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Brainstorming and ideas

Idea threads

arkania_x

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Good morning,

not sure where to post this but I'll think it'll be fine here for now (if not, tell me please).
Thinking about getting an INSIDERS but for now, I'll stay in the "free zone".

I best structure my thoughts while writing. And why not post it here for feedback (appreciated!) then.
So here's my thought process. Live and uncut.

Ok, where I am at? Here you can read my story/introduction but now I'll talk about 2021, I'm finally free from a job (although I have to say, getting 6,000 euros for doing nothing for 6 months was also good). I'm still reading Fastlane and Unscripted ; will finish them this week.

The first things I wanna think about, are my "problems".
As I wrote in my introduction, I was diagnosed with moderate depression ( + anxiety disorder and burnout) in the mid of 2019 and was on sick leave for several months. Before that, I was on sick leave because of depressive episodes in 2017 and 2018.
The burnout part was because of my job. First too much work (60+hrs and traveling all the time) then less work but I'm not made for jobs like that. Jobs in large corporations with forever taking processes and political (dumb) decisions etc. It was just not for me. But great money for an easy job (objectively speaking, I had a lot of colleagues that loved their work and the job with all the benefits) and I had (have) also some debt so it was hard to say I quit. So I had the burnout mostly not because of "too much" but "wrong work". I have no problem with working a lot when I can see a point in it.
Quitting myself would have been very dumb (no severance pay) so it is great how this eventually worked out.
Long story short: I have some money to last me for some months (maybe more than a year) and I am free from responsibilities (almost) and have the time to finally get stuff going.

The problem here:
Depression is not "done" after x years. I had therapy, it was great but specified for the job problem. But there was and is more about my depression than the burnout. Also, COVID had done its part to my anxiety disorder. Most of the time I can cope with all this but I know I need more free time than others and also need to chill a bit when it comes to hustling.
What I want to say: Sometimes it seems people don't want to do stuff or are lazy or stuck and faking action but that's not always the case. Sometimes one (with mental health issues) can't force themselves to do sth. I might also have ADHD and or manic depression so there are times I am totally motivated and work 18/24 and there are times I can't do anything for 2 days.
This sums it up quite good:
1609915994989.png

So: Be nice (not only to me). I'm not a raw egg but I also don't need people to tell me every day that I am just faking action because I don't do cold calling 24/7. Doesn't matter that the intentions are good.

[coffee break]
 
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Last edited:

Bekit

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It is so brutal to struggle with depression and anxiety holding you back from what you know you could accomplish.

I'm in the thick of the battle at the moment.

Hang in there, chin up, be very kind to yourself, and you'll make it.

What kind of business are you thinking of trying to start making money? Do you have a specific direction you're heading, or still trying to figure that out?
 

arkania_x

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Ok, now, what about my strengths and weaknesses.
End with sth good so I'll start with the bad one.

Weaknesses
- I am interested in a lot of stuff. Not that much as it was some years ago but it's still more than most people I think. (see Barbara Sher's definition of "Scanners" or multipotentialites)
That means I have to choose and focus but that is really, really hard for me. Next problem with that is: overly motivated at the beginning but that goes down really fast.
- I am a "I need more knowledge"-person. I can read articles, books, or watch videos/tutorials all day. I'm (no, I was) the typical consumer. Not only with knowledge but also with stuff (who would have thought bc of all that debt...). Just reading felt productive (enough). That's why I have that many certificates. I decluttered all my material possessions a while ago (I was like a hoarder some years ago) and I cut down a lot of buying "but I NEED it!!111" Yeah. No.) Anyways, still a long way to go.
- I'm not good at starting. When I finally DO sth it's fine, I can work forever. But (daily) "beginning" is a problem.
- Because of bad habits I'm also.... addicted to instant gratification. Talk addiction, I think I have an "addiction personality" (not sure what sth like that is called in English) so I have to watch what I do and uhm take? Had a short addiction to Kratom (legal here, opioid), and the withdrawal were the worst days of my life. Not again, thx!)
(tbc, maybe)
- I am also not good with (good) habits or (a) routine. Also not Tiny Habits.

