Is this start too small?

[piano]

Hello!
Just as a note: I'm 15yo and male, I'll also be making calculations in €, though they're pretty similar to $.
That's it


In TMF , MJ DeMarco talks about starting small.
Since I have pretty much no experience, I wondered if this is a good start:

0,25€ · 30days = 7,5€ a month (Throwing 25 cents into a box every day. Not more because I don't earn my own money)
MJ DeMarco mentioned this in TMF so yeah. This is also something that I've been doing for 2 days now.

This is basically it for now. Gonna become a millionaire in 11111 years.
Jokes aside, I have another idea which I am already trying to find data with. Will post it in another post. It just stinks a bit like the slowlane...

What do you guys think?

 

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[Johnny boy]

There's guaranteed to be some pretty basic shit that you can do for cash in your city with a little bit of elbow grease and sales abilities and you'd be able to grind out like 5-10k a month if you're willing to hustle.

It will not be as an employee, or trying to start a bullshit t-shirt brand. It will likely be from some sort of local service.

 

[BrazenFoxx]

Well done for making a start, everyone has to start somewhere. 15 years old and already reading TMF , now that's impressive!
One area you could explore is OPM - other people's money.
I bet you know at least 1 person that would help you on your way. Get them to read the book and perhaps they will mentor you as well. If you know someone that runs their own business already they would already certain skills that you could learn from. Best of luck!

 

[piano]

Well done for making a start, everyone has to start somewhere. 15 years old and already reading TMF , now that's impressive!
One area you could explore is OPM - other people's money.
I bet you know at least 1 person that would help you on your way. Get them to read the book and perhaps they will mentor you as well. If you know someone that runs their own business already they would already certain skills that you could learn from. Best of luck!

Thank you!
I have a few questions though:
-what is "OPM" good for exactly/what can it help me with?
-Why would I make another person learn it so he can teach me about it? This also likely breaks the Cent-Rule: Control.

 

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[piano]

There's guaranteed to be some pretty basic shit that you can do for cash in your city with a little bit of elbow grease and sales abilities and you'd be able to grind out like 5-10k a month if you're willing to hustle.

It will not be as an employee, or trying to start a bullshit t-shirt brand. It will likely be from some sort of local service.

Thank you for the advice!
Damn, 5-10k that's doable?
I'm excited to think about ideas...
By any chance, is there any thread that talks about this in more detail? I haven't found any.
(Also, I currently only have 170€ at my proposal)

 

[Saad Khan]

Thank you for the advice!
Damn, 5-10k that's doable?
I'm excited to think about ideas...
By any chance, is there any thread that talks about this in more detail? I haven't found any.
(Also, I currently only have 170€ at my proposal)

If I were you at your age (I'm 19 now), I would focus on building systems that can generate revenue and profit, because that's who an entrepreneur is, really.

For example, find a few friends who could use some cash, tell them you have a money-making gig for them, go explore around your neighborhood, close a few gigs and get to work along with your boys. You'll learn tons of things as you go through the process.

Easier said than done. You can try this little experiment. And can let us know how it goes.

Better not worry about CENTS too much when starting out. Don't restrict yourself from acting on an idea just because it doesn't make CENTS.

P.S. Don't be afraid of making mistakes at this young age. They are bound to happen! So don't be afraid of making mistakes because no one expects you to be the breadwinner. At least for now...

 

[BrazenFoxx]

Thank you!
I have a few questions though:
-what is "OPM" good for exactly/what can it help me with?
-Why would I make another person learn it so he can teach me about it? This also likely breaks the Cent-Rule: Control.

Other People's Money can help you get started with buying a product that you can resell for more money for example. You repay them their loan money and share the profits.

Support can be found in this forum, in your home, from your friends and family and learning with someone can make the experience more enjoyable and motivate you to do more and discuss ideas. What you have around you is a wealth of resources that you can tap into and bring with you on your journey.

Working with someone isn't losing control.

 

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[Johnny boy]

If you wanna get real basic I would just make a list of services and then test demand.

Look at this math.

