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The Best Skills to Learn as a Fastlane Entrepreneur

Andy Black

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Here's an interesting take on this.

I was on a course on Tuesday and the guy giving the course contended that the most important skill for a business person is the ability to "control the silence". (I can't remember exactly how he phrased it - I'll check my notes later.)

In a negotiation you say your price then you need to shut up and wait for them to speak. You don't undo yourself by continuing to speak.

When you ask a question you shut up and let them answer. You don't answer it yourself.

According to Blaise, anyone can get to the line, but it's our ability to hold our nerve at the crucial moment that will allow us to get across the line and bring our biggest wins.

It's how we handle ourselves in these tiny yet crucial moments that can make the biggest difference.

Food for thought.
 
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Siberia

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I'm getting ready to publish a book on negotiating (geared towards real estate investors), and as I reiterate many times throughout the book, keeping your mouth shut is the simplest and most effective way to become a better negotiator. I've sat in some high-level corporate negotiations where an offer or a concession was thrown out, and there would be -- literally -- several minutes of nobody saying anything. Just everyone sitting and staring, looking like they were contemplating -- and waiting for the other side to say something first. Ultimately, the silence would be broken by someone suggesting we take a break or grab some food.

Most less sophisticated negotiators are uncomfortable sitting for minutes (or even seconds) without anything being said, and they will break the silence. Unfortunately for them, they likely would have broken the silence by saying something that detracted from the leverage they had before they opened their mouth. For example, someone throws out an offer and the other person just gets a scowl on his face and says nothing. The person who threw out the offer now assumes he's insulted the other party and will say something (perhaps even counter his own offer) to rectify the situation.

This tip works tremendously well in everyday negotiation as well. Everything from negotiating the purchase of a car to negotiating with your child to clean his room... :)


Please ....... Forget the book's publication!!! Thank you very much... Sir!!!
 

RNoles19

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I'm curious what people think the most important thing an aspiring Fastlaner could learn/teach themselves to create the opportunity to get in the Fastlane? Obviously a big part of being in the Fastlane is the Law of Effection/the ability to affect thousands or millions of people. As MJ discusses in the book, if you're giving out hair cuts one by one or selling sandwiches, your "speed limit" is probably capped at 100 or so a day. But if you own a website/sell something online, your theoretical "speed limit" could be thousands or tens of thousands of people a day. Who has a better chance at launching a Fastlane business...a person with a speed limit of a 100 or 3,000?

I know for me personally it was taking the time to learn Facebook marketing. I had a "taste" of the Fastlane the last couple years. I started a T-shirt business and went from working at a job making $12/hour to having days where I would make 3 thousand bucks without really having to do too much. That obviously was a HOLY SHIT moment for me. But I don't think the T-shirt business ever could have gone Fastlane unless I learned how Facebook advertising worked. That was really what launched it. If I was paying individual IG accounts or selling my shirts face to face, it never would have been "Fastlane".

So I'm curious, what do you think is the most useful skill someone trying to get into the Fastlane could teach themselves? If you consider yourself to be a Fastlaner, what was the most important thing you learned? The mindset is obviously very important, but the book should have taught all of us that. For anyone trying to get in the Fastlane, what skill do you think is the most valuable to teach yourself?

All answers welcome obviously. You don't have to be a "Fastlaner". Looking forward to the answers.
 

AndrewNC

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I'm curious what people think the most important thing an aspiring Fastlaner could learn/teach themselves to create the opportunity to get in the Fastlane? Obviously a big part of being in the Fastlane is the Law of Effection/the ability to affect thousands or millions of people. As MJ discusses in the book, if you're giving out hair cuts one by one or selling sandwiches, your "speed limit" is probably capped at 100 or so a day. But if you own a website/sell something online, your theoretical "speed limit" could be thousands or tens of thousands of people a day. Who has a better chance at launching a Fastlane business...a person with a speed limit of a 100 or 3,000?

I know for me personally it was taking the time to learn Facebook marketing. I had a "taste" of the Fastlane the last couple years. I started a T-shirt business and went from working at a job making $12/hour to having days where I would make 3 thousand bucks without really having to do too much. That obviously was a HOLY SHIT moment for me. But I don't think the T-shirt business ever could have gone Fastlane unless I learned how Facebook advertising worked. That was really what launched it. If I was paying individual IG accounts or selling my shirts face to face, it never would have been "Fastlane".

So I'm curious, what do you think is the most useful skill someone trying to get into the Fastlane could teach themselves? If you consider yourself to be a Fastlaner, what was the most important thing you learned? The mindset is obviously very important, but the book should have taught all of us that. For anyone trying to get in the Fastlane, what skill do you think is the most valuable to teach yourself?

