In this day in age, that is the best feeling ever.
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Free registration at the forum removes this block.Have you had your "FTE"? (Or Was it an FTM?!)
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In this day in age, that is the best feeling ever.
I wouldn't say it was a FTE but perhaps a series of moments over time.
It's about 9 am on a Tuesday. I'm in an office. We run excel and print papers.
There are no windows in this office, besides one which looks out over warehouse. I hear the click-clack of keys, a faint smell of coffee, the drone of an A/C unit, and hushed conversations on the phone careful not to disturb others. Somewhere distant, the sound of a copy machine.
These people around me aren't happy. In fact they haven't been happy for years. They're too scared to move up or laterally, too indebted to move down. They sabotage others who want to move up because it would highlight their shortcomings.
Some higher-ups come to town and conduct an audit of our facility. Our audits are typically poor. There are some obvious problems stemming from the same few individuals, but due to nepotism and a little guilt tripping, they stay employed at middle positions which they abuse in order to satisfy their urge to feel powerful, or to punish you for a perceived slight. If you want to change any of this, they will spy on you and look for any excuses to get you canned.
What I really hate the most is that companies don't need to be this way. I've seen it in the early stages, when companies hit a sweet spot of maximum employee satisfaction - usually coinciding with their most profitable quarters. Not sure yet what happens that kills this satisfaction, but I'm trying to narrow it to a list of factors.
I left some other things unmentioned, but each is in on the level of pissing in the coffee pot. Surely some people would do it anyway but I also suspect they did this as a result of the environment. Imagine prisoners who throw feces at the guards. It's a very similar dynamic.
It's about 9 am on a Tuesday. I'm in an office. We run excel and print papers.
There are no windows in this office, besides one which looks out over warehouse. I hear the click-clack of keys, a faint smell of coffee, the drone of an A/C unit, and hushed conversations on the phone careful not to disturb others. Somewhere distant, the sound of a copy machine.
These people around me aren't happy. In fact they haven't been happy for years. They're too scared to move up or laterally, too indebted to move down. They sabotage others who want to move up because it would highlight their shortcomings.
Some higher-ups come to town and conduct an audit of our facility. Our audits are typically poor. There are some obvious problems stemming from the same few individuals, but due to nepotism and a little guilt tripping, they stay employed at middle positions which they abuse in order to satisfy their urge to feel powerful, or to punish you for a perceived slight. If you want to change any of this, they will spy on you and look for any excuses to get you canned.
What I really hate the most is that companies don't need to be this way. I've seen it in the early stages, when companies hit a sweet spot of maximum employee satisfaction - usually coinciding with their most profitable quarters. Not sure yet what happens that kills this satisfaction, but I'm trying to narrow it to a list of factors.
I left some other things unmentioned, but each is in on the level of pissing in the coffee pot. Surely some people would do it anyway but I also suspect they did this as a result of the environment. Imagine prisoners who throw feces at the guards. It's a very similar dynamic.
The day I decided I never wanted to work for anyone again. (Still doing it, but working on it)
It was raining and I was working at a retail pharmacy.
During that day the newish boss had left me out on the floor while bringing back 3 other floor workers to the back office to chat for most of the shift.
She was surprised that I didn't get all my "tasks" accomplished (don't get me started on every task having a high priority).
We're doing closing procedures.
Of course its raining.
Of course I'm the only male (manager's decision to only hire female employees) so of course I have to pull the outside trash bin (of course).
Of course there's no garbage bag in the trash bin.
Of course I have to drag the bin to the dumpster in the back of the store.
Of course I go to pour it out and before that happens half the contents fall out.
Of course I clean up this mess, go get the other trash can and its raining harder.
Of course this can also has no trash bag.
Of course the bin smells like hot wet vomit.
Of course I bring this trash can to the back as well.
Of course I dump the trash and vomit splashes on my face.
Of course.
It was raining and I was working at a retail pharmacy.
During that day the newish boss had left me out on the floor while bringing back 3 other floor workers to the back office to chat for most of the shift.
She was surprised that I didn't get all my "tasks" accomplished (don't get me started on every task having a high priority).
We're doing closing procedures.
Of course its raining.
Of course I'm the only male (manager's decision to only hire female employees) so of course I have to pull the outside trash bin (of course).
Of course there's no garbage bag in the trash bin.
Of course I have to drag the bin to the dumpster in the back of the store.
Of course I go to pour it out and before that happens half the contents fall out.
Of course I clean up this mess, go get the other trash can and its raining harder.
Of course this can also has no trash bag.
Of course the bin smells like hot wet vomit.
Of course I bring this trash can to the back as well.
Of course I dump the trash and vomit splashes on my face.
Of course.
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Some serious mindset issues here. Or maybe I'm not translating this correctly?
EDIT:
Re-reading your post again... both of your options are terrible by the way. Is your 2nd option "take revenge" on other successful people supposed to be the better option?
This seems like the wrong forum for you...
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There was no single FTE or FTM for me, more like a series of them, but here are two that stand out:
1. When that show "The Office" (US version) first came out, the first time I watched it I realized it was pretty much what I was living every day.
2. One particularly stressful day, I was sitting at my desk and the thought came to me "if I have to keep doing this kind of work until it's time to retire, I might as well just kill myself ". I knew I wasn't truly suicidal or depressed. But that thought really grabbed my attention, and I took it as a sign that it was time to start figuring out something else. Not long after that I started putting in the work that led to the development of my first business.
1. When that show "The Office" (US version) first came out, the first time I watched it I realized it was pretty much what I was living every day.
2. One particularly stressful day, I was sitting at my desk and the thought came to me "if I have to keep doing this kind of work until it's time to retire, I might as well just kill myself ". I knew I wasn't truly suicidal or depressed. But that thought really grabbed my attention, and I took it as a sign that it was time to start figuring out something else. Not long after that I started putting in the work that led to the development of my first business.
I've had several FTMs, and I could talk to you all day about when I cleaned shitty toilets or studied for nothing in Sweden's toughest High School program (which by the way is pointless and won't give you more money). But those were just milestones on the way. They got you thinking, but you still had something back there that kept holding you back.
==================================================
My FTE:
I stood there in the dark Swedish winter – the sharp, cold snow stung my face and it was -4 degrees Fahrenheit.
I'd gotten kicked out and I went to the only place I could go - my single mother. (Thanksfully I had her!)
This isn't one of those "boohoo, I had it bad growing up"-stories. Instead I consider it a success story - this is how I got unleashed. Don't ask me why, because I don't have an answer, but this was the moment my mind got disconnected from The Script. This was the moment normal became absurd, I let my ego go and got a purpose.
When I got there I turned on the shower with my shaking hands and switched to cold. All those thoughts that flew around in my head, they got washed away when I walked into that freezing beam of water. I needed laser focus – now I had it.
You know what? I had nothing to lose, but I still had EVERYTHING to lose if I just gave up, got on welfare and started doing drugs (like most of my friends). Your chance of hitting is 0% if you never take a swing!
After that I went to work. I got a copywriting job. I switched High Scool Program. I failed starting a generic dropshipping site. I made mistakes, but I don't care because I have a goal, and it's all I think about. It's what I breathe, it's what I see, it's what I do and it's what I eat.
Never stray from the Way.
==================================================
My FTE:
I stood there in the dark Swedish winter – the sharp, cold snow stung my face and it was -4 degrees Fahrenheit.
