Starting my Fastlane Journey

[M3K33L]

Hey everyone.

I’m a 20 year old college student. I got a slowlane internship last semester which led to a change in major. I’m still at the internship for this semester and in the summer with the intent of funding future businesses. As I type, I’m on my way to get a MacBook to program apps. I’ve been reading and watching videos about how to program them and will make one within the year.
Eventually I hope to run a larger business in the vein of the Dirty Jobs thread that was on here recently.

 

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[Vairavan]

I’ve been reading and watching videos about how to program them and will make one within the year.

Please don't waste your time learning to code if you just want to launch an app. Learn it only if you want to become a full-time developer or web designer. It takes many years to master coding. I wasted many years learning that and trust me it's not worth it. You could easily outsource coding to someone in Upwork. Your time is better to spend learning marketing and negotiation which are important business skills IMHO.

 

[M3K33L]

It takes many years to master coding. I wasted many years learning that and trust me it's not worth it. You could easily outsource coding to someone in Upwork. Your time is better to spend learning marketing and negotiation which are important business skills IMHO.

I’ve already been coding for years now, so it’s just a matter of transferring that knowledge to the iOS language. I also want to contribute and create something myself.

I’m definitely learning and planning to learn more business skills. I’ve gotten some good insight from this website, but is there anywhere you recommend? Thank you for the advice.

 

[Vegvisir]

Welcome! I did a few internships in college also while working to open my own businesses. What are you getting your degree in?

 

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[M3K33L]

I was industrial engineering, and my internship is a quality engineering position. I made the move to Bioelectrical engineering. What was your process of building a business during college? And what business did you make, if you don’t mind my asking.

 

[Vegvisir]

I was industrial engineering, and my internship is a quality engineering position. I made the move to Bioelectrical engineering. What was your process of building a business during college? And what business did you make, if you don’t mind my asking.

Very cool, I got a degree in engineering myself(petroleum) and it has paid off pretty well for me so far. I think my two paid internships were pretty key to getting a solid offer out of college so sounds like you making good decisions.

My general approach to looking for business opportunities during college was to find niche opportunities i could start with very small capital(because I was broke) and scale(in a small sense) to get high ROI for my time. At the time this worked well though i may have been limiting myself a bit, it was still good learning experience. I have changed my approach now to really focus on the CENTS commandments and focus on scalability to the point i can quite my job.

The two main business I started during college where:

1) I am big into hunting/shooting sports. There was a gun that was manufactured in the 70-80's that had a certain parts to convert it between different models that was very scarce/high priced. I was looking at getting the part myself and it was relatively simple in design(Gas block/front site combo). I bought an original unit myself and got the dimensions professionally drafted. I then sent it out to different machine shops and got quotes for 500 units to be made. I ended up with about 8 dollars in each unit and sold them for 90 each(originals sell for 250+). I have sold around 400 units since then.

2) My Junior year in college our state university decided to change its mascot from certain logo that was under fire for Political Correctness reasons to something new. The general population on campus did not support this change, it was really just a vocal minority that was pushing it. As a result they stopped selling merchandise with the old logo on it. A friend and I sensed an opportunity(Yes I should have been more aware of trademark infringement) we started out doing mostly 3' x 5' flags people could hang in there dorm rooms and the word spread. We got the flags made for 5.00 each and sold them for 20-30 depending on quantity people bought, ended up selling about 500 flags alone just through word of mouth and connections to fraternities/sororities. (This example is just to illustrate to keep your eyes open for opportunity, statue of limitations has passed if anybody is worried.)

Neither of these ventures were full time businesses, just side hustles that were high ROI I could run when not studying, though niche in nature there were good learning experiences to get me where i am today(working on opening a business that will allow my to quite my job and scale to the fastlane).

Hope this helps! Let me know if i can help in any way.

 

[M3K33L]

Ohhh those are some good ideas! I always like hearing about those niche opportunities. It gives me a better business eye. Thank you!

 

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