Think Big, and Then Think Bigger Than That.

[IndolentFastlanr]

5 grand a month for a mastermind group? Really? That’s absurd.

Give 5 grand a month to 1 or 2 charities and you’ll probably do better. In order to meet people by giving you need to be considered a major donor. Then you get invited to events where they ask you for more money. Lol.

I owe a lot of my network to lobbying. Lobbyists all know each other and all lobbyists do all day is meet with CEOs and influential politicians. Hell you could hire decent lobbyist for 5k per month.

Philanthropy, church, golf, and running my businesses for the rest of it. It just happened. Sorry I don’t have a better answer for you, I never set out to do it. Networking events specifically to network early on in my career were a JOKE.

Have you heard of the Rotary Club? That might be worth a look for you. I have heard good things.

Where do you suggest looking for a lobbyist?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[mikecarlooch]

Your question becomes “how do you propose they do it?” (whatever “it” is) And then “how does that compare to what they do now?” And then “Why is it better?” If you can answer those questions honestly and blow their doors off with value, you have something you can build a team around.

You are dead on asking the right kind of questions... AND you are dead on with your answer...

People.

This is why I talk about leadership being paramount. Don’t get me wrong, you need to know what you are talking about and have an idea of a problem that you want to solve and the opportunity in the change, but you’ll never know as much as someone that has spent time living in the industry. Don’t even concern yourself with knowing as much as that person, just find a way to work together. There are always ways to create profitable win-win relationships with others. At that point it becomes a search for key people.

Any chance you can give an example of win-wins that don't involve a ton of money?

Reading this thread and chatting with you recently has opened my mind up like I've never seen before, and I'm not going to lie currently I don't feel like I'm working on a big enough problem and I'm actively looking for something bigger to jump into.

But there's this limiting belief I have. Every time I think of a big problem, I automatically think of extreme complication and a ton of money being involved that I don't have. I get motivated thinking about it, calling all of these people with these awesome value propositions..

But what really is there to offer these people? Is pitching investors a needed thing? Is trying to bootstrap something a waste of time?

In one of your episodes I also remember you said that you didn't take much risk because you were very methodical about your growth. But isn't getting money from an investor risky and scary if you aren't positive something will work out? Like being in charge of someone else's millions of dollars (hypothetically) seems.. daunting

Why would they give a 19 year old with not much of a track record access to their resources?

I know there is negativity traced in the above but I'm just putting my thoughts out there trying to find answers so I can understand better.

More Questions:
How do you get over the fear of "if I call this person, I'm so BENEATH them that they're just going to be thinking "what? why the hell do you have the audacity to call me? I have everything I need I don't need you..?""

 

[Kak]

Any chance you can give an example of win-wins that don't involve a ton of money?

Reading this thread and chatting with you recently has opened my mind up like I've never seen before, and I'm not going to lie currently I don't feel like I'm working on a big enough problem and I'm actively looking for something bigger to jump into.

But there's this limiting belief I have. Every time I think of a big problem, I automatically think of extreme complication and a ton of money being involved that I don't have. I get motivated thinking about it, calling all of these people with these awesome value propositions..

But what really is there to offer these people? Is pitching investors a needed thing? Is trying to bootstrap something a waste of time?

Why would they give a 19 year old with not much of a track record access to their resources?

I know there is negativity traced in the above but I'm just putting my thoughts out there trying to find answers so I can understand better.

This is an entire show episode as far as I’m concerned. I’ll run with it this week.

There’s no way I want to type all of what I’m thinking. I’d way rather explain my way through it.

If you have any other questions, pile them on!

 

[Andy Black]

Any chance you can give an example of win-wins that don't involve a ton of money?

I'll give you my ideas and thoughts till @Kak replies...

Say you provide "short video" strategy, editing, publishing, and distribution for businesses (I know you did provide this, I don't know if you still do).

Here's how I'd think about scaling:

"Who already has your clients?"
(Jay Abraham)

Who already has hundreds of your ideal clients as their clients?

Who would benefit from adding your service to their business offerings?

Say you do particularly well doing videos for local gyms or PT instructors.

Are there web development agencies, or Facebook marketing agencies that have hundreds (or thousands) of PT instructors as their clients?

Or is there someone who already has a Facebook group of thousands of PT instructors? (I know there are because I got invited into a group of 14k PT instructors as their "Google Ads guy").


