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How i could have solved two NEEDs but blew it with procrastination.

someone0815

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Jan 20, 2019
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Hey Fastlane!

I'm someone. Allow me to introduce myself. Im 20, from Germany (please excuse my english) and soon going to attend College. I grew up relatively poor (financial- and socialwise). I always knew money would only make me to a certain degree happy, which fueled my fear of forcing myself to fit society and fall victim to mediocracy and Mon thru Fri.

I'd like to unfold my story. Maybe some of you who can relate in some aspects can learn from it.

I always felt like i had this entrepreneurial-vein. Even before knowing the word itself.
It began with early Highschool i realized all this party-going, drug-consuming and dick-comparing with status-objects on social platforms wasn't making me happy (but my friends tho). That's where my computer began to consume my time. Killing my valuable time with Games.. unfunny repetitive memes on Reddit and ..(on the opposite side of the usefulness spectrum) problem solving. As soon as the pleasure and dopamine kick of gaming wore down i just looked for ways to improve efficiency and program away random inconveniences. It just felt good creating something of value for me. And i wanted to share it.

But i made a huge mistake. I looked for validation on Reddit. Even tho it resulted in huge successes and thousands of validating supporters it had one drawback. I didn't finish any of those projects. Probably because of the phenomenon where you lose interest in continuing because you already gathered all the appreciation (i know this has a name but i forgot it). This and other are probably the reason why i wouldn't see a penny out of it even if i wanted.

Even tho i didn't make any money it felt like i struck entrepreneurial gold. I had something a lot of people saw value in. (Just that all this was basically at a small scale of what the real life would require.)

Which two needs did i have the chance to fill? I created a fictional logo. And asked the 111.000 user big community if they'd like to have it turned into a complete font-family. This thread is still at the top of the forum/community to this day with 1.700 upvotes (the highest of all threads) and a total of 300.000 people addressed/views. I still get messaged to this day when it will be released.

Now comes a weirder story. I played a lot of a popular military simulation game. It had the capabilities of scripting and i learned it by solving it problem to problem basis. At that time the battle royale genre just started gaining traction. I have seen a useful feature in the games of this new genre. It was a compass-UI element. I created the same element as an addon in the military simulation. i asked the community of the military simulation if they'd see a value in an addon that added this feature. I was confronted with a lot of resistance mainly from the hardcore fans (the minority). But you know what i did? I still developed and delivered it. On my second try of approaching the community i got the exact opposite reaction (the casual players). I basically received ~600 upvotes (a lot in context of this small community) and a total of 50.000 people addressed/views. When i finally published my addon it gained a total of 12.000 subscribers. But what flashed me the most is that i got access to exclusive people in the scene. I got contact to big Influencer personalities in this genre. It now just was up to me what i would do with this big opportunities. I even got contacted by a real military software developer and got asked for advice (the gamestudio also creates software for all countries militaries for real life full scale military operation simulation. VBS engine)

I dont care about the upvotes or the downloads. Its just numbers for me. What i like to see is the value i created (for this niche/community/the people).

Attention!:
All what i have written here is experienced in a small niche! What i want to say is, success is not some kind of black magic like i thought before reading the book and experiencing these experiences. Creating value on global scale is way harder and requires more creativity and real hard work. But its not something that is not accomplishable! I hate that people put having wealth and success with something that is not realizable like being a taller person or having luck.

Theres just a problem i see in all this.
I often catch myself action-faking. not just a little bit but a lot. I also procrastinate a lot. Probably because i live day to day and don't have a real goal in life. It once was owning a Lamborghini but since i read the book i don't have a reason for that either. For what do i need a Lamborghini. To flex in front of all people i don't care the opinions about? If i'd like to experience the thrill of the speed i just rent it for a day, drive 300 over the autobahn and appreciate its form of art. Owning it wouldn't just cost me thousands in a month, it would also get boring really fast..

Take from this read what you want.

I seriously have to thank you MJ DeMarco. You simply gave all my suspicions i had a name. Words. To connect the dots. And understand the world a lot better. You gave me value and i appreciate paying for it. Even if its not going to make me a millionaire. You opened my eyes and said things that are worth to live by. For a charitable price.


