Newsflash: Fastlane is your only hope. Not stocks. Not Crypto. Not jobs.

[DougRMR]

When you live in third world countries like I do, fastlane is not a word that is said the same way as in the US.
The United States has more than 20 million millionaires. US creates 2 million millionaires per year. There is no other country in the world that does such a thing. Therefore the Fastlane occurs naturally.

Third world countries are bankrupt. Some going into default, with a currency devaluation of more than 70%. The decapitalization of companies is enormous, many close, others flee.
How do you set up a fastlane business when consumers and companies are playing small, because most fall into the range of poor mini-companies. The competition in every niche is fierce. There is no purchasing power, something essential. Consumption is vital. A dynamic economy is vital. Abundance of capital moving is vital.

Entrepreneur? If possible. But Fastlane in a third world country? Neither time nor scale occurs in a decade. It takes many years to build a fastlane business, if not generations.

The only businesses that are making it to fastlane in my country are software companies. Let's speak clearly. One in a thousand does. Few reach the top. And guess what? 85% of these companies open subsidiaries in the US, from where they obtain their profits. Why will it be precisely in the US?

Software development is not for everyone.
So what else are we left with? Another youtube channel? Another course?

I have read some success stories on the forum, and other members here who are doing very well. I am very happy to read this. But it also makes me feel like I live on Pluto. How to achieve the same when the necessary conditions do not exist, not even to adapt them to the environment? Context matters

I understand that you will not like what I have written. I agree with going fastlane and I believe in CENTS. But I also understand that there is an infinitely higher layer. The inequality in opportunities between rich countries and underdeveloped countries is a reality.
It is not an excuse, because there is always someone who enters the fastlane in underdeveloped countries. But achieving it costs 2 million times more and effort.

Just thoughts that wake up when I read "fastline business..."
Nothing new...

I also live in a third world country going down the shitter closely tied to the U.S. Which means not only do we have a shitty economy but Biden's inflation is also squeezing us on all sides. My parents are struggling, it's almost impossible to get a good job without a vax (none of my close family is vaxinated against COVID), rent + groceries + healthcare brings monthly expenses close to $800 off the bat. Which would be fine if the median salary in my country wasn't $11k. And that's not even counting emergency costs, gym memberships, internet, cellphone providers and any other expense to make your life better. As of now, my net worth is about $12k.

But I literally have no other choice. I could move to the U.S. but I would be leaving everything behind (family, pets, friends, cars, assets, girlfriend, current music projects, etc) and starting from scratch with a liquid pool of money of about $9k. This year I learned the hard way that anything that's not your fastlane business should not get much attention unless you can afford to. Investing sums of money into crypto and stocks hasn't done shit for me in terms of exponential growth. Have I profited? yes. But nowhere near enough so that I can sleep easy. I've had several F*ck This Events back to back and I'm gonna take it as a sign from God to change whatever it is that I'm doing.

 

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[Thurlam]

The entirety of the past few years since I read TFF, my mantra has been "I'm waiting for the right opportunity to spring into action, and invest my money into a business that will tangibly improve others lives, and be rewarded with profits in kind".

Me?
I'm just fine, absolutely fine even. Still learning, still waiting.

Kind of sounds like action-faking to me...you might just keep waiting forever with that attitude. At some point you gotta make your own opportunities.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

If you can dig out inefficiencies fighting with rivals of math phds I think you can have better future providing real value to customers and users.

Efficient at what levels? Overall sure. It’s almost impossible to pull a 100% ROI on 100 billion in a few months and do so repeatedly. But, it’s not that hard to pull a 100% ROI on $10 invested.

The point is that most of the great deals aren’t available to the big guys, so they’re not your competitors. They compete with other big guys chasing a 1-5% return rate on huge sums of money.

Warren Buffet isn’t going to look for a $50K deal that can make him $200K in a few months is he? He has hundreads of billions to allocate, if he was looking for such deals inflation would kill the rest.

