19 year old's entreprenuerial journey starting from the bottom

[AceVentures]

I respect your passion, and I'm excited to see that you're committed to make a change in your life. Just the fact that you're journaling your failures on a daily basis will serve you well in finding patterns in your thinking. People here can also give you pointers. What I believe could be contributing to your lack of productivity and the anger towards yourself is unrealistic expectations, I know I did when I was around your age.

Do you have an expectation that you need to be making X$ by a certain age and have a family by a certain time, have traveled around the world by a certain time, have learned so many languages, at the same time built beautiful relationships with people and be well known, and on, and on? Yeah, we all do it. However, if you relax some of those constraints, you might realize that it didn't matter at all what the "goal" was. It's a humbling but also liberating thought to consider that the bulk of human life exists within the hum-drum middle of the bell curve of human experience. If you consider that only "Fastlane" millionaire digital nomad entrepreneur with a babe girlfriend as the ONLY goal, you would be insulting the millions and possibly billions of other people that experience life within the distribution, not at the extremes, and still experience a lot of joy and happiness in life.

The point I'm trying to make is, you're NOT special. And that's OKAY, because you don't need to be the ultimate 19 year old venture capitalist Facebook inventor in order to achieve success and happiness. I'm not saying those are your goals, but it might help you relax a bit recognizing that even if all else fails, you still have so much going for you. You're young, you have your family, you have a bullshit job, but a job nonetheless, you get to eat, walk, enjoy your health, enjoy services offered by the city, your town, the government, you get to enjoy the weather and the earth as freely as you wish, you've got a mind and a body you can continue to craft and design again at your will. That's a pretty amazing outcome if you ask me.

Now, with that in mind, sit back and freely consider some of your values. If money were no option, what would you do with your life? Or maybe, assume you had a bunch of money, what would you do with your life? Making money just for the sake of money doesn't make you any happier by the way. I know tons of people that despite their earnings are pieces of shit human beings, people hate them, and they hate people, and they experience a miserable existence during their time here with us. Define your values as clearly as you can to understand WHY you even want to venture out and become an entrepreneur. What's your reason? Why should you make $100/day? Why do you need it? What good will it do for you or for others? What problems are you genuinely interested in? What do you personally hate and wish you could fix? What are some challenges that you personally face that you wish there were solutions to?

Answer some of those questions and you might start to gain motivation again. But don't stop there, because motivation is bullshit. Set some systems in place to avoid wasting time. Waking up at 10-11am? Are you kidding me dude? You mean to tell me you have never used your mornings before? Do you realize an entire realm of business takes place during these golden hours, and you're fast asleep or have been asleep through them all? If you're serious, put a system in place to wake up early. Read Miracle Morning to understand the value-add of waking up early. Pomodoro your time so you measure how much work you do.

Don't set "goals". They're too vague. Instead, make commitments. Small ones to start with. But things that if you commit to, you can't go back. It's not some goal anymore, this is something you're invested in now, part of who you are and what you'll become. Think about it from that perspective and see if it helps.

Cheers bro, keep fighting the good fight and grow your mind.

 

[TheProcess]

I first read TMF 2 or 3 years ago. During this time, I have not made progress in terms of financial independence. However, I have done things like go from a skinny-fat socially awkward teenager to a person who regularly goes to the gym and who is comfortable talking to people. But I want more. I want it all, and I know that financial independence is an important piece in getting to the level of freedom, greatness, health, happiness, and success that I desire.

I'm starting this thread so that I can stay accountable. I struggle with work ethic and I hope that by sharing my progress, my level of urgency will rise. I have only been on this forum for a short time, but so far I love what I see. Thank you to MJ and to everyone for the work done here. BTW, I also read MJ's second book earlier this year.

I know that there is no secret formula. Simply put, I need to have a certain level of tenacity to succeed. I have to do what it takes and get things done. I will not stop posting here until I get to where I want to be. I will try to make daily or weekly updates on my progress.

My current situation and my past week:
- Live with parents for the summer. Finished first year of university. Returning in September.
- Was considering dropping out but met with an entrepreneur over coffee two weeks ago who convinced me it would be best to not drop out until I have a business running and making real progress. He also recommended starting the t-shirt Shopify store I will mention soon.
- Working as a dish washer, minimum wage (14 bucks an hour for 42 hours bi-weekly). Been working there for over a month. So I make 294$ a week on 21 hours.
- Had a job interview at a prestigious company (connection from parents). Got the job. Training starts in 2 weeks. I will be working 40 hours a week there as a technician help-desk person. I have no experience in tech or in a professional setting so this will be good for me. Also, the pay will be 18$/hour instead of 14$, and will rise to 22$/hour once school starts in September (they want me to work 10 hrs/week during the school year). Also, this is a job where I will be working from home on a laptop they give me, so no cost of transportation. So I will be making 720$ a week on 40 hours soon. And 220$ a week on 10 hours when the school year starts.
- Hopefully this leaves time for actual entrepreneurial ventures. I recently got a video camera to start making youtube videos and social media content as a way to grow my brand (which is currently at zero).
- I've been going to thrift shops these last few weeks and thinking of trying to start flipping items on eBay.
- I built a store on Shopify and I'm building a website to start selling t-shirts, as the entrepreneur told me. No products sold yet. I haven't even done the advertising for it yet. This is my first time creating a website.

