What's stopping you?

[JasonR]

What is stopping you, right now, from starting your business?

What is stopping you from making your first sale?

What is stopping you from making the leap?

If you've already started your business, what's stopping you from quitting your job?

What is stopping from doubling your revenues and profits?

I want to know the answers. We can help you. Go.

 

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[JasonR]

Well for me its that I didnt find a "winner" product yet.

I got around 400 sales since I started ecommerce (before on ebay, now starting amazon)


First I sold used stuff ( I sold really quick but it was hard to scale and get more inventory)


Now I am importing goods from china but I've not found a winning product or niche what enables me to scale and grow fast enaugh.

400 sales is a great start. You're doing something. Perhaps, look at it as, you need to import 100 products to find 2-4 winners. From there it's just scale.


If it were me, I would focus on one vertical/market and create/find products for that market. Think about branding it and offering something unique that makes you different than other products. And/or find something you can get an exclusive deal on importing/creating.

My low starting funds (20$) and i'm still thinking about many things. Particularly how my age will come into play with starting a business.Or if it won't stop me at all.I have a great mind for ideas but my mind is still in the money chasing stage.Currently trying to over come that.


What is stopping you from making your first sale?


While i'm not in a business i'm working on selling.Nothing is really stopping me,I'm just plowing through all the issues and i feel overall confident i can make sales.

When I started my business I moved home at 28 years old so I could spend more on the business. I also had a job, in order to make money to cover my a$$ and put all of my excess funds into the business. This proved to be a turning point for me.


Your age has nothing to do with your success, other than the earlier you start the better. You will make mistakes. Learn from them. If I had the option I would go back and start younger, because you need all the experience you can get.

So the question really is whether I can create a brand out of a generic product that is already being manufactured or go create a better version of it. Like toilet paper, for example. Would you rather build your brand around a generic (but good quality) toilet paper that is already being manufactured or would you go out to manufacture a better version of the generic toilet paper (with aloe vera perhaps) and then go out and brand that instead?


Deeper problem(s): I don't really believe in myself enough. Theres this voice in my head that keeps telling me to go back to my corporate job which I held for 4 years right after college. I left after I have saved enough money from my job for 4 years (about 80k saved) and made an additional $30k in the stock market which I cashed out. However, I have been living off the savings for a year now just traveling and exploring business ideas.


Doubt is constantly on my mind. I know I won't be able to stand going back to a corporate job, but my mind is telling me I'm being a bitch and to just suck it up like everybody else. Take the job.


The best solution I have at the moment is to take up a part time bartending job so that it pays for my living expenses which is about $2k/month. This way I would be less stressed about eating away at my savings while I work on my business. Thoughts? I dont have any bartending experience and don't even drink BUT I'm willing to learn, be a barhelp if necessary at the beginning, and I also live in NYC metro which should be good for these types of jobs

Oh man, great questions!


Ideally, you would want to create a product with a twist - such as the aloe vera toilet paper (does this exist, lol?). IMHO the best products are products that already sell with a unique twist. That being said, much money has been made selling the same products everyone else does - but - there is definitely way more value in bringing something unique to the market. If you just need to make sales to start, doing something simple where you can get sales under your belt, THEN work on formulating your twist.


Sounds like you had a high paying corporate job - we call those golden handcuffs. Good on you for quitting and traveling. That's experience most people never get to have, and is a great way to generate new business ideas. I routinely see things selling in Bali, Thailand, etc. that could be turned into an online business. Hell, I know a few people doing just that. When you're on the ground in those countries you have a significant advantage, as many of the locals don't know online business and don't trust people outside of their world of cash only, local deals. You need to build trust with these people in person, first.


Here is how I would look at your situation. I would figure out how much time you can live off of your savings - 6 months, 12 months, etc. For those 6-12 months, you grind it out and eat, breathe, sleep business. Focus on sales. You will find something to produce an income. If the worst happens, you can fall back on that job. Also, I would consider getting the hell out of NYC. Your money goes much further in other parts of the country (and the world) - and you'll live nicer.


As for your belief in yourself - you just need to work on your core confidence - and your belief system. If you dedicate yourself to business, you WILL make it. Look up some NLP. Look yourself in the mirror in the morning and tell yourself "I love you, you kick a$$, and you will succeed." Then smile. No really, it works.

At a first glance, I would say I have no ideas. I have no idea who I want to help. At a deeper level, it's the mindset I have developed that I have nothing of value to give to anyone and that I am not a person of value or substance.

This is a mindset problem. You've obviously helped people here. If I were you, I'd think about going to any successful business owners and offer to help them for free. Then pick their brains a bit. Or even go buy them lunch and pick their brains. Most people won't refuse a free lunch, and you're likely to find a good mentor.

Being uncertain if it's worth the effort in my current business. They say it takes the same amount of effort to make $10,000 a year as it takes to make a million. Is it true?


You have two choices:


A. Stay in a business that's unlikely to grow past a certain point (comfortable, but not mind-blowing, something around $15k/month). I can double my revenue/profits, but after reaching $15k it will be highly unlikely based on the top earners in the industry. The advantage here is that it's relatively safe and it's already working for you.


B. Start a new, unrelated business with more potential where the top earners reach 6-7 figures a month. The potential for doubling revenue/profits here is virtually unlimited when compared to option A, but you have to start from scratch and won't use many of the skills you had to master for your current business.


What do you pick?

No, I don't think thats true in terms of effort. Making a million bucks is hard, much harder than making $10k. However, making that $1m is much easier when you do find a NEED that's can scale without you. Then it's usually a matter of time and hard work to scale from $10k to $1m. It still isn't easy.


I would pick option B, every time. I, personally, would never go into a business that tops out at $15k a month. You're limiting yourself right off the bat. What I would do, if I was in a business like business A, is work on automating that to a point, get someone else to run it, and then work on a NEW business while using the income of the old business.

Lack of product. Waiting for responses from Private Labelers about costs for branded products and current name brands about B2B wholesaling opportunities. The former are slow to respond and frustrating. The latter are reviewing my business model and well...big corporations that don't move fast.

I would be pounding the phones and their emails to get them moving. When you're a little guy, you often get glossed over for the bigger accounts. Be the NOISY guy that won't go away until you get an answer and product in your hands. If they don't move fast enough, move on to the next supplier. Seriously, pick up the phone and email EVERYDAY until they get you what you need.

I need to figure out something to execute on.


I've been trying to pick a direction for eternity.


Yeah, I recognize that my current state of indecisiveness is my biggest issue.


I'm a coder by day and an not cut out to sit in this box for the remainder of my days but this seems to be the path I'm currently on.


Fire away, I can take it.

Lack of direction is a problem for many new entrepreneurs. It certainly was for me. I didn't have any success until I picked a direction and told myself: This is what I'm doing for the next YEAR.


As a coder, I'm guessing you may now know how to get customers. I would start to shift your mindset from building something (such as an ecommerce site or an app which you certainly know how to do) to MARKETING. Buy a course on adwords, facebook and email marketing. You NEED to know how to sell as an entrepreneur.

An idea I truly believe in, the rest is easy.

The rest is not easy. Ideas are nothing without proper execution. There are plenty ways of making money out there. Do you think your belief of having this amazing "idea" is a self limiting belief stopping you from starting anything?


Start anything. Who cares if you fail. Just fail forward. There is no learning without failure.

What's stopping me.


I cant get myself to sit down at my computer and actually focus on a task and get it done.


I have 0 motivation. The only thing I want to do is escape reality because I hate my life.


For example, One big task I need to do is make a sales page, I already have optimizepress, have some copy skills, alls I have to do is literally just sit down and get the landing page created, shouldnt take more than 2-5 hours because I have to learn how to create the page with optimizepress at the same time. It doesnt have to be perfect, just has to get done.


