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Envision

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Congratulations, as a 19 year old it's great to hear that you started from where I am and have found success. Best of luck in your future endeavours! If you have the chance to share more it would be great to hear how things go in the next few months and whether you stick with clothing and real estate or decide to tackle other markets.

Ill update it for sure

I spent time with @Boom last month after meeting him at the summit and pulled a lot from our time together - probably one of the best things Ive ever done in my life.

I went all in on the clothing but also changed the direction of the brand as well and stopped dabbling thanks to @LightHouse. My first order from china should be here in two weeks and I will launch that on Amazon, my site, and the 3 stores that are carrying my brand.

Also should be getting a job as a loan officer to learn the process and they pay commission based on the loans you close. So with that cash influx ill be able to buy my second property in 6-8 months and ideally ill actually be able to refinance my own loan if that's allowed so I can free up the FHA loan to use on another property.
 
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mtn_baldy

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Ill update it for sure

I spent time with @Boom last month after meeting him at the summit and pulled a lot from our time together - probably one of the best things Ive ever done in my life.

I went all in on the clothing but also changed the direction of the brand as well and stopped dabbling thanks to @LightHouse. My first order from china should be here in two weeks and I will launch that on Amazon, my site, and the 3 stores that are carrying my brand.

Also should be getting a job as a loan officer to learn the process and they pay commission based on the loans you close. So with that cash influx ill be able to buy my second property in 6-8 months and ideally ill actually be able to refinance my own loan if that's allowed so I can free up the FHA loan to use on another property.

Crazy to imagine someone at your age doing what you are doing, wow.
I'm only 23, and you're making me feel like I've just been wasting my life bro ;)
Good on you, keep it up!

But as someone working at a bank, it's highly unlikely that you will be able to refinance your own loan. Pretty much anything that you do at a bank for yourself has to be done by someone else, so keep that in mind.

Solid plan otherwise!
 

FiqqVales

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You sound a lot wiser than any people that I know who were a lot older than you, that get stuck in slowlane waiting for miracle to happen to their life and wealth. I think you must be grateful that you got stuck in that mobile house in the very first place. Imagine if everything going well and everything come easy for you, you might not become the person you were today.

Difficulty, poverty, problems and pain is sometimes a positive things, it does make someone from nothing into somebody. That's what differentiate winner from the loser. You swim your head towards the surface when you were drowning while losers will plunge even deeper.

Thanks for the great post and motivate me to remember that hardship, pressure and stress indeed turn someone into a diamond.
 

Envision

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Crazy to imagine someone at your age doing what you are doing, wow.
I'm only 23, and you're making me feel like I've just been wasting my life bro ;)
Good on you, keep it up!

But as someone working at a bank, it's highly unlikely that you will be able to refinance your own loan. Pretty much anything that you do at a bank for yourself has to be done by someone else, so keep that in mind.

Solid plan otherwise!

Crazy how stuff seems to change as each month goes by..

I didnt go with the loan officer job. The company i work for promoted me and doubled my income due to the position I am in. Which really works great in terms of getting another property when it comes to my personal finances. I am in the process of seeing if I can refinance my 3.5% down loan into a 20% conventional due to the appreciation now that my income has changed. If I can pull that off then I am going to actually look to build in my market, its exploding right now and Ive been looking at parcels of land, there is .38 acres that I think I could fit a 4plex on in a really appealing area. The cost is the same as buying I just need to see if I can line all of this up and get it approved.

My shipments from China all made it. Been packing it and working with Amazon to get it all onboard. Should have more news next month.

I have also been building another website in a niche I really like and have fun in and so far netted $7.00 through affiliate/adsense. Its just a fun side project, but I think i can build a business around it and incorporate physical products and advertising in the future. Not something I spend a lot of time on though.


