Thread: I know I'll get flamed, but exactly how much luck is involved?

Originally Posted by Joxmb

I'll try to make this short.

For example, I'm 18 and will be going to Dental University in 1 year and by the age of 27 ish I will finish school and be qualified in USA or 24 and be qualified in Australia. After reading the book I see this is slow lane but by 30 I could be earning 200k+/year and once I open my own practice, on average they make about 250k-350k/year. Obviously this will make me a millionaire but this isn't fastlane at all and I won't be able to live my life without working for atleast a good few years.

So in summary I know I could have (just assume this is fact):
-Almost 100% chance of $2 mill net worth by 40 (today's dollars)
-Almost 100$ chance of $4 mill net worth by 40 (today's dollars)

Now my question is, how much luck would be involved to beat these figures in the fast lane with business and entrepreneurship.

My passion has always been stuff involving business/money/entrepreneurship since I was little but obviously due to family and stuff they tell me to do dentistry because it is the best guarenteed money and I do enjoy it (out of any jobs I can think of) as I like working with my hands and like when people appreciate services I can offer. Then again in business I would enjoy it just as much and probably more due to the fact of possibility retiring at 30-40 (Is this too low, too much luck involved?).

Conclusion:
How much luck is involved for say something like building a successful business and achieving a net worth of $4 mill or greater by 30-35 or $10 mill or greater by 35-40 if I am now just freshly turned 18? Assuming willing to put in lots of work and long hours? I have no clue if I'd be good in business but I do know I'm good in school (which is no work for me which feels like I'm wasting my time, therefore came to read MJ's book to be inspired to aim higher) - which I'm sure school smarts definitely don't help in business.

You really should read the book a 2nd time and really soak in what MJ says!!!! You obviously are leaning towards the "safety" of a slowlane job versus the risk of starting your own (fastlane) business. You have to be willing to take a risk in order to see greater results, sure you can do dental work and make a living. You will be making a lot of money in the eyes of the slowlaner, but if you manage to pull yourself from your 9-5 job to make it to a cars and coffee (probably with your Porsche ), you will be a small fry in front of the real wealth.

I think there are some things you are not considering with your 250k-350k a year job:

-You are not considering the cost of your education that you will have to pay off (unless someone is paying for you)

-You are not considering the cost of starting your own practice, (lease an office, dental equipment, etc.) That has to be at least 500k for all those expenses

-Your not incorporating cost of living, that 300k a year won't entirely build up in your bank account, you will want to eat food, buy a car, buy a house. On the car note, say you want a lambo, that's a YEARS worth of income just to buy your dream car, a YEAR OF WORKING LONG HOURS!!!! (in other words you will have the money to finance everything and feel rich but you wont actually be rich)

-TAXES: If you live in the U.S, you can plan on giving 1/3 of everything you make to the fed, so 300k becomes 200k 1 million becomes 700k

-Lastly, I think your over valuating how much a million bucks will buy you, a decent house will run you at least a million, thats in colorado, if you think you will be living anywhere like new york or california, don't even get me started


All money aside! Lets talk about the only thing more valuable than money, time. Would you rather spend 5 days a week for (lets say 15 years {of diligent saving} to earn up some decent cash) sitting in a dentists office working on peoples teeth, that's 240 days a year wasted in the office, that's 3,600 days wasted over the course of 15 years! Or would you rather work your a$$ off for 2-6 years, make your fortunes, and then be able to sit on a beach sipping pina coladas or driving your lambo around while living off of the interest of your spoils, nobody can fire you, nobody can tell you when to wake up, your life is yours, hey if you get bored of doing nothing, start another company (this time with no risk) and see where it goes, spend more time with your family, travel the world. At least for me, the choice is clear. Read the book again!!!

your chances of succeeding are what you make them, be smart, choose the right business, and your chances may be 80% instead of 2%, but there is no guarantee for money like the dental career path

Mike39 hit the nail on the head. You have no idea, you may never make 200K as a dentist. You also have loans to pay off as well, assuming your not getting your school paid for.

Your assuming way too many things. I think age is a factor here (and I hate playing the age card, because its not always true). Talk is cheap. Usually younger people talk about all this money they are going to make by X age, but fail to understand all the work that is involved with doing it, and then never get started. Realize nothing in life is certain, and you need to bust you ass to get whatever it is you want. Action speaks louder than words.

Originally Posted by Joxmb

How much luck is involved

Luck is always involved.

However, it's never a question of luck, but of probabilities.

Are you taking advantage of opportunity and bending probability into your favor? Are your actions probability bending?

It's possible to cheat in Blackjack via card counting -- bending luck? Or probability?

The person who plays blackjack with no plan and wins, is lucky. The person who plays blackjack with a plan to count cards, is determined to bend probability.

Originally Posted by Joxmb

how much luck would be involved to beat these figures in the fast lane with business and entrepreneurship.

