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Abandoning Fastlane Temporarily for Career Change in Slowlane?

Anything related to matters of the mind

MakeMoreMoves

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Some background info. So met up with people for the first time in years. I have been isolating myself in mom's basement building and learning my fastlane. I realized this whole time that I have been illogically optimistic that I was gonna at least be self-employed in at least 3 years. I am at another low point. Building this fastlane, I have strived so far from reality. I literally put fastlane above everything in my life. I MEAN everything.

Lost all friends, destroyed family relationships, so much to the point I realized I have no social skills whatsoever now. It was an early Memorial Day Party, I couldn't even do basic human things like help people without constantly reminding myself. I have become so selfish for my fastlane venture, I had to keep reminding myself of basic human actions like setup chairs and shit, have conversations. I have pretty much developed social anxiety. A kid was also getting bullied and I couldn't even step in to stop the situation. I am a young dude at 24 years old, my health has dropped exponentially as well.

The bad thing about this whole thing is that I have kept my slowlane job completely stagnant. As in, every hour in slowlane, I feel my body dieing and I am learning no valuable skills. Money is also significantly shorter than it should be because I failed so DAMN hard.

"No point in progressing or changing careers in slowlane world, because yah know my fastlane is going to work. Why invest in any slowlane or change career when I am going to be out soon anyways" I can't seem to break from this philosophy either.

I don't like to blame people because it is very naive and not being accountable, but reading that fastlane book really made me hate the system so much I can't take any slowlane job seriously. It is all a joke to me.

Going to this party, made me realize how much I missed out on life. How the hell am I suppose to build my self back from this wreck I dug myself to. This fastlane thing literally F*cked me up. Yes, I am definitely more self aware and woke up, but have been unhappy and pissed ever since. Literally pissed constantly for about 3 years.

The thing that gripes me the most is that the people I talked to are living life to the fullest, traveling, going to concerts, movies, but guess what, they also have significantly more money while enjoying life. Money is the fuel to freedom and since it is what I want so deeply.

I have also talked to people at the party that did have fastlane ventures, they literally started it 1 year ago and made it and it isn't even their priority. No Joke. I'm like wtf. I am hear doing this shit non-stop and nothing.

So much survivor bias, I am sure there are so many people that F'd their lives up like me doing fastlane.

This actually turned kind of into a rant, wasn't really suppose to be but got carried away.

Another thing about fastlane is that I read it in a way that the stock market is the enemy and nobody gets rich off the stock market. So I totally wrote that idea off in the beginning, but it is the very thing that is actually making me money.

I have 2 products in half development. Should I just drop it and be like F*ck it. Dissolve business and screw it? My business is not an asset, but a liability.

I kinda want to just die now. Goddamn idk guys
 
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Fastlane Liam

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Don't give up!
Right about when you're going to quit is right when you're going to succeed.
Commit to it for just 90 more Days - and I don't mean stagnate through, make moves, take risks, do something.
Failure is temporary.
 

Fastlane Liam

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You could be worse - you could be like me,

I went 2 years of book reading and motivational video watching. All that mental masturbation. All I had to show for it was a half done CAD file

PATHETIC

Just grab your balls and start making moves - and use freelancers where necessary, $50 in Ukraine can go a long way
 

GoGetter24

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I have been isolating myself in mom's basement building and learning my fastlane.
Never isolate yourself for more than short bursts. All fastlane money is going to come from making something that a lot of people want. Logically then, if you lose connection to society generally, you're going to drift out of the money channel, because you'll be making things based on the arbitrary ideas in your head, rather than what other people (the people who will pay you) are hungering for.
I have also talked to people at the party that did have fastlane ventures, they literally started it 1 year ago and made it and it isn't even their priority. No Joke. I'm like wtf. I am hear doing this sh*t non-stop and nothing.
Accept the survivor bias as part of life, and always ask these people as many questions as they're willing to answer, to spot patterns.

Survivor bias is caused by the power law of return (also called 'the hockey stick', 'pareto principle', '80/20 law' (more like 95/5 law) etc).

A few factors that go into striking the 'blade' of the curve (where the money is):
- They were somehow on the 'front line' of something, or a developing wave. I know one guy who spotted an opportunity from within his job, as at least he had business visuals everyday due to the nature of his management job. Of course: he did have to have the balls to quit and launch into his business, but the fact he could see the wave massively reduced the risk of idea error.
- They knew an industry inside-out, and thereby were able to spot gaps. DeMarco is one of these guys - he said he worked as a limo driver for 7 (I think) years before starting a limo-service based business.
- They had capital. Capital allows you to hire other people and scatter effort across multiple ideas (and therefore across the hockey stick) - something you can't do as an individual. This gives you more chances of striking a hot area, and then also gives you more capacity to accelerate growth in it once you find it. This is the origin of the concept "your first million is the hardest".
- They had connections (which they made). The internet has a lot of information, but that is a problem - the quality of that information follows the hockey stick curve too. You will never get hotter data via the internet than you will via face-to-face with a guy in the thick of business, simply due to lag, signal-to-noise ratios, distraction, back-and-forth communication speed, etc. So avoid isolation at all costs.
- Repetition. Each time you execute on a business idea, it lands somewhere on the hockey stick curve. By probability, a random idea has a 1-in-20 chance of yielding good profits if fully executed. But after each failed idea, that probability goes up. And the harder you execute, the more data you get on why it failed. Each time you roll that dice, you have a chance of striking the blade of the curve. This is the main reason why tenacious people (like Stallone) enter the 'survivor' group.
- Luck / timing. It's hard to not get pissed off by these people who rolled the dice once and it came easy to, but you have to try to ignore them.

