Don't Let the Fastlane Devolve Into Side Hustles

[MTF]

@Sirrom posted this in another thread and it made me think:

Honestly I feel like the forum is full of these low level opportunities and we need more FASTLANE businesses on the forum, not side hustles.

Just my two cents…

Not just on this forum but elsewhere as well there's been a growing interest in side hustles (less so in a proper business). People can't support themselves with just one job so they try to make a few hundred dollars here and there. Then there's also the still exploding popularity of content creators, the vast majority of whom are nothing else but people dabbling in a side hustle, too.

A lot of that thinking and attitudes has proliferated on this forum, too.

Yet, that's not the point of the Fastlane.

We're after millions, not thousands.

We're after a life well above average, not a slightly better one.

We're after divorcing your time and income, not trading your time for an extra $3k from YouTube ads.

No matter how cool your side hustle is, it's not Fastlane until you transform it into a proper business (and by definition, many side hustles aren't scalable).

Has Small Infected Our Thinking?​

I recently listened to a podcast with Codie Sanchez and Bill Perkins (of Die With Zero) in which Codie recounted a story of talking with Bill about all her investments in small businesses (she runs a fund that invests in them). He asked her:

Is there any part of you that thinks that because you've been investing in small businesses for this long, "small" has infected your thinking?

And now I'm wondering the same about this forum and the conversations we have here.

While it's admirable to see teenagers posting their progress threads cleaning windows, people consistently posting niche videos on YouTube, or people replacing their day jobs with little Etsy stores, these are not Fastlane conversations.

I'm guilty of that myself as well. I have to proclaim it publicly that I haven't been a good influence here compared to, for example, constant pushing on @Antifragile's part to go bigger.

If we use this forum as a place to inspire each other and strive for more, what if all these "small" projects we see daily on the forum infect our thinking, too? Shouldn't we more actively discourage people from wasting their time pursuing these little things? Should we push each other more to think way bigger? (calling out @Kak)

@Fox recently posted how we got over 100k in sales in a month. This post has garnered a lot of attention but that was the only post I remember in the recent times with higher numbers. This should be the norm here, not an outlier among a sea of "I made $1000 cleaning windows last month" or "I make $5000 a month from automated YouTube shorts."

Now that the forum is private and weeds out lots of time-wasters, how can we make it a place where we host BIG conversations and ideas and steer people away from these small, "safe" side hustles? How can we push each other to 10x or 100x our results instead of hustling for an extra buck here or there?

 

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[TruthSeekerFind]

@Sirrom posted this in another thread and it made me think:



Not just on this forum but elsewhere as well there's been a growing interest in side hustles (less so in a proper business). People can't support themselves with just one job so they try to make a few hundred dollars here and there. Then there's also the still exploding popularity of content creators, the vast majority of whom are nothing else but people dabbling in a side hustle, too.

A lot of that thinking and attitudes has proliferated on this forum, too.

Yet, that's not the point of the Fastlane.

We're after millions, not thousands.

We're after a life well above average, not a slightly better one.

We're after divorcing your time and income, not trading your time for an extra $3k from YouTube ads.

No matter how cool your side hustle is, it's not Fastlane until you transform it into a proper business (and by definition, many side hustles aren't scalable).

Has Small Infected Our Thinking?​

I recently listened to a podcast with Codie Sanchez and Bill Perkins (of Die With Zero) in which Codie recounted a story of talking with Bill about all her investments in small businesses (she runs a fund that invests in them). He asked her:

Is there any part of you that thinks that because you've been investing in small businesses for this long, "small" has infected your thinking?

And now I'm wondering the same about this forum and the conversations we have here.

While it's admirable to see teenagers posting their progress threads cleaning windows, people consistently posting niche videos on YouTube, or people replacing their day jobs with little Etsy stores, these are not Fastlane conversations.

I'm guilty of that myself as well. I have to proclaim it publicly that I haven't been a good influence here compared to, for example, constant pushing on @Antifragile's part to go bigger.

