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How to Recover from 50k in Debt?

Jfinley

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Here's a tasty tid-bit you might enjoy.

You sound like an ideal customer for ME for doing videos at $3,000 a pop. Six or seven jobs like that a month, and I could do very well, without working too hard.

Maybe THAT'S an option you can consider too.

I do video production, not for profit, but for my own business use.

I too was faced with prices similar to what you pay.

For that reason, I do my own. It isn't cheap. My PC setup cost $2,500, and software cost $500, so I still paid the same. But I now own it, and can make unlimited videos now. My expenses for that have disappeared.

If you pay for first class service, without first class income, you're in for a long struggle. Videos and marketing don't HAVE to be expensive. Now what is the next video going to cost you? There go your profits and/or savings.

In addition to scaling up in your business, think scaling DOWN on expenses as well.

Your posts are thought provoking. Thanks!

During my journey I’ve come across many opportunities like these. I’ve thought about it the last few weeks considering the costs and demand.

You’re initial investment sounds about right. I priced a MAC Pro for about $2,200 and Final Cut Pro. Adobe is another option. I already have a Cannon T7 DSLR and Rhode Mic.

Thanks for the inspiration.

I’m headed to the local lead generation threads. I have all the skills to design Pages, connect systems, and deliver leads to clients. I just struggled with AdWords, but if that’s learnable. Just didn’t fit in my time frame.

A good idea with the wrong expectations of results and success can easily be ruined by a lack of patience. I’m working on it.
 
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Real Deal Denver

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Your posts are thought provoking. Thanks!

During my journey I’ve come across many opportunities like these. I’ve thought about it the last few weeks considering the costs and demand.

You’re initial investment sounds about right. I priced a MAC Pro for about $2,200 and Final Cut Pro. Adobe is another option. I already have a Cannon T7 DSLR and Rhode Mic.

Thanks for the inspiration.

I’m headed to the local lead generation threads. I have all the skills to design Pages, connect systems, and deliver leads to clients. I just struggled with AdWords, but if that’s learnable. Just didn’t fit in my time frame.

A good idea with the wrong expectations of results and success can easily be ruined by a lack of patience. I’m working on it.

You can't go wrong with the Mac Pro and Final Cut Pro. I used to have a lot of respect for Adobe until they decided to be expensive with their leased software.

I use a PC and Sony software. It's super powerful, but Final Cut Pro is the industry standard. I should have went the Mac route, but Apple has always kind of pissed me off with their sky high prices. I don't mind paying extra, but I have my limits. I like to think of myself as NOT being a sucker. I have more power and storage than the Mac at far less cost. But - it's not a Mac.

At the very least, I'd recommend you set up your own video production for the cost savings alone. Not spending $3K a month on video can make you healthy fast, and it's surprisingly easy when you have the major equipment purchases done. It's also something you can easily slide into part time, and see where it might go from there. That is not an easy field to enter, so profits can be very good.
 

Jfinley

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Andy Black

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Yes I’m all over them. He seems to be the “AdWords Guy” here
I’m not the only AdWords Guy in here. I just probably wrote the most.

Also check out @Ungodly and @eliquid posts/signatures as well as mine.
 

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If I understand correctly you can create all the software to create a coaching platform?

I believe people that can do that can sell themselves to experts and coach's to put there material out there.

Just what little I've picked up from mainly Grant Cardone when he talks about one of the people he does business with that has helped him create his whole online coaching programs. That person and his business does this platform building for 100's of different coach's i believe from fitness to sales training etc..
 

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So my question is that how do you know that the $300/hr coach needs a system to go to a mastermind, forum model?

This coach may not know how to teach a class and may be better at 1 on 1.

You say you know your system can help them, but how do you know?
 
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All I can say is to work your way out of your situation. It's one foot in front of the other. Almost everyone has been there and done that. You can do it.
 

Jfinley

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If I understand correctly you can create all the software to create a coaching platform?

I believe people that can do that can sell themselves to experts and coach's to put there material out there.

Just what little I've picked up from mainly Grant Cardone when he talks about one of the people he does business with that has helped him create his whole online coaching programs. That person and his business does this platform building for 100's of different coach's i believe from fitness to sales training etc..

You are right. I do have all the skills to launch and create the platform. My latest creation is here: not live so nothing to buy or sell there. Just a frame demo.

www.highticketmastermind.com

This is a community site with courses, worksheets, forums, profiles, user achievements, course tracking and so on. Everything a coach needs to launch, create and scale a profitable community/mastermind.