Strengths
- what's a weakness is also a strength: I am interested in a lot of stuff, I read a lot so I have a lot of ideas. I'm really good at this. I am bad at execution.
- Therefore I also have a lot of knowledge in different areas. And a lot of certifications.
- I learn fast.
- I can work hard and a lot. When I think there is a point in what I am doing.
- I am a perfect planner and organizer. I think about everything beforehand. There was no time or event where I wasn't prepared for anything. (That#s also a weakness, to overthink and catastrophize.)
- I can convince people. I am best at this in person (no, no short skirt and deep neckline) but also good at writing (studied Psychology for a bit which helps).
- When I really want (to achieve) something, I get it. I'm like a pit bull then.


[another coffee break]
 
Last edited:

arkania_x

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It is so brutal to struggle with depression and anxiety holding you back from what you know you could accomplish.

I'm in the thick of the battle at the moment.

Hang in there, chin up, be very kind to yourself, and you'll make it.

What kind of business are you thinking of trying to start making money? Do you have a specific direction you're heading, or still trying to figure that out?
All the best for you!
I had the worst days since sick leave around Christmas, I never thought it would get that bad again.
But now I'm better. That's sth that sometimes helps: To know it will eventually get better. It always does. Sometimes it takes longer but it gets better.
I didn't go to the doctor until I had daily panic attacks (not good when driving to work and back), I could have known way before that there was sth not right but "ain't nobody got time for that", right?
I'm still sometimes surprised when it gets worse, but mostly I can now notice it earlier and cope, before being at the bottom. Takes time and a good feeling for your body.

But because of that, I'm sometimes struggling with "am I lazy now? is depression an excuse atm? (because not everything that holds me back is depression) do I have to chill a bit now or does it get worse then?", the struggle to know "is that me or the depression".
I don't think there is a destination for that, it will be a life long process to find out and it always depends and may vary from time to time :)

What kind of business: Will write about that later, already have some ideas (ideas are not my problem, execution is :D ).
 
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arkania_x

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Next:
Knowledge and ideas
As I said, I am interested in a lot of stuff. So what have I done in my life and what do I know sth about:

Sports/Nutrition
I'm a certified fitness trainer, personal trainer, nutrition coach, CrossFit Level 1 Trainer. I did bouldering, CrossFit/Weightlifting, track and field, bodyweight strength training; each for several years. I have a "weight loss journey" myself and I am learning about nutrition and related stuff for around 10 years now.
And with that I don't mean the "lose 200 pounds in 1 day" or "I make a video and just do this strength training after me, who the f*ck cares if you do it right or wrong!" or "you need to do this cardio stuff to get slim and happy like me on my photoshopped Instagram pictures" or "THIS IS CROSSFIT YOU NEED MORE WEIGHT AND DO IT FASTER" kind of stuff.

Business-related? I worked in a CrossFit box before the Covid lockdown(s). I am self-employed as a fitness trainer and nutrition coach, have a website (fitn3rds) for that, but no customers so far. (I don't like fitness training via Zoom, not for me). I am self-employed (side business) since March 2019 but then depression/burnout hit and when I recovered Covid hit...
Ideas? Just read about @Koenz business and last year I also thought about working in e-sports as a fitness trainer/nutrition coach. But that's not passive enough for me I think. Maybe do sth as he does with online courses. Also I thought about creating sth like Nerdfitness (for Germany?). Love that concept. And I have a lot of small ideas, like creating (and crowdfunding?) sort of a fitness card game or a self-help book or sth.


