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My Journey From 0 to $2k / month Profit - AGAIN

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

JustPawel

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Hey guys!

I joined the Fastlane forum about 3-4 years ago. Quickly left this place, but rediscovered it again recently. This is another attempt of mine to build a business that can support me long term.

I feel pretty shitty, to be honest with you. These years were a rollercoaster for me. I always wanted to develop a business and have the freedom of working independently. I achieved it to some extent because I freelance last years, but I never achieved a comfy level in that area - I don't have a good network that would generate regular clients, money-wise is also below the average. Shortly saying I don't feel secure.

I know living as an entrepreneur is never secure, but I literally drive on the edge last years and for no means, I can call myself an entrepreneur.

By starting this thread I am giving myself another attempt to build a business that will give me a stable income and better business habits & work ethics.

I identified pretty well the root of my business failures:
  • working on too many ideas at once - I always had a ton of ideas which is fatal. It is hard for me to choose one. In consequence, I was not able to focus and invest enough time to develop one, but properly. It might work for people who are highly self-disciplined and/or have already developed another business, but not for me who can be disturbed by anything.
  • having no long-term attitude & weak execution - I feel like I give up too fast. Instead of sticking to one idea and be fully involved in it, I just leave it if I don't see results relatively quickly after testing marketing ideas. This is pretty stupid from my side because whenever I invested time and energy I saw results. Sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller. I understood pretty late that business needs time to grow, especially if you have little/no money for investment. By weak execution, I don't really mean no skills, but just not enough effort and involvement put in.
  • lack of self-discipline - I am easily disrupted by small things. While working on specific tasks, I am easily disrupted by Youtube, friends, etc. While working on a business, I am easily disrupted by other ideas, other people actions, etc.
Shortly saying - more thinking, less doing. Typical...

So.. My plan is:
  • finding a regular job in the next few weeks to support myself with a regular income
  • building a business from 0 to min. 1500 euro profit / month within the next 12 months
But honestly, the money is secondary for me at the moment. What's more important is being consistent. If regular, long-term work won't bring desirable results, I will still be fine with it.

I'm starting from scratch, so the first step that I am facing is choosing a business idea from the projects I have on my list.
  • It needs to be a relatively simple idea to execute - I don't want to spend months working on the first version of the product. I want to start selling and testing the market as soon as possible.
  • The fewer obligations the better - In general, it excludes all of the service-related businesses, because it's like forever owning something to someone. Unfortunately, I can't say full no-no to service-based business, because it has the lowest entrance barrier for me now - I have little money to invest, but I have skills in video content creation, marketing and web design.
  • It would be great if it had automation and scaling potential.
  • Needs to be a business with remote / global potential - I live abroad and I don't speak local language fluently. I cannot really work with local customers at the moment.
I limited the choice to 2 ideas:
  • eCommerce product that has been in my mind for some time already. It solves a problem of a niche demographic(me included). I am a little bit afraid that it can be diffcult to make profit with paid traffic due to relatively low margins - around 15 - 20 euro depends on version. I don't want to jump into it, until I figure out what other products I could offer to increase potential cart value in the future. It requires investing some time to build a product, but can be done with minial costs at the start.
  • Agency niched down to video content creation & consulting for eCommerce & potentially other agencies. Pretty tricky to exectute due to the nature of video content that it's hard to be done remotely. This is something that I feel really strong in tho. I have a few ideas that I could include into my offer, however, I need to brainstorm it with myself and potentially with some buisness owners to establish if there's such a need. I also have experience with cold outreach and been quite successful in it in the past which might be useful.
Within a week I am planning to analyze these in details, make a brief plan of executing each of them to find out pros and cons. So I can choose one and start executing the idea from the next week.

In the meatime, I had one job interview today. I should get a response from the company today. If it doesnt work, I will be talking with another company about job opportunity this week.

This is it. I'll try to update you weekly about the progress.

If you have any feedback, I'll be really happy to hear it and talk more.

See you around!
 
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Kimmy XD

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JustPawel,

Wow! I would have to say that what you are feeling and doing, I am too! I think you are right, we get involved in this vicious cycle of having so many ideas and plans (extreme creativity) and failing to focus on one because we start all of them (or multiple) at once. I have had several attempts at redirecting myself to one goal, but I always end up losing interest/focus. Then, months later, I will have the inspiration to restart a project again. Imagine if I just pushed hard to keep working on it in those months that I have lost focus. I could have probably done a lot of improvement.

Just like you, I am restarting on the last quarter of 2021 and will keep it going moving forward no matter how slow it takes. I will work on one project only and see where it takes me.

Goodluck!
 

