Superb's adventure in finding the fastlane

[superb]

I've created a few threads in the past that ended up being false starts. I'd get excited about a business model but then my mind would trick me into thinking that there are insurmountable obstacles - that it wasn't for me. My biggest problem has been having to figure it all out before I start for fear that I will have wasted time and money for nothing. And this is what has kept me from taking action!

It's like I believed that there was way of bypassing some of the pain and hard work, as if I could start from a different place than where I'm at. We'll thankfully that belief has been blown to bits. I now know that I can only start from where I'm at - at a point that thousand's of steps away from financial freedom. It will require me to change my thinking, to start with the mental, financial and time resources I have. I will have to learn, take action, asses the results and repeat. Over and over and over again.

I'm OK with this - quite happy about it really! This realization has taken me from feeling hopeless to hopeful. I know as long as I keep engaging the process and learning to execute better it's only a matter of time.

So where am I starting from? I've got a few hundred dollars to my name, rent is coming up and I don't yet know how it's going to be paid on time, I have no car, but I start a new sales job on Monday. I have been unemployed for 1.5 months. During the last couple of weeks I have been marketing myself on craigslist and have gotten a few gigs repairing guitar amplifiers out of my house (previously did this full time for a few years when I lived in another state). Not only has this provided some income, but I've been using it as an opportunity to practice writing copy, testing ads, and finding ways to offer better service. Obviously not fastlane, but necessary and educational.

This is my "point of entry" on the path to the fastlane. I have no idea what twists and turns it will take or what sort of business I'll be in down the road. I don't care if its ecommerce, SaaS, or an "offline" business. People's pains I find along the path will determine that. As long as I keep moving I'll find them! I'll document my progress here.

Someone dropped off two guitar amps for me to fix last night, so it's time to get to work!

 

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[jon.a]

Are you also seeking out old tube amps to fix and resell?

I have an old fender Music Master Bass amp. I replaced the speaker (saved it) with a modern one. Most don't know that it makes a fine guitar amp and over look it.

Anyway, old tube amps are popular.

 

[superb]

Are you also seeking out old tube amps to fix and resell?

I have an old fender Music Master Bass amp. I replaced the speaker (saved it) with a modern one. Most don't know that it makes a fine guitar amp and over look it.

Anyway, old tube amps are popular.

That is a good sounding amp. There's a few like that out there that most people turn away from, but I'd take them over a lot modern amps.

Yes, I've been watching out for them. It's not old but today I scored a Marshall DSL100 off of CL, not working for $180 delivered to my house. Need to order a part for it, I'll have $300 into it and 1 hour invested when I'm done. They sell for $500 - $700! Worst case I made $200 for that hour!

Today I had two more amps get dropped off. One finished, four more to fix.

 

[Deleted21961]

I'd get excited about a business model but then my mind would trick me into thinking that there are insurmountable obstacles - that it wasn't for me. My biggest problem has been having to figure it all out before I start for fear that I will have wasted time and money for nothing. And this is what has kept me from taking action!

Amazing, isn't it? We, humans, waste an awful lot of time (watching tvs, playing farmville, working in slowlane) and money (better not say how), constantly fearing of wasting time and money for nothing regarding our dreams and ideas.

 

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[superb]

Update time. New job is going well and financial situation is stabilized. I have a car now. Been doing amp repair evenings and weekends. Very busy! It's nice to be not so stressed about money, but if I'm ever to make it on to the fastlane, something has to give.

What that means right now is that I need to greatly scale back the number of amp repair jobs I take on or even stop altogether.

My new goal is to create something that generates income without me being the one that does repairs or assembles a physical product. Something that could eventually be independent of me.

Now that there is some margin in my life, I feel much more free to find out what that something will be.

 

[superb]

Ok, that seemed like a great idea, but I'm still in the same place I was 5 months ago. I let life happen to me. Nothing out of the ordinary, I just let everything that could distract me, distract me. Instead of taking action in my limited free time (whose isn't?), I would spend this free time thinking about how to have more free time.

I have also struggled with having to know my "purpose", something that is talked about ad nauseam in some places. Don't want to waste time doing something I'm not meant to do and miss out on doing what I'm here for right? As I look back, I've had several different "purposes" - things I believed that I was made to do and poured my whole heart into. I was content with the purpose. I didn't question it. I got stuff done.

I didn't wait for some revelation of what my calling in life is. I got passionate about creating something and did it. Somewhere along the line I got this idea in my head that there must be something more meaningful and then waited for an answer from above as to what it is I'm supposed to do. And this answer never came. Not in the form I was expecting it to anyway.

The realization for me was that looking back, I've had several different "callings" and experienced a degree of success and satisfaction in all of them. Different things for different seasons. Why was I expecting it to be any different now?

I don't think our "purpose" is static, and just because you're not happy in you're present situation doesn't mean that you missed it. Purpose doesn't necessarily fit nicely in boxes. It changes with our maturity and the needs of the world around us. To sum all of this up, the lesson for me was stop waiting for certainty of purpose. Find a need and get passionate about meeting it. Don't question it. Just do.

Hopefully this thread will become less about my personal development and more about my business development! Thanks for following along.

 

[superb]

Just read @IceCreamKid 's astonishing secrets of zen******* thread. More and more as I have read and re-read some of the Gold threads on this forum, I'm realizing that the opportunities are there, have always been there, will always be there for those who do not make excuses, have the vision to see past obstacles and take action.

It's all been spelled out here. I think I (finally) get it now! Now it's time to do!

Getting started now. First step: choosing a market..

 

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[Merging Left]

What you said about finding a purpose reminded me of a podcast episode Billy Murphy (@snowbank) did on his ForeverJobless Podcast.

Check it out: https://player.fm/series/foreverjob...sponsibility-to-choose-the-reason-episode-182

As the title says, this episode discusses assigning meaning to whatever situation you're in or essentially choosing your purpose instead of waiting for it to simply find you.

 

[superb]

What you said about finding a purpose reminded me of a podcast episode Billy Murphy (@snowbank) did on his ForeverJobless Podcast...

thanks! I'll check it out.

 

[superb]

I started this thread in 2014. Rather than clutter up the forum with another execution thread, I'll post in this one because it's part of the same journey.

A wedding, a cross-country move, a house and three jobs later, I'm still trying to get onto the ramp! So far the journey of entrepreneurship has really been one of personal growth. I'll spare you with the self-deprecating details of the past few years.

I'm here to contribute where I can, but also to get feedback when I make excuses, fail to take action, or have obvious flaws in my mindset. Lately I've been a bit more open and vulnerable in my postings. There has been some discomfort, but I've realized that it a good thing. The discomfort reveals areas I need to work on. I figure the more I engage here, the better person I will become.

We will now return to our regularly scheduled execution of fastlane principals.

 

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[superb]

Almost all of my time spent on what I categorize as business development has been spent on the generation of business ideas, some of them might have been good ideas. I've had all kinds of excuses why I didn't take action. Bottom line, I wasn't accountable to anyone or anything, including a self-imposed deadline. The quote from the thread below really got my attention:

From the thread: 3 Quick Lessons from Andy Black to Turbocharge Your Fastlane Journey

Squash the over-analysis. Set a deadline. “I’m choosing my new project on XXX” And when that date comes around, you just go with the best thing you’ve got at that moment. That perfect idea isn't coming....

I'm giving myself 90 days which expire on February 4, 2019 to begin execution of an idea. Ninety days to research and vet out ideas that are worth acting on. I feel like this is a generous amount of time for this process. At that time, if I haven't already begun execution on an idea, I will begin with the best idea I have.