What I'd do if I was 18

[AgainstAllOdds]

1. Fly to China (Guangzhou, Beijing, or Shanghai).
2. Live in a cheap hostel. Make friends there, and via Tinder, Tantan, and Couchsurfing apps/websites.
3. Go to every single English teaching school in town, apply for a job, ask for $30 an hour, and take the best job.
4. Work 30 hours a week * $30 = making $900 per week.
5. Move from the hostel to downtown/CBD ($450 a month in Guangzhou for a nice place with roommates).
6. Get a Chinese girlfriend (via the Tinder and Tantan apps recommended). The girlfriend will help give an authentic Chinese experience, and also help in all the situations where you need a Chinese person.
7. Spend evenings learning everything there is about starting an Amazon business.
8. Set aside $5k. -- doable within 2 months
9. Go to trade shows and meet with factory reps. Discover products.
10. Get small sample lots of products and ship to Amazon to test.
11. Pick a product niche after testing.
12. Meet with all the top factories in the niche. Get the best price and make a plan for growth.
13. As business grows, teach less and less hours of English. Keep the coolest students. Let go of the students that suck.
14. Overtime change the ratio of work to business from 100:0 to 0:100.
15. Once you quit your job, determine if you want to continue living in China or operating your business from elsewhere. Then stay or move.
16. Grow from Amazon to other platforms. Manage cashflow so that business always grows at a fast rate.

This plan is only what I would do and might not be for you. Your goals and capabilities might be different. My goal would be to build a passive income stream that can sustain my lifestyle, and to create a business that could grow with me.

Feel free to share what your plan would be.

 

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[Alxander]

Will test it out right now, I'll be back in a few years

 

[DanVasiljevs]

Sounds like a sick plan. I'd actually do it but you really don't have to go to China to get starting capital to start an Amazon business... You can find great products to sell online without leaving your bed.

 

[Raoul Duke]

Pretty easy to pick up a job.

★★★ Fantastic teaching opportunities in Beijing .Free accommodation+Free Mandarin Classes+Free TOSEL+Excellent salary and Legal work visa.No degree or teaching experience required.Advance your new life,start with ForeignerHR ★★★

 

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[Dbbuzbee]

1. Fly to China (Guangzhou, Beijing, or Shanghai).
2. Live in a cheap hostel. Make friends there, and via Tinder, Tantan, and Couchsurfing apps/websites.
3. Go to every single English teaching school in town, apply for a job, ask for $30 an hour, and take the best job.
4. Work 30 hours a week * $30 = making $900 per week.
5. Move from the hostel to downtown/CBD ($450 a month in Guangzhou for a nice place with roommates).
6. Get a Chinese girlfriend (via the Tinder and Tantan apps recommended). The girlfriend will help give an authentic Chinese experience, and also help in all the situations where you need a Chinese person.
7. Spend evenings learning everything there is about starting an Amazon business.
8. Set aside $5k. -- doable within 2 months
9. Go to trade shows and meet with factory reps. Discover products.
10. Get small sample lots of products and ship to Amazon to test.
11. Pick a product niche after testing.
12. Meet with all the top factories in the niche. Get the best price and make a plan for growth.
13. As business grows, teach less and less hours of English. Keep the coolest students. Let go of the students that suck.
14. Overtime change the ratio of work to business from 100:0 to 0:100.
15. Once you quit your job, determine if you want to continue living in China or operating your business from elsewhere. Then stay or move.
16. Grow from Amazon to other platforms. Manage cashflow so that business always grows at a fast rate.

This plan is only what I would do and might not be for you. Your goals and capabilities might be different. My goal would be to build a passive income stream that can sustain my lifestyle, and to create a business that could grow with me.

Feel free to share what your plan would be.

Love this. Just curious, any reason why you picked China over other locations?

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

Pretty easy to pick up a job.

★★★ Fantastic teaching opportunities in Beijing .Free accommodation+Free Mandarin Classes+Free TOSEL+Excellent salary and Legal work visa.No degree or teaching experience required.Advance your new life,start with ForeignerHR ★★★

At 18, you don't have a lot of options for decent paying jobs. By making the switch to China, you increase your earning potential from $10/hr to $30/hr. In essence, you cut down the time needed to get capital by 2/3rds.

And if you're American, or white-European, then the ease of getting a teaching job is ridiculous. I'd say on average, every 2 weeks I'd be approached on the street with offers to teach English (which I politely declined, but would do instead of college).

Sounds like a sick plan. I'd actually do it but you really don't have to go to China to get starting capital to start an Amazon business... You can find great products to sell online without leaving your bed.

No, you don't have to go to China. But if you're out there, it allows you to work faster, cheaper, and create opportunities which you can't create over the internet.

For example, I just lined up 8 different factories for a friend that wants to sell office furniture. I met with the factories and had them agree to doing custom projects, and using their designer to plan the office. Now my friend doesn't have to "sell desks on Amazon", but can sell all-in-one solutions to companies. Instead of selling $200 desks, he can sell $250,000 projects. Think big.

Love this. Just curious, any reason why you picked China over other locations?

