Ask 8-figure business owners for personalized advice!

[biophase]

Great advice. The only thing I would differ with is that I don't personally think your last paragraph is as big of a deal. I think the person funding availability should dictate their actions in this regard. Obviously going all in is the most effective way of doing things. But if you don't have alot of funds but you do have time, doing a low quantity is still effective. Selling just one while breaking even in PPC is already a huge positive signal versus not even being able to sell one.

I was under the impression that he was going to list his product without actually even having one and then cancelling it.

The problem is you have a test with a data set of 1. Personally, that would not make me feel any more comfortable in placing a $3000 order. I think I'd have to set the quantity at 10 at least.

 

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[biophase]

Try it yourself.

Make 2 instagram/facebook accounts and follow 30 people including one of your accounts.

Post something on one account and log into the other. Does it show up on your feed then? Or maybe 3 hours later? Or maybe next day/week?

I think that is a simplistic and straight forward way of looking at FB or IG. I'm saying that the OP of this issue doesn't have funds to run PPC. What he probably has is time. You can participate on them, make content, make connections and start dialogs at the cost of time only. I would not just start an IG account and make posts. I would interact and try to get someone else with a bigger account to talk about my product.

 

[NeoDialectic]

that would be extremely valuable to many many people here

As promised, I have made a post here addressing your questions and recommendations. So far I only covered the Idea generation part. I went through the entire process already and took notes along the way. So I was going to cover it all at once in the first post, but it took an insanely long time to write out just the idea generation portion into coherent sentences. So I'll wait and see if people actually get some value from my post before dedicating time writing the rest and adding it to the thread (kinda like testing the market before investing more, eh. /dad joke).

 

[Taktik]

Hello @NeoDialectic ,

thank you for giving away your valuable time to help others. I would love to get some advice from you about my situation.

The thing is that I have been trying to start a company for about eight years now. The only time it really worked out was with an Amazon FBA business I ran with a partner and we were actually quite successful. We closed the company in the fall of 2018 for different reasons and since then I've been trying unsuccessfully to start another company in a different field. As it turns out, I have extreme mindset issues, which is why I always switch to a new idea when things get serious.

I'm wondering if I shouldn't go back to the one thing that ever worked - that is, selling products via Amazon FBA. We only resold products from existing brands back then. This time around, I would focus on offering my own products and, if they are successful, over time try to become more independent of Amazon and gain more control. I just wonder if FBA is even a good idea today though. The competition is certainly tougher than it was four years ago, I suppose.

What do you think about that?
Thanks.

 

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[watchopt]

Hello and thank you for this.
I am wondering about your experiences with the: the rub and iteration.

I spend to much time in the 'forward looking' realm. "Just doing it" or getting to work is so covered up by my forward looking habit. What a market opportunity? lol

Considering the world has gone flat, meaning the whole world has the tools and skills (gaining) to do what you are sharing about here, my question is: How close do you think we are to automating (with some man power) the idea generation/rub/interation components of product development?

If you can answer that, also what do you think is holding the world back? I mean look at Tesla's attempt to make a mold for the vehicles.

 

[mikecarlooch]

Tiktok.. yes, maybe.

The rest are pay to play mostly. Especially since not even your followers see your posts.

Organic Traffic on YouTube and Instagram are still here, don't neglect them. Instagram reels is here and it's booming if you can make the correct content for it.

For YouTube, download VIDIQ. This allows you to find keywords that are being searched a lot but not much competition. If you can find these keywords in your niche, YouTube will award you with organic traffic assuming you have a good video.

 

[Two Dog]

Hello and thank you for this.
I am wondering about your experiences with the: the rub and iteration.

I spend to much time in the 'forward looking' realm. "Just doing it" or getting to work is so covered up by my forward looking habit. What a market opportunity? lol

Considering the world has gone flat, meaning the whole world has the tools and skills (gaining) to do what you are sharing about here, my question is: How close do you think we are to automating (with some man power) the idea generation/rub/interation components of product development?

If you can answer that, also what do you think is holding the world back? I mean look at Tesla's attempt to make a mold for the vehicles.

I've just been reading about AI content generation that's deemed pretty darn acceptable by the researchers.

Feed it some keywords for a topic and push the button. Let the entrepreneur-bot games begin.

 

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[watchopt]

I've just been reading about AI content generation that's deemed pretty darn acceptable by the researchers.