All of those things can be improved, except luck.

There are positive ways of thinking about the hockey stick:
- Results. A negligible increase in results doesn't mean you're making no progress. A 1% increase in results could mean you've moved 10 or even 20% left on the curve.
- Repetition. It is very unlikely, that if you keep working hard and learning (and not repeating mistakes), you won't eventually strike something in the market. It is also unlikely you'll succeed early on.
- Hope. A job is less stressful, but it also gives you no hope. Business is more stressful, but it gives you hope. That's what makes it worth it.

Other than that: you just said you have 2 products in 50% development. There's an error right there. If you'd focused on one, you'd now have 1 product 100% complete (and either making sales or telling you what didn't work, and giving feedback for the next one).

Also if you're burned out, consider taking a break, getting a part-time job, etc.

But above all else: you must not totally isolate yourself. Bursts of isolation is OK, but chronic isolation will damage your chances of success, not improve them.
 
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MakeMoreMoves

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Jeez, I don't know anymore to be honest.

I am catching myself looking at tuition costs for a bachelors in engineering now. F*ck I am folding. Thats like another $50k in tuition costs and 4 years again wasting my life.

Turns out both my products are going to be failures as well. 1st product manufacturer just stopped responding. I got all my materials at his facility too. I was about to start 2nd iteration Literally no response from ads for finished product. Several more thousand down the drain and months wasted.

3 years full on, zero things to show for it mostly...Can't put any of this on a resume for a job either because I have no results. It is a pity really, what I have noticied in Ecomm, is that there are people that gain success quickly, but don't know the logisitics, SEO, good copy, or technicalities, but it doesn't matter because their success already came with a winning product. I'm the person that knows all the backend shit, but have no products that the market finds value in. Literally BS. The first scenario is normally people who get a shit ton of orders, but don't know how to fill them and get all F'd up. I'm here ready to fill orders, but don't have any...

My slowlane job is 100% dead end. My ecom knowledge looks like is going to be a complete waste. I am going to have to dump it entirely.

My last hope is Real Estate. If I did real estate starting out, I would have like 3 properties at this point. No joke.

God I really can't think straight, I'm bloody pissed. Casually thinking about suicide everyday.

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do"

Not really sure about this quote now. I use to believe it, but I am having massive regret for taking action on business. Sorry guys, I am literally losing my head. Co workers giving me funny looks at work, catching me mumbling to myself in anger. My heart and breathing is pretty much accelerated all day.

The darkside of business mang.
 

Longinus

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My ecom knowledge looks like is going to be a complete waste.

It's not a waste if...

I am going to have to dump it entirely.

... ok, never mind.

You tried 3 times and failed. Perhaps you took action too quick after the first failure without thinking what could be wrong.

Do you really think you're the only one who failed multiple times? I know it sucks to hear this, but this is totally normal dude. You thought ecom was the holy grail, learned everything, tried 3 times and want to quit.

Up to the next: RE! I'm gonna be RICH!

Think you can't fail there?

I'm pretty sure you know all this btw. If you need people on a forum to confirm your thoughts, you need to review those thoughts.
 

MakeMoreMoves

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It's not a waste if...



... ok, never mind.

You tried 3 times and failed. Perhaps you took action too quick after the first failure without thinking what could be wrong.

Do you really think you're the only one who failed multiple times? I know it sucks to hear this, but this is totally normal dude. You thought ecom was the holy grail, learned everything, tried 3 times and want to quit.

Up to the next: RE! I'm gonna be RICH!

Think you can't fail there?

I'm pretty sure you know all this btw. If you need people on a forum to confirm your thoughts, you need to review those thoughts.

Way more than 3 times, lost count. It is just that product based business have the arbitrary variable. RE does not.

If I were to do a product base business it wouldn’t be physical anymore, due to the significant costs, time, and dependency on a manufacturer. He completely went cold on me. Has all my materials. What? Digital for low iteration costs as well as lack of logistical headaches.
 
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Solrac

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I think you should stop looking at things in such a short term manner. Life is long. You will get many at bats.

It's ok to go out every once in a while and enjoy yourself. There is no point to being miserable in the present since it's all you have. It's a long term game with short term sprints in between. Just keep putting in at bats and you will eventually get what you deserve. But it's not worth losing your health man, and to me it sounds like you're in a really unhealthy spot.
 

MakeMoreMoves

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Update: Sorry for the extreme negativity. Was losing it.

Anyways tested my last product with $60 spent across FB and Reddit Ads. Terrible response. CTR was 0.423%-1.8%. Ended them before expiration because they obviously weren't working out. Reddit Ad got 1/20 upvote/downvote ratio. I have done this enough times to know that my website is optimized. Only an email sign up was given. Targeted well. Obviously a product problem...its a shame because so many people have made it work with this type of product. A total of 7 emails captured...Manufacturer on other product probably has higher paying clients and didn't want to waste anymore time with me.

Whelp, I am going to decide to put entrepreneurship on hold for a while and sell pretty much all the equipment I bought to build these samples. I also just recently resigned from my job as well because I saw an opportunity for travel contract work that may actually be worse than what I have, but the pay might double. This is an big hit to confidence in myself. I understand why my immediate family can't even look at me now. I am starting to not even be able look at myself either.