All answers welcome obviously. You don't have to be a "Fastlaner". Looking forward to the answers.

I'd say learn nothing, gain experience in the following:

1. How to find problems and create solutions to them. How to help people
2. How to sell.
3. How to reach your target market (advertising/marketing).

4. Internal human behavior - being self-aware, understanding how you work.
5. External communication skills - understanding how other people work and are driven.
6. Understanding the universal system as a whole - how the world works, so you can flow with it

7 . How to gain specific industry experience.
 
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Niptuck MD

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FAIL. FAIL WELL... KEEP PERFECTING THE PROCESS.

Only you can go through toils and turbulence for you to achieve something.... It is not supposed to be easy... PERIOD

Oh and most important thing...

ABSOLUTELY NO FU**CKING EXCUSES :)

If you cant ask someone about something you need more info on, udemy, youtube, google everything you need is there just have to dig and dig deeper.
 

scott wisniewsk

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Im not a fastlaner yet , but Ive been selfemployed for 27 years .Way before the internet and I would say self disipline and do what has to be done .The web has made things some much easier its all there for the searching and learning.
 
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MitchM

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Finding a skill to learn may be putting the cart before the horse. Find a problem to solve and move forward from there.

For what I am working on right now, I learned InDesign, social media marketing, and many other things... just for an example.

A lot of the initial work is self-development. Becoming consistent, growing a stronger vision, and cultivating a mindset that will thrive in our economy.
 

RNoles19

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Finding a skill to learn may be putting the cart before the horse. Find a problem to solve and move forward from there.

For what I am working on right now, I learned InDesign, social media marketing, and many other things... just for an example.

A lot of the initial work is self-development. Becoming consistent, growing a stronger vision, and cultivating a mindset that will thrive in our economy.

Ya I agree that having the correct mindset and focusing on finding a problem to solve is the first and most important step, but that almost goes without saying. We've all read the book. Finding a skill is putting the cart before the horse in that regard. I probably could have phrased my initial post better.....

But, at the same time, learning how to get your product in front of thousands of people daily is almost a requirement to get in the Fastlane. You can make the most amazing product on Earth, but if you're confined to selling door to door or in your local environment, you're not going to end up with a Fastlane business due to the Law of Effection. So learning something like FB marketing or Google adwords is somewhat essential to getting in the Fastlane AFTER you've found a solution to a problem.

Maybe a better way to phrase my initial question is: what time investment have you made that has had the biggest impact on your financial success?

Again, for me, I think it was probably just taking action AND learning Facebook marketing. For MJ, I'm assuming it was learning how to build a website and get traffic to Limos.com (so learning Adwords I'm assuming). For others, maybe it was a book that got them to take action or taking the time to learn X.
 
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RNoles19

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FAIL. FAIL WELL... KEEP PERFECTING THE PROCESS.

Only you can go through toils and turbulence for you to achieve something.... It is not supposed to be easy... PERIOD

Oh and most important thing...

ABSOLUTELY NO FU**CKING EXCUSES :)

If you cant ask someone about something you need more info on, udemy, youtube, google everything you need is there just have to dig and dig deeper.

Ya I definitely agree. I think the willingness to fail is huge. Just try every idea you have while accepting that this might not work.

What time investment have you made that has the biggest impact on your financial success?
 

Manchild_Unbound

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Well, I think that @AndrewNC and @Arun Siva have given excellent answers. A very useful skill is being able to teach yourself things ie the ability to be an autodidact.

Next, everyone is hinting at Sales and Marketing as great skills to have.
Let's look at Copywriting, which is one aspect of sales/marketing that is also a very useful skill.

On this forum there are some valuable threads on this topic. The best contributor is probably @SinisterLex .
His method of learning copywriting?
Read and take notes on Cashvertising and start hustling. One part of learning copywriting is copying, by hand, successful sales letters. @IceCreamKid did exactly this. Here are the threads:
Z Changed How I View The World
How to Earn $1000 a Week with No Degree, no Feedback, and no Portfolio
Now the above is an efficient way of learning copywriting. A longer approach would be to go through the Gary Halbert 30-Day Challenge. Be careful however, as this can become a form of action-faking.

While searching for the above I came across this thread:
Best Skills to Learn as an Entrepreneur

For more about Sales and Marketing, I would suggest you check out The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman. The entire book is online for free. Here are the relevant chapters:
Chapter 2: Marketing
Chapter 3: Sales

All the information in this book is from the author's own independent rigorous study which resulted in The Personal MBA Recommended Reading List. Here are some books from that list that you might find useful:

Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
All Marketers are Liars by Seth Godin
22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout
Made to Stick by Dan and Chip Heath
The Copywriter's Handbook by Robert Bly
SPIN Selling by Neil Rackman (This book was also recommended by the Forum Member @Ubermensch who wrote a solid thread on Sales)
 

MJ DeMarco

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Selling.
Written communication.
Oral communication.
Setting expectations - (there is no shortcut!)
Persistence.
 
