Today is my 1 year TMF anniversary

[Mr. Bazz]

Get Right
As a newcomer to this blog. It is awesome to see massive success in 1x yr. When you change your thought process and reprogram yourself, you become more self-aware of destructive habits, people, places, things and thoughts in your life. In the book The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg, He uses the concept of Keystone habits or a habit that starts a chain effect in the rest of your life (i.e. you run every morning, resulting in healthier eating and drinking habits, increased sleeping etc.) to show the power of taking action and causing change.
My question for you - As this post is now ~5 years old, may you outline some key habits that changed in the first year of reading TMF forum? You may also discuss more recent impacts.

IF you have not read The Power of Habit, I personally recommend taking a look. It a few examples of business culture and psychology that are valuable in any setting, professional to start-up to entrepreneurial.

Here is a link to an article on keystone habits, that I discussed above. It gives a basic definition of keystone habits - what they are and why they are important - and outlines a few examples from sleep to exercise to negative self-talk. Let me know what you think!

Again, thank you, and I hope for your continued success.

-DB

 

[Vixen]

Actually I look for markets first (took me a year to figure that one out). Needs second. Product third.

Markets - Where are the large hungry masses that are ready to cram money down your throat? The markets where you mention "XYZ" and they foam at the mouth. That's where I want to be. Think health, pets, pleasure, etc.

Needs - I listen to that market. I listen a lot. They will tell you (indirectly) what they want if you get close enough. I love the comments section on niche websites, blogs, forums and social media. Treasure.

Product - I look for smiles. Forget statements like "I'd buy one" or "looks awesome" (they aren't going to buy anything from you). Look for those smiles. They can't hide them and they know you are on to something.

Hitting the phones, be back in a few.

Get Right, thank you for your invaluable input. I found this particular post very interesting. Two days into reading TMF , I started looking for needs. Then I thought, hey... that is too random! So, I started looking up markets. What are people going bonkers about? What are people spending their money on? How many people in each section/category/industry? My next step would then be needs, which would take me to the product/service. I am still in the market search period, whilst reading Unscripted . But looking at your golden advice, I seem to be on the right track mentally

 

[Josiah Levi]

Congrats! I love the community so far, and it's only my first day on the forum. Thank you for sharing your story!

 

[Get Right]

1. Looking back to 21 years old, what is one thing that you would tell yourself to stop worrying about or wasting time thinking "should I"?
2. When starting your spec house business, what was the first course of action to get to your first plot of land to build?
3. You mentioned your daughter has been working on becoming a professional golfer, how has she developed over the years? And how have you continued to help her grow in that regard?

1. I would counsel myself (basically what MJ's books do) to find a way out of the JOB and into ownership as quickly as prudent. Second "stop worrying" thing would be to not keep considering a JOB (as the backup plan) for the rest of your life.

2. I saved up $30k from my Architecture business to purchase lot #1.

3. It comes and goes. I'm waiting on the "Practice makes Perfect" lesson to settle in for her.

 

[James Fake]

Then... there are people like YOU. YOU are who MJ wrote the book for. YOU are who MJ built the forum for. YOU are the reason people like me hang out here.

Yep.

 

[James Fake]

Congrats!

 

[Kevin D. Smith]

What an awesome post, I hope that my one year will be as epic. Bookmarked for motivation, thank you for sharing.

 

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[JokerCrazyBeatz]

This is a great thread, im ready for some new stuff

 

[mws87]

So guess what happens in 11 days?

I sense a process-driven event coming . . . can't wait.

Re-read this thread again, and it was just what I needed. Thanks again for all your contributions here @Get Right

 

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[xuyigang]

Wow guys, thanks for the encouragement! A GOLD thread, I'm humbled.



Sure thing. I had a small Ecomm business that generated $1-2k a month in a somewhat passive manner. I didn't spend much direct time on it but mentally I was always thinking "I should make a new ad or I should be contacting my customers more". One day I just got real with myself and said "I have no interest in growing this business, so why am I wasting time thinking about it". The ultimate point was when I convinced myself that "I can easily make my new venture profit an extra $1-2k a month by spending the same amount of time as the Ecomm biz".



Happy to help. I wasn't able to get my professional service businesses to comply with either the SCALE or TIME portion of CENTS. If you think about it, there aren't many ways for this to work. It's probably why I've never met a rich Architect. Now if you take that service business and figure out how to pivot to a more "repetitive business model" you might have a chance. It's the one-off custom stuff that kills you. Always creating, never profiting.