5k/mo if you work 20 days is $250 a day that you work.

If you call someone to come to your house and pressure wash a patio that takes an hour, guess how much the quote will be? Likely $100-$300.

That means that guy only has to do 1-2 of those per day (1hr each) to make that 5k a month. That's a very comfortable amount of work.

If you live in a place where there's moss on roofs you could just walk around knocking doors and say "I clean moss off of roofs I could get you a great price" and only take on easy 1-story ramblers and charge like $300 and spend a couple hours on it.

You could do the same thing but with windows. If you don't want to climb up high you could just do the lower level windows for real cheap. Stack up 5-10 of those easy ones a day.

Businesses need these services too.

These kind of easy little businesses are good because it's everywhere. And there's an expectation that it'll be a decent chunk of change when it gets done. And if you have elbow grease you already know much of what to do. How are you going to build a SAAS company right now? How are you going to acquire a company? How are you going to do a real estate deal? How are you going to open up a brick and mortar store?

It's so much better than getting a job. You will be making the same hourly rate as a lawyer and all you need is an ability to do basic math, work up a sweat, and have some common business sense and basic sales skills.

I really should make a list of multiple ideas and go bring in income for the entire list and record it all so I could post it for all the 15 year olds that ask "what should I do for money?"

 

[piano]

If I were you at your age (I'm 19 now), I would focus on building systems that can generate revenue and profit, because that's who an entrepreneur is, really.

For example, find a few friends who could use some cash, tell them you have a money-making gig for them, go explore around your neighborhood, close a few gigs and get to work along with your boys. You'll learn tons of things as you go through the process.

Easier said than done. You can try this little experiment. And can let us know how it goes.

I'll keep my eyes open on possible gigs and try to get my friends to work with me.
I'm just not completely sure on their reliability because they are honestly pretty...eh... They are literally planning a "beer-pong" game today. Mind they are younger than me as well...

Either way, thanks!
I'll keep you updated if I find an opportunity.

 

[piano]

Other People's Money can help you get started with buying a product that you can resell for more money for example. You repay them their loan money and share the profits.

Support can be found in this forum, in your home, from your friends and family and learning with someone can make the experience more enjoyable and motivate you to do more and discuss ideas. What you have around you is a wealth of resources that you can tap into and bring with you on your journey.

Working with someone isn't losing control.

I see.

Growing with another person is indeed pretty great!

"Working with someone isn't losing control."
If you both know the material, then yes, it's not losing control. But if only he read the material, how can you be too sure he properly understood it and didn't forget something important in the book?

These are just my thoughts though.

 

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[piano]

If you wanna get real basic I would just make a list of services and then test demand.

Look at this math.

5k/mo if you work 20 days is $250 a day that you work.

If you call someone to come to your house and pressure wash a patio that takes an hour, guess how much the quote will be? Likely $100-$300.

That means that guy only has to do 1-2 of those per day (1hr each) to make that 5k a month. That's a very comfortable amount of work.

If you live in a place where there's moss on roofs you could just walk around knocking doors and say "I clean moss off of roofs I could get you a great price" and only take on easy 1-story ramblers and charge like $300 and spend a couple hours on it.

You could do the same thing but with windows. If you don't want to climb up high you could just do the lower level windows for real cheap. Stack up 5-10 of those easy ones a day.

Businesses need these services too.

These kind of easy little businesses are good because it's everywhere. And there's an expectation that it'll be a decent chunk of change when it gets done. And if you have elbow grease you already know much of what to do. How are you going to build a SAAS company right now? How are you going to acquire a company? How are you going to do a real estate deal? How are you going to open up a brick and mortar store?

It's so much better than getting a job. You will be making the same hourly rate as a lawyer and all you need is an ability to do basic math, work up a sweat, and have some common business sense and basic sales skills.

I really should make a list of multiple ideas and go bring in income for the entire list and record it all so I could post it for all the 15 year olds that ask "what should I do for money?"

That's good advice.
One of the ideas I'm thinking about is shoveling snow away during the winter, if we get snow lol.
Gonna think about more ideas.
Thanks.

