Slowlane Business>Fastlane Business

[botnickguy]

Hello Fastlaners!

So very soon I am getting a vehicle, which is a pretty big deal for me, because I've never had a personal vehicle before. And this has led to lots of pitfalls for me. Couldn't do eCommerce without a way to move products to the post office. Couldn't do services without transferring myself to a customer . Right now I work for a slight amount over minimum wage cashiering. Unfortunately, because of this, my education is suffering severely because they always "need me" there. And that's OK, because I need a job right now.

I believe I could make a lot more per hour if I spend more of my week doing PC repair. And possibly have the freedom to quit working for a company and start working for customers. Ultimately my goal is to be in the fastlane, and I realize PC repair is very slowlane but I think it will give me more freedom with my time and financial prospect... which is honestly pretty cushy right now since I have very little in the form of bills.

I guess I want to get opinions on a number of things
1. Is a slowlane business something that you could comfortably live on? Do you have any experiences with this? Am I better off working for my customers than working for a corporation or is it just me?
2. Will having a slowlane business give me relevant experience for the fastlane? I do wonder this for the sake of wondering, I will be setting up websites, optimizing SEO and aesthetics, perfecting my workflow and all of that. Do you think that might help later on?
3. What do you think about college? I do like what I'm learning here but honestly... I'd rather not be here for a degree. I just want an education. Do you think I should give up the idea of a degree? It might prevent me from getting a job in the Software field if I'd ever want one.

I'm 19 and very ambitious but I'm just wondering what you all think, because I don't have much experience with security in the fastlane or even the business slowlane. I'm about to be jumping my mindset from employee slowlane to customer slowlane, in hopes of having some experience and financial security to help me in the fastlane? But I would love to hear your opinions.

Is there something else I should be doing? Should I really just focus on automated income? Maybe there are books I should read? I really want to jump into something! Thanks.

 

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[JudoTom]

Hello Fastlaners!


1. Is a slowlane business something that you could comfortably live on?
absolutley of course millions of people do this.

Do you have any experiences with this?
I have done it for years.

Am I better off working for my customers than working for a corporation or is it just me?
depends on a lot of situations. I have learned a lot working for corporations.


2. Will having a slowlane business give me relevant experience for the fastlane?
It can. I have learned a ton from working w/ people and working in different industries.

I do wonder this for the sake of wondering, I will be setting up websites, optimizing SEO and aesthetics, perfecting my workflow and all of that. Do you think that might help later on?
Again it can depending on what you are doing and your mindset.

3. What do you think about college? I do like what I'm learning here but honestly... I'd rather not be here for a degree. I just want an education. Do you think I should give up the idea of a degree? It might prevent me from getting a job in the Software field if I'd ever want one.
Very difficult question to answer without knowing a lot about you and your situation.... but of the top of my head if you are there get a degree.. or just hang out and party and network


Is there something else I should be doing?
reading/praciticing/network/working out/starting a business/volunteer/travel

Should I really just focus on automated income?
nope. you have to find your thing or at least your first thing. no need to only worry about automated income.

Maybe there are books I should read?
bible/think and grow rich/the greatest salesman in the world

my answers are up there.. hope that helps you a bit. good luck

 

[Mike.B]

I believe I could make a lot more per hour if I spend more of my week doing PC repair. And possibly have the freedom to quit working for a company and start working for customers. Ultimately my goal is to be in the fastlane, and I realize PC repair is very slowlane but I think it will give me more freedom with my time and financial prospect... which is honestly pretty cushy right now since I have very little in the form of bills.

A few things that come to mind:

PC repair is a very competitive market and unless you have something that sets you apart from the 20 (guesstimate) other people doing it in your area, you'll be competing on price alone. This usually results in a race to the bottom (who can do it the cheapest).

The other thing is most home PC customers are a pain in the a$$! They always want something for nothing, and you get blamed for everything that goes wrong after you touch their PC.

The hours will suck. If you've ever had the opportunity to clean all the crap off of someones PC, you'll know how monotonous and time consuming it can be. Think about doing this every day. Good times!

 

[Breaking Free]

I've done PC repair, and I also work for a Fortune 500 company in their IT department. If I had to choose, I'm choosing the company; guaranteed pay and work trump all. Like Mike.B said, it's heavily competitive, and people don't know a quality PC tech from a crappy one. Look at Best Buy's Geek Squad, they have a huge market and they're overpriced, and kinda suck.

I've seen some success with working with small companies who don't need a full time IT person, but need someone who can fix stuff on call. You may need more than just PC skills at that point, though.

There are other ways to leverage your PC skills. Just browse the forum and learn about websites, marketing, etc.

 

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[FastLearner]

Couldn't do eCommerce without a way to move products to the post office.

Yes, you could've. It's called drop shipping.

 

[FastLearner]

I'm 19 and very ambitious but I'm just wondering what you all think, because I don't have much experience with security in the fastlane or even the business slowlane. I'm about to be jumping my mindset from employee slowlane to customer slowlane, in hopes of having some experience and financial security to help me in the fastlane? But I would love to hear your opinions.

Read lots of books. Learn the psyche of your customer. Study other entrepreneurs, make sure this is something you REALLY want to do particularly if you don't have any formal education to fall back on. (High-school doesn't count.)

If you can, attend some community college classes that would help you learn a particular skill you may need, whether it's marketing or coding. ONLY take classes that are beneficial to what you're interested in doing. Get your knowledge up on the direction you want to take, without proper knowledge the direction only looks fuzzier. Find whatever it is that helps you clear up any misunderstandings you may have on your niche. Spend time researching, googling, looking for mentors, talking to other entrepreneurs. Use the world around you to your advantage and the world will show you oysters. Work hard, kid. Because that's the most important thing of it all.

