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Progression of a 17 year old

Saad Khan

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Okay. Time to update this thread:

When I was ranting on that agency client. I caught myself doing the unthinkable. I realized I was unconsciously "Trying to sell" and not "Provide value". Since then, I took action, volunteered myself to provide value. All for free. And for the sake of providing value and crushing my imposter syndrome.

Just when I thought I was going to rebound, academics hit me. Being an A+ student, always scoring more than 90%, I witnessed the value of marks get shredded into pieces in front of my eyes.

For more clarification, read this


Shocking that someone gets 1100/1100. There are more than 100 students on Top 3 positions.

Lmao. The fastlane lens exposed everything.

I was upset with my result. But then my feedback loop finally started firing back.

When I cared for other's businesses, good juju came my way. When I started caring to make a profit for others, I witnessed my copy deliver value.

I literally told everyone in college about my results. Of course, they didn't understand and didn't care. Knowing my copy provided 4 times more value than I anticipated, I successfully crushed my imposter syndrome.

What are the takeaways?

Provide value. Good juju comes your way.

Don't forget that everyone has bad times. This too shall pass. Keep going despite failures. Confucius said, "It doesn't matter how slowly you go, as long as you don't stop."
 
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Saad Khan

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I've been hesitating to reply to this thread. Why?

I'm now learning SEO, WordPress and god knows what else... and also helping others with my copywriting skills. So I'm not all that learn and forget. I do take action, it just doesn't feel like I'm taking enough.

I decided that the skillsets I'm going to acquire before the end of the year will be SMM, SEO, and SEM. Then I will slowly transition and work my way from there.

I forgot to mention, web design too, lol. Just got started on a practice website with elementor. I'll also be applying SEO techniques that I learn so I don't burn money when I'm doing SEO for others.
 
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Saad Khan

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Time for a sob story...

The agency paid me in "Opportunity". They justified my 4 months of toiling with just a freaking "We provided an opportunity to work on real-time projects. Since you started this project in the internship period, you were volunteering to do this".

Yeah, like someone writes nearly 50k words for the pickiest client in existence for free, huh? Tell me folks, HAVE YOU EVER SEEN PITCH DECK CONTENT AS LONG AS 10,000 WORDS?! I bet NOT!

I got nothing but S#iT on, wasted my 4 months. Ahh, this makes me so angry. I'm an absolute idiot for not building my freelance empire. I feel like I got rekht by a sandstorm in the desert of desertion. Thankfully, I'm finally getting out of my freelancing desert of desertion.

Lessons for freelancers starting out:

1. Be very clear on the terms you're going to work with an agency. Never accept an unpaid internship. It's an implicit invitation to hell.

Instead, write for clients who will happily exchange your services for reviews in the beginning (you can do that profitably too, depends upon you)

2. You are responsible for what happens to you. I'm a victim because I relinquished my power to the agency. To be accountable, I'm going to make sure I don't fall victim to this ever again.

Allow me to throw in a cliche.

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"
 
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Vasili27

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Time for a sob story...

The agency paid me in "Opportunity". They justified my 4 months of toiling with just a freaking "We provided an opportunity to work on real-time projects. Since you started this project in the internship period, you were volunteering to do this".

Yeah, like someone writes nearly 50k words for the pickiest client in existence for free, huh? Tell me folks, HAVE YOU EVER SEEN PITCH DECK CONTENT AS LONG AS 10,000 WORDS?! I bet NOT!

I got nothing but S#iT on, wasted my 4 months. Ahh, this makes me so angry. I'm an absolute idiot for not building my freelance empire. I feel like I got rekht by a sandstorm in the desert of desertion. Thankfully, I'm finally getting out of my freelancing desert of desertion.

Lessons for freelancers starting out:

1. Be very clear on the terms you're going to work with an agency. Never accept an unpaid internship. It's an implicit invitation to hell.

Instead, write for clients who will happily exchange your services for reviews in the beginning (you can do that profitably too, depends upon you)

2. You are responsible for what happens to you. I'm a victim because I relinquished my power to the agency. To be accountable, I'm going to make sure I don't fall victim to this ever again.

Allow me to throw in a cliche.

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"
things happen man, You make a mistake and from that you learn something and with that you get smarter
 

Saad Khan

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Finally, a breakthrough...

