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Am I Killing it Off?

Almantas

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Hi guys,

It's 1:40 am in Ireland and brainstorming doesn't leave me alone. I would like to hear your advice and suggestions based on my current situation, please. I think just thinking about it consumes 30% or so of my energy a day that could be redirected elsewhere.

So, here is my situation:

I've built a somewhat good reputation for myself doing all kinds of stuff - such as writing CVs and Cover Letters, business plans and so on. I make like €400 a week out of this and it currently consumes like 20 hours. I get to keep all profit - no expenses whatsoever. It makes me feel somewhat secure, considering the fact that I am hustling full-time now and have no paycheck.

Here's the dilemma:

This business can't be automated. It's a JOB. My plan is to use earnings from this business in order to test various other business ideas that could help me generate more automated income and build a solid business with a reputable brand and I believe I have found exactly that couple of months ago, but didn't actually put work into it, but want to.

I have created a schedule (MON-SAT) for myself yesterday and here how it looks:

4:50 - 5:00 Waking-up and taking a cold shower
5:10 - 5:30 Jogging with a dog
5:40 - 5:50 Meditation
6:00 - 7:00 Gym
7:50 - 10:50 Working on building A JOB business - finishing orders and advertising mainly
10:50 - 14:00 Working on a FASTLANE business
14:00 - 15:00 Working on building a JOB business - finishing orders and advertising mainly
16:00 - 20:00 Working on a FASTLANE business
20:00 - 22:00 Working on building a JOB business - finishing orders and advertising mainly
22:10 - 22:50 Reading a book and hitting a sack

Based on this schedule, I'll have 6h a day to spend on working on a JOB - this will mainly involve trying to somewhat scale it by advertising it (for free), answering to customer inquiries and finishing their orders. In addition, I'll have 7h a day to spend on testing my FASTLANE business idea that I believe can hit a home run if executed properly. In a week, I will have 36h for my JOB business and 42h for my FASTLANE business.

Do you think I am running a risky show here? Should I stop working on improving my JOB business that provides me with a safety net and simply fulfill orders of returning customers and spend the remaining time on testing a FASTLANE business? Or should I stick to working on improving my JOB business and use earnings to test my FASTLANE business instead and if a FASTLANE business begins to get traction simply slowly shift from my JOB business onto my FASTLANE business?

It's all about time and money exchange here - I don't make much from working on a JOB business and sometimes I make nothing by posting stuff and creating marketing material. In overall, I'd say my hourly rate is €20 and I have a luxury of working from home, which means no overheads whatsoever. Plus, it makes me feel somewhat secure, knowing I have a slight income flow coming on a weekly basis.

I know there are many Pro's and Con's. But, in general, what would your advice be? Risk it all and go all-in or leave 40/60 time ratio between 2 businesses? If my FASTLANE idea flips, I can keep working on a JOB I created for myself to fund other business ideas, instead of raising a white flag and going back to an office.

What are your thoughts? Advice? Suggestions?

I am really stuck in my own head - every little input helps!

Thanks!
 
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Bearcorp

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Hey @Almantas, with your job, have you considered the idea that, while right now it solely relies on you, that you could one day grow big enough that you could step away from it?

When I read your other thread about how you were helping people get started in the UK it reminded me of my experience moving from Australia to London for a year, I was put onto this company;

Ship Shape Pay - Maximum pay, unique benefits

Why couldn't you create a company like this?
I relied on them for everything when I first got to London, they got me a job, handled pay and taxes, and I didn't have a language barrier, only an accent barrier :rofl:

If not, I'd say try and give as much time and energy to the Fastlane idea as you can, and make sure your getting enough rest and good quality sleep, you have a lot going on!
 
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Almantas

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Hey @Almantas, with your job, have you considered the idea that, while right now it solely relies on you, that you could one day grow big enough that you could step away from it?

When I read your other thread about how you were helping people get started in the UK it reminded me of my experience moving from Australia to London for a year, I was put onto this company;

Ship Shape Pay - Maximum pay, unique benefits

Why couldn't you create a company like this?
I relied on them for everything when I first got to London, they got me a job, handled pay and taxes, and I didn't have a language barrier, only an accent barrier :rofl:

If not, I'd say try and give as much time and energy to the Fastlane idea as you can, and make sure your getting enough rest and good quality sleep, you have a lot going on!
Thanks for your reply - I will look into it!
 

