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Swimming Against My Current

Coordin

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So far life has been fairly straight forward for me. I graduated college this past May (without debt, thank you parents) with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. My only blunder so far (in the world of financial independence) was purchasing a new car putting me a little under 10k in debt. Currently at the age of 22, this is my starting point. A normal kid, having followed the scripted life to the "t", job(s), apartment, car, the whole deal.

Over the last couple years I have slowly been discovering the world of financial independence (I swear there are too many "e"'s in independence), reading books and listening to podcasts on what I now know as the "slowlane". That has led me to save as much of my paychecks as possible, although it never felt like enough.

Enter "The Millionaire Fastlane ". Over the last month or so I've devoured TMF and am currently over halfway through "Unscripted ". While I've always had an urge to create my own business for the freedom and fulfillment it can provide, I've never had the drive to take action. Hell, even posting here is more action than I've ever taken, even though this is definitely "action faking".

I've titled this introduction "Swimming Against My Current" because throughout my life everything I've accomplished, done, acquired has been because someone else said "Hey, you should try ...". I have my current job because my professor told me to apply for it. I studied what I did because my parents said I should get a degree in something I enjoy (which now because I'm getting paid for it, has lost its luster - Unscripted Chapter 29, right?).

The issue? Life is okay. I haven't had a FTE and I don't think I will have one if I continue. I'm worried that I have become stuck.

Granted, I know how silly that sounds! I'm 22! To quote my family and friends, "I have my whole life ahead of me"!

I'm scared that I won't have the balls to take life by the balls.
I'm scared that I will lose everything I've already worked for.
I'm scared that I won't have a good enough business model, or make a wrong choice, or miss a checkbox and lose.
I'm on a safe path (by slowlane standards) and feel as though I'm barely holding up here, so why would I be able to keep up in the fastlane?

I know these are just excuses. I know they shouldn't be stopping me. But it is as if there's a minimum speed limit, and my car just doesn't run fast enough. When I finish a day at my current job, there's nothing left in the tank. I end up coming home and sleeping, or watching TV, my focus having been drained for the day. I've read plenty on habits, change, and goal setting. Nothing has stuck for more than a few weeks. Hence, the want for a FTE or a clear meaning. Maybe that will set me straight?

I guess that's my first objective: Find a why. Start to swim against my own current.
 
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Johnny boy

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I'm scared that I won't have the balls to take life by the balls.
I'm scared that I will lose everything I've already worked for.
I'm scared that I won't have a good enough business model, or make a wrong choice, or miss a checkbox and lose.
I'm on a safe path (by slowlane standards) and feel as though I'm barely holding up here, so why would I be able to keep up in the fastlane?

-Emotion follows action. Do cool shit. If you feel it's high time you did something ballsy, do something ballsy.

-You don't have anything to lose. The college degree doesn't get revoked and it wasn't good for much anyways.

-You WILL have a shitty business model and you WILL make the wrong choices and you WILL miss a checkbox and you WILL lose and after all of that you WILL win because this is not a game of perfection. This is a game of doing it anyways.

-Man I was failing school and I even tried to do well! lmao. The secret is to have 0 reasons to believe in yourself and 0 evidence of past success and STILL be arrogant beyond belief because you know deep down you're worth more than what you've been getting. I remember telling people I was going to start a business and not have to worry about money. I was one annoying little shit who had -$200 in the bank. Well...fast forward a few years later and I work a couple hours a week, live on a lake and my income doubles every year.


If your goal is to be rich and free, you should write it down and mean it. Then, for right now... you should set up your life where you are more isolated than the average person. Be alone and you will fill the space with deep thoughts. Being alone allows you to change. Having people around you all the time pressures you to think like them and stay the same. Then, build a routine of discipline. Early morning exercise, writing down all of your ideas, eating a strict healthy diet, eliminating time wasting activities, etc. These are not action faking steps for you since you are at the beginning. You will feel like a sharpened steel sword instead of some dull stick in the mud. You will have more confidence, assertiveness, etc. And remember that emotion follows action. Do it first, feel like doing it afterwards. A great idea and all the tools you need could fall right into your lap tomorrow but if you are just some schmuck who has not changed himself, you will not do anything with it.

