I Quit My Job...

[arfadugus]

My job as a live in caregiver requires me to give 3 months notice so they can have time to find someone new to live there. I want to live with my family so I put in my 3 months notice yesterday. This means I have 3 months to make it copywriting. I have no other job options so that means if I don't succeed in 3 months then I'm going to have to bag groceries. I really don't want to bag groceries.

Sink or swim is kind of my style. My girlfriend (Hopefully soon to be wife) and 8 month old baby boy really need me to live at home. So this job, though good money, is not an option anymore.

I don't want to hijack the 15 days to freedom thread anymore so I'm putting the rest of my journey on this thread. Hopefully I can inspire others to join me on the way and we can make some big waves together. Would love to hear other peoples progress. The pros won't always have time to help us and that means we have to bounce ideas off on each other. I hope you will join me!

Currently I am working on taking tests for my Upwork profile. (failed two and passed one so far) Then I'm going to write a few ads for fake products and add them to my Upwork portfolio. My girlfriend is fully supporting me with this and she's also a photographer. So she's going to help me take a professional looking profile picture for my Upwork profile.

I'm also selling a lot of our stuff and I plan on buying her a wedding ring to pop the question hopefully by February. Which makes me want to succeed even more. This is a huge opportunity to push past some of my former limits and that's what I intend on doing.

P.S. I know cCpywriting isn't Fastlane but I do know it is a useful skill and it will give me freedom to work on my Fastlane project a little further down the road. Anyways I gtg. See you soon!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Chimp]

My job as a live in caregiver requires me to give 3 months notice so they can have time to find someone new to live there.

Interesting, never heard of this before.

You probably already know this but you need to take this very seriously starting now. With a child to take care of you need to make some cash. My advice is to put all the time not taking care of responsibilities into learning copywriting and marketing/finding clients. When you go the sink or swim path you need to go all out because if you don't there's gonna be a real terrible downfall. You can make it, you just have to do what it takes an not slack at all.

I wish you the best.

 

[arfadugus]

Interesting, never heard of this before.

You probably already know this but you need to take this very seriously starting now. With a child to take care of you need to make some cash. My advice is to put all the time not taking care of responsibilities into learning copywriting and marketing/finding clients. When you go the sink or swim path you need to go all out because if you don't there's gonna be a real terrible downfall. You can make it, you just have to do what it takes an not slack at all.

I wish you the best.

The 3 months thing is kind of a courtesy. They people are like family to me and I don't want to screw them over. But yea that's the plan. Balls to the walls!

 

[Fathazard]

How's it going pal?

If you need a helping hand, just reach out here. I'll gladly help

I'm not a master copywriter by any means, but I've been on UpWork and think I'm ready to graduate to an independent platform.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[B V Marlon]

Wow, @arfadugus, that takes some balls! I wish you every success.

 

[arfadugus]

Going through some shit at home right now. Taking a pause on this guys.

 

[lifese]

I quit my job today too and took up freelancing. Though my situation isn't as intense as yours.

But I literally just made an Upwork profile yesterday and on my first day I got 4 for 4 clients! 2 more I applied for have yet to respond. I declined one clients offer and waiting on one to post contract so i can get paid. 37.50 made so far, soon to be 66.50. Just a few hours of work too!

I am starting Lexs mentor program on Monday. Hit him up, he's great!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[B V Marlon]

Going through some shit at home right now. Taking a pause on this guys.

Sorry to hear that. Stay strong.

 

[arfadugus]

Ok. It's finally time for an update. I have not gotten very far due to a death in the family and a move across the country. I do not have a job however. After the move I seemed to have firmly dug my foot into the ground and said "F*ck having a job!" After watching Gary Vee's "Make an extra $20,170 in 2017" I was like, "Hey if you can do that much as a side hustle, how much could I do full time? I was motivated enough to start sourcing from garage sales, craigslist, offer up, etc. This was 2-3 weeks ago and I've already made $1,000. This might not seem like much but we haven't found a daycare for my 1 year old boy yet so I've been doing this as a stay at home dad. I've had much less time to source and list than I thought I would have. Yet I've still made $1,000 just finding a small amount of time here and there to list and source.

I have been contemplating the work to income ratio with flipping on Ebay. It turns out that you should aim to make 3x more on Ebay than your original goal. With taxes nearing %50 and Ebay/ Paypal/ shipping supplies/ gas/ etc. Take off another %30. That means that if I want to make $20,000 in a year on Ebay, I have to Profit in my store $60,000. I can't escape that. At least with upwork copywriting you can move off of the platform to avoid fees. And you aren't driving around everywhere to boot. Sourcing at garage sales is very time consuming. After sourcing yesterday for 4 hours, my estimated profit was only $100. (spent $17)

So yesterday, I went and got a copywriting gig. I was at dinner with my girlfriends family members and it turns out that she needs to get more sales on her website. I asked her, "Have you hired a copywriter to optimize your content?"

