First Fastlane Anniversary: My Biggest Lessons

[heavy_industry]

I'm moving towards the Spenny I envision at thirty

I can't see the future, but I can tell that the 30 year old Spenny is watching you, and is very proud of your actions.

It's often said that we overestimate what we can do in a year, but underestimate what we can accomplish in a decade. If this massive shift only took 1 year, you can imagine the kind of life you are going to live in 10 years.

I am proud to be a witness to this journey.

 

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[Tintob]

This is my first anniversary. I'm almost tempted to call it a birthday, as I’ve developed so much obsession with improving my life this past year & I can barely recognise who I've become. It's incredible that, in many aspects, I'm living my dream.

I'm structuring this post in two parts:
A) The Biggest Lessons
B) What I've Done

Biggest Lessons

• TO ALL YOUNG FASTLANERS - Journalling, meditation, reading, overcoming social media, cold showers, and gratitude don't do anything past a point. I can’t emphasise this enough. I often see people starting and never leaving this stage because it's uncomfortable (I did this).
  • Go produce something of value.
  • Get a purpose. Align identity with that purpose. Do something. Doing is ten times better than becoming an amateur philosopher.
  • Don't trick yourself into watching Hamza, Alex Hormozi, or anyone else as "education". It's entertainment unless you're taking notes during the video.
• You haven’t got time to waste. Death is real, inevitable & it will remind you of that with near-death experiences. I recommend getting a "My Life In Weeks" poster from Amazon and looking at it regularly. Momento Mori. Think of death. You'll move quicker, be more productive and enjoy life far more.
• The desert of desertion is a killer.
  
  • Before you even set off on an idea, use this as a checklist
    
    • Can you say in a sentence what problem you are solving? How are you different? How are you improving the existing system?
    • Have you run the numbers on if this can be profitable? How much would it take for you to sell to get to profit? How many units would you need to make the xxx amount a month? Is that feasible?
    • Have you consulted Google Trends/Google Ad Planner/ search volume/ existing products to see if people are searching for your specific solution? How do you add value?
    • Have you checked your idea against the CENTS framework? Have you been on grademybusinessidea.com?
    • When can you get the barebones prototype made? When can you get feedback? How fast can I make the feedback loop?
  • You have to outline this as you'll be tested during development. "Why am I doing this?" / "Will I even sell one?" / "These people said it's useless" etc. It would be best to have an answer to be stubborn, not because you believe blindly but because you have done the essential checks for a green light.
• Get a group of like-minded individuals you can go to for support - whether with business, life, dating, etc. I couldn’t have done it alone, plus it’d be boring. Developing something worthwhile is inherently lonely, but having support helps so much.
• Ideas are only useful if you do something with them- the only thing that matters is applying them.
  • What can you do to get that first sale? (@Andy Black ) What can you do to provide value to someone?
• Don't go and play bullshit bingo with “businesses”.
  
  • Dropshipping
  • Affiliate Marketing
  • Being a Youtuber
  • Forex Trading
  • MLM
  • Crypto Investing

A general rule is if it’s popular on social media, it’s a saturated area that’ll be harder to find value to provide. I’m not saying these are useless and there is no place to provide value, but becoming good at it will take years & you'll have to dig, just like any other business. Refer to CENTS.​

• Move to being a producer more than a consumer.
  • Joining a team producer is gradual but rewarding once you begin seeing a change.
  • Fastlane content is good content to consume, but put it to use. Implement it.
  • How can you position yourself to be a producer? What can you make?
• Investing is worthwhile later once you’ve got scalable value (e.g. a business).
  • I wasted so much time researching, only to make £200 or lose.
  • It just doesn’t make sense & will not get you to being Fastlane (unless you can manage other people's money through scalability - that's amazing).
• Identify a problem, then learn skills for the solution.
  • People put the cart before the horse on this one. When I identified a problem I wanted to solve, I searched for the skills I needed to achieve my goal. It was clear what I needed to do next to progress & get to sales. Learn CAD --> Prototype --> More prototyping & research --> Make website --> Make content/ push ads.
  • Do not be vague and "Learn coding" or "Learn CAD". 95% of the information on those courses is irrelevant to the problem you want to solve and doesn't get you closer to a working prototype. I have colleagues who made prototypes & got overwhelmingly positive responses in a week.
  • AGAIN. Identify --> Solve Problems. The skill learning is a byproduct, not the goal.
• Become a source of inspiration for others. I get called an inspiration, but I'm not special. I just wanted to be in a position where I could help others. Those kind words people tell me feed back into myself in more ways than you can believe. I run faster. I lift heavier. I work harder. I lead better. I'm more patient.