IT/Office stuff/Writing
As I said in my introduction, I did an apprenticeship as an office administration clerk. Plus I studied business economy with a specialization in marketing besides work from 2013-2016.
I'm not really interested in stuff like that (Virtual Assistant would be the okay-est job I would do in that field) but it helps me with being self-employed, taxes, and stuff.
I worked in IT for 10 years, mostly mobile solutions (Smartphones and contracts for employees; app publishing, OS testing) but mostly the management parts, not the technical stuff like e.g. coding.
Ideas? I will offer the following services on Fiverr/Upwork (for now): Translation EN->DE (maybe specialize in Game stuff e.g. Localization, I heard there is a need), proofreading and editing of German texts (+ optimize old texts for SEO, a blogging friend told me there is a need), and (after completing the short SEO course) ghostwriting blog posts/informal texts/etc.
I already write texts for a friend of mine (2 texts per week, ~500 words per post (around 30min incl formatting) for 50€ per text (so it's 100€/hr).
Also I started writing on Medium and Vocal to get some money per view/reading time. Reading a book about online writing atm, will adjust my texts and posts accordingly.
Thinking about: copywriting, writing a book, paid newsletters


Game Development
I always wanted to make games since I was a kid. I already started making one some weeks ago. Everything takes forever since I have to learn all the stuff an indie developer needs to know but it's a lot of fun. Unfortunately, you'll never know if your game makes some/enough money and also it takes some time to make a game and if you are not crowdfunding your project you won't be paid while working on it (sometimes for years). So this will stay a hobby with maybe some extra money.


Art/(Web) Design
It's a love-hate relationship. Not sure if and how to put that into a business (especially the art stuff, I'm mediocre at max).


(Wow, so much to write, I'm already drained :D)
 
Last edited:

Knugs

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Good morning,

not sure where to post this but I'll think it'll be fine here for now (if not, tell me please).
Thinking about getting an INSIDERS but for now, I'll stay in the "free zone".

I best structure my thoughts while writing. And why not post it here for feedback (appreciated!) then.
So here's my thought process. Live and uncut.

Ok, where I am at? Here you can read my story/introduction but now I'll talk about 2021, I'm finally free from a job (although I have to say, getting 6,000 euros for doing nothing for 6 months was also good). I'm still reading Fastlane and Unscripted ; will finish them this week.

The first things I wanna think about, are my "problems".
As I wrote in my introduction, I was diagnosed with moderate depression ( + anxiety disorder and burnout) in the mid of 2019 and was on sick leave for several months. Before that, I was on sick leave because of depressive episodes in 2017 and 2018.
The burnout part was because of my job. First too much work (60+hrs and traveling all the time) then less work but I'm not made for jobs like that. Jobs in large corporations with forever taking processes and political (dumb) decisions etc. It was just not for me. But great money for an easy job (objectively speaking, I had a lot of colleagues that loved their work and the job with all the benefits) and I had (have) also some debt so it was hard to say I quit. So I had the burnout mostly not because of "too much" but "wrong work". I have no problem with working a lot when I can see a point in it.
Quitting myself would have been very dumb (no severance pay) so it is great how this eventually worked out.
Long story short: I have some money to last me for some months (maybe more than a year) and I am free from responsibilities (almost) and have the time to finally get stuff going.

The problem here:
Depression is not "done" after x years. I had therapy, it was great but specified for the job problem. But there was and is more about my depression than the burnout. Also, COVID had done its part to my anxiety disorder. Most of the time I can cope with all this but I know I need more free time than others and also need to chill a bit when it comes to hustling.
What I want to say: Sometimes it seems people don't want to do stuff or are lazy or stuck and faking action but that's not always the case. Sometimes one (with mental health issues) can't force themselves to do sth. I might also have ADHD and or manic depression so there are times I am totally motivated and work 18/24 and there are times I can't do anything for 2 days.
This sums it up quite good:
View attachment 36248

So: Be nice (not only to me). I'm not a raw egg but I also don't need people to tell me every day that I am just faking action because I don't do cold calling 24/7. Doesn't matter that the intentions are good.

[coffee break]

Mental health is the most underrated component of entrepreneurship which every founder should prioritize. Since it has also been massively stigmatised, nobody ever talks about it. The ideal entrepreneur according to our society is a 24/7 hard working and "sacrifise now live later" individual. Most people dont understand that everybody has their ceiling and that everybody will damage their mental health both in short and long term, if they dont look after it.

Yet, people still try to fit this unnatural image of an entrepreneur and tell themselves: "thats how it needs to be. I need to suffer to succeed."

