Hey I'm Jeff, a lifelong slowlaner. Well, more like a dirt path. I graduated high school in the lower part of my class. I flunked out of college. Then I wound up without a place to live, so I had to crash on my brother's couch while I got a job working the graveyard shift at a factory that made electrical wire. I need to thank him for putting me up for those couple of months when I had no place to go. Anyway I somehow found a better job at an auto dealership and spent 4 years there. I went back to college on probation and paid my own way. I graduated with honors. But that degree just got me a better looking prison cell.
I acquired new skills, and have made a good success as a designer and marketer. I started my own design firm building websites when WordPress was just blog software. I learned to code and made a good business, I had several people working for me. I took on a partner, and found out that my bosses were my clients, and they weren't that great. I was really frustrated and was clueless and broke at 40. Then I read two books: The Millionaire Fastlane and Linchpin by Seth Godin. That flipped my world. From then on I was obsessed with decoupling my time from money. I also took a really hard look at my life and decided that shit needed to change. Like the very next day.
My problems:
• I had a ton of debt
• I was unmotivated
• I had a poor attitude
• I was bad with money
• I was out of shape
• I didn't know how to conduct myself in business (I didn't know how to run a meeting, I didn't know how to lead, I didn't know how to separate my emotions from my decision making, etc.)
• I sucked at sales.
I needed to earn some quick money to stay afloat while working on acquiring these new skills. That week, I told my business partner I was leaving the partnership, and he bought me out.
I spent a year learning sales. I read 20 books, I took over 200 pages of notes. I jumped into the deep end of the pool and got a gig as an outside sales rep at an exterior remodeling company. I spent my days receiving cold-to-lukewarm leads and visiting these people in their homes. The directive: Close them on the first visit. Average sale was around 5 grand. This was not an easy task. BUT I loved it. I loved every minute. Seeing people from every walk of life, every socioeconomic condition. Every situation imaginable. It was amazing. Over the few months I was there I learned more about people and the psychology of the sale than any degree could give me. My coworkers on the sales team were really great and supportive. I started working out. I felt a million times better about myself.
I then got headhunted by an auto dealer and sold cars for 6 months. I had 4 day workweeks, which allowed me to create a side hustle that went nowhere fast. Notebooks for home brewers. I learned there is a difference between a company and a product. I didn't have a company, I had a product. Vastly different.
Then one day I got several web design gigs that totaled 8 grand, and I left the dealer to push those jobs out and attempt to use my newfound sales powers to get more work. Could I do it? The first month I booked 20 grand worth of work. It was like magic. That was a great year. I took all my newfound knowledge, new attitude and new concern for the service of others to turn it into my most profitable year ever.
Things changed though and I ended up involved in a partnership that didn't work out. They weren't up to the task. I left.
Then I took a job as a marketing manager at an Italian deli. Why? The owner needed me. New website, he had e-commerce needs. He was also launching a culinary center that needed branding and marketing support to get it off the ground. I saw a 3-year project that would look great in my portfolio and get me more work in food/bev. I also wanted to find something that:
• Paid fairly well
• Gave me daily access to the owner
• Allowed me to observe how to launch a culinary center and manage a food / bev establishment
• Gave me something to fill my portfolio
• Allowed me to spend time working in something I love (food/bev, Italian cuisine, specialty foods)
• 40 hours a week, and no more
• Allowed my to save at least 30-40% of my pay and pay off debt / invest
Almost 3 years in and I've checked off the boxes. I'll grow out of the position in 2 or 3 years. I'm training a young designer / marketing person to take my place when I leave.
Also, I now have no consumer debt. I lost 10 lbs and added 10 lbs of muscle. I make more than I spend. I have a money system set up so that I'm doing smart things with it. I try to invest in appreciable assets. I try to stay away from buying status items. I'm really happy with where I am now, I just need to build on what I have.
In the meantime, I found I have a talent for making coffee mugs, bowls, plates, whiskey glasses, boxes, etc. So I'm making and selling pottery, thinking about how I can create exclusive designs and then producing enough numbers to make it a lucrative enterprise, while building something larger than myself. Something that delivers real value to people and solves problems. I have ideas.
