Working A Job Can Be Part Of Your Fastlane Strategy (Here's How)

[FeaRxUnLeAsHeD]

I'm compelled to write this after coming back onto the forum and reading through many recent posts and threads.

Turns out, if you're on this forum, you're compelled to build a business, escape the rat race, and build a better life for yourself.

But odds are, the majority of those lurking these forums are just getting started, or haven't taken the plunge to the Fastlane life just yet, and that's why you're reading these threads. Or, if you're one of the more fortunate ones who is reading because you're a contributor, who has had plenty of business success, then you'll at least appreciate this post.

News flash: your job CAN BE PART OF YOUR FASTLANE STRATEGY.

"What the hell are you talking about? That's the slowlane. I can't scale my time, and I can't exponentially scale my pay at my job"

Not so fast. You're focusing on the wrong things.

I'll start by saying - I've been on this forum since 2014 when I first read TMF . And, I have yet to have a business success in the fastlane. I've spent the majority of my years since joining the forum in college, working some businesses on the side, and working corporate jobs.

But, despite being in what most would call "the slowlane", I'm nearing millionaire status, and have set myself up for a lifetime of freedom, and I'm here to share a couple of ways you can do the same.

Did I mention I'm only 29?

In 2016, I graduated with a -$45,000 net worth. My sales job out of college paid me a $35,000 salary, and a $15,000 commission if I hit my targets.

Fast forward to 2022, and I made over $400,000 for the year if you count my sales career, my investment property (duplex), and investment growth.

So, now that I've caught your attention...

Why am I promoting the slowlane as an avenue towards the fastlane?

I don't know your circumstance, but I can at least share where the *average* person is at.

- The average person doesn't have much money for an emergency, let alone to start a business in their spare time.
- The average person has no idea where to start in order to build a business and add value
- The average person is currently being crushed by debt, inflation, layoffs, a housing crisis (affordable housing is no longer a thing at this rate)
- and the list goes on and on..

So maybe you're trying to 'go Fastlane' - but you're not sure how. You're not sure what problem to solve. Maybe you don't even know how to identify problems, and you feel like you lack the general skills to get started.

This is where I'm saying, a slowlane job might actually be useful for you. But not in the way you think.

Learning on the job at a company can be a great way to get started on your fastlane journey.

Working a job can help you to learn essential skills on somebody else's dime
Working a job can provide you some working capital to get started on your business
It can help you to network and make great business connections
It can help you to start identifying problems, and potential solutions and opportunities in the real world

Naval Ravikant, founder of Angelist, has notably said that you need to know how to build, or how to sell, and if you can do both, you will be very dangerous. I think he was onto something.

If you're an aspiring fastlaner, but not sure where to start, or maybe you haven't had success executing on a business, or you're just looking for some direction, it might not be a bad idea to go take on a corporate job for a limited amount of time, earn some money, make connections, and start developing the important skills that can help fuel your fastlane business.

Jobs that I personally would suggest would be sales, marketing, web development, coding, customer success. Honestly, any job with the right mindset can teach you plenty about business. When I was stocking shelves and doing retail sales, I was learning about how merchandise was priced, where it was coming from, I was understanding the supply chain and logistics for how merchandise got into the store, where it came from, etc.

There are plenty of things you can learn from taking a slowlane job.

This post isn't to promote everyone that "the slowlane is the way" - far from it. This is to give some direction to the many who lurk this forum with a passion for business, but those who may be lacking a starting point and hoping to start moving towards a life of adding value and entrepreneurship. Taking on a job (albeit, temporarily), with the right mindset, can help foster many benefits to help set you up for success in the fastlane.

So for all of the newbies on here, a lot of whom appear to be young and just starting in their careers - don't feel the need to have it all figured out, and don't feel the need to 'have to go fastlane' from day one. A job can be a means to an end, and a part of your overall strategy to move into the fastlane.

I hope this helps at least one person reading this - It is a culmination of my thoughts on business and entrepreneurship over the years, as I myself have struggled to nail a niche and nail a business and 'go to the fastlane', but I've still managed to go from a negative net worth, to what will likely be a millionaire at 30 years old, within only 8 years (and I'm not eating wheaties and ramen every day with some Dave Ramsey bullshit lifestyle).

