Intro from Poland: Recovering addict to Money Chasing, FOMO & Paralysis by Analysis

[MichaelKove]

Hi all,​

I am happy to be here. Despite being a long time lurker, I feel that this community is one of the healthiest and sane communities in business.

I want to start with a rhetorical question (I ask myself for past 15 years):

What am I doing wrong (in business)?

I observe less intelligent people becoming millionaires and living the lifestyle of abundance of plenty, while I am just walking in circles.

My entire professional life I felt like I was missing something…

And only now, - almost two decades later, thanks to books like FastLane Millionaire, - I am starting to see the problem…

It turned out to be something completely different than I originally thought. I'll share my perspective, but I want to preface where I am coming from with a very brief introduction.

Hopefully some of you can relate to my story and see similarities in our struggles.
I am interested in hearing how you overcame them on your FastLane journey.

I'll spare you the long boring dossier and resume-like chronological list of life milestones. Few strangers truly care about that, so I'll share the relevant parts only. Afterall, I have a couple questions for you (you probably have an obvious answer).

I love money. I love the comfort and lifestyle that money brings.

But I am also extremely lazy and impatient. I want things to show up yesterday. I want money to come effortlessly (yeah, "passive income"). I want a system that gives me time and location freedom. (Who doesn't, right?)

First, I will address the obvious:

I am aware that wealth and forturnes don't come to the lazy. I am not delusional that sitting on the coach will yield the riches. I don't mind building something that can facilitate such "passive" cash flow. I will happily put 150% effort to build that.

Now I am getting to the problematic part I still have no answer to.

I understand that what matters more is not how hard one works but how hard one works on the right things.

This is where the fun starts, I'll get to that in a minute...

For the past 17+ years, I freelanced as a developer (full stack programmer). I went through all the familiar ups and downs, feast or famine of that "career". But, freelancing paid the bills, fed my family, and kept the lights on.

And when I was younger, it enabled my destructive lifestyle of drinking, partying and debauchery. I believe this exact lifestyle prevented me from building a real business when I was young and uncommitted. I just got by and spent all I had on fun. I didn't value my time, my money or health.

I could take higher stakes and bigger risks - I didn't.

But I am done with that. Regret is cancerous, no point of hating myself for the past.

Now I have a family. I am a responsible father (of 3) and a loyal husband. Because I am the sole breadwinner, I cannot quit my "job" (freelancing) and go all in. That's the risk aversion I am dealing with right now.

Now back to the REAL PROBLEM I have:​

The real problem is deciding on what to do!

This is where I come to the community for guidance.

I have way too many interests. From holistic spiritual meditation, to AI & Machine Learning, to writing and copywriting. I read and study marketing for fun. The content I consume consists of mostly business channels, building personal brand, eComm, etc.

One part of me wants to be creators like Justin Welsh, Dan Koe or Dickie Bush and just sell courses/communities. I have enough freelancing experience to teach it or even technical courses.

Another part wants to build a SaaS product. I want to gather a team of developers and play the "startup" with hustle and grind. I lookup to SaaS founders like Alex Becker (with a multi-million dollar exit). I know what tech startup is, had a couple of them in my 20s. (2009-2013 ish) and plenty of startup clients. It's hard work. No delusion about that.

Then, I get sucked into idea of starting a marketing agency. I study consumer marketing for fun. I am fascinated by this. But I am so burnt out dealing with clients. I follow Daniel Fazio, Brett Malinowski, Iman Ghadzi and the appeal of SMMA lures me in. Plus I have experience finding clients, closing the sale.

Occasionally, a little voice inside tells me: "you should just start niche blogs (or YouTube channel), SEO the hell out of them, collect affiliate commissions, paid advertising and never deal with people!". My YouTube feed is full of creators like Gary Vee, Sean Cannell and Chris Do - especially in the personal brand niche.

Why does this frustrate me?​

Everytime a freelancing bad client pisses me of (or acts like my boss) I want to go "antisocial" and never deal with clients. At those points I want to start a YouTube channel or a few niche blogs and just create until I get enough traction. Then sell ads, or earn commission income or even dabble in some eComm/Dropshipping with outsourced customer support.

That takes time, and as I said above, I want results now. I want to quit freelancing, so I seek a cashflow business ideas. I start looking back into agency model again, because, agency (services) is fastest path to stream of income (considering I know how to get clients).

Today I am almost 40. I had the same issue in my 20s. I dabbled in things (startup, ecomm, dropshipping, SEO, service agency, webdev, etc - and all failed.) The only thing that has not failed is freelancing (programming). But it has income cap, it's time-for-money and I just dislike it.

I don't have a lot to show for, other than vast experience starting and quitting businesses, building half finished products, abandoning content blogs and making great plans how I will, one day, become rich.