Then write a sales letter, before I can do this I have to come up with all the benefits of my product, which I havent done either because again, I cant get myself to focus on it and THINK of all the benefits.


So many thoughts in my head, I cant focus, I cant organize the thoughts and ideas in my head.


I find myself googling "how to get more concentration and focus" than anything else.

Thank you for the honesty. It takes balls to put this out into words on the internet. Ask yourself what do you hate about your life? How do you change it? For me, when I MOVED, the first time, I became happier and more successful. When I moved out of the country, the same thing happened. Change something. Change everything.


As for focus and concentration, you may want to get yourself checked to see if you have ADD. I have it. A lot of high functioning, successful entrepreneurs have it. You're not alone my friend.

I want to scale my current efforts. I'm sick of making an hourly wage and churning out deliverables to people.


The money is decent for the amount of time I put into it (I live a 4-hour work week life and can pay my bills), but there are a few things that are keeping me from scaling:


1) People. I need employees in order to scale this. Those employees would be critical to doing so, and if they screw up, I'd be F*cked for cash flow and goodwill with clients. This work is highly dependent on reputation and the only reason I'm still getting work is because my clients like me.


2) Time. The reason I work 4-10 hours a week is because I only really have ~20 hours a week to spare between a 24-credit school semester, normal 'life' shit (errands, cooking, commuting, gym) and keeping my relationships (long term GF, the 3 friends that I have, family) intact. I love leisure time, though, and that's really hard to give up. I'm shit at time management (although I'm better than I was a month ago, or a year ago, which is good). Scaling my efforts will be a large upfront time commitment (setting up more advanced lead generation, hiring/managing/training people, organizing it all).


Worst part is, I could never fully remove myself from it (the 'agency' model) without sacrificing important control. So I'd be creating myself a manager-type job, in a way.


So here are my options:


1) Do it anyway, or


2) Start something new on top of what I already have, slowly phasing out my current job. Could be e-commerce, could be some other sort of service, could be one of the infoproducts I had in mind. This is another large upfront time commitment, although some options are less time upfront than others.


3) Do nothing and continue to complain


I'm done with school forever in April and after that, time no longer becomes a limiting factor. But I want to do it now. I'm sick of waiting for the perfect moment to strike, cuz there is none.

Insightful post. Taking a step back, I would ask yourself if this business is the business you SHOULD be in. It doesn't sound very scalable, nor does it seem you can remove yourself from the business and have it still run. The best types of businesses run WITHOUT you with good SOPs and good people/systems in place. I worked 15 hours on my business last month and had one of my best months.


The other thing I'm noticing is you're spreading your time to thin. Something has to give. I would wait until school is finished to go hard at something. Move if you have a commute, because that's a time suck as well. If your friends are conducive to business (ex they complain about their jobs and are stuck in the slow lane) consider finding a new circle of friends. I'm not saying cut them off, but spend less time with them. My world changed when I started to surround myself with like-minded entrepreneurs, and I became a happier and WAY more successful person.

Little to no capital after bills are paid.


No idea what to do.


I actually have several hours a day to work on something. Just no direction.

To me it sounds like you don't have enough TIME either. Cut your bills, cut whatever it is that's digging into your TIME. When I worked a 9-5, I would make calls and work on my businesses at my breaks. I would work on my business at my down time at work. My boss was well aware I was starting something, BUT I didn't care if I got fired. I wanted it THAT bad.


Cut your expenditures and anything sucking up your time. It's time to start making some sacrifices.

Fear.

Honestly, it's the fear than anything I do will come off as a desperate attempt to make money.

Fear...ah the motivational driver that stops us from doing anything. Did you ever realize Fear is imaginary? It's all made up in your head. If you fail, what are 'they' going to do? Take your birthday away? Are you going to DIE? If someone thinks "oh that guy is just trying to make money" - why do YOU care? We are ALL trying to make money. And that's OK. Making money off the value you deliver (as MJ does off of this book and this forum) is a GOOD thing.


There is a safety net beneath your feet - you just can't see it. It's OK to fail. Believe in yourself, and take a leap of faith. Hell, I'd love to hear what business you started, or what product you attempted to sell, and failed. I can relate. Send me your failure stories!

Analysis paralysis.


I'm trying to decide on what to start and I keep going in circles. I know I want it to be in the e-commerce realm but then I keep researching different things, going down some research wormhole, getting new ideas after further research, blah.

I suffered from the same thing too. Try thinking what value can you offer a MARKET. Look at a specific market and create a product or service around that market. For example, look at the survival "niche" (it's a huge niche). I can think of dozens of things a particular survival person might want. When I started thinking about markets instead of products my mindset shifted.


Then, just get out there and start testing your ideas in the REAL market. Stop asking friends and family what they think because THEY DON'T KNOW. Only the market has your answers.

 

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[JasonR]

Apparently there is a post limit of 20,000 characters so I had to split my reply into two.

I sell on Amazon and the biggest thing that is killing me right now is the fact that sales will never ever become consistent and completely passive for my products. It goes something like this...


1. products sell well

2. I take earnings and reinvest in more products with the same strategy

3. original products that were selling well stop selling well

4. I tweak and trouble shoot for a week to try and figure out what the problem is

5. 50/50 on whether I can revive my products

6. repeat


This is extremely frustrating for myself and other sellers I'm sure. I don't feel any more financially secure than a person with a 9 to 5 because of the inconsistency. The earnings are cancelled out by inventory that is not moving so I'm pretty much living on the edge. The above makes it extremely hard to scale without taking a huge financial risk.

Hmm..I sell on Amazon as well and don't find this to be the case. You need to figure out whats happening to your products and the market. The thing with Amazon is that if you introduce a product that has any sort of demand, you will sell. If it's a "dud" product discount the inventory and move it.


You absolutely can quit your job with an "Amazon" business - and I know many people who have done. However, there is risk of being JUST on Amazon. As I said before, focus on a MARKET and bring those products on Amazon - then transition to your own website sales so you can start building a business that's not dependent on Amazon.


Scaling on Amazon is generally not hard (although time consuming and cash intensive). A model many people follow is 10 sales a day per product, and at LEAST $20/SALE, then scale that until you hit your revenue goals.


If your products are tanking due to bad reviews - you need to fix that first. Hard to say without looking at your products/business but your problem IS fixable.

Fear of cold calling.

Go to your best friend and give him a $500 check. If you don't make 25 cold calls that week, he cashes that check.

Unsure on how I should/can improve the product that I want to import. This product has a huge market, and current sellers have ranging qualities of the product. The best of which I'd like to make another improvement on but I don't know what it should be. Whether it be the total design, materials used, or just different color's designs on it. I am more than likely just decide on one thing and just make the order. I'll never know what the right improvement is without doing the wrong one. Hoping to have the first product line be perfect is pretty foolish now that I think of it.

Differentiating on product color alone is not going to do it. Decide on ONE improvement that's the BEST improvement you can think of, and just launch it. Launch it quick with as little capital as possible and go test it in the market. If it works, rinse and repeat and sell as many as you can, while improving on the current products and launch a new one.


Perfectionism is the entrepreneur killer. How do I know? I used to be one. When I focused on getting the product 80% of the way there, instead of perfect, I became much more successful.


Ever heard of FIDIL? F*ck it, do it live. Words I live by...let the market be your guide.

 

[JasonR]

My worries:

- I read about all the rockstar like stories. People goin' from zero to hero within 3-7 years while failing a lot. Will I just be another "failure"?
-I'm already 24 (soon 25). I'm asking if I started too late... If I would turn 24 next month everything would be fine.
-One moment I'm sure I have a good idea and my head starts spinning how it can be executed: supply, freight, selling via Amz, facebook marketing and so on. And then I think: What ....

I read your entire post - what jumps out to me is that your are in analysis paralysis. You are researching and over analyzing that prevents you from jumping in and doing something.

