Hey guys!
Never imagined I'd be introducing myself in a forum. But I want a place to document my journey and a way to keep myself accountable...
So here I am.
My entrepreneurship journey to date:
For as long as I could remember, I was fascinated with business. The idea of buying low, selling high, putting things together to sell at higher values, etc. Despite this passion, I started off down the slow lane. I worked hard enough to get into a University course I wanted to do. My psychology degree started off okay, but a few years into it, I realised that I F*cking hated every second of it. I spent my university days sleeping in the library, nights going out drinking, and all the typical uni student time wasters.
I had considered dropping out multiple times. But who hasn't?
But unlike most, my distaste for university went a little further. I completed skipped my final exams, walked out a few minutes into the one that I did attend, and this resulted in a whole year of uni wasted. With no other path forward other than the one I knew, I went back to uni the next year to repeat the exact same subjects.
Even though I've done the course material, I absolutely hated it and just couldn't get myself to do the work.
After a tinder date (one way I distracted myself in uni), we went to the library so I could finish off my assignment (I was trying to find a way to blow her off, I was not interested at all but she didn't get the signs). I complained about how much I hated the report I was writing and how absolutely stupid it was. This girl said something life changing - "just drop out then". There wasn't anything really special about what she said. I've said it to myself countless times, my friends had jokes about it, and I've tried a few times (my parents stopped my each time). But for some strange reason, a switch in my brain flipped and my life diverged completely.
I walked out of uni and never turned back (didn't even tell my parents until I already submitted my suspension of study).
Never spoke to the girl again, but it's amazing how the timing of what she said had completely changed my life. But thank you for saying exactly what I needed to hear at that moment.
I realise that this is beginning to sound like an autobiography that'll stretch for several hundred pages, so I'll summarise what has happened since:
- After dropping out, I dedicated myself every morning to wake up at 7am to learn copywriting. I hand wrote sales letters, studied the best copywriters, read their books, took notes, wrote my own letters, etc. After several months, I got pretty good at it.
- I got an internship at a digital marketing agency. This was my first 'real world' marketing experience. I wrote copy for clients, SEO content for the agency, and even wrote controls for ads
- I started freelance copywriting and working with a dozen marketing agencies as their go-to copywriter and content writer
But here's where I hit another roadblock...
After realising how much I enjoyed marketing, I decided to head back to uni to take on a marketing degree. I guess the main reason why I did this, was because of the pressure my surroundings had on me. My parents wanted me to go to uni, my friends all went, and I felt like it was the right decision at the time.
I completely stopped going within the first few weeks.
Why was I going to uni for marketing when marketing agencies already wanted to hire me? My hourly rate was double what an entry level marketing job would get me.
There were hurdles with this decision. My parents forced me to pay to live at home, and if I couldn't earn enough to even pay 'rent', then I wouldn't make it and I'd be forced to go back to uni. That's fair enough, I guess.
It was hard, I missed several payments, but I made enough to cover 'rent'.
Guess you could say I started earning 'good enough' money. I could earn over $1k in one afternoon of writing. Earned $100 per 10 minutes of editing. It's okay money, in terms of the amount of time I put in.
But it was extremely stressful and not what I wanted to do. Plus, I wasn't in control of the work. It was all up to the marketing agencies that outsourced to me. Plus, it was a constant cycle of being either overworked or nothing at all.
Since then, I've tried multiple things:
- eCom (started several of my own brands but never stuck to one long enough)
- Dropshipping (don't like the chargebacks that are inevitable)
- Digital marketing agency (still somewhat doing this)
These things I tried are all recent. I'm still in the process of reading the fastlane book, but I'm determined to follow the CENTS framework and build a business that can create rapid wealth.
So here's where I am now:
- Currently working full-time in a digital marketing agency (freelance work dried up 100% after C0VlD-19)
- Working on digital marketing offerings (planning to stop it now, after the CENTS framework enlightened me)
- Building up my freelancing gig again (to earn more money to allow me to stop my full-time job)
- My 'startup' which is a platform/marketplace that I'm in the beginning stages of building
My startup is what I want to divert my attention and time towards.
This is why I joined this forum and am writing this introductory post. To push me to work on my startup and keep myself accountable. I've jumped between countless ideas and any one of them could have made me good money. But I never stuck to one long enough to build it.
So this is a declaration and promise to myself...
I will stick to my startup for at least 1 year and allow myself to re-evaluate afterwards.
I've validated my idea partially (would like to conduct my surveys and research, but I'm happy with the findings so far and things show great promise).
Also, I've seen others post daily updates on their execution. I'll be creating a similar thread and post to it daily as part of my daily slight edge tasks. If you haven't read the book, it's about habits and the accumulate effect it has. Awesome read, recommend it!
Not sure I wanted to include this, but I want to document as much as I can. Here is some of the darker side of things...
The often spoken of 'entrepreneurial depression'. I've lost friends. In fact, I've lost 99% of my friends. In uni, I had countless friends and I'd always be going out partying. I've also had a breakup that impacted me greatly. Nowadays, I have no friends that I can rely on. They're there for me every once in a while, but because of how distant I've become, it's just not the same. I'm not sure if I have any 'real' friends now.
The one person I can rely on right now is my partner who I've been with for some time now.
On top of building my startup, I want to build new friendships. I was good at making friends in high school and university, but I haven't managed to make even a single friend outside of these educational environments.
Hopefully, I'll be able to find a solution for this at some point. But right now, my business is my absolute priority.
Don't imagine anyone would read through this entirely, so this is more of a stream of thoughts that I've held inside me for a while. Maybe some people can relate, maybe a few of those want to connect, who knows.
Anyways...
Nice to meet you Fast Laners!
