Random Chat, Thoughts, Posts, and/or Rants Thread

[GPM]

If you believe, you can achieve anything, especially with a good soundtrack.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1629300796381601792

View: https://twitter.com/KEEMSTAR/status/1629300796381601792

I wonder if the thought even crossed their minds just how badly they would have been messed up if that dude decided he wanted to spend his energy on hurting them rather than just leaving.

 

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[Xeon]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1630025067793924096

 

[loop101]

Is there a place to post interesting commercial offers that people here might like? In my case, I sometimes see "eBook bundles" that are on sale for a limited time. I assume such a thread would get overrun with spam, so I am guessing not.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

@MJ DeMarco / Mods, I nominate all the valuable input that has been shared with @JLE, starting with this post, to be moved to his progress thread [here] where I think it will all make more sense in context and be more valuable for other readers who might find themselves in a similar situation.

Will do, I'll get it done today.

Is there a place to post interesting commercial offers that people here might like? In my case, I sometimes see "eBook bundles" that are on sale for a limited time. I assume such a thread would get overrun with spam, so I am guessing not.

You can self-promote or advertise anything here. It gets a few posts a week so not totally overrun with spam.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

@MJ DeMarco / Mods, I nominate all the valuable input that has been shared with @JLE, starting with this post, to be moved to his progress thread [here] where I think it will all make more sense in context and be more valuable for other readers who might find themselves in a similar situation.

The posts with @JLE have been moved to the appropriate thread here:

GOLD! - HOT! - How Do I [NOT] Scale My Personal Training Business Significantly?

I don't wish to turn my personal training services into an e-book. I'm fine with sacrificing my time. However, how can I market myself efficiently in order to attract clients for personal training services both online + offline? I'm a Certified Personal Trainer living in the middle of Ontario...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[monnffffiiiiiii]

Always sucks to have an older friend who just stops supporting or caring about your progress.

Especially when you always had their back with their own goals and plans.

I guess the way it goes, but always stings.

It's human nature.

I only share my "success" with people that are more successful than I am.

But then I also quickly get jealous, and I say it when I am.

Something like: "oh man, I really envy you, I wish I was as successful as you are, damn".

Instantly releases the pressure.

 

[loop101]

If this turns out to be true, Monday should be an interesting day for Sunoco's stock price.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1629547243559690241

View: https://twitter.com/Millie__Weaver/status/1629547243559690241

I was wrong. I was expecting a giant crash today.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Funny things happen when you account for inflation... eh?

Retiring early on $1M in 1999 is vastly different than trying to do it in 2023.

Of course this is if you bought at the peak in 2000. Nonetheless, it shows that inflation is always disregarded, or just plain ignored -- and doing so is a big mistake.

 

[Xeon]

Meet Gen Zalpha, the powerful combo generation of teens and 20-somethings who are about to have major spending power

Members of Generation Zalpha are young, they're internet-savvy, and marketers are clamoring for both their cash and their expertise.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[loop101]

Spotted this in a weather video. If I lived in Oklahoma, I would have one too.

 

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[Xeon]

AI-Generated Art Personifies Countries as Different Women Across the Globe

“What’s fascinating is the potential for this AI to create anything you can imagine.”

mymodernmet.com

Is this you?

21hero on Instagram: "Life as an adult ☠️ #21hero #fyp want to learn more about how to invest your money and finance tips -leave your email at the link in our bio, we’re launching soon!"

109K likes, 541 comments - 21her0 on February 19, 2023: "Life as an adult ☠️ #21hero #fyp want to learn more about how to invest your money and finance tips -leave your email at the link..."

www.instagram.com

 

[RicardoGrande]

Do any of the older members here recall any good threads going over the ins and outs of starting a food business? I know the guy with a pic of him in front of his plane had a condiment brand awhile back but I think that was his second or so food biz and it was light on implementation details.