EDIT: Crossed posts with @Kak

I'll listen to that podcast episode when it drops @Kak. I'm a big fan of building relationships and creating win-win-wins. It's how I've built my business to date.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[mikecarlooch]

This is an entire show episode as far as I’m concerned. I’ll run with it this week.

There’s no way I want to type all of what I’m thinking. I’d way rather explain my way through it.

If you have any other questions, pile them on!

Thanks! SUPER excited to hear this one.

I'll be adding more questions to my thread as they come

 

[mikecarlooch]

I'll give you my ideas and thoughts till @Kak replies...

Say you provide "short video" strategy, editing, publishing, and distribution for businesses (I know you did provide this, I don't know if you still do).

Here's how I'd think about scaling:

"Who already has your clients?"
(Jay Abraham)

Who already has hundreds of your ideal clients as their clients?

Who would benefit from adding your service to their business offerings?

Say you do particularly well doing videos for local gyms or PT instructors.

Are there web development agencies, or Facebook marketing agencies that have hundreds (or thousands) of PT instructors as their clients?

My fear of reaching out to an agency that has clients that may be interested in working with me is.. Why would these people ever want to associate with me, they just want to run their agency and make money. Wouldn't I just be taking money from them by them promoting me to their clients?

PS: Thanks @MTF for mentioning Mediocrity To Millions by Jay Abraham in this thread, curious to hear what kind of value you got out of that book

 

[Andy Black]

My fear of reaching out to an agency that has clients that may be interested in working with me is.. Why would these people ever want to associate with me, they just want to run their agency and make money. Wouldn't I just be taking money from them by them promoting me to their clients?

"Overthinking is the art of solving problems you don't have."


A lot of these agencies are quite small and you're talking to someone only a few steps ahead of you.

I'm working with a guy who serves carpet cleaning companies in the US. He's a team of 15 and 200+ clients. They run Facebook Ads for those clients and the agency owner is keen to add Google Ads to the mix. We've not dialled it in yet, but when we do he'll bring the clients, do the account management, and leave us to build and manage campaigns. It's just like getting another freelancer in his team, but it's me and my small team, and we get on because it's one business owner talking to another business owner.

I mention this in a few recent recordings... you're not a freelancer, you're a peer. You've got to see yourself as another business owner with something to offer in exchange for something they're offering you. In this case, the Facebook Ads agency owner gets someone to try and make it work for a few of his clients practically for free, and who'll scale it if it works. I potentially get to scale by dozens of clients in one go, without needing to do any prospecting, sales, or even needing a website.

That's just one guy.

There's massive Facebook groups of successful Facebook Ads agency owners who might want to partner with a Google Ads guy/agency. I don't even participate in those groups as I don't want to get swamped.

Someone else serves a different home services niche. He's brought 11 clients in just a few months at $500/mth each to us. I don't have to do any prospecting, sales calls, or even client/account management. I just build and optimise campaigns, develop templates and tools, start creating SOPs and systems, and consider hiring/training people to do the builds and ongoing management when it's dialled in.

Then there's the PR and graphic design agencies we work with (I don't really like working with them as they don't understand direct response), and various other guys who are just starting out in various niches who I can loosely partner with to serve their clients better.

I suspect you can supply "short form video creation/editing/publishing" service to exactly the same business types I serve. I suspect if you then add paid video ads to your services you'll be even more valuable.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MTF]

PS: Thanks @MTF for mentioning Mediocrity To Millions by Jay Abraham in this thread, curious to hear what kind of value you got out of that book

I regularly re-read that or other stuff by Jay Abraham. His way of looking at business is so different than everyone else's that it always gives me some new ideas not just for business but also for life in general.

I have to admit that I don't use his advice as much as I should. That's 100% on me as I hide behind my excuse of being an introvert and not enjoying talking to people. Meanwhile, Jay is all about working with people to create ways for everyone to win way bigger than if they were doing it by themselves (if possible at all).

By the way, I wanted to tell you that I respect how you've been asking a lot of really excellent questions recently. They get me thinking as well and I love reading responses by other forum members.

 

[mikecarlooch]

"Overthinking is the art of solving problems you don't have."


A lot of these agencies are quite small and you're talking to someone only a few steps ahead of you.

I'm working with a guy who serves carpet cleaning companies in the US. He's a team of 15 freelancers (maybe some employees) and 200+ clients. They run Facebook Ads for those clients and the agency owner is keen to add Google Ads to the mix. We've not dialled it in yet, but when we do he'll bring the clients, do the account management, and leave us to build and manage campaigns. It's just like getting another freelancer in his team, but it's me and my small team, and he we get on because it's one business owner talking to another business owner.