Plan for tomorrow:
- Wake up at 10 am.
- Hit the gym.
- Celebrate Father's Day with my family.
- Go to work from 4 pm to 10 pm.
- Go home and read some more posts on this forum.

 

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[Tubs]

I just couldn't bring myself to do anything productive. I tried learning about freelancing from reading some of Lex's posts but I didn't get far. I don't know what's wrong with me. I seem to have no motivation, no urgency, and no energy to do anything productive in reaching financial independence. I'm beating myself up over this.

The reason you arent being productive is that you don't have a goal. Right now you've got some decent job prospects, but as for your attempt at a buisness I don't think you're taking it seriously. Ask yourself a few questions
"What value is my store providing?"
"Why did I chose to start this store?"
"Why am I not putting forth any effort into growing this store?"

It seems to me like you opened this store to make some quick cash, then when you didnt see any results you stopped actively trying.
Thats exactly what I did when starting out. Maybe im right, maybe im wrong. But if Im right my advice is to take a step back. Evaluate where you currently are. And then either
Come up with a product or service you can provide.
Or take the time to learn a skill so you can create a product or provide a service.

Figure out your goal, break it down, then work towards it consistently every day.

 

[AceVentures]

My question is, what happens when you fully commit and then break that commitment, because that happens to me sometimes and I start to really hate myself after that.

You don't break a commitment. If you do, it means you were never really committed to begin with. If you haven't already, please go ahead and read Atomic Habits. Like right now. I would make that priority number one. If you have 100 other things you've "been meaning to study and learn", let this one be at the very top of that list. It's incredibly powerful.

Start with identity. Who are you today? You're only who you believe you are, or have adopted the identity you have today, because you have evidence of it. If you go to church every Sunday, you have evidence you're religious. If you eat junk food everyday and don't exercise, you're likely fat and out of shape. You have proof of this. It's easy to believe it. If you want to change, you can do it by becoming observant of the choices you make, and how they relate to your identity.

If you want to be a man whose word carries a lot of weight, learn to listen more to people. If you wish to become a man who is not afraid of taking bold decisions, start practicing it until you have enough evidence of it. If you want to be shredded, start working out every day. The more you do it, the more you'll believe in it as your identity.

The same thing applies. If you make a commitment to something, remember the person that does that. Would a person that's committed to fitness and their health, an athlete or an extreme sportsman, would they eat Chik-Fil-A at midnight and watch Netflix? It becomes easier to make the right choices when we're being consistent with who we are. Design the elements of your identity you wish to focus on and live life as the person that embodies that identity.

 

[nickgraham1234]

your goal right now, should be discovering a goal. it sounds weird, but you need to be thinking all the time about what will take you down the fastlane. once the idea is there, then you can take action etc.

 

[Envision]

Thank you Envision for your advice.
I agree that I need to space out my updates. A few questions. I apologize in advance if some of these go against the Fastlane philosophy. I'm just so tempted to ask.
Can you give me examples of these products that you talk about?
What do you mean by reoccurring?
When you say to pick a product do you mean to buy it from somewhere like Aliexpress or actually create and build something myself?
What's the best way to build an audience?

It's your thread you can do what you want haha, and you dont have to i just think it would give you more time to have tangible movement on your goals for people to give feedback on.

Theres tons out there, look at what you and those around you consume , toothpaste, deodorant, beard/shave care, supplements, skin care, rehab/medical products, etc. It doesnt even have to be physical, if you know how to train people build a subscription training website and sell a subscription for $99/mo and offer X amount of services and run ads to your training.

Reoccurring is essentially subscription. Rather than constantly seeking new customers for each transaction - one customer has a lifetime value of 10 transactions at the cost of one customer.

IE: 1 transaction = $30
1 transaction reoccuring for 10 months = $300
Cost to acquire a customer (CPA) = $25
Profit? - $5 vs. $275

You'll find the people with the biggest businesses are those who are willing to lose money on their front end offer only to make it up 10x on the backend via upsells/reoccurring/affiliate offers.

You dont have to create or build it yourself, you can see what others are doing and replicate and market it better. Alibaba is good for overseas production but you can also find good quality manufacturers in the US. Walter Hays book is a good read on import/export if you want to learn about it.

Audience building?
Free/slower way: Youtube, Instagram, Blogging, FB groups
Fast/Paid way: Paid IG/FB ads direct to email opt in, Paid influencers to landing page, Paid giveaway direct to squeeze page/email opt in.

