Finally Making It...After 5 Years

[RealDreams]

First off, I don't know if I should be making this post. I'm not in a position of great wealth yet but I finally started seeing positive results after about 5 years of struggles and failures.

In the past 5 years, I tried the following:
- Creating a blog and monetizing it (1 year of work)
- Started a YouTube channel (4 months of work)
- Tried to compete with OnlyFans in 2020 and build a better service (2 years of work)

None of these worked out. I want to make this post short and straight to the point. None of these worked out for the following reasons:

• Blogs have no barriers to entry (as MJ said more than 10 years ago). Everyone wants and can be a blogger. There's no unique differentiator, really, that can set a blogger apart from another blogger, especially in the age of ChatGPT and generative AI.
• Monetizing your blog is where you have to use your brain. Churning out 20-30 posts a week is useless if you don't know how to monetize all that traffic. Find a way to monetize the traffic. That can be affiliate marketing, selling courses/e-books, whatever. The reason I did not do this is because I felt like a fake guru trying to teach people what to do when I wasn't yet in a position of success. I felt like a snake oil salesman and definitely not like an entrepreneur.
• Trying to copy a competitor and 'just improving the product' is a failing strategy 99% of the time. You will work hard for leftovers, if any. People buy the first product that solidifies their neural pathways with a certain word. Think Apple for high-end tech, Mercedes-Benz for 'premium', Lamborghini for 'boss', whatever, you get the point. If you are not the first in your category, good luck with that. It's much easier to start a business and conquer a unique spot in the mind of the consumer than trying to be number 2. If you started building high-end phones today, you would still fail to conquer the market because Apple has that spot in the minds of consumers. It's very hard to change the opinions of the market.

Now, some things I learned over the years:

• Most people claiming they're entrepreneurs are not. I'm sorry, but I don't see how blogging or drop shipping, or any of the sort, can be considered a business. To me, a business is something that can scale easily and is organized around a system. MJ's CENTS paradigm is what I'd call a business. If you cover all 5 variables (or 4, at least), you have a real business.
• If you want something hard enough, you'll get it. This path is not for everyone. I had to sacrifice all I had to get out of the other side. I had no social life for the past 5 years, no real vacations, no entertainment, no netflix. Yes, I took the extremist approach but I don't believe you can do anything serious in life unless you cut all that crap out and focus until you achieve what you want. You can't have it all. Energy is scarce and so is your time.
• Stop using social media. Seriously. Deleted Instagram in 2019 and never looked back. Can't imagine what my life would be if I were Gen Z and had to use TikTok or any other dopamine slot machine app and ruin my prefrontal cortex. There's a reason why most Gen Z people are lazy or have no motivation. Modern entertainment is a curse.
• Think like a businessman, not like a script seeder. I build and give people what they want. It's often clear what people want and if you build it they'll pay you for it. In my industry, in particular, adult entertainment, this is more real than ever. If you don't do this, someone else will. It's like seeing a hot girl and not approaching her because she's busy, then you see your friend go up there, approach her, and sleep with her the same night. You are your own worst enemy. If you want money, give people what they want.
• Read but don't be an idiot. Reading 100 books and 3 years later not having taken action is idiotic. Reading can easily become an excuse for not taking action. I haven't read a book in a year and I'm still making more money than I ever did. I did read a lot of books before that, however, but after a certain point, you have diminishing returns.
• Don't listen to outsiders. They have no F*cking clue what they're talking about. Most middle-class individuals talk bullshit and can't give you advice on how to make it in life, because they've never done it themselves. They speak in clichès and repeat what they heard said by someone else, without ever questioning it.

Now, about my recent success. I launched a NSFW AI generator 2 months ago and I noticed it gained traction just a few days after launching. Built an MVP very quickly (1 week) and started marketing on social media by posting pics I generated. Started making money after 2 weeks via Patreon. Eventually scaled this up, contacted blogs in the space for affiliate marketing, and I'm now making 250-450$/day on average, as a solo founder at 23 years old. But don't let this cloud your judgment. I had no luck for 5 years.