I gave it a go. Quite impressive. If you didn't know much about COPY (which I didn't), you will after you spend a few hours with this tool - hands-on-learning. This is definitely a good start with the building blocks, for more automation. Okay, back to this advice thread.

 

[arivera]

Una inquietud, tienen documentado (proceso) cómo hacer una investigación de mercado (para encontrar ideas de posibles problemas, necesidades u oportunidades), donde nos dicen cómo hacerlo y qué herramientas usar para ello.
Si es así, ¿podrías compartirlo?

PS /
Como bien has indicado tú y otros expertos, es fundamental partir de la mayor claridad tanto del mercado objetivo como de la necesidad/problema a resolver.
Sin una comprensión adecuada, las demás fases estarán viciadas, por lo que los resultados no serán los mejores.

Como indican, su mayor deseo es aportar, creo que profundizar en esta fase con herramientas y procesos sería un GRAN APORTE, ya que muchos expertos dicen que esto se debe hacer pero no enseñan CÓMO hacerlo.

 

[AristotlesPupil]

I was under the impression that he was going to list his product without actually even having one and then cancelling it.

The problem is you have a test with a data set of 1. Personally, that would not make me feel any more comfortable in placing a $3000 order. I think I'd have to set the quantity at 10 at least.

I'd say it depends how quick you got the sale. A trick you could do is post the product for sale on different exchanges/stores, and then you get to cancel the transaction once on each platform. You guys actually gave me this idea while reading this thread.

Ex:
- post on Amazon;
- post on Ebay;
- post on Etsy;
- post on Craigslist;
- post on FB Marketplace (might be trash, but I'd try anyway);
- post on local city online stores (ex where I live we have "Kijiji" which is immensely popular);
- etc.

This helps you have a sample size larger than 1. That would also possibly give you an idea of what platforms your ideal customer uses, depending on how long it takes to get a sale on each. If it takes half a day to get a sale on a Etsy, but takes a full 7 days to sell on Ebay, then maybe it can mean something about your ideal customer. Obviously you would need a bigger sample size, but at least you could validate using multiple fake sales/cancellations and then actually order samples, and then go on for a full batch.

 

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[hustlebear]

Any advice on how to find more niche suppliers? Looking to source sustainable products (upcycled plastic, biodegradable etc) in the pet industry. Having difficulties with Alibaba suppliers at the moment as they dont use the specific materials i want.

 

[Two Dog]

I gave it a go. Quite impressive. If you didn't know much about COPY (which I didn't), you will after you spend a few hours with this tool - hands-on-learning. This is definitely a good start with the building blocks, for more automation. Okay, back to this advice thread.

How? I'd love to see some content.

 

[NeoDialectic]

Any advice on how to find more niche suppliers? Looking to source sustainable products (upcycled plastic, biodegradable etc) in the pet industry. Having difficulties with Alibaba suppliers at the moment as they dont use the specific materials i want.

You may find more willing suppliers in the USA. Obviously that will raise costs, but if you are doing sustainable type advertising you are targeting people that will not necessarily be frightened by higher prices. So you can pass those costs on.

 

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[Djioul]

Hi @NeoDialectic,

Many thanks for your last posts and threads. Tons of value provided there.

I've got one question about idea validation.
I have an idea of a product coming from a struggle that I personnally have. I am now making some research using the framework that you provided on one of your other threads.
I have been making a few hours of research now and I don't find any product which could solve my problem -> very good.
But I also don't find any person complaining about this particular problem... I've made most of my researches in French but still.

My concern is to know if there is a real need to solve this problem. Do you have some advices on how to validate this idea ?

 

[NeoDialectic]

Hi @NeoDialectic,

Many thanks for your last posts and threads. Tons of value provided there.

I've got one question about idea validation.
I have an idea of a product coming from a struggle that I personnally have. I am now making some research using the framework that you provided on one of your other threads.
I have been making a few hours of research now and I don't find any product which could solve my problem -> very good.
But I also don't find any person complaining about this particular problem... I've made most of my researches in French but still.

My concern is to know if there is a real need to solve this problem. Do you have some advices on how to validate this idea ?

It's hard to be definitive considering the vagueness of your question. I don't think that the fact that you can't find people complaining about it, definitively means that it doesn't have a market.

