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Late Introduction

itxmi

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Hey everyone, allow me to take up a bit of your time to introduce myself.

I go by itxmi, yes it's an alias since I value my privacy ;). On 10th of December 2022, a month before my 18th birthday, I was on my habitual nightly walk. To pass some time, I whipped out my Notes app and browsed through 100s of notes which mostly consisted of:
  • dream journal entries
  • random thoughts
  • self hate talk
  • unrealistic plans to shred 20kg/44lbs in 2 months
  • goals of becoming an ethical hacker because it looked cool on TV, although I gotta say it's still something I want to get into when I have all the time in the world
  • habits that I had been wanting to develop for months
  • a list of projects I wanted to make
  • tons of skills that I wanted to learn in 1 year
  • rants about the early morning commute to school, which honestly was justified; imagine standing in a crowded bus at 7am with less than 4 hours of sleep
  • a plan I made at age 16 where I reverse engineered the process of making €40k right after I turned 18, surprise surprise it comprised of working 3,077 hours or 440 working days at a wage of €13/h until I turned 18. How I thought it was completely okay to trade 128 days for a mere €40k paycheck is still beyond me. Anyways.
I stopped in my steps and I wanted to do was cry, the depressing music coming from my headphones didn't make the situation any better. I came to the bitter realization that throughout 2 years of wishy-washy thinking, all I achieved was balls shit, horse shit, you name it.

At this point you're probably expecting me to say something along the lines of "From that day onward, I went to the gym, ate 1500 calories, walked 15k steps, meditated and journaled every single day, and oh btw, I also started 4 businesses of which 1 succeeded and am making €100k a month in profit from. Life is awesome".

I'm sorry to break it to you but that's NOT the case here, not even close. The bad habits didn't vanish in one day, neither did the self hate or the SCRIPTED mindset. But it sparked something inside of me, I'm not sure if I can call it a FTE, but it was definitely a FTM.

Not soon after that I heard about TMF from a Youtuber called Hamza, on 17th of December 2023 the book arrived at my doorstep, but I put off reading TMF for about 3 months because of the excuses I made up for myself, "I'll read it when no one is home, that way I can fully immerse myself into it" or "I'll read it when I buy new markers, mine are running out",

Kinda embarassing but whatever, once I read the first sentence I was HOOKED, I felt like my whole world had changed, suddenly bad grades, a college degree and a 9-5 job didn't matter to me. Before reading, I knew creating something that thousands of people use was always something I wanted to do but simultaniously I wanted freedom and have wealth. Now I could do both, but as I previously stated, my whole life didn't suddenly change, I had gradually begun to replace bad habits, work out at home, stopped eating junkfood almost entirely, reading books, trying to get into SMMA etc but I still felt like I was lacking something, and because of that, my progress towards my goals (one of which was an SMMA) was very slow and I wasn't achieving things as I had planned to.

Even with a realistic and easy-to-stick to plan, I felt like I was stuck and I was at an all time low, it's how I gained back the 15lbs I had lost along with an extra 10lbs during summer, not only that but I had also been action faking for months. I was at my lowest, I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere, but around that same time I stumbled accross a Telegram channel, and I started making bits of money, I went from making €30 to €200-500 each time I did what I did, I can't tell you what I was doing for obvious reasons but I can assure you it wasn't drugs or scamming people, it was borderline ethical. But it was spent as easily as it was made, to me that money had no history, no value, no proof of my hard work.

At the start of October I began my first year of College, my parents gave me no other choice, and before I knew it, I already messed up my first year of college. Almost 2 months in, I had another FTM but this time it came with a vague meaning and purpose That's all I needed, even if it was vague it was at least something, and I started to lock in again, every day my purpose started to become more and more clear. I had found several purposes:
  • Become the best version of myself
  • Provide value to people
  • Freedom
And especially the last one is what drove me, it was that longing for freedom that made me purchase Unscripted and start reading it the same day. Just for clarity this was around the second half of November 2023, around this time I also started to provide value to my dad for free, I was working on a new website for his locksmith business along with SEO services and Google Ads, before I started offering these services I didn't watch hours of SEO courses or Wordpress courses, I saw his business had a problem so I went out of my way to provide value. No more mental masturbation, no more action faking.