Start actually doing something THIS WEEK. Even if you fail. Expect to fail. You will learn more from a single failure then reading 100 articles or forum posts.

Want to do ecommerce? Choose a product, import it, and sell it. You have many, many years to succeed. Failure is part of the process. Don't you think you should start failing sooner than later?

How do I create 3d drawings of products I can visualise in my head, but suck at putting down on paper/digital?
How do I get prototypes created from scratch?
How do I find manufacturers I can trust and afford?
Do I need to patent my ideas? Do I need a patent in all markets I plan to sell in?
Do I need to register a brand name trademark in every country I plan to sell in?
How do I create a kickass brand from nothing?

These are all things that stop MOST people. Stop worrying about them, and start tackling them one by one.

Check out the infamous Paint Brush Cover thread @Likwid24 posted. He outlines the entire PROCESS from going from $0, to Shark Tank, to millions in sales. He dove head first and tackled all of the issues listed, one by one. More importantly, he chose to deal with those issues instead of "researching" and over analyzing before he started.

Funny this thread popped up in the main feed when it did. I've been pondering this myself - I've consumed tons of info, made tons of plans, but made no actual action. Is it fear of failure? General overwhelm? I have no idea, but I'm sick of it. Just ordered a small batch of the item I've been planning on reselling for literally over two months now, and will commence my first real foray into ecommerce when it arrives. I also need to stop dicking around with my website, waiting for it to look just right, and just be willing to start small and simple.

Step 1 of my plan is reality as of the end of last week - I've taken a sizable paycut, but my commute is getting drastically reduced starting a week from Monday, and I'll be freeing up a lot of time to focus on taking action on my ideas.

You're on the right track. You're likely afraid to fail. You are still in "wait" mode - not sure about what you're doing. I can see it in your language.

Instead of saying "I've been planning on Reselling" start saying "I AM selling XYZ." Instead of saying "I need to stop dicking around with my website," tell yourself "I sell XYZ on my website right NOW." It's a subtle difference, but it will change your internal thoughts and beliefs.

What's stopping me?
Social anxiety & introvertism, lack of purpose / passion, self-criticism, mysteries of creating value.
I'd like to help people, but I don't feel I have anything to give. I've always been kind of an outsider, so I don't even know what "normal" people usually do or like. I'm soon 38 years old and I still don't know what to do when I grow up.

You can't help others until you help yourself first. As for your living situation, have you considered moving somewhere that will be more beneficial to your goals? Sounds like that may be the spark you need...

Be REAL interesting to poll regular posters on this forum as to who exactly has an independent stream of income that is currently ticking over and making money while they sit at home on their a$$ doing nothing.

Well, I'm back. I need to find ideas for another stream(s) of income. I was involved in the IT sector years ago, and there are several ideas kicking around my head at present.

There are many regular time posters here that are multi millionaires, and have income "ticking over" as you describe. Some of the smartest people I know find a way to make very substantial incomes and also create tie for themselves. Don't fool yourself into thinking highly successful people can't make time to post on a forum.

What happened? What are you looking for on here? What happened to your business? Can you share that would us? It may be a very good lesson to those who are reading.

Mainly, I'm not comfortable where I'm at. I live with a major pain, who is manipulating me into working a "Full-time job" on fear of never talking to this part of my family again.

Remove yourself from the situation. Move. Move across the country. Move to ANOTHER country. Do whatever it takes to get out of that situation.

A funny thing happens when you push past your comfort zone and completely change your surroundings. Every time I've done this, I've become more successful. Look at MJ, @biophase @AndrewNC @TheTruth @K.Y. @AllenCrawley - and many others I'm surely missing.

I got on this forum and made so many awesome friends who are supportive of my idea, and I get inspired by theirs as well. This is probably the one of the biggest pros since most of my regular friends think I'm crazy for not looking for a better paying job like they are once in a while.

You're on the right track. My circle of close friends is 100% different than they were 3 years ago. The forum was a catalyst for the change - mostly the first Fastlane Summit / B&P I've attended. We're all pulling for you.

I'm 31. I started this journey at 25 and had my first real success at 28. You're always going to wish you started younger. But guess what...if you dont' start NOW, that time is going to pass anyway.

So, currently I've earned ZERO money on my ideas. I think for the following reasons:
- Lack of a good business model with some ideas
- No starting capital
- So many ideas... But never completing one
- Focussing on 2 things at once: graduating and creating a business

What I need to do to achieve my goal:
- Earn at least 1000/month starting in 2 months so I can pay my rent and buy some food
- Having a first sale
- Focus on 1 idea

What can I do? What am I doing wrong? I hope you have any suggestions and can help me get out of this stuck situation!

You're not stuck - you're just in the starting position. Let's see if I can help.

First, focus on Graduating. You've set yourself on that path, and it will do you little good to split your focus now. In your spare time read everything you can about entrepreneurship and marketing (heavy emphasis on the marketing after books like The Millionaire Fastlane ).

Second, start listening around you. Start listening to people's complaints, what people want, what people are buying.

Don't become obsessed with trying to come up with some new invention or new service no one has heard of. Start looking at MARKETs. Start thinking of products, ideas and services that are a NEED in the market place.

When you graduate, if you can't afford to put food on the table, get a JOB if you have to. If you have a marketable skill or service, then freelance. Don't freeload with your parents - this will just delay your growth.

You can do it. We are living proof that the Fastlane path is very real and attainable.

 

[LateStarter]

I see a couple of posts here talking about fear. I have to ask...really with all sincerity...

What are you afraid of?

I'm not just saying that to challenge you; I genuinely want to know! I'm very fortunate right now in my life. I don't have that fear with my business. So let me see if I can help you out.

Fear of coming off looking desperate to make money @dmitriyb

This fear is because you're looking at customers from a position of scarcity. There are TONS of customers out there. Even if you look desperate and scare them off that's ok. No, really it is! You're honing your skills and working on learning how to make a pitch. These customers are giving you FREE instruction! When was the last time you got a free education? Take it!

We are all getting sold to every, single day. You hate watching commercials, right? You know why? People hate being sold to! What about telemarketers? Do you like talking to them? No! Because people hate being sold to! What about pop-ups and banner ads? Yeah! I LOVE those! Really?! NO! I F*cking hate that shit!!! But you know what? As consumers we're used to it. We accept it as a part of modern life. Most offers suck balls! But you know what? We don't give it a second thought ...and neither should you when you're on the other side of the pitch!

Still not confident? Check the value proposition of your offer and strengthen it. Remove the obstacles between you and the customers ability to say "Yes". Make it an easy decision for them and let your offer sell itself. Don't 'push' your offer, just 'present' it.

Not everyone is going to want your offer and that's ok. Ever hear of the saying "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink"? The same is true for customers. Just remember that even if they're not your current customers doesn't mean that they can't be your 'future' customers. So even if you completely F*ck it up you can make your pitch again later and STILL get their business!

Fear of Cold Calling @Sebastya

Lemme guess...you're an introvert, right? A lot of the same rules above apply so makes sure you read those first. Did that already? Good because there are two key principles to cold calling as an introvert that you need to know. Are you ready for them? Ok..here they are.

The first and easiest thing you need to do as an introvert is to smile when you're talking on the phone. Believe it or not you can hear someone smiling when they're on the phone and smiling will make the other person drop their guard. They'll let go of their natural apprehensions and defences and be more open and accepting of what you have to say. Pretty easy thing to do right? Good because here comes the hard part.

Introverts hate the spotlight. That's not secret. But who normally takes the spotlight? Extroverts...duh! Not exactly what I was going for... but ok. And why do they take the spotlight? Because they feel like they have something to say! Something that's interesting and important. Introverts are the opposite. We don't feel worthy of the spotlight or of someone's time. And there is the biggest fundamental flaw that we introverts need to get over mentally. Stop looking at yourself as a nuisance to the person on the other end of that call. You have something worthy to say and the person on the other end of that phone call needs to hear it!

