I've quit lying around!

[ZeroTo100]

Good evening everyone,
I figured I'd keep this thread as my progress thread to keep me on track.
I figured I'd give a little update on what I've been working on, what I need help with, and my future goals. If you read through some of my previous posts, I've had some success in the past, but I've also had many failures as well. The past year I've been in a drought though, basically a lot going on. Had a baby that was stuck in the NICU for a while - lot of stress. I also have been dealing with idea overload. Seriously, I have a notebook with around 1500 solid ideas and problems/needs/desires and I've just taken zero action.

I'm in a very good position though. I'm 32. I have a job with a pension that will allow me to retire in 8 more years including paid health benefits. My schedule is 6am to 2pm and I really don't do much at work. I also own a home and I have some money in the bank. The reason I'm here is because I'm not the type to settle. I'm a hustle type entrepreneur.

I decided to put an end to procrastination 4 months ago. So, I've been experimenting with a few ideas lately.

A few months ago I built a site on Junk Cars. Not the most sexiest business but my purpose for doing the site was to just experiment with some SEO work. I have some friends in this business that are absolutely killing it (one is driving a Maserati) so I figured I could build an asset for them that generates leads and then sell it. Its not fast lane, but I couldn't just sit on my a$$ so I figured I'll learn a little, I'll build a web property, and I'll have something to sell to my friend if it generates enough leads. Anyway, the site is doing ok at this point ranking for 184 keywords with extremely high CPC's - all white hat. Not too bad. By the way, I have absolutely zero interest or passion in junk cars, I just thought I could build a nicer site than my friends and out rank them on Google - then sell them the property. That's my goal for this lol. Don't want to publish the link but pm if you want to check it out.

The next project I'm working on is within the golf niche. I actually been very fortunate in that I've met quite a few people that are members to some super exclusive clubs in Jersey. So, I have an idea for a concept in the golf travel niche (a service) to sell them that my gut is telling me may work. I'm going to put a landing page up this week. I want to run some Google ads to it and see what kind of response I get. The golf market is massive and if I can get a few thousand to sign up for launch, than I know there's interest there and I'll pursue this. My plan is to dress the page up with some sexy imaging, a nice branded logo, and of course web copy that makes leads want to pay me for it before it's even an actual thing. If it's a dud, I'll shut it down and move on.

Like most entrepreneurs, I'm absolutely tired of just sitting around. I love to work on things and I'm tired of failing.

I still have a ton of time on my side. My biggest hurdle is that I really want to focus my efforts on Ecommerce. I'm willing to put 8 hours a day into this. I think Ecommerce would be most suitable model for my lifestyle - either my own digital products or my own physical product brand. I thought about retail/dropship business just to break into Ecommerce but it fails the entry barrier test. I think based on my skillset and ability to launch things, my own brand would be better.
Sourcing and manufacturing is my biggest issue. I'm not overly concerned with the risk of importing, but I worry about alibaba products and patent infringement. That's fear 1. I also know nothing about the process of shipping products. That's fear 2. I also feel that eventually the Chinese market will ship their products direct to FBA and US importers will get crushed. So, my focus for my own brand will be to make sales primarily from my own site. I seem to be very good with launching, marketing, and branding and I'm an idea guy. I'm wondering if it's worth hiring a coach for guidance. I have serious work ethic, I've seen failure and I've seen success. I'm humble and I'm willing to work my a$$ off.

Anyway,
My overall goal - (6-8 years) is to build some type of fastlane business and eventually get into the vacation real estate business, acquiring rentals in vacation communities. That's the big picture.

Job > Fastlane Business > RE

Every millionaire averages around 7 income streams - it's a process not an event. 8 years of hard work ahead of me. You should join the ride.
I'm going to continue to update this thread like once a month to document my progress. I've been doing a lot of digging, but if you know of any threads or can drop some knowledge I'm all ears.

Stevie

 

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[T-K]

I'll be watching your journey, brother. I wish you all the best.

