I’ve been thinking about goal setting. Most people don’t set goals, and the people who do sometimes don’t achieve them.
I can easily say “I wanna make $10,000 this month” and not do anything different. Will I make $10,000? Of course not. I didn’t do anything different!
The only way I started making more money than the previous month is when I started setting appropriate goals… as well as setting plans of action in order to achieve them.
Most people tend to set the goals BEFORE doing something different. What if goals needed to be set AFTER changes were made?
Goals are bullshit if they don’t accompany appropriate action.
“If you’re going to 10x anything, 10x your actions, not your goals.” - @Andy Black
For example: let’s say your goal is to make $100/day. Not too hard of a goal, right? Just gotta start with making $100 today, then the next, then the next!
Well, if you don’t know HOW to make $100 today, then you’re not going to achieve it no matter how hard you try.
So, first, we gotta come up with a plan to tackle this goal.
How can I make $100 today? This is your very first question. Emphasis on "TODAY". Not tomorrow. Not next week. TODAY.
If you have absolutely zero ideas on how you can make $100 today, check out the following 4 threads.
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/getting-started-is-this-simple.63602/
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ith-no-degree-no-feedback-no-portfolio.58837/
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...-void-now-with-exact-steps.66084/#post-550258 (INSIDERS thread, requires a sub)
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...-4-000-right-now-to-fund-your-business.60975/
I hear people say “Start with a way to make $1”. I interpret that as “Start with a way to make a SALE”. You should interpret it that way, too. So click on one of those threads and do that method.
Let’s follow an example, shall we?
I could, for example, follow HOVLane’s method and create a landing page and charge $300 for it. Takes me about 5 hours to do, so one landing page = $300 = 5 hours of work.
Now, you need to figure out how to find people who need landing pages. There’s sites like Upwork, where you can easily find people who need the work done. Or you can post on Craigslist or Kijiji offering your services.
Maybe nobody needs it done there. So you would have to actively find people who need the service. Cold calling local places is one way, so you decide to try it.
If you’re having trouble getting the balls to pick up the phone, make making the calls your goal. Start with one. Then another. Then another. Do until exhausted, and then aim to do more the next day!
Making appropriate goals will be a common theme in this thread. If you’re a pussy who can’t stand the idea of picking up the phone, make picking up the phone the goal.
You find that out of 100 places you call, only 5 needs your service and will pay $300. That means that, in order to meet your goal of $100/day, you need to make, on average, 20 calls in 3 days.
See how I broke down that goal?
If it requires less, then congratulations! If it requires more, keep hammering at it until you meet your goal.
So, steps to do that:
The next step, once you achieve that goal, is to adjust your goals higher! Maybe you want to make $200 a day next. You will then need to make more calls in order to achieve that goal (40 calls every 3 days, on average, in this example).
We’re dealing with the law of large numbers here. These are NOT absolutes. You may need to make more or less calls to achieve your goal here. Find your average.
This applies in sales roles, too. If you’re a salesman, you need to make enough calls, visit, or meetings to do 2 things: 1) meet your quota and 2) make yourself the kind of money you want.
Any sales professional here can tell you: in sales, it’s all about the numbers. Your numbers are everything in sales. If you are an entrepreneur, you are a salesperson. So, as an entrepreneur, your numbers are everything. (A = B, B = C; A = C)
So, let’s talk less about a service business and talk more about a Fastlane business.
---
An Aside!
Now, let me get this straight: if you are broke (no job or shitty job, no business, no experience), you do NOT need to make sure that your offering solves all 5 commandments. You just need to solve one: NEED. You need to go back to the beginning of this post and read the GOLD threads I’ve linked.
If you are not broke (decent job, business that pays you more than your expenses, enough experience in a field that you’re regularly giving good advice in it), then you can spend a little bit more time searching for a need that can turn into a Fastlane business.
This really is the difference. If you’re not broke, you have more freedom. That’s just how it is. It’s the price you pay for not having money.
Broke people cannot scale. People who are not, can. That’s the difference. If you are broke, you literally cannot meet one of the requirements because scale requires money. Paid ads, salespeople, media buys, whatever.
Alright, back to the post.
---
Fastlane!
Alright, you’re past grinding it out for money. You’ve built up a decent amount of cash, and you wanna start playing in the big boy leagues.
In your work, you’ve found a need that needs to be solved but no one is adequately doing it. It solved all of the CENTS commandments. Congrats! Now you need to get it built and set goals for doing that.
