How did your first steps look?

[Gideron]

Hey guys!

I Am currently 19 years old and just joined the Fastlane Forum. I have read all three books from MJ DeMarco and other books on entrepreneurship . So far, I do not have any practical experience. I realised that whilst such books do give very valuable advice, they itself do not make you rich.

My question to the forum is: How did your first steps look and what would you recommend me to start with?
Searching in google proves to be not very helpful. Whenever I google something with phrases like "building your own business" I just get hundreds of recommendations from social media gurus or dubious network-marketing systems that seem to be laid out to get money from me instead of giving me truly helpful advice.

@MJ DeMarco

 

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

[Black_Dragon43]

Hey guys!

I Am currently 19 years old and just joined the Fastlane Forum. I have read all three books from MJ DeMarco and other books on entrepreneurship . So far, I do not have any practical experience. I realised that whilst such books do give very valuable advice, they itself do not make you rich.

My question to the forum is: How did your first steps look and what would you recommend me to start with?
Searching in google proves to be not very helpful. Whenever I google something with phrases like "building your own business" I just get hundreds of recommendations from social media gurus or dubious network-marketing systems that seem to be laid out to get money from me instead of giving me truly helpful advice.

@MJ DeMarco

Get on Upwork, start working. Those were my first steps (well Upwork didn’t exist back then, but you get the idea lol…)

I honestly wouldn’t have known how else to start back then. I just wanted to do something and get paid for it on my own, without holding a job.

Focus on getting as much work as possible at first, regardless of the money, and work to hone your craft. Aim for challenging projects and exceed expectations. Don’t shy away from challenges, even if you think you won’t manage or you’ll fail. But never give up and give your best to get results.

Does anyone here know a better way to start, that’s open to absolutely anyone even when you have 0 work experience?

I don’t think a fastlane business is open to someone with no experience. Maybe some people here disagree. And I’m sure there have been some examples. But that’s rare… and usually the result of a combination of serendipity and a good network of mentors.

I mean sure, if you have a dad who is say a lawyer and he’s happy to introduce you to his network, help you secure funding and what not… then go for it. But, that’s very rare.

Personally, I never had any mentors. It was myself and my books early on. Everything I’ve built, I built myself, and I mastered my field. As a result, many fastlane opportunities have opened up, over the years.

 

[Jrjohnny]

My question to the forum is: How did your first steps look

Imagine a baby taking its first steps.

Small, wobbly, and sloppy.

You never see a baby go from crawling to walking perfectly; the first steps are always flawed..

and what would you recommend me to start with?

There are many paths. It has many factors such as capital, skill, time, etc.

If you find yourself lost.

You’re just learning a new part of yourself.

If you can find out and admit your lost, then your half way to finding the way out.

You have to be lost in order to be found.

 

[Gideron]

Get on Upwork, start working. Those were my first steps (well Upwork didn’t exist back then, but you get the idea lol…)

I honestly wouldn’t have known how else to start back then. I just wanted to do something and get paid for it on my own, without holding a job.

Focus on getting as much work as possible at first, regardless of the money, and work to hone your craft. Aim for challenging projects and exceed expectations. Don’t shy away from challenges, even if you think you won’t manage or you’ll fail. But never give up and give your best to get results.

Does anyone here know a better way to start, that’s open to absolutely anyone even when you have 0 work experience?

I don’t think a fastlane business is open to someone with no experience. Maybe some people here disagree. And I’m sure there have been some examples. But that’s rare… and usually the result of a combination of serendipity and a good network of mentors.

I mean sure, if you have a dad who is say a lawyer and he’s happy to introduce you to his network, help you secure funding and what not… then go for it. But, that’s very rare.

Personally, I never had any mentors. It was myself and my books early on. Everything I’ve built, I built myself, and I mastered my field. As a result, many fastlane opportunities have opened up, over the years.

Hey, thanks for your reply! Freelancing seems like a good idea to start.

You said that you never had mentors and that you gained all of your experience by yourself. Is that something that you can truly recommend? Or should I maybe seek for people who can help and give me advice (I mean real advice and not the phrases of some social media guru)?

 

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

[Black_Dragon43]

Hey, thanks for your reply! Freelancing seems like a good idea to start.

