22 year old male, knowledge seeker, early retirement focused, Bristol Bay fisherman, van conversion...

[little_prince]

I'll skip the perfunctory greeting and get to the meat.

Timeline:
2013 Mentorship formed, serious reading begins and hasn't stopped
- Mlilionaire Fastlane
- ERE
- Great Books of the Western World
- Permaculture Design Manual
- Human Action
2014 Tested out of high school
2014-2015 introduction to all things construction (framing, plumbing, electrical, welding, design)
2015 work on homestead briefly, get my hands dirty with implementing permaculture design
2015 go to Bristol Bay Alaska and work on a gilnet boat for the first time (and every year afterwards)
2016 work in the online course industry building accredited courses for acupuncturists pursuing continuing education (this goes nowhere)
2016-2018 lots of moving between locations, Alaska, California, Texas, North Carolina...
2017 welding side hustle and full time job while in Texas, but ends after going back to Alaska
2018 purchase a van and begin converting it cheap living space (lots of procrastination, project still incomplete)
2018-2019 lots of self-teaching automobile mechanics (brakes/rotors/parking break/wheel bearings/brake lines/radiator/water pump/thermostat/exhaust and more all replaced)
2019 partnered with mother to bring her herbal supplements to market (LOTS of potential, but very difficult establishment phase)
2019 no major progress, stuck on van project and relying on fishing income
2020 the dilemma...

Fishing income has become a crutch. It's just enough that I can limp out a comfortable life for the remainder of the year until the next season. Hypothetically I could go to Alaska, make $35k in <2 months (normal), then come back and bust a$$ on a business. This hasn't been the case for the last four years and I see no reason to believe I'm now "better" than this and won't turn 2020 into a repeat of previous years. What's the big deal? Bristol Bay fishing is slowlane...

Maximum I can get during the 1.5 month season is around $40k. If I take on debt to buy a $180k permit (which allows us to use more fishing gear -> catch more fish -> make more money), I could double that. I'm limited to a MAX of $80k per season for another 5-10 years until I have enough experience and capital to purchase a boat, convince a crew to go fishing with me, and THEN I would have the possibility of making $150-$250k gross.

The writing is on the wall. If I want early retirement to be anything but a fantasy, it's time for the millionaire fastlane seeds (planted years ago) to germinate, and to get to work.

I'm cutting off the fishing income "drip", wrapping up this van in the first quarter (and moving out of my Mom's house AGAIN), and focusing on generating fastlane income. Having a vision of the future and dissatisfaction with the present hasn't been enough to produce massive measurable results. I need a system. One of the primary things I'll be doing differently this year is committing completely to a system, relentlessly applying it until I have real data, and only then tweaking it to better suite my needs. No more shopping for the "best" system FOR me or the most abstractly beautiful system, this particular form of mental masturbation being eliminated. It produces no positive results.

5 year goals:
- land ownership, house built, productive permaculture property entering maturity & actively building civ. 2.0
- no longer need to work for money, expenses all paid for with interest from investments

Located in SF Bay Area.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Welcome my friend, appreciate the intro.

 

[ecommercewolf]

WELCOME!

 

[SEBASTlAN]

Welcome

 

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[Azure]

If I take on debt to buy a $180k permit

the possibility of making $150-$250k gross

You'd be better off taking your life savings and dumping it all on black than betting on the long term viability of that sockeye run.

I suspect these numbers are based on the harvests you've seen over the last few years?

Don't expect these record breaking runs to last much longer, and if Pebble starts spewing it's toxins into some of the major feeder lakes, you might not even be able to pay someone to take the permit off your hands with the destruction that is going to cause to the spawning beds.

 

[lowtek]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Fastlane Liam]

What ideas do you have going forward?

 

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[little_prince]

You'd be better off taking your life savings and dumping it all on black than betting on the long term viability of that sockeye run.

I suspect these numbers are based on the harvests you've seen over the last few years?

Don't expect these record breaking runs to last much longer, and if Pebble starts spewing it's toxins into some of the major feeder lakes, you might not even be able to pay someone to take the permit off your hands with the destruction that is going to cause to the spawning beds.

Yes, not only are these numbers the best case scenario, there are numerous variables - run size, price, pebble mine - all of which are out of my control and could drastically reduce them.

Temps last year were so high in the rivers and lakes that there were major die-offs of 3-5 year sockeye before they reached the spawning grounds. We won't see the effects of that for another few years but it could be catastrophic.

Scale is another commandment being violated. Even if you pursue the slow route to becoming a captain, you're still limited by the amount of fish you can catch, unless you start buying multiple boats/permits and leasing them out. Both a lengthy and costly scaling process.

The list of reasons to get out now and move on to greener pastures is extensive.

 

[little_prince]

What ideas do you have going forward?

I'm partnered with my Mom to expand the production and sale of her herbal supplements beyond a clinical setting. To reach market will be a minimum 6 month process to find a commercial kitchen or build one , secure all the licenses, approval from the ABC, FDA, and local municipalities, etc. Our margins are solid. The product is highly competitive. Entry is DIFFICULT, especially so in our area. Which will serve us well once we're through the gates. Current bottleneck is finding a facility. Not yet considering looking >1hr away/out of State, but will do so if our search continues to fail.

In the short term, I need to finish building out this van ASAP. I'm working part time Herring fishing in SF Bay through mid February.

On the side, I'm in the research phase for online businesses, various forms of trading, and considering temporary skilled money-for-time exchanges. This is solely for covering expenses and allowing me to end being a parasite living at home.
____
Of Primary Interest:
Amazon FBA Businesses
Options Trading
Building Instructional/Curator websites with an ad model + subscription option for personal "coaching"
- fishing related
- van related
- independent study related
____
Temporary slowlane self-employment options:
Handyman work (appliance repair, plumbing, electrical, welding...)
Mobile mechanic work
Web Design (a beginner at this, but good enough to get paid)
Online Course/Video production
High School Tutoring