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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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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.
 

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.
 

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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It has been ups and downs.

*I messed up the start-up case. Totally my own mistake. I thought I was the only person they contacted and was too confident and didn't make my business plan in advance. And after meeting CEO, I learned there were five people they headhunted. I was HR's favourite but was not in the top three. Upside of this was 20-30mil in next 3-5 years when exiting. Took some time to recover from this as we were already checking out schools, living costs etc. for family relocation

*On the day job it seems that my sales unit will be dismantled and the sales managers and KAMs are allocated to delivery unit. I am not worried or unhappy. It's a time for a change in any case. Hopefully they will offer me a six month package but probably not.

*Very much increased demand for the manufacturing company due to war in Ukraine. We haven't sold the company yet and probably will not but will outsource retail sales to our distributor. Still the same problem with limited time.

*In general, I have come to conclusion that it is about a time to move abroad. The economic growth has just about stalled in Europe and the huge actions against climate change will kill the growth even more. The time plan is: build the garage, sell everything sellable, streamline, get stuff under control and sell the house in Spring 2023.

*On our own fintech, we have continued the work with both the design and the funding. We have local VCs and seed funds + few private investors in the loop. Looking good and let's see how it moves forward. Funny thing, I also had a meeting with a family office of a family that has 200bUSD networth. Let's see if something comes out of that.

Getting from slowlane to fastlane seems to tougher than I thought. I will keep you posted.
 

Mr. Tusk

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Hi all,

Some updates. It has been a few months of intense redesign (mainly on myself).

I started reflecting on the past decades and the structural mistakes I repeated. I realized that I typically have too wide a scope, I change priorities too often so that the compound effect doesn't take place, I share my time with too many projects, and none of them go to great success. I also tend to overanalyze things instead of just going after them (look at this thread as an example) and try too hard for success but simultaneously hold myself strangely back. I also have had my actions skewed somehow (the priorities mentioned in the other thread) - not the priorities, but all my actions have not been in line. On top of this, I spend way too much money (not excessively, but just by saving and investing, I should have been a multi-millionaire already a decade ago).

I concluded that the best results I will get from a) going after something that I am good at and can make a difference and create true value, b) something that I enjoy doing that I can keep the constant flow state, c) something that I can picture myself of doing for the next 30 years d) keep my commitments and belongings tidy and neat.

I have made some changes: liquidating the real-estate portfolio (three apartments to go), exercising 1hr per day (not quite there yet), focusing on doing things instead of talking about doing them, taking actions to sell the start-up mentioned earlier, also clearing a clutter (business, personal, belongings - everything), selling excess stuff, etc. my EA has been a great help here.

Daily, I do chargeable C-level advisory projects for a few companies. I get decent money out of it, and it keeps me honest. I have the skill, and I need to sell and execute. Pure and honest.

Also, one opportunity to start and run a consultancy unit in APAC has again appeared. I am working hard to get that job, as such opportunities are rare. I have promised myself and my family that I will not let this pass. Again typically, people are not just F*cking seizing the opportunities that appear before them. The opportunities continue to the next guy if you don't seize them.

Let's get after it!
 

Mr. Tusk

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Dear Friends,

It has been quite a ride. Let me update you what has happened in the few months. Didn’t actually go as planned but life never does.

