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Got a few CENTS, got my WHY, here to turn them into $$$$

Odysseus M Jones

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Hi All
I joined back in Feb with intentions to blitz the forum whilst on a necessary trip to HK. However, for reasons you all now know, I high-tailed after 4 days instead of 11.
On return I self-isolated whilst most of the western world was making toilet paper jokes, but I digress.

Dec 20 2019 I bought TMF on recommendation of a YouTube video I watched, A Lux, don't laugh I'm not an A Luxer, something to watch whilst eating at the kitchen table.
My initial thoughts here GOLD! - I've Read The Millionaire Fastlane!

Wife wanted a food truck, I didn't. So, armed with the knowledge gained from TMF I resurrected a few ideas I'd had & businesses we'd done in the past.


1. Franchise my brother's successful one-man takeaway jacket potato business
~ A headlock & wedgie would get him to write the ops manual & equipment list
I could sell that as a turnkey business with centralised head office function to those that dream of being their own boss but don't have business acumen

2. Interactive online phonics & readers (story books to learn English) for kids
~ I can blow away the current market offerings from what I've seen so far, including the latest YouTube ads from Adapted Learning
I have the educational, sales & marketing experience but not the coding ~ even I outsource I'll need to learn just to tweak it, improve it & add to it

There's other ideas & businesses we'd done but I've discounted them so I'll not bore you with them.

Finance wise I should be able to raise 100k at around 3% which would give me a year before I have to resort to a slowlane job or some other hustle in order to live.

The WHY:
Apart from "that'll show them" and making sure my wife is comfortable when I leave her for warmer climes once our 3 doggies, our reason for being, are departed is that I'm quite into the MG scene and want to start a business that will save the cars from the scrapyard & of course make a healthy profit to boot.

I have big plans: a convertible hire car & track day business in a warm tourist spot, restoring, customising, sales and export to collectors/enthusiasts, franchising an MG mobile mechanic business.
This will require significant investment and a long lead time before profitable, so the eventual payday from one of the aforementioned ventures will do that.

If anyone does read this, feel free to leave feedback, I'm open-minded & will consider anything.
I'm not asking you which idea I should choose, but I'm happy to hear what you would do if you were in my situation.

I'd be very grateful if you have any links to threads or resources that you think would be useful to me, I want learn, I want to do this, I have to do this I don't want to work for someone else ever again, that's another why.

Thank you all for reading
 
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amp0193

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Hi All
I joined back in Feb with intentions to blitz the forum whilst on a necessary trip to HK. However, for reasons you all now know, I high-tailed after 4 days instead of 11.
On return I self-isolated whilst most of the western world was making toilet paper jokes, but I digress.

Dec 20 2019 I bought TMF on recommendation of a YouTube video I watched, A Lux, don't laugh I'm not an A Luxer, something to watch whilst eating at the kitchen table.
My initial thoughts here GOLD! - I've Read The Millionaire Fastlane!

Wife wanted a food truck, I didn't. So, armed with the knowledge gained from TMF I resurrected a few ideas I'd had & businesses we'd done in the past.


1. Franchise my brother's successful one-man takeaway jacket potato business
~ A headlock & wedgie would get him to write the ops manual & equipment list
I could sell that as a turnkey business with centralised head office function to those that dream of being their own boss but don't have business acumen

2. Interactive online phonics & readers (story books to learn English) for kids
~ I can blow away the current market offerings from what I've seen so far, including the latest YouTube ads from Adapted Learning
I have the educational, sales & marketing experience but not the coding ~ even I outsource I'll need to learn just to tweak it, improve it & add to it

There's other ideas & businesses we'd done but I've discounted them so I'll not bore you with them.

Finance wise I should be able to raise 100k at around 3% which would give me a year before I have to resort to a slowlane job or some other hustle in order to live.

The WHY:
Apart from "that'll show them" and making sure my wife is comfortable when I leave her for warmer climes once our 3 doggies, our reason for being, are departed is that I'm quite into the MG scene and want to start a business that will save the cars from the scrapyard & of course make a healthy profit to boot.

I have big plans: a convertible hire car & track day business in a warm tourist spot, restoring, customising, sales and export to collectors/enthusiasts, franchising an MG mobile mechanic business.
This will require significant investment and a long lead time before profitable, so the eventual payday from one of the aforementioned ventures will do that.

