Succeeding without network/money/knowledge/education

[DennisD]

Sounds like a whole lot of bitching going on in this thread.

How do you get started without any money/connections?

• Make money
• Make connections

And then you have something to get started with.

HOW TO MAKE MONEY:
I'll pay anybody that can land me a video client $200.
Can you land a VSEO contract? That's worth $1,000.
I know PLENTY of people in the same boat paying the same thing.
Hop on the phones.

HOW TO MAKE CONNECTIONS:
Start helping people for free in your spare time.
Instaconnections.

Don't want to spend the time making money OR connections?
Go the Dane Maxwell route.
Don't know what that is?
Google it. You're welcome.

The only thing standing in your way is you.
Now cut it out and make some cold calls.

 

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[AubreyJ]

I really dislike the entire tone of this post, it just seems like one big excuse, and just a ton of reasons for not doing something, instead of reasons to go for something.

I do agree that a lot of times you need both capital and connections to become successful, but that doesn't mean you have to have that money and those connections handed to you. You go out there and you make your money or you form connections and begin networking with anyone and everyone who could benefit you in any way, shape, or form.

There are tons of entrepreneurs who came from nothing, from Ralph Lauren to Elon Musk to Oprah Winfrey. These are just three of the many examples, but they are all billionaires, who came from nothing. They wanted to be successful, so they worked their asses off to get there. They didn't make excuses, like saying they don't have connections or capital and so they won't ever become successful. They instead realized that they had to work really, really hard to reach their goals, and that is exactly what they did.

I am a huge believer that you are not stuck with the cards that you are dealt with, meaning that just because you where born into a certain situation/circumstance doesn't mean that you are forced to stay in that position for the rest of your life. You can't use lack of money or lack of connections as a viable excuse for anything. If you want it bad enough, you will make it happen.

 

[Determined2012]

I am a huge believer that you are not stuck with the cards that you are dealt with, meaning that just because you where born into a certain situation/circumstance doesn't mean that you are forced to stay in that position for the rest of your life. You can't use lack of money or lack of connections as a viable excuse for anything. If you want it bad enough, you will make it happen.

Some people have never had to truly sacrifice before! I couldn't agree MORE with this. Anything is possible if you keep finagling around with this and that, here and there....If you PERSIST, eventually it will happen. My whole life is governed by this one, singular belief and it NEVER fails me!!!

 

[Formless]

Didn't Zen start off with $2 and a bear trying to eat his remaining food?

 

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[Avisto]

My friend linked me this thread, and man, I was honestly just thinking of abusing you, but how about this.

Imagine for a moment that you are completely wrong. That you have no idea what you are talking about - that the barriers you envision are mere smokescreens. Imagine.

What would you do? If your end goal was simply certain, but you had to start putting one foot in front of the other, and start making something? Me? I know exactly what skills I need to build what I want, so I am acquiring them. Coding everyday. Reading everyday. Training everyday.

As for money? Put your thinking cap on. People spend money on anything. My old man pays 10 bucks a week for a gym membership he hardly even uses. SWITCH ON. When someone complains about something, think of how you can fix that complaint. Is it an invention? A service? A product? It doesn't even have to be some multi-million dollar shit. Anything really. If you can fix something for people, they will pay you. How are you helping people? Change your name from "iwantaferrari" to "iwanttohelppeople"

 

[Chadi]

Hello Gentlemen.

In this thread I'd like to talk about fact / real life experience and not about " ideas " or " I think that " or " hypothesis ".

Please do not waste your time telling me " 'im thinking too much " or that " i'm reading too much stuff " -> i'm a wantrepreneur.

I've been reading a lot of success story on the web about entrepreneurs. There are a shittons of it because there are a lot of blogs / site about " how to be successfull in life " ( being with girls, money, fitness ) and of course, most of them just want to make money and audience so they put big titles like " How to create your business with 0 capital ".

But if you filter out the noise you will notice something: Very few people succeed without initial capital or connection.