That's my overall end game, but reconsidering it based on what I've heard on the forums.
 

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You should really re-read MJ's post from earlier in this thread.

You will not be successful with this because you are trying to teach others to do something which you, yourself, have not been able to do.

Would you choose a 300-pound person to coach you on how to lose weight?
 
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Jfinley

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You should really re-read MJ's post from earlier in this thread.

You will not be successful with this because you are trying to teach others to do something which you, yourself, have not been able to do.

Would you choose a 300-pound person to coach you on how to lose weight?

Oh I listened and it struck home hard!

I can't teach what I haven't done myself. I'm not that kind of person. That's why I'm shifting focus towards the agency which does include my skills and I do have results in. The only portion I neglected was PPC and FB Ads. I mainly focused on Copywriting, Software Setup, Email Campaigns and Web Design.

Learning Adwords is a skillset that can be mastered. I'm not sure if you're talking about the agency business or the High ticket mastermind though.
 

Jfinley

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So my question is that how do you know that the $300/hr coach needs a system to go to a mastermind, forum model?

This coach may not know how to teach a class and may be better at 1 on 1.

You say you know your system can help them, but how do you know?

A coach not being able to teach a class is a learned skill. But only having 2-3 hours a night to coach someone at $300/hr isn't a fastlane coaching model would you agree. Limited time and limited scale.

So if you can create a community and deliver your course there you can generate passive income and find higher paying clients to work with that see you as an authority and are willing to pay more for your course.

Don't confuse a lack of skills with a lack of ability to execute.

You can learn to deliver coaching, but you can't create more time in the day or leverage working on a limited scale.

You can either coach 1-3 people a month OR you can create a community and help 100-200 a month @$49-$99 each and leverage that money and time into a viable business.

Make sense?
 

biophase

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You can either coach 1-3 people a month OR you can create a community and help 100-200 a month @$49-$99 each and leverage that money and time into a viable business.

Make sense?

There is a huge difference in coaching on a forum vs coaching 1-1. But I’m sure there are many coaches that would rather go the forum/scale route vs 1-1.

With that being the case I just don’t see how you are qualified to teach that route. I just looked at your website and you are definitely selling something that you have no experience in. It’s one of those websites that makes me cringe just reading your module titles. I’m glad you are seeing the light and not moving forward with it. People would challenge each of those modules and want to know your results implementing them.
 
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Jfinley

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There is a huge difference in coaching on a forum vs coaching 1-1. But I’m sure there are many coaches that would rather go the forum/scale route vs 1-1.

With that being the case I just don’t see how you are qualified to teach that route. I just looked at your website and you are definitely selling something that you have no experience in. It’s one of those websites that makes me cringe just reading your module titles. I’m glad you are seeing the light and not moving forward with it. People would challenge each of those modules and want to know your results implementing them.

Hey that's where the ego gets checked at the door. I'm learning and open but don't confuse that with chasing money.

I'm switching paths and ditching the idea thanks mainly to the feedback here. I'm here to learn and not defend an I'll advise position.

Thanks for being honest. I expect it. I'm not qualified to teach that

MAYBE, I can sell it to someone who is!!! $2,000 for a fully functional membership site isn't bad. I can customize it to their liking and niche.

(Ideas turning)

Gotta turn lemons to lemonade. @Andy Black let me know when you want to launch a course site. You can have dibs on this one. OR I'll barter my site for your course.

Let's make something happen.

As for the idea...NEXT! Scrap it and move on.
 

Andy Black

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Hey that's where the ego gets checked at the door. I'm learning and open but don't confuse that with chasing money.

I'm switching paths and ditching the idea thanks mainly to the feedback here. I'm here to learn and not defend an I'll advise position.

Thanks for being honest. I expect it. I'm not qualified to teach that

MAYBE, I can sell it to someone who is!!! $2,000 for a fully functional membership site isn't bad. I can customize it to their liking and niche.

(Ideas turning)

Gotta turn lemons to lemonade. @Andy Black let me know when you want to launch a course site. You can have dibs on this one. OR I'll barter my site for your course.

Let's make something happen.

As for the idea...NEXT! Scrap it and move on.
Thanks for the offer.

I hosted my course on Thinkific and created a Facebook group to support people who took the course.

We then moved to a Xenforo forum and my course is now becoming a “forum plus course” instead of a “course plus forum”.



No danger of “building stuff” here. ;)

(I have a thread called “Stop building stuff”.)
 

