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I think I grew up a little bit today. Sad happy and proud all at the same time.

biophase

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I did start reading that thread the other day when someone shared it in here. What kind of funds do you think a person needs to be able to do that? I don't have 20k to buy websites that are already making money. Is 2 to 3k enough to even think about doing something like that?

I think the point of the thread is not whether you have $20k to buy a business. But it is more about using assets to purchase toys vs. trying to justify spending money on toys. That type of mentality will never get you ahead because you are constantly talking yourself out of saving money or investing money.

In this thread, you did grow up a bit by not buying the car, but then you regressed by going back. You have a battle within yourself right now. If you make the better decision today, you will be able to afford alot more things in the future.

So I have to ask you this. You are 36 years old and work as an engineer. Why don't you have $20k saved in the bank? I think this is the next thing that you need to tackle.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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I don't have 20k to buy websites

Ha Ha, but you just jumped through hoops so you could buy a $60,000 car. That wasn't a problem was it?

But now you claim you can't find $20K?

This right here is your problem. The car is important to you. The idea of a business is not. (Not suggesting buying a website is the answer, just the idea that $60K for a car = easy, 20K for a business = hard.)

Until this headspace is resolved, there probably won't be any traction on the entrepreneurial career, especially since first- and second-ventures tend not to succeed, but tend to be learning experiences.

Not trying to be abrasive, just pointing out an obvious, divergent flaw in your headspace.
 

Odysseus M Jones

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This thread needs retitling.
Can I break free of the sidewalk's gravity?
 

kb9nate

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Ha Ha, but you just jumped through hoops so you could buy a $60,000 car. That wasn't a problem was it?

But now you claim you can't find $20K?

The car I almost bought definitely wasn't $60000! If I would of bought it my total amount financed was going to be just under 25k. It's not that I would have a problem investing 20k into a business. I just don't have it in the bank. Hence the loan I would of needed for the car.

I'm not familiar with getting business loans but I assume to get one requires to have a pretty solidly laid out plan to show to the bank. Something that has a pretty good guarantee of getting them their money back. Could a person really show up at a bank asking for a 20k loan to buy a website?
 
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kb9nate

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So I have to ask you this. You are 36 years old and work as an engineer. Why don't you have $20k saved in the bank? I think this is the next thing that you need to tackle.

I agree this is something I need to work on. One of my flaws is being able to save money. I have only been in the engineering position for a little over 2 years now and shortly after getting the promotion my daughters mom had my child support raised quite substantially. I kind of expected that to happen though and had accounted for it in my budget. Not making an excuse just saying it is what it is.

After all my monthly expenses I have just short of $400 left over. Admittedly I have not been great about saving that money and tended to spend it on other "wants" or eating out instead of cooking at home (Prior to March).

I am now making it a point to re allocate that extra money to paying off my car loan as fast as I can. I should be able to do that in 12 months or less. In addition to putting some in savings.

Aside from my car loan the only other loan I have is a student loan. I have no credit cards and don't have any other debt. I don't really watch TV or play video games except for maybe a few times a month if that.

Up until all this virus stuff started I spent most of my free time working on projects or learning new skills. I think were my problem was is I spent to much time putting tools in the tool box so to speak and not enough time looking where I could apply them to add value.

I guess I was kind of under the mindset that there was no point in saving a little money here and there because that was the "slow lane" mindset to save money and then some day retire. It had never occurred to me to save up money and be able to buy a business that is already making money. Or buy a product that already exists and just sell it.

This last week has really started to change the way I think about that and how/where I should be spending my time to come up with my fastlane.
 

Sethamus

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You do have $20k....
You were ready to finance a new vehicle with a $20k + debt. You argued that is was ONLY $70 more a month....on a 6 year term. Your decision to not buy a vehicle gives you $70 more a month saving power for the first 2 years it would take your current car to be paid off and $400 a month for the remaining 4 years.
$70 × 12mo x 2 yrs = $1680
$400 x 12mo x 4 yrs = $19200
Take that money and save it while looking for opportunities and make some more smart decisions to increase your net savings and you could have $20k to do with what you wish. Buy a car, a new tv, or maybe start that fastlane business.
Good luck!
 

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You are working as an engineer and already have your own product that you are selling. That alone puts you ahead of many of us on here.

