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Obsessed from Finland

Lord Business

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Hello everybody and it's truly an honor to be here!

My story, I guess it's the usual one of suffering, searching, purpose and obsession about the future.
I'm 30 year old male and as I'm writing this post, I've lived in Finland for 5 years. I came from a small post-soviet country Estonia. I think I'm in a turning point in my life and it's one of the reasons I decided to join.
Nb! not trying to bother anyone with the long story, just thought that as the "Introduction manual" said - the longer the better - I'd share the critical parts of my life that lead me to this point and forward.

Backstory/childhood: Estonians are very poor and super-slowlaner nation, but I was born into the poorer of poorest families there. The poverty was kind of tough (no food, clothes, toys ect), but as a child I always found a way to enjoy life to the fullest - friends, sports, academic projects and so on. Since childhood I've been raised in the post-communistic poor country being taught that rich people are scammers, criminals and otherwise worthless human beings. Everyone is a victim and everybody has an excuse. I think one of the reasons I left is that I eventually got so effin sick of victimization that I couldn't stand that anymore. People kind of like to be happy in their misery. I was't. And like Neo in "Matrix", I always had this feeling, that "there has to be more than that", although it took me till the age 28 to find it.

The sudden breaking: I was a super active adolescent - attending in multiple sports and owning every one, doing after-school math, biology, physics ect work very successfully, had a rich social life, many hobbies and so on. During the age 12 my life changed, after I got sick. After 15 more years, I found out, that it is a poorly known debilitating chronic disease know as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. All of the sudden the active happy child became bedridden zombie. Simple tasks like staying awake, reading and walking became increasingly hard. My life turned upside down and what made it worse, was that noone had any idea what caused it. Most doctors shrugged their shoulders and people around me just didn't understand. But the will to break free inside of me kept growing none the less.

Slowlane life choices: following hard depression after the demise of my physical health I gradually picked myself up and found a purpose. I decided to become a medical doctor. One reason of course was the promised good salary and steady job. The others were: strong need to help other people and interest in biology/physiology, but also the strong slowlane expectations I had from my parents. After I got sick my grades were close to failure - I barely got by the courses in high-school. I had no idea whatsoever how I'd get accepted into university. What followed was something that changed me forever. As I made my choice to get accepted, something shifted inside me. Instead of hanging around aimlessly I was suddenly a man/boy) on a mission. I hunkered down in my room and studied almost every free hour for six months, while my friends drank beer and drifted aimlessly. After the six month period, I aced my exams with the 90% average and got into the university at the top of the list. I was thoroughly amazed about what I could accomplish when I set my mind to something.

Breaking free journey begins: since I still was very poor I worked as an orderly during the couple of years in medical school. For the first time in my life I had some money and it gave me an amazing feeling of freedom (although getting 2-3 usd/h - after converting the currency). After the compulsory army service the depression hit and I couldn't get medical work anywhere. Since the bills needed paying I took up the only option I was presented to earn money and started playing online poker. It wasn't easy at first, but the need to succeed got me through the toughest times and the last years in medical school I had more money than my peers. School wasn't easy and I never got the excitement about getting good grades, cause I never felt, they helped me in any way. All the stupid theoretical learning in medical school left me demotivated.

The new direction and challenges: I've been so lucky in my life to be in the right places at the right time in my life. One of those was a conversation with my fellow doctor friend who was earning good money as a doctor in the neighbouring country Finland. The money he was talking about was something out of the movie for me. It didn't take much for me to decide to follow my friends footsteps. And again, I had found a new purpose to give me energy to commit to something. Remember I still was and was going to be physically sick, what meant that every day was a battle for me. But the purpose of breaking free and going to Finland filled my body with energy. At the same time I learnt Finnish language, played poker every day for hours to pay the bills and studied for medschool.

