This weekend marks the 1 year anniversary of starting my venture (more like an adventure).
All my life I have had the entrepreneurial itch. I can’t count the amount of times that I told my self that if I could figure out my path that I could be truly successful. The Millionaire Fastlane gave me just that! All I had to do was fill in the gap with a product. I had no idea of what I was going to do but I knew 3 things:
Now I feel that it is only fair to let you know that I am a high school drop out with a GED. I had little to no computer skills and I did physical labor in the fireplace industry until an injury led me into the sales and project management side of the business.
After reading MJ’s book I spent nearly a month racking my brain for ideas and writing down every thought that came to mind. Some of these ideas where horrible by the way but I just didn’t want to miss an idea without doing my due diligence.
One afternoon I was at Subway looking for a cheap lunch. After paying the cashier she handed me my receipt and said, “If you go online and fill out the survey at the bottom, you will receive a free cookie on your next visit.â€
So I returned to my office determined to receive my free cookie. After going through the steps of the survey it dawned on me, there has got to be an easier way to do this. What if the customer could take the survey in the store right on their smart phone, and they would receive there reward right away? I knew technology was there I just had to find out how to build it.
On July 4[SUP]th[/SUP] 2012, a long time friend asked me to have coffee with him. He had married into the restaurant business and literally only took 6 days a year off. He got to telling me about how burnt out he was and how he would like to find a way to spend more time with his family. The entire conversation I couldn’t help but think of the fast lane.
I told him as much as I could about my new found knowledge as well as my idea. By the end of the conversation he said, “Ill put up some money to get it started if you think you can sell it!â€
Not believing him fully yet, I continued to develop my plan over the holiday weekend. That Monday my friend called and asked me to meet with him and an attorney to get some advice. By that night we had signed papers to form our corporation.
Full of excitement and nervous as hell I started to look for our next step. Following some research we determined that we needed to start with a designer to get our idea down on paper and develop a great UI. This was our first big expense but was well worth every dollar.
The next step was to find someone to develop it. After getting some estimates we found our selves in way over our heads. This is where I feel that we got lucky. I started to tell my friends about my idea in hope of getting as much input as possible. Sure enough a friend of a friend was in the development business. He was out of state but was willing to hear me out.
After sharing the idea and more importantly the designs and UI, he fell in love with the idea. Not only did he agree to build it for an equity steak in the company but he offered up some extra cash to help with our operating expenses.
As I type this we are only a week a way from having a final product. It has been a long year and I know that it is only going to get tougher as we grow but at least we are moving forward.
I have learned a lot already but the most important thing I have picked up so far is……..
JUST DO IT! Don’t let an unfinished business plan, lack of capital, or lack of experience stop you. Take it one step at a time a handle each challenge as it comes up. If your plan has legs it the answers will start to come to you!
I look forward to sharing my story and the other aspects of my business as I move forward in my adventure and I hope I have the opportunity to share my experience with others on theirs.
All my life I have had the entrepreneurial itch. I can’t count the amount of times that I told my self that if I could figure out my path that I could be truly successful. The Millionaire Fastlane gave me just that! All I had to do was fill in the gap with a product. I had no idea of what I was going to do but I knew 3 things:
- I needed to solve a problem
- It needed to reach millions
- I had very little money to work with
Now I feel that it is only fair to let you know that I am a high school drop out with a GED. I had little to no computer skills and I did physical labor in the fireplace industry until an injury led me into the sales and project management side of the business.
After reading MJ’s book I spent nearly a month racking my brain for ideas and writing down every thought that came to mind. Some of these ideas where horrible by the way but I just didn’t want to miss an idea without doing my due diligence.
One afternoon I was at Subway looking for a cheap lunch. After paying the cashier she handed me my receipt and said, “If you go online and fill out the survey at the bottom, you will receive a free cookie on your next visit.â€
So I returned to my office determined to receive my free cookie. After going through the steps of the survey it dawned on me, there has got to be an easier way to do this. What if the customer could take the survey in the store right on their smart phone, and they would receive there reward right away? I knew technology was there I just had to find out how to build it.
On July 4[SUP]th[/SUP] 2012, a long time friend asked me to have coffee with him. He had married into the restaurant business and literally only took 6 days a year off. He got to telling me about how burnt out he was and how he would like to find a way to spend more time with his family. The entire conversation I couldn’t help but think of the fast lane.
I told him as much as I could about my new found knowledge as well as my idea. By the end of the conversation he said, “Ill put up some money to get it started if you think you can sell it!â€
Not believing him fully yet, I continued to develop my plan over the holiday weekend. That Monday my friend called and asked me to meet with him and an attorney to get some advice. By that night we had signed papers to form our corporation.
Full of excitement and nervous as hell I started to look for our next step. Following some research we determined that we needed to start with a designer to get our idea down on paper and develop a great UI. This was our first big expense but was well worth every dollar.
The next step was to find someone to develop it. After getting some estimates we found our selves in way over our heads. This is where I feel that we got lucky. I started to tell my friends about my idea in hope of getting as much input as possible. Sure enough a friend of a friend was in the development business. He was out of state but was willing to hear me out.
After sharing the idea and more importantly the designs and UI, he fell in love with the idea. Not only did he agree to build it for an equity steak in the company but he offered up some extra cash to help with our operating expenses.
As I type this we are only a week a way from having a final product. It has been a long year and I know that it is only going to get tougher as we grow but at least we are moving forward.
I have learned a lot already but the most important thing I have picked up so far is……..
JUST DO IT! Don’t let an unfinished business plan, lack of capital, or lack of experience stop you. Take it one step at a time a handle each challenge as it comes up. If your plan has legs it the answers will start to come to you!
I look forward to sharing my story and the other aspects of my business as I move forward in my adventure and I hope I have the opportunity to share my experience with others on theirs.
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