I'd gotten kicked out and I went to the only place I could go - my single mother. (Thanksfully I had her!)
This isn't one of those "boohoo, I had it bad growing up"-stories. Instead I consider it a success story - this is how I got unleashed. Don't ask me why, because I don't have an answer, but this was the moment my mind got disconnected from The Script. This was the moment normal became absurd, I let my ego go and got a purpose.
When I got there I turned on the shower with my shaking hands and switched to cold. All those thoughts that flew around in my head, they got washed away when I walked into that freezing beam of water. I needed laser focus – now I had it.
You know what? I had nothing to lose, but I still had EVERYTHING to lose if I just gave up, got on welfare and started doing drugs (like most of my friends). Your chance of hitting is 0% if you never take a swing!
After that I went to work. I got a copywriting job. I switched High Scool Program. I failed starting a generic dropshipping site. I made mistakes, but I don't care because I have a goal, and it's all I think about. It's what I breathe, it's what I see, it's what I do and it's what I eat.
Never stray from the Way.
So there I was a few weeks ago. I had taken this bs job in New York City.
I've been taking these jobs as I was thinking of what to do and subsequently creating a prototype, (where I am at currently), since I do not have much life experiences yet at the age of 22. Also, I've mentioned in a few other posts that I am a software developer by trade, but taking a job in that industry will drain me, personally, of all my creativity and energy as I have friends who are brain dead after serious work weeks in the industry.
Anyways, it was what seemed a cool job. It was a simple job of selling IT services for this guy and his small business through door knocking. I thought, "this job is easy man, I don't even have to door knock on business' doors because my boss doesn't check for activity. This gives me just enough time to think about the infastrcture of my new project in the middle of time square.", or so I thought.
I really dislike cheating people out, so I decided to actually work and not be a punk kid who's entitled.
So I'm in this high rise in Manhattan knocking on doors. At one point after a solid conversation with this attractive receptionist, I am walking to the elevator.
The doors open, and it's the dam security guard of the building. Initially, I had lied and told him I was going to the seventh floor, but I actually went to the last floor to work my way down and work. He yells, "you lied to me!!!".
It was an awkward elevator ride down.
I then got kicked out of the building and say you know what, F*ck THIS ! And I told the security guard "F*ck you".
Things got worse.
I get to my office, and I'm there alone. I see the calendar, "shit , it is halfway pass 2017. What the F*ck am I doing with my life? First of all, I hate hate hate sales. I prefer to program. And, I promised I wouldn't be mediocre and here I am on the path to mediocrity". And then wham, I get notifications of a debt collector threatening to take me to small claims court, which by the way is only for a couple hundred bucks smh, and lastly, my bank account is low despite my hard work ethic.
Is this going to be my life? Am I going to be a loser all my life? Am I gonna be working for this dumbass, when I could be out there hustling for my own dream ?
F*ck THIS!!!!! That same day I quit that shitty job, and have since taken a less demanding "high school" job position which will not drain me of my energy. A week later I landed on the idea that I am currently working on now. And I hope to be documenting my steps to further share them with you, and for my own sake as this is sort of a journal.
Well I hope this provided value. If you're my age or under, don't waste time. Nothing changes automatically, time will continue to pass. At least for me, I F*cking hated that moment. But it ended up smacking me in the face and jolting me into committed action. Nothing matters now but the pursuit of adding true value to real people, creating a user centric product, and creating the process which will one day be my story.
Thank You
I've been taking these jobs as I was thinking of what to do and subsequently creating a prototype, (where I am at currently), since I do not have much life experiences yet at the age of 22. Also, I've mentioned in a few other posts that I am a software developer by trade, but taking a job in that industry will drain me, personally, of all my creativity and energy as I have friends who are brain dead after serious work weeks in the industry.
Anyways, it was what seemed a cool job. It was a simple job of selling IT services for this guy and his small business through door knocking. I thought, "this job is easy man, I don't even have to door knock on business' doors because my boss doesn't check for activity. This gives me just enough time to think about the infastrcture of my new project in the middle of time square.", or so I thought.
I really dislike cheating people out, so I decided to actually work and not be a punk kid who's entitled.
So I'm in this high rise in Manhattan knocking on doors. At one point after a solid conversation with this attractive receptionist, I am walking to the elevator.
The doors open, and it's the dam security guard of the building. Initially, I had lied and told him I was going to the seventh floor, but I actually went to the last floor to work my way down and work. He yells, "you lied to me!!!".
It was an awkward elevator ride down.
I then got kicked out of the building and say you know what, F*ck THIS ! And I told the security guard "F*ck you".
Things got worse.
I get to my office, and I'm there alone. I see the calendar, "shit , it is halfway pass 2017. What the F*ck am I doing with my life? First of all, I hate hate hate sales. I prefer to program. And, I promised I wouldn't be mediocre and here I am on the path to mediocrity". And then wham, I get notifications of a debt collector threatening to take me to small claims court, which by the way is only for a couple hundred bucks smh, and lastly, my bank account is low despite my hard work ethic.
Is this going to be my life? Am I going to be a loser all my life? Am I gonna be working for this dumbass, when I could be out there hustling for my own dream ?
F*ck THIS!!!!! That same day I quit that shitty job, and have since taken a less demanding "high school" job position which will not drain me of my energy. A week later I landed on the idea that I am currently working on now. And I hope to be documenting my steps to further share them with you, and for my own sake as this is sort of a journal.
Well I hope this provided value. If you're my age or under, don't waste time. Nothing changes automatically, time will continue to pass. At least for me, I F*cking hated that moment. But it ended up smacking me in the face and jolting me into committed action. Nothing matters now but the pursuit of adding true value to real people, creating a user centric product, and creating the process which will one day be my story.
Thank You
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Brethawy
Contributor
My 'FTM' are nowhere near extreme as some of the others, but all have to do with jobs I've held.
1. My dad owned a small-business and when I was 17 he allowed me to work with him and learn. Man did that suck at times, I never recommend working with family or close friends for this reason. He was a hard-a$$ and butted heads with me all the time, but in the end I am grateful as he tought me the ropes of entrepreneurship, business, proper work ethic. I was about 19 at this point.
All was kosher up until he sold the store to a new owner as my father decided to retire. I worked for the new owner for a year (worked there till I was about 20), the problem was they had never worked this kind of business before. Over time, I had to teach them, all while they expected me to take the blame for their F*ck-ups along the way. Every angry customer, late bill, etc. some how became my problem instead of theirs (I was part time for the most part)....
Then my hours got cut from 30 to 15.
Then was terminated as I was accused of stealing money from a sale, that I didn't even do. (They just wanted to get out of my hourly rate as they hired someone for cheaper).
Found out recently that they now have listed the business for sale as they can't make enough money anymore. Sweet, sweet karma.
Still though, F*ck this.
(1.5). Was going to college for business, which then changed to physical therapist, which changed to doctor, which changed back to business. Along the lines I had no idea at all what I wanted. Thankfully these jobs and forum helped me learn what I wanted. I dropped out (even though it was mostly paid for) as I'm sick of wasting my time on what other people want me to do.