Markets are not efficient at smaller levels. There are a ton of inefficiencies and a good trader can make $10K/day investing his own money.

However… when you have large sums of money, in such small, low liquidity deals, your actions start having an effect on the market… which means that if you decide to close the position, for example, that may crash the market. This, apart from the inflation argument, is why big funds cannot exploit these inefficiencies.

I think trading is providing value in itself. It is trading that keeps markets accountable and removes inefficiencies over time. Is a “business” better? I think that’s an apples and oranges comparison. A business is just doing an activity at scale. Whether that is trading or cleaning windows doesn’t matter.

Most people on the forum are broke. Gotta start somewhere. If trading is your day job, that’s cool. But it’s not a business until you can start getting other people’s money and start investing it.

If we’re now asking which ability has better scaling potential, cleaning windows vs trading, I’d say that depends on your aptitudes and natural predispositions. If you’re an introvert, math geek who stays in front of the computer the whole day, trading may be a better path. You gotta find your own path that you own and is suited to you and whatever natural aptitudes you have.

MJ started a limo lead gen business. He had a keen interest in cars and driving from when young. He had a job as a limo driver. He knew the industry, and built around his natural predispositions, found a way to align them with providing value to the world. You gotta do the same, as does everyone else here.

I’m currently a teacher - not a high school teacher, or a university one, but a consultant for other agencies and freelancers. I’ve been a freelancer and agency owner for a combined 11 years. I’ve seen a lot change around the market, and scaling my own agency has allowed me to comprehend the systems involved and what is required to scale to big numbers. I’ve been doing extremely well in this with fantastic client results. But once again, you gotta build around your natural inclinations, your path is unique to you.

 

[capito]

Hi @Ali Hamza.
I know that Asian countries have the advantage of low cost of living. I live in Uruguay, South America, in a small city/town in the interior (countryside), and the cost of living is incredibly expensive.

It's great that with 200K USD you can be financially free for 3 DECADES.

Here, a simple new house in the villages around the capital (2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, kitchen-dining-living room all integrated, + garage or roof for one car) costs 450k USD. In the area where I live (countryside) a simple new house costs 200 USD.
The basic monthly food basket is USD 1300 (everyone "survive" on half of that). Add the monthly expenses on tax bills, electricity, gas, internet... it has always been expensive (now over the clouds), and if you rent a home then you have a very complete monthly budget. Cars? Yes, very expensive.
We are 60 times more expensive than our neighbors Argentina and Brazil. So, what should I say you?

I understand your escape numbers. It's fantastic that you can do it with 200K or 300K USD. It is not my case as you will see. Financial freedom depends a bit on what you want for your life too. I'm talking about a budget for an average family. If you also want something special...

My grandparents (Argentines) built houses and sold them. They also had a mechanical workshop. They managed to save USD 360K, which in those years was really financial freedom for 3 decades. Political economic corruption left them without a penny in the bank. It was a period called "corralito", where savings in banks were blocked and literally disappeared. My grandfather worked until he was 89 years old, and he died poor. Where is financial freedom when you have corrupt governments? In this, Latin America has a postgraduate degree.

My country is highly dollarized. Then, the government exchange control (very manipulated in Latin America) makes the dollars give you a lot or anything. It depends on times of crisis (very frequent), times of prosperity, and who is in charge of exchange control.

You know, until recently, I was sure that a not very large figure in USD would give me financial freedom for 30 years. Yes, I also thought the same as you! Now I think money is smoke. It's worth nothing. (Is it better to have material things like real state? Here that has a high cost of acquisition and taxes).

Beyond all that has been said, my country is one of the most stable in South America, but that is not free or cheap.

++++

I have been an entrepreneur for years, but always in the slowlane. I have studies in finance and IT (old school). I have also participated in community social projects such as the construction of houses for low-income people.