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Thanks for your reply - I will look into it!

It will give you an idea of the range of services available, you may be able to add some to your arsenal by;
  • Outsourcing straight away
  • Adding services that are one time deals for future use, to market and sell how you please
  • services directly related to customers needs right now.
I feel like theres a massive opportunity for you in the space you're in, if you want to go that way on your journey. Obviously I could be wrong as I haven't looked deeply into it, that's something you'll need to figure out.

Something to consider anyway!
 
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Bekit

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I think it's a good idea to balance your time between the job and the fastlane business.

The main thing I see missing from this list is self care.

You have only factored in 6 hours of sleep, and you have factored in 0 time to eat.

Based on your other thread, one of the biggest threats to your progress and your sustainability is depression raising its ugly head again.

So maybe it would be a good idea to put a high priority on being very kind to yourself, implementing routines that keep you replenished.

It would be a real shame if you got behind and beat yourself up because "I didn't spend my required 6 hours + 7 hours on what I defined for myself to do" - when the reason you got behind was legitimate things like eating, laundry, or investing in yourself through social interaction, recreation, or continuing education.

I would also second the idea that your JOB could become something where you replace yourself. Can you identify one or two activities that you could hire a freelancer to do for less than you're charging the customer, and therefore free up that portion of your time?
 

lowtek

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If you're the type of person who can focus and work dilligently without a safety net, then quitting the JOB and going after a scalable business can be a viable path.

However, you mention a few times that it makes you feel secure, so it sounds like you value that.

Nothing wrong with that, just be self aware about it. If it's the case that you need security, then devote more time to growing the JOB, and save the excess money to build some runway. Keep testing ideas to see if you get something worth pursuing, and if you do then cut out the hours at the JOB until the business is profitable.

Also, I would suggest evaluating all of this in the context of who (not where) you want to be in the next 5 years. If you look at everything through that lens, it makes decisions much easier.

Also, out of curiosity, is there any particular reason you alternate the JOB/FASTLANE work during the day? That seems inefficient to me. Why not just chunk them up?
 

Patrick Jones

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Your schedule looks like you are treating yourself like a machine, not a human. I would make it a high priority to ensure your own wellbeing. You focus solely on the quantity of hours, but the quality is also very important. Personally I can get as much done in one productive and well rested hour, as in four moody and tired hours.

In that regard I would also advice to have your financial bases covered before you consider abandoning the job that earns you money. When I started my freelance business, my income didn't cover my expenses and I had to live partially off savings. That was extremely depressing and draining.

Maybe grow the job a bit first, before you focus on the FL business?
 
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Danny Sullivan

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Hey Almantas,

i'm currently reading Principles from Ray Dalio which contains chapters that might be helpful to you in sorting this out. (This gon' be long, so sorry - but if it provides some clarity all the better)

Look at the machine from the higher level

Our uniquely human ability to look down from a higher level doesn't apply just to understanding reality and the cause-effect relationships underlying it; it also applies to looking down on yourself and those around you. I call this ability to rise above your own and others' circumstances and objectively look down on them "higher-level thinking". Higher-level thinking gives you the ability to study and influence the cause-effect relationships at play in your life and use them to get the outcomes you want.

Think of yourself as a machine operating within a machine and know that you have the ability to alter your machines to produce better outcomes.

You have your goals. I call the way you will operate to achieve your goals your machine. It consists of a design (the things that have to get done) and the people (who will do the things that need getting done). Those people include you and those who help you.

Distinguish between you as the designer of your machine and you as a worker with your machine.
One of the hardest things for people to do is to objectively look down on themselves within their circumstances (i.e., their machine) so that they can act as the machine's designer and manager. Most people remain stuck in the perspective of being a worker within the machine. If you can recognize the differences between those roles and that it is much more important that you are a good designer/manager of your life than a good worker in it, you will be on the right path. To be successful, the "designer/manager you" has to be objective about what the "worker you" is really like, not believing him more than he deserves, or putting him in jobs he shouldn't be in. Instead of having this strategic perspective, most people operate emotionally in the moment; their lives are a series of undirected emotional experiences, going from one thing to the next. If you want to look back on your life and feel you've achieved what you wanted, you can't operate that way.

Successful people are those who can go above themselves to see things objectively and manage those things to shape change.
They can take in the perspectives of others instead of being trapped in their own heads with their own biases. They are able to look objectively at what they are like - their strenghts and weaknesses - and what others are like to put the right people in the right roles to achieve their goals. Once you understand how to do this you'll see that there's virtually nothing you can't accomplish. You will just have to learn how to face your realities and use the full range of resources at your disposal.