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Castillo

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Selling.
Written communication.
Oral communication.
Setting expectations - (there is no shortcut!)
Persistence.

Was going to selling and persistence for sure as well. Being actionable I guess could be a "skill". I'd say that's bigger than any of them.
 

LightHouse

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People skills as it relates to selling, networking, hiring, managing, etc.

If you know what makes people tick on an individual level and scale it as you grow, you can move the world.
 

MJ DeMarco

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Siberia

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I think a good entrepreneur must have a good ability to choose first.

He must know how to make the right choice at the right time.

It makes no sense to solve a wrong problem, even if it is very popular.

Instead it makes sense to choose the problems that nobody wants to work on.

This is the best entrepreneurial skill.
 
Last edited:

DavidIonesi

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We all here need to get skilled at building businesses that make us money. How about that?
Great! I like that! It's abstract indeed but it focuses on the most important goal. "Do I really need to learn SEO or code? Does it help me in the long run? Is there a way for me to outsource that so that I can exclusively focus on growing my business?" Now, this! Is Entrepreneur mindset.
 
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(Sorry about the title I am trying to work on copywriting I will change it if you guys want me to)



I have read a quite a few books, watched videos, read from the forum and what I have noticed is the most important skill you HAVE to learn is......

Selling

Nothing else really as much from what I have seen as many other parts of a business can be outsourced on freelancing sites, CL, or to people you know in the field. By learning to sell it would also help against being a wantrepreneur or action faking because you would have to practice selling in order to become better at it. I also don't know if copywriting and marketing fall under selling.

I know other threads have been started on selling (@Scot has some really good threads on it filled with valuable information if you are interested in learning) just wondering what everyone else on the forum thinks of this and would be glad to hear if you think any other skill is far more important.
 

HelpAndProsper

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Marketing is very important, of course....

I would argue the ability to spot opportunity is even more important. Often, this is just a change of mindset like it has been for me...."How can I help someone today?" "How could I help this person increase their business?" "How could I help a neighbor and provide them valuable service of some kind?".

If you develop that mindset, you don't really have to "sell" much because word gets around that you're great and you really "helped this person". All of the sudden, people start contacting you because a friend that you helped referred them to you.

I've gotten clients that way as a web developer. I always tried to go the extra mile and check up on them and their site I built. One friend recently told me anytime anyone talks about needing a website, he tells them my name. Just great customer oriented mindset like MJ describes.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Musk said he's done basically no marketing at all for Tesla because he always focused on building the best product and serving customers. He said that he understood "word would get around".
 
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Bhanu

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For me it would be :
GIVING

Giving value to fellow human being . Quoting from one of my Favorite book :
"Watch out for the other guy. Watch out for his interest.Watch his back.Forget fifty-fifty son. Fifty-fifty is loosing proposition.The Only winning proposition is one hundred percent.Make your win about the other person,go after what he wants.
Because if you place the other person's interest first,your interest will always be taken care of.Always.Some people call it it enlightened self interest."
 

HelpAndProsper

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Marketing is very important, of course....

I would argue the ability to spot opportunity is even more important. Often, this is just a change of mindset like it has been for me...."How can I help someone today?" "How could I help this person increase their business?" "How could I help a neighbor and provide them valuable service of some kind?".

If you develop that mindset, you don't really have to "sell" much because word gets around that you're great and you really "helped this person". All of the sudden, people start contacting you because a friend that you helped referred them to you.

I've gotten clients that way as a web developer. I always tried to go the extra mile and check up on them and their site I built. One friend recently told me anytime anyone talks about needing a website, he tells them my name. Just great customer oriented mindset like MJ describes.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Musk said he's done basically no marketing at all for Tesla because he always focused on building the best product and serving customers. He said that he understood "word would get around".
 
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Marketing is very important, of course....

I would argue the ability to spot opportunity is even more important. Often, this is just a change of mindset like it has been for me...."How can I help someone today?" "How could I help this person increase their business?" "How could I help a neighbor and provide them valuable service of some kind?".

If you develop that mindset, you don't really have to "sell" much because word gets around that you're great and you really "helped this person". All of the sudden, people start contacting you because a friend that you helped referred them to you.

I've gotten clients that way as a web developer. I always tried to go the extra mile and check up on them and their site I built. One friend recently told me anytime anyone talks about needing a website, he tells them my name. Just great customer oriented mindset like MJ describes.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Musk said he's done basically no marketing at all for Tesla because he always focused on building the best product and serving customers. He said that he understood "word would get around".

