cmatth
New Contributor
Hey everyone, very excited to join the community! I'll tell you a little about myself and my journey so far and then we'll get into my plan for Fastlane.
A little about me
I'm Colin, 24 y/o living in Canada. I grew up with a Financial Advisor for a mom, so the Slowlane has been ingrained in me since birth. I have always wanted to strike out on my own but was taught that it was too risky. So, I did what everyone does, and went to university. Luckily I knew to study something that had market value - this lead me to a double major in Business and Computer Science.
The plan was always to leverage the skills I would gain from school to build my own software products. But over the past few years, Ive only had false starts. These were all driven by two things:
1) Not focusing on one product at a time
2) Having absolutely no understanding of marketing or market research
Like many, I was told that I should come up with an idea and "validate" it. This approach is absolute hogwash and will lead you down years of time spent on trying to find the "right idea".
During my time in school, I was also building up my career. I was heavily involved in Financial Independence, Early Retirement communities, and thought that achieving FIRE would give my life more purpose. I found a career I enjoyed and would allow me achieve FI by my early 40s. With a clear goal in mind, I went to work.
Within a 2 year period ( before I finished my degree), I was in a senior position making just under 6 figures. I had full benefits, work from home, and a Defined Benefit pension plan backed by the government. This meant that I could simply show up to work for the next 15 years and would have a guaranteed monthly paycheck when I retired. But I was doing one better. Having learned the in's and out's of personal finance from a young age, I set myself up to have a very high savings rate on my after-tax earnings. If I just stayed the course, I'd be ready for retirement in no time.
But something wasn't right...
As time past, I felt more and more discontent. I was supposed to have "made it" but I certainly didn't feel that way. I started reading more about entrepreneurship and how I could strike out on my own. I was first attracted to the idea of replacing my salary by freelancing or with a small product, but then I found Fastlane. And oh boy did it change my perspective.
Now, I can clearly see what the problem was with my approach. I know I can achieve more. And I have a plan to do it.
My plan to Fastlane
The first thing I needed to do was overcome the barriers that have stopped me in the past. I needed to learn what products to build and how to stick to one at a time. I won't go into too much detail here, but I found some great resources that have led me to have a MUCH better understanding of what products to focus on.
So, what's the plan? There's three main components:
1) Build a product my target audience actually wants
2) Build a personal brand using high-quality content on existing platforms (Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, etc) that is in alignment with my product
3) Market the product independently of myself to accelerate growth
What I've done so far
To date, I have:
Up next, I will:
Do you want to help?
I've just finished drafting up two different landing pages to start looking at initial engagement and conversion rates. If you'd like to lend a hand , please check them out at the following links and let me know which one you prefer!
Landing Page One: get.trackrite.io/a
Langing Page Two: get.trackrite.io/b
I'll continue to make updates as I hit significant milestones!
A little about me
I'm Colin, 24 y/o living in Canada. I grew up with a Financial Advisor for a mom, so the Slowlane has been ingrained in me since birth. I have always wanted to strike out on my own but was taught that it was too risky. So, I did what everyone does, and went to university. Luckily I knew to study something that had market value - this lead me to a double major in Business and Computer Science.
The plan was always to leverage the skills I would gain from school to build my own software products. But over the past few years, Ive only had false starts. These were all driven by two things:
1) Not focusing on one product at a time
2) Having absolutely no understanding of marketing or market research
Like many, I was told that I should come up with an idea and "validate" it. This approach is absolute hogwash and will lead you down years of time spent on trying to find the "right idea".
During my time in school, I was also building up my career. I was heavily involved in Financial Independence, Early Retirement communities, and thought that achieving FIRE would give my life more purpose. I found a career I enjoyed and would allow me achieve FI by my early 40s. With a clear goal in mind, I went to work.
Within a 2 year period ( before I finished my degree), I was in a senior position making just under 6 figures. I had full benefits, work from home, and a Defined Benefit pension plan backed by the government. This meant that I could simply show up to work for the next 15 years and would have a guaranteed monthly paycheck when I retired. But I was doing one better. Having learned the in's and out's of personal finance from a young age, I set myself up to have a very high savings rate on my after-tax earnings. If I just stayed the course, I'd be ready for retirement in no time.
But something wasn't right...
As time past, I felt more and more discontent. I was supposed to have "made it" but I certainly didn't feel that way. I started reading more about entrepreneurship and how I could strike out on my own. I was first attracted to the idea of replacing my salary by freelancing or with a small product, but then I found Fastlane. And oh boy did it change my perspective.
Now, I can clearly see what the problem was with my approach. I know I can achieve more. And I have a plan to do it.
My plan to Fastlane
The first thing I needed to do was overcome the barriers that have stopped me in the past. I needed to learn what products to build and how to stick to one at a time. I won't go into too much detail here, but I found some great resources that have led me to have a MUCH better understanding of what products to focus on.
So, what's the plan? There's three main components:
1) Build a product my target audience actually wants
2) Build a personal brand using high-quality content on existing platforms (Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, etc) that is in alignment with my product
3) Market the product independently of myself to accelerate growth
What I've done so far
To date, I have:
- Made a plan on how Im going to Fastlane
- Mocked up my software
- Begun creating marketing materials (landing pages)
Up next, I will:
- Design ads for various marketing channels
- Track Click Through Rates and Conversion Rates overall on my concept and for the specific audiences I am targeting
- Calculate my expected Life Time Value for a customer, less advertising and operational costs, and see what my potential profit margins could look like ( as well as how far I can scale the marketing channels)
Do you want to help?
I've just finished drafting up two different landing pages to start looking at initial engagement and conversion rates. If you'd like to lend a hand , please check them out at the following links and let me know which one you prefer!
Landing Page One: get.trackrite.io/a
Langing Page Two: get.trackrite.io/b
I'll continue to make updates as I hit significant milestones!
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