Let's take this case study:

- The average joe is working as his job that he hates and wanna start a business.
- He has some business ideas

But:

- He doesnt have any money excepted his paycheck that he needs to pay the car, the house, school for kids
- his only family is his parents that are dead broke or are in the same position than him ( a little paycheck )
- He has 2 or 3 really good friends, that are also tight in their pocket and has 0 entrepreunarial drive

He can't ask money to his family / friend because they don't have any and they wouldnt risk the few thousands of dollar that they saved since 10 years to try to open a business.
He doesn't have any knowledge / connection in the field where this business idea came from.

My question is : how does he start this project ?


Another paradoxe:

- entrepreneurs are supposed to " try as hard as possible " and to " start over if it doesnt work out ".
> but if you asked to your whole family and friend 5 000 $ and that your first business failed, do you thing they'll give you some more when you'll tell them " hey ! you gotta never giver up ))) " ? .

For some of you that saw the videos of noah ( creator of app sumo ) on " how to open a business in 1 week " or " how to test an idea " you'll see that for both of those projects he used his own facebook contacts a lot.

OF COURSE people will agree to buy the product from a young multi millionnaire !



I really love MJ's concept when he say that " loving what you do " is 100 % BS and that the market dictate if you make money or not.

But I would add: being " hard working " or having an " entreprenarial vibe " is also totally worthless if you don't have connections and money.

And this is exactly ( in my opinion ) what 99 % of people dont have.

Ok a lot of people are BIG wantrepreneurs, I myself have a friend like that, always talking about making this of that and when i tell him " lets do it ! " he come up with tons of excuses.

But lets be honest: most of people that would genuinly start their own business don't even have the ressources aka money and connection.

And I didn't even talked about knowledge. If you want to know about an industry you gotta work in it but to got a work nowadays you NEED to have a diploma which bust another myth: that having an education is not necessary.

And even if you take 5 years + X0 000 $ to get the education + 5 years working in the said industry ( lets say i wanna work into finance for example ) but that you realise ( after 10 years & a big debt ) that your business idea is not viable , you're F*cked. Which leads me to think that " testing " a product /an idea is not always possible !

My Conclusion: You can't just try again and again untill you are broke. You can't always " ask your friends and family " some money to invest.
Most of the people are getting an education because this is their only hope to not finish working at mcdonald and even if some WOULD start their own business they just can't due to insufficient ressources (connections / money).

So what do you do if you are the average joe with little money and very few / none connection and that you wanna start a business ?


Thanks for reading and thanks for your time.

PS: I'm sorry but english is not my native language.

Quite honestly I read all your messages and the thing that you're trying to avoid is THE thing that you need to focus on. You want to talk about anything but YOU! When in fact YOU are your own problem. You're viewing the world with such a defeatist attitude no wonder you can't find your way out of a paper bag.

How about you search for and connect with people who started with no money and no connections and see if you can learn a thing or two?

How about the billionaire that started his business with a $700 loan?
How about the Korean immigrant who worked three jobs and became a billionaire?
The above are not "average Joe" enough for you?
How about the homeless waitress living out of her car and made millions starting with absolutely nothing?
How about the homeless guy who created his own app in 4 weeks?

Shift your mindset my friend and the world will start shifting for you. If you think you can't change your life because you don't have money or connections, guess what? You won't!

 

[NicoleMarie]

Hi, I understand where you are coming from. The business starting world is intimidating and risky if done without thinking through all parts of the book. I came here to remind you of this. MJ was poor. He lived off a mattress on the floor and ate ramen, and he was alone. He taught himself, for free, how to build and design a website. He didn't make connections. The connections came to him. You should watch his YouTube videos if you haven't already. One explains that once you have success to show, companies will come to YOU. Customers will come to YOU if you gain a good reputation, which is also free.

I'll also note that he said himself that it's ok to work at Taco Bell (haha) it just should only be part of the plan, it shouldn't BE the plan. I work for minimum wage but it allowed me to buy some starting supplies, and I'll soon be trading it for self sufficiency.

Read the book, re-read the "how to" concepts frequently, watch the videos several times, and you'll most likely find the answer or at least regain motivation. Weed out the bad ideas from the start to lower risk. Best wishes!