2.Next job I was hired as a personal trainer after getting certified. Worked at a big name gym and agreed to work there as long as they had available work, I didn't want to start and have to round up my own clientele in the middle of the slow season. (Or else I would've done this myself and made $40 an hour through entrepreneurship rather than $18 an hour for this gym). So after a few days they had me cold calling people to bring in clientele for personal training (Which is an awful idea as you get more cancellations since people forgot they were paying that gym membership), and not having any work that needed to be done, I quit. I was angry because I specified I would take the job if there was work to be done, as I was the only certified trainer there with experience, but I was lied to and there was absolutely no work or money to make. F*ck this.
3. Next job working in automotive. I parked cars at a high end dealershuo all day because I needed a job to pay the bills. One day I decided this is too easy and that I wanted a challenge, so I interviewed with another dealership to be in service as there is more money to make. My current company at the time decided they wanted me to stay and would put me in training over in service to be an advisor, which is what I wanted...
Except..
After three months I never got trained at all by managers, was never allowed to do what I came there to do. They had me do every single job except what I was told I would be training for... F*ck this.
Found out service department never really needed another person or wanted me to be there, the GM forced me upon them so he didn't lose his retention bonus. F*ck that.
Thankfully I made good friends there that taught me along the way so I could actually do this job.
Packed up and moved from Florida to Utah.
4. Working as an adviser like I originally planed on at my previous job. They hired a new girl in my spot and they want me to train her. This is a commission job and there isn't that much work at this time of the year, why hire another person? I found out they want to keep me but plan on moving the new girl to the promotion spot I wanted. I was curious so I talked to my manager and although they want her to move to that spot without any experience, they want me to train her.. Why would I do that, train someone to take the spot I would want? Management agreed that my production has been great and they love having me here, so what gives? They want a woman doing that spot even if she doesn't know what she's doing, just because she's a woman.... All my hard work and extra days I put in to lose out because I'm the wrong gender...F*ck THAT.
Although I still work at #4 i'm determined to get the ball rolling and actually START instead of action faking. I wanted to learn to fly before I tried to fly, but I looked back and I've always learned everything I have from doing it as I go and messing up along the way.
Like I said, without these 'FTM's I would still be lost in what I wanted to do. They have helped me immensely learn what I want to do and more importantly who I want to be.
No more selling my time for money while making people rich.
No more reading about the accomplishments of better men.
Time for me to start messing up along the way, Fastlane style!
1. My dad owned a small-business and when I was 17 he allowed me to work with him and learn. Man did that suck at times, I never recommend working with family or close friends for this reason. He was a hard-a$$ and butted heads with me all the time, but in the end I am grateful as he tought me the ropes of entrepreneurship, business, proper work ethic. I was about 19 at this point.
All was kosher up until he sold the store to a new owner as my father decided to retire. I worked for the new owner for a year (worked there till I was about 20), the problem was they had never worked this kind of business before. Over time, I had to teach them, all while they expected me to take the blame for their F*ck-ups along the way. Every angry customer, late bill, etc. some how became my problem instead of theirs (I was part time for the most part)....
Then my hours got cut from 30 to 15.
Then was terminated as I was accused of stealing money from a sale, that I didn't even do. (They just wanted to get out of my hourly rate as they hired someone for cheaper).
Found out recently that they now have listed the business for sale as they can't make enough money anymore. Sweet, sweet karma.
Still though, F*ck this.
(1.5). Was going to college for business, which then changed to physical therapist, which changed to doctor, which changed back to business. Along the lines I had no idea at all what I wanted. Thankfully these jobs and forum helped me learn what I wanted. I dropped out (even though it was mostly paid for) as I'm sick of wasting my time on what other people want me to do.
2.Next job I was hired as a personal trainer after getting certified. Worked at a big name gym and agreed to work there as long as they had available work, I didn't want to start and have to round up my own clientele in the middle of the slow season. (Or else I would've done this myself and made $40 an hour through entrepreneurship rather than $18 an hour for this gym). So after a few days they had me cold calling people to bring in clientele for personal training (Which is an awful idea as you get more cancellations since people forgot they were paying that gym membership), and not having any work that needed to be done, I quit. I was angry because I specified I would take the job if there was work to be done, as I was the only certified trainer there with experience, but I was lied to and there was absolutely no work or money to make. F*ck this.
3. Next job working in automotive. I parked cars at a high end dealershuo all day because I needed a job to pay the bills. One day I decided this is too easy and that I wanted a challenge, so I interviewed with another dealership to be in service as there is more money to make. My current company at the time decided they wanted me to stay and would put me in training over in service to be an advisor, which is what I wanted...
Except..
After three months I never got trained at all by managers, was never allowed to do what I came there to do. They had me do every single job except what I was told I would be training for... F*ck this.
Found out service department never really needed another person or wanted me to be there, the GM forced me upon them so he didn't lose his retention bonus. F*ck that.
Thankfully I made good friends there that taught me along the way so I could actually do this job.
Packed up and moved from Florida to Utah.
4. Working as an adviser like I originally planed on at my previous job. They hired a new girl in my spot and they want me to train her. This is a commission job and there isn't that much work at this time of the year, why hire another person? I found out they want to keep me but plan on moving the new girl to the promotion spot I wanted. I was curious so I talked to my manager and although they want her to move to that spot without any experience, they want me to train her.. Why would I do that, train someone to take the spot I would want? Management agreed that my production has been great and they love having me here, so what gives? They want a woman doing that spot even if she doesn't know what she's doing, just because she's a woman.... All my hard work and extra days I put in to lose out because I'm the wrong gender...F*ck THAT.
Although I still work at #4 i'm determined to get the ball rolling and actually START instead of action faking. I wanted to learn to fly before I tried to fly, but I looked back and I've always learned everything I have from doing it as I go and messing up along the way.
Like I said, without these 'FTM's I would still be lost in what I wanted to do. They have helped me immensely learn what I want to do and more importantly who I want to be.
No more selling my time for money while making people rich.
No more reading about the accomplishments of better men.
Time for me to start messing up along the way, Fastlane style!
when i finally got sick of everyone calling me an idiot and feeling like one because i couldnt follow the script properly...because i DIDNT WANT to follow the script. i could never understand why i couldnt get it right. then i realized i was a fish trying to ride a bicycle. once i understood that i said F*ck this and decided to find my water and learn to swim.
it wasnt an event it was a process that took about 20 years... somehow i dont think it will take me quite so long to swim. im done trying to ride a bike tho
the final straw was learning that all the mental and emotional suffering i was enduring at my job was netting me $65 a day. the next day my job fired me. and i was glad it was done (not happy about how it was done)
it wasnt an event it was a process that took about 20 years... somehow i dont think it will take me quite so long to swim. im done trying to ride a bike tho
the final straw was learning that all the mental and emotional suffering i was enduring at my job was netting me $65 a day. the next day my job fired me. and i was glad it was done (not happy about how it was done)
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Where do I begin...
To start off, here's my intro thread with some of my background (Introduction - Introduction - Member from MN - Thank you MJ for this awesome book!. I'll try to keep this short but this event & other moments have really defined me as a person these past 3 years.
What lead to my FTE - started working in the landscape industry at age 15 back in 07, like the idea of becoming my own boss, grad'd HS in 09 with a plan to major in accounting (aren't slowlane parents/extended family who think college is the only option great?) so I could know the numbers behind running a biz and went to a university for 1.5 years, wasted time with generals & only got to take 1 accting class which yielded me zero knowledge when it came to accting/bookkeeping for running a biz. Most of my education with numbers on business at that time came from educating myself on a forum for landscape contractors.
