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A Junior Developer's Intro

Loop

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Hello Fastlane members,

(I'm not a native English speakers, so I'm sorry if I make some mistakes. I tried my best)

I read the Millionaire Fastlane in January, 2016. That was the first time I met MJ and the Fastlane ideas.

In September 2015, I read a very famous slowlane book and I also read other books written by the same author in the next three months with a hope that I could find something else.

After several months of trying applying what I learnt from the slowlane books, I thought that "It must be a better way". I searched on the Internet and found an article about the 10 best wealth books. The short introduction about TMF attracted me.

"Show me the young twenty-something who got rich clipping coupons. Where are these people? They don' t exist."

...

It has been more than 3 years until now.

After multiple failures, and although I feel very frustrated and disappointed a lot of times (because the process isn' t easy and sometimes extremely difficult), I still keep going.

Currently I am junior developer and still have an eagerness to improve my knowledge and skills.

MJ DeMarco, thank you for writing the books and open new opportunities for us. Sometimes when I feel lonely and disappointed, I visit your Instagram account and feel better again.
 
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ZF Lee

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Welcome.

Good on you for keeping up on the drive.

On your struggles, any particular mistake or challenge that comes to mind?

Perhaps some of the folks here may have an answer for that...
 

Loop

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ZF Lee, thank you for your welcome message.

Your message makes me feel that I just got home - the home of producers.

Last year, in October 2018, I created an e-commerce store and produced my own digital products.

After 5 months of creating the products and launched the site, I realized that my business was a failure. My business would have to depend heavily on big marketplaces. There are millions of product out there and many of the products are better than mine.. And people can easily steal them.

MJ is right.
Templates, skins and digital product system are the most crowded because they are the easiest to create.

Last month, I created two applications to practice my coding skills. But the applications are simple (violate Entry Commandment). And they will violate Control Commandment because of SEO and Google. The industry's leaders are super good at SEO while I'm not. They have more than 800 backlinks and have driven the lane for years.

MJ is right.
No control, crash.

Currently, I have a project in my mind. However, the challenge in front of me now is the MVP.

My friends and brothers, despite these difficulties, I still keep researching, learning, and solving the problems.
 
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ZF Lee

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And they will violate Control Commandment because of SEO and Google. The industry's leaders are super good at SEO while I'm not. They have more than 800 backlinks and have driven the lane for years.
Something tells me its about their product value skew, rather than the SEO, since you mentioned they have driven the lane for years.

Last year, in October 2018, I created an e-commerce store and produced my own digital products.

After 5 months of creating the products and launched the site, I realized that my business was a failure. My business would have to depend heavily on Envato and other marketplaces. There are millions of products on Envato and many of the products are better than mine.. And people can easily steal them.
Yeah... I didn't really understoof the full extend of digital piracy until I saw the likes of BlackHat Forum.

The vermin were actually discussing actively how to hack wordpress sites' security gaps and trail the net with goodness knows what.

You can counter the theft of your digital products by continuously updating the content, doing a regular DMCA sweeps (I spotted the well-known gurus doing it) or sending exclusive PAPERBOOK or PHYSICAL versions of your product to buyers, instead of just online. I remember the Gary Halbert 3 book going that way.
 
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Loop

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Thank you ZF Lee.

Something tells me its about their product value skew, rather than the SEO, since you mentioned they have driven the lane for years.
You may be right when you mentioned about value skew. I will research more on that issue.

Yeah... I didn't really understoof the full extend of digital piracy until I saw the likes of BlackHat Forum.

The vermin were actually discussing actively how to hack wordpress sites' security gaps and trail the net with goodness knows what.

You can counter the theft of your digital products by continuously updating the content, doing a regular DMCA sweeps (I spotted the well-known gurus doing it) or sending exclusive PAPERBOOK or PHYSICAL versions of your product to buyers, instead of just online. I remember the Gary Halbert 3 book going that way.
Thank you for your advice. The products I created to sell on my store are all digital products. They are items to help people finish their projects/tasks faster.So I can't send them the physical versions of the products.

But when I find it is too hard to sell them, I have changed and only want to focus mainly on programming.


Several times I also tried freelancing as a web designer on some platforms but I failed.
 
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MB2

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A Tiny island down the ocean (Ceylon)
Welcome to the forum.

Learn some sales skills. Having both those skills really helps you in the long run.

Best wishes
 

Loop

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Thank you @MB2 and @ZF Lee for giving me some advice.

Welcome to the forum.

Learn some sales skills. Having both those skills really helps you in the long run.

Best wishes

Thanks. That is the skill I am lacking. I will learn it as soon as possible.

I can give some reasons for my failures:
The e-commerce store:
- Value/Need : There is a large demand for the products I created. But my products are the same with existing ones. They are not improved versions. They have a better array of value attributes. I find out that I actually solve no problems at all.

Web applications:
-Value/Need: I launched an improved version of an existing product and make it easier for people to use.
There are more than 150 - 200 competitors in the niche.
But again, I find out that I solve no problems at all.

In addition, my marketing and sales skills are also necessary to be improved.
 
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MB2

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A Tiny island down the ocean (Ceylon)
Yes, you are correct and you are in the right track as well.

Entry should be always a journey. If it's easy, the potential is quite less.

So, Loop, press on further and continue the process.
 

Sadik

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You have a good mindset. If you keep it along with hardwork you will succeed.


When selling online, in most cases you can still sell even if there are hundreds of competitors. Your product just has to solve a need. Your problem seems to be marketing. A good way to learn marketing is to subscribe to the pros who are selling their digital products whom you admire. See how they try to sell to you as a customer and try to replicate that same process for your customers. The most important thing in sales is crafting a story around a product and identifying your customers identity. As you said keep up persistence and you will eventually succeed.
 

Loop

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Yes, you are correct and you are in the right track as well.

Entry should be always a journey. If it's easy, the potential is quite less.

So, Loop, press on further and continue the process.

You have a good mindset. If you keep it along with hardwork you will succeed.


When selling online, in most cases you can still sell even if there are hundreds of competitors. Your product just has to solve a need. Your problem seems to be marketing. A good way to learn marketing is to subscribe to the pros who are selling their digital products whom you admire. See how they try to sell to you as a customer and try to replicate that same process for your customers. The most important thing in sales is crafting a story around a product and identifying your customers identity. As you said keep up persistence and you will eventually succeed.

Thank you, Sadik and MB2 and ZF Lee

I will improve my skills as soon as possible. Just a few posts but all of you added value to my life. You help me with something/problems I get stuck at.

For a long time, I have felt lonely when learning and creating products at home. But now, I feel that I'm not alone, I have my friends and brothers here. Thank you for creating this forum, MJ.

Thanks again.
 
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Lilyvick

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Practice makes perfect, so.. feel free to experiment and gain pace! Best wishes!
 

Loop

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Practice makes perfect, so.. feel free to experiment and gain pace! Best wishes!

Thank you so much for giving me advice. : )
Your post and other members' posts make me feel more confident.
 

MJ DeMarco

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Welcome aboard, your English is just fine!
 
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