When I started out, I was living at home but we had a detached office-type converted garage and I would lock the door and spend 8 hours a day in there. If I had other work during the day I would spend evenings in there until midnight. I would write, read, think and work in there without distraction and it's where I had nearly every idea. I would get up at 5am and go lift, eat a strict diet, get right to work and follow a bunch of other 'rules' meant for discipline.

The problem for many who start out and don't have a family business to jump into, or some unique situation to take advantage of, or some special set of skills to put to work, is that they really are staring at pretty much a blank canvas, and a lot of ambitious young guys have this problem. I did too. They typically fall for some business model that everyone else tries and almost always fails because it's VERY oversaturated. They try to start a blog, or they try to start dropshipping, or they start day trading, or a clothing brand, or some other thing like that. What usually happens is they will fail that original "business" and possibly try something else, and that continues until they eventually find a different type of business away from those things and it finally works. I know because I see it happen with other people and even myself.

If you don't have any ideas, or a family business to hop into, or any unique situation to take advantage of, I would go get a sales job. Something that will be tough and teach you to communicate very effectively. I sold cars and it was the best first full time job I could've gotten. You'll learn to sell and if you hustle you can be making like 8 grand a month right out of the gate. I was doing around 6 grand a month still living at home but I could've tried a lot harder and pulled in 8. It's not entrepreneurship but it teaches you to start separating time from money. It changes your brain into thinking that you only make what you go out and hunt for, not how long you can pretend to look busy for.

Keep absorbing information and combining it with whatever actionable steps pop up into your head. If you want to strategically improve your ability to take action, give yourself 'comfort challenges' (from Tim Ferris in the 4 hr workweek). By doing things that make you uncomfortable, you will build the "just do it" muscle in your brain and it will pay dividends for you.

If you'd like, I've got some reading material that I can recommend for any man starting off who wants to be an a$$ kicker.
 

MJ DeMarco

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The best motivation I've found is one day I'll die and I don't want to do it knowing I spent most of my life working just to pay bills and "survive".

One day, you too, will die. You'll never be 23 ever again. And you'll never have as little responsibility as you do now. Once the kids, wife, and mortgages arrive -- your chances go from decent, to poor.
 

Mathuin

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Fantastic posts Johnny and MJ!

If you'd like, I've got some reading material that I can recommend for any man starting off who wants to be an a$$ kicker.
Can you drop the recommendations? Pretty sure I remember seeing an old post of yours where "Pimpology" was your favourite book?
 
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rsrs

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I've always wanted to have a business, but never really wanted. Wanting something can be self-deception. In my 20's I had a very comfortable life with some money that I earned from internet gigs and get away with the sense things would work out at the end. But then with 30 yrs old I still didn't have the business I "wanted" to build.

I needed to change. To drop all the time sucking activities like watching every new netflix show, scrolling fb, insta, twitter and playing some whatever videogame. And this was hard. I've never realize how powerful are these things until I decided I want out. But I did. And then I focused in finding questions in my head "what is the next step?", "how can I achieve $ to pay for a team that will help me build on my ideas?", "what business I will try first?", "how can I organize my company's finance? What numbers need to grow and at what rates?".

Now having a successful business is not a want anymore. I know I will have. And this scares me a lot with the "what ifs". But what is the alternative? 8-6 job, netflix, videogames, social networks, hoping for gov pension in the future? The alternatives scares me a lot, A LOT more.

I've surpassed the wanting and I now know there's no way back. Simple as that.
 

TheLearner

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The issue? Life is okay. I haven't had a FTE and I don't think I will have one if I continue. I'm worried that I have become stuck.
Look at the math in any of MJs books about retiring, watch the retirement episode of "Money Explained" on netflix, or go to a retirement seminar if your job has one. Seeing that the best case scenario is downsizing to a house you can own outright, making sure all your debt is paid off (especially student loans for your kids if you plan on having them and paying for their college) driving a used car that you hope is reliable, and living off of 40% of whatever you used to make while being 65+ will make you say "wtf??" Then add on the thought of having the crazy inflation we have now while trying to subsist on a small fixed income. It might not be an FTE for you but it'll definitely help you realize that you have more to lose trying to build a nest egg over the next 40 years the slow way versus starting a business.
 

