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Hey Guys,
So I’ve been hesitant to publish this thread as I have a lot of respect for the community here and felt it was necessary to contribute first before I start a new thread. I love the idea for this thread because I feel that it may bring value or shed light on some entrepreneurs just starting off. I consider myself somewhat experienced but at some point, everyone will have a new starting point. I’ll continue to do my part and drop helpful nuggets and if anyone has any questions you can go ahead and either ask me via pm or on the thread. I’ve been active on here since I joined (maybe too active haha) and I won’t be going anywhere. I’m not the “drive by” type. I’ve read through most of the gold threads already and even many of the AMA’s. Those were supper helpful to me especially at the point in where I am today – trying to find what’s next.
Speaking of where I am, in my first intro thread (https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...w-here-just-wanted-to-introduce-myself.65962/), I talked about some of my experiences with starting businesses – my successes and failures. I mention my strengths such as project management, marketing, negotiating, branding, seo, and hustling my a$$ off to do big numbers. There is no doubt that I have a seriously good work ethic and I’m ready to get back at it! I mentioned that I took a year and a half break from doing projects. I kind of closed the door on the startup community, my network, and shunned business in general. My last failure kind of stung a little bit. The past year or so, I just pretty much worked and saved cash. I focused on personal issues such as getting married and buying a home – all stuff I was able to do with the money I made running my own business (not working a job).
Two weeks ago I caught the entrepreneurial bug – some of us just have that in us lol. Things get quiet for a little while and then BAM, it hits you. Time to hustle! Unfortunately, this thread isn’t a progress thread but I’m hoping that will eventually be my follow up thread. A progress thread can help to keep the community engaged and keep you moving forward. This thread…is a call for help to some fellow entrepreneurs.
I jump around too much, no doubt! I guess I’ve been looking for the pony to ride and just haven’t found it. I’m struggle with deciding on a route to take. That is my issue and what seems to be my greatest weakness. I’ve tried so many ideas. The only time I’ve ever really made a lot of money was either selling something/ecommerce (sunglasses, nutritional products) or producing event experiences and marketing for nightclubs and restaurants.
Quick blast from the past (How I made the decision back then)
When I first started making money as a young kid, I was selling sunglasses on eBay. I saw a need for sunglasses that looked expensive but were super affordable, especially for me. I had to be able to use the product and afford it – otherwise I didn’t sell it. I had access to secure product very cheap $3-$5 per pair and sold them at $45-$55 per pair. They sold and they were priced well. People paid and people loved them! I didn’t consider this a real business probably because I was so young that I just needed money for my travels (which I did a lot of).
My first real business was in nightlife. I started over the simple fact that I knew how much money (and fun) my friends were making and having, partying for free throwing parties and promoting clubs. I wanted it and I just believed I could do it better and cooler. I also had a shit load of fun too and eventually they all worked for me haha. I noticed a need in the market – transparency. I was able to bring on some serious players to my team for the simple fact that I was transparent and fair with them (It was such a cut throat business). I also got into other things such as doing print and branding for restaurants, creative marketing campaigns, and other stuff too – all spinoffs of what I was already involved in. I ran the business for around 7 years than shut it down when my life changed.
I think its fair to say that I have some experience in the consumer product and consumer & business service areas.
Since than, it’s been a number of failures. I’ve launched an ecommerce/subscription business in nutritional products space. I loved to run and I loved working out. I launched this because I thought it was a cool idea. It was a hell of a lot of work with very little payoff. This was the one that drove me down and forced me to take a nice long break. Although I don’t consider it a total failure, I learned a lot with this project. I built the brand and a nice little community around it from the ground up. I never got it to the point where it should have been acquired(you actually have to make money for this to happen haha) which is why I consider it a failure. I shut it down.
I failed on a number of other things too - probably 12 other startups. I launched an event company for startups (which I still love the idea for) but I lacked the funds and resources. This was just too big for me at the time and I never got it out of prelaunch. I also did a tee-shirt marketing campaign company which was a bust (similar to a company called teespring), a startup course that had a discussion board like blackboard and took users each step of the way to getting their first customer called Startup Rivals and even a startup magazine that I bailed on.
I feel like these failures were due to my lack of drive for the project. After my event business, I’ve kind of been a solo entrepreneur. Maybe I gave up to easily. Maybe I’m just going about things wrong. Maybe I need to focus on market research before I start. Maybe I just need to succeed again!
I know what I want. At this point, I know that my wife and I and our family are covered till the day we die with health benefits. I’m one of the few that grabbed a job to support my entrepreneurial endeavors that pays a pension and health benefits once vested (which I am). This reduces a shit load of risk especially with a newborn on the way.
What I want is a new business that I can launch from home. I’m willing to put in the many hours now and eat shit so that later on I can fastlane it. I’m not looking to do something tremendous like be the next SXSW. Those are called dreams lol. I’m looking to go from 100 to 5k a month to 20k a month along with my small pension and free benefits and I’m comfortable. If at one point I can get to 50k a month, well god-bless, hard work will pay off.
