My life sucks, so I'm going to make $1,000,000 in 12 months

[Blhhi]

I see why people keep poking you on the specific goal issue, but there isn't really a specific way to make $1m, is there? It's so ambitious you can either try or not try. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't have a strategy. To achieve an extreme goal, I'm guessing you'll have to be excessively realistic and brutally honest about every single thing you're doing every single day.

Your tentative strategy for now seems to be writing e-books, if I'm not mistaken. But how do you know how much you can really make doing that for a year? A million off books in 1 year sounds huge. 4-hour-workweek huge. You've got published authors on here from all across the spectrum who you can probe for info on how much a given book can earn you, and how fast. If MJ wanted to make $1m this year from e-books alone, how would he do it? How can you adapt that to your niche? Ask him. You can also just find someone who's done what you did. There's gotta be 1 other guy who's made $1m in your niche doing your kinds of products. If not, why? Maybe you need a new niche? Or maybe you need new products.

 

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[Charnell]

He'll start converting disbelievers when he hits $2,740/day which is the number actually needed to get to that million.

Unfortunately, when it gets to that point, he's going to have to makeup for all the missed days that he wasn't making at least $2,740.

 

[socaldude]

I'm not trying to bring you down because its actually in my best interest for you to win.

But this is not how you set goals in business. Ambitious declarations and big numbers mean nothing.

I remember my mentor took me aside once and told me:

"You know what your problem is?."
"You want all the great things successful entrepreneurship has to offer but you don't wanna put in the mental effort and work it takes to makes these things a reality."
"It has nothing to do with porches or having your face posted on a billboard for all to admire and see."
"You are not obsessed with the HOW you are obsessed with the outcome"
"You are obsessed with money not with making value-transactions occur."
"You need to know all 10,000 steps better than anyone else and your fake a$$ doesn't even know what the first step is."

It was the tough love I really needed at the time because it sets you straight but tells you they believe in you at the same time.

A lot of you success as an entrepreneur will come to the level of profound insight you bring to the process of getting from step 1 to step 10,000.

This is what this forum is about, how somebody navigates and survives all the challenges and barriers to entry between step 1 and step 10,000. Not step 10,000 and the shopping spree they will take after that.

 

[Mr.B]

"You know what your problem is?."
"You want all the great things successful entrepreneurship has to offer but you don't wanna put in the mental effort and work it takes to makes these things a reality."

I think this describes many here - myself included at times - thanks for posting this. You are blessed to have someone who could see what you were doing and call you on it.

I still haven't made much of anything from my own products... but I will.

@Jakeeck have you figured out a plan for how you'll start making $$$s from your products? Or is your focus still on covering the day to day stuff through your freelance writing?

I'm in a similar position, I've got ideas on how I can grow my business in such a way that separates my earnings from my time, but at the moment I need to focus on building up my immediate business so that I can support my family. I am planning on taking a month off early next year to focus on my long term plans, to get really clear on my goals and to start working on phase one, however, my trigger from switching focus from project based work to product development is when I have >12 months of living expenses saved. This is the minimum that I'm comfortable with given my responsibilities, but once I have this I'll be comfortable with dropping the immediate work to focus on bigger things.

Have you considered doing something similar? Earn and save like crazy to buy yourself some time to focus on your own products? I've found in the past that it can be tricky to get much done with the scraps of time and energy that is left over... if that makes sense.

The #'s are benchmarks, or a pace, for reaching $1 mill. Anyways, those numbers aren't important to me. If I fall behind pace I'll make it up somewhere. All that matters is that I have $1 mill after 12 months.

It concerns me that at the start of this thread these numbers were indicative of your "real f*ckin goals", yet now, less than a week later, they aren't important to you. You seem like a pretty smart guy. It might be worth you stepping back for a moment and figuring out was is important to you because without knowing what that is, this will be a tricky journey. I know that you don't want to acknowledge what you consider to be 'negative posts' but I do suggest that you don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

 

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[ThexArm]

It concerns me that at the start of this thread these numbers were indicative of your "real f*ckin goals", yet now, less than a week later, they aren't important to you. You seem like a pretty smart guy. It might be worth you stepping back for a moment and figuring out was is important to you because without knowing what that is, this will be a tricky journey. I know that you don't want to acknowledge what you consider to be 'negative posts' but I do suggest that you don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

I share my concern as well here. Good point Mr. B.

Jake, Negative posts can be ignored but if you develop negative mindset it is difficult to get rid off. My concern is that you have already stated that 'these numbers are not important to me'. That is not correct.