Coordin

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Johnny, my man. Your reply is more than I ever expected, so thank you. I'll definitely be looking back at your reply for motivation/advice/hard truths in the future. This sentence:
You will feel like a sharpened steel sword instead of some dull stick in the mud.
one word: damn. Ha, time to become a sharpened steel sword and therefore be ready to take action, confidently, when I see an opening.
If you want to strategically improve your ability to take action, give yourself 'comfort challenges' (from Tim Ferris in the 4 hr workweek).
Looks like I need to give the 4 hr workweek another quick once-over, and start implimenting these challenges. I've always been one to doubt myself internally, so maybe a confidence raise is in order. I would also love to hear those book recommendations towards becoming an "a$$ kicker" of a man.

The best motivation I've found is one day I'll die and I don't want to do it knowing I spent most of my life working just to pay bills and "survive".

One day, you too, will die. You'll never be 23 ever again. And you'll never have as little responsibility as you do now. Once the kids, wife, and mortgages arrive -- your chances go from decent, to poor.
MJ, thanks for taking the time to reply. Your book and a half (still reading Unscripted ) have opened my eyes to what potentially my potential is (if that makes sense?) if only I start taking action. I logically understood your comments on Time in TMF and Unscripted , but your phrasing here has already helped me internalize it. There's an invisible timer on my life, time (haha) to stop wasting it impacting the few and start impacting the many.

I've always wanted to have a business, but never really wanted.
Great use of italics. Anyway, yes. For the last couple years it has been a thought, just brewing. "There must be something more" But then:
"what is the next step?"
Always came up empty or I got distracted by the next shiny thing on youtube. This question needs an answer, and it's probably about time I found one. Rsrs, you have summed up exactly what I'm currently fighting with internally. Glad to know I'm not the only one.

It might not be an FTE for you but it'll definitely help you realize that you have more to lose trying to build a nest egg over the next 40 years the slow way versus starting a business.
I feel like I just got a quick one-two to the body from an elite boxer between MJ's reply and yours. It's either 40 years of work for the chance, or maybe a decade of dedication and commitment for the rest of my life. Alright. Go? Go.

Thanks for all the replies! I'm glad to have found this community, now it's time to internalize your words and start doing - something, anything.

You will be hearing from me again.
 
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Johnny boy

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Fantastic posts Johnny and MJ!


Can you drop the recommendations? Pretty sure I remember seeing an old post of yours where "Pimpology" was your favourite book?

It's definitely my favorite to recommend since it's not well known and no one ever recommends it, when it's one of the top books men need to read the most.

favorite books for ambitious men who are just starting out:

1. MJ's books. Makes the mental transition from consumer to genuine producer. Essential for growing a business...which means it's essential for actually getting rich...which means it's essential for becoming free.

2. (personal favorite) Books from the old and no longer around "Bold and Determined" blog. Lots of great stuff here. Everything about being a man and probably the most hated blog in existence by your feminist green-haired aunt. Required reading for all men born after the 1970's since our society is so a$$-backwards. Used to just be called "common sense".

B&D volumes 1-3
B&D 30 days of dicipline
(These are free books so I can link to them without any problems they just aren't easily available anymore. link expires after a week so pm me if you want me to email the pdf's)

3. Dan kennedy's no bs ruthless management of people and profits: a book about managing people that was written by a real boss and wasn't written by someone in a university. It's realistic and not idealistic.

4. Pimpology: written by an actual pimp about the psychology of being a pimp. Sorta like the 48 laws of power but way better, applied to the real world, and 100 times as funny to read.

Those are some solid places to start.
 

Black_Dragon43

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The secret is to have 0 reasons to believe in yourself and 0 evidence of past success and STILL be arrogant beyond belief because you know deep down you're worth more than what you've been getting
This is good. There’s also another way to think about this. Simply break your self-esteem away from your achievements. You don’t need to have achievements to have high self-esteem.

Nathaniel Branden talks about this in a great book I’m just finishing Six Pillars of Self-Esteem.

It all starts with being conscious about reality… deciding that you will not turn away regardless of what you see. For example… you’re fat. You’ve got a flabby belly. So become aware of it.

The next step is to accept it. It’s the truth that you have a disgusting big flabby belly.

After that, take responsibility for it. You are responsible for your belly being what it is.

Next step get mad, and create a purpose to build a greek god body and a plan.

And finally have integrity. Stick to your promises towards yourself, don’t be a hypocrite.

If you go through this process, you will start developing your self esteem. But, and this is very important, high self-esteem is built on a foundation of reality.