Another example of this would be an ER surgeon that treats whatever illness/situation happens to come into the ER. Every patient is something new to figure out. He would do well financially but take that same surgeon and let him create a repeatable procedure he could license throughout the world. Who makes more and has time to spend it

Great analysis, I found out in my trade, some top experienced CPA are actually selling continuing Ed and seminar vs actually doing tax return. What you are describing are my current situation, mostly custom work and always new things, but not scalable.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[RisingStars]

Hi Get Right,

I read your thread shortly after my arrival here and since have traced your journey to 3rd anniversary. 3rd anniversary post was epic in different ways. I liked it a lot and learned a lot. Thank you!

And yes, I want to steal your WIN box! I tried to understand the functions of the different headlines and everything makes sense for me except the "arch" category (Since you use code words I don't know clearly which function it has for you). I know that you have made your win box tailored for your circumstances and that plain copying won't lead to the desired results. So I tried my best to understand what function the different headlines have to tailor a WIN box fitted for my situation.

Could you please elaborate on the "arch"-category?

I'll stay tuned here and in your spec house thread.

I hope you and your family are doing well!

#n, Germany

@Get Right Thank you for doing this thread. After reading a actually made some changes in my own life which will bring me closer to my goals.
I also would like to ask if you can explain the WIN box a little bit more or maybe you got a link for us where we can read it up if you haven't created the system yourself.

 

[SharkWrestler1]

Actually I look for markets first (took me a year to figure that one out). Needs second. Product third.

Markets - Where are the large hungry masses that are ready to cram money down your throat? The markets where you mention "XYZ" and they foam at the mouth. That's where I want to be. Think health, pets, pleasure, etc.

Needs - I listen to that market. I listen a lot. They will tell you (indirectly) what they want if you get close enough. I love the comments section on niche websites, blogs, forums and social media. Treasure.

Product - I look for smiles. Forget statements like "I'd buy one" or "looks awesome" (they aren't going to buy anything from you). Look for those smiles. They can't hide them and they know you are on to something.

Wow @Get Right, I had to reread this a few times to fully understand it but then something just clicked.

Absolute gold!

Forget the statements people make and look at their reaction instead, people will say positive things about your product to not upset you but it's so much harder to hide their emotion towards it, if it's positive then you know your onto something.

Thank you for sharing

 

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[ArtRyumin]

reading your "let's build a spec home" got me excited and now i'm here. Congrats, you're an inspiration for my journey that's just taking off.

 

[smiley49]

Hitting the grind. Gains in personal development. Joy in the journey! You are a success and an inspiration! Continue to persevere and learn! Congrats on your progress!

 

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[Get Right]

Hey, I just found your thread and I am really impressed, great work!
Could you tell me how this business crossed your mind? Why this business exactly? Did you work in this niche or did you just "find" it.
Keep up the good work!

Hello @Elijah - good question! Check out the link to my progress thread in my signature below. It details most of the big steps. Shoot me a PM if I missed anything.

Almost 10 years MJ!!!

It's kind-of cool that our anniversaries coincide with the forum anniversary. Thanks for your years of help!

 

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[Get Right]

Dude, thanks for kicking my feedback loop in the TEETH!

Happy to hear about your success.

"when the world values your value" (page 211, Unscripted ). That one will stick with me for a long time. My hope is that everyone here "feels" that moment...and the wonder twins get beat down again

 

[DAL]

Hi, what a great and inspiring thread! Thanks for putting it together over the years and well done on your journey!

I have just joined and this is the first 'longish' thread I've read through and i'm already feeling the inspiration and learning from this forum! Cheers (and thanks MJ for the pointer to this thresad in the intro thread).

D

 

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[Get Right]

So this is a tease? Answer a couple questions....say 'hi'...and poof...gone again! LOL...glad to have you back. Looking forward to what's been happening.

Haha, that's funny! No big news, just still grinding in the same business.

 

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[Isaac Odongo]

This forum will never stop amazing me.

The other time it was @Envision, now it is @Get Right.

Huge post here. He writes with lots of love.

What a read.

The next anniversary is getting close by the way.

Looking forward for the treat.

 

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[ZCP]

The update in 45 days will be epic!

 

[Lee Hyde]

Brilliant post my friend. Congrats on your hard work. I am working hard to be able to do the same next year!

Bring on year 2!

 

[JokerCrazyBeatz]

Motivation

 

[mws87]

It's here! My 3 year anniversary on the Forum! Wow, what a trip.

In my first anniversary you saw where I was working on myself and my thinking. Year #2 brought trying some new businesses and new fastlane strategies. The big push for year #3 was to get in the right "vehicle". The intent was to get in a vehicle that gave me a chance to hit my goal. You can follow that progress thread here (I will update that thread later to reflect this one). My vehicle was found by identifying a hungry MARKET which paired with some of my existing talents. I drilled down to the core NEED of that market. I then developed a PRODUCT to fill that need.