"I'm not sure what that is"

"It's pretty much a person who optimizes your writing to convince your customers to buy"

"Sounds expensive, but I think I saw that Godaddy has something like that"

"Don't go through godaddy, you can find someone for like $5 an hour on upwork'

"Hell I could probably even do it for you"

"Ok, I'll give you $5 an hour"

Ok so now I'm going balls deep into copywriting again. I had given it up because I was not confident that my skill level could help anyone. My grammar sucks, I'm not good at provoking emotion. But I realized that I'm always criticizing bad copy so the least I could do is some entry level stuff to get some experience and learn as I go.

I've paid off a little bit of bills, sold my car to save more money. Downgraded my iphone 7 to a moto g5 plus. (Amazon for $185, great phone.) Bought a $150 Chromebook to do work on. Tried to quit caffeine 23 times. f*cked up my joints doing boxing and jiu jitsu and now I don't exercise at all. Haven't written on my blog in forever. Lost willpower to keep being vegan. (too much going on to even eat healthy) Tried to quit jerking off. Started drinking again. (no more than one or two beers a day) I'm already feeling the negative consequences of my drinking so I suspect I'll have to quit that too. Not smoking at least so that is good.

I'm trying more now to focus on my little boy and my girlfriend and more on helping people than trying to strike it rich. I feel like more of my progress has been in my lack of progress and my failures rather than the little progress that I actually have made. My mindset has shifted and I'm not worried about how people see me now because I'm more focused on the end goal. Even if I was having the most success right now then it wouldn't matter. One wrong move can throw it all away.

Now I'm not saying I'm going to give up my Ebay business, because I am having some fun digging for treasure and it feels oh so good when I hear the "CHA CHING" on my phone when I get a sale. But I am not going to grow it after a certain point because the work load doesn't scale like it would with writing copy. So Maybe I'll do both. Who know's?

How have you guys failed over the last several months? If you could repeat any of your successes that you have made, which ones would you pick?
If you could quit your job, what would you do instead?

 

[BillyMaysHere27]

I quit my job today too and took up freelancing. Though my situation isn't as intense as yours.

But I literally just made an Upwork profile yesterday and on my first day I got 4 for 4 clients! 2 more I applied for have yet to respond. I declined one clients offer and waiting on one to post contract so i can get paid. 37.50 made so far, soon to be 66.50. Just a few hours of work too!

I am starting Lexs mentor program on Monday. Hit him up, he's great!

What kind of freelancing are you doing? Just curious because I've been thinking about signing up!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[minivanman]

If are still interested in selling used items online send me a private message and tell me what town you live in. There could be an easier way than driving all over town.

 

[GuestUser450]

If you quit your job, what would you do instead?

Sales. With no experience I'd find an SDR position, or an AE position at a tech reseller with a training program like CDW - most offer a small base and uncapped commissions. Cha-Ching.

Obviously this is my own opinion and I'm sure you already know: Your responsibilities will only grow from here. You have to bank first and not side-hustle your days away - you have to play by different rules, that's just the way it is with a family.

 

[arfadugus]

New Update:

I've made my goal of 2k per month copywriting. With about 30 hours a week worth of work.

Now I suppose I'll get back to working on my vegan blog.

Also need to cut out more spending to get my debt paid off.

That's about it I think.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kid]

New Update:

I've made my goal of 2k per month copywriting. With about 30 hours a week worth of work.

Now I suppose I'll get back to working on my vegan blog.

Also need to cut out more spending to get my debt paid off.

That's about it I think.

Congrats

 

[Under-Dog]

Nice! Good job, how is the ebay business going? You can also get into Amazon. There is a lot of arbitrage that can get done in the early stages setting up this kind of business. Online as well so you don't even have to drive around.

 

[arfadugus]

Update: Accrued some medical debt. Working extra hard now to paying off the rest of my debt. Got engaged. Realized how shitty my mindset has been toward all of this. Also realizing that I’ve been prototyping for a couple years trying to solve a problem of my own. And that many many people have the same problem. Tossing out all my junk ideas and focusing on this. I quit copywriting. It’s not my thing. Right now I’m a server at a vegan cafe. Also almost done reading unscripted . It’s absolute gold. I’d recommend it to everyone I know if they didn’t think I was crazy. Anyways. I’m not wasting any of my time anymore playing video games, watching movies, spending money on dumb shit. Now all my time goes toward family, health, and my unscripted process. Another few months to a year and my problem will be solved. And so will many others. I won’t say what it is. But the product will be a system so that other people can use to solve their own same problem. The market is over saturated with bullshit so as soon as people realize that it works then it should offer me some leverage for the few that are willing to go the distance with this one.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kid]

But the product will be a system so that other people can use to solve their own same problem.

Does your product/service resolve the problem of others or make them resolve it by them themselves? I mean like the difference between serving a meal and selling a cook book.

 

[arfadugus]

Does your product/service resolve the problem of others or make them resolve it by them themselves? I mean like the difference between serving a meal and selling a cook book.

It’s more like a cookbook.

 

[Van Halen]

New Update:

I've made my goal of 2k per month copywriting. With about 30 hours a week worth of work.

Now I suppose I'll get back to working on my vegan blog.