Whilst its true that businesses and startups fail due to execution, its most likely not due to the amount of hours they put in. Perhaps my short story will summarise it better:

I founded a techstartup in the medical industry with 2 other founders. We were financed with grants from the EU and received an investment from Berlin and temporarily moved to Berlin for it. In the coworking space we had tons of startups and every month some would join and some would leave. Some of these startups have already died and some have received 8 and 9 figure deals. Some even exit. The rest float along (I'm building my argument here that I have seen how it works).

In the startup world you have no comparison. You have barely a standard to keep to but here we had the opportunity to measue ourselves against the others. So, we came to work earlier than everybody else and we left work later than everybody else. We wanted to be the best executioners and the most succesful.

Obviously we werent and with time we saw other startups get some very respectable traction and not such bad seed investments (7 figures). We were confused.

"My day consisted of waking up, going to work, eat whilst working and then go home, call my gf and go to sleep. Rinse and repeat. 12-14 hour days. Yet, all the hours I have put in are not yielding anything close to these other startups, which work far less than me? "

Meanwhile unknowingly my mental health gets hit hard by the continous overworking without any result. The rollercoaster ride of the many ups and downs. The uncertainty what will happen next was increasingly translating into a feeling of hopelessness. My motivation and passion started to turn sour and only then, a lot of months later, I realised I was burning out and that my productivity was falling sharply. But, you dont talk about it. You just tell yourself its the way it needs to be.

Clearly some of these startups did something that others didnt. What set them apart was "smart execution" and I could see this among the cohort. On reflection and some even conceptionalised this into a rule: 20% of the work will account for 80% of your results. In entrepreneurship, we need to aspire to have as much work result into as much results. In other words, somebody might be more effective working 1 hour on their startup vs me working 14 hours on my startup. I think this is what differentiates between failures, floaters, 7 figures and billiondollar-companies. In fact, the 9 figure startup worked hard and worked smart. They knew what needed to be done.

Whats the point of me telling you this: You dont need to work yourself into exhaustion. You need to figure out how you can work smart and get the best results.

______
 
Last edited:

Knugs

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Next:
Knowledge and ideas
As I said, I am interested in a lot of stuff. So what have I done in my life and what do I know sth about:

Sports/Nutrition
I'm a certified fitness trainer, personal trainer, nutrition coach, CrossFit Level 1 Trainer. I did bouldering, CrossFit/Weightlifting, track and field, bodyweight strength training; each for several years. I have a "weight loss journey" myself and I am learning about nutrition and related stuff for around 10 years now.
And with that I don't mean the "lose 200 pounds in 1 day" or "I make a video and just do this strength training after me, who the f*ck cares if you do it right or wrong!" or "you need to do this cardio stuff to get slim and happy like me on my photoshopped Instagram pictures" or "THIS IS CROSSFIT YOU NEED MORE WEIGHT AND DO IT FASTER" kind of stuff.

Business-related? I worked in a CrossFit box before the Covid lockdown(s). I am self-employed as a fitness trainer and nutrition coach, have a website (fitn3rds) for that, but no customers so far. (I don't like fitness training via Zoom, not for me). I am self-employed (side business) since March 2019 but then depression/burnout hit and when I recovered Covid hit...
Ideas? Just read about @Koenz business and last year I also thought about working in e-sports as a fitness trainer/nutrition coach. But that's not passive enough for me I think. Maybe do sth as he does with online courses. Also I thought about creating sth like Nerdfitness (for Germany?). Love that concept. And I have a lot of small ideas, like creating (and crowdfunding?) sort of a fitness card game or a self-help book or sth.


