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Three days ago, I introduced myself on this forum for the first time. I received a really amazing welcome and that created a rush of momentum. This led to two days of continuous "mind-blown" moments as I read various posts on the forum (and I'm conscious that I've only read a fraction of what's there). And I figured it would be helpful to others and motivational to myself to post the "before" picture in all its sordid misery so that it paints as vivid a contrast as possible to the future day that's coming when the slowlane is behind me and the fastlane is where I'm hanging out with the other fine folks on this forum.
Hopefully, chronicling the steps I take along the way will help someone else after me to have hope and to avoid any pitfalls I encounter.
And I welcome, invite, and desire the kind of pushback that I've seen the forum members give to one another. Please don't tread lightly if I'm thinking wrongly or making a bad decision. I have a lot of years of un-learning to do before I will have internalized a fastlane mindset. I'm conscious that I'm taking baby steps right now, and that I have a long way to go. And I'm hungry to learn, be corrected, and take action.
Takeaways in the last two days
I have read a lot since Monday, so I can't possibly describe it all, but here are some of the things that stand out the most:
The "Before" picture (my current reality)
I am about as solidly entrenched in the slowlane as a person can possibly be. This is a combination of having a slowlane mindset all my life, lacking awareness of how to navigate in business, growing up being actively discouraged from working outside the home, and not having much of a desire to do so. By the age of 30, the most I had made in a year was about $17,000.
I have worked for myself as a piano teacher and a house cleaner. I have worked for other people in publishing, education, banking, sales, and marketing jobs. I have a degree in communications, which I fortunately obtained debt-free.
But I was always trading time for money, and my wages were low enough that I never succeeded in saving. In my 30s, work became a desperate fight for survival. While I am keeping up the appearances of conducting a "normal," "put-together" life, it feels like I am teetering on the brink of being homeless and starving if even one thing goes wrong. I cannot afford to get sick. I cannot afford to wreck my car. I cannot afford to lose my job.
To seal the handcuffs firmly in place, I made a decision that was the epitome of slowlane thinking. 6 months ago, I bought a house. One of those 0% down deals where I'll pay MORE than the total purchase price of the house in interest by the time the 30-year loan is over. Granted, it was one of the cheapest homes on the market in my area... and the mortgage payment is comparable to renting almost anything but the worst properties. But still, I'm sure the forum will recognize that it was slowlane thinking at its finest. And then, to make matters worse, I started finding that in order to pay my bills, I needed to use my paycheck for the non-negotiable stuff (mortgage, electric, water) and the credit card for everyday expenses (like food and gas). I was oblivious to the fact that I was spending about $1000 more than I made every month, so the credit card balance racked up quick.
Three weeks ago, I created a spreadsheet, plugged in all the numbers, and discovered the cold hard facts about what I had done.
And I was terrified. I was ashamed of what I had done. Despite my low income, I had never been in ANY debt until 10 months ago, when my credit card balance first crept up above what I could pay back in the same month. But here I was, thanks to my own actions and my own choices, and I had no one but myself to thank for it.
Right after that, my boss cut everyone's pay by 5%.
So now it's time to turn this ship around. Starting with getting my house in order. Short term, this will require some sacrifices. I have two fundamental choices: reduce my expenses or increase my income. After reducing everything down to the very barest minimum, we're still not at the break-even point, meaning we'd have to sell the house to accomplish reducing the expenses to where we're spending less than we make. If we have to do that, we will, even if it means that we rent a bedroom for 2 years to correct this. But I'm optimistic that I can do this the other way: increase my income.
My first thought was the slowlane way: look at part time jobs. Maybe I can just work retail from now until the New Year? I ran the numbers, and it looks like if I landed a minimum-wage job for 20 hours a week, it would take me 10 years just to pay back my credit cards. So much for working over the Christmas holidays. Even if my part time job was $25/hour, it would still take 11 months to get rid of the credit card debt.
OK, so that option stinks.
This is the part of the story where little Rebekah looks around at the bars of her cage, looks up at the sky, and like a Peanuts character with a cavernous open mouth, lets out a long "WAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!", rattles the bars, tugs on the handcuffs, and kicks the ball and chain.
THIS! IS! OVER!
This is no fun!
This is not how it has to be!
I have a brain, and I have choices, and I am NOT going to sit on the floor of my cage and slave away the rest of my existence.
But what's this? A key appears.
A glittering gold key in the shape of an F, just outside the bars, but still within reach.
What does it unlock?
It unlocks the Fastlane Forum, a dizzying world of SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY.
Bewildered, little Rebekah steps hesitatingly through the doors and takes a cautious look around.
Almost immediately, her head explodes, ripping away the rigid confines of her former way of thinking and and inserting in its place a brand-new paradigm. Wonder and curiosity and puzzlement pile up in her soul as she beholds this dazzling new land. And hope begins to dawn that this is possible and this is how she should take action.