Believe that your call is going to make someone's day! It doesn't matter if it's because you spoke kindly to the receptionist or because your offer was the best one the Office Manager has heard in the past 6 months. You are going to make someone smile today and they're going to be glad that they talked to you!

But rejection sucks. How do you deal with that? Simple. Your job as an entrepreneur is not to worry about how many people say no to you and hang up. Your goal is not to get everyone to say yes. That's a far too ambitious goal. Your job is to start increasing the number of potential customers that will actually say yes.

On Day 1 expect that everyone will say no to you. You're green with a new offer that's not exactly polished and you're still finding your way. It's going to be a disaster. It's inevitable. After a few days practice your confidence will build and maybe a week from now you'll get one person interested enough to hear your whole pitch! ...and then they'll say no. But one day someone will say yes! It'll be a monumental day for you! Now build on that. Aim for one less rejection every day. Iterate, refine and strengthen your pitch and your skills. Keep moving forward.

Let go of fear by stopping the stories in your head!

 

[JasonR]

Holy crap - I didn't expect so many responses. I'm working on replying to all of you.

 

[100k]

At a first glance, I would say I have no ideas. I have no idea who I want to help. At a deeper level, it's the mindset I have developed that I have nothing of value to give to anyone and that I am not a person of value or substance.

You don't need ideas. You need problems. Go out and engage with people and businesses, find out what problems they have and once you know their true problems, you can start thinking of ways to solve those problems through a product/app/software/ebook/video course/membership site/network site etc.

http://mixergy.com/listen-to-dane-m...ar-how-he-extracts-a-profitable-business-idea

http://www.geordiewardman.com/post/59670553151/email-copy-for-idea-extraction

 

[JasonR]

Wish I could say something other than "me." I don't know what my problem is. I feel like I'm making progress, just slower than molasses. I have a lot of mindset issues to figure out but I can't find most of the "leaks" on my own. Two of the main things are lack of confidence and laziness. Ugh, I hate myself sometimes.

If you have a desire to change yourself, I would suggest taking an intro to NLP course. I think it's NLP.com - they do them all around the country. I think it's like $99 or something, and it just might be completely life changing for you.

They will upsell you on some very high ticket courses, which you can just say no too.

Half of the aspiring entrepreneur problems are mindset issues. Your business wont' grow unless you grow as a person.

Not enough referrals and repeat business, yet.

But we're only 7 months in, so I'm not worried.

We close new clients almost every week and most of them buy enough for 12 months.

Looking forward to receive reorders in 2016

Seem like you got it figured out.

Have you tried asking your customers/clients for referrals or incentivizing them to do so?

Thanks @JasonR for this thread. People like you are the reason I bought the INSIDERS subscription.

For me it's the lack of self-confidence. Ever since I've been a small child I was told how important it is to get a "proper job". Well, that's exactly what I did. My current job makes me around $100k a year, however I really F*cking hate it.

For some reason it seems that I can't get rid of what I have been taught, i.e. on a subconscious level. Whenever I think about businesses that little voice in my head is keep telling me to stick to my job.

Who knows, I might just have to stop being a pussy....

Golden Handcuffs man. Now that I've traveled the world a little bit, I would rather make $35k a year and be free of an office/cubicle/corporate wheelhouse. I'd rather build my own business while eating peanuts then help someone build his.

That being said, doesn't mean you can't start while you're making a good income. Money is not an excuse for you.

Self-confidence is something that build through time, particularly with business. It's that ever "afraid of failure" sort of thing. And that's ok. Feel the fear, and do it anyways.

Proper jobs are bullshit.

So, I'm pretty careful who I surround myself with. A 24 year old kit hit me up, and told me he quit his job, moved from the UK to Bali to start his business (he happened to be love surfing). Now he's living in my Villa and we're both building businesses. Was he scared? Yah. He did it anyway. If he fails...so what? He'll try again, until he gets it right.

Also, stop calling yourself a pussy.

I'm in the same boat as you @domi99, over 100k a year, in a good position, I'm literally sitting in the control tower barking orders at people haha but, I F*cking hate it. Something inside me is burning to get out but I do not know exactly how to execute it.

I have a patent pending on a safety enhancing item I dreamt up to apply to the industry I work in and many others, but I literally just started aiming at a patent yesterday, so no word back yet clearly as its a weekend.

There you go. You hate it. Use that as fuel to launch your product and business. As humans, there are only things that motivate us, moving towards pleasure or moving away from pain. You're moving away from your job...what's your move towards?

Have you heard of a provisional patent? Read Stephen Key's One Simple Idea. You can get one in probably 1-3 months and get your product in the open market pretty quick. It's the way to go IMHO

Opportunity cost. I quit my job but am being pulled back to a previous competitor with an offer of good money. Having a hard time saying no...Just started a thread about it on the inside.

If a competitor wants you that badly, wouldn't you think they may have reason to be scared of you?

I realize that probably sounds like an excuse, but western PA is cold, depressing, where I live is completely in the middle of nowhere. I live about 45 minutes north of Pittsburgh and while I could go there just about any time I need to, and I love the Burgh, it's not where I ultimately want to be. I want to be out west in Arizona or California. I'm much more motivated being around other successful people and in better weather.


I also find myself constantly stressing myself out because I feel like I should've achieved a ton and be driving a Lambo and flashing my Amex Centurion at nightclubs. I have always pushed myself, but I feel now more than ever that I should be going full-blast to achieve as fast as possible to enjoy my money while I'm still young. Argh.

As we speak, I am looking at opportunities in the direct-marketing space and I'm also toying with the idea at making a serious run at affiliate marketing (however I want to build something which I can eventually sell).

Dude! Get out. If you're unhappy where you live, them move. Who cares what everyone else says?

Don't beat yourself up man. You've TRIED a lot of things, and been successful with a few, albeit small things. This is where success starts. With trial and error. Don't beat yourself up.

Did you ever think you were putting too much pressure on yourself? As humans, we're wired to think of things as EVENT. Like..getting rich is an EVENT. It's not, it's a process. For most, it takes 5, 10, 15 YEARS of hard work and constant trial and error. Stop putting so much pressure on yourself. Start delighting in the things you've accomplished

The great thing about the internet - that's changed EVERYTHING -is that you can build business AND have freedom at the same time.

This forum tends to shit on Affiliate marketers, but I know a handful of VERY successful people who started with AM. It's a great gateway drug to online business. It's F*cking hard though, so be prepared.

Whatever you choose to do, focus on ONE thing.

It will happen and I will be responsible for it.

This...so much this. This is a winning attitude.

Fear.
As you said, fear is imaginary.

Fear is only as real as you make it.

The funny thing is, the more times you attempt the thing that you fear, the less scary it becomes.

 

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[The-J]

I want to scale my current efforts. I'm sick of making an hourly wage and churning out deliverables to people.

The money is decent for the amount of time I put into it (I live a 4-hour work week life and can pay my bills), but there are a few things that are keeping me from scaling:

1) People. I need employees in order to scale this. Those employees would be critical to doing so, and if they screw up, I'd be F*cked for cash flow and goodwill with clients. This work is highly dependent on reputation and the only reason I'm still getting work is because my clients like me.

2) Time. The reason I work 4-10 hours a week is because I only really have ~20 hours a week to spare between a 24-credit school semester, normal 'life' shit (errands, cooking, commuting, gym) and keeping my relationships (long term GF, the 3 friends that I have, family) intact. I love leisure time, though, and that's really hard to give up. I'm shit at time management (although I'm better than I was a month ago, or a year ago, which is good). Scaling my efforts will be a large upfront time commitment (setting up more advanced lead generation, hiring/managing/training people, organizing it all).