Now...have I made it? Obviously not. I just started out. But hopefully, with a great service and marketing expansion, this will keep going and scale to 30k gross a month.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Consolation]

Trying to copy a competitor and 'just improving the product' is a failing strategy 99% of the time. You will work hard for leftovers, if any. People buy the first product that solidifies their neural pathways with a certain word. Think Apple for high-end tech, Mercedes-Benz for 'premium', Lamborghini for 'boss', whatever, you get the point. If you are not the first in your category, good luck with that. It's much easier to start a business and conquer a unique spot in the mind of the consumer than trying to be number 2. If you started building high-end phones today, you would still fail to conquer the market because Apple has that spot in the minds of consumers. It's very hard to change the opinions of the market.

Hmm.. I get what you are saying but this should be better rephrased. Let me take a quote from Unscripted instead:

If there are one hundred total players in the market and each possesses fifty units of market share, you only need to take one unit of share from each to get to the top. You would end up with fifty units, and the others would have forty-nine. If there is value to skew, there is always room.

 

[RealDreams]

Hmm.. I get what you are saying but this should be better rephrased. Let me take a quote from Unscripted instead:

Al Ries explains it better than I ever could.

 

[Spenny]

Making $200-$450 daily is fantastic, but with pornography? Really? One of the most advanced forms of technology, and you make porn with it?

Here is my question: Does it add value to lives?

In most cases, people use this substance to escape something or attempt to get out of desperation. Not only that, but it fundamentally rewires peoples' brains to make them dysfunctional & almost reliant on this form of "entertainment". The result, it alienates friends & loved ones from the user. It's vicious.

Sounds like a lot of hard drugs. I see this as no different to selling hard drugs like cocaine.

"but people will consume it anyway; I may as well be me making it". That's not a reasonable justification, hard drugs are sold every day, and it's not virtuous distributing something which tears families apart and squanders potential.

I'm afraid I have to disagree with this business. I've seen too many people suffer from this & continue to struggle to overcome it. We don't need more of this depravity, and it should not be celebrated.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[circleme]

Trying to copy a competitor and 'just improving the product' is a failing strategy 99% of the time. You will work hard for leftovers, if any. People buy the first product that solidifies their neural pathways with a certain word. Think Apple for high-end tech, Mercedes-Benz for 'premium', Lamborghini for 'boss', whatever, you get the point. If you are not the first in your category, good luck with that. It's much easier to start a business and conquer a unique spot in the mind of the consumer than trying to be number 2. If you started building high-end phones today, you would still fail to conquer the market because Apple has that spot in the minds of consumers. It's very hard to change the opinions of the market.

I would argue that the majority of all products we use/consume nowadays, whether it is software or physical products, is some kind of a spin-off/ a copy. If your goal is to take over the majority of the available TAM in a certain market, well, maybe then you are right, but otherwise, copying AND improving (adding value skew) to an existing solution will almost always give you a percentage - even if it is a small one - of the market. You can for example choose any horizontal market player (e.g. Salesforce for CRM) and provide a similar version to Salesforce for hairdressers for example. So the basic product is the same, but you narrow down in terms of positioning and features.

A few years ago, before reading TMF , my classmate and I wanted to try some E-Commerce. We have seen a german brand doing ridiciously good with a really ordinary dog necklace. We've reverse engineered as much as possible and have launched almost the same identical product like them. We have used the SAME distributions and marketing channels. We've used a SIMILIR sales copy . And guess what?

IT WORKED, WE GOT SALES! We didn't do anything other than our competitor and were complete noobs in terms of entrepreneurship (to be fair, we still are kind of...) but it still worked. It was the complete opposite from what I would do nowadays or from what I do nowadays, but that is irrelevant, as it still worked, even though we hadn't the knowledge from what we have today.

