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Future Fastlaner from Europe

Mr. Tusk

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Hi fellows,

Greetings from Europe! Glad to be here and I have read MJ's both books which really made an impact.

A small intro: I have job as international sales director making around 170-200keur per year including bonuses (note that the taxman takes 50% here) in IT sector.

Some side hustles:
  • A small manufacturing business with my friend with annual revenue up to 30-50keur (no profit yet, all is put to R&D + filling the stocks). Here we are selling to consumers but lost earlier 5meur deal with 2.5meur margin which resulted few quiet years. Now we have another deal abroad for almost 10meur but the tender has been stopped due to Covid. Note that the big deals have a very small probability. The plan is now to hire one full time employee and sell 100keur to consumers in 2021.
  • Real estate investment. I figured out how to do this in 2020. Now I have around 1meur worth of new studio apartments with double leverage and very little own money. I still need to put around 50keur into the vehicle and then it will feed itself while making around 1meur in the next 10 years. This is the most that I canmy current income level. I see this as a vehicle where I will pump all the excess liquidity from other side hustles.
  • IT company. Here I am in a bit of trouble. The idea is great, even earthshaking but we have a bad team and it is keeping me back of putting my full effort here. IPR is there but with 0 sales.
  • Start-up investments. I am investing 10keur here and there through my holding company.

Some ideas that concern me at this time:
  • Why some people do and some people don't. Ok, Jim Rohn already answered this but this is still a problem with the IT company. I need to find a good solution here.
  • How to reach a level of passive income that would free up my time to do projects full-time. This would require an additional 1.5meur to the real estate vehicle or something else.
  • Small bonuses on the day job. We will break the all time sales record this year but my bonuses are capped so that I will get only around 200keur. With competitors where the bonuses are not capped, I would probably make 1meur or a lot more. The only problem is that working for a competitor would require a relocation to London where I certainly would not like to live nor raise kids.
  • Creating an additional income stream from writing a book and launching connected online trainings.
  • On a larger scale I think I have huge untapped potential and my aim is to focus that on making a lot more money and via that - freedom!

Here it is for the time being. Now I will indulge myself to the forum content. Looking forward!
 
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Kasimir

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Wow looking at your plans, income stream, and so on you have to a lot on your plate. I understand it's really important to have different income streams but can you manage all that? I couldn't. :)

I'd focus more on your IT company. If the team is bad, get a better team. You could also hire people remotely with Upwork. But if the government is taking 50% of the salaries in the IT industries it's harder to build something. Or do they take 50% in all sectors?
I put all my effort in the It company get it running and then you can focus on other things again.
 

Mr. Tusk

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Thanks Buddy,

yeah, I can manage it. I honestly believe that I have larger bandwith and clockspeed than your average Joe. Sure in hell I don't have any limiting beliefs...

The manufacturing company is more like a hobby to see how you can create products, use social media for selling etc. and it has a very specific niche connected to my hobbies ie. more like a hobby :) I own the majority and my friend owns the rest.

The IT company is an issue that I am thinking how to work on. I would be interested of selling the whole thing for few millions but it needs customers first before that. I find the IPR very valuable but potential buyers want proofs obviously. It's a bit of catch 22 with the current team.

Anyway, to add something to my story. It was 2012 and I realised that as a team leader in finance sector and a huge old house needing renovation etc., I really need to do something to fix the situation. Otherwise I would be sentenced to the same loop until pension and there were examples of that around me. Ok, all the above has been created after the 2012 epiphany. I started by going to NLP course, then getting another position, then taking more NLP courses, then going straight to senior leadership in one of the big consultancy companies (reducing also holidays from six weeks to five) before being headhunted to this position. In a meanwhile I created the side hustles.

With continuous (self)feedback I have been improving all the time and now finally in the past two years I have also started to get my finances in order. I have also read hundreds of books in the years after the epiphany.

I still feel there is a huge gap between my income potential and current situation. Not to dwell on the past, I am just aiming to reach financial freedom asap.

And yes, alas, the taxman (and mandatory public pension fees etc.) take 50% of higher salaries in all industries here.

Good to be here. I find that there are a lot of likeminded people here. The problem in my country is that the reference group is very very small.

Wow looking at your plans, income stream, and so on you have to a lot on your plate. I understand it's really important to have different income streams but can you manage all that? I couldn't. :)

I'd focus more on your IT company. If the team is bad, get a better team. You could also hire people remotely with Upwork. But if the government is taking 50% of the salaries in the IT industries it's harder to build something. Or do they take 50% in all sectors?
I put all my effort in the It company get it running and then you can focus on other things again.
 

Kasimir

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You're not alone with the feeling of "having a huge gap between my income potential and current situation". I know that feeling to well mate. In my mind, it's not only about what you can earn also what you can achieve.

Your IT business sounds really interesting. If I were you I'd do the following:
Fire all of your "useless" and unmotivated employees. And hire some motivated once. Easier said than done but I think having a motived team has a direct effect on the numbers of costumers and customer satisfaction. I don't know what's the product/service of your business, but if you want to sell it and believe that with some costumers you can get a few million, I believe that with a huge amount of costumes you can get a lot more then a few million.
Don't know how big your team is. But I'd hire people remotely, where I live in Switzerland, people love to buy businesses, which don't need a big office space.
And I'd hire a really motivated person who can manage a team. Don't give him a salary. Give him a small part of the company and tell him you want to sell the company and he will put in 100+ hour workweeks. And with the help of him and your remaining team, maybe remotely I'd put a lot into marketing. Don't know your service/product so I have no idea what's the best way to market it. But if you put in 100K+ /month into marketing you should get a ton of costumer if your business is really that great. And then after three months of doing that try to sell the business. And you'll get a lot more because you showed them that it's scalable.

