Moved across the country alone and living in a car. Update thread until stability

[Andy Black]

Honestly, offer a service. Do something right away, get paid for it right away. You can possibly convert it to a SaaS or automated business later. But first things first, looking at the title of this thread, I would work on getting out of the car and into a house or apartment.

^^^ This. Offering a service is a fast way to get going.

TMBA 227: The Rise Of Productized Services | Tropical MBA

Damian Thompson from Linchpin is back on the show this week talking with me about one of the biggest movements we see in the location independent scene. We talk about what Damian has learned during his first 1,000 days of being a business owner, and how listeners can utilize the lessons he’s learned

tropicalmba.com

 

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[oneac]

Hello all. Another week goes by and here's what I've been up to:

Working on a free SaaS product to provide value and build skills, I'm challenging myself to release it by the end of the weekend
- I originally had an idea for an overly complicated SaaS product that was, frankly speaking, beyond the scope of what I'm capable of. I'm talking this idea was unvalidated and would've probably taken me multiple years to finish (largely due to my inexperience with programming and releasing products).

It was like a beginner game developer tried to make GTA V. Ridiculous. Honestly it's quite funny to admit this because I think of myself as someone who doesn't fall into the trap of making unreasonable changes to their lives. So glad to have caught myself.

Anyway, I'm working on a product and website that will be free that serves the chrome developer scene. This product will help people who want to develop chrome extension find value skews in the chrome marketplace so that they would be able to fill it and profit.

The scope of this project is much simpler and I'm going to challenge myself to release it by the end of this weekend. This is slightly unrealistic. I'd say 30 percent doable and 70 percent not but I'm excited to finish

10 hour work days bleed by... I can't use my phone anymore but I use it as a chance to remain conscious
- I previously wrote that I was moved to a more quiet position in my job and this was great because I could listen to audiobooks and educational YT vids.

Strangely, I found that consuming content, even educational content, made working on my own thing boring in comparison. Two out of four work days I didn't work as hard as I could've when I came home

Anyway, they moved me to a new spot where wearing headphones would damage my hearing. I just use it as an opportunity to reflect and practice conscious breathing.

Experimenting with my mind, habits, and diet. thoughts on carnivore?
Something that keeps life interesting is all the experiments I run on myself.

I'm easing into a carnivore diet, eating keto for a few weeks and observing how I feel. Can't wait to make keto beef stew in the crockpot tomorrow...

Network Marketing. Amway. Lovely grandma. secretive son-in-law. who moved my cheese.
Basically there is this nice old lady at my job that I talk to. She's always offering to share food I previously assumed was from Costco or a warehouse store like that. I tell share that I'm on a entrepreneurial journey here and she tells me about her son-in-law and puts us into contact

This guy is part of a MLM selling Amway and he introduced me to his mentor. All the bells and whistles of an MLM, they don't tell you about the product, the mentors were a couple from the midwest, they recommended me to read who moved my cheese.

Waning discipline. May get rid of phone. Just need a realignment
I'm too caught up with the lives of my friends and ex-girlfriend from NJ. We talk like everyday and it feels like a bit of a drain to my purpose. I'd always rather talk to them than do anything else. They want me to move back. I was thinking of changing my phone number

 

[MJ DeMarco]

This guy is part of a MLM selling Amway

Beware, MLM zombies walk Utah like a cancer.

 

[Andy Black]

Hello all. Another week goes by and here's what I've been up to:

Working on a free SaaS product to provide value and build skills, I'm challenging myself to release it by the end of the weekend
- I originally had an idea for an overly complicated SaaS product that was, frankly speaking, beyond the scope of what I'm capable of. I'm talking this idea was unvalidated and would've probably taken me multiple years to finish (largely due to my inexperience with programming and releasing products).

It was like a beginner game developer tried to make GTA V. Ridiculous. Honestly it's quite funny to admit this because I think of myself as someone who doesn't fall into the trap of making unreasonable changes to their lives. So glad to have caught myself.

Anyway, I'm working on a product and website that will be free that serves the chrome developer scene. This product will help people who want to develop chrome extension find value skews in the chrome marketplace so that they would be able to fill it and profit.

