Hey guys, newcomer to the site (intro HERE). Thought I would start with a progress thread to keep myself accountable and so anyone interested can track progress.
Where I started:
So I've been a flight instructor for a couple years now and was set up to fly for the airlines. It's been a dream of mine ever since I was a little kid. That was supposed to happen back at the end of May, but of course the travel industry is wrecked now so to go to the airlines now looks like at least a year - if not more - of waiting. Before COVID, the industry was welcoming; we reached a new level of traffic in the sky and opportunities were available left and right for every up and comer. The ultimate draw is the allure of making 300k a year as a major airline captain that flies only a couple times a month. The most ironic part about this is, everyone at my level (barely airline qualified flight instructor) talks about this as though it's something that will happen in a couple years when in reality it's probably about a 15 year journey. If everything goes PERFECT. And it never does. Anyway, I digress. The recent chain of events got me more and more interested in starting something myself, especially as my company has started to feel more unstable. Finally after reading books about finance and digging for info on the Internet, I stumbled across Unscripted . And it blew my mind. I realized that I've been feeling some of these things that get discussed in the book. How there has to be more than selling my soul to a company in a most volatile industry. From there, I started digging around and exercising my brain for ideas on where to start.
Where I am:
I came up with a pretty good idea in the form of a product about a week ago. I evolved the idea into something clear that solves a problem and has sparked interest in those I've talked about it with. Some people are actually really excited about it, including myself - I know I'd use the heck out of it. Especially because it hasn't quite been done before, at least not this way
I've got feelers out on folks who can design said product, including one who has resources to take it all the way to manufacturing which is cool. I'm a little terrified to find out he will come back with in cost because I'm a one man show right now with a tiny budget, but I do have a back up in case that happens. We've got an NDA in place for security of the idea as well. While I wait for his quote, I've asked a lawyer friend of mine to take a look at the two brand names I thought of and see if there's any reason legally I couldn't use them. The same friend offered to help me with an LLC as well which will be awesome when I get to needing that. I'm a little stuck on what else I could work on right now while I wait for these results , so I'm just letting my mind wander on how I could brand, scale, and expand and so far there appears to be some good potential.
Short Term Goals:
I want to lock down a brand name and get the design process rolling in the next week. I've got a pretty good idea of how to brand it and I know almost exactly how I want the product to look, so if this main guy comes back with a good quote, I'll roll with it and go. If not, I'll go with my back up and just figure out the manufacturing side of things when that time comes. My back up doesn't have the same level of resources but that's ok. I'm lucky in that my job these days is almost exclusively managing; I rarely flying with students, and the lighter workload in general means way more free time so I'm able to do a lot of this stuff in my free time at the office. I'm actually sitting in the office right now typing this... don't tell my boss!
It is ridiculous how pumped I am. I am constantly thinking about the idea, to the point where I can't sit still sometimes. There have been times in my life where I was more motivated than I ever thought possible and I haven't been able to - or rather chosen to - tap into that until recently. Having a sound idea that is possible made it much easier to harness the power of motivation. It's also terrifying. It will cost money for sure which is my biggest fear having accumulated some debt from flight school, and I'm playing it close to the edge given the nature of my Slowlane industry and place of work. But I believe in the idea and the possibility of it working so I'm going to go for it and see where it takes me. More updates soon!
Where I started:
So I've been a flight instructor for a couple years now and was set up to fly for the airlines. It's been a dream of mine ever since I was a little kid. That was supposed to happen back at the end of May, but of course the travel industry is wrecked now so to go to the airlines now looks like at least a year - if not more - of waiting. Before COVID, the industry was welcoming; we reached a new level of traffic in the sky and opportunities were available left and right for every up and comer. The ultimate draw is the allure of making 300k a year as a major airline captain that flies only a couple times a month. The most ironic part about this is, everyone at my level (barely airline qualified flight instructor) talks about this as though it's something that will happen in a couple years when in reality it's probably about a 15 year journey. If everything goes PERFECT. And it never does. Anyway, I digress. The recent chain of events got me more and more interested in starting something myself, especially as my company has started to feel more unstable. Finally after reading books about finance and digging for info on the Internet, I stumbled across Unscripted . And it blew my mind. I realized that I've been feeling some of these things that get discussed in the book. How there has to be more than selling my soul to a company in a most volatile industry. From there, I started digging around and exercising my brain for ideas on where to start.
Where I am:
I came up with a pretty good idea in the form of a product about a week ago. I evolved the idea into something clear that solves a problem and has sparked interest in those I've talked about it with. Some people are actually really excited about it, including myself - I know I'd use the heck out of it. Especially because it hasn't quite been done before, at least not this way
I've got feelers out on folks who can design said product, including one who has resources to take it all the way to manufacturing which is cool. I'm a little terrified to find out he will come back with in cost because I'm a one man show right now with a tiny budget, but I do have a back up in case that happens. We've got an NDA in place for security of the idea as well. While I wait for his quote, I've asked a lawyer friend of mine to take a look at the two brand names I thought of and see if there's any reason legally I couldn't use them. The same friend offered to help me with an LLC as well which will be awesome when I get to needing that. I'm a little stuck on what else I could work on right now while I wait for these results , so I'm just letting my mind wander on how I could brand, scale, and expand and so far there appears to be some good potential.Short Term Goals:
I want to lock down a brand name and get the design process rolling in the next week. I've got a pretty good idea of how to brand it and I know almost exactly how I want the product to look, so if this main guy comes back with a good quote, I'll roll with it and go. If not, I'll go with my back up and just figure out the manufacturing side of things when that time comes. My back up doesn't have the same level of resources but that's ok. I'm lucky in that my job these days is almost exclusively managing; I rarely flying with students, and the lighter workload in general means way more free time so I'm able to do a lot of this stuff in my free time at the office. I'm actually sitting in the office right now typing this... don't tell my boss!
It is ridiculous how pumped I am. I am constantly thinking about the idea, to the point where I can't sit still sometimes. There have been times in my life where I was more motivated than I ever thought possible and I haven't been able to - or rather chosen to - tap into that until recently. Having a sound idea that is possible made it much easier to harness the power of motivation. It's also terrifying. It will cost money for sure which is my biggest fear having accumulated some debt from flight school, and I'm playing it close to the edge given the nature of my Slowlane industry and place of work. But I believe in the idea and the possibility of it working so I'm going to go for it and see where it takes me. More updates soon!
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