Why "Goal is to make 1k a week" Is The Wrong Approach.

[Travis.I]

But im not wrong... at all.

Just like the media taking something and taking it way out of context, thats exactly what he did.

The entire point of the post was to make the point money shouldnt be your focus, value should be.

Thanks.

That is your view of the world. You can't just only focus on value.

Well, of course you can, but how do you know if it really has value? That's where the numbers come in.

Your numbers basically say whether or not the item has value. Numbers as in money numbers.

 

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[SBS.95]

Teenager...

lmao.

I edited the word teenager into the post. At first I used a more offensive word but it's Christmas and I didn't feel like being a dick.

But im not wrong... at all.

Just like the media taking something and taking it way out of context, thats exactly what he did.

The entire point of the post was to make the point money shouldnt be your focus, value should be.

Thanks.

All he did was respond to the thread you started and the points you raised in your OP. This isn't your personal blog, it's a discussion forum where people are naturally going to debate things back and forth. He raised some solid points that were in disagreement to what you originally posted. That's the effin' point of a thread. We're not all here to circlejerk, go to Reddit for that bullshit.

I don't see how anything was taken out of context. You literally said companies don't sit around saying "we're gonna make $10 million in 2016." They literally do that. It's not being nitpicky, it's just raising concerns with an example that you yourself picked.

I'm done arguing. At this point you seem more interested in saving face than trying to help anyone. If the whole point was really that value > money, you could have done it in a lot less words (and it still wouldn't have been mind-blowing or prophetic to anyone.) Merry Christmas.

 

[The Grind]

I edited the word teenager into the post. At first I used a more offensive word but it's Christmas and I didn't feel like being a dick.



All he did was respond to the thread you started and the points you raised in your OP. This isn't your personal blog, it's a discussion forum where people are naturally going to debate things back and forth. He raised some solid points that were in disagreement to what you originally posted. That's the effin' point of a thread. We're not all here to circlejerk, go to Reddit for that bullshit.

I don't see how anything was taken out of context. You literally said companies don't sit around saying "we're gonna make $10 million in 2016." They literally do that. It's not being nitpicky, it's just raising concerns with an example that you yourself picked.

Cool, then don't read the thread.

 

[The Grind]

Why the F*ck are you guys even here...

It's 2 A.M. on Christmas...don't you guys have lives.

 

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[Travis.I]

Why the F*ck are you guys even here...

It's 2 A.M. on Christmas...don't you guys have lives.

The world doesn't revolve around you.

In fact it's not 2AM here. It's 2AM where you are and the question is, do you have a life?

But that's none of my concern. You really trashed your thread man.

 

[1step]

But im not wrong... at all.

Just like the media taking something and taking it way out of context, thats exactly what he did.

The entire point of the post was to make the point money shouldnt be your focus, value should be.

Thanks.

If your goal is to convince people that your ideas are "right" then it is your job to articulate your points in a manner that can be understood by your audience.

Perhaps we can agree you need to work on articulating your points. It seems most here did not read your post the way you THINK you wrote your post. So in that case is it the audiences duty to interpret it the way you wanted it to be interpreted or is it your responsibility to better articulate your thoughts?

 

[tafy]

Your right about focussing on money when your first starting isn't the Best move and very me focused. Csalvato is also right that when your established and making money then by looking to increase revenue automatically equals give more value.

So in the end it all comes down to providing value.

 

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[Guest34764]

Come on man.

Quit the Mr.ToughGuy shit.

My initial reply to your comment was in positive thought.

You said something along the lines of "why did I make this thread?"."I'm wrong".

So I replied in hopes of making you feel better about the fact that you were initially wrong.

So have a good day OP and have a merry Christmas!

 

[The Grind]

So in the end it all comes down to providing value.

 

[The Grind]

Come on man.

Quit the Mr.ToughGuy shit.

My initial reply to your comment was in positive thought.

You said something along the lines of "why did I make this thread?"."I'm wrong".

So I replied in hopes of making you feel better about the fact that you were initially wrong.

So have a good day OP and have a merry Christmas!

F*ck you.

 

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[BlakeIC]

This thread turned out exactly as it should have


I feel good

 

[Gale4rc]

I try not to make any threads on this forum for many reasons...