The scope of this project is much simpler and I'm going to challenge myself to release it by the end of this weekend. This is slightly unrealistic. I'd say 30 percent doable and 70 percent not but I'm excited to finish

10 hour work days bleed by... I can't use my phone anymore but I use it as a chance to remain conscious
- I previously wrote that I was moved to a more quiet position in my job and this was great because I could listen to audiobooks and educational YT vids.

Strangely, I found that consuming content, even educational content, made working on my own thing boring in comparison. Two out of four work days I didn't work as hard as I could've when I came home

Anyway, they moved me to a new spot where wearing headphones would damage my hearing. I just use it as an opportunity to reflect and practice conscious breathing.

Experimenting with my mind, habits, and diet. thoughts on carnivore?
Something that keeps life interesting is all the experiments I run on myself.

I'm easing into a carnivore diet, eating keto for a few weeks and observing how I feel. Can't wait to make keto beef stew in the crockpot tomorrow...

Network Marketing. Amway. Lovely grandma. secretive son-in-law. who moved my cheese.
Basically there is this nice old lady at my job that I talk to. She's always offering to share food I previously assumed was from Costco or a warehouse store like that. I tell share that I'm on a entrepreneurial journey here and she tells me about her son-in-law and puts us into contact

This guy is part of a MLM selling Amway and he introduced me to his mentor. All the bells and whistles of an MLM, they don't tell you about the product, the mentors were a couple from the midwest, they recommended me to read who moved my cheese.

Waning discipline. May get rid of phone. Just need a realignment
I'm too caught up with the lives of my friends and ex-girlfriend from NJ. We talk like everyday and it feels like a bit of a drain to my purpose. I'd always rather talk to them than do anything else. They want me to move back. I was thinking of changing my phone number

I think we're often better off in silence with our thoughts than cramming in yet more content. Consumersim is a slippery slope.

 

[ZCP]

@MJ DeMarco could you charge my card for his insiders subscription first year?

@Darwin Diaz let's gift you an insider and you can post there and get input / opinions.
also, dm me.

@MJ DeMarco did we get him hooked up? dm me what i need to do?

 

[ZCP]

Waning discipline. May get rid of phone. Just need a realignment
I'm too caught up with the lives of my friends and ex-girlfriend from NJ. We talk like everyday and it feels like a bit of a drain to my purpose. I'd always rather talk to them than do anything else. They want me to move back. I was thinking of changing my phone number

Who DO you have to talk to? Mentor? Business owners? Anyone you could identify to meet for coffee once a week to talk shop?

 

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[oneac]

Beware, MLM zombies walk Utah like a cancer.

Good thing coding makes me stay inside like a vampire

 

[oneac]

I think we're often better off in silence with our thoughts than cramming in yet more content. Consumersim is a slippery slope.

Agreed 100 percent. Yesterday I changed my phone number and deleted all the distracting apps on my phone.

Still find myself mindlessly reaching down for it sometimes. Thankfully opening up to 0 calls 0 messages and no YouTube makes me set it down just as fast

 

[oneac]

Who DO you have to talk to? Mentor? Business owners? Anyone you could identify to meet for coffee once a week to talk shop?

Good point, I didn't realize there was no one I TRULY had to speak to in order to move my goals forward.

I remained in communication with people so maybe a part of my old self would stay alive.

But I have to become a new and better person so I chopped that side of me off.

 

[oneac]

Hey guys!.... I say that with a tired enthusiasm.

This has been a good week. Not so productive on developing my software product since I took Monday off to recover from a lack of sleep (I do not regret this though, I hold health extremely high).

Nevertheless every single day, even if working on my product was the last thing that I wanted to do, I got something significant done.


Image of my project management system. I like to focus one thing at a time and be able to look back at what I've accomplished

Last week I said that I'd try to get the project done by Monday. That was a hilarious joke. There's still quite a bit of work to be done but I should definitely be finished before the end of November

The project
Why have I been hiding ideas like they matter?

I am working on a web scraping tool to scan the Chrome Extension store. This tool will gather all relevant info (user count, rating, etc) on all the extensions available and (1) display it on a filterable csv file and (2) find potential market gaps within the Chrome Extension store. This will help Chrome Extension developers find extensions that have a large user base, a paying user base, and would be "value-skewable"...