I've been updating myself with new technologies for a while. They cost me a bit, the years do not come alone.
Now I'm learning Blockchain, but I see a lot of ado about nothing. It is difficult for me to find/see any business opportunity there that I can transform into specialized units that add value. It must be my old school mentality, but I see in Web3 more problems to be solved than solutions.

++++

"I think you are just being extremely pessimistic." True. The 2 or 3 ideas that I play with (which are related to each other), are not giving me the results that I want. Some days thinking about pivoting, other days enduring the deluge. Also struggling with a situation that affects my private life.
For the rest, if you knew my life, the last thing that would occur to you to say is that I am extremely pessimistic.

 

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[capito]

But I still believe "Fastlane" (or small business) is the only escape, especially with the internet making "borderless" commerce much easier.

... "borderless" commerce ...
What is the meaning?
Here we don't have Amazon, Ebay, Etsy... and all those types of ecommerce common in the US

 

[ziggizoezion]

... "borderless" commerce ...
What is the meaning?

That you can sell to (almost) everywhere. You don't need Amazon/Etsy/Ebay for this.

 

[BRIANDAVE]

Hi @MJ DeMarco, What's your take on building a business in the web3 space. Would you strongly advice against it. I'm just curious that's all

 

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[RicardoGrande]

Kind of sounds like action-faking to me...you might just keep waiting forever with that attitude. At some point you gotta make your own opportunities.

Interesting, I suggest you re-read my post in full, then check my progress thread. This is the worst economy since the 1970s.

 

[Mhesh]

I've been here for 15 years.

Over that time, I seen a bunch of "get rich" trends come and go.

These flavors are hot for a few years, then disappear.

Each time, some threads blow up with folks who are starry-eyed about how wealthy they're going to get as they do nothing but hop aboard a trend and "HOPE" and "WAIT".

And then like clockwork, reality hits.

Their ideas of "getting rich" investing in some meme or crypto stocks goes bust. They don't get rich and they have to start over. Worse, they wasted YEARS of their life "waiting, investing" or whatever. During that time, they gained ZERO practical business experience.

As crypto shits the toilet, as stocks shit the toilet, as the economy shits the toilet, as inflation skyrockets, what remains as the only true method of obtaining sustainable, controllable wealth? A FASTLANE BUSINESS.

Let's be clear: A Fastlane business IS, and WILL REMAIN, your best bet at acquiring sustainable wealth fast, and asymmetrically.

Not stocks.

Not cryptocurrency.

Not some hot bandwagon trend.

The only exception is if you SERVE these industries in a Fastlane Business, you know, the old "sell shovels in a gold rush."

I noticed in 2022 that a lot of the hype of crypto and stock trading talk has dwindled to nothing.

Why?

Duh... people are losing money hand over fist.

People are discovering they HAVE ZERO control over the economy, crypto exchanges, central bank decisions, supply chain bottlenecks, and other BS.

When your wealth acceleration vehicle cannot be controlled, you're not an entrepreneur, you're an investor and speculator.

FACT: Your best bet for wealth acceleration will always come from your Fastlane, CENTS based business. Not from stocks, not from cyrpto, not from day-trading Gamestop, and not from anything hyped in the retail mainstream.

Sad that millions of people will soon discover that they put all their eggs in the WRONG basket.

Yes, stocks will recover. Crypto likely will survive. But the point is, why have you not TAKEN CONTROL OVER YOUR FINANCIAL LIFE?

You don't have play these games.

Focus on a business and grow your way into the 1%.

Leave the rest of the hype for the 99%.

I agree with you 100% stocks and all that crypto thing is that something that gives people something to look at or put money? The world is open to everyone and everyone can be a billionaire, your book @MJ DeMarco is very helpful!! But someone can read and still have no clue to what they going to do??? Reason why they are distracted if your distracted by anything good luck??? To recover and back on the shipping sail!!!

