Does what you do make CENTS?

[MJ DeMarco]

Publishing Company (Books/Online Content) - 4/ 5

Control - Yes and No. (.5) I decide on what to publish, the topic, the length, the design, etc, but have a heavy reliance on the Amazon channel.
Entry - Yes and No (.5) -- It's easy to publish a book and throw it on Amazon and call yourself an author, therefore I have to write better material than the competition and have a better platform - a forum platform, while easy to start, is not easy to replicate in terms of content and activity. Creating the platform to sell the books is the entry portion.
Need - Yes. Huge.
Time - Yes. Once written, the books survive time. Content on the forum, survive time. I invest my time into things that pay not only money, but time.
Scale - Yes. I can sell millions of books without much change to the dynamics.

 

[biophase]

Sure, I'll go.

Ecommerce - 2.8/5

Control - Yes and No (.3) Giving it a .3 because yes I have my online stores, but Google still controls its traffic and a huge chunk of my sales are from Amazon, so that's a big No.
Entry - Yes and No. (.5) While it's certainly easy to open a store, list on Amazon, contact a factory and import similar things. It's not that easy to replicate the brand I've built.
Need - No. (0) I'm going to say no to this because people don't really need what I sell as evidenced by it being a niche. Small percentage just seem to want it.
Time - Yes. (1) A huge yes to this.
Scale - Yes. (1) A huge yes to this. These last 2 make the absence of first 3 all worth it.

 

[EvanOkanagan]

I was thinking the other day about businesses my friends owned, and which commandments they were reaching in CENTS, and then relating it to my own situation.

Thought it would be interesting to see what other people do on the forum and what commandments their job/business respects. It was a great exercise to go through both my job and business to see where I stand.

Here's mine:


Realtor (my J.O.B) - 1/5

Control - No. Even though I have quite a bit of say at my brokerage it could still change the structure/payscale.
Entry - Definitely no. It's quite easy to get licensed and there are over 1000 Realtors in my area.
Need - This is really the only commandment it obeys. People will always be buying and selling homes.
Time - No... though I do have an assistant, I still need to be the one who's negotiating and there for my clients to view homes/write offers etc.
Scale - No. Magnitude, possibly in the case of selling million dollar homes but that market is tough to get a foothold on and there's a lot of competition going for it.


RE Investor (Owning Cashflowing Rental properties) - 4/5

Control - Yes. I can decide on rents, structure deals how I want, and buy and sell freely.
Entry - Yes! To be successful in this industry there is a lot to know and consistently study, plus the ability to finance properties limits the amount of competition.
Need - Yes. 30% of the residents in my city rent and the vacancy rate is less than 1%. I could buy in another city as well that has a higher demand for rentals if this market had a higher vacancy rate.
Time - Yes. I have a property manager that can handle anything and basically my phone doesn't have to ring.
Scale - Yes/no. This is the most difficult commandment to respect... Currently I own a list of residential homes--buying commercial (apartment buildings) would satisfy the scale which is what I'm gearing towards next, but at this point it's a no.

 

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[biophase]

Limitless - 4.5/5

Control - Yes - I had one point of failure when my magazine app was only on the iOS app store - but now I have a website, email list, and building a Facebook community; so there is no longer one point of failure.
Entry - Yes and no. - the core Unique Selling Point for my business involves being trained in a skill that is little-known and I now have 3 years of experience doing it. Anybody can do this - but it take commitment.
Need - Everybody has struggles in their lie that need solved. Lots of need here. Too much of a need for me to handle alone.
Scale - Yes - I am training others to handle one-on-one sessions and partnering up with someone for sales. Also creating video training courses to address a lot of the common struggle people have.

The entry is the main thing that isn't making it a 5/5, but my dedication and ability to out-perform anyone else who tries - doesn't make me worried.

Why do I feel like most people here want to believe that they have all the commandments. Maybe it's just me, but I'm constantly paranoid of my business in all aspects. Once you get too comfortable, you will lose that edge. Based on a few previous responses and Andrew's included, it makes me think that people overestimate their business's ability to grow and sustain.

For example, on the issue of control above. You have listed IOS app store, website, email list and FB community. To me, there is no control in 3 out of the 4. IOS store is obvious. Your website is at the mercy of search engines, UNLESS your have built you brand. For example, if Pepsi.com no longer existed in Google or Yahoo results, Pepsi would not miss a beat. I would bet that if your website became absent from Google, you'd take a huge hit. Email list I agree is something that you control. FB group, I'd say that you have no control of it. What if FB bans and removes your group one day?