 

[Rob Loz]

Good evening everyone,
I figured I'd keep this thread as my progress thread to keep me on track.
I figured I'd give a little update on what I've been working on, what I need help with, and my future goals. If you read through some of my previous posts, I've had some success in the past, but I've also had many failures as well. The past year I've been in a drought though, basically a lot going on. Had a baby that was stuck in the NICU for a while - lot of stress. I also have been dealing with idea overload. Seriously, I have a notebook with around 1500 solid ideas and problems/needs/desires and I've just taken zero action.

I'm in a very good position though. I'm 32. I have a job with a pension that will allow me to retire in 8 more years including paid health benefits. My schedule is 6am to 2pm and I really don't do much at work. I also own a home and I have some money in the bank. The reason I'm here is because I'm not the type to settle. I'm a hustle type entrepreneur.

I decided to put an end to procrastination 4 months ago. So, I've been experimenting with a few ideas lately.

A few months ago I built a site on Junk Cars. Not the most sexiest business but my purpose for doing the site was to just experiment with some SEO work. I have some friends in this business that are absolutely killing it (one is driving a Maserati) so I figured I could build an asset for them that generates leads and then sell it. Its not fast lane, but I couldn't just sit on my a$$ so I figured I'll learn a little, I'll build a web property, and I'll have something to sell to my friend if it generates enough leads. Anyway, the site is doing ok at this point ranking for 184 keywords with extremely high CPC's - all white hat. Not too bad. By the way, I have absolutely zero interest or passion in junk cars, I just thought I could build a nicer site than my friends and out rank them on Google - then sell them the property. That's my goal for this lol. Don't want to publish the link but pm if you want to check it out.

The next project I'm working on is within the golf niche. I actually been very fortunate in that I've met quite a few people that are members to some super exclusive clubs in Jersey. So, I have an idea for a concept in the golf travel niche (a service) to sell them that my gut is telling me may work. I'm going to put a landing page up this week. I want to run some Google ads to it and see what kind of response I get. The golf market is massive and if I can get a few thousand to sign up for launch, than I know there's interest there and I'll pursue this. My plan is to dress the page up with some sexy imaging, a nice branded logo, and of course web copy that makes leads want to pay me for it before it's even an actual thing. If it's a dud, I'll shut it down and move on.

Like most entrepreneurs, I'm absolutely tired of just sitting around. I love to work on things and I'm tired of failing.

I still have a ton of time on my side. My biggest hurdle is that I really want to focus my efforts on Ecommerce. I'm willing to put 8 hours a day into this. I think Ecommerce would be most suitable model for my lifestyle - either my own digital products or my own physical product brand. I thought about retail/dropship business just to break into Ecommerce but it fails the entry barrier test. I think based on my skillset and ability to launch things, my own brand would be better.
Sourcing and manufacturing is my biggest issue. I'm not overly concerned with the risk of importing, but I worry about alibaba products and patent infringement. That's fear 1. I also know nothing about the process of shipping products. That's fear 2. I also feel that eventually the Chinese market will ship their products direct to FBA and US importers will get crushed. So, my focus for my own brand will be to make sales primarily from my own site. I seem to be very good with launching, marketing, and branding and I'm an idea guy. I'm wondering if it's worth hiring a coach for guidance. I have serious work ethic, I've seen failure and I've seen success. I'm humble and I'm willing to work my a$$ off.

Anyway,
My overall goal - (6-8 years) is to build some type of fastlane business and eventually get into the vacation real estate business, acquiring rentals in vacation communities. That's the big picture.

Job > Fastlane Business > RE

Every millionaire averages around 7 income streams - it's a process not an event. 8 years of hard work ahead of me. You should join the ride.
I'm going to continue to update this thread like once a month to document my progress. I've been doing a lot of digging, but if you know of any threads or can drop some knowledge I'm all ears.