 

[BrazenFoxx]

The UK have grants for small businesses - free money to help you get setup.
Have a search on the internet to see what might be available in your own country as you've mentioned euros I'm guessing you're not in the UK.

Your way ahead with your goals compared to your friends, I would probably be more interested in beer-ping-pong too lol

I would start by asking someone that already has a business to work with you as they can also invest time and money in you and have some experience. I'm sure someone in your family will know someone, maybe one of your friends parents owns a business?

"how can you be too sure he properly understood it and didn't forget something important in the book?"
How can you be sure you haven't?

It's all learning and ideas, choose the route that suits you best.

Trial and error, be happy with failures because they help you to learn what not to do and ask what can I change and do better next time. Enjoy the journey.

I'm looking forward to seeing where your journey takes you.

 

[piano]

The UK have grants for small businesses - free money to help you get setup.
Have a search on the internet to see what might be available in your own country as you've mentioned euros I'm guessing you're not in the UK.

Your way ahead with your goals compared to your friends, I would probably be more interested in beer-ping-pong too lol

I would start by asking someone that already has a business to work with you as they can also invest time and money in you and have some experience. I'm sure someone in your family will know someone, maybe one of your friends parents owns a business?

"how can you be too sure he properly understood it and didn't forget something important in the book?"
How can you be sure you haven't?

It's all learning and ideas, choose the route that suits you best.

Trial and error, be happy with failures because they help you to learn what not to do and ask what can I change and do better next time. Enjoy the journey.

I'm looking forward to seeing where your journey takes you.

Thank you!
For the grant: I've done research and yes, Germany does take up a good chunk of your costs. I think the costs can even be fully covered by someone investing in you, if I read correctly.
My source, for anybody interested: Start-up grants & Financial incentives for businesses in Germany

Thanks for the other tipps!
I think I'm going to go out and see if I can come up with gig possibilities and business ideas...

 

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[BrazenFoxx]

Hi piano,
I'm currently revisiting the book and I suggest you do the same as there are some great nuggets of information in there somewhere around chapter 35 where MJ highlights the best places for your business. Somewhere up there is websites and ecommerce.
I've been looking to test out my design work, shop, marketing etc and experiment on the cheap with some ideas and I've managed to find some free outlets that might be of interest to you too.
Firstly and most importantly, do your own research.
It looks like it's free to add products to Etsy: Learn How to Sell on Etsy
Likewise printful connects to Etsy https://www.printful.com/ and offers free design and when a customer buys on Etsy the order is placed with Printful and shipped to the customer so you don't need any money up front. Or at least that's how I *think it all works... I'm still researching but I thought it might be of interest to you.
I'm sure there are many other opportunities out there... likewise if you just wanted to connect businesses to customers the cost of a domain name and website are pretty small.
Happy researching and definitely revisit the book. Especially the 2nd half where the Fastlane gold is.

 

[MattR82]

There's guaranteed to be some pretty basic shit that you can do for cash in your city with a little bit of elbow grease and sales abilities and you'd be able to grind out like 5-10k a month if you're willing to hustle.

It will not be as an employee, or trying to start a bullshit t-shirt brand. It will likely be from some sort of local service.

This.

Low moisture carpet cleaning, window washing, mobile car washing, mobile car detailing, pressure washing, cleaning, mowing, gardening, wall mounting tvs, help set up new tvs for old folks, audio visial setup, furniture and flat pack assembly, gutter cleaning, man with a van, etc

 

[MitchC]

There’s an old thread on here about buying and selling on Craigslist, marketplace etc.

I’d be doing that.

I lived in a particularly good city for it so my results weren’t normal but it works anywhere.

Buy things cheap and sell them for more.

We’d make $150-250 sometimes more on each phone just buying and selling them again.

We got a guitar for $50 and sold it for $700

A car for $300 and sold for $3500

Heaps of MacBooks. iPads.

Video games were really good too, but a bulk lot when someone’s selling everything and then sell it all separately for more.

Some people like to do this with appliances, buy broken ones cheap and fix them.

