First, the intro. When I got my drivers license ('02), I used to work in my family's restaurant. I didn't like the job, but I lived in the "old room", I had lunches and dinners catered, laundry done, zero-interest money loans and regular car services. Sometimes free gas. Living with parents and working with them for a paycheck was the smoothest sail of my life.
Money was nice, I couldn't spend it, I wasn't particularly interested in blowing money away on nights out, so I had more than enough for my needs (driving around with my bros) and I had 0 worries in the world. 2 years later, I thought..."why don't I try something for myself, after all I hate going to the restaurant and spending my time there..."
But my problem was my personality. Insecurity, or whatever the shrinks would name it. I had (and still have) this urge to critique and borderline resent everything I ever do, no matter what people around me say about it, no matter how much they like it. I remember entering a local logo design contest for a tourist board. I had no prior experience in those things whatsoever, I entered the contest because the cash prize was great. I've entered the contest with the logo I've designed few days before. Finished up second in votes out of more than 10 entries, with some members of the tourist board specifically and openly admitting they wanted my entry to win. Day after the contest, I never showed that logo on any portfolio websites or forums I posted. That's the first example but I had many. Even nowadays, I don't believe when people tell me I'm good at something, I always think conspiracy 😀
But let me get back on topic. So with my evergrowing doubts laying in the back of my head, I started to think...what could I do, that hasn't been done. This was in 2005, I was 21, didn't know diddly squat about internet forums like this, books about business or motivations, nothing. All I knew is "i need to come up with something others didn't came up with".
Since I was a car buff, I've figured Meguiars. I was savvy enough to set up a serious looking website, fronting I was a LLC (I was borderline broke, running around with gas money) and sending a serious looking email to Meguiars. I figured - there are nice cars in my country (even tho it's a small country), the car scene is thriving (credit expansion was rampant in those years haha) so why don't bring the best car care product? Right?
Mr. D. Pykett got in touch with me, and after 3 emails, a phone call came up. I was pretty excited because he called me around noon and I was sleeping from the night out before, so here I was, in my parents house, drooling in my bed, and the guy from Meguiars is calling me. After few minutes of chat, he offered me a $ 50k container of Meguiars merch and a turnkey website for a exclusive distribution rights. Boy I hope he never found out who he spoke to that day. Needles to say...we didn't do any business
Then I've found a 9-5, worked for a "friend" of mine. Started off great. Hey buddy! What's the deal for today? We got some more work to do! All righty! Few months later, I was still on the initial salary (pathetic is an understatement), overworked, unpaid and, you would never guess it, I quit the job and essentially ended the "friendship". I started to do freelance jobs locally. It was a nightmare. I was like a noble doggie in a woods full of starving wolves (sorry for not coming up with better analogy). I tried to bite my share, but these wolves...they could sense I wasn't about shit. I was weak. They went after my weakness.
I provided a very commoditized (is that a word?) service, graphic design, ranging from website coding to videography. I knew I was good at it. But when I faced the client, he would probably see the fear or whatever in my eyes and sell the pimp game to me. You probably know the pimp game, the exposure. "Hey make me a good price and I'll recommend you to everyone I know"....."Hey I can't pay you much as of this moment but I assure you the exposure you'll get working for me will pay off". etc. I believed them, and got duped.
Then I got in this dead end depressed state for few months. Snapped out of it, found a girl, great job with a really cool boss, moved out...now I'm looking forward, knowing I won't work at my current job for 50 years, I need to start laying the foundations for my (and my girlfriends) future.
Several plans are in motion:
a) videography - even tho I get butterflies reading about people with automated online shops with money dripping in all the time, doing video is something I sincerely love to do and would love to cash in on. I don't have any "indie" filmmaking dreams, I just want to fill the void of video as a presentation tool in these broadband days of internet. It won't be easy, it's 100% local, I will have to interact with all sorts of people, endure all sorts of requests, but I must try it. I gave myself a one year time frame for this. If I don't see some steady cash flow from this plan by this time next summer, I'll stick to it just for the love of it.
So far I've done one job for a friend of mine who let me shoot the estate he rents out for vacations, he says the video is great and that he will call me up soon for some work. Fingers crossed. While I'm waiting I'm thinking on calling other people too. But I don't know anybody in the field. Maybe I should cold call from business to business...I don't care, I think I talk a good game.
b) online store - I opened this silly web store yesterday, after days of looking for proper fulfillment services in the US. I kinda rushed into it, but I feel I'll never learn to swim unless I actually dive in. Some might say i'll drown and I've should've taken the swimming lessons before diving in, but you can't drown online, you can only lose money, and the money I've invested in this is similar to regular night-out money, so I won't cry over it if it fails.
It's a niche store, one could say "meme" store, but just looking at millions of YouTube subscribers out there made me think there's got to be few hundred of them who would buy this.
So far I'm marketing this poorly, I have 5 Facebook CPC ads running, not a penny spent, trying some lame Twitter guerilla angle, but I just don't have the heart to shamelessly plug that site with bunch of tweets, I don't think that's a good look for the "company".
If it fails, I'll try with another, arguably dumber idea for a small niche shirt store.
c) booky book - talked to my girlfriend about this, came up with idea for a "self help" book (pretty broad target audience), we think it would be a good thing to offer to the local market, we need to finish the storyline and try it out. Preferably before xmas.
and finally, plan X for the 2013...since I hate seeing my girl working for these horrible bosses, I figured something where she can be her own boss. I won't go into details, like JackEdwards, I'll keep it a secret. Globally, it's nothing new, although over here where I live it is. It's a real operation, involves licensing a company, getting in touch with distributors, choosing the right way to market it, positioning, and who knows, one day selling it? We'll see. But that's a big plan and it will take some money (not a whole lot, but not chump change either) to start, some luck and...I'll keep you posted next year.
