They laughed when I told them I will become a millionare

[Pat]

Where am I now?

I'm 22 and traveling the world while training martial arts. I was able to save mid 5 figures during my IT apprenticeship and my time as a sergeant in the army. I'm pretty much living my own dream, but I am aware that the money isn't going to last forever and I never want to go back into a boring, soul-destroying office job ever again.

Where do I want to go?

I want to keep traveling and training full time for now. I want to develop my business before my savings run out and generate enough income to support my lifestyle (I use currently around 1600$/month including the occasional flights).

I will become a multimillionaire before turning 30. If my current business works out, it is possible to make my first million before 25.

How do I get there?

I am working on a business that is going to sell a high price product (5-10k) to a farming-related customer base. There is currently no competition and from talking to a few people in the industry, there is a big need for it.

The product consists of a software and some hardware pieces. The software will be hosted on my server, I am thinking of making it a monthly subscriptions of 150$ to add some passive income.

I will advertise in an industry magazine that reaches 99% of my customers. My goal is to become the market leader and make the product the industry standard.

There are 2-300 possible customers in NZ and around the same number per state in Australia. After that I can expand internationally.

What am I currently working on?

I am writing the code for the software, which is a long process. I am also looking for a producer of the hardware in china. So far I found one company capable of doing it, but they only do business with companies that are able to give them orders for 500'000$/year. So I will keep looking...

I will talk to someone in the industry in a week and get some feedback on the current progress. I hope I will get some valuable feedback from him.

Roadblocks

I will have to get a loan to get the hardware produced before the launch. I was brought up to never get into any kind of debt so that is something completely new to me. I will try to minimize risk by only selling a small number of products on the launch and then buy more hardware from the earnings.

If someone has a better idea here, feel free to help out

Cheers
Pat

 

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[marcospolaca]

I'm 22 and traveling the world while training martial arts.

Oooh... did you get to meet Ryu and Chun Li?

The product consists of a software and some hardware pieces. The software will be hosted on my server, I am thinking of making it a monthly subscriptions of 150$ to add some passive income.

I will advertise in an industry magazine that reaches 99% of my customers. My goal is to become the market leader and make the product the industry standard.

This sounds about right. Are you doing just the software launch to start with, or are you shooting for both hardware/software at the same time?

Will the software launch 'reveal' your hardware offering? As in, if you launch just the software, will others get the idea and be able to make your hardware product before you? If they're unrelated products, you may want to tier them and use your software sales to cover the downside of your hardware offering.

Do you have any other product/service lines other industries to supplement it when the market fluctuates?

I'm trying to get into world travel myself. (peru for starters) I'm curious about martial arts too... what type of martial arts are you into?

 

[Pat]

This sounds about right. Are you doing just the software launch to start with, or are you shooting for both hardware/software at the same time?

I will have to release them together. The hardware is just a barcode reader with a twist. It's part of the program -> they will be sold as one package

Do you have any other product/service lines other industries to supplement it when the market fluctuates?

No. When this one is done I will start another product and just update/support this one. Because I can sell international it shouldn't be too hard to make a few sales/month and then flip the business after some time. At least in my imagination

I'm trying to get into world travel myself. (peru for starters) I'm curious about martial arts too... what type of martial arts are you into?

I will have my first MMA fight this year. My back ground is kyokushin karate and bjj. Training twice a day at the moment

 

[marcospolaca]

Hmmm.... what if you work the MMA/world travel angle? Make a video blog or something. (heck, you could star in your own comic book) Obviously it wouldn't be a cash cow, but if you get a following it would present some options. Particularly if you don't target the MMA crowd specifically, and just make it like an adventure/human interest story. Maybe even find a good video editor and put together a documentary. (I would watch it)

Not that I don't think your farm/barcode thing wouldn't work, it sounds like it would work. Just thinking you should have a few other things on the backburner. Plus it's not just a matter of win/lose - you may do well, but if the market takes a dip and you're not prepared for it, it can be stressful.