You sound a lot wiser than any people that I know who were a lot older than you, that get stuck in slowlane waiting for miracle to happen to their life and wealth. I think you must be grateful that you got stuck in that mobile house in the very first place. Imagine if everything going well and everything come easy for you, you might not become the person you were today.

Difficulty, poverty, problems and pain is sometimes a positive things, it does make someone from nothing into somebody. That's what differentiate winner from the loser. You swim your head towards the surface when you were drowning while losers will plunge even deeper.

Thanks for the great post and motivate me to remember that hardship, pressure and stress indeed turn someone into a diamond.

Thank you, yeah I was actually talking to my dad about that yesterday. I told him I was glad he lost his job because I had it so easy before and when all that shit was going down I clicked into another mindset.. a fastlane mindset because I really saw what the slowlane got you when things get ugly. I think he's clicking into it now too along with everyone else around me because I keep noticing people that really took an interest in what I was doing now starting their own fastlane projects of sorts.

My dad got into REI as well and just closed 3 seller financed homes and he's really diving into it, its pretty cool to see.
 
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Envision

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Getting my loan refinanced at 20% its going through underwriting so hopefully everything comes out okay. Crazy how much equity was gained in less than 2 years. Ill have to live in it for another year but that will give me time to save for the next one and free up the FHA loan for reusage.

And for people wondering if real estate is fastlane - the property gained 40k in appreciation in a year and a half with me putting down 6.5k. Its not liquid and you should never buy solely on appreciation - but it goes to show when put to scale there is a lot of opportunity.
 

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Hey man this post is pure GOLD.

I joined this forum a few days ago and I was immediately hooked. Especially in this kind of threads. I'm in the same boat as you were. i'm 20 years young and i'm reading about success, telling myself that i'm actually doing something, wrighting down my goals, thinking about ideas, etc.. but the hard thrut is i'm not taking action. But I can tell you because of your post I will take action, this is motivating the f#ck out of me. I will search for like minded people. I will atend seminars. I will find my niche. I will change my mindset and I will find mentors. I can't thank you enough for this post. It's like I finally found a lot of people that think the same as me or are in the positions that I wish to be in 10-30 years. This forum is a pure goldmine. Thank you man! I will keep following you! Thanks again!
 
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Envision

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Im turning this into a progress thread

Refinanced my duplex - the hunt for #2 begins (gonna need more $).

Clothing Brand is growing rapidly.

Going to see Gary V in September.
 
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WarriorV

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Im turning this into a progress thread

Refinanced my duplex - the hunt for #2 begins (gonna need more $).

Clothing Brand is growing rapidly.

Going to see Gary V in September.

Loved your post man, really boosted my motivation, which was already in a good level thanks to MJ's book and this forum.
I'm 22 and starting my first business. I had wasted a lot of time just reading motivational stuff and never applied anything, but now that my family is struggling with money I decided to get serious and take action.

I also follow some advice from Gary Vee, did you set up a meeting with him for september?

Did you have to pay something for that, or you guys decide at the meeting if you're gonna work together?
(I understand if you don't feel comfortable answering this one).

Thanks!
 

Envision

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Loved your post man, really boosted my motivation, which was already in a good level thanks to MJ's book and this forum.
I'm 22 and starting my first business. I had wasted a lot of time just reading motivational stuff and never applied anything, but now that my family is struggling with money I decided to get serious and take action.

I also follow some advice from Gary Vee, did you set up a meeting with him for september?

Did you have to pay something for that, or you guys decide at the meeting if you're gonna work together?
(I understand if you don't feel comfortable answering this one).

Thanks!
Thanks man

I shoulda clarified Im justing watching him speak not a meeting in person haha maybe one day!

Good luck!
 

Sanj Modha

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I like this forum but I will say that it depends on who you follow.

There are quite a few guys who are still stuck in the Slowlane. But there are some serious ballers on here too.

Follow the right people and unfollow the rest. That's my motto.
 