But this strategy would require that you are the only owner of the company. Or that the rest is willing to do the same.

But the taxman does only take 50% of salaries and not when you sell a business, do they?

Please note that the above is only my opinion on what to do with the business and kindly take into account that I have no idea of what you're selling. But I wish you the best of luck.
 
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Mr. Tusk

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You're not alone with the feeling of "having a huge gap between my income potential and current situation". I know that feeling to well mate. In my mind, it's not only about what you can earn also what you can achieve.

Your IT business sounds really interesting. If I were you I'd do the following:
Fire all of your "useless" and unmotivated employees. And hire some motivated once. Easier said than done but I think having a motived team has a direct effect on the numbers of costumers and customer satisfaction. I don't know what's the product/service of your business, but if you want to sell it and believe that with some costumers you can get a few million, I believe that with a huge amount of costumes you can get a lot more then a few million.
Don't know how big your team is. But I'd hire people remotely, where I live in Switzerland, people love to buy businesses, which don't need a big office space.
And I'd hire a really motivated person who can manage a team. Don't give him a salary. Give him a small part of the company and tell him you want to sell the company and he will put in 100+ hour workweeks. And with the help of him and your remaining team, maybe remotely I'd put a lot into marketing. Don't know your service/product so I have no idea what's the best way to market it. But if you put in 100K+ /month into marketing you should get a ton of costumer if your business is really that great. And then after three months of doing that try to sell the business. And you'll get a lot more because you showed them that it's scalable.

But this strategy would require that you are the only owner of the company. Or that the rest is willing to do the same.

But the taxman does only take 50% of salaries and not when you sell a business, do they?

Please note that the above is only my opinion on what to do with the business and kindly take into account that I have no idea of what you're selling. But I wish you the best of luck.
Thanks buddy, good sparring, good ideas.

Re: IT business, I am discussing with one vc who is putting together teams and ideas. Let's see how it is going. At the same time we are finetuning the core engine to be spotless. It is some fancy AI stuff.

Here the taxman takes 50% of my salary (a lot less for lower income - there is a steep progression) and 34% of the profit when you sell business, real estate etc. However, there are some ways to bypass that but let's not get into advanced tax planning here.

I just realized that I have a bit fallen into trap of having too many companies without proper capital to back it up. Hence not enough possibility to do delegation and get the stuff really into the orbit. Even the real estate vehicle - it is a perfect passive income vehicle when I get enough capital in.

Ok, all seems to be in place but I just need few millions more of capital. Let's work on that. Funnily I got sort of promoted in my day job. More responsibilities with the same salary - sort of a kiss from a cousin.
 

Kasimir

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Thanks buddy, good sparring, good ideas.

Re: IT business, I am discussing with one vc who is putting together teams and ideas. Let's see how it is going. At the same time we are finetuning the core engine to be spotless. It is some fancy AI stuff.

Here the taxman takes 50% of my salary (a lot less for lower income - there is a steep progression) and 34% of the profit when you sell business, real estate etc. However, there are some ways to bypass that but let's not get into advanced tax planning here.

I just realized that I have a bit fallen into trap of having too many companies without proper capital to back it up. Hence not enough possibility to do delegation and get the stuff really into the orbit. Even the real estate vehicle - it is a perfect passive income vehicle when I get enough capital in.

Ok, all seems to be in place but I just need few millions more of capital. Let's work on that. Funnily I got sort of promoted in my day job. More responsibilities with the same salary - sort of a kiss from a cousin.
Promotion without a salary increase that’s funny.
If I were you I’d just focus on getting capital into the IT business. And with an affiliate program and other marketing I believe that you could get a lot of costumers in a rather short period of time. And then sell it for a much higher valuation then right now.

Really like your point with the capital. If you had enough you could just put in in real estate and relax.
But I strongly believe that with Europe starting to open business more and more, even though we are in the 2nd wave, customers will increase.
Wish you all the best.

Cheers
 

Mr. Tusk

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Promotion without a salary increase that’s funny.
If I were you I’d just focus on getting capital into the IT business. And with an affiliate program and other marketing I believe that you could get a lot of costumers in a rather short period of time. And then sell it for a much higher valuation then right now.

Really like your point with the capital. If you had enough you could just put in in real estate and relax.
But I strongly believe that with Europe starting to open business more and more, even though we are in the 2nd wave, customers will increase.
Wish you all the best.

Cheers
Thanks brother,

some progress:
*Manufacturing company. We are building a webshop together with outsourced shipping and warehousing to enable growth. Hope to get this online before the end of the year.
*Real estate. Just bought my sixth rental apartment for this year. Few more to get the perpetual motion going for investment vehicle. I got off some slack here and did better cash flow planning and thus found money for one more apartment.
*Start-up investing. Promised 10k more for a Fintech I am advising. It will take time for the round to finish so I invested the funds to the real estate vehicle and will use the future income to invest here.
*IT company. Guys are stuck in redoing the core engine. This would need more focus but I am just running out of time.

I listened MJ's new audiobook "Wealth exposed" while going to the gym. I have also listened Millionaire Fast Lane and Unscripted when working out (of course also read them). One of the best ways to get in the info is doing physical activity.