Also need to cut out more spending to get my debt paid off.

That's about it I think.

Any recommended material to learn copy?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[arfadugus]

Any recommended material to learn copy?

Check out some of sinisterlex’s stuff on here. Just search “15 days to freedom” and you should find it. Other than that the book “Cashvertising” is great.

 

[Kid]

It’s more like a cookbook.

I read somewhere (here exactly) about blogger that made a lot by doing 5 dollar meal recipes. Maybe you could make a twist on vegan blog to write about low cost vegan dishes and how to make them?

Btw. congratulations on your engagement!

 

[arfadugus]

I read somewhere (here exactly) about blogger that made a lot by doing 5 dollar meal recipes. Maybe you could make a twist on vegan blog to write about low cost vegan dishes and how to make them?

Btw. congratulations on your engagement!

Hey, thank you! I actually would like to figure out the most frugal, time saving, healthy way to be vegan. The last cookbook I bought had great meals but there was a ton of prep and dishes to do after not to mention all of the expensive ingredients.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kid]

Hey, thank you! I actually would like to figure out the most frugal, time saving, healthy way to be vegan. The last cookbook I bought had great meals but there was a ton of prep and dishes to do after not to mention all of the expensive ingredients.

The thing about diet being expensiveness is a pain point. Person close to me is vegan and tried to convince me to eat meat-less. I don't have anything against vegan diet, but reducing all factors why not to switch, left one - it's the perception (or fact) that i would have to pay a lot more for dishes.

I think that if vegan was more frugal, many people would have it easier to switch.

Oh, i got idea for you Maybe instead of doing book "for vegans" make a book "how to become vegan". That's different market segment - people that eat meat but might consider going meatless.

 

[arfadugus]

The thing about diet being expensiveness is a pain point. Person close to me is vegan and tried to convince me to eat meat-less. I don't have anything against vegan diet, but reducing all factors why not to switch, left one - it's the perception (or fact) that i would have to pay a lot more for dishes.

I think that if vegan was more frugal, many people would have it easier to switch.

Oh, i got idea for you Maybe instead of doing book "for vegans" make a book "how to become vegan". That's different market segment - people that eat meat but might consider going meatless.

Well I already ha e a project that I’m working on but that’s definitely something to keep in mind.

 

[arfadugus]

Another update:

I’ve been action faking! Taken me a while to realize this but I keep going from project to project and not really committing to ANYTHING.

Copywriting business: GAVE UP
Ebay business: GAVE UP
BLOG: GAVE UP

Past few days I’ve been learning how to code so I can make money in what? Two years? I bet I’d give up on that too!

Jeeze Louise, I’ve wasted so much time.

I’m a vegan serving at a vegan restaurant for F*cks sake. Surely I can find some sort of opportunity in the chatter amongst vegans and people trying to become vegan. I hear about their problems every day. It’s like a buffet of free potential clients and information!

Deep down inside all I can think about is my F*cking blog that I’ve been putting off for years!!!! I’ve read the “Blogging For Profit” post on here and I know it’s not going to be easy. But it is a viable path.

I know that veganism is a huge opportunity and I’m vegan so why wouldn’t I share my knowledge and help people?

Maybe I’ve just been selfish this whole time and only thinking about what’s in it for me?

I’m not even going to read “The War of Art” again because I already know what it says!

Lazy…

That’s the word. F*cking hell. I’m a lazy piece of shit.

I’ve known what needs to be done but I haven’t been doing it.

Could analyze this a million ways and still not know what the future holds.

Gonna update in a few weeks. If there is anyone out there listening... learn from my mistakes. Start working. Don’t be lazy. Don’t waste your time.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Dunkafelics]

@arfadugus

Are you finished yet?

Beating yourself up and basically going through the rollercoaster ride of mentally destroying yourself at almost every opportunity is not going to help you get on the path that you need to go.

I don't want to see any more of this pity party.

Where are you at in your family situation right now? How are your fiance and son doing?

Awesome.

Now let's get a game plan going so that we can get you on the right path.

How can you capitalize on all the skills that you've learned so far?

Is your serving job paying you enough money to keep your family above the red?

You've got this man - start focusing today on what you do have in your life and how you can utilize all that you have learned and applied and get moving.

Godspeed.

 

[arfadugus]

@arfadugus

Are you finished yet?

Beating yourself up and basically going through the rollercoaster ride of mentally destroying yourself at almost every opportunity is not going to help you get on the path that you need to go.

I don't want to see any more of this pity party.

Where are you at in your family situation right now? How are your fiance and son doing?

Awesome.

Now let's get a game plan going so that we can get you on the right path.

How can you capitalize on all the skills that you've learned so far?

Is your serving job paying you enough money to keep your family above the red?

You've got this man - start focusing today on what you do have in your life and how you can utilize all that you have learned and applied and get moving.

Godspeed.

Yes I started writing 100 blog post ideas for my blog. Then I’ll probably do outlines and cut out some that don’t make the cut. And then write 50 articles and publish them on a website then consistently write for a few years and work hard on gaining readers and monetize in the mean time.