IT/Office stuff/Writing
As I said in my introduction, I did an apprenticeship as an office administration clerk. Plus I studied business economy with a specialization in marketing besides work from 2013-2016.
I'm not really interested in stuff like that (Virtual Assistant would be the okay-est job I would do in that field) but it helps me with being self-employed, taxes, and stuff.
I worked in IT for 10 years, mostly mobile solutions (Smartphones and contracts for employees; app publishing, OS testing) but mostly the management parts, not the technical stuff like e.g. coding.
Ideas? I will offer the following services on Fiverr/Upwork (for now): Translation EN->DE, proofreading and editing of German texts, and (after completing the short SEO course) ghostwriting blog posts/informal texts/etc.
I already write texts for a friend of mine (2 texts per week, ~500 words per post (around 30min incl formatting) for 50€ per text (so it's 100€/hr).
Also I started writing on Medium and Vocal to get some money per view/reading time. Reading a book about online writing atm, will adjust my texts and posts accordingly.
Thinking about: copywriting, writing a book, paid newsletters


Game Development
I always wanted to make games since I was a kid. I already started making one some weeks ago. Everything takes forever since I have to learn all the stuff an indie developer needs to know but it's a lot of fun. Unfortunately, you'll never know if your game makes some/enough money and also it takes some time to make a game and if you are not crowdfunding your project you won't be paid while working on it (sometimes for years). So this will stay a hobby with maybe some extra money.


Art/(Web) Design
It's a love-hate relationship. Not sure if and how to put that into a business (especially the art stuff, I'm mediocre at max).


(Wow, so much to write, I'm already drained :D)

In your situation it might be worth to take a step back and think about all your abilities. What skills do you have. What can you do? Where are your weaknesses or where do you lack skills that might be important? What do you hate to do? There is no point doing something which you hate.

Remember that any business idea needs to prodive value to a client. You dont need to solve a major problem or issue that many people have, although this would be ideal. When you provide value it will be easier for you to sell your product or service.

Perhaps there is something in the industries you worked in that is a huge issue or a problem?
 
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arkania_x

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@Knugs
Thanks for sharing your story! How are you doing right now?
Yeah, that's the goal. Work smarter, not harder (=more).
Therefore I like to plan things out a bit more in detail beforehand. I don't want to start and work and work and work and then notice, that this doesn't work (haha) out for me or as I want it to.

I was there and I know that I can't keep this speed up for long, no matter how much I like what I do. I know what the (mental health) results will be and I won't sacrifice my (mental) health for work/money again.

I don't want to create an empire. No enterprise business. Just a lifestyle business.
Goals are high, of course, I already calculated what I "need" to live an easy life. Everything above is a nice plus. But depends on what's the cost-benefit factor for this plus.
I value time more than anything. In my last job, I cut down to 80% (~30hrs) per week, Fridays no work.
This was amazing. Never will I ever work full-time again (except to build sth that gives me more free time after some months/years).
 

arkania_x

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In your situation it might be worth to take a step back and think about all your abilities. What skills do you have. What can you do? Where are your weaknesses or where do you lack skills that might be important? What do you hate to do? There is no point doing something which you hate.

Remember that any business idea needs to prodive value to a client. You dont need to solve a major problem or issue that many people have, although this would be ideal. When you provide value it will be easier for you to sell your product or service.

Perhaps there is something in the industries you worked in that is a huge issue or a problem?
Yep, that's the plan. Thanks for your suggestions!
I'll give myself some time (end of the month) to evaluate, brainstorm, and plan a bit but then I must! start. Otherwise, I will never start, I know myself :D
Thought about a digital detox/serotonin detox for 1-3 days to just think about that.

Just bought a big whiteboard to scribble everything on there, love it!
Edited the knowledge post and already identified two needs I heard from others in these businesses (optimizing blogposts for SEO and translate localization for games/steam).
 

Knugs

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@Knugs
Thanks for sharing your story! How are you doing right now?
Yeah, that's the goal. Work smarter, not harder (=more).
Therefore I like to plan things out a bit more in detail beforehand. I don't want to start and work and work and work and then notice, that this doesn't work (haha) out for me or as I want it to.

I was there and I know that I can't keep this speed up for long, no matter how much I like what I do. I know what the (mental health) results will be and I won't sacrifice my (mental) health for work/money again.

I don't want to create an empire. No enterprise business. Just a lifestyle business.
Goals are high, of course, I already calculated what I "need" to live an easy life. Everything above is a nice plus. But depends on what's the cost-benefit factor for this plus.
I value time more than anything. In my last job, I cut down to 80% (~30hrs) per week, Fridays no work.
This was amazing. Never will I ever work full-time again (except to build sth that gives me more free time after some months/years).