2 weeks later, here's my progress.

I got results for a client (in one ad set) and increased his leads 7X for the budget spent. I thought it would be a good opportunity to pitch this to someone. Then I had something in mind.

I contacted the agency owner and pitched him my success.

He congratulated me on it.

Several minutes later, he asked me if I could assist him in writing a paragraph for him since he was short on deadline. I had asserted previously that I'd be working in exchange for a monetary incentive, so I got paid for it.

I also managed to ask him whether I could work in his agency's SMM department.

He told me to compose a copy that outlined my skills related to SMM.

It took me an hour to write the whole thing lol.

Anyways, after going through the thing, he said he'd assign me some SMM-related work in 4 days. If I generated positive results, I'd get paid for it.

Since then, I had been binge-watching SMM courses. I completed the FB ads course in 1 day. That's why you'll see FB ads discussed in detail in the text file below.

I've pasted the copy in a text file below. I'd be very grateful if any one of you can link resources and drop the names of some experts like @Andy Black.

As for Upwork, no clients so far.
 
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Saad Khan

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3rd Nov 2021

Finally, I got my first client on Upwork. The Upwork client was willing to help me grow on Fiverr because of the unfortunate event (Upwork locked my account since I'm under 18)

I got 2 orders from him on Fiverr. I'm also building connections by posting content on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About the agency... I'm going to learn as much as I can before I say goodbye.

Right now, I'm doing marketing and outreach for a Facebook group. I'm going to be calling the prospective media groups tomorrow during working hours to promote the page's content and interview the client.

I've sent emails to them but they haven't responded yet. I guess Whatsapp will do the trick.

There are 3 main tasks I do daily.

1. Freelance
2. Expanding my skillset
3. Reading books for 20-30 mins
 
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Saad Khan

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Update 11/17/2021

Yesterday, I made a class worthwhile when I stepped out of my comfort zone and delivered a fantastic presentation out of thin air. I felt like a public speaker.

Today, I told my English teacher that I wanted to hijack his class.
"But why?"
"I want to deliver a presentation."

So much confidence, I bet my past self didn't have the guts to say something like this. Ever.

Half the class began to cheer me up. They wanted to listen to a Fastlane presentation over a boring English lesson. @MJ DeMarco I listened to your podcast on Jake and Gino's youtube channel. Loved it.

I feel overconfident right now. This is going into my college memories.

Lesson learned:
Venturing out of your comfort zone is always a good idea.

I added 30 pushups to my daily routine. So far, I have made some progress and already made more than I did in the last month (not a lot, but still means the world to me). I'll be using the money to buy some e-commerce tools like Jungle Scout and Helium 10 so I can hunt products and manage e-commerce stores.

I had this subconscious feeling of limiting myself to only writing but not now. Instead, I'm going to get my hands dirty in every field and opportunity I can find.

The marketing trial at the agency didn't go too well. Let's just say I didn't have a mobile to edit and upload Instagram stories for a brand launch, so I uploaded raw pictures instead. That's why I bought a mobile last week. I have everything I could possibly question for. The only thing that matters now is consistent action and accountability.
 
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Saad Khan

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This is December, and we're moving to our new home. Luckily I have a home office (which I used to call my gaming room) which will cancel out any distractions later on.

Copywriting, on the other hand, hasn't been great after getting banned from Upwork (because I'm under 18). I have been getting academic work lately (which I hate doing). I have decided that I'm going to use my copywriting skills and migrate to Amazon FBA.

I'll become a PPC specialist (since I love the feeling of managing campaigns). Everyone is talking about Amazon in Pakistan and I feel like it will help me gain traction. Already found amazon sellers and a part of an approved product launch. Little did I know, I had already managed to get a premium amazon course during a sale.

In a nutshell, I'm going deep into e-commerce services. Seriously, those premium courses have so much value and literally spoonfed you everything.

For any newbies/teens
Throw CENTS out of the window for now. You need to gain some skills and traction initially. If you're 17 like me just get into a skill that can get you some money. CENTS applies partially for jobs, but don't sweat it for now.

The UI update rocks btw.
 

Saad Khan

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Time for an update.

Moved to our new house, I finally have a room where I can focus on my fastlane progress.

I got an offer from the agency whose client was responsible for my mental breakdowns.

