How Old Were You?

[JEdwards]

From another thread.

The highly successful people I know say that they always expected to be rich from a young age, and did something about this. They never doubted for 1 second thhat the final outcome would be financial freedom.

I think this is what a lot of newbes in business do not realize, but need to. I was trying to put together deals when I was 5. Got my first investor at 8. he invested a buck in a candy deal. Was trying to figure out how to buy a shopping center at 10.


Most of my friends, we talked about business and business ideas and how one day we would have Ferrari's and lambos.


I think to be a great one, to make it, you got eat, sleep, think business. You cannot fake it.


You cannot read a book, post on a forum, and say oh now I need to quit college, quit my job, and I know exactly how to make a Billion bucks.


You don't! Simple as that. Can it be taught, sure. But most people don't get it.

I spent years and years going through ideas in my head.

Most think, I would like to open a vodka business and blow their life savings trying it.They lose it all cause fundamentally, they do not understand the angles.

How old were you?

 

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[458]

100% true. Even though im still on my path to making it, I have always been a hustler. When I was 16 I used to sell illegal plant products to people so I could buy whatever I wanted.

 

[BrucetonGuy]

Can it be taught, sure.

TEACH ME! Please!........(Are you still offering mentoring for the Fastlane Competition?)

 

[JEdwards]

TEACH ME! Please!........(Are you still offering mentoring for the Fastlane Competition?)

Still thinking about it.

 

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[AllenCrawley]

I was trying to put together deals when I was 5. Got my first investor at 8. he invested a buck in a candy deal.

It's funny how so many of us did this at a young age. I was 7 or 8 when we went to The Wholesale Club and I bought a large box of taffy. I remember selling them at school and sold out on the first day - doubling my money. I drove my mom crazy to go back so I could buy 2 boxes. I also bought baseball cards and comic books from friends and either resell them for profit or barter them out.

 

[treinjapan]

When I was about 7, living in Toronto, I was used to buying a chocolate bar or pack of M&Ms for something like 90 cents or so. One day, in the local strip mall, a dollar store opened. This opened up a whole new world of opportunity, as well as greater potential for massive cavities, haha. Quite naturally, I used my whole month's allowance ($20) and bought 40 or so assorted chocolate and candies. I put them in a little "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" box that I had, and I immediately started making deals to all my friends at school and my family at home. I learned quickly that people were willing to pay a little extra for the excellent convenience. So with that initial $20 investment, I think I eventually made a few hundred dollars, which I probably spent on really sweet Pogs and baseball cards

 

[FastNAwesome]

I was trying to put together deals when I was 5. Got my first investor at 8. he invested a buck in a candy deal. Was trying to figure out how to buy a shopping center at 10.

Love the thread.

Bought and resold comic books on the street from 7 through 15.

At 12 bought into MLM scheme which charged a solid money for "sign up",
(grandma sponsored that endeavor, God bless her). Lesson learned.

At 16 got my first sponsor (they sponsored printing posters for my first DJ gig).
DJ-ing was cool.

PS. And also was trying to figure how to buy off a shopping center - to turn it into the biggest club ever

 

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[DeletedUser2]

ok so I think I was in 7th grade.

My brother and I found a BIG BOX full of playboy magazines, at a rental house we owned, left from the last tennet.

I took one to school, and showed it to a friend of mine, who was a doctors son, he had money, he begged me to let him have it.

then he offered me money. (since I still had a HUGE box at home) I said sure how much.
He pulled out 20 dollars.

to a 7th grader that was a fortune! SOLD.

the next day I brought 3 more, went for 10 bucks each.

the next week I discovered upsells! I pulled out all the centerfolds, and started to sell them separately, (5 bucks) and the books were still going for 10.

within a week i had saturated the market, (I had all the lunch money) and then I discovered blackmail.