Next steps from here
What I have going for me:
Given all this, I don't think it's an overstatement to conclude that I'm going to need a tremendous amount of drive, determination, and action taking in order to achieve the escape velocity that it will take to reach the fastlane.
Guess I need to buckle my seat belt, because I'm going for the ride.
Want to watch this slow-laner transition to the fastlane? Come along. How fast do you think I can do it?
I haven chosen to start a progress thread because there's something about this forum that is like jet fuel to my rocket ship. I have experienced a tremendous surge of energy, drive, and ambition just by being here. I want to express my most heartfelt thanks to @MJ DeMarco for creating this forum. If all goes well and my progress trends "up and to the right," you've had a direct hand in saving one individual from the painful scenario described above. Thank you, too, to all the members who have made this forum the valuable place to contribute that it is. (You oldies are complaining that it "isn't what it used to be," but take heart, the magic isn't gone yet.)
Hopefully, chronicling the steps I take along the way will help someone else after me to have hope and to avoid any pitfalls I encounter.
And I welcome, invite, and desire the kind of pushback that I've seen the forum members give to one another. Please don't tread lightly if I'm thinking wrongly or making a bad decision. I have a lot of years of un-learning to do before I will have internalized a fastlane mindset. I'm conscious that I'm taking baby steps right now, and that I have a long way to go. And I'm hungry to learn, be corrected, and take action.
Takeaways in the last two days
I have read a lot since Monday, so I can't possibly describe it all, but here are some of the things that stand out the most:
- Focus on helping other people and providing value. Make that my strategy for getting clients.
- I already know enough to get started. (Thanks, @Andy Black for these first two.)
- Be a producer, not a consumer.
- Think bigger, much bigger, than I ever dared to do. (Hats off to @Kak )
- Be an action taker, not an action faker.
- Use CENTS as the grid to select or discard business ideas (This is all you, @MJ DeMarco )
- I don't need a lot of money, background, or resources to do this. (Keep showing us how it's done, @Xeon)
- Work with a scalable mathematical equation (blew my mind, MJ)
- The people on this forum are incredible, generous individuals (special thanks to those of you who went out of your way to welcome me as a newcomer by posting something to my intro post thread: @MTEE1985, @MJ DeMarco, @Andy Black, @Kak, @amp0193, and @lowtek).
The "Before" picture (my current reality)
I am about as solidly entrenched in the slowlane as a person can possibly be. This is a combination of having a slowlane mindset all my life, lacking awareness of how to navigate in business, growing up being actively discouraged from working outside the home, and not having much of a desire to do so. By the age of 30, the most I had made in a year was about $17,000.
I have worked for myself as a piano teacher and a house cleaner. I have worked for other people in publishing, education, banking, sales, and marketing jobs. I have a degree in communications, which I fortunately obtained debt-free.
But I was always trading time for money, and my wages were low enough that I never succeeded in saving. In my 30s, work became a desperate fight for survival. While I am keeping up the appearances of conducting a "normal," "put-together" life, it feels like I am teetering on the brink of being homeless and starving if even one thing goes wrong. I cannot afford to get sick. I cannot afford to wreck my car. I cannot afford to lose my job.
To seal the handcuffs firmly in place, I made a decision that was the epitome of slowlane thinking. 6 months ago, I bought a house. One of those 0% down deals where I'll pay MORE than the total purchase price of the house in interest by the time the 30-year loan is over. Granted, it was one of the cheapest homes on the market in my area... and the mortgage payment is comparable to renting almost anything but the worst properties. But still, I'm sure the forum will recognize that it was slowlane thinking at its finest. And then, to make matters worse, I started finding that in order to pay my bills, I needed to use my paycheck for the non-negotiable stuff (mortgage, electric, water) and the credit card for everyday expenses (like food and gas). I was oblivious to the fact that I was spending about $1000 more than I made every month, so the credit card balance racked up quick.
Three weeks ago, I created a spreadsheet, plugged in all the numbers, and discovered the cold hard facts about what I had done.
And I was terrified. I was ashamed of what I had done. Despite my low income, I had never been in ANY debt until 10 months ago, when my credit card balance first crept up above what I could pay back in the same month. But here I was, thanks to my own actions and my own choices, and I had no one but myself to thank for it.
Right after that, my boss cut everyone's pay by 5%.
So now it's time to turn this ship around. Starting with getting my house in order. Short term, this will require some sacrifices. I have two fundamental choices: reduce my expenses or increase my income. After reducing everything down to the very barest minimum, we're still not at the break-even point, meaning we'd have to sell the house to accomplish reducing the expenses to where we're spending less than we make. If we have to do that, we will, even if it means that we rent a bedroom for 2 years to correct this. But I'm optimistic that I can do this the other way: increase my income.