 

[DoTheWork]

Update:
It's been like 8 days since I posted. During this time I have not done jack shit in terms of entrepreneurship.
I quit my job and I'm off for two weeks before my new job starts. But that job is full-time so I'm scared I won't have the time or energy to make progress with Fastlane stuff. Then university starts again and my focus will be school. I just feel a little trapped and stuck and unmotivated, and at the same time uncomfortable. Maybe it's because I want things so fast and this is creating paralysis.
I wanted to try doing weekly updates but I found that I was not productive this way. I will go back to daily updates. When I was doing daily updates I found myself on this forum quite a bit and my level of motivation was higher.
I'm truly pissed off at things. I just want to have a damn FTE moment. I want to be focused and happy with my process.

During the next two weeks, I'm going to do this everyday:

- Hit the gym.
- Wake up at 9 am or earlier. Go to bed at 1 am or earlier.
- Drink at least 2 litters of water per day.
- Start getting ready for bed at 10 pm and read books before going to bed instead of wasting time watching TV or doing unproductive things.
- Do intermittent fasting.

I will do these 5 things everyday for two weeks. Perhaps this will put me in a better, more focused mood. I just need some momentum going my way. Maybe achieving this little thing, even if it's not even related to entrepreneurship, will help create that effect of achievement, like sticking to my word and creating self-integrity.

I've been following this thread since it started.
I'm also 19 years old. I work than 30-40 hours a week and I'm in college full-time once summer is over, so we're in the same boat here.

It seems like throughout your updates you have been focused on staying productive, but are you truly being productive? What goal are you working towards? Staying fit or freeing yourself from a job?
In the past, I've struggled with wasting my time on things that I told myself were productive (ex: creating an excel spreadsheet to track unnecessary things about my project), but weren't truly bringing me closer to my goals.

Nothing on list of items you want to do everyday seems to be directed towards reaching your actual goals.

A couple weeks ago, I had virtually no idea what type of fastlane business I wanted to start working on. I woke up at 7:30am or earlier (I work until 11pm every night). I'd spend my day analyzing my life and the things that could be improved, no matter how small, and try to figure out a solution. "Trying to figure out a solution" wasn't as simple as thinking about it for 30 seconds or surrendering to the thought of "I don't know how to do that". I would research and learn about it before assuming I couldn't offer a solution.
When I started to run out of ideas from myself, I started contacting others and asking about things that could be improved in their life or work. Eventually (and pretty quickly), I found something.

The point to this is, I was taking actionable steps towards my goals. I didn't waste my time on other things that weren't relevant to my goal. I also didn't let my job get in the way of my goals.

Now while I'm working on my idea, I wake up early as usual and work non-stop until it's time to go to my job. I typically spend less than 30 minutes of my day (before work starts) on "breaks," which only consists of grabbing food from the kitchen. I don't spend my time doing tasks such as creating basically useless excel spreadsheets. I constantly ask myself, "is what I'm doing right now getting me closer to my goal?"

Being in college is no excuse for the squandering of your entrepreneurial goals. I take 18 credits at my university and was able to devote time to the project I was working on at the time. My classes started at 9am every day. Once they concluded, I'd immediately finish any school related work to get it off my plate so I can focus. I'd stay on campus in one of the buildings working on my laptop until 10 or 11pm, even on Friday nights while everyone was out partying.

I'm not trying to put you down or anything, because it's great that you want to achieve financial independence. I'm just trying to give my perspective being in the same position as you, which you can choose to ignore if you'd like.

 

[AceVentures]

Why are you still waking up at 11:30?! Listen, you must learn to take advantage of the mornings. Do a pilot run this week, and wake up every day at 6:00. This will do more for your life than any new "entrepreneurship goal".

 

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[Tubs]

What do you do when you have several conflicting goals? Such as wanting to be fit, wanting to improve socially/have fun, and wanting to reach financial independence and help improve humanity?

For me work and fitness are top of the list. I make sure to workout and get my work done everyday, I also do my best to eat healthy.
After I get my work and fitness stuff done for the day I give myself a bit of time for fun.
But you have to have your priorities in order. Going out with friends is nice and all, but you need to have all your work done for the day first.
If you work with focus and intensity when you have to work then you can get a lot done in a relatively short amount of time.
A person with immense focus can get done in 4 hours or less what takes a distracted person 8 hrs.

High quality work produced = (time spent) x (intensity of focus)

My ideal daily schedule breaks down like this:

9.5hrs of work
8hrs of sleep
2 hrs workout, shower, shave, and commute
1.5 hrs misc(groceries, eating, etc)
3hrs free time

Also remember consistency. Having one good day a week means nothing if you end up doing nothing the other 6 days.

 

[Vadim26]

No offence, but this does resemble the thread below:

NOTABLE! - Fear and Action-Faking in Entrepreneurship-- a 19 year old's guide to askholing.

