The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

What will you accomplish in 2019?

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

Marc RV

Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
150%
Oct 12, 2018
14
21
4 of my goals for 2019:
1) Get Married
2) Master freestanding handstand
3) Make myself irrelevant in the daily operation of my current company (delegate)
- reporting​
- delegate sales activity​
- delegate procurement planning​
4) Complete the beta-version of my HR-web-project.

1) On Track - registered all the paperwork - but the party is planned for 2020
2) Done - even I can just hold it for a short moment. I will work on refining it in 2020.
3) - Reporting: Done: Hired a good chief accountant, that can eventually become CFO next year.
- Sales: 80%: Hired a new Sales Manager. He will start in Feb 2020 and will be able to take over most of the day to day sales activity
- Procurement planning: FAILED: My partner is taking care of it, but we have not yet found a suitable candidate to take this on.
4) Changed plan - During the year a new opportunity came along that I was not expecting to happen so soon so I focused my time on this. It will also be my focus for 2020.

Looking forward to set goals for 2020. Thank you @MJ DeMarco for this exercise.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Tommo

Silver Contributor
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
168%
Jan 21, 2018
438
738
70
Perth Australia
My first proclamation is this: I am an Entrepreneur. I write it on my boarding card every time I fly, which is too often.
I will fly to Adelaide in two weeks time to check out the consumable part of my product. If it isn't good enough I will get the next flight to Melbourne to inspect the other two places and choose the best quality between them.
I will commence selling through Shopify lite throughout Oz and NZ and Japan and South Korea by March 2019. Also through ebay which functions better than Amazon here.
I will do the Udemy course on How to use Chinese social media to create a Fanbase in China this week, it's free. I will sell in China.
I own the confidence and the ability to figure stuff out however the market mind will determine if I sell one or a million.
When the market mind agrees with me and the value I am creating then in December I will post my business account with a full one million dollars OZ not revenue but clear profit.
I will get my strength back by reaching 50 press ups and 50 squats by the time I visit my daughter in UK in April. ( I lost a lot of strength when I gave up BJJ and also had hand operations for Depuytrens Disease.
I know the timing between launch and visiting my daughter clash but the UK visit is important for my daughter.
Oh, and join INSIDERS at last,. In June. Can't believe i ain't done it yet.
I think I put a time constraint on it all but looking forward to any comments.
Wow such confidence lol
Well I did launch my Vegan business directory.
I can easy do 25 push ups and 35 squats.
Had quality issues with my product so having a rethink.
Do not have a million dollars profit, only increased company assets by $60K this year.
Joined INSIDERS earlier this year.
Had to look after my wife a few months due to her suffering burns to her legs, not an excuse but a delay all the same.
Wishing everyone here a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful productive New Year
 

AnneC

Conscious
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
392%
Jan 3, 2012
225
881
USA
I was shooting for 4X my 2018 revenue, but reached a little over 3X. I’m starting to get some help and systems in place, which was my focus for the year. I hired my old Virtual Assistant back, and contracted out to a PPC guy and fulfillment gal.

It was a really great year. We took a month-long vacation overseas, flying business class for the first time. Then we spent most of the summer hanging out with friends, and getting invaluable business advice.

Looking forward to 2020. Happy Holidays!
 

csalvato

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
297%
May 5, 2014
2,058
6,106
39
Rocky Mountain West
I was shooting for 4X my 2018 revenue, but reached a little over 3X. I’m starting to get some help and systems in place, which was my focus for the year. I hired my old Virtual Assistant back, and contracted out to a PPC guy and fulfillment gal.

It was a really great year. We took a month-long vacation overseas, flying business class for the first time. Then we spent most of the summer hanging out with friends, and getting invaluable business advice.

Looking forward to 2020. Happy Holidays!

I think this post has made me the happiest of any post I've read all year.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Saiful

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
180%
Dec 31, 2017
79
142
Chattogram, Bangladesh
Not a New Year's Resolution thread, but a mere proclamation of what you will accomplish in 2019.

List one thing, or many.

Whatever you resolve to do.

Please keep your proclamation measurable!

Lose weight is not measurable, lose 50 lbs is!
Start a business is not measurable, sell X units is!

This time next year, we will bump this thread and see how things went!

I'll start:

I will release at LEAST one book in 2019, either under the Unscripted nameplate or other.

This might not seem to be a big proclamation, but for me it is. My history shows that I take anywhere from 3 to 5 years to write and publish something. I'd like actually take my writing time down to less than 1 year and time to market in under 6 months.

Also, if you posted in this thread AND have a progress thread, please include and link to it!!