For example, if you are a weak guy who can be beaten even by a girl, you’re not going to build self esteem by saying you’re the strongest guy in town and you can knock anyone out. But you will by accepting your weakness and being determined to change it. The former is a delusion, and actually keeps you stuck in your condition… because if you really believe you’re the strongest guy in town when you’re not, what would motivate you to work your butt off to get there?
 

Johnny boy

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For example, if you are a weak guy who can be beaten even by a girl, you’re not going to build self esteem by saying you’re the strongest guy in town and you can knock anyone out. But you will by accepting your weakness and being determined to change it. The former is a delusion, and actually keeps you stuck in your condition… because if you really believe you’re the strongest guy in town when you’re not, what would motivate you to work your butt off to get there?

No weak guy that gets his a$$ beat especially by a girl should have much confidence and I'm not gonna argue any more about it lol.
 
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Johnny boy

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Be careful about that, while I very much love Dan’s book mentioned, Dan was never a real boss and if you attended his live events or seen recordings of them you’d know he hates having employees and only had one employee who worked remotely. Dan mentioned that as a single person you can get to the $5M/year level, but that’s round about the number where you hit a ceiling and the only way to expand is with employees, which not everyone is interested in having.
"never a real boss"
"only had one employee"

Not true

image0[16696].png
 

MitchM

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I want to preface this by saying that some people are happy with slow lane jobs. They find a place they enjoy working, friends they enjoy hanging out with, and things to do in their free time.

It's possible that finding a job you enjoy would be just fine for you.

Whatever you do, do it because it's aligned with what you really want out of life. Not because you feel it isn't enough by another's standards. What are your standards? What do you want?

This forum is a great place for getting motivated and getting on the path. MJ's books are probably the best starting point that there is for someone like yourself.

That doesn't mean it's right for everyone, or right for you. You need to reflect and think about what you want your life to look like, who you want to be, and what things in your life bring you the most happiness.

Financial freedom is great, but it is a means to an end.

There are people who instead choose to live minimally. They buy 5th wheelers, live off the grid, etc.. They work jobs that don't pay too well and have tons of free time.

There are people who live paycheck to paycheck and are happy.

Self awareness is the key here. What do you want out of life?

When I dropped out of college, I did it because I was F*cking sick of listening to people tell me what to do - and doing work that I felt was unnecessary. Plenty of other students enjoyed the consistency and comfort that came with direction given by another person.

That being said, if this is a path that you want to pursue:

You don't need to have a FTE. It helps - but isn't necessary.

The reason it's important for many is because it often takes a big push for people to take that first step to commit to something that is much less "certain" or comfortable than just having a job.

The thing is, entrepreneurship doesn't have to be this big obstacle that you aggressively throw yourself into. You can do things to get your feet wet, like start offering pressure washing services to your local area... whatever. Anything.

As humans, we aren't likely to do something without enough incentive. Look at it as an effort/reward issue. You're comfortable, so you can't currently see how the effort of getting out of your comfort zone and the grind it takes to grow a big business would be worth the reward.

Discomfort often plays a huge role here.

So, instead, you can start off with something that you don't really feel uncomfortable with and move your way up from there... slowly expanding your boundaries.

If I were you, I would keep MJ's CENTS model in mind and write out 3 problem/solutions every day. Break them down and see if there is something that works with the CENTS model. After a month you have 100 potential business ideas.

Pick something easy with a low cost to startup if none of them inspire you.

Sure, if it's something simple that isn't hard to do - then you will probably have terrible margins and/or a ton of competition.

The point isn't to make a ton of money though, it's to get the ball rolling and get the feeling of what it means to run a business.

Too many people have their heads in the clouds and think about millions of dollars, 24/7 grind, and some epic idea that will come to them when they first get started.

Sure, those things aren't actually unrealistic.. it's just usually not how things start.

Also, like mentioned above, getting a sales job while you're doing this would probably be a great start.

All of that being said - I also recommend this (inspired by Jordan Peterson):

Set 30 minutes aside and write out two versions of your life.

Write one version of your life that is one that you fear. Mediocre, boring, not living up to your potential, being a loser... whatever. Paint a vivid picture of the path you feel you could go down if you don't man up.

Write the other version of your life if you really gave it your all to make it what you wanted. If you stuck to your commitments, if you tried, failed, and kept going. Who could you end up becoming? How would your life look?