 

[Thinh]

Let's not bash on crypto indiscriminately.
Crypto can be a good vehicle for wealth.
But it requires as much work (if not more), and especially building stuff.

Buying random shitcoins and hoping they go to the moon? Sure, might as well buy lottery tickets.

On the other hand, being able to create dApps, smart contracts, and build value-providing services on top of the blockchain technology?
I say let's talk about it again in 5 years, but I definitely would put my money on web3.0.
(Well, not would. I actually put my money where my mouth is).

When the bubble will have completely popped, just like in 2000, the remaining actors will be those providing real value and technology that will enhance our world like the internet did back then.

 

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[Saad Khan]

When you live in third world countries like I do, fastlane is not a word that is said the same way as in the US.
The United States has more than 20 million millionaires. US creates 2 million millionaires per year. There is no other country in the world that does such a thing. Therefore the Fastlane occurs naturally.

Third world countries are bankrupt. Some going into default, with a currency devaluation of more than 70%. The decapitalization of companies is enormous, many close, others flee.
How do you set up a fastlane business when consumers and companies are playing small, because most fall into the range of poor mini-companies. The competition in every niche is fierce. There is no purchasing power, something essential. Consumption is vital. A dynamic economy is vital. Abundance of capital moving is vital.

Entrepreneur? If possible. But Fastlane in a third world country? Neither time nor scale occurs in a decade. It takes many years to build a fastlane business, if not generations.

The only businesses that are making it to fastlane in my country are software companies. Let's speak clearly. One in a thousand does. Few reach the top. And guess what? 85% of these companies open subsidiaries in the US, from where they obtain their profits. Why will it be precisely in the US?

Software development is not for everyone.
So what else are we left with? Another youtube channel? Another course?

I have read some success stories on the forum, and other members here who are doing very well. I am very happy to read this. But it also makes me feel like I live on Pluto. How to achieve the same when the necessary conditions do not exist, not even to adapt them to the environment? Context matters

I understand that you will not like what I have written. I agree with going fastlane and I believe in CENTS. But I also understand that there is an infinitely higher layer. The inequality in opportunities between rich countries and underdeveloped countries is a reality.
It is not an excuse, because there is always someone who enters the fastlane in underdeveloped countries. But achieving it costs 2 million times more and effort.

Just thoughts that wake up when I read "fastline business..."
Nothing new...

Learn how to sell on Amazon.

Pakistan is a 3rd world country. Yet a few days ago, Amazon reported that Pakistan ranks no. 3 in the list of most seller accounts.

Amazon sure lacks control but I think its better to do something instead of doing nothing and worrying.

That being said CENTS > AMAZON

 

[olli_23]

Hi @Ali Hamza.
I know that Asian countries have the advantage of low cost of living. I live in Uruguay, South America, in a small city/town in the interior (countryside), and the cost of living is incredibly expensive.

It's great that with 200K USD you can be financially free for 3 DECADES.

Here, a simple new house in the villages around the capital (2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, kitchen-dining-living room all integrated, + garage or roof for one car) costs 450k USD. In the area where I live (countryside) a simple new house costs 200 USD.
The basic monthly food basket is USD 1300 (everyone "survive" on half of that). Add the monthly expenses on tax bills, electricity, gas, internet... it has always been expensive (now over the clouds), and if you rent a home then you have a very complete monthly budget. Cars? Yes, very expensive.
We are 60 times more expensive than our neighbors Argentina and Brazil. So, what should I say you?

I understand your escape numbers. It's fantastic that you can do it with 200K or 300K USD. It is not my case as you will see. Financial freedom depends a bit on what you want for your life too. I'm talking about a budget for an average family. If you also want something special...

My grandparents (Argentines) built houses and sold them. They also had a mechanical workshop. They managed to save USD 360K, which in those years was really financial freedom for 3 decades. Political economic corruption left them without a penny in the bank. It was a period called "corralito", where savings in banks were blocked and literally disappeared. My grandfather worked until he was 89 years old, and he died poor. Where is financial freedom when you have corrupt governments? In this, Latin America has a postgraduate degree.