I'm also rather a "kopfmensch" and tend to overthink and overanalyse too much. Important to not let yourself be paralysed by some thoughts.

When you working through some business ideas you need to validate each assumption you make. I cant stress how important this is, you will see me comment this on a lot of threads. Most concepts fail because they made a wrong assumption and didnt validate it. Then they figure out a year later that the entire concept is garbage, because they didnt spend the day to call some clients and validate their assumption. A rationale/logic does not validate an assuption. Customer surveys are best. Customer interaction will also allow you to act flexible and pivot quickly. The art to pivot is really important.

Lets take the "optimising SEO for blogpost" example. You heard a need from others in the business. So this is how I would do it:
Interview them, find out what their problem is and why they are having it but really understand their problem. Then try to replicate this interview with others in the same business; Do they also have that problem? Is it also for the same reasons? Do this 10/20x (depending how many you can get in contact with) but the general rule is the more; the better. Communicating a lot with potential future clients is also great from a different perspective. You get to know the customer persona and get a feeling how sales and marketing should be directed for them. If you feel good about the information you have its time to go back to the drawin board and conceptionalise your business concept tailored to these businesses. Every new assumption needs to be validated again. Most likely, people are quite supportive if you want to help them. It makes sense to offer your services for free to a few individuals to validate the remaining assumptions that are based on providing the service. But even before then, you should pitch and validate your sales assumptions with the same people you have interviewed (but at a separate date).

Now you are at a stage where you have gathered a lot of information but still havent paid a single dime towards the business. If you are happy with your validation and if your "clients" are happy with the work you provided then you most likely have automatically got yourself a functioning business. In case you havent, worst case you have spent time on a concept that didnt work out. In reality, this will be valuable time for you since you have gone into the unknown and learned a lot yourself.
 
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arkania_x

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I'm also rather a "kopfmensch" and tend to overthink and overanalyse too much. Important to not let yourself be paralysed by some thoughts.

When you working through some business ideas you need to validate each assumption you make. I cant stress how important this is, you will see me comment this on a lot of threads. Most concepts fail because they made a wrong assumption and didnt validate it. Then they figure out a year later that the entire concept is garbage, because they didnt spend the day to call some clients and validate their assumption. A rationale/logic does not validate an assuption. Customer surveys are best. Customer interaction will also allow you to act flexible and pivot quickly. The art to pivot is really important.

Lets take the "optimising SEO for blogpost" example. You heard a need from others in the business. So this is how I would do it:
Interview them, find out what their problem is and why they are having it but really understand their problem. Then try to replicate this interview with others in the same business; Do they also have that problem? Is it also for the same reasons? Do this 10/20x (depending how many you can get in contact with) but the general rule is the more; the better. Communicating a lot with potential future clients is also great from a different perspective. You get to know the customer persona and get a feeling how sales and marketing should be directed for them. If you feel good about the information you have its time to go back to the drawin board and conceptionalise your business concept tailored to these businesses. Every new assumption needs to be validated again. Most likely, people are quite supportive if you want to help them. It makes sense to offer your services for free to a few individuals to validate the remaining assumptions that are based on providing the service. But even before then, you should pitch and validate your sales assumptions with the same people you have interviewed (but at a separate date).

Now you are at a stage where you have gathered a lot of information but still havent paid a single dime towards the business. If you are happy with your validation and if your "clients" are happy with the work you provided then you most likely have automatically got yourself a functioning business. In case you havent, worst case you have spent time on a concept that didnt work out. In reality, this will be valuable time for you since you have gone into the unknown and learned a lot yourself.
That is good advice, thank you! Will note that down.
At the moment I'm at chapter 30, the do what you love/passion one in Fastlane.
That's a topic I thought about a lot yesterday.
 

cviji

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That is good advice, thank you! Will note that down.
At the moment I'm at chapter 30, the do what you love/passion one in Fastlane.
That's a topic I thought about a lot yesterday.
Thanks for sharing, enjoyed reading and your self assessment has made me question whether I should do something similar in terms of getting it down in ink..

