Andy Black
Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
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Speedway Pass
No skills?Hi, so 28 y/o guy from Estonia, like most newbies I got inspired by TMF and now I'm here. Embarrassing post to make. At 28 I've done less with my life than most people at 18 and wasted my best decade doing and accomplishing nothing, but it shouldn't be too late to make some positive changes
Poker
High school dropout, been surviving the last 10 years playing online poker. Haven't been too successful because of my own lack of discipline, but done the bare minimum to get a dinghy one-bedroom and support myself. Over the last month I've gone harder at studying poker than ever before, but it has actually led me to realize it's probably not what I should be doing with my life. The games are steadily getting harder, and who knows how long online will remain viable with the rise in software-assisted cheating and AI starting to get scary good. And while I'm not working for anyone, I'm ultimately still following the roadmap of an employee trading time for money. If I have to spend my days doing something I dislike, it might as well be something where I at least feel a sense of hope for an eventual Fastlane potential. Also, doing something that isn't a zero-sum game might be good for the soul.
Shut-in
Basically an extreme basement-dwelling loser for the past decade. Don't take care of myself, don't leave my place except for groceries or to visit mom, don't interact with anyone. Shockingly that has led me to be completely stunted in my social development and extremely socially anxious. Sorry I know I'm not in a mental illness support forum, but thought I'd mention it to be honest about where I'm at. Basically where I deserve after a decade of video games and movies, honestly probably better off, doubt there's been any other time in history when someone like me wouldn't have been thrown to the dogs by now lol.
Future?
So I have no skills and I'm pretty stupid, but as I'm lucky to live at a time where infinite free education exists I should be able to improve on that. Don't really have a formulated plan. I know, that's bad, I'll try doing the 1/5/10 thing once I find at least a vague direction. But roughly speaking, feel I need to learn some basic skills before dreaming about entrepreneurship. Find some freelance work I can do online as my specialized skill that could potentially be supportive of an eventual Fastlane. Shamefully for the moment still lost and indecisive regarding what it should be. I do have runway money saved for over a year with my low-expenses lifestyle so I have some time, tho still on a scarcity mindset so might keep playing a little poker to not see the numbers in the bank drop scary low.
I'm extremely grateful for all the kind people here who generously give their time to help others. Switched out browsing Reddit/Youtube over the past week to browsing this forum and really feels like my thinking has improved. Yes, too much consumption at this point, and it would likely be good to get to taking some actual action ASAP (as a certain super-friendly forum user has kindly informed me.) In my defense, I've at least taken action at cleaning up my diet, establishing a meal prep routine, and fixed my sleep schedule. Still working on the exercise part. Lucky to not have had any serious health problems yet, but not being the youngest anymore I really want to have taking care of my health and longevity as a number one priority from now on. Anyhow really happy to have found this place, apologies for not having anything to say about business for now, gonna try to not disappear after a few posts and keep updating this thread as I go.
You've earned your keep for a decade playing online poker? That takes serious discipline, and more than a little intelligence.
When I was an IT contractor I wanted to make a bit of money from home. This was the original Texas Hold'Em craze back in 2008 or so. I managed to grind up to a €2k profit one month then our first child was born.
The next month I earned nothing as I couldn't put any hours in. That's when I realised I was exchanging time for money. And that the guy with 2,000 members paying $20/mth for poker tutorials by various coaches wasn't playing poker anymore... he was playing golf.
I ended up falling into Google Ads where I could build little income streams that brought $250/mth, then $500+/mth. Sometimes they could be created and dialed in and would then bring that money for years to come.
With your mathematical and learning skills, plus ability to understand how people think, I'd look at media buying as a way of building little money making machines.
You could start by having clients and then maybe running campaigns for your own projects.
Something I've been advising people to start with who want to go freelancing is short form video creation for businesses or large YouTube channels. It's an in demand skill, and you don't need permission to create a short video from a long one on YouTube. Beware copywrite of course, but you can create a video and give it to a business to start a conversation.
Something I always advise is to start where you are currently and "grow what you know".
Can you create a channel of short videos all related to poker? Can you create compilation videos, or breakdown videos of big plays?
What are popular search terms on Google and/or YouTube that don't have good video answers? You can go long-tail like how to play pocket Jacks, or maybe find high volume searches about how to organise (and win) home games amongst buddies.
If you can create great videos then business may pay you to make videos for them. And maybe you can even figure out how to put ad spend behind those videos and make them profitable? That's another great skill that goes hand in hand with being able to create great videos.
What I like about being a freelance media buyer is I'm not in a zero sum game. I'm in the game of creating win-win-wins - I win when the consumer finds a great offer and hands their money to a business that serves them.
Happy consumer = Happy client = Happy media buyer
Check this old thread (and the video) to see how much simpler the marhs for media buying is than what you're used to:
MARKETING - How to get profitable or fail fast with AdWords
(Originally posted on the inside here.) How To Get Profitable Or Fail Fast With AdWords Here's how I often determine whether a project, niche, seed, or keyword has legs, or needs a bullet. Note1: I use blanket bid prices throughout the steps below, meaning the bid price within a campaign for...
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