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Burning Your Boat VS Playing it Safe

Best Choice:


  • Total voters
    49

niftyg

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The headline says it all, what does everybody think of this topic.

There are two groups:

Play it Safe:
Work your day job and your fast lane on the side, eventually fast lane income exceeds day job and you ease out of it slowly.

Burning Boats:
Quit, cut ties right now. Go full bore on your business and either sink or swim like you've never swam before.

I am sure many of you have faced this choice, or face it on daily basis.


Personally, I have low expenses, not much money in the first place, and an extremely erratic job with no set schedule that absolutely saps the life out of me. I want to burn my boats, I feel like I could push myself beyond what I ever have; but nobody in my life would encourage me on a choice like that so I find it difficult to decide to pull the trigger and wander off into the unknown.

I come to ask what the forums general viewpoint of this topic is?

Play it safe,

Or burn your boats.
 
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Last edited:

Lakeview

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I think it is a personal decision. Personal situations dictate what they need to live. You need to have a responsibility to yourself. I do however believe that when you play it safe, you should explore other methods to bring in your minimum required income to develop your path to freedom.
 

RBefort

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Do the absolute bare minimum to survive/teeter on edge of problems to spend the most time on fastlane. Or, if strong enough, suck the benefits and your employer dry of wages while doing that plus fastlane. I have debated switching jobs, but my schedule allows me to jet from the office at 8 hrs, benefits, and also a little free time to possibly read or learn fastlane stuff. However, it wears you out and to be honest, is a huge distraction to your mind. I can be reading a fastlane related book and keep thinking about my slowlane. Just depends on what you need. I wouldnt quit without at least a vague idea of what you want to pursue. No point in quitting and then thinking you will spend the next month going insta fastlane and finding a need. So, I vote do a little structured work from a slowlane that gives u plenty of time to do fastlane.
 
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BlokeInProgress

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Personally i believe it depends on the person. There are some experiences in my life where this same question has been answered and thats where I get my decision from.
 

NoLackey

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My personal preference would be to work the slow lane job until I replaced my salary consistently month after month or even double it; and or it starts to get in the way of your fast lane job. I also like this method because if I were even close to replacing my salary I would go to work with a casual attitude knowing I could quit at any time.

I'm not afraid of making it happen, and the pressure of not having a job would push me, but it's a matter of time. If I couldn't get things going quick enough I'd be screwed in a couple months as my savings is wrapped up in my current venture.
 

ZCP

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Whichever motivates you to 'do' and take action!
 
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JasonR

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Burn the boats. Give yourself no other option.

Ask yourself, do you want to be a successful entrepreneur? Look any successful businessman - they have ALL taken risks. Some have what it takes, others don't.

Take a risk, and burn your boats. Give yourself no other option. A safety net exists, even if you can't see it. Have faith in yourself, and you will succeed. Some how. Some way. So, jump.

If I can see a commonality among people who were searching for success, and those that got it, is that they burned their boats. They went ALL IN.

Be a risk taker.
 

Silverhawk851

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Jump from the nest and learn how to fly on your way down.

It's How nature does it
 

smarty

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Burn the boats and light a fire under your @$$ for 1 year.
 
Last edited:

snowbank

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The headline says it all, what does everybody think of this topic.

There are two groups:

Play it Safe:
Work your day job and your fast lane on the side, eventually fast lane income exceeds day job and you ease out of it slowly.

Burning Boats:
Quit, cut ties right now. Go full bore on your business and either sink or swim like you've never swam before.

I am sure many of you have faced this choice, or face it on daily basis.


Personally, I have low expenses, not much money in the first place, and an extremely erratic job with no set schedule that absolutely saps the life out of me. I want to burn my boats, I feel like I could push myself beyond what I ever have; but nobody in my life would encourage me on a choice like that so I find it difficult to decide to pull the trigger and wander off into the unknown.

I come to ask what the forums general viewpoint of this topic is?

Play it safe,

Or burn your boats.

in 1 short paragraph, what is your business?

if it's any good, in your shoes I would 100% go all in.

if it's not good, you shouldn't.

in your shoes, if it's good, there's zero upside to playing it safe. simplest EV play ever
 
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niftyg

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It would more be along the lines of going all in at marketing and building websites to fund the fast lane venture better. I could make tons more and I could also crash and burn.

One can argue I could double dip but it just saps all the energy I have out of me.

Maybe I'm just making excuses... maybe my life would turn around.
 

mgore714

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Unless your fastlane roadmap is currently full-time then I'd play it safe. Everyone talks about taking huge risks, but it's not risk that builds companies and fortunes over time. What builds fortunes is consistent returns.

Read Great by Choice and understand the 20-mile march. Companies that try to make over 20% returns in a year eventually fail. Companies that aim only for 20% and do so consistently are the ones that are still around and going strong today.

What in your life will get you that 20% return? Is it working your job, taking income from that and applying it to your fastlane plan -- that honestly just takes 10 hours of your time a week? Or is it quitting, becoming cash strapped, and wondering how to fill your week with work?

I recommend you listen to Davin Hansson who founded Basecamp before making a decision: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2351
 

AllenCrawley

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To hell with all this playing safe BS. Burn the FN boats! :jawdrop:

I burned the boats in 1997 with a wife and three kids and wouldn't have it any other way. Guess what? I didn't burn the boats because I had a fastlane plan. I burned them because I was tired of the mediocrity and hated the feeling of having no control over my life.

