Let's talk business! Greetings from OH/PA

[Tom.R]

Hi everyone!

I'm Tommy. I'm a college student right now in the Cleveland area, originally from Pittsburgh.

Since I was younger I always wanted to run my own business. I started it when my dad refused to buy me a video game. He said I had to buy it myself, yet I was out of birthday money (I was 12 at the time).

Of course, I said "Ok, fine, I'll go make money!"

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know!"

And so my tiny auto detailing business was born. That first summer was a rough one- my first job was a cement truck! Sure learned a lot about hard work on that first one!

I caught the bug. You know the one I'm talking about

And so summer after summer I would read on forums online everywhere on how to do this, how to do that, how to be profitable, etc. To be totally honest, it's where I learned most of what I know, from people that I've never met from around the world. It's something that changed my life forever.

But doing that isn't going to make me financially free. There's actually a funny excerpt in MJ's book I chuckled at while I still did auto detailing as a side business. Here's the quote:

"Income is the key to growing your army of freedom fighters. You aren't going to recruit a massive army detailing cars down at the Jimmy's Auto Salon." -MJ DeMarco

Now that I'm in college, I've realized that things aren't so la-di-da. Tuition bills are coming, so are car payments, and I have a ton of dumb shit to study for.

Through the years I have started to fail myself because of my work ethic (or lack thereof) and poor attitude. These two things alone will kill any business I start, regardless of how skilled I am or how great of an idea I have.

That's why I'm here today. I know that in order to move forward I must be able to grow and improve, and that's something I'm ALL about.

So, let's get started.

My weaknesses:
1. Self-sabotage/negativity
I'm hard myself. Really hard on myself. I don't see this necessarily as a bad thing, but it's excessive. I get on myself so much to the point that it affects my performance because I care so much about what I do and the people I'm providing business for. If there's ever a reason why I'm down, it's because I failed myself or because I failed my customers, my friends, or my family.
2. Work ethic
I know I've gotten lazier since high school. It's definitely because I lack the structure that I put myself into such as organized sports like football and track/field. For me, this was a keystone habit that helped me develop into a hard-working individual, and it's something that I need to get back. I've since tried on and off working out, and it sucks. But it only sucks because I stopped, which I've learned that you should never do ever. It's not that I have a lack of drive, but the nitty gritty day-to-day shit has gotten a lot more difficult. I know this would help.

My strengths:
1. Love
I love what I do. I love that I am able to be in college with the opportunities that I have as well as an amazing family that supports me. I love life and all its rewards and punishments. I have a smile on my face a mostly because it's not worth the time to be miserable. I love being able to brighten someone's day simply because I was able to provide a service or fulfill somebody's need. I love being good to my friends and family, but I can't be generous and provide for them if I have nothing to give. This gives me the drive to become wealthy and successful as an entrepreneur. There's no other choice.
2. People person
I'm a people person at heart. I love learning about other people, what they do, what inspires them, and how I could help. I'm loyal to the people who treat me well, and respect those who criticize me. People, in my opinion, are your most important asset, and I wouldn't be anywhere without the influence of my friends and family. I love growing relationships and making friends. I have noticed though that I'm slipping at one of my most important assets, and I need to get back on track. I know I need to reread Dale Carnegie's killer book How to Win Friends and Influence People. This book alone helped my relationships 10-fold, and I need to read it again cover-to-cover.

But back to the current:

Being in college now, I am participating in an internship where I essentially run a branch of a painting company that paints the insides and outsides of people's homes. This I think is a good program because it gives me the ability to have a lot of freedom of running the business, without the liability. It is commission only (no hourly pay) and I have to cold-call and market all of my clients, as well as hire crews to paint homes and manage them effectively to produce a quality product. Essentially it's like training wheels for business. I'd love to hear what The Fastlane Forum thinks of this program, and I'm interested in your feedback.

For the future:

From doing this internship, I've been toying the idea of getting into real estate, whether that be as an agent, investor, wholesaler, etc. For those who have any real estate experience, please include it in your response

Now for the exciting part!

I'm not really sure about how to market and attain my customers, and I was wondering if you guys could at least point me in the right direction as to advice, books, learning materials, etc. Or, if you have any general advice for me for life or anything else, I'd appreciate it. I know that what I've provided isn't enough information to make any highly detailed conclusions, but I appreciate your feedback as many of you have seen very successful careers for yourself, and it is something that I admire and hope to attain one day for myself also.

Thank you for taking the time to read my introduction about myself. I look forward to interacting and getting to know all of you on the forum.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Choate]

Welcome to the forum.

Being in college now, I am participating in an internship where I essentially run a branch of a painting company that paints the insides and outsides of people's homes. This I think is a good program because it gives me the ability to have a lot of freedom of running the business, without the liability. It is commission only (no hourly pay) and I have to cold-call and market all of my clients, as well as hire crews to paint homes and manage them effectively to produce a quality product. Essentially it's like training wheels for business. I'd love to hear what The Fastlane Forum thinks of this program, and I'm interested in your feedback.