Personal:
  • After getting rid of the day job, it was quite difficult to push forward with the start-up. I was a bit amazed where all the hesitancy came from.
  • I realized I was probably (and had been for some years) in a state of a slow burnout. I made test and I scored 60/75 on full burnout scale. I realized that is was just so F*cking frustrating to work with people who were managing 150musd business with more than 1000 employees that badly. It really really really pissed me off every day and I can now in hindsight see that I needed a month or two to recover.
  • I have lately started to do Wim Hof Method breathing and meditation and in general I seem to find my (true) self. I feel a lot more content and that feel that I have found my MOJO after several years.
  • However, I am still not 100% e.g. I worked a 16hr day and I was so exhausted I needed to rest the next day. I am currently 70-80% of capacity but I will eventually get back to 120% with full MOJO.
  • It is very important to be true to yourself and just be yourself, nobody else. I try to start each day by feeling: a) acceptance to everything in my current situation. It’s all on my responsibility and I don’t need to be accountable to anyone about everything. That is the only way I can start to do things without extra tension to fulfil anyone else’s ambitions. In short: just be yourself. B) curiosity toward everything. That also keeps the extra tension away and gets me better into the flow state. C) general happiness and gratitude. Just to feel good for no particular reason…
Business – start-up:
  • When we started the start-up, I started immediately negotiating with VCs (Venture Capital). Valuations were still sky-high but with the war in Ukraine, interest rates going up and general uncertainty in the world, the fintech start-up market crashed. You can google PayPal, KLARNA etc. to get more info.
  • We still had a good idea and if would have been 2019, we would get 2m pre-seed, 5m seed, 30m A round and push global in two years. So, we needed to pivot. We still had one very good co-op agreement negotiation on-going and decided to build on that. So, instead of massive launch, we decided to bootstrap the development out of our own pocket. The goal is that we would be employing two persons and the revenue from the company would cover the costs. Then we could do either organic growth or pivot after we have the first customer in production and a revenue stream up. This also means that I need additional sources of income – let’s get back to that later.
  • The founding team is a bit off: we are missing a guy who has done it before and is known in start-up circles. Even what you read in newspapers the circles are very small and VCs and founders are working with people they know.
Business – manufacturing company:
  • We have got good cases due to the war in Ukraine boosting up demand. Still bidding for the real big ones.
  • I am thinking of scaling this business. Somehow getting the revenue up to maintain two employees seems difficult. Need to get back to this later.
General economy and effects on investing
  • I feel a recession coming. I am liquidating my real-estate portfolio. In recession you need a lot of cash as you can buy things in bargain prices and after two years they are back to normal prices again. That’s why the rich get richer during recession and I would like to be a one of them.
  • Please keep in mind that my real-estate vehicle was a growth economy vehicle, it doesn’t work during higher interest rates, dropping housing prices and less demand
Back to the day job:
  • I started to look for a day job. First I thought that hey now is a good chance to actually change the country. So, I have been applying to interesting “VP sales” type of roles around the world. Here is also a good chance to put the salary in order. My goal is to get 250k fix + 100% bonuses on target without a cap. This would sustain ok lifestyle and actually would bring additional income to invest in businesses (or keep in a pocket waiting for the recession). However, it seems that just applying from linkedin and talking with headhunters isn’t going to cut it. You need to get into the company with your own relationships and actively sell yourself directly to these companies.
  • I do have a board position and few advisory positions that I get some income. I could expand this as a business. Remains to be seen.
  • In addition I have been doing some phone consultancy and have managed to push my hourly rate for more than 1.000usd. I could do this the whole day but unfortunately these are few in a month. Anyway few extra kilos of monopoly money per month.
  • In getting back to the day job, I have had some requirements for myself: person to company fit/ company to person fit => both need to fit, product to market fit => I don’t like to sell stuff in mature market with price competition, I need the extra hype and vibe. 3) compensation and future outlook. I am mainly looking on D series funded Fintecs that will be IPOd in few years to come.
  • I have started two projects to help companies going global. I seem to have this skill and knowledge that is scarce in the market.

I will keep you in the loop. Have a nice day all. It's morning and I will hit the gym. Just used an hour to write this instead of just going :) :) :)
 

Mr. Tusk

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Dear Friends,

Updates from the journey. It has been a bit bumpy but not dull.

Personal:
  • I had a bit of a slump and have been exercising that much
  • I am starting to get back my MOJO again but only lately. I have had some C-level meetings, but I have not been at my best until lately. Just stupid mistakes, not being on top of my game, and feeling diffident and reserved.
  • I also took some private lessons with “speech institute” for just sounding better, but I also got good advice on communicating better in general. You see, I am a big dude 6’2” and 200lbs (188cm and 90kg) with a deep voice. If I am too direct and perhaps add a “F*ck” of two, then people get easily, if not outright scared at least, tuned off. Very important learning and also useful at home. In my interactions after that I have been trying to be friendly and “test if the other person would be my best friend.” I learned that technique years ago – works always.
  • I am running out of money. The F*cking garage took 100k to build, interests are high and my package is running out.
  • I have been studying stoic philosophy. I greatly recommend this – it really helps to clear your mind. You can start by listening to the “Daily Stoic” book from Audible.
General economy:
  • I don’t understand the Central Banks raising interest rates. Well, I do understand since that’s what you do when the economy is overheating, and you have high inflation. However, in our case, the inflation is only caused by energy prices due to the Russian attack on Ukraine and the subsequent cut-off of Russian cheap natural gas (which Germany used to create electricity). So, when the high energy price goes upstream through the prices of all goods and services, you have inflation. But it’s not real inflation caused by an overheated economy but a market anomaly. The correct measure – in my opinion – would have been to subsidize the energy prices or dismantle the energy exchange in Europe (Nordpool) which is not operating properly now. I do have some understanding about this since I have M.Sc. in Economics, doing PhD and everything.
  • This got me, since I would have liquidated my real-estate portfolio in a heartbeat if I had seen higher interest rates coming. My original plan was to not mind about even the burst of the housing bubble since I had tenants and a steady stream of income, and I could have waited even 10 years for the prices to increase again BUT now I will have negative NOI in 2024 and that’s not good.
  • We are on the brink of a recession. There will be super-good deals for those who have cash. Just wait until the summer. I remember this from 2008-2009.
Business – start-up
  • The progress has been surprisingly slow. But we are bootstrapping this.
  • I have also concluded that I am not a start-up founder type (more on that later).
  • We have one interesting collaboration company that we are negotiating with. It’s basically a similar company to ours but with 10m of funding and 5 years of development.
Business – manufacturing company
  • We are going to reach 100k revenue this year, but we are just not getting big contracts.
  • I will need to decrease my commitment here if I get the new day job.
Back to the day job:
  • The processes have been very frustrating. I have my linked and CV SEOd but the market behaviour is very rude. Headhunters don’t typically get back, there is no transparency or any kind of feedback.
  • I have worked 3-4 days a week for my friend’s company to advise them on sales. With this work, I realized that consultancy is my way. In my previous work at one of the big five consultancy companies, I was the happiest and the most engaged that I have ever been in my work life. It feels like I am back!
  • Now I have one good offer from a US consultancy company’s local office in APAC. I turned the first offer down (the offer was more than 100k more per year than from my head of sales job) and asked for 50% more and a higher position (my wife thought I should have accepted in a heartbeat). I am hoping to negotiate fast and close this case in late Jan (as everybody is on holiday in the Southern hemisphere). It will, in any case, take 2-3months for the visa after the signing. The plan is that I would move first, and then the family would follow 6 months later.
  • This is a long road to finding out that I should have stayed in my previous job, which I left 6 years ago. Also, I would be a millionaire by now due to the stock program. Quite a learning, but I try not to bash myself for it.