I'm trying to figure out how to apply Fastlane / Unscripted principles to this business. It's not easy. I hope to connect with as many of you as possible, this place seems pretty amazing and I believe MJ has built something invaluable here and I have proof of it (I'll post more on that later).
I acquired new skills, and have made a good success as a designer and marketer. I started my own design firm building websites when WordPress was just blog software. I learned to code and made a good business, I had several people working for me. I took on a partner, and found out that my bosses were my clients, and they weren't that great. I was really frustrated and was clueless and broke at 40. Then I read two books: The Millionaire Fastlane and Linchpin by Seth Godin. That flipped my world. From then on I was obsessed with decoupling my time from money. I also took a really hard look at my life and decided that shit needed to change. Like the very next day.
My problems:
• I had a ton of debt
• I was unmotivated
• I had a poor attitude
• I was bad with money
• I was out of shape
• I didn't know how to conduct myself in business (I didn't know how to run a meeting, I didn't know how to lead, I didn't know how to separate my emotions from my decision making, etc.)
• I sucked at sales.
I needed to earn some quick money to stay afloat while working on acquiring these new skills. That week, I told my business partner I was leaving the partnership, and he bought me out.
I spent a year learning sales. I read 20 books, I took over 200 pages of notes. I jumped into the deep end of the pool and got a gig as an outside sales rep at an exterior remodeling company. I spent my days receiving cold-to-lukewarm leads and visiting these people in their homes. The directive: Close them on the first visit. Average sale was around 5 grand. This was not an easy task. BUT I loved it. I loved every minute. Seeing people from every walk of life, every socioeconomic condition. Every situation imaginable. It was amazing. Over the few months I was there I learned more about people and the psychology of the sale than any degree could give me. My coworkers on the sales team were really great and supportive. I started working out. I felt a million times better about myself.
I then got headhunted by an auto dealer and sold cars for 6 months. I had 4 day workweeks, which allowed me to create a side hustle that went nowhere fast. Notebooks for home brewers. I learned there is a difference between a company and a product. I didn't have a company, I had a product. Vastly different.
Then one day I got several web design gigs that totaled 8 grand, and I left the dealer to push those jobs out and attempt to use my newfound sales powers to get more work. Could I do it? The first month I booked 20 grand worth of work. It was like magic. That was a great year. I took all my newfound knowledge, new attitude and new concern for the service of others to turn it into my most profitable year ever.
Things changed though and I ended up involved in a partnership that didn't work out. They weren't up to the task. I left.
Then I took a job as a marketing manager at an Italian deli. Why? The owner needed me. New website, he had e-commerce needs. He was also launching a culinary center that needed branding and marketing support to get it off the ground. I saw a 3-year project that would look great in my portfolio and get me more work in food/bev. I also wanted to find something that:
• Paid fairly well
• Gave me daily access to the owner
• Allowed me to observe how to launch a culinary center and manage a food / bev establishment
• Gave me something to fill my portfolio
• Allowed me to spend time working in something I love (food/bev, Italian cuisine, specialty foods)
• 40 hours a week, and no more
• Allowed my to save at least 30-40% of my pay and pay off debt / invest
Almost 3 years in and I've checked off the boxes. I'll grow out of the position in 2 or 3 years. I'm training a young designer / marketing person to take my place when I leave.
Also, I now have no consumer debt. I lost 10 lbs and added 10 lbs of muscle. I make more than I spend. I have a money system set up so that I'm doing smart things with it. I try to invest in appreciable assets. I try to stay away from buying status items. I'm really happy with where I am now, I just need to build on what I have.
In the meantime, I found I have a talent for making coffee mugs, bowls, plates, whiskey glasses, boxes, etc. So I'm making and selling pottery, thinking about how I can create exclusive designs and then producing enough numbers to make it a lucrative enterprise, while building something larger than myself. Something that delivers real value to people and solves problems. I have ideas.
I'm trying to figure out how to apply Fastlane / Unscripted principles to this business. It's not easy. I hope to connect with as many of you as possible, this place seems pretty amazing and I believe MJ has built something invaluable here and I have proof of it (I'll post more on that later).
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