I mention this in a few recent recordings... you're not a freelancer, you're a peer. You've got to see yourself as another business owner with something to offer in exchange for something they're offering you. In this case, the Facebook Ads agency owner gets someone to try and make it work for a few of his clients practically for free, and who'll scale it out if it works. I potentially get to scale by dozens of clients in one go, without needing to do any prospecting, sales, or even needing a website.

That's just one guy.

There's massive Facebook groups of successful Facebook Ads agency owners who might want to partner with a Google Ads guy/agency. I don't even participate in those groups as I don't want to get swamped.

Someone else serves a different home services niche. He's brought 11 clients in 3 months at $500/mth each to us. I don't have to do any prospecting, sales calls, or even client/account management. I just build and optimise campaigns, develop templates and tools, start creating SOPs and systems, and consider hiring/training people to do the builds and ongoing management when it's dialled in.

Then there's the PR and graphic design agencies we work with (I don't really like working with them as they don't understand direct response), and various other guys who are just starting out in various niches who I can loosely partner with to serve their clients better.

I suspect you can supply "short form video creation/editing/publishing" service to exactly the same business types I serve. I suspect if you then add paid video ads to your services you'll be even more valuable.

Thanks Andy this is gold..

So you are saying that you first go in and give them something for free before asking them to send clients to you? Are you selling to the actual agency, or the individual clients?, How do you ask them to send clients to you

 

[mikecarlooch]

I regularly re-read that or other stuff by Jay Abraham. His way of looking at business is so different than everyone else's that it always gives me some new ideas not just for business but also for life in general.

I have to admit that I don't use his advice as much as I should. That's 100% on me as I hide behind my excuse of being an introvert and not enjoying talking to people. Meanwhile, Jay is all about working with people to create ways for everyone to win way bigger than if they were doing it by themselves (if possible at all).

I'm looking forward to checking out this book as it seems like win-wins are the key to a lot of things from what I've seen recently.

By the way, I wanted to tell you that I respect how you've been asking a lot of really excellent questions recently. They get me thinking as well and I love reading responses by other forum members.

Thanks! I've had burning questions that I've scowled the internet for, for years trying to get answered and just felt like a lot of the articles online either don't answer the question directly because it's way too narrow or I feel like it's complete BS. This forum has given me a "trust" vibe, where I feel comfortable asking for advice here and not getting steered in the wrong direction.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Andy Black]

Thanks Andy this is gold..

So you are saying that you first go in and give them something for free before asking them to send clients to you? Are you selling to the actual agency, or the individual clients?, How do you ask them to send clients to you

I don't have plans or intentions. I just bounce around online and folks reach out to me. We message back and forth naturally and not with some sort of script. We hop on calls and I get to know another business owner, as a business owner.

I'm not selling anything. I'm just getting to know someone and see if we can create a win-win.

I also stay top of mind by posting regularly (see my latest post in the Short Videos chat thread).

 

[Kak]

By the way, I wanted to tell you that I respect how you've been asking a lot of really excellent questions recently. They get me thinking as well and I love reading responses by other forum members.

@mikecarlooch I second this. You are learning to ask great questions. Great questions lead to great understanding and even better questions. That great understanding leads to you having great abilities and confidence.

 

[Kak]

I regularly re-read that or other stuff by Jay Abraham. His way of looking at business is so different than everyone else's that it always gives me some new ideas not just for business but also for life in general.

The stuff I am reading about Jay sounds right up my alley, I want to read some of his stuff. I have never read any of his books...

I love when entrepreneurs go out of their way to build their foundation on win-win. It is the only way to have long term positive trajectory.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MTF]

The stuff I am reading about Jay sounds right up my alley, the more I want to read some of his stuff. I have never read any of his books...

I love when entrepreneurs go out of their way to build their foundation on win-win. It is the only way to have long term positive trajectory.

I'm surprised you haven't read any of his stuff. You'll definitely enjoy it.

 

[Antifragile]

This is an entire show episode as far as I’m concerned. I’ll run with it this week.

There’s no way I want to type all of what I’m thinking. I’d way rather explain my way through it.

If you have any other questions, pile them on!

Ha! Now that'll have a lineup of listeners, what a great topic. Way to go @mikecarlooch - you are making the forum a better place with your curiosity, keep those questions coming.

