Mr. Trash's journey to personal & financial freedom.

[BizyDad]

Closer to this

I want an electric one. TBH I want all my aircraft to be electrically powered, but the FAA isn’t really allowing that right now. Plus, the Sport Aircraft I really want (Icon A5) is AVGAS powered so lol

Ok, I get it better now.

But I'd still rather be flying a plane I think. I'm new to all this, so I might change my mind tomorrow.

 

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[BizyDad]

I would rather have someone else fy the private jet I hope to get in the future though

Just make sure you look the part.

 

[Guest1413tpa]

November 13th to November 19th

I'm a lazy, depressed POS who forgot to post an issue this week, more about this here.

Trash Panda Capital
I've been neck deep in clients and haven't done too much with the store. However, I did publish a banner ad on a large aviation website, and I am starting to see the traffic flow in.

I also deactivated the physical products (for now), until I get them set up as options. It has helped to consolidate the product line and re-focus on getting traffic to convert instead of visitors being confused.

I'm aiming to shoot out a Black Friday email with a coupon to my email list (which is surprisingly large), hoping that will help with conversion.

Also a lot more work to come... stay tuned.

 

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[Guest1413tpa]

November 20th to December 2nd

I'm going to go to bi-weekly posts on this thread. Too little going on. I wrote about it here in my newsletter too: Issue #40 - Newsletter Update ️


Trash Panda Capital
Still neck deep with my primary client. I fired a client on December 2nd also, and it felt refreshing. Most likely what will happen with this client, is that I will go and work for them full time, to provide a stable income while I grow Trash Panda Capital. I honestly need this right now, and the place is a the perfect fit for me.

I've made alot of changes with Aerodrawings. First, I blasted out some marketing emails with coupons to drive conversion up on Black Friday/Cyber Monday. I offered some deep discounts on purpose - to reactivate old customers, and also because my product and overall costs allow me to. More campaigns to come this month.

On the marketing front, I am eager to get started on Instagram and Pinterest marketing, but I have been battling Pinterest to get the account unlocked so nothing on this yet.

In the next few weeks, I have a massive plan to overhaul all of the products and optimize everything from SEO to Pictures and Variants. I plan on also adding Physical product variations to replace the old ones I deleted. Shopify doesn't make this easy.

Project X

Introducing Project X. Calling it this because we do not have a name for it yet.

Remember a few months ago when I was talking about partnering with a friend to open a fund? This is it. We are not sure if we are going after a fund or another finance related vehicle, but we are working on incorporating a partnership and then looking at our options. I'm excited about this one as we are a founder fit.

Project RE

Also introducing Project RE, another unnamed project. I'm working on the early steps of partnering with my girlfriend to pursue real estate investment and development opportunities. Updates will be sporatic on this one.

 

[Guest1413tpa]

January 10th to January 26th

Still wicked busy over here as I ramp up with full time work. I won't be writing the newsletter as much now, and posting in here haphazardly.


Trash Panda Capital
With AeroDrawings, I've been dialing up social and email marketing. Results have been interesting, less page views overall but +50% YOY compared to January of last year. The site is finally at the point where its mostly automatic. Which is great.

Still waiting to hear about my first scout deal, I plan on messaging my contact this week to see where things stand. I've been slowly ramping up my scouting business in general, more to come on this.

Unsalted Coast Partners
This is a real estate project between my and my girlfriend. We decided to join forces and work on real estate together.

Inovat8 Capital (formerly Project X)
My partner and I are actively working on this one. Right now in the process of getting things up and running and doing research into prospects.

 

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[Guest1413tpa]

Man, I want to say...

You've got so much going on: PE fund, deal scouting, real estate, aviation, Salesforce consulting, ecomm site, God know what else!

I want to say--stop! focus! too much!

I want to say, "pick 1 and do that! you're too scattered to be able to move the needle on any one thing."

I want to say all these things.

But I can't.

Because, I'm exactly the same. Too many interests, too many projects, and I want to do them all.

Even if it means I make less money. It just seems so much more fun


The curse of being an idea guy/gal!

Prove the critics wrong so I can get my justification for doing the same!

Haha trust me this has been an internal discussion in my head too. I am doing all of this to have multiple streams of income over one that I rely on. If I have to trade some cash for that, its fine.

I've gotten it down to three wealth building areas:

1. Real Estate (in partnership with my GF).
2. VC (In partnership with my friend).
3. PE/Scouting (Me).

Having partners in two of these areas helps immensely, especially as they move at different speeds. The VC partner moves much slower than I expected honestly.