Let’s say your solution is an automated service. You need to split it up into parts, and put it on your Get Shit Done Trello board.
What needs to be done in order to get it built? Figure out each little part, and give yourself a timeline for when it needs to be done.
You might need to hire a back-end developer first. Then, hire a dude who can build the UI. Then, hire a dude who can manage your databases.
You’ll have to split the building part into goals based on how long it will take to have done.
Let’s say your solution is a product, developed by you. You’ll need to get a prototype, get IP protection, get it manufactured, get it up on some sales channel.
(Keep in mind, in these processes, I’m missing some steps. I’ve never designed a product. You need to figure out what those steps are. That’s part of the process, bub.)
Now, let’s say you’ve got your system actually built! Hooray! Your product or whatever is up on Amazon.
Now you need sales goals. We’re back at where we started!
You need to figure out, just as we did before, what correlates best to sales. Web traffic? Amazon ranking? Sales calls?
Once you do that, you gotta get the initial test out there. Then, you can figure out what numbers correlate best to your sales.
Once you figure that out, you can then set goals around those things. Maybe your page converts at 2%, you make $100 per sale, and you got 100 views your first day. You’re making $200 per day.
Your first goal should not be to increase your conversion rate! It should be to increase web traffic!
What do you gotta do to increase web traffic? Figure out what correlates with it. Maybe it’s paid ad spend, and you’re currently getting $1 CPCs. That hurts, but that’s fine because you’re still making $100 per $100 you spend (ROI = 100%). So you're actually making $100/day. Scale up by buying more web traffic, and that is where your goals should be based around.
What if you’re not profitable? What if your CPC is $3? Then you need to structure your goals around lowering that CPC so you can get profitable… OR increase the money you make per sale!
It gets more complicated than this, and I’m not gonna go further (that's your job). What I’m just trying to say is, you’re probably setting the wrong goals.
You can’t make $100/day if you don’t have any way to do it. So your first goal needs to be to find a way to make $100. Then, find a method to do it consistently. Then, make your goal to do that method more and more in a day.
If any part of this confuses you, go back to the beginning and read it again.
I can easily say “I wanna make $10,000 this month” and not do anything different. Will I make $10,000? Of course not. I didn’t do anything different!
The only way I started making more money than the previous month is when I started setting appropriate goals… as well as setting plans of action in order to achieve them.
Most people tend to set the goals BEFORE doing something different. What if goals needed to be set AFTER changes were made?
Goals are bullshit if they don’t accompany appropriate action.
“If you’re going to 10x anything, 10x your actions, not your goals.” - @Andy Black
For example: let’s say your goal is to make $100/day. Not too hard of a goal, right? Just gotta start with making $100 today, then the next, then the next!
Well, if you don’t know HOW to make $100 today, then you’re not going to achieve it no matter how hard you try.
So, first, we gotta come up with a plan to tackle this goal.
How can I make $100 today? This is your very first question. Emphasis on "TODAY". Not tomorrow. Not next week. TODAY.
If you have absolutely zero ideas on how you can make $100 today, check out the following 4 threads.
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/getting-started-is-this-simple.63602/
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ith-no-degree-no-feedback-no-portfolio.58837/
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...-void-now-with-exact-steps.66084/#post-550258 (INSIDERS thread, requires a sub)
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...-4-000-right-now-to-fund-your-business.60975/
I hear people say “Start with a way to make $1”. I interpret that as “Start with a way to make a SALE”. You should interpret it that way, too. So click on one of those threads and do that method.
Let’s follow an example, shall we?
I could, for example, follow HOVLane’s method and create a landing page and charge $300 for it. Takes me about 5 hours to do, so one landing page = $300 = 5 hours of work.
Now, you need to figure out how to find people who need landing pages. There’s sites like Upwork, where you can easily find people who need the work done. Or you can post on Craigslist or Kijiji offering your services.
Maybe nobody needs it done there. So you would have to actively find people who need the service. Cold calling local places is one way, so you decide to try it.
If you’re having trouble getting the balls to pick up the phone, make making the calls your goal. Start with one. Then another. Then another. Do until exhausted, and then aim to do more the next day!
Making appropriate goals will be a common theme in this thread. If you’re a pussy who can’t stand the idea of picking up the phone, make picking up the phone the goal.
You find that out of 100 places you call, only 5 needs your service and will pay $300. That means that, in order to meet your goal of $100/day, you need to make, on average, 20 calls in 3 days.