3 kids wanted me to give them my current stash. (I had a back pack with at least 8 playboys in it.) but they didn't have any money. so they trapped me in the library by standing outside the doors, while 1 went to get the principal.

so I discovered Marketing. I pulled all the playboys out, put them behind magazines in the magazine rack, and pulled magazines into my back pack. ran and "checked" them out, and the principal came and grabbed me, and my back pack, while the 3 kids stood there. he searched my backpack, an only found other magazines, they got in trouble

the I discovered "shrink" I went back later that day, to get my 8 playboys, and only could find 7. hmmm someone must have been surprised. but took it home.



after that I changed markets, to "after school"

When I was out of the books, I shut the "business" down


But what I learned was great, it gave me the taste of money as well and made me think about it for YEARS afterwards.

 

[Milkanic]

I think I was probably around 12 slinging baseball cards.

I don't think I really started to "get it" though until I was 20 and sold books door-to-door during my summer vacation from college.

 

[Kak]

My first run in with wealth I was about 5. My mothers cousin was a radiologist, by our old standards this guy had it all. A 2 story house, a pool and a corvette. So I wanted to be one of those, and believed there was no reason why I couldn't.

At age 8 my parents moved to Texas (from Illinois), I was in a much more wealthy area and began to see what real wealth looked like and who had it. I also became very attracted to business.

At age 12 I wanted to purchase my first money making items: a weed-eater, blower, and mower and built a trailer for them to pull behind my mountain bike (I shit you not) I busted my a$$ to make the (I still remember it) $350 for the cheapest lawn equipment at Walmart. It is really hard at 12 to come up with that kind of money because I couldn't get a job, I was pretty much forced to just do chores for my parents and neighbors. Pulled weeds, scrubbed pools, took out the skimmer baskets, to make it. I finally made the money and my dad took me to Home Depot and got me a really nice setup probably worth 6-700 because he was a cool dude. He let me keep my 350 too.

I got about 10 customers per week and brought on a friend to help (first employee) I paid him about 30% of the price per job. I kept it up for about a year and bought a commercial grade pressure washer, added this to my slew of things I was able to do. Once high school began, I sold the equipment on craigslist because I was really into the golf team. I had practices every day and really devoted my time to it. I got a weekend job at the country club. I made a LOT less than my lawn business, so realized that controlling my own income was important to me.

I quit the job shortly after and ordered commercial amounts of EVERYTHING I would need for car detailing. I had a Mercury Grand Marquis at the time and loved to keep it looking good. It had a huge trunk that I could work out of. I went to small business around town and offered a free quick wash and vacuum to everyone while they were at work. It jump started my little business. I even got a deal with 2 smaller used car lots in my town to keep the cars all looking good.

Then I gave that business up to go to college. I was moving away. I got a job at the gun counter at a sporting goods store in my college town. I spent about 10 months there until I quit to be with my dad, who was dying of cancer. This was hands down the worst month of my life. I was lucky that my professors actually showed mercy and didn't flunk me for attendance requirements, I easily skipped double the maximum. Made all Cs that semester. He passed away the day before my 20th birthday.

I went back to school after he passed away and started another lawn business with his equipment. It sucked. I had like 3 customers and kept the equipment in my one bedroom apartment. I eventually pawned the stuff and started email marketing. I had a really big list and just tried to sell them crap with affiliate programs. It didn't work out but PPC did make me a little money with these companies.

My mom and dad had been divorced for a while, pretty much right after we moved to TX, she remarried twice, she is still with my second step-dad. He is an awesome guy and a very successful businessman and is like another dad to me. He took me to meet with a young entrepreneur friend of his for lunch on Christmas eve one year. We had about a 3 hour lunch discussing not trading time for money. This guy was in his his 30s and had a 15 million dollar per year business that he ran with only 2 employees. He gave me some book recommendations (the standard RDPD and TAGR) he got me into books about entrepreneurship and got me think much more serious about it. So this was a very pivotal lunch for me. At the time I was thinking about internships so my chances of landing a job when I graduated were better. I gave that shit up.