Nothing wrong with this gig, lots of good skills to learn. Since its commission only I would focus more so on the cold-calling aspect rather than hiring crews and managing, that can work itself out one way or another, but if you have no one who needs painting then you don't need a crew anyways. It all ties itself together in the end but cold calling is probably the most valuable skill there.

From doing this internship, I've been toying the idea of getting into real estate, whether that be as an agent, investor, wholesaler, etc. For those who have any real estate experience, please include it in your response

Sounds like bullshit. There's far too many people who just want to "get into real estate". How are you going to become a real estate investor when you have to study for school, pay tuition, and pay your upcoming car bills? Or an agent, which is a glorified job? I mean if you really want to by all means go for it, but it means on top of studying through university for a job, then you have to study for another license for your slowlane job, and another, etc.

I'm not really sure about how to market and attain my customers, and I was wondering if you guys could at least point me in the right direction as to advice, books, learning materials, etc.

Read:

GOLD - How to Learn Code, Start a Web Company, $15k+ per month within 9 months

Some great, actionable advice in that thread about cold calling even though it is about learning basic coding. Also you could open a freelance account on Upwork and practice your pitching more at night when you are off the job to bid for basic jobs.

I think three great books anyone could read in your position are How to Win Friends and Influence People, Cashvertising, and Miracle Morning. But by all means don't stop everything else your doing to just lay down the grind and read - try to incorporate actionable things to improve yourself day to day as you go along.

I'm not really sure about how to market and attain my customers

No one can really give you direct advice about this because we don't know what you do. Take a look at what you are doing now, and create a system. And look for improvements within that system. That may lay within your own effectiveness, either managing your time or managing different parts of the phone call such as opening, building the problem, value + solution, or closing. Or it could be how efficient you are at finding leads. Do you sit around a lot, not having enough people to call? Or do you have a ton of people to call but are wasting too much time with people who aren't interested? Anyhow, I'm sure your company has enough painters if you went crazy on sales, so figure out how to improve yourself and don't leave it up to a "manager" to tell you where you need to get better.

Just my 2 cents, again welcome to the forum friend.

 

[Amon]

Hi everyone!

I'm Tommy. I'm a college student right now in the Cleveland area, originally from Pittsburgh.

Nice. I'm in Lakewood. We should connect over coffee sometime. Always down to meet fellow fastlaners.

What school do you attend?

And so summer after summer I would read on forums online everywhere on how to do this, how to do that, how to be profitable, etc. To be totally honest, it's where I learned most of what I know, from people that I've never met from around the world. It's something that changed my life forever.

But doing that isn't going to make me financially free.

Absolutely true. Reading is beneficial, but I don't think it's going to change your life. It will not be the step you take that brings financial freedom. In fact, for me it was an obstacle. I talk a little bit about that here. Notable! - The True Unlock to Wealth (disclaimer: It's not reading) @millennials

Hi everyone!


Through the years I have started to fail myself because of my work ethic (or lack thereof) and poor attitude. These two things alone will kill any business I start, regardless of how skilled I am or how great of an idea I have.

Let's acknowledge a fact together. Ideas are shit.

If you don't have the work ethic to execute on a $MM idea, how great can it be?

To reiterate, ideas are shit. Execution is the game. The market doesn't care about how good the ideas in your journal are. The market ONLY cares how well you put that idea into place.

That's why I'm here today. I know that in order to move forward I must be able to grow and improve, and that's something I'm ALL about.

So, let's get started.

My weaknesses:

I seriously love that you came out and directly acknowledge/identified your weaknesses. +1 on this. Self-awareness is a huge key of why some players are winning and some are barely making it.

Being in college now, I am participating in an internship where I essentially run a branch of a painting company that paints the insides and outsides of people's homes. This I think is a good program because it gives me the ability to have a lot of freedom of running the business, without the liability. It is commission only (no hourly pay) and I have to cold-call and market all of my clients, as well as hire crews to paint homes and manage them effectively to produce a quality product. Essentially it's like training wheels for business. I'd love to hear what The Fastlane Forum thinks of this program, and I'm interested in your feedback.

For the future:

From doing this internship, I've been toying the idea of getting into real estate, whether that be as an agent, investor, wholesaler, etc. For those who have any real estate experience, please include it in your response

Now for the exciting part!

I'm not really sure about how to market and attain my customers, and I was wondering if you guys could at least point me in the right direction as to advice, books, learning materials, etc. Or, if you have any general advice for me for life or anything else, I'd appreciate it. I know that what I've provided isn't enough information to make any highly detailed conclusions, but I appreciate your feedback as many of you have seen very successful careers for yourself, and it is something that I admire and hope to attain one day for myself also.

Thank you for taking the time to read my introduction about myself. I look forward to interacting and getting to know all of you on the forum.

Learning how to effectively communicate and target customers is going to huge if you open a business. But what you're currently doing isn't fastlane.

Luckily, I've found the perfect step by step manual if you want to get in real estate casually. Here you go - free of charge.

google.com