None of these worked out. I want to make this post short and straight to the point. None of these worked out for the following reasons

For me it seems that you are saying what you are saying because you didn't manage to have success with your ventures. Just because your clone didn't work, doesn't mean the concept of improving something existing doesn't work. Otherwise, everyone on this earth would wear the same shirt, drive the same car, eat the same food, etc. You get my point.

I'm curious what's the real reason behind you saying what you are saying, as I would argue that it is non-discussible whether or not "copying" works or not. It does, since the beginning of economy.

 

[Tau Ceti]

Making $200-$450 daily is fantastic, but with pornography? Really? One of the most advanced forms of technology, and you make porn with it?

Here is my question: Does it add value to lives?

In most cases, people use this substance to escape something or attempt to get out of desperation. Not only that, but it fundamentally rewires peoples' brains to make them dysfunctional & almost reliant on this form of "entertainment". The result, it alienates friends & loved ones from the user. It's vicious.

Sounds like a lot of hard drugs. I see this as no different to selling hard drugs like cocaine.

"but people will consume it anyway; I may as well be me making it". That's not a reasonable justification, hard drugs are sold every day, and it's not virtuous distributing something which tears families apart and squanders potential.

I'm afraid I have to disagree with this business. I've seen too many people suffer from this & continue to struggle to overcome it. We don't need more of this depravity, and it should not be celebrated.

I respectfully disagree with you.

For starter porn is not a substance.

I don't think that you can compare an illegal unregulated market like the drugs market to a legal and regulated industry such as the porn industry. That is fallacious.

I can think of dozens of other industries that harm people such as the car industry (1.3 million deaths a year from road traffic related injuries, not counting the ones from related to the air pollution), fast food (death linked to obesity are skyrocketing) and let's not talk about alcool or cigarettes.

Yet I don't see anyone wanting to ban these products anytime soon. In fact Elon Musk represents in most entrepreneur's minds the ultimate businessman. Yet he sales cars.

That you don't like porn is fine by me. Each to their own, but that doesn't mean that there is not a demand for it and that this demand should not be satisfied as long as it is legal and doesn't harm the producers of said porn.

In this case, it's AI generated which means that no humans were used to create the images.

Also I do not agree that porn is depravity. Porn is sex in front of a camera. Nothing more nothing less. Are there issues in porn? Yeah sure just like in any other industry.

Does this mean that all porn related businesses should be banned? I hope not. Why? Actually, Onlyfans and it's copy cats are responsible for cleaning the porn industry but that is a story for another time.

@VicFountain I commend you for starting a business from scratch. Good luck and keep us updated.

 

[Consolation]

Al Ries explains it better than I ever could.

Yes and his book about positioning is for me just O.K, not bad not good. Just O.K. Marketing after all is a great skill set.

But have you ever heard the purple cow? Seth Godin said that.

Don't you remember the iPhone when it first came? Nokia was the king of the world at that time. Apple won't rule the world forever.

I agree a lot with positioning. In fact I used it too. Few years ago, I positioned the novel I sell as the product of a native born author in the minds of people who weren't native to my birth place.

Natives from my birth place bought many novels of this types. I have no way to position it first on top of their brains.

What did I do? I target my audience who lives over 500 miles away. Different culture, different languages, different worldview. Now, I'm became no. 1 for local horror novel.

Great. Now what if the novel has terrible plot, silly characters and doesn't portray my tribes correctly?

Perfect positioning, terrible product.

Once again, I agree. Market positioning is great but make sure the product is great too. As Elon Musk said:

If you're trying to create a company, it's like baking a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[RealDreams]

Making $200-$450 daily is fantastic, but with pornography? Really? One of the most advanced forms of technology, and you make porn with it?

Here is my question: Does it add value to lives?