Stevie

Hey, my name is Rob, I am in the car business myself, I actually restore classic cars as my main business but I am also interested in RE as my main goal, I was going to tell you that I could buy some cars off you but I noticed you are from New York, I am from San Diego so shipping would be no good lol. I wanted to ask you for some tips, what kind of books/tutorials do you recommend for building a website ( I am a newbie) and how much should I expect to pay if I want to build/mantain one? If you could send me the link to check your website out would be great to have an idea, I tried sending you a PM but I could not find the option for sending you one.

Also, just my personal opinion, Mexico is not a bad RE investing area, there are some relatively cheap luxury condos (around 200-250k) with high vacation demand in a place called Puerto Penasco (4 hours south from the border), that is one of my plans, finance them and the condos basically pay for themselves + some profit by just renting them (old trick). Anyways, just wanted to share that with you, hope you the best on your journey!

 

[petkovic]

First of all: Congrats on taking action and having an overall positive attitude!

It's probably true when you say big-time moneymakers have around 7 income streams. However, that doesn't mean they start with 7. I get the feeling that you don't trust any one of your business so you skimp around a little and try to spread the risk.

I don't believe this works! And way more importantly: Neither does MJ. Have another look at the part about not cheating on your fastlane.

But I think I have an out for you and this is how I see it: Don't start everything at once but make it a progression. You have educated yourself in SEO? Perfect, use that for your next business. You want to build a brand? Great! But why not start with retail and dropshipping just to get your feet wet, get something going and then transition to your own brand? The Chinese will not catch up to you in the next 3 months.

Once you have your brand: See where it leads you!


That said, you are way ahead of me (but also 3 years older ), so keep that fire burning!
That was just my 2 CENTS

 

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[ZeroTo100]

First of all: Congrats on taking action and having an overall positive attitude!

It's probably true when you say big-time moneymakers have around 7 income streams. However, that doesn't mean they start with 7. I get the feeling that you don't trust any one of your business so you skimp around a little and try to spread the risk.

I don't believe this works! And way more importantly: Neither does MJ. Have another look at the part about not cheating on your fastlane.

But I think I have an out for you and this is how I see it: Don't start everything at once but make it a progression. You have educated yourself in SEO? Perfect, use that for your next business. You want to build a brand? Great! But why not start with retail and dropshipping just to get your feet wet, get something going and then transition to your own brand? The Chinese will not catch up to you in the next 3 months.

Once you have your brand: See where it leads you!

That said, you are way ahead of me (but also 3 years older ), so keep that fire burning!
That was just my 2 CENTS

You're probably right in that I should focus on 1 route. I read the book and I agree. The most successful business I ever ran was in nightlife. I focused all my attention on that for 7 years and did very well. I was able to put a ring on the wife's finger (worst investment of my life - the rock not the relationship), buy my home, and travel to some serious places not many get to travel to. 21 years old I bought an Infiniti in cash lol. It wasn't a lambo but it made my pops proud. I started the business because A) I had problems getting into clubs, B) My friends were in the business and I knew I could do better, and C) it was a shit load of fun.

After that, there has been a number of failures.

The last startup I did was a subscription service for nutritional supplements. Before launch, I did 1400 sign ups in around 4 months but shut down the biz for personal reasons. Not a total failure but friends tell me I gave up way too soon on it. I also didn't like the idea of selling people products that I probably wouldn't take myself.

I wouldn't say I don't trust any of my business ideas, I'm just digging for something that works. I truly believe that over the years, my failures have been due to lack of validation and just giving up too soon. Many of the ideas were great but I wasn't the person that had the ability to execute them.

Example: I started this Tshirt campaign site back in the day. I felt that people would be willing to promote their campaigns through the sale of Tshirts. This was before our current president was in office. I tried everything I could to code the site, I hired, but I just couldn't execute the vision the way I wanted it. Not that I didn't have the drive or motivation, I just didn't have the skills to make it work.