My country is highly dollarized. Then, the government exchange control (very manipulated in Latin America) makes the dollars give you a lot or anything. It depends on times of crisis (very frequent), times of prosperity, and who is in charge of exchange control.

You know, until recently, I was sure that a not very large figure in USD would give me financial freedom for 30 years. Yes, I also thought the same as you! Now I think money is smoke. It's worth nothing. (Is it better to have material things like real state? Here that has a high cost of acquisition and taxes).

Beyond all that has been said, my country is one of the most stable in South America, but that is not free or cheap.

++++

I have been an entrepreneur for years, but always in the slowlane. I have studies in finance and IT (old school). I have also participated in community social projects such as the construction of houses for low-income people.

I've been updating myself with new technologies for a while. They cost me a bit, the years do not come alone.
Now I'm learning Blockchain, but I see a lot of ado about nothing. It is difficult for me to find/see any business opportunity there that I can transform into specialized units that add value. It must be my old school mentality, but I see in Web3 more problems to be solved than solutions.

++++

"I think you are just being extremely pessimistic." True. The 2 or 3 ideas that I play with (which are related to each other), are not giving me the results that I want. Some days thinking about pivoting, other days enduring the deluge. Also struggling with a situation that affects my private life.
For the rest, if you knew my life, the last thing that would occur to you to say is that I am extremely pessimistic.

Hey,

I`m sorry to read about your situation. There are two things that come to my mind when reading about government being corrupt and money (that is controlled by the government, meaning they can print and devalue as they please):

- I would try getting a remote job with a company in a country that has higher salaries. Your salary will be independent on the situation in your country.
- store your wealth outside of the system in that country. I would say crypto is a good way to do that. (use BTC or a good stablecoin like USDC). That way you can build up savings in a currency that hopefully will not collapse


Best of luck to you!

 

[Xeon]

I've been updating myself with new technologies for a while. They cost me a bit, the years do not come alone.
Now I'm learning Blockchain, but I see a lot of ado about nothing. It is difficult for me to find/see any business opportunity there that I can transform into specialized units that add value. It must be my old school mentality, but I see in Web3 more problems to be solved than solutions.

eCommerce photography provider (via Upwork / PeoplePerHour etc.) specializing in fashion and product photography. Uruguay has some of the best looking people (women) on this planet. Pretty sure the rates for hiring good looking models there is low, far lower than most countries in the world. Just charge lower than what other photographers in other countries do. Probably not a fastlane CENTS business but still a business if you can pull it off.

I would probably even pitch it to small-medium companies in Asian countries looking for caucasian-looking models without the high costs. Earlier this year, I tried asking around for rates for such models in China, and surprisingly (after all, everything in China is cheap), it costs 2x - 3x more than what a US photo agency would charge.

Of course, you need to have good photography skills.....

 

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[capito]

Hey,

I`m sorry to read about your situation. There are two things that come to my mind when reading about government being corrupt and money (that is controlled by the government, meaning they can print and devalue as they please):

- I would try getting a remote job with a company in a country that has higher salaries. Your salary will be independent on the situation in your country.
- store your wealth outside of the system in that country. I would say crypto is a good way to do that. (use BTC or a good stablecoin like USDC). That way you can build up savings in a currency that hopefully will not collapse

Little by little I am entering this space of cryptocurrencies, learning more. It still scares me quite a bit. It is very volatile. However, I must admit that circumstances are leading Latin America to be increasingly hooked on this space.

Best of luck to you!

Thanks !

 

[capito]

eCommerce photography provider (via Upwork / PeoplePerHour etc.) specializing in fashion and product photography. Uruguay has some of the best looking people (women) on this planet. Pretty sure the rates for hiring good looking models there is low, far lower than most countries in the world. Just charge lower than what other photographers in other countries do. Probably not a fastlane CENTS business but still a business if you can pull it off.