In most cases, people use this substance to escape something or attempt to get out of desperation. Not only that, but it fundamentally rewires peoples' brains to make them dysfunctional & almost reliant on this form of "entertainment". The result, it alienates friends & loved ones from the user. It's vicious.

Sounds like a lot of hard drugs. I see this as no different to selling hard drugs like cocaine.

"but people will consume it anyway; I may as well be me making it". That's not a reasonable justification, hard drugs are sold every day, and it's not virtuous distributing something which tears families apart and squanders potential.

I'm afraid I have to disagree with this business. I've seen too many people suffer from this & continue to struggle to overcome it. We don't need more of this depravity, and it should not be celebrated.

Lol. Do you eat chocolate? Or ice cream? Do you know it's stuffed with sugar?

The world isn't fair. Most of the extremely profitable businesses aren't fair. They rely on human and biological needs.

Eat or be eaten.

This virtue signaling has gotten pathetic. Business is about solving people's problems or NEEDS. I don't watch porn and I know it's bad for me, but you can't convince the rest of the world. They will keep wanting what they want, they don't want to be saved. If you don't want to be in this business it's fine for me, less competition.

 

[Spenny]

Lol. Do you eat chocolate? Or ice cream? Do you know it's stuffed with sugar?

The world isn't fair. Most of the extremely profitable businesses aren't fair. They rely on human and biological needs.

Eat or be eaten.

This virtue signaling has gotten pathetic. Business is about solving people's problems or NEEDS. I don't watch porn and I know it's bad for me, but you can't convince the rest of the world. They will keep wanting what they want, they don't want to be saved. If you don't want to be in this business it's fine for me, less competition.

Financially rich, morally bankrupt.

 

[Spenny]

I can think of dozens of other industries that harm people, such as the car industry (1.3 million deaths a year from road traffic-related injuries, not counting the ones from air pollution), fast food (deaths linked to obesity are skyrocketing), and let's not talk about alcohol or cigarettes.

It doesn't make it ok to do it yourself. That argument is a race to the bottom & it leads to the destruction of civilisation.

For starters, porn is not a substance.

You certainly haven't looked at its effects on the brain or the chemistry.

Also, I do not agree that porn is depravity. Porn is sex in front of a camera. Nothing more, nothing less. Are there issues in porn? Yeah sure just like in any other industry.

It's not the act, it's the result on the user.

Learned voyerism, intimacy problems, social isolation.

Does this mean that all porn related businesses should be banned? I hope not. Why? Actually, Onlyfans and it's copycats are responsible for cleaning the porn industry, but that is a story for another time.

I never said it should be banned; people will still do it. I encourage people to do better; there are too many problems to fix, and adding to them isn't helping the world.

And you're using the same argument of "it's ok if they do it". Sure, but you corrupt yourself for the sake of money. Is that freedom?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Jrjohnny]

If you can make 67 thousand dollars a year minimum from doing morally wrong shit like this,

You can make millions actually solving a problem for people.

Your just not tapping into your full potential.

You’ve proved you can make something that makes money.

Now make something that makes value.

 

[Tau Ceti]

You certainly haven't looked at its effects on the brain or the chemistry.

That doesn't mean it is a substance. aka a drug that you take in your body. Your example was bad from the start, you could have conceded the point and moved on but instead you want to change the narrative. Suit yourself but I don't have time to reply to someone who argues in bad faith.

It doesn't make it ok to do it yourself. That argument is a race to the bottom & it leads to the destruction of civilisation

That's your opinion. I am just pointing out the hypocrisy that's all. If he had started a car business or a fast food chain, most people would have no problem with it. But porn? Oh no. This will destroy the world. Give me a break!

I never said it should be banned; people will still do it. I encourage people to do better; there are too many problems to fix, and adding to them isn't helping the world.

I think on the list of urgent problems that humanity is facing, the problem with porn is probably near the bottom of it.