I started developing good habits and trying to change for the better. Around the start of December, as I was scrolling through this forum, I came accross an interesting thread involving Web Design.

After I thoroughly read through it, I checked out Rob's profile and signed up for his newsletter in order to receive a free version of his book, you see, after finishing his book in just 2 hours I was convinced this was IT, it was the jumpstart that I needed to go Fastlane, with this I could get a cashflow running and I'd be able to free myself from College in order to pursue the Fastlane way of life: solving problems. In short, I wanted free myself from having to work a 9-5 job which in turn would allow me to work less, earn more and use my free time to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors. I now had a solid plan which lay well within my interests and skillset, webdesign. But here another problem arose: I was too broke to join the program. So before I figured out a way to afford it, I used Rob's free resources on Youtube

On the 13th of December, coincidentally a year after I had my first FTM, I received an email from Rob, I had the opportunity to join his program for just $95/month, so I purchased it with just $150 on the bank. Once I had access to the program I took notes on each section as I studied, in the meantime I still did some SEO work for my dad's business. Soon after this,I started developing more and more good habits such as journaling, meditation and planning my day the night before etc. As New Year closed in I convinced my dad to agree to a proposal I had set up: If I can get his website to rank in the top 3 results for [Locksmith + City], he'll have to pay me €1,000. Now I know, €1,000 isn't worth the effort, you have to keep in mind that this is my first "client" and as I progress, I can leverage these results to get more clients!

Fast forward to today, 2,5 months later, and I'm at a point in my life where I never imagined I'd be 12 months ago. Not only in terms of my knowledge but also mentally and physically. However I wasted pretty much the entirety of Januari on cold outreach because I didn't want to face the fear of the unknown: networking and socialising, but 3 weeks ago I got an mail about a networking event being organized in my city, and I stared at it for a few seconds, I had fear of the unknown but I knew I had to do it, it's moments like these that I have to overcome if I want to be successful. As MJ said, just wing it. So I did and would you believe me, I landed 2 clients for my webdesign services, one for €200 and the other for €300. Again, I know I asked for way too little but as I previously stated, for my first 2-3 clients it's all about the results which I can leverage to get higher-ticket clients. Believe me it hurts me too knowing I have to design a 4 page website for just €300 lol.

Anyways, the deadlines for these projects are set for next week, so when I'm done I can finally close higher-ticket sales. I know it may not seem like I have achieved a lot but as someome who used to scroll on Tiktok for hours, watch anime all day, eat junkfood, not work out and not get shit done, I am pretty proud of myself as someone who now has a fixed sleeping schedule, goes to the gym, eats healthy, barely uses social media, reads books, meditates, journals and makes use of a 10,5,1 plan. I am trying to be more active on this forum and document my journey so when I become successful and have a productocracy, new members or aspiring entrepreneurs can look back to this post and realize that if I can do it, anyone can.

I have 3 major goals this year:
  • Lose 18kg/36lbs of fat by the end of June 2024
    • Breakdown: 18kg fat = 138,600 calories
    • Days remaining: 118
    • Daily Total Deficit Minimum: 1,174 calories
      • Eat 1500 cal a day | BMR Calories: 2000 | Deficit: 500
      • Walk 10,000 Steps | Deficit: 600
      • 1.5hr workout | Deficit: 250
  • Make €10,000/m with Webdesign by the end of June 2024
    • Breakdown: 1 x 10k client or 2 x 5 clients
    • Days remaining: 118
    • Strategy:
      • Attend 3 networking events every month
      • Referals from past projects (or putting my brandname in the footer of a client's site)
      • Warm leads
      • Visiting 3 businesses in person every day
      • Send 750 cold emails every week
      • Cold call 10 businesses every day
  • Move out of parent's house into a student apartment
    • Good one costs around €600/month all inclusive
    • Will do this as soon as I start making €1,500
      • Benefits:
        • Increased focus and privacy (I have 5 siblings all younger than me so you understand)
        • Always wanted to live alone
      • Is it a worthy investment?
        • I have thought about it and F*ck yes it is. Can't focus at home whatsoever, get called downstairs 3 times every hour for some stupid shit, I share a room with a messy 17 year old brother as someone who values cleanliness, 2 year old brother barges in and messes up everything as well, get woken up early in the morning by someone who's making too much noise for no reason, can't fall asleep early because brother plays ps4 with friends till late in the night, etc. My concentration is at it's highest when no one is around to distract me.
      • Overall I believe it will help me get better results, find more clients and improve my life in general, so yes it's necessary.
Oh and about that college thing I mentioned, instead of going to class everyday like my parents think I do, I go to the library and get some work done on my laptop lol, ssshh.
Anyways I wish all of you success on your own journey!
 
