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Ismo29

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Business is not for everyone and not everyone is for business
This is something I have really noticed. I have met alot of entrepreneurs this year but a majority does not understand business. You need to have a certain grasp on how things work and I believe you cant learn it in a book or in a class. It is something that has to be figured out and not everyone does. No shame in that and people is destined for various things. I for example is not destined to become a doctor, no shame in that. Tried and failed. But life has showed another path.

I'm interested to know what other fastlaners think of this quote. Seems like a fixed mindset type of perspective. "Either you got it or you don't".
 
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I'm interested to know what other fastlaners think of this quote. Seems like a fixed mindset type of perspective. "Either you got it or you don't".
Absolutely would not recommend entrepreneurship to the majority of people, I'm with @Kokaka.

Most are not cut out for it.

#1 success factor is how much internal grit someone has. If you don't have the ability to persevere when shit gets tough (and it will)... you're better off just keeping the day job.
 

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I'm interested to know what other fastlaners think of this quote. Seems like a fixed mind type of perspective. "Either you got it or you don't".

I would think it's more like, "whether you believe you can or you believe you can't, you're right..."

Most people can become entrepreneurs. But it takes the willpower to change yourself. To strive for more.

Many people lack the requisite desire. We see plenty of people come on this form talking about how bad they want it, but they're not willing to do what it takes.

Many of us will cheer them on. But at the end of the day, actions reveal character.
 

Kokaka

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I'm interested to know what other fastlaners think of this quote. Seems like a fixed mindset type of perspective. "Either you got it or you don't".

Absolutely would not recommend entrepreneurship to the majority of people, I'm with @Kokaka.

Most are not cut out for it.

#1 success factor is how much internal grit someone has. If you don't have the ability to persevere when shit gets tough (and it will)... you're better off just keeping the day job.

I would think it's more like, "whether you believe you can or you believe you can't, you're right..."

Most people can become entrepreneurs. But it takes the willpower to change yourself. To strive for more.

Many people lack the requisite desire. We see plenty of people come on this form talking about how bad they want it, but they're not willing to do what it takes.

Many of us will cheer them on. But at the end of the day, actions reveal character.

Yes grit is important but there are alot more things that comes with being a successfull entrepreneur.
The most blatant thing I have noticed, more so even now, which explain why about 80% of businesses fail is the business owners flexibility, adaptability of thought aswell as the ability to analyse and aquire new information.
Alot of aspiring entrepreneurs go into this venture full of hopes and dreams with a business-idea and nothing more. They fail to analise potential pitfalls, oportunities, liabilities, assets or to even start in the first place.
This is has also become obvious to me when it comes to investments. When I hear the things people invest in I have more times than not rolled my eyes of the stupidity and more often then not, they lose the investment.

You also need the ability to "see into the future" of atleast 6 month. You need to understand and adapt to what is happening in the world before it happens. You need to be infront of everyone else. Like in europe. How will energy prices be now during the winter? Will it be a hot or cold winter? How much gas do we have in stock? How it will decrease consumer spending in conjunction with higher intrest rates? How will the market react to fast droping inflation?
You need to be able to analyse info like this and form a strategy around both world macro and local micro data.

Alot of people also listen to their gut feeling. Sure thats a good thing but it has to pass through some sort of cerebral filter. Make a strategy, see what can go right and wrong. Hope for the best and plan for the worst. Always have an exit plan if things dont work out.

One more thing is that you cant be scared. I have been talking alot with my Muay Thai trainer about this. He is one of the only coaches in my country who have figured out to live and support himself full time with martial arts and ha have a good foundation and he wants to scale. He has all the structures to expand and make another gym but for one reason or the other, he does not, even though he wants to. Alot of people want to grow or start but keep it verbal and dont take the words into action. Even when they have good ods and no risk.

You also have to be quick on your feet and identify business oportunities.
Like how many has identified that this forum is a catalyst for the books written by MJ DeMarco?

He made a business forum where people can talk about and become interested in business. Some people talk about his books, get interested and goes and buy it and he makes a royalty.
People who come to the forum because of the books keep posting contents, increase value for other members so more people buy books and he also get ad revenue.
He doubled his passive income from just 1 source.