Don't be afraid to be hyperbolic in either of these visions. The truth in each of these is in the emotions. Your path won't be identical in either case, of course.

Finally, realize that you may think you're young, but you might not be. Nobody can tell the future and you could die at any time. A 70 year old man could be younger than you. Don't F*ck around and treat your time like an infinite commodity.

A lot of people that are here are here because they don't want to waste their life. Most people don't even stop to think about whether or not they are. Spend your days in a way that makes you feel happy and proud of yourself. That's the biggest win.
 

SharpeningBlade

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-Emotion follows action. Do cool shit. If you feel it's high time you did something ballsy, do something ballsy.

-You don't have anything to lose. The college degree doesn't get revoked and it wasn't good for much anyways.

-You WILL have a shitty business model and you WILL make the wrong choices and you WILL miss a checkbox and you WILL lose and after all of that you WILL win because this is not a game of perfection. This is a game of doing it anyways.

-Man I was failing school and I even tried to do well! lmao. The secret is to have 0 reasons to believe in yourself and 0 evidence of past success and STILL be arrogant beyond belief because you know deep down you're worth more than what you've been getting. I remember telling people I was going to start a business and not have to worry about money. I was one annoying little shit who had -$200 in the bank. Well...fast forward a few years later and I work a couple hours a week, live on a lake and my income doubles every year.


If your goal is to be rich and free, you should write it down and mean it. Then, for right now... you should set up your life where you are more isolated than the average person. Be alone and you will fill the space with deep thoughts. Being alone allows you to change. Having people around you all the time pressures you to think like them and stay the same. Then, build a routine of discipline. Early morning exercise, writing down all of your ideas, eating a strict healthy diet, eliminating time wasting activities, etc. These are not action faking steps for you since you are at the beginning. You will feel like a sharpened steel sword instead of some dull stick in the mud. You will have more confidence, assertiveness, etc. And remember that emotion follows action. Do it first, feel like doing it afterwards. A great idea and all the tools you need could fall right into your lap tomorrow but if you are just some schmuck who has not changed himself, you will not do anything with it.

When I started out, I was living at home but we had a detached office-type converted garage and I would lock the door and spend 8 hours a day in there. If I had other work during the day I would spend evenings in there until midnight. I would write, read, think and work in there without distraction and it's where I had nearly every idea. I would get up at 5am and go lift, eat a strict diet, get right to work and follow a bunch of other 'rules' meant for discipline.

The problem for many who start out and don't have a family business to jump into, or some unique situation to take advantage of, or some special set of skills to put to work, is that they really are staring at pretty much a blank canvas, and a lot of ambitious young guys have this problem. I did too. They typically fall for some business model that everyone else tries and almost always fails because it's VERY oversaturated. They try to start a blog, or they try to start dropshipping, or they start day trading, or a clothing brand, or some other thing like that. What usually happens is they will fail that original "business" and possibly try something else, and that continues until they eventually find a different type of business away from those things and it finally works. I know because I see it happen with other people and even myself.

If you don't have any ideas, or a family business to hop into, or any unique situation to take advantage of, I would go get a sales job. Something that will be tough and teach you to communicate very effectively. I sold cars and it was the best first full time job I could've gotten. You'll learn to sell and if you hustle you can be making like 8 grand a month right out of the gate. I was doing around 6 grand a month still living at home but I could've tried a lot harder and pulled in 8. It's not entrepreneurship but it teaches you to start separating time from money. It changes your brain into thinking that you only make what you go out and hunt for, not how long you can pretend to look busy for.

Keep absorbing information and combining it with whatever actionable steps pop up into your head. If you want to strategically improve your ability to take action, give yourself 'comfort challenges' (from Tim Ferris in the 4 hr workweek). By doing things that make you uncomfortable, you will build the "just do it" muscle in your brain and it will pay dividends for you.

If you'd like, I've got some reading material that I can recommend for any man starting off who wants to be an a$$ kicker.

This is great inspiration, thank you. I also liked the part about a 'sharpened steel sword' ;)
 
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Coordin

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MitchM, thanks for your in-depth reply!
If I were you, I would keep MJ's CENTS model in mind and write out 3 problem/solutions every day. Break them down and see if there is something that works with the CENTS model. After a month you have 100 potential business ideas.
Keep a notebook handy and write sh*t down. Noted. (haha) Seriously, this is great advice. I'm implementing it immediately into my daily process(es?).

inspired by Jordan Peterson
Read 12 Rules for Life, which is one thing that helped me down this FI/Self-Made Man path. I'm guessing you're referencing his future authoring program?