For example, let's say you are looking for t-shirts with dinosaurs on them and can't find any anywhere. I doubt that you would find places that people complain about a lack of dinosaur t-shirts. It may just be difficult to find a place that would facilitate people peoples complaints about this (dinosaur enthusiast forums?). However I am also sure other people do want t-shirts with dinosaurs on them!

One other thing I would try is try to find a forums/reddits/facebook groups/etc where you imagine a person with this issue would hang out. Then YOU instigate a thread on it. So based on my last example, go to an archeological forum and just make a thread asking where you can get dinosaur t-shirts or why no one makes them. You will either get crickets, or you will hear from your future customers haha.

One thing I have very limited experience in is international markets. I have sold thousands of products worldwide, but it was as a happy byproduct of USA based research. So for example, I don't know how powerful or useful French google is or how prolific forums are in French.

 

[Phil Phil]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask about such a matter, but..

I'm struggling with big-numbers-business-thinking. The thing is, I've worked as a part-timer/freelancer for a few years, and over the last two years I've switched to a style where I co-own two businesses where I'm slightly involved in management (who doesn't), but for the 99% of operations we got people hired, and I also have my small thing here where I'm still involved in terms of working hours, but I also hire staff to take some of those hours off of me, and I'm gradually increasing staff hours.

The thing is, now the style of working is different, but my income is the same as before. All these businesses are service-type, so most of the revenue goes back into paying rent, salaries etc.. I feel like If I want to make good money, I'll have to provide service for the whole town. I'm struggling with breaking away from business patterns where my margin is just a tiny fraction. I'm pretty sure that there are opportunities even within what I'm doing now, but I just can't see them yet.

 

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[door123]

I have pet(cat) product that I created from scratch that I sell on AMZ about ~4 units a day. It's has a fairly wide consumer appeal, something like medicated cat shampoo - my value skew is better ingredients, eco packaging

I know you mentioned you only deal with products that are priced at 10X+ the manufacturing cost.
Based on the numbers would you scale this 1 product/brand that I started recently?

If yes, how would you do finance the growth if you didn't have much capital to invest, like nothing over $5K? I am assuming you needs at least $10K investment for inventory and marketing.

My AMZ numbers
10% of my sales are from repeat customers 1st quarter of 2022
YTD units sold 630
Reviews 87,
Sell for $19.95
Current Cost to manufacture in US total $5.5 (currently doing 1500 runs), I could potentially manufacture in China for $1.750 FOB at a 3K run, (quoted by supplier), shipping an 8 oz bottle of cat water
Sell for $19.95
Avg CPCs less than a dollar on Amazon, for search and product placement
Spent $297 on AMZ ppc and generated $981 in Revenue, turned on PPC in the latter part of 2022
1300 units in stock

What have I done so far? nothing really, just reordering more units and amz ppc

 

[Djioul]

For example, let's say you are looking for t-shirts with dinosaurs on them and can't find any anywhere. I doubt that you would find places that people complain about a lack of dinosaur t-shirts. It may just be difficult to find a place that would facilitate people peoples complaints about this (dinosaur enthusiast forums?). However I am also sure other people do want t-shirts with dinosaurs on them!

I see what you mean. I've made 3-4 hours of research and only found a few people complaining about the same issue that I have. It was on specialized forums and around the 2010's...
But I am pretty sure that I am not the only one who faces this kind of troubles and so far, I did not find any product solving the problem (which is very surprising to me). This makes me ask myself if there is a real need on the market for the improvement I would propose.

One other thing I would try is try to find a forums/reddits/facebook groups/etc where you imagine a person with this issue would hang out. Then YOU instigate a thread on it. So based on my last example, go to an archeological forum and just make a thread asking where you can get dinosaur t-shirts or why no one makes them. You will either get crickets, or you will hear from your future customers haha.

I was thinking to use this kind of trick. Thanks.
I now have to find the good places to put my question.

One thing I have very limited experience in is international markets. I have sold thousands of products worldwide, but it was as a happy byproduct of USA based research. So for example, I don't know how powerful or useful French google is or how prolific forums are in French.

French Google is probably as powerful as in the US. But it is also true that the content is probably different than in the US.
For example, forums are not a thing anymore in France, except for very specific niches. That's why, all the answers I found on forums were from the 2010's. At that time, people still used to go on forums. It's not the case anymore.
FB Groups are more prolific now, si I'll keep investigating there.