My goal is to spend a handful of more years in sales while starting to build my fastlane business alongside the career, and when I'm sitting around 1.5M net worth (probably 3ish years), I'll have the cushion and the freedom to spend the rest of my life solving problems and building businesses, with zero fear if they all fail and crash and burn into the ground. Because I've set the foundation, I've learned the necessary skills, and I have set up my life for financial success despite what happens with any business I build or anything that happens in the world.


Ideally, I'll have my business replace my job in the near term, and then I'll just focus on that, but until that happens, I'm okay with working a flexible corporate sales job and raking in 200-300K a year doing it, making connections, and amassing the skills needed to succeed in the fastlane.

Edit & P.S - These are the benefits I've personally had from having a 'slowlane job' that has still provided me plenty of time and flexibility to enjoy my life and work on other hobbies/ventures/businesses:

- It afforded me the steady paycheck to go to a bank and get a residential house loan for my duplex which now generates me a 20-30% return every year
- It has covered my health insurance which has helped me to get in the best health and shape of my life (free gym membership reimbursements, 90%+ of costs covered for dental work, chiropractor, dry needling, etc)
- It has helped me build out a great network in the SaaS business world
- It has helped me make many friends and connections with former colleagues, some of which have the same mindset of the fastlane life as I do
- It has helped me save enough money to capitalize on market opportunities when I saw them (for instance, I invested a sizeable amount of money in Tesla in 2018)
- Most importantly, I learned to SELL, and am highly confident in my ability to sell, which will be a valuable asset for any fastlane venture.

 

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[Kevin88660]

I'm compelled to write this after coming back onto the forum and reading through many recent posts and threads.

Turns out, if you're on this forum, you're compelled to build a business, escape the rat race, and build a better life for yourself.

But odds are, the majority of those lurking these forums are just getting started, or haven't taken the plunge to the Fastlane life just yet, and that's why you're reading these threads. Or, if you're one of the more fortunate ones who is reading because you're a contributor, who has had plenty of business success, then you'll at least appreciate this post.

News flash: your job CAN BE PART OF YOUR FASTLANE STRATEGY.

"What the hell are you talking about? That's the slowlane. I can't scale my time, and I can't exponentially scale my pay at my job"

Not so fast. You're focusing on the wrong things.

I'll start by saying - I've been on this forum since 2014 when I first read TMF . And, I have yet to have a business success in the fastlane. I've spent the majority of my years since joining the forum in college, working some businesses on the side, and working corporate jobs.

But, despite being in what most would call "the slowlane", I'm nearing millionaire status, and have set myself up for a lifetime of freedom, and I'm here to share a couple of ways you can do the same.

Did I mention I'm only 29?

In 2016, I graduated with a -$45,000 net worth. My sales job out of college paid me a $35,000 salary, and a $15,000 commission if I hit my targets.

Fast forward to 2022, and I made over $400,000 for the year if you count my sales career, my investment property (duplex), and investment growth.

So, now that I've caught your attention...

Why am I promoting the slowlane as an avenue towards the fastlane?

I don't know your circumstance, but I can at least share where the *average* person is at.

- The average person doesn't have much money for an emergency, let alone to start a business in their spare time.
- The average person has no idea where to start in order to build a business and add value
- The average person is currently being crushed by debt, inflation, layoffs, a housing crisis (affordable housing is no longer a thing at this rate)
- and the list goes on and on..

So maybe you're trying to 'go Fastlane' - but you're not sure how. You're not sure what problem to solve. Maybe you don't even know how to identify problems, and you feel like you lack the general skills to get started.

This is where I'm saying, a slowlane job might actually be useful for you. But not in the way you think.

Learning on the job at a company can be a great way to get started on your fastlane journey.

Working a job can help you to learn essential skills on somebody else's dime
Working a job can provide you some working capital to get started on your business
It can help you to network and make great business connections
It can help you to start identifying problems, and potential solutions and opportunities in the real world

Naval Ravikant, founder of Angelist, has notably said that you need to know how to build, or how to sell, and if you can do both, you will be very dangerous. I think he was onto something.