Diagnose problems to get at their root causes.

Focus on the "what is" before deciding "what to do about it".

It is a common mistake to move in a nanosecond from indentifying a tough problem to proposing a solution for it. Strategic thinking requires bot diagnosis and design. A good diagnosis typically takes between fifteen minutes and an hour, depending on how well it's done and how complex the issue. It involves speaking with the relevant people and looking at the evidence together to determine the root cause. Like principles, root causes manifest themselves over and over again in seemingly different situations. Finding them and dealing with them pays dividends again and again.

Distinguish proximate causes from root causes.
Proximate causes are typically the actions (or lack of actions) that lead to problems, so they are described with verbs (I missed the train because i didn't check the train schedule). Root causes run much deeper and they are typically described with adjectives (I didn't check the train schedule because i am forgetful). You can only truly solves your problems by removing their root causes, and to do that, you must distinguish the symptoms from the disease.

---

I'd open a word document (excel, word what ever you prefer) and just write down the problems you're currently having. Just write them down for a moment. Don't think about solutions. Just write them out and what other problems might be caused by this certain problem. Write them out, then close the document. If you can think of more problems, write them all down there. Yet still, save and close afterwards. You will experience a good amount of problems that will come to your mind and occur to you while you're doing your day to day stuff. If you've done this for a few days, take a moment of time out of your schedule and review them... now think about solutions. Not for all of them, you won't find solutions for all of them at a time, but i'm sure you will have some solutions for some problems. This process will at a point come naturally to you and you will be able to see things more clearly there more certain problems dissolve.

From a personal point of view i think you're diverting yourself too much throughout a day with the plan you wrote down.

If i learned anything from working out, it is that if you go full-force on a certain exercise or muscle group, followed up by a different exercise for a different group of muscles, the results from the second exercise will be subpar from what they could have been if you did this exercise alone.
Try to hit deadlifts with workweight for 4x5 sets and then try to do your max amount of pullups - you won't reach them.

So maybe this would be a schedule to consider instead:

4:50 - 5:00 Waking-up, drinking a whole glass of water (it's important because your body had no water during the night), wash face with cold water, brush teeth.
5:10 - 5:30 Jogging with a dog
5:40 - 6:40 Gym
6:40 - 7:00 Have a good breakfast (take your time), you pushed your body now it's time to nourish it
7:10 - 7:30 Meditation
--- Morning cycle complete, you woke up early, pushed your body, nourished it, cleared you mind by meditation - now it's time to conquer work ---

8:00 - 15:00 Working on building A JOB business - finishing orders and advertising mainly
(+1 hour to get some delicious food - again: take your time for eating, it's important)
15:10 - 21:00 Working on a FASTLANE business
(+1 hour - again food!)
21:10 - 22:00 Reading a book and hitting a sack
--- Work cycle completed, you (hopefully) had productive sessions on working on your projects one by one (and not mixed every 2 hours), had some good food and by reading a book calmed down body and mind to prepare them for sleep ---

This leaves 7 hours per night of sleep. Altough i would suggest you take 1 hour off your work to have 8 hours of sleep on a regular basis (like every second day). Not sleeping enough will be a drain on your creativity, work and workout performance and other things in the long run.

Oh, i'd also suggest you train every second day. This leaves at least 48 hours for your body to recover and there's your +1 hour for more sleep.
I don't know what kind of sport you're doing in the gym, but constantly hitting max weights every 24 hours will drain your performance, because your body doesn't have time to recover properly, which will ultimatively hinder progress in the gym (just my experience).

Hope this helps. All the best.
 
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Andy Black

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Hi guys,

It's 1:40 am in Ireland and brainstorming doesn't leave me alone. I would like to hear your advice and suggestions based on my current situation, please. I think just thinking about it consumes 30% or so of my energy a day that could be redirected elsewhere.

So, here is my situation:

I've built a somewhat good reputation for myself doing all kinds of stuff - such as writing CVs and Cover Letters, business plans and so on. I make like €400 a week out of this and it currently consumes like 20 hours. I get to keep all profit - no expenses whatsoever. It makes me feel somewhat secure, considering the fact that I am hustling full-time now and have no paycheck.