If I understand correctly you haven't done anything to start selling your first ebook. Correct me if I am wrong. I think you are spending a lot of time on what you had been doing - freelance writing. As the popular proverb goes 'if you keep doing the same things you have been doing, you will get the same results you have been getting'. Plan your time accordingly. I am not sure how many hours you are spending on 1, freelance writing. 2, Marketing and selling your ebook. 3, Developing new ebooks. 4, physical training (gymming). And 5, personal time for yourself to spend time with family and friends. Without proper focus it is very difficult to double your income every month. Think about it for a sec, if you had spend whole day to get $180, how are you going to make it $2,500? Is it possible? Sometimes same product can be sold in different channels and to different customers. One channel may make you $180 and other channel may make you $5,000. It is in your interest to find out where that channel is and where you can find that customer.

By any chance if you have realised that your milestones are too ambitious then try to spend some time and reassess and create new ones which are SMART. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Result oriented and time bound.

I guess you are getting a pretty good feedback and members are contributing to help you. I guess the reason is we are all in the same boat and trying to make something out of our lives! Take the advise and work on it. Good luck.

 

[theag]

Anyways, those numbers aren't important to me.

Why suddenly? The whole thread is based on the fact that the numbers are the only thing that matters to you.

All that matters is that I have $1 mill after 12 months.

Huh? A few posts back you said your goal is 1MM in sales. Now suddenly you want to "have" 1MM. Seems like you changed your goal to 1MM in personal income, which means that you have to multiply your sales number to roundabout 3-4MM depending on margins, taxes etc. Youre now looking at 10-12k/day instead of 3k. Better speed up .

 

[AndrewNC]

When you climb a mountain, start from the top:

Fast forward into your future. Nov 15th, 2015.... You just made $1 Million. How did you get there? How did you transition from making $180 a day to something that grew to what it is today?

What was that 'acceleration point' of your business that got you here?

 

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[Jakeeck]

Thank you all for your concern about my goals. Made $40 yesterday. I have taken what some of you said into mind.

Month 1: $513/$1,000

 

[D11FYY]

No disrespect as I want to see you do well but I would find this thread far more interesting if you had a 50k/52k or 100k goal. As most of these posts is just fabricated with and people going on about your 1mm goal wither it be sales or actual profit. Which takes away the point and gives you alot of stigma as to why your not going to achieve it rather than something which is possible.

Keep going I will be interested to see how much you have made come day 100. (19th February 2015)

 

[csalvato]

Which takes away the point and gives you alot of stigma as to why your not going to achieve it rather than something which is possible.

I personally try to not let what other people say affect my state of mind, my goals, or my visions of myself.

If the dude wants to shoot for a million, let him. Support him. Help him.

Or, you know, just tell him he's wrong...like 90% of the posts here.

Food for thought...

Even if he misses the mark by 90% he is at 100k/year.

My first product, my goal was $35k/year. I hit 30% of that goal that still churns revenue and is completely passive. I wish to God I shot for $350k/year.

Aim big. Fail hard. You don't want to fail on a duplex - you want to fail building a white tower.

But wtf is my opinion worth anyway.

 

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[Mr.B]

But wtf is my opinion worth anyway.

It's worth more than you might think @csalvato - you are supporting a fellow entrepreneur and providing some solid advice. Rep +

 

[Sean P]

If you aim for the stars you might reach the sky. If you aim for the sky you might end up in the clouds. If you reach for the clouds you will be hanging mid-air between land and the clouds. The OP has aimed for the stars, as I see it.

Maybe that explains OP's logic?

 

[csalvato]

If you aim for the stars you might reach the sky. If you aim for the sky you might end up in the clouds. If you reach for the clouds you will be hanging mid-air between land and the clouds. The OP has aimed for the stars, as I see it.

Elon Musk has launched the first private rockets in existence. Then he launched rockets carrying crew members that reached and docked with the ISS.

That was never his goal though. His goal was to plant something in a greenhouse on Mars. It still is.

By his metrics, he has failed (as of yet) to reach his goal. By all other metrics, he is a wild success.

If your personal objective metric of success brings you on a path where failure is achievement beyond your own dreams and the world's expectations, then it's A-OK to fail to hit your lofty goal, imho.

Keep truckin' Jake.

 

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[csalvato]

rather than something which is possible.

BTW $1M in a year is totally possible

 

[D11FYY]

rather than something which is possible

I didnt mean it like that it is impossible tbh just typing out loud.
God I hope he makes 2m by the end of the year

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/diary-of-opening-a-new-business.29468/
This post has substance and proper direction so I read this very intrigued.
Also I wrote that initial post meaning that out of the 5 pages on this thread a lot of it has been going on about his 1m goal. (Again another summary by myself).

 

[randomnumber314]

I think that @MJ DeMarco's story of building pyramids needs to be brought up in this thread. It appears that OP is building his pyramid, and getting stronger along that path. The problem is you can only, personally, do so much work. OP needs to step back and build a system that generates income. Good on you for taking action, but making x/1000 a month isn't a scalable system.