That's all for now, I promise I won't posts novels like this again
Money was nice, I couldn't spend it, I wasn't particularly interested in blowing money away on nights out, so I had more than enough for my needs (driving around with my bros) and I had 0 worries in the world. 2 years later, I thought..."why don't I try something for myself, after all I hate going to the restaurant and spending my time there..."
But my problem was my personality. Insecurity, or whatever the shrinks would name it. I had (and still have) this urge to critique and borderline resent everything I ever do, no matter what people around me say about it, no matter how much they like it. I remember entering a local logo design contest for a tourist board. I had no prior experience in those things whatsoever, I entered the contest because the cash prize was great. I've entered the contest with the logo I've designed few days before. Finished up second in votes out of more than 10 entries, with some members of the tourist board specifically and openly admitting they wanted my entry to win. Day after the contest, I never showed that logo on any portfolio websites or forums I posted. That's the first example but I had many. Even nowadays, I don't believe when people tell me I'm good at something, I always think conspiracy 😀
But let me get back on topic. So with my evergrowing doubts laying in the back of my head, I started to think...what could I do, that hasn't been done. This was in 2005, I was 21, didn't know diddly squat about internet forums like this, books about business or motivations, nothing. All I knew is "i need to come up with something others didn't came up with".
Since I was a car buff, I've figured Meguiars. I was savvy enough to set up a serious looking website, fronting I was a LLC (I was borderline broke, running around with gas money) and sending a serious looking email to Meguiars. I figured - there are nice cars in my country (even tho it's a small country), the car scene is thriving (credit expansion was rampant in those years haha) so why don't bring the best car care product? Right?
Mr. D. Pykett got in touch with me, and after 3 emails, a phone call came up. I was pretty excited because he called me around noon and I was sleeping from the night out before, so here I was, in my parents house, drooling in my bed, and the guy from Meguiars is calling me. After few minutes of chat, he offered me a $ 50k container of Meguiars merch and a turnkey website for a exclusive distribution rights. Boy I hope he never found out who he spoke to that day. Needles to say...we didn't do any business
Then I've found a 9-5, worked for a "friend" of mine. Started off great. Hey buddy! What's the deal for today? We got some more work to do! All righty! Few months later, I was still on the initial salary (pathetic is an understatement), overworked, unpaid and, you would never guess it, I quit the job and essentially ended the "friendship". I started to do freelance jobs locally. It was a nightmare. I was like a noble doggie in a woods full of starving wolves (sorry for not coming up with better analogy). I tried to bite my share, but these wolves...they could sense I wasn't about shit. I was weak. They went after my weakness.
I provided a very commoditized (is that a word?) service, graphic design, ranging from website coding to videography. I knew I was good at it. But when I faced the client, he would probably see the fear or whatever in my eyes and sell the pimp game to me. You probably know the pimp game, the exposure. "Hey make me a good price and I'll recommend you to everyone I know"....."Hey I can't pay you much as of this moment but I assure you the exposure you'll get working for me will pay off". etc. I believed them, and got duped.
Then I got in this dead end depressed state for few months. Snapped out of it, found a girl, great job with a really cool boss, moved out...now I'm looking forward, knowing I won't work at my current job for 50 years, I need to start laying the foundations for my (and my girlfriends) future.
Several plans are in motion:
a) videography - even tho I get butterflies reading about people with automated online shops with money dripping in all the time, doing video is something I sincerely love to do and would love to cash in on. I don't have any "indie" filmmaking dreams, I just want to fill the void of video as a presentation tool in these broadband days of internet. It won't be easy, it's 100% local, I will have to interact with all sorts of people, endure all sorts of requests, but I must try it. I gave myself a one year time frame for this. If I don't see some steady cash flow from this plan by this time next summer, I'll stick to it just for the love of it.
So far I've done one job for a friend of mine who let me shoot the estate he rents out for vacations, he says the video is great and that he will call me up soon for some work. Fingers crossed. While I'm waiting I'm thinking on calling other people too. But I don't know anybody in the field. Maybe I should cold call from business to business...I don't care, I think I talk a good game.
b) online store - I opened this silly web store yesterday, after days of looking for proper fulfillment services in the US. I kinda rushed into it, but I feel I'll never learn to swim unless I actually dive in. Some might say i'll drown and I've should've taken the swimming lessons before diving in, but you can't drown online, you can only lose money, and the money I've invested in this is similar to regular night-out money, so I won't cry over it if it fails.
It's a niche store, one could say "meme" store, but just looking at millions of YouTube subscribers out there made me think there's got to be few hundred of them who would buy this.
So far I'm marketing this poorly, I have 5 Facebook CPC ads running, not a penny spent, trying some lame Twitter guerilla angle, but I just don't have the heart to shamelessly plug that site with bunch of tweets, I don't think that's a good look for the "company".
If it fails, I'll try with another, arguably dumber idea for a small niche shirt store.
c) booky book - talked to my girlfriend about this, came up with idea for a "self help" book (pretty broad target audience), we think it would be a good thing to offer to the local market, we need to finish the storyline and try it out. Preferably before xmas.
and finally, plan X for the 2013...since I hate seeing my girl working for these horrible bosses, I figured something where she can be her own boss. I won't go into details, like JackEdwards, I'll keep it a secret. Globally, it's nothing new, although over here where I live it is. It's a real operation, involves licensing a company, getting in touch with distributors, choosing the right way to market it, positioning, and who knows, one day selling it? We'll see. But that's a big plan and it will take some money (not a whole lot, but not chump change either) to start, some luck and...I'll keep you posted next year.
That's all for now, I promise I won't posts novels like this again
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