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- Jan 18, 2021
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Hey Everyone,
My name's Eric, and I'm here after reality kicked me in the a$$.
You'll notice my tag is DukeArcher, the alias I used to write my first four books for Kindle. MJ changed my life with the Millionaire Fastlane , but just like a stubborn kid, I heard the advice but I never really listened. Instead of 'Get Rich Quick' I looked for 'Get Rich Easy'. That started with the filing of an LLC, a shopify store I planned on using to drop-ship animal crap right off of Alibab...right, who doesn't love spending money on their pets? Next came the creation of all the social media accounts, all kinds of marketing materials made on canva, 10x volumes of posting on social media. After using an extension on Shopify to click which products would make me millions, I paid a better entrepreneur than me to create a logo, another to write product descriptions...it was all crap. After pumping hundreds into FB ads, and only a handful of site visits, leading to zero products placed in the cart...I decided it wasn't going to work and shuttered the site.
But, I'm not one to give up, so I decided that I'd make thousands off of eBook publishing, after-all I like to write decently enough, and have the commitment to see it through the writers blocks. 3 weeks later, I had my first book written, with a Fiverr created cover that I'd later see near copies of all over the niche. I'm embarrassed looking back at it, but I wrote on the topic of passive income generation through writing...I thought I could add value for my readers (FINALLY, I was looking to do something right) by writing the book and commentating along with "my journey" at the end of each chapter, hopefully inspiring other new authors that if I could put that book in their hands, they too could write their first book. The problem was, I didn't truly believe in the value I was providing, so I set the book aside for 6 months, only deciding to finally publish it the day before my 30th birthday, shortly after finishing my first read of Unscripted . The book has done okay, especially on the free marketplace (grin). But it didn't take long to realize the half-baked value proposition wasn't leading to any profit. I could spend nothing on advertising and make $20-30/month, or advertise and lose money.
The pandemic launched my ambitious streak again, and I started work toward my doctorate (100% a personal goal that I'm only paying for in cash and time). But the Unscripted lifestyle has had too great of a pull, so I'm coming back to do things the right way.
I will have an uphill battle, I know I'll be tempted to get lost in the learning, without taking action. Thankfully, it's a battle I'm excited to jump into. Keeping the DukeArcher tag will both encourage me to reflect back on my past failures, but also inspire me to do more. I have a great 9-5 working for a top consulting firm, bringing in 6-figures and rarely working over 40 hours a week. But I'm the heir apparent to another $20,000-30,000 raise that will take me over the tipping point of not having the freedom to pursue the Unscripted lifestyle. My purpose here is to create value and influence lives. I know I need to learn how to recognize opportunity, and improve as a business operator.
Starting Point:
Game development: Having already dabbled in JavaScript and HTML, I would like to learn application development, so as a learning project (short-term Fastlane goal), I'll be creating a simple tower defense game that I'll sell on the app marketplaces and Steam. Simple concept, the animals have taken over the zoo, and are fighting back to keep the zoo keepers from taking back over. Every keeper beat drops food, food that the animals use for ammo. The novelty of the game will be cute animals, shooting their poop at the keepers. Value provided through entertainment. The potential to reach people is near limitless given the number of users that access games through those marketplaces. I lose some control by listing the game through their marketplaces, butI view this as acceptable risk given this is largely a learning exercise, as I overcome the barrier to entry through learning to code and produce a finished game product.
Mid-Term:
As a recent renter, I found the occupancy-based pricing not only to be incredibly frustrating, but also very hard to navigate. I would show up at a complex to meet with the leasing agent, and the $1500/mo unit was renting for $2000. The agents claimed as occupancy dropped, so did the pricing. Well I had no way to test that theory, nor was I able to monitor pricing over the period I was apartment hunting. I will create a SaaS platform for rental companies to list their openings along with real-time pricing based on their occupancy-based prices. I'll offer the service of calculating the occupancy-based prices, offering added value through market-driven information. Additionally, as users (renters) sign up, we'll perform the renter check and store the outcome to remove the need for potential rents to file an application for each complex they visit (value added to the user). From the user perspective, besides a more seamless application process, we'll provide a more transparent marketplace for renters to shop for their next home.
I'm currently working through the ideation stages of this project.
Finally, I wanted to say thank you to this community, and to MJ for the introduction. I look forward to hearing your stories.