In general I have added some actions to my weeks just to get my act together better. E.g. my friend who is worth 100m+ is engaged to some activity all the time and definitely has his shit together. I think just getting stuff more organised and getting rid of excess and unimportant stuff (both physical and non-physical) will increase our lifestyle and sort of bring forward the already existing value and prepare that to be leveraged.

Anyway, I am sticking to my long-game and doing every day the activities that take me towards my goals and I can already feel the cumulative results.
 
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Kasimir

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Thanks brother,

some progress:
*Manufacturing company. We are building a webshop together with outsourced shipping and warehousing to enable growth. Hope to get this online before the end of the year.
*Real estate. Just bought my sixth rental apartment for this year. Few more to get the perpetual motion going for investment vehicle. I got off some slack here and did better cash flow planning and thus found money for one more apartment.
*Start-up investing. Promised 10k more for a Fintech I am advising. It will take time for the round to finish so I invested the funds to the real estate vehicle and will use the future income to invest here.
*IT company. Guys are stuck in redoing the core engine. This would need more focus but I am just running out of time.

I listened MJ's new audiobook "Wealth exposed" while going to the gym. I have also listened Millionaire Fast Lane and Unscripted when working out (of course also read them). One of the best ways to get in the info is doing physical activity.

In general I have added some actions to my weeks just to get my act together better. E.g. my friend who is worth 100m+ is engaged to some activity all the time and definitely has his shit together. I think just getting stuff more organised and getting rid of excess and unimportant stuff (both physical and non-physical) will increase our lifestyle and sort of bring forward the already existing value and prepare that to be leveraged.

Anyway, I am sticking to my long-game and doing every day the activities that take me towards my goals and I can already feel the cumulative results.
Oh sounds like some really great progress. Especially in the manufacturing company. Love that you are outsourcing as much as possible that's the future.
Sad to hear that the IT company isn't doing that well. What's the problem? If I remember correctly you have quite a lot of personnel in the company. So do they need you? Shouldn't they be able to handle everything by themself?

But otherwise, I can only agree with you. It's important that we implement habits into our lifestyle which will make us better. Wish you all the best brother.
If you need any help from us just let us know.
Cheers
 

Mr. Tusk

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Oh sounds like some really great progress. Especially in the manufacturing company. Love that you are outsourcing as much as possible that's the future.
Sad to hear that the IT company isn't doing that well. What's the problem? If I remember correctly you have quite a lot of personnel in the company. So do they need you? Shouldn't they be able to handle everything by themself?

But otherwise, I can only agree with you. It's important that we implement habits into our lifestyle which will make us better. Wish you all the best brother.
If you need any help from us just let us know.
Cheers
Thanks buddy,

in the IT company there are only co-founders that are doing this on the side of their day jobs. The other guys should now reprogram the core engine but it has been months without progress. Ok, I need first to set motion the other parts of my wealth equation before focusing back on this.

I like the concept of "perpetual motion engine" - probably because the term has a bit different connotation in our local language. My friend calls my real estate vehicle "generational wealth creating vehicle" and that's true - when I keep this going for few decades, my kids and their kids will never need to work a day job, if they don't want to. On the other hand, if my grandparents would have done this - well... it's time for me to do it now. Also, I really like interacting with tenants for some reason.

I also took this "perpetual motion engine" approach to our manufacturing business. When we get the webshop and outsourced warehousing/shipping in place and hire one employee, the business will require considerably less my time and then I have yet another engine in motion. Our revenue goal for Manufacturing is 100keur for 2021. We will not take out any money but use it all on on growth. And you know me - if we take dividends, I will put it all into the real estate vehicle.

In my day job, we did one more large deal that broke news around the world. It seems that we are able to break 100meur in sales this year. However, as noted, my bonuses are capped, so I will probably end up a bit under 200k next year (when the bonuses are paid in March).

I really like my Excels. This is probably the first time in my life when I am really motivated about Excel, to the extent, that one of my friends who is doing real estate investing for living said that my Excels are better than his - nice. I can also see from my Excels how much buying a new Range Rover LWB would rob me of income for the next decade. So, I will continue to drive my 15 year old LR3 which I keep in impeccable condition.

The only downside in the progression is coming in 2022 when I need to invest circa 40k building a garage (the building permit is expiring in 2022 and I can't get it extended). Don't get me wrong, we do have a quite high standard of living (not that many families have a housekeeper, indoor pool, 100k collection of specific hobby items etc.) - I just don't want to be only reasonably well off in local standards by doing a reasonably good job but to tap into the full potential and be unscriptedly well off in global standards. Still some way to go...

I guess this was enough rant for the weekend. I keep you posted when I get some more progress.
 
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Choices

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Have you thought of switching jobs to somewhere with an uncapped bonus?

If you say you should be making around 1m instead of 200k.....that's quite a difference, and it would make quite the difference in terms your realestate investments, and probably in your other businesses too.
 
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Kasimir

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Hi mate,
Sounds like you're doing pretty well.
If in the IT company there are only co-founders that are doing this on the side of their day jobs don't you think it could be worth it to hire a project manager or so? He doesn't need to know a lot about the actual product/service just somebody who can run a business and is good with communication. You have expenses around 100keur/year and it could skyrocket your business. I personally would even give them a small part of the company + maybe 50keur/year salary + a big bonus if the business is doing well. Then you have somebody really motivated.