3 years working my brains off for a total of $25k networth and dropping. Unbelievable really.

Edit: My other avenue would have been influencers, but it is just not where I want to put my money anymore, with the zero guarantee.

Plus, even if this worked out, this business model would not really have been fastlane for a while. Fastlane returns tend to be diminishing. If a person doesn't make it in fastlane in a time frame of like 5 years, it actually is better to go slowlane and live like a hermit. You will end up being better off.
 
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Roli

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Update: Sorry for the extreme negativity. Was losing it.

Anyways tested my last product with $60 spent across FB and Reddit Ads. Terrible response. CTR was 0.423%-1.8%. Ended them before expiration because they obviously weren't working out. Reddit Ad got 1/20 upvote/downvote ratio. I have done this enough times to know that my website is optimized. Only an email sign up was given. Targeted well. Obviously a product problem...its a shame because so many people have made it work with this type of product. A total of 7 emails captured...Manufacturer on other product probably has higher paying clients and didn't want to waste anymore time with me.

Whelp, I am going to decide to put entrepreneurship on hold for a while and sell pretty much all the equipment I bought to build these samples. I also just recently resigned from my job as well because I saw an opportunity for travel contract work that may actually be worse than what I have, but the pay might double. This is an big hit to confidence in myself. I understand why my immediate family can't even look at me now. I am starting to not even be able look at myself either.

3 years working my brains off for a total of $25k networth and dropping. Unbelievable really.

Edit: My other avenue would have been influencers, but it is just not where I want to put my money anymore, with the zero guarantee.

Plus, even if this worked out, this business model would not really have been fastlane for a while. Fastlane returns tend to be diminishing. If a person doesn't make it in fastlane in a time frame of like 5 years, it actually is better to go slowlane and live like a hermit. You will end up being better off.

I've just read this thread and it really resonated with me, I was feeling the same sorts of things not so long ago...

OK the first thing I would say is people often misinterpret the whole 'don't give up' thing. In fact a good entrepreneur knows when to drop something that isn't working for whatever reason.

However that doesn't mean that just because your first venture fails you should give up the lifestyle, it simply means you find something else.

You talk about wasting time learning new skills however you are only 24, and trust me, when you get to my age you realise just how much time you actually do have to learn and grow. I'm not saying that in a patronising 'oh you're so young' way, rather I'm pointing out that you don't have a family of your own at the moment.

When you do have kids of your own, you'll look back on these days and think, wow, I had bags of time compared to now. For instance in my week I have to be flexible enough to be able to pick up my child from school in the middle of the day, when I'd much rather be working.

Even stuff like tidying up takes on a whole new dimension when you have a child and an angry spouse.

Anyway let's get on to the positive stuff; remember the story in TMF about the guys in the batting cage?

Whereby someone was talking about how lucky MJ was (I'm quoting from memory so might not be 100% accurate), and he thought was I lucky when I was struggling to make ends meet, staying up 18 hours a day slaving away?

Living an unscripted fastlane life is hard, which is why the rewards can be so great.

That being said there is no reason why you should sacrifice your social life and health, especially your health. Start going to the gym, run, walks, whatever, use fitness as your way back to a stable social life.

As far as the business is concerned, sure, maybe it has failed and is the wrong product and nobody will ever buy enough of it to make you rich.

Just remember a great man once said; "Failure is the sweat of success, and I'm dripping in sweat!"

Fail, fail, fail again, until you succeed.
 
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Hai

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Yah, really feel where you're coming from. I have been grinding away for more than 3 years now without significant business success. Some people seem to do this effortlessly.
Basically unemployable now and would be struggling to get any job.
Those people who have a stable job, and can lend money to build cash-flow assets sure have it good!

As to why the businesses failed, maybe it's because I have no commitment. Most businesses are quitted because of lack of follow-through. There seem to be reasons we don't want to compromise on. For example, the burden of carrying physical products or having to take a partner.

Crypto has been a saviour to me. It has been making more money than anything else. In fact, I'm treating trading as a proper business now, because it works, even though it's still some manual labour. Researching the stock market and economics as well. It's fun.
This is the importance of opportunity...
The lack of control though requires us to build a proper fastlane business.

Picking up coding again, maybe doing some freelance.
Want to build a SaaS as a fastlane, but kind of waiting for an opportunity to solve a real problem...being a sit-at-home it's hard to get those connections to get an inside look of business operations and it's problems.

Overall, I think it's important to have this conversation. A lot of people are failing at business right now and become depressive. Eventually, we will all make it, but not without making mistakes first. In progress, success is unavoidable.

Having the slowlane(job+financial markets) can be a big support. I messed up myself here, but then again I'm happy to work at a part-time job to have more time. Building some funds and investing can be a big confidence booster/backup with low effort. Just gotta keep the fastlane in mind.

Happy to talk this out.

P.S.: There seems to be a disparity between what is reality and what we imagine things to be. Gotta prove that something is real, not just some lala-fantasy. We fastlaners really like to think im concepts. But we need to figure out what actually works and brings results in reality. Something Ray Dalio talked about...and something to think about.
 
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sparechange

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I've been in a similar situation myself before and I'm just 2 years older than you.