Junior year in college I started what I do now. Brokering commercial electricity. I knew I wanted to move back to Houston after graduation so I would either have to start an internet company or one that could move. I still can do business anywhere in dereg Texas and used my experience with PPC to get my first 100 customers. I now have 2 reps working with me. One is a lady who is VERY connected in an industry that uses an absurd amount of energy my other rep is a school teacher who eventually wants to make enough to quit his job.

Here I am 22 years old. I graduated college as fast as I possibly could. I'm following my dream and building a company step by step. I can't think of any other way I would want to make money even though I could make more in a job. Right now the job count is at 2. I want to keep it that way.

 

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[Rickson9]

I started reading about money at the age of 14. My first book was Peter Lynch's "One Up On Wall Street". I choose this book because, for me, it was easy to uderstand. At that age, my rationale was, "I want to be rich, but I don't know how. However, there must have been a time in history where a wealthy individual wrote down what I'm looking for.". So I started reading.

Lynch's book mentioned Warren Buffett (class A traded for $13k back then; $40 when I was born) so I read everything I could find about him. Robert Hagstrom's "The Warren Buffett Way" was good as well as others. Reading about Buffett lead me to Ben Graham.

I had a tough time being comfortable with "Intelligent Investor" but enjoyed "The Interpretation of Financial Statements". When I got to university I had a 3 hour commute (1.5h each way). I felt that this was a big waste of time so I decided to read any financial paper I could find including Barrons, Financial Times, Financial Post etc.

After graduating university I understood a little more about investing and business than the average graduate. However, I was still conflicted between the two - entrepreneurship seemed to promise more money but everything I read about entrepreneurship made it sound like a living hell.

I started my first company with my engineering colleagues after graduation. This was in 1996 just when the first tech rush started. We morphed from a design house into a content management business. We found a bigger 20-person business already doing this on the newgroups (remember those?) and set up a meeting with the 27-year old founder.

He was quite the character. He had no money, no employees and an English degree. Somehow he got himself into a meeting with Bell Canada (one of the largest telecoms in Canada at the time) and pitched them an online/IT media project. Bell offered him $250k to deliver what he promised. He immediately started renting space near the now-fashionable Distillery District in downtown Toronto (back in those days, the area was filled with bums and hookers) and hired a dozen people to build what he promised (he had no coding ability, but he could sell like no other).

Anyway we found him on the newsgroups and set up a meeting. We described ourselves and he gave us a proposition. We could share the space/rent for $400 a month, we would get the phones, fax, T1 access, and he would be our first client. Almost immediately we were thrown into sales and development meetings dealing with massive companies like Germany's Deutchebank, Toronto Dominion Bank and Prentice Hall. Our revenues in our first month was $8k. In short, he carried us.

Using Vignette was our bread-and-butter, we sold, designed/architected, coded and built content management tools for all these huge firms. Eventhough he got us off the ground, running a business was brutal. It's hard to desribe how brutal it was. I would pull 12 hour days, go home because I hit a roadblock, eat dinner (which was Taco Bell most days because it was cheap) while thinking of a solution, have an idea, then go back to work for another 12 hours. Clients would update their Oracle DB or switch to Sybase and everything would blow up. I slept in my office. My car got towed. I was up so late I saw bum fights across the street over a toilet and hookers turning tricks in our parking lot. I lived out of my suitcase for months - developer meeting in NYC, client meeting in Boston, Dallas, Bethesda. I lost touch with family and friends. I had no time for serious relationships. It was lonely.

During this 6 year period I decided that entrepreneurship was NOT for me. I made a bit of money and was relieved when the first tech boom busted. At that point our company had 400 employees. The company, now called "itemus" imploded. Our revenue went to $0, everybody lost their jobs and the company I helped build dissolved.

I rolled my gains from that experience into 3 properties in Toronto (the city had a RE meltdown that lasted from 1990 to 1996; similar to what the US is going through now) and US stocks. I decided to be an investor. Entrepreneurship was nightmare.

