Going to make $2,500 in one week with $0 investment

[MJ DeMarco]

uh no there is no semi fast lane if your exchanging your time and labor for money its not fastlane imo...

A shame you don't get it after all these years. Hard work is Fastlane. Process is Fastlane. Using your head is Fastlane. Using available resources is Fastlane. Acting is Fastlane. Human capital and the generation of value, with no money, is Fastlane.

I think you are being a bit disingenuous to come in here and ridicule someone ("That's not FASTLANE!") who is trying to help other people who might have ZERO dollars. Many folks lean on the crutch of "I don't have money" and @RichKid is doing them a favor and showing them it's just an excuse. We value action around here even if it might not be textbook Fastlane.

Thank God when I got started many moons ago I didn't post that I was designing websites for money, a TIME attached endeavor. Perhaps @CarrieW would have screamed "That's not Fastlane!!" and I would have went back to swinging for the fences with a toothpick instead of trying to build a real bat.

Rep for RichKid.

 

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[DeletedUser394]

This will be the world's shortest progress thread. You'll be able to see the idea, execution, and result all within the span of a week.

Had quite a few positive experiences today, so I'm gonna keep it going by giving something back.

So the goal is simple. Make $2.5k cash.

Let's go over the usual excuses;

a) I have no time/I'm too busy
b) I have no money

About me;

a) I work all the time, and I don't anticipate taking a day off during the entire span of this challenge. Plus I've got my own side ventures to maintain.
b) I'm not using any money.

The idea;

In those online classifieds I always see guys posting '2 guys with truck, looking for cash job, etc'. Then I see ads from home owners needing services done, be it painting, lawn work, whatever.

Why don't these people ever bother contacting each other? Easy, it's the same reason why people ask dumb questions rather than use the search function. It's easier to get other people to give you the answers, so in this situation that's what I'm going to do.

The plan;

So I'm going to create one or more crews from all those day laborer guys and I'm going to connect them with jobs. I will take a cut.

The weather has just changed from freezing and snow covered, to warm and beautiful, so I may have the best results with spring cleaning/lawnwork/painting those types of things.

I have solid connections to a large window manufacture, so I'll look for those types of opportunities as well.

I figure at most I can haggle for a 25% cut. That would mean that I'd have to generate $10,000 worth of work. Seems like a lot, but 2 or 3 window or painting jobs and I'm there. I'd go for a lower cut if I had more time, but the goal is 1 week, so eh.

Feel free to steal my process from A to Z. I'm only doing this once anyway and the whole point is to show you, if you're struggling, that generating some quick cash is relatively easy and straightforward.

Day 1 (today), I'm not even going to do anything. CNBC is airing 'Money Talks' in 5 minutes and I missed yesterdays The Profit, which reruns tonight. so lol...

Day 2 (tomorrow) we get down to business.

Good luck me.

 

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[DeletedUser394]

Challenge over, I technically failed.. and quite spectacularly at that.

Was able to snag one more $75 from a referral from a previous day which was unexpected.

All said and done I made $590 in 7 days, doing ~10 hours worth of work. That includes finding these people and actually doing some manual labor and what not.

I sent 130 emails over the span of the week. Got 20 responses. That's a 15% response rate. I 'employed' 8 or 9 people, one of whom was most definitely on some kind of drug. I did 7 jobs total, including 2 days with zero jobs.

Went by pretty damn fast...

Well, I'm going to go and cry over my failure now... Jk, I'm going to order a pizza and watch the season finale of the profit on cnbc.

 

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[DeletedUser394]

am I missing something?

Yes. You are.

Back in 2011 I turned $0 into nearly 6 figures by doing almost exactly this. Ever since then I get a steady stream of young guys around my age asking me how they can get started and earn money.

Most don't have jobs to begin with, and have zero sources of income.

I'm just showing these people that it isn't hard to generate money.