Kind regards,

someone.
 
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Everyman

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Hey Man

Welcome to the forum.

Great read! A lot of small successes there, and what is important - effort. You have put a lot of work and gained a lot of experience, would you say?

What are your plans / what are your expectations when you joined this forum?

Cheers
 

Rabby

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Welcome :)

You can't possibly "blow it" in the entrepreneurial sense at 20 years old. You're learning the environment.

Opportunity is everywhere, all the time. Each opportunity is not the last one and not the best one. So the skill is picking one, harnessing what you can from it, and getting better with each try. That's how I see it anyway.
 

RazorCut

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Welcome Someone,

Entrepreneurship is like life, a journey. A journey of discovery, not only about the world but about who you are and what you will become. But, like any journey, it starts with a destination in mind.

Once you find your why in life it will give you purpose and bring your life meaning. At this moment in time you sound like a troubled soul, but then I think to a certain extent we all are at 20.

The procrastination is normal, as is the action faking and is difficult to shift until you find a purpose in life that drives you. Even then procrastination can raise its ugly head as it is a habit and like any habit means you are pre-disposed to it until you can wean yourself off.

So now you have 12,000 subscribers. What does this mean in a business sense? Is your add-on free or paid? If free how can you take that group of people and find a way to add value that will convert to a financial gain? If paid what else can you build that your list will devour?

You have a good footing in a strong niche. Where do you want it to lead you?
 
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someone0815

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Jan 20, 2019
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What are your plans / what are your expectations when you joined this forum?
I currently have yet to decide what i expect from life itself. I didn't expect anything in this forum either. I just wanted to share my realization of like you said. Small successes. The entrepreneurial thinking even tho i didn't look actively for monetization.

Welcome :)

You can't possibly "blow it" in the entrepreneurial sense at 20 years old. You're learning the environment.

Opportunity is everywhere, all the time. Each opportunity is not the last one and not the best one. So the skill is picking one, harnessing what you can from it, and getting better with each try. That's how I see it anyway.
Thats what everyone needs to understand. In the end, my "blown" opportunities were just small games in which it is impossible to get a return in form of money. But it was fun to give value and seeing people appreciate it. All this obviously happend because it was my "passion". But some might ask what would be possible if i'd get my foot out into the real world and not just the 4 corners of my screen.

Welcome Someone,

Entrepreneurship is like life, a journey. A journey of discovery, not only about the world but about who you are and what you will become. But, like any journey, it starts with a destination in mind.

Once you find your why in life it will give you purpose and bring your life meaning. At this moment in time you sound like a troubled soul, but then I think to a certain extent we all are at 20.

The procrastination is normal, as is the action faking and is difficult to shift until you find a purpose in life that drives you. Even then procrastination can raise its ugly head as it is a habit and like any habit means you are pre-disposed to it until you can wean yourself off.

So now you have 12,000 subscribers. What does this mean in a business sense? Is your add-on free or paid? If free how can you take that group of people and find a way to add value that will convert to a financial gain? If paid what else can you build that your list will devour?

You have a good footing in a strong niche. Where do you want it to lead you?

No its 12,000 Subscribers to this specific addon. Not to my person/profile. I already gave the value to these 12k people. For free. But you have to understand: This addon is supplied on a restricted market where you contribute freely without any return.

Its just an example of providing value. Its nothing you make money with. And the book allowed me to understand that this experiences are indeed valuable and are just small examples of what is happening in the real world marketplace. They are breaking at least one important rule too: They're dependent. Like i said, on the restricted marketplace.

Yes i have a good footing in a niche. And thats all i will gain from it. No monetary value. It lead me to understand that as long you're providing value you will get a return. Just not in this niche and not in this market. For this i will have to leave my 4 corners of my screen.
 

RoadTrip

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Have your read the story of Brendan Greene? He used to create add-ons and later partnered with a game developer to create PUBG.

Is there a special or unique twist you have so you can do something similar?
 

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