If you asked me to put an event together and put a marketing campaign together, I'll execute better than anyone. So, I truly believe lack of validation, lack of preparation and planning.

I'm not overly concerned with risk - honestly. Once(if) I gain a bit of traction, that's where my full attention will go. My goal isn't to start 7 businesses but I'd love to have developed 5 income streams (even if they are small) over the next 8 years. That includes my pension as well as 1 or 2 real estate units.

My main focus for the next year is to consume as much education I can about importing and product sourcing. Ecommerce is my focus for the next year. I am testing 1 golf concept I have but for the next year, Ecommerce is going to be my focus. I know a little code now and I truly believe I am good enough to brand and market a site. I know some SEO and I have great ideas for product launches and campaigns. Marketing has always been where my strengths are.

Job > Web Properties > RE

 

[ZeroTo100]

Hey, my name is Rob, I am in the car business myself, I actually restore classic cars as my main business but I am also interested in RE as my main goal, I was going to tell you that I could buy some cars off you but I noticed you are from New York, I am from San Diego so shipping would be no good lol. I wanted to ask you for some tips, what kind of books/tutorials do you recommend for building a website ( I am a newbie) and how much should I expect to pay if I want to build/mantain one? If you could send me the link to check your website out would be great to have an idea, I tried sending you a PM but I could not find the option for sending you one.

Also, just my personal opinion, Mexico is not a bad RE investing area, there are some relatively cheap luxury condos (around 200-250k) with high vacation demand in a place called Puerto Penasco (4 hours south from the border), that is one of my plans, finance them and the condos basically pay for themselves + some profit by just renting them (old trick). Anyways, just wanted to share that with you, hope you the best on your journey!

Hey Rob,

So, just to be clear, the junk car site was strictly built to learn some SEO. That's all. I noticed that most of the Junk Car sites have not been updated and there are just so many grammatical errors and poor content on these sites that I felt wouldn't be a bad place to experiment. I have 2 friends in this business and they both do very well - there websites both suck. I built it for the purpose of learning SEO and with the chance that it may rank well, I can pick up a few grand by selling it to 1 of them in a bidding war. lol

Anyway,

For those interested...

My friend advertises all over NY with cheesy signs that say, Junk Car For Cash with his cell number. People call him to remove their car.

He has 1 phone and has a relationship with the junk yard. He gets between $300 to $600 a car.

He also built a relationship with a tow truck driver. Many times these drivers are sitting around doing nothing. He gives his driver $50 dollars a car and there are times the driver can pick up an extra $500 cash just picking up and running cars from point A to B.

So, he gets a call for a car, calls his driver with the address and the driver picks the car up and brings it to the junk yard. The junk yard Is happy because they're getting scrap metal and car parts. The driver is happy because he's making extra money doing virtually nothing. And he collects his money end of day. Sometimes hell do 9 cars a day. Not to bad for answering a phone lol.

Lastly, the person who donated the car gets a tax deductible. So, there's something in it for everyone.

 

[Walter Hay]

Good evening everyone,

Sourcing and manufacturing is my biggest issue. I'm not overly concerned with the risk of importing, but I worry about alibaba products and patent infringement. That's fear 1. I also know nothing about the process of shipping products. That's fear 2. I also feel that eventually the Chinese market will ship their products direct to FBA and US importers will get crushed. So, my focus for my own brand will be to make sales primarily from my own site. I seem to be very good with launching, marketing, and branding and I'm an idea guy. I'm wondering if it's worth hiring a coach for guidance. I have serious work ethic, I've seen failure and I've seen success. I'm humble and I'm willing to work my a$$ off.

Stevie

Hi Stevie,

Sourcing is easy once you learn the ropes.

Finding a real and reliable manufacturer will be lot easier if you avoid Alibaba, where the majority of suppliers listed are traders masquerading as manufacturers.

Patent infringement has been dealt with here:
Should I constantly worry about about trademark/patent infringement? @Rudynate knows what he's talking about on the subject.