But there's too many people coming here with these goals to "make x amount in x amount of time".

Have you EVER heard a already successful business say their goal is to "make x amount this year"?

No...

Why? Tell me Why haven't you heard this...

Because it's the wrong mindset to have.

Who are you focused on if your goal is to make x amount of money?

Yourself.

And boys and girls of the fastlane forum... what have you learned since you've bee here, who do you have to focus on to make x amount of money...

Everyone BUT yourself.

Look, I get it, money is very important, yes you want to make more, but keep that "I want" mentality in the back of your head and have it be the last priority you have.

Example: What is the goal of DigitalMarketer.com?

Do you think a very successful company like that, has a meeting where they discuss their goal for the company and they make their #1 priority "Yes members of the board, our goal is to make 100 million in the year 2016".

No...

Their goal is "double the size of 10k companies".

They're focused on their vision. Their purpose.

Their purpose of existing.

They're focused on others, not themselves. They focus on helping business's grow.

What's the result?

They in return get what THEY want, millions of dollars.

Give Give Give Give... Stop thinking about yourself.

You're right but $1k is a damn good place to start and realistic goal. That alone will teach you more than failing while focusing on "value" will and from there it's a lot easier to change your vision/goals than having no revenue in sight.

 

[TonyStark]

haha, my thread is called, "my goal is to make $1K" a week or something like that. Either way I agree it's not all about the money, but ever sense focusing on building up my businesses or choosing to make more money, I am making more money. I'm focusing on finding higher value clients and changing up the way I work.

keyword "value"

 

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[TonyStark]

Businesses are value driven. This is sort of like the "I only want to work 4 hours a week" thing help me I'm needy. We understand what you want, but you're looking at this the wrong way. The way you should be addressing this is, how can I grow a business to where I only need to work 4 hours a week to maintain it?

 

[Ecom man]

I try not to make any threads on this forum for many reasons...

But there's too many people coming here with these goals to "make x amount in x amount of time".

Have you EVER heard a already successful business say their goal is to "make x amount this year"?

No...

Why? Tell me Why haven't you heard this...

Because it's the wrong mindset to have.

Who are you focused on if your goal is to make x amount of money?

Yourself.

And boys and girls of the fastlane forum... what have you learned since you've bee here, who do you have to focus on to make x amount of money...

Everyone BUT yourself.

Look, I get it, money is very important, yes you want to make more, but keep that "I want" mentality in the back of your head and have it be the last priority you have.

Example: What is the goal of DigitalMarketer.com?

Do you think a very successful company like that, has a meeting where they discuss their goal for the company and they make their #1 priority "Yes members of the board, our goal is to make 100 million in the year 2016".

No...

Their goal is "double the size of 10k companies".

They're focused on their vision. Their purpose.

Their purpose of existing.

They're focused on others, not themselves. They focus on helping business's grow.

What's the result?

They in return get what THEY want, millions of dollars.

Give Give Give Give... Stop thinking about yourself.

The whole premise of your post is based on your opinion that successful companies don't have Money as their number 1 goal. How many successful companies have you run? How many boards have you sat on to form this opinion? For some reason you are taking it as a personal affront that people disagree with you.

Can I tell you something... My business was started so I could make money! My first goal was to make a few hundred extra dollars to help support my growing family. I didn't know anything about providing value I had never even heard of the fastlane but I wanted to make x per month. Every year I try to grow my business so there are more profits. The way I grow and any business grows? Add more value. We have decreased our shipping times and increased our customer service. We have gone from 10-20 products to 100+. We are starting new things and expanding our reach. We are touching more people and adding more value. Why? Because in the next year our goal is to gross 2 mil in sales. We can reach that by adding more value and reaching more people.

Value and profits are two sides of the same coin. If I want to make x I have to provide value to someone so I make x. If I provide value to enough people I can reach my goal of x per year. My goal for 2015 was for my company to gross 1 million in sales. We will fall about 50k shy of that. How will we have x in sales next year or x in profit? Provide value to more people.