This is on top of my 9-5, which I keep to a 9-5 if you know what I mean.

The best thing to make all of this happen is automation and systems. I've gotten to that point with my store, where all I really have to do is schedule social media & email posts, and deal with customer issues/inquiries as they come up. Major change from when I first got it.

I hope to repeat the same with Scouting, once I get a list of prospects and automated outreach, allowing me to spend time building relationships.

The thing that keeps me going is that I love all of it (except for Salesforce HA!). Thats what keeps me going with working after hours on my own projects. LOL.

Its oddly refreshing to work 16 hr days on all of this and not feel burnt out. Major contrast to last year where I worked for a terrible company and founder and was in fear of getting fired everyday.

 

[Guest1413tpa]

I should really get a title change for this thread (again). What do y'all think it should be?

I've been busy with everything going on, along with dealing with my physical health (lifting, beginning to run, tons of Golf and Disc Golf). I'm in the best shape I have been in since 2015 ATLEAST. It is helping me a ton with my business and personal life too.

Here are some updates, in order of my priority (from #1 to #7):

• DFaaS (Deal Flow as a Service): This is my primary focus, after networking with people they have asked me to find some seven figure deals for them. Rates quoted to me for payment of the finders fee are $500+5%, which is extremely lucrative. I am looking at recycling the newsletter for this service too. Very manual work right now, but I hope to automate it soon. If anyone here would like to learn more about this, please let me know.
• Trash Panda Adventure Club: This is priority #2. Right now, we are working on writing a playbook and building relationships with Salvage Yards, Storage Units, Municipalities, to acquire trailers, ambulances, school busses. Market is red-hot right now, which is allowing us to set up our analytics (to see if deals are good or not), do research into models & materials, and also slowly automate the collection of listings. Our goal is to flip a trailer every 30 days, and flip an ambulance/school bus every 60 days. Eventually would like to get into custom building RVs from Aircraft fuselages, rental properties & RVs/Trailers, campgrounds, etc.
• Nameless Salesforce Project: Working with a friend who is leaving the employer that fired me on some trainings/productized Salesforce consulting. Very early on, but this is most likely going to be the first true money maker (unless DFaaS comes first). This to me, is my exit out of the Salesforce industry, as graceful as it can be (I have some MASSIVE grievances with Salesforce right now).
• VC Project w/ Best Friend: Two weeks ago, I flew out to NYC/Hamptons to meet him in person. Spent a week together, getting to know each other in person, and I finally saw how the other half lives (which was surprising in a good way). I was very quiet and private on this trip, didn't post on Social Media much, just absorbed the experience (I found out this is the biggest reason he likes me as a friend/biz partner), and this trip really was the beginning of a new chapter. Our time frame with this is 8-12 years, so its a lower priority, but we speak on a daily basis and move forward. Working to get our Series 65s too.
• Consulting: Very busy time, but my company loves me. Its also morphing into a large idea (see below). Hoping to exit this as my full time gig by 2023.
• AeroDrawings: Since April, sales have been down. Guessing this is because the world is opening up, and I am at peace with it. Working on improving product listings, looking at networking with forums/communities, adding some new product, and outsourcing operations to a VA. I paid off the seller in full with two lump sum payments, after deciding this was the best thing to do to free me from debt. This is the first asset I truly own. Feels good.
• Future Port-Cos: I'm pausing on all acquisitions right now. The market is not favorable to me right now, and I feel like AeroDrawings is not finished. I did write a playbook for our Acquisitions and I will continue to improve upon that.

 

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[Guest1413tpa]

I love this thread. Keep going you Furry Denizen Of Waste Receptacles. I'm cheering you on.

I need to make that my title now. I love it.

Thank you for the warm remarks too, its been a grind and some days have been hard, but it feels right and good to finally DO something.

 

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[Antifragile]

TL/DR

Curious, why the name of "Trash Panda Capital"? Are you targeting recycling businesses? What's the angle on the name?

 

[Guest1413tpa]

TL/DR

Curious, why the name of "Trash Panda Capital"? Are you targeting recycling businesses? What's the angle on the name?

My nickname is Mr. Trash in the Salesforce community, because I have a knack for diving into the thick of it and figuring it out. Especially with tech debt.

Also, it sounded like a fun name. Micro-PE and VC firms are starting to get more and more creative with their names, example of this is Banana Capital.