The land of opportunity: with the very first ship after graduation(2012), I left my friends, girlfriend, home and past behind to chase the financial freedom. At the time as a starting doctor in Finland you could earn 5000-6000 eur/month. For a poor post-soviet youngster, that could as well have been millions. For the first time in my life, I had more money than what I could spend (and I spent PLENTY). I went a little crazy in my first years, leased a Land Rover, spent hundreds in weekend pub journeys, bought useless stuff, clothes, accessories ect ect. For a time, life felt amazing and free and full of endless wonder.
998764_605629412814972_894941949_n.jpg

New Rover in 2013

Slowlaner's realization: after a couple of years of this kind of lifestyle I started to feel poor. For one - my spendings were ever growing and the need to get more money with it. And for second - I kind of lost the purpose a bit by bit. Toys won't keep anyone satisfied for too long. I began to be terrified of the aspect of working for the next 40 years like this and retiring. At that point I started to search for ways to break free of the spending-earning death circle of 9-5. The first thing I obviously found was stock and bond market investing. I read 5-6 books about it and started investing more and more of my money into passive index funds. Although a very hard process, I started cutting my idiotic expenses one by one and invest more and more. For me to get rich quicker, I also started doing more and more work. I worked for 1-2 extra evening shifts in weekdays and 1-2 weekend shifts. After 1,5 years I had a good nest egg with a 20% return, but I quickly realized that in that pace it'd get me tens of years to get to my destination (which at that point was like a half a million or something).

Faster, faster!: after reading "Rich dad, poor dad" I suddenly realized that real estate was a way to go. Not only could I add more value actively, I could also leverage bank's money to get rich quicker. So I cashed out my funds and invested in 4 new apartments in my town center. My grand plan at the time was to get to 80 aparments in 10 years and that ment that I'd have to work almost most of my free time in the next 10 years. While excited at first (after listening to "10x rule"), the excitement gradually faded when the long hours and superslow progress took hold. It didn't help at all that my poor health got worse and worse with the continuous stress.
13331045_1723671817871885_8445079994817964506_n.jpg

For the company web page, 2015

Turning point - TMF : after starting my journey to wealth by investing, I also started to invest in myself. I started to read financial, investing, success books, a lot. Probably on of the most important things I read that changed my perception and outlook about wealth was the passage in MJ DeMarco's book "The millionaire fastlane " that wealth is something to be enjoyed while still young.I was left dumbstruck after reading that with my jaw open and hands shaking. Something connected in my mind. I always somehow knew I was doing something wrong, but I never knew that there were more possibilities than sacrificing my best years for the wealth in later years. You see - my perception of creating wealth was so limited because of my childhood. The belief that entrepreneurship was something evil and unattainable was so hardly logged in my mind that I didn't even slip my mind. After reading TMF I immediately realized what I needed to do.

Enter: fastlane: I immediately started to come up with different ideas how to create a business that would fulfill my ambitions. I knew the criteria: 1) something in my field of expertise - medical 2) something that would disrupt the stagnant and ineffective system/market 3) something with a great value proposition and a change to impact as many people as possible. Since I am a medical doctor and had been working in that field for most of my wake hours, that's where I saw the most need for change and got the most of my inspiration. The first idea came to me in days after reading TMF. The idea of a new kind of nursing home - a nursing home that was a village, not a apartment complex (like all of them in Finland) with a new kind of super cost-effective and patient friendly health-care/nursing system. The idea came to me 1,5 years ago and the only reason, it's still not yet realized, is that in my enthusiasm I made poor business partner choices and for the first 9 months I got screwed by strangers. But I learnt a very good lesson and luckily got out before permanent damage could be done. The other good thing is that during this time I was introduced to many great people, one of which came to be my new business partner.
Right now we are months away from opening our first nursing village in Finland if the pre-order gets to the needed level. Remains to be seen in the next couple of months.

Obsession: as the first business idea was more based on the dire obvious need for change in the elderly care, then the second idea came through a long synthesis process with my other new business partner. You see, after I started to change my perspective in life and about my future, I also started to intentionally grow my network of likeminded successdriven people. I think most of you can relate - fastlane mindset makes you feel very lonely and outsider to society, because most people just don't understand and relate. During my searches I found a partner with whom I've been processing an idea of new kind of health care. The idea was to start offering people with lifestyle diseases (metabolic syndrome, diabetes, obesity ect) a better and more wholistic way to get healthy and improve their lives. As a doctor, my only tools in the limited appointment time were: a short speech about healthy lifestyle and prescription drugs. I found those tools very limited and insufficient. After six months of brainstorming and searching for different best ways to help hundreds of thousands of people with those problems in Finland, we progressed to the masterplan idea - an online healthcare solution that integrates lifestyle medicine with coaching and support without the need for medication or physical presence. At those times we also stumbled to the same kind of projects that were already being implemented in USA (Virta Health, Livingo, Omada Health ect). That proved the point for us. Ofcourse we wanted to do it much better, with the main purpose on education. My business partner is a coach and with our combined knowledge in the field we synthesized a concept to revolutionize healthcare as we know it today. It became my obsession.