 

[JT388]

I disagree. As the guy who is at his computer alone, making $100-$300 a week online, the only way to grow is to set goals you'll do ANYTHING to reach.
I've began to realise how CRUCIAL mistakes are, I've gone through the hell of converting my failures from negative 'I give up' thoughts, to thinking "OK, good, this is a result, now to try and improve it!" - Also not jumping around completely different niches (or niches you have ZERO knowledge about) - for me, failing has been crucial, but I finally have two business plans mapped out that serve a strong, useful, DESIRABLE product to clients at prices that are insanely good (GOOD VALUE), with marketing / sales pitch / branding plans that no other service like mine in the industry has ever done, I now confidently can set my goal to $1,000 a week by mid January (and expand from there).

I'm driven by earnings, yeah I never would've of realised that money comes from providing good value until my past 8 weeks of online hustling, mistakes, frustrations. Now I can begin 2015 with two strong business plans that have had months of study / thinking put into them.

Goals motivate me, value creates sales, both are required to achieve success.

I try not to make any threads on this forum for many reasons...

But there's too many people coming here with these goals to "make x amount in x amount of time".

Have you EVER heard a already successful business say their goal is to "make x amount this year"?

No...

Why? Tell me Why haven't you heard this...

Because it's the wrong mindset to have.

Who are you focused on if your goal is to make x amount of money?

Yourself.

And boys and girls of the fastlane forum... what have you learned since you've bee here, who do you have to focus on to make x amount of money...

Everyone BUT yourself.

Look, I get it, money is very important, yes you want to make more, but keep that "I want" mentality in the back of your head and have it be the last priority you have.

Example: What is the goal of DigitalMarketer.com?

Do you think a very successful company like that, has a meeting where they discuss their goal for the company and they make their #1 priority "Yes members of the board, our goal is to make 100 million in the year 2016".

No...

Their goal is "double the size of 10k companies".

They're focused on their vision. Their purpose.

Their purpose of existing.

They're focused on others, not themselves. They focus on helping business's grow.

What's the result?

They in return get what THEY want, millions of dollars.

Give Give Give Give... Stop thinking about yourself.

tr

 

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[Darko Jocic]

I've heard somewhere that Japanese gods are made from wishes and that when no one wishes for them, they die.

Well, it's the same for businesses.

The profits exist because of customers. You grant their wish, they pay for it. It's how it works.

Now that that's out of the way, it should be obvious that "make a customer happy" and "make X money" is the same thing.

It doesn't matter what you say your goal is.
You can say that you goal is to make $100 trillion by next week, it's completely all right, as long the means to the goal is making customers happy.

-Sidenote:
Debating semantics is less entrepreneurial than what one would expect on such a forum, but surely it's just me who can't understand it.

 

[Gale4rc]

I've heard somewhere that Japanese gods are made from wishes and that when no one wishes for them, they die.

Well, it's the same for businesses.

The profits exist because of customers. You grant their wish, they pay for it. It's how it works.

Now that that's out of the way, it should be obvious that "make a customer happy" and "make X money" is the same thing.

It doesn't matter what you say your goal is.
You can say that you goal is to make $100 trillion by next week, it's completely all right, as long the means to the goal is making customers happy.

-Sidenote:
Debating semantics is less entrepreneurial than what one would expect on such a forum, but surely it's just me who can't understand it.

Well said, just because your personal goal is $x/month doesn't mean you can't focus on value at the same time. I was just discussing this years goals with my parents and its to hit 500k (last year was 100k and I hit it). Obviously I cant get that without providing more value, it's a given.

The flaw of this rant is that it views these two ideas as singular but you can definitely have a goal for yourself /company and focus on value at the same time.

Infact I would go as far as to say having the money goal is more important than value because the cash goal will determine the type of value you have to bring to reach it.

 

[JustAskBenWhy]

It doesn't matter hos much you make. What matters is how much you keep of what you make and how you leverage it

 

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[Charnell]

Why the F*ck are you guys even here...

It's 2 A.M. on Christmas...don't you guys have lives.

The irony.

 

[DeletedUser396]

The irony.

 

[Mattie]

 

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[Alveko]

Cringed hard at OP's comments in this thread, you must be a fun dude irl.

 

[OVOvince]

The irony.

 

[csalvato]

I haven't been here for a while, but I noticed that Ben is here now, so I thought I was stop in...