You can go to garage sales and do this too.

It doesn’t scale but man it is quick easy money.

Depending where you live you may not be hitting constant home runs like we were but you’ll be able to consistently make $20-50 off each flip no matter where you live.

The biggest key is to constantly be looking, to be first and quick, and to buy for a good price, negotiate hard.

You make your money when you buy, not when you sell.

If something is worth $750, you’ll never sell it for $850, but you could buy it for $600 and sell it for $700.

 

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[MattR82]

There’s an old thread on here about buying and selling on Craigslist, marketplace etc.

I’d be doing that.

I lived in a particularly good city for it so my results weren’t normal but it works anywhere.

Buy things cheap and sell them for more.

We’d make $150-250 sometimes more on each phone just buying and selling them again.

We got a guitar for $50 and sold it for $700

A car for $300 and sold for $3500

Heaps of MacBooks. iPads.

Video games were really good too, but a bulk lot when someone’s selling everything and then sell it all separately for more.

Some people like to do this with appliances, buy broken ones cheap and fix them.

You can go to garage sales and do this too.

It doesn’t scale but man it is quick easy money.

Depending where you live you may not be hitting constant home runs like we were but you’ll be able to consistently make $20-50 off each flip no matter where you live.

The biggest key is to constantly be looking, to be first and quick, and to buy for a good price, negotiate hard.

You make your money when you buy, not when you sell.

If something is worth $750, you’ll never sell it for $850, but you could buy it for $600 and sell it for $700.

I know someone who lives in the same area as you and I that left his insurance sales job to flip couches just like this through Facebook marketplace lol.

A lot of people basically giving decent furniture away for free when they move because they don't want the hassle of moving it and want to upgrade anyway.

 

[MitchC]

I know someone who lives in the same area as you and I that left his insurance sales job to flip couches just like this through Facebook marketplace lol.

A lot of people basically giving decent furniture away for free when they move because they don't want the hassle of moving it and want to upgrade anyway.

Crazy, I’ve never tried down here.

This was in Mackay, everyone there has more money than brains.

They’d sell stuff they’d just bought for next to nothing. Every time a new iPhone came out we’d make $1000s because everyone upgraded and thought their old ones were worthless.

Then there’d be others that would be on marketplace all day paying top dollar for anything that catches their eye. I once sold a tablet for more than they retail for by mistake because I had no idea what it was worth. It sold in like 2 minutes.

 

[Andy Black]

Hello!
Just as a note: I'm 15yo and male, I'll also be making calculations in €, though they're pretty similar to $.
That's it


In TMF , MJ DeMarco talks about starting small.
Since I have pretty much no experience, I wondered if this is a good start:

0,25€ · 30days = 7,5€ a month (Throwing 25 cents into a box every day. Not more because I don't earn my own money)
MJ DeMarco mentioned this in TMF so yeah. This is also something that I've been doing for 2 days now.

This is basically it for now. Gonna become a millionaire in 11111 years.
Jokes aside, I have another idea which I am already trying to find data with. Will post it in another post. It just stinks a bit like the slowlane...

What do you guys think?

15, with an internet connection plus phone or laptop, and an entrepreneurial spirit? Good for you.

My first thought is to lean into your youth.

What do people naturally assume you're better at because you're 15? Setting up their laptops, phones, TVs? Anything to do with social media, and smart phones.

Have you any interest or experience creating short videos? CapCut is free and amazing. Most business owners haven't the time, inclination, patience, or skills to create little videos for their own businesses.

I've a 13 year old nephew creating videos with CapCut and uploading to TikTok and YouTube Shorts. He's learning, and dayum... he's already so much better than I'll ever be. I'm keeping an eye on him so I can maybe give him bits of paid work later on. Same as my 10, 12, and 14 year old sons. They've a slight interest in video creation and editing. If they were any keener I'd be paying them for bits of editing for myself and for clients.

Just a thought.

 

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[MitchC]

15, with an internet connection plus phone or laptop, and an entrepreneurial spirit? Good for you.

My first thought is to lean into your youth.