You said that you never had mentors and that you gained all of your experience by yourself. Is that something that you can truly recommend? Or should I maybe seek for people who can help and give me advice (I mean real advice and not the phrases of some social media guru)?

Things will be faster if you have access to good mentors. I'd advise that you just get started, and if a mentor comes across your path, then benefit from it, if not, don't waste time searching for a mentor instead of doing the work.

 

[emavery176]

My steps were like this

1. I read a book on how to make money selling X (I made sure the business followed the CENTS commandment)
2. I took the first step
3. When I encountered specific problems, I read more books, articles etc. on how to solve that specific problem
4. Rinse and repeat

 

[circleme]

The topic completely kills me because it feels like it comes up every time I talk to someone else about business. Spoiler: I've given up on it because I think it makes more sense to talk to a wall than to this kind of person.

Here's how I look at it:

At your age, I was also looking for the first steps and I can imagine that nowadays it is even harder than 10 years ago, since today almost every "Influencer" and every google serp result for the keyword "online business models" only talks about some crappy online business models (FBA, Dropshipping, KDP, SMMA, .... no idea what is currently "in trend"?!) recommends and that actually has nothing to do with business in its basic features. Tehre is only a focus on a business MODEL, but no longer on business basics itself. Because in essence, no matter from what angle you look at it, you, as a self-employed, entrepreneur, etc., do exactly one thing:

You solve some kind of problem and get paid for it.

Now that's incredibly broad to apply, but it always comes down to this. No matter how you think it through!

• You sell a facial cream for brunette ladies between 25-30? Problem solver, as the skin is better tightened to the beginning of the aging process.
• You develop a software for companies so that they can automate their internal processes? Problem solver, because you save them time by optimizing process costs
• You wash someone else's clothes commercially? Problem solver: before they were dirty, now they're clean again.
• You cut someone's hair? Problem solver, ....
• Even influencers solve problems because they create advertising space for other companies (problem: company wants more awareness for its brand/products).

I think you know what I'm getting at.

So it's not the activity itself that you should look for, but much more the problems that you or someone around you has.

Chasing a business model instead of problems/needs is something that is discreetly propagated incorrectly in social media these days. It's always "Do this business model" and not "Find problems and solve them". The business model is just a means to an end. Nothing more, nothing less.

Dropshipping is always so badly talked about and I completely disagree here. Why? Because dropshipping is a wonderful logistics vehicle that didn't even exist in today's form 10 years ago. Companies can approach the D2C sector without having to bear horrendous logistics costs. But this is exactly where the mistake lies. Dropshipping is not a F*cking business model, but a tool in logistics and thus again only a means to an end, to solve a problem on a meta-level.
This could be, for example, that dropshipping allows you to deliver your goods to the customer faster, because the dropshipping provider has its logistics center closer to the customer than you do.

So in summary:

Find problems and solve them.

Fun fact: You don't need to Google it, just look around you and ask yourself the question: What F*cks you up? Find a solution and make it available on the market. The market will tell you what to do next. Every success I had in the past was due to exactly what I described here:

Solved my own problems or someone else's and got paid for it. Done!

 

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

[lifemaker]

Get on Upwork, start working. Those were my first steps (well Upwork didn’t exist back then, but you get the idea lol…)

I honestly wouldn’t have known how else to start back then. I just wanted to do something and get paid for it on my own, without holding a job.

Focus on getting as much work as possible at first, regardless of the money, and work to hone your craft. Aim for challenging projects and exceed expectations. Don’t shy away from challenges, even if you think you won’t manage or you’ll fail. But never give up and give your best to get results.

Does anyone here know a better way to start, that’s open to absolutely anyone even when you have 0 work experience?

I don’t think a fastlane business is open to someone with no experience. Maybe some people here disagree. And I’m sure there have been some examples. But that’s rare… and usually the result of a combination of serendipity and a good network of mentors.

I mean sure, if you have a dad who is say a lawyer and he’s happy to introduce you to his network, help you secure funding and what not… then go for it. But, that’s very rare.

Personally, I never had any mentors. It was myself and my books early on. Everything I’ve built, I built myself, and I mastered my field. As a result, many fastlane opportunities have opened up, over the years.

thanks from me as well.)