Thank you!
@MJ DeMarco Where is your book?
 

Hai

Beauty is Truth
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
129%
Jan 1, 2015
556
716
34
One goal for 2019:
Sell one painting worth 3k.

Created a painting worth at least 3-6k(in my humble opinion), didn´t sell yet, and many small paintings.
Process is now quite refined and I can replicate it.
I´m going for a portfolio of paintings to be gallery-ready by the end of next year.
 

ZF Lee

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
180%
Jul 27, 2016
2,840
5,113
25
Malaysia
Confession time: I failed.

The book is done, but it is still in the pre-production and the editing process, which unfortunately can take months.

Haha...don't worry. I'm sure lots of us had odds and ends left uncovered as well (myself included)!
Good to know some work on the book was done anyways.

  • Vamp up my freelancing income to reach 5-figures at most, with at least 2 clients giving me steady referrals or recurring work.
  • Get the real Fastlane biz rolling and hopeful get a core customer following (paying, not some email or subs bullshit) or best, break even by year's end. Will still have to take online into account (no matter how much I hate the saturation), but will consider consummables/necessities heavily, in view of the upcoming recession
  • Enforce a daily evening run, around 5-6pm. I don't have weight to lose, but I do need a daily habit of physical exercise.
  • Organise and consolidate my meetups, circle of friends or Fastlane-friendly groups offline this forum into 1 church cell group, 1 general business sharing, 1 business strategy, 1 accounting/finance/insurance, 1 Internet biz. If each group has 7 pax on average, maybe I'd want to provide close-up value and follow-up with the best 2, have close but nominal value-adds to the lower 2 and the rest, I treat them generally. I found that even if you treat everyone fairly, ultimately only a few will prove to be exceptional.

Lots of homework to do....:bored:
How I fared for 2019:
- I hit a potential four-figure freelance gig around March...but as I detailed in my progress thread- it didn't go well because client was not a good fit for me, and my own skillset for freelancing was still shoddy, at best.

- I did get at least 2 recurring clients, but their retention was up to like...2-3 jobs, and I failed to upsell them for higher-paying jobs.

Also, they had numerous issues that dragged the job period and scope, which I'm patching up now with a formal paper trail, as Lex's Udemy course ordered.

LESSON 1#:
So, self-filtering and difficult clients scenerio planning, as well as client retention, should be my areas to mark up on for freelancing in the next months.





-With a less-solid cashflow from freelancing, I was not confident yet to hop into an actual Fastlane business yet. I'll give it a shot on 2020, when I can recoup 2019's learnings on my freelance ventures lol.

I did have some savings I could use...but more of my failings was related to time management, habits and personal life. Some unexpectedly tougher college units sucked time and energy from me as well.

I've detailed smatterings of the issues all over TFLF, can check links below if you'd like.

LESSON 2#:
Take care of everyday habits and personal life, as they will affect how well I do business.
Get Atomic Habits or @458 to buff the habits. :)
For college, try flexibility options like spreading out the degree across more than 4-years or underloading for the sem.




-For my physical run goal, I ended up with a more general goal and practice of doing gym at least 2 times a week, most doing treadmill and swimming. I covered this in @458's habit tracker sheet.

-For meetups, I'm happy with it- I have at least one cell meetup from church's campus ministry, one meetup.com biz sharing group.

I've also signed up for an accountability program with the Men of Valor at church- where I'll meet lots of late 30s-50s men. I went for their briefing, and to discover that they were decent professionals and business people- was very welcome for me.

But the few meetup groups I looked into, that cover finance and IM have turned out to be either introductory or outright scams.



Links to my progress:

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

Rob Tennant

Bronze Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
196%
Dec 29, 2013
55
108
This year I will do the following:

Goal 1. Be a better father and husband.

How: Learn to separate things better. Be home when at home, be at work while at work..Manage time better. Listen better to my wife and kids. Read between lines. Schedule time to do things with kids and date nights etc with wife. Everything I do is for them really, and ironically I have spent more time on other things than with them.

Goal 2. Learn small-cap stock day-trading and become profitable enough to quit my job by end of year. End game is to at least replace my job income (hopefully more) and only spend 2 hours a day in the am trading. Ive tried to start a biz and its just too much with a full-time job and family..If I can get my full time job out of the way, I can devote the time needed to start a biz. End game is to at least replace my job income (hopefully more) and only spend 2 hours a day in the am trading, which frees up enough time to start a business, while paying the bills and getting that stress under control. I know this is possible because I see others doing it, and I know people personally that do it. About a 10% success rate, so my efforts will need to be extraordinary.