But I also did my researches in English and German. Also there, I found some stuff but not so many. Maybe it is also the market which I'm targeting which is old-fashioned...

 

[Leizer]

My business partner and I recently sold our successful online business for 8 figures. You can see @fastlane_dad intro page here, and mine here. We have had businesses in alot of categories, but have limited experience in old fashion "shaking hands" type businesses. Our primary expertise is online sales, marketing, marketplaces like Amazon (and others), bootstrapping, and mindset. One way we want to give back to the community is by guiding people that are still on their entrepreneurship path.

We figured one of the more impactful ways we can do it is by answering peoples questions publically versus in DM's or personal consultations. So if you want our opinion/advice about your personal situation, we will be happy to read through your questions and give you a personalized answer. But it has to be public. That way everyone can read and discuss our answers. If we don't have experience in a topic, we will let you know.

Thank you for offering!

I have a few questions if you don't mind:

1- I want to start my product idea. (Currently I'm in the design process)
I usually try to get some validation about my product so I don't go and waste too much money. After some research, I found My product online. Someone had invented it 2 years before. EXACTLY the same product.
He raised half a million dollars on Kickstarter and later got a deal on Shark tank Australia. At first I was devastated, but then I realized I can still make it by changing it up a bit and solving the same problem in a slightly different way.

I read all the reviews from Kickstarter (People were very upset as he did a crappy job with manufacturing, very cheaply done) SO MY QUESTION, even though this product is not selling anywhere, is it safe for me to consider this proof of concept?
And if yes, how would you advise to go ahead once I have a final product?

The way I see it there are 2 ways: 1 way to start slow create some ads myself and see if I get traction with sales then I take it up a gear or 2
OR, I can go bigger and pay to create a good high quality video for my ads and really go for it (Definitely I lean towards this option, but I have lost money before on other product that never even made it to the market)

Last question is, what is your advise regarding business consultants? Especially for someone in my space (Product creation/Manufacturing/selling)

Thank you very much

 

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[NeoDialectic]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask about such a matter, but..

I'm struggling with big-numbers-business-thinking. The thing is, I've worked as a part-timer/freelancer for a few years, and over the last two years I've switched to a style where I co-own two businesses where I'm slightly involved in management (who doesn't), but for the 99% of operations we got people hired, and I also have my small thing here where I'm still involved in terms of working hours, but I also hire staff to take some of those hours off of me, and I'm gradually increasing staff hours.

The thing is, now the style of working is different, but my income is the same as before. All these businesses are service-type, so most of the revenue goes back into paying rent, salaries etc.. I feel like If I want to make good money, I'll have to provide service for the whole town. I'm struggling with breaking away from business patterns where my margin is just a tiny fraction. I'm pretty sure that there are opportunities even within what I'm doing now, but I just can't see them yet.

Services can be very lucrative, just as slim margins can be very lucrative. If you want to make alot of money with those models you need to run large operations. There are plenty of companies making millions but only making scraps on each sale. They are just selling millions of units.

I think you know the answer, you just don't want to invest the mental energy into fixing it. you either need to keep the type of businesses you are running but changes something (like drastically increasing prices or drastically increasing reach), or you need to change to a different business.

If you already have customers... sometimes just talking to them could give you new ideas. It may sound awkward if you aren't the talkative type, but you could literally just ask your questions "hey, I know you let us do X for you. We are looking for more ways we can help our customers, do you have any suggestions on what other services you would like to see from us or what products you would like to see us sell?". You will get a ton of " i don't knows" and a ton of people with their own useless ideas... But you may find a diamond in the rough or a common thread in all the solicited advice. Then provide that value add to them and make sure to set this one up with healthy margins. There are PLENTY of companies that make nearly nothing on their main service/product and all of their millions on the addons.

 

[NeoDialectic]

I have pet(cat) product that I created from scratch that I sell on AMZ about ~4 units a day. It's has a fairly wide consumer appeal, something like medicated cat shampoo - my value skew is better ingredients, eco packaging

I know you mentioned you only deal with products that are priced at 10X+ the manufacturing cost.
Based on the numbers would you scale this 1 product/brand that I started recently?

If yes, how would you do finance the growth if you didn't have much capital to invest, like nothing over $5K? I am assuming you needs at least $10K investment for inventory and marketing.