CSV of Chrome Extension Date. Doing experiments with how to efficiently scrape over 100k Chrome Extensions

I haven't done market research to see if anyone would find my product useful but I know I would so I'm building it

The way I see it, building this first software product teaches me many things. I'm learning/ am going to learn new Python libraries, becoming a more competent builder, how to manage a large (well, large for me) project, how to publish a software product online, how to attract a target audience (Chrome Extension Developers) and more

Really, my one goal for this project to for one person to say "This was valuable" and to add one email onto a list.

Besides that I'm kinda playing it by ear

My plan for more entrepreneurship time
As I've said a few post ago, the place I'm working at is shutting down and moving to Malaysia. So mid December I'll be out of a job.

Since I'll have the debt i mentioned before paid off by the time my job ends, my only real expense is going to be rent and living cost. This got me thinking:

Why don't I just work the bare minimum hours in a part-time job to cover my bills and use the extra time to focus on building and shipping products?

Instead of working for 40 hours a week, why don't I work for 20 and reduce expenses like a mfe?

The risk involved with this is that at no point in time will I have a large pool of savings (I have a bit of savings now but nothing crazy at all. Plus the pay incentive at my job for staying till the end will be there as well) to be there for me

The up side is that I would have more time to work on my software products.

What's your opinion on this?

Time
I've been super interested in the subject of time recently. I made this thread and got some good book recommendations.

Currently reading On the Shortness of Live by Seneca

I visited a graveyard and a certain grave hit me. It was a baby girl who survived just a month. She didn't even get a chance to live.

And here we are with the gift of life and we waste it on useless things.

Had that baby girl grown up to dream about her future, I promise you she wouldn't say "I want to play video games" "I want to work at a medical production factory" "I want to waste time watching YouTube videos"

I didn't say those things either. I wanted to be an astronaut. I wanted to be on par with Steve Jobs. I wanted to play flamenco guitar.

In this world financial freedom opens the doors to every other type of freedom because it grants you TIME.

Time to play guitar for 3 years. Time to read books about attachment styles and heal psychological trauma. Time to spend with your aging grandmother and ability to tell her "You don't have to work anymore"

This journey to freedom is the only one that matters.

 

[aidanoffline]

I know nothing of your past but after reading through this thread I gotta say you're a legend man.

I know personally I would be scared shitless if I was in your shoes right now, but you have the drive and faith in yourself to keep moving, even when shit gets very bad.

I hope to see you wildly successful someday.

 

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[oneac]

Rare late weekend update: I’m taking a short break from coding and walked over to my fridge.

I’ve been thinking recently : no matter what, we all (I hope) will have something to eat.

When I was living in my car I still managed to eat and not go hungry.

I’m grateful modern society has allowed this to happen.

How can I see myself as anything but wealthy when my fridge is stocked with food?

I know I’ll be okay for the coming week and that puts me at ease.

I know nothing of your past but after reading through this thread I gotta say you're a legend man.

I know personally I would be scared shitless if I was in your shoes right now, but you have the drive and faith in yourself to keep moving, even when shit gets very bad.

I hope to see you wildly successful someday.

Haha. Thank you man, I really appreciate it.

 

[oneac]

Yoooooo.

A lot happened this week I'm excited to let you know what's going on.

1. Finished my first project, complete success
I'm happy to announce that I've finished my first project, published it to the world and accomplished my goals

In this post I published a tool that I created for Chrome Developers to help them find profitable extensions to make. I've also published it on Reddit and a niche Discord. The feedback was great and that was actually one of the goals of this project

Project goals:
- Finish a project and upload it to the world ✅
- Get any sort of feedback, good or bad ✅

I've accomplished this and I'm quite proud of myself.

Now I've completely lost interest in working on this or on Chrome Extensions. The reason being that I want to focus on B2B software.

I see my next project as my first 'real' attempt at a business.

That is, I'm setting the goal to make money now.

Here are the goals for this next project:
- Find a niche and a problem worth solving ((worth solving=stressful enough for customers & competition not too tough))
- Build the project and publish it to the world
- Learn to market and market my product
- Work on this business for 6 months before moving onto the next one
- Continue this cycle until ramen profitability (more on this later)
- Once I hit ramen profitability, buy back my time and work on more ambitious projects

2. Moving onto learning how to find a problem and niche
The first step in this process will be to find problems and validate that they are worth solving. So I'm going to pour over resources that aid me in this process.

