Is it really THAT hard? Can I do it?

[botnickguy]

Forgive me if this seems like a rather silly question. In MJ Demarcos book, and throughout similar advice, it's stressed how difficult it is to arrive into the Fastlane. 80 hour workweeks every week, nonstop toil and no reward. Sounds like quite an adventure.

I'm not as financially ambitious as I once was, for some reason. Maybe you can blame comfort. My life is currently on the slowlane. I'm a Software Engineering student, and I'm not going into debt for school, I have most of my immediate financial needs taken care of at the moment, etc. etc. If I wanted a 'job' I could find one within a year thanks to my skills. I'm very fortunate and grateful to be where I am.

Oftentimes I wonder if I should take the Red Pill and focus on building a Fastlane Business.

I understand the value of hard work, 100 percent. You work hard & smart and you will create your own luck. I work hard but I don't know how anybody can push themselves through what seems like... misery? From how it's put, it sounds as if you're not able to be productive for 12 hours a day you will not succeed.

I am not opposed to being subject to crazy amounts of work, but I don't know how I'll establish that kind of work ethic when I don't need it.

Is it possible to build a Fastlane business in what seems like most peoples workweeks? What I'm asking is am I just dreaming by thinking that instead of working 40 hours a week writing somebody else's Software, I could slowly but surely build my own Fastlane business?

I think it's plausible to build a Fastlane business putting in 30 hours a week hard labor, plus extra.
I want you guys to tell me how I'm wrong and why.
I'm ready to do this.

 

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[GuestUser113]

Entrepreneurs are willing to work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week. Lori Greiner

 

[botnickguy]

Entrepreneurs are willing to work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week. Lori Greiner

Cute quote. Not exactly what I'm looking for. I want somebody to tell me why I will fail. Anybody can quote Lori. I'm all for working my a$$ off, but how will doing it my way stop me from succeeding? I'm not in a hurry. I'm just trying to use the time I do use for productive labor in the best manner possible.

I don't desire what Lori Greiner has. I'd be satisfied to eventually reach what constitutes as an upper middle class lifestyle, with the premise of eventual automation and leverage. I know it sounds crazy. I don't dream of owning a Ferrari or a house bigger than 4000 square feet. While it would be nice, I don't have the burning desire for that.

So the question is, if I work 40 hours a week, doing the same work as say, Lori, would I not end up with exactly half of the results?

It's not as simple as trading your time! That's why we're on this forum in the first place.

Any takers on telling me how I'm wrong?

 

[socaldude]

In MJ Demarcos book, and throughout similar advice, it's stressed how difficult it is to arrive into the Fastlane.

The difficulty of the problem and solution your product or service relates to is related to the value that it creates. Otherwise why would someone hand over money? The harder the better.

This is business/economics 101. It's every businesses dream to be a monopoly. In other words it's every businesses dream to have a business with extremely high barriers to entry. And likewise it's every businesses nightmare to have low barriers to entry and product with very little differentiation. And yet people continue to come on this forum saying how they won't pursue an opportunity because its "too hard."

Is it possible to build a Fastlane business in what seems like most peoples workweeks?

What if i'm your competitor and i'm working 24 hours a day to kick your a$$? Now What?

I mean, you can try. But if i was you competitor i wouldn't mind.

Fastlane businesses require the attention and nurturing that you can't do while being on vacation every week.

If watching TV or going out all the time is more important than a fastlane dream then thats totally fine its your life.

 

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[botnickguy]

The difficulty of the problem and solution your product or service relates to is related to the value that it creates. Otherwise why would someone hand over money? The harder the better.

This is business/economics 101. It's every businesses dream to be a monopoly. In other words it's every businesses dream to have a business with extremely high barriers to entry. And likewise it's every businesses nightmare to have low barriers to entry and product with very little differentiation. And yet people continue to come on this forum saying how they won't pursue an opportunity because its "too hard."



What if i'm your competitor and i'm working 24 hours a day to kick your a$$? Now What?

I mean, you can try. But if i was you competitor i wouldn't mind.

Fastlane businesses require the attention and nurturing that you can't do while being on vacation every week.

If watching TV or going out all the time is more important than a fastlane dream then thats totally fine its your life.

Absolutely wonderful reply! I'd love to have more like these. I'd like to clarify some things. I don't watch TV, no subscription, no cable nothing. I can barely get myself to waste my time on the fast food kind of media that TV is. I'm not big on vacations either, not to try and justify myself to you but it's a coincidence that you mention those two things.