Regarding where you might go... you say you like to learn a lot, you've studied Psychology and you yourself have suffered with mental health challenges. is there opportunity within this to provide products / services that can make you money at the same time as having a meaningful impact on others? Perhaps coupled with exercise and fitness for the personnel wellbeing both physically and mentally.

All the best
 

Ing

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Hi Melanie,
Osteopatie could be a good area for you.
Near to that : Heilpraktiper. Not scalable into passive income, but in rising hourly salary.
There are areas up to 300€/ hr And more.
But not Scalable as you dont find employees.

Go on doing your hp!
 
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arkania_x

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Thanks for sharing, enjoyed reading and your self assessment has made me question whether I should do something similar in terms of getting it down in ink..

Regarding where you might go... you say you like to learn a lot, you've studied Psychology and you yourself have suffered with mental health challenges. is there opportunity within this to provide products / services that can make you money at the same time as having a meaningful impact on others? Perhaps coupled with exercise and fitness for the personnel wellbeing both physically and mentally.

All the best
Thanks and all the best to you, too!
I would recommend writing your thoughts and your thought process down, it helps (at least me) a lot and you can sort everything that flies around in your head.

Studied psychology just for 1 semester (I wanted to do it for fun but the statistics seminars weren't fun at all :D) but since I did some further education (Sports Mental Coach and Burnout Coach) in that field, that might be another way to (first) diversify my income streams. Thank you!

Hi Melanie,
Osteopatie could be a good area for you.
Near to that : Heilpraktiper. Not scalable into passive income, but in rising hourly salary.
There are areas up to 300€/ hr And more.
But not Scalable as you dont find employees.

Go on doing your hp!
My mum is a physiotherapist and osteopath and that's nothing I am really into (and Heilpraktiker are too 'esoteric' for me and I would not like to have the reputation they have) but thanks for the suggestions though.
 

arkania_x

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FFS, wrote an essay, misclicked, everything gone.
So the last days in short:
Created a Fiverr profile so that my fellow game devs can book me for translations (mostly localization of their game). Did a lot for free the last months (not much translating but mostly proofreading) o it's good to have an option that people pay for it.
I was recommended for a job at a game dev studio (ok, sth like this, someone made a game dev course on how to make games (which I bought some time ago) with discord and social media, etc., and now needs someone for that -> Community Management). I would never have applied if not a "friend" I made there would have said, "Hey, that's the perfect job for you". I didn't even have a real idea of what a Community Manager does. Anyway, a bit of email back and forth and now I am a Community Manager. About5hrs a week, so not too much to do but great for networking. For that, I made an Upwork profile.
Also, I raised the price per blogpost for my blogging friend (60€ per 500 words including keyword search, need about 30min for that) and she will book me 2x/week so per month I get about 500€ for ~4hrs of work. That's great.

Not nearly Fastlane but one has to start somewhere right? And now I have the time and money for it, so I will continue networking.
And who knows, what will happen next, these jobs came my way without me being searching.

Still thinking about what to do as the main thing, I think it will be something with health/fitness and games. I already have a website (fitn3rds) for that and thought about it for some time.
I think about a subscription service + webinars/courses or sth like that.

E: Why Upwork? Because it does all the stuff for you, I have no! idea what to do (taxes etc) when working with an American customer, so Upwork is (regardless of the high fees) a good choice. Sometime this year I will contact a tax consultant for stuff like that. Won't do my taxes by myself anymore.
 
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arkania_x

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Phew. What a day.
Everything was fine until some hours ago.
I got the message that my severance pay is 11k less than I expected (should have been 44k, is now 33k) and calculated by my tax advisor. Almost had a panic attack. But I learned a lot in therapy, so I could cope with it.
But that completely throw my plans overboard. So it's Plan A again, and I'll get the 11k back through unemployment benefits:
Receive supplementary unemployment benefits, work on the side. My self-employment is getting off to a good start, but slowly.
I got the Community Management job, and also an order on Fiverr to text for home24.
That's on the good side.

So it seems it's now time to really take off, earlier than I expected. But that can be good because I now have more pressure to get things done faster. And stress makes me work more efficiently (up to a certain limit).
 
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