- Joined
- Jul 31, 2012
- Messages
- 26
Hello Everyone,
My name is Jonathan, and I'm excited to join the fastlane forum. I wanted to introduce myself here to give you a story of why I cannot look at life the same way anymore -- I believe my mental state has been permanently changed, and I'll tell you why.
Throughout my life I have always known, somehow, some way, that I was destined for something great. That isn't to say I believe in fate, otherwise why would I continue to look before I cross the street?
As a teenager, and a young twenty-something, I was never able to sustain a job for more than a few months. I graduated high school and moved on to my local cal state university, where I quickly found disdain for the institution of education, and quickly got disinterested with college. Without having even moved up to upper division courses, I dropped out of school, pursuing a business degree, in order to move on to a few opportunities I thought would be my future, namely real estate and loans.
Well, at age 19 I acquired my real estate license, along with a good friend, and started delving into the world of real estate. I found, after two weeks of "training" which came with a partially-disclosed sticker price of $1,200 which is laughable, that I was given a phone and a phone book and told to "cold-call" random people and inquire about whether they were interested in buying real estate. I thought to myself, this has got to be a joke, and as it turned out, being a real estate agent at age 19, no matter how serious you are trying to be, IS a joke. The thing is, the joke's on you as no one will take you seriously, especially after two weeks of lousy training and no real help.
Safe to say that didn't last long. However, I neglected to mention a few key things first, because they would be inconvenient to have mentioned before the last paragraph, but:
Unknowingly, I had begun on a fastlane process with that friend before I even got my real estate license. How? Well, I didn't explain how my friend and I STUDIED to get our real estate licenses: If you've never taken the real estate exam, let me explain how it worked in 2004 (when I was studying for it). You are given about an inch-thick or so stack of paper, filled with multiple choice questions all about random real estate related questions. In my study material, there were 1,500 questions in all, and we were told we would be quizzed on a random 150 questions out of the pool of 1,500 for the exam.
Well, having to go through that much paper was very tedious, so my friend and I decided to create a computer program that took all the exam material and presented it as if you were taking a timed exam, and also gave you the option of skimming through all the material at your own leisure, with answers and explanations shown, etc. This was great, no more binder of papers to thumb through, we had an easy-to-use study program which we both used and passed the exam with. This led us to the conclusion, if it worked for us, it could work for anyone who wanted to take the exam and pass! A fastlane seed had sprouted, and us being the young, dumb teenagers in charge of it, scrambled to keep it alive.
This was really my first business venture, ever. Period. I was as green as the seed that had just sprouted, but I figured we were going to get nowhere unless we got this product out to the masses. The only issue is, we had a few problems... First problem is we didn't OWN the copyrighted material in our program, and therefore couldn't legally sell it by ourselves without infringing on the copyright holder's rights. Second, we had no idea how the hell to sell this to people except for trying to go to various real estate brokers and pitch this to them instead of what they currently had (which in all likeliness was the same printed exam material we had just digitized).
The only thing I could think to do was to make a cold-call (thank you real estate school) to the damn owner of the exam material and tell him what we did. So I did call him. I figured if we could get in front of him, we would be able to strike a deal with him, use his connections as an easy start for a distribution platform, and then work out a royalty deal where we'd pick up a few dollars for every copy sold. I was scared shitless as I had never done anything like this before, and I'm surprised my voice didn't crackle when the phone call went through. I called the number on the material, and was connected to a male voice on the other end of the line, who, as I remember, was very short and to the point. I'll paraphrase the conversation.
Him: "Hello."
Me: "Uh, hello? Is this the owner of the real estate exam material?"
Him: "Yes it is."
Holy crap, I was talking to the head honcho, now I really was nervous.
Me: "Uh, the reason I'm calling is because I have created a computer program using your exam material and I think this would sell to people who want to study to become real estate agents." There were a few seconds of very, very uncomfortable silence, which didn't make me feel better.