Jfinley

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Thanks for the offer.

I hosted my course on Thinkific and created a Facebook group to support people who took the course.

We then moved to a Xenforo forum and my course is now becoming a “forum plus course” instead of a “course plus forum”.



No danger of “building stuff” here. ;)

(I have a thread called “Stop building stuff”.)

Thinkific is great. I launched a company called PhitPheonix with my cousin using that platform.

She loves it.

And I'm tired of building without results. I choose control over design and experience over the automation and ease of use, BUT that doesn't make a course. The content does.

I've taken $1,000 courses on U-G-L-Y sites but they were gold. And I've paid $30 for courses that were crap, but the UI was amazing.
 
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Andy Black

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MAYBE, I can sell it to someone who is!!! $2,000 for a fully functional membership site isn't bad. I can customize it to their liking and niche.

(Ideas turning)

That's kinda what i was trying to suggest... That you reach out to experts in other fields and offer to help them build a platform for whatever it is they help people with.

I've seen a handyman startup blog become a buy membership to learn from my course site.
Also seen same thing with a guy that bought repaired and sold laundry machines on craigslist.
 

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Perfect! I would stick within the insurance industry for my side gig then. What are the pain points within the industry? What would insurance companies pay good money to have done for them? Is there something that you could do more effectively than what is typically done?

I'm imagining that we could try to make the insurance companies (such as the one you work at) become your customer for something. What could that thing be?

Could you become drone-certified and make yourself an exceptional claims adjuster? (Meet Your New Claims Inspector: A Drone)

Could you use niche marketing to enhance sales even within your own (presumably commission-based) job? For example, could you create a landing page to focus on people with very high-end cars that gets potential leads directly to your email or phone number?

Not all business need to start in your area of expertise, but after 15 years of trying and not finding success, I'd start with that, personally. Very interested to hear others' ideas as well.

Take a deep breath . . .

Now focus.

^^^^
That advice by @msufan is the best advice I've read on here and you haven't answered it.. maybe I missed your answer so apologies if so.

Use your experience to make this happen.

Why look at 100 Unsexy Ideas, when you have one staring you in the face?

The kind of typos you're making tell me you are a bit manic at the mo, hence my deep breath advice.

Stay calm, stay focused, stay within your area of expertise.

Wishing you and your family the very best.:thumbsup:
 
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Jfinley

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Take a deep breath . . .

Now focus.

^^^^
That advice by @msufan is the best advice I've read on here and you haven't answered it.. maybe I missed your answer so apologies if so.

Use your experience to make this happen.

Why look at 100 Unsexy Ideas, when you have one staring you in the face?

The kind of typos you're making tell me you are a bit manic at the mo, hence my deep breath advice.

Stay calm, stay focused, stay within your area of expertise.

Wishing you and your family the very best.:thumbsup:

Thanks!

It's easy to get worked up when you're dealing with dreams and pains. Yeah, I have my manic moments, but a Red Bull and a shaky ride home typing on your phone can lead to the same results. Plus I swear I have a demon in my auto-correct settings. (sometimes I just don't give a duck)

But I appreciate the advice and well regards.

I'll re-read his specific post again and see what makes sense. Sometimes we seek advice to validate an idea rather than truly get feedback. My earlier posts (yesterday) may have a hint of "protect my idea" in the response. As I continued to get responses and more importantly get feedback from "The Man MJ" what else could I do?

I'd be a fool NOT to listen.

It's easy for me to cut the loss and move on which for some seems manic or quite sociopath like at times. But it serves me well.

I've switched paths to rely on my core skills and from there I'm going to create a real business.

For now, I will take a deep breath, and exhale. Woosah in the moment.

Thank you and I wish the best for you and your family.

Take care
 

Real Deal Denver

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Hey that's where the ego gets checked at the door. I'm learning and open but don't confuse that with chasing money.

I'm switching paths and ditching the idea thanks mainly to the feedback here. I'm here to learn and not defend an I'll advise position.

Thanks for being honest. I expect it. I'm not qualified to teach that

MAYBE, I can sell it to someone who is!!! $2,000 for a fully functional membership site isn't bad. I can customize it to their liking and niche.

You are going to really like this. Fasten your seat belt.

I think you have a great idea, if it was tweaked a tiny bit.

You might not have the expertise to teach the modules on your site, BUT you certainly have an awesome ability to build the infrastructure for someone that does.