What I've Done

Before university, I was recovering from dreadful mental health from a job I worked and being spectacularly unsuccessful with YouTube & an investing portfolio. When I began that job, I could feel the anti-entrepreneurship sentiment & before I knew it, I had become a part of it. I had entirely resigned myself to being an employee. I gave up.

Thankfully, I left, and as I was recovering, I found a fantastic book called "The Millionaires Fastlane." It gave me a framework to work off of and reminded me of how much I missed entrepreneurship. I felt like I rediscovered a part of me that tried to shut down for years because I unwisely listened to my peers. That said, it was my fault I had been committing identity suicide. Around that time, just before starting university, I sent an email to myself two years ago, and I received it this week. When I wrote that email, I didn't even know the forum existed, it just so happens that I sent that email the same week I joined a year later.

Here's an extract.

“By the time you read this, you'll be through the majority of your degree, have run multiple businesses/startups, kept that six-pack & grown stronger.

Now, I didn't do much for the first year. It was more of a year of partying, doing my degree, still dabbling in investing (unsuccessfully) with many other distractions.

Then I found the forum. Here's what I've done over the past twelve months:

• Tried four different businesses. One has been a worthwhile success, while the other three were learning experiences.
• I hit some significant milestones in bodybuilding. I can run half-marathons & lift heavy weights. Years ago, I couldn't even run a 3km run.
• I’ve launched my first-ever product and began selling it. We're on the cusp of making more products, too.
  • I’ve had to learn CAD
  • Basic web design for e-commerce
  • Copywriting
  • Ads/ Tiktok Content.
• Kept myself accountable on my thread that has turned to GOLD.
• I’ve been sober since February. No alcohol or anything else that makes me stupid. I’m still a student as well. The many times I’ve had opportunities to indulge, and I haven’t, I’m proud I’ve stayed to my word.
• I’ve begun guiding people on their self-improvement journeys; some on the forum have already experienced me keeping them accountable. I’m now finding people coming to me for advice, whether in the gym, life & even business.
• I’ve removed video games from my life and cannibalised the spare time for new hobbies I’ve always wanted to try but never had the time to do.
• I’ve surrounded myself with winners on both the forum and in real life: entrepreneurs, doctors, inventors, and business owners. More importantly, I now have a close-knit of friends who all want more out of life & push each other.
• I’m on the final stretch of graduating with my degree.

Big shoutout to all the friends & colleagues I’ve met in the past year. You know exactly who you are. You've added a lot of colour to my life, given me the drive to do better & given me plenty of laughs. Thank you to the forum, too. There are endless archives of entrepreneurship content here & it's incredible to refer to. Here's to another great year.

Edit: Spelling errors, clarification - content is the same.

Very inspiring.. You made a bunch of progress!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[The real Ephraim]

This is my first anniversary. I'm almost tempted to call it a birthday, as I’ve developed so much obsession with improving my life this past year & I can barely recognise who I've become. It's incredible that, in many aspects, I'm living my dream.

