The Idea That'll Make You Rich

[lewj24]

Today I was driving home at around 1:00am. After a turn I saw that the light far ahead was red with a couple cars stopped beneath.

As I got closer I noticed one of the cars looked weird. It had different tail lights and was shaped abnormally. Once I pulled up behind it I realized.

It was a Lamborghini Huracane.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

Once the light turned green there was another light ahead that just turned red. I made sure to get to the side of this car so I could have a chance to talk to the guy in the driver seat.

As I pulled up to the side of him I noticed he had his window rolled down and Rolex on his wrist. When I peered in even closer his look shocked me.

He just looked like an average joe. He was a chubby Latino who looked about 40 years old.

I rolled down my window.

"Hey man what do you do for a living?"

He looked at me a bit puzzled and stumbled to tell me his million dollar business idea.

"I own a landscaping company in Georgia."

Damn.

 

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[Deleted50669]

Today I was driving home at around 1:00am. After a turn I saw that the light far ahead was red with a couple cars stopped beneath.

As I got closer I noticed one of the cars looked weird. It had different tail lights and was shaped abnormally. Once I pulled up behind it I realized.

It was a Lamborghini Huracane.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

Once the light turned green there was another light ahead that just turned red. I made sure to get to the side of this car so I could have a chance to talk to the guy in the driver seat.

As I pulled up to the side of him I noticed he had his window rolled down and Rolex on his wrist. When I peered in even closer his look shocked me.

He just looked like an average joe. He was a chubby Latino who looked about 40 years old.

I rolled down my window.

"Hey man what do you do for a living?"

He looked at me a bit puzzled and stumbled to tell me his million dollar business idea.

"I own a landscaping company in Georgia."

Damn.

Yep, and is also hugely a network-based grind. I know a few folks who have tried to enter that space only to find it was controlled by something analogous to the mafia, at least in my part of the US.

 

[ZF Lee]

"I own a landscaping company in Georgia."

Damn.

'But if my idea isn't an Internet business or a social media website, it's not Fastlane!'

Joking

Mad props to the guy, though. This encounter really motivated me as I am facing more temptation to go out to those 'shiny' stuff like those computer science degrees or programming that kids these days are running for, even when I'm in the works. Was there more to the conversation, @lewj24 ?

For some reason your story is pretty similar to MJ's lambo moment lol.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

My generation is filled with lazy entitled pussies.

The easy money is and will continue to be in unglamorous blue collar industries.

 

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[ZF Lee]

My generation is filled with lazy entitled pussies.

The easy money is and will continue to be in unglamorous blue collar industries.

Don't make me sad!
How in the F*ck are we going to hire good employees then?
You know we can't do all the stuff ourselves!

Now to think of it, the tech and Internet fields used to be the unsexy industries as there were lack of frameworks then. Only nerds and geeks and bohemians spent late nights coding back then lol....

But I guess all of that changed when the media started hyping the online field lol.

Probably Fastlaners will start seeing 'UNSEXY' as the new 'SEXY' .

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

How in the F*ck are we going to hire good employees then?

A lot of industries in America are already having trouble hiring good work. Anything "handyman" or construction related has a shortage and pay keeps going up. You won't have trouble hiring, but will have to pay more.

On the other hand, if you have a glamorous company that's a "STARTUP!!" and "CREATING A DIFFERENCE!!" then you can convince people to work for next to nothing or at a significant discount.

 

[scottmsul]

Probably Fastlaners will start seeing 'UNSEXY' as the new 'SEXY'

Like Flexport, a YC-backed company that is trying to "disrupt" the freight-forwarding industry?

The unsexiest trillion-dollar startup

 

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[ZF Lee]

A lot of industries in America are already having trouble hiring good work. Anything "handyman" or construction related has a shortage and pay keeps going up. You won't have trouble hiring, but will have to pay more.

On the other hand, if you have a glamorous company that's a "STARTUP!!" and "CREATING A DIFFERENCE!!" then you can convince people to work for next to nothing or at a significant discount.

Nope....glamour might not be enough to motivate employees....
I have some MLM friends. Although I don't talk to them on Fastlane stuff, I talk on things based on what we can agree with...sales.