Here's the dilemma:

This business can't be automated. It's a JOB. My plan is to use earnings from this business in order to test various other business ideas that could help me generate more automated income and build a solid business with a reputable brand and I believe I have found exactly that couple of months ago, but didn't actually put work into it, but want to.

I have created a schedule (MON-SAT) for myself yesterday and here how it looks:

4:50 - 5:00 Waking-up and taking a cold shower
5:10 - 5:30 Jogging with a dog
5:40 - 5:50 Meditation
6:00 - 7:00 Gym
7:50 - 10:50 Working on building A JOB business - finishing orders and advertising mainly
10:50 - 14:00 Working on a FASTLANE business
14:00 - 15:00 Working on building a JOB business - finishing orders and advertising mainly
16:00 - 20:00 Working on a FASTLANE business
20:00 - 22:00 Working on building a JOB business - finishing orders and advertising mainly
22:10 - 22:50 Reading a book and hitting a sack

Based on this schedule, I'll have 6h a day to spend on working on a JOB - this will mainly involve trying to somewhat scale it by advertising it (for free), answering to customer inquiries and finishing their orders. In addition, I'll have 7h a day to spend on testing my FASTLANE business idea that I believe can hit a home run if executed properly. In a week, I will have 36h for my JOB business and 42h for my FASTLANE business.

Do you think I am running a risky show here? Should I stop working on improving my JOB business that provides me with a safety net and simply fulfill orders of returning customers and spend the remaining time on testing a FASTLANE business? Or should I stick to working on improving my JOB business and use earnings to test my FASTLANE business instead and if a FASTLANE business begins to get traction simply slowly shift from my JOB business onto my FASTLANE business?

It's all about time and money exchange here - I don't make much from working on a JOB business and sometimes I make nothing by posting stuff and creating marketing material. In overall, I'd say my hourly rate is €20 and I have a luxury of working from home, which means no overheads whatsoever. Plus, it makes me feel somewhat secure, knowing I have a slight income flow coming on a weekly basis.

I know there are many Pro's and Con's. But, in general, what would your advice be? Risk it all and go all-in or leave 40/60 time ratio between 2 businesses? If my FASTLANE idea flips, I can keep working on a JOB I created for myself to fund other business ideas, instead of raising a white flag and going back to an office.

What are your thoughts? Advice? Suggestions?

I am really stuck in my own head - every little input helps!

Thanks!
Sounds like growing pains?

You’re previous problem wasn’t enough work. Now it’s too much.

That’s good. If you’re not meeting new problems then you’re stuck.


“Grow what you know?”

Consider how to scale what you’ve already built?

Sliding scale: Learn a skill > Sell the skill > Scale the skill.

(Technician > Salesman > Businessman.)

It sounds like you’ve learned a skill that people pay for. And that you’ve a steady pipeline of sales.

Is scaling the next logical step for this business?

Is biz dev now one of the hats you wear?


Oh, and agree with others to take care of yourself. That’s top priority.

Think it’s not top priority? Without you your business comes crumbling down anyway.
 

RazorCut

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Only you will know what your comfort level is and so how best you work.

It is obvious that you are at the point where you want to put your energies into building something scalable rather than treading water with a JOB.

Consider though if what you do now can actually be scaled. Are you overlooking that as you are just drawn to a new shiny object as boredom and tedium have set in? If you really do want to pivot away from what you are doing then....

I'd suggest you put the bare minimum in your JOB and the majority of your efforts into your new Fastlane business. But give that a time window of whatever seems appropriate to see how viable it is in the real world. If it gains traction and you know you can make a success of it then continue until it brings in enough to retire the JOB.

This is the most extreme option I would recommend if you have a tendency towards depression.

At least then if your JOB is on maintenance level (covering your expenses) you can easily scale it back up if the Fastlane business doesn't pan out and you are not burning through any savings.

I can quite easily go into what I call 'starvation mode' where I cut out all extra spending. That means no holidays, no days out, no evenings out, no unnecessary purchases (Amazon must think I've died) etc..

All in an effort to conserve savings so I can concentrate all my time and available funds into a business idea. However it is not a pleasant way to live, especially when you have a family to take care of. It can be very depressing so I would certainly not recommend it for most people.
 
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Andy Black

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I can quite easily go into what I call 'starvation mode' where I cut out all extra spending. That means no holidays, no days out, no evenings out, no unnecessary purchases (Amazon must think I've died) etc..
Ha. I don’t have that luxury. The wife and kids wouldn’t let it happen. It’s good though... I have to keep everything above a certain level while I twist and turn and figure it out.
 