Shipping is also easy provided you sort it out before you place any order.

And yes, the Chinese will copy and some might even try to sell the product on Amazon, and Amazon might even decide to cut you out and sell the product themselves once they know who your supplier is. These are good reasons why you should send the goods to a prepping service and not direct to FBA.

Walter

 

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[ZeroTo100]

Been away for a few months - Little update

Some of you that I’ve spoke to on the forum know that I’ve been somewhat successful in making money in the past in nightlife and other ventures but I hit a bit of a road block about a year ago. I do have a job though and I do have savings just incase an opportunity presented – highly recommend keeping money in the bank for opportunities. Well, I’m in motion now and I’m not stopping! This forum gave me that motivation to FIND AN OPPORTUNITY and strike while I had the chance.

From mid October, I invested $34k in a new real estate project. After reading through a lot of the RE threads, I have to say I was totally against flipping a home and still am. The money IS in rentals but this was an idea that I had presented to my mother-in-law who was looking to sell her home. Don’t abuse me for working a deal with my mother-in-law please haha.

After recently having a baby my mother-in-law felt it was time for her to move out of Queens and closer to us in NJ. She decides she wants to bring a real estate agent in and put the house up for sale. Immediately I am thinking she is going to be low-balled by some type of buyer – flipper, builder, or a buyer that will deduct everything off that needs to be redone.

The house was hit by hurricane Sandy in 2012 and the first floor was never fixed. She had it immediately gutted and new electric was put in but she basically avoided the first floor since sandy and just lived on the second floor. I still don’t understand how you can live that way but whatever lol.. The electric was done and no mold so that was a check. It was built in 1960 and yes it needs some serious updating BUT structurally it was built well and was a great house.

The average list price for a house in Howard Beach is $784,591. I didn’t think it was this high but after doing some research it was. So we bring 2 real estate agents in and they tell her that the condition of the house, we wont get more than $550k for the house. That’s when the light bulb went off.

I made an agreement with my mother-in-law to give me the house at $550k and I’ll use my own money for renovations. Why let someone else do it? Plus, not taking a mortgage as the house is paid for. All I had to do was get to work.

The work was absolutely crappy, brutal, unfulfilling hard work that I put in. I will never flip another home, I swear to god. But lets just say that if you want to make money, any kind of money, you will have to bust your a$$ at least in the beginning. I also had to deal with hearing her bitch about the dust as she was still living upstairs during the reno. It has gotten easier though.

Well, we are almost done and are going to list at $721k. This was a great side hustle as I only put in 2 days a week and worked a full time job. I also had paid a friend to help me out while I wasn’t there.

For anyone interested in doing renovations, the biggest savings was in the kitchen. We used RTA forevermark cabinets and built them ourselves. I found out that builders (I had my home built and have these in my home) use these because they’re made well and look great but they’re cheap. I had no idea what RTA previously but the kitchen looks fantastic. My buddy from Staten Island owns a retail company that sells them (actually he made the inc500 this year) and gave us 15% off. The full kitchen cabinets were about $2800 vs home depot’s quote $5200. I also learned how to tile which came in huge. A guy I work with is a plumber and knows how to tile so he helped out with the floor and I picked it up fairly quick. I did the backsplash myself.

It’s amazing that when you start to tell people about what you’re working on, how many of them around you are knowledgeable in areas that you wouldn’t expect. They’re also willing to help you out just to see you succeed. I was fortunate.

I have before and after pictures of the full house if anyone wants to see.

So happy it’s almost over though…

Hopefully, the next post I will have this place sold so I can move on to more fastlane stuff.

Stevie

---
P.S. Shut down the junk car site. Was able to build site up really well with a lot of traffic and authority. Learned on and off page SEO. I recently punched in the domain in and it looks like some Japanese company bought the domain and sells apparel from it haha.

ON TO THE FASTLANE!