Being an entrepreneur require this kind of skills and I really do belive that be it a combination of nature and nurture, not everyone can aquire. Some are better of learning and perfecting a skill and selling. Be it plumbing, law, teaching or any other because you need to be adversed in a large amount of skills, mental flexibility and wit to suceed in business. Be a jack of all trades master of none so to speak. And the more, broad skills you aquire the better of you will be.

Like take this example from 2 business owner:

Example 1: Hairdresser who hire his/her chair. Cut hair, make money, leave for the day. Can be a very good hairdresser and can make good revenue. Can make even more if branching out to social media. However it violates CENTS. Cant scale and cant manage time. Revenue is connected to time being spent working and cant scale because you cant clone (yet).

Example 2: Someone that sucks to cut hair, but manage to open various hair salons, hire 100 staff and make hair salon chain.

Same business area but compleatly different skill set. Example 1 has 1 very good skill. Example 2 might not know anything about cutting hair but know economics, marketing, manageing staff, risk analysis etc and person 2 is way harder to come across due to the fact you need a higher amount of various skills except for 1 very good skill. Its just simple probility mathematics and its also the second person which can honor CENTS.

Speaking of CENTS. I have found its an incomplete mode. It lacks one very important aspect. R- Reach.
Without Reach, you cant find customers and sell your wares. You need a steady flow of people whom wants to aquire the value you have created. Its just with this forum and the book example. It has good REACH.
You can make the best product, scale it, manage time and have controll. But people need to be alerted it exists.
I think it would be benificial for entrepreneur who uses CENTS to organice their thoughts to think "CENTRS" Add reach to the equation.

Sidenote* All the above is onlly for people looking to get into bigger businesses with tens or hindreds of staff. If you are a one man business, this is less important.
Anyway, abit of a rant. Fun as always.
 
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Kokaka

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Update:
Machine company:
Will have an old customer who has bought machines for over 100k visit me next week to look at some new tech and machines to purchase for her clinics. She has 2 and is trying to build her 3rd. Good stuff.

Clinic Company:
Had a meeting with marketing last week and something is happening. The conversion/intrest from our google searches and site traffic is up 158% since last year and up 64% since Jan-March. All clinics have week long waiting lists again, AND we are in July, the worst month of the year. It looks like I stated before that I think we have been in a recession and we have not noticed it and things are coming back to normal. Good to know that normal is good and not good is not normal.
Also I have studied the cashflow from clinic nr2:
We have made profit from day 1. About 30%-35% possitive cashflow, AND we have just opend in a recession. About 30k possitive cashflow in 4 month in clinic nr2.
This is however a modified thuth becasue clinic nr 1 has a negative cashflow of about 30k. Its because its clinic nr1 who has payd clinic nr2, but as soon as I stop spending (right about now), we should have possitive cashflow in clinic nr1 aswell and start to make good revenue.

This is fantastic news! Both that we can get in the green from day one from every new clinic and the business model holds, but also that in clinic nr2 I have only 2 workstations active and I have 4. I will also launch 30 new treatments after summer (can do them now due to the sun) and hopefully I can double the turnover and tripple the cashflow if I can get 4 workstations fully booked in clinic nr2.

Speaking of clinics.
Am in the works to try to open clinic nr3 and clinic nr4. Data from clinic nr2 is very valuble because it specify that its the business that generate cashflow, not the staff which has worked there and built up a loyal customer base.
If I get this to work and get a cashflow engine of atleast 5 clinics in the next 12 month, this can become big.
 

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Speaking of CENTS. I have found its an incomplete mode. It lacks one very important aspect. R- Reach.
Without Reach, you cant find customers and sell your wares. You need a steady flow of people whom wants to aquire the value you have created. Its just with this forum and the book example. It has good REACH.

REACH is another word for SCALE. Without sufficient customers, one cannot scale.

No need to add an R when R is already a part of S.

I'll quote MJ's post. Notice point 3 and the final paragraph discusses what you are calling reach.

The Commandment of Scale (centS)

A productocracy’s fifth and final CENTS Commandment within the Fastlane structure is the Commandment of Scale.

Scale instructs that legacy value systems must be replicated through mass or magnitude while making a profitable impact.

The four definitive components are:

1. Legacy value system
2. Replication
3. Mass or magnitude
4. Profitable impact

First, your offering must eventually evolve into a legacy system in accordance with the four prior commandments. A legacy system carries the components of the TIME component, both physicality and detachment.

