24 Years old: QUIT six-figure Job, Launched two Businesses

[Wisith]

This is an awesome thread.

G_Alex: you are wise beyond your years! I'm about 6 years older than you, but I can definitely relate. The corporate politic is tiring. I once had the desire to climb the corp ladder, but not anymore. So many kids in college would want to be in your former role. A lot of them want to get into IB for the big bucks, but don't realize how draining it is. A close friend of mine is 'hooked'. He enjoys the income, but loathes the long work hours. I told him he can do something on the side and ultimately leap, similar like you and others on this forum. His reply was that he is not a risk taker.

When you said: How long did this take?

"I built my ecommerce site late at night during the last few months of my job. I would get home at 11pm or 12am and then work until 2am or 3am on my site (loading product, back-end, learning basic HTML and CSS, SEO)."

I ask because I come from a nontechnical background. I wanted to get into tech and code myself about a year ago. I tried to learn the basic languages on my free time, social life was non existing. I went to a lot of networking even here in Silicone Beach to try to find a CTO or someone who may know someone I can partner with, no results. I have then changed the plan since it was taking too long. I will outsource that when the time comes.

 

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

[G_Alexander]

When you said: How long did this take?

@Wisith About 1 month to learn basic CSS and HTML on CodeAcademy.com -- then start building your site and continue to learn and tweak each day. You should have enough to get by and learn as you go (if you had any MySpace profile editing experience/ minimal html editing experience from your teen years, it may help a bit haha).

Everyone is different when it comes to the time it takes them to become proficient at something, but if it helps to know...I had minimal/no proficiency in coding before creating my site. I just had the desire to learn and the hunger to handle the easy changes on my site so I could control my own destiny (instead of an eLance programmer). Don't wait. Get going NOW.

@Wisith you are on the clock. Finish CodeAcademy HTML and CSS basic courses by 11/25/2015. They are free.

 

[The-J]

Don't wait. Get going NOW.

It must be noted that you don't ACTUALLY have to learn to code a website from scratch to start selling things online. You don't have to hire a developer, either.

You can learn by jumping right into a CMS (I chose Wordpress, but Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, and Clickfunnels are a million times easier and can create amazing websites). Toss $10 on Namecheap for a domain and purchase a trial of Shopify or Squarespace. Figure out where everything is, play with it, and start building. I don't know if anyone here has played Minecraft, but it's similar to that. You just jump right in, figure shit out, and start building.

Got a problem? Google it. Don't know how to make an effect? Google it.

A few hours a day for a month is more than enough time.

 

[Wisith]

@Wisith About 1 month to learn basic CSS and HTML on CodeAcademy.com -- then start building your site and continue to learn and tweak each day. You should have enough to get by and learn as you go (if you had any MySpace profile editing experience/ minimal html editing experience from your teen years, it may help a bit haha).

Everyone is different when it comes to the time it takes them to become proficient at something, but if it helps to know...I had minimal/no proficiency in coding before creating my site. I just had the desire to learn and the hunger to handle the easy changes on my site so I could control my own destiny (instead of an eLance programmer). Don't wait. Get going NOW.

@Wisith you are on the clock. Finish CodeAcademy HTML and CSS basic courses by 11/25/2015. They are free.

Hey G,

Yes, I'm definitely on the clock (turning 30 in a couple weeks...thanks for reminding me! JK). I plan on launching my project by end of the year. I've been on grind mode in the last several months after coming off a toxic relationship. Having several folks from this board for support is a great feeling! I only wish I had run into the book and forum years ago, but can't dwell on the past.

I've used CodeAcademy, was about to join Lynda, and did the free course from Stanford's online program as well.

How's the e-commerce and real estate projects going, bud?

 

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

[Wisith]

It must be noted that you don't ACTUALLY have to learn to code a website from scratch to start selling things online. You don't have to hire a developer, either.

You can learn by jumping right into a CMS (I chose Wordpress, but Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, and Clickfunnels are a million times easier and can create amazing websites). Toss $10 on Namecheap for a domain and purchase a trial of Shopify or Squarespace. Figure out where everything is, play with it, and start building. I don't know if anyone here has played Minecraft, but it's similar to that. You just jump right in, figure shit out, and start building.

Got a problem? Google it. Don't know how to make an effect? Google it.

A few hours a day for a month is more than enough time.

Yep. I used Weebly to register my domain and host my personal website. The templates are simple and effective enough for a clean lay out. It has the option to plug in Shopify as well if you want to open an e-store.

