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Slowly starting ...

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

castanette

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I thought I will write a little summary of what I am planning to do and hope that you all good people will give me some healthy criticism on it. Some of it I wrote already in my introduction thread.

My son is 15 and disabled (autistic). He has a hard time finishing the last mandatory level of school here in Estonia and he HATES school, but he is very intelligent if he is in a comfortable environment. I know that if he would have the option, he would stop going to school instantly. So I don't think he will go to school when it's not mandatory any more. I have decided to take this as an opportunity.

Opportunity in that:
  • my salary already covers our expenses so he doesn't actually NEED to go to work as long as I do
  • he will have lots of time without any other obligations and I don't want him to have NO obligations
  • I am already used to getting him to do stuff, so I will just continue doing that in a different context
  • I have quite flexible work so I will most probably manage doing some management/analysis of the business beside my work
  • he loves programming and IT so he will be able to provide useful skills for an IT business system
  • I am also in IT and know How It's Done and have been working for very different kinds of customers so far - I'm not afraid of a new domain; indeed, I consider this an interesting part of my work
The challenges I see right now:
  • I'm afraid he won't put in much effort if the project isn't doing anything he is interested in - but we may take something that youngsters like him are interested in using to turn it into opportunity (however, he hasn't been very good at coming up with ideas so far).
  • I will have difficulties finding the time - but then again, that's true even now managing his school so replacing that I should find enough time.
  • I know next to nothing about sales, marketing or legal side of business - but I'm good at learning and Estonia provides quite a bit of support for starting businesses, both as consulting and even financial. In theory I could get the government aid and work full time on an idea for a few months... But of course the first one might not be successful and next time I won't get the aid any more so I'm not too sure about using this option.
  • People around us will be discouraging this, but I have a cover story already (which is also true). I will tell them that I don't really care if something comes of it; he'll learn to put in useful effort somewhere, grow as a person etc, and if nothing comes of it and he wants to get a job, he has something to put on CV instead of the school.
Idea-wise I am kind of stuck. I have some ideas; especially one that I think is pretty good, at least locally in Estonia, but that could be easily spread elsewhere as well (and met all the commandments!); however, I'm afraid he won't do anything unless it is something he would use, and it wouldn't be. But I have time until starting to come up with a better idea.

Another thing is that I would like to start already, but I can't until he has finished his school. I actually started some action-faking by reminding myself how to program on a toolset I would like to use myself. instead, I should probably put more effort into learning what I don't know yet, as I won't be the one to do the programming (as I will be time-challenged).

So current plan is as such:

Phase 1 - until he finishes school
  • My son
    • Get school finished
    • Generate ideas
  • Me
    • Help him finish school
    • Continue working
    • Learn about how to properly manage “payment pot” and start it
    • Learn about legal requirements and options for creating a business in Estonia
    • Generate and evaluate ideas
Phase 2 - until our idea generates income enough to cover my salary
  • Together
    • Pick an idea to focus on
  • My son
    • server administration
    • programming
  • Me
    • continue working
    • management
    • analysis
    • sales
    • marketing
Phase 3 - full-time entrepreneurship
  • My son
    • server administration
    • programming
  • Me
  • management
  • analysis
  • sales
  • marketing
Questions, ideas, criticism, comments?

Also, I will most likely not be a very active member here (so my rep most likely stays low) as I think this is a kind of action-faking, but I'll post about my progress once in a while when and if there is something to post.
 
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Dan_Fastlane

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I thought I will write a little summary of what I am planning to do and hope that you all good people will give me some healthy criticism on it. Some of it I wrote already in my introduction thread.

My son is 15 and disabled (autistic). He has a hard time finishing the last mandatory level of school here in Estonia and he HATES school, but he is very intelligent if he is in a comfortable environment. I know that if he would have the option, he would stop going to school instantly. So I don't think he will go to school when it's not mandatory any more. I have decided to take this as an opportunity.

Opportunity in that:
  • my salary already covers our expenses so he doesn't actually NEED to go to work as long as I do
  • he will have lots of time without any other obligations and I don't want him to have NO obligations
  • I am already used to getting him to do stuff, so I will just continue doing that in a different context
  • I have quite flexible work so I will most probably manage doing some management/analysis of the business beside my work
  • he loves programming and IT so he will be able to provide useful skills for an IT business system
  • I am also in IT and know How It's Done and have been working for very different kinds of customers so far - I'm not afraid of a new domain; indeed, I consider this an interesting part of my work
The challenges I see right now:
  • I'm afraid he won't put in much effort if the project isn't doing anything he is interested in - but we may take something that youngsters like him are interested in using to turn it into opportunity (however, he hasn't been very good at coming up with ideas so far).
  • I will have difficulties finding the time - but then again, that's true even now managing his school so replacing that I should find enough time.
  • I know next to nothing about sales, marketing or legal side of business - but I'm good at learning and Estonia provides quite a bit of support for starting businesses, both as consulting and even financial. In theory I could get the government aid and work full time on an idea for a few months... But of course the first one might not be successful and next time I won't get the aid any more so I'm not too sure about using this option.
  • People around us will be discouraging this, but I have a cover story already (which is also true). I will tell them that I don't really care if something comes of it; he'll learn to put in useful effort somewhere, grow as a person etc, and if nothing comes of it and he wants to get a job, he has something to put on CV instead of the school.
Idea-wise I am kind of stuck. I have some ideas; especially one that I think is pretty good, at least locally in Estonia, but that could be easily spread elsewhere as well (and met all the commandments!); however, I'm afraid he won't do anything unless it is something he would use, and it wouldn't be. But I have time until starting to come up with a better idea.

