Fastlane Principles in a Slowlane Job

[Windsurfer]

I am really trying to get to a Fastlane lifestyle using real estate as soon as I can. But I have not found an opportunity yet to 'burn the boats' and quit my slowlane job.

While I continue to look for this opportunity, or build my real estate portfolio until it can sustain me as a fastlaner, I am using the principles in MJ's book, along with what I learned from the 4 Hour Work Week, to get me to a point where I am at least bringing in more cash - which is especially important right now because I have a daughter going to college next year and a son two years behind her.

I wanted to write this thread to give people who might be in a similar situation some ideas to think about . It seems to be working well for me, for now.

The Background

Until about a year ago I was a Director level person at a pretty large manufacturing company. That company was acquired by a REALLY big company ($77 Billion in annual revenue), which was a bureaucratic nightmare and imposed their will on all their new employees. It was PowerPoint and reporting ALL the time. I finally became completely fed up with it when someone from 'corporate' who I didn't even know called me at 6pm on a Saturday night and said they needed a report by 10am Sunday morning.

'F' that!

About that same time I was reading MJ's book and decided to at least find a job somewhere else so I can work on my fastlane. I already had some rental property and wanted to ramp it up. I found a job with a much smaller company in the same industry. Although my title went down from Director to Manager, I managed to still negotiate a pay raise.

I highly recommend looking at your slowlane job. If you are working on it to the point where you don't have time for anything else, find another job. If you really look at corporate America (or any country), you will see there is very little competition for people who can actually accomplish profitable activities. Most employees are bureaucrats who want to do as little as possible in order not to risk taking responsibility for something that might fail.

If you are good, I would also highly recommend learning as much as you can about negotiating. I don't care if you are the receptionist at the front desk, in IT, or the janitor. IF you are good at what you do, you should constantly be pushing the compensation you receive. Not just in money but in perks as well. I can guarantee that a really good employee (and I have hired some to report to me) will return many times what they could ever negotiate in terms of salary.

The main reason I liked the new company was my boss. He had left another huge company because he was tired of the BS as well. He would give me a lot of autonomy and shield me from the bureaucracy (no PowerPoints!).

Since I've been there, I've used what I learned in the 4HWW to DEAL:

• Delegate - Farm out what you are not adding value to. If someone is asking you to just pass on information, give them the final email address or phone number and ask them (politely) to do it themselves. Show them it is not any extra work and they will get a response quicker.
• Eliminate - Look at everything you do and don't do crap that is not producing a result. Powerpoint is an obvious example, but I could give you a TON more. People think in the corporate environment that if they don't look busy, they might get fired. But there is a huge difference between being busy and being effective. Looking at email 100 times a day falls into this category.
• Automate - This is a little like delegating, but most companies have all kind of software tools, reporting software and ERP systems. Talk to IT. Instead of preparing reports, have them automated and sent out to people by the system on a regular basis. Then you just have to answer any questions. You will find after a while that most people just give up looking at the reports, but if they need them, you have them there for them. There are many other tasks in your day-to-day activities that can be automated as well.
• Liberate - By doing the first three steps, you will be able to accomplish more of the 4th for yourself. I can get out and go to the gym during the day, or spend time on my real estate business, and still get ALL my work done. You will be amazed how much free time you can take back - even if you still have to be in your cube.

One other thing I do is that I leave my house to drive into work at 5am every morning (get up at 4:30). That way I don't sit in traffic. I use those two hours (5:30-7:30) to sit in a coffee shop close to my job and work on my real estate, look for other fastlane opportunities and generally try to figure out how to get out of the rat race.

I hardly ever work late.

Think it sounds like I am slouching off? Well consider this. Since I have been at my new job (about a year), I have completed projects that have saved the small company well over $1M - and no my salary isn't anywhere close to that. To top that off, the Senior VP of Operations has mentioned to me that he would like me to apply for a job to run the plant I work in. It would be a very large promotion.

Now I'm at the point where I could live off the cash flow from my real estate, but not very well. With two kids going to college soon it would be a real struggle. So until I find the right fastlane opportunity, make a really big RE score, or build my portfolio enough to really enjoy life ($15-$20K/month), I am stuck in the Slowlane. But that doesn't mean I can't make the most of it.

I know people are going to say 'Burn those boats' but I don't have an objective that makes that a viable option right now. Until I do, I hope this helps people deal with their slowlane job a little better?

 

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[SteveO]

Zua, nz gsoipf, esi puv op vji tmuxmepi. Vji gedv vjev zua jewi e kuc fuit PUV pihevi xjev zua esi fuoph uavtofi op zuas SI catopitt.

 

[Windsurfer]

Vjeplt TviwiU. Vjev niept e muv dunoph gsun zua. O xet vjoploph ov nohjv ci huuf vu tvesv e vjsief vu jimq qiuqmi gsii aq voni op vjios tmuxmepi kuc vu dupdipvsevi up getvmepi ipfiewust? Vjisi ot qmipvz ug getvmepi tvagg op vji gusan - ov nohjv ci podi vu mittip vji tmuxmepi vu howi nusi djepdi ug hivvoph op vji getvmepi.

 

[seamles]

Wisz opvisitvoph qutv. Tusv ug op vji teni cuev epf vszoph vu tvesv timg-qacmotjoph, cav emxezt uqip vu uvjis uqqusvapovoit. O xotj zua madl op zuas siem itvevi catopitt epf juqi zua jov zuas huemt!