JustPawel

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Hey,

It's been almost a week and some updates came up.

First of all, I've got a job. :) It's not the coolest job ever, but definitely, something that gives decent money and has potential for much more in the future(IT). It's also remote which should give some more space and time for my own projects.

That's a little success of mine because I invested my free time to study programming in the last 4 months to have a backup plan and it worked out much faster than I expected.

I start in November, so I have another couple of weeks to work solely on my business. I was thinking a lot about what I really want to do and realized that eCommerce is the thing. That's why I dropped any agency-related ideas(even tho, I think it's easier to generate income this route) for now and started to work slowly on my product.

My plan is to test its potential within the next 3 months. In case of failure, I'll change direction or product. I believe people are interested in it because there's visible competition in that market and it's a product that I would buy myself. I am just a little afraid of profit margins & the fact that it's not a large commodities market, so it might require more work to build people awareness

I need around a month to prepare a sellable MVP. I'll be updating you about the development process. What's very important from my perspective(especially for this product) is branding & brand message. Another thing is a good, well-designed website. I feel like many newcomers to eCommerce really suck in these. Personally, when I see a store that looks not legit, I just leave. So, the challenge will be to equal in quality to market leaders.

I have a question for people who started eCommerce before - Have you ever tried to validate ideas before building a product with PPC & Landing Pages? I am thinking if it makes sense to build an email database in the meantime while working on the product. It potentially could give me a better understanding of people needs and generate first sales after launch quicker.

That's the update for now. I'll do my best to give you some more insights into the process next week.

Best!
 

JustPawel

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This week wasn't as productive as it was meant to be, however, I still made some progresss.

First of all, I started to work on the product. I briefly planned the entire project and worked on some fundamental elements that are needed to continue development. I spent quite a lot of time researching my competitions and reading reviews about their products to establish their pain points - so I can improve my product in that areas. I also ordered some products to test them personally.

I think I am like 10% in MVP development at the moment.

I also got a draft of the contract from the company that I am supposed to start working for. Hopefully, I'll sign the final version of it this week.

Have a good day!
 
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JustPawel

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Hey,

These 2 weeks since I decided on the business idea have gone really fast. I am still working on my product - trying to spend at least 2h / day on it. I realized that finishing MVP in the next 2 weeks - as I planned previously - won't be possible. I'll still do my best to achieve it, but there's no reason to rush for me.

Anyway, to speed some things up and relieve me from things that I don't enjoy and take me lots of time - means writing that needs to be done - I decided to hire a freelancer. I am interviewing some and probably one of them will start to work with me next week. I used to do everything in any previous business attempts - literally everything - on my own, but at some point(when I was developing explainer video business in the past) I started to see lots of value in delegating some tasks.

Last week was quite busy for me because I still freelance. Tomorrow I start my new job, so it won't be any easier. Especially for the next month, because I am going to continue that long-term freelance gig - at least for a few weeks until I make sure that my new workplace is worth staying there for longer.

Best,
Pawel
 

JustPawel

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Hey!

First of all, I started a new job on Monday. The first week was pretty good, lots of onboarding-related tasks, so it wasn't really stressful and tiring. I can see that it influenced my productivity too. I plan my day better just due to the fact that I don't have much time left for myself in the evening.

Project wise there's not much progress - it's not like nothing is going on, it's just a stage that requires more conceptual work, so results are not seen yet. I chose a freelancer that will help me with some tasks next week. She waits for instructions that I am working on just now. Also, I've received my competitors' products. I am really happy that I ordered them. It just convinced me more that these have some flaws that I can improve. I can already see some competitive advantages that I'll be able to communicate to potential customers.

Best,
Pawel
 

rsrs

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What’s your niche/product? Do you have an ideia from where to source from?

What about marketplaces? These days a lot of ecomm business depends on Amazon, do you think your product have a chance? Btw, where are you based in? (things usually change a lot country to country on ecomm)
 
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JustPawel

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What’s your niche/product? Do you have an ideia from where to source from?

What about marketplaces? These days a lot of ecomm business depends on Amazon, do you think your product have a chance? Btw, where are you based in? (things usually change a lot country to country on ecomm)
I don't want to reveal the product yet, broadly saying it's a self-care niche. I'll surely tell you more about the product itself, however, I'd prefer to get it to the selling stage first. It's not something that you can make millions from, but this is not my goal at the moment. It was more important for me to find something that I can be interested in myself and something that can be relatively easy to prove the concept.

I am planning that marketplaces are going to be my early point of sales. I don't think they can generate a ton of sales, but I feel like they are low-hanging fruits and it's worth utilizing it at the beginning. I might be wrong tho, it will be confirmed by reality.