I've bought the below books:
- The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick
- Start Small, Stay Small by Rob Walling

I'm also reading countless blog post about finding problems in niche markets and taking notes on them.

3. Ramen profitability
One thing that I've found great joy in is reading software entrepreneur essays.

In this one by Paul Graham (for some reason the site says it's not secure, probably because it hasn't been updated since the dinosaurs were around) he goes over the concept of Ramen Profitability. I love this concept.

Ramen Profitability is when your business makes juuuust enough money for you to cover your living expenses, and therefore, buy back your time.

For a business to be Ramen Profitable to me I need a measly $1600 in monthly recurring revenue.

Monthly expenses
Rent: 900
Food: 400
Internet: 30
Phone: 70
Laundry: 60
Gas: 80
Random Expenses: 100

TOTAL: 1640 needed per month

Just 1640. 1640 to no longer have to be a slave for a business owner. 1640 to not have to wake up at times my chronotype is not supposed to. 1640 to be able to surround myself with like minded people anytime that I want. 1640 to no longer have to hear my manager bitch about small things. 1640 to not have to worry about my job moving to Malaysia and stressing about how I'm going to make money. 1640 to finally be able to explore this beautiful state, which I can't do because I'm in "survival mode". 1640 to be able to look at myself in the mirror and know that I'm my own master.

I love this concept, if you couldn't tell.

This is my wallpaper:



4. Upgraded my exercise routine
I'm doing more exercises in the morning now. After 3 week of consistently doing the bare minimum to build the habit of exercise, I'm going to start a more complicated routine. I'm really excited for this.


5. Living pay check to pay check and trying door dash
My job was kind and want to say "Happy Thanksgiving!" by not paying us for our day off...

I'm not going to lie, that stressed me out quite a bit because I'm essentially living pay check to pay check while I pay back my friend who lent me the $1500 to move in (Last payment is in two weeks!)

The $450 coming in next Thursday instead of the usual $620 puts me behind on somethings so I decided to do door dash.

I didn't just intend to do door dash, I wanted to do it as perfectly as possible so I was look up guides, writing notes, and literally analyzing those who would do "door dash with me" videos to see how they make so much money.

After driving for over 6 hours I made like 50 bucks. The issue is that people reserve the best times (lunch and dinner) wayyyy ahead of time which leaves me the scraps.

I am ashamed to say that, at one point, I got so hungry and stressed about not knowing where this money is going to come from that I ate someones order and said "F*ck this" and just decided to not continue doing door dash.

I felt and still feel a bit guilty. I've gotten over it because I'm implementing a lifestyle change (more on this below).

Anyway, I think I'll be fine with money, I'll just have to cut cost drastically this coming week which I believe I can do. It's just a bit annoying since I'm the type of guy to eat healthy. I don't know how healthy ramen, eggs, and peanut butter sandwiches are going to be...

6. Mindset change: no more having things that I don't earn
Stealing that poor bastards food made me reflect a lot since I consider myself a moral person and especially because things like that are looked down upon in my religion.

I've decided that the best course of action is to remove "owning things that I don't earn" from my personality.

For example, up until I've decided to make this change:
- I used to pirate books
- I had an unlimited audible account from this girl I used to talk to
- I'm apart of a paid self improvement community because I use my friends account
- I've taken toilet paper from work because I'm too broke to afford it

I don't think these things are very conducive to the entrepreneurship journey. I told myself I do them out of necessity, but really I can rely on myself for a lot of these things.

I've gotten rid of all my stolen books and paid for the two I mentioned above, plus I'm also reading Ender's Game which I bought as well.

I've gotten rid of the audible account (this was the most painful)

Now, I'm gradually going to improve. So somethings I'll have to compromise for now

I'm gonna keep using the toilet paper, I'm not walking around with an unwiped a$$ LMAO.

Until I can afford the community, I will continue to leach.

But you get the point.

7. Imagining my 'higher self'
A lot of reflection also went into the type of man I want to be.

- A wealthy one.
- A moral one.
- A healthy and attractive one.
- The type of dad his son respects and aspires to be like.
- The type of dad that sets his daughter's expectation of how men should act towards her insanely high.
- The type of dad that can spend all his time with his kids, who doesn't have to go to work and be away from them.
- The type of man who creates his own family after the rejection of his own.
- The type of man who can confidently reject the evils of this world (in my view/ my religion's view).
- The type of man who, when a cousin or family member is in the same position that I'm currently in, can house them and serve as inspiration to realize their highest selves.
- The type of man that old friend look at and can't believe this is how I turned out.