I have a lot of experience with that and I don't like it. It's difficult because I'm not familiar enough with it to do it efficiently, but I know enough to slog through it. I am currently building my own infrastructure system, and it is a lot of work and a lot of learning. Giving you my content and having you build and launch it would be a fantastic service. My system is complex (for me - probably not nearly as much for you), involving landing pages, sales funnels, drip campaigns, adwords, and linked ads. You could take over and build this, and you could offer a scaled back version, for those that want a more basic website with someone to maintain and update it.

Don't sell yourself short! THIS is a great idea, and you have the skills to make it work.

Sell this an an ongoing venture to your customers, not just a set it and and leave it service, and you will eventually build respectable residual income as well.

In short, the world desperately NEEDS someone with your skills and experience that can do this. A "no job too big, and no job too small" one stop service.

If you want, I might be able to partner with you to do the marketing and you do the work. I'm telling you, there is NO limit to the market that would embrace this. You have a gold mine, but you're looking for diamonds! And the beauty of this? You can do it on your time and still keep your job to pay the bills and eat!

Now listen. Pick yourself up. All you have to do is re-calibrate and aim for a slightly different target. The work and skills remain the same!

In reality, you are mere inches from success.
 

Jfinley

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You are going to really like this. Fasten your seat belt.

I think you have a great idea, if it was tweaked a tiny bit.

You might not have the expertise to teach the modules on your site, BUT you certainly have an awesome ability to build the infrastructure for someone that does.

I have a lot of experience with that and I don't like it. It's difficult because I'm not familiar enough with it to do it efficiently, but I know enough to slog through it. I am currently building my own infrastructure system, and it is a lot of work and a lot of learning. Giving you my content and having you build and launch it would be a fantastic service. My system is complex (for me - probably not nearly as much for you), involving landing pages, sales funnels, drip campaigns, adwords, and linked ads. You could take over and build this, and you could offer a scaled back version, for those that want a more basic website with someone to maintain and update it.

Don't sell yourself short! THIS is a great idea, and you have the skills to make it work.

Sell this an an ongoing venture to your customers, not just a set it and and leave it service, and you will eventually build respectable residual income as well.

In short, the world desperately NEEDS someone with your skills and experience that can do this. A "no job too big, and no job too small" one stop service.

If you want, I might be able to partner with you to do the marketing and you do the work. I'm telling you, there is NO limit to the market that would embrace this. You have a gold mine, but you're looking for diamonds! And the beauty of this? You can do it on your time and still keep your job to pay the bills and eat!

Now listen. Pick yourself up. All you have to do is re-calibrate and aim for a slightly different target. The work and skills remain the same!

In reality, you are mere inches from success.

Thank you. As my mind races I’m going to let this marinate. So many options and avenues. A true rollercoaster of ideas and emotions.

I did commit to learning AdWords because I’ve never been good at marketing and that’s a skill I’ll always use. Plus it can generate extra business if postioned correctly.

But system setup, web design and system management is really all I’ve done for a while. I would consider myself an expert with over 15 years experience.

The idea of teaching it isn’t my expertise, but you’re right setting up, lunching and designing this would be a goldmine. I think this is what another user meant about missing what’s right in front of me.

Thanks for your inspiration.
 
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Real Deal Denver

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The idea of teaching it isn’t my expertise, but you’re right setting up, lunching and designing this would be a goldmine. I think this is what another user meant about missing what’s right in front of me.

Teaching it? Way too much time, and way too little reward. And you sure don't want to hand over your knowledge for a pittance. If they want to learn the steps in the processes, go for it. Spend a few MONTHS reading and studying. Good flippin luck. Are they web designers or in business to sell XYZ?

I'm saying to set up building this internet marketing complete system. You build it from the content your customer supplies, and you run it and maintain it for an ongoing fee. You customer does not know how to do this, or they would - and even if they do know how to do it, what is their business? Accounting for their business? No. They are there to offer a product and/or service. Accounting is a support service that they need - but it is not their business. Marketing? No. They pay for newspaper, radio, TV, internet - whatever - advertising. Are they experts at creating the visuals and putting together the advertising message? No. They don't know how, and they sure don't have the time.

In my business, I am only doing this work because I have to. I guarantee you that over 90% of the people in my business don't do anything like this. It's miles above what they're capable of. They can't even THINK of how to do it, much less do it.

Think this over. It's a combination of creating videos - graphic design - web site design - and a whole lot of technical things to pull it all together, such as landing pages and facebook ads, to name the top two. Add in a drip campaign and google adwords, and you see - you can basically be their marketing DEPARTMENT!

