Hi All - Current Student Trying To Avoid The Slowlane

[LauraLou]

Hi All!

I'm Laura, from Bristol in the UK. I'm currently doing my PhD in Aerospace Engineering which is funded by a large aerospace company. I go and work in the company two days a week and honestly, it horrifies me. I don't want to be stuck there pressing run on programs and then writing a report about it for the rest of my life.

I'm on my second read through of Millionaire Fastlane , highlighting all the important bits, and thought I'd get a lot out of being in the forums.

My hopes for where I want to be are something along the lines of being a stay at home wife/mum while running a couple of online businesses, owning a house (which is about £250k in Bristol ), having a nice car, and having the money to keep my current car going - she's like my child but she needs a lot of work!

I'm currently on Etsy selling in what I think is a pretty ridiculous niche tbh, but I've had a bit of success and I got my first review this morning - 5 stars I've been looking in to dropshipping things for my Etsy shop only to discover that there is only one dropshipper in my niche, and they only do my niche as a sideline to their main products. So that's what I'm looking at doing in the near-ish future while I'm doing my PhD and I'm fully funded. Hopefully this means by the time I finish my PhD I can carry on with the business as it'll be earning enough for me to not start the 9-5 grind.

That's about it from me, hopefully I'll see you around!

Laura

 

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[amp0193]

Hi All!

I'm Laura, from Bristol in the UK. I'm currently doing my PhD in Aerospace Engineering which is funded by a large aerospace company. I go and work in the company two days a week and honestly, it horrifies me. I don't want to be stuck there pressing run on programs and then writing a report about it for the rest of my life.

I'm on my second read through of Millionaire Fastlane , highlighting all the important bits, and thought I'd get a lot out of being in the forums.

My hopes for where I want to be are something along the lines of being a stay at home wife/mum while running a couple of online businesses, owning a house (which is about £250k in Bristol ), having a nice car, and having the money to keep my current car going - she's like my child but she needs a lot of work!

I'm currently on Etsy selling in what I think is a pretty ridiculous niche tbh, but I've had a bit of success and I got my first review this morning - 5 stars I've been looking in to dropshipping things for my Etsy shop only to discover that there is only one dropshipper in my niche, and they only do my niche as a sideline to their main products. So that's what I'm looking at doing in the near-ish future while I'm doing my PhD and I'm fully funded. Hopefully this means by the time I finish my PhD I can carry on with the business as it'll be earning enough for me to not start the 9-5 grind.

That's about it from me, hopefully I'll see you around!

Laura

Hi Laura, welcome to the forum!


Don't be scared of working your new job. Nearly everyone hear who is in the Fastlane started off working a job at one point. I ran my business in the evenings/weekends for 18 months while I worked a full-time salary job. You have the mindset, you aren't going to get stuck there.


Second, is I would suggest that you look for opportunities that create real value, not drop-shipping to Etsy. Easy money never lasts.

You have advanced INSIDERS knowledge into a tech space that most people know nothing about. Look around you, and use your on-the-job experience to find problems that need solutions within aerospace.


Best of luck!

 

[RHL]

I'm Laura, from Bristol in the UK. I'm currently doing my PhD in Aerospace Engineering which is funded by a large aerospace company. I go and work in the company two days a week and honestly, it horrifies me. I don't want to be stuck there pressing run on programs and then writing a report about it for the rest of my life.

Couple things:

If your PhD is fully funded, you should finish it (especially if it's a European-style doctorate that doesn't make you do a habilis, because it's such a short commitment). As a PhD aerospace engineer, you could write books or endorse products and be seen as an "expert" in an array of fields. An "almost doctor" isn't anything. And an "I didn't become a doctor because it was boring" is even less. If your "testing" involves long periods of down-time like it does in a lot of other engineering fields as equipment or computers work/process, use that time to educate yourself about your fastlane.

Second, I would ditch Etsy. It's loaded with competition, and the barrier to entry is almost non-existent for most items. Your life up till now has been focused on a field of research that is one of the most difficult and lucrative in the world. That's the "barrier to entry (the E in NECEST/CENTS) " MJ was talking about: You can see and solve problems that 99% of the people on Etsy don't even know exist, but that affect them every time they wait for a package to arrive, every time they visit their grandparents, every time they go on vacation, every time they eat a piece of seafood that isn't local. Huge profit, low competition.

If I were you, I would be investing every fiber of my being into learning about drones and the problems related to them. I am confident that autonomous flight, when all its utility and forms are considered, is an emerging multi-trillion dollar industry. In ten years you could be eating a piece of that pie-Or you could be jumping up and down because you sold your fourth embroidered maternity pillow of the day and can finally afford to fix the suspension on your 1999 Seat Cupra.

If all you want in life is to be comfortable with your family and have two cars, keep your day job-it will EASILY pay for it, and the road you're heading down is much harder.