Anyway, left there and transferred to a tech school close to home (NW suburbs of Mpls, MN) for horticulture - immediately started my own lawn/landscape/snow biz (my dream at the time and it was my road to wealth, I knew it wouldn't come from a job at least). Had some great teachers and although it cost probably $18-20k to attend there, I certainly got an ROI out of it as I applied a lot of the info right into my business, but grad'd from there in 2013.
But my company did alright as far as revenues & profit also (6-figures) but I was attached to it. The summer time meant working 7 days a week in the hot & cold weather, rain, etc. and winter I couldn't leave town if there was any chance for snow in the forecast... the F*ck this started to build. Not to mention idiot employees, heavy capital investment (taking out loans which continued to force "lifestyle servitude") to continue growing because I wanted to make millions from this business, expensive overhead that kept growing, subcontractors not fulfilling their work on time, realizing the fact that being in that industry with the service offerings with nothing unique to offer the market except the fact that I had a degree in hort and that set us above 75% of the "competition" - but that is primarily a "sell your soul for the low price" business - F*ck that...
So when the FTE occurred - it was Sept 2014, coming off a record setting month of sales from that August (still the most amt. of money I've brought in so far in my entrepreneurship endeavors) & I was sitting great financially speaking but stressed out of my mind day in and day out - didn't know how to handle stress in the least bit (proper diet, fitness, & yoga ... whats that?!), and the current truck I used in the biz was having problems and I was worried sick if something expensive were to happen and it would be in the shop for any period of time, how would I make money, what about my customers - how will we get to their properties to cut the lawns, build the paver patios, etc.
So I decided to invest in a couple new trucks as well as another snow plow. Then in early October I close 2 massive jobs (in my eyes at that point in time) to the tune of about $25,000 and they would each take us less than a week to complete and the margins were going to be insane, especially since I was working in the field.
1st job - we finish up in 3.5 days at the end of Oct - lots of labor w/ probably 25-30% spent on material - I personally took home about $5k in profit. 2nd job we start that next week (early Nov), 3 big retaining walls and we complete the 1st one on day 2, customer comes home and says the top of the wall is not parallel with his house (this guy was extremely, extremely picky but looking back - when you're spending $11.5k on landscaping you want it to look right) and wants it redone (it was in the shape of a 3/4 box when looking from above with the wall getting shorter and shorter as it goes out).
We tear it down and 2 of my guys spend 2 days chiseling glue from the block (it's raining and 40 degrees at this point, awful weather for working outside), me and 1 other begin rebuilding the stupid a$$ wall checking every 5 min. the top portion (each block is offset so it was rather challenging to ensure it was up the customer's standards of "parallel". We finally finish that wall and begin building the next two, as the 5th day on site arrives (this should have only taken about 3 days), we get word of 12" of snow coming Monday, and we needed to get fall clean ups done so we stop that project for the weekend, hustle through the leaf clean ups, snow comes Monday - plow for 20 hours straight, take a day off to sleep and it's back out to the retaining wall project in 5 degree weather with 10" of snow pack. Customer's wife would come outside every hour to ask about where their proposed patio would be along the second wall (was quite long and had a gentle curve to it as it was along a berm) while we were shivering and just trying to get the walls built. After about 4 days of working in the bitter cold, all was finished except for cleaning up & fixing up the turf which we'd do in the spring.
After receiving the final payment, and the extra week of labor and renting extra equipment - I had about $5k to last me through the next few months and hoping it would snow (some snow accts were monthly so overhead was covered for the most part) but it snowed about 3 times that whole winter - this is where I first experienced extreme financial hardship and awful stress. There were so many occasions during that winter that I forgot but one I specifically remember going to the gas station to get fuel for one of my trucks that had about 1 mi. worth of fuel left and having my discover card denied because it was maxed out, I honestly don't remember what I did after - I think I just drove home and hoped I'd make it.
F*ck THIS! But this was just a precursor of the hardship I'd go through over the next 2 years ...
But at this time (early 2015) I discovered a YT video of a guy's lambo buying documentary (Peter Beattie - he's a mentor of mine now oddly enough) and found some of his other videos talking about the books he read that gave him the skillset (internet marketing) to acquire a lambo - one of which was TMF - instantly ordered it in March and took a week or so to read it.
Immediately decided it was time to scale back growing the landscape biz and explore the world of the internet for how to go about building a fastlane business. Sold my first digital product in Sept 2015 and it occurred at about 4am, so I truly made money while I slept - this was the product from my intro thread that I linked to at the top.
At the end of 2015, I decided to sell my landscape biz (a business like that centered around its owner is worth diddly squat in the grand scheme) and get the hell out of my hometown and moved up to Fargo, ND and moved in w/ my younger brother & his gf's spare bdrm of their two bdrm apt. I currently reside here but have had my own apt for about a year now. This is getting really long so I'm going to end this post here and continue on my intro thread with what occurred during 2016 until now and what my business is now).
Some FTM's that drive me up the wall and make me so mad that all I want to do is work on my business because I know it's the only thing that will get me out of where I'm at:
-Every time I turn on my A.C. unit in my south facing 1 bdrm apt, it's loud as hell and hardly works, also the fridge is pretty loud when running so I have my computer/desk in my bedroom. So I either have to deal with the noise or sweat - yes it gets quite hot in eastern ND - lower 90s this week but cooling off now finally
-Whenever my friends go riding/racing (motocross) and I see their posts on social media/snapchat I get extremely jealous & angry because it's by far my biggest passion in life, hands down. More fun than anything else (except those moments of making money while you sleep - that's a pretty cool feeling), and it's such a stress reliever.
-When going to Chipotle is considered almost a luxury dinner
-Every morning when I have to wake up to go to my job and it's still dark (my into thread has details on this), yet I know I'm capable of making 10x+ in a day with an online business... but I just need to have the $ to invest into growing it so that's why I have the job
-Multiple times a week I think back to the time that could have been spent failing & learning about building a biz online, especially back in high school or during the winter when I had my landscape biz and it wasn't snowing, but instead was going out with my friends, playing video games, etc. - I'd hopefully be financially retired by now (at 26) had I spent the summers during high school (even just 5-6 hours a day) teaching myself coding, selling, and marketing.
To start off, here's my intro thread with some of my background (Introduction - Introduction - Member from MN - Thank you MJ for this awesome book!. I'll try to keep this short but this event & other moments have really defined me as a person these past 3 years.
What lead to my FTE - started working in the landscape industry at age 15 back in 07, like the idea of becoming my own boss, grad'd HS in 09 with a plan to major in accounting (aren't slowlane parents/extended family who think college is the only option great?) so I could know the numbers behind running a biz and went to a university for 1.5 years, wasted time with generals & only got to take 1 accting class which yielded me zero knowledge when it came to accting/bookkeeping for running a biz. Most of my education with numbers on business at that time came from educating myself on a forum for landscape contractors.
Anyway, left there and transferred to a tech school close to home (NW suburbs of Mpls, MN) for horticulture - immediately started my own lawn/landscape/snow biz (my dream at the time and it was my road to wealth, I knew it wouldn't come from a job at least). Had some great teachers and although it cost probably $18-20k to attend there, I certainly got an ROI out of it as I applied a lot of the info right into my business, but grad'd from there in 2013.
