Progress thread - one year from now (27.01.2013-27.01.2014)

[AlexV]

Hello,

You can find more about me and my background here.

I've been reading the forum everyday since I've joined. Amazing!!!

I've decided to create this thread to keep me motivated and to keep track of my progress in the next year. I will use mainly the metric system and not the imperial one, so hope that most of you will mind this.


Main goals:

-launching my fastlane business so that it shall be automatic in one year (target for this year, next year I will scale it) and to bring at least of 5k euros/month (I'm starting one at the moment but won't be able to tell the market and the exact details openly on the forum)
-loosing 20 kg in this year by changing habits (nutrition and sport)
-getting a mentor to help learn faster, to take better decisions and to help me when needed.(It doesn't matter if the mentor is next to em or at the other end of the world, it should have proven the fastlane mentality and fatslane success)

Secondary goals(help the main ones):

-posting at least weekly the update and progress
-splitting the steps of the main goals into tiny and easy achievable ones
-learn Spanish ( I do speak now Romanian, German, English and Italian)
-reading the forum 1 hour/day that means 365 hours this year. If I can't make it one day the next day I should double it.
-reading one book/week (study is important) that helps me reach my fastlane goal


So let this journey begin. I will be grateful if during this time I will receive feedback (good&bad), hints and tips. I will try to answer every question in a way or another.

Alex

 

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[AlexV]

This week is almost over, so it's time for an update:

-I've finished with the layout sketch for the site for the business
-talked to the designer and to the programmer about it, what it shall contain, what impact it shall bring. As an example I love the apple landing page. It is smooth and simple and you get the idea of what it sells in less then 2 seconds
-had 2 meetings with my business angel/investor (he is putting the money in, I the know-how and we split the profit), a guy who likes my ideas and my knowledge and which really believes that I can move from the sidewalk to the fastlane and from an wantrepreneur to an entrepreneur
-he is acting also as an mentor which says very simple things, but with huge impact on my behavior
-got an office space for free (from the office building of the business angel) with an unlimited contract and a evacuation notice of 3 months
-had 1 talk with a potential customer about legal aspects/contracts
-I want to hire one girl which shall look really good and also speaks Romanian, German and English(with a bonus to Hungarian) and also has experience in the field of my business, so I had one in mind, spoke to her, she said yes but her father got very sick and she had to say no afterwards , which leads me uncovered on this aspect

Business shall start selling latest July(legal issues-hoards of, contracts, site, personnel)

Regarding the other goals:
-I lost 1 kg only by changing my eating habits a little
-I've read this week the book "The 4 h body" by Tim Ferriss; I did it to change some of my eating habits and I do agree with some of the things he is presenting and with some not(steroids as an example)
-I lurked the forum for more the 1h/day; tremendous again, a lot of info and I've started to take notes


The plan for next week:

-Monday is my last day at this current job(in Romania you have to stay 30 more days at your job after you resign) so I will be busy with the paperwork and with the good bye party
-I will start a new 9-5 job in Germany in March, only with the purpose of learning, getting funds(50.000 euros/year will be my salary where I want 15.000k to invest) for the fastlane biz and getting connections(the biz I'm starting is B2B but involves also B2C)
-Tuesday I will leave for Germany(10h-14h drive)
-Wednesday, Thursday and Friday meetings&interviews for the job
-Saturday&Sunday I will visit my sister which is living in NW part of Germany (I will be in SE)

-Keyword research for the site
-I want to re-read The Millionaire Fastlane to sort things which are important out and after to implement them on the biz
-studying on a software needed for the job but which later is used on the biz
-searching for the girl I want to hire on local job sites and asking for recommendations

I know that at this moment everything that I do is till an event not a process. It will be a process after one year when I will change my mentality and my habits. I know I'm enemy most of the time because I'm lazy as f..k sometimes...


So till next week,
Alex

 

[AlexV]

The update for the past two weeks:

Still in search for the employee needed, a lot of interviews with the same outcome, no hiring due to two reasons: the ones that are able don't want to switch to a start up from a safe big time corporation (even if double the pay) and the other are just people that think they know it all but they've got no experience, no work ethic and when asked the simplest of questions they came with elusive answers.