Just turned 19 today and I don't feel any different. Why? Because that biological birthday means nothing. My true birthday will be the day I don't need to rely on handouts from my parents anymore. Just like John D Rockefeller forever celebrated the day he got his first job and thus his...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Check it out, see how it ended for a guy and hopefully take some notes

Welcome to the forum, good to have you here!

 

[TheProcess]

Are you the guy that wakes up at 4pm and watches TV?

No. I usually wake up at 10-11 am. I do, however, unfortunately consume too much and produce too little (or nothing at all). Definitely something I need to change.

 

[TheProcess]

Day 5 - Thursday June 20 2019

Current commitment:
- Have my first Fastlane "win".

Current entrepreneurial ventures:
- None.

Current earnings through entrepreneurship:
- None.

Other earnings:
- 294$/week dishwashing in 21 hours.

Summary of today:
- Woke up at 10 am.
- Found a guy a few years older who is doing social media for 6-7 businesses. I'm setting something up with him to go under his wing and just to try to add value and to learn as much as I can from him, I don't care about the money right now. Goal should be to learn as much and then to try to replicate what he does with just one business to start with.
- Had work from 5 pm - 10 pm.
- Sleeping at 2 am.

Today's rating:
- Wasted most of my time doing stuff like watching TV. Utter waste of time. I need to be better. I need to have more precise goals/commitments and create an environment that makes it easier for me to make good progress. Discipline is the most important thing and I'm seriously lacking in this area. My work ethic is garbage.

Commitments for tomorrow:
- Learn more about real estate and buying my first property.
- Learn more about social media marketing so I can be better prepared for when I meet up with that guy.
- Hit the gym.

Quote Reply

 

[DoTheWork]

I don't function very well without 8 hours of sleep. I wish I could get by with 6 but I'm super tired if I do that. I think I need to change my sleep time to something like 12-8.

I'm the same way with sleep. I get about 7.5 hours every night. I'll go to sleep around 10 or so. Earlier if possible. I'd recommend giving it a try. You're stilling getting the same amount of sleep, but it feels the day is so much more longer and productive.

 

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[TheProcess]

Day 6 - Friday June 21 2019

Current commitment:
- Have my first Fastlane "win".

Current entrepreneurial ventures:
- None.

Current earnings through entrepreneurship:
- None.

Other earnings:
- 294$/week dishwashing in 21 hours.

Summary of today:
- Woke up at 11:30 am.
- Unproductive day. Went to the gym but that's pretty much it.
- Got in contact with an old friend of mine (who used to be my boss for another job and who's like 10 years older than me). This guy is a true entrepreneur. He's tried it all and seems to be pretty damn successful from what we talked about on the phone. I'm going to look to set up a proper meeting with him and to see if he knows what is a good avenue/industry to focus on at the moment.
- Sleeping at 1 am.

Today's rating:
- Bad day in terms of work ethic. However, I have a feeling that I've got a good stretch coming up. I'm quitting my job because I got a new one. But this new job isn't starting for another few weeks. I want to take advantage of that free time to find a top priority/goal/commitment in entrepreneurship.

Commitments for tomorrow:
- Learn more about real estate and buying my first property.
- Learn more about social media marketing.

 

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[A_Random_Guy]

Went to the gym but that's pretty much it.

Hitting the gym is a BIG achievement. The reason we don't wake up early and don't work is that we are lazy. The fastest way to overcome this is by working out.
Trust me, I joined a gym yesterday, went to sleep at 3 AM and woke up at 7:30 AM today. I have been studying since then. Good Luck!

 

[Tubs]

Day 7 - Saturday June 22 2019

Current big commitment(s):
- Have my first Fastlane "win". I know this is subjective but I'll know when I get my first win. For example, finalizing a deal in renting my first investment property. Or fully setting up an online shop and getting sales. Something like that, which I am yet to do.

Current entrepreneurial ventures:
- None. (Getting tired of seeing this).

Current earnings through entrepreneurship:
- None. (Also getting tired of seeing this).

Other earnings:
- 294$/week dishwashing in 21 hours. (Quitting this job officially in 2 weeks).

Summary of today:
- Woke up at 9 am.
- Did some research on buying my first property.
- Wasted time watching a tv show. But later in the day I had a sudden burst of anger and motivation. I know, I know, it's about discipline, not motivation.
- Sleeping at 1 am or sooner.

Today's rating:
- Happy I pushed myself to wake up at 9 am. Goal is to sleep at 1 am or sooner and to wake up at 9 am or earlier. I've also got a ton of fitness goals right now, such as drinking 3 litters of water per day, hitting the gym as much as possible, eating healthy, taking all my supplements like creatine and omega 3 fish oil, intermittent fasting, making sure my appearance is managed every day, socializing (like talking to random strangers on the streets), reading, listening to podcasts, and more. I've been doing these things pretty consistently, and even though they aren't exactly helping in terms of creating a productocracy, they are still good habits so I'm happy about that. However, I have to be careful about the 80/20 rule and action-faking. I'm admitting that my "good habits" are not good enough because they aren't important enough. Creating a Fastlane income is much more important than making sure I've flossed my teeth, for example.
- Furthermore, I've got a question if anyone is willing to answer. Is there a way to manufacture urgency? I've noticed that the time when I was most willing to work hard and concentrate on creating a Fastlane business was when I told my parents I was dropping out of University. They told me I would be kicked out of the house. That created great pressure for me and I had pretty great focus for like a week. But then I decided I'd go back for a second year, and I found that I was back in the comfort-feeling of my own home. I'm trying to figure out a way to create that same urgency but without making such a reckless decision. Maybe the answer is to just keep pushing through the comfort.