I agree with you on the "perpetual motion engine", but I think that I'm not giving my kids a choice if they want to work or not. They can try things. They can fail. They can lose money. They can go bankrupt. But I won't be the one who will give them all my money and they can just sit on the couch and watch Netflix the whole day. They will get my money but as long as I'm alive I want to get them to build their own empire. Hopefully, they have a different starting point than I had but they still need to build it.

If I get it right you still work your "normal" job which pays you 200k/year. Did you ever think about quitting? If you can build one or two more side hustles you could quite easily and just put your effort in your businesses. You can probably make more than 200k more if your 24hourse are focused on your businesses. Or what do you think?
 

Mr. Tusk

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Hi mate,
Sounds like you're doing pretty well.
If in the IT company there are only co-founders that are doing this on the side of their day jobs don't you think it could be worth it to hire a project manager or so? He doesn't need to know a lot about the actual product/service just somebody who can run a business and is good with communication. You have expenses around 100keur/year and it could skyrocket your business. I personally would even give them a small part of the company + maybe 50keur/year salary + a big bonus if the business is doing well. Then you have somebody really motivated.

I agree with you on the "perpetual motion engine", but I think that I'm not giving my kids a choice if they want to work or not. They can try things. They can fail. They can lose money. They can go bankrupt. But I won't be the one who will give them all my money and they can just sit on the couch and watch Netflix the whole day. They will get my money but as long as I'm alive I want to get them to build their own empire. Hopefully, they have a different starting point than I had but they still need to build it.

If I get it right you still work your "normal" job which pays you 200k/year. Did you ever think about quitting? If you can build one or two more side hustles you could quite easily and just put your effort in your businesses. You can probably make more than 200k more if your 24hourse are focused on your businesses. Or what do you think?

Thanks Kasimir and thanks Choices.

Things are clearing up. I made a more detached assessment of the IT company and decided to close it. I won't go into details here but we basically seize operations and that's it. It has had a wrong team from the start and the greatness of the idea is not just compensating the bad team. So, that's it. I have to say I am enormously relieved. Phew.

On the other fronts. Perpetual motion engine is churning. It doesn't really need that much effort as the next properties are coming to the engine March next year and the next capital injection needs to be around summer 2021. But - hey - it is making money even while I sleep and that is comforting.

Then there is a funding round for one of the fintechs I have invested, pitch for a book, some early export discussions about some local merchandise to one country far away, yet another start-up of a great idea to save the world with selling emission rights and creating them etc.etc. the normal stuff.

Regarding changing jobs - yes - it is very much on top of my agenda but finding a position like this in my particular country is very rare. As I am working global it would surely mean moving abroad and with C0VlD-19, I am pretty ok hanging at home.

Thanks for you input buddies, I will keep you posted.
 

Kasimir

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Thanks Kasimir and thanks Choices.

Things are clearing up. I made a more detached assessment of the IT company and decided to close it. I won't go into details here but we basically seize operations and that's it. It has had a wrong team from the start and the greatness of the idea is not just compensating the bad team. So, that's it. I have to say I am enormously relieved. Phew.

On the other fronts. Perpetual motion engine is churning. It doesn't really need that much effort as the next properties are coming to the engine March next year and the next capital injection needs to be around summer 2021. But - hey - it is making money even while I sleep and that is comforting.

Then there is a funding round for one of the fintechs I have invested, pitch for a book, some early export discussions about some local merchandise to one country far away, yet another start-up of a great idea to save the world with selling emission rights and creating them etc.etc. the normal stuff.

Regarding changing jobs - yes - it is very much on top of my agenda but finding a position like this in my particular country is very rare. As I am working global it would surely mean moving abroad and with C0VlD-19, I am pretty ok hanging at home.

Thanks for you input buddies, I will keep you posted.
Hey mate
How are doing?
Sorry I was busy with my own business.

Ever thought about moving to another country for your job? In Switzerland the living standards are great ;)
But otherwise your situation sounds great.

Best wishes
 
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JamesQB8

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Hi fellows,

greetings from Europe! Glad to be here and I have read MJ's both books which really made an impact.

A small intro: I have job as international sales director making around 170-200keur per year including bonuses (note that the taxman takes 50% here) in IT sector.

Some side hustles:
*A small manufacturing business with my friend with annual revenue up to 30-50keur (no profit yet, all is put to R&D + filling the stocks). Here we are selling to consumers but lost earlier 5meur deal with 2.5meur margin which resulted few quiet years. Now we have another deal abroad for almost 10meur but the tender has been stopped due to Covid. Note that the big deals have a very small probability. The plan is now to hire one full time employee and sell 100keur to consumers in 2021.
*Real estate investment. I figured out how to do this in 2020. Now I have around 1meur worth of new studio apartments with double leverage and very little own money. I still need to put around 50keur into the vehicle and then it will feed itself while making around 1meur in the next 10 years. This is the most that I canmy current income level. I see this as a vehicle where I will pump all the excess liquidity from other side hustles.
*IT company. Here I am in a bit of trouble. The idea is great, even earthshaking but we have a bad team and it is keeping me back of putting my full effort here. IPR is there but with 0 sales.
*Start-up investments. I am investing 10keur here and there through my holding company.