I think I'll start growing out my beard now...


8. Joined a group of healthy people
Lastly, I joined a cool group of healthy people. We meet up on Sundays, they're pretty cool.

I like being there because I'm the weakest in the room and so they all serve as inspiration to me.

 

[ZackerySprague]

Yo Rob Walling is awesome, I have his The SAAS Playbook. Read it and it's entirety. Let me know how that one goes with the Start Small book. Congrats on your journey man!

 

[ZackerySprague]

Here are 5 SAAS ideas for you to check out man!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QIGL9RH1S8&t=9s&ab_channel=MicroConf

 

[ZackerySprague]

I've got several SAAS Idea's, send me a message. We can chat about it if you are interested. *I got a gift for you as well, *

 

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[oneac]

I've got several SAAS Idea's, send me a message. We can chat about it if you are interested. *I got a gift for you as well, *

Message sent. Yeah man I love Rob Walling huggggge inspiration for me. Are you in the SaaS space as well?

 

[ZackerySprague]

I'll help you out even more man:

I would check out the legal client management software, that could have potential, the VLOOKUP Idea (I have this problem at work), and Patching..... I dread patching....

 

[ZackerySprague]

Message sent. Yeah man I love Rob Walling huggggge inspiration for me. Are you in the SaaS space as well?

He's a legend, his book is solid. I'm a Technical person, but looking into ideas that relate to building a SAAS.

 

[oneac]

He's a legend, his book is solid. I'm a Technical person, but looking into idea's that relate to building SAAS's.

Each time i try and send you a message I get an error. Can you try sending me one?

 

[ZackerySprague]

Each time i try and send you a message I get an error. Can you try sending me one?

Just did!

 

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[oneac]

Beautiful show in Utah today.

Grateful I’m no longer living in my car.

 

[oneac]

Man, time flies. Another week has goes by. I'm still on this journey.

TLDR + Index
1. Allah giving me blessing after blessing.
2. Fastlane progress is going good. I've narrowed down to two ideas.
3. My process to becoming a better man and entrepreneur

1. Allah's and life's blessings
This last week I didn't have work at all. My company's manufacturer couldn't provide an important component so we were told to stay home this week unless called in.

The best part? I'm getting paid regardless if they call me in or not.

This is amazing. This is what kids feel like when their schools cancel because of a snow day. I've been spending a minimum of 5 hours a day (progressively overloading to 12hrs on my free days) doing market research to decide on the best idea for my next SaaS product. (more on this below)

I've learned of gymnastic rings and bought a pair. These are a game changer because instead of spending like $200 dollars on dumbbells, an exercise bench, etc. to improve my home exercises, I can spend 30 and do everything but better with gym rings.

I've learned about minoxidil, basically its something you put onto your beard (in my case, lack of beard) to promote growth. I'm really excited to see how this turns out. Maybe I'll start posting beard progress pictures lmao.

My health and mental health are really good. I wake up happier than ever and it seriously feels like everyday I have something else to happy about.

The only thing that is lacking is real life social connection.

Currently I just hang out with this group of healthy people on Sundays, and go to the Mosque.

I've joined this group of young, disciplined men like myself and this group in particular has made me the happiest. One conversation with them and I feel my heart beating hard, my spirit elevated, I want to get to work and report back to them.

I admire the tough love advice we give each other, how much we laugh together, etc.

This is gonna sound strange but it makes feel like I have a dad. But the dad is this group of men.

Weird, I know. What I'm saying is that this masculine direction and influence is good for me.

I believe this is something missing from the real world now a days, there are no like minded, goal striving people my age. I look around all I see are my co-workers who spend their free time at parties, playing golf, upgrading their trucks...

Or maybe I'm just not at the level where these people even want to talk with me.

Either way, 1, 2, 3, however many years from now this won't be problem for me.


2. Fastlane progress


This week was really just me grinding out market research. I've come down to two options for my next SaaS, the pros and cons of which are listed above.

I'm leaning more towards IDEA ONE, but a recent comment from @ZCP is making me reconsider. Also Rob Walling advice leans more towards IDEA TWO. I'll probably take this day as a "break" and not think about this and instead decide tomorrow.