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MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
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Welcome aboard.

: If I can get his website to rank in the top 3 results for [Locksmith + City], he'll have to pay me €1,000.

Were you able to accomplish this?
 

itxmi

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Welcome aboard.



Were you able to accomplish this?
Not yet but I'm closing in, went from rank 40 to 15 relatively quickly. I gotta say it's a highly competitive niche with 100s of companies trying to rank number for #1, combined with the fact it's the 2nd biggest city in my country, you can already imagine the shithole I find myself in... I am getting into black hat SEO now since that's what 90% of the high-ranking competitors are using to increase and maintain their rankings. Thanks for asking;)

PS: If you're curious, it's the locksmith niche and I live in Belgium
 

Matt Sun

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You've got good goals. With the caloric deficit I've read that cognitive function gets significantly worst at more than 500kcal deficit. And that has been my experience that i feel like crap when on 600 to 800 kcal deficit. I've fond out that -550 calories max is the most sustainable. Hope you make it ! Spinach and Broccoli are so much your friends.
 
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FastlanerDoer

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Again, I know I asked for way too little but as I previously stated, for my first 2-3 clients it's all about the results which I can leverage to get higher-ticket clients. Believe me it hurts me too knowing I have to design a 4 page website for just €300 lol.
That's already very great for your first clients!

About a year ago I was in a similar position as yours. I read Rob's thread on web design, read his book, and checked his program but found it to be too expensive. Then I decided to learn web design through YouTube and free content. So I did so, learning the basics of WordPress solely from YouTube (followed a tutorial series on that) yet I didn't feel confident with my skill set to provide any real value with it.

Realizing that I couldn't get far with just free content, I convinced my dad to help me purchase a Udemy course on HTML and CSS that Rob also recommended. I smothered through the course in about 3 weeks and sent proposals to build websites in UpWork right after that. The learning period of the course was really really energy-draining for me. I dreaded going onto my laptop and just sitting and learning while I was still going through the course. And so by the end of the course, I felt really really demotivated and burnt out from just forcing myself to learn through a 40-hour course on web design. And of course, because of that burnt-out status ensuing from learning, I only sent out about 10 proposals to some businesses in UpWork before life started getting on the way again and I eventually faded away from trying to execute any business plan at all. (This was around June 2023 if I'm not wrong)

If there's anything you could get from my story is that you should definitely enjoy the process of whatever you're doing and not dread it.

Heck, I don't think I remember 50% of what I learned from the course because I rushed through it and dreaded staring at the screens for hours. I guess discipline doesn't work in every situation at times, because I felt really disciplined at the time yet slow and inefficient at the same time.

Now at the present moment, I've accidentally stumbled upon entrepreneurial/freelancing desires again after one of my dad's friends opened a new sports hub and cafe. I suddenly revisited the idea that I could create websites to provide value to businesses and elevate them and that brought me here to this forum again.

Currently, I'm seeing a major flaw and issue for this business and that is that it has an absurd queue time to order food and drinks (the place is very often really crowded), this has led many people to give bad ratings on Google Maps. I then realized that it could really be fixed if people could just order online using a QR code from the table and not from the cashier.

Well, one thing led to another, and now I'm trying to learn WordPress again from Udemy to learn how to create a website for ordering menus. I still haven't landed a deal yet with the owner, though I know him and have his number. I plan to do so when I actually am familiar with WordPress again and can guarantee him a good and sustainable solution to his current problem, but who knows, maybe I'll contact him right now and tell him that I could fix his problem through online menus.

All in all, I'm now trying to start again to provide value to other people and hopefully gain useful skills and experience through it, but this time I'll genuinely try to somehow enjoy it more I guess. I do not want to repeat the same mistake and put off entrepreneurship for a long time. My only goal with this sort of entrepreneurship, freelancing and this whole Fastlane thing at this age right now is really just to gain some experience and skills while young and still enjoy it while making connections and adding value to others. Anyways good luck on your freelancing journey and weightloss goals bro, hope I can learn more from you here as well.