The issue of need is not, does someone need the product or service. The question is, does someone need YOUR product or service. Is there a need for Coke or Pepsi? Clearly the market says yes. But is there a need for Biophase's Cola? How can I answer yes to this without exploring the quality and value of it? Does the world need another soft drink? That is the question. Maybe if I created a cola that tasted like Pepsi, had 0 carbs and 25g of protein!

Andrew, you missed the Time commandment. I don't see how you can say yes when you have 1 on 1 sessions. If you are talking about the App magazines, then I'd say yes.

Sorry don't mean to pick on you, but just using your answers as an example.

I think more people should be realistic about their business's weak points and not give themselves a 1 or .5 in the commandments to make themselves feel better about their business being fastlane. If any of you think you have a 4/5 and it were truly 4/5 you should be multi millionaires within a year. I hope you can understand why this would be the case.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I think a lot of us when starting out are waiting until we have that 'idea' that satisfies all of the commandments.

A lot of times things to not begin with ALL FIVE, but slowly morph there.

The same concept applies to people who want to make millions and yet, don't have the slightest clue on how to make hundreds.

 

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[theag]

Proprietary physical products

Control - 0/1
2 reasons:
Sales: My main channel is Facebook ads. Basically no ads = barely any sales. Working on other channels but hard to make them profitable at scale. I have a pretty big list of buyers, but right now not a big enough product range to really utilize it.
Manufacturing: I have outsourced manufacturing (not offshore though) of my proprietary product. Currently using a single manufacturer that could shut down or decide not to work with me anymore from one day to the other, which would cause me to have to stop sales completely until I have set up my own manufacturing or found another manufacturer to outsource to.

Entry - 0/1
Everybody could replicate my products within a pretty short time as they are unfortunately not patentable and not very complicated. The only "barrier" is my marketing and little brand that I built in the market, although, other than biophase, I dont see this outweighing the easy entry. And to be honest, at roughly 50k customers I dont really feel like I have a real brand here.

Need - 0/1
People dont really need what I sell. Its an impulse buy, something cool, a "want". You could argue if "creating a need" by marketing a product well warrants a point, but in my opinion thats still not a real need.

Time - 1/1
Operations are 99% outsourced (except a few customer service issues like refunds that I do personally because I dont want an employee to have bank account access). All I have to do is marketing at this point. This took a lot of time to set up like this obviously.

Scale - 1/1
Big market that can be reached by different channels and is regularly spending money on this type of product.

So 2/5 in total.

I am constantly paranoid too, because my business violates 3 of the commandments. Right now ad prices on FB are so high because of Black Friday/Cyber Monday and the Christmas season in general that I cant run them profitable anymore. I'm adding new products and an innovative (extremely high margin) fully automated service in 2017 that will hopefully increase my profits a lot. My single goal with this business is to roll profits and hopefully the proceeds of a complete asset sale in the next 1-2 years into something with a stronger base as its so unstable by itself.

I think some people in this thread need to think really hard if they are being honest with themselves and the assessment of their business.

 

[PureA]

Publishing Company (Books/Online Content) - 4/ 5

Control - Yes and No. (.5) I decide on what to publish, the topic, the length, the design, etc, but have a heavy reliance on the Amazon channel.
Entry - Yes and No (.5) -- It's easy to publish a book and throw it on Amazon and call yourself an author, therefore I have to write better material than the competition and have a better platform - a forum platform, while easy to start, is not easy to replicate in terms of content and activity. Creating the platform to sell the books is the entry portion.
Need - Yes. Huge.
Time - Yes. Once written, the books survive time. Content on the forum, survive time. I invest my time into things that pay not only money, but time.
Scale - Yes. I can sell millions of books without much change to the dynamics.

Sure, I'll go.

Ecommerce - 2.8/5

Control - Yes and No (.3) Giving it a .3 because yes I have my online stores, but Google still controls its traffic and a huge chunk of my sales are from Amazon, so that's a big No.
Entry - Yes and No. (.5) While it's certainly easy to open a store, list on Amazon, contact a factory and import similar things. It's not that easy to replicate the brand I've built.
Need - No. (0) I'm going to say no to this because people don't really need what I sell as evidenced by it being a niche. Small percentage just seem to want it.
Time - Yes. (1) A huge yes to this. These last 2 make the absence of first 3 all worth it.
Scale - Yes. (1) A huge yes to this. These last 2 make the absence of first 3 all worth it.