Worst part is, I could never fully remove myself from it (the 'agency' model) without sacrificing important control. So I'd be creating myself a manager-type job, in a way.

So here are my options:

1) Do it anyway, or

2) Start something new on top of what I already have, slowly phasing out my current job. Could be e-commerce, could be some other sort of service, could be one of the infoproducts I had in mind. This is another large upfront time commitment, although some options are less time upfront than others.

3) Do nothing and continue to complain

I'm done with school forever in April and after that, time no longer becomes a limiting factor. But I want to do it now. I'm sick of waiting for the perfect moment to strike, cuz there is none.

 

[JasonR]

Hi Jason, Thank you for the time and the wisdom you're putting into this thread.
What ways/methods/books/sites/resources would you "use" to learn and master marketing in the most rapid and efficient way?
I'm currently reading the books of the Gary Halbert Copywriting Challenge, do you think this one is OK or there is a better way to learn it?

Honestly, you have to dig in and get your hands dirty. Start selling something...anything. That's the fastest way to learn.
As far as resources - it depends on where you're trying to sell first. Google/bing? Facebook? Amazon?

Copywriting will definitely help you sell. I have a copy of Cashvertising I refer to often. Breakthrough Advertising is also good.

But nothing beats experience and testing your skills in the open market. When I started out, I had $600 extra cash per month to spend...so I spent it on advertising and learning what works and doesn't work, and building landing pages and writing copy to sell my product. Best $600/month I ever spent.

Web sales are new to me, so I'm trying to overcome how best to market, trying new things, strategy and general reach however am confident when I over come that things will pick up with a big amount of opportunity moving forwards.

I'll try to help here. If you're new to web sales, start by mastering ONE channel first. Ex: Facebook or Google PPC. Those are also the easiest to convert. Spend all your time/money on ONE channel until you start seeing results. If you could be a little more specific I can help you more.

Thanks @JasonR for putting time and effort in this thread.

For me, there are a few stopping points.

First, I don't have the right business idea to execute.
I've beginning to write two books, but never published or even finished them.
Than, I was thinking about renting out magic cards (https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/rent-your-mtg-cards.59823/) which I've never started, because the idea was not feasible after I've talked to some guys in the german Magic community.

Right now, I've started buying (and not yet) selling Magic cards to earn some starting money for future enterprises.

Second, I'm kinda uncomfortable about the business topic with my girlfriend. She is a typical Slowlaner, thinking working in a job is the right way. We have never talked about this fastlane stuff and the mindset.

Third, and I think most important, I'm a litte bit lazy and get distracted easily, esp. in watching TV, I always find something to watch.

Right now, I'm unemployed and earning unemployment benefit, so I'm in the situation, that I have a lot of free time. That's obviously something I want to change, but this means, I don't have the pressure, that I have to do something to pay my bills.

Man, you said it all yourself. You're on unemployment and you're being lazy. Come on man! Wake up. Cancel your netflix subscription, giveaway your TV, and go buy a couple marketing books.

You have the WHOLE WORLD of knowledge at your fingertips. As Mark Cuban said in his book, the knowledge to do ANYTHING is out there. All you have to do is reach out and grab it. Cuban would sit in his room every night combing over software manuals, so he would know them better and sell them to his clients. The rest is history...

I would tell your girlfriend your goals and dreams right away. Whenever I'm dating someone new, and its starting to get more serious, I tell them right up what my life is going to look like and my goals. For me, my business, travel and life goals are more important than finding any relationship. I want the right relationship, and the right girl will fit in line with my goals an dreams. I'm not going to mold my life to her (nor should she mold hers to mine) - but it should be as equals. A little give and take on both parts, neither should compromise on their dreams and goals.

There's a tendency to focus on small menial tasks and ignore key priorities, answering emails instead of creating something that drives client growth.

Have you read the book "The One thing" ? Yeah, its a bit slow, but now, every day, I start off with "what is the ONE thing" I can do today that will make everything easier? What is the MOST VALUABLE use of my time today? I then do that task and put off all others until that one thing is done.

If you can, delegate the rest and focus on the ONE THING that will move your business to new levels.

What's the worst that could happen? I get there and end up living in my car/couchsurfing for a week or 2? I can deal with that.

They can't take your birthday away. You'll be fine.

The problem I have is... I am stuck at the first step. How do I help someone when I don't have much experience? My goal is to build a business around helping small business owners attract more customers, bring in more sales, there will always be a need for that. But I don't know how to actually do that, not sure if any older business owner is going to trust a 21 old guy on how to grow their business. Should I teach them how to build funnels, how to develop a community, how to set up a lead generation system. I am just not sure which path to choose because I don't have any real world experience.

No, you shouldn't do this. If you don't know how to drive sales yourself this is the wrong path. You're right, no one would hire you because you don't know what your'e doing. My suggestion would be to start a product based business and get some sales and experience under your belt. I love product based business.

If you start a business in the US, can Canada do anything about that? I don't see how they could possibly regulate that...

Now I'm really lost... I had business cards printed with my logo, design, name, email, phone, blah blah blah. Distributed them around town. Not one email, or phone call. I get page views on my business page for facebook, but not a single appointment made. Obviously, I'm doing something wrong here. I can afford to cut the prices a little bit, but I'd prefer to show people that this price is worth every penny. I'm really at a loss here, because I have zero idea of what I'm doing wrong.

Have you read The Millionaire Fastlane ? You made all of the classic mistakes of starting a business. Detailing cars breaks MJ"s "CENTS" model. Need, entry, control, scale and time. A car detailing business, such as yours, breaks entry, scale and time. My advice, find a different business that can run without you with a bigger barrier of entry. Perhaps there's a B2B concerning car detailing businesses. Perhaps, you need to look elsewhere.

 

[The Grind]

What's stopping me.

I cant get myself to sit down at my computer and actually focus on a task and get it done.

I have 0 motivation. The only thing I want to do is escape reality because I hate my life.

For example, One big task I need to do is make a sales page, I already have optimizepress, have some copy skills, alls I have to do is literally just sit down and get the landing page created, shouldnt take more than 2-5 hours because I have to learn how to create the page with optimizepress at the same time. It doesnt have to be perfect, just has to get done.

Then write a sales letter, before I can do this I have to come up with all the benefits of my product, which I havent done either because again, I cant get myself to focus on it and THINK of all the benefits.

So many thoughts in my head, I cant focus, I cant organize the thoughts and ideas in my head.

I find myself googling "how to get more concentration and focus" than anything else.

 

[4x4ord]

Reading this thread is resonating with me so much because for at least 10 years I had wanted to start a business, but had every reason under the sun not to; not enough money, not enough time, not a good enough idea, no product, not enough experience, not enough expertise, etc. I'm not faulting anyone, because this was me.

I just want to yell at my computer screen, Do SOMETHING! Do one small thing every day. Want to start an ecom business, go to your closet, get a pair of pants and put them on ebay! Will you make a windfall profit? Probably not, will what you learn be more valuable than the pants, for sure! Next, buy 5 of something, anything; spatulas, candles, dog toys ... anything! List and sell them on Amazon. Will you make a profit? Probably not. Will you learn from it, heck ya!

My whole point is, there is never going to be a perfect time, perfect place, right situation, extra money to blow, message from God or opportunity that falls in your lap. You have to take one step at a time, no matter how small. Then just keep taking steps, every single day. I haven't "made it", but I'm miles beyond where I thought I'd be when I was making excuses not to start.

Anyhow, now that my rant is done, my next step is leaving my job. My target is $4k profit per month, that gives me $2k to cover the mortgage and eat, and $2k for business growth. My goal is to hit that in 6 months. I've got a lot of unknowns to get there, but it's all about small steps.