Him: "So you're using MY exam material and want to sell this program? That's very interesting. Why don't you come to my office this week and we can talk about it in person?" Wow, did I actually succeed in this first step?
Me: (In surprise and in a bit of disbelief) "Yes, absolutely...(arranging meeting time)." :coolgleamA:
This was one of the biggest rushes I had ever felt up to that point. I still remember the feeling to this day. However, as green as I was, I was unprepared for what was about to come, and made some bad business decisions. Upon meeting with the owner, we explained our program and it was of interest to him. We went to a few steak dinners, met some of his people, talked business, but when it came down to valuation of our program, the mood quickly became very sterile and unfriendly. I knew I wanted to get into some kind of royalty deal, where once we agreed, we would license the program for our owner friend to sell through his current channels and we'd just take a small cut of each sale, in perpetuity, only needing to upgrade the program annually or when needed. Unfortunately, being much more seasoned in business than I, the response to this suggestion was less than favorable to me.
"Well, I COULD do that, but then there will be a point in which the royalty payments I pay to you would surpass what it would cost me to hire someone outright to program a program like this entirely for me and I keep ALL the proceeds!" :nonod:
In one swift sentence I felt the weight of those words crushing my dreams. "Why don't you tally up all the hours you spent on this project, and let me know how much you want to sell it to me for." :boxing_smiley:
After hearing this, I defeatedly thought, "Well, this snake just pinned us, and now I better come up with a figure or we're out of any deal!" HOW WRONG I WAS! This was my fatal mistake. I SHOULD have had the balls to say "Well, that's fine, what we'll do is take your exam material out of this program and I'll go next door to your competitor and make a deal with them!" Unfortunately, that idea didn't pop into my head until after I had made the mistake of tallying up our hours and coming up with a dollar figure for the program. The money was a pittance compared to what it should have been.:nopity:
Unbeknownst to me, what he had done was force us to trade our time for money when I wanted to process the software. My mistake was getting spooked into the feeling that I would lose everything if I didn't act and grab the money at the time. My mistake was not realizing I was whoring my dream out for some quick cash, even though I knew that wasn't the deal I wanted. My mistake was not continuing to pursue where I stumbled, and "quitting" back to a life of sidewalk. Call it being green, call it being stupid, call it whatever, I messed up. :bgh:
I wish I would have had the knowledge I know now back then, however hindsight is always crystal clear and it's so easy to know what you could have done after the fact, when you have time to sit and reflect on it.
After that I worked a slew of :icon_toilet:shitty jobs that were very insulting to my intelligence, and even a couple which had some down time, such as graveyard shift at a days inn, and valet parking. Unfortunately at the time, I still wasn't utilizing my downtime effectively, and learning new skills to accomplish my goals. The valet job was the job I held the longest solely because when I would sit in a brand new corvette with 700 miles on it and that new car smell, I somehow still knew I would be able to have a lifestyle that afforded nice toys like that one day. I just simply knew it. I just didn't know exactly HOW yet at that point in time, but it sure as hell wasn't going to be doing what I was doing; I wasn't insane.
I have always had a gut feeling that simply working 9-5 five days a week was a real waste of time, but it wasn't until recently, when I picked up the Millionaire Fastlane that everything I had been subconsciously feeling finally solidified inside me.
In the following years after those shitty jobs, I got pretty good at computers, knowing how to build them, make beautiful graphics with adobe products, learning how to animate a promotional movie for my company by myself, and more recently, learning how to program. I do realize now that this is where everything is heading towards. If you don't believe me just look around you. The biggest company in the united states makes the iphone, ipad, ipod and mac computers. The two most used websites in the world are Google and Facebook. The phone in my pocket runs android ice cream sandwich. Online dating has become prominent in the last decade, etc.
My point is, I realize that things are going in the direction of technology, so it seems obvious to me that my future lies in that technology, and it doesn't hurt that I'm half-way decent at it too (not to toot my own horn or anything
ropeller
.
