crispyambulance
New Contributor
History
I'm currently 26. I went to college because everyone said to, hated it and really got nothing but a useless degree (linguistics) and 3.5 years of my life wasted on it. I pushed to graduate early because I wanted it to be over with and was out just before turning 22.
At that point I really had no idea what to do. I worked a ton of retarded jobs, some telemarketing and things like that, really bottom of the barrel. Then in one telemarketing position I actually was promoted to a management type of position but due to the power structure of the company and my lack of real power to correct any of the dysfunction around me, I just became apathetic and went through the motions until I was rightfully canned.
At that point I realized that I would pretty much rather kill myself than have to make money in an environment where the buck doesn't stop with me. It's soulcrushing to me to float helplessly in an ocean of dysfunction.
I got into moneychaser entrepreneur mode in Dec 2016. I experimented with retail-arbitrage dropshipping as a seller on ebay. Gave up because it wasn't easy enough, tried it on Amazon. Found what I thought were a bunch of textbooks that I could have shipped to Amazon customers at what in hindsight were pretty unreal profit margins. It turned out I was getting into the counterfeit book trade with one eye open. I knew that was possible when I started, but I needed money for the sake of my sanity and to support myself without eating my savings. I decided to see what would happen.
The whole time I was being duped into chasing easy money on shopify. Wasted a lot of money on courses and testing facebook ads and all that. Me realizing that my modus operandi was pure idiocy and that to a large extent I had been a fool was the catalysing event that led me to get off my a$$ and start building an ebay business so that I at least had another income stream.
I began to do retail-arbitrage on ebay using a method I had been aware of for a while that was effective by the end of July 2017. I started doing both at the same time and was now making pretty OK money...until in the last third of august somebody filed a counterfeit claim against me for 5 ISBNs. I was banned as a seller on Amazon and my infant Ebay dropshipping business became the only thing between me and 0 income. I did get my Amazon account back due to some combination of divine intervention and a F*cking awesome appeal letter, but I don't know what to do with it and I ain't going back to what I was doing.
I found the fastlane book probably literally less than a week ago. I have about 50 pages left, but it's already reconfigured my perceptions and thought processes to a shocking degree. I'm ready to leave the fool behind, that's for sure.
+++
I'm sure I can think of more, but right now I have thought of two realistic ways to move forward:
1. Still something with Shopify. What I had been doing was a cat-themed niche store with up to that point entirely aliexpress products to be dropshipped to customers. I actually found one product I could advertise and at least break even with, while acquiring customers/e-mail addresses. I had to rethink the whole thing in order for it to have a real future, specifically I had to learn how to build a backend where acquired customers could be profited from continually I have the overall design in my head now; it is just a matter of filling in the details and learning by doing.
However, I am still hesitant because I'm not sure if this is the best investment of my time I could make.
On the good side, I have analysed my competition and seen ways I can produce value that is distinct from them. I have ideas for moving into beautiful art from professional artists and putting it on print on demand products, and I have seen nobody else execute something that is as good as my vision of what I could do.
On the bad side, I'm not convinced I can create a true productocracy type of dynamic this way, even if I run into no snags creating my vision. I'm also not 100% confident in my passion/commitment to these customers' desires. I'm not much of a cat or frivolous purchase person myself. This to me probably does not represent the most stimulating challenge that I could possibly pursue. I'm very foggy at this point on how I would exit this business, and it is inevitable at some point that that is what I would want to do.
2. Something that I thought of after reading fastlane and that is much more in line with my personal interests is getting certified as a hypnotherapist and creating a personal brand on the internet. I have watched this industry for some time and I see that very few participants are truly gifted and driven businessmen or marketers. And then I poked around the internet to see if there really was a market for anything like this, and I found this video that has 12M views and the channel has 500,000 youtube subscribers, and growing. If I could get 500,000 people to give me 10 dollars...
So with something like this I could build a following by creating free content for my e-mail list, youtube channel and wherever else I decide to have a presence. Then to monetize my following I could offer, like this guy, a large assortment of non-free hypnosis recordings for various needs and purposes, as dictated by feedback from my following.
I don't need to stop at that though. I could create complementary physical products like yoga mats, clothing, put some beautiful art on that. Create products to aid in meditation like if people respond to incense or whatever I can create a line of that to sell, and on and on.
On the down side, I'm not sure there's an exit strategy. I may or may not ever want one. I really have no idea. I can be quite fickle. I would also hate to take something that I have a deep interest in and turn it into work and start hating it somehow.
+++
Anyways, I really dig the forum. Pretty overwhelming overall, the amount of wisdom that seems to be waiting for me here. We'll see where I end up.
Edit: @MJ DeMarco
I'm currently 26. I went to college because everyone said to, hated it and really got nothing but a useless degree (linguistics) and 3.5 years of my life wasted on it. I pushed to graduate early because I wanted it to be over with and was out just before turning 22.
At that point I really had no idea what to do. I worked a ton of retarded jobs, some telemarketing and things like that, really bottom of the barrel. Then in one telemarketing position I actually was promoted to a management type of position but due to the power structure of the company and my lack of real power to correct any of the dysfunction around me, I just became apathetic and went through the motions until I was rightfully canned.