Inspiring to see this. I think a lot of us when starting out are waiting until we have that 'idea' that satisfies all of the commandments.

I know it held me back for way longer than it should have.

'Just getting started' has led and continue to leads onto things that I could have never have stumbled across had I just sat there thinking about and trying to find that 'idea'.

It's funny "just take action" is thrown around a lot, but them words are powerful beyond belief.

You really can change your life by just taking that seemingly non-impactful first step.

 

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[biophase]

Importing/Exporting online - 4/ 5

Control - Yes/no .5, I chose what products I want to buy/sell on multiple platforms (amazon, ebay, alibaba...) top trending/small unique items that are selling, I do the statistics research using websites such as: (terapeak), and find suppliers. Suppliers are sometimes out of my control. The products can't have a trademark to avoid contraband, and I look for small easy to ship items.
Entry - Hard entry barrier, not everyone has enough persistence to look for suppliers from different countries and research trending items. Also setup accounts on all platforms and deal with emails all day, tracking shipments and taking the risk of buying items from the across the world.
Need - Yes, technology is rising more than ever today, the market will need more people that import/export online, while doing drop shipping double checking your items.
Time - Yes/No .5 ,Very time consuming like any business to start building. When you find your supplier, you have easy access to your items, rather spend 12 hours a day at the age of 19 making tons of money. Eventually it would be a good idea to hire 2-3 people to do the work for you when you're able to afford it. All you would have to do is supervise.
Scale - Yes, biggest Scale: Internet Scale is where it's all at. Good thing is that you can leverage your business by investing the money you earned into more items in bulk, and keep making bigger profit. Exponentially growing your profits, helping people get what they want on the internet.

Reading this I feel like there is some delusion here.

First, importing and exporting online is so vague. This is not a business. It's like me saying ecommerce. If you noticed, I was specific with my answers pertaining to my business. If you say ecommerce, you can mean Amazon or Zappos or my niche online store. Big difference in them all.

I don't feel like you are interpreting CENTS incorrectly.

I'd argue with control because you talk about controlling what products you import, but you don't control the platform you are selling on. Control is not about deciding what to sell.

I'd argue with entry because anyone can jump onto alibaba and import some stuff.

I'd argue with your need, because there is no need for customers to import and export. There is a need for some products, other products no, you can't just generalize this and yes and no without thinking about what you sell.

I'd argue with your concept of time because your time is not directly attached to selling online. This is asking if you get paid $/hr or not. And selling online is not time based.

I agree with scale, but disagree with your reasoning. Scale talks about the ability to reach massive customers. It's not about buying more items and bigger profits. You need to look at it from the customer side, not your side. Anyone can buy items in bulk, not everyone can sell them.

I think you need to re-read and re-interpret CENTS again.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

So is the NEED in CENTS analysis only post-action then and not really something that can be trusted pre-action?

Until you inject the market with your solution, NEED tends to be subjective PREACTION until the market validates it as a need.

 

[Fox]

Web Developer - 2.4

Control - 1. I build on my own platform, using my own company and with clients that I approach directly.

Entry - .2 - You have to learn code and be able to sell. Which isn't too hard.

Need - 1. - Although there are a lot of developers there are even more terrible websites. No shortage of work.

Time - 0. - If I stop working the money stops coming in. I do some outsourcing but not enough.

Scale - .2 - I Outsource, have people sell for me, use fast designs and work processes. But its still a one man show really and its limited by me.

Overall thoughts - Yes its okay money it its limited by me and nearly always will be unless huge changes are made. Still only first year doing this stuff so no point being overly harsh. I only learned in January of this year but I do need to evolve the business or it will become just another job.


I will be working on a new business model next year and a different direction in some areas.
Hopefully I can post on this end of next year with a higher score.
This was a good little exercise.

 

[eliquid]

Im gonna do a few of my past things here as an example

Affiliate 1/5

Control - No. While you can CONTROL what you run, ultimately it's someone else's product where caps can come into play and you can get kicked off the offer or not paid if they go under. Your under their "terms" for marketing ( SEO or email or PPC or etc ) and also under their terms for payment ( Net 45, etc ).

Entry - No - I know people who don't know how to make a website or how to program that make money in affiliate marketing. Spy tools are making it easier and anyone that sticks with it can make marginal success from it. Getting big requires some barrier, but anyone can throw up a site, get some traffic and make some money from it.

