The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

No ideas? No opportunities? Seriously?!

Idea threads

NMdad

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
224%
Aug 6, 2017
612
1,370
New Mexico
One thing MJ complains about in Unscripted is that people want simple, no-fail, step-by-step plans for easy riches. Wouldn't that be nice--something so fail-proof? Attractive? Yes. Realistic? No.

The book title itself tells you there's no silver bullet to wealth creation.

So, do you:
  • Have no ideas?
  • See no opportunities?
  • Don't know where to start?
It requires thinking differently. Turn off the TV, the xbox, etc., then be curious, learn, listen, & analyze a bit deeper to uncover potential goldmines.

This probably won't come naturally--after all, it's not something that we're taught in school.

Here's a simple exercise to build your mindset muscle to uncover opportunities.

First, read this article (and don't complain that it's too long for you to read): Tech Is Splitting the U.S. Work Force in Two

Next:
  • For math nerds: aren't the charts/graphs are an eye-opener?
  • For non-math nerds, step up your game & try harder--there are some clear & powerful insights you can get from examining the data presented.
  • Also, if you're currently hustling to pay bills, look at the avg. weekly wage for different jobs. Which are near-poverty wages, middle-income, or 6-figure earners? A relatively small $500/week catapults you into a different echelon & can be life-changing.
  • There's a goldmine in the data presented.
Now:
  • What opportunities do you see?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

ShamanKing

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
140%
Aug 30, 2018
382
534
California
When I look at a dollar, I buy something and flip it. Maybe I should do a $1.00 or $5.00 challenge and show these easy opportunities.
 

NMdad

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
224%
Aug 6, 2017
612
1,370
New Mexico
When I look at a dollar, I buy something and flip it. Maybe I should do a $1.00 or $5.00 challenge and show these easy opportunities.
But what opportunities can you uncover from that NYT article? There are nuggets in that article way bigger than ebay flipping--opportunities that'd meet the CENTS framework.
 

ShamanKing

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
140%
Aug 30, 2018
382
534
California
But what opportunities can you uncover from that NYT article? There are nuggets in that article way bigger than ebay flipping--opportunities that'd meet the CENTS framework.

Shame on me I didn't see that link
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
D

Deleted50669

Guest
One thing MJ complains about in Unscripted is that people want simple, no-fail, step-by-step plans for easy riches. Wouldn't that be nice--something so fail-proof? Attractive? Yes. Realistic? No.

The book title itself tells you there's no silver bullet to wealth creation.

So, do you:
  • Have no ideas?
  • See no opportunities?
  • Don't know where to start?
It requires thinking differently. Turn off the TV, the xbox, etc., then be curious, learn, listen, & analyze a bit deeper to uncover potential goldmines.

This probably won't come naturally--after all, it's not something that we're taught in school.

Here's a simple exercise to build your mindset muscle to uncover opportunities.

First, read this article (and don't complain that it's too long for you to read): Tech Is Splitting the U.S. Work Force in Two

Next:
  • For math nerds: aren't the charts/graphs are an eye-opener?
  • For non-math nerds, step up your game & try harder--there are some clear & powerful insights you can get from examining the data presented.
  • Also, if you're currently hustling to pay bills, look at the avg. weekly wage for different jobs. Which are near-poverty wages, middle-income, or 6-figure earners? A relatively small $500/week catapults you into a different echelon & can be life-changing.
  • There's a goldmine in the data presented.
Now:
  • What opportunities do you see?
The tech bit is the exact same realization I had around summer last year. August of 2018 I didn't know a <div> from an <SVG>.. now my single page application is about 70% done with integrated state management, results filtering, and JSON database redundancy. Do the F*ckin work, get the biscuit.
 

rwhyan

The higher, the fewer
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
244%
Aug 27, 2017
149
363
CA
Interesting read.

Some parts I found particularly notable:
Jobs grow in health care, social assistance, accommodation, food services, building administration and waste services. Not only are some of the tasks tough to automate, employers have little financial incentive to replace low-wage workers with machines.

“There are not huge opportunities to increase productivity, but technology has a significant impact on quality,” said Banner’s chief operating officer, Becky Kuhn.

You'd think that low-productivity jobs would be replaced by automation when in fact the opposite happening. The number of low-productivity jobs are increasing while high-productivity jobs are diminishing, because automation is replacing the lower quality workers of high-productivity jobs, thus increasing wages for those still left in the high-productivity jobs. Automation doesn't replace low quality workers of low productivity jobs because it does not make sense financially. Why would an employer of low-productivity jobs invest in expensive technology to replace humans, when the human labor is still cheaper?

