(TLDR Readers - I just got what is essentially an internship for a start up, by offering my work for free at no risk to them. I've learned more in the past week than I have in the last 8 months of reading. This is my progress thread to outline what I'm learning each day about how businesses work.)
For months now I've wanted to put up a progress thread...but I had sadly, no real progress to mention. I'd gone about 10 grand in debt over my last entrepreneurial venture, and since then I've really been trying to pick up the pieces and rise from the proverbial ashes. A few months back in the US, and I was able to get a demeaning job as a barista at a cafe...then around April, I got a new job doing manual labor in a warehouse 12-14 hours a day, occasionally six days a week. And to make matters even more pressing, the company that I was working for had many, MANY, very shady business practices. Luckily for me, I was fired at the beginning of July. It was probably about the best time to be fired, and I managed to make enough money to pay back 75% of my debts, which feels like a huge win for me.
Anyway, when I was living in England for my last venture, I learned how to survive on practically nothing money-wise. I've been using that skill to really make the bit of savings I have left over stretch. Luckily for me, I'm fortunate enough to be able to stay rent free with my mother for the moment, so with the free time I've recently come into, I've been able to open myself up to new possibilities to get to my eventual fastlane business.
A question has wracked my brain non-stop for the last...well, since I read The Millionaire Fastlane . How can I get around the people who will be able to pull me up to the next level? Because I'd already pinpointed the most valuable skills I could set myself to learning with my 16 hours each day - sales and marketing. And there's really no other way to learn than by actually selling (or marketing) to people. The real problem was that I had no experience in sales or marketing. No proven track record, and no college degree to sell potential mentors on. So for a long time, I was at a total loss as to how to learn these skills.
It finally occurred to me that if I wanted to get around the people that could actually take me to the next level, I had to offer them a zero risk, 100% potential reward offer. And just recently, a friend mentioned to me that his brother who was a marketing consultant for start ups, might need some help with his more mundane tasks so that he could focus on the bigger things with a new start up that was currently in its kickstarter funding phase. So, I got in touch and offered my pitch: I'll do whatever you need done for your start up for free.
He started off by having me collect emails for him, and was very excited to see that I set about collecting them at a quick pace. My philosophy so far has been, treat doing work for him like he's paying me 80 grand a year. Whatever value he was expecting, give him 200% more than that. As soon as he realized that would be how I would be operating, he proceeded to add me to his start up's group skype, and I've been able to get a bird's eye view into the inner workings of an actual fastlane business! Its been amazing so far, and each day I've been getting introduced to new aspects of marketing for a start-up.
Anyway, I'm excited to go forward and learn this most interesting and important of business skills. I'll be updating from time to time with what I'm learning and the progress I'm making toward being a marketing superstar.
For months now I've wanted to put up a progress thread...but I had sadly, no real progress to mention. I'd gone about 10 grand in debt over my last entrepreneurial venture, and since then I've really been trying to pick up the pieces and rise from the proverbial ashes. A few months back in the US, and I was able to get a demeaning job as a barista at a cafe...then around April, I got a new job doing manual labor in a warehouse 12-14 hours a day, occasionally six days a week. And to make matters even more pressing, the company that I was working for had many, MANY, very shady business practices. Luckily for me, I was fired at the beginning of July. It was probably about the best time to be fired, and I managed to make enough money to pay back 75% of my debts, which feels like a huge win for me.
Anyway, when I was living in England for my last venture, I learned how to survive on practically nothing money-wise. I've been using that skill to really make the bit of savings I have left over stretch. Luckily for me, I'm fortunate enough to be able to stay rent free with my mother for the moment, so with the free time I've recently come into, I've been able to open myself up to new possibilities to get to my eventual fastlane business.
A question has wracked my brain non-stop for the last...well, since I read The Millionaire Fastlane . How can I get around the people who will be able to pull me up to the next level? Because I'd already pinpointed the most valuable skills I could set myself to learning with my 16 hours each day - sales and marketing. And there's really no other way to learn than by actually selling (or marketing) to people. The real problem was that I had no experience in sales or marketing. No proven track record, and no college degree to sell potential mentors on. So for a long time, I was at a total loss as to how to learn these skills.
It finally occurred to me that if I wanted to get around the people that could actually take me to the next level, I had to offer them a zero risk, 100% potential reward offer. And just recently, a friend mentioned to me that his brother who was a marketing consultant for start ups, might need some help with his more mundane tasks so that he could focus on the bigger things with a new start up that was currently in its kickstarter funding phase. So, I got in touch and offered my pitch: I'll do whatever you need done for your start up for free.
He started off by having me collect emails for him, and was very excited to see that I set about collecting them at a quick pace. My philosophy so far has been, treat doing work for him like he's paying me 80 grand a year. Whatever value he was expecting, give him 200% more than that. As soon as he realized that would be how I would be operating, he proceeded to add me to his start up's group skype, and I've been able to get a bird's eye view into the inner workings of an actual fastlane business! Its been amazing so far, and each day I've been getting introduced to new aspects of marketing for a start-up.
Anyway, I'm excited to go forward and learn this most interesting and important of business skills. I'll be updating from time to time with what I'm learning and the progress I'm making toward being a marketing superstar.
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum:
Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.