Commitment(s) for tomorrow:
- I'm going to try to have nothing planned ahead of time. I'm going to wake up early and try to get on my feet and running (metaphor not literally) as soon as possible. Tomorrow night at this same time, I want to be proud of myself and my day, so hopefully not bullshit tv shows or anything like that.
Quote Reply

Tbh from what you're posting im not even really sure what you're trying to do.
Its all stuff like "Im gonna make a fastlane win"
I think maybe one of the reasons you aren't working towards anything is cause you dont have a clear idea of what it is you even want to work towards.
It might be best to just keep working your job + researching markets + building skills in your free time at the moment. Because all I see is you half-assedly chasing a whole lotta nothin.
Not trying to be rude, just saying what I see.

 

[TheProcess]

Day 8 - Sunday June 23 2019

Current big commitment(s):
- Have my first Fastlane win.

Current entrepreneurial ventures:
- Starting a merchandising side hustle where I'll be selling t-shirts and clothing at events in my city, which I may eventually turn into a merchandise as a service business (because this scales).

Current earnings through entrepreneurship:
- None.

Other earnings:
- 294$/week dishwashing in 21 hours. (Quitting this job officially in less than 2 weeks).

Summary of today:
- Woke up at 9 am.
- Called some brokers and agents in real estate. Made an appointment for tomorrow. I want to fully understand what it will take for me to buy my first investment property (like how much money I need saved up).
- Got the business idea to go to events and to sell merchandise at those events. Made a post on Upwork and someone is willing to work with me to create the designs. I then messaged a bunch of instagram accounts of big events coming up in my city to see if they want to partner up with me so that I could make merchandise for their events and they could keep a cut of the profits. Emailed a couple as well. However it was super unprofessional because I used my personal instagram and email. That's probably why nobody answered.
- Called my city to see if it's legal to sell merchandise in the streets. Apparently I need a permit. I'm calling the permit office tomorrow.
- Ran into the girl that rejected me a year ago with the guy she chose over me. Ruined a chunk of my day. Spent unnecessary brain energy on stupid shit. However, I'm just going to let stuff like that fuel me.
- Went on instagram and saw a follow request from an old friend of mine. He's doing really well in life. He became a singer/rapper and two of his songs have over 100k in likes and listens. And I then saw some pictures of him with other old friends of mine who are also doing amazing at life. Those guys all have their own businesses and legit websites. I hate to admit it, but seeing their success really pissed me off. That ruined another big chunk of my day. I tried my best to be stoic and compare myself to who I was yesterday instead of other people but it was hard. I was just super angry the second half of the day.
- Had work from 5 - 10 pm.
- Sleeping at 1 am or earlier.

Today's rating:
- Overall I'm seeing some positive signs but I shouldn't let stupid stuff bother me and make me angry. I should just focus on myself.

Commitment(s) for tomorrow:
- Learn more about buying my first investment property.
- Make some progress on my merchandise venture.

Other comments:
- This thread has over 1k in views but almost nobody responds. I guess this means that this thread isn't bringing anyone value. I apologize for that.

 

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[Envision]

Hey man,

Couple bits of feedback. You can take it or leave it but I was in your spot 5 years ago

I'd start updating this thread bi weekly or monthly. The daily updates probably take more time from your productivity and don't constitute a tangible result.

Avoid selling t-shirts, everyone does this when they start because its a low barrier to entry and it almost never works out. I'd start researching online marketing, ecom, and branding and figure out a way where you could create and sell a product online that fills a need and can scale...

Just to shortcut your learning curve:
- Learn FB ads
- Learn Ecom/web set up via shopify
- Pick a single product, reoccuring, low cost, high margin (some of these are give and take, you may not be able to achieve all characteristics)
- Brand it, build an audience, launch
- Get a better paying job so you can spend more on ads/your business
- Start waking up at 6 am, hit the gym early, work your job, and work on your side hustle after.

Good luck man, also dont get sucked into ads from "gurus" who will teach you ecom, amazon, etc.

The only get rich quick scheme is someone getting rich off of you.

 

[TheProcess]

It's your thread you can do what you want haha, and you dont have to i just think it would give you more time to have tangible movement on your goals for people to give feedback on.