I can spend the rest of today learning the technology that both of these ideas would require anyways.

3. My process to becoming a better man and entrepreneur
Living alone is literally a God send for the version of myself I'm destined to become.

For those single, independent, men (and women to, but I'm a man so I can mostly relate to other men) who have absolute control over their environment:

Don't you see the opprotunity that has been placed at your lap?

You have all the tools needed to EFFORTLESSLY change the person you are, with minimal discipline or willpower.

This is an example of how I make it plainly obvious to improve every. single. day.

Vision board, long term goals, habit tracker...


Execise station right outside of my bedroom door... can't miss it


Fridge stocked with a healthy whole foods... as you can tell I enjoy to eat eggs... no homo



The point that I'm trying to make is that change is only as hard as you make it.

What might my life look like 5 years from now, knowing that I have made these positive changes?

Now, what might my life look like if I were to fill my fridge with junk food, buy an Xbox, and hang a poster of a porn actress were my goals once were?

Peace.

EDIT:
I've decided on IDEA TWO, you can read the reasoning here.

 

[matteblack]

any updates @Darwin Diaz

 

[oneac]

any updates @Darwin Diaz

Thanks for the call out. Last week you're right I didn't make any updates because honestly there wasn't much to update on. This week is kinda the same but here the significant things that happened these last two weeks

Debt paid. Job Ended. Starting a new one today.
- My job at the medical production plant ended yesterday. Today I'm starting a job at a grocery store and this has a couple advantages:
(1) The job is only a 5 min drive from my house so I'll be saving time when it comes to commuting. This also saves me money on gas. Not saying I'll do this but I can basically sell my car and get a bike without any crazy repercussions. This option is open to me in an emergency situation.

(2) This job offers part time work. Since I have finished paying off the debt I owed to my friend I have to make less money per week. Since my weekly cost of living is lower now, I can comfortably say that I'm able to survive on part-time hours, giving me an extra ten hours or so per week to work on learning (more on this below)

(3) Groceries will come at a cheaper price because they give me an employee discount.

I'm going to have to learn for a while before I can start
I've grossly underestimated the time it will take me to get 'production ready' with my coding abilities. Here is a roadmap I'm going to have to take before I can release a product, this is from an expert in the Shopify App space:


1.5 YEARS TO RELEASE A PRODUCT.
I think I can do this in 6-8 months with my background and ability to put down work.
I'm a bit conflicted because software development is the clearest path for me to make money. It's what I know I can do well and I don't mind learning this journey even if it would've taken a whole year


But 6 months just to take a shot goes against a lot of the philosophy that @ZCP and @Andy Black would tell me.

My mindset has shifted to think this -- I don't have an idea, I'm building the skill needed to make ANY app idea work (because I'd be the one who'd have to develop the apps)

Curious to learn what more experienced fastlaners would say about this roadmap, I wonder if they would say it takes too long.

Right now I can support myself with a job so a fast win wouldn't mean the difference between life and starvation.

Struggling a bit with discipline. Changing up how I organize my day.
Not going to lie. I let this girl from back home distract me a lot. She's coming over mid January.

The last three days my productivity has been shit because I let the dopamine I get from talking with her over power my drive to get on the fastlane. This is unacceptable to me so I'm going to only let myself talk with her when my planned work tasks are done.

I'll let myself talk with her only as a reward.

I've been really beating myself up about this but I'm going to take a reasonable approach.

Life moving forward.
Updates to this thread might be sparse because as you can see, I won't be doing much except learning and working. I'll update if anything new or exciting happens.

 

[MTF]

1.5 YEARS TO RELEASE A PRODUCT.
I think I can do this in 6-8 months with my background and ability to put down work.
I'm a bit conflicted because software development is the clearest path for me to make money. It's what I know I can do well and I don't mind learning this journey even if it would've taken a whole year

Can you build it using no-code tools?

Not going to lie. I let this girl from back home distract me a lot. She's coming over mid January.

The last three days my productivity has been shit because I let the dopamine I get from talking with her over power my drive to get on the fastlane. This is unacceptable to me so I'm going to only let myself talk with her when my planned work tasks are done.

I'll let myself talk with her only as a reward.

