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Starting my first business - any feedback would be appreciated!

DChamb3

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I’m 31, and am currently in the slow lane working as a Project Manager making a decent salary and saving and investing a large portion of my income. While I enjoy what I’m doing, reading The Millionaire Fastlane really exposed many of the problems with this approach and inspired me to start my own business and get into the Fastlane.

I’m currently in the process of becoming a certified firearms instructor with the intent of starting an LLC that provides firearms training.

In terms of barriers to entry, you need to take several courses in order to get the proper credentials. While there are certainly other businesses in the area offering this sort of service, most of them do not have good websites or a social media presence which I have experience with and would be able to provide as well as excellent customer service. Additionally, I would focus on a particular niche - most likely new gun owners.

My plan is to get started by teaching seminars in cooperation with an organization in the area to get further acquainted with the industry, develop ongoing relationships with venues, forge strategic partnerships, and make a name for the organization. During this time I may also provide one on one coaching, but it seems that seminars would provide more bang for the buck (no pun intended.) After this initial period, my intent would be to design my own coursework and put on my own seminars aimed at the niche group I’m going for.

I believe biggest challenge with this business model is going to be scalability and decoupling my time from my income. To address this, my intent is to eventually design online courses targeted to people in states where this sort of training qualifies and possibly bringing some employees on board.

I will be doing this while also working roughly fifty hours each week as a Project Manager until I am hopefully able to grow this business to the point that it can replace my day job. Naturally, this presents some challenges as well.

This will be the first business that I have started for myself, so any feedback, suggestions, or criticisms you may have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!
 
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Fersko

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Sounds like a solid idea to me. Don't forget to take extra time in account of things you'll stumble upon that you haven't thought about (which will always happen). I mean it looks to me that you have everything together and are determined to follow this certain plan. So what always can be helpful, is to also prepare some fail scenario's for yourself. This will make it more easy to deviate from the original plan, and with still having the feeling that you know what you're doing.

Good luck and success on your venture, it will be fun ;)
 

Andy Black

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I’m 31, and am currently in the slow lane working as a Project Manager making a decent salary and saving and investing a large portion of my income. While I enjoy what I’m doing, reading The Millionaire Fastlane really exposed many of the problems with this approach and inspired me to start my own business and get into the Fastlane.

I’m currently in the process of becoming a certified firearms instructor with the intent of starting an LLC that provides firearms training.

In terms of barriers to entry, you need to take several courses in order to get the proper credentials. While there are certainly other businesses in the area offering this sort of service, most of them do not have good websites or a social media presence which I have experience with and would be able to provide as well as excellent customer service. Additionally, I would focus on a particular niche - most likely new gun owners.

My plan is to get started by teaching seminars in cooperation with an organization in the area to get further acquainted with the industry, develop ongoing relationships with venues, forge strategic partnerships, and make a name for the organization. During this time I may also provide one on one coaching, but it seems that seminars would provide more bang for the buck (no pun intended.) After this initial period, my intent would be to design my own coursework and put on my own seminars aimed at the niche group I’m going for.

I believe biggest challenge with this business model is going to be scalability and decoupling my time from my income. To address this, my intent is to eventually design online courses targeted to people in states where this sort of training qualifies and possibly bringing some employees on board.

I will be doing this while also working roughly fifty hours each week as a Project Manager until I am hopefully able to grow this business to the point that it can replace my day job. Naturally, this presents some challenges as well.

This will be the first business that I have started for myself, so any feedback, suggestions, or criticisms you may have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!
If someone had a gun to your head (no pun intended!) and you had to make a sale this week, or at least help someone, then what would you do?
 

tpuffer

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How are you going to be different than other instructors?

What is your specific value skew as it relates to firearms training?
 
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MJ DeMarco

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I believe biggest challenge with this business model

IMO, the biggest challenge would be gun-grabbing politicians which now own and control the loudspeaker for their anti-gun agenda.

While this could be a looming threat for years, anything gun related is something I wouldn't want to invest in due to the Commandment of Control -- the government exists to make your job/business hell. The idea that there are politicians who want me out of business (as well as useful idiots willing to back them) would lead me to NOT want to be in that line of work.

Just some food for thought as you start evaluating options.

Welcome to the forum.
 

DChamb3

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IMO, the biggest challenge would be gun-grabbing politicians which now own and control the loudspeaker for their anti-gun agenda.

While this could be a looming threat for years, anything gun related is something I wouldn't want to invest in due to the Commandment of Control -- the government exists to make your job/business hell. The idea that there are politicians who want me out of business (as well as useful idiots willing to back them) would lead me to NOT want to be in that line of work.

Just some food for thought as you start evaluating options.

Welcome to the forum.
Thank you very much for your insights sir! I had initially gravitated toward firearms instruction as opposed to selling actual firearms or accessories because of the political risks and uncertainty associated with being an FFL. You're absolutely right to point out that this would affect an instruction business as well and that this too would violate the Commandment of Control. I am going to give this some thought and figure out the next steps accordingly.

