Scope: for beginners in online business (ecommerce) without any coding knowledge OR any idea what direction to take.
**This is about building a website, not making money—(disclaimer) haven’t got their yet**
**Not using wordpress/related plugins**
INTRO:
**I’m a beginner in the fastlane and I’ll be asking a lot of questions on this forum. The least I can do is give back value from my learning experiences. I didn’t know how to code when I started (1.5 months ago). I put up a professional website in a short period of time while having my normal 40hr/week job.**
**Why you should learn code:
-You shouldn’t delegate something to others that you don’t already know how to do.
-If you have a website, you are going to need to make constant edits to it. Unless you own a company of 50+ people, you aren’t going to be able to afford to hire somebody to make these everyday changes. So if you are starting off, you need to at least know how to read code, and then you can delegate to somebody to do a few one-time coding jobs for you.
-If you can’t code, you will be limited to shopify and wordpress platforms. Wordpress is okay for landing pages/one time page email gatherers. ***
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<Short Version>
1-2 months: Create your offline website with the standard html/css/java. Think of website name, buy domain/host. Download free FTP software to transfer your code to the web address to make it public. Learn some php for emailing (if needed) and then outsource the rest of your php problems
2nd-3rd months: (no guide on this yet!) Pay for advertising; Build an email list; get affiliate permission; sell affiliate products through your email list (email marketing-cashflow business). For example, if somebody buys host gator web hosting through your link, you get $50-$100 bucks. Profit.
</Short Version>
<Long Version>
<Part 1> **Preparation to get started**
“The pressure to give up is greatest right before you succeed”
You won’t take action unless you create a sense of urgency. This is your first step.
How?
Make a one-year timeline. State each month how much money you want to make starting in your 2-3rd month (be aggressive). For example, 2 months from now make a goal to make 1000 from your new business in your first money making month. The next month, 2000. Third, 3000..and scale from there.
A lot of people here hate revenue goals and suggest objective goals only. They say “you should focus on helping people, not making money.” Well yeah, you need to be aware that solving problems generally makes money. Use the right balance. Seeing the money on the timeline will get your butt moving.
You’re running out of time already by reading this. READ FASTER.
You need to test your business idea to see if it’s worth pursuing in a matter of ~ 3 months. If you build a website, you at least have the skills to transfer it to a new idea if your first venture fails.
Put the revenue timeline where you will see it at night before bed and in the morning when you wake up. Review it every night and morning until it’s ingrained in your mind.
Your new business has to be the only thing on your mind. Otherwise, YOU WILL FAIL.
If you can’t get girls off your mind then go chase them until you are worn out. After, start your business. This is stressful. It is constant problem solving. You never know what will happen next. If you keep going something good will always happen.
2nd step:
Plan on putting in 20-30 hours a week on this (assuming you already have a 40 hr week job or other obligations). Everytime you work, CLOCK YOUR HOURS. Simply use your phone timer or download an app where you can keep a time log. It’ll take a few weeks to where you work a regular schedule and you know how much you are working. MAKE YOUR WORK SCHEDULE A ROUTINE. When you see the data it can motivate you. For example, one week I had to take a Saturday and most of Sunday off. I was pissed when I saw the time I put in for the week. The next week I had a breakthrough coding php.
Keeping track of data for everything you do is important. You can see trends, weaknesses, and then you can make easier decisions based off it. That’s why website owners use cookies to track who comes to the site, how often, purchasing history, etc.
Here is my data below. I was only putting in about 22 hours a week and I was still kicking butt. The main thing is that I worked every day, and when I did, it was in the morning where I worked the most efficient.
3rd step:
This is the most important. WAKE UP EARLY. Really early. If you work a normal job, you will be tired coming home. You won’t have your full focus and energy to devote to your business. This is crucial. Read Hal Elrod’s “Miracle Morning.” –popular book in this community.
I wake up at 4am to work on my website. I go to my normal job at 7:30am. I sleep at 9:00pm. 7 hours of sleep is good for me.
When you initially wake up, make sure you have to walk to get to your alarm. Pull out your smartphone and browse the web. You know how blue light suppresses your melatonin in your body which prevents you from sleeping well at night? Good! Use it in the morning to wake you up.
In the beginning I felt nauseous getting up. Literally. My body gradually adjusted.
Next, take a warm shower and drink caffeine. I like to use a pre-workout mix since its one quick gulp of caffeine. As soon as I drink it I get right to work. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Put in 2-3 hours in the morning Monday through Friday. Work 8 hours on Saturday and Sunday.