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Tristan2k0

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Hell yah brother! Threads like these are why I think the Fastlane Forum is one of the best resources for young minds. I'm turning 20 in a few days, am pretty much in the same boat as you were when you first turned 20. Reading Bold and Determined, Danger and Play, Think and Grow Rich and of course The Millionaire Fastlane .

There is so much more for me to learn, seams kind of overwhelming at times. They are all challenges that will make me stronger. I'm gonna use your year journey as a basic guide for my year. It's honestly badass to see a young buck like you already killin it, definitely gives me more fire.

First things first is that I need to start socializing on here a lot more and find me a mentor (All my friends are losers and no getters) so finding a higher class of man is the first thing on my list. Gonna sign up on meetup.com and definitely check out Toastmasters (you were the first person to tell me about Toastmasters, so thanks man)

Right now I am going to make a list of what I need to achieve this year. I honestly think moving out of my parents house would be beneficial on my fastlane journey. I need to sell all my useless shit. (Exotic Pet Snakes, BMW M3 that I financed, etc.) If I sold my BMW I could pay off all my debt which is just parasitic.

Anyways sorry about the long rant/reply. Thanks for posting this thread bro, definitely gonna be following your journey.
~Tristan M.
 

STswiss

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Crazy how stuff seems to change as each month goes by..

I didnt go with the loan officer job. The company i work for promoted me and doubled my income due to the position I am in. Which really works great in terms of getting another property when it comes to my personal finances. I am in the process of seeing if I can refinance my 3.5% down loan into a 20% conventional due to the appreciation now that my income has changed. If I can pull that off then I am going to actually look to build in my market, its exploding right now and Ive been looking at parcels of land, there is .38 acres that I think I could fit a 4plex on in a really appealing area. The cost is the same as buying I just need to see if I can line all of this up and get it approved.

My shipments from China all made it. Been packing it and working with Amazon to get it all onboard. Should have more news next month.

I have also been building another website in a niche I really like and have fun in and so far netted $7.00 through affiliate/adsense. Its just a fun side project, but I think i can build a business around it and incorporate physical products and advertising in the future. Not something I spend a lot of time on though.




Thank you, yeah I was actually talking to my dad about that yesterday. I told him I was glad he lost his job because I had it so easy before and when all that shit was going down I clicked into another mindset.. a fastlane mindset because I really saw what the slowlane got you when things get ugly. I think he's clicking into it now too along with everyone else around me because I keep noticing people that really took an interest in what I was doing now starting their own fastlane projects of sorts.

My dad got into REI as well and just closed 3 seller financed homes and he's really diving into it, its pretty cool to see.
@Envision it is great to see how you did manage to make the best out of your situation, much respect! And especially how you and your thought through and targeted action is giving your dad some confidence back. Thanks a lot for sharing your path here.
 

Peakdesire

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Im turning this into a progress thread

Refinanced my duplex - the hunt for #2 begins (gonna need more $).

Clothing Brand is growing rapidly.

Going to see Gary V in September.

Awesome story man.

I can relate to you a lot, and you sound exactly like me lol.

What kind of initial investment was is to get an apparel line going? In terms of inventory and marketing?

I run an info product business and looking to get into apparel soon.
 
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Envision

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I like this forum but I will say that it depends on who you follow.

There are quite a few guys who are still stuck in the Slowlane. But there are some serious ballers on here too.

Follow the right people and unfollow the rest. That's my motto.

I see what you're saying for sure and its important to vet who you are learning from to ensure that the quality of information is high so you dont get led down the wrong road and waste alot of time. Alot of people tend to do this and I do it still thinking someone is for real and learning afterwards that it would have never benefited me...

But there is always things to learn from people even if their starting out because as soon as you start learning and building in the fastlane you have lessons you've learned.

Hell yah brother! Threads like these are why I think the Fastlane Forum is one of the best resources for young minds. I'm turning 20 in a few days, am pretty much in the same boat as you were when you first turned 20. Reading Bold and Determined, Danger and Play, Think and Grow Rich and of course The Millionaire Fastlane .