I'm faintly aware I need to have a recipe and hammer that out with a copacker and test that before buying inventory or worrying about warehousing- even before any real setup and marketing- but it's been tough on my end to find good examples of people that started up aside from the barebones stories like "Oh my wife and I weren't feeling our gluten free cookies so we got to work in our kitchen... and (magically) two years later runthe world's largest gluten free rice-flour based cookie brand!".

I've identified a few actual food company owners I'm going to try to cold outreach to to see if they can lend me an ear, don't know if it will actually work but it's some guys that got interviewed (one guy did just say "Yeah someone came up to us with an offer with a copacker and we licensed our branding) and should be open to talking but I just see a really big gap between the idea in my head to implementation

Haven't given up on the breadcrumb trails but just like with sales or even freelancing two years ago, there's this whole cloud of "what in the hell needs to happen, and how can you make it happen efficiently" in the way.
Pretty dogged on this because I had a similar idea to what is now native deodorant (and tbh I still do because I'm not paying 12$/stick of deodorant) in 2018, spent weeks ruining my kitchen making prototypes and got my friends/jiu jitsu buddies to use it and they thought it was a good idea but I had absolutely 0 effin idea what I could do next and it died so I stuck with the dayjob and watched native start up and sell for 100$ mil in the meantime.

 

[Parks]

Do any of the older members here recall any good threads going over the ins and outs of starting a food business? I know the guy with a pic of him in front of his plane had a condiment brand awhile back but I think that was his second or so food biz and it was light on implementation details.

I'm faintly aware I need to have a recipe and hammer that out with a copacker and test that before buying inventory or worrying about warehousing- even before any real setup and marketing- but it's been tough on my end to find good examples of people that started up aside from the barebones stories like "Oh my wife and I weren't feeling our gluten free cookies so we got to work in our kitchen... and (magically) two years later runthe world's largest gluten free rice-flour based cookie brand!".

I've identified a few actual food company owners I'm going to try to cold outreach to to see if they can lend me an ear, don't know if it will actually work but it's some guys that got interviewed (one guy did just say "Yeah someone came up to us with an offer with a copacker and we licensed our branding) and should be open to talking but I just see a really big gap between the idea in my head to implementation

Haven't given up on the breadcrumb trails but just like with sales or even freelancing two years ago, there's this whole cloud of "what in the hell needs to happen, and how can you make it happen efficiently" in the way.
Pretty dogged on this because I had a similar idea to what is now native deodorant (and tbh I still do because I'm not paying 12$/stick of deodorant) in 2018, spent weeks ruining my kitchen making prototypes and got my friends/jiu jitsu buddies to use it and they thought it was a good idea but I had absolutely 0 effin idea what I could do next and it died so I stuck with the dayjob and watched native start up and sell for 100$ mil in the meantime.

This question might be worth its own thread. I'd love to know more too. I think if I recall right that Dave's Killer Bread got his first commercial customer from the weekend/saturday market.

If I had something desirable food wise I think I would try to start there too. If I had a hit then I'd probably try cold calling grocery stores or even trying to barter in some way. Take a look at my food product and in return I'll take care of your guys landscape maintenance etc.

 

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[RicardoGrande]

This question might be worth its own thread. I'd love to know more too. I think if I recall right that Dave's Killer Bread got his first commercial customer from the weekend/saturday market.

If I had something desirable food wise I think I would try to start there too. If I had a hit then I'd probably try cold calling grocery stores or even trying to barter in some way. Take a look at my food product and in return I'll take care of your guys landscape maintenance etc.

For sure, I think I asked in a general thread a couple months ago and in a specific older thread about food biz before that but there was just crickets- either posted at the wrong time or no one's focused on it (or everyone's focused on freelancing?!?). If I'm able to dig anything up I'll be sure to include it in my progress thread here > EXECUTION - (Slow Burn) Starting and Fastlaning a snack & nutrition brand.

Right now I'm just listening to any interviews on the fitness nutrition space I can dig up on spotify and taking note of owner names. I did absolutely ruin my kitchen with some prototypes but I'm still lost about settling on an ingredient, shelf life, and all the certifications.