How: I'm in a class being educated by a super successful day trader (no, not Tim Sykes). I've identified the areas where the 90% go wrong, and will focus on mastering those massively. I hope to short cut the learning curve significantly as a result. Will trade in sim until consistently profitable for min of 30 days before real $ trading. Ramp up slowly with real $ from there. To make the sim more like real $ so I take it seriously, I've have attached some powerful Whys. Like I will absolutely not get to trade w real $ until I prove I can do this in the sim. If I can't do it in the sim, I surely can't do with real $. The ability to make a full-time location independant living w 2 hours a day is just too appealing to me. I also believe it suits my personality and abilities. Time will tell.

Goal 3. Put on 15 lbs of muscle, with little to no fat. A tall order at 42 years of age..

How: I've talked with Stan Efferding, who is an absolute genius in this area. (He's also a successful entrepreneur). He has provided priceless info and suggestions, all for free..Going to buy his book to thank him (he wouldn't accept any $). I've already gotten the blood test and started to optimize my hormones. I've changed my diet per his recommendations and have already seen improvements. Will do blood re-test soon and adjust from there. Hormonal environment has to be on point to achieve big muscle gains. May need testosterone therapy to achieve those kinds of gains..my current levels are normal-high but will likely need to go higher to achieve 15lbs.

That's it for this year. I wanted to keep things sort of manageable and realistic, while pushing the envelope at the same time. For all goals, I will deploy the relentless persistence approach. Constantly attacking from all sides and new angles, and intelligently adjusting until desired results are achieved. Also, Ive adjusted my morning affirmations to reflect these big 3 goals. This will keep things fresh and keep me focused daily.

Ok, so here are the results of this years goals:

Goal 1: Have definitely made progress in this area, as feedback from the family has been positive. Had to really focus on planning and allowing time for this.

Goal 2: I put a TON of effort into this. This is a very long story, but I ended up pivoting to large cap trading due to small cap being to fast and volatile for me. All said and done, I'm about break even on the year. Which can be considered a win, as most lose $ esp in the first year. This is trading 1-2x per day, using a low frequency sniper-like approach, mainly shorting stock in high probability setups. Had a few weeks where I was up $3-4k, then would promptly give it all back the next week... I've learned more than I thought I would. Every time I thought I had this thing figured out, I would get my a$$ handed to me. This stuff is very very difficult and requires 3-5 years of consistent trading and learning/studying to really be successful. Also, a superhuman amount of patience and discipline is required. Due to family and overall market circumstances, I wrapped this up about 1 month ago. Too risky for me right now, and honestly I dont think its for me. The stress is unreal, especially if you work a full time stressful job. I think if I gave it a full time effort, in another 3 years I could make it work. I think the probability is higher and risk lower in other pursuits for me. My ego and pride wants to go to move forward on this, but I think the smart move is to back off. The irony in trading is its all about probability/edge, and the probability of one becoming a successful trader is about 1% on a good day..Just too many variables for me, target always moving round, wind changing constantly etc. I can answer any questions on my experience if it can help anyone here.

Goal 3: Didn't hit target on this one. May have put on 3-5lbs of muscle, body fat stayed about the same. This goal was sort of took back burner to family and trading goals. Continued to workout, as I really enjoy it, but focus was not on muscle building for the most part.

Going to post 2020 goals in the coming days. Happy holidays to everyone!

Note: If anyone is looking for trading book recommendations, here you go. These really cut the BS, provide TONS of value and give it to you straight.

1. The Art and Science of Technical Trading by Adam Grimes (great free content on youtube and website)
2. Trading in the zone by Mark Douglas (really helps with the mindset and psychology side)
3. One Good Trade by Mike Bellafiore (also has a great youtube channel)
 
Last edited:

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,082
169,504
Utah

Suzanne Bazemore

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
220%
Sep 30, 2018
451
993
Spring, TX

solyom

Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
89%
May 26, 2019
82
73
Europe
Just joined not too long ago... here are my plans for this year:

1. Publish my book (already written, need to do the design, publishing and marketing phases)
2. At least 20 licenses sold of my software (it was non-existent at the beginning of the year, now already sold 2)
3. Increase the percentage of fastlane-type income to over 20% by the end of the year (last year it was 17.8%)

1. Done. Launched it and had my first 2 sales in December.
2. Failed with this one. I didn't feel like it is mature enough to publish it for the grand public yet. However, I am on the right track. Planning to start its public beta in January, then start selling licenses around May 2020.
3. Another fail. Actually it has decreased to 15.5%. However, I have laid down some really good basics to increase it to around 50% this year.
 