That product happens to be building spec houses. Here is a sneak peak of where I am with it:

Year #3 wasn't all about finding my vehicle though. I kept putting in the time with all the other life changes identified in year #1. Here are my favorites:

That's 18 lbs of belly fat gone

That's my girl's medals for the last 2 golf tournaments she entered I devote Tuesdays to helping her achieve her goal of "becoming a golf professional". I can do this because my "vehicle" is pretty darn passive.

Here's my WIN box you hear me preaching about. I give code names for all my wins be it small or large. You will also see tasks lists, accelerators and various other tracking columns. I find it very helpful to accelerate, track and celebrate wins (feel free to steal this)! If you look in the corner you will see my personal golf handicap drop 1.1 strokes this year as well

I find myself in a good place this year. I haven't struggled near as much compared to years #1 and #2. Here are a few things that made this year smoother:

1. I sold or closed all my other businesses to focus on just 1. Mentally I seam to have more capacity and generally make better decisions pushing #1 without other businesses stealing my attention (even if it is sub-conscious).
2. I play cash flow a good bit. Thanks @Russh. I support Russ's assertion that you have to play it at least 10 times, here is the link.
3. I threw away my safety net income producers. These were time sucks but fear made me keep them. Not any more.
4. I'm not quite to Zero Fu&*s given but let me tell you, closer is better
5. On the opposite side of that, I try to contribute to others regardless if they appreciate it.
6. I have a few mental images to randomly pull up when things head south. They remind me to appreciate what I have and what may be one day.
7. I'm working on the concept of "honor what you can". This concept is for dealing with negative people (that you can't remove from your life). It's giving me my power back without harming that person.
8. I'm really starting to appreciate some overlooked music. Noticeable One by Missing Persons is playing right now. That drum line is sick

So I can't do this all alone and YOU the forum participants are a huge driver of where I am now. So THANK YOU!!

I also want to personally thank a few people. Give them some forum love if you can:

@MJ DeMarco - Couldn't get this far without TMF or the Forum, Thank you.
@Vigilante @AllenCrawley @Andy Black - Thanks for the huge volume of sincere help through your posts, it is appreciated!
The entire B&P gang, you know who you are
The entire C&B gang, ditto
The Ecomm mastermind group
Each individual poster in my threads. I read every one several times. I find value in them all and try to use your gifts the best I can!

Well I am off to do some more "lion shit" so here's to year #4!

Some serious motivation here. Thanks, man. Can't wait to see what the future has for you!

 

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[zargor]

Happy to, thanks for the nice post.

Failure report:

Business #1 - Service biz B2C, violated Time in a major way. I literally couldn't get out of being "the" guy. Clients didn't want to deal with my employees when they had my phone number.

Business #2 - Service biz B2B, violated Time again. This was a remote business but eventually the clients found out it was mine. They preferred to call me directly instead of going through the remote business.

Many congrats Get Right for your success to date (and what no doubt you will achieve in future ... and not just with your businesses).

Given your experiences with the previous 6 businesses, would you say that satisfying not so much the time criteria but more the scalability criteria of a fastlane business would be very difficult with a service business, especially if that business relies heavily on the relationship customers/clients have with you? I'm thinking in particular of professional service businesses where there is a huge trust element, where you may know almost their entire financial life and you can only spread yourself so far.

Kudos to you on everything you've achieved to date and what you can pass on to your daughter.

 

[Green Destiny]

I kind-of wear these "failures" as badges. Maybe like a battle scar.

Reading through this thread at the moment. This is my favourite quote so far.

 

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[Christopher777]

For me, a year was worth it.

...what's it worth to you?

Definitely. This is very true.

 

[fumune]

Thank you for letting us follow along on your journey. I find this thread very valuable, thanks for providing it.

 

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[Ethan McPhie]

This is inspiring

 

[Dave Daily]

Building a spec apartment building might not be super profitable because apartment investors like good deals, ha! I wouldn't let that deter me though.

Could it be built economically enough to buy and hold for passive cash flow? I just don't know what the cost of new construction is these days, and then you have the land, etc. What about building in a place (different state? country?) where land and materials are cheap/er and then paying a management company to handle it for you? Then build another until you have massive passive?

I guess the cash outlay on the front could be prohibitive, but perhaps if you build to programs that provide funding in areas which need housing?

 

[Get Right]

Could it be built economically enough to buy and hold for passive cash flow?

Great question. If you had enough equity in it where the financing didn't kill you, maybe. I see 2 things out there now. One are big companies building huge buildings. Second are investors looking to "warehouse" cash. @SteveO might be able to better answer this question.