I Agree and had not thought of it that way. Makes sense for the product or service to sell itself!
 
D

Deleted52409

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Very true. Lately I've been applying for entry level sales jobs in order to learn the ropes. So no matter how many times I fail at business at least I'll have that as a transferable skill.
 

Late Bloomer

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(Sorry about the title I am trying to work on copywriting I will change it if you guys want me to)

You just demonstrated your copywriting talent to make an enticing headline!
 
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Real Deal Denver

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Very true. Lately I've been applying for entry level sales jobs in order to learn the ropes. So no matter how many times I fail at business at least I'll have that as a transferable skill.

Well.

I'm not sure quite what to say.

I would not call it a transferable skill. It's a lot more than that.

It's like being able to develop a business from thinking, and then building it, and then managing and guiding it. Is that a transferable skill? I wouldn't say that. I'd say that is who you are. It is who you have become. Hopefully, over time, you grow and learn and become better at everything.

Which brings me to my next point. You may not have succeeded in business before. No matter how many times you fail? Wrong. No matter how many times you tried. After each try, I guarantee you that you learned something, and you became more confident and stronger. So you couldn't succeed right away. That's pretty much the RULE of how things go. I have worked for years on things that I'm pretty good at now. It might have only taken me 5-10 years to be an overnight success! Tried, failed, learned, and kept trying the whole time. I still fail - but I succeed much more. I now succeed 80% of the time. I don't succeed 100% of the time, and I doubt that's even possible. When I started, I failed 80% of the time. THAT'S how you become successful. You just - fail - less and less. But you still fail. Or, learn. Someone once told me that success is the worst teacher in the world, because it neither teaches you anything, nor makes you stronger.

You think I got this strong and this good looking by accident? Haaaaaaaaaaa. Little - very very little - humor there. You see my point?

I know you are incredibly young Johnny. You can fail miserably for ten years and STILL be ahead of the game of 90% of the people "in the game." Don't put yourself down, and don't rush yourself.

The fact that you are here speaks volumes. Do you think - pick anyone - say, Steve Jobs was successful when he became rich? No, he wasn't. He became rich because he was successful. YOU are already successful. Sorry - you're in chapter one of your story right now. You have long ways to go. When you're in chapter seven, things will be very different. You will be "more" successful - but you couldn't possibly REACH chapter seven unless you went through chapter one first! Starting to make sense?

How can you learn 7th grade material - if you don't take grades 1-6 first?

I can see you smiling now. You get it. I knew you would. That's why you're here in the first place. You already speak the language of success, and you're hungry to learn more.

You can be your own best friend, and you can be your worst enemy. You want to know which one is stronger and going to influence you more? The one you FEED.

List your qualities. List your experiences. List what you want to do in five years. And THEN list the steps you need to take to get there. Then list the steps you need to do for every step. Do THAT honestly and completely - and THEN work it. What are you going to do the next week to better yourself? Next month? This year?

You. are. already. successful. Start on the next chapter. Yourself, five years from now, is counting on it - and waiting for you! The meeting is already arranged.

Don't be late.
 

Real Deal Denver

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Disclaimer
(Sorry about the title I am trying to work on copywriting I will change it if you guys want me to)



I have read a quite a few books, watched videos, read from the forum and what I have noticed is the most important skill you HAVE to learn is......

Selling

Nothing else really as much from what I have seen as many other parts of a business can be outsourced on freelancing sites, CL, or to people you know in the field. By learning to sell it would also help against being a wantrepreneur or action faking because you would have to practice selling in order to become better at it. I also don't know if copywriting and marketing fall under selling.

I know other threads have been started on selling (@Scot has some really good threads on it filled with valuable information if you are interested in learning) just wondering what everyone else on the forum thinks of this and would be glad to hear if you think any other skill is far more important.

To a point.

You are right.

But then, things can get a whole lot better.

Let's use MJ for an example. Selling is important - but do you want to stay at that level forever? Many people do, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Limos.com. That's a whole different ball game. Own the show. Gotta love it.

Maybe you can build a business. Not a job - a business. If you own a business, you don't have to be there - at least not nearly as much. If you have a job - different story.

I have sold all my life, and it is a critical and rewarding skill to have. No doubt.

But I'd sure like to have my own enterprise paying me - whether I work every day or not. That, of course, takes money. Selling is the means to get there, for me anyway.

Even a Subway Sandwich Shop is appealing for that reason - if I don't have to be there. Three or four might be a pretty good gig to have.

Just trying to expand the universe a little bit. We'll see what others that have already obtained that level have to say.
 

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