See how I broke down that goal?
If it requires less, then congratulations! If it requires more, keep hammering at it until you meet your goal.
So, steps to do that:
- Make a list of businesses that might need the service in your area (at least 100)
- Call them and see, out of about 100, how many people say yes
- Figure out how long it takes to deliver a service and get paid for it
- Figure out how many actions (in this case, calls) it will take, on average, for you to meet your goal
The next step, once you achieve that goal, is to adjust your goals higher! Maybe you want to make $200 a day next. You will then need to make more calls in order to achieve that goal (40 calls every 3 days, on average, in this example).
We’re dealing with the law of large numbers here. These are NOT absolutes. You may need to make more or less calls to achieve your goal here. Find your average.
This applies in sales roles, too. If you’re a salesman, you need to make enough calls, visit, or meetings to do 2 things: 1) meet your quota and 2) make yourself the kind of money you want.
Any sales professional here can tell you: in sales, it’s all about the numbers. Your numbers are everything in sales. If you are an entrepreneur, you are a salesperson. So, as an entrepreneur, your numbers are everything. (A = B, B = C; A = C)
So, let’s talk less about a service business and talk more about a Fastlane business.
---
An Aside!
Now, let me get this straight: if you are broke (no job or shitty job, no business, no experience), you do NOT need to make sure that your offering solves all 5 commandments. You just need to solve one: NEED. You need to go back to the beginning of this post and read the GOLD threads I’ve linked.
If you are not broke (decent job, business that pays you more than your expenses, enough experience in a field that you’re regularly giving good advice in it), then you can spend a little bit more time searching for a need that can turn into a Fastlane business.
This really is the difference. If you’re not broke, you have more freedom. That’s just how it is. It’s the price you pay for not having money.
Broke people cannot scale. People who are not, can. That’s the difference. If you are broke, you literally cannot meet one of the requirements because scale requires money. Paid ads, salespeople, media buys, whatever.
Alright, back to the post.
---
Fastlane!
Alright, you’re past grinding it out for money. You’ve built up a decent amount of cash, and you wanna start playing in the big boy leagues.
In your work, you’ve found a need that needs to be solved but no one is adequately doing it. It solved all of the CENTS commandments. Congrats! Now you need to get it built and set goals for doing that.
Let’s say your solution is an automated service. You need to split it up into parts, and put it on your Get Shit Done Trello board.
What needs to be done in order to get it built? Figure out each little part, and give yourself a timeline for when it needs to be done.
You might need to hire a back-end developer first. Then, hire a dude who can build the UI. Then, hire a dude who can manage your databases.
You’ll have to split the building part into goals based on how long it will take to have done.
Let’s say your solution is a product, developed by you. You’ll need to get a prototype, get IP protection, get it manufactured, get it up on some sales channel.
(Keep in mind, in these processes, I’m missing some steps. I’ve never designed a product. You need to figure out what those steps are. That’s part of the process, bub.)
Now, let’s say you’ve got your system actually built! Hooray! Your product or whatever is up on Amazon.
Now you need sales goals. We’re back at where we started!
You need to figure out, just as we did before, what correlates best to sales. Web traffic? Amazon ranking? Sales calls?
Once you do that, you gotta get the initial test out there. Then, you can figure out what numbers correlate best to your sales.
Once you figure that out, you can then set goals around those things. Maybe your page converts at 2%, you make $100 per sale, and you got 100 views your first day. You’re making $200 per day.
Your first goal should not be to increase your conversion rate! It should be to increase web traffic!
What do you gotta do to increase web traffic? Figure out what correlates with it. Maybe it’s paid ad spend, and you’re currently getting $1 CPCs. That hurts, but that’s fine because you’re still making $100 per $100 you spend (ROI = 100%). So you're actually making $100/day. Scale up by buying more web traffic, and that is where your goals should be based around.
What if you’re not profitable? What if your CPC is $3? Then you need to structure your goals around lowering that CPC so you can get profitable… OR increase the money you make per sale!
It gets more complicated than this, and I’m not gonna go further (that's your job). What I’m just trying to say is, you’re probably setting the wrong goals.
You can’t make $100/day if you don’t have any way to do it. So your first goal needs to be to find a way to make $100. Then, find a method to do it consistently. Then, make your goal to do that method more and more in a day.
If any part of this confuses you, go back to the beginning and read it again.
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