 

[BizyDad]

TL/DR

I believe that marketing under your current name will hold you back.

At least read the thread to see if your hunch is correct. It's not the first time the topic's been discussed and there are 3 pages of progress...

But of course this too is an unsolicited comment so take it fwiw.

 

[Guest1413tpa]

Me fail English? That’s unpossible.

Nassim Taleb has the same motto, find the worst looking doctor. He has to be good if he looks that bad.

I get it…

Until I don’t.

Raising Capital while creating an association of “throwing money in the trash” to save a Panda… hard road to financial freedom.

Best of luck. Hope I’m wrong.

I get your qualms and they are well recieved. If this was a company that was joint with others, and didn't have the personality & persona of myself driving it, then there would be problems. I forsee that it will only be me tied to this, and eventually it will become a 100% hold-co, so thats why I am optimistic.

We shall see when I raise capital (what a lofty goal this seems, ugh!). Honestly, the winds are changing in the financial world, the types of people I work with and market to are the ones that love the name and my personality. I'm very much of the opinion that if you don't like the name or me, then we shouldn't be working together, for both of our sakes. I'm also seeing as the older generation retires and my generation and Gen Z come on board, things are becoming looser. Just look at #FinTwit on Twitter -> I'm quite tame compared to some of the other people there.

I don't think there will be an issue getting SBA financing or raising capital from the right people though, as I have been having those converstations with people that love the name. I mean... if a firm named Banana Capital can raise money...

Thats how I got Curators off the ground in the first place, its a 50/50 partnership where my biz partner is providing the majority of capital injection. He approached me because he found the Trash Panda Capital offering and wanted in on it, but mentioned that we needed to change the name to apply to a mass market. We also decided to move that original offering to the Curators name because it is more professional.

I do have another Capital name floating around, but that is for VC related things with a partner, where we have to act a bit more professional, as we are raising 100s of thousands.

If it ever really became a problem, I would just figure it out then.

 

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[Guest1413tpa]

Thanks for the update.

Any closed deals resulting in success fees for Curators yet?

Our revenue model is subscription based right now, so no success fees yet. Once we get further upmarket to LMM and beyond, I expect us to have success fees in the model, since I have gotten information that this is baked in with the transfer of funds upon purchase.

Right now we are holding steady with one client and some custom work.

 

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[Guest1413tpa]

Do it! Just know that it is a good job application, if you do a good job, someone in Salesforce will notice you and hire you to join their training team. That is a good best-case scenario.

The reality is that third parties can't create better training than the platform owner. By the time you finish creating a module, they will release an update that changes the screen and workflow rendering your training obsolete

Good luck though and proceed at once if you believe you have the unfair advantage of having first-hand knowledge of the pain points of current trainings.

Thats how I feel about this one, 100%!

To your second point, I agree to a certain extent. There are some major gaps in Trailhead/SFDC documentation, along with random issues that happen in modules right now. I've seen that the work to fix this is often 2-3 updates behind too. Ironic for the platform owner.

However, the admin training programs take this in stride, FocusOnForce is an example of the approach I want to take -> Get the full training up for each Certification, then make minor tweaks every release. They make alot of money doing this (and I am a vocal advocate of them). Salesforce rarely makes a major groundbreaking change (but the potential is there).

Who knows, I could be wrong. Just a perspective I have gotten from my own experience and others.

Biggest thing of importance to me is that I am taking the steps to actually do something, even if it fails.

 

[Guest1413tpa]

Update for 6/5/2020:

I ended up surveying a few users/power users today. The insight was a bit eye opening to be honest, especially around the marketing. There is 100% a need for the product, and they were very interested in trying out the prototype once I finish that.

I'm working on surveying some of the pseudo/regular admins to get a different perspective on user training, to see where the gaps are.

 

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[Kid]

So you're like Redhat of Salesforce (but on smaller scale). Cool! Keep us posted.

 

[Guest1413tpa]

Updates for 6/7/2020:

I've spent the weekend recharging my batteries to be honest, but I did begin to lay out the courses, and research where I want to host them.

I have also been surveying my network of family, friends, current and ex-coworkers, and the Salesforce community as a whole to get some feedback.

If any of you have used Salesforce in the past also, Would love to hear from you. Link here: The State of Salesforce User Training

This week, I want to get a landing page up to start drumming up interest, and begin to lay out the courses and sections a bit more formally.