This is not fastlane. Not everything in the world has to be fastlane all the time. Everyone needs to start somewhere.

Even if I make it to that $2,500 goal by Wednesday, that amount of money won't change me or affect me. Heck, I'll give it all to charity. The point of this is to plant an idea into people's heads and to show them that if they think outside of the box, they don't need to report to a boss at 9am every morning.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

How's it feel to know that you'll NEVER be broke? What you've done is something you can call on if you ever need to call on it. Most other folks wouldn't even bother and would prefer to take a bus ride to the welfare office.

 

[RHL]

I just want to point out though, for people scoffing at how little money you made, that my slow lane was a fairly decent white collar job for a guy just out of grad school, could support a family, etc, and I made around $200/day. So making an extra $110 over two days means you gave yourself a 28% raise by growing a pair and picking up the phone, no crying to the boss, no working your way up the ladder, just an idea, a phone call, and money. Boom. If you can do that every day, or even five days a week, that's going to substantially increase your quality of life by the end of the year. That's roughly the difference between earning $50,000 and $64,000 if you make $110 extra every two days. Hustling is like a lifestyle change, while wanting to make thousands right off the bat is like a crash diet that lasts 72 hours. One changes your life in small increments and results in real financial growth by the end, the other is just an action-fake blip.

Respect the hustle.

 

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[DeletedUser394]

Great plan.

Btw, I had to ask. Is that you in your photo?

No dude, I'm a guy.

 

[DeletedUser394]

Today I learned that Subway makes pizza. Fairly decent pizza. Now you're probably saying they've been doing that for years but in Canada these things take 10 years to migrate over the border. So it's new for me

I got a PM this morning asking about how one would do this if they are in a country that doesn't have craigslist. This is fairly simple. I'm pretty sure every country on earth has some kind of online classifieds. For this to work, all you need from your online classified is a search function.

Here's my process step-by-step.

So: How do I find laborers?

Easy. I search for keywords like 'cash job', 'rent due', 'cash', 'pay end of day', etc. The classifieds I'm working with has a separate section for resumes/job wanted and job postings. Most people don't know how to read, and they end up posting their resumes or requests for cash work in the job postings section and NOT the RESUME section which would be the correct place.

This is bad for them (because nobody's going to read it), and good for me (again.. because nobody other than me is going to read it). So I make a point of contacting these people.

You guys need to understand that I'm getting rejected 95% of the time. Most of the time nobody responds, a couple of them respond and have nothing nice to say (LOL), and then you get one or two genuine people that you can put to work.

What do I tell the laborers?

I tell them the truth. Quote: 'I'm a student looking to generate a bit of extra money on the side, so I've decided to match people up with cash jobs. In return I'll be taking a small percentage of the money, and I can help with some of the labor if needed. The exact percentage I get will be agreed to before the job starts.'

How do I find the homeowners?

I use the same keywords as mentioned above, but this time in the job posting section.

What do I say to them?

The truth like before. 'Hi, I'm _____ , blah blah blah, I've put together a small team of workers who are looking to augment their income with some cash work.'

Arranging payment

I take my fee upfront when we show up. The workers get paid on completion. If ever they didn't finish the job or do it adequately then I'd be happy to refund the homeowner.

Email vs. text vs. Phone

Preference will always be Email. I can vet workers and homeowners alike by searching their email address. From my experience, 90% of the time a person's email that they use will be the same as the one they've got on facebook. So I check facebook to see that they look normal and don't like any weird or potentially dangerous things.

Email is also not as time sensitive. Because I still have a real job and other responsibilities I don't want to be interrupted having to answer the phone 24/7. I do use the phone in time sensitive situations. Typing on a smartphone is less than ideal.

Texting is okay, but the biggest drawbacks are the fact that you can't hear who you're dealing with and you don't know who they are. If you live in a riskier area I would avoid texting until after you've already established at least a base line as to who the person on the other end is.