Now, why can't I look at life the same way anymore? While reading the Millionaire Fastlane (thank you so much for publishing this, Mr. Demarco!) I felt that same character being described as me. I read and read, and saw so many parallels to what I've been doing the past few years, and I knew that I was on the right track. This book was a huge confidence booster and a validator that this scary, shaky path of self-employment was headed towards some significant destination.
I only recently picked up the book, but now, I hear and see everything that was being explained, it's almost like you're truly awake! When I listen to people brag about their 65k a year jobs with robust pride it is really hard for me not to giggle out loud. When I ask people why they don't decide to take that awesome skill they have that their boss is utilizing to get rich and use it for themselves, I find myself disgusted at their excuses. If it's not something about job security, it's a negative outlook on being self employed. Then when I POINT OUT that they are committing the worst sin possible to their futures, it only ends in myself being very distanced from most of the crowd out there! I have found my tolerance for the brainwashed, societal norm of the slowlane and sidewalk to be almost non-existant. This is why I am seeking refuge here at the fastlane forum.
I now am at the point, coming to this site, where I have a plan at least, and some experience in knowing how to not get completely F*cked over. I see the importance of time above all else, time = money. Money = freedom ~ Time = freedom. My goals now are to take my skills and intelligence to create a process with the technologies at my disposal. I realize the importance of INVESTING my precious time into systems, not a job, that will eventually enable me to reap passive income while I enjoy my youth without the fear of financial obligations.
I am HERE because I realize this and I realize that this is an excellent place for me to flourish while I attain my goals, and meet new people who are like-minded. So anyway, if you're still reading this, then I'll include my paypal link at the bottom since I just finished writing my book here in my introduction and am accepting donations. Just kidding!
But in all seriousness, I am here to meet people and be a contributing member of this forum, learn and grow and eventually wake up one morning only to realize that I am no longer an indentured slave to the sidewalk and slowlane.
Jonathan
My name is Jonathan, and I'm excited to join the fastlane forum. I wanted to introduce myself here to give you a story of why I cannot look at life the same way anymore -- I believe my mental state has been permanently changed, and I'll tell you why.
Throughout my life I have always known, somehow, some way, that I was destined for something great. That isn't to say I believe in fate, otherwise why would I continue to look before I cross the street?
As a teenager, and a young twenty-something, I was never able to sustain a job for more than a few months. I graduated high school and moved on to my local cal state university, where I quickly found disdain for the institution of education, and quickly got disinterested with college. Without having even moved up to upper division courses, I dropped out of school, pursuing a business degree, in order to move on to a few opportunities I thought would be my future, namely real estate and loans.
Well, at age 19 I acquired my real estate license, along with a good friend, and started delving into the world of real estate. I found, after two weeks of "training" which came with a partially-disclosed sticker price of $1,200 which is laughable, that I was given a phone and a phone book and told to "cold-call" random people and inquire about whether they were interested in buying real estate. I thought to myself, this has got to be a joke, and as it turned out, being a real estate agent at age 19, no matter how serious you are trying to be, IS a joke. The thing is, the joke's on you as no one will take you seriously, especially after two weeks of lousy training and no real help.
Safe to say that didn't last long. However, I neglected to mention a few key things first, because they would be inconvenient to have mentioned before the last paragraph, but:
Unknowingly, I had begun on a fastlane process with that friend before I even got my real estate license. How? Well, I didn't explain how my friend and I STUDIED to get our real estate licenses: If you've never taken the real estate exam, let me explain how it worked in 2004 (when I was studying for it). You are given about an inch-thick or so stack of paper, filled with multiple choice questions all about random real estate related questions. In my study material, there were 1,500 questions in all, and we were told we would be quizzed on a random 150 questions out of the pool of 1,500 for the exam.