My first thought was the slowlane way: look at part time jobs. Maybe I can just work retail from now until the New Year? I ran the numbers, and it looks like if I landed a minimum-wage job for 20 hours a week, it would take me 10 years just to pay back my credit cards. So much for working over the Christmas holidays. Even if my part time job was $25/hour, it would still take 11 months to get rid of the credit card debt.
OK, so that option stinks.
This is the part of the story where little Rebekah looks around at the bars of her cage, looks up at the sky, and like a Peanuts character with a cavernous open mouth, lets out a long "WAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!", rattles the bars, tugs on the handcuffs, and kicks the ball and chain.
THIS! IS! OVER!
This is no fun!
This is not how it has to be!
I have a brain, and I have choices, and I am NOT going to sit on the floor of my cage and slave away the rest of my existence.
But what's this? A key appears.
A glittering gold key in the shape of an F, just outside the bars, but still within reach.
What does it unlock?
It unlocks the Fastlane Forum, a dizzying world of SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY.
Bewildered, little Rebekah steps hesitatingly through the doors and takes a cautious look around.
Almost immediately, her head explodes, ripping away the rigid confines of her former way of thinking and and inserting in its place a brand-new paradigm. Wonder and curiosity and puzzlement pile up in her soul as she beholds this dazzling new land. And hope begins to dawn that this is possible and this is how she should take action.
Next steps from here
What I have going for me:
- I have one of the skills that people on the forum recommend: copywriting. I can make far more at this than I can make at any part-time retail job on the planet. People *say* that if you're a copywriter, you can essentially write your own paycheck. But I've never gotten a client. I've only ever been hired as an employee. I don't know how to get a client, and up until now it has looked like a big, scary, daunting thing to do. But it's time to take whatever action I need to take to get my first one. Sounds like I should start by looking for someone I can help. And I can think of 3-4 people right now.
- I have a home office and a work-from-home job, where I can easily incorporate a client into my current workflow.
- I have a laptop and internet access and a quiet, uninterrupted work environment, which is something that I NEVER want to take for granted.
- I have great health and a sharp mind.
- I have a husband who does all of the chores and the meals and the laundry and the little tasks around the house because he's on disability and I'm the breadwinner... so I barely have to lift a finger to take care of myself that way. He's on it.
- I'm not very business savvy... yet. EVERYTHING about this is new to me. How do I set my rates? How does someone pay me? Do I need a contract? Where do I get one? How do I do my accounting? How do I do the legal stuff? Hypotethicals could possibly leave me going around in circles for YEARS trying to make everything perfect. I don't have years. I need to nail this, fast.
- Limited time and energy. I'm working 60 hours a week and I'm somewhat stumped about which of my non-existent hours from the leftovers of my time I'm going to use for pursuing clients. But I'm just going to try to stuff it in anyway... where there's a will, there's a way, right? Or is there a better way to approach this?
- My husband is more entrenched in the slowlane mindset than I am, to the point where he is attempting to talk me out of going after a client because "you can't; you'll crater." So I'm in the middle of this picture with someone I love who is feeling threatened by this disruption to our erstwhile mutual slowlane thinking, and I have to navigate that piece of it in addition to the other practical elements of it.
- My age. I don't just want to break even, I want a nice retirement. Oh to be starting this journey at 18 instead of 18x2.
- Read both books (Unscripted and The Millionaire Fastlane)
- Contact the 3 or 4 people I mentioned who I know I could help. Approach them with a pitch that's very thoughtfully-constructed and customized to them. Get their business if possible.
- Should I look for a better-paying job in the meantime?
- What are some strategies to impart fastlane thinking to my husband?
- If I barely have time, and I'm going a bit more in the negative every month, is it even an option to offer FREE help to my 3 or 4 friends that I'm starting with? Or should I just confidently charge them a fee (maybe at a discount)?
- If I start freelancing to get income flowing, how do I transition from there to an equation that's scalable? What do I need to start thinking about NOW to get myself into position for a fastlane-scale business?
Given all this, I don't think it's an overstatement to conclude that I'm going to need a tremendous amount of drive, determination, and action taking in order to achieve the escape velocity that it will take to reach the fastlane.
Guess I need to buckle my seat belt, because I'm going for the ride.
Want to watch this slow-laner transition to the fastlane? Come along. How fast do you think I can do it?
I haven chosen to start a progress thread because there's something about this forum that is like jet fuel to my rocket ship. I have experienced a tremendous surge of energy, drive, and ambition just by being here. I want to express my most heartfelt thanks to @MJ DeMarco for creating this forum. If all goes well and my progress trends "up and to the right," you've had a direct hand in saving one individual from the painful scenario described above. Thank you, too, to all the members who have made this forum the valuable place to contribute that it is. (You oldies are complaining that it "isn't what it used to be," but take heart, the magic isn't gone yet.)
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