Slight Problem.

[Deege]

Being a youngster (15) I'm in a "You have to have money to get money." rut. I know there's something wrong there. But it seems everywhere i turn you have to have money to proceed any further, and being 15 i cant really just go out and get a traditional job(thats slowlane material anyhow. )I know i'm wrong somehow. But i thought maybe just maybe you guys might no what to say to guide me off of this detour and back in the "Fastlane".


Thank you.

-The Deege.

 

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[Jill]

Really not a problem at all, Deege. I was you at 15. Well, 8, actually. But don't believe all that nonsense about needing money to make money. I mentored a 13 yr-old kid in my neighborhood this summer whose parents had promised him that if he could raise half the money, that they would buy him the Macbook Pro of his dreams. He and I sat down together and put together a business plan for him to sell custom, hand-carwashes door to door in the neighborhood. I taught him about selling features and benefits (using "Cause Marketing" to win the emotional sell - the neighbors loved his chutzpah and were more than willing to be "sold")

After taking his homemade flyers and business cards door-to-door, he had a good summer. Last I heard, he was well on his way to his goal.

I tell this little (TRUE!!) vignette to get you to the point that you now have a few hundred dollars to start investing. NOW, go to the most often-viewed thread on this forum to get some ideas of your own for how to turn that into more. I put a thead up several months ago about raising investment capital on Ebay. But there are tons of other great ideas there as well.

Bottom line, don't believe the naysayers. There was never a monument raised to the guy who said, "It can't be done!"

 

[Runum]

Depends on how much money you think you need. You can get a web based business up for about $100 or less.

 

[mtnman]

I say no problem! You just need to see leverage in action, understand it, go through personal change to focus on it, and get movin!

....although you may need to do a bit of slowlane elbow grease, but I always say, often, out of great struggle, comes great reward.

Like Greg mentioned, the internet would be a great place to start at your age. And actually, you can start out with some slowlane stuff for zero dollars to fund your future. I'm talking about affiliate marketing in this particular instance, which you can start off with a bang for a low investment, or start off for free using much of your time doing manual promotions and marketing, such as bum marketing.

Just remember, half the people here didn't really get going until they were almost twice your age. The coin is on your side, just pick a rode, start driving, and don't let any detours or roadblocks (biggest DK's, friends & fam) knock you off of the path that leads to your dreams.

DK's = Dream Killer's

Dreams create passion. Never lose it.

 

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[servicefly]

To further mtnman's point,

At 15 years old anytime you accomplish or attempt to accomplish what other adults wouldn't do, it is news worthy. Provide a service to your local area to raise money like Jill suggests to generate starting capital. Do your research (known as Due Diligence) in business to find out how much it will cost to get started. As an eEntrepreneur I always push the leverage of the Web.

If I was 15 again with my knowledge here is what I would do:

Find the costs of creating stickers (bumper or other styles) which is called COGS (cost of goods sold), probably $.60 each from a printing website service with delivery of 500 or more. Find a cause or charity you believe in (you have to have passion for it). Sell the stickers for 5 times the COGS + 20% of total price. Research the cost of a professionally developed website (should be professional) using Paypal to accept donations. My estimates is all under $1,000. Research shipping channels too, or drop ship of custom stickers.

The idea here is to give 50% of profits to the charity of your choice. Have an article written about you; a 15 year old 1st time Entrepreneur learning business by helping a cause. Once the website is complete, release the article across the wire for $400-$600 which you earned selling your stickers in the neighborhood. Such a story needs to be submitted to Digg and the other social networks and popular blogs.

You should generate 20,000 page views in the 1st week of the press release which will probably convert 10% = 200 purchases at $5 each = $1,000, $500 for you, $500 for the cause! Keep charging on with this and it will become a great story.

Find my thread "Web Marketing Success" for information detailing a professional Web Marketing program. I hope this helps inspire you.

 

[Deege]

Thank you guys, you kicked me out of my rut, and im starting up my car again. Just about to hop in that fastlane.

Thanks all for the little bump of motivation, Ill soon make a post of my "Fastlane Plan".
And with all the help from you guys + the long hours and hard work im willing to put into this = Self Made Entrepreneur Millionaire at a young age.

My ultimate Fastlane pass.

Thank you.

-The Deege.

