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Jemmalee

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I’ve not been lurking, in fact I’ve barely made time to visit over the past 6 months.
I think I underestimated how difficult the fast lane actually was.

My last post ( I made £610 on Etsy in a new brand) I was so tired of the consistency of daily abuse, lies, lack of respect etc, that I closed the once ever growing lockdown brand in August.

I turned over £80,000 in 10 months from my back garden. I can hardly moan, I could’ve probably invested more, got staff and expanded but as mentioned, the torrent of hate got too much and as our original business (events sector) started to pick up, I found a fresh outlook on continuing it and so, shut the other shop down.

As an ADHD brain, life has been fairly more difficult as I pick out and note my behaviours.

I head to tiktok to document my daily life of living with ADHD (something I signed myself up to do last year) only to find that a million others have now done this.

I also thought about dabbling in personal branding and it seems all my ideas have been executed in one way or another and I’m left to kick myself at yet another failed start, thanks to my brain.

ADHD in women is like the new trend. A mass of women born in the 80’s/90’s now discovering their misdiagnosed Bi-polar or depression was actually ADHD…

So to finish … My events business ticks over and keeps me busy but it isn’t a fast lane business.

I’ve had a nosy at NFTs and Put a very small amount on Bitcoin in hope to try and understand it a little more as the digital coin takes over.

Im feeling a little lost. As I hit 40 next year, I can’t help but feel a little peeved. All this knowledge in my head, still isn’t enough. I’ve tucked into learning and self teaching many skills in my 10 years of business and I feel ready to Chuck the towel in and say ‘Well, I tried”.
Something stops me doing that.


I want to invest my time in something that has a worthy cause but leads to a fast lane life (one that is profitable without my being on the go 24/7) and I’m stuck.
 
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ZCP

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check out @MJ DeMarco 's new book .... lot of stuff written for you in there.
will help with some tools and reframing that will help kick you off on the next part of your journey!
you got this!
 

Jemmalee

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check out @MJ DeMarco 's new book .... lot of stuff written for you in there.
will help with some tools and reframing that will help kick you off on the next part of your journey!
you got this!
I’m already 75% through.
Thank you
 

woken

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Im feeling a little lost. As I hit 40 next year, I can’t help but feel a little peeved. All this knowledge in my head, still isn’t enough. I’ve tucked into learning and self teaching many skills in my 10 years of business
I want to invest my time in something that has a worthy cause
So basically you want to start doing the same thing you’ve been doing for the past 10 years?


I turned over £80,000 in 10 months from my back garden.
Can’t you teach that to people?
 
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Jemmalee

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So basically you want to start doing the same thing you’ve been doing for the past 10 years?



Can’t you teach that to people?
Yes I guess I can teach that… but that would be personal branding… it would rely solely on me to teach it therefore not fastlaning.

Can you elaborate on worthy cause and fastlaning and why it would mean the same ?
 

Andy Black

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I also thought about dabbling in personal branding and it seems all my ideas have been executed in one way or another and I’m left to kick myself at yet another failed start, thanks to my brain.
We’ve all got a personal brand whether we consciously choose to leverage and grow it or not. It’s an asset we’ll keep for life, and it’s non-taxable.

Who cares what other people are doing anyway.

Document your journey. Try to help people at the same time. Figure it out as you go along.
 

Andy Black

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Yes I guess I can teach that… but that would be personal branding… it would rely solely on me to teach it therefore not fastlaning.
Yes… but.

Maybe you’re dismissing ideas too readily?

Why would it have to rely on you doing the teaching?

Even if you did the teaching why can’t it be fastlane?

Maybe check out the Gold YouTube threads in the forum.
 
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Jemmalee

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We’ve all got a personal brand whether we consciously choose to leverage and grow it or not. It’s an asset we’ll keep for life, and it’s non-taxable.

Who cares what other people are doing anyway.

Document your journey. Try to help people at the same time. Figure it out as you go along.
It’s possible I’m playing the ‘unworthy’ card without realising it.
I’m under the assumption that personal branding isn’t fastlaning (unless of course you sell online stuff… automated and pre recorded materials , but then it’s stuck at - if I’m not recording the material, I’ve got to keep repeating the actions to make it pay.

mhmm… that’s actually the same as writing a book…
OK…. I think I get it now
 

Andy Black

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Andy Black

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It’s possible I’m playing the ‘unworthy’ card without realising it.
I’m under the assumption that personal branding isn’t fastlaning (unless of course you sell online stuff… automated and pre recorded materials , but then it’s stuck at - if I’m not recording the material, I’ve got to keep repeating the actions to make it pay.

mhmm… that’s actually the same as writing a book…
OK…. I think I get it now
You’re overthinking it. And thinking yourself out of things too.