Follow the Dentistry path.

The other path is hard. Very.

And if you have to ask about luck involved it in, then dentistry is a great path for you.

Oh, and do it in Australia. You can get it faster, and the rates are insanely high over there...

Originally Posted by Mike39

You really should read the book a 2nd time and really soak in what MJ says!!!! You obviously are leaning towards the "safety" of a slowlane job versus the risk of starting your own (fastlane) business. You have to be willing to take a risk in order to see greater results, sure you can do dental work and make a living. You will be making a lot of money in the eyes of the slowlaner, but if you manage to pull yourself from your 9-5 job to make it to a cars and coffee (probably with your Porsche ), you will be a small fry in front of the real wealth.

I think there are some things you are not considering with your 250k-350k a year job:

-You are not considering the cost of your education that you will have to pay off (unless someone is paying for you)

-You are not considering the cost of starting your own practice, (lease an office, dental equipment, etc.) That has to be at least 500k for all those expenses

-Your not incorporating cost of living, that 300k a year won't entirely build up in your bank account, you will want to eat food, buy a car, buy a house. On the car note, say you want a lambo, that's a YEARS worth of income just to buy your dream car, a YEAR OF WORKING LONG HOURS!!!! (in other words you will have the money to finance everything and feel rich but you wont actually be rich)

-TAXES: If you live in the U.S, you can plan on giving 1/3 of everything you make to the fed, so 300k becomes 200k 1 million becomes 700k

-Lastly, I think your over valuating how much a million bucks will buy you, a decent house will run you at least a million, thats in colorado, if you think you will be living anywhere like new york or california, don't even get me started


All money aside! Lets talk about the only thing more valuable than money, time. Would you rather spend 5 days a week for (lets say 15 years {of diligent saving} to earn up some decent cash) sitting in a dentists office working on peoples teeth, that's 240 days a year wasted in the office, that's 3,600 days wasted over the course of 15 years! Or would you rather work your a$$ off for 2-6 years, make your fortunes, and then be able to sit on a beach sipping pina coladas or driving your lambo around while living off of the interest of your spoils, nobody can fire you, nobody can tell you when to wake up, your life is yours, hey if you get bored of doing nothing, start another company (this time with no risk) and see where it goes, spend more time with your family, travel the world. At least for me, the choice is clear. Read the book again!!!

I understood the book I've just been reading online and read some stuff someone wrote and they were an actual millionaire (supposedly) and said it is very high risk though and low chance to do it and since I NEED to succeed and be making good money atleast within the next 12-15 years, I was a bit paniced for a lack of a better word as my parents are old and I will need money to help take care of them as well. I know I should disregard what they said though.


Don't take that the wrong way though I am really motivated about this and I will be going in at 100% I was just wondering what other people would say. I will be going to university (probably) but I will be putting long hours to enter the fastlane and keep dentistry as a safety net, atleast for the beginning and to keep my parents not going insane.

Why not both?

They don't have to be exclusive of each others.

Heck do the dentist thing, open an office and rent out chairs taking a percentage. Then go do it in the next town and so on.

My niece got her dental degree in South America last year and already has an office where she rents out 2 chairs to other dentists, she gets a percentage of all their billings..

Originally Posted by MJDeMarco

Luck is

always involved.

However, it's never a question of luck, but of probabilities.

Are you taking advantage of opportunity and bending probability into your favor? Are your actions probability bending?

It's possible to cheat in Blackjack via card counting -- bending luck? Or probability?

The person who plays blackjack with no plan and wins, is lucky. The person who plays blackjack with a plan to count cards, is determined to bend probability.

I am honoured that you responded thank you for the advice, I was just reading your past posts before I made this thread, Thanks a lot.

Originally Posted by Mike39

your chances of succeeding are what you make them, be smart, choose the right business, and your chances may be 80% instead of 2%, but there is no guarantee for money like the dental career path

True, thanks for advice I appreciate it a lot.

Originally Posted by LamboMP

Mike39 hit the nail on the head. You have no idea, you may never make 200K as a dentist. You also have loans to pay off as well, assuming your not getting your school paid for.

Your assuming way too many things. I think age is a factor here (and I hate playing the age card, because its not always true). Talk is cheap. Usually younger people talk about all this money they are going to make by X age, but fail to understand all the work that is involved with doing it, and then never get started. Realize nothing in life is certain, and you need to bust you ass to get whatever it is you want. Action speaks louder than words.

I am willing to bust my ass, I've worked before for 18 hours/day for a little bit to use an opportunity as much as I could and earned about 500-1000$/day (very good for a 17 year old atleast to me haha) and I will be willing to work long hard hours for years if it will let me achieve success and retirement at an early age.

Originally Posted by andviv

Follow the Dentistry path.

The other path is hard. Very.