I am based in Turkey, I come from Poland, but I'll target EUR countries with the product.
 

JustPawel

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Hey,

I haven't written any updates for 2 weeks now. The reason for it is simple, not much was done since my last post.

When I started a new job, it was very hard for me to get focused on my project. Last week I just intentionally gave myself a 1-week break to reset my mind. Instead of working in the evenings, I was just chilling and studying Turkish.

Today, I sat down and briefly planned tasks for the upcoming week. I'm coming back to my project with a fresh perspective and a list of things to accomplish by the end of the month. In the meantime, I'm also equipping my new office room. Recent weeks made me realize that I need a separate, quiet creative space where I can comfortably work from.

It might happen that some of these posts will be a little boring like the last ones, but I'm gonna keep posting anyway. I feel like it helps me to stay accountable.

Does anyone of you have experience with building in public on Twitter, YT or other platforms?

Have a good day!

Best
 

rsrs

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Hey,

I haven't written any updates for 2 weeks now. The reason for it is simple, not much was done since my last post.

When I started a new job, it was very hard for me to get focused on my project. Last week I just intentionally gave myself a 1-week break to reset my mind. Instead of working in the evenings, I was just chilling and studying Turkish.

Today, I sat down and briefly planned tasks for the upcoming week. I'm coming back to my project with a fresh perspective and a list of things to accomplish by the end of the month. In the meantime, I'm also equipping my new office room. Recent weeks made me realize that I need a separate, quiet creative space where I can comfortably work from.

It might happen that some of these posts will be a little boring like the last ones, but I'm gonna keep posting anyway. I feel like it helps me to stay accountable.

Does anyone of you have experience with building in public on Twitter, YT or other platforms?

Have a good day!

Best

Did you make your first sale?

This is the only update I'm eager to hear from you. (in your best interest)
 
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woken

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From what I read it sounds like you’re not considering CENTS at all.
 

JustPawel

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Did you make your first sale?

This is the only update I'm eager to hear from you. (in your best interest)
No, I haven't made any sales yet. I'm still working on the product. Realistically, I'll be able to work on generating the first sales in January. December will be a busy month for me - Christmas, family gatherings, etc.


From what I read it sounds like you’re not considering CENTS at all.
As you say, I do not consider CENTS at the moment. I focus on making a business that:
1. I have fun working on long term
2. That can generate income that's enough to replace my salary.
3. That can be not directly related to the amount of time I'm putting into it

With this flexibility, I'll be able to work on other ideas that are more CENTS-oriented.

The business idea that I work on for sure meets Time, Control & Need conditions. Scaling is a bit more tricky, but still possible. I've done good research at the beginning(even mentioned it on one of the posts before) to establish other, related products that I can sell. I am aware that it's hard to base sell on one type of product only.

Summarizing, it's not an idea that can give me full independence, but it's a step to open new opportunities. I have plenty of time to achieve bigger goals. :)
 
Last edited:

rsrs

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No, I haven't made any sales yet. I'm still working on the product. Realistically, I'll be able to work on generating the first sales in January. December will be a busy month - Christmas, family gatherings, etc.



As you say, I do not consider CENTS at the moment. I focus on making a business that:
1. I have fun working on long term
2. That can generate income that's enough to replace my salary.
3. That can be not directly related to the amount of time I'm putting into it

With this flexibility, I'll be able to work on other ideas that are more CENTS-oriented.

The business idea that I work on for sure meets Time, Control & Need conditions. Scaling is a bit more tricky, but still possible. I've done good research at the beginning(even mentioned it on one of the posts before) to establish other, related products that I can sell. I am aware that it's hard to base sell on one type of product only.

Summarizing, it's not an idea that can give me full independence, but it's a step to open new opportunities. I have plenty of time to achieve bigger goals. :)

I hope you find a business that you can ignore every December. Good luck.

Sorry for the joke. But really, think what are your priorities. Most business, specially those starting from nothing, require more time than we have.

So please tell me if you think otherwise so I can unsubscribe from this topic.
 
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JustPawel

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I hope you find a business that you can ignore every December. Good luck.

Sorry for the joke. But really, think what are your priorities. Most business, specially those starting from nothing, require more time than we have.

So please tell me if you think otherwise so I can unsubscribe from this topic.

Sorry, but I don't fully understand what you mean. I devote as much time to my business as I am able to. I am doing it in my own tempo. If you're interested just in business numbers, marketing tactics, etc. then it might be the wrong thread. I am planning to post here about any ups and downs that accompany building a business.
 

Rossco

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Hey guys!

I joined the Fastlane forum about 3-4 years ago. Quickly left this place, but rediscovered it again recently. This is another attempt of mine to build a business that can support me long term.