Don't let the rejection crush you

Don't fire off 5 emails to people and then when you hear nothing back, give up. Fact is, you're going to get rejected far more times than you make a connection.

I'm going to estimate that 1 out of every 20 laborers responds. (5%)

I'm going to estimate that 1 out of every 3 homeowners respond (33%)

And that's JUST for responses, not even actually signing up a laborer or homeowner. For that, divide each into 1/3rd.



Today's jobsite (ie apartment) was really nasty. My clothes smell like a combination of cigarettes and weed just from doing a walkthrough after work, but I got my money, didn't have to do anything, and then went to Subway and made my way home, pizza and sub in hand.. They were 'free' after all.

Shameless plug: I'm working on an all encompassing hustling guide that covers all of this and more. Preorder is $25. I won't be releasing it publicly so it's a one time deal. This means you actually have to join the forum (if you're a lurker). Send me a message and I'll add you on the list in the other thread for transparency.

Any other questions related to this thread, fire away.

 

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[QLADisciple]

No dude, I'm a guy.

Please delete my PM before opening it.

Just kidding; good luck and I will make sure to follow this thread.

 

[IceCreamKid]

The reality is this: if you want to have more in this life, you have to become more.

RichKid's hustling lessons teach people how to become a stronger version of themselves, which is vital for the fastlane.

Whether it is fastlane or not, I don't care. It helps you become more.

 

[RHL]

It makes me want to start a web series where entrepreneurial minded cats like yourself challenge themselves to see how much $ they can make starting with 0 and going to $$$.

@DennisDuty You're really, really going to like my YouTube channel then.


@CarrieW Hustling seems like small potatoes because @RichKid is starting with nothing. When you start with zero dollars, all you can trade is your time. When you get more money, the principles he put in place are incredibly powerful. Lots of people on here think that "fastlane"=100% passive income you set it up online then pay hosting fees while you never think about it and jet around the world. That's not it. Read TMF again. It's all math, it's an equation, and like any equation, you can alter some parts to affect others. Lots of people attach the volume and time part, but hustling can attack the magnitude part, which is just as powerful.

Last year I hustled something. I bought it for $14,000 (so I had cash to inject, unlike at the start of RK's plan, but it used the same principles). I sold it for $21,000 about a month later. If a work day takes eight hours, the amount of time it took me, focusing on this product, to go from ink dry on the buy to ink dry on the sell was four work days, that includes prepping the product, photos, advertising, etc.

At that rate, I'd make the same amount I made at my slow lane, fudging the figures for benefits, etc. and assuming the hustle was consistent day-to-day, in approximately 1 month. Instead of 12 months. That means, if it was consistent, I could retire (slow-lane style) in 3.5 years rather than 40 years. Of course, this is all rough math, but it sounds pretty fast to me.

WHAT'S MISSING HERE IS AN OBVIOUS TRUTH: NOTHING BUT SCAMMY AFFILIATE PROGRAMS AND BS MLM PITCHES EVER PROMISES TO BE UTTERLY INDEPENDENT OF YOUR TIME.

The fastest fastlane still requires hours of your time each month, it's just that, if you're lucky, those hours have incredible magnitude and are taken at your leasure rather than in pre-determined 40-hour increments chained to a desk with a boss standing over you.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

this is why girls leave ...

No Carrie it isn't. Stop hijacking the thread.

 

[ExecutionisKing]

It always amazes me just how easy it is to find opportunities like this. The money is out there, just waiting for someone to take it. You don't need an office or startup capital, you just need to DO something rather than spend another evening on the couch watching "Duck Dynasty" or whatever is popular nowadays.

I sit in classes and I hear kids complaining about having to work all weekend for $7.50/hour at Target or JC Penney. When in reality anyone can start hustling and make more money in less time, AND not have to listen to some jerk-off manager who's all proud of her certified-pre-owned Mercedes E-Class (personal jab to my old boss.)