A lot of network marketing companies do employ the glamour strategy. Badges, trips and directorships are a form of motivation to 'CREATE A DIFFERENCE'. I have to listen to all sorts of tales on the MLMers dealing with all kinds of politics, robbing each other of their leads or contacts, reducing prices of products against company policy to get new buyers, etc. They are not much different from regular employees.

At the end of the day, employees will always look for the paycheck. Whether or not they belief they are fighting for a common goal for the company is merely a side motivation in working jobs. And even that kind of side motivation takes time to create and nurture....but when you have to deliver value to the market, that kind of attempt to develop the side motivation might be a wastage IMO.
@eliquid has lots of horror stories on that kind of thing, if I can remember....

Let's say there is a big reason why we are all unhappy at working 9-5s in the first place....despite that most companies depict themselves to be 'glamarous'. It's not always a bed of roses.

Like Flexport, a YC-backed company that is trying "disrupt" the freight-forwarding industry?

The unsexiest trillion-dollar startup

Nice. I like it how they put the Uber-driver tracking concept into it.

Yup, that's one of it. But 'unsexy' brings me thoughts of sewage cleaning, garbage disposal, normal products selling of stuff like cleaning tools and packaging, IMO. More people hate cleaning stuff more than transport issues lol. Often, my dorm warden snaps photos of dorms with God-awful crap....you cannot believe how high some people's rubbish piles are when they don't take out the trash. And then they throw out whole loaves of bread too...wasteful asses.

 

[eliquid]

@eliquid has lots of horror stories on that kind of thing, if I can remember....

Yes, yes I do.

 

[lewj24]

Was there more to the conversation, @lewj24 ?

For some reason your story is pretty similar to MJ's lambo moment lol.

There wasn't anymore to the conversation. I didn't want to bother him more.

I thought of MJ's lambo story once I saw the lambo and knew I needed to talk to the guy.

 

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[Deleted50669]

There wasn't anymore to the conversation. I didn't want to bother him more.

I thought of MJ's lambo story once I saw the lambo and knew I needed to talk to the guy.

I saw a lime green Gallardo in my area recently. The problem was it was nothing more than a roaring blur.

 

[D.Davis]

I remember way back when I made 30k a year- I would max out my credit card and rent a Lamborghini or a Rolls Royce from an exotic car rental place. I lied my a$$ off when asked what I did. For some reason this post reminded me of that LOL.

Sorry guys, carry on.

 

[Ninjakid]

A lot of industries in America are already having trouble hiring good work. Anything "handyman" or construction related has a shortage and pay keeps going up. You won't have trouble hiring, but will have to pay more.

On the other hand, if you have a glamorous company that's a "STARTUP!!" and "CREATING A DIFFERENCE!!" then you can convince people to work for next to nothing or at a significant discount.

But not all blue-collar businesses are large companies which can afford to pay people at premium wages, and not all tech firms are startups where Joe Schmo and his partner have a "BILLION DOLLAR IDEA!"

 

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[ZF Lee]

But not all blue-collar businesses are large companies which can afford to pay people at premium wages, and not all tech firms are startups where Joe Schmo and his partner have a "BILLION DOLLAR IDEA!"

And of course, not every new employee that walks in the door is going to make sales and manna drop down from heaven lol.
I want good people whom I can invest in. Otherwise, even pay raises that lead to nowhere is just another big action-faking.

 

[Ninjakid]

And of course, not every new employee that walks in the door is going to make sales and manna drop down from heaven lol.
I want good people whom I can invest in. Otherwise, even pay raises that lead to nowhere is just another big action-faking.

Also, while people may THINK coding and technology is sexy, it really isn't. Not if you're someone who's actually serious about the field.

Why do over 90% of startups fail? Because most of them are not serious. They think, "hey let's get into a sexy industry," but when its comes to crunch-time, they crumble.

Also, I've worked blue-collar, construction jobs before; and I've also worked (and still do) in the tech industry. I bet people want to hear that blue-collar work is hard and programming is easy. Well, it's not. Programming is one of the hardest things a human can do. And yes, believe it or not, I have sustained physical injuries from long hours coding.