One more thought->does the community here like to see public progress of work? Was thinking about live streaming work on this once I get into building

 

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[Guest1413tpa]

6/8/2020 Update:

Just letting the survey (The State of Salesforce User Training ) results roll in, as I sketch out the courses. I've been doing some inward thinking and internet research into course formats and also how I want to present this.

More updates to come...

 

[Guest1413tpa]

6/12/2020

Typically I would not post an update this early, but I have spent the past three hours recording content for a client.

I've noticed a few things I need to improve upon with the videos. Glad I am learning them now:

• Background noise. Living in a 1 bed in a apartment complex makes cutting the noise difficult. Especially with two dogs.
• I tend to ramble. I need a good script to guide me with recording.
• I insert useless info into the video. Need to focus on the key elements. 80/20 rule.
• Will need to edit videos post recording to include graphics/text. Monologe alone is boring and confusing.
  

After some more thinking and working on training materials today, I've decided to focus on the following areas as they keep coming up in my research/survey/talking with prospects/customers:

1. Reports/Dashboards course for Users (Its amazing how many users don't know how to pull data, even though they are typically allowed to do so and it would help them greatly)
2. Navigation/Efficiency/Shortcuts course for Users (people suck at this you would be surprise)
3. How to make your dashboards/reports suck less-> Course for Admins/management. (Stop building shitty reports and dashboards, over measuring data).

This makes it MUCH easier to niche in and create a course that is 2-4 hours max. A major problem with existing materials/courses is that they pack too much into a short amount of time, or throw everything/the kitchen sink into a course. Hot garbage in my eyes.

Future Ideas I am notating but shelving for now include the following:

1. Flagship User Course (Wider range of topics)
2. Fixing your Org for Admins
3. Building a System Users love (for admins)
4. Documentation for Admins
5. How to train users/communicate with users /get improvement for admins
6. Management course on SFDC org design/revamp to avoid pitfalls.
7. Deep Data course for admins

For next week, the following will happen:

1. First three courses will have a formal writeup/guide. May even start making quizzes, assignments, etc.
2. Video recording will have to wait until I get my equipment on Tuesday.
3. Research into video, recording practices.

 

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[Guest1413tpa]

6/13/2020 Update

Brief update for today. I laid out three courses in detail:

1. Salesforce Reports/Dashboards/List Views for Users (name will change)
2. Salesforce Reports/Dashboards/List Views for Admins (name will change)
3. Taming Salesforce - Becoming an Efficient User

All that is left is to fill in the further dots, create some tests/lectures/assignments, and record the videos. I need to do this to keep my ADHD brain in sync.

Also, taking some R&R to go camping and detach for a bit. This is something I believe every enterepreneur needs to do -> Take care of themselves.

 

[Guest1413tpa]

6/13/2020 Update

Brief update for today. I laid out three courses in detail:

1. Salesforce Reports/Dashboards/List Views for Users (name will change)
2. Salesforce Reports/Dashboards/List Views for Admins (name will change)
3. Taming Salesforce - Becoming an Efficient User

All that is left is to fill in the further dots, create some tests/lectures/assignments, and record the videos. I need to do this to keep my ADHD brain in sync.

Also, taking some R&R to go camping and detach for a bit. This is something I believe every enterepreneur needs to do -> Take care of themselves.

Adding on to this post for today. Decided after going in the woods and being with nature, to only go after the first two courses for now, to avoid going too thin and getting burned out.

Also sharing the name for this/updating the thread name: TameTheForce. Joe Exotic inspired me

 

[Guest1413tpa]

6/22/2020

Since I didn't hear from Udemy in regards to my test video, I started recording today. Its been tedious but since this my first couse, I am giving myself some time to learn. I've finished the intro section, and then record the additional sections throughout the week.

I also had a call with Pluralsight, and after it, I decided to not pursue them as an avenue as a funnel. Here is why:

• No control over the content, editing or style of teaching. Direct violation of the C of CENTS.
• Payment terms are not favorable, and at the whim of them.
• Long approval and course build process. 10-12 weeks is ridic.
• Requires an audition with a ton of caveats, which is understandable, but kinda bogus and a direct violation of the C of CENTS.
• Honestly, the SFDC team there is a bit full of themselves.

I had to slap myself back to reality and remember that I am using Udemy/Skillshare as a way to easily test/funnel people to MY website/products.

