Justin from SoCal

[justinbiz]

Hi this is my requested introduction to the Fastlane Forum community.

I am Justin and I live in the Santa Monica mountains 15 minutes north of Malibu, and sometimes near the shore of Lake Erie, west of Cleveland, Ohio.

I do software development for money, as an indy. I'm hard core, having built business process automation running multi-million dollar operations, Academy Award-winning film sound technology, transaction processing software that runs indefinitely, ethernet and audio drivers, real-time securities trading systems, and more.

It's great helping my clients (mostly mid-sized companies) create value, but I'd like to create value for myself too. The idea that a time-leveraged business is the only way to get to financial freedom from near zero is not new to me. Contract software services is not that, as a second-order specialized unit (something a wise ex-biz partner called a "butts-in-seats business"), but it's paid the bills pretty well.

I've actually started several businesses, and one of them (a software services firm with forty telework developers) reached $4M revenue before I parted ways with my partners.

I love creating businesses, but have had several patterns and priorities that have limited my success:

- Lack of attention to business building systems

- Didn't develop the outreach/networking muscle

- Bad at saving money per family patterns

- Huge amounts of time and money raising kids

- Huge amounts of time and money making music

I also feel like I have a lot going for me. I'm dedicated to personal growth, love learning new things, not an extravagant spender (except on clean food and health), monster problem solver, creative thinker, and attracted to creating businesses that make people's lives better.

I look forward to learning and contributing to the community here.

 

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[Woosah]

Welcome, Justin!
I have a few friends in software development and it definitely does pay the bills well.

Those patterns can be rectified and shouldn't stop you from building anything. The music and family, you probably want to hang on to those.

 

[Not Sure]

Hi this is my requested introduction to the Fastlane Forum community.

I am Justin and I live in the Santa Monica mountains 15 minutes north of Malibu, and sometimes near the shore of Lake Erie, west of Cleveland, Ohio.

I do software development for money, as an indy. I'm hard core, having built business process automation running multi-million dollar operations, Academy Award-winning film sound technology, transaction processing software that runs indefinitely, ethernet and audio drivers, real-time securities trading systems, and more.

It's great helping my clients (mostly mid-sized companies) create value, but I'd like to create value for myself too. The idea that a time-leveraged business is the only way to get to financial freedom from near zero is not new to me. Contract software services is not that, as a second-order specialized unit (something a wise ex-biz partner called a "butts-in-seats business"), but it's paid the bills pretty well.

I've actually started several businesses, and one of them (a software services firm with forty telework developers) reached $4M revenue before I parted ways with my partners.

I love creating businesses, but have had several patterns and priorities that have limited my success:

- Lack of attention to business building systems

- Didn't develop the outreach/networking muscle

- Bad at saving money per family patterns

- Huge amounts of time and money raising kids

- Huge amounts of time and money making music

I also feel like I have a lot going for me. I'm dedicated to personal growth, love learning new things, not an extravagant spender (except on clean food and health), monster problem solver, creative thinker, and attracted to creating businesses that make people's lives better.

I look forward to learning and contributing to the community here.

Hey Justin, awesome intro. It sounds like your monster skillset and drive to create are the most sought-after building blocks on the way to the fastlane. As far as the hindrances you mentioned, this forum has a wealth of information on building business systems and keeping mundane operations hassles to a minimum. Spending time and money on kids? I doubt anyone later in life wishes they had spent less time with their children during those fleeting years. As far as making music, the impulse and ability to create are a blessing that should be nurtured, whether it's in business, art, or a combination somewhere in the middle.

What's your desired path from here? Are you looking to build upon past successes with better hindsight or trod a new path?

 

[justinbiz]

Yes, my original introduction failed to include where I'm going from here…

So I have a sizable spreadsheet of ideas for businesses, books, art, music projects, software, and philanthropy.

I filtered all that down to one business with lower startup effort but with sizable financial potential. By the end of 2020 I had a business model spreadsheet, website (with payment processing), customer onboarding set up, several Facebook ads ready…

Then I chickened out and began working on a few things with lower potential (options investing and a joint venture with a software client). By the time I realized what I had done to myself I had a new software client that soaked up any time available for the rest of the year (well, I also have a 3-year-old and I bought a house in 2021).

My serendipitous discovery of The Great Rat Race Escape in November 2021 woke me up again to the possibility of moving beyond my software development work (which I can't say I love), and now I'm left with terror of my first customer.

 

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[justinbiz]

Hey Justin, awesome intro. It sounds like your monster skillset and drive to create are the most sought-after building blocks on the way to the fastlane. As far as the hindrances you mentioned, this forum has a wealth of information on building business systems and keeping mundane operations hassles to a minimum. Spending time and money on kids? I doubt anyone later in life wishes they had spent less time with their children during those fleeting years. As far as making music, the impulse and ability to create are a blessing that should be nurtured, whether it's in business, art, or a combination somewhere in the middle.

What's your desired path from here? Are you looking to build upon past successes with better hindsight or trod a new path?

Thank you for your kind words. I replied to my original post with future path.

Also, what are you "not sure" of?

 

[justinbiz]

Welcome, Justin!
I have a few friends in software development and it definitely does pay the bills well.

Those patterns can be rectified and shouldn't stop you from building anything. The music and family, you probably want to hang on to those.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

 

[Woosah]

Yeah! You picked a nice place to live, lol. I'm about 20-30 minutes from you, depending on the traffic on the 405

 

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[Johnny boy]

Welcome. It's funny, I've met so many software developers that can build anything and have incredible skills, but don't have their own scaled up businesses. They always seem to be a little risk-averse.

Hearing your resume I can tell you're damn smart and very talented. Guys with a tenth of the abilities and experience that you have can build scalable businesses for themselves, so there's no doubt you'll do it too.

With your talents and connections it will be very easy to form profitable relationships with people on this forum.

And don't worry about spending money too much. Worry about making twice as much each year!

 

[Rabby]

Keep... going...

You're partway to the next level. Look, you're scaling other people's businesses! They pay you to do this, which means it must be more valuable, or potentially more valuable, than whatever they pay.

Experience has reinforced for me that services are easier to sell, because people need them now. Productizing them (or developing an actual product based on the continuous need for a service) makes them more persistent. You have the service part... now any systems and structural capital you can add (that you own) will help you delegate work to an employee, and/or develop assets that depend less-or-not-at-all on your labor. That includes software frameworks and heuristics you develop under your ownership... you just need to make them manageable by people who can't do what you do.

As you separate the business from your own labor you are improving it, making it more valuable, and giving yourself free time all at once. Yay! This is good... keep going. Looking forward to your progress.