 

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[DeletedUser2]

Didn't Zen start off with $2 and a bear trying to eat his remaining food?

it was 10 bucks, and the bear ALMOST ate it.

Z

 

[Mohammed Hamza]

Did you work in the zoo before becoming rich? I want to hear your story. Exciting.

 

[arcola]

Uh guys he's right.

We don't have to defend the notion anyone can get rich. It's true some won't.

I know without a doubt op will not get rich

 

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[jon.a]

Uh guys he's right.

We don't have to defend the notion anyone can get rich. It's true some won't.

I know without a doubt op will not get rich

That was unnecessary

 

[hotshot]

Human beings needs to work towards something to be fulfilled. Whether it's a job, hobby, business. If you choose to start a venture of your own, the only thing that matters is how badly you want it.

99% effort is tiring as hell. Go 100% at whatever you choose. Shoutout @IceCreamKid

Even if you fail, you won't have any regrets on your deathbed. Meditate on your deathbed. What if you got cancer tomorrow? How would you feel?

All the obstacles are barriers to entry. If you can recognize a problem then you can solve it with enough effort. Set a goal and keep it in the back of your mind at all times. Baby steps. You need money? Get money. You have no connections? Get connections. It won't happen overnight but may as well start now!

 

[stranger]

You've answered on your question - "Very few people succeed without initial capital or connection."
Just imagine if everyone could run own successful business.

 

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[LIkeafox]

OP, you said that you've helped friends with learning how to pick up women, and you mentioned that you could offer coaching on that, I think you just answered your question about where to get your money to back other ventures. I don't know where you are from, but I know that in NYC there are guys getting thousands of dollars per person to take them around to parks, bookstores, grocery stores, bars, clubs and teach them these skills for a weekend. They will have a group of five or six guys with them they are teaching.

You set up to coach them, you have some available products or services to sell to them on the back-end after the course is done and you've got yourself a business. You could also focus on particular a particular niche in the 'how to meet girls' market, like advertising to focus on programmers looking to meet girls and you'd be building up contacts you might be able to appeal to for future projects.

 

[iwantaferrari]

Thanks to all the people that provided usefull information.

Nevertheless I'm surprised by the level of hate on this thread. My initial thread was polite and formal, seems like I touched a nerve ?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

But lets be honest: most of people that would genuinly start their own business don't even have the ressources aka money and connection.

I had no money. And no connections. So your premise is false to begin with, at least on this forum.

Nevertheless I'm surprised by the level of hate on this thread.

Perhaps the problem is your interpretation, you the receiver, and not the messengers.

 

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[iwantaferrari]

Hey MJ Glad that you came into my thread ( no a$$ licking ).

I'm not saying that it's impossible to do without connection / money. Just that it's super hard.

What do you advise to raise money when you have nothing concrete to show to some investors ?
How would you make some connections related into a specific business in a short period of time ? Cold call ?

Thanks.

 

[DeletedUser2]

What do you advise to raise money when you have nothing concrete to show to some investors ?

have you read my AMA on raising money? or listened to the INSIDERS call I did on raising money?
go look now.

 

[jon.a]

have you read my AMA on raising money? or listened to the INSIDERS call I did on raising money?
go look now.

Damnit Dale stop being obtuse. Iwanta doesn't want to read, learn for himself. Iwanta wantas you to give him the info personally. Surely he must deserve at least something so small in the big scheme of things.

 

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[Avisto]

Thanks to all the people that provided usefull information.

Nevertheless I'm surprised by the level of hate on this thread. My initial thread was polite and formal, seems like I touched a nerve ?

Not really, it's just that I want to shake you and make you realize that you are self-limiting, and truly, anything you want to do is within your grasp. However, I realize that you are going to have to come to that conclusion on your own through work, an epiphany, conditioning yourself to believe it, I don't know.

If you go look at the Amazon reviews for MJs book, read the 1 star reviews, you will see a ton of negativity. The Millionaire Fastlane has some fantastic advice, but there are people who are just wearing horse blinders, and are just not open to any gifts or advice. At the risk of using two horse analogies in a single post...as they say "you can bring a horse to the water, but you can't make it drink". Like I said, assume that you are wrong. Open yourself to self-critiquing your own world view - hell, build it from scratch. Be more open to the advice of the people here. I'm not one to give you advice on making money - I haven't done it big time yet - but there are numerous people here who can impart great wisdom to you...if only you are open to it.