I hope @Kak won't mind me jumping in here with a few thoughts from my own life. Hopefully it'll spur more material for the next episode.

My entire business has massive barriers to entry because people think they are massive barriers to entry. When I just started I realized that RE development need two things:

1. Deep pockets
2. Experience

99% of the population will think "I don't have either, I can't do it" and so it doesn't happen for them. But there is another way. There is always a way. I've build our business from the same philosophy @Kak shares in this thread, to just think bigger.

What do I mean?

Every business needs money and experience. And we get experience after we need it, most of the time. We get money after we need it too! It's a byproduct of our success. But if everyone needed a ton of money to do bigger business, there would never be a bigger young millionaires and billionaires. It is all an illusion, a smoke screen... MJ called it a "script".

You are the "video guy" @mikecarlooch - you probably think that your customers are people who need video editing. That's a limiting belief. The way to think BIGGER is to expand on who are you potential customers, quick brain-dump for you:

• People with money who want to invest in profitable businesses (yes, I said it, there are people who have money and want to invest with people like you). There is a triangulation problem, they need to find you and you need to find them. Not as easy as it sound but not impossible either.
• People with software that needs testing for video editing, they have a product they want to hit mass adoption and need people with BIG successful video editing enterprises to try and then endorse their product.
• People who don't want to film their own videos, like Realtors, but love seeing their ugly mugs all over the busses and thus would love to see their own ugly mugs on YT (whether it helps them or not is not the point, haha).
• People who want advice on what equipment to buy to film their own videos to make them better for editing later - they want YOUR advice on what to buy. And guess what is next? ...
• People who created new cameras and microphones and light equipment (think gopro before it became huge) who want YOU to recommend their hardware to your clients.
• AI programmers who could use your advice on how to create an AI programmed auto-editing solutions that cost "zero" with every next edit. They are like the digital photos back when Kodak thought analogue was better and thus immune to displacement.
• Blog writers who want to give advice to their 1,000+ followers on how to edit their own videos but they aren't experts, they'd love to have you help them.
• ... I could go on for another 10x of this list - that is thinking BIGGER

I applied the same to my business and realized that my customers aren't just people who buy our real estate. Not at all, they are customers but they are part of a much BIGGER picture. Today we partner with wealth managers, family office, large international corps to help them get exposure to our deals. Our customers are government authorities who have objectives to meet and we can help (that is when they let us do what we need to do to make projects profitable, a win-win!). Our customers are other developers who watch where we buy land and later go into same markets, if they believe we are good at our acquisition analysis it's a shortcut for them. That last one may give you a pause "wait, what? Did you say your competition is also your customer?" Yes, in a sense, by thinking bigger I know that once they come after us and buy land where we already own land - they'll typically pay more and increase land value for our properties! I can then re-finance the land lift and need less equity. The list goes on... my customers are banks, they make a lot of money from us and they are happy to lend us when we do a great job. That, to me, is thinking BIGGER ... without needing more money.

Hope you find this useful. And keep those questions coming @mikecarlooch , the Forum is a better place with people like you around.

 

[mikecarlooch]

I read over this about 6 times dissecting everything lol.. Thank you @Antifragile for this amazing write up. I have a few questions

My entire business has massive barriers to entry because people think they are massive barriers to entry. When I just started I realized that RE development need two things:

1. Deep pockets
2. Experience

If you are just starting and don't have a ton of money, obviously you need skills. But a question I've had a long time is, when people say to get the skills necessary to become great, what exactly does that mean? Does that mean spending a lot of time reading on a particular subject, a lot of time talking to people.. etc?

I can see why people think Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, and all of those people are "natural geniuses" because they were programming algorithms at such a young age, and it leaves me wondering how they came across those skills.. and what myself and others haven't done in their youth to understand such complex things at an early age.

99% of the population will think "I don't have either, I can't do it" and so it doesn't happen for them. But there is another way. There is always a way. I've build our business from the same philosophy @Kak shares in this thread, to just think bigger.

What do I mean?

Every business needs money and experience. And we get experience after we need it, most of the time. We get money after we need it too! It's a byproduct of our success. But if everyone needed a ton of money to do bigger business, there would never be a bigger young millionaires and billionaires. It is all an illusion, a smoke screen... MJ called it a "script".

Got it.. So it's simply about having enough understanding on a particular issue in the market, and the way that young billionaires come about is by convincing people with money that they are the person that can make something happen.