Second, your LVS must be replicable, or easily copied into multiple units, locations or chains.

Optimally, this replication should extend among hundreds or thousands, if not millions, of units. For instance, software is easily replicated. The same goes for a website service where increased users and traffic extend replication. My forum receives over 100,000 visitor sessions per month. In the ten years I owned my Internet company, I served a multitude of millions. Physical products like this book also offer replicative elements; my printer can print one million books as easily as 10,000. Replication turns one store into twenty, one duplex into a dozen, and hundreds sold to millions.

Third, replication must have either mass or magnitude. Most people think scale automatically equates to mass-market millions or operating in multi-billion market size. However, scale can also be graced through magnitude, or the gravity of your impact. For instance, if you provide housing for twenty families (not mass market), you’ve scaled by magnitude and probably are doing well—housing is a magnitudinal endeavor. Sell ten restaurant franchises for your organic, GMO-free restaurant, and again, brute-force magnitude occurs.

The fourth element in the definition is a profitable impact. The UNSCRIPTED business is about profits, not ten years from now but within your first year. Nowadays, too many businesses are labeled a success by virtue of growth or run rates. Many never make a profit for years and bleed cash like an Instagram playboy. Most start-ups birthed on the tech coast create value and make an impact. The problem is, they don’t make a profitable impact for years.

Amazon is a great example of a company that makes a phenomenal impact but largely hasn’t been profitable. Remember: Selling hundred-dollar bills for fifty bucks isn’t what we want. “Bleeding value” might grow a company fabulously and have VC’s drowning us in term sheets, but that’s not our objective. Let the deep-pocketed sultans of Silicon Valley make those gambles.

Your goal is UNSCRIPTED , which demands profitability now, not later. And if you want to create the next hot start-up reveled on TechCrunch, the better bet is doing it UNSCRIPTED where “F*ck you” opens up more possibilities.

As producers, we are in the business of serving consumers—not few, but many. However, before impacting the masses, we must first impact one—and do so profitably. If you can impact one profitably and your legacy system is replicable, congratulations, you’ve laid a scaling track.

The act of profitably impacting many is where your income (and life) makes quantum leaps. Optimally, your business solution should impact an industry large enough to impact your life. If you have a software solution appealing to hospitals, the appeal of magnitude scale exists. If any business owner could use your product, the appeal of mass scale exists.

The market size constructs the ceiling under which we limit ourselves. If your solution sells for twenty bucks and your target customer is an Internet-savvy octogenarian who owns a Corvette, the market ceiling is at your ankles. How big is that market? You can’t fill a pool with an eyedropper. Olympic swimmers don’t train in bathtubs. Swim in bodies of water large enough to take you somewhere.

Excerpt From: MJ DeMarco. “UNSCRIPTED : Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship.”
 

Kokaka

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REACH is another word for SCALE. Without sufficient customers, one cannot scale.

No need to add an R when R is already a part of S.

I'll quote MJ's post. Notice point 3 and the final paragraph discusses what you are calling reach.
Yes its included. However the value of reach is downplayd. It specify you need customers to grow but not how to grow. I think they should be 2 separate criterias just to devirsify both because the importance of reach should not be understemated and you probably have to focus more on reach before you focus on scale. Because you cant scale without reach and its only once you have it where scale becomes relevant and people should dedicate time on reach before they dedicate time on scale because how I interpret it, reach and scale are intertwined and will both grow linear with one another.
 
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Kokaka

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Yes its included. However the value of reach is downplayd. It specify you need customers to grow but not how to grow. I think they should be 2 separate criterias just to devirsify both because the importance of reach should not be understemated and you probably have to focus more on reach before you focus on scale. Because you cant scale without reach and its only once you have it where scale becomes relevant and people should dedicate time on reach before they dedicate time on scale because how I interpret it, reach and scale are intertwined and will both grow linear with one another.
I can give an example:
Today I saw an energy drink at the store which costed over 10usd called Prime. I reasearched this because I thought this price was way to expensive. Like is it made of myrrh or something.
Turns out, it was "made" by some infuencers called Logan Paul and KSI.
They have an insane reach so all the kids who follow them wanted the drink. Prices skyrocketed because supply could not meet demand.
This happend because they had insane reach and they did not scale the energy drink fast enough.
Hence you can build a platform which has reach which is separate from a scalable product.
Social media is excellent in this to get this platform to launch various products, but also more traditional marketing.
I think CENTS could have been correct until aomewhere around 2010-2015 but as is, the landscape has changed which makes it both easier and more important to build a platform/marketing/reach for your product/service/brand which makes it deserve its own category.