What do people naturally assume you're better at because you're 15? Setting up their laptops, phones, TVs? Anything to do with social media, and smart phones.

Have you any interest or experience creating short videos? CapCut is free and amazing. Most business owners haven't the time, inclination, patience, or skills to create little videos for their own businesses.

I've a 13 year old nephew creating videos with CapCut and uploading to TikTok and YouTube Shorts. He's learning, and dayum... he's already so much better than I'll ever be. I'm keeping an eye on him so I can maybe give him bits of paid work later on. Same as my 10, 12, and 14 year old sons. They've a slight interest in video creation and editing. If they were any keener I'd be paying them for bits of editing for myself and for clients.

Just a thought.

I listen to the my first million podcast.

A couple young guys started editing clips from the podcast and posting them on TikTok. They were good and a few blew up.

Now the people on the podcast are paying them to do that as an agency and they have a bunch of other clients too.

Editing shorts for a podcast that’s popular but doesn’t do it could be a great way to get experience and also exposure and build a portfolio.

Doing this for small businesses sounds good but the problem is they probably don’t have a library of long form content you can cut up like a podcast does.

The other problem is if they did the content probably sucks, garbage in garbage out.

It’s almost impossible to turn bad content into a good short, but if they have a bank of good content then you could be making good shorts from it all day without much editing.

 

[Zyzzz]

There’s an old thread on here about buying and selling on Craigslist, marketplace etc.

I’d be doing that.

I lived in a particularly good city for it so my results weren’t normal but it works anywhere.

Buy things cheap and sell them for more.

We’d make $150-250 sometimes more on each phone just buying and selling them again.

We got a guitar for $50 and sold it for $700

A car for $300 and sold for $3500

Heaps of MacBooks. iPads.

Video games were really good too, but a bulk lot when someone’s selling everything and then sell it all separately for more.

Some people like to do this with appliances, buy broken ones cheap and fix them.

You can go to garage sales and do this too.

It doesn’t scale but man it is quick easy money.

Depending where you live you may not be hitting constant home runs like we were but you’ll be able to consistently make $20-50 off each flip no matter where you live.

The biggest key is to constantly be looking, to be first and quick, and to buy for a good price, negotiate hard.

You make your money when you buy, not when you sell.

If something is worth $750, you’ll never sell it for $850, but you could buy it for $600 and sell it for $700.

What do you think about dropshipping?

 

[Andy Black]

I listen to the my first million podcast.

A couple young guys started editing clips from the podcast and posting them on TikTok. They were good and a few blew up.

Now the people on the podcast are paying them to do that as an agency and they have a bunch of other clients too.

Editing shorts for a podcast that’s popular but doesn’t do it could be a great way to get experience and also exposure and build a portfolio.

Even better! Don't ask for permission. Don't wait for them to give you content. JDI and see what happens.

Find YouTube channels that regularly post long form content and start creating short form content for them.

"Be so good they can't ignore you."
(Steve Martin)

 

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[Zyzzz]

Hello!
Just as a note: I'm 15yo and male, I'll also be making calculations in €, though they're pretty similar to $.
That's it


In TMF, MJ DeMarco talks about starting small.
Since I have pretty much no experience, I wondered if this is a good start:

0,25€ · 30days = 7,5€ a month (Throwing 25 cents into a box every day. Not more because I don't earn my own money)
MJ DeMarco mentioned this in TMF so yeah. This is also something that I've been doing for 2 days now.

This is basically it for now. Gonna become a millionaire in 11111 years.
Jokes aside, I have another idea which I am already trying to find data with. Will post it in another post. It just stinks a bit like the slowlane...

What do you guys think?

While I may not have anything important to say, I would advise you to consider this a side hustle and don't get too obsessed about money that you don't enjoy your teenage years.

 

[MitchC]

What do you think about dropshipping?

It’s probably the best way to start business unless you want to do services, but it’s not as easy as gurus make it seem.

I started my business dropshipping and then reinvested the money into buying stock, branding it and improving on the products.

I’d dropship again if I was starting a new business, in fact I probably will.