On an unrelated note, I completed The Millionaire Fastlane recently and learned a lot. I ordered a copy of Unscripted and am very excited to read that as well.

Again, I really appreciate the feedback and I'm excited to learn more by participating in the forum.
 

DChamb3

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Sounds like a solid idea to me. Don't forget to take extra time in account of things you'll stumble upon that you haven't thought about (which will always happen). I mean it looks to me that you have everything together and are determined to follow this certain plan. So what always can be helpful, is to also prepare some fail scenario's for yourself. This will make it more easy to deviate from the original plan, and with still having the feeling that you know what you're doing.

Good luck and success on your venture, it will be fun ;)
Thank you for the feedback! I will definitely keep various risks and contingencies in mind when designing a business.
 
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DChamb3

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How are you going to be different than other instructors?

What is your specific value skew as it relates to firearms training?
My thinking was that I would be focusing on a particular niche while other instructors tend to be an inch deep and a mile wide. Also, I have noticed that most other instructors tend to not have as good of a social media presence, websites, or customer service.

MJ raised some very good points and I may be a bit hesitant to move forward with this as a fastlane business based on the flaws and risks that he pointed out. Regardless of what fastlane business I ultimately decide on, I think the points you raised are very valid and I will certainly keep them in mind.

I appreciate your insights!
 

Andy Black

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DChamb3

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Can you build a business around your project management skills?
That’s a fantastic idea. I was actually thinking about some options for that yesterday evening.

I think providing instruction, preferably in the form of online content, c
Can you build a business around your project management skills?
It's interesting you mention that. I was actually thinking about those possibilities yesterday evening. I think teaching courses and creating online content for people looking to get their PMP or maintain professional development units could be one option, but I would need to do some further research to identify some niches and areas where the market is not saturated with instructors.

Another possibility is project management consulting, however, in most cases you are doing a job for company in the form of a contract so in order for it to be scalable I'd need to hire people.

Thanks again for your insights and I'll keep you posted!
 

Andy Black

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That’s a fantastic idea. I was actually thinking about some options for that yesterday evening.

I think providing instruction, preferably in the form of online content, c

It's interesting you mention that. I was actually thinking about those possibilities yesterday evening. I think teaching courses and creating online content for people looking to get their PMP or maintain professional development units could be one option, but I would need to do some further research to identify some niches and areas where the market is not saturated with instructors.

Another possibility is project management consulting, however, in most cases you are doing a job for company in the form of a contract so in order for it to be scalable I'd need to hire people.

Thanks again for your insights and I'll keep you posted!
I went from employee to contracting to freelancing to kinda building an agency to renting landing pages and campaigns and selling courses.

You don’t always have to hire more people.

You don’t have to do things different. I don’t think anything is saturated. Don’t let competition put you off.

Check out www.tropicalmba.com/services and www.tropicalmba.com/consulting
 
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DChamb3

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I went from employee to contracting to freelancing to kinda building an agency to renting landing pages and campaigns and selling courses.

You don’t always have to hire more people.

You don’t have to do things different. I don’t think anything is saturated. Don’t let competition put you off.

Check out www.tropicalmba.com/services and www.tropicalmba.com/consulting
Thank you very much for the insights! Much appreciated. I will check that out right away.
I went from employee to contracting to freelancing to kinda building an agency to renting landing pages and campaigns and selling courses.

You don’t always have to hire more people.

You don’t have to do things different. I don’t think anything is saturated. Don’t let competition put you off.

Check out www.tropicalmba.com/services and www.tropicalmba.com/consulting
that is very good to know sir. I will check out the links and give it some thought.

again, I really appreciate your taking the time to provide your feedback!
 

DChamb3

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You 1000% need to be making instructional YouTube videos, Tik Toks, and Instagram posts and building a brand.

Any other strategy would be like trying to make a snowball with chopsticks
I appreciate the suggestion! Thank you very much.
 
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DChamb3

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I just wanted to circle back on this and let everybody know what came about after your feedback. I decided to move forward with becoming an instructor, mainly because it’s a personal goal I had of mine and I am going to use it to make money on the side while I figure out what my Fastlane business will be (likely something non-firearms related.)

As MJ pointed out, what I proposed would violate the commandment of control in that there is tremendous political risk associated with anything in this industry. Additionally, the organization you go through to obtain your instructor certification can pull it at any time, even though as an instructor you are not an employee or even a partner of theirs (although the probability of this occurring is low.)

I will still go through the process of setting up an LLC, getting clients, etc. with the understanding that this will be a trial run to see what does and does not work in terms of marketing, and the mechanics of setting up a business (albeit one that is not a Fastlane business.) In the interim, I’m going to continue working as a project manager fulltime while I determine what my Fastlane business model will be.

In terms of Fastlane business models, I am thinking of doing something related to project management, either in the form of instruction, contracting, or consulting. Another possibility is rental properties, although I generally have an aversion to debt and to build a sizable portfolio would in all likelihood take a significant commitment of time.

Again, I really appreciate everybody’s thoughts and feedback. Hope you’re all having a great 2021!
 

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