I've lost my identity as person (Legendary follows...)

[oimate]

Perhaps this article will help and redirect your focus better:
http://markmanson.net/question
All the best to you.

Thanks for the link-what the writer is saying is 100%-our struggles determine our successes!

 

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[Walter Hay]

On a side note-Being a keen forum reader, one does get the impression that importing is the only way people are making money on here..or at least it seems to be the only idea that people have that could make them money! Are we taking the easy way/short cut to achieve $$$ here and missing a trick in the real world or is everyones only real 'fastlane' idea to import a cheap product from China and hope that it is a success?

By no means am I knocking this idea and I'm delighted as a forum we are all taking action but the question is..long term is this not leaving ourselves open to major risks regarding any financial planning or living the true fastlane?

I too am looking for the elusive product that will make my millions but have doubts as to the validity of this idea.

Perhaps I need to re-read the book and specific chapters on how to identify a need to meet.

Just a quick comment on your side note:

I know of a number of people who are importing, but not just looking for cheap products and not selling retail.

There is a lot more scope in importing than following the well-worn path of buy low in China - sell high in the US or Europe etc., although some who do that are seriously Fastlane.

Walter

 

[ExaltedLife]

Whilst on the date, we were talking about likes, dislikes and interests, hobbies and life experiences-It was then that I realised that I have no sense of conviction about whom I am, and bar some travelling I done back in my early 20's, I have lived a pretty mundane existance for the past 10 years.

Off course I was able to blurt out how I like to keep fit by going to the gym (and I do) but outside work and a couple of hours in the gym per day, I literally have no real interests or hobbies and worse of all..I dont feel strongly about ANYTHING else in particular..I'VE NO IDENTITY OR CONVICTIONS IN MY LIFE!!.. I even use other peoples misfortunes or behaviours to sneer at when trying to be funny.

Has anyone else experienced this or been there and went about rectifying whom they are as a person?

I have. Experienced what you're feeling, that is. It is a problem - and like any other, it has a solution. A definite, objective solution. Unlike most people here who THINK they know what you need, I KNOW what you need. I solved that problem for myself, and unlike most people, including the rich ones, I am truly free.

However, I didn't altogether solve that problem BY myself. I didn't invent the information - I learned it, processed it, integrated it, and I live by it every day. As a result, I'm free. More free than anybody you've ever met, in all likelihood.

Am I rich? No, far from it. Will I be rich? Definitely, there isn't a doubt in my mind. But that's secondary - relatively speaking, it's a minor issue. Any rational man can make a good living and live below his means, and any INTELLIGENT rational man can become a rich man - in fact, sometimes intelligence isn't even required. Sure, it requires hard work, but if you THINK, hard work is easy. But Thinking is an art which 99% of people don't fully understand, including the rich men.

What you want, fundamentally, is happiness. True happiness. There is only ONE way to achieve that. It's a definite, objective method, leading to a definite, objective result. Real happiness is a human attribute, like breathing, thinking, language, love, etc. It is NOT subjective. There are different specific actions to arrive there, but the concepts that govern them are the same for every man.

What you need, fundamentally, is philosophy. No, not some words from Buddha here, a quote from Aristotle there. You need a complete, integrated, systematic philosophy for living on Earth. This philosophy exists, it has been created, and you are lucky enough to be around when it exists (it was written during the 20th century). The name of this philosophy is Objectivism, and it was created by Ayn Rand.

DON'T ask people what they think of this philosophy before you investigate it for yourself. The vast majority of people who know about it, oppose it, because they do not understand it. You must investigate it for yourself. Take nothing for granted - strive to validate every claim it makes by your own faculty of reason. You cannot accept this philosophy 'on faith' - you can only learn to understand it by Thinking.

Now, there's two points I'll stress about your main benefits from this philosophy will be.

1. Most importantly, you will learn how to think - how to properly think. There will come a time where you will never again ask anybody else what it is you should be doing with your life, because you will know that this question is only you can answer, and the only way to answer it is to use your own mind.

2. You will discover what the meaning of life is. I can tell you in one sentence, what will make you happy, no matter what. This is THE ultimate answer concerning the question: "What is the BEST thing I can do in my life?"

The answer is: "Strive to achieve moral perfection".