For pitching, I've seen about two episodes of people pitching to shark tank that coincidentally also managed to sell to costco but that looks to be a either a distributor connection or a trade show thing- learning about this is probably going to come down to finding a mentor.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

Do any of the older members here recall any good threads going over the ins and outs of starting a food business? I know the guy with a pic of him in front of his plane had a condiment brand awhile back but I think that was his second or so food biz and it was light on implementation details.

I'm faintly aware I need to have a recipe and hammer that out with a copacker and test that before buying inventory or worrying about warehousing- even before any real setup and marketing- but it's been tough on my end to find good examples of people that started up aside from the barebones stories like "Oh my wife and I weren't feeling our gluten free cookies so we got to work in our kitchen... and (magically) two years later runthe world's largest gluten free rice-flour based cookie brand!".

I've identified a few actual food company owners I'm going to try to cold outreach to to see if they can lend me an ear, don't know if it will actually work but it's some guys that got interviewed (one guy did just say "Yeah someone came up to us with an offer with a copacker and we licensed our branding) and should be open to talking but I just see a really big gap between the idea in my head to implementation

Haven't given up on the breadcrumb trails but just like with sales or even freelancing two years ago, there's this whole cloud of "what in the hell needs to happen, and how can you make it happen efficiently" in the way.
Pretty dogged on this because I had a similar idea to what is now native deodorant (and tbh I still do because I'm not paying 12$/stick of deodorant) in 2018, spent weeks ruining my kitchen making prototypes and got my friends/jiu jitsu buddies to use it and they thought it was a good idea but I had absolutely 0 effin idea what I could do next and it died so I stuck with the dayjob and watched native start up and sell for 100$ mil in the meantime.

Get a thread going. I don’t want to say what his product was, but he was doing good numbers wholesaling his food product rather than retailing it. That has always been my idea too when it comes to products: move volume

 

[RicardoGrande]

Get a thread going. I don’t want to say what his product was, but he was doing good numbers wholesaling his food product rather than retailing it. That has always been my idea too when it comes to products: move volume

For sure, my end goal has been distribution to stores, but mainly in costco and I've seen some companies try to fill the gap on the shelves but they cant displace a Kirkland product and the other main player in the space I'm targeting.

 

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[ZF Lee]

Do any of the older members here recall any good threads going over the ins and outs of starting a food business? I know the guy with a pic of him in front of his plane had a condiment brand awhile back but I think that was his second or so food biz and it was light on implementation details.

I'm faintly aware I need to have a recipe and hammer that out with a copacker and test that before buying inventory or worrying about warehousing- even before any real setup and marketing- but it's been tough on my end to find good examples of people that started up aside from the barebones stories like "Oh my wife and I weren't feeling our gluten free cookies so we got to work in our kitchen... and (magically) two years later runthe world's largest gluten free rice-flour based cookie brand!".

I've identified a few actual food company owners I'm going to try to cold outreach to to see if they can lend me an ear, don't know if it will actually work but it's some guys that got interviewed (one guy did just say "Yeah someone came up to us with an offer with a copacker and we licensed our branding) and should be open to talking but I just see a really big gap between the idea in my head to implementation

Haven't given up on the breadcrumb trails but just like with sales or even freelancing two years ago, there's this whole cloud of "what in the hell needs to happen, and how can you make it happen efficiently" in the way.
Pretty dogged on this because I had a similar idea to what is now native deodorant (and tbh I still do because I'm not paying 12$/stick of deodorant) in 2018, spent weeks ruining my kitchen making prototypes and got my friends/jiu jitsu buddies to use it and they thought it was a good idea but I had absolutely 0 effin idea what I could do next and it died so I stuck with the dayjob and watched native start up and sell for 100$ mil in the meantime.

NOTABLE! - Food business/entrepreneurship startup guide

So, you want to make a food product? I've got my INSIDERS progress thread here, https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/progress-creating-specialty-food-products-for-medical-diets.73591/ but wanted to put together a general "how-to" guide on the outside for everyone else. First...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Long time no see Scot though
Hope he's doing swell.