Some ideas that concern me at this time:
*Why some people do and some people don't. Ok, Jim Rohn already answered this but this is still a problem with the IT company. I need to find a good solution here.
*How to reach a level of passive income that would free up my time to do projects full-time. This would require an additional 1.5meur to the real estate vehicle or something else.
*Small bonuses on the day job. We will break the all time sales record this year but my bonuses are capped so that I will get only around 200keur. With competitors where the bonuses are not capped, I would probably make 1meur or a lot more. The only problem is that working for a competitor would require a relocation to London where I certainly would not like to live nor raise kids.
*Creating an additional income stream from writing a book and launching connected online trainings.
*On a larger scale I think I have huge untapped potential and my aim is to focus that on making a lot more money and via that - freedom!

Here it is for the time being. Now I will indulge myself to the forum content. Looking forward!

Can I please ask how you worked up to that Sales Director role?

I'm currently changing industry and I'm looking into IT/Tech Sales. Any advice on pathways, timelines and most efficient actions to get started would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you and best of luck reaching the goals you've set out
 

Mr. Tusk

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Can I please ask how you worked up to that Sales Director role?

I'm currently changing industry and I'm looking into IT/Tech Sales. Any advice on pathways, timelines and most efficient actions to get started would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you and best of luck reaching the goals you've set out
Hi James,

of course you can. Let me explain a bit.

Firstly I was working in a financial institution in one specific area. You remember what I wrote above about waking up in 2012.

Then I switched to one of the big consultancy companies to head the same business area. It was a bit funny since it was all matrixes and I didn't have really responsibility of the ongoing IT deliveries.

Then they basically said that you either sell our are out in 3 months, here is a clean sheet of paper and please start. Everyone was very nice and supportive and said that we hired you as a senior leadership here, so act like one, book meetings with C-level and start to sell.

Ok, then I took all my learned skills into use immediately and found the best guy doing the job, travelled with him for few weeks and modeled him. Then I basically emulated him to a level that even our feedback was almost identical. I closed few deals to C -1 level and then as a finale a very large multi-million strategy consulting deal that took more than 6months to deliver. Please note that I was also part of the deliveries of the projects.

Somebody asks from time to time how could I level it up so fast to selling such complicated consulting deals. Well, I had a huge knowledge base to build upon and then I just sucked it up and did the work. With 100 hr weeks you didn't really have time to feel insecure or anything else than sell and deliver. Also all of the sudden all the things I was criticised before were actually treasured.

After doing that for few years, I was constantly headhunted everywhere. Then I decided to take my current position because I wanted to bring the same speed and energy to create a difference and also build a global sales organization. And perhaps have some time more for sidebusinesses.

That's the story in short.

By the way. The rest of the items have moved a bit. I finally managed to close the IT company. The company itself will remain dormant and will eventually be deleted. It wasn’t easy with the other owners but eventually we got it done.

I already put up another IT company and are discussing a proof of concept with one interested party.

Perpetual motion engine is churning but I am having some problems with finding good quality tenants. Additionally, I found my old BTC wallet (with not that much BTC) and actually put all my extra money to BTC.

Damn, there are only few nice apartment buildings in our capital and I just need the apartment that costs +5meur - still need work on that. I promise to send a pic to this thread when I am done with it.
 
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Mr. Tusk

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Again month has passed.

I am keeping the pace and all the actions are cumulating. Two more apartments are ready for the perpetual motion engine. So much opportunities so little cash: more money to the perpetual motion engine, more BTC, the garage...

Ok, I feel the constant actions having a cumulative effect but there is no big breakthrough yet. Perhaps there will not be it is just the next steps of cumulativeness that create more and more results.

As a good thing, my mindset is getting better every day. I realised that I have not had chat with the guys from the old IT company for several months and that has been liberating. It was definitely a good idea to drop those guys, also mentally.

Also I have been training a lot more this month. My device shows 31hrs of exercise incl. 19hrs at the gym, 10hrs skiing etc. I usually go to the gym at 6 or 7 in the morning and that really sets up the day. I will continue that, probably until the end of days.

There seems to be a new program in me. I only do things that create benefits in 20 year horizon, or even longer (including writing this post).

Let the adventure continue!
 
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Kasimir

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Sounds amazing!
Keep the good work up.
Let us know if you need any help and keep us updated!!
 

Mr. Tusk

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Some updates.

I started day trading cryptos and almost lost my mind with it. I thought that I will channel the income from perpetual motion engine to cryptos to speed it up. Ok, after a while I took some losses, pulled 3/4 of the money out let the rest in BTC for buy and hold. Luckily this was before Mr. Musk started to mess around. I have a new rule: only buy and hold on cryptos.

I almost bought a nice car which would have been a very nice deal but then I got my focus back to fulfilling my long term purpose and told myself: "not yet".

The theme for this week is: "increase control". I have a killer idea of a new start-up and we have been a bit working on that on the side. Alas there are so many plates in the air that I feel I am a bit out of control. So, that's my theme for this week - get things more simple and more in control.

I hope you guys are doing fine.
 

Kasimir

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Some updates.

I started day trading cryptos and almost lost my mind with it. I thought that I will channel the income from perpetual motion engine to cryptos to speed it up. Ok, after a while I took some losses, pulled 3/4 of the money out let the rest in BTC for buy and hold. Luckily this was before Mr. Musk started to mess around. I have a new rule: only buy and hold on cryptos.

I almost bought a nice car which would have been a very nice deal but then I got my focus back to fulfilling my long term purpose and told myself: "not yet".

The theme for this week is: "increase control". I have a killer idea of a new start-up and we have been a bit working on that on the side. Alas there are so many plates in the air that I feel I am a bit out of control. So, that's my theme for this week - get things more simple and more in control.

