When I was 17 I read TMFL and like many readers I joined this forum hoping for inspiration and guidance. I did chronicle the start of my journey but like all bloggers, after a few posts I eventually gave up on my dreams of becoming a millionaire forum writer. But recently I've had a sense of urgency to return to the forum because of a few reasons. First and foremost, I want to relight the spark I had for entrepreneurship; I successfully run a software development firm, which I launched during the time I started writing initially on this forum, and I own a SaaS product in the food industry for the past 3 years. Blame it on quarantine or what some doctors may call a higher proclivity to impulsivity, but what I believe is more tired of the same-old, I want to do something new. I want to launch next business.
When I created my profile in 2011, I was highly motivated by wealth and financial freedom; in my signature for this forum, I wrote the most cliche quote from Wolf of Wall St. and truthfully for 3 years of my life did everything I could to make it a reality. Today I am 26, and although I will not make $52m this year, I have a business that has given me many opportunities and will have $1M+ in savings by EOY.
In the past, every time I had a new idea I would come on this forum for advice and feedback. And what I got was sometimes helpful, sometimes not. But regardless I always kept fighting forward. For some reason I never came back to chronicle the successful events... a tale as old as time.
So quick summary on what happened with those products I discussed way back when. Both failed because I didn't have control or I had a bad partnership. I learned more than any 10 year school degree could have taught me and it truly led me to where I am today. So I am grateful. But there were times were I was heartbroken from what happened. One venture I started with a friend I knew since I was 13, it ended with me losing a $1,000,000 investment (literally had a check in hand) because of shady practices by him and the inability to perform. Although irrelevant, I lost a friend and a business partner. During all the new ventures and side hustles, I kept working on my software development firm, taking a project here and doing digital advertising projects for clients over there. And with each new idea presented to me I took running. I never had scalability with that idea but I knew it would pay for one idea that could.
In 2017 I started working on a project for the food industry. The product I built is an industry leader in a niche space, and I hope to expand my market size with a new product that is soon to launch by the end of this quarter. But I have a few kinks to fix (and one of the reasons I am here.
So why did I come back here? I really do enjoy teaching and helping others. Every time I am on a demo or sales call, I tell my prospects the same thing. If you make other people around you successful, then in turn they will make you successful. And this is true in every sense of the phrase. So to fulfill my passion to teach I do hope I stay long enough to inspire some wisdom. But there are also things I hope to gain and learn from rejoining this forum.
1. I'd like to catalog my process of how I got from a 17 year old kid on my mothers couch reading The Millionaire Fastlane to where I am today.
2. My current company has fulfilled the CEN(T)S goal. But the "TIME" variable is not where I'd like it to be. In theory, I can book a two month trip to South America and work 1hr a day and the business would survive. I'd still generate hundreds of thousands in processed revenue and exist. But I've never successfully built out a sales team and so the company would stay stagnant if not worst. Yes if I took 1-2 calls a day I would most definitely sign at least 1 or 2 new clients a week but the growth would be slow. So my confession here is, I need help. How do you find and train good sales people? I have tried and tried again to no avail.
3. I have worked on this project for three years, and as MJ wrote, there comes a time when you need to plan for the future. I know it's not today or tomorrow, but I do believe in the next year I would like to sell my business. Only problem, I have no idea where to look. I contacted a few angel investors and did get an offer to buy 10% equity, and one company said in a few years they may discuss acquisition - but that means nothing unless I have a check in hand. So what do I do at this point?
Now with that said, I am launching two new product lines. One of which can be sold completely independently of this product but I again would need a sales agent to do the sales work if I want to be truly free from any time-involvement. I can either do it myself, try again to hire someone and keep pushing until failure, or I could hire a 3rd party sales company. The second product opens my current venture into a much larger market size that will generate a massive growth in revenue and to make it successful I will 10000% need to hire at least 3-5 sales reps that are good at what they do.
4. I am feeling slightly restless or whatever medical term you may want to diagnose me with, but I want something new. I want to launch a new company from the ground up. I am a serial entrepreneur and I feel like I have rejected a part of who I am by not creating something new in the past 3 years. I believe in the mantra of multiple revenue streams and I currently have two that are very successful, but want at least 5.
a. I've recently thought about re-entering the real estate space but on a larger level, CRE. With the guidance of a dear friend and a real estate fund manager, I have the opportunity for two scenarios. First, invest in a deal on a property asa 90% LP owner with 7% pref. and 70/30 waterfall. Second, I could outright buy the property and I'd give him 2pts for guidance to teach me how to run it and do everything to be a successful real estate landlord. I am just not sure if its smarter to own it and launch this business venture OR invest. (ADVICE PLEASE --greedy to ask I know)
b. I am working on a new company niche that I know will satisfy a need for a niche market of individuals in NYC. The issue with this idea is control. I have the systems in place to make this product work, but I don't have the experience to build the product, and in this niche the market for good talent and equipment needed is hard to find or not cheap.
c. I want to launch a new product; something I've never done before. I thought of this idea during this quarantine in April and have already developed a prototype. I want to start my beta-testing phase in the next week and after initial feedback make pivots to the product as I go. After which, I will create a market prototype and then build a kickstarter to help raise funds. My goal is to raise a min. of $15,000 but have seen products in this space with good advertising easily obtain $100k in funding. I have already started sourcing the manufacturing in China and it looks like the product will cost me $9 - $15 depending on the product skew. I want to sell the product for 44.99 (standard version) or 59.99 (deluxe edition). I am really excited about this idea but there are so many unknowns -- even more exciting.