I know many people who have decided "hey programming looks cool, I'm going to try it," and NEARLY EVERY ONE OF THEM has failed and gave up.

Btw when I say programming, I'm not talking about plebs who copy and paste code or use WordPress and called themselves "web developers." So people who have done that and say "programming is easy" are so full of shit they could float in a sewer. Even with coding becoming more mainstream lately, there's still a shortage of competent developers, and that's why their field is one of the highest paid there is.

So I wasn't intending on going on a rant here, but my point is that the tech field, like the fashion industry, may look sexy on the surface but it's a lot of hard brutal work beneath the surface. And any business requires such hard work to be successful.

 

[MattR82]

Tradies that figure out how to grow their business have been making a killing for a long time.

Some of the multi millionaires my Dad went to school with:
Garage and shed constructuon
Electrical company
Plumbing company
Builder

And this is in a smallish town shire of approx 60 thousand population, maybe 100k greater region. Tonne of hard work first though. Broke their bodies before they figured it out.

 

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[ZF Lee]

Also, while people may THINK coding and technology is sexy, it really isn't. Not if you're someone who's actually serious about the field.

Why do over 90% of startups fail? Because most of them are not serious. They think, "hey let's get into a sexy industry," but when its comes to crunch-time, they crumble.

Also, I've worked blue-collar, construction jobs before; and I've also worked (and still do) in the tech industry. I bet people want to hear that blue-collar work is hard and programming is easy. Well, it's not. Programming is one of the hardest things a human can do. And yes, believe it or not, I have sustained physical injuries from long hours coding.

I know many people who have decided "hey programming looks cool, I'm going to try it," and NEARLY EVERY ONE OF THEM has failed and gave up.

Btw when I say programming, I'm not talking about plebs who copy and paste code or use WordPress and called themselves "web developers." So people who have done that and say "programming is easy" are so full of shit they could float in a sewer. Even with coding becoming more mainstream lately, there's still a shortage of competent developers, and that's why their field is one of the highest paid there is.

So I wasn't intending on going on a rant here, but my point is that the tech field, like the fashion industry, may look sexy on the surface but it's a lot of hard brutal work beneath the surface. And any business requires such hard work to be successful.

100% confirmed myself. Learning coding is no walk in the park, more or less apply it.
And the opportunity cost was not really worth it for me. Perhaps it is for others. Not for me....
Frameworks. Back end, front end....all that stuff made my feel like going nuts when I first touched on it.

This is why I cringe when the latest blossoms of coding courses pop up, claiming anyone can learn it. They are wrong.
Besides, the big keys to software giants like Microsoft and Apple were not always about the coding, although coding was vital. It was always about business strategy, relative value and distribution. So I chose not to follow that route.

And yes...the 'programming is easy' people should get shot. Never in my life have I been so frustrated when I debug and the program doesn't tell you what's wrong, but just says 'error'. And brackets and syntax....a headache to type them painstakingly.....

Had I chosen to code like a nerd instead of learning to sell, hire, pitch and market, I might be wasting my bloody time on hard work that could go to waste. I would see myself eat 10 years (action faking) before I was competent enough to do shit. My peers take expensive degree courses for that, and yap about all the programming languages they will have to learn to increase chances of employability. Good Lord.

Another route into a SCRIPT???

And failure to sell is definitely the bane of many startups. You are not wrong to rant...it is still a falsity even today.

At the end of the day, someone asked this question on the forum before, one I keep asking myself every time I am tempted by the programming gold, "Do you want to be a programmer, or do you want to be an entrepreneur?"

Words to live by. Words to live by.

 

[Ninjakid]

100% confirmed myself. Learning coding is no walk in the park, more or less apply it.
And the opportunity cost was not really worth it for me. Perhaps it is for others. Not for me....
Frameworks. Back end, front end....all that stuff made my feel like going nuts when I first touched on it.

This is why I cringe when the latest blossoms of coding courses pop up, claiming anyone can learn it. They are wrong.
Besides, the big keys to software giants like Microsoft and Apple were not always about the coding, although coding was vital. It was always about business strategy, relative value and distribution. So I chose not to follow that route.