This is so true. People don't want to go to the extra effort. The irony is, the extra effort can so easily end up being more profitable than your "normal" effort...

Case in point: I talked to a kid in my class last week who was complaining about how little income he made at his part time min. wage Subway job where he worked a full..... 10 hours a week.
I mentioned craigslist and reselling things and he said, "that sounds like too much effort." When I hear that, I stop offering advice, since they aren't willing to put in the effort.

I thought to myself, he makes $75 a week. For him, like many, "too much effort" is just an excuse for not wanting to take the risk and try something outside the "norm."

Last week, I bought a pair of older discontinued motorcycle gloves for $50 (including shipping), which was normal for the age of the gloves. I happen to know that because of their styling, they go for more than you'd expect.

Sold them for $170 the other day. All I did was paypal the seller money, put pictures of the item up elsewhere, and stamp a new shipping label onto LITERALLY the same envelope I got them in... and made more in 1/2 an hour than he will in almost 2 weeks.

I know that's not Fastlane, full-time, or anything like that... but it's profitable bootstrapping, and always ends up paying for the next thing I flip, or even keep...

 

[DeletedUser394]

Today I learned that even after you wash clothing twice, the paint doesn't come off.

Finished the job yesterday, got paid. Worked 1.5 hours approx? $166 per hour is okay I think. One of the laborers looked and acted like a crack fiend, but he did his job.

No job other than my slowlane one today.

Interesting thing transpired. Found out I'm slowly being pushed out of my job because I essentially make too much and it's cheaper if they hire another person to do more menial tasks. Taking on a whole other human being is cheaper than giving me the hours. Fine by me, little do they know that with every paycheck I get, I become closer to never needing them again. Heck, technically I don't need them now, but I get paid a lot so I'm pumping it into investments and side projects.

2 gigs tomorrow, transplanting gardens for elderly people. $50 each my way and I don't have to do anything. New laborers.

$515 total at this point.

It's just after 5pm.. going to get busy on my other ventures till midnight.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

if you build truly passive businesses or investments or assets you don't have to maintain things... you can tweak and make things grow and continue to work. but if you find that magic formula you don't have to... HAVE TO... I don't want to have to do anything.

Work your a$$ off, take action daily, be smart about your moves. Focus. Execute. Just like MJ did. Put the 12-16 hour work days in.

After a few years, you will finally be in the position to have what you've always wanted: the capability to not have to do anything.

 

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[DeletedUser394]

what made you decided to go after utilizing hired semi professional labor vrs a crap job anyone can do?

Mentioned this already, but I'll say it again.

I don't NEED to do this. I have 3 other sources of income. I'm doing this to show people that there are alternatives to a 'crap job anyone can do'. Lots of young guys (and galls) don't want to have to report to a superior.

Doing something unconventional opens your mind to new possibilities.

Anyone can get a crap job. Anyone can also do what I'm doing in this thread, and that is the point. There are alternative ways to financially support yourself while you work on your fastlane.

Some people would prefer to do something like this, rather than a soul crushing job with a boss that doesn't care about their existence or the effort they put into it. I'm showing it's possible.

In a situation like the one I'm outlining, you get what you put in. Nobody controls your destiny except you.

I am done.

Please, I don't think I'm being disrespectful when I ask you to stop posting in this thread. This is ruining an otherwise productive thread.

I have nothing against you, however this is getting out of hand.

Just stop. Please?

This is a situation where you're digging a bigger hole for yourself and nothing positive can come of continuing this discussion.

MODS: If possible, can you please clean up this thread? Thanks.

 

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[Paleo]

I don't believe that would be @RichKid's responsibility, since he's acting as a referrer rather than an employer.

It's not nearly that simple.

If he gets paid a fee by the crew for merely finding them jobs and has nothing further to do with it, the he probably would have no liability if an accident occurred. But he still would probably get sued if a worker got hurt.I.e- "failure to inspect" "failure to warn" "hazardous working conditions" etc.

