A Poem I wrote. And an Introduction.

[Fathazard]

Hi,

I'm a 24 year old guy from Sweden, currently in Croatia to escape living with my parents.

I graduated university this past summer, with a degree in business, doing three years in Scotland and one year in Canada as an exchange student. This has left me somewhat in debt.

Business life:

AirBnB:

in 2014, while still studying, I started my first business managing flats for clients who wanted to rent out on AirBnB, but didn't want to do the work themselves. 20% of that money belong to us, and 80% to the client.

It was a good business, but not without it's downsides. For regular apartments, going for perhaps $100 per night, the $20 left barely covered the time spent cleaning, changing sheets and bicycling across town to hand over keys - unless the booking was for several days.

The flat owners also often put special restrictions on us regarding price, and what 'kind' of guests (often racist) we could accept. I had plans to hire cleaning staff, setting up an office near the train/buss station to hand over keys there and streamline the whole process. Buut there was also a lot of competition from new apartments that were already managed or didn't want to be; the number of flats on AirBnB in our area doubled during 2014-2015.

When my relationship with my romantic partner, who at this point was also my business partner, went south then so did I. To Croatia, to something that I could have more control over. (I left the venture in her hands. She needed and liked it more than me, and we are still good friends.)

Dropshipping:

It's 2015, late summer, and I just figured out a special niche within the Bathroom industry that I wanted to fulfill. I built a website (using shopify mind you, although I did have to learn a bit of CSS), designed it, and wrote some articles. I called a dozen businesses to look for a supplier, but all of them told me to email. So I emailed 100+, but probably less than 150, first just showing them my website and saying I was interested in their product. Then, if they responded favourably, I would ask about drop shipping. 4 out of the ~150 said yes. 3 of them had shit margins. The last drop shipped only in America, but was expanding their service to Europe now in January 2016.

So I waited. (Which in hindsight was a weak thing to do, because I was lazy, and subscribed more to Tim Ferris's 4-hour-work-week discipline than the Fastlane at the time.) But I wasn't completely idle. I wrote a short story for a writing competition, I helped a friend learn about selling Carbon Credits, and I enjoyed a hell of a Christmas with my loved ones.

Now January has arrived, but the deal is not as sweet as I had tricked myself to think.
First off, they give me a MAP (minimum advertised pricing), which is fair enough. BUT THEY THEMSELVES BREAK IT. The product is not strictly a commodity, but with a large enough price disparity, everything is.
Second, Drop shipping still has me building someone else's Fastlane. I'm a hitchhiker. I'm delegated a managing role. I realized, upon reading TMF closely, that that's not enough for me. It doesn't have the leverage.

I'm not giving the work up completely though, and will still try to sell the product, but it won't take up all my time. I want more.

Current situation:

2016, new year. I realize the above things and feel lost. I read The Fastlane Millionaire word for word, doing nothing but reading and taking notes for two days.

I have a few options. Writing a book. Going to Thailand to conjure up a prototype for a product. Doubling down, and pursuing the drop shipping deal wholeheartedly again. Getting back in business with my old partner. Trying my hand at Odesk (upwork) for a while, doing writing work.

Or something else entirely,

Thanks for reading.

Oh, here's that poem. (I have uploaded it to DeviantArt in the past, but it's since been modified)

The Pledge

Daring, Driven
In this quest ungiven.
All hearts embark,
Chasing the spark:


Eager, Slender
The young are tender.
Doomed to fall, but time their mender.

Settled, Weary
Old hearts do query:
“Why persist, and become so bleary?”

Fighting, Fending
The journey never ending,
Most give up, never ascending.

Well I’m Faring, Finding,
A love worth Grinding.
​

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)