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- Jan 17, 2023
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Dear forum members,
I have been the classic Slowlaner until recently and actually still am. Society and my family background made me follow the classic career path (school, university). Now I've been done for a year (thank you God!) and I already knew during my studies that a classic job is not for me. I had NOT read TFM at that time, but knew the concept of freelancing. It was already clear to me at that time that it would allow me to steer the time vs. money ratio in my favor. Because my hourly rate as a freelancer is quite a bit higher than that of an employee. So far, so good. Towards the end of my studies I decided to try my hand as a freelancer. Focus: Lead generation through SEO & SEA with focus on Google. Along the way I gave purely theoretical classes in this area at my faculty for first-year students. Today, 2 years later, I can draw my conclusion:
- I'm glad I made the decision, because the time vs money ratio is a lot better than if I would work as an employee.
- I soon reach the point where my time resources are exhausted (my day has only 24, or actually 16 hours).
- The income is ok; compared to a 9 to 5 job even good (since I end up working more than half less than someone in a comparable position as a salaried employee for the same salary)
Now to my problems:
- From freelancing to fastlane business.
I'm at the point right now where I know I could take on about twice the number of clients until I'm completely at capacity. However, if I go down this path, I will no longer have the opportunity to build my Fastlane business. My customer base is currently small, but fine, which allows me to put a lot of time into a possible Fastlane business. What do you think, is it advisable to make a cut after a certain number of hours and to dedicate myself PARALLEL to the Fastlane Business? Or should I concentrate 100% on my Fastlane business and quit freelancing/my "job"? I already realize myself that both at the same time is certainly not optimal, but currently my livelihood is financed by freelancing.
- Agency route or "classic" fastlane?
In my current situation I have basically only limited options to go in the direction of Fastlane without having to turn away from my industry (because here I have the most know-how and know a lot of customer problems that are just waiting to be solved!)
1. start an agency (although here the exit scenario is probably not ideal)
2. develop products in my field (lead gen): These could be, for example: Info products about the Lead Gen topic, SaaS products for the Lead Gen area, etc.
Personally, I am not a fan of permanent staff, as it severely restricts my freedom. However, it's a different story when it comes to using VAs. What is your general stance on agency as a possible fastlane business? At least theoretically, I can imagine that a large part of the agency activities can be automated by employees, but whether it is worth it when I compare it with a SaaS product, for example, I lack the experience to be able to give an assessment here.
I recently watched this video from MJ:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_58zPgArb4&t=461s&ab_channel=MJDeMarco
and am slowly but steadily trying to work my way up the steps. This is also the reason for the previous questions/problems. Currently I am somewhere between level 3 and 4. Absolutely recommended by me for anyone who has not started directly with a Fastlane business and is perhaps also currently on the road as a freelancer.
At the moment I feel a bit disoriented and overwhelmed with the options available to me, because on the one hand I think I'm in a good starting position from an objective point of view. (Even if it has nothing to do with a fastlane business) On the other hand, what I have currently created for myself is at the end of the day nothing more than a JOB. Because from the moment I no longer serve my customers, no more money flows. The commandment of time was thus automatically violated - among others . On the other hand, my current starting situation offers me the option to buy myself time that I wouldn't have in a traditional 9 to 5 job, for example. Because theoretically I would only have to work/charge one day per week, so I could at least cover my total costs (fixed costs + variable costs) per month. The rest would then already go into creating my Fastlane business. I just don't know if this is a fundamentally smart decision on my part to approach it this way. There was also the point in TFM regarding monogamy vs polygamy. If I wanted to pursue both at the same time (even if freelancing only took up one more day per week), then I would also be moving towards polygamy and thus multi-tasking at the same time. On the other hand, focusing purely on my possible fastlane business would eliminate my income. Here I would be very interested in your input and I am already grateful if someone has taken pity to read this wall of text and then still finds the strength to write me back.
Sorry for the very long introduction on my part and thanks to MJ for his great book + forum and anyone who has read through my initial situation and can give me feedback.