If you're an aspiring fastlaner, but not sure where to start, or maybe you haven't had success executing on a business, or you're just looking for some direction, it might not be a bad idea to go take on a corporate job for a limited amount of time, earn some money, make connections, and start developing the important skills that can help fuel your fastlane business.

Jobs that I personally would suggest would be sales, marketing, web development, coding, customer success. Honestly, any job with the right mindset can teach you plenty about business. When I was stocking shelves and doing retail sales, I was learning about how merchandise was priced, where it was coming from, I was understanding the supply chain and logistics for how merchandise got into the store, where it came from, etc.

There are plenty of things you can learn from taking a slowlane job.

This post isn't to promote everyone that "the slowlane is the way" - far from it. This is to give some direction to the many who lurk this forum with a passion for business, but those who may be lacking a starting point and hoping to start moving towards a life of adding value and entrepreneurship. Taking on a job (albeit, temporarily), with the right mindset, can help foster many benefits to help set you up for success in the fastlane.

So for all of the newbies on here, a lot of whom appear to be young and just starting in their careers - don't feel the need to have it all figured out, and don't feel the need to 'have to go fastlane' from day one. A job can be a means to an end, and a part of your overall strategy to move into the fastlane.

I hope this helps at least one person reading this - It is a culmination of my thoughts on business and entrepreneurship over the years, as I myself have struggled to nail a niche and nail a business and 'go to the fastlane', but I've still managed to go from a negative net worth, to what will likely be a millionaire at 30 years old, within only 8 years (and I'm not eating wheaties and ramen every day with some Dave Ramsey bullshit lifestyle).

My goal is to spend a handful of more years in sales while starting to build my fastlane business alongside the career, and when I'm sitting around 1.5M net worth (probably 3ish years), I'll have the cushion and the freedom to spend the rest of my life solving problems and building businesses, with zero fear if they all fail and crash and burn into the ground. Because I've set the foundation, I've learned the necessary skills, and I have set up my life for financial success despite what happens with any business I build or anything that happens in the world.


Ideally, I'll have my business replace my job in the near term, and then I'll just focus on that, but until that happens, I'm okay with working a flexible corporate sales job and raking in 200-300K a year doing it, making connections, and amassing the skills needed to succeed in the fastlane.

Edit & P.S - These are the benefits I've personally had from having a 'slowlane job' that has still provided me plenty of time and flexibility to enjoy my life and work on other hobbies/ventures/businesses:

- It afforded me the steady paycheck to go to a bank and get a residential house loan for my duplex which now generates me a 20-30% return every year
- It has covered my health insurance which has helped me to get in the best health and shape of my life (free gym membership reimbursements, 90%+ of costs covered for dental work, chiropractor, dry needling, etc)
- It has helped me build out a great network in the SaaS business world
- It has helped me make many friends and connections with former colleagues, some of which have the same mindset of the fastlane life as I do
- It has helped me save enough money to capitalize on market opportunities when I saw them (for instance, I invested a sizeable amount of money in Tesla in 2018)
- Most importantly, I learned to SELL, and am highly confident in my ability to sell, which will be a valuable asset for any fastlane venture.

As much as I agree with the conclusion, but I don’t fully agree with the reasons.

High pay with successful personal investment require right degree, right time, and right industry, which itself has a great survivorship bias.

Jobs are wonderful tools to get steady cashflow coming in. You are also paid to learn the rope of business also literally. Any business that is capable of paying steady wages are mostly successful and profitable business.

In a business if I am lean enough I can exit and take a loss and switch to a different industry 3-in 6 months. You cannot do that for a job where your only value comes from relevant past years experience.

Even if a job that pays far below average but only takes 3-4 days of your time per week and leaves you enough time to pursue business interest in my opinion it is still a good job.

When you invest large amount spare cash into investment vehicles they are “underutilized” as they could be used for business ideas testing and development.

Get a job that pays bills, save everything in cash, looks for potential business upside I think is more in line with the philosophy of seeking “asymmetric return”.

It is also the barbell philosophy in life, only the safest thing and the most aggressive things at two ends are worth pursuing. Anything in between is overrated (career progression, seeking 10 percent above market return).