Theres tons out there, look at what you and those around you consume , toothpaste, deodorant, beard/shave care, supplements, skin care, rehab/medical products, etc. It doesnt even have to be physical, if you know how to train people build a subscription training website and sell a subscription for $99/mo and offer X amount of services and run ads to your training.

Reoccurring is essentially subscription. Rather than constantly seeking new customers for each transaction - one customer has a lifetime value of 10 transactions at the cost of one customer.

IE: 1 transaction = $30
1 transaction reoccuring for 10 months = $300
Cost to acquire a customer (CPA) = $25
Profit? - $5 vs. $275

You'll find the people with the biggest businesses are those who are willing to lose money on their front end offer only to make it up 10x on the backend via upsells/reoccurring/affiliate offers.

You dont have to create or build it yourself, you can see what others are doing and replicate and market it better. Alibaba is good for overseas production but you can also find good quality manufacturers in the US. Walter Hays book is a good read on import/export if you want to learn about it.

Audience building?
Free/slower way: Youtube, Instagram, Blogging, FB groups
Fast/Paid way: Paid IG/FB ads direct to email opt in, Paid influencers to landing page, Paid giveaway direct to squeeze page/email opt in.

Thank you!

 

[TheProcess]

I first read TMF 2 or 3 years ago. During this time, I have not made progress in terms of financial independence. However, I have done things like go from a skinny-fat socially awkward teenager to a person who regularly goes to the gym and who is comfortable talking to people. But I want more. I want it all, and I know that financial independence is an important piece in getting to the level of freedom, greatness, health, happiness, and success that I desire.

I'm starting this thread so that I can stay accountable. I struggle with work ethic and I hope that by sharing my progress, my level of urgency will rise. I have only been on this forum for a short time, but so far I love what I see. Thank you to MJ and to everyone for the work done here. BTW, I also read MJ's second book earlier this year.

I know that there is no secret formula. Simply put, I need to have a certain level of tenacity to succeed. I have to do what it takes and get things done. I will not stop posting here until I get to where I want to be. I will try to make daily or weekly updates on my progress.

My current situation and my past week:
- Live with parents for the summer. Finished first year of university. Returning in September.
- Was considering dropping out but met with an entrepreneur over coffee two weeks ago who convinced me it would be best to not drop out until I have a business running and making real progress. He also recommended starting the t-shirt Shopify store I will mention soon.
- Working as a dish washer, minimum wage (14 bucks an hour for 42 hours bi-weekly). Been working there for over a month. So I make 294$ a week on 21 hours.
- Had a job interview at a prestigious company (connection from parents). Got the job. Training starts in 2 weeks. I will be working 40 hours a week there as a technician help-desk person. I have no experience in tech or in a professional setting so this will be good for me. Also, the pay will be 18$/hour instead of 14$, and will rise to 22$/hour once school starts in September (they want me to work 10 hrs/week during the school year). Also, this is a job where I will be working from home on a laptop they give me, so no cost of transportation. So I will be making 720$ a week on 40 hours soon. And 220$ a week on 10 hours when the school year starts.
- Hopefully this leaves time for actual entrepreneurial ventures. I recently got a video camera to start making youtube videos and social media content as a way to grow my brand (which is currently at zero).
- I've been going to thrift shops these last few weeks and thinking of trying to start flipping items on eBay.
- I built a store on Shopify and I'm building a website to start selling t-shirts, as the entrepreneur told me. No products sold yet. I haven't even done the advertising for it yet. This is my first time creating a website.

Plan for tomorrow:
- Wake up at 10 am.
- Hit the gym.
- Celebrate Father's Day with my family.
- Go to work from 4 pm to 10 pm.
- Go home and read some more posts on this forum.

Day 1 - Sunday June 16 2019

Current goal:
- Make my first Fastlane sale.

Current entrepreneurial ventures:
- None.

Current earnings through entrepreneurship:
- None.

Other earnings:
- 294$/week dishwashing in 21 hours.

Summary of today:
- Woke up at 10 am.
- Worked dishwashing from 5 pm - 10:30 pm.
- Sleeping at 1 am.

Today's rating:
- I had a lot of little things to do here and there. That took the majority of my free time. It was also Father's day, so we went to a restaurant and I spent most of the day with my family when I wasn't working. Overall not a bad start, considering my mindset is in the right place.

Goals for tomorrow:
- Narrow down what business idea to focus on.
- Make some progress on that idea.
- Hit the gym.

 

[TheProcess]

Day 1 - Sunday June 16 2019

Current goal:
- Make my first Fastlane sale.

Current entrepreneurial ventures:
- None.

Current earnings through entrepreneurship:
- None.

Other earnings:
- 294$/week dishwashing in 21 hours.

Summary of today:
- Woke up at 10 am.
- Worked dishwashing from 5 pm - 10:30 pm.
- Sleeping at 1 am.

Today's rating:
- I had a lot of little things to do here and there. That took the majority of my free time. It was also Father's day, so we went to a restaurant and I spent most of the day with my family when I wasn't working. Overall not a bad start, considering my mindset is in the right place.