4th step: Isolation
“The more people you are obligated to, the harder it is to focus on yourself and figure things out.”
--Mark Cuban
If you have a wife and kids, that’s tough. Do what you can. Get advice from somebody in that situation. I’ve heard that as long as you do something each day (no matter how small), you will make good progress.
The absolute best case scenario (which I’m in) would be to move 5+ hours away from family so you don’t deal with “come watch your sister’s game tomorrow. Grandpa’s in town. Come eat with us. Go to church.” Stop hanging out with friends 6 out of 7 days of the week. Don’t go out to the bars, don’t party. I love to party but I’m sacrificing it for this and I love it.
Keeping a girlfriend is okay as long as she doesn’t take too much of your time. A girlfriend of mine is very respectful of what I’m doing. She comes over at the last two hours of the night on Friday and Saturday when I’m pooped. That’s ideal to keep me from going crazy.
**Don’t tell people what you are specifically doing. People will try to bring you down. When you have to come up with an answer of where you spend your time, just say you are taking some coding classes.
**A note about mentors:
-Don’t actively seek a mentor. You need to put in your own sweat equity. Nobody wants to hold your hand for free. It’s best to get advice from somebody who is one step ahead of you because they are fresh through the process you are in. Along the way, if you are working hard, you might meet people who like what you are doing and can give you advice like a mentor. However, don’t detract from what you are working on to work on somebody else’s dream. Don’t break the law of control. You might have to learn the hard way like I did.
-Paying for professional help is a great idea. If you want to be the best, pay the best.
</longversion>
</part1>
<part2> Making the website. I’ll post soon
**This is about building a website, not making money—(disclaimer) haven’t got their yet**
**Not using wordpress/related plugins**
INTRO:
**I’m a beginner in the fastlane and I’ll be asking a lot of questions on this forum. The least I can do is give back value from my learning experiences. I didn’t know how to code when I started (1.5 months ago). I put up a professional website in a short period of time while having my normal 40hr/week job.**
**Why you should learn code:
-You shouldn’t delegate something to others that you don’t already know how to do.
-If you have a website, you are going to need to make constant edits to it. Unless you own a company of 50+ people, you aren’t going to be able to afford to hire somebody to make these everyday changes. So if you are starting off, you need to at least know how to read code, and then you can delegate to somebody to do a few one-time coding jobs for you.
-If you can’t code, you will be limited to shopify and wordpress platforms. Wordpress is okay for landing pages/one time page email gatherers. ***
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<Short Version>
1-2 months: Create your offline website with the standard html/css/java. Think of website name, buy domain/host. Download free FTP software to transfer your code to the web address to make it public. Learn some php for emailing (if needed) and then outsource the rest of your php problems
2nd-3rd months: (no guide on this yet!) Pay for advertising; Build an email list; get affiliate permission; sell affiliate products through your email list (email marketing-cashflow business). For example, if somebody buys host gator web hosting through your link, you get $50-$100 bucks. Profit.
</Short Version>
<Long Version>
<Part 1> **Preparation to get started**
“The pressure to give up is greatest right before you succeed”
You won’t take action unless you create a sense of urgency. This is your first step.
How?
Make a one-year timeline. State each month how much money you want to make starting in your 2-3rd month (be aggressive). For example, 2 months from now make a goal to make 1000 from your new business in your first money making month. The next month, 2000. Third, 3000..and scale from there.
A lot of people here hate revenue goals and suggest objective goals only. They say “you should focus on helping people, not making money.” Well yeah, you need to be aware that solving problems generally makes money. Use the right balance. Seeing the money on the timeline will get your butt moving.
You’re running out of time already by reading this. READ FASTER.
You need to test your business idea to see if it’s worth pursuing in a matter of ~ 3 months. If you build a website, you at least have the skills to transfer it to a new idea if your first venture fails.
Put the revenue timeline where you will see it at night before bed and in the morning when you wake up. Review it every night and morning until it’s ingrained in your mind.
Your new business has to be the only thing on your mind. Otherwise, YOU WILL FAIL.
If you can’t get girls off your mind then go chase them until you are worn out. After, start your business. This is stressful. It is constant problem solving. You never know what will happen next. If you keep going something good will always happen.