Business types that I like – consumer products (my own brand), consumer services, and business services.
This is my method for ideas the past
Some of the things I enjoy:
Travel, adventures, music, wine, beer, golf, fashion, sports,
· I’ve written a shit load of ideas down – a lot of really good ones and can’t decide on 1 of them. They range from ecommerce, services, online membership sites, and even brick and mortar
· I’ve went through the entire inc 5000 looking for something that I have interest in that I feel I could do and possibly do better. I looked for weaknesses too
· I went through many sites listed on brokerages such as flippa, bizbuysell, and some others and thought about reverse engineering them. Found nothing that interests me
I’m leaning towards
A. Sell a product - build a brand, Ecommerce Site
a. 1 type of product that I can change the design/color on. Maybe something like drop bottle (dot) co (not this product, just the model she uses such as only sells 1 product)
B. Sell a service that can be run digitally but may require some off the computer work
a. I loved WDFA Marketing back in the day. These guys rocked but got sued for using someones technology and shut down. I also like the mail shark. They do local print /marketing
b. Thought about a resume service/career development for college athletes.
c. Press release service for ebook writers
d. A service like magnesis / concierge service for golfers
C. Build a newsletter/social commerce site - Think daily candy/ thrillist
These were just a few I came up with today. I have been writing ideas down everyday the past 2 weeks. LOL I think it’s actually hurting me now more than helping…
What’s stopping me…
One of the reasons I feel I haven’t started is that I feel like I have a lot of good ideas and I can’t choose what direction I should go in. I feel like I’m going in circles. I literally have 100 ideas both online and brick and mortar that I love and want to work on them all. I just don’t know what direction to go and I feel like I am going in circles.
I also worry about putting my name on something that isn’t me. I made a lot of money having a lot of fun. How can I get that same high and feeling about what I’m working on? I ask myself, how can I make this awesome or fun? Will it make money?
I’m leaning towards an ecommerce business/brand. I love the idea of running a small operation from home or a small office. I thought about running a service but I think it may require too much of my time. You also always have someone to answer to. I don’t want that. I want to build an awesome brand that makes money that I can have fun with too. Maybe I need to man up and focus on making money. The fun will come.
Anyway, this is phase 1 of my new journey and I’m glad to ask the community to be a part of it. I would love to eventually do a progress thread and document everything from phase 1 – idea phase to getting my first customers.
Any advice for direction would be greatly appreciated – Not only for me, but for anyone struggling with this as well.
So I’ve been hesitant to publish this thread as I have a lot of respect for the community here and felt it was necessary to contribute first before I start a new thread. I love the idea for this thread because I feel that it may bring value or shed light on some entrepreneurs just starting off. I consider myself somewhat experienced but at some point, everyone will have a new starting point. I’ll continue to do my part and drop helpful nuggets and if anyone has any questions you can go ahead and either ask me via pm or on the thread. I’ve been active on here since I joined (maybe too active haha) and I won’t be going anywhere. I’m not the “drive by” type. I’ve read through most of the gold threads already and even many of the AMA’s. Those were supper helpful to me especially at the point in where I am today – trying to find what’s next.
Speaking of where I am, in my first intro thread (https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...w-here-just-wanted-to-introduce-myself.65962/), I talked about some of my experiences with starting businesses – my successes and failures. I mention my strengths such as project management, marketing, negotiating, branding, seo, and hustling my a$$ off to do big numbers. There is no doubt that I have a seriously good work ethic and I’m ready to get back at it! I mentioned that I took a year and a half break from doing projects. I kind of closed the door on the startup community, my network, and shunned business in general. My last failure kind of stung a little bit. The past year or so, I just pretty much worked and saved cash. I focused on personal issues such as getting married and buying a home – all stuff I was able to do with the money I made running my own business (not working a job).
Two weeks ago I caught the entrepreneurial bug – some of us just have that in us lol. Things get quiet for a little while and then BAM, it hits you. Time to hustle! Unfortunately, this thread isn’t a progress thread but I’m hoping that will eventually be my follow up thread. A progress thread can help to keep the community engaged and keep you moving forward. This thread…is a call for help to some fellow entrepreneurs.
I jump around too much, no doubt! I guess I’ve been looking for the pony to ride and just haven’t found it. I’m struggle with deciding on a route to take. That is my issue and what seems to be my greatest weakness. I’ve tried so many ideas. The only time I’ve ever really made a lot of money was either selling something/ecommerce (sunglasses, nutritional products) or producing event experiences and marketing for nightclubs and restaurants.
Quick blast from the past (How I made the decision back then)
When I first started making money as a young kid, I was selling sunglasses on eBay. I saw a need for sunglasses that looked expensive but were super affordable, especially for me. I had to be able to use the product and afford it – otherwise I didn’t sell it. I had access to secure product very cheap $3-$5 per pair and sold them at $45-$55 per pair. They sold and they were priced well. People paid and people loved them! I didn’t consider this a real business probably because I was so young that I just needed money for my travels (which I did a lot of).