My thoughts are your mindset is complete garbage. (*we*) still have youth on our side, what you need to do is stop isolating yourself from the world and enjoy your life, the ''fastlane'' did not destroy your life, it is simply the way you are thinking about things.

Keep your job and work on your business after hours or on the weekend, but be sure to let go every once and a while and hang out with friends / family etc.

For the past 3 years what have you achieved? Maybe you are doing things wrong, and need to completely rewire your thought processes.

So much of happiness is your perception on life, your life is literally happening right now, not next week or 5 years from now, what you make of it is what it really is. feel free to pm me if u have any questions or whatever.

Also if your still living with your parents just dump like 80% of your money into business and blow the rest on having fun (trips, vacations & going out with friends) just dont be an idiot and spend it on booze and stuff to impress people etc. The ** BEST WAY ** to spend money is on EXPERIENCES that you look back on and smile. All of the happiest times of my life have been spending * time * with friends i like doing fun stuff.
 

Flybye

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Ive been known to not have a filter. With the position you are in I feel like I have to speak to you as a family member which means I may come out a bit abrasive, brutal, and honest.

With your rant, it feels like you have starred at the wall one too many times for long periods of time asking yourself "why me." This essentially is the same as standing in the quicksands of depression without pulling on something to get your self out. Ever have a nail stuck in you? Are you going to stare at it while you feel the pain or just pull it out to get it over and done with?

I learned the completely useless emotions are depression, fear and anger. They get in the way of thinking for the solution. Instead of repeatedly rewinding in your head "damn it damn it damn it damn it" just STOP thinking, breath in, bite your lower lip, and tell yourself "WHAT am I doing wrong and what are THEY doing right?" Even if you cant think about what to do to be right just emulate what someone else is doing right until you get your rhythm going to be able to stand out. Just like when you start a slowlane job. You are taught to emulate someone that does well in the business, and you do a fine job copying their habits till you realize "hey I could be doing this better to get even better results." Do you remember the old BASF quote? "We don't make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better"

What was I thinking the entire time I read your War and Peace rant? You should have been thinking about solutions and not ranting. There is no magic elixir people take to be gods in success. People fail, learn, and plow forward. When you mentioned you "Casually thinking about suicide everyday." Well guess what. That is thinking time taken away from thinking about the solution. Yeah, Ive also thought about the same, but I quickly turned around and thought about how ridiculous it is to not be thinking about how to succeed. Dont let your mind go off on a tangent. Focus on getting the results you need.

Thomas Edison has some of the best quotes:
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
“Five percent of the people think;
ten percent of the people think they think;
and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.”
“When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this - you haven't.”
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”
“Negative results are just what I want. They’re just as valuable to me as positive results. I can never find the thing that does the job best until I find the ones that don’t.”

And ya know what? If you lost friends then great. If they didnt want to stick with you during the rough times then forget about them. Less dead weight in your life. Same with family. Being blood isnt an automatic pass to not being supportive. You dont need that negativity. You need people to slap you in the face and tell you to get back up because that is where you currently are especially with comments like "Casually thinking about suicide everyday." Go meet like minded people, brain storm, and get up to speed. You have lost your social skills because you dont want people to hear about the number of ways you have discovered do not work. Ya know what? Be that curious little body. Ask questions and ask more questions about what others are doing to be successful so that you can listen and learn more about what others are doing.

Even these forums can sometimes feel like time sinks taking time away from thinking about the things I need to do. Read and reply to a few threads and BAM. 2-3 hours gone.

Think of failures as pot holes. You eventually learn how to evade them.
 
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Hai

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Ive been known to not have a filter. With the position you are in I feel like I have to speak to you as a family member which means I may come out a bit abrasive, brutal, and honest.

With your rant, it feels like you have starred at the wall one too many times for long periods of time asking yourself "why me." This essentially is the same as standing in the quicksands of depression without pulling on something to get your self out. Ever have a nail stuck in you? Are you going to stare at it while you feel the pain or just pull it out to get it over and done with?

I learned the completely useless emotions are depression, fear and anger. They get in the way of thinking for the solution. Instead of repeatedly rewinding in your head "damn it damn it damn it damn it" just STOP thinking, breath in, bite your lower lip, and tell yourself "WHAT am I doing wrong and what are THEY doing right?" Even if you cant think about what to do to be right just emulate what someone else is doing right until you get your rhythm going to be able to stand out. Just like when you start a slowlane job. You are taught to emulate someone that does well in the business, and you do a fine job copying their habits till you realize "hey I could be doing this better to get even better results." Do you remember the old BASF quote? "We don't make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better"

What was I thinking the entire time I read your War and Peace rant? You should have been thinking about solutions and not ranting. There is no magic elixir people take to be gods in success. People fail, learn, and plow forward. When you mentioned you "Casually thinking about suicide everyday." Well guess what. That is thinking time taken away from thinking about the solution. Yeah, Ive also thought about the same, but I quickly turned around and thought about how ridiculous it is to not be thinking about how to succeed. Dont let your mind go off on a tangent. Focus on getting the results you need.

Thomas Edison has some of the best quotes:
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
“Five percent of the people think;
ten percent of the people think they think;
and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.”
“When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this - you haven't.”
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”
“Negative results are just what I want. They’re just as valuable to me as positive results. I can never find the thing that does the job best until I find the ones that don’t.”