And you're using the same argument of "it's ok if they do it". Sure, but you corrupt yourself for the sake of money. Is that freedom?

I am not corrupting myself. I applaud this person for starting a legal business that does not exploit someone else.

I thought this was a business forum about building businesses that deliver value to people. I don't pass judgement on his business. You do.
Why should you be the judge of what is moral or not?

 

[Mikkel]

The world isn't fair. Most of the extremely profitable businesses aren't fair. They rely on human and biological needs.

This is true. Should you be a part of the problem or the solution? There are many businesses that operate in the grey zone. It is a part of a lot of business models. However, I will say there are gradations of the grey zone. As you would probably agree, a business for AI porn(weird) is not as bad as a porn company taking advantage of women. With that being said AI porn certainly seems worse than a food company that puts sugar in their food because that is how you make their food taste good.

There could be a whole debate on whether or not a person should operate in the grey zone of business, and I think it would be an interesting debate. My question to you is this, will you be proud of your work when you get older? Is this something you will tell your wife and kids or will you hide this information from them? If you hide this from them, will lying by omission chip away at your soul? Is it worth it?

My guess is you are probably too young for kids and you probably don't have a girlfriend, let alone a wife, as I don't know what guy would try and start a porn business when they are in a relationship. A lot of people only look one step ahead, and don't look at potential consequences down the road. I suggest looking 5-10 steps forward and seriously asking the questions I posed above.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Spenny]

I'm unsure if there is much point in responding, but I want to discuss it. It's important.

That doesn't mean it is a substance—a drug you take in your body. Your example was terrible from the start; you could have conceded the point and moved on, but instead, you want to change the narrative. Suit yourself, but I don't have time to reply to someone who argues in bad faith.

The result is the same. Addiction loop that people get trapped in and have real difficulty getting out of.

That's your opinion. I am just pointing out the hypocrisy, that's all. If he had started a car business or a fast food chain, most people would have no problem with it. But porn? Oh no. This will destroy the world. Give me a break!

I never said it was one thing—death by a thousand cuts. I don't think it's wise to say anything goes, as I wouldn't want to live in a place with that mantra.

I think on the list of urgent problems that humanity is facing, the problem with porn is probably near the bottom of it.

Ahahaha, it's another argument entirely; I'm unsure if the thread can handle that.

I am not corrupting myself. I applaud this person for starting a legal business that does not exploit someone else.

I thought this was a business forum about building businesses that deliver value to people. I don't pass judgment on his business. You do.
Why should you be the judge of what is moral or not?

It exploits those who sincerely struggle to interact, socialise and get somewhere. It's rife in young male circles, and lots don't know how to get out. It's arguable if it delivers actual value for its users. I wouldn't say the same for cigarettes: short-term joy and long-term misery.

View: https://youtu.be/HUngLgGRJpo?si=FDQH0ps_TrVWJubU


I never said I was the judge either; people can do what they will, but that doesn't mean I will accept it.

 

[Spencer J]

First off, I don't know if I should be making this post. I'm not in a position of great wealth yet but I finally started seeing positive results after about 5 years of struggles and failures.

In the past 5 years, I tried the following:
- Creating a blog and monetizing it (1 year of work)
- Started a YouTube channel (4 months of work)
- Tried to compete with OnlyFans in 2020 and build a better service (2 years of work)

None of these worked out. I want to make this post short and straight to the point. None of these worked out for the following reasons:

• Blogs have no barriers to entry (as MJ said more than 10 years ago). Everyone wants and can be a blogger. There's no unique differentiator, really, that can set a blogger apart from another blogger, especially in the age of ChatGPT and generative AI.
• Monetizing your blog is where you have to use your brain. Churning out 20-30 posts a week is useless if you don't know how to monetize all that traffic. Find a way to monetize the traffic. That can be affiliate marketing, selling courses/e-books, whatever. The reason I did not do this is because I felt like a fake guru trying to teach people what to do when I wasn't yet in a position of success. I felt like a snake oil salesman and definitely not like an entrepreneur.
• Trying to copy a competitor and 'just improving the product' is a failing strategy 99% of the time. You will work hard for leftovers, if any. People buy the first product that solidifies their neural pathways with a certain word. Think Apple for high-end tech, Mercedes-Benz for 'premium', Lamborghini for 'boss', whatever, you get the point. If you are not the first in your category, good luck with that. It's much easier to start a business and conquer a unique spot in the mind of the consumer than trying to be number 2. If you started building high-end phones today, you would still fail to conquer the market because Apple has that spot in the minds of consumers. It's very hard to change the opinions of the market.

Now, some things I learned over the years:

• Most people claiming they're entrepreneurs are not. I'm sorry, but I don't see how blogging or drop shipping, or any of the sort, can be considered a business. To me, a business is something that can scale easily and is organized around a system. MJ's CENTS paradigm is what I'd call a business. If you cover all 5 variables (or 4, at least), you have a real business.
• If you want something hard enough, you'll get it. This path is not for everyone. I had to sacrifice all I had to get out of the other side. I had no social life for the past 5 years, no real vacations, no entertainment, no netflix. Yes, I took the extremist approach but I don't believe you can do anything serious in life unless you cut all that crap out and focus until you achieve what you want. You can't have it all. Energy is scarce and so is your time.
• Stop using social media. Seriously. Deleted Instagram in 2019 and never looked back. Can't imagine what my life would be if I were Gen Z and had to use TikTok or any other dopamine slot machine app and ruin my prefrontal cortex. There's a reason why most Gen Z people are lazy or have no motivation. Modern entertainment is a curse.
• Think like a businessman, not like a script seeder. I build and give people what they want. It's often clear what people want and if you build it they'll pay you for it. In my industry, in particular, adult entertainment, this is more real than ever. If you don't do this, someone else will. It's like seeing a hot girl and not approaching her because she's busy, then you see your friend go up there, approach her, and sleep with her the same night. You are your own worst enemy. If you want money, give people what they want.
• Read but don't be an idiot. Reading 100 books and 3 years later not having taken action is idiotic. Reading can easily become an excuse for not taking action. I haven't read a book in a year and I'm still making more money than I ever did. I did read a lot of books before that, however, but after a certain point, you have diminishing returns.
• Don't listen to outsiders. They have no F*cking clue what they're talking about. Most middle-class individuals talk bullshit and can't give you advice on how to make it in life, because they've never done it themselves. They speak in clichès and repeat what they heard said by someone else, without ever questioning it.

Now, about my recent success. I launched a NSFW AI generator 2 months ago and I noticed it gained traction just a few days after launching. Built an MVP very quickly (1 week) and started marketing on social media by posting pics I generated. Started making money after 2 weeks via Patreon. Eventually scaled this up, contacted blogs in the space for affiliate marketing, and I'm now making 250-450$/day on average, as a solo founder at 23 years old. But don't let this cloud your judgment. I had no luck for 5 years.

Now...have I made it? Obviously not. I just started out. But hopefully, with a great service and marketing expansion, this will keep going and scale to 30k gross a month.

Hey mate, what you have said, with your life story, is eye opening. As someone who is currently in the shoes of your 18 year old self, what would you say is the best thing to do in a sense that gets the ball rolling via business. Like at the moment, I am trying to make myself a more disciplined indiviudal (no porn, read, gym and etc) however i feel like even though this is making me a better person, it is not making me any wealthier. So i just wondered what your words of advice would be to get the ball rolling. Thanks

 

[Devilery]

Respect! I'm happy for you. Most of the comments read like nonsense to me.

If his business is so evil and destructive, why don't you protest tobacco and alcohol companies? Why don't you try to convince everyone to delete their social media? Why don't we all live naked out in the wild and eat whatever we can hunt/grow and spend the rest of the time meditating to avoid supporting depravities, suffering, etc.?