RazorCut

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Ha. I don’t have that luxury. The wife and kids wouldn’t let it happen. It’s good though... I have to keep everything above a certain level while I twist and turn and figure it out.

It's how you sell it. :rofl:
Short term loss for long term gain. ;)

She wasn't happy I gave up the last business though. I have lots of rewards planned for her this year to compensate. And for my children.
 

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Sounds like growing pains?

You’re previous problem wasn’t enough work. Now it’s too much.

That’s good. If you’re not meeting new problems then you’re stuck.


“Grow what you know?”

Consider how to scale what you’ve already built?

Sliding scale: Learn a skill > Sell the skill > Scale the skill.

(Technician > Salesman > Businessman.)

It sounds like you’ve learned a skill that people pay for. And that you’ve a steady pipeline of sales.

Is scaling the next logical step for this business?

Is biz dev now one of the hats you wear?


Oh, and agree with others to take care of yourself. That’s top priority.

Think it’s not top priority? Without you your business comes crumbling down anyway.
Top notch advice! Loving it and needed it at this moment as I'm somewhat in the same situation business wise.
 
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Almantas

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Thanks a lot for your input guys!

I'll address each of you individually below.

@Bearcorp I think there's an opportunity for scaling this business. TBH, I think I am somewhat bored (as strange as it sounds) running this show. But then again, maybe I need to pimp it up a bit and the experience will change? I think I will concentrate on shaping this business while testing other ventures that offer more automation opportunity and see where it brings me.

@Bekit TBH at the moment this is just a JOB and the price I am charging for projects wouldn't allow me to hire anyone. I think I will somewhat change the show I am running and probably hire someone anyways in the near future. I see how it goes when I put my biz dev hat on. As per taking care of myself, I think you provide the logical solution to my emotional reaction - I felt as if I had wasted a lot of time and therefore need to ignore self-care for now, which is totally irrational and self-destructive in long-term. I will take your advice into consideration as my current routine will most likely kill off my productivity and push me into depression again.

@lowtek I am in a similar boat like @Patrick Jones when it comes to burning through savings. I wouldn't say I am depressed - this would indicate feeling remorse for the past, I closed the previous chapter. Instead, I would be anxious AF if I had to live of savings (I suspect I have somewhat unhealthy attachment to money). As long as I have enough saved for a rainy day, I feel much more concentrated and less worried about what the future has to offer. I was thinking exactly that - balancing time between JOB/FASTLANE business while scaling both and seeing whether my FASTLANE business turns out a success, if not, I can test another idea - thinking about e-commerce as it provides abundant opportunity for testing various products, automating processes and scaling business. I am completely stuck...why? Because I can't answer to you nor to myself WHO I WANNA BE. As hard as I try, I don't know. I just want to have financial and spiritual freedom and be of service to others.

@Patrick Jones QUANTITY VS QUALITY. This is something I am obsessed about. I know there are multiple ways I can work less and produce more. I just got to find that way. I am still emotionally attached to an idea that the more you work the more you produce - which isn't necessary truth, especially when it comes to creative and analytical work.

@Danny Sullivan Thanks for your input, you have made a huge difference to the course of action I am about to take - $500 sent your way. Really appreciate it. Now, to the meat - I loved that you shared parts of this interesting book. You know what's interesting? I haven't read this book nor had I ever been exposed to similar idea. Instead, I had developed an image in my head - I see myself as a programmer that creates a computer code (habits, routines, diet, sport, etc.) and then steps into the virtual reality in order to experience entire change - by thinking like this I detach myself from ME without walking too far, I see ME as part of who I am but not entirely of who I am, if you get what I mean. All those emotions - I try to perceive them as not parts of me, but of that unique computer code I created and the part of process. If I surrender to emotions - I go back to a drawing board to change my code, I see it as a bug that has to be replaced and then repeat again.

As per root causes of problems. I had also tried this technique previously. As strange as it sounds - I am master at uncovering issues standing on my way and finding root cause of them. What I lack, however is discipline in executing necessary changes. When it comes to motivating and disciplining myself, I am at Level 1 and this frustrates me immensely.

The timetable you've created feels a lot more realistic and balanced than my current one. I am going to replace my timetable with your updated version and will keep in touch with you if you don't mind.