edit:
You can also break down what the category means.
The categories means that ney needs to be fulfilld in order to grow the busniss and make more money. Each one needs to be fulfilled to grow and they are not connected to one another.
In order to Scale, you need to have a suficcient number of customers, orders or cashflow in the business. And this is before you even can consider Scale.
Scale is consequence of having the other categories completed. And if the criterias is categoriesd like that, as a number of criterias that needs to be completed before you can grow a business and in the end, increase cashflow and value then Reach and Scale is separated.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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Reach = Scale.

But go ahead, make it mean whatever you want.

Reminds me how someone says Control is often an illusion too, because after all, if an asteroid hits us, we're all screwed.

It seems culture likes to redefine terms to mean whatever they like. However just because I identify as Albert Einstein, doesn't make it so.
 

BizyDad

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Yes its included. However the value of reach is downplayd. It specify you need customers to grow but not how to grow. I think they should be 2 separate criterias just to devirsify both because the importance of reach should not be understemated and you probably have to focus more on reach before you focus on scale. Because you cant scale without reach and its only once you have it where scale becomes relevant and people should dedicate time on reach before they dedicate time on scale.
Ok, philosophically speaking, what if you build a widget to improve car safety. You want this to be included in the manufacturing of every car. There are what, 30 car companies in the world? 50?

Technically your reach is only 30-50 customers. But your potential scale is massive.

I can give an example:
Today I saw an energy drink at the store which costed over 10usd called Prime. I reasearched this because I thought this price was way to expensive. Like is it made of myrrh or something.
Turns out, it was "made" by some infuencers called Logan Paul and KSI.
They have an insane reach so all the kids who follow them wanted the drink. Prices skyrocketed because supply could not meet demand.
This happend because they had insane reach and they did not scale the energy drink fast enough.
Hence you can build a platform which has reach which is separate from a scalable product.
Social media is excellent in this to get this platform to launch various products, but also more traditional marketing.
I think CENTS could have been correct until aomewhere around 2010-2015 but as is, the landscape has changed which makes it both easier and more important to build a platform/marketing/reach for your product/service/brand which makes it deserve its own category.

edit:
You can also break down what the category means.
The categories means that ney needs to be fulfilld in order to grow the busniss and make more money. Each one needs to be fulfilled to grow and they are not connected to one another.
In order to Scale, you need to have a suficcient number of customers, orders or cashflow in the business. And this is before you even can consider Scale.
Scale is consequence of having the other categories completed. And if the criterias is categoriesd like that, as a number of criterias that needs to be completed before you can grow a business and in the end, increase cashflow and value then Reach and Scale is separated.

Ok, I see your point here. But MJ is right that you are trying to redefine what he means by scale. You are trying to cut away half his definition.

Putting that aside, when your scale cannot keep up with your reach, that all alone often tanks a company.

Telling people reach is as important as scale, or more important, is ignoring the pitfalls of too big a focus on reach.

Lastly, there has been mass media around for a long time. Plenty of people achieved massive reach in the days before 2015. Is it easier? Probably. But that doesn't mean the game has changed.

So my point is:

1. You do not "need" reach to go Fastlane.
2. Focusing on reach for reach's sake is one way to try and build a Fastlane enterprise, but it isn't the only or the most important way. It is a tool.
3. Reach is a subset of scale.
 

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Reach = Scale.

But go ahead, make it mean whatever you want.

Reminds me how someone says Control is often an illusion too, because after all, if an asteroid hits us, we're all screwed.

It seems culture likes to redefine terms to mean whatever they like. However just because I identify as Albert Einstein, doesn't make it so.
But dont you think you can increase one or the other separate from one or the other?
 
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Ok, philosophically speaking, what if you build a widget to improve car safety. You want this to be included in the manufacturing of every car. There are what, 30 car companies in the world? 50?

Technically your reach is only 30-50 customers. But your potential scale is massive.



Ok, I see your point here. But MJ is right that you are trying to redefine what he means by scale. You are trying to cut away half his definition.