That's it. Of course, in order to do this properly, you must ask the question: "What is moral perfection, and how do I go about achieving it?".

For the answer to that, and to the rest, you must study the philosophy for yourself. If you do, and you understand it, this will happen. I can promise this, it happened to me, and my life has never been the same since.

You will come to a realization about how wasted your life really has been - then, you will see the beautiful, pure joy of life that lies ahead of you, in rational, logical clarity. No God involved. Only you. It will remind you of the sense of life you had as a child, and when it hits you, you will weep.

I did. There is a name for the feeling you will be experiencing when this happens. It is: Deliverance.

If you want to know where to start, message me.

 

[smarty]

Thanks for the link-what the writer is saying is 100%-our struggles determine our successes!

Not exactly. It's actually "what are you willing to overome, endure and give in order to achieve what you want and before you ask for what you want".

 

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[oimate]

Not exactly. It's actually "what are you willing to overome, endure and give in order to achieve what you want and before you ask for what you want".

Thats the beauty of literature-Everybody takes whats relevant to themselves

 

[smarty]

Thats the beauty of literature-Everybody takes whats relevant to themselves

You can say "he wants you to suffer and struggle" but is that really? Does that world view benefit you or does it put you down the hole of depression?
It's about giving massive value first, and not everybody will be strong, disciplined or determined enough to go all the way. It's about being process-oriented rather than event-oriented as MJ puts it.

Sent from my SM-E500H using Tapatalk

 

[oimate]

Almost 2 weeks since my last post so thought i'd update on progress:

Gym and personal trainer going fine-Only lost a 1-2 pounds per week but I feel I am learning more and thinking more about my body and what I put into it so thats positive.

Also been getting 1-2 hours extra sleep per night so again I'm feeling the benefits of it.

Website wise things have taken a decline-Despite posting new events myself on the website and promoting on facebook and twitter, traffic has dried up to pretty much nothing. Dont get me wrong I know this is a journey and i was not going to have a hit website my my hands overnight but it has made me question the automated/sales side of the business.

The premise is that users can advertise for free their charity/fundrasing events and ultimately I'd then contact relavant industry businesses and offer advertisement spaces on the website/side bars etc.

I am now thinking off adding an extra page to the site and selling related equipment myself in an attempt to help drive more customers to the site and more importantly get some $$$ coming in.

Onwards and upwards

 

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[oimate]

Hey guys,

Its about 6/7 weeks since my last update and to be honest i've taken abit of a nose dive.

Gym wise I have been good-and I know I have lost weight and 100% I get the buzz when I do a good work out.

Health wise I feel like I am getting there.

Business/money wise-I am on a major downer. The website despite continual advertising is no longer getting view never mind interaction.
My 9-5 slowlane job is slowly killing me-its a decent enough job ($45k but theres no room for progression and frankly i've zero motivation.

I dont want this update to be one big pity party and I dont expect the golden goose to come suddenly and give me everything. I know I need to get out there and do something-Major issue is I frankly dont have a friggin clue in what-I have thought about ebay selling/importing from China but cant see the product. Career wise ive done ok but qualification wise i've a degree in nothing effectively and not updated them in some time.

Tomorrows a new day so hopefully i'll be more upbeat tomorrow.

laters

 

[Jon L]

Hey guys,

Its about 6/7 weeks since my last update and to be honest i've taken abit of a nose dive.

Gym wise I have been good-and I know I have lost weight and 100% I get the buzz when I do a good work out.

Health wise I feel like I am getting there.

Business/money wise-I am on a major downer. The website despite continual advertising is no longer getting view never mind interaction.
My 9-5 slowlane job is slowly killing me-its a decent enough job ($45k but theres no room for progression and frankly i've zero motivation.

I dont want this update to be one big pity party and I dont expect the golden goose to come suddenly and give me everything. I know I need to get out there and do something-Major issue is I frankly dont have a friggin clue in what-I have thought about ebay selling/importing from China but cant see the product. Career wise ive done ok but qualification wise i've a degree in nothing effectively and not updated them in some time.

Tomorrows a new day so hopefully i'll be more upbeat tomorrow.

laters

with the website, you have to keep trying things until something works. And, you can't let yourself get down in the process. Get as much feedback from experienced business people as possible, too. You may need to change the direction of your website in general.