 

[Lex DeVille]

Yesterday, in my backyard, I did a mental exercise where I look around and find something within eyesight that could be a hugely profitable business/industry that people don't know about.

At first, I struggled, but then my eyes locked on our local water tower.

• Industrial, check.
• Government, check.
• Expensive parts, check.
• Ongoing service needed, check.
• Hard to start, check.

I tried to look up stuff about water towers, and that's when I came upon this website:

Home - New Cooling Tower Construction, Parts, Maintenance, Upgrades

They don't appear to sell water towers, but they do sell this (and other very expensive products)...


Eventually, I did come across some water tower servicing websites.

I had to turn to Chat GPT to find out an approximate cost to build a water tower though.

It estimates $100,000 to $500,000 for a smaller 100,000 gallon tank and in the millions for a 500,000+ gallon tower.

What's interesting about water towers is they create a whole sector of jobs and opportunities.

• Someone has to design them
• Someone has to set the foundation
• Someone has to fabricate them
• Someone has to erect them
• Someone has to paint them
• Someone has to insulate them
• Someone has to inspect them
• Someone has to service them
• Someone has to dismantle them

Who?

Maybe it's one very profitable business or maybe it is a whole bunch of profitable businesses.

Anyway, that's my interesting niche business find of the day for your viewing pleasure.

 

[Fox]

Does anyone here do fly fishing?

I keep thinking about learning and I know zero about it ha.

I must have seen it in some movies years ago - but I now want to take some lessons.

 

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[UK_Mike]

Do any of the older members here recall any good threads going over the ins and outs of starting a food business? I know the guy with a pic of him in front of his plane had a condiment brand awhile back but I think that was his second or so food biz and it was light on implementation details.

I vaguely remember a thread about someone who had a food business and wanted to expand it, but I don't think it's what you're looking for, if I recall correctly the OP didn't take any of the advice given and it all fizzled out.

Oh, and wasn't there something about starting a food business in some book other other? I forget who wrote it now. Had some whacky title like "The Big Mouse Trap Release" or something. Probably also not the one you're thinking of.

 

[monnffffiiiiiii]

Western states levied roughly 10% of their GDP in taxes at the end of the 19th century.

By 1965, they levied 25%.

Today, they levy 35% - 45% (average for OECD countries, except US which remains at 25%).

But that's not all. Not only did the share of taxes levied in terms of GDP percentage increased....but the GDP itself jumped!



Taxes is like heroin to a country: more is not enough.

They have never received AS MUCH of our money and the situation has never been this crappy.

- Sky high level of debt
- Sky high inflation
- Decreasing life expectancy
- Crumbling infrastructure
- No economic growth
- Rampant insecurity
- Delusional RE prices
- Decadence of the educational system
- Overpopulated prisons
- Slow justice system

At the end of its life, the Roman Empire banned people from moving as everyone was going to low-tax jurisdictions.

The provinces stopped investing and being productive thinking "why would we do stuff if it'll be taken away anyway?"

Same thing is happening now.

 

[Xeon]

24 Funny Illustrations That Show The Cultural Differences Between The East And The West Made By This Artist

Yang Liu a young artist from Beijing currently living in Germany illustrates the social and cultural differences between her Eastern and Western worlds in her project.

www.boredpanda.com

Relatable. Working in western companies always beat working for eastern ones.

 

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[RicardoGrande]

Yesterday, in my backyard, I did a mental exercise where I look around and find something within eyesight that could be a hugely profitable business/industry that people don't know about.

At first, I struggled, but then my eyes locked on our local water tower.

They don't appear to sell water towers, but they do sell this (and other very expensive products)...
Eventually, I did come across some water tower servicing websites.