My name's Eric, and I'm here after reality kicked me in the a$$.
You'll notice my tag is DukeArcher, the alias I used to write my first four books for Kindle. MJ changed my life with the Millionaire Fastlane , but just like a stubborn kid, I heard the advice but I never really listened. Instead of 'Get Rich Quick' I looked for 'Get Rich Easy'. That started with the filing of an LLC, a shopify store I planned on using to drop-ship animal crap right off of Alibab...right, who doesn't love spending money on their pets? Next came the creation of all the social media accounts, all kinds of marketing materials made on canva, 10x volumes of posting on social media. After using an extension on Shopify to click which products would make me millions, I paid a better entrepreneur than me to create a logo, another to write product descriptions...it was all crap. After pumping hundreds into FB ads, and only a handful of site visits, leading to zero products placed in the cart...I decided it wasn't going to work and shuttered the site.
But, I'm not one to give up, so I decided that I'd make thousands off of eBook publishing, after-all I like to write decently enough, and have the commitment to see it through the writers blocks. 3 weeks later, I had my first book written, with a Fiverr created cover that I'd later see near copies of all over the niche. I'm embarrassed looking back at it, but I wrote on the topic of passive income generation through writing...I thought I could add value for my readers (FINALLY, I was looking to do something right) by writing the book and commentating along with "my journey" at the end of each chapter, hopefully inspiring other new authors that if I could put that book in their hands, they too could write their first book. The problem was, I didn't truly believe in the value I was providing, so I set the book aside for 6 months, only deciding to finally publish it the day before my 30th birthday, shortly after finishing my first read of Unscripted . The book has done okay, especially on the free marketplace (grin). But it didn't take long to realize the half-baked value proposition wasn't leading to any profit. I could spend nothing on advertising and make $20-30/month, or advertise and lose money.
The pandemic launched my ambitious streak again, and I started work toward my doctorate (100% a personal goal that I'm only paying for in cash and time). But the Unscripted lifestyle has had too great of a pull, so I'm coming back to do things the right way.
I will have an uphill battle, I know I'll be tempted to get lost in the learning, without taking action. Thankfully, it's a battle I'm excited to jump into. Keeping the DukeArcher tag will both encourage me to reflect back on my past failures, but also inspire me to do more. I have a great 9-5 working for a top consulting firm, bringing in 6-figures and rarely working over 40 hours a week. But I'm the heir apparent to another $20,000-30,000 raise that will take me over the tipping point of not having the freedom to pursue the Unscripted lifestyle. My purpose here is to create value and influence lives. I know I need to learn how to recognize opportunity, and improve as a business operator.
Starting Point:
Game development: Having already dabbled in JavaScript and HTML, I would like to learn application development, so as a learning project (short-term Fastlane goal), I'll be creating a simple tower defense game that I'll sell on the app marketplaces and Steam. Simple concept, the animals have taken over the zoo, and are fighting back to keep the zoo keepers from taking back over. Every keeper beat drops food, food that the animals use for ammo. The novelty of the game will be cute animals, shooting their poop at the keepers. Value provided through entertainment. The potential to reach people is near limitless given the number of users that access games through those marketplaces. I lose some control by listing the game through their marketplaces, butI view this as acceptable risk given this is largely a learning exercise, as I overcome the barrier to entry through learning to code and produce a finished game product.
Mid-Term:
As a recent renter, I found the occupancy-based pricing not only to be incredibly frustrating, but also very hard to navigate. I would show up at a complex to meet with the leasing agent, and the $1500/mo unit was renting for $2000. The agents claimed as occupancy dropped, so did the pricing. Well I had no way to test that theory, nor was I able to monitor pricing over the period I was apartment hunting. I will create a SaaS platform for rental companies to list their openings along with real-time pricing based on their occupancy-based prices. I'll offer the service of calculating the occupancy-based prices, offering added value through market-driven information. Additionally, as users (renters) sign up, we'll perform the renter check and store the outcome to remove the need for potential rents to file an application for each complex they visit (value added to the user). From the user perspective, besides a more seamless application process, we'll provide a more transparent marketplace for renters to shop for their next home.
I'm currently working through the ideation stages of this project.
Finally, I wanted to say thank you to this community, and to MJ for the introduction. I look forward to hearing your stories.
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