The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Great movie for business owners: "Joy"

Jon L

Platinum Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
272%
Aug 22, 2015
1,649
4,489
Bellevue, WA
I'm a typical guy. If the main character in a movie doesn't have the ability to dodge the bullets of a thousand bad guys while single-handedly killing half of them with a quick twist of their necks, its not my kind of movie. With that in mind, my wife invited me to watch the movie "Joy" with her last night.

My typical complaint about 'chick flicks' is that they're too close to real life. It stresses me out to get wrapped up in other people's emotional problems, especially if there's no cathartic blood-spilling at some point in the movie.

"Joy" starts out in typical fashion: Every. Single. Character. Has all their varied emotional problems on full display. The crazed dad, a mom that does nothing but watch TV, an encouraging grandma that later dies, an ex that lives in her basement...are all enough to drive the average guy crazy. My wife ate all this up.

45 minutes into the movie, though, my wife got up and walked out. She said, 'this is way too close to our actual lives.' By this point in the movie, Joy had gotten the harebrained idea to invent a new mop and sell it to local stores. About this point, my interest got piqued. Joy had found an investor that was willing to front her some money, and off she went to get the thing developed.

I won't spoil the rest of the movie, but it does a great job of showing the depths of despair we all get to, and then the end result of all that effort. There are actually some key business lessons to be learned in it, too.

What really connected me, though, was that my first business was on ebay, 10 years ago. I sold about 800 orders per month of Joy's products. It didn't dawn on me until part way through that this was a true story. I kept thinking, 'that mop sure does seem familiar. Why would they show a popular mop like that in a movie like this?' It wasn't until an hour into it that I realized that this was Joy Mangano, owner of 100+ patents on all sorts of incredibly successful products she'd sold on QVC and HSN.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,080
169,502
Utah
It didn't dawn on me until part way through that this was a true story.

I actually mention her in my next book.
 

becks22

90% coffee, 10% everything else
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
271%
Jul 6, 2016
787
2,129
31
Upstate NY
One of my favorite movies that I've watched the past few years! Loved the movie and have it on DVD. It is 100% worth the $1 to get it on Redbox for a night
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Evil_Jester

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
192%
May 25, 2015
263
504
31
Dallas, TX
Yes that movie was tough to watch, in a good way. All the soul crushing moments and disappointments are spot on. Whenever somebody on this forum says "I feel bad for slowlane people," they need to watch this movie for a reality check :)
 

Vigilante

Legendary Contributor
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
596%
Oct 31, 2011
11,116
66,265
Gulf Coast
Related movie… If you want to see something that correlates directly with my life story watch a movie called

Flash of genius (2008)

That movie is so raw and real to me that I still can't watch it
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

SteveO

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
456%
Jul 24, 2007
4,228
19,294
Related movie… If you want to see something that correlates directly with my life story watch a movie called

Flash of genius (2008)

That movie is so raw and real to me that I still can't watch it
I saw this one as well. Nothing is surprising in business. It is such a shame that we need to be on guard ALL the time.
 

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,080
169,502
Utah
Finally got around to watching Joy... man, what an anxiety filled few hours. I didn't quite get the casting of Jennifer Lawrence for Joy, but she did a fine job.

While I understand that the movie was given a generous creative license, it did reflect a lot of the hardships that existed back then, a time where there was no crowdfunding, no retail channels to just sign up for (aka, Amazon), and no ability to really validate.
 

Eskil

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
418%
Jul 18, 2012
1,860
7,778
Scottsdale, AZ
Thanks for the tip, I will add it to my watch list. Another oldie but goodie is "The Pursuit of Happyness" which also deals with struggles of achieving goals. Also based on a true story.

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) - IMDb
 

Bellini

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
299%
Mar 26, 2015
464
1,386
Dallas, TX
I watched "JOY" a few months ago and forgot to come back and comment.

At first it seemed boring, slow, and anxiety-provoking. I had a hard time watching and wanted to turn it off several times. Then it hit me - this is REALITY. So I watched it to the end and was glad I did.

What I like about the movie is that it's really showing how "boring, slow, and anxiety-provoking" the actual process behind entrepreneurship can be. It showed the hard and demeaning work involved. It also shows how she had to persevere and overcome so many problems and obstacles.

Then the day finally came, when she is standing on that revolving stage during the infomercial, and the phones started ringing off the hook, and the number of orders shown on the digital display go higher and higher. You see her face in that moment and can almost feel her emotion - you realize that it all finally paid off, and you just want to stand up and celebrate with her.

The movie is a good reminder that going against the grain and trying to start something on your own is NOT easy. There will be many opportunities to give up, but perseverance is key.
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,565
68,696
Ireland
Sounds like a book I'd like to read, but not a movie I'd like to see...
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Christopher777

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
190%
Jun 13, 2017
139
264
Manila, Philippines
I won't spoil the rest of the movie, but it does a great job of showing the depths of despair we all get to, and then the end result of all that effort. There are actually some key business lessons to be learned in it, too.

Awesome. I have to see this one. I like "action packed" too along with smart movies. A little bit of drama won't hurt. :)
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top