I love spending time reading, learning new things, and generally speaking my hobbies are productive. I work hard at the gym, study hard for college (Slowlane I get it) and I'm not a lazy person.

But I have my flaws and fallacies. I am a developer but I don't know how I could code 80 hours a day. That sounds nearly impossible. Spending all day focused on work sounds feasible, but the question is... when all of you successful fastlaners were pulling 80 hour workweeks, were you literally producing 80 hours of value a week? Maybe I'm under confident, I just couldn't imagine producing 80 perfect hours of productivity in a given week. Maybe it was 80 hours of work, but how many hours of value was it really?

I'm destined for the Slowlane unless I change course. I'm willing to change course but I really am in need of some advice.

 

[smarty]

I think it's plausible to build a Fastlane business putting in 30 hours a week hard labor, plus extra.
I want you guys to tell me how I'm wrong and why.
I'm ready to do this.

You are begging us to give you permission to believe you're enough?
Nobody but experience can do that. Get curious how far can you go.

Your internal dialog creates your reality and skills won't help if you keep feeding the shit mindset.
Do the work your kids will be proud of tomorrow.

Develop some software, plugin, extension, website, service, solve some need in the marketplace. Improve upon an existing product.
You're a software engineer? You own the world to create something.
Become a curious kid, what can you create with the skills you've got?

80 hour is not a precise formula, it's an analogy to convey hard work.

 

[botnickguy]

You are begging us to give you permission to believe you're enough?
Nobody but experience can do that. Get curious how far can you go.

Your internal dialog creates your reality and skills won't help if you keep feeding the shit mindset.
Do the work your kids will be proud of tomorrow.

Develop some software, plugin, extension, website, service, solve some need in the marketplace. Improve upon an existing product.
You're a software engineer? You own the world to create something.
Become a curious kid, what can you create with the skills you've got?

80 hour is not a precise formula, it's an analogy to convey hard work.

Good response, and I applaud you for seeing through all of my bullshit. I suppose this is more of a philosophical question for my own entertainment while I ignore my slowlane mindset. Curiously enough, once you can see through the slowlane it never feels like enough. I suppose I'm just begging for justification here, and while I'd be very grateful for tips on how to further kick my own a$$ (my work ethic truly is pitiful because I can't find a logical reason for it not to be), feel free to call this case closed.

 

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[Hope]

I don't know how anybody can push themselves through what seems like... misery?

The only misery I feel is when I'm not able to work towards my goals, an 80+ hour work week isn't misery if you are working towards the things you want most in your life.

I suggest you figure out exactly what you want in life, and then see if your willing to do the work required to actually get it.

 

[GuestUser113]

Cute quote. Not exactly what I'm looking for. I want somebody to tell me why I will fail. Anybody can quote Lori. I'm all for working my a$$ off, but how will doing it my way stop me from succeeding? I'm not in a hurry. I'm just trying to use the time I do use for productive labor in the best manner possible.

I don't desire what Lori Greiner has. I'd be satisfied to eventually reach what constitutes as an upper middle class lifestyle, with the premise of eventual automation and leverage. I know it sounds crazy. I don't dream of owning a Ferrari or a house bigger than 4000 square feet. While it would be nice, I don't have the burning desire for that.

So the question is, if I work 40 hours a week, doing the same work as say, Lori, would I not end up with exactly half of the results?

It's not as simple as trading your time! That's why we're on this forum in the first place.

Any takers on telling me how I'm wrong?

Sure, let me grab my crystal ball. So I can foresee your future.

 

[Gale4rc]

I'm willing to change course but I really am in need of some advice.

You're willing to change your course if someone here convinces you to? F*ck you.


No one is going to hand you shit and 'fastlane' isn't about the work/'hours', it's about working for a purpose which you clearly don't have.

 

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[chrischapman]

80 hour workweeks every week, nonstop toil and no reward.

lol. i dont think you get it mate.

people who are building businesses working 80 hours a week don't hate it, they LOVE doing it. They become obsessed with their business and they actively enjoy it, or at least they derive a lot of continuing satisfaction from building.

Most of the time you are working those 80 hours, you feel good about it. MJ said in his book that "it didn't feel like work at all".