I would probably even pitch it to small-medium companies in Asian countries looking for caucasian-looking models without the high costs. Earlier this year, I tried asking around for rates for such models in China, and surprisingly (after all, everything in China is cheap), it costs 2x - 3x more than what a US photo agency would charge.

Of course, you need to have good photography skills.....

In a way, the people of my country are descendants of the Europeans who brought the ships years ago due to the wars. But I'm afraid photography never appealed to me and I have zero skills in this field.
Still, thanks for your advice!

 

[Liandra]

Okay, so I may be a fortune teller Since I commented on this thread that it is really hard to build successful businesses in some (economically unstable) countries my government (Hungary) killed a form of taxation for small businesses from one day to another in the middle of the tax year. We got only 1,5 months to find another way to pay taxes or cancel our businesses. A lot of small businesses won't survive the bigger taxes. It affects 450k people which pretty much in a country with a population of only 9 million people.
I know that building a business is still the only way to fastlane if you are poor but I can understand those from more unstable countries who find it challenging.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

As more crypto bros find out they wasted the last 10 years of their life using crypto as a "business" versus as a speculative asset ... BUMP.

BTW, I do believe crypto/BTC will survive and emerge stronger. But it remains a speculative asset, and always was.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

As more crypto bros find out they wasted the last 10 years of their life using crypto as a "business" versus as a speculative asset ... BUMP.

BTW, I do believe crypto/BTC will survive and emerge stronger. But it remains a speculative asset, and always was.

Probably a good buy at ~10K. I've gone out of crypto at the start of this year completely, but made some very nice profits last year!

 

[jdm667]

As more crypto bros find out they wasted the last 10 years of their life using crypto as a "business" versus as a speculative asset ... BUMP.

BTW, I do believe crypto/BTC will survive and emerge stronger. But it remains a speculative asset, and always was.

 

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[Dami-B]

As more crypto bros find out they wasted the last 10 years of their life using crypto as a "business" versus as a speculative asset ... BUMP.

BTW, I do believe crypto/BTC will survive and emerge stronger. But it remains a speculative asset, and always was.

Yea, just focus on building a productocracy, a more valuable use of time and effort

 

[originalMJT]

I have some money in Bitcoin and some in ETH Ive lost 2/3 of my "investment" but going to leave whats left in coins, as in the long run it will go back up (I hope but not counting on it, more leaving it in for fun)

 

[gpetukhov]

When you live in third world countries like I do, fastlane is not a word that is said the same way as in the US.
The United States has more than 20 million millionaires. US creates 2 million millionaires per year. There is no other country in the world that does such a thing. Therefore the Fastlane occurs naturally.

Third world countries are bankrupt. Some going into default, with a currency devaluation of more than 70%. The decapitalization of companies is enormous, many close, others flee.
How do you set up a fastlane business when consumers and companies are playing small, because most fall into the range of poor mini-companies. The competition in every niche is fierce. There is no purchasing power, something essential. Consumption is vital. A dynamic economy is vital. Abundance of capital moving is vital.

Entrepreneur? If possible. But Fastlane in a third world country? Neither time nor scale occurs in a decade. It takes many years to build a fastlane business, if not generations.

The only businesses that are making it to fastlane in my country are software companies. Let's speak clearly. One in a thousand does. Few reach the top. And guess what? 85% of these companies open subsidiaries in the US, from where they obtain their profits. Why will it be precisely in the US?

Software development is not for everyone.
So what else are we left with? Another youtube channel? Another course?