Anyway, here's another take on whether there's value in saying, "I want to make $X per ..." A bunch of years ago, I started a real estate business. It grew pretty quickly, and after about 5 years, I came to a crossroads where I could either attempt to massively grow that business or put it on auto-pilot. I decided to go the auto-pilot route, but specifically did enough work to position the business where I essentially work hard enough to make $X per year (I defined X).

Then, about two years ago, I had the opportunity to get into another business that I wasn't very excited about and I knew I'd never make 8-figures doing, but I also knew that I could scale it to the point where I was making $Y per year with relatively no participation on my part. So, I spent a year building that business to the point where I was making $Y/year (I defined Y).

I now have two businesses that each generate well into the 6-figures with a total of about 2 hours/week of effort on my part. Is the money from those businesses going to change my life or my lifestyle? Nope. But, that $X+Y per year did provide me the opportunity to launch a new business last year without having to worry about startup costs, not taking a salary for a year or two, etc. THAT business does have the opportunity to earn 8-figures, and I'm able to focus on it full-time for as long as I want without having to worry about digging into savings to pay bills, etc.

In other words, because I took two businesses down the path of just earning $X per year, I've freed myself up (financially, emotionally, psychologically, physically) to focus on bigger entrepreneurial efforts. For that reason, the $X per year businesses have been invaluable to me.

Too many people get into the mindset that there's a right way and a wrong way to do things, and if you're not doing it "the right way," then you're necessarily doing it "the wrong way." Life (and business) doesn't work that way...

I absolutely love this post.

 

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[Ubermensch]

Focusing on the self-interest of others, in order to get what YOU want, is a Law of Power:

I try not to make any threads on this forum for many reasons...

Perhaps you should make threads more often. A little disagreement never hurt anyone.

But there's too many people coming here with these goals to "make x amount in x amount of time".

I'm not sure I see the wisdom in attacking people for having goals. People have needs and wants. Those needs and wants are attainable with money and specific amounts of money.

Buying a home, for yourself, for your family, for those you love requires a specific amount of money. What's wrong with setting a goal?

Have you EVER heard a already successful business say their goal is to "make x amount this year"?

Maybe you haven't. I have. Almost everyone I talk to on a daily basis is a partner, executive or owner of a company that does between $1,000,000 - $400,000,000 in revenue. Trust me. They don't get there by not having specific goals.

What do you think a CEO of any successful company is focused on? Revenue and profit. If he's not, he's a stupid CEO.

Funny. I saw an episode of "Beyond the Tank" yesterday, a series that shows what happens to Shark Tank participants after they receive investment. The featured business owner was a USA-based businessman whose business was failing after receiving an investment from Robert.

It was revealed that the business was failing because of the businessman's foolish desire to not be "greedy." This desire reflected itself in a bad strategy: He was holding onto USA-based employees, instead of outsourcing overseas.

Robert posed this question to him: What is more important, saving your American employees, or saving your business?

When you run a business, you run an Limited Liability Company, or some type of Corporation.

You are NOT running a non-profit organization.

Want to help people simply for the sake of helping people, without focusing at all on the money you get in return? Want to give, give, give? Great. That's admirable. The United States is the most charitable country in the world, donating over $200 freakin' billion dollars a year to charity. The United States, home of all the greedy capitalists, is the most giving country in the world.

Just don't get it twisted. Do business for profit. Donate to the salvation army when you're feeling charitable.

Because it's the wrong mindset to have.

The richest, most highly paid businessmen on the planet are hedge fund managers. No one else compares. They're focused on the money, returns, dividends, etc.

Who are you focused on if your goal is to make x amount of money?

Yourself.

@Omega

This is why a fundamental understanding of philosophy and logic is important. Otherwise, you get confused.

Let's break this down rationally.

Suppose Bob is the most selfish guy on the planet. He is Narcissus in the flesh, in fact. He is in love with himself, and only himself. He doesn't give a crap about anyone on the planet but himself.

More than anything, Bob wants money, so he can construct a home made entirely out of mirrors. Every inch of this extravagant home will show Bob his reflection.

Bob consults a home builder and asks for an estimate. The builder tells Bob that his home will cost a gazillion dollars to build.

