Or that's the idea, anyways. I am currently in consumer debt (to the tune of $1600) with no car and soon to be no apartment. I've always lived my life on the Sidewalk because I've never been ready to be happy or ready to make something of myself. Let me be clear: I can't start a business today. Or tomorrow. Or in a week. I'm flat-a$$ broke. I have two dollars in my personal account and I need to drop $500 to fix my car and $1200 to continue living in my apartment - my paycheck on Friday will be about $90.
I have no experience in website design, programming, brand development, or SEO. Or accounting or licensing or much of anything.
What I do have, though, are tools and experiences I've developed and learned in the Freeskiing, Gymnastics, and AudioVisual industries. I more-or-less ran the day-in day-out operations of a 7-figure AudioVisual office for... wait for it... $14/hour. A lot of the sales were funneled straight to my phone by our main venue, my technicians were good and required little upkeep, my gear was already purchased and profit margins were phenomenal. All the actual business systems were streamlined and made impossible to screw up by corporate. It was a lot of work for me and the other employees, but in truth it was like taking candy from a baby. Corporate was probably thinking the same thing about our office.
But it sucked my soul dry just so I could live paycheck to paycheck. $14/hour at 40-50 hours a week was good (just kidding, cost of living here is stupid), but the environment wasn't enough for me to snap out of my delusions and actually save anything. It was quit or continue cutting myself, it was quit or continue down a dark road that my family, my environment and childhood, but most importantly my own actions, started me on a long time ago. I live with chronic depression, severe anxiety, and another, more personal thing.
So I'm not sure how I'm going to survive the next few weeks.
But when I do I've got plans. Fastlane plans. I've got two similar industries who could both benefit extraordinarily from my ideas. I have a hellaciously strong brand that I can use for content creation and, eventually, ecommerce. I have local suppliers who could use the expertise I'm gaining in the library and on my computer and a strong, global industry leader to observe and flirt with. The research looks promising and my idea is solid - the few 'focus groups' (if you could call them that), while small, have come back with solid remarks and consistent wants/desires. If I can build this service and get somebody to use it the sky is the limit, and the impact I can have on the people using it is huge.
But beyond imagining the vaulted ceiling of this venture and how much work it would be to get there, I don't have any of the skills necessary to actually get there. Yet.
And that all might just fail. It might be a worthless idea to all but a small few and touching just a few lives won't be making me enough to live on. And if it fails that's okay! This is an ambitious project for anyone, let alone someone who has no business being behind the wheel. If it fails it will have at least been a solid effort, and will have hopefully taught me the ethic and skills I need to drive a more successful venture.
I didn't buy MJs book. I pirated it. I rank his book among a precious few that have mirrored my mindset at the time I read them and pushed me past 'comfortable' and in to 'growth'. If I had read this book 12 months ago I may not have taken as much from it as I have. But I've read it, I'm reading it again, and it's opened up new pathways and perspectives in my mind that I would not have been able to do so quickly on my own.
I'm 21 years old and I can't afford an e-book, I live off white rice and water and whatever vegetables I can get from the Christian Center. It is my sincerest wish that through this forum, given time, I can provide enough value to its users to make it up to MJ.
Thank you.
(ps pls don't ban me, I'm really, really sorry about that)
I have no experience in website design, programming, brand development, or SEO. Or accounting or licensing or much of anything.
What I do have, though, are tools and experiences I've developed and learned in the Freeskiing, Gymnastics, and AudioVisual industries. I more-or-less ran the day-in day-out operations of a 7-figure AudioVisual office for... wait for it... $14/hour. A lot of the sales were funneled straight to my phone by our main venue, my technicians were good and required little upkeep, my gear was already purchased and profit margins were phenomenal. All the actual business systems were streamlined and made impossible to screw up by corporate. It was a lot of work for me and the other employees, but in truth it was like taking candy from a baby. Corporate was probably thinking the same thing about our office.
But it sucked my soul dry just so I could live paycheck to paycheck. $14/hour at 40-50 hours a week was good (just kidding, cost of living here is stupid), but the environment wasn't enough for me to snap out of my delusions and actually save anything. It was quit or continue cutting myself, it was quit or continue down a dark road that my family, my environment and childhood, but most importantly my own actions, started me on a long time ago. I live with chronic depression, severe anxiety, and another, more personal thing.
So I'm not sure how I'm going to survive the next few weeks.
But when I do I've got plans. Fastlane plans. I've got two similar industries who could both benefit extraordinarily from my ideas. I have a hellaciously strong brand that I can use for content creation and, eventually, ecommerce. I have local suppliers who could use the expertise I'm gaining in the library and on my computer and a strong, global industry leader to observe and flirt with. The research looks promising and my idea is solid - the few 'focus groups' (if you could call them that), while small, have come back with solid remarks and consistent wants/desires. If I can build this service and get somebody to use it the sky is the limit, and the impact I can have on the people using it is huge.
But beyond imagining the vaulted ceiling of this venture and how much work it would be to get there, I don't have any of the skills necessary to actually get there. Yet.
And that all might just fail. It might be a worthless idea to all but a small few and touching just a few lives won't be making me enough to live on. And if it fails that's okay! This is an ambitious project for anyone, let alone someone who has no business being behind the wheel. If it fails it will have at least been a solid effort, and will have hopefully taught me the ethic and skills I need to drive a more successful venture.
I didn't buy MJs book. I pirated it. I rank his book among a precious few that have mirrored my mindset at the time I read them and pushed me past 'comfortable' and in to 'growth'. If I had read this book 12 months ago I may not have taken as much from it as I have. But I've read it, I'm reading it again, and it's opened up new pathways and perspectives in my mind that I would not have been able to do so quickly on my own.
I'm 21 years old and I can't afford an e-book, I live off white rice and water and whatever vegetables I can get from the Christian Center. It is my sincerest wish that through this forum, given time, I can provide enough value to its users to make it up to MJ.
Thank you.
(ps pls don't ban me, I'm really, really sorry about that)
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