So take off those blinders, my friend. See the world clearly, and stop being down on yourself. Have a virtual hug and brofist from me.

 

[Avisto]

have you read my AMA on raising money? or listened to the INSIDERS call I did on raising money?
go look now.

+1 for that INSIDERS call. It's a must listen, iwantaferrari, drop what you're doing, go download it onto your iPod or phone or what ever and listen to it NOW while you're doing what you're doing. It's full of great little tidbits of wisdom, get on it. Also, thanks for allowing it to be recorded Zen. I came to this forum late, so wouldn't have got a chance to listen if it wasn't recorded.

 

[iwantaferrari]

Not really, it's just that I want to shake you and make you realize that you are self-limiting, and truly, anything you want to do is within your grasp. However, I realize that you are going to have to come to that conclusion on your own through work, an epiphany, conditioning yourself to believe it, I don't know.

If you go look at the Amazon reviews for MJs book, read the 1 star reviews, you will see a ton of negativity. The Millionaire Fastlane has some fantastic advice, but there are people who are just wearing horse blinders, and are just not open to any gifts or advice. At the risk of using two horse analogies in a single post...as they say "you can bring a horse to the water, but you can't make it drink". Like I said, assume that you are wrong. Open yourself to self-critiquing your own world view - hell, build it from scratch. Be more open to the advice of the people here. I'm not one to give you advice on making money - I haven't done it big time yet - but there are numerous people here who can impart great wisdom to you...if only you are opened to it.

So take off those blinders, my friend. See the world clearly, and stop being down on yourself. Have a virtual hug and brofist from me.

If i'm here my friend isn't it because i am looking for a solution ? or do you think I bought a fastlane INSIDERS account only to troll and to tell people how they can't succeed ?

As I said I know that some people are successfull on this forum and that's why i come here to ask

My original post is only about question i am not claiming anything. Just telling my constatation and then my interrogation.

If I say " All the door I've been knocking are locked and I know nobody that is able to lockpic, how do you guys pass through the door ? "

I'm not looking for answers like " you are so defeatist no doubt you will never go anyway " , or " stop bitching and work harder " ," haha change your name into iwanttowhine".

But more like " I faced the same issue and I solved it by jumping above the wall / sneaking behind the fence / robbing the owner's key / buying the house ".

If you understand my metaphore

 

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[iwantaferrari]

have you read my AMA on raising money? or listened to the INSIDERS call I did on raising money?
go look now.

I'll read it, thanks

 

[RogueInnovation]

Money - preorders are easy enough, ask if they are buying and if willing to buy x, then offer a discount and tell them when they can expect to get it
Money to scale - Maybe you are referring to large scale; firstly you don't need to be a giant, secondly, you can get seed money tons of ways that allow you to retain equity etc. I don't see how it is an issue, just set up a contingency for scale, if we get x orders we will take x investment and scale by abcdefg
Network - everyone can make contacts xP, its such a fallacy to believe contacts will hand you everything. If they are handing it out to friends, get to know them, not hard, but you always can interest people in smart choices. My question is, do you demand to be dumb rich or smart rich? If smart you don't demand it handed to you, but you know what to do when it is. If dumb, you demand it even though you have no idea what to do with it.
Knowledge - no, geographical location and culture hits you harder than education and knowledge. But now less so cuz of the internet, you are a few googles away from information on most anything, no matter your culture and education level.
Being born in ethiopia certainly would have stopped me, but I'm sure there are ways to break free, its just harder because BOE works against you, so you have to move you a$$.



Dear average joe:
Bust your a$$ to break out of laziness and bs thoughts (there is no quick or painless way)
Excuses are lame, take two more steps, write down the question, and then earnestly work to answer it without a defeated attitude.
Then find an area and a need. Populate a lot of ideas and discussion, and calmly and insightfully extract useful leads and thank people. Make drafts on a need, and see if they stand up to scrutiny, reality and market whims, focus on the drafts that work and spend a bit of time on testing them and research, getting an idea on the ecosystem this will be moving into.