I have read some success stories on the forum, and other members here who are doing very well. I am very happy to read this. But it also makes me feel like I live on Pluto. How to achieve the same when the necessary conditions do not exist, not even to adapt them to the environment? Context matters

I understand that you will not like what I have written. I agree with going fastlane and I believe in CENTS. But I also understand that there is an infinitely higher layer. The inequality in opportunities between rich countries and underdeveloped countries is a reality.
It is not an excuse, because there is always someone who enters the fastlane in underdeveloped countries. But achieving it costs 2 million times more and effort.

Just thoughts that wake up when I read "fastline business..."
Nothing new...

then why not move to a more developed country ?

 

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[NakedAmbition]

This thread is a good reminder in these times!

Another one bites the dust...

 

[klaipeda]

If you're buying crypto hoping to get rich overnight, as we vulgarly say in Italy, "you're on the wrong side of the cock".

 

[bilkar1985]

As more crypto bros find out they wasted the last 10 years of their life using crypto as a "business" versus as a speculative asset ... BUMP.

BTW, I do believe crypto/BTC will survive and emerge stronger. But it remains a speculative asset, and always was.

I hope some one else (not me, I had put only 100$ into safemoon bahahhaa) had read your thread about a week ago..

 

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[Vinz]

If you're buying crypto hoping to get rich overnight, as we vulgarly say in Italy, "you're on the wrong side of the cock".

I'm from Italy and never heard this saying

 

[Atomant]

As more crypto bros find out they wasted the last 10 years of their life using crypto as a "business" versus as a speculative asset ... BUMP.

BTW, I do believe crypto/BTC will survive and emerge stronger. But it remains a speculative asset, and always was.

I don't trade crypto/forex/stocks etc but have an interest in investing and am in a position to start "selling shovels" to these markets. My background is in software and over the last year my interest has focussed on bitcoin and blockchain/cryptography. I invested in bitcoin several years ago and have seen 80% drawdowns etc and calls that bitcoin is dead many times and view digital assets as still a very new asset class.

How anyone trades these volatile assets and makes money is beyond me. But according to research 90% of investors would seek to invest (ie not trading) in digital assets with their financial provider if given the chance! To help wealth managers/financial providers take advantage of this opportunity I built a digital asset management platform packed to the brim with full blockchain node and digital asset exchange price data.

The software gives firms better data transparency, consistency, accuracy and insight into how to make blockchain and digital assets work for them. At it's heart is a centralized reference database for managing blockchain, transaction and exchange data. The platform automatically consolidates multiple sources of reference data into a single master database for operational control, distribution, automation, analytics and audit/risk management.

I am finishing off the software over the next couple of weeks and also hope to include exchange proof of reserve/liabilities software for audit purposes - aka ETX. The core software also supports other asset types(equities, forex, commodities, options/futures etc) but I have niched down into bitcoin/crypto as this is a relatively new market.

All this has been done largely behind closed doors so I now need to get some real world use cases in place and adapt accordingly. Showing up at a wealth manager/fund/financial providers reception as an individual probably won't get me very far. Assuming I might have have more luck persuading a larger player (auditor, consultancy, exchange, IT firms etc) to bundle this service/software into their portfolio then how can I approach them and get their trust to partner with me. Should I try and make some approaches to potential customers first or would a bigger player be prepared to work with me on the market fit and product delivery without a customer base? I feel like I have come to the end of one road but uncertain where to go next : (

 

[EdenTan]

I've been here for 15 years.

Over that time, I seen a bunch of "get rich" trends come and go.

These flavors are hot for a few years, then disappear.

Each time, some threads blow up with folks who are starry-eyed about how wealthy they're going to get as they do nothing but hop aboard a trend and "HOPE" and "WAIT".

And then like clockwork, reality hits.

Their ideas of "getting rich" investing in some meme or crypto stocks goes bust. They don't get rich and they have to start over. Worse, they wasted YEARS of their life "waiting, investing" or whatever. During that time, they gained ZERO practical business experience.

As crypto shits the toilet, as stocks shit the toilet, as the economy shits the toilet, as inflation skyrockets, what remains as the only true method of obtaining sustainable, controllable wealth? A FASTLANE BUSINESS.