I am getting MASSIVE FOMO. I want to be everywhere. And today, the AI industry is fueling sooo many interesting opportunities, never available before, I am frantic.

so...

I can no longer fck around, I found out what happens. Nothing good.

I know, I am Money Chasing. I am looking for the EVENT.

I understand this is rudderless.
I understand I need to pick one direction.
I need to make that decision and stick to it.

Yet, I am always back at drawing board:

Which way?

How did you find your CENTS business(es)?

If you struggled with FOMO and indecision, how did you pick one?

 

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[MTF]

You already have a few viable ideas. Pick the one with negatives that you can live with. If you absolutely hate client work, don't choose a business that requires that.

Content businesses generally require more time so if you're impatient, they're probably not for you. Then again, after a while they're much more passive than selling services, let alone software.

I dabbled in things (startup, ecomm, dropshipping, SEO, service agency, webdev, etc - and all failed.)

And why did they fail? They failed because you dabbled.

Pick one business idea today and commit to it for a least a year.

Otherwise you'll be 60 next time, posting that you have the same issues that when you were 40.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I have way too many interests. From holistic spiritual meditation, to AI & Machine Learning, to writing and copywriting. I read and study marketing for fun. The content I consume consists of mostly business channels, building personal brand, eComm, etc.

One part of me wants to be creators like Justin Welsh, Dan Koe or Dickie Bush and just sell courses/communities. I have enough freelancing experience to teach it or even technical courses.

Another part wants to build a SaaS product. I want to gather a team of developers and play the "startup" with hustle and grind. I lookup to SaaS founders like Alex Becker (with a multi-million dollar exit). I know what tech startup is, had a couple of them in my 20s. (2009-2013 ish) and plenty of startup clients. It's hard work. No delusion about that.

Then, I get sucked into idea of starting a marketing agency. I study consumer marketing for fun. I am fascinated by this. But I am so burnt out dealing with clients. I follow Daniel Fazio, Brett Malinowski, Iman Ghadzi and the appeal of SMMA lures me in. Plus I have experience finding clients, closing the sale.

Occasionally, a little voice inside tells me: "you should just start niche blogs (or YouTube channel), SEO the hell out of them, collect affiliate commissions, paid advertising and never deal with people!". My YouTube feed is full of creators like Gary Vee, Sean Cannell and Chris Do - especially in the personal brand niche.

Why does this frustrate me?​

Everytime a freelancing bad client pisses me of (or acts like my boss) I want to go "antisocial" and never deal with clients. At those points I want to start a YouTube channel or a few niche blogs and just create until I get enough traction. Then sell ads, or earn commission income or even dabble in some eComm/Dropshipping with outsourced customer support.

That takes time, and as I said above, I want results now. I want to quit freelancing, so I seek a cashflow business ideas. I start looking back into agency model again, because, agency (services) is fastest path to stream of income (considering I know how to get clients).

Today I am almost 40. I had the same issue in my 20s. I dabbled in things (startup, ecomm, dropshipping, SEO, service agency, webdev, etc - and all failed.) The only thing that has not failed is freelancing (programming). But it has income cap, it's time-for-money and I just dislike it.

I don't have a lot to show for, other than vast experience starting and quitting businesses, building half finished products, abandoning content blogs and making great plans how I will, one day, become rich.

I am getting MASSIVE FOMO. I want to be everywhere. And today, the AI industry is fueling sooo many interesting opportunities, never available before, I am frantic.

so...

I can no longer fck around, I found out what happens. Nothing good.

I know, I am Money Chasing. I am looking for the EVENT.

As I read this I thought, "Money Chasing" and you spotted it yourself. Good on you.

The answer is you just haven't found some big enough problem that you want to commit to, and solve.

Instead of looking within at yourself and market needs/wants, you're looking out at other people and gurus.

That, IMO, is a bad premise.

Ironically, there are lot of posts here at the forum with your same problem, and you know what they all having common?

I listened to Guru X and did this, or I paid for Guru Y's course and tried that...

 

[MakeItHappen]

I dabbled in things (startup, ecomm, dropshipping, SEO, service agency, webdev, etc - and all failed.

These are all typical ventures for people who have no specialized knowledge but want to start a business (that's why they are promoted by Gurus).

What I have seen over the years is that the failure rate for people who have specialized knowledge (knowledge that takes time to be acquired = barrier of entry) is way smaller (and the competition is smaller two).

If you have a lot of experience as a plumber, architect, salesman whatever and you start a business in this industry your chances of failure are not that high.

The only thing that has not failed is freelancing (programming). But it has income cap, it's time-for-money and I just dislike it.