Make sure you are diligent with your financials, know customer aquisition costs, cost vs benefit for actions you take, make sure it has healthy enough margins, minimise any wasted costs in the system.
Detail clear benefits of the product and what it does, not wishy washy "I am god" type stuff.
Do a test to see that stuff is working properly, if it is, get sales moving, if its not, debug.

 

[arcola]

+1 for that INSIDERS call. It's a must listen, iwantaferrari, drop what you're doing, go download it onto your iPod or phone or what ever and listen to it NOW while you're doing what you're doing. It's full of great little tidbits of wisdom, get on it. Also, thanks for allowing it to be recorded Zen. I came to this forum late, so wouldn't have got a chance to listen if it wasn't recorded.

Where can I find that?

 

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[MorgothBauglir]

Hey MJ Glad that you came into my thread ( no a$$ licking ).

I'm not saying that it's impossible to do without connection / money. Just that it's super hard.

What do you advise to raise money when you have nothing concrete to show to some investors ?
How would you make some connections related into a specific business in a short period of time ? Cold call ?

Thanks.

It's super hard with ALL of those things. This is the hardest shit you will ever do. It's the hardest thing I've ever done. I have to work everyday, and I only have me to answer to and keep myself accountable.

There's a reason not everyone does it. Did you come into this expecting it to be easy? Yeah you see a ferrari, girls, yachts, holiday locations and you get all feel good and think this is the path for you. That stuff comes last. There's a mountain you have to climb first. But it's worth every second.
You're an entrepreneur now, you don't make excuses and invent obstacles. You solve problems. You find solutions.

This forum has some of the baddest motherf*ckers you will ever meet, and they are posting the BLUEPRINT to success for FREE. Read all their posts and then read them again. Take notes. Adopt their mindset, and then pay it forward when you get your own success.

 

[Avisto]

Where can I find that?

Gotta be an INSIDERS my man, but otherwise, this little secret function works real well

 

[biophase]

My Conclusion: You can't just try again and again untill you are broke. You can't always " ask your friends and family " some money to invest.

Most of the people are getting an education because this is their only hope to not finish working at mcdonald and even if some WOULD start their own business they just can't due to insufficient ressources (connections / money).

I didn't do any of that.

Did you read my soap company thread? https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...s-how-to-create-something-from-nothing.47966/

Started with less than $500 easily.

Did you read this thread about what I posted on my blog 7 years ago when I started my first ecom business?

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ll-may-enjoy-this-journey-back-in-time.51303/"

Started with $100 to pay for the SSL certificate, customized site myself by using Google to learn.


Does it sound like I started with money or connections?

 

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[Avisto]

I didn't do any of that.

Did you read my soap company thread? https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...s-how-to-create-something-from-nothing.47966/

Started with less than $500 easily.

Did you read this thread about what I posted on my blog 7 years ago when I started my first ecom business?

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ll-may-enjoy-this-journey-back-in-time.51303/"

Started with $100 to pay for the SSL certificate, customized site myself by using Google to learn.


Does it sound like I started with money or connections?

I keep hearing about this stolen soap idea, what was the deal? I'm kinda new. Shame that people would steal ideas like that

 

[randomnumber314]

First, I think you're interpreting people's disagreement with your premise as hatred; not true. Most just don't agree with the premise you're starting with--that being "it's nearly impossible to start with nothing."

Second, your mindset seems event driven. Suddenly there's an event where you make connections with a dozen wealthy people. Suddenly someone writes you a check for an idea you had. Suddenly you're driving a fararri.

Start with an idea, see if people want it, every day get better at doing/selling that thing. This is how you make money. Read @Vigilante's progress thread, three years in the making. Read @bensonj's -- she started with an idea and is slowly making it work, or @Likwid24 (?) thread about making the paint brush cover (also a couple/few years in the making)

Hell go outside and ask friends/family what they need done in exchange for $. Charge them $X for the project, find someone to do it for less, rinse, repeat, and you have a bonafide business right there.