Let's be clear: A Fastlane business IS, and WILL REMAIN, your best bet at acquiring sustainable wealth fast, and asymmetrically.

Not stocks.

Not cryptocurrency.

Not some hot bandwagon trend.

The only exception is if you SERVE these industries in a Fastlane Business, you know, the old "sell shovels in a gold rush."

I noticed in 2022 that a lot of the hype of crypto and stock trading talk has dwindled to nothing.

Why?

Duh... people are losing money hand over fist.

People are discovering they HAVE ZERO control over the economy, crypto exchanges, central bank decisions, supply chain bottlenecks, and other BS.

When your wealth acceleration vehicle cannot be controlled, you're not an entrepreneur, you're an investor and speculator.

FACT: Your best bet for wealth acceleration will always come from your Fastlane, CENTS based business. Not from stocks, not from cyrpto, not from day-trading Gamestop, and not from anything hyped in the retail mainstream.

Sad that millions of people will soon discover that they put all their eggs in the WRONG basket.

Yes, stocks will recover. Crypto likely will survive. But the point is, why have you not TAKEN CONTROL OVER YOUR FINANCIAL LIFE?

You don't have play these games.

Focus on a business and grow your way into the 1%.

Leave the rest of the hype for the 99%.

Thank you for the reminder !

 

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[Isaac Odongo]

When you live in third world countries like I do, fastlane is not a word that is said the same way as in the US.
The United States has more than 20 million millionaires. US creates 2 million millionaires per year. There is no other country in the world that does such a thing. Therefore the Fastlane occurs naturally.

Third world countries are bankrupt. Some going into default, with a currency devaluation of more than 70%. The decapitalization of companies is enormous, many close, others flee.
How do you set up a fastlane business when consumers and companies are playing small, because most fall into the range of poor mini-companies. The competition in every niche is fierce. There is no purchasing power, something essential. Consumption is vital. A dynamic economy is vital. Abundance of capital moving is vital.

Entrepreneur? If possible. But Fastlane in a third world country? Neither time nor scale occurs in a decade. It takes many years to build a fastlane business, if not generations.

The only businesses that are making it to fastlane in my country are software companies. Let's speak clearly. One in a thousand does. Few reach the top. And guess what? 85% of these companies open subsidiaries in the US, from where they obtain their profits. Why will it be precisely in the US?

Software development is not for everyone.
So what else are we left with? Another youtube channel? Another course?

I have read some success stories on the forum, and other members here who are doing very well. I am very happy to read this. But it also makes me feel like I live on Pluto. How to achieve the same when the necessary conditions do not exist, not even to adapt them to the environment? Context matters

I understand that you will not like what I have written. I agree with going fastlane and I believe in CENTS. But I also understand that there is an infinitely higher layer. The inequality in opportunities between rich countries and underdeveloped countries is a reality.
It is not an excuse, because there is always someone who enters the fastlane in underdeveloped countries. But achieving it costs 2 million times more and effort.

Just thoughts that wake up when I read "fastline business..."
Nothing new...

This is not a useful excuse. Those rich countries didn't wake up one morning and find themselves rich, they set up businesses. They are rich because they went fast lane, they are not fast lane because they are rich as you seem to believe. We in third world countries should stop thinking upside down and go fast lane if we want to get rich individually and nationally. Stop talking nonsense like this go fast lane. America was once poor. Britain was once poor. There was a time Portugal was a like the greatest nation, then Britain. America is rich because Americans went fast lane.

 

[Isaac Odongo]

I lost money trading crypto. The point is you don't the market. How do you get rich from what you don't own? Are you mad? Thank you MJ. There are many crazy crypto hypers who dream that they might end up being the crypto Buffet. They forget that Buffet invests as a businessman and in only what very well understands. Now most people don't understand crypto.