It would be very difficult for a company to pay for a full time marketing department. But for a nominal monthly fee - this could be the perfect solution!

Funny. You've had these skills ALL along. I think you just need to know your target.

You owe me a beer for this advice, I hope you know.
 

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You are going to really like this. Fasten your seat belt.

I think you have a great idea, if it was tweaked a tiny bit.

You might not have the expertise to teach the modules on your site, BUT you certainly have an awesome ability to build the infrastructure for someone that does.

I have a lot of experience with that and I don't like it. It's difficult because I'm not familiar enough with it to do it efficiently, but I know enough to slog through it. I am currently building my own infrastructure system, and it is a lot of work and a lot of learning. Giving you my content and having you build and launch it would be a fantastic service. My system is complex (for me - probably not nearly as much for you), involving landing pages, sales funnels, drip campaigns, adwords, and linked ads. You could take over and build this, and you could offer a scaled back version, for those that want a more basic website with someone to maintain and update it.

Don't sell yourself short! THIS is a great idea, and you have the skills to make it work.

Sell this an an ongoing venture to your customers, not just a set it and and leave it service, and you will eventually build respectable residual income as well.

In short, the world desperately NEEDS someone with your skills and experience that can do this. A "no job too big, and no job too small" one stop service.

If you want, I might be able to partner with you to do the marketing and you do the work. I'm telling you, there is NO limit to the market that would embrace this. You have a gold mine, but you're looking for diamonds! And the beauty of this? You can do it on your time and still keep your job to pay the bills and eat!

Now listen. Pick yourself up. All you have to do is re-calibrate and aim for a slightly different target. The work and skills remain the same!

In reality, you are mere inches from success.

Beers all around. I’m resonating with what you’re saying and it makes sense. Back to the drawing board to rethink my target. Going back to Unscripted to find these missing pieces.

Appreciate you
 

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Beers all around. I’m resonating with what you’re saying and it makes sense. Back to the drawing board to rethink my target. Going back to Unscripted to find these missing pieces.

Appreciate you
Good luck! :thumbsup:
 
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Good on you for taking all this feedback and not turning negative or pessimistic towards the people giving you advice. You're listening which is good and the feedback here is really good.

If I were in your position, I'd set some goals primarily around your debt and your income.

- Work to drop all your expenses as low as possible - where are you wasting money and what could be downsized? Pay off the IRS first then your student loans.

- Zero in on 1 business idea. Don't try to do a bunch of things at once. People fail when their attention is diverted. Find the one thing you are most competent in and that has shown the most promise and do that.

- Increase current income - Can you ask for a raise at work? What can you do to build up your current income to get that debt down?

Good luck man! You're gonna make it.
 

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Good on you for taking all this feedback and not turning negative or pessimistic towards the people giving you advice. You're listening which is good and the feedback here is really good.

If I were in your position, I'd set some goals primarily around your debt and your income.

- Work to drop all your expenses as low as possible - where are you wasting money and what could be downsized? Pay off the IRS first then your student loans.

- Zero in on 1 business idea. Don't try to do a bunch of things at once. People fail when their attention is diverted. Find the one thing you are most competent in and that has shown the most promise and do that.

- Increase current income - Can you ask for a raise at work? What can you do to build up your current income to get that debt down?

Good luck man! You're gonna make it.

It’s hard NOT to take offense when the comments get personal, but aside from that there is some SOLID advice from people I would pay to just pick their brains.

Luckily, we have this forum!

Paid off my lowest account from the IRS and setup a payment plan. I also said to hell with it and went back to designing websites while learning AdWords.

Taking massive action, posting results and getting feedback is my plan (Website and systems will be done today)

Calling businesses to start getting web-design clients and going to two meet ups this week with local business owners. Trying to work out a plan to deliver a small training to these groups. About 40 people show up for their meet ups and it’s all geared towards local marketing.

Shake hands, kiss some babies, and close some deals!
 

Real Deal Denver

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It’s hard NOT to take offense when the comments get personal, but aside from that there is some SOLID advice from people I would pay to just pick their brains.

Luckily, we have this forum!

Paid off my lowest account from the IRS and setup a payment plan. I also said to hell with it and went back to designing websites while learning AdWords.

Taking massive action, posting results and getting feedback is my plan (Website and systems will be done today)

Calling businesses to start getting web-design clients and going to two meet ups this week with local business owners. Trying to work out a plan to deliver a small training to these groups. About 40 people show up for their meet ups and it’s all geared towards local marketing.