And ya know what? If you lost friends then great. If they didnt want to stick with you during the rough times then forget about them. Less dead weight in your life. Same with family. Being blood isnt an automatic pass to not being supportive. You dont need that negativity. You need people to slap you in the face and tell you to get back up because that is where you currently are especially with comments like "Casually thinking about suicide everyday." Go meet like minded people, brain storm, and get up to speed. You have lost your social skills because you dont want people to hear about the number of ways you have discovered do not work. Ya know what? Be that curious little body. Ask questions and ask more questions about what others are doing to be successful so that you can listen and learn more about what others are doing.

Even these forums can sometimes feel like time sinks taking time away from thinking about the things I need to do. Read and reply to a few threads and BAM. 2-3 hours gone.

Think of failures as pot holes. You eventually learn how to evade them.

I would like to challenge these thoughts...If it was so easy to find a solution, one wouldn´t be in the situation in the first place. It rather feels like being in the quicksands with NO apparent solution.
 

Flybye

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I would like to challenge these thoughts...If it was so easy to find a solution, one wouldn´t be in the situation in the first place. It rather feels like being in the quicksands with NO apparent solution.
Simple. When you are in quicksand you lay on your back and open your arms so you stop sinking. And get rid of excess weight. Dont thrash around. And maybe that is what you need. Simply stop for a moment to relax and gather new thoughts. I mean you are only human. Anyone can get overwhelmed when things spiral out of control.

The problem is when you take too long to gather your thoughts. Planning is great, but you wont get anywhere without implementing. Sometimes one needs to just shut down for a bit to release the frustration.
 
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MakeMoreMoves

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Haven't looked at anything entrepreneurship for the past days and since I'm not at the laptop 24/7 (Job + Fastlane). My physical health is already getting better from not sitting all the time. Thanks for everyone's responses.

A big part of my isolation or contacting previous friends is self-inflicted. I didn't want to admit it. I kept trying to make it so that it was everyone else that was against me. It was probably 70% me running away. You know when you don't see someone for a long time, they ask what you are up to. I was scared of them asking that. I could only give people a blank dead stare. Because the only thing I could tell them was that I failed in business and that was too much for me.

Instead of being bitter against the others that have succeed, I realized what these successful people had. It was something I was realized a while ago, but all the successful people I met all had large audiences. All these people have their so called "personal brand". They are extroverts and are betting on their strengths with social media audience. You can't really be successful without an audience. I was trying to cold sell through ads and never got anywhere.

I don't have any fastlane problems to solve at the moment, but how would an introvert that doesn't want to show his face on social media build a large audience. I feel like showing your face is mandatory because it makes you so much more personable and authentic. Authenticity is one of the most important things in marketing. Camera shy probs and the fear of putting out misinformation being labeled as a phony. Destroying the position of expertise that is required in these personal branding things.

If I try to build an audience without social media then it would have to be product-based, to give them a reason to email sign up. But like, I have learned developing product first tends to be a bad idea. If I were to build a product, it definitely wouldn't be physical. Only digital/software. Which is why I want to lean on social media audience first.
 
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sparechange

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you can literally sell anything online, shopify amazon, facebook instagram kijji craigslit whatever it doesnt matter. pick anything and learn how to sell something.
 

AFMKelvin

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Some background info. So met up with people for the first time in years. I have been isolating myself in mom's basement building and learning my fastlane. I realized this whole time that I have been illogically optimistic that I was gonna at least be self-employed in at least 3 years. I am at another low point. Building this fastlane, I have strived so far from reality. I literally put fastlane above everything in my life. I MEAN everything.

Lost all friends, destroyed family relationships, so much to the point I realized I have no social skills whatsoever now. It was an early Memorial Day Party, I couldn't even do basic human things like help people without constantly reminding myself. I have become so selfish for my fastlane venture, I had to keep reminding myself of basic human actions like setup chairs and sh*t, have conversations. I have pretty much developed social anxiety. A kid was also getting bullied and I couldn't even step in to stop the situation. I am a young dude at 24 years old, my health has dropped exponentially as well.

The bad thing about this whole thing is that I have kept my slowlane job completely stagnant. As in, every hour in slowlane, I feel my body dieing and I am learning no valuable skills. Money is also significantly shorter than it should be because I failed so DAMN hard.

"No point in progressing or changing careers in slowlane world, because yah know my fastlane is going to work. Why invest in any slowlane or change career when I am going to be out soon anyways" I can't seem to break from this philosophy either.

I don't like to blame people because it is very naive and not being accountable, but reading that fastlane book really made me hate the system so much I can't take any slowlane job seriously. It is all a joke to me.

Going to this party, made me realize how much I missed out on life. How the hell am I suppose to build my self back from this wreck I dug myself to. This fastlane thing literally F*cked me up. Yes, I am definitely more self aware and woke up, but have been unhappy and pissed ever since. Literally pissed constantly for about 3 years.

The thing that gripes me the most is that the people I talked to are living life to the fullest, traveling, going to concerts, movies, but guess what, they also have significantly more money while enjoying life. Money is the fuel to freedom and since it is what I want so deeply.

I have also talked to people at the party that did have fastlane ventures, they literally started it 1 year ago and made it and it isn't even their priority. No Joke. I'm like wtf. I am hear doing this sh*t non-stop and nothing.

So much survivor bias, I am sure there are so many people that F'd their lives up like me doing fastlane.

This actually turned kind of into a rant, wasn't really suppose to be but got carried away.