Another thing is that I would like to start already, but I can't until he has finished his school. I actually started some action-faking by reminding myself how to program on a toolset I would like to use myself. instead, I should probably put more effort into learning what I don't know yet, as I won't be the one to do the programming (as I will be time-challenged).

So current plan is as such:

Phase 1 - until he finishes school
  • My son
    • Get school finished
    • Generate ideas
  • Me
    • Help him finish school
    • Continue working
    • Learn about how to properly manage “payment pot” and start it
    • Learn about legal requirements and options for creating a business in Estonia
    • Generate and evaluate ideas
Phase 2 - until our idea generates income enough to cover my salary
  • Together
    • Pick an idea to focus on
  • My son
    • server administration
    • programming
  • Me
    • continue working
    • management
    • analysis
    • sales
    • marketing
Phase 3 - full-time entrepreneurship
  • My son
    • server administration
    • programming
  • Me
  • management
  • analysis
  • sales
  • marketing
Questions, ideas, criticism, comments?

Also, I will most likely not be a very active member here (so my rep most likely stays low) as I think this is a kind of action-faking, but I'll post about my progress once in a while when and if there is something to post.

maybe this thread can help you to put your son on the best direction he can take, maybe you should try some tests like myers briggs so you and him can figure out what carreer path best suits him

Not Fulfilled? Depressed? Maybe You Need An Alignment


best wishes!
 

castanette

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Oct 22, 2017
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maybe this thread can help you to put your son on the best direction he can take, maybe you should try some tests like myers briggs so you and him can figure out what carreer path best suits him

Not Fulfilled? Depressed? Maybe You Need An Alignment


best wishes!

That's a great idea! First, we did the free personality tests he referenced there. My son got ISTP-A and I am INFJ-T. Very interesting, and very true about both of us.
 

xoxojbelle

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Hello!
I don't have much advice for your situation, but I'm rooting for you and wanted to comment showing my support :) I'll be watching this thread!
 
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castanette

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Hello!
I don't have much advice for your situation, but I'm rooting for you and wanted to comment showing my support :) I'll be watching this thread!
Thank you for that! And yay for another woman - so far I haven't noticed any :)
 

MJ DeMarco

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I know next to nothing about sales, marketing or legal side of business

In the entire history of planet earth, no one is born with knowledge about sales, marketing, or the legal side of business.

We endeavor to educate ourselves on what the journey demands, not endeavor to make the journey fit to what our education demands.

Yes! I haven't seen a lot of women here either

They're here and a few of them don't have their account labelled at such.
 
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458

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"Phase 2 - until our idea generates income enough to cover my salary"

Ideas don't generate income, just ask the person that thought up "New Coke".
 

castanette

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In the entire history of planet earth, no one is born with knowledge about sales, marketing, or the legal side of business.

We endeavor to educate ourselves on what the journey demands, not endeavor to make the journey fit to what our education demands.
Of course - this is not a roadblock, but a challenge to be met ;)
 

castanette

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"Phase 2 - until our idea generates income enough to cover my salary"

Ideas don't generate income, just ask the person that thought up "New Coke".
I'm not sure I understand correctly... Of course not all ideas generate income; and they don't generate income if they are just ideas and not put into action... So I'm not sure I get what you mean.
 
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castanette

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So much for starting slowly... Similarly to the story of this forum getting started, I saw a chance, (hesitated a bit about it), and took it. In a FB group I follow, one idea I have thought of (and loved) was lamented about and data for it was shared by around 100 comments to that post... So I took it, developed a minimal body around it and published it. Yesterday my minimum viable product went live in this small test group. It has no design to speak of, only laughably minimal functionality (ease of entry violated!) and no monetization (yet). I have also asked it not to be shared at first, so it won't be spreading. And, of course, I will continue my regular work as well, so I'll be still slow in developing the product.

I am following the ideas in book Lean Startup (I recommend the book to everyone here, don't let yourself be discouraged by the name, I know "startup" isn't a very loved word here) to get out of the desert of desertification as soon as possible, to get echos back from the world as soon as possible. Even in this minimal product, I have tracker cookies and I know that during the 8 night hours it has been up, it has been opened 16 times now and one person found what they wanted (and I received one like in FB to the post where I published it). That's a start. I'll be measuring the baseline for a while, while developing the capability for split testing; and then I will start adding design and features, using split testing to determine which way to continue. That's also a reason I launched such a minimal product - get feedback sooner and I will have less chance of failure, because user behaviour will lead the way for me. That's why I violated the command of entry...

I have to add that I've been so excited that I can't get sleep and I am energised throughout the day despite this. I even have easier time dealing with the life stresses I've had for years before. They just don't matter so much to me!
 

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