@Andy Black Thanks for contributing to this post! Growing is not an issue, an issue is with the dilemma whether to grow it further and try to scale it full-time or balance my time between 2 ventures. 2 venture is a lot more promising at this stage, so I have an itch to test it out. I am also interested in e-com and launching my own brand. So, I think splitting my time 40/60 at this stage is perfectly rational and when any of the tested ventures turns out a success, I can put my first business into maintenance mode or sell it entirely. Or to sum it up, I think I am bored with my JOB business and want to try something else without closing business and losing revenue stream. I think you're 100% right - this JOB business can be turned into FASTLANE business, I am probably too burned out and bored to realize this at the moment.

@RazorCut I think you are 100% right - I am bored of how I currently run JOB business. It looks like this - post stuff on Facebook once a day, reply to messages and complete projects and the cycle repeats. Anyways, I will probably scale it a bit and leave on a maintenance level so I can earn €500 or so a week and then concentrate my entire energy on testing various business ideas until something sticks - I have an idea of launching my own brand in the not so far future as well. To put it simply, my long-term goal is to have a semi-automated business and not a JOB that requires my constant presence to make money.

Now, this is going to sound super weird, but considering you put so much effort into replying to me, I will proceed. I have been raised by a single mother in Eastern European country on a VERY tight budget - I have been programmed to survive on a starvation mode, it's a second nature to me. I don't feel urge of buying a new phone, clothes or a car. Don't get me wrong, I do take care of myself and have branded clothes and a good looking car - I just try to look clean and presentable, but not to an extent I can't afford my lifestyle. I am great at taking care of what I have and am thankful for it all. Also, I live with my mother now and help her with covering expenses and driving to and back from work everyday, leaving her would put her in a very disadvantaged position and I consider it a betrayal considering she has raised me working in two jobs just to put food in my mouth. Plus, by living with her I can save a ton of money and time as she enjoys preparing me food when she prepares for herself and does other errands. She is extremely supportive and believes in me and constantly begs me to not surrender and keep pushing on my business ideas - she doesn't want me to live in a cubicle.

She is about to get a house and open her cleaning company sometime this year. She will then work locally, be able to cover rent without any issues and even increase her savings account. I just need to stay where I am for a bit longer, regardless of the fact that I feel somewhat ashamed of living with my mom at 26. Being here to support her financially and driving to and from work (takes 20 mins or so a day) I see as a duty and a favor I am obliged to return for her sacrifices giving me life and raising me. If I moved out, I would be living with random people and she would be paying €200 more rent and be walking to and from work in a rainy and windy conditions instead of enjoying a warm ride in a car.

Also, although I have received interest from multiple girls, I don't have a girlfriend. I don't want distractions as I want all time for myself in order to spend it on building a business. I know, it sounds weird, but it's who I am - I am more than willing to sacrifice all I got in order to support my mother and build a business that allows me to reach financial and spiritual freedom while being of service to others.

Sorry for a long post - had to vent!

It's 2am here in Ireland and my brain is about to go into sleep mode, so sorry for grammar errors. Literally have no energy to go over everything and proofread. As long as my message gets across, it's all what I want!

Good night!
 
Last edited:

RazorCut

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@Almantas you only have one mother. You are being a good son and that brings its own rewards. Total respect my friend.

Also I have 3 children living at home who are all in their 20's. The cost of property and the economic climate these days means many children don't fly the coup until much later. It is not something to be ashamed of.

You have the right mindset since you 'flipped it', and the ability to make it happen so I know you will succeed going forward. Looking forward to the next step in your journey.
 

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@Almantas First of all: Thanks for the rep! I think you beeing the programmer of you own code is vital to see things clearly. It's important - beeing able to detach you from yourself and see things as they are and not how they're supposed to be and be able to adjust and act accordingly.

What I lack, however is discipline in executing necessary changes. When it comes to motivating and disciplining myself, I am at Level 1 and this frustrates me immensely.

I do have the exact same problem. Most of the time i know what i should do in order to work on "what i want". After all (from your side of view) - that's what you programmed into your code and you want to see it work! But i tend to postpone things that really would move the needle (even if it's just a little bit), because there are always (easier) tasks that can be done, but ultimately mean nothing to very little. To stop myself from doing this, i put 1 large piece of paper right infront of my working space, the following writen on it with a red marker:

You cannot think or feel your way into the "doing part"!

You must ACT first!

