The Benefit of Being an Early Adopter

[gabeb1920]

Hi All,

I'm just starting on my Fastlane journey even though I have been learning about it for the last few years. I'm currently pursuing web design freelancing as per the quite popular @Fox thread and it's starting to provide a little additional income plus I'm learning a lot about sales, good design, marketing and general business skills.

However I am aware the freelancer model isn't really Fastlane and I'd eventually like to transition into something more separated from my time so it is more easily salable. I work in IT and love technology so for me I'm thinking this will be some sort of a SaaS or web tool idea.

Just recently I've listened to a few podcasts which have pointed out the benefit of being one of the early movers in an industry. Even @MJ DeMarco benefited from being an early mover with the internet and his limo site.

With this in mind I am thinking of areas/technologies which are likely to explode in the coming years. Several come to mind such as:

• Self driving cars
• Drones
• AI and machine learning
• Crypto-currency
• 3D printing

My question is, is it worth learning about one or more of these technologies so I can maybe be one of those who rides the wave as the technology grows in popularity and usage? Or is it simply impossible to predict which technology will be the "next big thing"?

As an aside what other technologies do people think will be the next big thing? Just curious on everyone's thoughts.

Cheers

Gabriel

 

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[Fox]

I would learn skills that can be applied to the next big trends rather the actual trend itself.

If you know general overall skills like sales, marketing, systems, e-commerce etc you will be adaptable and ready for whatever trend. Highly specialized knowledge is easily hirable and obtainable for not much money, knowing what to do with it and how to direct it is the key. That isn't to say not to learn something like code but keep yourself captain of the ship, not the guy below decks fixing stuff. In the beginning you might have to do both but try work on your business as much as in it.

In short if you can do the overall business skills you will be ready to capitalize on whatever trend, those skills are always useful.

 

[Greg R]

Hi All,

I'm just starting on my Fastlane journey even though I have been learning about it for the last few years. I'm currently pursuing web design freelancing as per the quite popular @Fox thread and it's starting to provide a little additional income plus I'm learning a lot about sales, good design, marketing and general business skills.

However I am aware the freelancer model isn't really Fastlane and I'd eventually like to transition into something more separated from my time so it is more easily salable. I work in IT and love technology so for me I'm thinking this will be some sort of a SaaS or web tool idea.

Just recently I've listened to a few podcasts which have pointed out the benefit of being one of the early movers in an industry. Even @MJ DeMarco benefited from being an early mover with the internet and his limo site.

With this in mind I am thinking of areas/technologies which are likely to explode in the coming years. Several come to mind such as:

• Self driving cars
• Drones
• AI and machine learning
• Crypto-currency
• 3D printing

My question is, is it worth learning about one or more of these technologies so I can maybe be one of those who rides the wave as the technology grows in popularity and usage? Or is it simply impossible to predict which technology will be the "next big thing"?

As an aside what other technologies do people think will be the next big thing? Just curious on everyone's thoughts.

Cheers

Gabriel

The limo business has been around for a long time. What was new was the platform that the business could be scaled on. He could have drove limos in Chicago but he chose to operate on a larger platform.

Could 3D printing, drones, and AI be a platform to scale a business? Maybe. That will be up for you to decide.

To better answer your question though~ yes, being early is better than being late.

The even better answer could be~ whether early or late, just DO something! Relentlessly take the challenge head on. Nose to the grindstone. Jump in. Because if you don't, you will never learn.

Take care.

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

 

[biophase]

I would not be picking what you want to do because you think it's the next biggest thing. You need to be interested in it. If you like flying drones, then go fly drones. Don't fly them because they are hot right now.

I made my own helmet cam in 2001, and guess what, of course I was an early adopter of Gopro. That is what I was interested in. I have a wholesale account with them. I have videos of myself with using a gopro and a selfie stick from 2009! I didn't choose to do that because I thought it was going to be hot, even though I knew it was.

Find something you like to do, else when the craze is over, you will hate your business.

 

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