There is so much more for me to learn, seams kind of overwhelming at times. They are all challenges that will make me stronger. I'm gonna use your year journey as a basic guide for my year. It's honestly badass to see a young buck like you already killin it, definitely gives me more fire.

First things first is that I need to start socializing on here a lot more and find me a mentor (All my friends are losers and no getters) so finding a higher class of man is the first thing on my list. Gonna sign up on meetup.com and definitely check out Toastmasters (you were the first person to tell me about Toastmasters, so thanks man)

Right now I am going to make a list of what I need to achieve this year. I honestly think moving out of my parents house would be beneficial on my fastlane journey. I need to sell all my useless shit. (Exotic Pet Snakes, BMW M3 that I financed, etc.) If I sold my BMW I could pay off all my debt which is just parasitic.

Anyways sorry about the long rant/reply. Thanks for posting this thread bro, definitely gonna be following your journey.
~Tristan M.

Thanks Tristan, yeah ditch the car that will destroy your progress and keep you held back through payments, maintenance, etc.


@Envision it is great to see how you did manage to make the best out of your situation, much respect! And especially how you and your thought through and targeted action is giving your dad some confidence back. Thanks a lot for sharing your path here.

Thanks man!

Awesome story man.

I can relate to you a lot, and you sound exactly like me lol.

What kind of initial investment was is to get an apparel line going? In terms of inventory and marketing?

I run an info product business and looking to get into apparel soon.

Awesome man, I would avoid clothing if I were to go back and do it all over and I have pivoted to other items to make this business a success. The magnitude and scalability of clothing is way too hard to build out and you need to have a competitive advantage if you're going to make any sort of progress. I've probably put 10-15k into it all in.

Here is my advice to myself 2 years ago and keep in mind, I never knew this, didnt understand this, and have only learned it through learning from my mentor, the threads on here, and actually doing...

Think about creating a product that can scale fast but also have a high price point. If I were to sell my current business and start another one I would think about doing something that could sell for $100-200/unit or if I couldnt have a product that would sell for that price I would ensure that I had created a product that filled a need that could sell for 10x the cost of production.

For example: Make it for $5 and sell for $50 (read below as to why)

When I sell a $20-40 shirt or piece of apparel my cost of goods sold is about ~$8/unit printed because I dont have volume (yet) but then I also need to account for packaging, card processing, shipping, labeling which might bring it up to ~$10-12/unit for example.

From there if I am going to scale a company like this and reach the volume needed to drop my COGS in half then I need to create a really strong conversion rate when acquiring a customer through a specific advertising channel (facebook, reddit, instagram, google ads, pinterest, etc).

If you're a 20 something year old kid with limited funds then you are not going to have enough money to spend to find that conversion rate because you HAVE to spend money and study how your ads are reacting to the marketplace. This is why I think everyone needs a job while creating their fastlane business because you need to spend money to learn, pivot, and grow. So it's not a viable business model because you will just blow all your money on inventory you cant sell and ads that dont convert. Now..

Say for example that you somehow are an advertising genius and you really know facebook and you can acquire a customer for $4 (20% of your retail sales cost) that clicks through to your website and will actually purchase. Then after your cost of EVERYTHING, $8 shirt + $3 misc costs + $4 ad spend you are at $15 and you sell a shirt for $20 then you just made $5 and you didnt pay yourself and we didnt account for any overhead in terms of shipping services, website costs, warehouse etc services.

Also a helpful tip, when you send traffic to an ecommerce store you generally get a shit conversion rate unless you REALLY understand your target customer and have grown a significant business with multiple products in different categories (which takes time). In turn, you will blow money on ads because you are giving the customer too much direction to go in, instead you need to create a funnel to drive traffic to a particular product with upsells on a single niche or market.