But my company did alright as far as revenues & profit also (6-figures) but I was attached to it. The summer time meant working 7 days a week in the hot & cold weather, rain, etc. and winter I couldn't leave town if there was any chance for snow in the forecast... the F*ck this started to build. Not to mention idiot employees, heavy capital investment (taking out loans which continued to force "lifestyle servitude") to continue growing because I wanted to make millions from this business, expensive overhead that kept growing, subcontractors not fulfilling their work on time, realizing the fact that being in that industry with the service offerings with nothing unique to offer the market except the fact that I had a degree in hort and that set us above 75% of the "competition" - but that is primarily a "sell your soul for the low price" business - F*ck that...
So when the FTE occurred - it was Sept 2014, coming off a record setting month of sales from that August (still the most amt. of money I've brought in so far in my entrepreneurship endeavors) & I was sitting great financially speaking but stressed out of my mind day in and day out - didn't know how to handle stress in the least bit (proper diet, fitness, & yoga ... whats that?!), and the current truck I used in the biz was having problems and I was worried sick if something expensive were to happen and it would be in the shop for any period of time, how would I make money, what about my customers - how will we get to their properties to cut the lawns, build the paver patios, etc.
So I decided to invest in a couple new trucks as well as another snow plow. Then in early October I close 2 massive jobs (in my eyes at that point in time) to the tune of about $25,000 and they would each take us less than a week to complete and the margins were going to be insane, especially since I was working in the field.
1st job - we finish up in 3.5 days at the end of Oct - lots of labor w/ probably 25-30% spent on material - I personally took home about $5k in profit. 2nd job we start that next week (early Nov), 3 big retaining walls and we complete the 1st one on day 2, customer comes home and says the top of the wall is not parallel with his house (this guy was extremely, extremely picky but looking back - when you're spending $11.5k on landscaping you want it to look right) and wants it redone (it was in the shape of a 3/4 box when looking from above with the wall getting shorter and shorter as it goes out).
We tear it down and 2 of my guys spend 2 days chiseling glue from the block (it's raining and 40 degrees at this point, awful weather for working outside), me and 1 other begin rebuilding the stupid a$$ wall checking every 5 min. the top portion (each block is offset so it was rather challenging to ensure it was up the customer's standards of "parallel". We finally finish that wall and begin building the next two, as the 5th day on site arrives (this should have only taken about 3 days), we get word of 12" of snow coming Monday, and we needed to get fall clean ups done so we stop that project for the weekend, hustle through the leaf clean ups, snow comes Monday - plow for 20 hours straight, take a day off to sleep and it's back out to the retaining wall project in 5 degree weather with 10" of snow pack. Customer's wife would come outside every hour to ask about where their proposed patio would be along the second wall (was quite long and had a gentle curve to it as it was along a berm) while we were shivering and just trying to get the walls built. After about 4 days of working in the bitter cold, all was finished except for cleaning up & fixing up the turf which we'd do in the spring.
After receiving the final payment, and the extra week of labor and renting extra equipment - I had about $5k to last me through the next few months and hoping it would snow (some snow accts were monthly so overhead was covered for the most part) but it snowed about 3 times that whole winter - this is where I first experienced extreme financial hardship and awful stress. There were so many occasions during that winter that I forgot but one I specifically remember going to the gas station to get fuel for one of my trucks that had about 1 mi. worth of fuel left and having my discover card denied because it was maxed out, I honestly don't remember what I did after - I think I just drove home and hoped I'd make it.
F*ck THIS! But this was just a precursor of the hardship I'd go through over the next 2 years ...
But at this time (early 2015) I discovered a YT video of a guy's lambo buying documentary (Peter Beattie - he's a mentor of mine now oddly enough) and found some of his other videos talking about the books he read that gave him the skillset (internet marketing) to acquire a lambo - one of which was TMF - instantly ordered it in March and took a week or so to read it.
Immediately decided it was time to scale back growing the landscape biz and explore the world of the internet for how to go about building a fastlane business. Sold my first digital product in Sept 2015 and it occurred at about 4am, so I truly made money while I slept - this was the product from my intro thread that I linked to at the top.
At the end of 2015, I decided to sell my landscape biz (a business like that centered around its owner is worth diddly squat in the grand scheme) and get the hell out of my hometown and moved up to Fargo, ND and moved in w/ my younger brother & his gf's spare bdrm of their two bdrm apt. I currently reside here but have had my own apt for about a year now. This is getting really long so I'm going to end this post here and continue on my intro thread with what occurred during 2016 until now and what my business is now).
Some FTM's that drive me up the wall and make me so mad that all I want to do is work on my business because I know it's the only thing that will get me out of where I'm at:
-Every time I turn on my A.C. unit in my south facing 1 bdrm apt, it's loud as hell and hardly works, also the fridge is pretty loud when running so I have my computer/desk in my bedroom. So I either have to deal with the noise or sweat - yes it gets quite hot in eastern ND - lower 90s this week but cooling off now finally
-Whenever my friends go riding/racing (motocross) and I see their posts on social media/snapchat I get extremely jealous & angry because it's by far my biggest passion in life, hands down. More fun than anything else (except those moments of making money while you sleep - that's a pretty cool feeling), and it's such a stress reliever.
-When going to Chipotle is considered almost a luxury dinner
-Every morning when I have to wake up to go to my job and it's still dark (my into thread has details on this), yet I know I'm capable of making 10x+ in a day with an online business... but I just need to have the $ to invest into growing it so that's why I have the job
-Multiple times a week I think back to the time that could have been spent failing & learning about building a biz online, especially back in high school or during the winter when I had my landscape biz and it wasn't snowing, but instead was going out with my friends, playing video games, etc. - I'd hopefully be financially retired by now (at 26) had I spent the summers during high school (even just 5-6 hours a day) teaching myself coding, selling, and marketing.
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Deleted20833
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My FTE was when I was 19 and bought my Dads old oldsmobile
for $2,000 and it kept breaking down on me and I remember
always being scared something was going to break and my
bank account was gonna go back to $0.00, then pple would
give me advice on how to save extra money like the whole
don't order a frappe at Starbucks...I was like MAN F*ck THIS NOISE!
I'm going to figure out how to get rich so I can order whatever
the F*ck I want..and thats when the journey began
for $2,000 and it kept breaking down on me and I remember
always being scared something was going to break and my
bank account was gonna go back to $0.00, then pple would
give me advice on how to save extra money like the whole
don't order a frappe at Starbucks...I was like MAN F*ck THIS NOISE!
I'm going to figure out how to get rich so I can order whatever
the F*ck I want..and thats when the journey began
"You're arguing about work you hate, with people you don't care about, at a place you don't even want to be."
That was the thought that ran through my head a few months ago. Just a dumb work argument. But everything crystallized in my mind. What the hell was I doing? How had I gotten here?
I'd spent several years helping build up SOMEONE ELSE'S DREAM, but I hadn't made any progress on my own. When was I ever going to work on my dream, if not now?
Seeing the default future---living in a city I don't want to live in, stressing about a "day job" that had become my whole life, never being free----scared the shit out of me.
That was the thought that ran through my head a few months ago. Just a dumb work argument. But everything crystallized in my mind. What the hell was I doing? How had I gotten here?
I'd spent several years helping build up SOMEONE ELSE'S DREAM, but I hadn't made any progress on my own. When was I ever going to work on my dream, if not now?
Seeing the default future---living in a city I don't want to live in, stressing about a "day job" that had become my whole life, never being free----scared the shit out of me.