Anyway I've been an investor since then, recently buying up distressed short sales in Phoenix, AZ. I don't make as much money but I don't work. I got married and have an awesome wife and cute little daughter. I get to see my family and friends on a regular basis. I think it's a fair trade. For me.

 

[oddball]

Um, I have no idea how young? I remember be young with a lemonade stand with my friend. I do remember that we had a leg up on the competition. We charged $.25 and the girl on another road charged only $.10. But we didn't have to lower our price to compete, our location gave us the end. We had an ourside street so more cars passed up, she had an cross street so only a small number of cars went by.

In middle school I use to loan pencils out for a fee. Everyone would lose pencils and when test time came, they needed them. Nothing much but money is money plus I usually found the pencils and pens on the ground. lol I also mowed neighbors lawns for cash, washed their cars, pretty much anything I could do for money at that age.

I was always trying to figure out things to make and sell to make money though. I really got serious in my teens when I started playing paintball. I would buy and sell my guns and keep making enough to pay to play and then some. Then I moved to more things and got into electronics where I realized I could make even more.

Now, I notice as I get older and know more, I start seeing everything from a business perspective. I always try and find where or how you could make money with something. For being 21, I think I have a pretty good understanding about making money compared to most my age. But, I also realize I have a long way to go and so much to learn. It's fun to see business majors talk, they always act like they know everything because they go to school for it. "I know what I'm talking about, I go to school for this." Famous line, lol.

 

[andviv]

You guys are fortunate to find it that early...

In my house money was a forbidden subject.

My first thought about it was really late.... I was probably 15 when I started working at my grandfather's autoparts shop. Would wake up early in the morning, take the bus to the next town (30 minutes ride) and then get to work all week for a low wage. But I needed the money so had to work for what I wanted.

I was forced to focus on college.

Get great grades.

Be in the top three each semester, to be able to get/maintain a partial scholarship.

So I was almost 23 when I realized that this was a lie. Here I was, the top student from my class, making less than many others, and working harder.

At that time, migrated to the US to study my masters degree (that is a whole story in itself, when I came here to study at a cheap place, tuition was $4K for international students, and I only had $3,800 saved.... but that is not part of this topic).

Really clicked when, being 26, read RDPD, and that was a real eye opener.

 

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[Mike39]

Still thinking about it.

Would be completely awesome if you did, consider me signed up already if you decide to.

 

[miked_d]

.. I was forced to focus on college.

Get great grades.

This is my parents thinking. Go to the good school, get good grades and everything is good. Slow lane

 

[Mike39]

I got my first taste at 8 and really started getting into making money when I was about 9-10. Me an my friends really wanted some pizza but we didn't have any pizza or any money, so we found some brownies and lemonade and set up a stand on the corner of a relatively busy street, within an hour, we had enough money to order 2 XL pizzas and have like $3 each left over, that was my first realization into business.

Then, around 9-10, I had an idea and me, my sister, and my neighbor (who was a year older) all started MJA's Dog Sitting Company. Basically we made up a bunch of fliers and distributed them around my neighborhood, we would take care of your pets dogs (walk, feed, let out), cats, birds, fish, etc. while you were on vacation for $20 a day. This was a sweet deal, $20 a day at 9 years old is millionaire money haha, and sending pets to the kennel would run you $100-$150 a day. My neighbor soon got bored of the work and left leaving me and my sister to handle the business, we have probably made well over 5k and I was still taking care of neighbors pets until about this time last year.

In 7th grade, we had this thing called "young international town", basically it was a simulation of the worlds countries and international economy, we use paper money (not real money) that we spend/trade for physical items (ice cream, drinks, games, etc.). The whole thing is basically a bunch of divided rooms (countries) with a big open area in the middle of the place. I got put in Egypt, which just happened to have a gap in the wall just big enough for me to fit into the back of Israel (ironic) which stored all of the drinks and games for the simulation. Early in the morning, the Arizona Tea was in huge demand and the shop that was selling it ran out. Nobody else knew about the storage area so I proceeded to smuggle bottles of tea back into my room (country) and sell the them at 4X what they cost before they ran out. I was so busy selling and making the fake money that by the end of the day, I couldn't spend all the money I had earned, I ended up buying ice cream for like 10 people haha.