12045759_1021043871273522_4854971210662048877_o.jpg

Me and my lovely supporting girlfriend 2016

High from the obsession:
I can't wholly describe the change those choices have had in my life. Although chronically ill myself, I've worked almost every day (also every saturday and sunday) from morning till evening and loved every second of it. I've never enjoyed life more than I do now. It doesn't mean it has been easy, not at all. But after finding my true passion - building businesses that change lives of people to the better, I feel powered every single day. It's like I have found a secret storage of nitrogen fuel in myself and it keeps on burning 24/7. I'm obsessed about what i do every day, although some days I feel like being run over by a train 100x times over. I'm doing my doctor's appointments in the day time from monday to sunday to earn the income for the startup costs and doing everything else as a CEO for the company in the evenings and in every spare minute I get. I still read and mostly listen to educational books (1,5 books a week still (btw just finishing TMF for the second time now)), using my time 99% efficiently. I haven't been on a vacations over a year and I'm so sick of people telling me constantly to "Take it easy" and "Enjoy life" and "Rest more". What they don't get is that I don't need no fkng rest, I need to make things happen, I need to succeed! That's the best and only thing that matters to me and gets me fired up like nothing else. Although I haven't yet enjoyed any financial benefits from my work, I feel supermotivated and eager. I feel like I'm living my dream, although I'm about as poor as I was back in medical school, but I sense success coming around the corner. I've found the thing that makes me do whatever it takes and I will use this fuel to succeed in one way or another.
Where are we right now: our project is in the pilot study faze and showing remarkable results already. We are getting ready to start the lifestyle business launch in 1-2 months. We have found a committed and professional team for our startup. The good sign is that we have already had investors offering us money without us ever marketing ourselves.
Where are we going: we'll see, but the short term objective is to make enough revenue by summer, so that I could gradually stop selling my services as a doctor to other companies and focus 110% on mine. We are constantly developing and I'm seeing many options for us in the near future. Although I'm still prepared to face the reality, that the market doesn't need our services as much we think they do. The long term plan is to take dominant market share in Finland and move out to other countries. But I won't go before of things yet.

Lessons I've learned thus far:
* People underestimate hugely of what they are capable of. Most never even try. I am lucky to have found that my limits are much broader than I was taught.
* There is a way to turn your weaknesses into your strengths. I've turned my poor health, poverty and dissatisfaction about society into a strong force to serve me.
* You have to be constantly learning and progressing. Since I started, I've never stopped. The highest ROI% investment is in yourself.
* Purpose is one of the most powerful influencers of human psyche. When you find The Purpose, everything else becomes secondary.
* You can do what you love and be successful - maybe the only thing I somewhat disagree with MJ. I don't think it is that black-and-white. I found out that I love to build businesses that change people lives and make me rich at the same time more than anything else I've done thus far in my life.
* The more I work, the luckier I get.
* Fck societies rules. It is very hard to break free and start thinking on your own, because we are never taught to, but once you get that spark, you'll never see world as before again.
* Bad things in life are often good things in disguise. Usually they reveal themselves afterwards.
* Failure is an excuse for the weak. For me there "failure" is just an excellent opportunity to learn.
* We learn from negative things about 5x more than from positive. One reason I'm constantly seeking for negative feedback and pushing the edge of "failure". Although negative experiences "feel bad" - they improve us much better.
* Learning to love the process makes it much more easier to succeed.
* Most people are not and never will be ready to change or see clearly. Trying to "open their eyes" doesn't pay, you'll only feel more alone.
* Be willing to suffer. I never expect change to come easily. I'm always ready to take the punches, when I know that it will take me closer to my objective.
* Life is so short, you'll have to be in the hurry.
* Quality of life = quality of time * quantity of time + purpose

Top 5 books (besides MJ's books, which are obvious)
1. Elon Musk. Ashlee Vange
2.Rich dad, poor dad. Robery Kiyosaki. (the first book that changed my perception about wealth)
3. 10x rule. Grant Cardone.
4. The willpower instinct. Kelly McGonical.
5. The art of deal. Donald Trump.

Allright, that's it for now, if anyone made it this far. Hope you'll be hearing from me. Looking forward to engaging in the forum.
 