My AMZ numbers
10% of my sales are from repeat customers 1st quarter of 2022
YTD units sold 630
Reviews 87,
Sell for $19.95
Current Cost to manufacture in US total $5.5 (currently doing 1500 runs), I could potentially manufacture in China for $1.750 FOB at a 3K run, (quoted by supplier), shipping an 8 oz bottle of cat water
Sell for $19.95
Avg CPCs less than a dollar on Amazon, for search and product placement
Spent $297 on AMZ ppc and generated $981 in Revenue, turned on PPC in the latter part of 2022
1300 units in stock

What have I done so far? nothing really, just reordering more units and amz ppc

Sounds like you have a good base to build a brand. The easiest way to add revenue to an existing product line for us was to add new products. The same customers that want your shampoo, also may want a conditioner to make their cat soft afterwards. But they may be concerned that they can't use anything after the shampoo without messing with the medicated shampoo. That's where you come in. Your Condition is advertised as SAFE to use without messing with the medication that is in your shampoo.... Maybe only 10% of customers will buy both, but thats another sale every 2 days just from existing buyers! That's not nothing and the best part hopefully you try to keep scaling the original product and as that one scales, so will your second item as a byproduct. It's not a guarantee, of course. But it's a good bet.

On the other hand, it does sound like most your effort should be focused on increasing sales. You have an already selling product, which is GREAT! Try to improve your listing. Add a video. Add a+ content. You already know this is a seller, so try other marketplaces. Shopify with PPC on google/yahoo, eBay, walmart.com, FB advertising, etc...

Don't be afraid to experiment with the price either. Change it to 24.95 for a few days. What did that do with sales? If it barely effected them, you just nearly doubled your profit. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't.

Personally, I wouldn't mess with trying to get it cheaper in China. The added profit on this level of sales isn't worth it and comes with it's own issues.

 

[NeoDialectic]

Thank you for offering!

I have a few questions if you don't mind:

1- I want to start my product idea. (Currently I'm in the design process)
I usually try to get some validation about my product so I don't go and waste too much money. After some research, I found My product online. Someone had invented it 2 years before. EXACTLY the same product.
He raised half a million dollars on Kickstarter and later got a deal on Shark tank Australia. At first I was devastated, but then I realized I can still make it by changing it up a bit and solving the same problem in a slightly different way.

I read all the reviews from Kickstarter (People were very upset as he did a crappy job with manufacturing, very cheaply done) SO MY QUESTION, even though this product is not selling anywhere, is it safe for me to consider this proof of concept?
And if yes, how would you advise to go ahead once I have a final product?

The way I see it there are 2 ways: 1 way to start slow create some ads myself and see if I get traction with sales then I take it up a gear or 2
OR, I can go bigger and pay to create a good high quality video for my ads and really go for it (Definitely I lean towards this option, but I have lost money before on other product that never even made it to the market)

Last question is, what is your advise regarding business consultants? Especially for someone in my space (Product creation/Manufacturing/selling)

Thank you very much

I have a whole thread on execution and HERE is the direct link to the testing portion.

I don't think someone else's success is a good proof of concept for your success. You need to know your spin on the product with your pictures, and your execution model is what drives the sales. Their sales may be all because the shark tank investors are driving traffic from their private sources and they don't get any sales from customers naturally. You can't know that isn't the case until you do your own tests.

With testing, unless you have alot of funds to blow, I always recommend starting with the lowest investment. That may mean creating ads yourself. If it doesn't work and you still believe in your product, you can scale spending from there and increase it to the bigger and better video.

As far as finding business consultants go, unfortunately I do not know enough about that topic to weigh in.

 

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[door123]

Sounds like you have a good base to build a brand. The easiest way to add revenue to an existing product line for us was to add new products. The same customers that want your shampoo, also may want a conditioner to make their cat soft afterwards. But they may be concerned that they can't use anything after the shampoo without messing with the medicated shampoo. That's where you come in. Your Condition is advertised as SAFE to use without messing with the medication that is in your shampoo.... Maybe only 10% of customers will buy both, but thats another sale every 2 days just from existing buyers! That's not nothing and the best part hopefully you try to keep scaling the original product and as that one scales, so will your second item as a byproduct. It's not a guarantee, of course. But it's a good bet.