Never imagined I'd be introducing myself in a forum. But I want a place to document my journey and a way to keep myself accountable...
So here I am.
My entrepreneurship journey to date:
For as long as I could remember, I was fascinated with business. The idea of buying low, selling high, putting things together to sell at higher values, etc. Despite this passion, I started off down the slow lane. I worked hard enough to get into a University course I wanted to do. My psychology degree started off okay, but a few years into it, I realised that I F*cking hated every second of it. I spent my university days sleeping in the library, nights going out drinking, and all the typical uni student time wasters.
I had considered dropping out multiple times. But who hasn't?
But unlike most, my distaste for university went a little further. I completed skipped my final exams, walked out a few minutes into the one that I did attend, and this resulted in a whole year of uni wasted. With no other path forward other than the one I knew, I went back to uni the next year to repeat the exact same subjects.
Even though I've done the course material, I absolutely hated it and just couldn't get myself to do the work.
After a tinder date (one way I distracted myself in uni), we went to the library so I could finish off my assignment (I was trying to find a way to blow her off, I was not interested at all but she didn't get the signs). I complained about how much I hated the report I was writing and how absolutely stupid it was. This girl said something life changing - "just drop out then". There wasn't anything really special about what she said. I've said it to myself countless times, my friends had jokes about it, and I've tried a few times (my parents stopped my each time). But for some strange reason, a switch in my brain flipped and my life diverged completely.
I walked out of uni and never turned back (didn't even tell my parents until I already submitted my suspension of study).
Never spoke to the girl again, but it's amazing how the timing of what she said had completely changed my life. But thank you for saying exactly what I needed to hear at that moment.
I realise that this is beginning to sound like an autobiography that'll stretch for several hundred pages, so I'll summarise what has happened since:
- After dropping out, I dedicated myself every morning to wake up at 7am to learn copywriting. I hand wrote sales letters, studied the best copywriters, read their books, took notes, wrote my own letters, etc. After several months, I got pretty good at it.
- I got an internship at a digital marketing agency. This was my first 'real world' marketing experience. I wrote copy for clients, SEO content for the agency, and even wrote controls for ads
- I started freelance copywriting and working with a dozen marketing agencies as their go-to copywriter and content writer
But here's where I hit another roadblock...
After realising how much I enjoyed marketing, I decided to head back to uni to take on a marketing degree. I guess the main reason why I did this, was because of the pressure my surroundings had on me. My parents wanted me to go to uni, my friends all went, and I felt like it was the right decision at the time.
I completely stopped going within the first few weeks.
Why was I going to uni for marketing when marketing agencies already wanted to hire me? My hourly rate was double what an entry level marketing job would get me.
There were hurdles with this decision. My parents forced me to pay to live at home, and if I couldn't earn enough to even pay 'rent', then I wouldn't make it and I'd be forced to go back to uni. That's fair enough, I guess.
It was hard, I missed several payments, but I made enough to cover 'rent'.
Guess you could say I started earning 'good enough' money. I could earn over $1k in one afternoon of writing. Earned $100 per 10 minutes of editing. It's okay money, in terms of the amount of time I put in.
But it was extremely stressful and not what I wanted to do. Plus, I wasn't in control of the work. It was all up to the marketing agencies that outsourced to me. Plus, it was a constant cycle of being either overworked or nothing at all.
Since then, I've tried multiple things:
- eCom (started several of my own brands but never stuck to one long enough)
- Dropshipping (don't like the chargebacks that are inevitable)
- Digital marketing agency (still somewhat doing this)
These things I tried are all recent. I'm still in the process of reading the fastlane book, but I'm determined to follow the CENTS framework and build a business that can create rapid wealth.
So here's where I am now:
- Currently working full-time in a digital marketing agency (freelance work dried up 100% after C0VlD-19)
- Working on digital marketing offerings (planning to stop it now, after the CENTS framework enlightened me)
- Building up my freelancing gig again (to earn more money to allow me to stop my full-time job)
- My 'startup' which is a platform/marketplace that I'm in the beginning stages of building
My startup is what I want to divert my attention and time towards.
This is why I joined this forum and am writing this introductory post. To push me to work on my startup and keep myself accountable. I've jumped between countless ideas and any one of them could have made me good money. But I never stuck to one long enough to build it.
So this is a declaration and promise to myself...
I will stick to my startup for at least 1 year and allow myself to re-evaluate afterwards.
I've validated my idea partially (would like to conduct my surveys and research, but I'm happy with the findings so far and things show great promise).
Also, I've seen others post daily updates on their execution. I'll be creating a similar thread and post to it daily as part of my daily slight edge tasks. If you haven't read the book, it's about habits and the accumulate effect it has. Awesome read, recommend it!
Not sure I wanted to include this, but I want to document as much as I can. Here is some of the darker side of things...
The often spoken of 'entrepreneurial depression'. I've lost friends. In fact, I've lost 99% of my friends. In uni, I had countless friends and I'd always be going out partying. I've also had a breakup that impacted me greatly. Nowadays, I have no friends that I can rely on. They're there for me every once in a while, but because of how distant I've become, it's just not the same. I'm not sure if I have any 'real' friends now.
The one person I can rely on right now is my partner who I've been with for some time now.
On top of building my startup, I want to build new friendships. I was good at making friends in high school and university, but I haven't managed to make even a single friend outside of these educational environments.
Hopefully, I'll be able to find a solution for this at some point. But right now, my business is my absolute priority.
Don't imagine anyone would read through this entirely, so this is more of a stream of thoughts that I've held inside me for a while. Maybe some people can relate, maybe a few of those want to connect, who knows.
Anyways...
Nice to meet you Fast Laners!
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