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jon.M

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Welcome to the forum, Lord business. Happy to see a fellow fastlaner living in the Pohjoismaat! (From Sweden myself but engaged with a Finn)

Good luck with your venture, it seems like it's got the potential to be really fastlane.
 

Lord Business

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Welcome to the forum, Lord business. Happy to see a fellow fastlaner living in the Pohjoismaat! (From Sweden myself but engaged with a Finn)

Good luck with your venture, it seems like it's got the potential to be really fastlane.
Thank you! Maybe I'll contact you, when I come to conquer Sweden with my project :)
 

p0stscript

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Impressive introduction, and a lot useful information. Cheers
 

Knugs

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I decided to become a medical doctor. One reason of course was the promised good salary and steady job. The others were: strong need to help other people and interest in biology/physiology, but also the strong slowlane expectations I had from my parents.
As I made my choice to get accepted, something shifted inside me. Instead of hanging around aimlessly I was suddenly a man/boy) on a mission. I hunkered down in my room and studied almost every free hour for six months, while my friends drank beer and drifted aimlessly. After the six month period, I aced my exams with the 90% average and got into the university at the top of the list. I was thoroughly amazed about what I could accomplish when I set my mind to something.
It wasn't easy at first, but the need to succeed got me through the toughest times and the last years in medical school I had more money than my peers. School wasn't easy and I never got the excitement about getting good grades, cause I never felt, they helped me in any way. All the stupid theoretical learning in medical school left me demotivated.
I immediately started to come up with different ideas how to create a business that would fulfill my ambitions. I knew the criteria: 1) something in my field of expertise - medical 2) something that would disrupt the stagnant and ineffective system/market 3) something with a great value proposition and a change to impact as many people as possible. Since I am a medical doctor and had been working in that field for most of my wake hours, that's where I saw the most need for change and got the most of my inspiration.
Wow. I resonate so much to your experiences and feelings. I can really understand the suffering. I suffered a lot during medical school and finances were so tight. The only difference is that I got 50,000 euro debt to survive medical school.

What I'm really interested to hear from you is how your parents reacted to your plans. I just moved back to Germany and the pressure to find work is unreal. We invested so much in this career and giving it up feels like a waste. I'm also going to work to be able to support myself better and build some bank (and to build a business at the same time) but like you said, the time might come where the career has to be stopped. How do you feel about that?

I think other slowlaners don't have that relationship to their career as we do. If I had to sum it up in a way, it would be that I sacrificed a significant portion of my life to medicine (16-26).

I would like to follow you through your progress. Maybe you can create a progress thread and continue?? Or shoot me a pm and we stay in touch?
 

Lord Business

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Wow. I resonate so much to your experiences and feelings. I can really understand the suffering. I suffered a lot during medical school and finances were so tight. The only difference is that I got 50,000 euro debt to survive medical school.

What I'm really interested to hear from you is how your parents reacted to your plans. I just moved back to Germany and the pressure to find work is unreal. We invested so much in this career and giving it up feels like a waste. I'm also going to work to be able to support myself better and build some bank (and to build a business at the same time) but like you said, the time might come where the career has to be stopped. How do you feel about that?

I think other slowlaners don't have that relationship to their career as we do. If I had to sum it up in a way, it would be that I sacrificed a significant portion of my life to medicine (16-26).

I would like to follow you through your progress. Maybe you can create a progress thread and continue?? Or shoot me a pm and we stay in touch?

Thanks, Knugs! Do you have a progress thread - I'd like to get to know your story as well, so you wouldn't have to answer every question here again.

My parents have been nothing but supportive, but as I'm almost 31 now and been living in the other country, I have no social pressure whatsoever. Maybe one reason I came to the other country, was to get free of the past and "obligations" and to do the only thing that matters to me without answering to anyone.
I learned during my 20's that you have to let go of every single expectation you have upon you. Even if you get to please others, you'll still never feel satisfied. Only thing that truly makes you happy, is if you what you feel you need to do. Ofcourse 99% of doctor community and slowlaners don't understand why you've got to go from 200k/year job to start businesses, but I've never explained myself. Everyone that understands, don't need one.

50000 eur debt isn't bad if you are a MD?

See you around!
 
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Knugs

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Thanks, Knugs! Do you have a progress thread - I'd like to get to know your story as well, so you wouldn't have to answer every question here again.