 

[MTF]

What is stopping [you] from doubling your revenues and profits?

Being uncertain if it's worth the effort in my current business. They say it takes the same amount of effort to make $10,000 a year as it takes to make a million. Is it true?

You have two choices:

A. Stay in a business that's unlikely to grow past a certain point (comfortable, but not mind-blowing, something around $15k/month). I can double my revenue/profits, but after reaching $15k it will be highly unlikely based on the top earners in the industry. The advantage here is that it's relatively safe and it's already working for you.

B. Start a new, unrelated business with more potential where the top earners reach 6-7 figures a month. The potential for doubling revenue/profits here is virtually unlimited when compared to option A, but you have to start from scratch and won't use many of the skills you had to master for your current business.

What do you pick?

 

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[JasonR]

Control. There are too many people starting Amazon FBA businesses and I don't like how vulnerable it makes you. I'm a self-published author and I'm already overexposed to Amazon. I don't like how every little change and decision made by them can affect my income.

If they can ship orders outside of Amazon (placed on your own website) as well, then that's okay, though (especially if I can find a back-up fulfillment center).

They're doing FBA/Amazon because there's a TON of money there. I see so many people avoid competitive markets or channels and say it's too over crowded. Truth is that they are scared.

Amazon is just a sales channel. I suggest every business to use it - done right it can be a powerhouse .

FBA can absolutely ship website orders. I do it all the time. If you don't like a change FBA makes...they'll ship you your stuff back. Very little to no risk.

 

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[AllenCrawley]

How many among us are tire kickers - either starting out, looking for inspiration, looking for the next trend, looking to learn? I suspect the majority of posters on sites like Fastlane and the Warrior Forum fall into the analysis paralysis category of people.

Be REAL interesting to poll regular posters on this forum as to who exactly has an independent stream of income that is currently ticking over and making money while they sit at home on their a$$ doing nothing.

I am self employed, have my own business, and have a retirement plan. While I was doing all this, I never had time to post with much regularity on any forums like this, so would question anyone that says they are working very hard at what they do, and has time to post on a forum several times daily.

I know this to be the case because I spent several years - whilst working a regular job - simply posting to various forums - looking to learn, motivate myself etc. Wasn't until I actually got off my a$$ and did something about it that I made a dollar. When I did start being "self employed" I never had much time to worry about posting on a forum.

That was about 7 years ago. Well, I'm back. I need to find ideas for another stream(s) of income. I was involved in the IT sector years ago, and there are several ideas kicking around my head at present.

Think my key message is don't over analyze. Go out an do it. At least try it. It worked out for me. Better to have tried and failed etc.

Nearly without exception the members with the greatest "reputation" have businesses that enjoy varing degrees of success. I could point to a few that post daily or nearly every day that are in fact millionaires. May I suggest reading more of their posts to get a better understanding of this forum and the community (dare I say family) that has been developing here and at local meetups for over 8 years. The fact that you reference this forum and the warrior forum in the same sentence tells us you really don't know what this place is about.

Have you read the book that was written by the owner of this forum? It would really help you understand what the fastlane is and all the terminology within.

Well, I'm back. I need to find ideas for another stream(s) of income. I was involved in the IT sector years ago, and there are several ideas kicking around my head at present.

If you're just chasing money maybe the warrior forum is better suited for your quest.

While I was doing all this, I never had time to post with much regularity on any forums like this, so would question anyone that says they are working very hard at what they do, and has time to post on a forum several times daily.

So you assume and insult those that make this community better than any other entrepreneurial forum in the world and then ask them for help?

 

[JasonR]

Coding. Every time I dig a little deeper I find more to learn which is good and frustrating at the same time. Started with a book about HTML CSS and then JavaScript. But the PHP is a little more difficult to grasp. I'm having trouble getting the server and MySql working on my computer.
I have tons of ideas though from past frustrations in my life.

What are learning to code for?

Questioning whether the agency model is the best. IMO it really isn't but I don't see how I can start something else in the next 6 months this aside and I am desperate to make progress.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "agency" model - but if it's based on your time it probably isn't the best model. You want a business that can scale and grow without you.

Lack of Marketing.. getting sales !!!
If you have enough traffic you could even sell crap products( Which isnt the goal). But for reference some kickstarter products were crap, but they were sucessfully funded.

This isn't necessarily true. Sure, you can sell a crap product with slick marketing, but those sorts of businesses don't last. That being said, I believe marketing as the number one thing you should learn and focus on as a new Entrepreneur. I met a very successful Entreprenur, who's mentor is Jay Abraham. I asked him if he could do it all over again and give his 20-year old self one piece of advise, what would it be? He said: learn and master marketing.

Parents are highly against me quitting job to work on business full time, or even start anything. They both work for themselves and don't have "benefits" like I do working at my job - namely, health insurance. I don't feel like I can work part time on a business the same time as my job. I cold call for car/home insurance right now and I am pretty successful at it, #3 in my company but it is draining.

From the outside looking in, it looks like your situation is very toxic. If you stay in the same situation, I would be you won't make much progress for several years. I would consider moving to a different city, and at the very least surrounding yourself with completely new, entrepreneurial people.

Myself shooting down possible ideas before I even test them.
If it involves something I don't particularly care to do I'll rationalize why it could never work and I'd be wasting time... Then I proceed to waste time with random F*ckery.

I had the same problem. What worked for me, is seeing what sort of things people were selling that I'd never buy. Once you realize consumer behavior is usually very different than your own behavior, is when you can push yourself to actually test things in the market. Try and stop dismissing every idea you have.

I initially dismissed what I thought was a simple idea, because of my own self limiting beliefs, yet it made me a very significant amount of money. Lesson learned!

Money and time are the things that are stopping me to keep going. I cannot afford to borrow money and at the same time, my time is so precious because I am dedicating it entirely to my husband and son.

But I want to have my own identity and start a business. I am just afraid to try because i might lose the privilieges of being a good mother once I try pursuing my dream.

Money may be easier to get than you imagine. However, if you don't dedicate the TIME - the money won't do you any good.

I had a hard time starting a business and keeping a girlfriend. But...I just got back from a business conference where several couples managed to start successful businesses AND travel at the same time. It's very possible, but something will have to be sacrificed. Perhaps your hobbies, your free time, etc. Maybe your husband will need keep your son entertained while you work, and when your husband is working you'll have to take care of your son.

Have you thought about getting your husband involved in starting a business WITH you?

 

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[JasonR]

By the way, I have a question for you, @JasonR. How can a person start a product-based business outside of the US and NOT use Amazon FBA? Do you just go with the first fulfillment center you find or are there specific big players you recommend for people outside of the US who can't ship the stuff themselves?

For what reasons are you against using Amazon FBA? Amazon WILL ship your website orders for you, and can be automated. You might be able to find a cheaper fulfillment center, but Amazon fulfillment will be the quickest way to get and up running FAST - which is more important than finding the cheapest vendor when you're starting. You can also find companies that will handle accepting your shipment from China (or wherever), inspecting it, and getting it ready for Amazon. Pick up the phone.

A question I had too. Sorry Jason, we can open another thread perhaps along these lines, don't want o hijack A similar business idea I had requires a product from China to be customised and shipped to customers, not feasible from Aus. What 'fulfillment' type business could offer this...I guess I will hit the net and try find one.

This is still possible and I'm guessing most fulfillment companies would consider doing this for you. Obviously, Amazon won't - but you could use an intermediary.

Custom products can be a pain (trust me, I know), but can also be pretty lucrative.

I came across idea extraction here on the forum and gave very little effort into it. I basically did a lot of busy work (emails, gathering resources, etc) but ended up only cold calling one business and I had a good conversation but I was super nervous and it got nothing from it in terms of a problem to solve. Dropped this "idea extraction" plan.