Well, having to go through that much paper was very tedious, so my friend and I decided to create a computer program that took all the exam material and presented it as if you were taking a timed exam, and also gave you the option of skimming through all the material at your own leisure, with answers and explanations shown, etc. This was great, no more binder of papers to thumb through, we had an easy-to-use study program which we both used and passed the exam with. This led us to the conclusion, if it worked for us, it could work for anyone who wanted to take the exam and pass! A fastlane seed had sprouted, and us being the young, dumb teenagers in charge of it, scrambled to keep it alive.
This was really my first business venture, ever. Period. I was as green as the seed that had just sprouted, but I figured we were going to get nowhere unless we got this product out to the masses. The only issue is, we had a few problems... First problem is we didn't OWN the copyrighted material in our program, and therefore couldn't legally sell it by ourselves without infringing on the copyright holder's rights. Second, we had no idea how the hell to sell this to people except for trying to go to various real estate brokers and pitch this to them instead of what they currently had (which in all likeliness was the same printed exam material we had just digitized).
The only thing I could think to do was to make a cold-call (thank you real estate school) to the damn owner of the exam material and tell him what we did. So I did call him. I figured if we could get in front of him, we would be able to strike a deal with him, use his connections as an easy start for a distribution platform, and then work out a royalty deal where we'd pick up a few dollars for every copy sold. I was scared shitless as I had never done anything like this before, and I'm surprised my voice didn't crackle when the phone call went through. I called the number on the material, and was connected to a male voice on the other end of the line, who, as I remember, was very short and to the point. I'll paraphrase the conversation.
Him: "Hello."
Me: "Uh, hello? Is this the owner of the real estate exam material?"
Him: "Yes it is."
Holy crap, I was talking to the head honcho, now I really was nervous.
Me: "Uh, the reason I'm calling is because I have created a computer program using your exam material and I think this would sell to people who want to study to become real estate agents." There were a few seconds of very, very uncomfortable silence, which didn't make me feel better.
Him: "So you're using MY exam material and want to sell this program? That's very interesting. Why don't you come to my office this week and we can talk about it in person?" Wow, did I actually succeed in this first step?
Me: (In surprise and in a bit of disbelief) "Yes, absolutely...(arranging meeting time)." :coolgleamA:
This was one of the biggest rushes I had ever felt up to that point. I still remember the feeling to this day. However, as green as I was, I was unprepared for what was about to come, and made some bad business decisions. Upon meeting with the owner, we explained our program and it was of interest to him. We went to a few steak dinners, met some of his people, talked business, but when it came down to valuation of our program, the mood quickly became very sterile and unfriendly. I knew I wanted to get into some kind of royalty deal, where once we agreed, we would license the program for our owner friend to sell through his current channels and we'd just take a small cut of each sale, in perpetuity, only needing to upgrade the program annually or when needed. Unfortunately, being much more seasoned in business than I, the response to this suggestion was less than favorable to me.
"Well, I COULD do that, but then there will be a point in which the royalty payments I pay to you would surpass what it would cost me to hire someone outright to program a program like this entirely for me and I keep ALL the proceeds!" :nonod:
In one swift sentence I felt the weight of those words crushing my dreams. "Why don't you tally up all the hours you spent on this project, and let me know how much you want to sell it to me for." :boxing_smiley:
After hearing this, I defeatedly thought, "Well, this snake just pinned us, and now I better come up with a figure or we're out of any deal!" HOW WRONG I WAS! This was my fatal mistake. I SHOULD have had the balls to say "Well, that's fine, what we'll do is take your exam material out of this program and I'll go next door to your competitor and make a deal with them!" Unfortunately, that idea didn't pop into my head until after I had made the mistake of tallying up our hours and coming up with a dollar figure for the program. The money was a pittance compared to what it should have been.:nopity:
Unbeknownst to me, what he had done was force us to trade our time for money when I wanted to process the software. My mistake was getting spooked into the feeling that I would lose everything if I didn't act and grab the money at the time. My mistake was not realizing I was whoring my dream out for some quick cash, even though I knew that wasn't the deal I wanted. My mistake was not continuing to pursue where I stumbled, and "quitting" back to a life of sidewalk. Call it being green, call it being stupid, call it whatever, I messed up. :bgh:
I wish I would have had the knowledge I know now back then, however hindsight is always crystal clear and it's so easy to know what you could have done after the fact, when you have time to sit and reflect on it.