D
Deleted50669
Guest
Not an FTE, but it is a F This Mindset.
Since I've left grad school and begun consulting I've sunk further and further into a state of self-hatred. Despite the known truths and idiosyncrasies between employment and self-employment, I remain tethered to a system that wrings out people and collects the effort juice in a big basin.
For myself, and I think many others, the unwillingness to let go is rooted in a deep fear that is as solidified as one's own identity - perhaps is even a component of that identity. "I fear the consequences of uncertainty." "I fear that I will quit my job, be a shitty businessman, and go bankrupt and starve." "I fear... anything but the recipe for a black and white, slow-death existence."
As I examine these fears more, it becomes apparent that I'd perhaps rather be bankrupt and starving than sit across the table from a retired military leader who likes to see how far he can push young consultants before they quit or succumb to panic attacks. At some point, people internalize the pain so much they might as well be dead anyway. They react negatively to compliments and recognition because they are conditioned to respond nicely to torment. I can feel this shift in myself. I used to be a jubulent division 1 athlete and had a strong network of friends and teammates. Now I go home and hit a punching bag until my hands ache because the physical pain stifles the mental pain of a shattered ego and rock-bottom self-esteem.
I think anyone can come up with a viable and valuable idea that people will gladly trade their wealth for. Picking yourself up and inscribing the self-belief in yourself to do so, that's a different thing.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Since I've left grad school and begun consulting I've sunk further and further into a state of self-hatred. Despite the known truths and idiosyncrasies between employment and self-employment, I remain tethered to a system that wrings out people and collects the effort juice in a big basin.
For myself, and I think many others, the unwillingness to let go is rooted in a deep fear that is as solidified as one's own identity - perhaps is even a component of that identity. "I fear the consequences of uncertainty." "I fear that I will quit my job, be a shitty businessman, and go bankrupt and starve." "I fear... anything but the recipe for a black and white, slow-death existence."
As I examine these fears more, it becomes apparent that I'd perhaps rather be bankrupt and starving than sit across the table from a retired military leader who likes to see how far he can push young consultants before they quit or succumb to panic attacks. At some point, people internalize the pain so much they might as well be dead anyway. They react negatively to compliments and recognition because they are conditioned to respond nicely to torment. I can feel this shift in myself. I used to be a jubulent division 1 athlete and had a strong network of friends and teammates. Now I go home and hit a punching bag until my hands ache because the physical pain stifles the mental pain of a shattered ego and rock-bottom self-esteem.
I think anyone can come up with a viable and valuable idea that people will gladly trade their wealth for. Picking yourself up and inscribing the self-belief in yourself to do so, that's a different thing.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Just boredom...
Existing comfortably for a while
F#ck that sh#t
Btw, script makers like henry ford are my biggest pet peev
He created school, the work week bs, etc
These big people making decisions for you
F#ck thaaaaat
Existing comfortably for a while
F#ck that sh#t
Btw, script makers like henry ford are my biggest pet peev
He created school, the work week bs, etc
These big people making decisions for you
F#ck thaaaaat
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MJ DeMarco
I followed the science; all I found was money.
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ZF Lee
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Don't be too hard on Ford!
He gifted us with a Fastlane legacy structure so that we needn't reinvent the wheel!
And the work week and school might be the best marketing and human resource systems ever...also Fastlane legacy structures.
A bigger pet peeve for me is the notion that getting made into a cash cow instead of a free human being with dreams and value is being accepted as the norm, or even admired.
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I have had so many but one of the biggest happened to me back in 1993-94.
I had already made more than 7 figures. Was walking around with ~3-5k in my pockets at any point in time. Drove a 1991 ZR1 Corvette. Thought I was a big shot but still was a kid. Recently married, accidentally going to become a father sooner than ready only 22-23 years old. OK, so that wasn't the worst bit. But here is the reality.
My debt was through the roof. I wasn't using that money to pay things down the way I should have been. I was spending like crazy. I had 2 other cars in addition to the Corvette. All of them financed. The home, yep.. financed. Oh, and I forgot to mention that we had no health insurance to speak of. Turns out my wife's pregnancy was a very high risk one. She ended up being hospitalized the majority of it. 7 months. Those medical bills were fearful. IRS decided I hadn't been paying enough on top of it. The company I was working for got into some legal troubles and my job disappeared. Soon enough when I thought I had an abundance of money turned into a lack of money in a hurry.
Before my daughter was born I ended up ~180k in debt with nothing left. I ended up losing my home, cars I could no longer pay for but one of them. I put everything into storage that was left. Mostly books, and a single computer system of mine. Things I knew I could use to get myself out of my situation. I kept some clothing. My wife didn't know at the time. She was in the hospital. I hid it from her. I shouldn't have, but that is another story. I lived in the car. I didn't have a good relationship with my family so I couldn't go there. I showered when and where I could. Usually a public bathroom sink. Used the money I had left to eat and keep wife in the hospital.
This was the biggest FTE in my life!
I knew money was abundant. I knew how to earn it. I didn't want to go back to what I was doing to earn it so I knew I needed to find another way. I took a programming job at a developer sweatshop company. 80 hour weeks but paid well enough for me to get a small apartment, food, and wife out of the hospital with new daughter. I knew I needed to use my skills to form a company of my own. An ethical company. That could earn what I was earning without hurting people financially. The rest is history.
Yes I was fortunate to earn what I did so young. I earned and lost all my money, and it was substantial, twice from 18-24 basically. Hurricane Andrew took my home out even. I should have known better. I was reckless. But seeing my new family made me really change what I was doing. That was truly an FTE. Hiding this from my wife suffering alone, while she suffered in the hospital. Also an FTE for both of us. We vowed to never do that again. Life wasn't smooth sailing after this. But I love my life and I doubt without the FTE of seeing my new daughter I would have changed. I might have chased the easy money. The unethical money. So that is why I list this is the one true event of all the other smaller ones.
I had already made more than 7 figures. Was walking around with ~3-5k in my pockets at any point in time. Drove a 1991 ZR1 Corvette. Thought I was a big shot but still was a kid. Recently married, accidentally going to become a father sooner than ready only 22-23 years old. OK, so that wasn't the worst bit. But here is the reality.
My debt was through the roof. I wasn't using that money to pay things down the way I should have been. I was spending like crazy. I had 2 other cars in addition to the Corvette. All of them financed. The home, yep.. financed. Oh, and I forgot to mention that we had no health insurance to speak of. Turns out my wife's pregnancy was a very high risk one. She ended up being hospitalized the majority of it. 7 months. Those medical bills were fearful. IRS decided I hadn't been paying enough on top of it. The company I was working for got into some legal troubles and my job disappeared. Soon enough when I thought I had an abundance of money turned into a lack of money in a hurry.
Before my daughter was born I ended up ~180k in debt with nothing left. I ended up losing my home, cars I could no longer pay for but one of them. I put everything into storage that was left. Mostly books, and a single computer system of mine. Things I knew I could use to get myself out of my situation. I kept some clothing. My wife didn't know at the time. She was in the hospital. I hid it from her. I shouldn't have, but that is another story. I lived in the car. I didn't have a good relationship with my family so I couldn't go there. I showered when and where I could. Usually a public bathroom sink. Used the money I had left to eat and keep wife in the hospital.
This was the biggest FTE in my life!