Shake hands, kiss some babies, and close some deals!

So glad to hear you're "back on track" because I think you have incredible strengths in that area.

However, I would highly caution you to avoid the training aspect of things. First of all, if it's training so they can run their own program, you are handing control over to them that you don't need to. Maybe they don't even WANT control. Managing a website or blog is time consuming and not easy. If I was an employee, I wouldn't want to do it. For my own business - probably, but I could be talked out of it.

Instead of training, I'd focus on education of what you can do. This would be a feature/benefit rundown of how your system works, what it can do, and what results they can expect that will help them be more successful. Notice I have NO technical training included anywhere in there?

If they want training and to run their own system, there are plenty of resources out their to give them all the training they need.

Step back and give them the training on WHAT the system can do for them, not HOW it does it.

With that presentation, you also inform them of all of the benefits - and that you can do as much as they want you to do. Plan A - a medium site that is static, but has portals for communication back and forth (chat now, email questions, FAQ). Plan B has the marketing systems in place to capture leads and manage them through sales funnels. Plan C is everything included, in addition to a blog - the works! See? Let them CHOOSE the solution they want - not IF they want a solution. Never give them a yes or no closed end question. Always which one would you THINK is the better option for you? Not do you want it OR not!

The result is this; you get a big sale to set up their system, and also an ongoing monthly, or a discounted annual, plan to maintain, update, and run their system. I guarantee you that any business worth being a business can afford $65 a month to have this system put into place and have someone run it for them. For a big full blown system, I'd charge double that.

Now for the math. You sign up 50 business' for the cheap $65 plan. That's $3,250 residual income a month, which is $39,000 a year gross income. Double that and what does it work out to? Add in the one time design and set up fees of, say, $1,500, and what does that come to? $75,000. Add the set up fees to the monthly fees and how much is that? Now you're in business.

Can they hire a guru to do that for $1,500? Yes they can. This is where you have to shine, so they go with you? Can they hire office staff to run this for a little bit more than $2 a day? Not me, if I was on their staff. Sure, I'd learn it and do it for a raise of $100 a week. Now your $65 fee looks like a bargain, and it should, because it is!

There is one path you can take that might be a great opportunity for you. And it's certainly within your reach.

BOOO WAHHH!
 
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Marian Diop

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Haven't finished reading through all the posts but some thoughts.
1. High ticket masterminds, you have to have some backing and experience to convince people they should listen to you. Check out Jeff Davis down in FL who put together a franchise type of masterminds thats he getting facilitators signed up for based on the popularity of his masterminds. He gives you all the tools to the group leader who is more of a facilitator. Its a neat idea.
2. What insurance company do you work for? I've been a sales leader on the corporate side of both State Farm and Allstate. There are SO many opportunities in the insurance industry. I echo with others to say do what you know. You can make more commissions based on sales and get some of that debt paid down (move to another agent's office if thats not working where you currently are), you can refer someone to open an Allstate agency and get $10k, you can develop coaching/online groups/programs to sell to the big companies - there are MULTIPLE examples of very successful agencies doing this and they are helping people so much, you can work for a soon to retire agent and develop a succession plan that allows you to buy the business (insurance agencies aren't totally fast lane but they are VERY good if you are smart).

Hubs and I paid off $100k, own a house in Hawaii, have several different income streams, my husband is retired military and thats definitely helped a lot but remember you're always going to have the ability to spend more than you make...I had to learn this 2x lol. It sounds like (and I could totally be wrong) that developing a budget with your wife, buckling down for a bit to focus on what you're doing f/t just to get back on track debt wise, and trying to not get distracted by opportunities that aren't in your immediate skill set (I'm totally guilty of getting distracted by shiny new opportunities) will help you start to get ahead.
 

NMdad

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Your wife will be convinced when she sees the $ coming in. When my part-time side hustle brought in more than my full-time day job, month after month, my wife told me to quit the day job & grow the side hustle. I was scared of ditching the predictable paycheck, but made the switch and haven't regretted it.

Since you already know insurance, focus on generating more money from that. Insurance agents always need leads. You know the business. Generate more leads for yourself, and maybe you can sell the leads or rent pipelines to other agents/offices at your company; you could also generate leads/pipelines for non-competing insurance agents/policies.

As Andy Black said in one of his posts: Acquire a lead, offer it to a prospect, and then if they want more, they pay you a monthly retainer to stay on the lead pipeline.

What's the fastest path to cash? Focus on the very next action.
 

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