 

[oimate]

with the website, you have to keep trying things until something works. And, you can't let yourself get down in the process. Get as much feedback from experienced business people as possible, too. You may need to change the direction of your website in general.

Hi Jon,

Yes I think I need to seriously reconsider the premise of the website-It was basically to be a free to advertise website for users to post upcoming events and then the plan was to get related companies to advertise their products on the site. Its been going for a few months now and theres been pretty much no ppl posting their event (bar a couple of random ones offs). So yes there was a minute of glory when a couple of people visited the site and posted their event but in reality a more $$$ generating website is required.

Re-visiting the drawing board

 

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[Jon L]

Hi Jon,

Yes I think I need to seriously reconsider the premise of the website-It was basically to be a free to advertise website for users to post upcoming events and then the plan was to get related companies to advertise their products on the site. Its been going for a few months now and theres been pretty much no ppl posting their event (bar a couple of random ones offs). So yes there was a minute of glory when a couple of people visited the site and posted their event but in reality a more $$$ generating website is required.

Re-visiting the drawing board

yeah that kind of website would be a tough sell - Facebook already has this functionality built in. You'd probably have to focus on a small niche or something, but even then...

I'd suggest PMing a couple people you trust on here with your next idea to get their feedback on it before you invest a lot of time into building it. (If you post it in a public forum, people will steal the idea)

There's something out there for you. You will find it eventually, if you keep at it.

 

[DrunkFish]

You've already changed a lot. Not saying you are, but don't give up too quick. Some people take a year or more before they see anything.

 

[oimate]

Hi all,

Its been a couple of months since I last updated my progress and heres where I am at present.

My original website idea of having a community free to advertise event section with a longer term plan to incoporate selling products didnt take off-Despite decent enough marketing it simply wasnt driving ppl to the site.

So what I've been doing the past while has been revamping the website and making it a product sales only website.

I launched it 2 weeks ago and on the 3rd day of launch I actually made my first sale-Definate improvements and progress.

As the site is still new the google rankings etc are still low so it doesnt show up too well at the moment-I am considering trying google adwords to drive some more traffic-Anyone got any advise on if this works or not?.

The site is only driving 2-4 visitors each day so I wont be a millionaire anytime soon............but I will get there!

My slight concern considering this is the fastlane forum is that the site/products I am selling whilst a little bit niche they arent unique by any means, so standing out from the crowd and meeting the fastlane rules is quite difficult.

On a debt side of things I got a decent sized work bonus so I've halfed my personal debt (barring the morgage) so that only stands at £1400 now so whilst not great it could/has been worse. A couple of more months or constantly chipping away and i'll be in a hell of a lot better shape.

Fitness wise I have started to get up early before work and have been hitting the gym. I strongly advise you do this-You get an enormous sense of having achieved something positive even befoire your day starts, your more pumped up for work and facing the day ahead and more importantly after work as opposed to hitting the gym then and perhaps not getting any free time until 8:30 after you;ve ate etc I now have more free time to concentrate on my business.

I'll try and update more regularly.

Peace out

 

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[Jon L]

Hi all,

Its been a couple of months since I last updated my progress and heres where I am at present.

My original website idea of having a community free to advertise event section with a longer term plan to incoporate selling products didnt take off-Despite decent enough marketing it simply wasnt driving ppl to the site.

So what I've been doing the past while has been revamping the website and making it a product sales only website.

I launched it 2 weeks ago and on the 3rd day of launch I actually made my first sale-Definate improvements and progress.

As the site is still new the google rankings etc are still low so it doesnt show up too well at the moment-I am considering trying google adwords to drive some more traffic-Anyone got any advise on if this works or not?.

The site is only driving 2-4 visitors each day so I wont be a millionaire anytime soon............but I will get there!

My slight concern considering this is the fastlane forum is that the site/products I am selling whilst a little bit niche they arent unique by any means, so standing out from the crowd and meeting the fastlane rules is quite difficult.

On a debt side of things I got a decent sized work bonus so I've halfed my personal debt (barring the morgage) so that only stands at £1400 now so whilst not great it could/has been worse. A couple of more months or constantly chipping away and i'll be in a hell of a lot better shape.