(Another thing, im not really sure, but are most of you guys good to PM about things? Let me know. =])

 

[Runum]

To further mtnman's point,

At 15 years old anytime you accomplish or attempt to accomplish what other adults wouldn't do, it is news worthy. Provide a service to your local area to raise money like Jill suggests to generate starting capital. Do your research (known as Due Diligence) in business to find out how much it will cost to get started. As an eEntrepreneur I always push the leverage of the Web.

If I was 15 again with my knowledge here is what I would do:

Find the costs of creating stickers (bumper or other styles) which is called COGS (cost of goods sold), probably $.60 each from a printing website service with delivery of 500 or more. Find a cause or charity you believe in (you have to have passion for it). Sell the stickers for 5 times the COGS + 20% of total price. Research the cost of a professionally developed website (should be professional) using Paypal to accept donations. My estimates is all under $1,000. Research shipping channels too, or drop ship of custom stickers.

The idea here is to give 50% of profits to the charity of your choice. Have an article written about you; a 15 year old 1st time Entrepreneur learning business by helping a cause. Once the website is complete, release the article across the wire for $400-$600 which you earned selling your stickers in the neighborhood. Such a story needs to be submitted to Digg and the other social networks and popular blogs.

You should generate 20,000 page views in the 1st week of the press release which will probably convert 10% = 200 purchases at $5 each = $1,000, $500 for you, $500 for the cause! Keep charging on with this and it will become a great story.

Find my thread "Web Marketing Success" for information detailing a professional Web Marketing program. I hope this helps inspire you.

Great stuff. +++speed

 

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[Jill]

Another thing, im not really sure, but are most of you guys good to PM about things? Let me know.

Sure. No problem.

 

[Deege]

Alright thank you guys again. =]

 

[Runum]

(Another thing, im not really sure, but are most of you guys good to PM about things? Let me know. =])

It's cool for me to.:cheers:

 

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[servicefly]

Available for PM...

 

[Yankees338]

I think you should be fine PMing just about anyone here. Some might take longer to respond than others because some people here can be pretty busy, but most are willing to help.

 

[Deege]

Everyone except MJ, he has a book to right =]

Such a friendly community.=]

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I started with $900, which is pretty much, no money.

"I have no money" is an excuse.

"I don't have the skillset" is also an excuse.

I had neither.

The skillset I went out and taught myself. As long as there is a library, many things can be learned for free with exception to the price of discipline.

In the age of the internet, teens have unprecedented opportunities that I didn't have.

That said, congrats on having a great mindset so young.

 

[Deege]

That means a lot MJ, thanks for the really puts me into the perspective that anything is possible.

By no money i mean 0.10$ to my name, haha but i will get there, through people believing in my cause and the few dimes i can scrape together, ill get my start.

Thank you, i've said since nearly the age of 9-10 that i was going to be a millionaire. Now im making it a reality. With a little bit of a push from your community =].

 

[Runum]

Get started by cleaning houses for the elderly. Mow grass, wash cars, clean out storage buildings, rake leaves, shovel snow, tutor a younger kid. Most of these you can do without any up front cost.

 

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[Deege]

Currently i am not allowed to do these things, i live in a kind of sketchy neighborhood, and the rents are overprotective, as well am i though, id rather not be shot before i can enjoy my money. but i see what your saying, maybe i can find someone to help. =]

 

[Yankees338]

Currently i am not allowed to do these things, i live in a kind of sketchy neighborhood, and the rents are overprotective, as well am i though, id rather not be shot before i can enjoy my money. but i see what your saying, maybe i can find someone to help. =]

What about cleaning offices? My dad is a doctor, and I clean his office every Sunday for about $30. It's pretty easy, and it only takes about 1.5-2 hours. I listen to my iPod the whole time, and I now I've added some Podcasts/audiobooks to my library to help make the time even more productive! This past Sunday, I listened to the "This American Life" radio show that Russ recommended; it was amazing. Well worth the $.99 it cost me to buy in iTunes.

Where there's a will, there's a way, Deege!

 

[Deege]

This is true Yankee, great suggesstion +speed =].

=]]]

 

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[Yankees338]

Thanks! I'd recommend contacting local practices. Doctors, lawyers, accountants -- whoever works from a private office. Explain your situation and motivation, and offer your services to them at a reasonable price. You can quite easily make this a pretty easy little private business. If you get enough clients, maybe you can pay some of your friends $10/hour to do the cleaning for you, which I'm sure is a lot to most 15 year-olds.

See? You can create a scalable, Fastlane business even in your position!

