Young Entrepreneur Just trying to figure it all out

[Gee Li]

Hi Fellow Fastlaners,

My name is Gee Li and I wanted to introduce myself to the forum. I am a young entrepreneur and have been using the principles of the Fastlane Millionaire for the past 3 months. My background consist of finishing my undergraduate degree in 2009 and working in retail commission sales shortly coming out. The long-short of it was that I HATED making some other person rich. I HATED not having control of my own schedule, and I HATED the fact that I was trading my time so that someone else could enjoy THEIR time.

That being said, I actually did very well in commission sales. I was a sales associate for Neiman Marcus and specialized in men's apparel and fragrances. My first year out I had made over $50,000/year on commission and had a full wardrobe of high-end designer suits and apparel to show for it. I would spoil my girlfriend with extravagant gifts whenever they would go on sale and my employee discount made it easier than ever to purchase anything that I fancied. I would take my paychecks every month, subtract my expenses and use the rest on vacations and fancy dinners. I spent every dime I made my first year. It looked like wealth, My friends thought I was wealthy, but I knew deep down inside that on a commission basis I would never achieve the type of wealth I wanted out of life.

So I left. I worked the job another year and saved. Moved back in with my parents and asked my girlfriend to come with me. Thankfully she agreed and by saving for the next year I was able to invest in a business venture that I now own and operate. The first year into the business was great, it was an EVENTS process and I was oblivious to it. My business was steady but that didn't matter, I LOVED what I was doing because I was doing it on my own terms. I was able to hire some help and soon I was creating a business the way I wanted to. I wanted to have employees that I cared about and cared about me; I wanted customers who I knew by name and who looked forward to coming to see me and I wanted suppliers who were just like me trying to start their own business.

This business put me in a state of extreme fastlane growth. I ready every success book I could get my hands on. I started on Tony Robbins, Robert Kyosaki, The Richest man in Babylon, and many others. They all led me to more and more books and soon that's what I was spending most of my money on. The amount of books I consumed in that first year outweigh all the books I may have read in my years in college and high school! They all said I was on the right track and they all said I was doing the right thing. Thankfully, I came across The Fastlane Millionaire and when I finished the first two sections and was halfway through the third, I realized that they were all telling me what I wanted to hear. This book was probably the first book I have read that said everything black and white and didn't care what I had to say about it. After finishing Fastlane Millionaire I looked at my business and my life completely different. It made me join this forum and continue to look out for opportunities.

It all worked out for awhile. As I said, It wasn't about the money it was about making a difference. As the first year ended and my business entered its second winter, money started to show its face more and more. Soon I was behind on my credit card payments and trying to figure out how I was going to juggle all the bills and taxes that were needing to be paid. I had to think of quick little gimmicks to get customers to buy more or come in more often and soon it became how much they could give me rather then how much I could give them.

Taking the time to work through this experience has given me an immense amount of tools to tackle life. MJ DeMarco attacks a lot of self-proclaimed gurus but I can't help but think that I had to understand and apply their concepts before I would have been ready to receive the teachings and ideas found in this book. I am still in the Frozen Yogurt Business, but I see myself looking at my business differently each and everyday. I use to think Franchising was the way to riches and even though the opportunity is still available with added capital, It doesn't look as appealing as when I first started the business. Felix Dennis of Maxim Magazine wrote a book entitles, "How to Get Rich". In it he proclaims that you have to conduct business greedily and know when to walk away from the table. These are concepts that I hear a lot but it's very hard to apply them because that kind of confidence only comes from experience. I hope to use this forum to learn from the experience of my seniors and the professionals that come to this forum from all walks of life. I hope you all find my story very similar to your own even if the choices and vehicles are different. I hope you can see the story of a man who is just trying to figure out the puzzle to wealth on his own terms and can rest assured that he will (as we all will) ultimately achieve it.

Sincerely,
Gee Li

 

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