I'm structuring this post in two parts:
A) The Biggest Lessons
B) What I've Done

Biggest Lessons

• TO ALL YOUNG FASTLANERS - Journalling, meditation, reading, overcoming social media, cold showers, and gratitude don't do anything past a point. I can’t emphasise this enough. I often see people starting and never leaving this stage because it's uncomfortable (I did this).
  • Go produce something of value.
  • Get a purpose. Align identity with that purpose. Do something. Doing is ten times better than becoming an amateur philosopher.
  • Don't trick yourself into watching Hamza, Alex Hormozi, or anyone else as "education". It's entertainment unless you're taking notes during the video.
• You haven’t got time to waste. Death is real, inevitable & it will remind you of that with near-death experiences. I recommend getting a "My Life In Weeks" poster from Amazon and looking at it regularly. Momento Mori. Think of death. You'll move quicker, be more productive and enjoy life far more.
• The desert of desertion is a killer.
  
  • Before you even set off on an idea, use this as a checklist
    
    • Can you say in a sentence what problem you are solving? How are you different? How are you improving the existing system?
    • Have you run the numbers on if this can be profitable? How much would it take for you to sell to get to profit? How many units would you need to make the xxx amount a month? Is that feasible?
    • Have you consulted Google Trends/Google Ad Planner/ search volume/ existing products to see if people are searching for your specific solution? How do you add value?
    • Have you checked your idea against the CENTS framework? Have you been on grademybusinessidea.com?
    • When can you get the barebones prototype made? When can you get feedback? How fast can I make the feedback loop?
  • You have to outline this as you'll be tested during development. "Why am I doing this?" / "Will I even sell one?" / "These people said it's useless" etc. It would be best to have an answer to be stubborn, not because you believe blindly but because you have done the essential checks for a green light.
• Get a group of like-minded individuals you can go to for support - whether with business, life, dating, etc. I couldn’t have done it alone, plus it’d be boring. Developing something worthwhile is inherently lonely, but having support helps so much.
• Ideas are only useful if you do something with them- the only thing that matters is applying them.
  • What can you do to get that first sale? (@Andy Black ) What can you do to provide value to someone?
• Don't go and play bullshit bingo with “businesses”.
  
  • Dropshipping
  • Affiliate Marketing
  • Being a Youtuber
  • Forex Trading
  • MLM
  • Crypto Investing

A general rule is if it’s popular on social media, it’s a saturated area that’ll be harder to find value to provide. I’m not saying these are useless and there is no place to provide value, but becoming good at it will take years & you'll have to dig, just like any other business. Refer to CENTS.​

• Move to being a producer more than a consumer.
  • Joining a team producer is gradual but rewarding once you begin seeing a change.
  • Fastlane content is good content to consume, but put it to use. Implement it.
  • How can you position yourself to be a producer? What can you make?
• Investing is worthwhile later once you’ve got scalable value (e.g. a business).
  • I wasted so much time researching, only to make £200 or lose.
  • It just doesn’t make sense & will not get you to being Fastlane (unless you can manage other people's money through scalability - that's amazing).
• Identify a problem, then learn skills for the solution.
  • People put the cart before the horse on this one. When I identified a problem I wanted to solve, I searched for the skills I needed to achieve my goal. It was clear what I needed to do next to progress & get to sales. Learn CAD --> Prototype --> More prototyping & research --> Make website --> Make content/ push ads.
  • Do not be vague and "Learn coding" or "Learn CAD". 95% of the information on those courses is irrelevant to the problem you want to solve and doesn't get you closer to a working prototype. I have colleagues who made prototypes & got overwhelmingly positive responses in a week.
  • AGAIN. Identify --> Solve Problems. The skill learning is a byproduct, not the goal.
• Become a source of inspiration for others. I get called an inspiration, but I'm not special. I just wanted to be in a position where I could help others. Those kind words people tell me feed back into myself in more ways than you can believe. I run faster. I lift heavier. I work harder. I lead better. I'm more patient.

What I've Done

Before university, I was recovering from dreadful mental health from a job I worked and being spectacularly unsuccessful with YouTube & an investing portfolio. When I began that job, I could feel the anti-entrepreneurship sentiment & before I knew it, I had become a part of it. I had entirely resigned myself to being an employee. I gave up.