I also had to remind myself that the main goal is to teach courses for users, admins and management that are NOT the typical out there. More around a combination of how to use the product efficiently (80/20 rule!), and soft skills that are lacking, such as documentation, process design and other things.

Anyway, rest of this week will be spent recording, section by section.

 

[Guest1413tpa]

I wouldn't. I'd keep it all in one place.
But it's your party, your decision.

The mods can change the title for you if you like.

good call! I'll reach out to a mod and get that going.

 

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[Mutant]

I'll be launching this product in tandem with my little PE firm I am building, Trash Panda Capital, as the first product in the portfolio (speaking of that, wonder if I should create a new thread for that project, as its now the main one...)

Yay! You mentioned your PE endeavour in some other thread - been wanting that story! Looking forward to seeing it unfold.

 

[Guest1413tpa]

Yay! You mentioned your PE endeavour in some other thread - been wanting that story! Looking forward to seeing it unfold.

I gotta figure out where to slide it in... its quite the story haha!

 

[Ronak]

Just started reading this thread today. I believe you have something here. It seems like you've been wanting to really do this, but for some reason or another, you've been delayed. I know how it gets sometimes, as I often find myself taking weeks and weeks to do something, which ultimately ends up taking a fraction of the anticipated time.

A suggestion and challenge for you: pick 1 topic, perhaps the shortest one or most impactful one that would be 10-20 mins long. It could even be a subtopic, as long as it can stand on its own as a complete video. Sit down, and just do the recording and nothing else. Use it as a sample/example to presell and get feedback. Send it out to your contacts. You may even get sales before you have a whole product if the need is strong enough.

The last thing you'd want to do is create a 3-5 hour course spending months on it, only to get feedback which you can't act on because you've already finished the course.

This will give you a simple, achievable, and high impact goal to strive for as well as input to make it even better.

 

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[Guest1413tpa]

Just started reading this thread today. I believe you have something here. It seems like you've been wanting to really do this, but for some reason or another, you've been delayed. I know how it gets sometimes, as I often find myself taking weeks and weeks to do something, which ultimately ends up taking a fraction of the anticipated time.

A suggestion and challenge for you: pick 1 topic, perhaps the shortest one or most impactful one that would be 10-20 mins long. It could even be a subtopic, as long as it can stand on its own as a complete video. Sit down, and just do the recording and nothing else. Use it as a sample/example to presell and get feedback. Send it out to your contacts. You may even get sales before you have a whole product if the need is strong enough.

The last thing you'd want to do is create a 3-5 hour course spending months on it, only to get feedback which you can't act on because you've already finished the course.

This will give you a simple, achievable, and high impact goal to strive for as well as input to make it even better.

I 1000% agree with this. It also fits in better with Skillshare, and honestly my teaching style. I like to be short and to the point vs dragging things out. Plus, it can be expanded later into a larger course that can be placed on Udemy to funnel to my site

I already got some people in my network that are extremely interested in seeing what I come up with.

 

[Guest1413tpa]

Great, when are you committing to finish the first one?

Putting me on the spot, I love it.

I want to release the micro courses bi-weekly. So first one, comes out September 15th. Then another on 10/1, etc.

Then we will see where they go!

 

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[Guest1413tpa]

Was reading some random article and thought about your topic. They mentioned Learn Scrivener Fast . Its a course teaching how to use software that i've never heard about ( its about writing books or movie scripts ).

Basically story is a bit aged (circa 2016) but the guy made more money (6 figures) selling the course on how to use the app than the app earned itself.
Pretty neat!

This is quite cool! Its the direction I want to go with this, something passive, teaching things that are not talked about right now.

 

[Guest1413tpa]

October 2nd to October 8th,2020

Me
Word of the week? Waterfall.

I've been stuck in a state of sickness since I took a vacation last week. So this week has been slow. Very slow.

Trash Panda Capital
Now that the branding has come back, I've ramped up my search for my first deal. I've decided to aim a bit higher, reaching out to sellers to see if they would be open to a downpayment with seller side financing. Results have been positive so far, with a few serious prospects.

I've also spent some time thinking and planning out the automation I want for the deal flow and scouting processes. Looking forward to using a combination of data sources, web scrapers and AI/ML to make it as automated as possible, and also help with the massive amount of deals I see daily.

Other than that, its been slow. I've been focusing on dealing with my mental and physical health this week, as it became a bit worrisome (I don't have COVID but I'm still concerned).

Other Products
Still waiting for my father-in-law to get me information so we can kickstart his marketing campaigns.