 

[Oso]

I find it strange people need to be told having a job is still better than being broke. By all means, if you can start a business while supporting yourself, while simultaneously avoiding a job entirely, then kudos to you, I respect it.

But if you're dead-a$$ broke and have a limited/non-existent skillset, then a JOB is going to be your quickest way to start making money while learning an industry. From there, you simply pursue whatever "skill" is needed to provide value in the way you want to, and then grow from there until you no longer need the JOB to support yourself/your business.

 

[DaddKerm]

I'm compelled to write this after coming back onto the forum and reading through many recent posts and threads.

Turns out, if you're on this forum, you're compelled to build a business, escape the rat race, and build a better life for yourself.

But odds are, the majority of those lurking these forums are just getting started, or haven't taken the plunge to the Fastlane life just yet, and that's why you're reading these threads. Or, if you're one of the more fortunate ones who is reading because you're a contributor, who has had plenty of business success, then you'll at least appreciate this post.

News flash: your job CAN BE PART OF YOUR FASTLANE STRATEGY.

"What the hell are you talking about? That's the slowlane. I can't scale my time, and I can't exponentially scale my pay at my job"

Not so fast. You're focusing on the wrong things.

I'll start by saying - I've been on this forum since 2014 when I first read TMF . And, I have yet to have a business success in the fastlane. I've spent the majority of my years since joining the forum in college, working some businesses on the side, and working corporate jobs.

But, despite being in what most would call "the slowlane", I'm nearing millionaire status, and have set myself up for a lifetime of freedom, and I'm here to share a couple of ways you can do the same.

Did I mention I'm only 29?

In 2016, I graduated with a -$45,000 net worth. My sales job out of college paid me a $35,000 salary, and a $15,000 commission if I hit my targets.

Fast forward to 2022, and I made over $400,000 for the year if you count my sales career, my investment property (duplex), and investment growth.

So, now that I've caught your attention...

Why am I promoting the slowlane as an avenue towards the fastlane?

I don't know your circumstance, but I can at least share where the *average* person is at.

- The average person doesn't have much money for an emergency, let alone to start a business in their spare time.
- The average person has no idea where to start in order to build a business and add value
- The average person is currently being crushed by debt, inflation, layoffs, a housing crisis (affordable housing is no longer a thing at this rate)
- and the list goes on and on..

So maybe you're trying to 'go Fastlane' - but you're not sure how. You're not sure what problem to solve. Maybe you don't even know how to identify problems, and you feel like you lack the general skills to get started.

This is where I'm saying, a slowlane job might actually be useful for you. But not in the way you think.

Learning on the job at a company can be a great way to get started on your fastlane journey.

Working a job can help you to learn essential skills on somebody else's dime
Working a job can provide you some working capital to get started on your business
It can help you to network and make great business connections
It can help you to start identifying problems, and potential solutions and opportunities in the real world

Naval Ravikant, founder of Angelist, has notably said that you need to know how to build, or how to sell, and if you can do both, you will be very dangerous. I think he was onto something.

If you're an aspiring fastlaner, but not sure where to start, or maybe you haven't had success executing on a business, or you're just looking for some direction, it might not be a bad idea to go take on a corporate job for a limited amount of time, earn some money, make connections, and start developing the important skills that can help fuel your fastlane business.

Jobs that I personally would suggest would be sales, marketing, web development, coding, customer success. Honestly, any job with the right mindset can teach you plenty about business. When I was stocking shelves and doing retail sales, I was learning about how merchandise was priced, where it was coming from, I was understanding the supply chain and logistics for how merchandise got into the store, where it came from, etc.

There are plenty of things you can learn from taking a slowlane job.

This post isn't to promote everyone that "the slowlane is the way" - far from it. This is to give some direction to the many who lurk this forum with a passion for business, but those who may be lacking a starting point and hoping to start moving towards a life of adding value and entrepreneurship. Taking on a job (albeit, temporarily), with the right mindset, can help foster many benefits to help set you up for success in the fastlane.

So for all of the newbies on here, a lot of whom appear to be young and just starting in their careers - don't feel the need to have it all figured out, and don't feel the need to 'have to go fastlane' from day one. A job can be a means to an end, and a part of your overall strategy to move into the fastlane.