.... and the more I think about it, a world travel/MMA documentary video would be really cool. Not just for money, but it would be fun to make.

 

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[Pat]

Hmmm.... what if you work the MMA/world travel angle? Make a video blog or something. (heck, you could star in your own comic book) Obviously it wouldn't be a cash cow, but if you get a following it would present some options. Particularly if you don't target the MMA crowd specifically, and just make it like an adventure/human interest story. Maybe even find a good video editor and put together a documentary. (I would watch it)

Not that I don't think your farm/barcode thing wouldn't work, it sounds like it would work. Just thinking you should have a few other things on the backburner. Plus it's not just a matter of win/lose - you may do well, but if the market takes a dip and you're not prepared for it, it can be stressful.

.... and the more I think about it, a world travel/MMA documentary video would be really cool. Not just for money, but it would be fun to make.

There are a few people doing that already. I tried and started writing a blog, but it's hard to find time when you travel and train all the time. I decided to drop it and spend the time on my business instead.

I am a big believer in not having a plan b. It's easy to get lazy when you have an escape route.

I'm doing SEO work and website development for fun at the moment for the people I meet. Might actually turn that into a little business on the site and automate/outsource it in the future.

 

[Inphinity]

Awesome post, sounds great. Interesting figure of 200-300 in NZ...

 

[zipan]

I am a big believer in not having a plan b. It's easy to get lazy when you have an escape route.

I don't know, if there's a financial crisis like the one we had/have then your sales gonna drop dramatically all around the world. You gonna be broke in no time.
You must have more than one income source. If you have a job and only one income source and you're fired then you have BIG problems. It would be the same with your sales.
That's not a plan B, just a overall plan.

LOVE, Light & Peace
Zipan

 

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[a1okac]

I like your ambition, good luck to you!

p.s. I used to train in BJJ, broke my shoulder then three months later my foot in 3 places, oops.

 

[Pat]

I don't know, if there's a financial crisis like the one we had/have then your sales gonna drop dramatically all around the world. You gonna be broke in no time.
You must have more than one income source. If you have a job and only one income source and you're fired then you have BIG problems. It would be the same with your sales.
That's not a plan B, just a overall plan.

LOVE, Light & Peace
Zipan

I can always freelance if I have to. I'm pretty confident in my abilities to find something new if it fails though. But thanks for the input

I will acquire more income sources when I get there, but at the moment I have none. I think it's better to build one first and then the second instead of two at the same time. But that's just my opinion and for all I know I might be wrong. :smug2:

Thanks for the input though

 

[Pat]

After spending the morning with my code (implemented a new feature, almost done), I received an email from a chinese manufacturer that they can do it and will have a sample ready in a month.

After sending hundreds of emails without success this almost sounds a bit fishy. I'm not sure what to make out of it...

If it is gonna work out though, that will be a big milestone for my business.

 

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[zipan]

I think it's better to build one first and then the second instead of two at the same time.

Yes, that's true one step at the time!!

After sending hundreds of emails without success this almost sounds a bit fishy.

You'll see, you have nothing to lose!! I hope the best for you!!
Keep us updated!!

Now a little question off topic so answer short on it!
Have you a recommendation of a book/site/product to learn programming software?? That would help me a lot!!

LOVE, Light & Peace
Zipaan

 

[Pat]

Now a little question off topic so answer short on it!
Have you a recommendation of a book/site/product to learn programming software?? That would help me a lot!!

Well that really depends on what software.

I'm all about PHP and Oracle because I like doing web based things. I started with that tutorial and can only recommend it.

Just pick something you want to do and learn while you are trying to do it.

 

[Pat]

I made a lot of progress today. I was only coding for a total of 3 hours, but I was 100% focused during that time. I achieved more today than I would have in a week as an employee...