Goals for tomorrow:
- Narrow down what business idea to focus on.
- Make some progress on that idea.
- Hit the gym.

Day 2 - Monday June 17 2019

Current goal:
- Make my first Fastlane sale.

Current entrepreneurial ventures:
- None.

Current earnings through entrepreneurship:
- None.

Other earnings:
- 294$/week dishwashing in 21 hours.

Summary of today:
- Woke up at 7 am.
- Went to an event I've been planning on going to for a while. There was a shooting at that event. People in my surroundings got shot. Scariest moment of my life. Luckily I'm okay and nobody died. The suspects are also in custody.
- Going to bed at 1 am.

Today's rating:
- After the event, I went back home. Maybe this near-death situation (at least it felt like it) will create a positive change in perspective. Perhaps my level of urgency will rise. This was the first time I truly experienced the survival instinct. I wanted to live so badly.
- I simply felt like relaxing when I got home, so that's what I did. Considering the circumstances I think that is okay, but I also do realize that it's been 2-3 days since I started this thread and have yet to make real progress. I need to get going!

Goals for tomorrow:
- Narrow down what business idea to focus on.
- Make some progress on that idea.
- Hit the gym.

Quote Reply

 

[The Abundant Man]

Are you the guy that wakes up at 4pm and watches TV?

 

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[TheProcess]

The reason you arent being productive is that you don't have a goal. Right now you've got some decent job prospects, but as for your attempt at a buisness I don't think you're taking it seriously. Ask yourself a few questions
"What value is my store providing?"
"Why did I chose to start this store?"
"Why am I not putting forth any effort into growing this store?"

It seems to me like you opened this store to make some quick cash, then when you didnt see any results you stopped actively trying.
Thats exactly what I did when starting out. Maybe im right, maybe im wrong. But if Im right my advice is to take a step back. Evaluate where you currently are. And then either
Come up with a product or service you can provide.
Or take the time to learn a skill so you can create a product or provide a service.

Figure out your goal, break it down, then work towards it consistently every day.

Well of course money is a big part of it. But I do understand that the goal should be to give value. If I'm being honest with myself, I do really want money. Perhaps this is clouding my thinking. My goal right now should be to learn things. However, I also want to make enough money that I can leave my job and focus on creating a business.
My goals are super vague long-term goals. As for specific short-term ones, those are difficult as of now because I still haven't figured out what product/service/business to focus on. I'm going to be trying a bunch of things and seeing what works and go from there.

 

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[Tubs]

I'll give you a bit of direction to help you out.

1. Read all the gold/notable threads on the forum. It'll give you a ton of value everything there is great. Suck up all that knowledge.

2. Get a push mower and go door to door offering to mow lawns for people in your neighborhood. This will get you in the mindset of immediate execution. Instead of doing that intangiable shopify store you get to interact with people directly, provide them with value, and get an immediate reward. Great experience!

3. Figure out where to go from there.

 

[TheProcess]

I'll give you a bit of direction to help you out.

1. Read all the gold/notable threads on the forum. It'll give you a ton of value everything there is great. Suck up all that knowledge.

2. Get a push mower and go door to door offering to mow lawns for people in your neighborhood. This will get you in the mindset of immediate execution. Instead of doing that intangiable shopify store you get to interact with people directly, provide them with value, and get an immediate reward. Great experience!

3. Figure out where to go from there.

Alright, I'm on it! I've already been through a lot of gold/notable threads these last few days.

 

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[The Abundant Man]

No. I usually wake up at 10-11 am. I do, however, unfortunately consume too much and produce too little (or nothing at all). Definitely something I need to change.

What's your sleep schedule?

 

[TheProcess]

I respect your passion, and I'm excited to see that you're committed to make a change in your life. Just the fact that you're journaling your failures on a daily basis will serve you well in finding patterns in your thinking. People here can also give you pointers. What I believe could be contributing to your lack of productivity and the anger towards yourself is unrealistic expectations, I know I did when I was around your age.

Do you have an expectation that you need to be making X$ by a certain age and have a family by a certain time, have traveled around the world by a certain time, have learned so many languages, at the same time built beautiful relationships with people and be well known, and on, and on? Yeah, we all do it. However, if you relax some of those constraints, you might realize that it didn't matter at all what the "goal" was. It's a humbling but also liberating thought to consider that the bulk of human life exists within the hum-drum middle of the bell curve of human experience. If you consider that only "Fastlane" millionaire digital nomad entrepreneur with a babe girlfriend as the ONLY goal, you would be insulting the millions and possibly billions of other people that experience life within the distribution, not at the extremes, and still experience a lot of joy and happiness in life.