Some learnings, frustrations, steps forward, steps backward. I also figured THE best way for a habit change. I am testing it first on myself and then will report back to you. I will keep you posted!
 
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Mr. Tusk

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Dear Friends,

Some of you have asked for pieces of advice on keeping your life in order, exercise routines, etc. Let me share a very good tool and approach that you can use to do a reality check of your life and surroundings.

First, your mental health is crucial to your life. It surpasses all “whys”, values, and you name it. Your mental health is even more important than your physical health since you can’t enjoy a good physique if you are f*cked up in your head. So, if you feel that your activities, habits, etc., are diminishing your mental well-being, change them asap.

Next comes your purpose (of "why"). Perhaps you want to save the world, save oceans, or cure cancer. My purpose is that I want to leave a legacy to my daughter and the rest of my family line of a person who lived true to his abilities and was able to grow throughout his life, and helped my daughter and family to do the same. As you might see, I don't have that strong "why" so I made up one from things that are important to me. Works for me.

Next comes your identity. This refers to a person's sense of self and their role in the world. You need to decide what your identity is to act according to it. My identity is “Resourceful business athlete philosopher doer.” You can’t just be a hobbyist on something, or you can, but then your identity is a hobbyist, and you never put your full effort into it. As an example, let me explain my identity:

Resourceful = I am resourceful, since I am smart, figure out solutions to problems, can build things with my hands, write books, you name it
Business = I am all business, like business, like to make money, like to understand how business and economy works
Athlete = there is no either or. If you want to be in shape until your 100s then you need to be an athlete, eat good food, sleep enough, don’t drink too much. A necessity.
Philosopher = I am a very practical stoic philosopher. It is my way of keeping true to myself and not having outside influences determine my reaction to things. This is so important in the current social media saturated world. I must remember that I can only control my mind and actions, nothing outside.
Doer = This is vital. Nothing happens without doing. An idea is worthless without execution. I can’t emphasize enough the virtue of being an action-oriented doer and accomplishing things through your actions.

Next comes values/beliefs. This refers to the fundamental principles and beliefs that guide a person's thoughts, feelings, and behavior. These determine what’s right or wrong for me and are the basis of my actions. E.g., I believe that I can improve my circumstances with my own actions and the well-being of my family is one of my key values. I believe that with perfect practice you can learn any skill (more of that below).

Next comes capabilities. This refers to a person's skills, knowledge, and competencies, as well as their physical and mental abilities. What are my skills and competencies? The good thing is that I can learn needed new skills quickly and efficiently as I have learned a skill of learning quickly (you can read that again).

Then comes behavior. This refers to the actions and behaviors that a person engages in, including their body language, gestures, and facial expressions. Am I behaving according to my identity and values? Is some of my behavior not beneficial to myself, my health, and others? If not, that’s easy to change: I start to behave differently.

Last comes the environment. This refers to the external factors that influence a person, including their physical surroundings, the people they interact with, and the culture and society in which they live. All of the above are internal, and this is external. How are my surroundings in my home, in my workplace? Are the people I hang out with aligned with the above?