 

[damien275x]

The shift towards tablets and mobile technology may see the PC phased out in the next 5-10 years or its home use drastically reduced. Look at trends emerging..

 

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[Brentnal]

The shift towards tablets and mobile technology may see the PC phased out in the next 5-10 years or its home use drastically reduced. Look at trends emerging..

So i shouldn't learn how to develop websites?
I was going to do ebay but i can't combine it with school and more problems etc.
So i am looking for something else.

 

[Lex DeVille]

Botnickguy,

Read this book: The Personal MBA master the art of business by Josh Kaufman.

The things you are trying to achieve can be accomplished through self education.

You can learn everything you want to know outside of school by :

1. Searching the internet for free education, free ebooks, free courses, free videos
2. Reading books - school library, public library, barnes & noble, or order them online
3. Jumping in and getting experience.

A Slowlane job can make you quite comfortable if you learn to live frugally.

These books discuss it pretty well:

Your Money or Your Life - Vicki Robin
The Millionaire Next Door - Thomas J. Stanley & William D. Danko
I Will Teach You To Be Rich - Ramet Sethi

A Slowlane job will give you experience for the Fastlane, but you have to know where to look for it. The job itself may or may not give you experience depending on what you do. But things like learning how to sell yourself in interviews, up-selling others in retail & fast food, or learning how business systems work at multi-million dollar companies as an entry level employee... Are priceless.

College is a tool and if can be used to your advantage if you know how, but having a degree doesn't make the man... It's the man who makes the degree worth it to his customers or future employers, and from my experience doesn't make as much of a difference as your people skills.

I haven't finished a degree and don't have 20 or even 10 years of experience in any one field but I have beat out others FAR more qualified for jobs at every level, because in person I build rapport in the first few seconds through things like smiling, using good posture, mimicking other's body language etc. etc. etc. I got hired because people believed I was the right person for the job. Most degree programs don't teach that stuff...

By the way I learned those things from books too...

The User's Manual For The brain - Bob G. Bodenhamer & Michael Hall
How To Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
Personality Types Using The Enneagram For Self-Discover - Don Richard Riso & Russ Hudson

Oh yeah... Don't listen to that crap about saturated markets and only competing on price. It isn't correct. You NEVER compete on price alone. You ALWAYS compete in multiple areas such as Value Creation, People Skills, Marketing, and more, and if you can do those things better than the next guy it doesn't matter if you have 1 year or 20 years of experience, because people will believe you are the right choice.

Read books, listen to audio cds, or just browse the forum here and then do something.

I started out in the Slowlane with no direction and I started reading.
I read books others recommended and then I read the books those books referenced and eventually I came across a book called The Millionaire Fastlane ...

 

[damien275x]

So i shouldn't learn how to develop websites?
So i am looking for something else.

You absolutely should. The web and webpages aren't going anywhere, the way people access them is merely changing. The internet will be here with or without the desktop PC. Smartphones, Mobiles, Tablets and soon, perhaps - wearable tech (Google Glass etc) - will replace it.

 

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[Tom.V]

My turn to chime in, it's been a while.

1. Is a slowlane business something that you could comfortably live on? Do you have any experiences with this? Am I better off working for my customers than working for a corporation or is it just me?

Yes, you can live very comfortably on a slowlane income. Given your age, I would recommend you get some real world experience working for someone else, even if only for 6 months. Get a job, be the F*cking BEST and make everyone else look like they haven't the slightest clue. Learn to motivate yourself to push the boundaries, not just out of the park, but out of the stratosphere.

2. Will having a slowlane business give me relevant experience for the fastlane? I do wonder this for the sake of wondering, I will be setting up websites, optimizing SEO and aesthetics, perfecting my workflow and all of that. Do you think that might help later on?

Of course. Life is a journey where you learn as you go. So long as you are paying attention, you will always gain knowledge and experience that you can use in the future. I'll leave it at that.

3. What do you think about college? I do like what I'm learning here but honestly... I'd rather not be here for a degree. I just want an education. Do you think I should give up the idea of a degree? It might prevent me from getting a job in the Software field if I'd ever want one.

Never went. Never went to high school much either, but I passed all of the tests with flying colors. Not everyone is the same when it comes to learning, but personally I taught myself everything I know. I picked up the habit of identifying my weak points and making them as strong as I could through trial, error, and reading in the beginning. As far as getting a job developing software, if you can teach yourself to code better than anyone else, does it really matter if you went to school for it or not?

I'm 19 and very ambitious but I'm just wondering what you all think, because I don't have much experience with security in the fastlane or even the business slowlane. I'm about to be jumping my mindset from employee slowlane to customer slowlane, in hopes of having some experience and financial security to help me in the fastlane? But I would love to hear your opinions.

Is there something else I should be doing? Should I really just focus on automated income? Maybe there are books I should read? I really want to jump into something! Thanks.

Read books that will help you reach the destination you desire. Are you weak at marketing? Read about marketing. Sales? Read about sales. This forum is a plethora of great book recommendations, I'm SURE with a little legwork you can find a couple years worth of quality ink. For the time being, worry about soaking up everything you can. Build a foundation of block(good work ethic, great conceptual understanding), then start adding on the courses of brick(more focus in specific areas, advancing your already good skills). After that, the sky is the limit and you can literally build yourself into whatever it is that you dream to be.