After a couple months passed I came across this product my ex-gf bought and thought I could execute it better. Bought some samples from China. Turned out to be shitty samples. Gave up on this idea.

Your problem is that you give up too easily. You hit the first roadblock, and then give up. The definition of being an Entrepreneur is to be a problem solver...your ideas very may well be great but you aren't pushing them hard enough. Those who persist find success.

Drink a beer (or 2) and then pick up the phone.

Yes, I am 100% serious. It works for millions of men every Friday and Saturday night.

This actually isn't awful advice. Sometimes when I have work that I dread to do, I'll up a few beers or some hard liquor for cocktails. When I spent my first $1k a day in traffic, I needed a few beers to settle the nervousness I had in my system.

 

[JasonR]

What's stopping me?

Quick capital without getting a loan. Flipping and day job and trying to wholesale still slow for capital building. I need big facility for my entire business

Waiting on the government to complete my paperwork. Can't do anything about that

Still have to cross learning curve for building website and tax. FBA does not allow me to specifically charge sales tax only for my state, still figuring out how to restrict shipping to certain states in woo commerce. Holdy handy question, does it even matter if I charge sales tax or not for my state (probably low % of sales are going to be in state anyways) because it culmulative correct at the end of the year? Still gotta learn best way to keep track of sales and fees so I can write it all down on tax form. Is there a better way to do this then calculating every expense for every sale (eBay, FBA, website)? I can't imagine a business with thousands of sales every day ecommerce putting every sale data into excel

I'm not sure what you're selling and what reasns you need a building and all that, but from the outside looking in it appears it appears you have self-limiting beliefs stopping you.

The tax-issue can be worked out inside woocommerce, simply charge sales tax in your state. FBA has nothing to do with that.

Why not leverage Amazon's warehouses to store your product (or any other outside fulfillment center? What makes you need capital for a building?

What are you waiting on the government before? If you aren't doing some sort of government regulated product, you can start today while you wait on the paperwork. You don't need an LLC to START selling.

The people, in my experience, who just start DOING and figuring out the lesser important details on the way are the ones who succeed. Start selling, and rolling first, then figure out the tax, warehousing, and business structure issue.

Don't be like most people who put the cart before the horse: business, LLC, business cards, etc. before they even start SELLING anything.

I started selling first, then getting my tax and LLC structure in a row once I saw the business would be successful.

 

[Delmania]

At a first glance, I would say I have no ideas. I have no idea who I want to help. At a deeper level, it's the mindset I have developed that I have nothing of value to give to anyone and that I am not a person of value or substance.

 

[zt90]

I sell on Amazon and the biggest thing that is killing me right now is the fact that sales will never ever become consistent and completely passive for my products. It goes something like this...

1. products sell well
2. I take earnings and reinvest in more products with the same strategy
3. original products that were selling well stop selling well
4. I tweak and trouble shoot for a week to try and figure out what the problem is
5. 50/50 on whether I can revive my products
6. repeat

This is extremely frustrating for myself and other sellers I'm sure. I don't feel any more financially secure than a person with a 9 to 5 because of the inconsistency. The earnings are cancelled out by inventory that is not moving so I'm pretty much living on the edge. The above makes it extremely hard to scale without taking a huge financial risk.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Marked Notable... potential GOLD. Wasn't sure anyone would admit their shortcomings, but they are!

 

[JasonR]

My continual downfall is this : I come up with an idea, pursue it in some minor fashion, then manage to convince myself that it won't work so why waste time, money, effort on it-->abandon idea. Being in Australia the markets are small, so this adds to the idea that " how many people would actually buy this", and then I move onto the next thing.
A recent one was this : www.wineforawedding.com A cool bespoke wedding gift type service in the USA. I had a very similar idea to introduce into the Aus market. Roughly 120K weddings per annum here....but then I say well realistically how could you expect to sell more than a few hundred at best, not worth the effort and cost so abandon.
I guess it is fear but to me it is more that I negatively underestimate the power of the consumer or am I managing my expectations realistically.

What makes you focus solely on the Australian market? I have a friend who just launched his product business in the UK, and he's wishing he started in the US as the market is so much bigger. He started his business remotely.

So much infrastructure is already set up in America where you can easily launch and sell something while being anywhere in the world.

Don't limit yourself to the location your'e at. The same can be said for those only selling in the US market - there is SO much opportunity throughout the world and in new, emerging markets. Take a look where Amazon is opening warehouses...UK, Germany, Australia, etc....

But...I would hit the biggest markets first (North America).

 

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[JasonR]

o from the sheer purpose of driving conversions you think like chasing is wasted effort? Find it hard to gaige the link between credibility, rep and conversions and was considering going the route of a 'like us for 10% off" type approach

I don't want to turn this thread into an advertising one, but I'll answer your question here real quick.

Yes - the only goal you should have, in terms of traffic, is CONVERSIONS. Another common mistake new marketers make is asking someone to do too much. Every advertisement should have ONE goal. I mean - if I see an ad, why do I care about liking you or 10% off if you haven't made me want your offer yet?

Get them to click to your landing page, SELL them, then GIVE them the coupon if you want them to buy.

On the topic of coupons, I would prefer to sell a single product at full price, and incentivize them to buy bundles/more products...in order to increase your average order value. In other words, don't give them a 10% coupon for "free" - or just to do so.

 

[LateStarter]

What is stopping you, right now, from starting your business?

I have so many ideas, i want to do. A import/export business, a homepage driven by ecommerce, freelancer etc. etc. but i don't have experience in this section - i think i have to read much more threads here..

You have many ideas? Great! Then you have many opportunities. That's not a road block. Having ZERO ideas is a roadblock. Pick 1 and GO!! Take action and read as you go. There's no greater teacher than experience.

What's stopping you from quitting your job?

My one and only way to get money in the end of the month is my 7am-5pm job. I have to pay bills, the risk is very high. I know, this sounds like a boring slowlane method, but first of all i want to start things beside my maintime job.

That's not slowlane. That's necessity. We all have to eat. Just remember: Your only way now of getting money is 7- 5 job. See your first comment above? That's a potential income stream! Remind me again why you aren't working on it?

 

[JasonR]

'm struggling to break even with this because FB has so many targeting options, I don't even know where to begin with A/B testing of my target audience. Currently I'm seeing 1.5% of customers added something to their cart, 0.5% reached checkout, and 0.33% purchased

It's really hard to help you when I don't know your offer or anything that's going on, but your numbers are definitely low. You either need to tighten your targeting and/or work on the conversion of your offer (landing page, order forms, etc.). Your landing page click through should be at least 20% - if it's not, your landing page need works. Lastly, you need to shoot for making at least $60 or more PER CUSTOMER.

I have no execution skills. I realized that not so long ago. I'm having trouble to just find a manufacturer to ask if my product can be built and get a few samples to validate my idea.

Also I give up to daily exhaustion everyday when I should push through for at least an hour a night. Feels like I'm pretending to smile and have energy everyday to do my day to day things and right when I go thru my door I just melt on the couch.

I can't make good habits stick.


On the days I can slow down and try to be mindful (days off, weekends, days without husband) I find I'm more productive but sticking to it through the week is a challenge.

You don't have "execution skills" yet, because you need to LEARN to execute. You only learn that by doing. I'm not sure if most people know this on here, but I've failed a TON. Every entrepreneur has failed at something. Fail forward. It's ok. Push yourself out of your comfort zone.

As far as being exhausted every day, that's something only you can work on. Maybe it's sitting your husband down and telling him he may have to be OK with getting less time with you to pursue your goals an dreams. Maybe he can help you do that.

We all have days where we're tired and just crash. That's ok, as long as they aren't all of your days. Good luck - I hope this helps.

 

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[RisingStars]

What is stopping you, right now, from starting your business?

What is stopping you from making your first sale?

What is stopping you from making the leap?