If anyone does read this, feel free to leave feedback, I'm open-minded & will consider anything.
I'm not asking you which idea I should choose, but I'm happy to hear what you would do if you were in my situation.

I'd be very grateful if you have any links to threads or resources that you think would be useful to me, I want learn, I want to do this, I have to do this I don't want to work for someone else ever again, that's another why.

Thank you all for reading

I understand that you have a why for wanting to start a business, in general.

But what’s your why for starting either of those specific examples?

Why are you the guy most suited to take on the phonics and reading market. When things get tough, are you to going to blast through every obstacle to bring it to market. Does it HAVE to exist, no matter what?

Maybe you are and maybe you have great reasons. Just something to think about. What will you be willing to do for the long haul?
 

Odysseus M Jones

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I understand that you have a why for wanting to start a business, in general.

But what’s your why for starting either of those specific examples?

Why are you the guy most suited to take on the phonics and reading market. When things get tough, are you to going to blast through every obstacle to bring it to market. Does it HAVE to exist, no matter what?

Maybe you are and maybe you have great reasons. Just something to think about. What will you be willing to do for the long haul?
Firstly, sorry for delay in replying, been one of those days.
And thanks for taking the time to reply, they're good questions & I'm glad you asked because it gives me food for thought.

My why for choosing those particular businesses was because they satisfy CENTS, allow me to work largely from home & have a good chance of a lucrative exit strategy.

Work from home is paramount because of family reasons, recently my wife has suffered from limited mobility and one of the dogs has had limited mobility for a while so going out to work would significantly impact their quality of life.
To put it in perspective, we relocated from Hong Kong to UK because of the then four dogs, too hot for chow chows.
Now you know I live in a dog-centric world.

Back to the why.
I taught phonics & storytelling in a primary/elementary school from 2003-2008 and used PowerPoint with great success, I explored using a more interactive program but I quit the job to get treatment for a chronic back injury so I didn't really pursue it at that time.

From time to time I thought about creating some kind of interactive phonics course, but I had other commitments so it never flew.

Fast forward to UK 2017, we knew we'd have to make an income after relocating to the UK.

My wife chose a small town in Cornwall with very few opportunities for work or bricks & mortar business. The food truck was her idea to work close to home, but I knew it would entail long hours and hard work for small returns with franchising it a distant future.

After reading TMF I thought of past ideas that satisfy CENTS.

A quick Google search of online phonics courses revealed the top offerings were woefully short of my expectations of what a good course would be so I immediately thought this is the one! It doesn't stop at phonics & reading either, there are so many areas of English language that can be capitalised upon, all the age ranges, business, university entrance exams, English for specific purposes, different industries. I even have a concept for 'adult' English, that's one way to get men, who dislike learning languages, to study through a medium that fascinates them. That couldn't be on the same platform as the regular programs though.

I know I'm the man to do this because working at my school was like a nuclear arms race, I'd come up some lesson ideas to keep 40+ hyperactive spoilt kids occupied in a meaningful way, (I don't do pointless busy work) & I'd be on cloud nine thinking, "I've finally got a handle on this" only to be destroyed in the next lesson because the kids had developed countermeasures.

I honed my craft and got good real quick, adapting to whatever they threw at me.
It was a private school and we weren't allowed to punish in any way, we were paper tigers.
I even produced rewards, I made trading cards of their favourite cartoon characters they could compete for in lessons as I introduced a point system for answering questions & good behaviour, I never deducted points for bad behaviour, just made a big show of rewarding attentive students when others weren't paying attention. It sounds fun but in reality it was hell in the classroom, a fine line between order, chaos & total mental breakdown.

I've taught all levels, from preschool to adults, problem kids to businessmen that only studied because their employer made them.

Another thing teaching has taught me is play ball right to the buzzer, I was making teaching materials for the lesson literally seconds before the bell rang.
Folk think teachers have long holidays, well, if they didn't there'd be a lot more people in bell towers with high powered rifles.