Need - No - No one really needs affiliates. No one really needs what we push as affiliates either. It's just marketing.

Time - No - Unless you hire out to others, it's all you. Even when you train others, many people can learn what you do and they replicate it leaving you back at just you again. For the most part, most affiliates are really one man shops. Some move to shops with outsourcers, but that's higher end stuff mostly and not the norm.

Scale - Yes. If you get the message/angle right and also the demographics, you pretty much can replicate it to multiple traffic channels without much work. At some point though, only so many people "want" your product and you hit saturation. If you hit things right, you can expand into other products too.

 

[biophase]

I have always found CENTS ( not the terms, but the idea ) hard to grasp.

The fact people are ratings things as .3 and .2 and such shows me others have the same issues I did.

Lets take a RE agent idea:

For example, do people really need a house? Or is it they need a RE Agent to buy a house. Both are no, you could live at home with parents or in an apartment or even a hotel room. You can buy a home without an agent.

So how do you really grade these things? To me no one needs a home, but others would disagree with popular opinion. Or do you flip the idea as "do you need an agent to buy a home?" No, our mortgage lender did the work for us/me personally.

There is clearly a need for an RE agent. This is evidenced by the number of people making a living as a real estate agent. But this is not the question. The question is, does the world NEED YOU as a real estate agent. The NEED question is specifically directed to you, your service or your product. It is not directed at the business category.

Let's say that you are an average worker and decide to become an average RE agent. And you make average money. You are an average negotiator, sometimes you screw up paperwork, provide no inspection recommendations, etc...

You quit after 1 year thinking the whole doesn't need more RE agents.

On the other hand, someone who is a hustler, becomes an RE agent. Kicks a$$, finds her clients awesome deals, is super detail oriented, closes every time. She gets referrals like crazy, makes $200,000 a year and now has an assistant, etc...

The world did NEED her. Her area needed a responsible, competent, real estate agent.

 

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[theag]

So is the NEED in CENTS analysis only post-action then and not really something that can be trusted pre-action?

Pre-action would be asking the question "Do people need a BETTER solution than what is already there" (and can I provide that?).. then post-action constantly analyzing if yours is still the best solution out there. If not, time to improve/innovate more.

Curious how others see it..

 

[MJ DeMarco]

MARKED NOTABLE -- this is really interesting to see how our businesses shape up and where we hold our weaknesses.

 

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[Walter Hay]

I would like to comment on the subject of need. The concept of need is itself highly subjective. What one person considers a need is for another person, even in the same demographic, a luxury.

Once, after 3 1/2 years in B2B selling I was obliged by my next employer to take an in-house sales course. Lesson #1 was: 'Establish The Need!" This was correctly interpreted by the instructor to mean that sales people should find out if the prospect saw the product or service as a need, and if they didn't, the next step was to convince them that they did need it.

Having previously had an extremely successful 3 1/2 years as a technical sales representative, (800% increase in sales in the first 3 years) I already knew that and had successfully applied it. A good sales person can persuade a person to feel the need without resorting to unethical methods, but after Lesson #1 the sales course became boring and the instruction was heading into sleazy and unethical territory so I quit. That's when I started my first business.

I appreciate that B2B selling is different to online B2C sales because you don't often get to personally interact with the potential customers. To overcome this, I suggest research into the reasons why the customers who have that "need" are convinced that they need the product or service.

Once you know that, the world is your oyster. What you will sell online is: The reason/s why your product or service meets their need, whether or not they originally believed that they had that need.

Having said all that, I would like to make it clear that convincing a person with no feet that they need trainers/sneakers/running shoes/ballet shoes/steel capped work boots, is not what I have in mind.

Walter

 

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[eliquid]

SaaS Owner/Software 5/5

Control - Yes. - While I might listen to what customers tell me what they want, I ultimately build what I want, when I want, and under what language and terms I decide. I am not dependent on someone else to do it.

Entry - Yes - While there are many coding bootcamps and courses, it still takes a special type of person to code it up AND ALSO make it "production" ready. It also costs money to hire good programmers if YOU do not code it yourself. There is some barrier here.

Need - Yes - You may build it, but maybe no one will buy it. Does the market really need another rank tracker or email script? However, most good SaaS/software fills a void that has demand and makes things easier or faster. If people can solve a problem easier, faster, or cheaper.... they will tend to need it or at least really want it.