My parents have been nothing but supportive, but as I'm almost 31 now and been living in the other country, I have no social pressure whatsoever. Maybe one reason I came to the other country, was to get free of the past and "obligations" and to do the only thing that matters to me without answering to anyone.
I learned during my 20's that you have to let go of every single expectation you have upon you. Even if you get to please others, you'll still never feel satisfied. Only thing that truly makes you happy, is if you what you feel you need to do. Ofcourse 99% of doctor community and slowlaners don't understand why you've got to go from 200k/year job to start businesses, but I've never explained myself. Everyone that understands, don't need one.

50000 eur debt isn't bad if you are a MD?

See you around!

In Germany the pay is similar to yours (55k +weekends and nights) and my debt is income-based (1.25%interest) and never more than 200/month. It isn't so bad.

When I have time, I will create a progress-thread and will let you know about it.

I have east-european parents and I'm unfortunately very close to them. (I also moved back home for now until I find a place/job etc).

Ultimately, I will have to make the switch eventually. For now, I need the cash though.

How long have you been in the profession now? Whats your specialty?
 

Lord Business

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In Germany the pay is similar to yours (55k +weekends and nights) and my debt is income-based (1.25%interest) and never more than 200/month. It isn't so bad.

When I have time, I will create a progress-thread and will let you know about it.

I have east-european parents and I'm unfortunately very close to them. (I also moved back home for now until I find a place/job etc).

Ultimately, I will have to make the switch eventually. For now, I need the cash though.

How long have you been in the profession now? Whats your specialty?

Oh, then you will be fine. THE SINGLE biggest mistake I made when I was in that faze was that I didn't start saving right away and squandered 3 years. I strongly urge you to not get caught in the good salary and live like a poor student for a 2-4 years, save and learn. Then you'll have en epic nest egg to start a company.
If your parents are "controlling your life" - there's not much to do, but to distance yourself and prove them wrong - in a positive way. Parents' problem is that they are worried about their children. It's natural. Only by showing, you can ease their minds.

I've been working 6 years now. I'm a GP still, but with kind of specialization to life-style diseases and occupational health care. I found that specializing takes another 6 years from my life, I'll never get back. Instead I found my truest passion - starting businesses and helping people on the larger scale.
 

Del

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Welcome aboard the Forum, very inspirational story with plenty of useful information.

Most people are not and never will be ready to change or see clearly. Trying to "open their eyes" doesn't pay, you'll only feel more alone.

This is so bloody true, I always find myself hopelessly trying to positively influence friends and relatives by introducing them to the Fastlane perspective and principles outlined by @MJ DeMarco

In the mean time I wish you the very best of "luck" with your enterprise. Please keep us updated with your story's highlights and challenges. I am confident that your commitment and hard work will ensure you reach your goals.

Salute
P.S: Thank you for your proposals, I will definitely check out your book recommendations.
 
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Lord Business

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Do that, would love to see you reach success as it happens. ;)

Impressive introduction, and a lot useful information. Cheers

Wow. I resonate so much to your experiences and feelings. I can really understand the suffering. I suffered a lot during medical school and finances were so tight. The only difference is that I got 50,000 euro debt to survive medical school.

What I'm really interested to hear from you is how your parents reacted to your plans. I just moved back to Germany and the pressure to find work is unreal. We invested so much in this career and giving it up feels like a waste. I'm also going to work to be able to support myself better and build some bank (and to build a business at the same time) but like you said, the time might come where the career has to be stopped. How do you feel about that?

I think other slowlaners don't have that relationship to their career as we do. If I had to sum it up in a way, it would be that I sacrificed a significant portion of my life to medicine (16-26).

I would like to follow you through your progress. Maybe you can create a progress thread and continue?? Or shoot me a pm and we stay in touch?

Welcome aboard the Forum, very inspirational story with plenty of useful information.



This is so bloody true, I always find myself hopelessly trying to positively influence friends and relatives by introducing them to the Fastlane perspective and principles outlined by @MJ DeMarco

In the mean time I wish you the very best of "luck" with your enterprise. Please keep us updated with your story's highlights and challenges. I am confident that your commitment and hard work will ensure you reach your goals.

Salute
P.S: Thank you for your proposals, I will definitely check out your book recommendations.

To everyone that is interested - I started my progress report here EXECUTION - Journey to freedom, purpose and 5+ mil networth through healthcare businesses and PLEASE share your's if you have one
 

MJ DeMarco

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Excellent intro, thank you for sharing and welcome. Glad to see you diving into the forum!
 

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