Back to what I was saying...This can't grow unless Im missing something because you dont have the volume to make it work (and in general most brands are really lame and try hard brands so they actually dont even sell because their product doesn't even fill a need).

Now understand this, if you create a $50-200 product that has a 10x selling price meaning you can make it for $5-20 you then expand your spread to spend more $ to acquire a customer and scale...

For Example:
Product Cost: $10
packaging, card processing, shipping, labeling: $10
Ad Spend to acquire a customer: $30
Total cost: $50

Selling Price: $100

Net Profit: $50

This is an example to demonstrate what I am trying to explain, you could literally spend $5 on ads and expand your net profit or your product cost might be $30 but you know you can sell it for $120... im just trying to get the point across.

You can generally scale when you are not paying yourself out of a business like this and reinvesting everything back into the business infrastructure and product expansion. And just so you know I have 0 expectation to ever pay myself until my business can do 2 things.

1. Sustain itself through its own profits
2. Grow itself through its own profits.

Once, it can sustain and grow itself, then it is a legitimate business and I would consider paying myself (but probably would keep investing into the business or pump it into more rental properties).

You can see the success of the high priced product with @Vick and his INSIDERS thread - Dont copy his product or idea just use it as a framework to learn from. @biophase and @AllenCrawley also have PHENOMENAL ecommerce advice in their threads. They are utilizing Amazon to scale as their advertising platform and as their brands have grown they create their own websites and learn and test on their own platforms to gain and maintain control removing it from Amazon's hands.

TLDR: Don't do another clothing brand - Find a need, create a high priced product that fills the need and is better than anything else in the marketplace OR has a huge competitive advantage that differentiates it and appeals to a segment of the marketplace. Outline a business model and try it. If it fails but your product is good then your model or marketing sucks and you need to pivot. If your product sucks and your model and marketing is good then you might be successful for a time being but you wont last and you need to create a better product..

Hit all the points, dont quit when you fail, and you will make it.

Hope this helps.
 

nradam123

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This is so inspirational. I am nearing one year of business as well. By November this year.
 

Peakdesire

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I see what you're saying for sure and its important to vet who you are learning from to ensure that the quality of information is high so you dont get led down the wrong road and waste alot of time. Alot of people tend to do this and I do it still thinking someone is for real and learning afterwards that it would have never benefited me...

But there is always things to learn from people even if their starting out because as soon as you start learning and building in the fastlane you have lessons you've learned.



Thanks Tristan, yeah ditch the car that will destroy your progress and keep you held back through payments, maintenance, etc.




Thanks man!



Awesome man, I would avoid clothing if I were to go back and do it all over and I have pivoted to other items to make this business a success. The magnitude and scalability of clothing is way too hard to build out and you need to have a competitive advantage if you're going to make any sort of progress. I've probably put 10-15k into it all in.

Here is my advice to myself 2 years ago and keep in mind, I never knew this, didnt understand this, and have only learned it through learning from my mentor, the threads on here, and actually doing...

Think about creating a product that can scale fast but also have a high price point. If I were to sell my current business and start another one I would think about doing something that could sell for $100-200/unit or if I couldnt have a product that would sell for that price I would ensure that I had created a product that filled a need that could sell for 10x the cost of production.

For example: Make it for $5 and sell for $50 (read below as to why)

When I sell a $20-40 shirt or piece of apparel my cost of goods sold is about ~$8/unit printed because I dont have volume (yet) but then I also need to account for packaging, card processing, shipping, labeling which might bring it up to ~$10-12/unit for example.

From there if I am going to scale a company like this and reach the volume needed to drop my COGS in half then I need to create a really strong conversion rate when acquiring a customer through a specific advertising channel (facebook, reddit, instagram, google ads, pinterest, etc).

If you're a 20 something year old kid with limited funds then you are not going to have enough money to spend to find that conversion rate because you HAVE to spend money and study how your ads are reacting to the marketplace. This is why I think everyone needs a job while creating their fastlane business because you need to spend money to learn, pivot, and grow. So it's not a viable business model because you will just blow all your money on inventory you cant sell and ads that dont convert. Now..