I've been really beating myself up about this but I'm going to take a reasonable approach.

Man that's bullshit. Enjoy it and don't beat yourself up about one of the greatest joys of life. Doesn't matter if you're hustling or whatever. In the future you'll look back with fondness to the early days of infatuation. Don't ruin it thinking you're doing something bad.

 

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[Andy Black]

1.5 YEARS TO RELEASE A PRODUCT.

I'm building the skill needed to make ANY app idea work (because I'd be the one who'd have to develop the apps)

Why can't you do something where you can make a sale, next week?

1.5 years to create an app?

Learning, before creating an app?

Or maybe somehow get paid to learn?

IDEA - Stop With The Ideas

One of my biggest red flags is the word "idea". Especially when it's an "idea for an app". Especially when you say you "can't reach an audience to test it". Especially when it'll take a minimum of 6 months to "go live". Having ideas suggests you're in your head theorising, rather than out...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[ZCP]

@Darwin Diaz what is your current posted weekly scorecard?
what do you put up on the wall? account balance? calls made? hours coding?
what can you post on the wall to help drive you?

what gets measured gets improved
what gets scheduled gets completed

 

[BizyDad]

My mindset has shifted to think this -- I don't have an idea, I'm building the skill needed to make ANY app idea work (because I'd be the one who'd have to develop the apps)

If coding is how you want to spend "the rest of your life" (obviously an exaggeration), then by all means develop this skill. Not everyone has to start making money washing windows or cleaning homes. Those are low barrier to entry companies anyways.

Yes, it'll take 6-18 months to build. And yes, it might fail.



But as long as you learn from these experiences, it's a win.

You can't build a skyscraper that lasts on a poor foundation. So right now, you're pouring concrete. Keep going.

 

[Chx]

Thanks for the call out. Last week you're right I didn't make any updates because honestly there wasn't much to update on. This week is kinda the same but here the significant things that happened these last two weeks

Debt paid. Job Ended. Starting a new one today.
- My job at the medical production plant ended yesterday. Today I'm starting a job at a grocery store and this has a couple advantages:
(1) The job is only a 5 min drive from my house so I'll be saving time when it comes to commuting. This also saves me money on gas. Not saying I'll do this but I can basically sell my car and get a bike without any crazy repercussions. This option is open to me in an emergency situation.

(2) This job offers part time work. Since I have finished paying off the debt I owed to my friend I have to make less money per week. Since my weekly cost of living is lower now, I can comfortably say that I'm able to survive on part-time hours, giving me an extra ten hours or so per week to work on learning (more on this below)

(3) Groceries will come at a cheaper price because they give me an employee discount.

I'm going to have to learn for a while before I can start
I've grossly underestimated the time it will take me to get 'production ready' with my coding abilities. Here is a roadmap I'm going to have to take before I can release a product, this is from an expert in the Shopify App space:
View attachment 53008

1.5 YEARS TO RELEASE A PRODUCT.
I think I can do this in 6-8 months with my background and ability to put down work.
I'm a bit conflicted because software development is the clearest path for me to make money. It's what I know I can do well and I don't mind learning this journey even if it would've taken a whole year


But 6 months just to take a shot goes against a lot of the philosophy that @ZCP and @Andy Black would tell me.

My mindset has shifted to think this -- I don't have an idea, I'm building the skill needed to make ANY app idea work (because I'd be the one who'd have to develop the apps)

Curious to learn what more experienced fastlaners would say about this roadmap, I wonder if they would say it takes too long.

Right now I can support myself with a job so a fast win wouldn't mean the difference between life and starvation.

Struggling a bit with discipline. Changing up how I organize my day.
Not going to lie. I let this girl from back home distract me a lot. She's coming over mid January.

The last three days my productivity has been shit because I let the dopamine I get from talking with her over power my drive to get on the fastlane. This is unacceptable to me so I'm going to only let myself talk with her when my planned work tasks are done.

I'll let myself talk with her only as a reward.

I've been really beating myself up about this but I'm going to take a reasonable approach.

Life moving forward.
Updates to this thread might be sparse because as you can see, I won't be doing much except learning and working. I'll update if anything new or exciting happens.

Curious to hear @Ravens_Shadow thoughts on the timeframe to build a software product - if I remember correctly, he had no programming background and built an MVP in 1 month which has now become a successful company.