If we use this forum as a place to inspire each other and strive for more, what if all these "small" projects we see daily on the forum infect our thinking, too? Shouldn't we more actively discourage people from wasting their time pursuing these little things? Should we push each other more to think way bigger? (calling out @Kak)

@Fox recently posted how we got over 100k in sales in a month. This post has garnered a lot of attention but that was the only post I remember in the recent times with higher numbers. This should be the norm here, not an outlier among a sea of "I made $1000 cleaning windows last month" or "I make $5000 a month from automated YouTube shorts."

Now that the forum is private and weeds out lots of time-wasters, how can we make it a place where we host BIG conversations and ideas and steer people away from these small, "safe" side hustles? How can we push each other to 10x or 100x our results instead of hustling for an extra buck here or there?

Good post.

For myself, I’m going into web design now as I transition out of my job for two main reasons. 1) Learn a new skill set and 2) Rewire my brain from the traditional “employee” mindset to that of someone who has to adapt or struggle to survive, financially speaking.

I’ve been a worker for 8 years… others in similar situations will feel that desire to make money that’s actually correlated to their time and results rather than a fixed salary/hourly rate. If you do that while cognizant of the fact that you're not on a Fastlane path, then this is a viable option.

People who do this for too long while sticking with their current jobs are truly employing the aforementioned side hustle strategy. It’s a thin line between the two, but a line nonetheless. It’s easy to bounce between both sides in this initial phase.

Otherwise, I agree wholeheartedly with what you said, and I look forward to more productive conversations on this forum.

 

[ThomasTLM]

@Sirrom posted this in another thread and it made me think:



Not just on this forum but elsewhere as well there's been a growing interest in side hustles (less so in a proper business). People can't support themselves with just one job so they try to make a few hundred dollars here and there. Then there's also the still exploding popularity of content creators, the vast majority of whom are nothing else but people dabbling in a side hustle, too.

A lot of that thinking and attitudes has proliferated on this forum, too.

Yet, that's not the point of the Fastlane.

We're after millions, not thousands.

We're after a life well above average, not a slightly better one.

We're after divorcing your time and income, not trading your time for an extra $3k from YouTube ads.

No matter how cool your side hustle is, it's not Fastlane until you transform it into a proper business (and by definition, many side hustles aren't scalable).

Has Small Infected Our Thinking?​

I recently listened to a podcast with Codie Sanchez and Bill Perkins (of Die With Zero) in which Codie recounted a story of talking with Bill about all her investments in small businesses (she runs a fund that invests in them). He asked her:

Is there any part of you that thinks that because you've been investing in small businesses for this long, "small" has infected your thinking?

And now I'm wondering the same about this forum and the conversations we have here.

While it's admirable to see teenagers posting their progress threads cleaning windows, people consistently posting niche videos on YouTube, or people replacing their day jobs with little Etsy stores, these are not Fastlane conversations.

I'm guilty of that myself as well. I have to proclaim it publicly that I haven't been a good influence here compared to, for example, constant pushing on @Antifragile's part to go bigger.

If we use this forum as a place to inspire each other and strive for more, what if all these "small" projects we see daily on the forum infect our thinking, too? Shouldn't we more actively discourage people from wasting their time pursuing these little things? Should we push each other more to think way bigger? (calling out @Kak)

@Fox recently posted how we got over 100k in sales in a month. This post has garnered a lot of attention but that was the only post I remember in the recent times with higher numbers. This should be the norm here, not an outlier among a sea of "I made $1000 cleaning windows last month" or "I make $5000 a month from automated YouTube shorts."

Now that the forum is private and weeds out lots of time-wasters, how can we make it a place where we host BIG conversations and ideas and steer people away from these small, "safe" side hustles? How can we push each other to 10x or 100x our results instead of hustling for an extra buck here or there?

I agree. I think small has infected our thinking.

I think there needs to be a bigger emphasis on scaling our businesses. Sure, start small, but have a plan to grow big. You found that there was a need for window cleaning? That's wonderful, but can you scale that need?