I feel pretty shitty, to be honest with you. These years were a rollercoaster for me. I always wanted to develop a business and have the freedom of working independently. I achieved it to some extent because I freelance last years, but I never achieved a comfy level in that area - I don't have a good network that would generate regular clients, money-wise is also below the average. Shortly saying I don't feel secure.

I know living as an entrepreneur is never secure, but I literally drive on the edge last years and for no means, I can call myself an entrepreneur.

By starting this thread I am giving myself another attempt to build a business that will give me a stable income and better business habits & work ethics.

I identified pretty well the root of my business failures:
  • working on too many ideas at once - I always had a ton of ideas which is fatal. It is hard for me to choose one. In consequence, I was not able to focus and invest enough time to develop one, but properly. It might work for people who are highly self-disciplined and/or have already developed another business, but not for me who can be disturbed by anything.
  • having no long-term attitude & weak execution - I feel like I give up too fast. Instead of sticking to one idea and be fully involved in it, I just leave it if I don't see results relatively quickly after testing marketing ideas. This is pretty stupid from my side because whenever I invested time and energy I saw results. Sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller. I understood pretty late that business needs time to grow, especially if you have little/no money for investment. By weak execution, I don't really mean no skills, but just not enough effort and involvement put in.
  • lack of self-discipline - I am easily disrupted by small things. While working on specific tasks, I am easily disrupted by Youtube, friends, etc. While working on a business, I am easily disrupted by other ideas, other people actions, etc.
Shortly saying - more thinking, less doing. Typical...

So.. My plan is:
  • finding a regular job in the next few weeks to support myself with a regular income
  • building a business from 0 to min. 1500 euro profit / month within the next 12 months
But honestly, the money is secondary for me at the moment. What's more important is being consistent. If regular, long-term work won't bring desirable results, I will still be fine with it.

I'm starting from scratch, so the first step that I am facing is choosing a business idea from the projects I have on my list.
  • It needs to be a relatively simple idea to execute - I don't want to spend months working on the first version of the product. I want to start selling and testing the market as soon as possible.
  • The fewer obligations the better - In general, it excludes all of the service-related businesses, because it's like forever owning something to someone. Unfortunately, I can't say full no-no to service-based business, because it has the lowest entrance barrier for me now - I have little money to invest, but I have skills in video content creation, marketing and web design.
  • It would be great if it had automation and scaling potential.
  • Needs to be a business with remote / global potential - I live abroad and I don't speak local language fluently. I cannot really work with local customers at the moment.
I limited the choice to 2 ideas:
  • eCommerce product that has been in my mind for some time already. It solves a problem of a niche demographic(me included). I am a little bit afraid that it can be diffcult to make profit with paid traffic due to relatively low margins - around 15 - 20 euro depends on version. I don't want to jump into it, until I figure out what other products I could offer to increase potential cart value in the future. It requires investing some time to build a product, but can be done with minial costs at the start.
  • Agency niched down to video content creation & consulting for eCommerce & potentially other agencies. Pretty tricky to exectute due to the nature of video content that it's hard to be done remotely. This is something that I feel really strong in tho. I have a few ideas that I could include into my offer, however, I need to brainstorm it with myself and potentially with some buisness owners to establish if there's such a need. I also have experience with cold outreach and been quite successful in it in the past which might be useful.
Within a week I am planning to analyze these in details, make a brief plan of executing each of them to find out pros and cons. So I can choose one and start executing the idea from the next week.

In the meatime, I had one job interview today. I should get a response from the company today. If it doesnt work, I will be talking with another company about job opportunity this week.

This is it. I'll try to update you weekly about the progress.

If you have any feedback, I'll be really happy to hear it and talk more.

See you around!
Looks like you have a good understanding of where your weaknesses are and how to overcome the obstacles you will face. I resonate with all you have said as I've been on the same path and struggle also with focus and attention on the task that will move me towards my goals, I feel there is so much to do and end up trying to complete everything at once. Hope you get traction in your business soon. Good Luck!!
 

TZA

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Looks like you have a good understanding of where your weaknesses are and how to overcome the obstacles you will face. I resonate with all you have said as I've been on the same path and struggle also with focus and attention on the task that will move me towards my goals, I feel there is so much to do and end up trying to complete everything at once. Hope you get traction in your business soon. Good Luck!!
I am almost with the same weaknesses and spot as you. I have a full time job as a teacher tight now and honestly its very time consuming. Most of the time I am working on weekends as well. So instead of learning shopify from scratch, I hired someone to do it. I did market research etc myself. Lets see what happens. Fingers crossed.
 
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