You must DO THE BEHAVIOUR (whether you like it or not)!

Life is not happening to you - Life is responding to you.

That's something from out of this forum again and all credits should go to the one who wrote this (wish i had written down who it was from, so i could tag him / her).

It does not work 100% of the time, but i do see improvements overall and it often gets me to do things, i'd otherwise postpone. Changing the habit (code).

...and will keep in touch with you if you don't mind.

I'm glad if i can be of any help and i certainly don't mind staying in touch!

Oh, and one addition to the timetable: Maybe you want to switch the working stuff around - i don't know about you but i'm more creative and productive early in the day and tend to have an easier time if i do "routine-stuff" in the evening.

8:00 - 14:00 Working on a FASTLANE business
(+1 hour to get some delicious food - again: take your time for eating, it's important)
14:10 - 21:00 Working on building A JOB business - finishing orders and advertising mainly
(+1 hour - again food!)

Best of luck to you!
 
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Last edited:

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Timmy C

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Thanks a lot for your input guys!

I'll address each of you individually below.

@Bearcorp I think there's an opportunity for scaling this business. TBH, I think I am somewhat bored (as strange as it sounds) running this show. But then again, maybe I need to pimp it up a bit and the experience will change? I think I will concentrate on shaping this business while testing other ventures that offer more automation opportunity and see where it brings me.

@Bekit TBH at the moment this is just a JOB and the price I am charging for projects wouldn't allow me to hire anyone. I think I will somewhat change the show I am running and probably hire someone anyways in the near future. I see how it goes when I put my biz dev hat on. As per taking care of myself, I think you provide the logical solution to my emotional reaction - I felt as if I had wasted a lot of time and therefore need to ignore self-care for now, which is totally irrational and self-destructive in long-term. I will take your advice into consideration as my current routine will most likely kill off my productivity and push me into depression again.

@lowtek I am in a similar boat like @Patrick Jones when it comes to burning through savings. I wouldn't say I am depressed - this would indicate feeling remorse for the past, I closed the previous chapter. Instead, I would be anxious AF if I had to live of savings (I suspect I have somewhat unhealthy attachment to money). As long as I have enough saved for a rainy day, I feel much more concentrated and less worried about what the future has to offer. I was thinking exactly that - balancing time between JOB/FASTLANE business while scaling both and seeing whether my FASTLANE business turns out a success, if not, I can test another idea - thinking about e-commerce as it provides abundant opportunity for testing various products, automating processes and scaling business. I am completely stuck...why? Because I can't answer to you nor to myself WHO I WANNA BE. As hard as I try, I don't know. I just want to have financial and spiritual freedom and be of service to others.

@Patrick Jones QUANTITY VS QUALITY. This is something I am obsessed about. I know there are multiple ways I can work less and produce more. I just got to find that way. I am still emotionally attached to an idea that the more you work the more you produce - which isn't necessary truth, especially when it comes to creative and analytical work.

@Danny Sullivan Thanks for your input, you have made a huge difference to the course of action I am about to take - $500 sent your way. Really appreciate it. Now, to the meat - I loved that you shared parts of this interesting book. You know what's interesting? I haven't read this book nor had I ever been exposed to similar idea. Instead, I had developed an image in my head - I see myself as a programmer that creates a computer code (habits, routines, diet, sport, etc.) and then steps into the virtual reality in order to experience entire change - by thinking like this I detach myself from ME without walking too far, I see ME as part of who I am but not entirely of who I am, if you get what I mean. All those emotions - I try to perceive them as not parts of me, but of that unique computer code I created and the part of process. If I surrender to emotions - I go back to a drawing board to change my code, I see it as a bug that has to be replaced and then repeat again.

As per root causes of problems. I had also tried this technique previously. As strange as it sounds - I am master at uncovering issues standing on my way and finding root cause of them. What I lack, however is discipline in executing necessary changes. When it comes to motivating and disciplining myself, I am at Level 1 and this frustrates me immensely.

The timetable you've created feels a lot more realistic and balanced than my current one. I am going to replace my timetable with your updated version and will keep in touch with you if you don't mind.