Say for example that you somehow are an advertising genius and you really know facebook and you can acquire a customer for $4 (20% of your retail sales cost) that clicks through to your website and will actually purchase. Then after your cost of EVERYTHING, $8 shirt + $3 misc costs + $4 ad spend you are at $15 and you sell a shirt for $20 then you just made $5 and you didnt pay yourself and we didnt account for any overhead in terms of shipping services, website costs, warehouse etc services.

Also a helpful tip, when you send traffic to an ecommerce store you generally get a shit conversion rate unless you REALLY understand your target customer and have grown a significant business with multiple products in different categories (which takes time). In turn, you will blow money on ads because you are giving the customer too much direction to go in, instead you need to create a funnel to drive traffic to a particular product with upsells on a single niche or market.

Back to what I was saying...This can't grow unless Im missing something because you dont have the volume to make it work (and in general most brands are really lame and try hard brands so they actually dont even sell because their product doesn't even fill a need).

Now understand this, if you create a $50-200 product that has a 10x selling price meaning you can make it for $5-20 you then expand your spread to spend more $ to acquire a customer and scale...

For Example:
Product Cost: $10
packaging, card processing, shipping, labeling: $10
Ad Spend to acquire a customer: $30
Total cost: $50

Selling Price: $100

Net Profit: $50

This is an example to demonstrate what I am trying to explain, you could literally spend $5 on ads and expand your net profit or your product cost might be $30 but you know you can sell it for $120... im just trying to get the point across.

You can generally scale when you are not paying yourself out of a business like this and reinvesting everything back into the business infrastructure and product expansion. And just so you know I have 0 expectation to ever pay myself until my business can do 2 things.

1. Sustain itself through its own profits
2. Grow itself through its own profits.

Once, it can sustain and grow itself, then it is a legitimate business and I would consider paying myself (but probably would keep investing into the business or pump it into more rental properties).

You can see the success of the high priced product with @Vick and his INSIDERS thread - Dont copy his product or idea just use it as a framework to learn from. @biophase and @AllenCrawley also have PHENOMENAL ecommerce advice in their threads. They are utilizing Amazon to scale as their advertising platform and as their brands have grown they create their own websites and learn and test on their own platforms to gain and maintain control removing it from Amazon's hands.

TLDR: Don't do another clothing brand - Find a need, create a high priced product that fills the need and is better than anything else in the marketplace OR has a huge competitive advantage that differentiates it and appeals to a segment of the marketplace. Outline a business model and try it. If it fails but your product is good then your model or marketing sucks and you need to pivot. If your product sucks and your model and marketing is good then you might be successful for a time being but you wont last and you need to create a better product..

Hit all the points, dont quit when you fail, and you will make it.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the clarification, never really had an understanding of how things work in ecommerce since I've been neck deep in the digital world.

The great thing about information products which I sell is that there's 100% net profit minus adverticing costs.

My current core offer is $197, and I definitely need to figure out something higher price point to upsell to the existing customers.

About the clothing..

What about Gymshark, live fit, and body engineers? Those are all apparel companies that are killing it right now. It can't be impossible to grow it? I know that the founders of bodyengineers and live fit started being quite broke.

-V
 
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Envision

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Thanks for the clarification, never really had an understanding of how things work in ecommerce since I've been neck deep in the digital world.

The great thing about information products which I sell is that there's 100% net profit minus adverticing costs.

My current core offer is $197, and I definitely need to figure out something higher price point to upsell to the existing customers.

About the clothing..

What about Gymshark, live fit, and body engineers? Those are all apparel companies that are killing it right now. It can't be impossible to grow it? I know that the founders of bodyengineers and live fit started being quite broke.