But if he approaches homeowners and says he will find them a crew, and gets paid a deposit by the homeowner, he may be considered a contractor. States have complex tests to determine who is a contractor vs employer (or not) and whether they are liable to pay worker's comp or damages. If something untoward happened to a worker, the property or the homeowner he would probably get sued.

Many people don't understand the legal and financial risks they are exposing themselves to when they get involved in any kind of construction/repair/ maintenance work.

I wouldn't touch anything like this without legal advice and getting insurance first,which considering the small amount of profit involved would make it not even worth it.

Everything might go great or it might turn into a disaster that can hang over your head for years.

The above is not legal advice, it's common sense advice

 

[randomnumber314]

It's not nearly that simple.

If he gets paid a fee by the crew for merely finding them jobs and has nothing further to do with it, the he probably would have no liability if an accident occurred. But he still would probably get sued if a worker got hurt.I.e- "failure to inspect" "failure to warn" "hazardous working conditions" etc.

But if he approaches homeowners and says he will find them a crew, and gets paid a deposit by the homeowner, he may be considered a contractor. States have complex tests to determine who is a contractor vs employer (or not) and whether they are liable to pay worker's comp or damages. If something untoward happened to a worker, the property or the homeowner he would probably get sued.

Many people don't understand the legal and financial risks they are exposing themselves to when they get involved in any kind of construction/repair/ maintenance work.

I wouldn't touch anything like this without legal advice and getting insurance first,which considering the small amount of profit involved would make it not even worth it.

Everything might go great or it might turn into a disaster that can hang over your head for years.

The above is not legal advice, it's common sense advice

Wow this is a wall of "can'ts/don'ts"

Sure call a CPA/attorney to check, don't hold back because an "internet lawyer" said it's scary.

 

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[DeletedUser394]

Day 2 in the books.

Had 3 people that were supposed to show at a cleanup site. Basically condo developer gutted and remodeled the place, and needed some people to remove the leftover debris and then stage the place by assembling some crap from ikea and placing it in all the rooms.

Lots of building going on around here, so this is common, I've even done one of these before.

One was a younger guy, mid twenties from what I know, the other guy was a single father (40ish?) with his son just looking to make some extra cash.

Douche in his twenties went AWOL, but the other two guys were cool.

After we lost the last guy, the job quote was dropped to $300. They were happy to keep $240 (6 hours work, $120 each, $20/hr) , and the remainder is where my $60 came from.

I did stay for a bit to build a cabinet (I like building things). Took about a half hour. So I figure 30mins working + 30mins getting the people connected.

If I placed my full attention on this it would be more profitable, but I want to see how far I can take this with minimal effort and minimal time.

Already have another one lined up for tomorrow. A friend of a coworker is planning a party and needs his place cleaned up (bachelor lifestyle.. ie pigsty) and then prepped for Saturday night.

The same father/son team agreed to come back which is super helpful as I don't have to waste any time finding people for tomorrow.

Note I'm specifically targeting jobsites in wealthier areas of the city so that I can charge more. Tomorrow's job is $200 + $50 up front for me.

Obviously I'm not going to get to that $2.5k with $60/day so I reached out during lunch and contacted a salesman at the window manufacturer. He gave me some leads and agreed to a 60/40 split on profit (I get the 40%).

Past jobs ranged from $750 to $10,000+ (rev not profit).

Nobody died, nobody stole anything, and nobody tried to sue me. Success.

The goal is purposely unrealistic. If I said "$500 then that's easy, I've done it before". I get PMs all the time from younger guys who are struggling to find a base, so I just want to show them that you don't have to have all the answers, you just got to get started.

My phone etiquette is horrendous and I'm still getting this done. $110 in 2 days with about 3 hours of work seems okay for a start. If I can close on a window project this weekend, we'd probably be adding another $500 to the bottomline which will go a long way towards the goal.