Turns out we'll be splitting revenue 50/50 for every client I bring that is closed. I'm studying B2B marketing strategies that I'll execute for the agency, like lead generation and closing clients on LinkedIn, content marketing, etc. I intend to get some good case studies out of these campaigns that will attract future clients.

However, the owner of the agency is not interested in playing his part. For example, providing an office email, sending a referral incentive email to his client list. I sent him some client acquisition strategies that the employees loved. The reason I got this offer in the first place was that I was conveying him Fastlane nuggets from time to time. I guess he spotted my drive for marketing and sales. Either way, I'm determined to get something outta this.

Now moving on to my personal progress.

I have decided to expand my skillset into the Amazon space, and I think it will be easier for me to get amazon clients. I have some guys who can refer me to potential clients. That's why I've completely devoted my time to learning as much as I can about Amazon and e-commerce in general.

There's so much to learn! I thought all the courses would be wrapped up in two weeks. Turns out there's so much knowledge I have to acquire that I have to create notes to supplement my memory.

I don't plan on religiously following CENTS yet, because that's like trying to solve problem #99 while you're at problem #10, but one thing is for sure. I can't thank you guys and this forum enough for the value, advice, and encouragement, especially @Andy Black. I planned to write this once I got results with my new ventures but remembered the sage advice and warmth of this forum.

And yeah, I turned 18.
 

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Saad Khan

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This is my 1/5/10 I made when I was starting out back in 2021. I will add the ones I failed to accomplish into my 2022 Planasy. The failed ones are marked "X" at the beginning of each goal.

The biggest mistake was that I didn't break it down to weekly goals. This caused my progress to be stagnant at times and I was action-faking more than taking real action.

2021
- Already started a freelance business (Doing it)
- Get a good PC (Got a mobile instead, so it counts as accomplished)
X Start YT and provide massive value (Deviated after realizing it was not the critical path)
- Get credible (Doing content marketing and helping others)
X Start going to gym (Failed)
X
Already start working on creating income streams (Failed. Need to focus on one consistent channel for now)
- Deal with people effectively (Improved my communication skills)
- Do good in studies (Average results)
- Get ready for making an agency after years of experience (I still have more to learn and grow before getting others onboard).
- Read more books and all gold threads (Done)
- Start making enough money to support myself (Already making enough that fulfills my personal expenses)

Seems like I failed in three of my goals or 2021. Not bad. I will be making more specific goals because most of my goals for 2021 were vague and couldn't be measured.

2026
-2 businesses working
-Agency making $10k+ revenue
-300k USD net worth

2031
-Sell one biz for $5M
-Get back free time
-Location independent
-Independent and pull others out of the rat race
 

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Interesting to read this thread and follow your progress. You're starting out at a young age, which definitely has advantages. Keep going, keep learning and good luck!
 

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Over here, over there.
It's really nice to see how your mentality has shifted over such a short few months.

The insecure start, not really knowing where you're going... the doubt and anger when reality kicked you in the butt... the confidence and reassurance from still making the most out of your path and being rewarded for your effort.

And now, there's the hope and gratitude from living your change and looking forward to bigger things.

You can see these in the language you use, the areas you choose to focus on, and, I would assume, we'll soon see it in your breakthrough and results as well. Great job!

You sound like you've been doing it for years already.

Let us know how you manage to break down your 2022 goals into an actionable plan for the next few months.
 
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This thread is really inspiring. You're already rocking at 18 years old ! Keep going !

You are right about focusing on a skill that makes you money first. I've realized lately that I have to focus on the next closest step to make progress. That's a good mentality to have
 

Saad Khan

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It's really nice to see how your mentality has shifted over such a short few months.

The insecure start, not really knowing where you're going... the doubt and anger when reality kicked you in the butt... the confidence and reassurance from still making the most out of your path and being rewarded for your effort.

And now, there's the hope and gratitude from living your change and looking forward to bigger things.

You can see these in the language you use, the areas you choose to focus on, and, I would assume, we'll soon see it in your breakthrough and results as well. Great job!

You sound like you've been doing it for years already.

Let us know how you manage to break down your 2022 goals into an actionable plan for the next few months.
Will do tonight!
 

Saad Khan

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This is the end of this thread, but not the progress!

I decided to start a new Execution thread (with more action). Go check it out at:

 
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