I have also sold energy drinks in middle school, I bought smarties bulk and sold them for $.50 a piece in middle school when all the kids were "smoking" smarties, got called down to the office for me and this buddy of mine threatening to beat up a kid because he didn't pay us for the smarties we sold him (like $5 lol). Towards the end of middle school and early high school. I may have sold packs of :smx1: to people because kids would pay 2-3X what a regular pack cost, ended up smoking about a half/full pack a day myself (since have quit though).

That was it, the good, the bad, and the ugly of my business ventures over the years, great thread btw Jack!

 

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[oddball]

This is my parents thinking. Go to the good school, get good grades and everything is good. Slow lane

Mine as well. Even though I always wanted to be rich, I thought I had to do it with good grades, a good job, and savings. It was honestly TFM that changed my thought process, not just saying that because this is MJ's forum, but his little 3 chapter preview got me to order the book and it changed me. A kid I know, use to think the same way that it was about college and a job. Then he realized there was more out there, a few long years later he is a multi-millionaire.

 

[The-J]

Good question.

I remember at 8 years old selling my very own comic books that I had drawn (the adventures of Funky Monkey LOL I wasn't that creative at 8) for a quarter a piece. I sold quite a few but I didn't have much to do with the money I made.

Later on, I began mowing lawns for people for money. $20 a mow. It was good money at 14.

At 14, I read Rich Dad Poor Dad, by request of my father. He has no time to be an entrepreneur, so he wondered if it were right for me.

I suppose he was correct.

After reading it, my eyes were opened. I began telling counselors that I didn't care what job I got, as long as it made me enough money to float me as I built my business. They all thought I was crazy.

Funny thing, too: I realized that the lawns I mowed and the comics I sold were not B-quadrant (also known as Fastlane). I guess something clicked there, too.

I never got a job in high school because the market was so bad. While you old farts were in high school, I'd imagine almost all your friends had jobs. Well, only a few of my friends had jobs. I made money by fixing computers. I always spent it on junk food and computer equipment.

I read Millionaire Fastlane and I knew exactly what I had to do: build a business system that satisfies the CENTS commandments.

Thanks MJ, again, for literally telling me what I have to do to "Live Rich for a Lifetime".

 

[andviv]

Oh, and of course, back then when talking about good grades and what not....

My dream was to become CEO of a big company, have a driver, private jets, etc etc....

My understanding was, CEOs had the life!

Took me years to understood how the corporate ladder worked, and realized that chances of becoming a CEO like those was really slim and you had to work a gazillion number of hours a week, and still could be fired just like any other employee...

I wish I had learned many of these concepts earlier... definitively getting it before 15 makes a difference. Working now to have the little ones learn the concepts as early as possible.

 

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[The-J]

Oh, and of course, back then when talking about good grades and what not....

My dream was to become CEO of a big company, have a driver, private jets, etc etc....

My understanding was, CEOs had the life!

Took me years to understood how the corporate ladder worked, and realized that chances of becoming a CEO like those was really slim and you had to work a gazillion number of hours a week, and still could be fired just like any other employee...

I wish I had learned many of these concepts earlier... definitively getting it before 15 makes a difference. Working now to have the little ones learn the concepts as early as possible.

Funny you mention that, because it's another lesson I was lucky enough to learn at 14 (or, rather, at 17 when I thought about it further)

Something else I realized: I wanted my first project to be done without outside funding (until it was absolutely needed). Once you give up majority control, you become just like any other CEO. You can get fired for any reason. You become an employee.

It's not so bad being a CEO in that situation... at least it means your company is making money, or had made money at some point. But still, you lose control.

14 wasn't long ago for me, so I can still remember how I felt after RK gave me that 'a-ha' moment.