You’ll learn paid ads, copywriting, branding, video editing, email marketing, website optimisation etc etc and can be profitable very quickly. It can scale easily too.

I’d be looking to pivot from dropshipping to holding stock and branding as soon as possible once somethings working though as product quality, shipping times, chargebacks, return customers, reviews, brand etc are all shit if you dropship, at least they were for me.

Plus it builds a moat and makes it harder for people to just steal your ads and dropship the same product as you.

 

[piano]

While I may not have anything important to say, I would advise you to consider this a side hustle and don't get too obsessed about money that you don't enjoy your teenage years.

I think your comment has truth to it.
The reason I am trying to get rich, is so I can actually "enjoy youth".
And I'm not talking about some stupid iphone btw lmfao.
There are a lot of things that limit me and decrease my mental health. With money, I can get rid of most of them.
And that's why seeing the fastlane is imo the only option for me. I can't enjoy "youth" without getting rid of the other things bugging me.
Also, I get quite depressed if I don't work a lot lol, so I don't mind working at all.

Thanks though!

 

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[piano]

15, with an internet connection plus phone or laptop, and an entrepreneurial spirit? Good for you.

My first thought is to lean into your youth.

What do people naturally assume you're better at because you're 15? Setting up their laptops, phones, TVs? Anything to do with social media, and smart phones.

Have you any interest or experience creating short videos? CapCut is free and amazing. Most business owners haven't the time, inclination, patience, or skills to create little videos for their own businesses.

I've a 13 year old nephew creating videos with CapCut and uploading to TikTok and YouTube Shorts. He's learning, and dayum... he's already so much better than I'll ever be. I'm keeping an eye on him so I can maybe give him bits of paid work later on. Same as my 10, 12, and 14 year old sons. They've a slight interest in video creation and editing. If they were any keener I'd be paying them for bits of editing for myself and for clients.

Just a thought.

Great advice!
I've actually come up with an idea last week which uses my youth as an USP (unique selling prosposition I think?).
Also, your relatives are already doing social media? Nice.
I uploaded gaming youtube videos when I was 11 as well.

Either way, I'll now try to find a website builder which can create a vaque prototype of my planned website. I'm gonna ask on this forum now, because I couldn't find shit the last few days and one hour today lol

edit: I think Imma look for web developers people first

 

[MattR82]

Great advice!
I've actually come up with an idea last week which uses my youth as an USP (unique selling prosposition I think?).
Also, your relatives are already doing social media? Nice.
I uploaded gaming youtube videos when I was 11 as well.

Either way, I'll now try to find a website builder which can create a vaque prototype of my planned website. I'm gonna ask on this forum now, because I couldn't find shit the last few days and one hour today lol

edit: I think Imma look for web developers people first

Learn how to build your own websites. Wpcrafter is a good youtube channel to start on. Get cheap hosting to practice on or use something like local by flywheel to practice building without hosting just on your personal computer (I think local still does this).

Get the free version of astra theme and free version of elementor builder and start learning. No need for a web developer! (There's a difference between a web dev and a web designer too by the way, a web dev is not really needed for a super simple site).

Enjoy! It's quite fun to learn making your own wordpress sites.

 

[Bounou]

Learn how to build your own websites. Wpcrafter is a good youtube channel to start on. Get cheap hosting to practice on or use something like local by flywheel to practice building without hosting just on your personal computer (I think local still does this).

Get the free version of astra theme and free version of elementor builder and start learning. No need for a web developer! (There's a difference between a web dev and a web designer too by the way, a web dev is not really needed for a super simple site).

Enjoy! It's quite fun to learn making your own wordpress sites.

Hello,

Do I need to learn HTML in order to make a wordpress site ? Or is it advised to have some
knowledge?

Thank you.

 

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[MattR82]

Hello,

Do I need to learn HTML in order to make a wordpress site ? Or is it advised to have some
knowledge?

Thank you.

Na. Check out tutorials on youtube for elementor builder. Wpcrafter or Ferdy. It's been years and years since I've done it though so maybe there's better ones now.