Correct me if I'm wrong, @NMdad, but I think you are hinting that opportunity lies in these low-productivity and finding ways to increase the productivity per employee.
 

NMdad

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
224%
Aug 6, 2017
612
1,370
New Mexico
Correct me if I'm wrong, @NMdad, but I think you are hinting that opportunity lies in these low-productivity and finding ways to increase the productivity per employee.
That's one potential opportunity. What are some others? I see opportunities targeting:
  • organizations with lots of low-productivity workers
  • organizations with primarily high-productivity workers
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

NMdad

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
224%
Aug 6, 2017
612
1,370
New Mexico
The number of low-productivity jobs are increasing while high-productivity jobs are diminishing, because automation is replacing the lower quality workers of high-productivity jobs, thus increasing wages for those still left in the high-productivity jobs.
That's one possible explanation.

Another explanation is that the high-productivity jobs make valuable stuff--not just servicing ourselves; read the paragraph in the article containing "domestic servants".
 

NMdad

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
224%
Aug 6, 2017
612
1,370
New Mexico
One of the reasons I started this thread was, when I read the NYT article above, it reminded me of a post MJ did a while back--basically an industry article with a CENTS opportunity hidden inside.

These opportunities are all around us. But it's sometimes easy to overlook them. And it can take some practice to see them.

So, here were a few potential ideas I had from the article. Initially, it'd probably be best to start in a specific industry, probably even a sub- or sub-sub-niche in an industry (e.g., offshore oil & gas producers, air medical transport companies, microfluidics suppliers to biotech companies, etc.):
  • automate pieces of high-earner jobs
  • automate pieces of low-earner jobs
  • create tools that identify easy-to-automate pieces of jobs/roles
  • create tools that identify ineffeciences of high-earner jobs
Opportunities are ubiquitous; it just takes practice & putting in the reps to start seeing them. Whatever industry you're currently in, there are opportunities waiting to be uncovered.
 

Mattie

Platinum Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
129%
May 28, 2014
3,485
4,491
53
U.S.
What opportunities do you see?
There is no secret formula. Perhaps people need to just stop with the secret formula. I keep thinking I was more successful when I just didn't think about it at all, focus on it, and just did it naturally. I've read more information in the last 12 years than any time in my life, and frankly information is a forever library re-invented, re-packaged, and never stops being re-created and just rebranded. That's probably the secret formula, just make new symbols, definitions, labels, pretty packaging, and perhaps you'll have a best seller. Systems is what we sell, if the system works, people buy into it. Systems....everything in the world operates on a system. Everything is structured and organized. Find better ways to organize and plan. Than you have the illusion of lets break out of the box. Are we really breaking out of the box, or just making a new box. Cycles I tell you. Hamsters on a Treadmill. You just find a new treadmill until you trade it in for the Millionaire or Billionaire Deluxe model which has all the extra's. Just my ramble of the day.
 

ruzara5

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
104%
May 1, 2011
185
192
Currently in Washington State
What opportunities do you see?
Read the article. Wow. Phoenix got it all. Including sunshine :cool: Now back to the word on automation. Looks like a lot of the industries and services are above the bar. CENTS business opportunities? They are occurring right in this forum. Healthcare, insurance. One is the tool of software and SAAS related applications. Another will be related to devices like onion automation. Robots. Java base code applications. Some of these can be used to fill gaps. Expansion for value added services and for smaller special industries. All relating to increasing mass appeal. It will free up time. This time can be applied to greater ventures.
 

JunkBoxJoey_JBJ

Bronze Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
186%
Jul 9, 2018
243
453
That's one possible explanation.

Another explanation is that the high-productivity jobs make valuable stuff--not just servicing ourselves; read the paragraph in the article containing "domestic servants".

Adair Turner, a senior fellow at the Institute for New Economic Thinking in London, argues that the economy today resembles what would have happened if farmers had spent their extra income from the use of tractors and combines on domestic servants. Productivity in domestic work doesn’t grow quickly. As more and more workers were bumped out of agriculture into servitude, productivity growth across the economy would have stagnated.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

The Abundant Man

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
150%
Jul 3, 2018
1,428
2,140
NYTimes is one of the most biased newspapers on the planet. A third or more of their content is Trump related. They should marry him or something.

The comments section are always full of complaints

I used to do customer service for the New York Times and now I hate them with a passion.
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top