 

[socaldude]

I read think and grow rich when I was 12. Super inspirational. I used to always fantasize about owning a huge business with multiple office locations back then.

My first run in with Entrepreneurship was when I was about 12 or 13 years old in Middle School. I sold candy and sodas. I made about $100 a week. Until the damn anti free market school authorities shut me down.

Then as I got into high school I sold refurbished electronics on Amazon and ebay. I did really well with that. About 800 a month. A lot for a kid with no expenses; I hit the high end department stores of Nordstroms and Neiman Marcus. That went well until my main supplier went out of business and when paypal did me wrong.

Then I turned 18 and couldn't find a job even after I begged a Mcdonalds manager to give me a job. So I started my first "real" venture. A car battery business. I got a little lot on a major auto mechanic BLVD and went at it. I did really well. I did that for almost 3 years and I JUST excited that business about a few months ago to focus on school and start a REAL fastlane business soon. Saved up a HUGE chunk of cash. WAY too much work for little margin, time consuming, very very stressful, my grades suffered in college. Learned so many lessons the hard way :nonod:. Then I read TMF about a year ago and really set shit straight on how to really get rich. One of the best books ever.

My recommendation is to always start YOUNG when you really have nothing to lose. Not when you are married and have 4 dependents, a mortgage and 2 car payments and utilities. I mean it can totally be done but you wanna give yourself more freedom to take shots at entrepreneurship without sinking the ship if shit hits the fan.

So now here I am getting ready to turn 21. Currently have no Business but I have a HUGE chunk of savings from a super stressful and shitty business. Reading a SHIT load of finance books on safaribooksonline.com(FREE membership of you are a student! $500 value!) Ready to start my first real fastlane business. Reading TMF really helped to clear the windshield and set shit straight for me.

I totally agree; ever since i was young I knew i wanted to be an entrepreneur. I always had that replaying notion in my head of "its gonna happen" "its gonna happen" "its gonna happen" :smxB:.

 

[The-J]

Thing is, success has always been the only option, and it will be even when I'm in the deepest craters of my life. Even if everything that can possibly go wrong, does go wrong, I'll still feel that way and continue to push.

Unless I die. Then it won't matter anymore!

 

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[SlimTycoon]

It's in my blood for sure.

I used to sell all of my toys that I got for Christmas. I would barely play with them, than after the Christmas hoopla faded away, I would take them to school and start wheeling and dealing.

I would buy candy from the candy store on my way to school and sell it to all of my classmates. I even did peoples homework WRONG and charged them to do it that way.........hahaha...damn that's funny.

 

[SlimTycoon]

Thing is, success has always been the only option, and it will be even when I'm in the deepest craters of my life. Even if everything that can possibly go wrong, does go wrong, I'll still feel that way and continue to push.

Unless I die. Then it won't matter anymore!

Good attitude. Great way of thinking.

 

[socaldude]

Thing is, success has always been the only option, and it will be even when I'm in the deepest craters of my life.

Thats how I look at it. Success is inevitable and resistance is futile LOL. I say to myself "Thats where I wanna go, and here is how I am going to do it." You gotta know exactly what you want and have a REASONABLE plan to get there. Saying "i'm gonna make 1 million dollars in 6 months right off the freaking bat" is not a reasonable plan.

And I totally agree with Jackedwards. Entrepreneurship takes a special "I get it" perspective. And its tricky too because some people say "they get it" but they really don't.

 

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[Amail]

A car battery business. I got a little lot on a major auto mechanic BLVD and went at it.

I'm sure many on this forum (including me!) would be interested to hear more about this business. Care to start another thread where you spell this out? How did you start? Who were your customers, and how did you get your product?

 

[Johnathan Ta]

I was 6 years old when I started my comic book business in the second grade hahaha.
Literally - hired 4 or 5 students to HAND DRAW books at 25c and book and resell them to the class for 1.50$
Eventually, the principal told me that I'm not allowed to be making money off of my classmates - and all my profits then went into a cookie fund.
We had a peak freans cookie factory nearby and I literally payed for a GARBAGE BAG full of cookies each week hahah.

