ideas and approaches from his book can (and should) be easily applied in real life, unlike stuff from so many other books out there (since my vehicle got traction I've found enough time to read business&startup books, looking for means of improving my vehicle; for me, TMF is clearly a top-3 one, to put it mildly).

For example, here's the N-E-C-S-T analysis of my content-based system which clearly shows its strenght and downsides:

Need - so-so; low magnitude (good reach though, which is the point)
Entry - nearly no barriers and hundreds of competitors, but hey I knew it before I began - and I like it as I know what I'm doing! So 3 years in, I'm in top-5% in my niche and growing
Control - I used to be a co-founder of a much bigger startup where things got screwed up badly because of severe control issues; so this time I made sure that I do control the vehicle
Scale - I will serve millions of people, even if with a low magnitude; being 10x times smaller than main competitors I already reach a few hundred thousand people monthly(*) and I love to be able to help lots of these people even if just a bit
Time - while I like hanging out on my websites, the system itself is highly detached from my time so if I would decide not to touch it at all for a few months and not even look at it, most likely everything would just grow bigger and earn money as usual... I like it.

(*) - hey from the $ POV it's not as cool as it sounds to some as the magnitude is low and I shun many highly profitable but stinky ads and offers that would bring thousands of additional dollars monthly - but I hate seeing these myself so I don't subject my visitors to these as well; I prefer less quick bucks but more customer satisfaction and returning visitors so the system will better evolve on its own

So while with rubbish N&E and good but not great S you can bet that I won't make millions with this project, it provides me with a much better foundation than a job would, as my time and energy are free and my bills are paid and I got a bit of spare cash for new experiments.

And, best of all, I can spend all the time I want with my wife and kid - no job would buy me this!

MJ's ideas helped my to analyze my current vehicle and my possible directions, so now I'm carefully and way more consciously choosing the next step to my bigger goal.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[firmwear]

Congratulations, your situation sounds wonderful.

Out of curiosity, what was your previous startup's product and how did things fall apart?

And, by the way, your English writing is amazingly good.

 

[Yury]

Thank you @firmwear ! My writing just reflects what I read, spiced up by my own situation.

And while the situation is fine and I'm working on making it much better, actually like MJ stresses in his book, it's just a result of the process. So it's not like I woke up one day and found that I don't really have to work, it has been building up gradually.

On the way there I had to go through some rather troubling lows after the harsh failure with the previous startup.

Which was even worse than just 'a failed startup' because the startup itself did not fail, its traction and growth were fine, and it was earning enough money to have a nearly unlimited runway! So on the outside everything was fine, that's what made the situation even more painful and extended the agony for way too long.

That previous startup was a nice community with way over a million members and lot of room for growth by the time things got totally rotten inside the founding team.

Back then I was totally immersed in it and did not have much time to read books/blogs on startups or participate in communities like this one, otherwise I would be able to see the shitstorm coming. A very usual shitstorm, typical for so many startups and companies.

Frankly, subconsciously I could feel it brewing but... I hoped for the best. Relied on sanity of others (not that I was an angel among idiots, I'm to be blamed as much as others). Relied on this, relied on that. Hoped.

Hitchhiked, in TMF terms.

And the faster our vehicle moved, the worse things got inside the team with people mindlessly jerking the steering wheel while not taking any responsibility for their actions, blaming and pushing each other and so on (again, I was one of these idiots so I don't blame "them"; it was my choice to play my role in this farce after all). For a while the vehicle kept speeding up, but... Oh well, the usual sad story.

I lost a few years of hard work there, a great opportunity (and a well-developed one), and a few chances of getting some good money (all acquisition offers were rejected by 'us' even though there was an agreement to save the project by selling it if we can't handle it together anymore, and the offers satisfied or even exceeded the terms of the agreement). Not an experience that I would recommend to anyone.

But at least it shaped up my respect for control, responsibility and accountability.

So after breaking free from that nightmare and having my portion of invigorating lows like hardly having any money to buy the cheapest food etc (invigorating as they took my mind off the failure and reminded me that I don't want to return to a 9-5 job route which I had abandoned years ago) slowly and gradually I was able to start my new vehicle from scratch and use to free up my time and pay my bills so I can finally read some books, learn from other people (that's why I'm here) and carefully assess my options for the next step.

And I can't thank MJ enough for his book and his efforts with this community. Reading the book was sometimes painful for me, but it helps a lot in understanding my previous problems, appreciating my current situation and preparing and executing my future actions.

 

[jon.a]

...the worse things got inside the team with people mindlessly jerking the steering wheel...

@Yury Thanks for that. I must remember to keep the back seat drivers sitting quietly in the back.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Yury]

@jon.a it's even more interesting when you have to let them drive sometimes.

Say when you have to get somewhere and you have limited time and the distance is too big for you to cover alone in the given time.
So at some point you gotta take a nap in the back and let someone else drive, otherwise you won't get there on time.

Of course it would be better to avoid such situations at all.
But the question is, how to handle the situation properly when it's inevitable.

Even with proper reinforcement of clear agreements on control, responsibility and accountability one risks waking up just to find the car speeding in a totally different direction with co-drivers having opposite ideas on where to turn next. And you won't reach the destination on time and the quest is failed even though you've picked the best possible co-drivers who acted based on their best intentions.

So, yeah, that's a very good thing to consider even when there are no clouds on the horizon.