Maybe I missed it, but what are you doing to systemetize your revenue? That's the defined plan MJ and other's are discussing. Any one of us could start selling the crap in our garage and make money, but that has limitations. Building a company that sells hundreds of others crap in their garages is a scalable system.

 

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[Jakeeck]

This should address most of the concerns in this thread. As you all know, I'm only making $1,000/mo. That means I'm lacking substantially in many areas of my life. I have a direction, but not a clear plan. I have strong beliefs, but they aren't 100% solidified. I have a decent worth ethic, but it isn't where it needs to be yet.

However, I'm getting better every day, in every way. Soon, I will have a crystal clear plan. Soon, I will 100% believe in myself. Soon, I will be a f*cking workhorse. Soon, I will make $1,000,000.

I never claimed to have everything figured out when I started this thread. I simply stated that my life sucked and I want to change that by making $1,000,000. The process of making $1,000,000 will give me many of the things I want, which includes confidence and belief in myself.

Time to make today my bitch

 

[ljb7]

This should address most of the concerns in this thread. As you all know, I'm only making $1,000/mo. That means I'm lacking substantially in many areas of my life. I have a direction, but not a clear plan. I have strong beliefs, but they aren't 100% solidified. I have a decent worth ethic, but it isn't where it needs to be yet.

However, I'm getting better every day, in every way. Soon, I will have a crystal clear plan. Soon, I will 100% believe in myself. Soon, I will be a f*cking workhorse. Soon, I will make $1,000,000.

I never claimed to have everything figured out when I started this thread. I simply stated that my life sucked and I want to change that by making $1,000,000. The process of making $1,000,000 will give me many of the things I want, which includes confidence and belief in myself.

Time to make today my bitch

It doesn't matter to me whether your goal sounds ludicrous. All that matters is that you get there. It's the journey that'll count.

Good luck to you... I hope you reach your goal and then some!

 

[Writer]

This should address most of the concerns in this thread. As you all know, I'm only making $1,000/mo. That means I'm lacking substantially in many areas of my life. I have a direction, but not a clear plan. I have strong beliefs, but they aren't 100% solidified. I have a decent worth ethic, but it isn't where it needs to be yet.

However, I'm getting better every day, in every way. Soon, I will have a crystal clear plan. Soon, I will 100% believe in myself. Soon, I will be a f*cking workhorse. Soon, I will make $1,000,000.

I never claimed to have everything figured out when I started this thread. I simply stated that my life sucked and I want to change that by making $1,000,000. The process of making $1,000,000 will give me many of the things I want, which includes confidence and belief in myself.

Time to make today my bitch

I truly wish you good luck. You're on for a great endeavour.

 

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[Jake]

I don't get this thread and the updates that come with it. Your current income doesn't appear to be scalable?? Why bother posting it? It's the same as if someone was working towards their fastlane goals by being employed and posting updates on their salary for the day. There is a ceiling.

Best of luck, but if your business focus isn't on scaling up your writing for other people business then I do not understand the point of the figures.

If this is going to happen, I'd say your best bet is writing a huge amount of content which is turned into several related ebooks, posted to clickbank, and then picked up by dozens of super affiliates.

Best of luck

 

[1step]

I personally try to not let what other people say affect my state of mind, my goals, or my visions of myself.

If the dude wants to shoot for a million, let him. Support him. Help him.

Or, you know, just tell him he's wrong...like 90% of the posts here.

Food for thought...

I agree, it's disappointing how so many are quick to tell him his way of setting goals is wrong. I can respect providing feedback such as "I tried setting goals like this and it didn't work for me, but heres what did work" that would be much more helpful than the way some have attacked this thread.

 

[mgore714]

Once there was a guy who was a loser. He decided, "You know what? I hate being a loser. I'm gonna get rich."

So he worked his a$$ off. And then he got lucky. And then he worked his a$$ off more. One year later, he had made a million dollars. So he sat there thinking "Wow, why am I still unhappy?" And it was then that he realized that even with money, he was still a F*cking loser.

To summarize: find out what you love. We're here because we love building businesses. The $$$ is the scoreboard, building great things is the game.

 

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[smarty]

Once there was a guy who was a loser. He decided, "You know what? I hate being a loser. I'm gonna get rich."

So he worked his a$$ off. And then he got lucky. And then he worked his a$$ off more. One year later, he had made a million dollars. So he sat there thinking "Wow, why am I still unhappy?" And it was then that he realized that even with money, he was still a F*cking loser.

To summarize: find out what you love. We're here because we love building businesses. The $$$ is the scoreboard, building great things is the game.