Bob ponders this situation deeply for quite some time. How on earth will he make a gazillion dollars? He didn't even know how much a gazillion was? It sounds like more than a billion, maybe even more than a trillion.

Bob logically figures that the only way to get such a huge amount of money is to get other humans to give him that money.

Ergot, Bob decides to give the world - billions of humans - something that they all want. He creates something. He solves a massive need that affects billions of people.

Bob gets his gazillion dollars.

The point is that the focus on "need" is indeed necessary.

However, it is a foolish and illogical mistake to assume that focusing on the needs of others is the root cause behind Bob's success. The root behind Bob's success is his own selfish and personal greed. He would never have created the product, never unleashed the service on the marketplace... unless there was something in it for him.

Do you think a very successful company like that, has a meeting where they discuss their goal for the company and they make their #1 priority "Yes members of the board, our goal is to make 100 million in the year 2016".

No...

Their goal is "double the size of 10k companies".

You obviously have never read the stories of hedge fund managers.

One of my business mentors was a hedge fund manager worth $400 million. He didn't worry about bird food (10k companies). He liked the fact that most people think like you, because it left the big bread on the table for big guys who thought big like him.

They're focused on their vision. Their purpose. Their purpose of existing.

They're focused on others, not themselves. They focus on helping business's grow.

You are clearly contradicting yourself here.

First, you say that successful people don't focus on themselves, they focus on others.

Then, you say that they focus on THEIR vision and THEIR purpose.

They in return get what THEY want, millions of dollars.

Give Give Give Give... Stop thinking about yourself.

Some people want billions, and they get it with a fundamentally different thought process.

Focusing on "needs" is great if you are trying to "think of" a business idea.

Once you have something to sell, it's time to focus on the money.

Continue to treat money, greed, profit and revenue like curse words and you may stay in the slow lane forever.

Wow, I very strongly disagree. Successful companies, big and small alike, have a sales target for every year. In my experience, those that don't usually flounder.

Company I am working with right now has been experiencing exponential growth every year, and the CEO has a very clear number that he wants to hit next year...and a lot of time has gone into projecting that number and understanding what needs to be done to hit it.

I recently met the President of an Inc 500 company at his company's headquarters. In the conference room, there was a list of the companies five top objectives.

#1 was revenue.

#2 was profit.

Incidentally, "Give, give, give, give," was nowhere to be found on the list.

You learn how real businessmen think and real successful companies think by engaging with them OFF of the Internet, not by pontificating false theory the Internet.

Good thread, though. Hopefully it clears up some confusion on a seemingly widely misunderstood concept.

 

[Guest34764]

You are NOT running a non-profit organization.

My views on charity are very simple. I do not consider it a major virtue and, above all, I do not consider it a moral duty. There is nothing wrong in helping other people, if and when they are worthy of the help and you can afford to help them. -Ayn Rand

The key word here is "afford".

Ubermensch makes a great point saying that you're not running a non-profit organization.

The poor guy decided to keep his American workers instead of outsourcing overseas to reduce costs.

That was eventually his downfall.

He was running a non-profit business with the disguise of a company.

I really just wanted to tie that quote by Ayn Rand with Ubermensch's post.

I hope I made her quote relevant to your post @Ubermensch

 

[Ubermensch]

The poor guy decided to keep his American workers instead of outsourcing overseas to reduce costs.

That was eventually his downfall.

He was running a non-profit business with the disguise of a company.

I really just wanted to tie that quote by Ayn Rand with Ubermensch's post.

I hope I made her quote relevant to your post @Ubermensch

Your signature may be even more apt than the Rand quote.

The "poor guy" was "quietly devoured."

 

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[Guest34764]

The "poor guy" was "quietly devoured."

And you're exactly right.

I searched for his name a bit and I couldn't find it.

You can't be limp-wristed when charging a company through the battlefield.

Emotions should NOT influence financial situations.

I'm sorry, but can you really let your business fail because you feel morally obligated to keep your workers in the USA?

Your company is what puts the food on the table for you.

Your company is what provides shelter for you.

Your company is what puts the clothes on your back.

It's survival of the fittest and the man was clearly not the fittest.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

The right approach is the one that works for you.