Anyways, that is my story, and I hope to share it with you as best as possible. Would love some feedback on my questions and guidance thru this journey.
When I created my profile in 2011, I was highly motivated by wealth and financial freedom; in my signature for this forum, I wrote the most cliche quote from Wolf of Wall St. and truthfully for 3 years of my life did everything I could to make it a reality. Today I am 26, and although I will not make $52m this year, I have a business that has given me many opportunities and will have $1M+ in savings by EOY.
In the past, every time I had a new idea I would come on this forum for advice and feedback. And what I got was sometimes helpful, sometimes not. But regardless I always kept fighting forward. For some reason I never came back to chronicle the successful events... a tale as old as time.
So quick summary on what happened with those products I discussed way back when. Both failed because I didn't have control or I had a bad partnership. I learned more than any 10 year school degree could have taught me and it truly led me to where I am today. So I am grateful. But there were times were I was heartbroken from what happened. One venture I started with a friend I knew since I was 13, it ended with me losing a $1,000,000 investment (literally had a check in hand) because of shady practices by him and the inability to perform. Although irrelevant, I lost a friend and a business partner. During all the new ventures and side hustles, I kept working on my software development firm, taking a project here and doing digital advertising projects for clients over there. And with each new idea presented to me I took running. I never had scalability with that idea but I knew it would pay for one idea that could.
In 2017 I started working on a project for the food industry. The product I built is an industry leader in a niche space, and I hope to expand my market size with a new product that is soon to launch by the end of this quarter. But I have a few kinks to fix (and one of the reasons I am here.
So why did I come back here? I really do enjoy teaching and helping others. Every time I am on a demo or sales call, I tell my prospects the same thing. If you make other people around you successful, then in turn they will make you successful. And this is true in every sense of the phrase. So to fulfill my passion to teach I do hope I stay long enough to inspire some wisdom. But there are also things I hope to gain and learn from rejoining this forum.
1. I'd like to catalog my process of how I got from a 17 year old kid on my mothers couch reading The Millionaire Fastlane to where I am today.
2. My current company has fulfilled the CEN(T)S goal. But the "TIME" variable is not where I'd like it to be. In theory, I can book a two month trip to South America and work 1hr a day and the business would survive. I'd still generate hundreds of thousands in processed revenue and exist. But I've never successfully built out a sales team and so the company would stay stagnant if not worst. Yes if I took 1-2 calls a day I would most definitely sign at least 1 or 2 new clients a week but the growth would be slow. So my confession here is, I need help. How do you find and train good sales people? I have tried and tried again to no avail.
3. I have worked on this project for three years, and as MJ wrote, there comes a time when you need to plan for the future. I know it's not today or tomorrow, but I do believe in the next year I would like to sell my business. Only problem, I have no idea where to look. I contacted a few angel investors and did get an offer to buy 10% equity, and one company said in a few years they may discuss acquisition - but that means nothing unless I have a check in hand. So what do I do at this point?
Now with that said, I am launching two new product lines. One of which can be sold completely independently of this product but I again would need a sales agent to do the sales work if I want to be truly free from any time-involvement. I can either do it myself, try again to hire someone and keep pushing until failure, or I could hire a 3rd party sales company. The second product opens my current venture into a much larger market size that will generate a massive growth in revenue and to make it successful I will 10000% need to hire at least 3-5 sales reps that are good at what they do.
4. I am feeling slightly restless or whatever medical term you may want to diagnose me with, but I want something new. I want to launch a new company from the ground up. I am a serial entrepreneur and I feel like I have rejected a part of who I am by not creating something new in the past 3 years. I believe in the mantra of multiple revenue streams and I currently have two that are very successful, but want at least 5.
a. I've recently thought about re-entering the real estate space but on a larger level, CRE. With the guidance of a dear friend and a real estate fund manager, I have the opportunity for two scenarios. First, invest in a deal on a property asa 90% LP owner with 7% pref. and 70/30 waterfall. Second, I could outright buy the property and I'd give him 2pts for guidance to teach me how to run it and do everything to be a successful real estate landlord. I am just not sure if its smarter to own it and launch this business venture OR invest. (ADVICE PLEASE --greedy to ask I know)
b. I am working on a new company niche that I know will satisfy a need for a niche market of individuals in NYC. The issue with this idea is control. I have the systems in place to make this product work, but I don't have the experience to build the product, and in this niche the market for good talent and equipment needed is hard to find or not cheap.
c. I want to launch a new product; something I've never done before. I thought of this idea during this quarantine in April and have already developed a prototype. I want to start my beta-testing phase in the next week and after initial feedback make pivots to the product as I go. After which, I will create a market prototype and then build a kickstarter to help raise funds. My goal is to raise a min. of $15,000 but have seen products in this space with good advertising easily obtain $100k in funding. I have already started sourcing the manufacturing in China and it looks like the product will cost me $9 - $15 depending on the product skew. I want to sell the product for 44.99 (standard version) or 59.99 (deluxe edition). I am really excited about this idea but there are so many unknowns -- even more exciting.
Anyways, that is my story, and I hope to share it with you as best as possible. Would love some feedback on my questions and guidance thru this journey.
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