Value is subjective. If someone is weak enough to pay actual money for fictional porn, more power to them! That's their choice and OP shouldn't be held responsible for it. People hand him cash, he's not ripping it out of their wallets with a gun to their heads.

I'd even say - great, as AI porn evolves, demand for human porn will decrease, thus potentially leading to collective improvement - a decrease in sex trafficking, substance abuse, and general abuse among creators and actors.

I hope you make it and I can admit I'm slightly jealous, sound like a relatively "easy" business to run and grow - low-ish costs and I'd expect a great customer retention rate.

EDIT: btw, there are actual wars happening right now with millions dying and being displaced, and you're seriously questioning a guy who enables masturbation? Reads stupid, right?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Guest12k7911]

Don’t listen to morally ‘superior’ guys here.

Only results matter.

 

[BizyDad]

Speaking of results, I'm curious what results look like these days...

 

[amp0193]

It's a shame this thread turn into a moral debate, because the OP was straight gold worth discussing.

People buy the first product that solidifies their neural pathways with a certain word. Think Apple for high-end tech, Mercedes-Benz for 'premium', Lamborghini for 'boss', whatever, you get the point.

This lesson took me 10 years of business to learn. OP figured it out in 5 (and at age 23...)

Most struggle to get their USP (if they even have one at all) to be a concise sentence. One word is even harder.

That's the focus it takes.

One word as the north star unifies teams and product development and marketing and customers and is a litmus test for every micro and macro decision the business makes.

Business is about solving people's problems or NEEDS. I don't watch porn and I know it's bad for me, but you can't convince the rest of the world. They will keep wanting what they want, they don't want to be saved.

I used to think just like you OP.

And I made a lot of money selling people snake oil with that thinking.

I told myself that they were going to buy it from someone anyways, may as well be from me.

But when the excitement of selling hundreds a day wore off. And my financial needs were taken care of, and my time was free and I had achieved all the goals I set out to achieve, I stepped back to reflect on what the point of it all was. Was this it?

And when you eventually reflect on your business and life, the answer you come up with may be a lot different than the one I came up with. We all choose our own path and belief system.

But I decided I wanted to make the world a better place, and that my business was making it worse. So I sold it and started a different one, and through it I've found fulfillment on a deeper level. A fulfillment that exists whether I ultimately make a lot of money with it or not.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[RealDreams]

Thought this post was gonna die, but quick update. Made 40k gross in October for anyone wondering (about 24k net after taxes and all expenses). Not saying this will keep going and in fact, sales have dropped in November due to Google's algorithms delisting many sites.

Some more advice:
- If you are satisfied with where you are and what you are making, you won't get to the next level. My lowest days are 300$ net, and if I make anything less than 400-500$ net, I feel extremely furious. Maybe I'm just wired differently psychologically, but that pain pushed me into taking actions that I would not have taken was I satisfied with 300$ a day.
- If you are poor and in a shitty situation, give up the excuses, look in the mirror, and ask yourself if you really want to be rich or want to keep living a shit life.
- Cancel out all the noise. If you're watching TV, Netlflix, or playing videogames, sorry, the odds are stacked against you. That shit changes your probability of getting rich by 0%, maybe even by a negative percentage. Billionaires don't have time to watch the news on Israel or Ukraine, sorry if that sounds harsh, it's the truth. All they see is how it impacts their bank statements or how they can profit from it.

Improving the world sounds nice, but it's super competitive. If you want to make money "easier", look at a gap in the market, look at high-risk industries where most people don't have the courage or just the character to work in (another way of saying, high barriers to entry). If you've been trying to make money for 5-10 years and you're still poor, you either change your way of thinking or you'll likely never make it.

Not hating on the forum, but if you spend hours on this site and you are still poor, what are you doing with your life? Why are you not working on your business or starting one?