In grade 4, I found a liquidating store selling BOXES of sugar candies. 2$/40pcs. Sold each peice for 0.75 each. $$$$$$

Hustled all through highschool. Would regularly purchase stock when my family went to Buffalo to shop, and resold brand name clothing outta my locker.
Haha

It's in you or it's not.

 

[Kak]

I read think and grow rich when I was 12. Super inspirational. I used to always fantasize about owning a huge business with multiple office locations back then.

My first run in with Entrepreneurship was when I was about 12 or 13 years old in Middle School. I sold candy and sodas. I made about $100 a week. Until the damn anti free market school authorities shut me down.

Then as I got into high school I sold refurbished electronics on Amazon and ebay. I did really well with that. About 800 a month. A lot for a kid with no expenses; I hit the high end department stores of Nordstroms and Neiman Marcus. That went well until my main supplier went out of business and when paypal did me wrong.

Then I turned 18 and couldn't find a job even after I begged a Mcdonalds manager to give me a job. So I started my first "real" venture. A car battery business. I got a little lot on a major auto mechanic BLVD and went at it. I did really well. I did that for almost 3 years and I JUST excited that business about a few months ago to focus on school and start a REAL fastlane business soon. Saved up a HUGE chunk of cash. WAY too much work for little margin, time consuming, very very stressful, my grades suffered in college. Learned so many lessons the hard way :nonod:. Then I read TMF about a year ago and really set shit straight on how to really get rich. One of the best books ever.

My recommendation is to always start YOUNG when you really have nothing to lose. Not when you are married and have 4 dependents, a mortgage and 2 car payments and utilities. I mean it can totally be done but you wanna give yourself more freedom to take shots at entrepreneurship without sinking the ship if shit hits the fan.

So now here I am getting ready to turn 21. Currently have no Business but I have a HUGE chunk of savings from a super stressful and shitty business. Reading a SHIT load of finance books on safaribooksonline.com(FREE membership of you are a student! $500 value!) Ready to start my first real fastlane business. Reading TMF really helped to clear the windshield and set shit straight for me.

I totally agree; ever since i was young I knew i wanted to be an entrepreneur. I always had that replaying notion in my head of "its gonna happen" "its gonna happen" "its gonna happen" :smxB:.

X1000 on starting young when you have nothing to lose. I had lots of resistance from family and friends saying that I should go to work for someone else for 2 years (yes they all said 2 years) before going into business for myself. They think that apparently it is impossible be successful without "paying your dues". Bullshit, I have the least baggage I will ever have right fricking now. It is WAY easier to get a business started that pays the bills when my bills amount to only 1k per months. I never took their stupid advice. The only dues I'll ever pay are to a Country Club.

 

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[NaPal]

Good thread and makes me think i'm heading in the right direction and have success to come!

I was buying/selling electronics on ebay for a profit just on developing a good description. I usually made $200-$300 on one laptop. After that i got into buying/selling gocarts, dirtbikes, atvs and made some nice profits. I never did this constantly however I was and always am thinking big.

When i was younger i'd always say and think that i'm going to be the next Bill Gates. Now to make it happen

It's great to see a thread like this that highlights what i've done in my earlier years as potentially leading to success.

 

[nzerinto]

I think I was about 9. Started a t-shirt design business. Wasn't too hard - just found designs (in a magazine) I liked that weren't available locally, gave them to the print shop and negotiated payment after the tshirts were sold (no idea how I managed to pull THAT off!) with promises of larger future orders. Then just sold them at a friend's shop.

Made a killing on the first run (about a hundred bucks, which was huge for me!), so expanded with new designs and kept a ledger of all the orders/sales stats, so I could figure out which ones where the hot sellers, and in what sizes.

Dropped it when my ADHD kicked in, and lost interest, which has been one of my biggest faults, so it's something I've had to work on!