Another thing about fastlane is that I read it in a way that the stock market is the enemy and nobody gets rich off the stock market. So I totally wrote that idea off in the beginning, but it is the very thing that is actually making me money.

I have 2 products in half development. Should I just drop it and be like f*ck it. Dissolve business and screw it? My business is not an asset, but a liability.

I kinda want to just die now. Goddamn idk guys

Damn you could be me right now. I'm going through the same exact phase. I just turned 26 and have lost contact with all my friends and family members. The only family I talk to are my parents and my other family members just think I'm weird. Shit everyone thinks I'm weird or crazy. I can't stop thinking about been a millionaire by the time I'm 30.

I've tried many business ideas and never went through with any of them. I have lost thousands of dollars trying but never making anything out of them.

The anxiety, depression, remorse, suicidal thoughts and fear that you are feeling I'm also feeling it too.

Since I was in high school I had the mentality of going against the script.

But now years later I see all the people that went through with the script and the societal pressure is stronger than before. All my friends from high school have careers which I don't, have a family which I don't either. They have a nice house and nice cars and I don't. So all this negative emotions just creep in and tell me what have you done with your life? Everyone else is enjoying theirs but you're not. If only you had started 6 years ago just like they did following the script you could be just like them.

All this time I've been locked away reading about businesses and trying to create a business that it created tunnel vision. Everything that wasn't business related even relationships just dropped off to the side.

I don't know if all the business failures I have had are worth it. At this point I don't know what exactly I have learned from them. Been an entrepreneur is not what is cracked up to be.

I'm currently at a dead end job right now without any skills.
 
Last edited:

Xeon

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I am a young dude at 24 years old...Casually thinking about suicide everyday

What the ACTUAL F*ck. Feel like giving you a few tight slaps across the face. At 24 years old, people in most countries just finished college. Over here, guys at 24 are still in college with 1 - 2 years more to graduate, and you're thinking of suicide? What about the rest of your 70+ years waiting for you?
You can try many more times in that 70+ years while still living life at the same time.

how would an introvert that doesn't want to show his face on social media build a large audience. I feel like showing your face is mandatory because it makes you so much more personable and authentic. Authenticity is one of the most important things in marketing. Camera shy probs and the fear of putting out misinformation being labeled as a phony. Destroying the position of expertise that is required in these personal branding things.

Not sure what is your business, but I faced the problem you mentioned above in my hustle. What I do is to create intrigue via social media and do things people don't usually do. You don't have to show your face.
The only requirement for this is creativity and how wild your ideas can be, and a bit of money for the crazy/weird props that need to be part of the intrigue.

What you do is to make up for the extroversion by doing unusual stuff to get eyeballs and views. I remember one member here, IceCreamKid, had a post where he threw money down a building. Stuff like that, doesn't have to be money, doesn't have to be from a building, You get the idea.
 
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Flybye

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I hate reading about people having suicidal thoughts or feeling like if they died tomorrow no one would care. Did you guys forget this is the INTERNET? The land of making friends anywhere from everywhere! Everyone has unique and different problems. Make the best of your life here, and never be afraid to ask questions about any business or anything. And the moment you start feeling down just immediately focus on something else. Ive literally had to tell myself STOP when I start going off on a tangent with crap in life vs succeeding.
 

sparechange

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comparing yourself to others is maybe the worst thing you can do. im sure theres some kids on this forum that are 18,19,20 making millions and then there is 30 year olds making under 100k.

failure , anxiety depression are all normal for an ''entrepreneur'' but if you are not taking lessons from those failures and improving (act assess adjust) then sure your wasting time.

as long as you are providing a service or product to someone on a mass scale you are doing something right, will you change the service or product overtime? sure, but just keep trying and trying.

it seriously is as ''simple'' and ''easy'' as starting and just doing something. whatever it is.. if it was effortless everyone would be a billionaire.

“I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Michael Jordan

self limiting beliefs are horrible, anyone in the modern world with average or even below average ability can become a millionaire, its not rocket science at all.

with all of your combined business failures what have you LEARNED?

# what VALUE are you giving to customers/clients?

# are you actually selling or providing something that is legit or just a bunch of BULL****

# do people WANT or NEED it?

# are the prices fair?

if you can connect those dots you are a few years of hard work and hustle to hitting your first 7 figures. re-read TMF & Unscripted . also i recommended a book by Felix Dennis ''How to get rich'' it is a story of a broke bum that became one of the richest men in the world. Paul Dejora's story is extremly inspiring aswell (homeless man that built a networth of $3 billion starting out with door to door sales)

what is the difference between these people and us?

they work harder than anyone here.
 

scott.legendre

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get up, go outside, get some sun and go for a run. get those endorphins kicking. If your body isn't in good health your mind won't be in good health.

This is the #1 and only step i give to anyone in a depressed or negative state. get your health in check first and good things will follow. It takes discipline to take care of your health, and it takes discipline to build a true business.
 
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LRival87

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What Scott said - taking action is the key.

get up, go outside, get some sun and go for a run. get those endorphins kicking. If your body isn't in good health your mind won't be in good health.

This is the #1 and only step i give to anyone in a depressed or negative state. get your health in check first and good things will follow. It takes discipline to take care of your health, and it takes discipline to build a true business.
 

MakeMoreMoves

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you can literally sell anything online, shopify amazon, facebook instagram kijji craigslit whatever it doesnt matter. pick anything and learn how to sell something.