TLO

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
344%
Jan 1, 2019
18
62
2019 This is what I wrote.

1. Debt free. Done yesterday as I paid off my home. STILL DEBT FREE
2. Increase profit from 2M to 3M (that is a very large jump in my business, a more realistic increase would be to 2.5M. THIS I ACCOMPLISHED IN GETTING TO 2.5m.
3. Have new facility up an running by July. ACCOMPLISHED AND THIS FACILITY IS LIKELY GOING TO OUTPACE ALL OTHERS PRIOR
4. Continue to build the business to not need me (cogwheel). CONSTANTLY WORKING ON BUT NOT THERE.
5. Listen to Unscripted as many times as I have Fast Lane (at least 10). DONE

2020
1. Body fat to 8-10% Will need 20lb weight loss for this.
2. Purchase RE. Doing a bigger investment 4m so that it can be my income tree with payoff in 8 years with creating 40k income afterwards.
 

G-Man

Cantankerous Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
544%
Jan 13, 2014
1,992
10,837
Not doing yearly goals anymore, but here are the 12 wk goals for the 12 week period that started yesterday:
  • Lose 30 lbs - get back to the diet I was on earlier in the year
  • increase monthly net on my ebay store from 1200 to 5k

I'm going to put this out there because I always appreciate with others are willing to self-disclose failure on here.

Status update :
The weight loss didn't happen. In fact, I gained about 20lbs. I can blame this on the stress of my day job, but ultimately, there's not a little demon that sits on my shoulder and forces me to pick up the damn fork. My boss bought me a very expensive gym membership and called me on January 1st to tell me I need to get my fat *ss to the gym. True story.

Gross sales on ebay for the year came to 29k, which makes the monthly net right at about $900-1k on average. Most of that got spent on a failed Amazon adventure.

I also totalled a car with only liability insurance (because I don't read what the state farm guy sends me), and paid cash for another used car that turned out to be a lemon, and spent a small fortune because a doctor thought my 6 month old had serious neurological issues that turned out to be exactly nothing. A blessing to be sure, but an expensive one.

Overall, 2019 was a pretty rough year. Some things out of my control. Others self inflicted. Can't blame anyone else for getting fat, or totalling a car because you think you can drive after being awake for over 36 hours.

The good:
I have two healthy children and a wife who pretty inexplicably loves and supports me. Had a significant increase in income from my job that mitigated a lot of the other disasters. Closed on a website yesterday for a very small amount because the owner doesn't know how to cold-fulfill product. 2020 is gonna be better.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

guy marshall

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
164%
Sep 2, 2017
22
36
52
yorkshire England
Not a New Year's Resolution thread, but a mere proclamation of what you will accomplish in 2019.

List one thing, or many.

Whatever you resolve to do.

Please keep your proclamation measurable!

Lose weight is not measurable, lose 50 lbs is!
Start a business is not measurable, sell X units is!

This time next year, we will bump this thread and see how things went!

I'll start:

I will release at LEAST one book in 2019, either under the Unscripted nameplate or other.

This might not seem to be a big proclamation, but for me it is. My history shows that I take anywhere from 3 to 5 years to write and publish something. I'd like actually take my writing time down to less than 1 year and time to market in under 6 months.

Also, if you posted in this thread AND have a progress thread, please include and link to it!!

Thank you!
Im Looking to add another 5 quality properties to the portfolio (signed one today so early off the mark)
and really would like to take a step back in my other engineering business to see if can actually run with out me …
 

MetalGear

Gold Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
258%
Jan 24, 2017
605
1,562
Narnia
  • Finish first investment property by February 2019
    • Find, screen, and sign a tenant by March 2019
  • Decide on the SaaS or E-commerce venture by April 2019
    • Launch by September 2019
  • Find a new hobby and develop 4 new friends by June 2019
  • BJJ Blue Belt by December 2019
  • Down to 165lbs @ 12% body fat by December 2019
  • Learn one song on the guitar by December 2019
  • Finish first investment property by February 2019 - done
    • Find, screen, and sign a tenant by March 2019 - done
  • Decide on the SaaS or E-commerce venture by April 2019
    • Launch by September 2019 - distracted by tax abatement battle, fumbled vendor search
  • Find a new hobby and develop 4 new friends by June 2019 - done (group fitness gym)
  • BJJ Blue Belt by December 2019 - slipped disc in December, doing physical therapy, marching forward
  • Down to 165lbs @ 12% body fat by December 2019 - nope, marching forward
  • Learn one song on the guitar by December 2019 - nope, marching forward
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top