I hope you guys are doing fine.
Hope you're doing well.

Yeah, day trading crypto is difficult. I'm also into buying and holding. Lost a lot due to Mr. Musk, but I'm just buying more.

Oh, sounds great. Can you tell as more about the startup or is it too early to reveal anything?

Control is definitely key, I have the problem that I want to control everything. Not like a control freak, more like a person who wants to be aware of every possible problem that could come up. For me the solution is to ask colleagues of mine to have an eye on some tasks, departments or even companies. Yeah, they probably make more mistakes than I do, but in the end it's much better for my mental health. And I can focus on the important things.

Wish you all the best and keep us updated.
 
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Mr. Tusk

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Hope you're doing well.

Yeah, day trading crypto is difficult. I'm also into buying and holding. Lost a lot due to Mr. Musk, but I'm just buying more.

Oh, sounds great. Can you tell as more about the startup or is it too early to reveal anything?

Control is definitely key, I have the problem that I want to control everything. Not like a control freak, more like a person who wants to be aware of every possible problem that could come up. For me the solution is to ask colleagues of mine to have an eye on some tasks, departments or even companies. Yeah, they probably make more mistakes than I do, but in the end it's much better for my mental health. And I can focus on the important things.

Wish you all the best and keep us updated.
Thanks buddies,

I was reflecting on my situation. All of the sudden I realised that I am pushing for it too hard. I am dropping from the flow and that prevents the flow of things in my future coming towards myself. I have been squeezing the stick too hard and that makes it hard for me to play as the best shots are done with loose wrists. As we are saying about ice hockey.

Alright - I realised that the best results that I have ever done are surrounded with great people and being in constant positive flow state.

I started to think - how can I achieve this again and everything to the next level. Allow me to reframe: how can I radiate the next level vibes so that I create a huge pull as soon as possible.

Ok, what job has made me the most excited and connected (great people and constant positive flow) ... definitely when I was in consulting. Then I remembered my P.hd plans and that my mentor from my previous company always suggested me to do it. I also noticed that there was a large donation to one of our universities to establish a sub-faculty for sales under business school.

Well... they liked my ideas very much, sent me back all kinds of material and offered a researcher position . No way - they would pay like 2keur per month but still, very interesting. Note that I can make it on a side when doing the day job - will take four years or so.

Ok, I decided to make a test, a personal human experiment => I will focus on being on the positive flow on the things that inspire me to the right direction for the next two weeks. Another test that I will do is focus on the smallest possible batch size in everything ( a long story, I will save it to the next post).

Here we go again!
 

Mr. Tusk

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Some updates:

I listened to MJ’s latest book while exercising and also bought the physical copy. I just love the story.

During my holy-days, I hiked up in the North (as North as you can go in Europe). Being in the nature above the artic circle always clarifies the mind.

I came back with two key takeaways for myself:
  1. Keep your mind focused (If you put in all kind of crap in your mind, you will get doubts and you will get misalignment in your direction)
  2. Ditch everything that is not a part of your core i.e. simplify
While back to civilisation it immediately struck me how people are using debt to finance their everyday living (I call it projected lifestyle). In my country I am among 10.000 (and the same applies to our household) top earners and while seeing people spending like they make a lot more than me makes me puzzled. They actually need to have a fairly small amount of cash at hand each month when paying for all the fees of their lifestyle debts. Anyway, it’s again one of the things that you need to keep a close eye as the script is very strong here.

This gave me some ideas as I find my current situation some kind of a watershed. I played some mind games including immediate lifestyle upgrades and thought about different alternatives which three include rat race and the fourth does not.

Option 1: cumulate the current approach
I have 20 years of working life left so let’s say I would make 4-6meur in salary and that would leave me 2-3meur after taxes. I would probably cumulate my real estate portfolio to 30-50 apartments in 20 years as a side hustle. In addition I could keep the manufacturing business as another side hustle and continue to invest into the start-ups at the same time. I can probably save around 200keur in 20 years – so that would add up in the investments.

In five years we could sell our house and move to an apartment in the new high-rise buildings and basically continue with the same process. I would need to change my car once in 10 years from now and that’s it. I would retire with considerable (in local terms) real estate portfolio and debt free (apart from the leverage in the portfolio). I would reach financial independence in 10 years through the real estate investing and get my PhD in the next 5 years.

Option 2: cumulate the current approach and acquire lifestyle upgrade with leverage
The same as option 1 but I would buy a boat and a new Range Rover with financing. That would dent circa 1.5keur from my monthly earnings but of course would create a huge lifestyle improvement when we would have a boat for the summer and I would drive a smooth new Range Rover. I would still keep the manufacturing business as a side hustle and get my PhD in the next 5 years. I would reach the financial independence later – before retirement – as the money saved in option 1, would be used for paying back the debt on the lifestyle upgrades.

Option 3: all out to increase lifestyle
The same as option 1 but I will cash out the real-estate portfolio in few years and use that few hundred kilo euro to increase the lifestyle e.g. renovate the house or get more mortgage and buy a larger house / apartment + buy the boat and Range Rover with financing.

Option 4: All in!
Ditch the day job, work with the new fintech and exit in 5 years. The market is hot-hot-hot and we have a killer idea and the team starts to take shape. Lifestyle would take a hit for the five years but after exit, well money wouldn’t be an issue as a similar company was just acquired for almost 2beur. Also this is the only option enabling larger bucket list items e.g. circumnavigating the globe or skiing to the South Pole.