You are the "video guy" @mikecarlooch - you probably think that your customers are people who need video editing. That's a limiting belief. The way to think BIGGER is to expand on who are you potential customers, quick brain-dump for you:

• People with money who want to invest in profitable businesses (yes, I said it, there are people who have money and want to invest with people like you). There is a triangulation problem, they need to find you and you need to find them. Not as easy as it sound but not impossible either.
• People with software that needs testing for video editing, they have a product they want to hit mass adoption and need people with BIG successful video editing enterprises to try and then endorse their product.
• People who don't want to film their own videos, like Realtors, but love seeing their ugly mugs all over the busses and thus would love to see their own ugly mugs on YT (whether it helps them or not is not the point, haha).
• People who want advice on what equipment to buy to film their own videos to make them better for editing later - they want YOUR advice on what to buy. And guess what is next? ...
• People who created new cameras and microphones and light equipment (think gopro before it became huge) who want YOU to recommend their hardware to your clients.
• AI programmers who could use your advice on how to create an AI programmed auto-editing solutions that cost "zero" with every next edit. They are like the digital photos back when Kodak thought analogue was better and thus immune to displacement.
• Blog writers who want to give advice to their 1,000+ followers on how to edit their own videos but they aren't experts, they'd love to have you help them.
• ... I could go on for another 10x of this list - that is thinking BIGGER

This is pure gold thank you yes the only thing I was thinking about was reaching out to individual people to get them to buy but I recently see how much of a waste of time this can be as opposed to making deals with people who already have a load of the eyeballs I'm trying to reach in order to sell multiple accounts at once as opposed to just one here and there.

My only thing that's been holding me back is, most people I've heard say "just stick with one customer avatar", from what you wrote above it seems to be better to be going after multiple?

I applied the same to my business and realized that my customers aren't just people who buy our real estate. Not at all, they are customers but they are part of a much BIGGER picture. Today we partner with wealth managers, family office, large international corps to help them get exposure to our deals. Our customers are government authorities who have objectives to meet and we can help (that is when they let us do what we need to do to make projects profitable, a win-win!). Our customers are other developers who watch where we buy land and later go into same markets, if they believe we are good at our acquisition analysis it's a shortcut for them. That last one may give you a pause "wait, what? Did you say your competition is also your customer?" Yes, in a sense, by thinking bigger I know that once they come after us and buy land where we already own land - they'll typically pay more and increase land value for our properties! I can then re-finance the land lift and need less equity. The list goes on... my customers are banks, they make a lot of money from us and they are happy to lend us when we do a great job. That, to me, is thinking BIGGER ... without needing more money.

For example, my competitor would most likely be an agency selling video editing services (who sell at a much higher price than my service) You're saying white labeling for them could be another market to go after?

Hope you find this useful. And keep those questions coming @mikecarlooch , the Forum is a better place with people like you around.

Unbelievably useful. I'm super grateful that someone like yourself who's accomplished so much is taking time to respond to all of these posts. Thank you for that

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Guest-5ty5s4]

I read over this about 6 times dissecting everything lol.. Thank you @Antifragile for this amazing write up. I have a few questions

If you are just starting and don't have a ton of money, obviously you need skills. But a question I've had a long time is, when people say to get the skills necessary to become great, what exactly does that mean? Does that mean spending a lot of time reading on a particular subject, a lot of time talking to people.. etc?

I can see why people think Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, and all of those people are "natural geniuses" because they were programming algorithms at such a young age, and it leaves me wondering how they came across those skills.. and what myself and others haven't done in their youth to understand such complex things at an early age.

Got it.. So it's simply about having enough understanding on a particular issue in the market, and the way that young billionaires come about is by convincing people with money that they are the person that can make something happen.

This is pure gold thank you yes the only thing I was thinking about was reaching out to individual people to get them to buy but I recently see how much of a waste of time this can be as opposed to making deals with people who already have a load of the eyeballs I'm trying to reach in order to sell multiple accounts at once as opposed to just one here and there.

My only thing that's been holding me back is, most people I've heard say "just stick with one customer avatar", from what you wrote above it seems to be better to be going after multiple?

For example, my competitor would most likely be an agency selling video editing services (who sell at a much higher price than my service) You're saying white labeling for them could be another market to go after?

Unbelievably useful. I'm super grateful that someone like yourself who's accomplished so much is taking time to respond to all of these posts. Thank you for that

I can't answer all of your questions and I'm jumping in kind of randomly to just poke at one thing - the Bill Gates / Zuckerberg thing.