I knew money was abundant. I knew how to earn it. I didn't want to go back to what I was doing to earn it so I knew I needed to find another way. I took a programming job at a developer sweatshop company. 80 hour weeks but paid well enough for me to get a small apartment, food, and wife out of the hospital with new daughter. I knew I needed to use my skills to form a company of my own. An ethical company. That could earn what I was earning without hurting people financially. The rest is history.
Yes I was fortunate to earn what I did so young. I earned and lost all my money, and it was substantial, twice from 18-24 basically. Hurricane Andrew took my home out even. I should have known better. I was reckless. But seeing my new family made me really change what I was doing. That was truly an FTE. Hiding this from my wife suffering alone, while she suffered in the hospital. Also an FTE for both of us. We vowed to never do that again. Life wasn't smooth sailing after this. But I love my life and I doubt without the FTE of seeing my new daughter I would have changed. I might have chased the easy money. The unethical money. So that is why I list this is the one true event of all the other smaller ones.
My sister passing away from leukemia leaving behind 2 little boys was the biggest FTE. Stayed at my high paying soul sucking very time intensive job long enough to help some family out a little and put a deposit on an investment property.
New roster came in that was much better but still way too much work. However the big kicker was the new guys I had to work with. You spend more time with them than your family at this job. And when I was surrounded by new guys only interested in backstabbing others to climb the ladder (for what was essentially a worse job!) I left within 3 days.
New roster came in that was much better but still way too much work. However the big kicker was the new guys I had to work with. You spend more time with them than your family at this job. And when I was surrounded by new guys only interested in backstabbing others to climb the ladder (for what was essentially a worse job!) I left within 3 days.
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Deleted50669
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That's quite a trial.. happy to hear you got out of there.
Wake up with a huge smile on my face most mornings since then
If I hadn't read TMF I could very well still be there.
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Haha, isn't that the truth... People CELEBRATING getting screwed over is even more the enemy than setting up a system that does it.
No reason we HAD to follow it, but we did... why is that?
Funny.
Ford did create that good old industry line, and tbh, before that everybody worked EVERY day of the week anyway.
So yeah it isn't black and white. Maybe he just saw the youth playing with sticks and was like "make an industry line of learning".
Just, they really didn't put any thought into what kids were learning
I guess it just needs some tweaks
Guess if you put your own life in anothers hands you are only ever going to get half the answer, school would be good if it self motivated people to apply consistent effort to their goals
But no matter what, it'd only be HALF as good as if kids did it themself
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I was sitting on my desk at work and it hit me how much time I had wasted from the age of 17 to 24. I went into panic later that day because my experience in college was horrible and I realized how depressing my current job was. I began to study up on how to better myself and stumbled upon the Millionaire Fastlane . When I finished the book I had a huge smile on my face because I knew what I had to do. For the next 7 months, I began working on a project with two other partners and I prepared my budget to quit in September. It's a been a month now that I'm working full time on this business. I can say for sure that I can never go back into corporate life because I value my free time so much.
Back in the 1970s, I was stalled in my studies of natural medicine due to lack of money to continue. I worked at an office supply store to pay the bills. I decided to get my foot in the professional door by giving Shiatsu (acu-pressure) treatments at night and finish school later. I rented an office and started my practice while keeping my day job. My idea was that I would continue at the store until my schedule book was consistently full; then I would know that I had enough business to quit the day job. Unfortunately, it never really happened. In a year, I never had all slots full week after week. I decided to quit the day job anyway. Once I went full time, my phone started ringing and I had a full time practice. The odd thing is that people appeared who never had any idea I hadn't been available during the day before. Somehow it just didn't happen until I put all my eggs in one basket.
The funny thing is that my neighbor in the office building was an economics professor who had a part time business selling wholesale jewelry at night. I kept after him to go full time. "Yeah, but I have tenure, I have benefits, I have two kids..." I kept after him. "Look, John," I said, "some bell rings out in the cosmos when you announce your availability. Just do it." He eventually did, and in a few years, he not only expanded his retail space but also put jewelry stores in three shopping malls and then bought half a city block of buildings where his store still stands. That was forty years ago and neither of us has had a boss since.
The funny thing is that my neighbor in the office building was an economics professor who had a part time business selling wholesale jewelry at night. I kept after him to go full time. "Yeah, but I have tenure, I have benefits, I have two kids..." I kept after him. "Look, John," I said, "some bell rings out in the cosmos when you announce your availability. Just do it." He eventually did, and in a few years, he not only expanded his retail space but also put jewelry stores in three shopping malls and then bought half a city block of buildings where his store still stands. That was forty years ago and neither of us has had a boss since.
Here's my FTE. Back in 2014 I was the superintendent of a industrial processing plant when it happened. I was called into a meeting room with my boss and his boss and delivered the news. My role was being given to one of my direct reports and I was being moved sideways into a support role with a large effective pay cut. This was the catalyst. This was my motivational fuel.
I had gotten work in this industry in 2005 so that I could save enough of a cash surplus to fund starting a business. I wanted to do this because I had a wife and 3 young kids to support. Oh yeah, I was deep in the script. My income kept growing but so did my expenditures. I had a gigantic pair of golden handcuffs on my wrists. Even after the pay-cut following the restructure my salary was still just under $200k/year but it was clear there was little future for me in this company. Most people in my scripted position would be grateful for this and just stick around in the job. The truth was I needed that income to finance our two mortgages and expenses.
When I became restructured I felt embarrassed to go to work. I suspected my boss hoped that I would just resign and save him the redundancy payout. I began taking courses online. I was looking for solutions to my pain. I consumed marketing courses, started learning code and read voraciously. I understand what MJ is talking about when he talks about authority and the paradox of practice. After 3 years of action faking study I was disgusted by my lack of progress. I had substituted progress with completion of another online course (I spent over $30k on these things!).
Finally this year I agreed with my wife that we would make a change. We sold both houses and moved to a rental where the kids can walk to a public school. I am working on building a business full time and my wife is now working full-time at a nearby school. My last day in my job was July the 4th 2017. They threw a little going away party and instead of receiving any gifts I presented a 12 year old bottle of Scotch to my boss to thank him for waking me from my scripted stupor when he decided to demote me back in 2014. He seemed pretty confused but it felt good to me. My co-workers also thought I was crazy. That I was broken. After all who just gives up their $200k job to start a business with no guaranteed holidays, superannuation, long service leave etc etc. But I knew if I didn't burn the scripted bridges I would hold on to my 60hour/week safety blanket until retirement and live with the ongoing regret. There is no going back.
Last week I earned the first $200 of income for my business. It's a service based business idea that I had before reading TMF . Since reading TMF 3 weeks ago I have realised some big mistakes in my thinking and approach. I'd been working on various service type offerings that would demand a large ongoing input of my time to work. The CENTS criteria came just at the right time. I'm reading Unscripted now and I've been feeling as mad as hell and battling with my self deceptions and bullshit.
I had gotten work in this industry in 2005 so that I could save enough of a cash surplus to fund starting a business. I wanted to do this because I had a wife and 3 young kids to support. Oh yeah, I was deep in the script. My income kept growing but so did my expenditures. I had a gigantic pair of golden handcuffs on my wrists. Even after the pay-cut following the restructure my salary was still just under $200k/year but it was clear there was little future for me in this company. Most people in my scripted position would be grateful for this and just stick around in the job. The truth was I needed that income to finance our two mortgages and expenses.