I'm going this route again to register another domain and launch a website once I contact manufacturers instead of the generic Gmail email account, it can be wisith@HappyImportingOrWhatever.com

 

[Remnant]

Hey G,

Yes, I'm definitely on the clock (turning 30 in a couple weeks...thanks for reminding me! JK). I plan on launching my project by end of the year. I've been on grind mode in the last several months after coming off a toxic relationship. Having several folks from this board for support is a great feeling! I only wish I had run into the book and forum years ago, but can't dwell on the past.

I've used CodeAcademy, was about to join Lynda, and did the free course from Stanford's online program as well.

How's the e-commerce and real estate projects going, bud?

Hang in there man, from what i've seen this is great community for the most part

 

[Greg R]

@G_Alexander It is very inspiring to read about people who actually took "the leap". I would consider myself in transition of taking the big leap. Although it is taking me a little longer than anticipated, I find great pleasure in my real estate investing business and my blog. I cannot take the big leap one day. Your post definitely validate everything that I am trying to do. Thanks.

 

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

[G_Alexander]

Hello all

Apologies for my lack of updates. I felt like I should come back to give a shot in the arm to anyone who is on the fence about "taking the reigns" in their life starting in 2016. I also want to set some public goals here for 2016 that I can track.

BUT FIRST: Remember my eCommerce goal for $100K in annual sales this year?...

$437,000 in 2015 annual sales!!

Important to note: a new real estate acquisition I made in September 2015 meant that I had to stop answering the phone for my website and automate the business more. My conversion rate dropped from 1.8% to 1.2% from September--December as a result of this. And with 10,500 uniques each month and a high dollar amount for an average order, I lost $25K in revenue per month for the last 4 months of the year. Sales could have been $550K. I will fix this by hiring someone to answer the phone/ run the site this January, 2016 (more on that later..... possible Fastlaner who wants to learn ropes + get paid?)

Now for a glimpse at the "event" related happenings of my first full year out of the cage. I'll start with a recap of the goals I set last year (Dec, 2014) vs actual results:

The commercial RE line item is a new venture, acquired in Sept. 2015. Purchase price was $1.4M and the returns I found in this deal were far better than I could find buying 100 apartment units syndicated. I also chose to forego buying another 3-flat for myself just to save for investment in 2 to 5 more deals in the coming year. Targeting end value of $3.0M for deal #1 by year-end 2016 (with my equity being 33%). After you take out debt of 85% (of purchase price), my net equity would be $600K.

Goals 2016:
Partnership apartments: 12 units
Personal apartments: 3 units
Single family home: 1 (for me -- could possibly be another 3-flat)
eCommerce sales 2016: $825K

$750K website #1
$75K website #2​

Commercial RE 2016: $6,000,000 (with minimum of 20% average equity) and healthy cash flow.

Wishing you all the best in the coming year. Let's go get it!

 

[EvanOkanagan]

Hello all

Apologies for my lack of updates. I felt like I should come back to give a shot in the arm to anyone who is on the fence about "taking the reigns" in their life starting in 2016. I also want to set some public goals here for 2016 that I can track.

BUT FIRST: Remember my eCommerce goal for $100K in annual sales this year?...

$437,000 in 2015 annual sales!!

Important to note: a new real estate acquisition I made in September 2015 meant that I had to stop answering the phone for my website and automate the business more. My conversion rate dropped from 1.8% to 1.2% from September--December as a result of this. And with 10,500 uniques each month and an average order of $399, I lost $25K in revenue per month for the last 4 months of the year. Sales could have been $550K. I will fix this by hiring someone to answer the phone/ run the site this January, 2016 (more on that later..... possible Fastlaner who wants to learn ropes + get paid?)

Now for a glimpse at the "event" related happenings of my first full year out of the cage. I'll start with a recap of the goals I set last year (Dec, 2014) vs actual results:

The commercial RE line item is a new venture, acquired in Sept. 2015. Purchase price was $1.4M and the returns I found in this deal were far better than I could find buying 100 apartment units syndicated. I also chose to forego buying another 3-flat for myself just to save for investment in 2 to 5 more deals in the coming year. Targeting end value of $3.0M for deal #1 by year-end 2016 (with my equity being 33%). After you take out debt of 85% (of purchase price), my net equity would be $600K.