It's a whole different feeling to working for a boss. It ain't 80 hours of pushing papers and wishing you were somewhere else. It's 80 hours that you choose to put in out of your own free will. this is not to say all entrepreneurs end up working 80 hour weeks for so long, hopefully sooner rather than later you get to automating.

when you get to that point where you're working that much, tell me if it's worth it. Get there first though.

 

[Jamesdoesmith]

you are too well fed. get a little closer to hunger and out of that comfort.

 

[smarty]

Good response, and I applaud you for seeing through all of my bullshit. I suppose this is more of a philosophical question for my own entertainment while I ignore my slowlane mindset. Curiously enough, once you can see through the slowlane it never feels like enough. I suppose I'm just begging for justification here, and while I'd be very grateful for tips on how to further kick my own a$$ (my work ethic truly is pitiful because I can't find a logical reason for it not to be), feel free to call this case closed.

Whenever you feel unproductive, re-consider your assumptions! You may be assuming that you have no value, that you don't have a good enough imagination, that you don;t know how to create a product, that you are lazy, that you can do it another day. But are you being honest with that?

my work ethic truly is pitiful

it is pitiful. if you believe it. and you reinforce it with procrastination.
your old habit is pitiful. your brain tends to always force you towards old habits.

I suggest you figure out exactly what you want in life, and then see if your willing to do the work required to actually get it.

the only way I know off how to figure out that, is by working on different things and see which you like the most and are more passionate about.

 

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[Paul Gallo]

I want somebody to tell me why I will fail

Your Focused on the wrong things.
My mentor taught me to ask better questions. Think about that.

 

[biophase]

You don't want it bad enough. It is that simple. Too bad you are comfortable. But really, it's not work. It doesn't feel like work at all. If it feels like work to you then you aren't doing it right. If you think you are lazy, then stay at your job. The lazy will get overtaken by the hard workers.

 

[botnickguy]

You don't want it bad enough. It is that simple. Too bad you are comfortable. But really, it's not work. It doesn't feel like work at all. If it feels like work to you then you aren't doing it right. If you think you are lazy, then stay at your job. The lazy will get overtaken by the hard workers.

This all rings perfectly well with me. I'm not lazy. I perform at the top of my classes, take leadership whenever possible, get involved, and haul a$$ in general in every aspect of life. I love to get ahead, don't get me wrong. I guess I just misinterpreted the concept of the Fastlane. I enjoy working towards my goals more than anything but I have this aching feeling like I could be leveraging my time better.

I guess I just need to find myself some more. Find something I can be passionate about, and apply myself to that. Likely will start out by working for somebody else, just so I can develop my skills to the point where I can go out and compete as an entrepreneur in my field. And make some money while I'm at it. I'm 20 years old right now so I'm pretty fresh out of the woods so to speak.

I just feel like by saying I should wait a bit before starting my own business, I'm making an excuse. I genuinely think it's what I should do but is that a mindset that is going to later hamper my success? I really am tired of waiting up, I want to better myself as fast as possible and I've been pulling sleepless nights working on my skill-set to make sure I can take off.

I feel like I need a mentor of some sort. I really would appreciate a push in the right direction from people who actually serve as good role models, and unfortunately in the day to day life of a middle class student it's hard to come across people that I'd want to be. Any advice on what I should do to get me going in the right direction?

 

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[chrischapman]

read some self help books. @botnickguy

 

[botnickguy]

read some self help books. @botnickguy

Suggestions?

You're willing to change your course if someone here convinces you to? F*ck you.


No one is going to hand you shit and 'fastlane' isn't about the work/'hours', it's about working for a purpose which you clearly don't have.

Not a fan of how you addressed me to say the least, and I'm not asking to be spoon-fed. I know what I want. It's what we all want, a sense of freedom and contribution. What purpose do you have that's extra special? I'm searching for mine, and I'm going to find it. I've had my ups and downs in terms of personal purpose, but if you want to start a business you need to contribute value in the form of a solution. Sometimes you have to dig a little for that solution. I don't think you should call me out so fast for not having that on tap. You must misinterpret what I'm saying.

 

[throttleforward]

This all rings perfectly well with me. I'm not lazy. I perform at the top of my classes, take leadership whenever possible, get involved, and haul a$$ in general in every aspect of life. I love to get ahead, don't get me wrong. I guess I just misinterpreted the concept of the Fastlane. I enjoy working towards my goals more than anything but I have this aching feeling like I could be leveraging my time better.