I guess it is pretty clear with which option I am currently working.
 

Mr. Tusk

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Have been working with the new Fintech

Meeting with potential board members, finding team members, meeting venture capitalists. The key thing is to validate the problem statement, segment, market etc. before validating the solution. Btw, recommend Lean Start-up here. A great methodology and a great book.

Damn, I am motivated - let's see how we can put this together.
 
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Mr. Tusk

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Have been working with the new Fintech

Meeting with potential board members, finding team members, meeting venture capitalists. The key thing is to validate the problem statement, segment, market etc. before validating the solution. Btw, recommend Lean Start-up here. A great methodology and a great book.

Damn, I am motivated - let's see how we can put this together.
Ok. we have been working now with the FinTech for few months. After some initial fuzz, we have take weekly working sessions with the core team. Some ideas and findings to share:

1) Market size and scalability. E.g. in MJ's newest book the soup business was sold for 180musd. If I would do the same in my country - 180keur or something => 5m people against 330m. It's the same for our manufacturing company, we have sold one particular product 500pcs, our competitor in US has sold 1m pieces. Or about MJ's limousine business - there only few dozens limousines in the whole country. Point being - if you are living in US, congratulate yourself and use the scalable market. If you are from anywhere else - aim for global customer base right from the start!

2) The TEAM. I cannot address this enough. On the AI start-up I mentioned before, the team didn't just work and I was pushing for it for too long, while I should have just cut the losses (this is called learning). Teams can be also different as people typically think start-ups are started by young hippie kind of dudes from university. Well, this start-up is started by heavy-hitters directly from business with decades of experience. If you want to know more about the latter kind of "start-ups", check "The Self-made Billionaire Effect" by Sviokla and Cohen. Despite of the catchy name it is actually and analysis when seasoned veterans start successful companies. That's us.

3) The GOAL. "Always start with the end in mind". The fintech game is played so that you get a lot of VC money in on A and B rounds and then the aim is to exit the company as you start to turn it from growth phase to profitable phase. We are already having the top buyers in our minds when we are starting - and it's 4-5 years to exit plan. It's a lot easier to get few millions on seed round when can present an actual plan and not a normal start-up pitch deck with unrealistic hockey stick growth numbers.

Interestingly I am at the same time in a process with a global neo-bank with +40busd valuation who want to hire me. Let's see how that goes.
 

Mr. Tusk

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Dear fellows – some updates,

I was dropped from the neo-bank hiring that I mentioned. The third interview was the lousiest interview I have ever had. The interviewee sort of became jealous of my experience and competence (he was a young guy working for the management) and he had a simplest problem to solve (which he thought was a hard one). I solved it three ways in 5min and that sort of got him.

What I was left out with that the people, management, hiring etc. in these unicorn companies are not anything special. They are doing the same stuff as we are doing for someone else in our rat race jobs – difference is that they are doing that for themselves. The key is timing, solution to market fit and obviously a decision to start the company and act on the idea in the first place. The most interesting persons are the original founders – unfortunately the next and final interview would have been with the founders. So, not the best experience but a very good learning.

Also one important notion is that the more demanding your job gets in the rat race – like head of business unit with large mandate – the more it is like running your own company. You need to deliver the results in any way you can or you are out => like running your own company.

Another important point I have is a recent comment from my friend who has done two exits. He has now invested more than 2mil out of his own pocket to a company where I am in an advisory board and investor. He actually mentioned that about “idea wishers” (MJ used a quite similar term) and how there are too many of those in our country and how dangerous these people are. These are people who have a great idea and they talk about it, feel warm and cozy about it and think it has a lot value but don’t do anything about it. You know – the people who ask you to sign NDA before they even talk about their idea (nowadays, I just stop the meeting at this point). In a real-life – an idea has 0 value. Only execution has value.

As an anecdote, I had quite a lot of difficulties with this “idea wishing” fallacy when detaching from the IT company I mentioned previously. For certain business reasons, I needed to take a full ownership of the company to let it die gracefully, which caused one of the co-founders to think that the company has value (it was an empty company, without balance sheet value or anything). He kept pushing me that if someone “buys the idea for 1 million”, he will be left out. My answer was the same – “idea as 0 value, only execution has”. Due to this idiocy, we needed to create some additional clauses to protect his imaginary interests, which prolonged the process by 1 month. Phew, a lot of learnings from that one.

Two key takeaways from this update / rant:
1) unicorns are not doing anything that you cannot do yourself
2) don’t be an “idea wisher” – be a doer

I feel that the gap between my current output and potential delivery is getting smaller. I am sure the income will follow.
 
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Mr. Tusk

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I changed my nickname to Mr. Tusk - I will share more info why perhaps sometimes. Relates to my business. Or like my friend said - it's a combination of Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump

While doing all of the above, I have an important topic to address, which is to keep your inner game together. I mean you just cannot deliver if your mind is messed up or you are ruminating about past or worrying about future. I know obviously what do and have been helping out people by coaching and everything BUT I tripped here myself.

So, I added some generative trance work for myself and now I have been back for a week or so.

Good thing is that our stealth mode fintech is advancing by surprising events. In the past week we had 4-5 separate instances which are passing the puck directly to us. The aim is to lauch as soon as the sales bonuses will be paid in spring next year.

I will keep you posted.
 
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Giof85

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Ciao compagni,

saluti dall'Europa! Sono contento di essere qui e ho letto i libri di MJ che hanno davvero avuto un impatto.