China controls a lot of manufacturing, is extremely business friendly, and due to a new influx of money, they are spending crazy amounts on things like "learning English". If you're a really good teacher, you can get paid $50/hr. Compare that to the average college degree, where you accumulate $30,000 in debt to get a $20/hr job. China lets you skip college and get a relatively high paying job -- which can be used for startup capital.

 

[OVOvince]

I'd Take a piece of advice that I wish was given to me back then. Stop trying to create some idea with no industry experience. Get a sales job and start engaging in the markets. Start generating cash flow. Start living in reality. Start reading more gold threads on TMF instead of trying to give out shitty advice. Then one day with all the wisdom and skills I've accumulated, then I can pour my time and energy into creating something if that's what I want to do.

Can't turn the clock back at 25 years old now, all I can do is give it my all from now on.

 

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[Ninjakid]

Love this. Just curious, any reason why you picked China over other locations?

You will literally get a high-paying job in China for being white, and they aren't ashamed to admit this.

 

[Drew D]

Is $900 a week really attainable without a degree? Most of the job postings on eslcafe are 2000-2500 USD. A lot of them also require a bachelor's degree to make more. I have 1 year community college experience in a teaching program (dropped out) and some teaching experience that could potentially help me land a higher paying job.

More potential in winging it to China, apply locally demanding 30/hr?

Will test it out right now, I'll be back in a few years

Was wondering if you're being serious because I'm doing the same. Crafting a resume to start sending out to agencies.

 

[Captain04]

What would you do in my situation?

Situation
I just turned 18. I live in India. I have close to $300 and no skills. And the whole day free. I have the whole routine thing figured out recently and I stick to it mostly. But I can't figure out what skills I should learn and am just wasting time atm.

Amazon? Copywriting? Own business? Coding? Web Design?

 

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[Kak]

I would honestly start ALL of my businesses with a quest for a LOT more money. I think I would be better off today, had I gone after A LOT more resources to start all my businesses with.

Remember, once you get too far into a venture, it gets more painful to give up equity for money. I don't want to speak for everyone, but I personally get more selfish... "this is MY business" "I want to retain ownership" the reality is, though irrational, these feelings are pretty typical emotional approaches. The kind of greed that is actually damaging to your business.

Pushing the business forward considering the current state is THE goal.

 

[DVU]

Amazon? Copywriting? Own business? Coding? Web Design?

Value & helping people

 

[BlindSide]

What would you do in my situation?

Situation
I just turned 18. I live in India. I have close to $300 and no skills. And the whole day free. I have the whole routine thing figured out recently and I stick to it mostly. But I can't figure out what skills I should learn and am just wasting time atm.

Amazon? Copywriting? Own business? Coding? Web Design?

18 and already in these forums? That's excellent. Shows a growth mindset at a young age. If you haven't already, your first two investments should be MJ's books: The Millionaire Fastlane & Unscripted .

I'm not sure how different the situation is in India, but my first step would be to get any job you can to start getting some income coming in, and then investing that into a course, book, or even free articles that teaches a valuable skill.

For example: You mention both coding and copywriting. Both are skills you can learn VERY cheap, and both are extremely valuable. You could purchase 1-2 coding courses on Udemy, and now have the ability to start providing value to businesses. And since you would have read MJs books at this point, you have more info on how to build a strong foundation for business.

Once you do this, then I think it's time to start doing what Kak mentions: look for problems that need to be solved, and start figuring out how you can do so. Even if you know nothing about the topic, put some time and effort into your research and make an effort to contact experts if you find any. Build solutions following the CENTS model, and get to work.

 

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[Captain04]

I would honestly start ALL of my businesses with a quest for a LOT more money. I think I would be better off today, had I gone after A LOT more resources to start all my businesses with.

So are you telling me to build up more capital so that I don't give up equity in a future business?

How exactly do I do that? I mean the building resources part. What skills would you have picked back then if you were to do it all over again.

 

[Captain04]

Value & helping people

Yeah, but I have to be good at the thing they need help with. The problem I am facing is choosing that thing.

 

[Captain04]

If you haven't already, your first two investments should be MJ's books: The Millionaire Fastlane & Unscripted .

Read TMF , Unscripted I still have to read.

my first step would be to get any job you can to start getting some income coming in, and then investing that into a course, book, or even free articles that teaches a valuable skill.

For example: You mention both coding and copywriting. Both are skills you can learn VERY cheap, and both are extremely valuable. You could purchase 1-2 coding courses on Udemy, and now have the ability to start providing value to businesses. And since you would have read MJs books at this point, you have more info on how to build a strong foundation for business.

Learn -> Freelance -> Income -> Save -> Business
I'll look into the threads relating to copywriting/coding etc and get on it.

 

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[DVU]

Yeah, but I have to be good at the thing they need help with. The problem I am facing is choosing that thing.

Pick something that you are remotely interested in.

You are overthinking this, just pick something and start.

Dwelling isn't going to get you anywhere.

 

[Kak]

So are you telling me to build up more capital so that I don't give up equity in a future business?

How exactly do I do that? I mean the building resources part. What skills would you have picked back then if you were to do it all over again.

I’m actually saying I would have RAISED a LOT more money from the get go and not worried about equity so much.