Get off your lazy a$$ & build something yourself before making such analogy to someone who is trying to change. Actually I "smell" a F*cking loser in your post. You will learn a lot more by reflecting on your comment.

 

[mgore714]

Get off your lazy a$$ & build something yourself before making such analogy to someone who is trying to change. Actually I "smell" a F*cking loser in your post. You will learn a lot more by reflecting on your comment.

Hit too close to home?

 

[Jakeeck]

Made $18 yesterday and $130 today. This is the end of day 9.

Month 1: $661/$1,000

Things are going well. I hooked an enterprise level client who really likes my writing. They've been sending me a good amount of work, and it's super easy for me to do. Working on linking all the ideas in my head together into a more definite and clear plan.

goodnight

 

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[ChasingPaper]

Once there was a guy who was a loser. He decided, "You know what? I hate being a loser. I'm gonna get rich."

So he worked his a$$ off. And then he got lucky. And then he worked his a$$ off more. One year later, he had made a million dollars. So he sat there thinking "Wow, why am I still unhappy?" And it was then that he realized that even with money, he was still a F*cking loser.

To summarize: find out what you love. We're here because we love building businesses. The $$$ is the scoreboard, building great things is the game.

What have you done? By the way, I bet that loser didn't get lucky. Working your a$$ off and luck don't go together buddy.

 

[Mr.B]

@Jakeeck great news about your enterprise level client! Good work. I know that when I landed a couple of bigger clients and had a consistent flow of work coming through that it freed up a lot of my time as I didn't need to go looking for the next client. Do you think the same might be true for you? Hopefully this will mean that you have more time to dedicate to your own projects.

---

What have you done? By the way, I bet that loser didn't get lucky. Working your a$$ off and luck don't go together buddy.

Get off your lazy a$$ & build something yourself before making such analogy to someone who is trying to change. Actually I "smell" a F*cking loser in your post. You will learn a lot more by reflecting on your comment.

I was also curious about what @mgore714 had done. Looks like he launched a company called Sales By Hand as discussed in this thread. Sounds like he must have made his million and is speaking from experience?

 

[Pete799p]

$1 Million in a year is completely do able and I see it happen all the time. However, you need to have the skills already to do that and unfortunately that is what takes the most time. Read this article, especially the timeline for building your skillset... "By year 3 you will know how to make money. By year 4 you will scale that up and start making a living."

My previous experience has so far confirmed this timeline, multiple times. I am still waiting for the day that I can do it faster but in all reality my accelerated timeline will mostly likely be attributed to the skills I have learned in years past.

http://jamesaltucher.quora.com/The-Ultimate-Cheat-Sheet-to-Reinvent-Yourself

 

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[liquidglass]

This should address most of the concerns in this thread. As you all know, I'm only making $1,000/mo. That means I'm lacking substantially in many areas of my life. I have a direction, but not a clear plan. I have strong beliefs, but they aren't 100% solidified. I have a decent worth ethic, but it isn't where it needs to be yet.

However, I'm getting better every day, in every way. Soon, I will have a crystal clear plan. Soon, I will 100% believe in myself. Soon, I will be a f*cking workhorse. Soon, I will make $1,000,000.

I never claimed to have everything figured out when I started this thread. I simply stated that my life sucked and I want to change that by making $1,000,000. The process of making $1,000,000 will give me many of the things I want, which includes confidence and belief in myself.

Time to make today my bitch

I'll have to say, I respect you posting this. It may have just been me but your first post seemed like a braggadocios and empty proclamation of what was to come, like a positive affirmation with no plan.

I never posted to tell you that you were wrong, but I was hoping to encourage some introspection. Why? Because I've been where you are. When I started my business I kept telling myself "I'll hit 1million in a year, hell make it 9 months, I can do it!" Problem was I didn't examine the "how" or myself I just saw the goal and knew I'd reach it if I worked my a$$ off. But I didn't, however, I did gain valuable lessons along the way. The What is easy, it's the How that kicks everyone's a$$.

This post seems introspective and looks like a step in the right direction, identify your weaknesses and eliminate them through habitual action. So I appreciate you posting this.

If you wouldn't mind I'd like to make a suggestion. Instead of

"Soon, I will have a crystal clear plan. Soon, I will 100% believe in myself. Soon, I will be a f*cking workhorse. Soon, I will make $1,000,000."

Make it a certain statement. There is no "soon" to believe in yourself, you either do or don't. But a crystal clear plan would help with that. Figure out the plan use the "do it now" affirmation for your one thing and then the rest will fall into place. Soon will never come, make it NOW and then act on it.

Plan, believe, act, make.

 

[Amber]

This is an awesome goal! I dont understand why there are so many haters but I always feel like this...Try, and if you fail, you still succeed, because you did what most others dont in order to avoid failure. Avoiding failure equals avoiding success.