Can you sell more of your product or improve it? Is it possible to make it for $2? Could you create an e-commerce site to sell it on? You could do that while continuing to sell them on eBay. How much would it cost to set up the site? How much could you learn about the process?

Can you use the same skills you used to create your product to solve a different problem?
I'm not in the fast lane yet. I too have a lot to learn. One of the themes I keep hearing is that money will follow value. If you have a solution to someone's problem you will naturally attract money.

Best of luck!
 
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biophase

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I'm not familiar with getting business loans but I assume to get one requires to have a pretty solidly laid out plan to show to the bank. Something that has a pretty good guarantee of getting them their money back. Could a person really show up at a bank asking for a 20k loan to buy a website?

You can get a personal loan pretty easily. You didn't hear it from here. But you can apply for a car loan, they will deposit the money directly into your account and then just not buy the car. Google light stream.
 

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That's they thing. It "sounds" easy lol. The hardest part is finding a good thing to sell at a good margin like that and then finding the customers. I'm sure you don't simply mean bulk buying something from aliexpress or one of those sites and flipping it on Amazon or Ebay right? Something along those lines though.

Maybe I should try to market my one product I do have a little better. I have something I build that I have already sold 30+ of for $23.99 and they only cost me about $4 to $5 to make. But it is such a niche market that I didn't do much advertising outside of making a youtube video about it (which contains the ebay link in the description) and then sharing it in some groups on Facebook. I usually sell some every month. Some months none and then sometimes I will sell 5 or so in a single week.

If you've done over $700 revenue what is stopping you from doing $7,000 or $70,000 in revenue? Keep doing whatever you are doing. Look into bio's threads (lots of info on ecommerce)

Take notes from MJ and Bio.
 

kb9nate

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Can you sell more of your product or improve it? Is it possible to make it for $2? Could you create an e-commerce site to sell it on? You could do that while continuing to sell them on eBay. How much would it cost to set up the site? How much could you learn about the process?

I am sure I can sell more of it. How much more though I am not sure. To give a basic idea of why I say that I will give a little background info. My product is a circuit board that can be retrofitted into an old piece of equipment that lets it be compatible with newer equipment. The thing that it goes into was THE most popular accessory back in it's time so there are quite a few of them out there. But the application it is for is more of a hobby based thing. None the less I am sure I can sell more of them. Maybe 100s to 1000. If I sold more than 1000 of them I would be surprised. I really should work on marketing it and see what happens.

I do already have a couple websites that I planned on setting up as ecommerce sites to sell them on but have no idea how to make an ecommerce site. I had started watching some YouTube tutorials on it and then got sidetracked. My way of thinking though is starting to change a little bit on that. Maybe instead of learning web developing or watching hours of tutorials to figure it out I just go on Upwork or Fiver and pay someone to do it for me. Then I can better spend my time thinking up other things to sell.
 
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kb9nate

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You can get a personal loan pretty easily. You didn't hear it from here. But you can apply for a car loan, they will deposit the money directly into your account and then just not buy the car. Google light stream.

Interesting! Wouldn't they want some proof of the vehicle being purchased? The bank have my current auto loan through holds on to the title until the car is paid off. In this case there wouldn't be one lol.
 

Conscripted

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My product is a circuit board that can be retrofitted into an old piece of equipment that lets it be compatible with newer equipment. The thing that it goes into was THE most popular accessory back in it's time so there are quite a few of them out there.
This makes me think that you are converting one communications protocol to another. Perhaps converting RS232 or Parallel ports to USB. Are there other pieces of equipment that you could do something similar for?

I do already have a couple websites that I planned on setting up as ecommerce sites to sell them on but have no idea how to make an ecommerce site. I had started watching some YouTube tutorials on it and then got sidetracked.

What's the first step that needs to be accomplished that you know how to do? What's the next step after that one? Sometimes the path reveals itself.

Maybe instead of learning web developing or watching hours of tutorials to figure it out I just go on Upwork or Fiver and pay someone to do it for me. Then I can better spend my time thinking up other things to sell.

This is always an option. You will be the one to decide on the best value for your time. If you rolled your own I'm sure you could find someone to give you a few pointers.

Maybe an execution thread? It will give you a place you can document your progress. Some find them useful for accountability purposes. People who have the experience with what you are trying to do are more likely to point a guiding finger once action has been taken.
 

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