Maybe listen to this:
 
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woken

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Here’s a thread linking to most of the YouTube progress threads in the forum:

This is for you as well, Andy. I noticed you recently signed up for Skillshare.
Why are you not teaching there?



but then it’s stuck at - if I’m not recording the material, I’ve got to keep repeating the actions to make it pay.
As for this,

Unless you build a business and have a good exit, there’s no such thing such as 100% passive.

Either way, you have to put in the work upfront and then reap the benefits after.
 

Andy Black

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I noticed you recently signed up for Skillshare.
Why are you not teaching there?
I’d rather focus on YouTube as a marketing channel.
 

Jemmalee

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Jemmalee

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Phikey

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Is it an issue with consistency? When I started my journey I had shiny object syndrome and didn’t stick to business ideas for long enough for them to bear fruit. One Youtube channel I started back in 2012 now has 50,000 views on some videos but I let the domain expire and someone else snatched it up. I went hard on that business for a month, didn’t see immediate results and gave up. As the videos ranked, they got more and more traffic. It likely could be a nice 5 figure by now if I’d stuck with it, who knows.

You said you abandoned your etsy store due to all the hate and disrespect. Sounds like it was a customer service issue? Is there a way to solve that problem without shutting down the business? e.g. hire a VA in the Philippines to manage customer service for you so you’re shielded from all the negativity and free up your headspace to focus on the rest of the business.
 

Jemmalee

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Is it an issue with consistency? When I started my journey I had shiny object syndrome and didn’t stick to business ideas for long enough for them to bear fruit. One Youtube channel I started back in 2012 now has 50,000 views on some videos but I let the domain expire and someone else snatched it up. I went hard on that business for a month, didn’t see immediate results and gave up. As the videos ranked, they got more and more traffic. It likely could be a nice 5 figure by now if I’d stuck with it, who knows.

You said you abandoned your etsy store due to all the hate and disrespect. Sounds like it was a customer service issue? Is there a way to solve that problem without shutting down the business? e.g. hire a VA in the Philippines to manage customer service for you so you’re shielded from all the negativity and free up your headspace to focus on the rest of the business.
It was Shopify and Etsy.

I was massively slated by all other contenders. Multiple times fighting my corner in regards to copyrights and designs - despite using my own designs via photoshop.
daily emails from people saying - why aren’t we like Amazon and we shouldn’t be in business.
There much more but … i

our customer service was exceptional.
Went above and beyond in many ways.
I was advised that the baking industry was vicious like many… however this was next level hate.
honestly in all the sectors I’ve been in, I’ve never felt as worse as I’ve ever done in my entire life.
The closure was a blessing and relief.

I cannot avoid shiny object syndrome having an ADHD brain sadly. It’s one of the many barriers we hold.

My first business is still open though. Bizarrely.
 
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B.Cotter

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I was massively slated by all other contenders.
To me this just sounds like proof that you were successful. When you do well you’ll always have haters. Unfortunately it looks like they got what they wanted by eliminating you as competition.
 

Jemmalee

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To me this just sounds like proof that you were successful. When you do well you’ll always have haters. Unfortunately it looks like they got what they wanted by eliminating you as competition.
Oh yes, we were absolutely trumps ahead in everything.
customer service, quality, speed…
We were absolutely winning.

However working more than 12 hours a day , wasn’t winning, especially as it started to effect our children’s lives.
it was taking over.

sanity over money in this case.
 

biophase

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Oh yes, we were absolutely trumps ahead in everything.
customer service, quality, speed…
We were absolutely winning.

However working more than 12 hours a day , wasn’t winning, especially as it started to effect our children’s lives.
it was taking over.

sanity over money in this case.
You can choose to work less you know. You are running your own business.
To me it sounds like your store wasn’t making any money. You say you were ahead of everyone else but what did the bottom line say?
 
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Jemmalee

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You can choose to work less you know. You are running your own business.
To me it sounds like your store wasn’t making any money. You say you were ahead of everyone else but what did the bottom line say?
We were turning over 10k per month.
we were taking home approx 6k per month.
I used it to live and pay upfront costs that were outstanding on our other business.
Like unit space rent etc…
It got us through a tough time whilst closed for 12 months due to covid.