Best regards
I have been the classic Slowlaner until recently and actually still am. Society and my family background made me follow the classic career path (school, university). Now I've been done for a year (thank you God!) and I already knew during my studies that a classic job is not for me. I had NOT read TFM at that time, but knew the concept of freelancing. It was already clear to me at that time that it would allow me to steer the time vs. money ratio in my favor. Because my hourly rate as a freelancer is quite a bit higher than that of an employee. So far, so good. Towards the end of my studies I decided to try my hand as a freelancer. Focus: Lead generation through SEO & SEA with focus on Google. Along the way I gave purely theoretical classes in this area at my faculty for first-year students. Today, 2 years later, I can draw my conclusion:
- I'm glad I made the decision, because the time vs money ratio is a lot better than if I would work as an employee.
- I soon reach the point where my time resources are exhausted (my day has only 24, or actually 16 hours).
- The income is ok; compared to a 9 to 5 job even good (since I end up working more than half less than someone in a comparable position as a salaried employee for the same salary)
Now to my problems:
- From freelancing to fastlane business.
I'm at the point right now where I know I could take on about twice the number of clients until I'm completely at capacity. However, if I go down this path, I will no longer have the opportunity to build my Fastlane business. My customer base is currently small, but fine, which allows me to put a lot of time into a possible Fastlane business. What do you think, is it advisable to make a cut after a certain number of hours and to dedicate myself PARALLEL to the Fastlane Business? Or should I concentrate 100% on my Fastlane business and quit freelancing/my "job"? I already realize myself that both at the same time is certainly not optimal, but currently my livelihood is financed by freelancing.
- Agency route or "classic" fastlane?
In my current situation I have basically only limited options to go in the direction of Fastlane without having to turn away from my industry (because here I have the most know-how and know a lot of customer problems that are just waiting to be solved!)
1. start an agency (although here the exit scenario is probably not ideal)
2. develop products in my field (lead gen): These could be, for example: Info products about the Lead Gen topic, SaaS products for the Lead Gen area, etc.
Personally, I am not a fan of permanent staff, as it severely restricts my freedom. However, it's a different story when it comes to using VAs. What is your general stance on agency as a possible fastlane business? At least theoretically, I can imagine that a large part of the agency activities can be automated by employees, but whether it is worth it when I compare it with a SaaS product, for example, I lack the experience to be able to give an assessment here.
I recently watched this video from MJ:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_58zPgArb4&t=461s&ab_channel=MJDeMarco
and am slowly but steadily trying to work my way up the steps. This is also the reason for the previous questions/problems. Currently I am somewhere between level 3 and 4. Absolutely recommended by me for anyone who has not started directly with a Fastlane business and is perhaps also currently on the road as a freelancer.
At the moment I feel a bit disoriented and overwhelmed with the options available to me, because on the one hand I think I'm in a good starting position from an objective point of view. (Even if it has nothing to do with a fastlane business) On the other hand, what I have currently created for myself is at the end of the day nothing more than a JOB. Because from the moment I no longer serve my customers, no more money flows. The commandment of time was thus automatically violated - among others . On the other hand, my current starting situation offers me the option to buy myself time that I wouldn't have in a traditional 9 to 5 job, for example. Because theoretically I would only have to work/charge one day per week, so I could at least cover my total costs (fixed costs + variable costs) per month. The rest would then already go into creating my Fastlane business. I just don't know if this is a fundamentally smart decision on my part to approach it this way. There was also the point in TFM regarding monogamy vs polygamy. If I wanted to pursue both at the same time (even if freelancing only took up one more day per week), then I would also be moving towards polygamy and thus multi-tasking at the same time. On the other hand, focusing purely on my possible fastlane business would eliminate my income. Here I would be very interested in your input and I am already grateful if someone has taken pity to read this wall of text and then still finds the strength to write me back.
Sorry for the very long introduction on my part and thanks to MJ for his great book + forum and anyone who has read through my initial situation and can give me feedback.
Best regards
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