Nobody is a "natural genius." Some people pick stuff up faster than others, and that's real, but I guarantee that everyone came out of their mother's womb a wrinkly little baby just like you and me, with tiny little brains that weren't fully developed.

Bill Gates learned things about computers before most people because he was exposed to them. He learned and he practiced. It came by both studying and doing - many many many hours of both.

Was he tremendously lucky to have the opportunity to learn that stuff? Hell yeah!

Would most kids of that status decide to screw off and party instead of sitting in front of computers all day? Hell yeah!

People only see the end result, not all the years spent in preparation that molded the person into who they became later.

That's all I wanted to say, carry on.

 

[DavidePaco00]

This just plain old hurts my head. "But". One of the worst words in the English language.

Let's paint 2 pictures. Mr. CEO and VP enjoyed their jobs. They spent 25 years working their way up the corporate ladder to eventually reach their coveted positions. They were mighty impressed with how their lives had turned out and continued to pat themselves on the back, all the while collecting their million dollar salaries, and retiring with their multi-million dollar retirement package. Nice work fellows. Great work, and I am sure you led excellent lives.

Picture #2. Mr. CEO and VP were mighty pleased with themselves. After working for 25 years and making it to the top of the corporate ladder, they decided that they needed to think bigger. Running a global engineering company and working as an executive no longer seemed like it was as large of a goal as it once was. Time to think bigger. Utilizing the experience that they had gained in the corporate world, and leveraging their contacts to their full potential, they started to look global. They got out of their comfort zone and interfaced with the best and brightest of the world, and came up with a plan to raise 15 billion dollars on a mega-rail project.

Fast forward 7 years. The project is a roaring success. Not one to sit on their asses, Mr. CEO and VP are taking the experience gained on this project, as well as the massive contact list of experts and investors, and blowing this up into another project, this one with a raised investment of 45 billion dollars.

One life sets up a single family for perhaps a generation or two of comfortable living, with essentially a "9-5" job. The other life sets up generational change which creates family empires and dynasty's which will have the potential to impact millions far into the future.

The choice is no ones but yours.

Of course thinking big always stimulates you in life. How do they say? In business either You grow or you die.

Cheers

Davide

 

[mikecarlooch]

I can't answer all of your questions and I'm jumping in kind of randomly to just poke at one thing - the Bill Gates / Zuckerberg thing.

Nobody is a "natural genius." Some people pick stuff up faster than others, and that's real, but I guarantee that everyone came out of their mother's womb a wrinkly little baby just like you and me, with tiny little brains that weren't fully developed.

Bill Gates learned things about computers before most people because he was exposed to them. He learned and he practiced. It came by both studying and doing - many many many hours of both.

Was he tremendously lucky to have the opportunity to learn that stuff? Hell yeah!

Would most kids of that status decide to screw off and party instead of sitting in front of computers all day? Hell yeah!

People only see the end result, not all the years spent in preparation that molded the person into who they became later.

That's all I wanted to say, carry on.

Thanks for clarifying this, my philosophy has been that the process of learning is through serendipity. It seems like curiosity + a rabbit hole of amazing information, and then that information leading to more information is what creates genius.

Sometimes it just gets hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that Elon Musk, at a 240 billion net worth or whatever, really did sit down and put countless hours into reading books and stuff.

It makes me a bit uncomfortable, because I'm just thinking "is studying books really the way that he found out so much of this information, there HAS to be something else".

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Guest-5ty5s4]

Thanks for clarifying this, my philosophy has been that the process of learning is through serendipity. It seems like curiosity + a rabbit hole of amazing information, and then that information leading to more information is what creates genius.

Sometimes it just gets hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that Elon Musk, at a 240 billion net worth or whatever, really did sit down and put countless hours into reading books and stuff.

It makes me a bit uncomfortable, because I'm just thinking "is studying books really the way that he found out so much of this information, there HAS to be something else".

It's more than reading books - it's doing.

 

[DavidePaco00]

I read over this about 6 times dissecting everything lol.. Thank you @Antifragile for this amazing write up. I have a few questions

If you are just starting and don't have a ton of money, obviously you need skills. But a question I've had a long time is, when people say to get the skills necessary to become great, what exactly does that mean? Does that mean spending a lot of time reading on a particular subject, a lot of time talking to people.. etc?