Putting that aside, when your scale cannot keep up with your reach, that all alone often tanks a company.

Telling people reach is as important as scale, or more important, is ignoring the pitfalls of too big a focus on reach.

Lastly, there has been mass media around for a long time. Plenty of people achieved massive reach in the days before 2015. Is it easier? Probably. But that doesn't mean the game has changed.

So my point is:

1. You do not "need" reach to go Fastlane.
2. Focusing on reach for reach's sake is one way to try and build a Fastlane enterprise, but it isn't the only or the most important way. It is a tool.
3. Reach is a subset of scale.
Always fun to discuss business philosophy. Keeps the mind sharp.

Yes I see your point here.
1. I missed this. If we define CENTS as criterias that must be fullfilled, you are 100% right.
2. Yes its a tool, however its a very important tool. And in some, or most businesses, a vital tool but lesser so than the other in some cases but more important in other.
3. I can agree and accept this statement.
 

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But dont you think you can increase one or the other separate from one or the other?

Yes, in the same way CONTROL can be separated into multiple items:

1) Asteroid risk
2) Platform risk (it's fundamental definition)
3) Hitler / tyranny risk
4) EMP risk
5) Activist boycott risk
6) Alien invasion risk
 

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Yes, in the same way CONTROL can be separated into multiple items:

1) Asteroid risk
2) Platform risk (it's fundamental definition)
3) Hitler / tyranny risk
4) EMP risk
5) Activist boycott risk
6) Alien invasion risk

Why dont you try phrase your argument more clearly instead? That way we can add to the value and improve the collective knowledge of this forum and in turn, add value.

@BizyDad has made an exellent job of this to show why Reach should not be a category on its own and be instead used as a tool for scale.
 
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Why dont you try phrase your argument more clearly instead? That way we can add to the value and improve the collective knowledge of this forum and in turn, add value.

@BizyDad has made an exellent job of this to show why Reach should not be a category on its own and be instead used as a tool for scale.

Ok buddy, reality check. You aren't arguing with one of us forum posters. You are trying to argue with the creator of cents.

The guy has written 3 books explaining his "argument". I prefer the term "position". I also already linked to a very clearly explained post detailing his position.

And you want people to believe he's not being clear?

You are coming on his forum, saying he got it wrong, and asking him to explain himself better?

Maybe instead of insisting you are right, you go and reread what he wrote over the course of 10 yrs.

The only reason you think he's wrong in the first place is because you don't fully understand what he's meant when he said the word SCALE.

I'm a fan of you both, so I'm just trying to play nice referee here, but respectfully @Kokaka you are out of bounds on the play.

football-soccer.gif
 

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Ok buddy, reality check. You aren't arguing with one of us forum posters. You are trying to argue with the creator of cents.
he
The guy has written 3 books explaining his "argument". I prefer the term "position". I also already linked to a very clearly explained post detailing his position.

And you want people to believe he's not being clear?

You are coming on his forum, saying he got it wrong, and asking him to explain himself better?

Maybe instead of insisting you are right, you go and reread what he wrote over the course of 10 yrs.

The only reason you think he's wrong in the first place is because you don't fully understand what he's meant when he said the word SCALE.

I'm a fan of you both, so I'm just trying to play nice referee here, but respectfully @Kokaka you are out of bounds on the play.

View attachment 49909
I would not call it arguing. Maybie the choise of words has been more confrontational than what was meant to but it is difficult to try to communicate with precision in text when english is not your first language and your expertice in writing is not all that high.

What we are doing is the pursuing of truth and a proper definition could be explaining a point of view a position etc.

As I stateded is that I have not been able to make this connection from reading the books, previous forum posts or above forum posts.
However you made an excellent point in pointing me in the correct direction of my thoughts and as such we have become wiser than before and we have learned and adapted.

I also agree now that Reach is not separated but merly a tool of scale. In some business areas, mainly retail and service business, it is one of the most important criterias to fullfill in order to reach fastlane. However, it is as you said, you dont "need" it in order to get into fastlane and is such branch specific.

Example 1: You try to do retail online. Its mandatory.
Example 2: You build and flip office complexes. Reach is not mandatory.

As such, it is not a commandment and merly a tool which varies in importance from business to business.
What I did not recognice is the divergence of business fields because reach is mandatory in what I do, my friends and aquantinces do and ther sucess is dependent on this factor and I have identified this criteria why some succeed and some dont and why their sucess is dependent on it.