Actually most of my career was in sales, mainly logistics multi-nationals in the UK & HK, a spell in time critical operations, that was a pressure cooker, a couple of businesses in beauty & fashion for ourselves, we pioneered acrylic nail services in HK early 90's, we went from a single salon to a training academy helping graduates set up their own salons then supplying them through our distributorship for a US nail product manufacturer.

Once I commit to a course of action I am determined, but I do know when to cut my losses.

As for having to exist no matter what, that depends on whose point of view.
For me it HAS to exist, I don't have any other options. The thought of being an employee, commuting, spending my days with people I dislike fills me with dread.

The thing is, the phonics & jacket potato ventures offer value, both to me & to customers, there's a need for them, they solve problems, they can be the best at what they do.

Not only will they provide wealth for me, they'll provide wealth to the users, phonics & English will enable people to read, educate themselves so they have the opportunity to enrich their lives however they like.
The potato franchise will enable people who just want to make a living to work for themselves without the stress of doing everything by themselves.

I could go on but I've already written too much. If you have any more questions, I'm happy to answer.

Thanks for reading.
 
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amp0193

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I could go on but I've already written too much. If you have any more questions, I'm happy to answer.

Thanks for reading.

Awesome, there was a lot there. Glad you've thought it through.

I'd suggest taking action on either idea sooner rather than later.

Ideas have a way of fizzling out with enough inaction.
 

Strider007

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Snap! What video was it?
Was it ALux like me? LOL

It wasn't ALux. It was another entrepreneur who makes YouTube videos (I can't remember his channel name though), and I think he was talking about Amazon.
 
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RobertKV

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Hi All
I joined back in Feb with intentions to blitz the forum whilst on a necessary trip to HK.
Dec 20 2019 I bought TMF on recommendation

CENTS is a good starting point, indeed. Next, I recommend you to fill in Ash Maurya's Lean Canvas, to see if the bits and pieces in your business model really fit together. It is more hard work than you would first think, but I believe it is absolutely essential.
 

Odysseus M Jones

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I'd suggest taking action on either idea sooner rather than later.
You're right, action begins today.
Thanks again, you comments have really helped me.
 

julienfromfrance

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great idea for the lessons
wordpress can help you to create a website
and you can also use woo commerce memberships ou subscriptions to restict access to your content
I hope it helps you
 

Odysseus M Jones

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Thanks for the tip on woo commerce
great idea for the lessons
wordpress can help you to create a website
and you can also use woo commerce memberships ou subscriptions to restict access to your content
I hope it helps you

Thanks, I'll take a look at that too
There is a guy called Darrel Wilson who has excellent video lessons on the subject on YouTube.

My goal is to create lessons for someone that can't read, perhaps English isn't their first language AND no parent or teacher involvement needed to instruct or guide them.

Therefore, I can't use writing or speech, it wouldn't make any sense to them. I have to rely on visual cues to guide the learner.

I imagine some kind of animation, a virtual teacher that replaces a parent & written instructions.

Of course there'll be speech, but just to teach the target sounds & vocab.
 
D

Deleted81125

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Good for you! What did you learn from watching those videos? Anything actionable?
Not much! Btw, I see you're going to franchise a food business, me too. I found this thread, maybe it's useful to you.
 

Simon Angel

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Well, are you going to tell us what's up or are you going to continue being all secretive?
 

Odysseus M Jones

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Well, are you going to tell us what's up or are you going to continue being all secretive?
Secretive. For now.
I was going to post in the speedway to keep my progress away from the prying eyes of Google and INSIDERS with mommy's credit cards & no rep.

But INSIDERS automatically get speedway access despite not earning it.
 
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Antifragile

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Secretive. For now.
I was going to post in the speedway to keep my progress away from the prying eyes of Google and INSIDERS with mommy's credit cards & no rep.

But INSIDERS automatically get speedway access despite not earning it.

yo! I’ve earned my mommy’s credit card. Had to steal it, wasn’t easy! ;)

Watching the thread. Best of luck!
 

Antifragile

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Any update? Spill the beans @OMJ
 

Odysseus M Jones

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Any update? Spill the beans @OMJ
We'll be spilling something.

Maybe I'll start a thread, have to be speedway if you want warts and all.

PS I've been at it since mid September.

Haven't made a bean yet.

I'm an old has been.
 
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