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Hi, my name’s Ryan and I’m 36 years old. Here’s a little bit about me:
2000: Early beginnings.
I started an indie record label with a friend and we released albums for some friend’s bands and did a few sub-genre compilation CDs that we sold over the internet. Did this as a side hustle till about 2006.
2004: Stock market investing 101.
I started to learn about the market during this time and bought Netflix as my 2nd stock ever at a split-adjusted price of $1.57/share. I was a customer and loved their service. Unfortunately, I got spooked by some downward movement and sold out at a small loss, and never bought it back. I hear I missed out on some upside ;-)
2005: Rock star phase.
Put in my two-week notice at my job and went on tour with a band I was in. Bought a van, invested in merch, and saved 1 year’s living expenses so I could be a rock star for a while. I booked nearly all the shows myself and handled all logistics. After ONE MONTH, my bandmates whined about needing to get back to their day jobs (they’d run out of funds). They returned to their day jobs while I did odd-jobs, continued my independent studies, and lived in my parent’s basement. At 23, I knew I didn’t want to be a loafer—I paid them rent and sold some belongings, such as video games, on Ebay to get by.
2006: The hustle begins.
Started teaching guitar lessons and worked at a music store part-time. I built up a roster of about 65 private students per week. Worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Meanwhile, I wanted to move out of my rent’s place and buy a house. In about a year and a half from getting my 1st guitar student, I saved $40k for a downpayment, then started searching for a house, which were selling for outrageous prices at the time. I decided to hold off on buying any real estate and kept most of my money in the stock market instead.
2008: Went bricks and mortar.
I sold all my stock holdings in Feb 2008 (got lucky there), and opened a bricks and mortar music store and lesson studio. Classic case of “do what you love,” but what can I say… I was still operating under the Script doctrine. Needless to say, while business started off well in early 2008, we lost half of our revenue by 2009.
2011: Rock bottom housing.
After slogging through the Great Recession, I managed to get my music store back on solid ground without taking on any debt. Once things turned around, I rented an apartment above my store in 2010 to reduce my travel time to 30 steps. One problem: the intersection was busy (good for business, not so good for sleep). Around early 2011, I decided to finally buy a house (a foreclosure at a hefty discount). I spent several months fixing it up before moving in.
2012: Closing in on my FTE.
My store’s manager left after 4 years working for me to become a music teacher at a school district. I decided to replace her with myself. Now my time was further tied to running the store while I tried to “do what I love” (teaching guitar). Free time eluded me.
2014: My FTE arrives in full force.
I was a hamster on a wheel and I knew it. I continued to read every book I could (including TMF ). The more I learned, the more I realized my business was no more than a job I created for myself. I’m sure everyone here has heard the story a million times. It’s not that I wasn’t making enough money—I was making double what I needed to live. The issue was that not much living was going on. I was trapped and ready to break free.
2015: The year I took action.
I hired several teachers to take on new guitar students (and some of my least favorite students) while I let churn gradually reduce the rest of my workload. I made a “not-to-do” list and hired a few part-timers to handle most of those tasks. I also set up a home office and used software to be able to access our POS computer at the store (so I could do all inventory work, payroll, etc from home without distraction). Business hummed along nicely, though my pay was decimated. I cashed out most of an IRA, tightened my belt, and forged on. I finally had my time back, now I needed more money. I also needed to get started on a new road (the one I was traveling was fraught with potholes). Long story short, I spent 3 days at my store per week, and with everything running on its own otherwise, spent 4 days at home. I focused on creating new projects, one fail after another. With each failure, I learned a crucial piece of info that helped the next project a little. At the end of the year, I was running low on cash. I doubled down on my efforts and 12-hour days turned into 16. Eventually, I found an underserved niche, figured out what the market wanted that wasn’t being provided (with the help of online reviews), and set out to deliver. By the end of 2015, instead of continuing to hire local W2 and 1099 workers, I set my sights to online talent for help. While slowly going broke, I didn’t even know that my whole world was about to change.
2016: The year that everything changed.
The last project I started in December of 2015 launched two months later and sales started coming in. Within a few months, I made more than my best year at the music store. Over the next several months, I was profiting 7-8x what I needed to live. The money kept coming in as I continued to rebuild my savings while working on my new project. But I had a tough decision to make: continue to split my time between my online business and my music store or focus exclusively on my new venture. I opted for the latter, and subsequently closed my store at the end of the year.
2017: Winding Down
It was a tough process to close down a retail store and lesson studio that had instrument rental contracts with school districts. Not only did we have several employees, but we had about 8 teachers and many people in the area who loved what we did. I focused on helping the teachers transition to a nearby church where they could continue to teach their students, so my business decision wouldn’t disrupt their income or their student’s progress in learning. As hard as this period in my life was, I have no regrets. By mid-2017, I also winded down the instrument rental business and gave the rest of my remaining guitar students away to trusted teachers who either worked with me at my store or who I’d known for years.
Present: Just getting started.
I currently work from home and finally have my life back. I only teach guitar occasionally for fun (I have 1 student now, one of my neighbors). I wake up each day with the mission of providing value for others. I’m happy to say I don’t chase dollars anymore; I chase problems to solve. But I have a lot more to learn, and welcome the challenges that will inevitably pop up. And all the while, I still read up on things that interest me, such as investing (though I’m mostly in cash now). I plan on learning more about options soon, particularly the sell-side part of it.
I’m grateful to have stumbled on TMF and Unscripted at a crucial moment in my life—both books made all the difference. And as a life-long learner, this forum is a true gift. I’m excited to provide as much value as I can here. Thanks!