If you've already started your business, what's stopping you from quitting your job?

What is stopping from doubling your revenues and profits?

I want to know the answers. We can help you. Go.

Well for me its that I didnt find a "winner" product yet.
I got around 400 sales since I started ecommerce (before on ebay, now starting amazon)

First I sold used stuff ( I sold really quick but it was hard to scale and get more inventory)

Now I am importing goods from china but I've not found a winning product or niche what enables me to scale and grow fast enaugh.

Thanks for doing this. Take care.

 

[MTF]

Is that the sound of money chasing I hear?

I dislike the "money chasing" term being thrown for no reason. It's obvious I'd rather make a million than $10,000. Doesn't make me "chase money" in the Fastlane sense (focusing solely on making money instead of thinking how to provide value).

Why pick? Can you automate 'A' enough to free your time to chase 'B'? Also you're comparing yourself to top earners in the industry. Is there a reason for that? Why are you limiting your potential this way? If it's because you're using similar business models then can you tweak that and break through the ceilings you see? Innovate around the top players and beat them at their own game! You've got this! Keep digging! It'll be worth it in the end.

I suppose I can work on two things at once, but it's more of a question of focus and where to use my resources (that's what's stopping me from doubling my revenue/profit - not being sure if I use my resources properly). I don't like to split my attention any more than it's necessary. A (self-publishing) can't be automated because it requires me to keep writing or my income will drop substantially within a few months.

I'm comparing myself to top earners because I think realistically. If the best players in the industry make X, it's unlikely you'll make more than X (unless it's an industry full of weak players, but that's not the case here).

 

[LateStarter]

I dislike the "money chasing" term being thrown for no reason.

There was no offense intended by my comments. Hope none was taken. If you're giving it your maximum effort and the returns aren't there then I'd look at the model. Are you not providing enough value to attract customers from the large pool available? Or is it more about the market being too small in terms of scale (volume) and magnitude ($/transaction). From your comments it would seem the latter.

...self-publishing can't be automated because it requires me to keep writing or my income will drop substantially

Right there. Time for money...just at a higher hourly rate. Originally you asked:

They say it takes the same amount of effort to make $10,000 a year as it takes to make a million. Is it true?

You can't scale in this market because your model requires your time. No matter how much effort you put in your return will always be capped unless you free your time or increase the effective hourly rate. There's also no exist strategy with this kind of a business. You can never 'cash out' and reap the equity of the business because it's all tied to you and your abilities. Sure there is some portion of good will because of the name you're building but that is very difficult to transfer to someone else if you try to get out. From what I'm interpreting your content also sounds like it has a 'shelf life' and unless you keep producing more revenue will decline. You're not reaping the rewards of long-term recurring rental/sales of your content. So unless you're planning on being the next J.K. Rowling I'm not sure where this is going to take you.

I'd rethink how you can automate this. Can you outsource any part of it even if it comes at a cost? It's a question of scale vs time so use a Pareto analysis to weigh your options. For instance if you outsource the writing but provide topics and editing yourself it may compromise the quality of your products but still be effective. That could free 80% of your time. If you lose 20% of your business due to reduced quality and lose 20% of the revenue due to outsourcing can you scale up the volume to make up the difference in revenue? Alternatively is the drop in revenue as a result of outsourcing worth the time you now have to pursue option B?

I suppose I can work on two things at once...

I've never been a proponent of that. I believe it takes a lot of focus to build something meaningful. Splitting your attention could compromise both efforts. With no exit strategy in self publishing and a willingness to try something new, I'd start thinking about that new business. Automate as best you can to sustain your revenue while making the switch.

 

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[E-Sharp]

What is stopping you, right now, from starting your business?

What is stopping you from making your first sale?

What is stopping you from making the leap?

If you've already started your business, what's stopping you from quitting your job?

What is stopping from doubling your revenues and profits?

I want to know the answers. We can help you. Go.

Analysis paralysis.

I'm trying to decide on what to start and I keep going in circles. I know I want it to be in the e-commerce realm but then I keep researching different things, going down some research wormhole, getting new ideas after further research, blah.

 

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[twdavis]

WELL...where to begin..

Summer of 2013 I was fed up with my fast food manager job and began looking online for "quick ways to get rich".....LOL

SO I stumbled upon The Millionaire Fastlane . Read it and was, at first, shocked that my conventional upbringing and ways of thinking were being challenged, but at the same time it excited and invigorated me.

It told me "Slow down, look around, there is another way".

Started a drop-shipping site focused on selling area rugs, and tried to drive all the sales with Google Product Listing and ads. Yeah...sooo not profitable lol. So then I decided to be stupid and start a new site focused on modern-styled furniture and decor after doing some research. I actually did quite well with that site at first, I did around $9000 in sales during my first 2 months, then $1500, then $750, and so on....eventually had to shut that site down.

I should've known that when Hayneedle and AllModern/WayFair were my biggest competitors, I had no chance to compete.

Nice part of it was that I had no debt.

This was early 2014.

So, I really began looking on this forum in earnest around June of last year, and kept jumping around from idea to idea, eventually decided I would get started flipping Craigslist---->eBay to get funds together to move to Arizona and start a direct to consumer business. Well, the eBay thing went ok for a while, except I had quit my job quite early on, then the eBay thing slowed down (I live in an area with not a lot of products to source on CL). I ran out of money, became very broke (this was fall of 2014), became very deeply depressed throughout much of the winter because I couldn't find a solid locked-down reliable source of income or job anywhere ( I did do light insurance sales for a few months, cold calling, so I have experience there), basically my family told me I was lazy and worthless for not going to college, and to quit playing games with "that stupid dream you have".


Funny thing about my family telling me this is they've all been working at factories in the same old town for their entire lives, and yet they try to purport to me that they know what the road to success is.

Whatever.

My mother is not a "fastlane mindset" type of person, even remotely, and she doesn't think they way we do because she was raised in that old era.



Sooooo, February of this year, I find a new decently paying job (decent for Western PA at least) taking care of the mentally ill. I enjoyed the work and it allowed me to get caught up on my bills (I basically almost lost my car when unemployed).


So NOW, I'm free of debt and ready to try something new, but my environment is depressing and not positive or forward thinking at all.

I realize that probably sounds like an excuse, but western PA is cold, depressing, where I live is completely in the middle of nowhere. I live about 45 minutes north of Pittsburgh and while I could go there just about any time I need to, and I love the Burgh, it's not where I ultimately want to be. I want to be out west in Arizona or California. I'm much more motivated being around other successful people and in better weather.


I also find myself constantly stressing myself out because I feel like I should've achieved a ton and be driving a Lambo and flashing my Amex Centurion at nightclubs. I have always pushed myself, but I feel now more than ever that I should be going full-blast to achieve as fast as possible to enjoy my money while I'm still young. Argh.



As we speak, I am looking at opportunities in the direct-marketing space and I'm also toying with the idea at making a serious run at affiliate marketing (however I want to build something which I can eventually sell).

I'm also currently saving funds and I plan to make a trip to Scottsdale around January to check out the scene, but I can't decide if I want to go ahead and come for a visit and then make a return trip for the Fastlane Meetup, or what to do.

Ideally I would be moved in and settled by the time Fastlane Meetup rolls around, that way I'll already be living in town.




TLDR: Basically at 20 years old, I started a couple drop shipping sites in late 2013, they were not profitable at all (shocker), tried through 2014 to dabble in various things, became poor, depressed, and now had to spend most of 2015 paying off debt, getting caught up. A lot of action faking, not a lot of actual action. I'm basically a professional wantreprenuer. I have cold-calling experience and I'm not afraid to pick up the phone. Pretty good ecommerce experience. Ultimate goal would be to start a full startup. Looking to move to Arizona soon or at least make a trip to check it out/come to Fastlane Meetup.

 

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