Some of you might notice that I am almost citing Logical Levels. That’s true, and you can use this approach to check is there something that you should change, do less, or do more. E.g throughout the years, I have changed my behavior, learned a ton of new skills, pushed myself to new environments, learned to keep my environment tidy and serene, changed from reactive to predictive, and even changed half of my identity and more than half of my values. I actually grew up in the rural countryside and I learned a lot from books, not doing stuff with people. So, needed to learn a lot about social game etc. when I moved to bigger cities and abroad in my mid 20s.

When doing the check, you will know that when something is not fitting, you feel it. Then you can change it. I am just in the process of letting some of my old friends go. Unfortunately, their behavior and beliefs don't fit my current personality and values, and being with them causes uneasiness. I notice the same from their side, so better to take some distance.

In summary, the above is a great tool to do a reality check from time to time on yourself, your behavior, and your surroundings.

Thanks for reading, and I will dive into some other topic the next time.
 
Last edited:

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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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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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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Some updates:
*Day job is done. I cannot disclose any details due to contractual reasons but from May I am a free man. Damn it feels good. Freedom feels good.
*Negotiations for funding still ongoing.
*I got offered a board position on one company closely connected to our Fintech. I gladly accepted. There is very little money in it but the learning experience and new connections will be enormous.
*I am personally starting to feel a lot better. There was some huge stress in the final weeks and after agreement to leave the day job was done but that is slowly evaporating.
*Outlook for the future is extremely bright in my mind. Let the fast lane journey begin!
 

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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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.
 

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
 

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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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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.
 

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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One important thing about real estate investing. In our country the rental market for studio apartments has stalled. Luckily all my apartments are rented at the moment (although I took some empty months) but the market was flooded with Air BnB apartments + students didn't arrive last Autumn to capital region + institution investors are happy with smaller ROI and due to low interest rates are also buying rental apartments. This has caused a shortage of good tenants.

Ok, we all know the market is cyclical. So, I will just see the money piling in and not buying more apartments at the moment. In 3-4 years I have a change to either sell the whole portfolio or start to pay back the loans with will obviously decrease monthly NOI. Who knows - perhaps I use the money for the garage.
 
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Some interesting things happening. I was asked to join a start-up with almost similar idea that the one we are working with. They had pre-seed for more than 1meur, system doesn't exists and they are working for demo and the seed round. Already hiring for a sales director for 150keur+ per year.

The market is hothothot. One of our acquaintances just did a B or C round for circa 50meur and the valuations in our industry are sky-high.

Our ambition for the seed round is before summer next year and detach from the day job at the same time (after the sales bonuses are paid). We are now working with demo of the system and mapping the MVP (Minimum Viable Product). The core team is seasoned veterans. Everybody is over 45 and has hard core expertise in their field. Exciting for sure.

Btw when I mentioned before that I felt that I am not living up to my full abilities - I feel that I am narrowing the gap now.
 

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@Mr. Tusk

Amazing story, very inspiring.

I bookmarked this thread and will read it a few times because there are a lot of gems of wisdom in here. Congratulations for everything and best of luck with anything that you will do in the future.

I have a few questions that are not directly related to business, but rather your lifestyle:
  1. You said you train in the gym in the morning. Do you do strength or cardio? Which one is better for mental benefits?
  2. Do you drink coffee or use any other stimulants to boost your performance?
  3. What are the most important things that enable you to live a highly productive life?

Thank you!
 

Mr. Tusk

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I have a few questions that are not directly related to business, but rather your lifestyle:
  1. You said you train in the gym in the morning. Do you do strength or cardio? Which one is better for mental benefits?
  2. Do you drink coffee or use any other stimulants to boost your performance?
  3. What are the most important things that enable you to live a highly productive life?
Thanks for your kind words. Let me try to answer:
1) I am doing strength 3-4 times per week and then running 2-3 per week. I try to keep it flexible e.g. I used to do a workout based around the three basic movements: Mon - benchpress Wed - squats Fri - deadlift, Tue and Thu 6km run and a longer and slower run on Sat. Now I am actually doing gym four times per week with special program designed to improve Alpine skiing. Don't forget yoga and stretching. My approach was originally based on a concept called "Corporate Athlete" but I have adjusted it during the years. Also check Hintsa performance. If they are good enough to run the human performance for McLaren-Mercedes, they are good enough for me ;).

2) Coffee in the mornings. I also take Omega3 (mornings) and B12 (evenings) for the brain, D3 and some other supplements.

3) Purpose. That keeps me going. Everything else is supplementary. Time will pass in any case - just keep getting after it.

Note that I am not doing everything all the time. If I do 80% then I am all good. I also like my cigars and cognac!
 
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Amazing.
Please start a new thread and post this. Maybe it will get #gold. This wisdom is too valuable to be lost in the comments.
Thanks buddy, I have a lot of this stuff - how I have polished the best practice throughout the years. I will tackle the morning and evening routines next.
 
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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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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?
 

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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.
 

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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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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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