Fitness wise I have started to get up early before work and have been hitting the gym. I strongly advise you do this-You get an enormous sense of having achieved something positive even befoire your day starts, your more pumped up for work and facing the day ahead and more importantly after work as opposed to hitting the gym then and perhaps not getting any free time until 8:30 after you;ve ate etc I now have more free time to concentrate on my business.

I'll try and update more regularly.

Peace out

congrats on the progress! Adwords is great if you get it dialed in, and by dialed in, I mean: if you can gain 1 sale for less than the gross margin on your product, you can make money, repeatedly. Check out @Andy Black 's posts on adwords and get cranking. You'll need to invest a few hundred dollars in adwords before you start making money - you'll need to continually make little changes that improve conversion ratios, and it will take some time before you're not losing money on it.

 

[LouieLouie]

Ive been settling into a new routine having just moved, and was on the fence wether to work out before my day job or after.

Your insight is Just what I needed!
I'll try early AM too

Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[oimate]

Ive been settling into a new routine having just moved, and was on the fence wether to work out before my day job or after.

Your insight is Just what I needed!
I'll try early AM too

Thanks for sharing!!!

Hows the early mornings working out for you?

 

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[oimate]

Progress update:

The website is still up and going an have made another sale from the site-The amount of visitors is increasing but the conversion rate is pretty bad-Even had a few add items to checkout only for them to go off site and not return-grr

I do probably need to work on the coding- I built the website with wordpress and use woocommerce for the sales side of things-To date apart from my most valuable commodity (my time) the website has not cost me any money.

I am also freelancing for another person which I know is eating at time I should really be using on my own website-But this is guaranteed £150 extra week for about 10 hrs and I am using it as experience for my own benefit-ie marketing,sales and playing about with google ads etc.

My concern about the website is that I cannot offer anything unique and I am ultimately just buying from a manufacturer and making a 10-20% mark up on items. The equipment is medical devices so it isnt anything that I have any knowledge within and I know the rules of entry are quite difficult as you can imagine(which is a good thing in some ways)

Fitness wise, the gym is getting hit 4 times a week(mornings) and I am feeling alot better. I am trying to ramp up the fitness and routines to prevent stagnation in weight loss and toning.

 

[IrishSpring600]

Progress update:

The website is still up and going an have made another sale from the site-The amount of visitors is increasing but the conversion rate is pretty bad-Even had a few add items to checkout only for them to go off site and not return-grr

I do probably need to work on the coding- I built the website with wordpress and use woocommerce for the sales side of things-To date apart from my most valuable commodity (my time) the website has not cost me any money.

I am also freelancing for another person which I know is eating at time I should really be using on my own website-But this is guaranteed £150 extra week for about 10 hrs and I am using it as experience for my own benefit-ie marketing,sales and playing about with google ads etc.

My concern about the website is that I cannot offer anything unique and I am ultimately just buying from a manufacturer and making a 10-20% mark up on items. The equipment is medical devices so it isnt anything that I have any knowledge within and I know the rules of entry are quite difficult as you can imagine(which is a good thing in some ways)

Fitness wise, the gym is getting hit 4 times a week(mornings) and I am feeling alot better. I am trying to ramp up the fitness and routines to prevent stagnation in weight loss and toning.

Good job! The grass is always greener. If you quit your freelancing then you can't eat. We're all learning alongside our slowlane jobs, building the foundations for our business. It's the path with a heart.

The path is filled with enemies ready to stop you. The first enemy is fear! Fear that you should quit freelancing because you'll never have time, but you have already cleared that fear by knowing it's building your web skills.

But don't remain clear too long, finish his website quicker and you'll become free quicker. Get the failures out of the way and take action. I have been more sociable in the past two and a half days than the past two and a half months (excluding these days). We're going to make it.

 

[StevieB]

Hi all,

Just a semi rant/little bit of self loathing.

I am your normal 35 yr old, sidewalker-mid 30k job, house,friends and decent enough social skills.

I am currently single but quite proactive on a number of dating sites and I can get laid without too much effort.

However, Change is required after my last couple of dates..in particular the last one.

She was quite honestly a knockout and the dream woman, who could quite easily do some modelling and I think we got on pretty well. The date went fine and we've been texting since so I know she didnt think i was a complete tool.

Whilst on the date, we were talking about likes, dislikes and interests, hobbies and life experiences-It was then that I realised that I have no sense of conviction about whom I am, and bar some travelling I done back in my early 20's, I have lived a pretty mundane existance for the past 10 years.