I guess I just need to find myself some more. Find something I can be passionate about, and apply myself to that. Likely will start out by working for somebody else, just so I can develop my skills to the point where I can go out and compete as an entrepreneur in my field. And make some money while I'm at it. I'm 20 years old right now so I'm pretty fresh out of the woods so to speak.

I just feel like by saying I should wait a bit before starting my own business, I'm making an excuse. I genuinely think it's what I should do but is that a mindset that is going to later hamper my success? I really am tired of waiting up, I want to better myself as fast as possible and I've been pulling sleepless nights working on my skill-set to make sure I can take off.

I feel like I need a mentor of some sort. I really would appreciate a push in the right direction from people who actually serve as good role models, and unfortunately in the day to day life of a middle class student it's hard to come across people that I'd want to be. Any advice on what I should do to get me going in the right direction?

At the end of the day, it's a logic problem.

We know that people do start successful businesses. So the question is not if it's possible, because we have a non-zero success rate. The real question is how did they do it, is it a repeatable process, and is that a process I have access to/can repeat myself? If so, what is the likelihood of success if I repeat that process?

The reality is that, from an individual business idea perspective, even if following a prescribed process, the idea will most likely fail.

But when viewed from a person perspective, the odds of success go up as a function of time and effort. Meaning that as an individual, you will likely fail a lot, but if your time and effort level increases, the odds of a successful business idea coming to fruition will increase.

The key in my opinion is ignoring outliers. You won't be an outlier. You wont hit it out of the park (or hit anything at all) on your first, second, or fifth attempts. Some people do, but those are statistically insignificant. Ignore them. Ignore the people who "had an idea, developed an app, and quit their day job in 6 months." Those stories will only depress you and are very unlikely to apply to you.

Instead, you just need to realize that you have to be in the game to win. You have to fail, and fail often, to learn the lessons you need to learn (and build the mental framework) to eventually succeed. It will probably take years - your motivation and success will ebb and flow. There will be fits and starts. But from a mathematical perspective, your odds of success are very good over the long term - much better than other means of living a comfortable life.

edit: We often hear and are discouraged by the stories and statistics of failed businesses. We might think "you hear all the time about business owners having to close up shop and losing everything - isn't that going to happen to me?" Well the answer is yeah, it could.

But the real question is how many times have you heard "I tried 29 business ideas - I really tried hard to make them all work, I had good mentors giving me great advice, and they all failed." Not often. You do hear a lot from multimillionaires "I tried 10 ideas, learned from each one, and got better and better at it, to the point where I knew what I was doing on my 11th attempt, and now I never need to work again."

 

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[tafy]

I agree, most people working on their fastlane project don't find it hard work, they love doing it.

Personally I am only doing 20 hours a week on my fastlane as I have wife and small child and a fulltime job, but I make up for it by outsourcing great talent like designers and developers. I think about my project all the fricken time to the point its nearly an obsession.

You think your comfortable now? wait till later in life where its going to be risky like where I am, If I fail I will be 25k in debt with no money in the bank and a small family to support.

 

[chrischapman]

You think your comfortable now? wait till later in life where its going to be risky like where I am, If I fail I will be 25k in debt with no money in the bank and a small family to support.

thank you for the good reminder to get started young

 

[Rcaraway1989]

I don't believe you have to work 80 hours work weeks. Your competitors aren't working 24 hours (and honestly, if you're smart enough to be "blue ocean", you won't have much competition to worry about). NO ONE can put in quality work over a certain amount of hours worked.

Here's a solid quote from Caterina Fake, founder of Flickr:

Much more important than working hard is knowing how to find the right thing to work on. Paying attention to what is going on in the world. Seeing patterns. Seeing things as they are rather than how you want them to be. Being able to read what people want. Putting yourself in the right place where information is flowing freely and interesting new juxtapositions can be seen. But you can save yourself a lot of time by working on the right thing.

 

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[smarty]

Suggestions?

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...rick-to-never-run-out-of-books-to-read.51067/

I don't know about specific books on this topic, but psychology videos and understanding human behavior helped me a lot to better understand myself and understand why I do what I do. understanding human behavior will reveal some deep shit man

 

[AndrewNC]

I suppose this is more of a philosophical question for my own entertainment

I almost stopped reading your thread here because if you keep it as a question for your entertainment...you are wasting people's time on here.