It was making money.
 

Jemmalee

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You can choose to work less you know. You are running your own business.
To me it sounds like your store wasn’t making any money. You say you were ahead of everyone else but what did the bottom line say?
"I want to invest my time in something that has a worthy cause but leads to a fast lane life (one that is profitable without my being on the go 24/7) and I’m stuck."

What do you want that "something" to be?
If only I knew
 
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Phikey

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Oh yes, we were absolutely trumps ahead in everything.
customer service, quality, speed…
We were absolutely winning.

However working more than 12 hours a day , wasn’t winning, especially as it started to effect our children’s lives.
it was taking over.

sanity over money in this case.
I don’t understand, why not hire? It sounds like your problems could have been easily solved by just having people do the work for you - which is the key to building a fastlane business.
 

biophase

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We were turning over 10k per month.
we were taking home approx 6k per month.
I used it to live and pay upfront costs that were outstanding on our other business.
Like unit space rent etc…
It got us through a tough time whilst closed for 12 months due to C0VlD.

It was making money.
It sounds like you could have been on your way to a fast lane business with it.

I mean it checked a lot of boxes. And it’s only issue was tough competition.

Was it closed due to covid? I couldn’t understand your last statement.
 
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Jemmalee

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I don’t understand, why not hire? It sounds like your problems could have been easily solved by just having people do the work for you - which is the key to building a fastlane business.
Because I didn’t want to and because I hated it
 

Jemmalee

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It sounds like you could have been on your way to a fast lane business with it.

I mean it checked a lot of boxes. And it’s only issue was tough competition.

Was it closed due to C0VlD? I couldn’t understand your last statement.
I already have an events company that closed in covid.
It is now back open.
It got us through that year.

I think when you finally read your 10,000th email telling you a fat ugly tw4t and that my kids will be killed and im going to be hunted down, that’s the point where ya think… hmm
It’s not worth it.
 

ZCP

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have someone else field those emails. hire.
own your business. don't run your business.

your personal worth is in the awesomeness your create. not determined by the haters. :)
 
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Jemmalee

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have someone else field those emails. hire.
own your business. don't run your business.

your personal worth is in the awesomeness your create. not determined by the haters. :)
The premises we were based in were unsafe and we couldn’t hire anyone within the. Legally.
Theres a million reasons I closed it but never felt happier doing so.
 

Jemmalee

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I understand it’s almost 2 years since last checking in here.
I’ve been reading the telegram and socials and keeping in check always with fastlane back of my mind, but thought I’d give a little update on my original post and what’s happening now.

First off, my partner nearly died in hospital just as I closed the business I spoke about in this post.
He’s ok. He’s alive.

So we closed the business and the events company picked up again.
We then moved warehouses to something bigger and more expensive.
It was a risk, an investment but it worked out.

We ended up setting up another business under a new name, doing the same thing.

It’s been open a year and we’ve turned over approx £100k.
Unfortunately means we’re now VAT registered in the UK…

It’s been a slower growth than lockdown of course, we’ve managed to get some old customers back but also new ones.

We’re at capacity for what we can fulfil per day.
As all items are made and produced in house and each one is personalised, it takes time.

I’m only physically working 4-5 hours per day in the office and around the school runs.
I do admin/computer work in the evenings.

Although the turnover is high, I’m struggling to keep cash in bank due to the amount of outgoings we have not just the business but personally as well.

I’m really lonely.
My best friend completely screwed me over last summer and she introduced me to whom were my other connections.
Now I have none, no close friends at least, just acquaintances.

Although my partner (whom I’ve asked to leave as after 10 years it’s not working, and he won’t leave because I’m the breadwinner and holds the money) does all the physical work…. I’m also fulfilling orders in my days leaving not much time to actually work on the business.

I did have a staff member packing orders whom I had to let go as the got lazy and was paying them for nothing pretty much.
(Obviously my friendly management attitude needs to change to ensure no repeats of this).

I’m feeling stuck.
Unable to scale.
I think my own personal happiness are part of this, it’s like I’m in the growth period, I’m trying to learn how to practice self love again.

I had my official ADHD diagnosis and medication which serves me well at the moment.

I guess I’m just feeling overwhelmed and have nowhere to turn.
I don’t want to give up.
I’m feeling it’s hard.

Any advice appreciated

Thanks and hope you’re all well
 

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