I changed to code so it will be easier to change in the future. I also added a lot of comments, something I had mostly neglected. This is going to make updating so much easier in the future.

 

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[James Fake]

@Pat - Big claps for the execution and action!!

Just curious; would there be a way to get some pre-orders? Some folks that will definitely say I will buy this when it comes out and guarantee it with a small down payment?

 

[Pat]

@Pat - Big claps for the execution and action!!

Just curious; would there be a way to get some pre-orders? Some folks that will definitely say I will buy this when it comes out and guarantee it with a small down payment?

I was thinking about this.

It may also be a good way to do a proper product launch with preorders, that way I will know how many hardware units I have to order (and how much I have to go into debt...).

But I'm focusing on the program at the moment. But if anyone has any tips or ressources on product launches, I'm more than happy to hear.

 

[Pat]

I'm now in NZ. Had a quick talk to someone in the industry and it looks like the demand isn't as big as I expected.

This made me think. On one hand I don't want to stop this project because of the time I already put into it. Even if this is not a million dollar business, if I can make some money for a follow up project I'm more than happy.

I'm just not comfortable with going into debt for this anymore.

Maybe I could start advertising and see what the response is? And then just capture the contact details.

I'll do some more market research...

 

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[Pat]

I decided to launch without a product, I will setup a website and run one ad. Then instead of charging the credit card I will capture the contact details.

With the results of that I will be able to decide if I keep the project going or if I look for something else. It was stupid to start without proper market research. I learned a good lesson here.

 

[valuegiver]

I don't know, if there's a financial crisis like the one we had/have then your sales gonna drop dramatically all around the world. You gonna be broke in no time.
You must have more than one income source. If you have a job and only one income source and you're fired then you have BIG problems. It would be the same with your sales.
That's not a plan B, just a overall plan.

LOVE, Light & Peace
Zipan

 

[Pat]

I had a long good talk with one of my uncles who is an entrepreneur himself.

I will setup a Gmbh soon, it is a business entity where I am not personally liable. I will have to put 20k into the business to be able to do this. I think it's worth it and it will allow me to operate more professional and selling the business will be a lot easier if I decide to do so.

This means I will run out of money for personal use in about a year. I decided to start website development and seo on the side via outsourcing. A lot of people ask me for websites and I usually did them for free or declined. This should cover my living costs, otherwise I could also do freelancing.

Splitting my money into business and personal is something I should have done earlier.

I will have to set up something to manage projects and finances. I will spend the next two weeks in New Zealand to set up everything properly. Then when I'm back in Australia I will start to set up a landing page for the product to test the waters before I continue writing code.

 

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[Pat]

Got my contacts for outsourcing website design and seo.

Created a wordpress template to make it work like a proper CMS where clients can't screw anything up. It also allows me to upsell SEO right next to the website stats.

I got a good idea to get a lot of new customers via direct mail. But I have to do some research first because it might be used by competitors already.

Otherwise I can now start to get clients. I also got the advertising rates for my test and have to decide what kind of ad I will run. I will try to stay away from big expenses until the company is set up.

 

[Pat]

It's a bit difficult to set up the Ltd liab Corp from outside the country. I will have to call a lawyer next week to see what's the best way of doing it.

Another business opportunity opened up where I could make good money over the next few years without much labor required. I've been thinking if it would be smart to learn about investing etc now or if it would be better to focus on making the money first and worry about the rest later...

 

[Pat]

Was on the road the last few weeks.

Got a business name, logo and website design is outsourced. Got the domains and a local skype number. Working on streamlining the process so that I can reduce my work amount to a minimum and later outsource everything.

A soon as everything is set up properly I will start to run the market testing with the product and while that is running I got another idea that I will pursue in the meantime.

 

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[garyfritz]

It's a bit difficult to set up the Ltd liab Corp from outside the country.

Depends on where you set it up and how you what to start it. I just opened a new LLC last week (in Colorado), and it only required a quick visit to the Secretary of State's website. They still haven't sent me my tax ID#, and I haven't funded the LLC &etc, but that was the first step to getting it started.