With that being said, i'll reply cuz i was once in your shoes. I started building apps last october while having a full time job and working on my business a lot less than 80 hours a week... My first sale was in February. It's now august, and if I didnt do any work on that business, I would make more in the next year than I did with my job. maybe 30 hours a week of work for half a year, and i'm pretty much set with paying the bills. If I can do it, so can you. I'm not special, and i dont work as hard as a lot of people on here. I dont say this to brag, but to show you that it IS possible.

You're wrong because you think failure is real. I spent a year learning to be a php developer. I built a 'social network' type of site. Spent a long time doing that, and got NOBODY to sign up. Did I fail? No, 2 weeks ago I discovered a new need in the market, and I already have a website up ready to make sales. Your journey is not failure, it is a journey of different lessons.

Based on your questions, I can see where you are at. You will have a long journey ahead of you, and it will be rough at times. But it is worth it on the other side.

Now the question is...do you really want it? Or are you happy working a job and living your own life. Only you can answer what will make you happy. The fastlane isnt for everybody

 

[Ninjakid]

Here's my humble opinion:

Don't worry about the amount of hours worked, but rather focus on specific accomplishments.

Make a list of things you need to get done, and make sure you complete them, come hell or high water.

Personally I see nothing wrong with wanting your comfort level met while working on your fastlane project. The problem is, being an successful entrepreneur is tough and risky, and your chances are probably slimmed when you have a 9-5 because you know subconsciously that you can abandon your business and still make your living. It's easy to lose motivation that way.

But keep in mind, everyone's path is slightly different. Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook as a university student (although he dropped out soon after). Elon Musk lived in an office, showered at the YMCA and spent all his time working on his first business until he made his millions. And Robert Kiyosaki made failed businesses for decades before writing a book based on things that never happened, and marketed through an MLM before he got wealthy. You see, there's no "one size fits all."

But the choice is yours bro. Truth is, entrepreneurship is not for everyone, and there's nothing wrong with being satisfied with your job if it gives yuo satisfaction.

 

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[RoadTrip]

Like many members already said, doing the right thing is more important than putting in long hours of work. You can save yourself a lot of unnecessary tasks by doing the right thing. Gary Keller wrote a great book (The One Thing) explaining why you should focus on only ONE thing and how you can find this ONE thing. It's a great read.

 

[Blair]

The biggest difference between working for yourself and working for somebody else is when you can switch off. When you work for someone else 5pm rolls around and you can forget about work until the next morning. When you work for yourself you can never switch off. You will never have this '40 hour' fastlane business you are talking about because you will either fail or you will never stop thinking about what needs doing, whats coming up etc etc then that 40 turns into 60-70+ and then you really get shit done.

 

[theag]

I think it's plausible to build a Fastlane business putting in 30 hours a week hard labor, plus extra.
I want you guys to tell me how I'm wrong and why.
I'm ready to do this.

just F*cking do it then and dont waste other people's time with this nonsense.

but you wont. the reason is your post.

 

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[Mattie]

Personally, I do this to reach my full potential and making a difference. It depends on what your motivation is. What is your intentions? Different strokes for different folks. There is no right or wrong road. Just where you want to be, what you want to learn, and what you want to do. No one can convince you otherwise. It's your journey. It's your time. It's your life. It's your money. Feel good about where you stand in life and who cares what your peers think as long as you're doing what you want to do in life.

 

[ND88]

The biggest difference between working for yourself and working for somebody else is when you can switch off. When you work for someone else 5pm rolls around and you can forget about work until the next morning. When you work for yourself you can never switch off. You will never have this '40 hour' fastlane business you are talking about because you will either fail or you will never stop thinking about what needs doing, whats coming up etc etc then that 40 turns into 60-70+ and then you really get shit done.

Too true. I set goals & achievements which have to be hit each month (e.g. 2 new products to sell each month) & I make sure I hit them. The work that needs to get done is the work done, it's irrelevant how many hours you spend on the business - simply get the shit done and set up your next level of achievements you want and then get cracking on them. Rinse and repeat.

To put it simply: The work (the amount of hours) you do is dictated by what you want, and how fast you want to get there.

Also completely agree with everyone who says it doesn't feel like work, it quite honestly doesn't. Have your vision, know how you want to live, find a valid path to get there and start working towards it. I'm at a stage (and I'm sure lots of people can identify with this) where time spent NOT working on your business feels bad - as if you're cheating yourself out of your dreams.

P.S. Yes, I literally think about my business 24/7 - But I wouldn't want to think about anything else!