However a customer of one of my clinics cunstruct and flip villas for a living, has 3 ferraris and has 0 reach.
This make my former point moot and CENTS still hold true.

This also tie in very nicely with the above discussion about why "business is not for everyone and not everyone is for business"
One of the skills you need is to question established normes, be able to think for yourself, incorporate previous information and make your own conclusions. Its pretty much what the first good part of the book is all about. Is there more to life than growing up, go to school, get a job and retire? One of the reason people transgress into fastlane is that they ask this question of established norms.
If you try to follow a laidout blueprint like "Do this and become rich in 90 days", you will probably end up starting a dropshipping business and pay 60usd/month for a course.
What I think makes a good entrepreneur is flexibility of thought to traverse the land of unscripted oppurtunities which is not laid ot in a straight path.
 

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With your importing business, did you run into any issues with the existing distributors within your country having exclusive distributor rights to the machines you sell?
 
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With your importing business, did you run into any issues with the existing distributors within your country having exclusive distributor rights to the machines you sell?
I have run into alot of problems but not this.
Biggest issue has been the change to MDD, which will categorice all machines as medical devises regardles of treatment. This has skyrockeded ENTRY since you need quite alot of investment into QMS systems before you start.

To answer yoru question:
The suppliers has super controll on who has agencies and who has not. So they will refuse to sell anything that is in conflict with exixting agencyis.
 

Vas87

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I have run into alot of problems but not this.
Biggest issue has been the change to MDD, which will categorice all machines as medical devises regardles of treatment. This has skyrockeded ENTRY since you need quite alot of investment into QMS systems before you start.

To answer yoru question:
The suppliers has super controll on who has agencies and who has not. So they will refuse to sell anything that is in conflict with exixting agencyis.
Does the supply chain look like this: manufacturer > local country distributor > reseller (you) > beauty clinic
 

Kokaka

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Random update:

Very close to open clinic nr3 now.
Its located in a smaller city of just 45 tousands inhabitants so this will be a nice gamble.
I have data that show this type of business can work very well since I will have a monopoly in the city and will have a bigger market share than Clinic nr1 and Clinic nr2 due to competition.
If I get this to work. I can open 40 clinics in my country and not 20 as first thought due to me being able to open in more smaller cities than first expected.
If the project fails, I just relocate the clinic to a bigger city and due to every clinic is their own company, it wont affect the others and wont fall like a house of cards.

I have also learned something.

I was trying to open in a place next door, however we had to build a clinic from scratch.
I went to this city by accedent just to relax and have lunch with my wife and we passed a sign that said "Shop for rent". Went up to it and saw it was a fully mounted clinic. No need to pay anything, just put up som wallpaper and marble to make it look nice. I have been trying to open in thic city for over a year.

So, this was the same story that happend when I opend clinic nr2. I was looking online for free space, found something, went to the city, pass a fully mounted vacated clinic by accedent. Get it for free. No need to invest anything.

This means, I have to look less online and get in the car and drive once in a while and look where I want to expand. Since this is now twice in a row this has happend. Hopefully can open clinic nr3 in september and clinic nr4 around november if I find a space.

Currently waiting for the contract. I have staff I can use from clinic nr1 and nr2 to put initially in clinic nr3 so staff is solved.

It will soon be time to roll up those sleeves and get to work. And I will also make arounf 40k for myself opening this clinic due to my leasing trick.
It is all coming together. 2 more clinics and I will have a money making engine if I get it to work and who knows what can happen then.
 

Kokaka

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Hi all.
So I have had a few DM asking me whats going on and if I have left the forum.
Im still here but currently having a few weeks just to wind down for real. The kid has started kindergarden so I can soley focus on the business when I need to.
Im having a good final quarter in both businesses and things are now mature and steady.

About clinic nr3. We will try to open in march. The girl I wanted to put there comes back from her maternety leave by then and the other girl I thought on putting there is on sick leave until april.
No need to rush. Focus on financial, physical, mental and familial recovery now untill next year.

HOWEVER
If you like this thread. Keep an eye out in the beginning of next year. Some very, very cool things are about to happen ;)
 
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Kokaka

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Hi all. Time to do a wrap up of what has happend now during the last 6 month.