What I have been doing for 3 years, all started with me selling my old stuff. But then you run out of inventory.

Basic arbitrage is what I did next. Quickly realized that there is no consistency in income and ended up losing money due to not factoring in Race to the bottom. Ran the numbers everything looked good, by the time the product got on FBA, it got flooded by other sellers that got the deal earlier than I did.

Ok, now I need consistent inventory. Why not wholesale?! And...after doing my research. I got 100s of branded items. Margins were god awful. Pretty much went negative and still bagholding to this very day. Wholesale is all dependent who has the deepest pockets. All variables are the same and the only thing a person can change is price. Margins too small to add any more value. Opportunity of wholesaling branded products has long passed.

Found a hot product? don’t invest in it. The hotter the product, the smaller the margin. Srs

Ok, I got it why not private label?! After importing my own product and got it to FBA, competition stiffened hard. Pulled the plug due to terrible margins. I believe less than a $0.25. At least I got rid of this stuff haha.

This is where I abandoned the 3rd party marketplaces and went Shopify, really developing my own product. Loss thousands, haven’t sold anything. I saw many others selling non remarkable products and I’m like why can’t I make it as well? Well, what these people had were massive audiences or spend tons of cash on marketing. The commodity itself provided no value, it was the creation of a hyper reality that was the value, aka 99% marketing.

From my most recent post, I gotta find a way to build a personal brand and I can probabaly sell anything. Don’t want to show my face though and doesn’t align with my strength to do it this way. But in this day and age, looks like I have no choice. Hate being in front of camera.

I have been trying non stop man. Hence my depression.

comparing yourself to others is maybe the worst thing you can do. im sure theres some kids on this forum that are 18,19,20 making millions and then there is 30 year olds making under 100k.

failure , anxiety depression are all normal for an ''entrepreneur'' but if you are not taking lessons from those failures and improving (act assess adjust) then sure your wasting time.

as long as you are providing a service or product to someone on a mass scale you are doing something right, will you change the service or product overtime? sure, but just keep trying and trying.

it seriously is as ''simple'' and ''easy'' as starting and just doing something. whatever it is.. if it was effortless everyone would be a billionaire.

“I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Michael Jordan

self limiting beliefs are horrible, anyone in the modern world with average or even below average ability can become a millionaire, its not rocket science at all.

with all of your combined business failures what have you LEARNED?

# what VALUE are you giving to customers/clients?

# are you actually selling or providing something that is legit or just a bunch of BULL****

# do people WANT or NEED it?

# are the prices fair?

if you can connect those dots you are a few years of hard work and hustle to hitting your first 7 figures. re-read TMF & Unscripted . also i recommended a book by Felix Dennis ''How to get rich'' it is a story of a broke bum that became one of the richest men in the world. Paul Dejora's story is extremly inspiring aswell (homeless man that built a networth of $3 billion starting out with door to door sales)

what is the difference between these people and us?

they work harder than anyone here.

They don’t work harder, the people I talked to barely worked at all to be honest and made it.
 

sparechange

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What I have been doing for 3 years, all started with me selling my old stuff. But then you run out of inventory.

Basic arbitrage is what I did next. Quickly realized that there is no consistency in income and ended up losing money due to not factoring in Race to the bottom. Ran the numbers everything looked good, by the time the product got on FBA, it got flooded by other sellers that got the deal earlier than I did.

Ok, now I need consistent inventory. Why not wholesale?! And...after doing my research. I got 100s of branded items. Margins were god awful. Pretty much went negative and still bagholding to this very day. Wholesale is all dependent who has the deepest pockets. All variables are the same and the only thing a person can change is price. Margins too small to add any more value. Opportunity of wholesaling branded products has long passed.

Ok, I got it why not private label?! After importing my own product and got it to FBA, competition stiffened hard. Pulled the plug due to terrible margins. I believe less than a $0.25. At least I got rid of this stuff haha.

This is where I abandoned the 3rd party marketplaces and went Shopify, really developing my own product. Loss thousands, haven’t sold anything. I saw many others selling non remarkable products and I’m like why can’t I make it as well? Well, what these people had were massive audiences or spend tons of cash on marketing. The commodity itself provided no value, it was the creation of a hyper reality that was the value, aka 99% marketing.

From my most recent post, I gotta find a way to build a personal brand and I can probabaly sell anything. Don’t want to show my face though and doesn’t align with my strength to do it this way. But in this day and age, looks like I have no choice. Hate being in front of camera.

I have been trying non stop man. Hence my depression.



They don’t work harder, the people I talked to barely worked at all to be honest and made it.




you dont have have to show your face to sell anything, you have a horrible thought process and need to open up some books

why be the millionth guy on amazon selling the same stuff as everyone else? amazon is a bad business, yes i know there are people doing 6 and 7 digits on there but they are NOT JUST selling on amazon, these are known brands or have something unique about them.

have a unique product of your own (or service) and sell that.

others that spend ''tons of cash'' on marketing, why cant you be like them? get a job and dump all your money into building ads and promotional content, you can get leads fairly easy with online marketing.

think of problems of ways to make something more convenient or provide a want. people love to blow money on stuff, you need to learn how to capitalize on that. goto a mall, you have people walking around just spending money on random stuff, check out a casino and see how people throw money away.

its all in your mind. coming up with excuses and bs.
 
