<div class="bbWrapper">Hello,<br />
<br />
Yes, I'm that guy. Sorry <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/members/1/" class="username" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" data-user-id="1" data-username="@MJ DeMarco">@MJ DeMarco</a>, you haven't changed my life... yet <img src="/community/imgs/emoticons/em-smile2.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-shortname=":)" /><br />
<br />
The one who read all the books (TMF in 2016), and got nothing much done except for some action-faking. I know I'm far from being the only one. Even so, something has started to change in the past year. I'm posting this in case it helps others like me start executing.<br />
<br />
Let me explain.<br />
<br />
Coming from an upper middle class family, when I was about 17-18 I always wondered how rich people got rich. Trying to find which job paid the most... but the numbers were never adding up. Read lots of Slowlane books and thought it was the only way. Yet the idea of working in a cage from Monday through Friday till you retire was quite depressing to me.<br />
Sometimes I look around in the office and ask myself: "Do these people really want to be here staring at their PC?"<br />
<br />
That's just how it is, right?<br />
<br />
Of course, it was not hurting bad enough since I hadn't even started working.<br />
<br />
Started my career in 2017 as an industrial engineer in a big corporation, and loved it there. Had the opportunity to work almost as a freelancer, traveling to places when I wanted, how I wanted, to deliver actual value to my internal customers. Was working on Business Intelligence and other digital tools implementation. Great and inspiring managers too.<br />
I was not thinking too much about Fastlane, since I was very happy with my situation.<br />
<br />
Then in late 2021, things changed. I accepted another position at global HQ, also to work on digital tools as a Product Owner. At first, everything was good. But one day, management changed (N+1 AND N+2 at the same time, great), and that was the first time things went down for me.<br />
<br />
I discovered "normal" management, the kind that needs to justify its existence and wants to control everything you do, impacting your motivation. This created conflicts that ended up in me asking to change positions.<br />
<br />
For the first time in my life, I was asked to work more hours while there was not more to work on (the bottleneck was our development resources), and that if I want to have some kind of career I should work loooong hours all the time. This, even if I had reached my targets. Results were never mentioned, it was all about the hours. I did work more hours in my previous position, but only because management was inspiring.<br />
<br />
It sealed my mind. Can't live like this anymore. I'm OK with working hard, yet if I have to work hard all my life, it better be on my terms.<br />
<br />
Now, to the execution part:<br />
<br />
In 2021-2022 I was already thinking about some exit strategy. Found the <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/members/33771/" class="username" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" data-user-id="33771" data-username="@Fox">@Fox</a> 's thread about web design, which was quite inspiring. Immediately started learning HTML/CSS/Javascript through Udemy. I knew NOTHING about code, did nothing in coding classes at school (there was always that guy who knew everything already), and even hated it for some time. Also chose to learn Python/Django with Youtube, without a specific goal in mind, just thought that it could be useful one day, since Python is the go-to language for AI etc...<br />
<br />
It takes some dedication and discipline to do something that no one is forcing you to do. I ended up loving the process of learning, and more importantly I felt that I was opening new paths for my future. The motivation was not about coding itself, but what it enabled you to do, and how it can help people and organizations thrive. Actually, this has been my job for the past 6 years, and I loved the process of it. Seeing people happy with my digital solutions.<br />
<br />
So, armed with the knewly acquired knowledge, I started asking around (friends & family) for static websites needs, for free of course. Very hard to overcome the self-imposed mental barrier of simply asking this.<br />
Created one for a friend for her yoga classes, and she was happy with it. It was very simple, so I needed to move further.<br />
<br />
Then, my sister told me that in her field (medical), they would love to have some platform on which practitioners could select candidates to back them up on specific days for a specific period. Armed with my fixed-growth mindset, I immediately told her that I only knew how to design static websites, and that this would be too complicated.<br />
<br />
A few weeks later, things were still not going well with management, so I changed my mind, and chose to see this as a personal challenge. Remebered I learned Django a few months back, and that it could be the solution. If I managed to build it, it would be a good addition to my current non-existent portfolio.<br />
<br />
Looked at the competition. There were several competitors already, but no one within my relatives seemed to know about them. So, I thought that I could first tackle this, as well as providing additional value.<br />
Even if it failed, at least I would have learned how to build a web app and market it, and no one can take this from me.<br />
<br />
In late 2022, I started this project from scratch with just an idea. Created a Figma for it, then started designing the DB, then the views, the templates etc... It took me a lot of late nights, followed by several-week breaks. Each task felt impossible until I managed to complete it (thanks StackOverflow...).<br />
<br />
Today, August 2023, I'm almost ready to launch my application in production and market it.<br />
<br />
I chose to focus on delivering an MVP and provide it for free. Now I need to make sure I market it well, and to the right audience. Competitions straight away ask for money, and as a result, not so many people are willing to be on the platform. I believe the actual value of this kind of platform first comes from the fact that everyone's on it. (Instagram bought for billions with no revenue generation). Next step would be to do some ads, or premium functionalities. It could potentially grow to 200k+ users...but I'm just dreaming, we're not there yet.<br />
<br />
Next steps:<br />
<br />
- Release the app and market it (relatives, Facebook, Instagram, specific communities...) in September 2023. Look for any echos<br />
- Assess and adjust based on echos<br />
<br />
Will also find other static website projects after release, depending on how busy this will keep me.<br />
<br />
Conclusion, not a $5M exit, yet I feel like I actually did a little something. Let me keep you posted.<br />
<br />
Thanks for reading. Any advice or comment is appreciated!</div>
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Last edited:
