- Joined
- Apr 14, 2022
- Messages
- 141
Rep Bank
$680
$680
User Power: 126%
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."
Philippians 2:3-4 NIV
So you all have seen @Andy Black 's post on helping people, but when I first read that I was also sort of confused on how to help people. It seems that modern soyciety have conditioned us to be more selfish and prideful then ever before, to the point we don't even know how to help others. Keep in mind that I'm new to this journey and I might get a few things wrong, so please don't take this as gospel and feel very free to criticize or ask any questions even if it sounds dumb. My goal with this post is to provide a 1-2 page guideline on entrepreneurship for anyone around the world, especially for the "down-bad losers" to get a foot in the door in the third-world.
Quick Background
So it looks like I'm getting my first job as an English and Chemistry tutor at 19 (almost 20) and I'm going to start working full time in a few days. This is a good achievement for me. I feel that this is the end of an old chapter, and I will start a new chapter that will be much harder. I think it's safe to say that I am leaving the "Foundational Job" phase and I'm entering the "Specialized Skill" phase in a few days.
I'm from Indonesia. I've seen new users in this forum coming from those countries. As a fellow broke third-worlder, I think I have seen a few third-worlders here get nihilistic and cope with "But that only works in the first world, man! But I live in India, man!" As Luke Smith says, Pessimism is LITERALLY for Losers. So here's what I've learned so far up to this point:
The Most Important Skill
I think there's one skill that is the most important out of all skills, regardless of who you are. And that skill is: listening. And that pairs up with the most important personal quality which is: humility. As an entrepreneur, you HAVE to understand others' goals, desires, pain, and difficulty, or else you literally couldn't solve their problem, and they wouldn't pay you. A good way to be a better listener is to take Dale Carnegie's advice: If you want to be interesting, you first have to be interested in them. Derek Sivers once said, 'Business is not about money. It’s about making dreams come true for others and for yourself."
This is THE core of marketing. Derek Sivers made a good point here:
View: https://youtu.be/rzGgCwKsHpw
Start Small, for God's Sake!
One of the most important lesson I learned is that we as teens should start small. Too many newbies are coming to this forum talking about their big big big idea and asking "is this CENTS enough?" I chuckle every time I read that. First off, I think you can always gradually implement a bit of CENTS over time, even to your "side hustle". Second, although starting with an idea can work, I think it's best to start with people, THEN idea. As I said, just talk to people and listen to their problems, and just help them.
As said in a good post here, stop "building" stuff. Google what a "minimum viable product" is. From my experience, I find it better for me to start with the small ideas that I can implement at the next minute on how I can improve lives a little bit. Again, 99.9% of inventions are just improvements of existing things.
Derek Sivers back at it with another good point, again:
View: https://youtu.be/7KLnXjqKL5g
How Do I Help People? What is a Problem Anyways?
I like to view it this way: Everyone have different goals or desires, then they do whatever they think would bring them closer to their goal, but then something stops them or slows them down. (Maybe you can even start by helping people with the small chores only with your bare hands such as making your roommate's bed, or sometimes help even with just your mouth)
Point is, everyone is self-centered, they mostly think about their own big goals and desires. Well you can't be everything to someone, but you have to be something for someone. So I like to make it a habit to ask what are people's goals when I get into a conversation with them, so I can think "Ah! So that's why they're doing the stuff they do!" So think how can you help bring someone a few inches closer to their goals? How can I automate (or even just do) some of his work/problems? (Another thing to note, everyone is naturally lazy, so you also have another goal to give them less work)
But some people like to keep their goals to themselves. In this case, you want to know their proposed/attempted solution to reach that goal. If it doesn't work, Dane Maxwell came up with the 5-question framework in his book Start From Zero:
Now if you start with the tiny problems, people especially from the third-world are unlikely to pay you. So the solution? Barter. They don't have to pay you back with monetary value, but it becomes more likely for them to return a favor. (I'd recommend learning negotiation, Chriss Voss wrote a good book Never Split the Difference)
Congratulations, you have gotten yourself a foundational job (or even a minimum viable service), as MJ says in his video:
View: https://youtu.be/r_58zPgArb4
So you've got your foot in the door, and you can now learn skills as you do while gaining reputation.
With whatever solution you come up with to solve one person's problem, most of the time it can also solve other problems for other people, so keep that in mind if you wanna scale.
So there you have it. Just start by helping one person at a time, starting with those closest to you. Don't leave out the poor, they provide very valuable marketing information as they need help the most, and don't leave out the rich either, as you can learn from them, and request support from them to help the poor.
Anyways this was my first attempt at providing value to the forum. I feel that this ended up becoming more of a braindump though. If there are concerns/doubts don't be afraid to reply, I would appreciate honest feedback. I'll tag @Johnny boy since he is harsh with his roasts haha, I like harsh feedback because they tend to be more honest.
Philippians 2:3-4 NIV
So you all have seen @Andy Black 's post on helping people, but when I first read that I was also sort of confused on how to help people. It seems that modern soyciety have conditioned us to be more selfish and prideful then ever before, to the point we don't even know how to help others. Keep in mind that I'm new to this journey and I might get a few things wrong, so please don't take this as gospel and feel very free to criticize or ask any questions even if it sounds dumb. My goal with this post is to provide a 1-2 page guideline on entrepreneurship for anyone around the world, especially for the "down-bad losers" to get a foot in the door in the third-world.
Quick Background
So it looks like I'm getting my first job as an English and Chemistry tutor at 19 (almost 20) and I'm going to start working full time in a few days. This is a good achievement for me. I feel that this is the end of an old chapter, and I will start a new chapter that will be much harder. I think it's safe to say that I am leaving the "Foundational Job" phase and I'm entering the "Specialized Skill" phase in a few days.
I'm from Indonesia. I've seen new users in this forum coming from those countries. As a fellow broke third-worlder, I think I have seen a few third-worlders here get nihilistic and cope with "But that only works in the first world, man! But I live in India, man!" As Luke Smith says, Pessimism is LITERALLY for Losers. So here's what I've learned so far up to this point:
The Most Important Skill
I think there's one skill that is the most important out of all skills, regardless of who you are. And that skill is: listening. And that pairs up with the most important personal quality which is: humility. As an entrepreneur, you HAVE to understand others' goals, desires, pain, and difficulty, or else you literally couldn't solve their problem, and they wouldn't pay you. A good way to be a better listener is to take Dale Carnegie's advice: If you want to be interesting, you first have to be interested in them. Derek Sivers once said, 'Business is not about money. It’s about making dreams come true for others and for yourself."
This is THE core of marketing. Derek Sivers made a good point here:
Start Small, for God's Sake!
One of the most important lesson I learned is that we as teens should start small. Too many newbies are coming to this forum talking about their big big big idea and asking "is this CENTS enough?" I chuckle every time I read that. First off, I think you can always gradually implement a bit of CENTS over time, even to your "side hustle". Second, although starting with an idea can work, I think it's best to start with people, THEN idea. As I said, just talk to people and listen to their problems, and just help them.
As said in a good post here, stop "building" stuff. Google what a "minimum viable product" is. From my experience, I find it better for me to start with the small ideas that I can implement at the next minute on how I can improve lives a little bit. Again, 99.9% of inventions are just improvements of existing things.
Derek Sivers back at it with another good point, again:
How Do I Help People? What is a Problem Anyways?
I like to view it this way: Everyone have different goals or desires, then they do whatever they think would bring them closer to their goal, but then something stops them or slows them down. (Maybe you can even start by helping people with the small chores only with your bare hands such as making your roommate's bed, or sometimes help even with just your mouth)
Point is, everyone is self-centered, they mostly think about their own big goals and desires. Well you can't be everything to someone, but you have to be something for someone. So I like to make it a habit to ask what are people's goals when I get into a conversation with them, so I can think "Ah! So that's why they're doing the stuff they do!" So think how can you help bring someone a few inches closer to their goals? How can I automate (or even just do) some of his work/problems? (Another thing to note, everyone is naturally lazy, so you also have another goal to give them less work)
But some people like to keep their goals to themselves. In this case, you want to know their proposed/attempted solution to reach that goal. If it doesn't work, Dane Maxwell came up with the 5-question framework in his book Start From Zero:
- Over the course of the last year, what has been your most persistent and present problem?
- How do you currently go about solving that problem?
- What happens if you don’t solve that problem?
- What would your dream solution be? (Or) If you could wave a magic wand how would you solve this problem? (I think this is an important question to ask too, since they understand their own problem the most)
- Would that be worth paying for, and if so, how much?
Now if you start with the tiny problems, people especially from the third-world are unlikely to pay you. So the solution? Barter. They don't have to pay you back with monetary value, but it becomes more likely for them to return a favor. (I'd recommend learning negotiation, Chriss Voss wrote a good book Never Split the Difference)
Congratulations, you have gotten yourself a foundational job (or even a minimum viable service), as MJ says in his video:
So you've got your foot in the door, and you can now learn skills as you do while gaining reputation.
With whatever solution you come up with to solve one person's problem, most of the time it can also solve other problems for other people, so keep that in mind if you wanna scale.
So there you have it. Just start by helping one person at a time, starting with those closest to you. Don't leave out the poor, they provide very valuable marketing information as they need help the most, and don't leave out the rich either, as you can learn from them, and request support from them to help the poor.
Anyways this was my first attempt at providing value to the forum. I feel that this ended up becoming more of a braindump though. If there are concerns/doubts don't be afraid to reply, I would appreciate honest feedback. I'll tag @Johnny boy since he is harsh with his roasts haha, I like harsh feedback because they tend to be more honest.
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Last edited:
Membership Required: Upgrade to Expose Nearly 1,000,000 Posts
Ready to Unleash the Millionaire Entrepreneur in You?
Become a member of the Fastlane Forum, the private community founded by best-selling author and multi-millionaire entrepreneur MJ DeMarco. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has poured his heart and soul into the Fastlane Forum, helping entrepreneurs reclaim their time, win their financial freedom, and live their best life.
With more than 39,000 posts packed with insights, strategies, and advice, you’re not just a member—you’re stepping into MJ’s inner-circle, a place where you’ll never be left alone.
Become a member and gain immediate access to...
- Active Community: Ever join a community only to find it DEAD? Not at Fastlane! As you can see from our home page, life-changing content is posted dozens of times daily.
- Exclusive Insights: Direct access to MJ DeMarco’s daily contributions and wisdom.
- Powerful Networking Opportunities: Connect with a diverse group of successful entrepreneurs who can offer mentorship, collaboration, and opportunities.
- Proven Strategies: Learn from the best in the business, with actionable advice and strategies that can accelerate your success.
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with the most..."
Who are you surrounding yourself with? Surround yourself with millionaire success. Join Fastlane today!
Join Today