Goals 2016:
Partnership apartments: 12 units
Personal apartments: 3 units
Single family home: 1 (for me -- could possibly be another 3-flat)
eCommerce sales 2016: $825K

$750K website #1
$75K website #2​

Commercial RE 2016: $6,000,000 (with minimum of 20% average equity) and healthy cash flow.

Wishing you all the best in the coming year. Let's go get it!

Awesome work and great goals for 2016. What is your net positive cash flow from your RE investments if you don't mind?

 

[The Grind]

400k in sales in your store...wtf.

at 24? wtf...

how much did you lose before you start making a profit??

who helped you. doubt you did ALL this ALL by yourself.

 

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

[MantisX]

Great numbers dude! Wish I had scaled up like you. That is my plan for 2016!
Just out of curiosity about the returns in your commercial acquisition - do you resell it, rent it out etc? How does this work? Noob here, so pardon the ignorance.

 

[J. van Driessen]

Congrats!

 

[Five Star]

Just WOW......that is all!

 

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

[G_Alexander]

Awesome work and great goals for 2016. What is your net positive cash flow from your RE investments if you don't mind?

As-is (what I currently own), targeting 2016 cashflow of $102K from both commercial and multi-family. My 3-flat kicks out $15K per year net with me living in it (I wrote a 30 page eBook about how to do this, but have yet to publish it).

Just out of curiosity about the returns in your commercial acquisition - do you resell it, rent it out etc? How does this work? Noob here, so pardon the ignorance.

Commercial property will be a mid-to-long term hold. It was a total value-add play with a business component attached (bought the business as well). We already added MAJOR value over the last 3 months (much of the purchase price was budgeted renovations) and now I will hold it for cashflow + equity value increase.

 

[exclusives88]

As-is (what I currently own), targeting 2016 cashflow of $102K from both commercial and multi-family. My 3-flat kicks out $15K per year net with me living in it (I wrote a 30 page eBook about how to do this, but have yet to publish it).


Commercial property will be a mid-to-long term hold. It was a total value-add play with a business component attached (bought the business as well). We already added MAJOR value over the last 3 months (much of the purchase price was budgeted renovations) and now I will hold it for cashflow + equity value increase.

Are you taking consideration of capex, repairs and vacancies on the 3 flats? You are cash flowing $416 on each flat with you living in one of them. Sounds high unless you have substantial amount of equity in the home.

That's pretty awesome if it's all factored in the 15k

 

[mowealth]

who helped you. doubt you did ALL this ALL by yourself

Really? 24 year olds can't make money by themselves? Sidewalk thinking..

 

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

[EvanOkanagan]

Really? 24 year olds can't make money by themselves? Sidewalk thinking..

Must have been "luck" !

 

[Oztrepreneur]

$437,000 in 2015 annual sales!!

Incredible mate, good work! Did you end up getting you own products manufactured or did you stick with the drop shipping? Did you change much with marketing or stuck to PPC and SEO? Congrats on your successes.

 

[The Grind]

Must have been "luck" !

I didn't say it was luck you dumbass's. I ask a simple questions and you fastlane fan boys... start preaching this nonsense.

He had a mentor help him a lot...

And yes its actually true, no 24 year old can make that much progress that quickly with literally no help from anyone, so shut the F*ck up.

 

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

[jon.a]

I didn't say it was luck you dumbass's. I ask a simple questions and you fastlane fan boys... start preaching this nonsense.

He had a mentor help him a lot...

And yes its actually true, no 24 year old can make that much progress that quickly with literally no help from anyone, so shut the F*ck up.

He might have been joking.

 

[Oztrepreneur]

I ask a simple questions and you fastlane fan boys... start preaching this nonsense.

Refreshing...

 

[G_Alexander]

I didn't say it was luck you dumbass's. I ask a simple questions and you fastlane fan boys... start preaching this nonsense.

He had a mentor help him a lot...

And yes its actually true, no 24 year old can make that much progress that quickly with literally no help from anyone, so shut the F*ck up.

@The Grind
I think your line of thinking is actually a bit off base. And it's off-putting to see you chastising other members here... A mentor didn't come down from a golden cloud in the sky and hold my hand while guaranteeing me success along the way. I busted my a$$ making friends with intelligent individuals (teachers/mentors/forums/blogs/articles, etc.) --- I offered to help people in any way I could (free marketing, cleaning up their excel spreadsheets (a skill I had), etc.) and paid close attention along the way so that I could learn. I have been doing that since I was 18 years old. In turn, these individuals suggested books I should read (that had helped them), pointed me in the right direction and watched me take flight.