On the other hand, it does sound like most your effort should be focused on increasing sales. You have an already selling product, which is GREAT! Try to improve your listing. Add a video. Add a+ content. You already know this is a seller, so try other marketplaces. Shopify with PPC on google/yahoo, eBay, walmart.com, FB advertising, etc...

Don't be afraid to experiment with the price either. Change it to 24.95 for a few days. What did that do with sales? If it barely effected them, you just nearly doubled your profit. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't.

Personally, I wouldn't mess with trying to get it cheaper in China. The added profit on this level of sales isn't worth it and comes with it's own issues.

Thank you, you'r very helpful! I was ready to close this SKU down this year.

Do you have any tips for getting your A+ Content approved?

- Increased the price and reapplied coupon that expired
- will add video
- will add a+ content (my content has been rejected 3x times)

 

[Danny_Cox]

My business partner and I recently sold our successful online business for 8 figures. You can see @fastlane_dad intro page here, and mine here. We have had businesses in alot of categories, but have limited experience in old fashion "shaking hands" type businesses. Our primary expertise is online sales, marketing, marketplaces like Amazon (and others), bootstrapping, and mindset. One way we want to give back to the community is by guiding people that are still on their entrepreneurship path.

We figured one of the more impactful ways we can do it is by answering peoples questions publically versus in DM's or personal consultations. So if you want our opinion/advice about your personal situation, we will be happy to read through your questions and give you a personalized answer. But it has to be public. That way everyone can read and discuss our answers. If we don't have experience in a topic, we will let you know.

Thanks for sharing your time! Was there a moment for you when you realised that you'd escaped the rat race? If so, what was that like? (Working on visualising this for myself as motivation.)

 

[NeoDialectic]

Thank you, you'r very helpful! I was ready to close this SKU down this year.

Do you have any tips for getting your A+ Content approved?

- Increased the price and reapplied coupon that expired
- will add video
- will add a+ content (my content has been rejected 3x times)

Just wondering why you were going to close down the listing? Sometimes it IS worth closing businesses or profitable business down. For example if the liability isn't worth it or if you are killing it elsewhere and this small stream of profit is taking a disproportionate amount of headspace and maybe even taking away from the big streams. But if you don't have alot else going on, why close it? Sounds like it has been mostly autopilot so its an extra $x,xxx a month. A ton of money? No. But that takes care of a theoretical car payment, while you are focusing on finding bigger income streams! Atleast, that's the way we always looked at it.

As far as the a+ content....What specifically did they give for the rejection reason? Sometimes it is as easy as fixing their complaint. Other times they are super vague (I am guessing this is your issue.) If you have tried a bunch of things, I would call them. They are usually relatively unhelpful over the phone. However they can usually open cases that reach departments that will clarify what the issue is. That isn't always the golden bullet, but it can get you in the right direction.

 

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[NeoDialectic]

Thanks for sharing your time! Was there a moment for you when you realised that you'd escaped the rat race? If so, what was that like? (Working on visualising this for myself as motivation.)

It's a difficult question to give an exact answer to. Partially because it probably has more to do with my mindset at each "era" and the surrounding environment.

The most rich I have ever felt was probably when I started making 100k-200k a year during my first venture as an 18yr old. Before that I was hustling in restaurants working 20-40hr weeks during school, to make comparatively spare change. Being young and coming from a middle class immigrant family, it felt like I was printing money. This was in a midwest town where I only saw one lamborghini in my entire life up to then. It was also before the age of instagram where everyone logs on and is spam blasted with insanely wealthy people. I'm not sure if I felt like I totally escaped the rat race there as I knew it could all come crashing down and I would be back to making 0. But with the amount I saved up, I was confident that I could live on it for years to come and that I could find something new during those years. I felt like I should blow through stop signs to save time because any tickets I got would be worth the cost just so I could get back to working. "Opportunity cost" and all. I didn't actually do that. But taking my thinking brain out of it, it felt like the financially right thing to do. If that's not feeling like you have "f you money", I don't know what is. Boy do I enjoy looking back and chuckling at myself from those times.

Form there on in, there were alot of "ups" and "downs". Which culminated in this last major "up" that puts to shame anything I did at 18. But even then, I'm not sure if I ever captured the same feeling again. It's the feeling that I believe most aspiring entrepreneurs are chasing. It's like the cocaine side of success. But then what happened is I grew up. Planning for "myself living well the next few years", turned into "planning for my wife and I to live well for years", to "planning for my wife, I and kids to live well for years", to the final "planning for my family living a good lifestyle without the requirement of work for the rest of my years (barring the edge scenarios like the collapse of the USA)". My business sale successfully achieved that last goal. So while I think most are talking about the hit of cocaine, I would currently define escaping the rat race to be this last mile marker I hit.