Time - Yes - If done correctly, code can be handed off to another person and depending on SaaS, maybe never changed. If changes do need to happen, it is generally small compared to the original code base. The code/output of the code will outlast me and can be ran by others.

Scale - Yes - I can sell to lots of people without having to add more to the "product" and without hiring more people, other than maybe buying more "servers" at different milestones to handle loads of the software ( like having lots of customers ), but this is at large scale and the events for this are spread out over time spans.

 

[theag]

@MJ DeMarco

Can you do one based on options trading?

Maybe he will go into more detail here, but he commented on that in the options thread: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...onaires-option-mega-thread.66398/#post-522363

Well it's about as Fastlane as you can get when it comes the markets...

• Need? Well, people love taking bets and speculating. Other institutions buy insurance. I have no problem selling contracts.

• Entry? The concept can be a bit daunting and it does require some initial outlay, I hear $5 - $10K is the minimum launch point.

• Control? I can't control the market. But I can control WHEN I get in, or out. Even a bad contract can be exited. (OF course, you take a loss then.)

• Scale? Beyond you could ever imagine, millions, or billions in the case of Buffet.

• TIME? My favorite concept... as a seller of options, you make $$$ by the passage of time (price aside.) A dead, flat market is my favorite market.

 

[AndrewNC]

Limitless - 4.5/5

Control - Yes - I had one point of failure when my magazine app was only on the iOS app store - but now I have a website, email list, and building a Facebook community; so there is no longer one point of failure.
Entry - Yes and no. - the core Unique Selling Point for my business involves being trained in a skill that is little-known and I now have 3 years of experience doing it. Anybody can do this - but it take commitment.
Need - Everybody has struggles in their lie that need solved. Lots of need here. Too much of a need for me to handle alone.
Scale - Yes - I am training others to handle one-on-one sessions and partnering up with someone for sales. Also creating video training courses to address a lot of the common struggle people have.

The entry is the main thing that isn't making it a 5/5, but my dedication and ability to out-perform anyone else who tries - doesn't make me worried.

 

[eliquid]

Marketing Consultant 1/5

Control - No. I depend on someone else to ultimately cut me a check and send it to me and also agree to work with me ( winning them over on RFP or request ). I also am at the mercy to what "they want" and how they want it. Basically on their terms. Im having to give them weekly meetings or monthly reports to prove my worth to them.

Entry - No - Sadly, I have seen people with less than 3 months of work/skill try to do what I do and win clients over. People lie about their "experience" all the time and if I look at Upwork or similar places, it's all about price plus who can pitch the best at that certain price level.

Need - Yes - While I can say no one needs a consultant ( they could hire an employee ), I have to assume if they are looking for a consultant in X type of work, they need it.

Time - No - Most consultants are just themselves. Even well run shops/agencies can end up like this where if 1 main person stops, the income stops ( or becomes extremely difficult ). Such as where the agency is mostly ran by a CEO who does all the proposals and meetings and payments/collections. Even though they have a VP, Director, and underlings, if the CEO get under the weather, stuff gets backed up on proposals, meetings, and payments/collections.

Scale - No - this is not easily scaled.

 

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[Sanj Modha]

Ecommerce with FB, Adwords and email marketing (3/5).

Control - Yes - I control campaigns, targeting and budgets.
Entry - Yes/No - anyone can do what I do. There's no 'barrier to entry' if you want to buy traffic. That said it's the secret sauce that separates us.
Need - 100% yes - I can always source and sell to people who want it. That will never stop.
Time - Yes/No - I have a team of 2 full-time staffers and 2 contractors. They do a lot of the admin and day to day but running, testing and scaling ads takes up most of my time.
Scale - HUGE YES - I can target millions of people in any country with FB or Google traffic.

I think that's right.

 

[MattR82]

Wow, reading this has made me realise that not only have I been too harsh in how many points in CENTS I should have covered, but also how tough I'm judging each individual principle.

I've got 1 client now (lol) in a business that doesn't satisfy enough of these principles (yet...) but my entire focus is on making it work for this person (they are getting amazing value out of me for the price that's for sure). If I can't make it a success for one person I don't see the point in scaling yet (which is driving one or two people crazy I think )

However I've almost finished developing a product that I am aiming to license to a company/industry I previously worked in. So it's purely B2B. Although until I get that first license deal, it's not really a business.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

You quit after 1 year thinking the whole doesn't need more RE agents.