And if you have to ask about luck involved it in, then dentistry is a great path for you.

Oh, and do it in Australia. You can get it faster, and the rates are insanely high over there...

I'm willing to put in the work, dentistry seems like too much of an easy path and that's why I'm on this forum because I'm discontent with the idea of dentistry when there is a possibility of something better. I know success isn't all about luck but to deny that ANY luck is at play just isn't true. I've been reading this forum a lot and many people talk about 1 hit wonders where there are very successful people but they wouldn't be able to do it over again if they tried.


Thanks for your advice though I really appreciate it.

Originally Posted by PatrickP

Why not both?



They don't have to be exclusive of each others.

Heck do the dentist thing, open an office and rent out chairs taking a percentage. Then go do it in the next town and so on.

My niece got her dental degree in South America last year and already has an office where she rents out 2 chairs to other dentists, she gets a percentage of all their billings..

This is what I thought before before I read this book. The problem with it though is by the time I'd get my first practice I'd be 30 or older and by the time I can expand and stuff I'd probably be nearing 40 by the time I start earning BIG $$$. The potential of fast lane seems much greater but my family want me to play it safe (even though I'm very risky by nature and that's how I made most of my money since a young age).

How much luck is involved for say something like building a successful business and achieving a net worth of $4 mill or greater by 30-35 or $10 mill or greater by 35-40 if I am now just freshly turned 18?

In the Ice Hockey World we have this word called Grit.

{Grit} - The desire to skate as fast as you can to only get crushed into the boards just to move the puck. The desire to block a 100mph slap shot with you teeth, nose, or eye just to keep your team in the game. If you don't end a game in pain, if you flinch at a hit, if you slow up, if you get afraid to nail someone at center ice, then sadly you don't have grit. In hockey, we don't have luck. We make luck by playing with grit and keeping our feet moving.

Same can be said for the business world. If you want that money. Then you better be prepared to take the hits, and give them out. Go into it with Grit. Don't ask questions about luck. Keep your feet moving and make your own luck.

do you have to get started with school right away?

What if you take only a class or two the first two semesters, and in the meantime bust your ass working on your effort....

Or even better, take a semester off from school, start later if needed, and in the meantime get your effort going?

Why not do both? However, instead of aiming for the fastlane business, why don't you aim for a "small" business, something that can generate for you an extra 100 dollars a month. This way it (hopefully) won't take up too much time to allow you to study, and yet you can still get your toes wet and see if you even really like having and working a business. From there, you could try to expand the business (if possible) or go look for a bigger business to work on.

To be honest though, it doesn't sound like you're going to make it. The way you write is really pinging the red flags in my mind, for example this:

Originally Posted by Joxmb

I understood the book I've just been reading online and read some stuff someone wrote and they were an actual millionaire (supposedly) and said it is very high risk though and low chance to do it and since I NEED to succeed and be making good money atleast within the next 12-15 years, I was a bit paniced for a lack of a better word as my parents are old and I will need money to help take care of them as well.

There aren't any guarentees in life. You may very well die in the next 12 - 15 years. Anyway, at this current point in time, you just don't sound like you have what it takes to make it. I really think you need to read chapters 23 - 26 again, in particular the parts about how the choices you make today will impact your entire life (chapter 23), how your perception and the words you say/the way you think and talk create your reality (chapter 24), why you just need to ignore what some people say (chapter 25), and the importance of time (chapter 26).

Oh, and please come back one day and prove me wrong by actually making it.

Originally Posted by johnp

In the Ice Hockey World we have this word called

Grit.

{Grit} - The desire to skate as fast as you can to only get crushed into the boards just to move the puck. The desire to block a 100mph slap shot with you teeth, nose, or eye just to keep your team in the game. If you don't end a game in pain, if you flinch at a hit, if you slow up, if you get afraid to nail someone at center ice, then sadly you don't have grit. In hockey, we don't have luck. We make luck by playing with grit and keeping our feet moving.

Same can be said for the business world. If you want that money. Then you better be prepared to take the hits, and give them out. Go into it with Grit. Don't ask questions about luck. Keep your feet moving and make your own luck.

Thanks, I know I shouldn't ask questions really and just do I just wanted to see some opinions. Thank you for the motivation though!

Originally Posted by andviv

do you have to get started with school right away?


What if you take only a class or two the first two semesters, and in the meantime bust your ass working on your effort....

Or even better, take a semester off from school, start later if needed, and in the meantime get your effort going?

Can't do that in a demanding course like Dentistry, however I think I can find time, learning how to sleep 4-6 hours/day and doing business related things in between classes. The first two years also have 20-25 weeks off so that will be good.

Originally Posted by leono

Why not do both? However, instead of aiming for the fastlane business, why don't you aim for a "small" business, something that can generate for you an extra 100 dollars a month. This way it (hopefully) won't take up too much time to allow you to study, and yet you can still get your toes wet and see if you even really like having and working a business. From there, you could try to expand the business (if possible) or go look for a bigger business to work on.