I can see why people think Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, and all of those people are "natural geniuses" because they were programming algorithms at such a young age, and it leaves me wondering how they came across those skills.. and what myself and others haven't done in their youth to understand such complex things at an early age.

Got it.. So it's simply about having enough understanding on a particular issue in the market, and the way that young billionaires come about is by convincing people with money that they are the person that can make something happen.

This is pure gold thank you yes the only thing I was thinking about was reaching out to individual people to get them to buy but I recently see how much of a waste of time this can be as opposed to making deals with people who already have a load of the eyeballs I'm trying to reach in order to sell multiple accounts at once as opposed to just one here and there.

My only thing that's been holding me back is, most people I've heard say "just stick with one customer avatar", from what you wrote above it seems to be better to be going after multiple?

For example, my competitor would most likely be an agency selling video editing services (who sell at a much higher price than my service) You're saying white labeling for them could be another market to go after?

Unbelievably useful. I'm super grateful that someone like yourself who's accomplished so much is taking time to respond to all of these posts. Thank you for that

Brainstorming is a thing. My best friends are a pen and paper.

Cheers

 

[Antifragile]

I read over this about 6 times dissecting everything lol.. Thank you @Antifragile for this amazing write up. I have a few questions

If you are just starting and don't have a ton of money, obviously you need skills. But a question I've had a long time is, when people say to get the skills necessary to become great, what exactly does that mean? Does that mean spending a lot of time reading on a particular subject, a lot of time talking to people.. etc?

Skills come from deliberate practice. You can read 100 books on swimming, but to become a swimmer, you'll need to jump in the pool. Pretty much what @thechosen1 said.

I can see why people think Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, and all of those people are "natural geniuses" because they were programming algorithms at such a young age, and it leaves me wondering how they came across those skills.. and what myself and others haven't done in their youth to understand such complex things at an early age.

@thechosen1 did a great job showing that these guys were both lucky and good. I'll add that both of them had a great mind for what they did. Another analogy: imagine racing cars and you are given a Honda Civic and your competitor who's a worse driver got a Ferrari, who's going to win? I'd argue that both Gates and Zuck had a Ferrari for a brain and they didn't waste that natural genetical gift.

Got it.. So it's simply about having enough understanding on a particular issue in the market, and the way that young billionaires come about is by convincing people with money that they are the person that can make something happen.

People will typically give you money if you can demonstrate they:
a) Can trust you. Trust means: technical abilities + ethics. You won't screw them through deliberate lies or through ineptitude. (sidebar: this is why "fake it till you make it" isn't something I like as a strategy, I prefer honesty)
b) Will not lose money.

This is pure gold thank you yes the only thing I was thinking about was reaching out to individual people to get them to buy but I recently see how much of a waste of time this can be as opposed to making deals with people who already have a load of the eyeballs I'm trying to reach in order to sell multiple accounts at once as opposed to just one here and there.

My only thing that's been holding me back is, most people I've heard say "just stick with one customer avatar", from what you wrote above it seems to be better to be going after multiple?

For example, my competitor would most likely be an agency selling video editing services (who sell at a much higher price than my service) You're saying white labeling for them could be another market to go after?

Oh absolutely! Go after that agency and give them a taste of your work. If you win a huge account, you can practice your skills (your team) while giving them the "benefit". But in reality, at some point, you'll be able to reveal that it was YOU who did all that work and scoop up clients 10x the speed. All the while, you are still making money.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Bekit]

But there's this limiting belief I have. Every time I think of a big problem, I automatically think of extreme complication and a ton of money being involved that I don't have. I get motivated thinking about it, calling all of these people with these awesome value propositions..

But what really is there to offer these people? Is pitching investors a needed thing? Is trying to bootstrap something a waste of time?

In one of your episodes I also remember you said that you didn't take much risk because you were very methodical about your growth. But isn't getting money from an investor risky and scary if you aren't positive something will work out? Like being in charge of someone else's millions of dollars (hypothetically) seems.. daunting

Why would they give a 19 year old with not much of a track record access to their resources?

I know there is negativity traced in the above but I'm just putting my thoughts out there trying to find answers so I can understand better.

More Questions:
How do you get over the fear of "if I call this person, I'm so BENEATH them that they're just going to be thinking "what? why the hell do you have the audacity to call me? I have everything I need I don't need you..?""

Read the article in this thread to bust to smithereens any limiting beliefs you have about your age. EXECUTION - The Child Entrepreneur Who Did More than Most of Us...