And yes...the 'programming is easy' people should get shot. Never in my life have I been so frustrated when I debug and the program doesn't tell you what's wrong, but just says 'error'. And brackets and syntax....a headache to type them painstakingly.....

Had I chosen to code like a nerd instead of learning to sell, hire, pitch and market, I might be wasting my bloody time on hard work that could go to waste. I would see myself eat 10 years (action faking) before I was competent enough to do shit. My peers take expensive degree courses for that, and yap about all the programming languages they will have to learn to increase chances of employability. Good Lord.

Another route into a SCRIPT???

And failure to sell is definitely the bane of many startups. You are not wrong to rant...it is still a falsity even today.

At the end of the day, someone asked this question on the forum before, one I keep asking myself every time I am tempted by the programming gold, "Do you want to be a programmer, or do you want to be an entrepreneur?"

Words to live by. Words to live by.

I mean, if a person is genuinely interested in development, I wouldn't want to kill their hopes and dreams. But when people learn development as a means to an end, of course they're going to go after those pop-up courses like you mentioned, which are basically get-rich-quick schemes for learning programming. Coding will definitely test a person's interest by throwing every frustration at them, and only those who stick around will reap the benefits.

Also all the people I know of who are both programmers and successful entrepreneurs didn't learn programming to be successful in business. They were passionate about tech and found a way to turn their passion into a successful business. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Steves Wozniak/Jobs are examples of this.

And I agree, a successful enterprise can't exist on technical knowledge alone, marketing and business strategy are equally important skills. This is why Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were such a formidable pair.

NOW EVERYONE LISTEN UP, HERE'S SOMETHING I WANNA SHARE!

We don't need new websites or apps, we have many of these things already, and most of the new ideas have already been done in some way or another. What we need is efficient recycling of electronics. Unfortunately because tech evolves so quickly, old computers are extremely harmful to the environment. If anyone wants a grand, new idea to pursue, this is it. Someone who makes a venture out of this could not only become incredibly rich, but would also be doing the planet a tremendous service.

 

[ZF Lee]

I mean, if a person is genuinely interested in development, I wouldn't want to kill their hopes and dreams. But when people learn development as a means to an end, of course they're going to go after those pop-up courses like you mentioned, which are basically get-rich-quick schemes for learning programming. Coding will definitely test a person's interest by throwing every frustration at them, and only those who stick around will reap the benefits.

Also all the people I know of who are both programmers and successful entrepreneurs didn't learn programming to be successful in business. They were passionate about tech and found a way to turn their passion into a successful business. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Steves Wozniak/Jobs are examples of this.

And I agree, a successful enterprise can't exist on technical knowledge alone, marketing and business strategy are equally important skills. This is why Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were such a formidable pair.

NOW EVERYONE LISTEN UP, HERE'S SOMETHING I WANNA SHARE!

We don't need new websites or apps, we have many of these things already, and most of the new ideas have already been done in some way or another. What we need is efficient recycling of electronics. Unfortunately because tech evolves so quickly, old computers are extremely harmful to the environment. If anyone wants a grand, new idea to pursue, this is it. Someone who makes a venture out of this could not only become incredibly rich, but would also be doing the planet a tremendous service.

Are you F*cking crazy? That's a F*cking good idea there!
Not only electronics can be recycled, but also good old fashioned paper and cardboard and plastics.
I used to buy pencils made from recycled paper...good quality comparable with that of normal pencils.

 

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[Ninjakid]

Are you F*cking crazy? That's a F*cking good idea there!
Not only electronics can be recycled, but also good old fashioned paper and cardboard and plastics.
I used to buy pencils made from recycled paper...good quality comparable with that of normal pencils.

Yeah I strongly believe in reusing the Earth's resources rather than just taking taking and taking some more. Pretty much anything can be recycled and reused.
And thanks for the rep, my friend

 

[PureA]

One of the richest guys I know owns a plastering company.

But, yo, wait for that idea. It's coming... if, I, just, browse, motivational memes for another day...