-V


If you can scale that info product that is ideal, i am working on something similar - i like the idea of having no physical product and having an ebook or course to sell.

All of those companies utilized influencer marketing on instagram and facebook. Gymshark used christian guzman, jeff seid, alon gabbay and other athletes to explode as the fitness and aesthetics movement blew up about 4 years ago.

Body engineers is similar - Tavi Castro used himself his friends (lazar angelov, Sadik etc with 1M + followers to explode a brand) keep in mind their both based in the UK.

Live Fit hit a unique segment of the market mixing fitness and lifestyle. If you really look at it, its a carbon copy of RVCA with fitness mixed in. Randall Pich had worked intimately with building brands for years before building LVFT.

This comes back to the competitive advantage i mentioned in the first paragraph. Im not saying you cant do it but for each of those brands there is a thousand shitty brands copying and following what their doing. Find your own gig and competitive advantage.

Dont do it to be a part of it, do it to take over.
 
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Esoteric Wealth

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I'm 19 and I've been on the forum since October, 2015. I've been doing exactly what you were doing when you were talking about the mental masturbation, action faking, etc. I have no job, no money (actually -$2000, debt), basically starting from scratch. I really feel fed up with messing around, I constantly think about needing to do this and that, etc. I read and read and take no action, basically the same exact situation you were in before you began to get really focused.

Your story has really motivated me, and makes me realize I need to get rid of the BS excuses. My plan is to work for a year straight like crazy and save all the money, while simultaneously getting my e-commerce business off the ground. I also have plans of buying a duplex, like you did. The problem I have is, I don't see myself working long enough at a job to take advantage of an FHA loan. Is there any downside to a traditional 20% loan, other than the higher cost up front? I would even be able to rent out both sides, and maybe live in another apartment with my girlfriend. I'd appreciate your thoughts on this. Thank you for this thread as well, very motivating.
 

Envision

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I'm 19 and I've been on the forum since October, 2015. I've been doing exactly what you were doing when you were talking about the mental masturbation, action faking, etc. I have no job, no money (actually -$2000, debt), basically starting from scratch. I really feel fed up with messing around, I constantly think about needing to do this and that, etc. I read and read and take no action, basically the same exact situation you were in before you began to get really focused.

Your story has really motivated me, and makes me realize I need to get rid of the BS excuses. My plan is to work for a year straight like crazy and save all the money, while simultaneously getting my e-commerce business off the ground. I also have plans of buying a duplex, like you did. The problem I have is, I don't see myself working long enough at a job to take advantage of an FHA loan. Is there any downside to a traditional 20% loan, other than the higher cost up front? I would even be able to rent out both sides, and maybe live in another apartment with my girlfriend. I'd appreciate your thoughts on this. Thank you for this thread as well, very motivating.

Hey man glad it helped ya! Yeah, I dont even think about anything anymore I just do it and write out action steps to get me to where I want to be and course correct as I go along. That block is all in your mind.

I would work until you no longer need to. That should motivate you to do what you need to do to make money and produce results. Keep in mind it is much more complicated to buy real estate on a self employed income.

If you are going to buy a house FHA or traditional you are going to need proof of income for anyone to want to loan to you (generally a couple years). You need to work, get comfortable with the pain and shittiness of it, thats what it is there for. FHA is the way to go because you can throw down a fraction of the cost and cut your timeline down drastically by putting 3.5% down as opposed to 20 in your situation.
 
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Esoteric Wealth

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Hey man glad it helped ya! Yeah, I dont even think about anything anymore I just do it and write out action steps to get me to where I want to be and course correct as I go along. That block is all in your mind.

I would work until you no longer need to. That should motivate you to do what you need to do to make money and produce results. Keep in mind it is much more complicated to buy real estate on a self employed income.