@Andy Black Thanks for contributing to this post! Growing is not an issue, an issue is with the dilemma whether to grow it further and try to scale it full-time or balance my time between 2 ventures. 2 venture is a lot more promising at this stage, so I have an itch to test it out. I am also interested in e-com and launching my own brand. So, I think splitting my time 40/60 at this stage is perfectly rational and when any of the tested ventures turns out a success, I can put my first business into maintenance mode or sell it entirely. Or to sum it up, I think I am bored with my JOB business and want to try something else without closing business and losing revenue stream. I think you're 100% right - this JOB business can be turned into FASTLANE business, I am probably too burned out and bored to realize this at the moment.

@RazorCut I think you are 100% right - I am bored of how I currently run JOB business. It looks like this - post stuff on Facebook once a day, reply to messages and complete projects and the cycle repeats. Anyways, I will probably scale it a bit and leave on a maintenance level so I can earn €500 or so a week and then concentrate my entire energy on testing various business ideas until something sticks - I have an idea of launching my own brand in the not so far future as well. To put it simply, my long-term goal is to have a semi-automated business and not a JOB that requires my constant presence to make money.

Now, this is going to sound super weird, but considering you put so much effort into replying to me, I will proceed. I have been raised by a single mother in Eastern European country on a VERY tight budget - I have been programmed to survive on a starvation mode, it's a second nature to me. I don't feel urge of buying a new phone, clothes or a car. Don't get me wrong, I do take care of myself and have branded clothes and a good looking car - I just try to look clean and presentable, but not to an extent I can't afford my lifestyle. I am great at taking care of what I have and am thankful for it all. Also, I live with my mother now and help her with covering expenses and driving to and back from work everyday, leaving her would put her in a very disadvantaged position and I consider it a betrayal considering she has raised me working in two jobs just to put food in my mouth. Plus, by living with her I can save a ton of money and time as she enjoys preparing me food when she prepares for herself and does other errands. She is extremely supportive and believes in me and constantly begs me to not surrender and keep pushing on my business ideas - she doesn't want me to live in a cubicle.

She is about to get a house and open her cleaning company sometime this year. She will then work locally, be able to cover rent without any issues and even increase her savings account. I just need to stay where I am for a bit longer, regardless of the fact that I feel somewhat ashamed of living with my mom at 26. Being here to support her financially and driving to and from work (takes 20 mins or so a day) I see as a duty and a favor I am obliged to return for her sacrifices giving me life and raising me. If I moved out, I would be living with random people and she would be paying €200 more rent and be walking to and from work in a rainy and windy conditions instead of enjoying a warm ride in a car.

Also, although I have received interest from multiple girls, I don't have a girlfriend. I don't want distractions as I want all time for myself in order to spend it on building a business. I know, it sounds weird, but it's who I am - I am more than willing to sacrifice all I got in order to support my mother and build a business that allows me to reach financial and spiritual freedom while being of service to others.

Sorry for a long post - had to vent!

It's 2am here in Ireland and my brain is about to go into sleep mode, so sorry for grammar errors. Literally have no energy to go over everything and proofread. As long as my message gets across, it's all what I want!

Good night!

You have nothing to be ashamed about!

Your not a mooch, your helping your mum much respect.
 

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@Bearcorp I think there's an opportunity for scaling this business. TBH, I think I am somewhat bored (as strange as it sounds) running this show. But then again, maybe I need to pimp it up a bit and the experience will change? I think I will concentrate on shaping this business while testing other ventures that offer more automation opportunity and see where it brings me.


@RazorCut I think you are 100% right - I am bored of how I currently run JOB business. It looks like this - post stuff on Facebook once a day, reply to messages and complete projects and the cycle repeats. Anyways, I will probably scale it a bit and leave on a maintenance level so I can earn €500 or so a week and then concentrate my entire energy on testing various business ideas until something sticks - I have an idea of launching my own brand in the not so far future as well. To put it simply, my long-term goal is to have a semi-automated business and not a JOB that requires my constant presence to make money.


Good night!

Building something massive can be boring and mundane in the day to day grind, you have to look at the big picture.
For me personally, my day to day "grind" can be boring, if not painful. But it wont always be that way. Think Big! An empire has to start somewhere.
Anyway you have a bunch for stuff to process and work though now, make sure you look after yourself, Richard Branson only did a social media post yesterday saying;

"I've always been a believer the fitter you are and the more time you find to look after yourself, the more time you'll have for everyone else".

Well done for looking after your Mum, and call me a pessimist but avoid having girlfriends as long as you can! I say that as someone my mates would describe as a "nester" I've hardly been single in my adult life, and while I'm on a winner now, it took many years and countless dollars getting here!
 
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