To be honest though, it doesn't sound like you're going to make it. The way you write is really pinging the red flags in my mind, for example this:



There aren't any guarentees in life. You may very well die in the next 12 - 15 years. Anyway, at this current point in time, you just don't sound like you have what it takes to make it. I really think you need to read chapters 23 - 26 again, in particular the parts about how the choices you make today will impact your entire life (chapter 23), how your perception and the words you say/the way you think and talk create your reality (chapter 24), why you just need to ignore what some people say (chapter 25), and the importance of time (chapter 26).

Oh, and please come back one day and prove me wrong by actually making it.

Thanks, one day I will, been doing it my whole life .

Thanks for the advice, that was my plan. Also next school year (I'll be going to the year before university in UK after this summer) will be really free for me as I literally can do the whole year's course for all my classes in 1-3 weeks and get top marks whereas others take the entire year which sadly because it takes others the entire year the teachers won't let me take exams early because they don't believe me lol (or atleast say it is too risky). I will however probably just try to bring business with me into school while not doing class work so I will basically have an ENTIRE year to start with this without being distracted with university or anything.

About the small business thing, that was what I was planning to do to start off in the next few weeks.

Planning to gamble (Got only like 100$ at the moment) and make a few thousand dollars and then start internet marketing as I've been reading/researching a lot about it to create at least a small flow of money that will give me a view of the world of self employment and potentially give me some start up money for any future business ideas I will have.

Thanks so much for your response, I GREATLY appreciated it.

You could go to dental school and try starting a business at the same time. Also factor in that not everyone who enters dental school leaves a graduate or within 7 years so your not as guaranteed (if you think the money is >90% certainty) as you might think. you could drop out

Originally Posted by MJDeMarco

Luck is always involved.

However, it's never a question of luck, but of probabilities.

Just like Confidence, Successful Entrepreneurship is a series of MULTIPLE variables working simultaneously, not just 1 thing.

And some of these variables just cannot be accounted for. Hence the uncertainty and the probabilities.

This is why it is imperative to hit the Fucken books. You have to account for as many variables as you can: Marketing, Branding, Cash flow, customer service, Market satisfaction etc etc(you fill in the rest). Because the more you know what you are doing the higher chances of you hitting the jackpot.

By the time you are a Millionaire or even a Thousandaire from your Fastlane Business you SHOULD have a shit load of books sitting in your room. Why? Because KNOWLEDGE is required to fill up these Fastlane Variables and the other variables you cannot fill up are just uncertainty or probabilities.

To answer your question. How much luck is involved?

Answer: The amount of luck involved is the amount of work you are willing to put in to account for as many fastlane variables as you can. But some variables just cannot be accounted for.

Originally Posted by Joxmb

-Don't take that the wrong way though I am really motivated about this and I will be going in at 100%
-but I will be putting long hours to enter the fastlane and keep dentistry as a safety net
-I am willing to bust my ass
-I will be willing to work long hard hours for years if it will let me achieve success and retirement at an early age.
-I'm willing to put in the work

Turn all these Will be(s) and willing to be's into am's and am doings, the first step is the hardest one to take!

Originally Posted by Joxmb

earned about 500-1000$/day (very good for a 17 year old atleast to me haha)

As a kid, I would love to hear more about this!

Originally Posted by Joxmb

Planning to gamble (Got only like 100$ at the moment) and make a few thousand dollars

Probably not the best way to bootstrap but maybe you will be card counting (MJ reference)
Good Luck!

Originally Posted by Mike39

Turn all these Will be(s) and willing to be's into am's and am doings, the first step is the hardest one to take!


As a kid, I would love to hear more about this!



Probably not the best way to bootstrap but maybe you will be card counting (MJ reference)
Good Luck!

Umm about gambling and the 500-1000$/day thing, they came from the same thing. I can't make as much off it now a days though.

You probably have heard of it sort of. I'm sure you have heard of the game Runescape right? Well I have ways to sway my odds on average to win about 60% of the time so therefore I gain on average 20% of what I bet each time. Therefore if I have bet through $10,000 worth of stuff I will on average make $2,000. On the game you can bet against someone in a fight and that's what I can win 60% of the time.

I even made like $2500 when I was 11 from this lol. It got much more competitive now though so the money isn't as good anymore but it is consistent and can give me some pocket change/start up money for cheap start ups in internet marketing. It'll get me enough (I only want like $1-2,000 really).

It all depends on the gifts that you were given. Some people make better doctors than entrepreneurs despite what they may or may not believe. Vice versa.

For one to assume that they have been given the same gifts, mental ability/tenacity, drive/passion, opportunity and work ethic as MJ could either be a big mistake or a godsend.