So here is an area that you have expertise in, great! Why not start a business in this area? Build a team of programmers that work for you (agency model). You already have all the knowledge you need to get started. I would build a team of programmers from a third-world country and market their skills in a first-world country.

startup, ecomm, dropshipping, SEO, service agency, webdev, etc - and all failed.

I am curious about the service agency. What service was that?

 

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[MichaelKove]

I am curious about the service agency. What service was that?

My business partner and I ran a webdev/marketing service. We focused on doctors, medical services, etc. It lasted about a year (I did the coding, he did the selling). It failed because we spread too thin and eventually switched to building a concert ticket startup for which we actually got seed funding.

The dev agency is still a viable idea, but as I mentioned and MTF above pointed out - if I "hate client work - don't do client work". I can't say I hate it, maybe I am just experiencing bad clients and I need to change my client acquisition strategy.

 

[MakeItHappen]

My business partner and I ran a webdev/marketing service. We focused on doctors, medical services, etc. It lasted about a year (I did the coding, he did the selling). It failed because we spread too thin and eventually switched to building a concert ticket startup for which we actually got seed funding.

The dev agency is still a viable idea, but as I mentioned and MTF above pointed out - if I "hate client work - don't do client work". I can't say I hate it, maybe I am just experiencing bad clients and I need to change my client acquisition strategy.

What do you mean by "spread to thin"? Did you charge too little money?

If you charge a decent amount of money that should filter out a lot of the crappy clients. Maybe this would make the contact with clients a more positive experience.

 

[MichaelKove]

As I read this I thought, "Money Chasing" and you spotted it yourself. Good on you.

The answer is you just haven't found some big enough problem that you want to commit to, and solve.

Instead of looking within at yourself and market needs/wants, you're looking out at other people and gurus.

That, IMO, is a bad premise.

Ironically, there are lot of posts here at the forum with your same problem, and you know what they all having common?

I listened to Guru X and did this, or I paid for Guru Y's course and tried that...

Thank you for response!

100%. The more I think about it, the more I want to outsource "decision" to someone else. Instead of deciding myself, I wait for others (gurus) to tell me what I should do. Entrepreneurship feels lonely and without guidance, beginners fall for voices of "experts", which becomes a habit. It did for me.

And I am realizing now that "too many interests" resembles an excuse to postpone decision.

Reading FastLane made me realize that I've been seeking "big event" rather than building something big that leads to that event.

This is a big epiphany.

On macro level, I see a handful of (expensive) problems I want to solve.

And picking the delivery method (consulting, service, digital products or even SaaS) is just a matter of what I am better and can commit to doing for long periods of time. While freelancing pays bills, I need to get to building.

 

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[MichaelKove]

What do you mean by "spread to thin"? Did you charge too little money?

If you charge a decent amount of money that should filter out a lot of the crappy clients. Maybe this would make the contact with clients a more positive experience.

We charged too little. We were young (25-ish) and didn't have a lot of business experience. When startup opportunity came around, our eyes lit up with zeros.

We met with several potential investors and VC firms, once we had MVP to go beyond seed money we had for development. It made some money (still in red) and failed due to our own negligence.

I had to leave the country (I was living in US then) to be with my family back home for period of time and one of our competition (also an old client) filed a lawsuit against us. They claimed we "stole his code". We didn't. In fact two completely different frameworks and systems were used. But I wasn't in the country to show up and show proof (they knew I was out) and my partner failed to secure a lawyer.

^ that story is a big learning lesson for me. I don't regret it, but years have past since, I no longer care.

 

[heavy_industry]

what matters more is not how hard one works but how hard one works on the right things.

This right here is one of the most important lessons every entrepreneur needs to understand as clearly as possible.

It doesn't matter how hard you work.

Nobody gives a shit about your hard work or how much effort you put into something. If hard work by itself was causal to success, the janitor who puts in 100-hour work weeks would become a millionaire in a few short years.

GOLD! - EXECUTION - NEWSLETTER - YOUR SYSTEM is more important than your EFFORT.

I tweeted this and posted it in the Telegram Group, and felt it needed to be here, as well as the newsletter. Whatever you think, I think this is the most understated, important concept for obtaining financial freedom. YOUR SYSTEM is more important than your EFFORT. I realize that might be...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

From what I've observed in others and from my own failures, I've concluded that success boils down to one single factor:

EFFECTIVENESS

How much value can you bring to the market in the shortest amount of time possible?

Effectiveness is achieved by:

• the aforementioned hard work (useless by itself)
• automation and leverage - money, people, technology
• short term focus - pay attention to what is in F*cking front of you
• long term focus - do not stop until you get what you want
• awareness and clarity
• systematic self-reflection
• flexibility of thinking and willingness to adjust the strategy to reach the goal faster