Off course I was able to blurt out how I like to keep fit by going to the gym (and I do) but outside work and a couple of hours in the gym per day, I literally have no real interests or hobbies and worse of all..I dont feel strongly about ANYTHING else in particular..I'VE NO IDENTITY OR CONVICTIONS IN MY LIFE!!.. I even use other peoples misfortunes or behaviours to sneer at when trying to be funny.

Has anyone else experienced this or been there and went about rectifying whom they are as a person?

As I said earlier, I am the classic sidewalker whos literally one paycheck from broke, who has aspirations to make more money but never bloody does.

I would love some thoughts of your thoughts people.

Creating a website and selling products is great, I've done it more than once but so have millions of others. Of course if you find the right secret sauce it can be a huge success.

You know what else can be a huge success? Getting laid, or rather advice on how to.

That's right, being single is BIG business. Mind you I really dislike the "players" scene and have read some of their books and some of them are extremely unethical, but there's also a lot of singles businesses that are simply out there to help other singles.

My point is everyone is different. I know you've taken the criticism well but someones checklist doesn't mean is has to be yours to "be great".

 

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[oimate]

Creating a website and selling products is great, I've done it more than once but so have millions of others. Of course if you find the right secret sauce it can be a huge success.

You know what else can be a huge success? Getting laid, or rather advice on how to.

That's right, being single is BIG business. Mind you I really dislike the "players" scene and have read some of their books and some of them are extremely unethical, but there's also a lot of singles businesses that are simply out there to help other singles.

My point is everyone is different. I know you've taken the criticism well but someones checklist doesn't mean is has to be yours to "be great".

Ha thanks for the message bud. Interesting reading my 1st message which I posted November 15. Since then my love life has taken a good upturn and I am with a girl who I believe could be something special for the past 10 months. Whilst she's not fastlane as such she is quite successful in her career and if anything this has lead me to want to push myself on further.

 

[TKDTyler]

Hey @oimate

How are things going for you after a year?

 

[oimate]

Hey @oimate

How are things going for you after a year?

Hey man-Thanks for your messsage

Well one year on my website hasnt taken off but to be honest its not and truth be told I hav'nt put the time in nor in hindsite does A) the products/Industry excite me in any way and B) There is no major CENTS to the business.

However positivity and actually going for things at work has paid dividents-By putting my head above the parapit I now manage a team of 11 from 1 this time last year and i've had an increase of 14k in my salary

So yes on the up just by being more positive and asking for improvements in work would be a good take away for the past year. I have also made strides in my personal fitness by signing up to a white collar boxing event for charity which has led to over a stone in weight loss and more muscley in general

So my top tips
Be Positive
Be Proactive
Sign up for some event to do to keep as a goal from a fitness perspective

For rest of this year/next I've seen the power of setting a goal so going to do more of that

 

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[TKDTyler]

Hey man-Thanks for your messsage

Well one year on my website hasnt taken off but to be honest its not and truth be told I hav'nt put the time in nor in hindsite does A) the products/Industry excite me in any way and B) There is no major CENTS to the business.

However positivity and actually going for things at work has paid dividents-By putting my head above the parapit I now manage a team of 11 from 1 this time last year and i've had an increase of 14k in my salary

So yes on the up just by being more positive and asking for improvements in work would be a good take away for the past year. I have also made strides in my personal fitness by signing up to a white collar boxing event for charity which has led to over a stone in weight loss and more muscley in general

So my top tips
Be Positive
Be Proactive
Sign up for some event to do to keep as a goal from a fitness perspective

For rest of this year/next I've seen the power of setting a goal so going to do more of that

Glad to hear, sounds like you got yourself going in the right direction. Keep up your momentum and build from it! That management experience will be priceless as you move towards your own business goals

 

[Madman1996]

What you're experiencing is a lack of purpose. As such, life is lived like a piece of driftwood floating down a river where your day's momentum is not dictated by you, but by inertia. As a result, the tides of gratification is what leads you down the river.

The answer to breaking free from the current is to find a purpose that carries your soul outside the tides of life-- the place where few people live and die.

I know this is a old thread MJ but you said in such a perfect way and I definitely see my self in this position Right now this made me crying like a baby Which I normally never do