After that I worked a slew of :icon_toilet:shitty jobs that were very insulting to my intelligence, and even a couple which had some down time, such as graveyard shift at a days inn, and valet parking. Unfortunately at the time, I still wasn't utilizing my downtime effectively, and learning new skills to accomplish my goals. The valet job was the job I held the longest solely because when I would sit in a brand new corvette with 700 miles on it and that new car smell, I somehow still knew I would be able to have a lifestyle that afforded nice toys like that one day. I just simply knew it. I just didn't know exactly HOW yet at that point in time, but it sure as hell wasn't going to be doing what I was doing; I wasn't insane.
I have always had a gut feeling that simply working 9-5 five days a week was a real waste of time, but it wasn't until recently, when I picked up the Millionaire Fastlane that everything I had been subconsciously feeling finally solidified inside me.
In the following years after those shitty jobs, I got pretty good at computers, knowing how to build them, make beautiful graphics with adobe products, learning how to animate a promotional movie for my company by myself, and more recently, learning how to program. I do realize now that this is where everything is heading towards. If you don't believe me just look around you. The biggest company in the united states makes the iphone, ipad, ipod and mac computers. The two most used websites in the world are Google and Facebook. The phone in my pocket runs android ice cream sandwich. Online dating has become prominent in the last decade, etc.
My point is, I realize that things are going in the direction of technology, so it seems obvious to me that my future lies in that technology, and it doesn't hurt that I'm half-way decent at it too (not to toot my own horn or anything
ropeller.Now, why can't I look at life the same way anymore? While reading the Millionaire Fastlane (thank you so much for publishing this, Mr. Demarco!) I felt that same character being described as me. I read and read, and saw so many parallels to what I've been doing the past few years, and I knew that I was on the right track. This book was a huge confidence booster and a validator that this scary, shaky path of self-employment was headed towards some significant destination.
I only recently picked up the book, but now, I hear and see everything that was being explained, it's almost like you're truly awake! When I listen to people brag about their 65k a year jobs with robust pride it is really hard for me not to giggle out loud. When I ask people why they don't decide to take that awesome skill they have that their boss is utilizing to get rich and use it for themselves, I find myself disgusted at their excuses. If it's not something about job security, it's a negative outlook on being self employed. Then when I POINT OUT that they are committing the worst sin possible to their futures, it only ends in myself being very distanced from most of the crowd out there! I have found my tolerance for the brainwashed, societal norm of the slowlane and sidewalk to be almost non-existant. This is why I am seeking refuge here at the fastlane forum.
I now am at the point, coming to this site, where I have a plan at least, and some experience in knowing how to not get completely F*cked over. I see the importance of time above all else, time = money. Money = freedom ~ Time = freedom. My goals now are to take my skills and intelligence to create a process with the technologies at my disposal. I realize the importance of INVESTING my precious time into systems, not a job, that will eventually enable me to reap passive income while I enjoy my youth without the fear of financial obligations.
I am HERE because I realize this and I realize that this is an excellent place for me to flourish while I attain my goals, and meet new people who are like-minded. So anyway, if you're still reading this, then I'll include my paypal link at the bottom since I just finished writing my book here in my introduction and am accepting donations. Just kidding!
But in all seriousness, I am here to meet people and be a contributing member of this forum, learn and grow and eventually wake up one morning only to realize that I am no longer an indentured slave to the sidewalk and slowlane.
Jonathan
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