On the other hand, someone who is a hustler, becomes an RE agent. Kicks a$$, finds her clients awesome deals, is super detail oriented, closes every time. She gets referrals like crazy, makes $200,000 a year and now has an assistant, etc...

You're describing EXECUTIONAL EXCELLENCE which overcomes weak entry in an industry that boasts NEED, but has many problem solvers.

2 Es beat 1 E.

Can you do one based on options trading?

@theag posted the analysis from the inside. Rep+ to him.

 

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[Yoda]

Blogging (3.5/5)

Control (.5) - I can control my website, and all its content. I can control prices of my offer. I can't control where Google puts me.

Entry (1) - Actually getting good and understanding everything about blogging is not easy. Many come, many leave. Few win.

Need (1) - In the niche I chose, it's evergreen and there is absolutely a constant need which I could never fulfill.

Time (.5) - Can I do nothing and keep profiting? Yes, for a while. Is it persistent? Not really. I'll always need to keep publishing, even though the work itself is hired out.

Scale (.5) - This was the hardest for me to look at with an unbiased eye. In scaling my own site, there is a 'peak' to some degree. In acquisition of other sites, though, there isn't. I'm leaning much closer to 1 than 0, but I'm not going to count tenths.

-----
Overall, I could technically move Time and Scale closer and closer and closer to 1 (hiring more processes out, acquiring more profitable blogs in other niches with different traffic sources). However, not being able to control traffic directly is a huge detriment to my space ever becoming 100% CENTS.

Even if Entry, Need, Time and Scale were flawless, my search engine traffic could drop to minimal amounts pretty quick.

 

[eliquid]

@theag @MJ DeMarco @biophase

This has helped a lot in my understanding of it.

Sometimes I think I am the only one that doesn't get "it" sometimes. What people see as crystal clear, I sometimes look at muddy and from another angle which throws me off some and causes me to sometimes question what I thought/know.

Has hurt me in someways, but many times it has also leveraged me higher than the others and into a better position seeing something they "don't"

Good to know how this is suppose to look now and how it fits in.

Thanks

 

[devine]

Spoiler: Business production consulting

Business production consulting.

Need - 10.
99.9% of entrepreneurs and businesses are:

Entry - 1.
Good luck and amen.
Control - 0.9.
As long as human beings are allowed to communicate, I have full control over this business.
Government was a significant barrier, but as we integrated DASH into our business our lovely government can kiss my a$$. When I move completely off-shore I'll give it a full point.
If you live in a first-world country, your Control is about twice as low as you imagine it to be.
Time - 0.7.
Even though I work less than 30 hours per month, it's not passive income. My main focus is to make it less time consuming, yet increasing profits, as I have a whole lot of other things to do besides doing business.
Scale - 1.
Both, service-based and product-based opportunities are great.

4.6/5.
This business makes me appreciate life.

Spoiler: Niche commerce/ecommerce

Niche commerce/ecommerce.
Need - 0.6.
The keyword is 'niche".
Entry - 0.8.
Good luck and amen.
Control - 0.4.
We don't manufacture the substance.
Time - 0.7.
We collectively spent half of a year on everything: product, business name, branding and website, retail stores, security, personell, traveling to meet with manufacturers, I was doing customer support myself a lot, was working as a consultant at my own stores, hired personell, I even signed personal cards myself. My Woman has done an insane amount of work as well.
But today, when everything is done and delegated, I only spend time on my development in related areas.
Scale - 1.
Not simple and definitely not easy, but opportunity is great.

3.5/5.
If it wouldn't be our common passion with my Woman, with tremendous amount of talent, pre-existing skillset and assets, I wouldn't even touch the area like this for God's sake.

Spoiler: Music Licensing library

Music licensing library.
Need - 1.
Undersupplied market with a shortage of quality.
Entry - 1.
Unless you have top-notch library of hundreds of tracks with excellent production quality + contacts with right people, your success is not on the roadmap.
Control - 0.6.
BMI/ASCAP get more and more corrupted with years.
Time - 1.
I haven't spent an hour on this business in 2 months.
Scale - 0.6.
Scaling is very complex and I can't see a lot of ways to do it efficiently without spending too much time.

4.2/5.
A perfect example of a hobby translated into profession, then into business.