2nd step:
Plan on putting in 20-30 hours a week on this (assuming you already have a 40 hr week job or other obligations). Everytime you work, CLOCK YOUR HOURS. Simply use your phone timer or download an app where you can keep a time log. It’ll take a few weeks to where you work a regular schedule and you know how much you are working. MAKE YOUR WORK SCHEDULE A ROUTINE. When you see the data it can motivate you. For example, one week I had to take a Saturday and most of Sunday off. I was pissed when I saw the time I put in for the week. The next week I had a breakthrough coding php.
Keeping track of data for everything you do is important. You can see trends, weaknesses, and then you can make easier decisions based off it. That’s why website owners use cookies to track who comes to the site, how often, purchasing history, etc.
Here is my data below. I was only putting in about 22 hours a week and I was still kicking butt. The main thing is that I worked every day, and when I did, it was in the morning where I worked the most efficient.
3rd step:
This is the most important. WAKE UP EARLY. Really early. If you work a normal job, you will be tired coming home. You won’t have your full focus and energy to devote to your business. This is crucial. Read Hal Elrod’s “Miracle Morning.” –popular book in this community.
I wake up at 4am to work on my website. I go to my normal job at 7:30am. I sleep at 9:00pm. 7 hours of sleep is good for me.
When you initially wake up, make sure you have to walk to get to your alarm. Pull out your smartphone and browse the web. You know how blue light suppresses your melatonin in your body which prevents you from sleeping well at night? Good! Use it in the morning to wake you up.
In the beginning I felt nauseous getting up. Literally. My body gradually adjusted.
Next, take a warm shower and drink caffeine. I like to use a pre-workout mix since its one quick gulp of caffeine. As soon as I drink it I get right to work. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Put in 2-3 hours in the morning Monday through Friday. Work 8 hours on Saturday and Sunday.
4th step: Isolation
“The more people you are obligated to, the harder it is to focus on yourself and figure things out.”
--Mark Cuban
If you have a wife and kids, that’s tough. Do what you can. Get advice from somebody in that situation. I’ve heard that as long as you do something each day (no matter how small), you will make good progress.
The absolute best case scenario (which I’m in) would be to move 5+ hours away from family so you don’t deal with “come watch your sister’s game tomorrow. Grandpa’s in town. Come eat with us. Go to church.” Stop hanging out with friends 6 out of 7 days of the week. Don’t go out to the bars, don’t party. I love to party but I’m sacrificing it for this and I love it.
Keeping a girlfriend is okay as long as she doesn’t take too much of your time. A girlfriend of mine is very respectful of what I’m doing. She comes over at the last two hours of the night on Friday and Saturday when I’m pooped. That’s ideal to keep me from going crazy.
**Don’t tell people what you are specifically doing. People will try to bring you down. When you have to come up with an answer of where you spend your time, just say you are taking some coding classes.
**A note about mentors:
-Don’t actively seek a mentor. You need to put in your own sweat equity. Nobody wants to hold your hand for free. It’s best to get advice from somebody who is one step ahead of you because they are fresh through the process you are in. Along the way, if you are working hard, you might meet people who like what you are doing and can give you advice like a mentor. However, don’t detract from what you are working on to work on somebody else’s dream. Don’t break the law of control. You might have to learn the hard way like I did.
-Paying for professional help is a great idea. If you want to be the best, pay the best.
</longversion>
</part1>
<part2> Making the website. I’ll post soon
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Last edited:
Membership Required: Upgrade to Expose Nearly 1,000,000 Posts
Ready to Unleash the Millionaire Entrepreneur in You?
Become a member of the Fastlane Forum, the private community founded by best-selling author and multi-millionaire entrepreneur MJ DeMarco. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has poured his heart and soul into the Fastlane Forum, helping entrepreneurs reclaim their time, win their financial freedom, and live their best life.
With more than 39,000 posts packed with insights, strategies, and advice, you’re not just a member—you’re stepping into MJ’s inner-circle, a place where you’ll never be left alone.
Become a member and gain immediate access to...
- Active Community: Ever join a community only to find it DEAD? Not at Fastlane! As you can see from our home page, life-changing content is posted dozens of times daily.
- Exclusive Insights: Direct access to MJ DeMarco’s daily contributions and wisdom.
- Powerful Networking Opportunities: Connect with a diverse group of successful entrepreneurs who can offer mentorship, collaboration, and opportunities.
- Proven Strategies: Learn from the best in the business, with actionable advice and strategies that can accelerate your success.
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with the most..."
Who are you surrounding yourself with? Surround yourself with millionaire success. Join Fastlane today!
Join Today