At that point I realized that I would pretty much rather kill myself than have to make money in an environment where the buck doesn't stop with me. It's soulcrushing to me to float helplessly in an ocean of dysfunction.
I got into moneychaser entrepreneur mode in Dec 2016. I experimented with retail-arbitrage dropshipping as a seller on ebay. Gave up because it wasn't easy enough, tried it on Amazon. Found what I thought were a bunch of textbooks that I could have shipped to Amazon customers at what in hindsight were pretty unreal profit margins. It turned out I was getting into the counterfeit book trade with one eye open. I knew that was possible when I started, but I needed money for the sake of my sanity and to support myself without eating my savings. I decided to see what would happen.
The whole time I was being duped into chasing easy money on shopify. Wasted a lot of money on courses and testing facebook ads and all that. Me realizing that my modus operandi was pure idiocy and that to a large extent I had been a fool was the catalysing event that led me to get off my a$$ and start building an ebay business so that I at least had another income stream.
I began to do retail-arbitrage on ebay using a method I had been aware of for a while that was effective by the end of July 2017. I started doing both at the same time and was now making pretty OK money...until in the last third of august somebody filed a counterfeit claim against me for 5 ISBNs. I was banned as a seller on Amazon and my infant Ebay dropshipping business became the only thing between me and 0 income. I did get my Amazon account back due to some combination of divine intervention and a F*cking awesome appeal letter, but I don't know what to do with it and I ain't going back to what I was doing.
I found the fastlane book probably literally less than a week ago. I have about 50 pages left, but it's already reconfigured my perceptions and thought processes to a shocking degree. I'm ready to leave the fool behind, that's for sure.
+++
I'm sure I can think of more, but right now I have thought of two realistic ways to move forward:
1. Still something with Shopify. What I had been doing was a cat-themed niche store with up to that point entirely aliexpress products to be dropshipped to customers. I actually found one product I could advertise and at least break even with, while acquiring customers/e-mail addresses. I had to rethink the whole thing in order for it to have a real future, specifically I had to learn how to build a backend where acquired customers could be profited from continually I have the overall design in my head now; it is just a matter of filling in the details and learning by doing.
However, I am still hesitant because I'm not sure if this is the best investment of my time I could make.
On the good side, I have analysed my competition and seen ways I can produce value that is distinct from them. I have ideas for moving into beautiful art from professional artists and putting it on print on demand products, and I have seen nobody else execute something that is as good as my vision of what I could do.
On the bad side, I'm not convinced I can create a true productocracy type of dynamic this way, even if I run into no snags creating my vision. I'm also not 100% confident in my passion/commitment to these customers' desires. I'm not much of a cat or frivolous purchase person myself. This to me probably does not represent the most stimulating challenge that I could possibly pursue. I'm very foggy at this point on how I would exit this business, and it is inevitable at some point that that is what I would want to do.
2. Something that I thought of after reading fastlane and that is much more in line with my personal interests is getting certified as a hypnotherapist and creating a personal brand on the internet. I have watched this industry for some time and I see that very few participants are truly gifted and driven businessmen or marketers. And then I poked around the internet to see if there really was a market for anything like this, and I found this video that has 12M views and the channel has 500,000 youtube subscribers, and growing. If I could get 500,000 people to give me 10 dollars...
So with something like this I could build a following by creating free content for my e-mail list, youtube channel and wherever else I decide to have a presence. Then to monetize my following I could offer, like this guy, a large assortment of non-free hypnosis recordings for various needs and purposes, as dictated by feedback from my following.
I don't need to stop at that though. I could create complementary physical products like yoga mats, clothing, put some beautiful art on that. Create products to aid in meditation like if people respond to incense or whatever I can create a line of that to sell, and on and on.
On the down side, I'm not sure there's an exit strategy. I may or may not ever want one. I really have no idea. I can be quite fickle. I would also hate to take something that I have a deep interest in and turn it into work and start hating it somehow.
+++
Anyways, I really dig the forum. Pretty overwhelming overall, the amount of wisdom that seems to be waiting for me here. We'll see where I end up.
Edit: @MJ DeMarco
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Last edited:
Membership Required: Upgrade to Expose Nearly 1,000,000 Posts
Ready to Unleash the Millionaire Entrepreneur in You?
Become a member of the Fastlane Forum, the private community founded by best-selling author and multi-millionaire entrepreneur MJ DeMarco. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has poured his heart and soul into the Fastlane Forum, helping entrepreneurs reclaim their time, win their financial freedom, and live their best life.
With more than 39,000 posts packed with insights, strategies, and advice, you’re not just a member—you’re stepping into MJ’s inner-circle, a place where you’ll never be left alone.
Become a member and gain immediate access to...
- Active Community: Ever join a community only to find it DEAD? Not at Fastlane! As you can see from our home page, life-changing content is posted dozens of times daily.
- Exclusive Insights: Direct access to MJ DeMarco’s daily contributions and wisdom.
- Powerful Networking Opportunities: Connect with a diverse group of successful entrepreneurs who can offer mentorship, collaboration, and opportunities.
- Proven Strategies: Learn from the best in the business, with actionable advice and strategies that can accelerate your success.
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with the most..."
Who are you surrounding yourself with? Surround yourself with millionaire success. Join Fastlane today!
Join Today