Una piccola introduzione: lavoro come direttore delle vendite internazionali, guadagnando circa 170-200 keur all'anno inclusi i bonus (nota che il fisco prende il 50% qui) nel settore IT.

Alcuni trambusti secondari:
*Una piccola azienda manifatturiera con un mio amico con un fatturato annuo fino a 30-50 keur (ancora nessun profitto, tutto è messo in ricerca e sviluppo + riempimento delle scorte). Qui stiamo vendendo ai consumatori ma abbiamo perso l'accordo precedente di 5 milioni con un margine di 2,5 milioni che ha portato a pochi anni tranquilli. Ora abbiamo un altro affare all'estero per quasi 10 milioni ma la gara è stata interrotta a causa di C0VlD. Nota che i grandi affari hanno una probabilità molto piccola. Il piano è ora di assumere un dipendente a tempo pieno e vendere 100 keur ai consumatori nel 2021.
*Investimento immobiliare. Ho capito come farlo nel 2020. Ora ho circa 1 milione di nuovi monolocali con doppia leva e pochissimi soldi. Ho ancora bisogno di mettere circa 50 keur nel veicolo e poi si alimenterà da solo mentre guadagnerà circa 1 meur nei prossimi 10 anni. Questo è il massimo che posso raggiungere il mio attuale livello di reddito. Lo vedo come un veicolo in cui pompare tutta la liquidità in eccesso da altri traffici collaterali.
*Azienda informatica. Eccomi un po' nei guai. L'idea è fantastica, anche sconvolgente, ma abbiamo una pessima squadra e mi sta trattenendo dal mettere tutto il mio impegno qui. IPR c'è ma con 0 vendite.
*Investimenti di avviamento. Sto investendo 10keur qua e là attraverso la mia holding.

Alcune idee che riguardano in questo momento:
*Perché alcune persone lo fanno e altre no. Ok, Jim Rohn ha già risposto a questo, ma questo è ancora un problema con l'azienda IT. Devo trovare una buona soluzione qui.
*Come raggiungere un livello di reddito passivo che mi libererebbe tempo per fare progetti a tempo pieno. Ciò richiederebbe un ulteriore 1,5 milioni di euro per il veicolo immobiliare o qualcos'altro.
*Piccoli bonus sul lavoro diurno. Quest'anno supereremo il record di vendite di tutti i tempi, ma i miei bonus sono limitati in modo da ottenere solo circa 200 keur. Con i concorrenti in cui i bonus non sono limitati, probabilmente guadagnerei 1 milione o molto di più. L'unico problema è che lavorare per un concorrente richiederebbe un trasferimento a Londra, dove certo non mi vivere né crescere figli.
*Creare un flusso di reddito aggiuntivo dalla scrittura di un libro e dal lancio di corsi di formazione online collegati.
*Su una scala più ampia, penso di avere un enorme potenziale non sfruttato e il mio obiettivo è concentrarmi su questo per fare molti più soldi e attraverso questo: la libertà!

Eccolo qui per il momento. Ora mi concedere il contenuto del forum. Guardare ava

Hi!

Ho letto tutti i thread e sono impressionato!

Tante attività, tanta voglia di fare, pur avendo un lavoro ben retribuito (slowlane).

La parte che più mi ispira e mi incuriosisce è la gestione degli immobili, settore che intende intraprendere e che sto studiando e valutando attentamente per non fare buco nell'acqua.

Se posso farti una domanda, hai iniziato subito con gli immobili a reddito o hai fatto acquisti e vendite con plusvalenze per acquisire soldi da reinvestire negli immobili?

Sto valutando l'acquisto simultaneo di 2 immobili, ma a conti fatti il ROE non è soddisfacente, e utilizzando una leva finanziaria (il prestito) è peggio.

Puoi suggerire qualcosa?

grazie
 

Mr. Tusk

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Hi!

Ho letto tutti i thread e sono impressionato!

Tante attività, tanta voglia di fare, pur avendo un lavoro ben retribuito (slowlane).

La parte che più mi ispira e mi incuriosisce è la gestione degli immobili, settore che intende intraprendere e che sto studiando e valutando attentamente per non fare buco nell'acqua.

Se posso farti una domanda, hai iniziato subito con gli immobili a reddito o hai fatto acquisti e vendite con plusvalenze per acquisire soldi da reinvestire negli immobili?

Sto valutando l'acquisto simultaneo di 2 immobili, ma a conti fatti il ROE non è soddisfacente, e utilizzando una leva finanziaria (il prestito) è peggio.

Puoi suggerire qualcosa?

grazie
My Italian is a bit rusty but I can give you some tips:

1) Double leveraged
2) No repayment of loans for first 5 years
3) Effective collateral management to benefit on the increase on property values
4) ROE at least 150% yearly due to the high leverage (I am not calculating it actually)
5) Money is cheap when the interest rates are 0% for EUR
6) I am calculating NOI - Net Operational Income - instead of ROI or ROE - Cashflow is KING!
7) Every few years do a re-estimation, increase collateral and get more leverage
8) Put everything in Excel and do several simulations and keep a track on the actuals. This kind of Excel is important also to show in the bank.

Thanks chosen1 and addV - I am doing the best I can with the resources I have at the moment (as it is always).

And woah - I just realized I have been reporting to you guys for more than a year. Time flies...
 

Mr. Tusk

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Btw, the seed round for the fintech is 2.5m.

If you are interested please ping. Or if you have a contact that would be interested, pls ping also.
 

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