2000: Early beginnings.
I started an indie record label with a friend and we released albums for some friend’s bands and did a few sub-genre compilation CDs that we sold over the internet. Did this as a side hustle till about 2006.
2004: Stock market investing 101.
I started to learn about the market during this time and bought Netflix as my 2nd stock ever at a split-adjusted price of $1.57/share. I was a customer and loved their service. Unfortunately, I got spooked by some downward movement and sold out at a small loss, and never bought it back. I hear I missed out on some upside ;-)
2005: Rock star phase.
Put in my two-week notice at my job and went on tour with a band I was in. Bought a van, invested in merch, and saved 1 year’s living expenses so I could be a rock star for a while. I booked nearly all the shows myself and handled all logistics. After ONE MONTH, my bandmates whined about needing to get back to their day jobs (they’d run out of funds). They returned to their day jobs while I did odd-jobs, continued my independent studies, and lived in my parent’s basement. At 23, I knew I didn’t want to be a loafer—I paid them rent and sold some belongings, such as video games, on Ebay to get by.
2006: The hustle begins.
Started teaching guitar lessons and worked at a music store part-time. I built up a roster of about 65 private students per week. Worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Meanwhile, I wanted to move out of my rent’s place and buy a house. In about a year and a half from getting my 1st guitar student, I saved $40k for a downpayment, then started searching for a house, which were selling for outrageous prices at the time. I decided to hold off on buying any real estate and kept most of my money in the stock market instead.
2008: Went bricks and mortar.
I sold all my stock holdings in Feb 2008 (got lucky there), and opened a bricks and mortar music store and lesson studio. Classic case of “do what you love,” but what can I say… I was still operating under the Script doctrine. Needless to say, while business started off well in early 2008, we lost half of our revenue by 2009.
2011: Rock bottom housing.
After slogging through the Great Recession, I managed to get my music store back on solid ground without taking on any debt. Once things turned around, I rented an apartment above my store in 2010 to reduce my travel time to 30 steps. One problem: the intersection was busy (good for business, not so good for sleep). Around early 2011, I decided to finally buy a house (a foreclosure at a hefty discount). I spent several months fixing it up before moving in.
2012: Closing in on my FTE.
My store’s manager left after 4 years working for me to become a music teacher at a school district. I decided to replace her with myself. Now my time was further tied to running the store while I tried to “do what I love” (teaching guitar). Free time eluded me.
2014: My FTE arrives in full force.
I was a hamster on a wheel and I knew it. I continued to read every book I could (including TMF ). The more I learned, the more I realized my business was no more than a job I created for myself. I’m sure everyone here has heard the story a million times. It’s not that I wasn’t making enough money—I was making double what I needed to live. The issue was that not much living was going on. I was trapped and ready to break free.
2015: The year I took action.
I hired several teachers to take on new guitar students (and some of my least favorite students) while I let churn gradually reduce the rest of my workload. I made a “not-to-do” list and hired a few part-timers to handle most of those tasks. I also set up a home office and used software to be able to access our POS computer at the store (so I could do all inventory work, payroll, etc from home without distraction). Business hummed along nicely, though my pay was decimated. I cashed out most of an IRA, tightened my belt, and forged on. I finally had my time back, now I needed more money. I also needed to get started on a new road (the one I was traveling was fraught with potholes). Long story short, I spent 3 days at my store per week, and with everything running on its own otherwise, spent 4 days at home. I focused on creating new projects, one fail after another. With each failure, I learned a crucial piece of info that helped the next project a little. At the end of the year, I was running low on cash. I doubled down on my efforts and 12-hour days turned into 16. Eventually, I found an underserved niche, figured out what the market wanted that wasn’t being provided (with the help of online reviews), and set out to deliver. By the end of 2015, instead of continuing to hire local W2 and 1099 workers, I set my sights to online talent for help. While slowly going broke, I didn’t even know that my whole world was about to change.
2016: The year that everything changed.
The last project I started in December of 2015 launched two months later and sales started coming in. Within a few months, I made more than my best year at the music store. Over the next several months, I was profiting 7-8x what I needed to live. The money kept coming in as I continued to rebuild my savings while working on my new project. But I had a tough decision to make: continue to split my time between my online business and my music store or focus exclusively on my new venture. I opted for the latter, and subsequently closed my store at the end of the year.
2017: Winding Down
It was a tough process to close down a retail store and lesson studio that had instrument rental contracts with school districts. Not only did we have several employees, but we had about 8 teachers and many people in the area who loved what we did. I focused on helping the teachers transition to a nearby church where they could continue to teach their students, so my business decision wouldn’t disrupt their income or their student’s progress in learning. As hard as this period in my life was, I have no regrets. By mid-2017, I also winded down the instrument rental business and gave the rest of my remaining guitar students away to trusted teachers who either worked with me at my store or who I’d known for years.
Present: Just getting started.
I currently work from home and finally have my life back. I only teach guitar occasionally for fun (I have 1 student now, one of my neighbors). I wake up each day with the mission of providing value for others. I’m happy to say I don’t chase dollars anymore; I chase problems to solve. But I have a lot more to learn, and welcome the challenges that will inevitably pop up. And all the while, I still read up on things that interest me, such as investing (though I’m mostly in cash now). I plan on learning more about options soon, particularly the sell-side part of it.
I’m grateful to have stumbled on TMF and Unscripted at a crucial moment in my life—both books made all the difference. And as a life-long learner, this forum is a true gift. I’m excited to provide as much value as I can here. Thanks!
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