 

[Kak]

@mikecarlooch you should be very encouraged. Your questions and curiosity about building great things has attracted a lot of our attention. I don’t speak for everyone here, but I know both @Antifragile and I see something in you and it’s pretty clear many others here that are diving in and helping, to the incredibly awesome extent they are, likely also do.

It takes a certain character to drag this type of gold content out of the forum’s top contributors. You have it.

Good job man. I’m glad you’re here.

 

[mikecarlooch]

Read the article in this thread to bust to smithereens any limiting beliefs you have about your age. EXECUTION - The Child Entrepreneur Who Did More than Most of Us...

This is amazing..wow thank you for sharing this @Bekit

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[mikecarlooch]

@mikecarlooch you should be very encouraged. Your questions and curiosity about building great things has attracted a lot of our attention. I don’t speak for everyone here, but I know both @Antifragile and I see something in you and it’s pretty clear many others here that are diving in and helping, to the incredibly awesome extent they are, likely also do.

It takes a certain character to drag this type of gold content out of the forum’s top contributors. You have it.

Good job man. I’m glad you’re here.

Thank you very much Kyle, your radio show and all of these amazing people on the forum is what I’ve been looking for my whole life, and I’d be ashamed of myself if I didn’t get all the answers I can to create something great in this world.

 

[Andy Black]

@mikecarlooch you should be very encouraged. Your questions and curiosity about building great things has attracted a lot of our attention. I don’t speak for everyone here, but I know both @Antifragile and I see something in you and it’s pretty clear many others here that are diving in and helping, to the incredibly awesome extent they are, likely also do.

It takes a certain character to drag this type of gold content out of the forum’s top contributors. You have it.

Good job man. I’m glad you’re here.

Likewise.

I've had a couple of chats with Mike, and message back and forth quite a bit.

Why?

Mike's in motion, quick to learn, humble, tries to be positive, and asks good questions that make me think about what I do, why, and how.

He's already created a marketplace ad, posted tips on growing social media accounts, and is wicked fast to act on feedback.

Mike doesn't get embroiled in arguments, and doesn't put anyone down.

Folks posting "How do I find mentors?" should take note.

 

[Kak]

For those of you waiting for the response to @mikecarlooch ... It's done... Now I am going to go catch my breath. I also had @Antifragile on for a bit as well.

Think Big and Then Think Bigger Q&A Featuring Volodya Gusak - Ep 325

How does one "think bigger?" What does it mean to apply bigger thinking to our enterprises? What if I (insert some kind of problem)? I tackle all of this and also get a second opinion again from Mr. Volodya Gusak. Telegram Community: https://t.me/killbigger Join the discussion at...

www.spreaker.com

This one may go down as one of the most epic episodes of KKRS.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Hong_Kong]

@Vigilante and I were chatting about this a few days back. We have seen a lot of back and forth on the forum lately about insignificant financial decisions like:

Should I buy a home?
Should I rent an apartment?
How would you invest $15k?
New car?
Used car?
And on and on...

My sincere hope for most of you guys is that you quit concerning yourselves with the entanglements of mere mortals. Think billions.

Bottom line... You need a home... You need a car... Just buy or lease something you can EASILY afford and move forward. You've got an empire to build.

15 grand to invest? Seriously? Leave it in a checking account.

Then, one day, buy your 20k square foot estate home and your "Lambo collection" under the same guise.

I am going to internalize this advice and try it out with my business. If there is something I need, or something that will move my business forward spent the money quickly. This will be a change from my default mode of trying to do things as cheaply as possible in order to funnel capital into other income producing investments. No more homemade solutions that take time, spend the money fast and keep moving.

 

[Kak]

I am going to internalize this advice and try it out with my business. If there is something I need, or something that will move my business forward spent the money quickly. This will be a change from my default mode of trying to do things as cheaply as possible in order to funnel capital into other income producing investments. No more homemade solutions that take time, spend the money fast and keep moving.

I would be careful of course. Don’t misconstrue what I said as making financial decisions you wouldn’t have otherwise made.

The point of this old post was to show that there are multiple ways to be financially responsible. It could mean new car, financed car, cash car, used car, crappy car, lease, big home, little home, fixer upper, apartment, cash, rent, mortgage, whatever. The point is, just pick something you can EASILY AFFORD and move forward.

Easily afford is the key here. Only you can define what that is. If it stresses you out, it’s probably not “easily” if it’s no big deal, make it happen.