Burned a bunch more boats 8 months ago with a big move across the country. It didn't seem smart on paper to do so. Lots of people questioned my decision. A few are still upset with me (us) for doing what we did. A favorite quote of mine is by Steve Jobs... "You have limited time. Don't waste it living someone else's life." It's been one of the best decisions of our lives.

BURN THE BOATS!

BUT...

Don't stop there.







[Notice I'm not saying "it depends" or '"what feels right to you" or "if this, then that", "blah blah blah" :yawn:]
 
Last edited:

Mohammed Hamza

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What if a person loves a job instead of having a business? Would you still insist him to start a business( related to his interests)?

I personally am totally confused. Right now I'm in high school. My dad had a shoe manufacturing business. But due to heavy losses it was closed down. So now he has given the two factories on rent. Thats how were making a living. My dad wants me to take a job because business is too risky according to him. Now I would love to start a new business but I also want to become a pilot because I have always been fascinated by planes. But to become a pilot ot would require a huge amount of investment approx: $100,000.

Is it worth the investment?
 

tafy

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All comes down to the fastlane plan...

Good plan = quit

How do you know your fastlane idea is good or not? Play it safe until it starts to grow momentum then quit.
 
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AllenCrawley

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IceCreamKid

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Lose the job.
 

Mohammed Hamza

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The end result for whatever we do, is to be happy. So if a person is happy with the job he does then is'nt he successful in that perspective. Is there a need to leave the job for the fastlane. When it does not guarantee him happiness?
 
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snowbank

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Maybe I'm just making excuses

this

look, decide what you want, and do THAT.

every aspiring entrepreneur is just that, aspiring to be one. the very tiny % of guys who go after it make 0 excuses.

most aspiring entrepreneurs are askholes. askhole is someone who asks for advice then never does anything with it or does the opposite. the one's who aren't askholes and will execute will make a lot of money.(this isn't directed at you, just speaking in general)

i gave one entrepreneur from b+p advice that he should attend a conference that would be beneficial for him. 99% of people would say "cool" and then not do anything. it'd be easy to say, "it's too expensive, it's too late notice, what if i don't learn anything", etc...

the next day he had a flight booked.

after a party one night he strolls in and starts talking about all the people he met. i was like, "who are those people?" it was my party and he knew a bunch of people i didn't even know!! he came here w/ a purpose, and made it happen. instead of enjoying the delicious drinks like most people, he was working the room meeting everyone.

after 1 week of networking/meeting the right people, he's probably more connected than 99% of people on this forum.... at age 20.



Decide what you want, and set up your life in a way so everything you do is related to accomplishing that goal.
 

brob742

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Decide what you want, and set up your life in a way so everything you do is related to accomplishing that goal.

YES.

As my boys the Avett Brothers sing in the song Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise:
"When nothing is owed or deserved or expected,
And your life doesn't change by the man that's elected,
If you're loved by someone, you're never rejected
Decide what to be and GO be it"


Another one that Hemingway once said strikes home for me:
"If you're a writer, declare yourself the best writer! But you're not as long as I'm around unless you want to put the gloves on and settle it."
(this one might have been a movie quote, but either way, the principle is sound!)

Point is, if you're going to be an entrepreneur BE an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs don't have jobs.

Simple as that.
 
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snowbank

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Entrepreneurs don't have jobs.

In some situations it's +EV for an entrepreneur to have a job. In his case, with limited to no downside, with a job that doesn't sound like is providing him much capital in the first place, is most likely not one of those situations.
 

brob742

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In some situations it's +EV for an entrepreneur to have a job.

Totally, I hear ya.

I was simply going on the pure definition of the word "entrepreneur."
1. a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.
2. an employer of productive labor; contractor.
 

RogueInnovation

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Sidewalker mentality has to go
BUT
You need to prioritise revenue streams effectively so you don't sink (this is true always) so there is no need to jump ship early.

6 months to a year should be spent on your first biz plan imo, it grows your biz muscles, keep work casual during that period and then make sure you get off the crutches when your biz is staring you in the face (you don't want your work to be a hidey hole you crawl up into to escape what you gotta face). Do not burn bridges, keep good relationships, cuz you never know when you might need a handshake or a bailout for a bit :p

The choice of leaving your job isn't THAT crucial, its the mindset of tending your garden first that is crucial.
Keep yourself honest, grow your heart to do what you gotta do, get it done.
Go after what you love, not away from what you hate, ask what will make the dream live.
 
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Last edited:

smarty

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To hell with all this playing safe BS. Burn the FN boats!
I burned the boats in 1997 with a wife and three kids and wouldn't have it any other way. Guess what? I didn't burn the boats because I had a fastlane plan. I burned them because I was tired of the mediocrity and hated the feeling of having no control over my life.

BURN THE BOATS!
BUT...
Don't stop there.

I burned the boats and then self doubt kicked in and I kinda stopped there. F*ck that. I'm never ever gonna give up, not in a single second. I have decided to burn the boats even if it takes me up to the last breath.
 

Kak

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I have not had a job since age 19. I never experienced the cushy office job with benefits and a 70k per year salary. Because of this I was able to accept my business making 1500 per month for over a year without looking for a job. I knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur and made it happen regardless of the fact I could get more in a job. Make sacrifices. Keep yourself free. Only a business is scalable.
 

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