Suffer now and be free later, or be free now and suffer later. Your choice.

 

[Niptuck MD]

Couple things:

If your PhD is fully funded, you should finish it (especially if it's a European-style doctorate that doesn't make you do a habilis, because it's such a short commitment). As a PhD aerospace engineer, you could write books or endorse products and be seen as an "expert" in an array of fields. An "almost doctor" isn't anything. And an "I didn't become a doctor because it was boring" is even less.

Second, I would ditch Etsy. It's loaded with competition, and the barrier to entry is almost non-existent for most items. Your life up till now has been focused on a field of research that is one of the most difficult and lucrative in the world. That's the "barrier to entry (the E in NECEST/CENTS) " MJ was talking about: You can see and solve problems that 99% of the people on Etsy don't even know exist, but that affect them every time they wait for a package to arrive, every time they visit their grandparents, every time they go on vacation, every time they eat a piece of seafood that isn't local. Huge profit, low competition.

If I were you, I would be investing every fiber of my being into learning about drones and the problems related to them. I am confident that autonomous flight, when all its utility and forms are considered, is an emerging multi-trillion dollar industry. In ten years you could be eating a piece of that pie-Or you could be jumping up and down because you sold your fourth embroidered maternity pillow of the day and can finally afford to fix the suspension on your 1999 Seat Cupra.

If all you want in life is to be comfortable with your family and have two cars, keep your day job-it will EASILY pay for it, and the road you're heading down is much harder.

Suffer now and be free later, or be free now and suffer later. Your choice.

I work for GE aviation and you could really make some good money consulting to pratt or rolls royce (right there in Durham UK) with better ideas then this archaic flight technology most of the world (except the elite) have to deal with. There is big $$$ in aerospace provided you get creative and finagle your way and ideas through all the politics and red-tape BS of these big companies.

 

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[Niptuck MD]

Couple things:

If your PhD is fully funded, you should finish it (especially if it's a European-style doctorate that doesn't make you do a habilis, because it's such a short commitment). As a PhD aerospace engineer, you could write books or endorse products and be seen as an "expert" in an array of fields. An "almost doctor" isn't anything. And an "I didn't become a doctor because it was boring" is even less.

Second, I would ditch Etsy. It's loaded with competition, and the barrier to entry is almost non-existent for most items. Your life up till now has been focused on a field of research that is one of the most difficult and lucrative in the world. That's the "barrier to entry (the E in NECEST/CENTS) " MJ was talking about: You can see and solve problems that 99% of the people on Etsy don't even know exist, but that affect them every time they wait for a package to arrive, every time they visit their grandparents, every time they go on vacation, every time they eat a piece of seafood that isn't local. Huge profit, low competition.

If I were you, I would be investing every fiber of my being into learning about drones and the problems related to them. I am confident that autonomous flight, when all its utility and forms are considered, is an emerging multi-trillion dollar industry. In ten years you could be eating a piece of that pie-Or you could be jumping up and down because you sold your fourth embroidered maternity pillow of the day and can finally afford to fix the suspension on your 1999 Seat Cupra.

If all you want in life is to be comfortable with your family and have two cars, keep your day job-it will EASILY pay for it, and the road you're heading down is much harder.

Suffer now and be free later, or be free now and suffer later. Your choice.

Great quote sir. I will be tweeting this with your permission. Such a powerful impact on the mind

 

[LauraLou]

Hi Laura, welcome to the forum!


Don't be scared of working your new job. Nearly everyone hear who is in the Fastlane started off working a job at one point. I ran my business in the evenings/weekends for 18 months while I worked a full-time salary job. You have the mindset, you aren't going to get stuck there.


Second, is I would suggest that you look for opportunities that create real value, not drop-shipping to Etsy. Easy money never lasts.

You have advanced INSIDERS knowledge into a tech space that most people know nothing about. Look around you, and use your on-the-job experience to find problems that need solutions within aerospace.


Best of luck!

That's a good plan actually, then I can experiment and not have to worry about whether it fails or not

The aerospace thing is a good idea too - however everyone is incredibly secretive about what problems they have - any issues and people would just stop using their aircraft and the company goes under, which is what happened to Concorde. I will start hunting for potential opportunities while I'm working/studying though.

I probably should have been clearer in the OP - what I'm looking at in the near-ish future is becoming a dropship supplier for my niche - not using a dropshipper to sell (I think that makes sense - dropship is a difficult verb!). Again, any opinions on that are very much welcome

 

[LauraLou]

Couple things:

If your PhD is fully funded, you should finish it (especially if it's a European-style doctorate that doesn't make you do a habilis, because it's such a short commitment). As a PhD aerospace engineer, you could write books or endorse products and be seen as an "expert" in an array of fields. An "almost doctor" isn't anything. And an "I didn't become a doctor because it was boring" is even less. If your "testing" involves long periods of down-time like it does in a lot of other engineering fields as equipment or computers work/process, use that time to educate yourself about your fastlane.