(PS: I don't know anything tbh, so if you have any advice or criticism please do F*cking criticize me, I don't want my ego to blind me into action faking :) )
 

Bounce Back

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That's already very great for your first clients!

About a year ago I was in a similar position as yours. I read Rob's thread on web design, read his book, and checked his program but found it to be too expensive. Then I decided to learn web design through YouTube and free content. So I did so, learning the basics of WordPress solely from YouTube (followed a tutorial series on that) yet I didn't feel confident with my skill set to provide any real value with it.

Realizing that I couldn't get far with just free content, I convinced my dad to help me purchase a Udemy course on HTML and CSS that Rob also recommended. I smothered through the course in about 3 weeks and sent proposals to build websites in UpWork right after that. The learning period of the course was really really energy-draining for me. I dreaded going onto my laptop and just sitting and learning while I was still going through the course. And so by the end of the course, I felt really really demotivated and burnt out from just forcing myself to learn through a 40-hour course on web design. And of course, because of that burnt-out status ensuing from learning, I only sent out about 10 proposals to some businesses in UpWork before life started getting on the way again and I eventually faded away from trying to execute any business plan at all. (This was around June 2023 if I'm not wrong)

If there's anything you could get from my story is that you should definitely enjoy the process of whatever you're doing and not dread it.

Heck, I don't think I remember 50% of what I learned from the course because I rushed through it and dreaded staring at the screens for hours. I guess discipline doesn't work in every situation at times, because I felt really disciplined at the time yet slow and inefficient at the same time.

Now at the present moment, I've accidentally stumbled upon entrepreneurial/freelancing desires again after one of my dad's friends opened a new sports hub and cafe. I suddenly revisited the idea that I could create websites to provide value to businesses and elevate them and that brought me here to this forum again.

Currently, I'm seeing a major flaw and issue for this business and that is that it has an absurd queue time to order food and drinks (the place is very often really crowded), this has led many people to give bad ratings on Google Maps. I then realized that it could really be fixed if people could just order online using a QR code from the table and not from the cashier.

Well, one thing led to another, and now I'm trying to learn WordPress again from Udemy to learn how to create a website for ordering menus. I still haven't landed a deal yet with the owner, though I know him and have his number. I plan to do so when I actually am familiar with WordPress again and can guarantee him a good and sustainable solution to his current problem, but who knows, maybe I'll contact him right now and tell him that I could fix his problem through online menus.

All in all, I'm now trying to start again to provide value to other people and hopefully gain useful skills and experience through it, but this time I'll genuinely try to somehow enjoy it more I guess. I do not want to repeat the same mistake and put off entrepreneurship for a long time. My only goal with this sort of entrepreneurship, freelancing and this whole Fastlane thing at this age right now is really just to gain some experience and skills while young and still enjoy it while making connections and adding value to others. Anyways good luck on your freelancing journey and weightloss goals bro, hope I can learn more from you here as well.

(PS: I don't know anything tbh, so if you have any advice or criticism please do F*cking criticize me, I don't want my ego to blind me into action faking :) )
My personal criticism is that general wordpress css/html type courses are so far from what it takes to order things from a phone that you need to not bite off more than you can chew and let both of yourselves down.

Start backwards when trying to solve the problem: his cafe most likely uses a point of sale system (POS) right? If so you are going to have to integrate into. First you need to even know if this is possible. Do they have a rest api? Do they already have a mobile ordering app that he just hasn't set up yet (some do)?

If not is not a show stopper but ordering from their phones now means a whole second system the back and front of the house have to check (or the front who has to manually re-enter into their POS which is going to make this most likely just as slow).

If it is going to be a whole secondary system there are plenty of already made systems for doing this that don't require learning to code things that are going to take you years to fully understand and be competent at for someone's business to rely on. If you struggled being focus doing a 40 hour udemy course on basic web design wait until you get to really abstract non-visual backend/devops concepts like database migration, ci/cd pipeline, fallback strategies, etc.

There is just jumping into something and then there is just jumping into something fraudulently in my mind. It doesn't mean you can't help but I would say at your level anything coming from you right now would be consulting on vendor selection from tech that is already proven.
 

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