The first are the corporate drones, thanks good that there are so many(the more the better) because they are the main market for my business. I just want one "drone" for me, which shall get into the system and just do the job. I can't out source it because then I lose the control. The second are the wantrepeneur type time consumers(time wasters)

I had four meetings with potential customers, two of them went well with a pre-contract offer. Two didn't because of the terms they wanted to include. All this happened in Germany.
Now I'm back in Romania for one week to set some things and I will travel back to Munich for a week and from there I will be in Dortmund with a project for 6 months(need this 9-5 drone job to finance me and some of the business, even if I have the business angel on my side, I don't know how long it can last, so to be prepared for everything) and then back to Munich for an unspecified time period. Dortmund is good because I got direct low costs flights to my region in Romania where half of the business is based.

Due that I was on the road most of the time I didn't had access to the Internet so I didn't stick to the plan on getting the keywords sorted out last week, so it is shifted for this one.

I finished MJ's book - The Millionare Fastlane for the second time. Precious info inside. I did read also the 4h work week. This one has some interesting things in it but are later to be applied. Like MJ says it is written to sale the dream of the 4h work week which most think that they shall start with the 4h work week not with the 18h work day. It is all about the system. this guy creates systems. I will read his new book just for one chapter that I've heard it is good to be read.

I didn't read the forum for 1h/day so I need to recover it.

Lost 1kg in 2 weeks because I didn't stick on the plan with eating.

The plan for next week is:
-meeting with the business angel for an update
-2 potential customer meeting for pre-contracts
-keywords and site status check
-more interviews
-getting the legal stuff done for the new job

 

[AlexV]

Time for an update.

Still didn't get a person to hire. We had one day with 10 interviews planned and only 3 girls showed up. And none of them was worth the time invested. I may sound picky, and maybe I really am, even if I dropped from the requirements. Now I don't need an experienced one but just one who knows English and Romanian well, with German as a bonus.

I know people are affraid in this uncertain time in Eastern Europe, to change from a big corporation to a startup. Even if the pay is at least twice bigger when you don't take the bonus in account. Harsh times but this shouldn't keep me from focusing on my goal. The goal is to have someone hired till end of may and to have our first sale on July.

The designer&programmer are working on the site and data base. They should be done at the end of May. They received the keywords after a week research from my side.

This parts are also supervised by the business angel.

I moved to Germany now, starting the 9-5 job in 2 days. I know this is not the way to be, but I need capital and I know it is just a step. It will be like a brick around my neck but it will remind me and motivate me every day to try harder.

Germany is better than Romania at this point but not perfect. The people working for the state are the same and not in the good way. Lost a lot of time with them. I feel a little racism from them and from the police(I got romanian license plates, and I will keep them like that), which stops me daily and which threats me like the last scumbag. They usually let me go when I start telling them about embassy and filling them reports .

When I started this thread I had 100 kg, now I'm at 95 kg(for the imperial system users is a loss of about 11 pounds), in graphic. I shall start with sport next week after I find a place to rent.

Reading is in graphic also on the forum as in matter of books. I've read 3 books from rich dad, poor dad series, mostly which is crappy but has also some good ideas in it, some better explained in 'TMF '.

Since I've started I felt sometimes discouregement, doubt and even fear. This are the times that brought me to fail till now. I'm learning ti handle them, which is not easy and I know I'm my biggest enemy.

 

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[xhcsurge]

Keep up the good work, I am reading! Your simplicity inspires me!

 

[AlexV]

hello,

Keep up the good work, I am reading! Your simplicity inspires me!

@xhcsurge - Thanks for the encouragement. I try to be simple and not to complicate things very much, which I know I have a tendency to do.

Update (I was real busy this time):

Started the 9-5 job, which (don't flame me) I like. I like what I do but I would do it as a hobby not as main source for income. I'm doing it now for the cash to get me faster from the sidewalk/slowlane to the fastlane. I got the technical knowledge so till now it is still a piece of cake. I try not to official finish the task as I normally do, but to delay it with some buffer time. I noticed if you do to much everybody is giving you more till you can handle it. But my employer is amazed from my speed, as an example he asked me tot do something in 3 hours(he had a plane to catch and was in real hurry). I finished it in 30 minutes, handed it over after checking and doing things for me in 1 hour. He was surprised in the good way. I know it is not fair over the employer to do this, but if I'm faster then my colleagues it keeps me floating and helps me get more time for my business. I loose now 2 hours on comute. I found a place to rent and move on the 31th of March.