But even then.... I'm not sure. I am only able to confidently live a reasonably well off lifestyle without working. I still find myself at work to this day. Is it much more "labor of love" focused now? The answer would be a resounding yes. But sure still feels familiar to the rat race.

 

[Danny_Cox]

It's a difficult question to give an exact answer to. Partially because it probably has more to do with my mindset at each "era" and the surrounding environment.

The most rich I have ever felt was probably when I started making 100k-200k a year during my first venture as an 18yr old. Before that I was hustling in restaurants working 20-40hr weeks during school, to make comparatively spare change. Being young and coming from a middle class immigrant family, it felt like I was printing money. This was in a midwest town where I only saw one lamborghini in my entire life up to then. It was also before the age of instagram where everyone logs on and is spam blasted with insanely wealthy people. I'm not sure if I felt like I totally escaped the rat race there as I knew it could all come crashing down and I would be back to making 0. But with the amount I saved up, I was confident that I could live on it for years to come and that I could find something new during those years. I felt like I should blow through stop signs to save time because any tickets I got would be worth the cost just so I could get back to working. "Opportunity cost" and all. I didn't actually do that. But taking my thinking brain out of it, it felt like the financially right thing to do. If that's not feeling like you have "f you money", I don't know what is. Boy do I enjoy looking back and chuckling at myself from those times.

Form there on in, there were alot of "ups" and "downs". Which culminated in this last major "up" that puts to shame anything I did at 18. But even then, I'm not sure if I ever captured the same feeling again. It's the feeling that I believe most aspiring entrepreneurs are chasing. It's like the cocaine side of success. But then what happened is I grew up. Planning for "myself living well the next few years", turned into "planning for my wife and I to live well for years", to "planning for my wife, I and kids to live well for years", to the final "planning for my family living a good lifestyle without the requirement of work for the rest of my years (barring the edge scenarios like the collapse of the USA)". My business sale successfully achieved that last goal. So while I think most are talking about the hit of cocaine, I would currently define escaping the rat race to be this last mile marker I hit.

But even then.... I'm not sure. I am only able to confidently live a reasonably well off lifestyle without working. I still find myself at work to this day. Is it much more "labor of love" focused now? The answer would be a resounding yes. But sure still feels familiar to the rat race.

Very interesting. Thanks for responding so thoroughly. It really is all in the mind—cool to have that confirmed from someone who won the money game.

 

[Zahida A. Khan]

One way we want to give back to the community is by guiding people that are still on their entrepreneurship path.

What a wonderful mission!!

I need to do this

I need to follow your lead

 

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[James Mayhew]

Still very much in the idea/design stage, but I'm thinking of a design of mens underwear - specifically seamless ones (I find them irritating), since most are not, and even ones which say they are, are not...
The main doubt I am having is about how much it would really be wanted, since I'm more fussy about the comfort than most. However, I think that if people were to try it, they would feel how much more comfortable it would feel, and perhaps a productocracy could be generated from them telling others about it. I think this could have a lot of potential considering how important the comfort is for most, but it's whether most would currently really care about it enough to switch to a different product - it is a very crowded market in mens underwear.
So the main issue I think is about the total addressable market - which I am currently investigating.
Do you have any other points of view on this?
Thanks!

 

[woken]

Still very much in the idea/design stage, but I'm thinking of a design of mens underwear - specifically seamless ones (I find them irritating), since most are not, and even ones which say they are, are not...
The main doubt I am having is about how much it would really be wanted, since I'm more fussy about the comfort than most. However, I think that if people were to try it, they would feel how much more comfortable it would feel, and perhaps a productocracy could be generated from them telling others about it. I think this could have a lot of potential considering how important the comfort is for most, but it's whether most would currently really care about it enough to switch to a different product - it is a very crowded market in mens underwear.
So the main issue I think is about the total addressable market - which I am currently investigating.
Do you have any other points of view on this?
Thanks!

Check uniqlo’s airism underwear.



When it comes to this we’re biased. We tend to overlook that other brands are already doing this.


( You can’t find seamless underwear on Google, right? )