I hope this helps at least one person reading this - It is a culmination of my thoughts on business and entrepreneurship over the years, as I myself have struggled to nail a niche and nail a business and 'go to the fastlane', but I've still managed to go from a negative net worth, to what will likely be a millionaire at 30 years old, within only 8 years (and I'm not eating wheaties and ramen every day with some Dave Ramsey bullshit lifestyle).

My goal is to spend a handful of more years in sales while starting to build my fastlane business alongside the career, and when I'm sitting around 1.5M net worth (probably 3ish years), I'll have the cushion and the freedom to spend the rest of my life solving problems and building businesses, with zero fear if they all fail and crash and burn into the ground. Because I've set the foundation, I've learned the necessary skills, and I have set up my life for financial success despite what happens with any business I build or anything that happens in the world.


Ideally, I'll have my business replace my job in the near term, and then I'll just focus on that, but until that happens, I'm okay with working a flexible corporate sales job and raking in 200-300K a year doing it, making connections, and amassing the skills needed to succeed in the fastlane.

Edit & P.S - These are the benefits I've personally had from having a 'slowlane job' that has still provided me plenty of time and flexibility to enjoy my life and work on other hobbies/ventures/businesses:

- It afforded me the steady paycheck to go to a bank and get a residential house loan for my duplex which now generates me a 20-30% return every year
- It has covered my health insurance which has helped me to get in the best health and shape of my life (free gym membership reimbursements, 90%+ of costs covered for dental work, chiropractor, dry needling, etc)
- It has helped me build out a great network in the SaaS business world
- It has helped me make many friends and connections with former colleagues, some of which have the same mindset of the fastlane life as I do
- It has helped me save enough money to capitalize on market opportunities when I saw them (for instance, I invested a sizeable amount of money in Tesla in 2018)
- Most importantly, I learned to SELL, and am highly confident in my ability to sell, which will be a valuable asset for any fastlane venture.

Wow, this was some great insight. Thank you for sharing this.

 

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[Brandonistaken]

I hate thinking about working in retail, right now im unemployed but before i was working in kitchen at some restaurants since i already had experience in that but seeing this post made me convinced that i should apply for retail. In my opinion the best thing to do is ask yourself is this good for my purpose? will this take me to the right direction? thats the kind of questions you have to ask

 

[FeaRxUnLeAsHeD]

As much as I agree with the conclusion, but I don’t fully agree with the reasons.

High pay with successful personal investment require right degree, right time, and right industry, which itself has a great survivorship bias.

Jobs are wonderful tools to get steady cashflow coming in. You are also paid to learn the rope of business also literally. Any business that is capable of paying steady wages are mostly successful and profitable business.

In a business if I am lean enough I can exit and take a loss and switch to a different industry 3-in 6 months. You cannot do that for a job where your only value comes from relevant past years experience.

Even if a job that pays far below average but only takes 3-4 days of your time per week and leaves you enough time to pursue business interest in my opinion it is still a good job.

When you invest large amount spare cash into investment vehicles they are “underutilized” as they could be used for business ideas testing and development.

Get a job that pays bills, save everything in cash, looks for potential business upside I think is more in line with the philosophy of seeking “asymmetric return”.

It is also the barbell philosophy in life, only the safest thing and the most aggressive things at two ends are worth pursuing. Anything in between is overrated (career progression, seeking 10 percent above market return).

To add a bit more context: the jobs don't necessarily have to be the 'highest paying jobs'. And to play devil's advocate, I've worked with guys who have only an associates degree from community college who have gone on to work in tech sales and make over $300K a year. There are plenty of startup companies and series-funded companies that have roles that would be great learning experiences and pay decently well that don't require a masters degree in computational finance or <insert whatever other massive investment required>.

You might be more of a 'builder' and can go do a Udemy course to teach yourself data science, and apply for a role at a Series A funded company. I will tell you first hand as someone who has helped with interviews and hiring, there is much less emphasis placed on actual degrees this day and age, especially in the business world.

I'll also add that there is massive survivorship bias in entrepreneurship as well. And, if you're running into multiple failures, to my point above, getting a job can be a great way to gain real-world experiences, network, and start identifying problems on someone else's dime. And I can promise you, most of these jobs do not require advanced degrees, they require someone intelligent who is motivated and eager to learn.

