Getting my dreams back

[Marc RV]

Hi all,

I am 38 now and it dawned on me a few months back that I had settled for comfortable mediocrity.

In my early 20s I was super ambitious and I did quite well in the financial industry (stockbroking), getting close to my first million until the great financial crisis whipped out half of it. Until then most of what I had achieved came lightly. So when I set up my own shop in 2009 I lacked the spirit to drive it home. Our product was superior and returns where good, but I could not get myself to pick up the phone to aggressively market.

Because I was never a crazy spender, (I was the only guy on the trading floor who came by bicycle) there was no urgency to get the business growing and getting the revenues in. Further, I started realising that most of the financial industry is all about marketing and BS (as nicely described in Unscripted ). So when there was an opportunity to escape I did.

Due to some funky family connections, I ended up setting up some ventures in a frontier market. I quickly realised that competing in the industrial field was actually real work as opposed to the work I knew back from my finance days. In the process, I unknowingly violated most of the rules outlined in TUNEF. Despite that our company slowly grew, affording me a decent salary and what not.

Specifically, I violated the principles of Control and Entry, making my current weekly grind reminiscent of the hamster wheel feeling I had back in my wage-slavery days.

By accident, I stumbled over Unscripted last month and read it front to back twice in 2 weeks making lots of notes and I am now reading Fastlane.

Most of the concepts made immediate sense to me, like no other book I have read before. In the process of reading, I also had to admit to a lot of inconvenient truths, that I hade been hiding from myself for some time.

Reading Unscripted made me realise that it is time to get my act together and to hit the accelerator to get off the slowlane back onto the FASTLANE again.

I will be strolling through the forum more regularly now.

Thanks to MJ for writing these exciting books.

Marc

 

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[Andy Black]

Welcome Marc. Sounds like you’re already in motion. Good for you.

 

[lowtek]

Glad to have you Marc. Thanks for sharing the story

 

[prince156]

Hi all,

I am 38 now and it dawned on me a few months back that I had settled for comfortable mediocrity.

In my early 20s I was super ambitious and I did quite well in the financial industry (stockbroking), getting close to my first million until the great financial crisis whipped out half of it. Until then most of what I had achieved came lightly. So when I set up my own shop in 2009 I lacked the spirit to drive it home. Our product was superior and returns where good, but I could not get myself to pick up the phone to aggressively market.

Because I was never a crazy spender, (I was the only guy on the trading floor who came by bicycle) there was no urgency to get the business growing and getting the revenues in. Further, I started realising that most of the financial industry is all about marketing and BS (as nicely described in Unscripted ). So when there was an opportunity to escape I did.

Due to some funky family connections, I ended up setting up some ventures in a frontier market. I quickly realised that competing in the industrial field was actually real work as opposed to the work I knew back from my finance days. In the process, I unknowingly violated most of the rules outlined in TUNEF. Despite that our company slowly grew, affording me a decent salary and what not.

Specifically, I violated the principles of Control and Entry, making my current weekly grind reminiscent of the hamster wheel feeling I had back in my wage-slavery days.

By accident, I stumbled over Unscripted last month and read it front to back twice in 2 weeks making lots of notes and I am now reading Fastlane.

Most of the concepts made immediate sense to me, like no other book I have read before. In the process of reading, I also had to admit to a lot of inconvenient truths, that I hade been hiding from myself for some time.

Reading Unscripted made me realise that it is time to get my act together and to hit the accelerator to get off the slowlane back onto the FASTLANE again.

I will be strolling through the forum more regularly now.

Thanks to MJ for writing these exciting books.

Marc

Great, never late to get started again. Are you a trader?

 

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[Jeff InfoPreneur]

Remember - 38 is still young, perfect time to take stock and try something bold and new.

 

[Marc RV]

Great, never late to get started again. Are you a trader?

I used to be, but as you can learn from Fastlane: You need to be exceptional to make a lot of money and that job. Watching the markets the whole time was not something I liked. Later we set up a fund, but that's more of a marketing job than anything else. Investors want high returns and low volatility. That is difficult to scale.

 

[prince156]

I used to be, but as you can learn from Fastlane: You need to be exceptional to make a lot of money and that job. Watching the markets the whole time was not something I liked. Later we set up a fund, but that's more of a marketing job than anything else. Investors want high returns and low volatility. That is difficult to scale.

I worked for a fund and started off with £10K at the start. By the end of the year I was at £103K. So that makes me think why should I do it for someone else when I can do the same for myself.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Thanks to MJ for writing these exciting books.

You're welcome, thanks for sharing your story. Hope to see ya around!

 

[Marc RV]

You're welcome, thanks for sharing your story. Hope to see ya around!

@MJ DeMarco Just finished The Millionaire Fastlane as well.

It has helped me to identify one of my key weaknesses: Focus or better Lack of Focus. It will require a few hard choices that I will now have to make. Saying no to a few things that kept me distracted over the years will be the main pain point.

I have been doing a lot of work over the years: Helped to build a manufacturing company and trading business from scratch. Doing okay, I know realise a few strategic blunders diminished the return.

None the less these ventures taught me a lot. If there is one thing from the books that resonates the most it is that you can learn anything you want if you just put enough effort into it. I had zero knowledge of the sectors I entered and managed to get up to speed on what was required in 3.5 years to the point that I am considered somewhat of an expert in the country I am currently living. This gives me confidence that whatever needs to be done next can be done.