My first real business was in nightlife. I started over the simple fact that I knew how much money (and fun) my friends were making and having, partying for free throwing parties and promoting clubs. I wanted it and I just believed I could do it better and cooler. I also had a shit load of fun too and eventually they all worked for me haha. I noticed a need in the market – transparency. I was able to bring on some serious players to my team for the simple fact that I was transparent and fair with them (It was such a cut throat business). I also got into other things such as doing print and branding for restaurants, creative marketing campaigns, and other stuff too – all spinoffs of what I was already involved in. I ran the business for around 7 years than shut it down when my life changed.
I think its fair to say that I have some experience in the consumer product and consumer & business service areas.
Since than, it’s been a number of failures. I’ve launched an ecommerce/subscription business in nutritional products space. I loved to run and I loved working out. I launched this because I thought it was a cool idea. It was a hell of a lot of work with very little payoff. This was the one that drove me down and forced me to take a nice long break. Although I don’t consider it a total failure, I learned a lot with this project. I built the brand and a nice little community around it from the ground up. I never got it to the point where it should have been acquired(you actually have to make money for this to happen haha) which is why I consider it a failure. I shut it down.
I failed on a number of other things too - probably 12 other startups. I launched an event company for startups (which I still love the idea for) but I lacked the funds and resources. This was just too big for me at the time and I never got it out of prelaunch. I also did a tee-shirt marketing campaign company which was a bust (similar to a company called teespring), a startup course that had a discussion board like blackboard and took users each step of the way to getting their first customer called Startup Rivals and even a startup magazine that I bailed on.
I feel like these failures were due to my lack of drive for the project. After my event business, I’ve kind of been a solo entrepreneur. Maybe I gave up to easily. Maybe I’m just going about things wrong. Maybe I need to focus on market research before I start. Maybe I just need to succeed again!
I know what I want. At this point, I know that my wife and I and our family are covered till the day we die with health benefits. I’m one of the few that grabbed a job to support my entrepreneurial endeavors that pays a pension and health benefits once vested (which I am). This reduces a shit load of risk especially with a newborn on the way.
What I want is a new business that I can launch from home. I’m willing to put in the many hours now and eat shit so that later on I can fastlane it. I’m not looking to do something tremendous like be the next SXSW. Those are called dreams lol. I’m looking to go from 100 to 5k a month to 20k a month along with my small pension and free benefits and I’m comfortable. If at one point I can get to 50k a month, well god-bless, hard work will pay off.
Business types that I like – consumer products (my own brand), consumer services, and business services.
This is my method for ideas the past
Some of the things I enjoy:
Travel, adventures, music, wine, beer, golf, fashion, sports,
· I’ve written a shit load of ideas down – a lot of really good ones and can’t decide on 1 of them. They range from ecommerce, services, online membership sites, and even brick and mortar
· I’ve went through the entire inc 5000 looking for something that I have interest in that I feel I could do and possibly do better. I looked for weaknesses too
· I went through many sites listed on brokerages such as flippa, bizbuysell, and some others and thought about reverse engineering them. Found nothing that interests me
I’m leaning towards
A. Sell a product - build a brand, Ecommerce Site
a. 1 type of product that I can change the design/color on. Maybe something like drop bottle (dot) co (not this product, just the model she uses such as only sells 1 product)
B. Sell a service that can be run digitally but may require some off the computer work
a. I loved WDFA Marketing back in the day. These guys rocked but got sued for using someones technology and shut down. I also like the mail shark. They do local print /marketing
b. Thought about a resume service/career development for college athletes.
c. Press release service for ebook writers
d. A service like magnesis / concierge service for golfers
C. Build a newsletter/social commerce site - Think daily candy/ thrillist
These were just a few I came up with today. I have been writing ideas down everyday the past 2 weeks. LOL I think it’s actually hurting me now more than helping…
What’s stopping me…
One of the reasons I feel I haven’t started is that I feel like I have a lot of good ideas and I can’t choose what direction I should go in. I feel like I’m going in circles. I literally have 100 ideas both online and brick and mortar that I love and want to work on them all. I just don’t know what direction to go and I feel like I am going in circles.
I also worry about putting my name on something that isn’t me. I made a lot of money having a lot of fun. How can I get that same high and feeling about what I’m working on? I ask myself, how can I make this awesome or fun? Will it make money?
I’m leaning towards an ecommerce business/brand. I love the idea of running a small operation from home or a small office. I thought about running a service but I think it may require too much of my time. You also always have someone to answer to. I don’t want that. I want to build an awesome brand that makes money that I can have fun with too. Maybe I need to man up and focus on making money. The fun will come.
Anyway, this is phase 1 of my new journey and I’m glad to ask the community to be a part of it. I would love to eventually do a progress thread and document everything from phase 1 – idea phase to getting my first customers.
Any advice for direction would be greatly appreciated – Not only for me, but for anyone struggling with this as well.
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