 

[Deege]

Very true, though that seems kind of slowlane-ish, everyone has to start there fastlane somewhere.

(To the 10/hr)I must not be most 15 year olds, I plan on being quite rich, when most of my friends are still in there slowlane daze because of the media.

But i agree with your suggestion, i gotta get my base up a little bit. =]

 

[mtnman]

eMillions — 15 Year Old’s Journey To Become A #1 Best-Selling Author & Make $100,000 … Using The Power of The Internet!

 

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[Deege]

I promise that you guys will see an article about me like that, except the sum of money will be larger .

But that is a great blog, good source mtnman, thank you. =]

Living proof that it is possible.

 

[Yankees338]

Very true, though that seems kind of slowlane-ish, everyone has to start there fastlane somewhere.

It would probably be slowlane at first, yes. However, if you learn to delegate most of the work to your employees (or friends in this case), it can become Fastlane quite quickly.

Example: Charge $40 to clean an office. If it takes 2 hours to clean, your friend that you pay to do this job would make $20. For scheduling, booking, and running this whole operation, you'll pocket another $20 yourself.

The keys to a Fastlane plan are scalability and systemization. Is this scalable? Yes. Once you gain more business, higher more employees. As you continue, you'll what works and what doesn't work, and hopefully you can set up systems to work more efficiently (i.e., get better equipment to get work done quicker and more easily).

So let's put this in perspective: If you start off by getting 2 new clients per work and work your way up to doing, let's say, 3 jobs per day between you and your employees, that's a pretty good start. 3 jobs per day x $40/job = $120/day x 7 days = $840/week x 52 weeks = $43,680/year in total revenue. And that's very reasonable. Yes, you'd have to split some of that with your employees and take care of your expenses, but exceeding these goals, in time, is not even remotely impossible.

 

[Deege]

I see where your coming from, good stuff you have there. Good suggestions, just overall great info for a new Fastlaner. Thank you, ill think about your suggestion. =]

 

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[hatterasguy]

When I was 12 I started cutting lawns. Hard work, but back during middle school and in high school I was the kid with a wad of cash, all my friends were broke! The first year I had to barrow a lawn mower, but I saved my profits and got a better one. So the next year I was able to do twice as many lawns without much more effort.

My first hourly job at 16 was actualy quite a pay cut.

5-6 lawns @ $20-$35 each, sometimes twice a week, was damn good money for a 12-15 year old. I bought my first mutual fund from Putnum at 14 with it, and it lost me money for the next 6 years but thats another story.

You don't really need money to make money.

 

[Deege]

Haha i see where your coming from, definitely using what i can to make enough money for my startup, thanks for the reply. As an update to everyone, i'm still in my fastlane and im getting there, plan to launch within the next few weeks. =]

Thanks all again.

Deege.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

When I was 12 I started cutting lawns. Hard work, but back during middle school and in high school I was the kid with a wad of cash, all my friends were broke! The first year I had to barrow a lawn mower, but I saved my profits and got a better one. So the next year I was able to do twice as many lawns without much more effort.

My first hourly job at 16 was actualy quite a pay cut.

5-6 lawns @ $20-$35 each, sometimes twice a week, was damn good money for a 12-15 year old. I bought my first mutual fund from Putnum at 14 with it, and it lost me money for the next 6 years but thats another story.

You don't really need money to make money.

An excellent example on how to make money from nothing, and then parlay that money into more money. Again, "I have no money" is a crutch for those who don't want to sacrifice hard work into a strategy.

 

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[Deege]

Agreed PhxMJ, you guys helped me see that, how silly i was to let a little thing like no money get in my way. Im gonna work hard for my start up. ill make it happen. =]

 

[servicefly]

Just to add a little humor:

When I was 11 my father as the Real Estate Broker he was, took my brother and I to a farmhouse foreclosed on. My brother 9 me 11 began to explore. We found a large stack of about 20 Playboy magazines! Jackpot! As a good older brother I gave my younger brother claim to half of them, about 15 each. We snuck them into the back of our Dad's truck then split them up evenly. My brother lived with our mother, I lived with our dad, so he took them home.

The next week I sold them each for $5 to students at school and made $75 bucks! Then $75 was a lot of money. My brother got caught with them, I got caught with a wad of cash by our Dad! He asked me where I got the money, I confessed and he was mad (Dad has never been a good business man), Mom however was kinda proud but I didn't know till later when I was 24. LOL!