Finally, realize that you may think you're young, but you might not be. Nobody can tell the future and you could die at any time. A 70 year old man could be younger than you. Don't f*ck around and treat your time like an infinite commodity.

A lot of people that are here are here because they don't want to waste their life. Most people don't even stop to think about whether or not they are. Spend your days in a way that makes you feel happy and proud of yourself. That's the biggest win.
Currently, with my commute, those odds are definitely higher than average. This thread has been a bucket of ice water to the face, followed by someone yelling, "WAKE UP DIPSH*T". Likened to taking the red-pill from The Matrix.
 

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Read 12 Rules for Life, which is one thing that helped me down this FI/Self-Made Man path. I'm guessing you're referencing his future authoring program?
Yep! I have done the future authoring program twice now. Once when I was 20, and once earlier this year after turning 25. It definitely helped.
 

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-Emotion follows action. Do cool shit. If you feel it's high time you did something ballsy, do something ballsy.

-You don't have anything to lose. The college degree doesn't get revoked and it wasn't good for much anyways.

-You WILL have a shitty business model and you WILL make the wrong choices and you WILL miss a checkbox and you WILL lose and after all of that you WILL win because this is not a game of perfection. This is a game of doing it anyways.

-Man I was failing school and I even tried to do well! lmao. The secret is to have 0 reasons to believe in yourself and 0 evidence of past success and STILL be arrogant beyond belief because you know deep down you're worth more than what you've been getting. I remember telling people I was going to start a business and not have to worry about money. I was one annoying little shit who had -$200 in the bank. Well...fast forward a few years later and I work a couple hours a week, live on a lake and my income doubles every year.


If your goal is to be rich and free, you should write it down and mean it. Then, for right now... you should set up your life where you are more isolated than the average person. Be alone and you will fill the space with deep thoughts. Being alone allows you to change. Having people around you all the time pressures you to think like them and stay the same. Then, build a routine of discipline. Early morning exercise, writing down all of your ideas, eating a strict healthy diet, eliminating time wasting activities, etc. These are not action faking steps for you since you are at the beginning. You will feel like a sharpened steel sword instead of some dull stick in the mud. You will have more confidence, assertiveness, etc. And remember that emotion follows action. Do it first, feel like doing it afterwards. A great idea and all the tools you need could fall right into your lap tomorrow but if you are just some schmuck who has not changed himself, you will not do anything with it.

When I started out, I was living at home but we had a detached office-type converted garage and I would lock the door and spend 8 hours a day in there. If I had other work during the day I would spend evenings in there until midnight. I would write, read, think and work in there without distraction and it's where I had nearly every idea. I would get up at 5am and go lift, eat a strict diet, get right to work and follow a bunch of other 'rules' meant for discipline.

The problem for many who start out and don't have a family business to jump into, or some unique situation to take advantage of, or some special set of skills to put to work, is that they really are staring at pretty much a blank canvas, and a lot of ambitious young guys have this problem. I did too. They typically fall for some business model that everyone else tries and almost always fails because it's VERY oversaturated. They try to start a blog, or they try to start dropshipping, or they start day trading, or a clothing brand, or some other thing like that. What usually happens is they will fail that original "business" and possibly try something else, and that continues until they eventually find a different type of business away from those things and it finally works. I know because I see it happen with other people and even myself.

If you don't have any ideas, or a family business to hop into, or any unique situation to take advantage of, I would go get a sales job. Something that will be tough and teach you to communicate very effectively. I sold cars and it was the best first full time job I could've gotten. You'll learn to sell and if you hustle you can be making like 8 grand a month right out of the gate. I was doing around 6 grand a month still living at home but I could've tried a lot harder and pulled in 8. It's not entrepreneurship but it teaches you to start separating time from money. It changes your brain into thinking that you only make what you go out and hunt for, not how long you can pretend to look busy for.

Keep absorbing information and combining it with whatever actionable steps pop up into your head. If you want to strategically improve your ability to take action, give yourself 'comfort challenges' (from Tim Ferris in the 4 hr workweek). By doing things that make you uncomfortable, you will build the "just do it" muscle in your brain and it will pay dividends for you.