When it came to my ecommerce website -- I built the ENTIRE THING just by simply reading threads here on The Fastlane + one eBook. The information is out there for free (you should thank your lucky stars and God that @biophase is as amazingly generous with his time and knowledge on this forum as he is and that @MJ DeMarco built what he built for us). Bio basically laid out the ecommerce roadmap here for EVERYONE, yet people still put out their hand for help and are too blind to see he has already handed them the keys to a HIGH POWERED vehicle. If you put the pieces together (and take good notes), it is all here for you already. The secret receipe. The golden goose. The reality is --- there are no secrets. Only a hunger for knowledge and the undying pursuit to be a better man tomorrow than you are today.

Happy New Year

 

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

[Alan LT]

You are living proof that the fast lane has no age limit. Congrats on the progress [emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[The Grind]

@The Grind
I think your line of thinking is actually a bit off base. And it's off-putting to see you chastising other members here... A mentor didn't come down from a golden cloud in the sky and hold my hand while guaranteeing me success along the way. I busted my a$$ making friends with intelligent individuals (teachers/mentors/forums/blogs/articles, etc.) --- I offered to help people in any way I could (free marketing, cleaning up their excel spreadsheets (a skill I had), etc.) and paid close attention along the way so that I could learn. I have been doing that since I was 18 years old. In turn, these individuals suggested books I should read (that had helped them), pointed me in the right direction and watched me take flight.

When it came to my ecommerce website -- I built the ENTIRE THING just by simply reading threads here on The Fastlane + one eBook. The information is out there for free (you should thank your lucky stars and God that @biophase is as amazingly generous with his time and knowledge on this forum as he is and that @MJ DeMarco built what he built for us). Bio basically laid out the ecommerce roadmap here for EVERYONE, yet people still put out their hand for help and are too blind to see he has already handed them the keys to a HIGH POWERED vehicle. If you put the pieces together (and take good notes), it is all here for you already. The secret receipe. The golden goose. The reality is --- there are no secrets. Only a hunger for knowledge and the undying pursuit to be a better man tomorrow than you are today.

Happy New Year

400k in sales...

it takes years to hit those numbers, dont understand.

 

[Kingmaker]

I didn't say it was luck you dumbass's. I ask a simple questions and you fastlane fan boys... start preaching this nonsense.

He had a mentor help him a lot...

And yes its actually true, no 24 year old can make that much progress that quickly with literally no help from anyone, so shut the F*ck up.

 

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

[biophase]

400k in sales...
it takes years to hit those numbers, dont understand.

You don't understand because you have a limiting belief in yourself.

I don't understand why you think this? $400k in sales is $35k a month or basically $1100 a day. If you are selling $100 product, that's like 11 sales a day. If it's a $300 product, it's 3.5 sales a day.

I was shocked and nicely surprised when I saw the $400k number. It's a great number to hit!

If you think he had help, it was all from this forum. I do know Alex but I've talked to him ONE time this year about his business. The point is that you CAN do this yourself without much help. Don't just give yourself excuses as to why you can't.

 

[Fox]

@FreshStart87 - HTML and CSS = www.codeacademy.com

Great thread - Rep transferred.

How much of the courses did you take on code academy or just the intro to HTML and CSS?


I have been working my way through the course since I read this thread on Friday. Thanks again for all the advice in here.

 

[MisterBHZ]

Did you do any advertising? Or, are your sales coming from organic/seo traffic?

Congrats on your success.

 

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

[Fox]

Did you do any advertising? Or, are your sales coming from organic/seo traffic?

Congrats on your success.

Maybe it has changed but this is what he wrote earlier on the thread:

$300 a month Adwords spend and a bit of old school SEO. All my Adwords quality scores are 10s and my average CPC is about $0.58, which is great.

Really slacked on the SEO the last two months, but made a blog post two days ago and one new back-link.....did $800 in sales in last two days and jumped up a bunch in the SERPs. I would prefer no SEO, and believe an online business can survive on ads and brand-building alone (like many have alluded to here). I will continue to tweak and post findings!

 

[SteveO]

I have said this story before but it is worth repeating. When @G_Alexander was 18 years old, he arranged to come to my house in Scottsdale. @biophase was there also. He had his dad drop him off to spend the evening at a stranger's house to talk business with a few experienced people that he only knew from the forum.

I know at the age of 18 that I would have been doing anything else but that.

It was impressive and I am very happy to have been able to follow along with his success.