Thankfully, I left, and as I was recovering, I found a fantastic book called "The Millionaires Fastlane." It gave me a framework to work off of and reminded me of how much I missed entrepreneurship. I felt like I rediscovered a part of me that tried to shut down for years because I unwisely listened to my peers. That said, it was my fault I had been committing identity suicide. Around that time, just before starting university, I sent an email to myself two years ago, and I received it this week. When I wrote that email, I didn't even know the forum existed, it just so happens that I sent that email the same week I joined a year later.

Here's an extract.

“By the time you read this, you'll be through the majority of your degree, have run multiple businesses/startups, kept that six-pack & grown stronger.

Now, I didn't do much for the first year. It was more of a year of partying, doing my degree, still dabbling in investing (unsuccessfully) with many other distractions.

Then I found the forum. Here's what I've done over the past twelve months:

• Tried four different businesses. One has been a worthwhile success, while the other three were learning experiences.
• I hit some significant milestones in bodybuilding. I can run half-marathons & lift heavy weights. Years ago, I couldn't even run a 3km run.
• I’ve launched my first-ever product and began selling it. We're on the cusp of making more products, too.
  • I’ve had to learn CAD
  • Basic web design for e-commerce
  • Copywriting
  • Ads/ Tiktok Content.
• Kept myself accountable on my thread that has turned to GOLD.
• I’ve been sober since February. No alcohol or anything else that makes me stupid. I’m still a student as well. The many times I’ve had opportunities to indulge, and I haven’t, I’m proud I’ve stayed to my word.
• I’ve begun guiding people on their self-improvement journeys; some on the forum have already experienced me keeping them accountable. I’m now finding people coming to me for advice, whether in the gym, life & even business.
• I’ve removed video games from my life and cannibalised the spare time for new hobbies I’ve always wanted to try but never had the time to do.
• I’ve surrounded myself with winners on both the forum and in real life: entrepreneurs, doctors, inventors, and business owners. More importantly, I now have a close-knit of friends who all want more out of life & push each other.
• I’m on the final stretch of graduating with my degree.

Big shoutout to all the friends & colleagues I’ve met in the past year. You know exactly who you are. You've added a lot of colour to my life, given me the drive to do better & given me plenty of laughs. Thank you to the forum, too. There are endless archives of entrepreneurship content here & it's incredible to refer to. Here's to another great year.

Edit: Spelling errors, clarification - content is the same.

A fascinating and valuable example of the process for others! This post should be displayed in the forum menu so that many do not repeat these mistakes or at least think about it, as it happened to me... I opened your post a few months ago, but I was not morally able to accept everything that you described here, now I have matured, I reconsidered some of my positions and I can safely say that what you wrote is unpleasant in some aspects, especially for “beginners” - the truth, the meaning of which many may miss after the first reading, but if they continue something in this direction, they will remember about you, but perhaps it will be too late... Awareness usually does not come immediately, especially when at first you don’t have a single accomplice around you, a test of the strength of spirit and will! Thanks for your experience, it will definitely help others - you've already provided more value than many on this forum!

 

[Spenny]

A fascinating and valuable example of the process for others! This post should be displayed in the forum menu so that many do not repeat these mistakes or at least think about it, as it happened to me... I opened your post a few months ago, but I was not morally able to accept everything that you described here, now I have matured, I reconsidered some of my positions and I can safely say that what you wrote is unpleasant in some aspects, especially for “beginners” - the truth, the meaning of which many may miss after the first reading, but if they continue something in this direction, they will remember about you, but perhaps it will be too late... Awareness usually does not come immediately, especially when at first you don’t have a single accomplice around you, a test of the strength of spirit and will! Thanks for your experience, it will help others - you've already provided more value than many on this forum!

This is why I front-loaded this post to be the lessons, and the first few being what I see as the biggest mistakes. Actions of self-improvement are a good boost, but they can't tip the needle. It's too weak. Nothing beats making something of value, AND you can do self-improvement alongside it - it's not complicated.

People believe they're doing something, and when they don't get the results they go buy courses from their favourite creator to 'learn how to fix themselves further. The entire time you didn't even realise you've been in a sales funnel.

 

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[humthesongg]

Thank you for sharing! You provided more clarity as to what it is I must do now, moving forward with a focus on business.