When I became restructured I felt embarrassed to go to work. I suspected my boss hoped that I would just resign and save him the redundancy payout. I began taking courses online. I was looking for solutions to my pain. I consumed marketing courses, started learning code and read voraciously. I understand what MJ is talking about when he talks about authority and the paradox of practice. After 3 years of action faking study I was disgusted by my lack of progress. I had substituted progress with completion of another online course (I spent over $30k on these things!).
Finally this year I agreed with my wife that we would make a change. We sold both houses and moved to a rental where the kids can walk to a public school. I am working on building a business full time and my wife is now working full-time at a nearby school. My last day in my job was July the 4th 2017. They threw a little going away party and instead of receiving any gifts I presented a 12 year old bottle of Scotch to my boss to thank him for waking me from my scripted stupor when he decided to demote me back in 2014. He seemed pretty confused but it felt good to me. My co-workers also thought I was crazy. That I was broken. After all who just gives up their $200k job to start a business with no guaranteed holidays, superannuation, long service leave etc etc. But I knew if I didn't burn the scripted bridges I would hold on to my 60hour/week safety blanket until retirement and live with the ongoing regret. There is no going back.
Last week I earned the first $200 of income for my business. It's a service based business idea that I had before reading TMF . Since reading TMF 3 weeks ago I have realised some big mistakes in my thinking and approach. I'd been working on various service type offerings that would demand a large ongoing input of my time to work. The CENTS criteria came just at the right time. I'm reading Unscripted now and I've been feeling as mad as hell and battling with my self deceptions and bullshit.
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Kak
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I had two (and only two jobs in my life)...
First one:
At 16 I Worked at a golf course for 2 weeks got a pay check for like $180 if I recall correctly... F*ck THIS... I quit and went back to mowing lawns.
Second one:
Worked at a sporting goods store selling guns while in college. Found out my dad was admitted to the hospital 3 hours away 1 hour before my shift. I called them not to ask, but to tell them I was going. (And I didn't know when I was going to be back) Boss was pissed... F*ck YOU... I never set foot in there again.
First one:
At 16 I Worked at a golf course for 2 weeks got a pay check for like $180 if I recall correctly... F*ck THIS... I quit and went back to mowing lawns.
Second one:
Worked at a sporting goods store selling guns while in college. Found out my dad was admitted to the hospital 3 hours away 1 hour before my shift. I called them not to ask, but to tell them I was going. (And I didn't know when I was going to be back) Boss was pissed... F*ck YOU... I never set foot in there again.
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D
Deleted50669
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O F*ck that boss
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- Feb 25, 2016
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Sitting in the car with my wife around 3pm in front of a school. Telling her, how much I hated my retail sales job. Listening to customer BS and their complaints. Imagine going to work on a friday night putting on a fake smile even though I wanted to kick some of them in the teeth.
Told him I might be trading at a penny stock right now but time will tell!
Told him I might be trading at a penny stock right now but time will tell!
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Had a government job. Hated it. Was in a really small town of 10k in the mountains. Wished I was elsewhere, beach, beautiful women aplenty and warmth. Hated the politics too.
Went in for my 1 year review. Was let go, despite my boss 1mo before telling me "everything is cool", "you're doing great!" Fking liar!!
Wanted to shake my hand like everything is fine.
I saved them over $20k in electricity bills and labor for the WiFi upgrade.
Such a douche. Never felt like a real man working there either. My boss definitely wasn't. Totally pu$$y-whipped by his wife. So was my co worker.
Lol
Went in for my 1 year review. Was let go, despite my boss 1mo before telling me "everything is cool", "you're doing great!" Fking liar!!
Wanted to shake my hand like everything is fine.
I saved them over $20k in electricity bills and labor for the WiFi upgrade.
Such a douche. Never felt like a real man working there either. My boss definitely wasn't. Totally pu$$y-whipped by his wife. So was my co worker.
Lol
So here I am, 47 years old and all cushy, comfy with a six figure salary (JOB), nice house (MORTGAGE), two cars (CAR PAYMENTS), two kids about to go to college (TUITION), sorely lacking in savings (VICTIM OF THE COMPOUNDING INTEREST SCAM & CONSUMERISM), and scared to death I’ll be serving INDENTURED TIME until I’m old and gray (47 is not old). All being a MODEL citizen and shit.
I’ve been an action faker and entrepreneur pretender in the past. As I’m reading through Unscripted for the second time I feel like MJ is talking about me as if he’s been watching me for years ala The Truman Show, watching me buy business cards on vista print and buy domain names without ever doing anything with them or nearly spend $50K on a real estate investment program.
The one thing that has been missing is my F**K THIS EVENT. And as I’m laying on the nail whimpering I’m wondering why I don't just get up off the nail. I search the forum for threads on FTE and run into a spectacular post by UncommonWay about the Dickens process. And viola! There it is…my FTE. Actually it’s a FTSL; F**K This Sh*t List.
It makes sense to me now. I’m ready. I’m done with the slow lane. I’m soooo done with never moving forward with MY goals while slaving away 50+ hours a week for someone else’s. I have a plan mapped out and an ultimate, achievable goal. I mean really achievable. After going through the exercise in TMF that maps out what you want in life, how much it costs, and how that is broken down into annual and monthly profits it isn’t so daunting and insurmountable. Step one was creating my FTSL. Step two is to get off this forum and get to work….but I’ll be back. Thanks @UncommonWay and thanks @MJ DeMarco!
The reasons why I WILL become a Fastlane entrepreneur
My FTSL: F**K This Shit List
To bring greater value to the world – can’t give back to the world with no time, no money, and no influence – FTS!
Knowing that I'm being a bad example to my kids – FTS!
Not being able to provide the life my wife deserves – FTS!
Giving up on my dreams for too many years – FTS!
Worrying about being able to ever escape indentured time, I will never be able to retire if nothing changes – FTS!
Worrying about paying for my kids’ college education – FTS!
Being smarter than most of the people I work with/for but not being able to make the decisions – FTS!
Being smarter than most of the people I work with/for but being second guessed only to turn out to be right in the first place – FTS!
Being forced to work on projects that I know are going to fail or be a waste of time – FTS!
Seeing the same tired strategies reinvented with new buzzwords over and over again while consultants bask in their self important glory like they invented process improvement - FTS!
Being smarter than most of the people I work with/for but being underutilized and underappreciated – FTS!
Being bored at work and just waiting for the day to end – FTS!
Working with people I don't like, and pretending to like them because I'm a nice guy – FTS!
Feeling so defeated at the end of the day that I just want to lay down – FTS!
Not being able to improve or keep up with needed repairs on my house – FTS!
Knowing that we're just one lost job and a couple of months from being broke – FTS!
All of the action faking I’ve masqueraded as being an entrepreneur in the past – FTS!
Spending time inside an office on a perfect spring day – FTS!
Feeling less free as I get older, instead of more free – FTS!
Looking back at my dreams and hating myself for not achieving them – FTS!
Feeling bad about the money I spend on myself because it takes away from my family – FTS!
Not being able to take a sick day to allow my body to heal because I’m afraid of what my boss will think – FTS!
Asking permission to leave early, come in late, or take a day off – FTS!
My wife having to work at a crappy job just to make ends meet – FTS!
Not being able to live where we want to live because we can’t afford to pick up and move – FTS!
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