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MakeMoreMoves

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you dont have have to show your face to sell anything, you have a horrible thought process and need to open up some books

why be the millionth guy on amazon selling the same stuff as everyone else? amazon is a bad business, yes i know there are people doing 6 and 7 digits on there but they are NOT JUST selling on amazon, these are known brands or have something unique about them.

have a unique product of your own (or service) and sell that.

others that spend ''tons of cash'' on marketing, why cant you be like them? get a job and dump all your money into building ads and promotional content, you can get leads fairly easy with online marketing.

think of problems of ways to make something more convenient or provide a want. people love to blow money on stuff, you need to learn how to capitalize on that. goto a mall, you have people walking around just spending money on random stuff, check out a casino and see how people throw money away.

its all in your mind. coming up with excuses and bs.

I was saying that I need to show my face to build an audience through personal branding. I know I don’t need to show my face to sell. All the stuff I sold up to this point I haven’t. But I ain’t selling shit till I got an audience to guarantee consistent sales and prevent bag holding

Unique? There isn’t anything unique in this world, most success I see is through hyper reality creation. Marketing commodity products. All the successes I seen are all basic stuff. I did try to build something slightly unique, based on function, but the cost was ridiculous. Also due to the high arbitrary nature of this type of business.

LOL get leads fairly easily? I dumped thousands into marketing throughout the years, I got insignificant leads.

Have you even executed before? I had the exact same thoughts as you when I started, but got punched in the face. Not excuses, I actually executed.
 

sparechange

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I was saying that I need to show my face to build an audience through personal branding. I know I don’t need to show my face to sell. All the stuff I sold up to this point I haven’t. But I ain’t selling sh*t till I got an audience to guarantee consistent sales and prevent bag holding

Unique? There isn’t anything unique in this world, most success I see is through hyper reality creation. Marketing commodity products. All the successes I seen are all basic stuff. I did try to build something slightly unique, based on function, but the cost was ridiculous. Also due to the high arbitrary nature of this type of business.

LOL get leads fairly easily? I dumped thousands into marketing throughout the years, I got insignificant leads.

Have you even executed before? I had the exact same thoughts as you when I started, but got punched in the face. Not excuses, I actually executed.


you seem to be full of excuses

yes, leads fairly easily. i can generate customers for barely anything and also have repeat buyers from referrals (without begging like all the other lame people)

i have my own products that i am selling direct to client. everything i learned from this forum, tmf , unscripted , alex becker (GOAT) and felix dennis + a billionaire i met and went on a hiking trip with aswell as studying other successful people.

you are just lazy and entitled. go get a book and learn, don't be the millionth person selling some useless shit on amazon being a money chasing donk.

provide value for someone in theyre life and collect value vouchers
provide value for someone in theyre life and collect value vouchers
provide value for someone in theyre life and collect value vouchers
provide value for someone in theyre life and collect value vouchers
provide value for someone in theyre life and collect value vouchers
provide value for someone in theyre life and collect value vouchers
 

MakeMoreMoves

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you seem to be full of excuses

yes, leads fairly easily. i can generate customers for barely anything and also have repeat buyers from referrals (without begging like all the other lame people)

i have my own products that i am selling direct to client. everything i learned from this forum, tmf , unscripted , alex becker (GOAT) and felix dennis + a billionaire i met and went on a hiking trip with aswell as studying other successful people.

you are just lazy and entitled. go get a book and learn, don't be the millionth person selling some useless sh*t on amazon being a money chasing donk.

provide value for someone in theyre life and collect value vouchers
provide value for someone in theyre life and collect value vouchers
provide value for someone in theyre life and collect value vouchers
provide value for someone in theyre life and collect value vouchers
provide value for someone in theyre life and collect value vouchers
provide value for someone in theyre life and collect value vouchers

Not excuses, I’m just telling you want happened to me,

Alex Becker? Use to see his ads all the time for his market hero course. The videos I watched all seem to always leading me to buy his stuff. Did you end up taking that? I’ll look up Felix dennis.

Lazy and entitled? Really lazy? You don’t know anything about me man. If I was lazy I wouldn’t have done all that that BS for 3 years

Anyways instead of me being an a$$, what do you do to EASILY get leads?
 
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sparechange

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Not excuses, I’m just telling you want happened to me,

Alex Becker? Use to see his ads all the time for his market hero course. The videos I watched all seem to always leading me to buy his stuff. Did you end up taking that? I’ll look up Felix dennis.

Lazy and entitled? Really lazy? You don’t know anything about me man. If I was lazy I wouldn’t have done all that that BS for 3 years

Anyways instead of me being an a$$, what do you do to EASILY get leads?

ive never bought anything from alex becker, simply just watch all his youtube videos which are probably the best on youtube because hes actually legit afaik.

build engaging content, have the right product/audience and make people happy, be genuine & not a money chaser, make peoples lives easier, more convenient or comfortable.

you are a set of actions away from building something profitable, its all in your head. excuses dont help at all.

poor me, why me why me?? *why NOT me?* should be your attitude.
 

GenYJourney

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My slowlane job is 100% dead end. My ecom knowledge looks like is going to be a complete waste. I am going to have to dump it entirely.

Who's to say you can't pivot and tackle a new slowlane endeavor more closely aligned with your Ecomm goals and then have another at bat? Sure the connotation of "starting over" may feel like a major setback, but it's not. Perspective is everything.

Regardless of what you do, definitely stay on top of your health, both mental and physical.
 

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