If you'd like, I've got some reading material that I can recommend for any man starting off who wants to be an a$$ kicker.
Hey Johnny,

I randomly found this post and I was wondering: what made you pick car sales over any other sales job when you were just getting started?

Me personally, I'm considering getting a job in car sales or telemarketing. I'm leaning more towards telemarketing since I feel like it would not only improve thick skin + grit, but also help me get better conversationally as well(since you're talking to hundreds of people a day).

Just asking out of curiosity, thanks.
 
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Johnny boy

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Hey Johnny,

I randomly found this post and I was wondering: what made you pick car sales over any other sales job when you were just getting started?

Me personally, I'm considering getting a job in car sales or telemarketing. I'm leaning more towards telemarketing since I feel like it would not only improve thick skin + grit, but also help me get better conversationally as well(since you're talking to hundreds of people a day).

Just asking out of curiosity, thanks.
It's not social. It's depressing and you will turn into a anti-social nerd who doesn't care about their appearance and your job is worth less since it's unidimensional and you're competing against Indians and Filipinos.

I worked with people face to face, made decent money, wore nordstrom clothes every day and had a lot of fun and met lots of people. Then it would be smart to either use that money to start a business, or move into higher level sales like enterprise, SAAS or tech sales and make 200k a year.

You can give it a shot but if you're not making at least 6k a month right away and it sucks, consider in-person sales in a professional environment.
 

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It's not social. It's depressing and you will turn into a anti-social nerd who doesn't care about their appearance and your job is worth less since it's unidimensional and you're competing against Indians and Filipinos.

I worked with people face to face, made decent money, wore nordstrom clothes every day and had a lot of fun and met lots of people. Then it would be smart to either use that money to start a business, or move into higher level sales like enterprise, SAAS or tech sales and make 200k a year.

You can give it a shot but if you're not making at least 6k a month right away and it sucks, consider in-person sales in a professional environment.
I was thinking that - as someone who currently has bad social skills and thin skin - if I worked in a call center environment it would be easier to develop my conversational skills since it's so low risk(even if I get judged or verbally attacked by customers, at least they won't be doing it in my face).

But wtf?? 6k per month for an entry level job? That sounds insane for a first job. I might have to seriously consider car sales.

Was 6k your base salary or did you make a lot from commissions as well?
 

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I was thinking that - as someone who currently has bad social skills and thin skin - if I worked in a call center environment it would be easier to develop my conversational skills since it's so low risk(even if I get judged or verbally attacked by customers, at least they won't be doing it in my face).

But wtf?? 6k per month for an entry level job? That sounds insane for a first job. I might have to seriously consider car sales.

Was 6k your base salary or did you make a lot from commissions as well?
only people who need to know the base salary are low confidence bitches who do the minimum remember that.

base salary is minimum wage and if you get anywhere near that you will be fired swiftly.

I made $1500 from a deal one time and it took a couple hours it was a lot of fun trying to get them into that car. It was on the lot for 250+ days and they had a thing going that week where if you sold a car that was on the lot for a long time you got $5 for every day on top of the normal commission.

You want to be doing face to face sales.

And 6k is poverty wtf are you talking about? You could go work part time cleaning off roofs and make 10k a month doing it yourself.
 
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only people who need to know the base salary are low confidence bitches who do the minimum remember that.

base salary is minimum wage and if you get anywhere near that you will be fired swiftly.

I made $1500 from a deal one time and it took a couple hours it was a lot of fun trying to get them into that car. It was on the lot for 250+ days and they had a thing going that week where if you sold a car that was on the lot for a long time you got $5 for every day on top of the normal commission.

You want to be doing face to face sales.

And 6k is poverty wtf are you talking about? You could go work part time cleaning off roofs and make 10k a month doing it yourself.
Thanks for your thoughts Johnny. I've been comparing the pros and cons of the two jobs, and I think I'm going to try car sales out.
 

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Thanks for your thoughts Johnny. I've been comparing the pros and cons of the two jobs, and I think I'm going to try car sales out.
Okay good luck don't be a dweeb. Don't work at a shitty place either. The "bob's used cars" places are usually shit. You'll get lots of chances at a dealership. You'll be more of a salesman at a nicer automaker.
 

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