Overall, I don't depend on my business. Less than a year ago it was totally the opposite.
I focused on quality for many years and have surpassed 10k hours mark in multiple fields before I was introduced to CENTS.
CENTS is a powerful strategic principle, if understood correctly - it translates a full-time business that makes $50k/year into a business that makes $50k/month.

On such a beautiful note I say thanks to @MJ DeMarco for introducing his principles in his book, and depart from TFLF for a while to focus on my family and my new activities.
It was a great time, this forum has improved me as an entrepreneur and as a person.
I wish success to those who actually deserve it, tremendous luck to those who are lost and great enjoyable life to everyone.

J

 

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[Jake]

Control - I control my brand but not my factory. I could produce elsewhere but then it's new headaches that I've already spent nearly a year taking care of. I'm relying less on Amazon these days and making more sales through my website and retailers
Entry - Not much of a barrier. Quality and brand building not so easy
Need - Yes. Not an absolute need but an underserved strong want.
Time - It's still early days so I need to push but some of my best days have been while I'm sitting at the pool. As I get more retailers onboard time will continue to increase
Scale - Could be big but I'm pretty much making my market. Target small then continue to increase the market size from there.

Overall score? 2-2.5?

 

[Sharilli]

Importing/Exporting (E-commerce using amazon/ebay/alibaba) - 4/ 5

Control - Yes/no .5, I chose what products I want to buy/sell whatever platforms (amazon, ebay, alibaba...) I want. No because it's not my own website nor did I create the product I'm selling.
Entry - No, anyone can create an account and start. Yes because not everybody knows how to do their research on statistics from which platform to use.
Need - Yes, helping customers get what they want is a big need.
Time - No .5 ,Very time consuming like any business to start building. No because it is not a system where you can leave it by itself for months and generate a source of income.
Scale - Yes, biggest Scale: Internet Scale is where it's all at. Good thing is that you can leverage your business by investing the money you earned into more items in bulk, and keep making bigger profit. Exponentially growing your profits, helping people get what they want on the internet.

 

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[eliquid]

Maybe he will go into more detail here, but he commented on that in the options thread: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...onaires-option-mega-thread.66398/#post-522363

Good stuff and thanks.

Yeah I must have missed that. I read that thread and then got confused in the lingo of trading and got into other stuff, so I must have missed it originally.

 

[ZF Lee]

Ecommerce with FB, Adwords and email marketing (3/5).

Control - Yes - I control campaigns, targeting and budgets.
Entry - Yes/No - anyone can do what I do. There's no 'barrier to entry' if you want to buy traffic. That said it's the secret sauce that separates us.
.

I love the CONTROL part. If people want to hop onto bandwagons, all you need to do is to put up affliate programs and you have a Fastlane machine working for you!
As for ENTRY, as long as you provide value that helps other people, I'm sure that will be the barrier itself. I see so many Internet marketers treating their gigs as one-trick ponies, offering this secret to internet success or that secret to prosperity....total crap.

Soon we might not have to deal with money gurus, but internet gurus. And MJ and the moderators will have their hands tied once more

 

[Sharilli]

Reading this I feel like there is some delusion here.

First, importing and exporting online is so vague. This is not a business. It's like me saying ecommerce. If you noticed, I was specific with my answers pertaining to my business. If you say ecommerce, you can mean Amazon or Zappos or my niche online store. Big difference in them all.

I don't feel like you are interpreting CENTS incorrectly.

I'd argue with control because you talk about controlling what products you import, but you don't control the platform you are selling on. Control is not about deciding what to sell.

I'd argue with entry because anyone can jump onto alibaba and import some stuff.

I'd argue with your need, because there is no need for customers to import and export. There is a need for some products, other products no, you can't just generalize this and yes and no without thinking about what you sell.

I'd argue with your concept of time because your time is not directly attached to selling online. This is asking if you get paid $/hr or not. And selling online is not time based.

I agree with scale, but disagree with your reasoning. Scale talks about the ability to reach massive customers. It's not about buying more items and bigger profits. You need to look at it from the customer side, not your side. Anyone can buy items in bulk, not everyone can sell them.

I think you need to re-read and re-interpret CENTS again.

It's not a business, however, it does follow at least 3 of the commandments, and can generate a lot of income.
"Anyone can buy items in bulk, not everyone can sell them."
If you do the research properly, you post the product you are selling through one of the platforms (ebay,amazon,etsy..etc.. )
Then it's out there reaching massive customers. The research will give you enough evidence that your product will sell.