I had to turn to Chat GPT to find out an approximate cost to build a water tower though.
It estimates $100,000 to $500,000 for a smaller 100,000 gallon tank and in the millions for a 500,000+ gallon tower.
What's interesting about water towers is they create a whole sector of jobs and opportunities.

• Someone has to design them
• Someone has to set the foundation
• Someone has to fabricate them
• Someone has to erect them
• Someone has to paint them
• Someone has to insulate them
• Someone has to inspect them
• Someone has to service them
• Someone has to dismantle them

Who?

Maybe it's one very profitable business or maybe it is a whole bunch of profitable businesses.
Anyway, that's my interesting niche business find of the day for your viewing pleasure.

The things that we see and take for granted everyday are there for a reason and it's mindblowing that some people can a living off of them- especially once you hear the numbers and the scale.
I literally got off the phone monday with a welding shop owner who did a gate repair for a city park one day and now gets drowned in municipal contracts for gate repair and stuff like benches and gazebos .
We have a lot of weird office parks in North Texas where they look like clusters of oversized single-story houses but they're all business offices and commercial space. Bud of mine got called out to patch a roof on one a few years back, got called two years later to redo a bathroom and interior walls in the building next to the original, and now does hundreds of thousands a year for that property management company's properties repairs/remodels/upkeep in the region.

Granted, your example is something much bigger in scale and effort but is still ubiqituous. It actually got me to thinking about who the hell does the upkeep on park playgrounds and those exercise circuits I've seen getting put up all over in parks in my neck of the woods.

 

[StrikingViper69]

The provinces stopped investing and being productive thinking "why would we do stuff if it'll be taken away anyway?"

Sounds like they shrugged

 

[piano]

I'm sorry if this is dumb to ask, but can somebody please explain or link/show me what a marketing agency is? I've spend hours on trying to figure this. Like, I've been even watching/reading some advanced guides by accident while not even knowing its basics.
I only know that you solve problems for people and manage stuff.
However, what is the work that you're actually doing?

(Would really appreciate somebody explaining it to me!)

 

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[Andy Black]

I'm sorry if this is dumb to ask, but can somebody please explain or link/show me what a marketing agency is? I've spend hours on trying to figure this. Like, I've been even watching/reading some advanced guides by accident while not even knowing its basics.
I only know that you solve problems for people and manage stuff.
However, what is the work that you're actually doing?

(Would really appreciate somebody explaining it to me!)

A marketing agency is a team that helps businesses create and implement their marketing strategy(s).

There's lots of definitions of marketing. I like to think of it as finding out what people want to buy, finding out how to sell it to them profitably, then doing it. Most will disagree with that and will include raising brand awareness and other fluffy stuff. I'm more direct response.

That probably didn't help you though.

What is it you're trying to find out, and why?

 

[piano]

Hey, Andy, thanks anyways!

What is it you're trying to find out, and why?

I just recently learned that something like an SMMA even exists (thanks to @KrisRomer ).
I wanted to see if I could build a business with that.

 

[Andy Black]

Hey, Andy, thanks anyways!


I just recently learned that something like an SMMA even exists (thanks to @KrisRomer ).
I wanted to see if I could build a business with that.

There's a Gold thread in here giving steps.

 

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[piano]

There's a Gold thread in here giving steps.

Do you mean this one? GOLD! - HOT! - MARKETING - Andy's Inbound/Sales Braindump

(I'll just assume you mean that ^ one, unless you correct me).
Thanks! I'll look into it.

 

[Andy Black]

Do you mean this one? GOLD! - HOT! - MARKETING - Andy's Inbound/Sales Braindump

(I'll just assume you mean that ^ one, unless you correct me).
Thanks! I'll look into it.

GOLD! - MARKETING - CHECKLIST: How to Start a Digital Marketing Agency & Hit $5K in Less than 90 Days

I've been meaning to write this post for a long time. It's basically the story of how I started a digital marketing agency to be able to do cool stuff. And I would like to give you a nice little checklist that you could use as well if it interests you. I started my business in 2010. Since then...

www.thefastlaneforum.com