If you are going to buy a house FHA or traditional you are going to need proof of income for anyone to want to loan to you (generally a couple years). You need to work, get comfortable with the pain and shittiness of it, thats what it is there for. FHA is the way to go because you can throw down a fraction of the cost and cut your timeline down drastically by putting 3.5% down as opposed to 20 in your situation.
Thanks, man. I really appreciate the advice. I guess I just get too caught up with the idea of working at a job and how dreadful it is. It really depresses me sometimes. Especially with some of the crappy a$$ warehouse jobs and call center jobs (Entry level Craiglist Jobs) I've held. I guess there's no growth without discomfort though, you're right.
 

nradam123

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For Example:
Product Cost: $10
packaging, card processing, shipping, labeling: $10
Ad Spend to acquire a customer: $30
Total cost: $50

Selling Price: $100

Net Profit: $50

I know, this is super crucial.
I can add a few more -
1) Tax (Customs especially if you are importing)
2) Cut of Marketplaces and retailers (15% to 30%)
3) Returns (15% of your orders can return)
4) Defective products on manufacture
5) Supplier F*ck up cost lol
6) And the hardest - Cycling all the money to refill our inventory and keep some money for yourself.

And there are more i guess, but these came into my mind right now.


Reading your thread made me remember my old import business. The only reason why I stopped it is because I quit my job and I did not have money to cycle through. On the bright side, I am doing digital business now and I think its all for the best.
 
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Envision

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Goal update:
  • I am still working a W2, I would like to replace my work income within the next year.
  • Travel the world
  • Millionaire by 25.
  • Own 100 units of of real estate that cash flow by 25.
  • Have my business make 10k/month in sales (@@Vick's thread was super motivating and pretty epic to read)
Going to need to revise my goal of 100 units of real estate that cash flow by 25. I think its possible by 30 but in my market the housing prices are insane. Refinanced my current duplex and im looking to buy another in ~March.

Still going to keep working at my job, the owners are awesome to work for, they're helpful with my business, and It doesnt infringe on my business. And it allows me to dump money into my business to grow faster.

Just working on scaling my business for the next 6-12 months to create the cash to buy real estate.

 

smiley49

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Envision! Thanks for inspiring so many through not only your words, but your actions. I just read through your 1-year post and I am confident that your positive mindset, productive habits, and willingness to constantly read/learn/improve will propel you towards continued progress and success. I wish you the best!
 

daru

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Great thread and that first post is just awesome! Thank you for sharing.

Small tip to other readers. The Growth Mindset book mentioned in first post is written by Carol Dweck if you have trouble finding it. That book changed my life along with The Millionaire Fastlane and A Guide to the Good Life (stoicism).
 

Envision

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Update:

Got a second duplex under contract and should close at the end of July.

Purchase price $265k its a 3/2 on both sides with rents that should come to $1200. It allows me to live for free and with the current market Im in its as good as deals get around here. The duplex I bought when I was 20 for $157k is now worth $240k for reference.

Co-founded a new company with my roommate selling computer hardware in the cryptocurrency space. Had our first sale yesterday for $4500.

My original business is doing well and growing despite being in the slow season.
3b2e08bfdc144fd1b80d01076e79bcf6c258b367284c1ab929611a85562e0ea5.jpg
 
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D.I.Schuyler

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Thanks for telling your story and sharing the gold nuggets! I just registered today, and I am really excited. I am excited because I have the opportunity to surround myself with people who all want to change for the better. If you don't know where to look, it's like searching for a needle in an haystack.
 

dgr

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Pure GOLD. Thanks for sharing it @Envision, I will keep tracking of your updates.

It's a great inspiration for me. I also joined the Forum a year ago, but I have started this week to really use it. I'm shocked with the amount of great advice and inspiration here. Currently I'm focused in my social skills (for me stay isolated to work was easier than partying) and also in game (from a honest living perspective). But working on the side with the fastlane mentality.

Your story has inspired me in the sense of the lot of great things you can accomplished in just one year when you choose right. The part of choosing the right people to hang out it's crucial.

Thanks man!
 

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