Got this far, now what?

[Sandy Dives]

Hello and thank you for accepting me!

First of all, as the other students of the fastlane, I would like to express my thanks to Mj for creating the Fastlane and helping me shed some light on my life.

I'm writing this because I've come to the point in life where I told myself I would go fastlane, but have no idea what business to start or what to do. I have a lot of thoughts, and hope that some of you fastlane boys and girls can shed some light.

To get a grasp, here is a little info about me: 21 years old, working 9-5 as a software developer / programmer, decent salary, a nice girlfriend. I have some savings and a good reputation as I worked really hard to get here, basically 18hours days for 1.5 years to teach myself everything I needed / work my way up to get to this point.

I'm in a situation where I could chill and just work and live on the off-work hours like everybody else, since I'm doing something I like and get paid OK. But, I'm now more depressed than ever, because everything has led up to this point, and the thought of staying like this for 46 more years is scaring the shit out of me. It kinda makes me want to buy a sailboat and escape it all.

(If you're wondering I read the fastlane ~1 year ago, and again some months ago, and it's been my main driving force. I just wanted to get a career going first, and then start with a business on the side) That was my plan.

I really really enjoyed the grind to this point, and now it's just work. So, it's time for the fastlane. The only thing I'm struggling with is, what should I start with? I have so many thoughts....

Thoughts:

- Web design / brand / web design company as I feel like I'm really good at what I'm doing, I'm good at designing, developing and have been taking courses on marketing and SEO.
Why: ^
Why not: There is multiple companies like this where I live, and I've worked for 2 of them already, and they both have the same problem: They live on time. I feel like it would be much easier to scale a company that, let's say is a recurring SAAS, or sell a product. I would be my own boss, but would I then have time to work on other projects, or would I need all my available time to get new clients and maintain an income? Afraid it will be a job in disguise

- Basic lead generation website - I've actually already started sending out cold-emails (I'm thinking about making a catering lead generation website with my friend as a sidehustle, sort of like limos.com). But I'm afraid that there won't be enough customers, clicks, and that it will take a lot of money on marketing to even get some traffic. Is this a good idea?

- Udemy course, I've been thinking a lot about this lately, and want to create either a course on some technology I'm good at / OR a course on self-teaching as I've developed a really good structure for learning things on my own.
why: independent of time
why not: afraid I will waste lots of time making a course that wont sell

- SAAS, Product, Here I don't have too many good ideas ATM, but I'm afraid starting on this as I feel like It would need a lot of time and money and afraid I can't maintain a healthy life if I'm doing this on the side of a job

Sorry if this seems rushed or badly detailed, or has some misspellings. I appreciate all feedback I can get, and I hope that some of you have some comments on what I can do. My dream is to be free of time, so that I can start a fulltime company and invent some really useful stuff. I've always liked inventing, and my dream is to create something that matters one day. Right now I just don't have enough time.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Evan G]

Hello! Sounds like you're a pretty hard workin' person. I wish you the best of luck.

Web design / brand / web design company as I feel like I'm really good at what I'm doing, I'm good at designing, developing and have been taking courses on marketing and SEO.
Why: ^
Why not: There is multiple companies like this where I live, and I've worked for 2 of them already, and they both have the same problem: They live on time. I feel like it would be much easier to scale a company that, let's say is a recurring SAAS, or sell a product. I would be my own boss, but would I then have time to work on other projects, or would I need all my available time to get new clients and maintain an income?

You should look at some of Fox's posts on running your own web design business. It is true that they live on time, but you would be your own boss. Things like this could lead to connections that would be valuable and have you gain insight into other businesses. If it does well, maybe you can hire people to do the work for you.

- Basic lead generation website - I've actually already started sending out cold-emails (I'm thinking about making a catering lead generation website with my friend as a sidehustle, sort of like limos.com). But I'm afraid that there won't be enough customers, clicks, and that it will take a lot of money on marketing to even get some traffic. Is this a good idea?

If you havn't read Unscripted , there is a good part about validating an idea. It's called doing a soft validation. The best way to determine if its a good idea is to ask people. Find the communities the type of people you are getting leads for would hang out. Maybe put out some ads that go to a landing page and see if you get any clicks.

- Udemy course, I've been thinking a lot about this lately, and want to create either a course on some technology I'm good at / OR a course on self-teaching as I've developed a really good structure for learning things on my own.
why: independent of time
why not: afraid I will waste lots of time making a course that wont sell

If you provide value, I think you'll be fine. Nothing will ever get accomplished if you're afraid something won't sell. If you got a killer skill you want to share with the world, go for it. If it doesn't do well? Well then you learned how to create a course, edit content, make lesson plans, edit videos, etc. I wouldn't call that a lost cause. You could take all that info and put out another course way faster.

 

[Sandy Dives]

Hello! Sounds like you're a pretty hard workin' person. I wish you the best of luck.


You should look at some of Fox's posts on running your own web design business. It is true that they live on time, but you would be your own boss. Things like this could lead to connections that would be valuable and have you gain insight into other businesses. If it does well, maybe you can hire people to do the work for you.


If you havn't read Unscripted , there is a good part about validating an idea. It's called doing a soft validation. The best way to determine if its a good idea is to ask people. Find the communities the type of people you are getting leads for would hang out. Maybe put out some ads that go to a landing page and see if you get any clicks.


If you provide value, I think you'll be fine. Nothing will ever get accomplished if you're afraid something won't sell. If you got a killer skill you want to share with the world, go for it. If it doesn't do well? Well then you learned how to create a course, edit content, make lesson plans, edit videos, etc. I wouldn't call that a lost cause. You could take all that info and put out another course way faster.