 

[jon.a]

I am not trying to be right... but tell me I am wrong?

I really like richkids hustle, I just want to read about that here. I need one of those face-palm images right now.

 

[jon.a]

this is why girls leave ...

BULLSHIT!
Don't insult your gender.

Sorry kid, she's pissing me off

 

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[DennisD]

Last night I put out a few craigslist ads for a project. I was lookin for videographers and models... but then it occurred to me I can totally produce video remotely doing the exact same thing you're doing here.

1. Contact wedding videographers. Tell them I'm an agency with an overflow of work.. Tell them I'd like to show their work around to prospective clients.
2. Get a copy of their demo reel. Do this for the top 10 companies
3. Edit the demo reels together. Make a really killer reel using my motion graphics and editing skills
4. Accept wedding gigs.
5. Dispatch the videographers
6. $$$$

It wouldn't be too hard to get still photographers on board either. I already have a ton of wedding motion graphics, color correction presets, DVD templates, etc. Might as well throw them together, having other people do most the work, right?

Already booked solid, so I don't know if I have the time.. but once it's set up it'd be mostly passive.

 

[DeletedUser394]

well alrighty then LOL... I want to think if they weren't thinking out of that box they wouldn't be here.

Everyone on the forum understands that there is an alternative to the 9-5. That is exactly why they are here in the first place. What is lacking in a lot of people is the knowledge of how to bridge that gap between the job and the 'fastlane business' side of the equation.

Engaging in an activity such as the one I'm outlining teaches many skills that are fundamental to success in business.

 

[IceCreamKid]

Holy shnykies I just realized RichKid transformed into a beautiful woman. Rep transferred for attractiveness.

 

[jon.a]

if people don't want me to chime in then I wont... but as long as people talk @ me and quote me I feel a need to clarify my self

Please stop trying to be right.

 

[IceCreamKid]

DUDE...QUIT PLAYING THE VICTIM CARD OMG this has nothing to do with the fact that you're a woman. Re-read MJ's post in this thread from a lens different from the victim lens, I beg of you.

Anyway, RichKid please continue.

 

[DeletedUser394]

Lessons learned and some advices/tips?

Do something, anything.

I failed and yet I did a lot more than someone who has a bunch of big ideas and doesn't do anything.

I went into this with a two sentence long plan. Took 5 minutes to come up with the idea and start to take action.

You don't need all the answers up front. There's no perfect time. As mentioned prior, I never did something like this before, nor did I have a blueprint. Figured it out as I went along.

 

[DeletedUser394]

Just so everyone knows, this is called a business. Whether it's a restaurant, carwash, or property development company, all you're doing is finding customers who want X and guys who want to do X...Simple as that.

I know I'm coming in very late to this thread, but I just thought I make that point.

Just so everyone knows, this guy is called Captain Obvious.



Someone in this thread already mentioned that what I was doing was akin to a staffing agency.

For your examples, one would more likely than not need some form of startup capital to get going. What I was doing, and the whole point of this thread, is to show people with no money a simple way that they can get some quick cash to put towards whatever it is they want to build.

Call it hustling, call it a business, call it illegal, whatever anyone wants to call it, I call it money in the bank.

 

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[SeanKelly]

Good luck with everything. Based on my current experiences with my own business, it may be difficult signing on the contractors/laborers. They are not typically not the brightest bulbs and tend to be highly skeptical/slowlane. When I first started my offer to them was literally risk free. If i got them work they paid nothing. If I didn't get them any work they paid nothing. I still received "no thanks, we're not interested".

 

[DennisD]

I'm interested in this thread.
It makes me want to start a web series where entrepreneurial minded cats like yourself challenge themselves to see how much $ they can make starting with 0 and going to $$$.

Reselling on ebay, craigslist hacking, reselling cars, no cash down RE deals, etc would be profiled.
It's going into my Yellow notebook of video series ideas.

 

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