 

[Pat]

Depends on where you set it up and how you what to start it. I just opened a new LLC last week (in Colorado), and it only required a quick visit to the Secretary of State's website. They still haven't sent me my tax ID#, and I haven't funded the LLC &etc, but that was the first step to getting it started.

It's difficult in Switzerland. You have to be there as a person or it gets really complicated (visit embassy, translate documents etc). After talking to a few lawyers it seems the easiest option is to have someone do it for me in Switzerland and then that person can transfer the company to me.

 

[BeachBoy]

one thing about selling before finishing the build is that a bunch of indians can code something that works so-so, and chinese can build crappy hardware.

by the time you build a better product, they will have flooded the market and potential buyer will fear the product.

I'm curious as to what your hardware is, I deal with barcode tracking at my regular work and I don'T see how you can require anything custom on a barcode scanner... since they can be plugged RS-232, you can control everything on the scanner by software.

 

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[Pat]

one thing about selling before finishing the build is that a bunch of indians can code something that works so-so, and chinese can build crappy hardware.

by the time you build a better product, they will have flooded the market and potential buyer will fear the product.

I'm curious as to what your hardware is, I deal with barcode tracking at my regular work and I don'T see how you can require anything custom on a barcode scanner... since they can be plugged RS-232, you can control everything on the scanner by software.

I need a memory barcode scanner, it has to work out in the field.

It's a complete asset management system for beekeepers. They scan the boxes in the field, my program does the rest (recognizes changes etc). The available memory barcode scanners are not good enough because they have to support data surfing (compare scanned code with a database) and have a special function button to mark the end of the hive when scanning.

I just got an email from the manufacturer in china. Seems like they have the hardware developed but have a few little problems with the software. They told me it will be ready in a few days.

I am certain that nobody can just produce this for cheap. Unless you know what your are doing (Beekeeping AND coding), no chance. This is why I didn't outsource, I would spend more time explaining than coding it myself.

 

[Likwid24]

They still haven't sent me my tax ID#, and I haven't funded the LLC &etc, but that was the first step to getting it started.

I opened up an LLC recently and my accountant suggested I just go to the IRS website and get the tax id# myself. It was very easy. Just fill out the online application and they send it to you withing 24 hours.

Here's the site: Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TIN)

It's a bit difficult to set up the Ltd liab Corp from outside the country. I will have to call a lawyer next week to see what's the best way of doing it.

Try Legalzoom.com

 

[Pat]

Been working on my web design contract for a while now. Taking much more time than expected. But after some research it seems like this is a really important step towards doing any kind of freelancing work.

Can't wait to have the web design things all up and running so I can focus on my fastlane projects for the majority of my time.

Oh and the contract is in German at the moment, I will have to translate it to English as well...

 

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[Pat]

I had the flu for a week and couldn't do any work for a few days...

The company is in the process of being founded, got someone to do it for me who can then transfer then company to me. I have to deposit 20'000 CHF on the company account so I can form a Ltd Liab Corp. This is coming from my travel money and means I will run out of cash in around 6 months (Of course I could just pay myself money from the company but that's not the point).

So I got 6 months to start making money with webdesign. Working on the website now (Peak Informatik - Web Design und Development), especially the inner pages.

I'm also digging up work I've done in the past from websites to code examples to put in the portfolio.

As soon as the website is running I will dedicate a set amount of time each day for webdesign (or marketing it when I don't have clients) and my fastlane projects.

I also read Getting Real from 37 signals, good read.

 

[Pat]

The progress on my website is incredible slow.

On the other hand, I decided to make a little wordpress plugin to change it to look like a proper CMS and I did that in one day.

There is just no passion in web design for me so I find it really hard to make progress. Reminds me of the ADD thread on here not too long ago.

Well, enough procrastinated, back to working on the stupid website =)