Thank you! I think in my head, the thing I start out with have to be "big" and scalable from the start and be able to "print money" fast, like Elon Musk with Zip2... So I just go in this loop and don't know what to do.

I think it's a fear of quitting my job for a business and then failing, and ending up in a worse situation. But I think that's just fears. + my ego wanting to go big without failing lol

 

[Evan G]

Thank you! I think in my head, the thing I start out with have to be "big" and scalable from the start and be able to "print money" fast, like Elon Musk with Zip2... So I just go in this loop and don't know what to do.

I think it's a fear of quitting my job for a business and then failing, and ending up in a worse situation. But I think that's just fears. + my ego wanting to go big without failing lol

Haha yeah. I feel the exact same thing as you. I've caught myself action faking lately. Perhaps working on a course while working your full time job would be a good way to start becoming a producer instead of a consumer. What kind of skills do you think you'd teach?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Sandy Dives]

Haha yeah. I feel the exact same thing as you. I've caught myself action faking lately. Perhaps working on a course while working your full time job would be a good way to start becoming a producer instead of a consumer. What kind of skills do you think you'd teach?

Yeah, I've been thinking about it all night and I think I will try making a Udemy course. I've actually never made money online by myself, so I just want a taste of the good life.

For content I think some of the following:
- A course in 3D Programming for the web, as I started studying that some months ago and found the documentation and current courses out there to bad quality and hard to piece together.

- A course on how to learn anything on your own, since I'm self-taught and have found a really nice method / way to go when approaching new material.

What do you think? I think the self-taugth course will be easier to make as a start than a big course on 3D Programming, so I think I'll start there.

 

[Evan G]

Yeah, I've been thinking about it all night and I think I will try making a Udemy course. I've actually never made money online by myself, so I just want a taste of the good life.

For content I think some of the following:
- A course in 3D Programming for the web, as I started studying that some months ago and found the documentation and current courses out there to bad quality and hard to piece together.

- A course on how to learn anything on your own, since I'm self-taught and have found a really nice method / way to go when approaching new material.

What do you think? I think the self-taugth course will be easier to make as a start than a big course on 3D Programming, so I think I'll start there.

Sounds like a good start, go for it! You'll learn a lot from doing it and I'm sure you'll "fail forward". Perhaps you can take what you learn from the self-taught course and implement it into a 3D programming course later on.

 

[Sandy Dives]

Sounds like a good start, go for it! You'll learn a lot from doing it and I'm sure you'll "fail forward". Perhaps you can take what you learn from the self-taught course and implement it into a 3D programming course later on.

Thank you! Not to be a talker, but I bought a 45$ microphone today and currently reading up and planning my approach on the self taught course. I do think I can provide a lot of value, and build more courses on the matter at a later point. I will keep you posted I promise!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Evan G]

Thank you! Not to be a talker, but I bought a 45$ microphone today and currently reading up and planning my approach on the self taught course. I do think I can provide a lot of value, and build more courses on the matter at a later point. I will keep you posted I promise!

Great...feel free to pm me of your progress. Would love to be posted. Best of luck.

 

[100ToOne]

Don't be afraid.

If you do all these stuff as a side hustle, why would you be afraid?

The worst thing in your case would be you lost time/money that you can afford. So what?

For that amount of time/money you lost, you'd have learned how to sell, what are people looking for, how to do it better next time.

If it fails, the second time might also fail but you'd also fail less. Keep repeating until you succeed, then decide from there.

If you followed that same mindset whilst learning programming on your own, you'd still be the same place you were 1.5 years ago. Because what if you learned programming but then they didn't accept you cause you don't have a degree? Or you weren't smart enough? Etc.

 

[Sandy Dives]

Don't be afraid.

If you do all these stuff as a side hustle, why would you be afraid?

The worst thing in your case would be you lost time/money that you can afford. So what?

For that amount of time/money you lost, you'd have learned how to sell, what are people looking for, how to do it better next time.

If it fails, the second time might also fail but you'd also fail less. Keep repeating until you succeed, then decide from there.

If you followed that same mindset whilst learning programming on your own, you'd still be the same place you were 1.5 years ago. Because what if you learned programming but then they didn't accept you cause you don't have a degree? Or you weren't smart enough? Etc.

Thank you <3 You are very right, I recieved so much shit on the path of the self-taught. People said I couldn't do it, I got turned down over 15 times I think when I was looking for my second job as a programmer, all until I found that one guy who saw something in me and hired me.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[ph0enix]

What do you think? I think the self-taugth course will be easier to make as a start than a big course on 3D Programming, so I think I'll start there.

Maybe try pre-selling the course before creating it, as this will:

• validate your course idea
• get immediate feedback from actual students
• generates some income

 

[Gentlegiant]

Thank you! Not to be a talker, but I bought a 45$ microphone today and currently reading up and planning my approach on the self taught course. I do think I can provide a lot of value, and build more courses on the matter at a later point. I will keep you posted I promise!

An easy way to boost quality of your videos is to EQ your voice. Most udemy courses don't do that even though It makes your voice sound so much better.

Your visuals can look like shit, if the sound is good, people will perceive the video as high quality. Learned that the hard way when I was in freelance filmmaking hahaha

Here's a good guide (which works with any audio program)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpMAMLaJEjU


Welcome to the forum!

 

[Sandy Dives]

An easy way to boost quality of your videos is to EQ your voice. Most udemy courses don't do that even though It makes your voice sound so much better.

Your visuals can look like shit, if the sound is good, people will perceive the video as high quality. Learned that the hard way when I was in freelance filmmaking hahaha

Here's a good guide (which works with any audio program)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpMAMLaJEjU


Welcome to the forum!

This video is perfect! I was looking for one just like it but couldn't seem to find any good ones. Thank you

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.