Second, I would ditch Etsy. It's loaded with competition, and the barrier to entry is almost non-existent for most items. Your life up till now has been focused on a field of research that is one of the most difficult and lucrative in the world. That's the "barrier to entry (the E in NECEST/CENTS) " MJ was talking about: You can see and solve problems that 99% of the people on Etsy don't even know exist, but that affect them every time they wait for a package to arrive, every time they visit their grandparents, every time they go on vacation, every time they eat a piece of seafood that isn't local. Huge profit, low competition.

If I were you, I would be investing every fiber of my being into learning about drones and the problems related to them. I am confident that autonomous flight, when all its utility and forms are considered, is an emerging multi-trillion dollar industry. In ten years you could be eating a piece of that pie-Or you could be jumping up and down because you sold your fourth embroidered maternity pillow of the day and can finally afford to fix the suspension on your 1999 Seat Cupra.

If all you want in life is to be comfortable with your family and have two cars, keep your day job-it will EASILY pay for it, and the road you're heading down is much harder.

Suffer now and be free later, or be free now and suffer later. Your choice.

I'm absolutely going to finish it - there's no doubt about that! It'd be ridiculous for me to give up 5 years in to my university "career" when I only have 2 left. I'd still have two degrees but there's something special about being a doctor. I think The Big Bang Theory summed it up well:

The book idea is a good one though - the current textbooks that are recommended for courses in university are ridiculous levels of difficult for someone who's just finished secondary/high school. Entry level my arse.

Noted on the not-Etsy/drone recommendation - I'll start doing some research into drones. As far as I'm concerned they're actually easier than the commercial airliners that I'm working with now - you don't need to make space for people, you can pull more extreme manoeuvres as long as the airframe can take it - there's no pilot to blackout, and there's a lot less regulations.

Comfortable isn't exactly what I'm aiming for - freedom is more like it. Mine and my future family's. I want to be able to have the option of disappearing off on holiday without having to get my holiday cleared through HR, sleep and work at the times I want to, and not have to worry about whether my future children will be able to afford to put me in a box in the ground.

Also, I'm borrowing that quote for a t-shirt, I reckon it'd sell well

 

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[LauraLou]

I work for GE aviation and you could really make some good money consulting to pratt or rolls royce (right there in Durham UK) with better ideas then this archaic flight technology most of the world (except the elite) have to deal with. There is big $$$ in aerospace provided you get creative and finagle your way and ideas through all the politics and red-tape BS of these big companies.

Definitely - getting through the politics and red-tape BS will be a lot more difficult than it sounds though. Any slight mistake or a risk that doesn't pay off in aerospace and everything comes crashing down (apologies for phrasing) in a second. Take Concorde for example - they were doing something incredible and ground-breaking, one crash and the entire supersonic commercial transport market disappeared and hasn't reappeared since the last flight in 2003.

 

[Niptuck MD]

Definitely - getting through the politics and red-tape BS will be a lot more difficult than it sounds though. Any slight mistake or a risk that doesn't pay off in aerospace and everything comes crashing down (apologies for phrasing) in a second. Take Concorde for example - they were doing something incredible and ground-breaking, one crash and the entire supersonic commercial transport market disappeared and hasn't reappeared since the last flight in 2003.

yes and there are still a myriad of issues that need to be dealt withprimarily in the manufacturing side (machining) side of aersopace components (airfoils)

you could really do a company good if you really stay on top of your game and research work

 

[townhaus]

If I were you, I would be investing every fiber of my being into learning about drones and the problems related to them. I am confident that autonomous flight, when all its utility and forms are considered, is an emerging multi-trillion dollar industry. In ten years you could be eating a piece of that pie

Yep. Huge money to be made in manufacturing and marketing weapons.

 

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[LauraLou]

Yep. Huge money to be make in manufacturing and marketing weapons.

That's the boyfriend's area of expertise, I'm not a fan tbh. I'm all for the fastlane but I think I draw the line at weapons manufacturing.

Obviously it is a lucrative industry and I'm not criticising those who are involved but personally it's not for me

 

[townhaus]

That's the boyfriend's area of expertise, I'm not a fan tbh. I'm all for the fastlane but I think I draw the line at weapons manufacturing.

Obviously it is a lucrative industry and I'm not criticising those who are involved but personally it's not for me

exactly

 

[Niptuck MD]

Yep. Huge money to be made in manufacturing and marketing weapons.

Do not bother with government roles. Please take it from my experience nothing but boondoggles and red tape asinine scallywags


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

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[lowtek]

fellow PhD in a physical science / engineering field here.

The suffering, sleep deprivation, and loneliness punctuated by moments of sheer euphoria will serve you well in your future entrepreneurial endeavors.

There are many parallels between getting a PhD and starting/running a business.