The point I'm trying to make is, you're NOT special. And that's OKAY, because you don't need to be the ultimate 19 year old venture capitalist Facebook inventor in order to achieve success and happiness. I'm not saying those are your goals, but it might help you relax a bit recognizing that even if all else fails, you still have so much going for you. You're young, you have your family, you have a bullshit job, but a job nonetheless, you get to eat, walk, enjoy your health, enjoy services offered by the city, your town, the government, you get to enjoy the weather and the earth as freely as you wish, you've got a mind and a body you can continue to craft and design again at your will. That's a pretty amazing outcome if you ask me.

Now, with that in mind, sit back and freely consider some of your values. If money were no option, what would you do with your life? Or maybe, assume you had a bunch of money, what would you do with your life? Making money just for the sake of money doesn't make you any happier by the way. I know tons of people that despite their earnings are pieces of shit human beings, people hate them, and they hate people, and they experience a miserable existence during their time here with us. Define your values as clearly as you can to understand WHY you even want to venture out and become an entrepreneur. What's your reason? Why should you make $100/day? Why do you need it? What good will it do for you or for others? What problems are you genuinely interested in? What do you personally hate and wish you could fix? What are some challenges that you personally face that you wish there were solutions to?

Answer some of those questions and you might start to gain motivation again. But don't stop there, because motivation is bullshit. Set some systems in place to avoid wasting time. Waking up at 10-11am? Are you kidding me dude? You mean to tell me you have never used your mornings before? Do you realize an entire realm of business takes place during these golden hours, and you're fast asleep or have been asleep through them all? If you're serious, put a system in place to wake up early. Read Miracle Morning to understand the value-add of waking up early. Pomodoro your time so you measure how much work you do.

Don't set "goals". They're too vague. Instead, make commitments. Small ones to start with. But things that if you commit to, you can't go back. It's not some goal anymore, this is something you're invested in now, part of who you are and what you'll become. Think about it from that perspective and see if it helps.

Cheers bro, keep fighting the good fight and grow your mind.

Thank you for the beautiful paragraph. To add to your point, the very fact that I'm even existing is a freaking miracle, and to be in this poisition, at 19 years of age, in a great developed country with a healthy body is something to be very grateful for. I've had very high expectations for myself and this has led to a form of paralysis. I've been trying to let go of those expectations and live more so in the moment.

Also, I appreciate the point about commitment versus goals. I'm going to try to commit to some things, small things to start with. My question is, what happens when you fully commit and then break that commitment, because that happens to me sometimes and I start to really hate myself after that. My psychologist has been telling me to not be so hard on myself on the little things. I'm going to be thinking about some of the questions that you asked me in your post.

 

[TheProcess]

Interesting stuff. MJ talked about something similar in his latest book. I'll give your book a try thanks.

 

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[TheProcess]

Day 4 - Wednesday June 19 2019

Current commitment:
- Have my first Fastlane "win".

Current entrepreneurial ventures:
- None.

Current earnings through entrepreneurship:
- None.

Other earnings:
- 294$/week dishwashing in 21 hours.

Summary of today:
- Woke up at 10 am. Super high energy. Got through a lot of errands first couple hours. Went for a good workout. I've been intermittent fasting these last few weeks as well.
- Spent a lot of time reading about different venture ideas. I think real estate is something very interesting. I want to go more in depth with that.
- My perspective is starting to change. I'm looking around and I see opportunities. Just the other day, I was at an event and saw some people selling t-shrits related to that event. I could totally do something similar for the big events going on at Uni next year. I'm also starting to think more in terms of giving value instead of making quick money.
- I've been talking to this entrepreneur who made it big time and who went to my university. We spoke on the phone and he talked about all the different side hustles he did when he was at my uni, stuff I had never thought about, maybe I could do some of those things next year. I set up a meeting at his office. Now he owns a big business.
- After that I had work from 5 pm - 10 pm.
- Going to bed at 1 am.

Today's rating:
- I'm trying to get in some sort of flow. I think I'm making progress but I still don't see any real concrete action on my part. I'm still just dancing around with ideas instead of committing to something and truly putting in the work in that business. I should have probably just committed to starting a service-based business at the start of summer, but now I think it's probably too late for that.

Commitments for tomorrow:
- Got work from 5 pm - 10 pm again.
- I'll go more in dept with real estate, especially considering I've got an uncle who is pretty successful in that area. I want to figure out how I can go about investing in my first property, and then make a plan to do that. Maybe I'll find out real estate isn't for me at this moment. I think my goal right now should be to produce instead of consume, to put in action, to learn, and to give value. Honestly, if I'm doing all that, I think money will come in naturally.
- Hit the gym.

 

[The Abundant Man]

Usually 2 am - 10 am.

Those are really odd hours.

I don't care about sleeping up at 2am. I still do that at times.

I wake up so early at 5am. Sometimes 7am on the weekends.

If I ever woke up at 10am. I'd feel like a worthless piece of s**t. I'd be like: "Oh my gosh! I lost so much time! I could have gotten so much done. I'm not sure if I should even take a shower. Feels like its too late for that. Whatever."