I find it strange people need to be told having a job is still better than being broke. By all means, if you can start a business while supporting yourself, while simultaneously avoiding a job entirely, then kudos to you, I respect it.

But if you're dead-a$$ broke and have a limited/non-existent skillset, then a JOB is going to be your quickest way to start making money while learning an industry. From there, you simply pursue whatever "skill" is needed to provide value in the way you want to, and then grow from there until you no longer need the JOB to support yourself/your business.

It seems to be a theme with a lot of people here from what I've read. They get excited about the riches and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and they miss the mark and fail, and think that 'running a company' or 'working for myself' is the only way. It's not. You can learn a lot while saving to go on the offense in a job.

I hate thinking about working in retail, right now im unemployed but before i was working in kitchen at some restaurants since i already had experience in that but seeing this post made me convinced that i should apply for retail. In my opinion the best thing to do is ask yourself is this good for my purpose? will this take me to the right direction? thats the kind of questions you have to ask

What do you want to do? If you're not sure, retail can honestly be a great way to start learning and experiencing basic customer service and sales skills. The bar is so low in retail, that if you work hard, it won't take long to stand out among the rest. Not that that's your goal - to get some promotion or something, but you can earn some money, gain some experience, and figure out what fastlane venture seems like the best opportunity in front of you. And, retail is usually a flexible enough schedule that you can find plenty of time to work on your fastlane business, and maybe even have a little bit of cash from the job to help you as you try to gain some traction, test your idea, etc.

 

[Deleted 118285]

In general, having a job normally gets you all kinds of experience. And when you have seen more companies (as an employee), you can make comparisons what worked and what not within the context of the company you've been working for (i.e. with customers, products/services, marketing, HR, finance etc.).

In my case there is another, softer but important factor that working a job brought me: self-trust/confidence. In my view an important ingredient for entrepreneurs.

 

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[Kevin88660]

You might be more of a 'builder' and can go do a Udemy course to teach yourself data science, and apply for a role at a Series A funded company. I will tell you first hand as someone who has helped with interviews and hiring, there is much less emphasis placed on actual degrees this day and age, especially in the business world.

Intrapreneur or being in a start-up with stock options are good choices also.

 

[Brandonistaken]

To add a bit more context: the jobs don't necessarily have to be the 'highest paying jobs'. And to play devil's advocate, I've worked with guys who have only an associates degree from community college who have gone on to work in tech sales and make over $300K a year. There are plenty of startup companies and series-funded companies that have roles that would be great learning experiences and pay decently well that don't require a masters degree in computational finance or <insert whatever other massive investment required>.

You might be more of a 'builder' and can go do a Udemy course to teach yourself data science, and apply for a role at a Series A funded company. I will tell you first hand as someone who has helped with interviews and hiring, there is much less emphasis placed on actual degrees this day and age, especially in the business world.

I'll also add that there is massive survivorship bias in entrepreneurship as well. And, if you're running into multiple failures, to my point above, getting a job can be a great way to gain real-world experiences, network, and start identifying problems on someone else's dime. And I can promise you, most of these jobs do not require advanced degrees, they require someone intelligent who is motivated and eager to learn.



It seems to be a theme with a lot of people here from what I've read. They get excited about the riches and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and they miss the mark and fail, and think that 'running a company' or 'working for myself' is the only way. It's not. You can learn a lot while saving to go on the offense in a job.



What do you want to do? If you're not sure, retail can honestly be a great way to start learning and experiencing basic customer service and sales skills. The bar is so low in retail, that if you work hard, it won't take long to stand out among the rest. Not that that's your goal - to get some promotion or something, but you can earn some money, gain some experience, and figure out what fastlane venture seems like the best opportunity in front of you. And, retail is usually a flexible enough schedule that you can find plenty of time to work on your fastlane business, and maybe even have a little bit of cash from the job to help you as you try to gain some traction, test your idea, etc.

I want to do Graphics but i do want to venture on other areas in the industry such as Web Design, coding etc

 

[ericlozada]

I want to do Graphics but i do want to venture on other areas in the industry such as Web Design, coding etc

Those are definitely good ones.

 

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