Still no personnel hired, which is frustrating. I planned some interviews next week (me on skype and my mentor on the spot). It is really important to have the right person, mainly because this person will run 90% of the business, she won't be able to run it by herself and to try to steal us because of the 10% she is missing. Also she has a clause in contract not to do the same thing or even tangent in the next 5 years after she is leaving. We plan to hold the business for 5 years, not longer. We need a talkative good looking 'she' just because of the market niche. 'Sex sales' in almost every market and also in mine. The programmer has a lot to do because of the things I've asked and also the designer.

I managed to sell my house in Romania which got me pretty out of debt. I had a 170 square meter(1830 square foot) house (build 2010) which I sold for 90k euro and 20 hectares of agricultural land in Romania (which I don't plan on selling now). My debt was 110k euro (I know, I know, bad decisions and life choices from the past) so I'm more relaxed now, way more relaxed.

Since I don't know many people here I went to a Rotary conference (I'm a Rotaract volunteer which is Rotary for youngsters) to meet new people. I will have to go more out to connect.

I lost another kilogram and started with sprints. I've read Guy Kawasaki - The Macintosh Way, interesting book even if it is an old one.

The forum has offered me some great knowledge again. I'm a lurker and don't post to much because I want to bring value with each post. I post if I can help of if I have a question (except this thread which tracks and keeps me going) .

 

[AlexV]

It's been a long time since I posted.

Not that much has changed like I wanted to. The 9-5 slavery is going well, I will be promoted in 2 months(it is normally announced before). It is not my dream the 9-5 but at this point it is a necessary evil.

Managed to hire 2 persons but had to fire them shortly. One was not what I expected and the other one was caught stealing, which I really hate. So I'm on the search again. Still in time for the first sale in July but this is not what I want. The site is looking good but needs some tune up. Th database is the problem. I asked for some complex features, so this is why it is July the real start date.

Bought 5 hectares in Romania, actually somebody needed to give me money back so I took the land because he didn't have the money on the agreed date. I will keep it.

I started going to the gym from the 1st of April so I start loosing fat and adding muscle mass. I'm at 93kg which is also in plan of my time frame.

The reading was not neglected but I still need to get some fresh books.

I started going out to meet some new people. Found some nice persons, which some of them are potential customers.

 

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[AlexV]

Long time since my last post.

I have to admit that I failed, and failed badly. I didn't want to post this, put it is better for me. Last 2 months I pulled back because of this, didn't want to continue.

My start-up has failed because I was not in control, my mentor was. He turned out not to be the one that I was thinking he is, I've learned a lot from him but he did some not very legit stuff that I can't cope with. If I do something I want it to be legal. He has seen that I was not agreeing with some of his methods so he cut the project. At this time I realised that I failed and only because of me, because I never had the control about it, even if I was thinking the other way. He cut it on the beginning of July. I was affected about it and have withdrawn myself in my shell.

So in the past weeks I almost lost it. Now I pulled myself together for a new start. Even if I don't succeed in my goals for this year I don't need to back up, but to continue and move from the slowlane/sidewalk to the fastlane. Every failure shall make me stronger not weaker, and the scars shall remind me of the road I need to take.

So, now I'm back on the sketching board.

Good to be back

 

[timmy]

Long time since my last post.

I have to admit that I failed, and failed badly. I didn't want to post this, put it is better for me. Last 2 months I pulled back because of this, didn't want to continue.

My start-up has failed because I was not in control, my mentor was. He turned out not to be the one that I was thinking he is, I've learned a lot from him but he did some not very legit stuff that I can't cope with. If I do something I want it to be legal. He has seen that I was not agreeing with some of his methods so he cut the project. At this time I realised that I failed and only because of me, because I never had the control about it, even if I was thinking the other way. He cut it on the beginning of July. I was affected about it and have withdrawn myself in my shell.

So in the past weeks I almost lost it. Now I pulled myself together for a new start. Even if I don't succeed in my goals for this year I don't need to back up, but to continue and move from the slowlane/sidewalk to the fastlane. Every failure shall make me stronger not weaker, and the scars shall remind me of the road I need to take.

So, now I'm back on the sketching board.

Good to be back

Hi
At least you know where you went wrong. It is difficult if not impossible to trust anyone with your fastlane financial plan early stage start up . Onwards and upwards......... SPEED
Great post ! Inspiring comes to mind