 

[lifemaker]

The topic completely kills me because it feels like it comes up every time I talk to someone else about business. Spoiler: I've given up on it because I think it makes more sense to talk to a wall than to this kind of person.

Here's how I look at it:

At your age, I was also looking for the first steps and I can imagine that nowadays it is even harder than 10 years ago, since today almost every "Influencer" and every google serp result for the keyword "online business models" only talks about some crappy online business models (FBA, Dropshipping, KDP, SMMA, .... no idea what is currently "in trend"?!) recommends and that actually has nothing to do with business in its basic features. Tehre is only a focus on a business MODEL, but no longer on business basics itself. Because in essence, no matter from what angle you look at it, you, as a self-employed, entrepreneur, etc., do exactly one thing:

You solve some kind of problem and get paid for it.

Now that's incredibly broad to apply, but it always comes down to this. No matter how you think it through!

• You sell a facial cream for brunette ladies between 25-30? Problem solver, as the skin is better tightened to the beginning of the aging process.
• You develop a software for companies so that they can automate their internal processes? Problem solver, because you save them time by optimizing process costs
• You wash someone else's clothes commercially? Problem solver: before they were dirty, now they're clean again.
• You cut someone's hair? Problem solver, ....
• Even influencers solve problems because they create advertising space for other companies (problem: company wants more awareness for its brand/products).

I think you know what I'm getting at.

So it's not the activity itself that you should look for, but much more the problems that you or someone around you has.

Chasing a business model instead of problems/needs is something that is discreetly propagated incorrectly in social media these days. It's always "Do this business model" and not "Find problems and solve them". The business model is just a means to an end. Nothing more, nothing less.

Dropshipping is always so badly talked about and I completely disagree here. Why? Because dropshipping is a wonderful logistics vehicle that didn't even exist in today's form 10 years ago. Companies can approach the D2C sector without having to bear horrendous logistics costs. But this is exactly where the mistake lies. Dropshipping is not a F*cking business model, but a tool in logistics and thus again only a means to an end, to solve a problem on a meta-level.
This could be, for example, that dropshipping allows you to deliver your goods to the customer faster, because the dropshipping provider has its logistics center closer to the customer than you do.

So in summary:

Find problems and solve them.

Fun fact: You don't need to Google it, just look around you and ask yourself the question: What F*cks you up? Find a solution and make it available on the market. The market will tell you what to do next. Every success I had in the past was due to exactly what I described here:

Solved my own problems or someone else's and got paid for it. Done!

I want to be an entrepreneur =
I want to be a life time problem solver.
thank you, got it

 

[monnffffiiiiiii]

I bought one year of hosting on Bluehost to build [redacted].

I am blushing as I am writing these lines.

 

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

[AppleTree]

I would say to not think too much on your first step. The focus should just be to take action. Successful businesses are created from multiple steps of taking action. If you want to be an entrepreneur, that just means you want to solve problems. Look around and ask your friends, family, and even strangers if they struggle with anything. Literally ask the person in front of you in a line at the grocery store what problems they're having and try to solve. BOOM, you're an entrepreneur.

 

[lifemaker]

Get on Upwork, start working. Those were my first steps (well Upwork didn’t exist back then, but you get the idea lol…)

I honestly wouldn’t have known how else to start back then. I just wanted to do something and get paid for it on my own, without holding a job.

Focus on getting as much work as possible at first, regardless of the money, and work to hone your craft. Aim for challenging projects and exceed expectations. Don’t shy away from challenges, even if you think you won’t manage or you’ll fail. But never give up and give your best to get results.

Does anyone here know a better way to start, that’s open to absolutely anyone even when you have 0 work experience?

I don’t think a fastlane business is open to someone with no experience. Maybe some people here disagree. And I’m sure there have been some examples. But that’s rare… and usually the result of a combination of serendipity and a good network of mentors.

I mean sure, if you have a dad who is say a lawyer and he’s happy to introduce you to his network, help you secure funding and what not… then go for it. But, that’s very rare.

Personally, I never had any mentors. It was myself and my books early on. Everything I’ve built, I built myself, and I mastered my field. As a result, many fastlane opportunities have opened up, over the years.

whops, you need to be over 18 to start.
well, guess I'll stick to finding an in-person part time job. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