Machine company:
Record sales! Have made like 140k-150k in gross profits since august. I finally have capitol in the bank again and can lean back and breath.
Looking to expand with a new salesperson/accout manager. Now I fill that role together with maintainging the other businesses. Have a good one I think on the way.

Clinic company:
Clinic nr1: Fully booked, matured and all things good. Only thing that prevent it from generating great net profit is high overhead and too few working spaces.
Hopefully, I will sign a deal for a new clinic next week which will let me go from 2 to 5 working spaces, and we have que to fill 3 spaces as is. With the larger space, I can also introduce way more treatments so hopefully I can fill 4 spaces and double the turnover but only increase spengings by about 20%. Hopefully this will make I make overhead and start to generate wealth from clinic nr1.

Clinic nr 2 has not been great after summer:
After a super great start, it has been on the decline, despite having twice the treatments of clinic nr1.
There are many factors.
Maybie its the constillation of staff, had one staff we didnt get along with that well who might have caused negativity in the group. She does not work with us anymore. This in combination with to low Controll (business partner who was supposed to be there became ill so that place has been in the dark a little). Also competition is higher in that city and we have had inflasion crisis aswell.
Not good, especially since the first 5 month went great and over expectation.

This means we had to finance spendings from the machine company to cover costs. Thankfully, the funds in that business is very high and overhead almost non existent, so we can finance our own business.

But now we have a plan to come around.
Business partner is returing in february to keep an eye.
We will also do a big marketing campaing offering 30 to 50% discount. 30% base and 10% for each friend they reccomend up to 50%
That should fill the clinic up now in the years poorest month.
Then we will keep 30% on all services untill the clinic is stable.
We also have a brand new team there which seems good and hard working so we should be able to turn it around.

If not, I have planned for this and if we have to close, all the purschases has come from Clinic nr1 so everything will return to a warehouse and we can open a new clinic in a new city for free aling with everything we have learned.

Other:
Have been abroad for 3 month and am sceduled to be back home in 2 weeks time.
Has helped alot just to get some aid with the kid. Been quite exhausted to care for him 20-24hours a day along with trying to maintain the businesses and work in sales/account managing. Especially since he has learnd to run and I have home office.
So have had family and friends here help with him which has aided me in sleep/recovery and also work.
Good to stress test the rountines that are set up and I know for a fact now that nothing change, regardless on where I am in the world. Just need a phone and a computer to keep everything afloat.

Also have improved in self stress management: Now I have a sundown rule. I have to respond to every mail and every phonecall before i quit for the day. Some days, I work alot, (like this monday, work untill 01:00) but it leads to more recovery and less stress over the cause of the week, like today I finish around lunch, if not something happen. Good rule, will keep this.

Plan for 2024:
Now I have cash but a business which is in the red (clinic nr2).

1. Fix the issue. Have plan for this.
2. Give it untill summer, if we have not managed with what we do, 100% controll, marketing, new treatments etc. close, relocate, open again, make more money.
3. Rebrand machine company and focus more on social media precense and brand building.
4. If Clinic 2 is successfull for 6 month, open clinic nr3

Due to financial recession, and also high demand in the clic business, my initial 2 problems have now gone away, i.e finding a place to run the business and finding good, trained staff. There have been alot of bankrupcies now which has lended in alot of clinics up for grabs for free, and the people who used to work there have lost their job.
Hopefully we can turn clinic 2 around because we have to expand this year untill the economy become good again and all the good places which are vacaded becomes occupied.
 

JimC

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Thanks for sharing, could you share some tips about your marketing strategy in the beginning?
How did the customers know your clinic? Have you placed ads heavily on Google, FB etc?
 

Kokaka

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Thanks for sharing, could you share some tips about your marketing strategy in the beginning?
How did the customers know your clinic? Have you placed ads heavily on Google, FB etc?
No problem.
My marketing strategy in the beginning was google ads and oeganic instagram trafic.
I was working with an agency for this.
The mistake many small business owners do is they think marketing is expensive (which it is) but I hsve foubd you always net profit from it
 
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ChocolateFactory

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No problem.
My marketing strategy in the beginning was google ads and oeganic instagram trafic.
I was working with an agency for this.
The mistake many small business owners do is they think marketing is expensive (which it is) but I hsve foubd you always net profit from it
How do you find a good marketing agency? That would be my biggest concern.
 

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