My dilemma and suggestions from Fast lane guys?

[howandwhy]

Hi everybody,
I am fortunate enough to find the book and stumble upon this forum. I am new to this forum and I see lot of people have made their fast lane through several ways such as real estate, internet or stock investing. After reading the TMF book I realized that I am on slow lane (went to a good school, got good grades, completed a PhD degree and got a good job making 50K/year in this economy) and most of my time I have spent on the side walk or slow lane :smx4:. Recently I have a slow realization that I am not cut out for the cubicle job and I want a work on something which will involve interacting with real people in real world.

My current position:
With a family and a kid and I am the sole bread earner. No debt. Around 10k in retirement and 10 k in savings.:nonod:

My passion:
To do science but I recently realized it should be to create something that will add value to people's life.

My Goal:
To be financially independent in next 5-7 years to own my time and pursue my dreams.

Things I am looking to explore:

I am now interested to start an export-import business in USA or a small business. But I do find that I have little money to start with and at the same time not having any experience in the business. So I now have started looking for mentors around. Seriously thinking to relocate to east or west coast of US to expand my search for opportunities.

My sincere request :

I sincerely look for suggestions from fast lane forum guys who have been there and done that. How realistic it is for a guy in mid thirties to start without any resources but few ideas? What are the things I need to do to increase my chances to start something and get going? I know at the end of the day nobody but I have to decide what I need to do. But I need suggestions from people who have done practically from their mistakes and experiences.
Thanks all.

 

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. :-)

[Atown512]

While I can't quite say I've been there and done that yet...I still know quite a bit about what you are going through. I am fortunate enough to have quite a bit of time on my hands (for now), and I think that is the key to what you are looking for. You need to make the best use of your time as possible.

I was very lucky to find a high paying profession early on...but I made the huge mistake of not using it to the fullest while I had it. Recently I have seen much of my income evaporate to the point that I now NEED to pursue something else.

If you have a family and other obligations, you obviously have to take care of those first. You should either save up some money so that you can have more free time to work on your true dreams, or sacrifice some of your current free time to get it done.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

If you start with no resources, like I did, the answer lies in:

A) Human capital - You create or innovate something. For me, I built a web asset from the ground-up. The next time, I created a book. Both ventures required little to no capital.

or

B) Find a product/service that already has a market and paying customers. The paying customers can help fund the growth.

Either way, you have to provide something that people want. Having no money really isn't the big of a barrier as most people perceive -- the time invested into the process IS.

 

[Rickson9]

No money isn't a barrier for entrepreneurs. No customers is a much bigger problem.

Get an idea. Is it good? Try and get a paying customer. Can't get a paying customer? Then that idea isn't right for you. Next idea. Rinse and repeat until you can get a paying customer.

Best regards and good luck!

 

[howandwhy]

People who aspire for high paying profession spent substantial amount of their youth turning a blind eye on their financial health (and Oh I did the same thing) and they generally think that a good paying job will solve all their problem. But that seldom happens.
Saving up a considerable amount of money to a point where you can have some time in your hand to pursue path of entrepreneurship from a low paying job (and at the same time raising a family) seems to be daunting task. Though it is not impossible, I will ask how many fast lane guys have done this.

 

[howandwhy]

MJ, I absolutely agree with you. My next steps are going to be

1. Innovate some niche product (in my area of expertise) that people or business will use it and pay for it.
2. Start a website or blog in my niche area as soon as possible and start building reputation in my field. I have started learning some coding.
3. Incorporate a LLC or S-corp within next three month.
4. Put some money for auto pilot mode of investing.

Any other method do you suggest?

 

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. :-)

[howandwhy]

Rickson9,

Money may not be a barrier to entrepreneur of several fields such as in the web based business. But in some fields like health care and pharma, the initial investment to bring a MVP (minimum viable product) is very high. So, yes you will need angel investors or VC in those field to start with. And if you want to bring a product to the market (the field I am working in), you need substantial R&D and Govt approval and invest heavily to have deep market penetration to offset the initial investment cost.

 

[easymoney99]

Yea MJ's response was really good. My buddies brother in law quit his corporate job last year and has formed a new software as a service company in the mobile marketing niche. He has kids and is in his mid thirties as well. I was over at his house and just showing him all these cool Saas companies that make easymoney doing simple things for people.

One is a SAAS that is a subscription underwear and socks website for men who hate buying stuff like that. Its actually profitable.

Another site that I asked if we could try and copy (using his web skills) was this simple music teacher web software. The music teacher site is making 30k a month, I know this because it was featured on Tim Feriss's blog.

Actually I chat with the owner of that site from time to time, he is really helpful and generous about giving me advice. Maybe you could start reaching out to people in the things YOU want to do too.

 

[howandwhy]

Yes, you are right. Create something to alleviate people's (more specific "customers") pain point and voila you have a viable business.

 

[Davidla]

Rickson9,

Money may not be a barrier to entrepreneur of several fields such as in the web based business. But in some fields like health care and pharma, the initial investment to bring a MVP (minimum viable product) is very high. So, yes you will need angel investors or VC in those field to start with. And if you want to bring a product to the market (the field I am working in), you need substantial R&D and Govt approval and invest heavily to have deep market penetration to offset the initial investment cost.

If the traditional angel/VC route in this field is not good for you and you can't think of another solution, maybe you should start a business in another field.
I think Rickson was saying that it is always good practice to find customers for products beforehand, and especially in the situation you described. If you can't find customers, there is a problem with the business. Investing a lot of time and money before earning 1$ is a big problem for someone who wants to leave their job for starting a business.

 

[max momo]

Your education IS your asset. Phd diploma is irrelevant, but your knoweledge base can prove PRICELESS if you leverage that base via export business.

Don't waste your time coding, your learning curve is large and steals your productivity. Outsource that.

I am a part owner of a biz and do very little (nothing really) of the operations work but am the technical specialist. We had our best year last year; the only function I fill is to solve technical issues. Nobody else spent the time learning this scientific specialty, so my position is NOT easily replaced. That is why I am part owner, not just paid by the hour to do paperwork and sales.

We export to Asia and S. America. Those markets are BOOMING and have MUCH more favorable demographics than N. America and Europe. Build your export business NOW.

Build your salad with flowers in your own yard, not the flowers two states over.

That is, use what you ALREADY have. Lord knows if took BigTime hours and $ to get that education.

YES, build that niche product TODAY and BUILD a NETWORK of Distributors. Or, better yet, glom on to an existing network of distributors in your sector.

Don't screw around learning how to build a website and SEO...time is burning.

As you already know, 20k in savings/investment isn't enough for a 37-year old. (Of course, you are still WAY ahead of most folks, but that isn't saying much). Quit doing what hasn't work and FOCUS ON THAT SPARK!

 

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. :-)

[HenkHolland]

I have been successful (although it did not bring me financial freedom) with a high-tech venture (in the field of physics) that was based on my scientific background. However, it wasn't easy and it took much more time and money than anticipated.
Based on that experience, I would recommend to start by setting up a company that provides a unique, but low-tech product or service, that only requires a small investment of money. Use your intelligence and, undoubtedly, highly analytical mind to outsmart possible competitors.


Later, once you're a fastlane millionaire you can always start a business, that is challenging from a scientific point of view. Or even better, develop your concept and do some proof of concept tests in a lab in your garage. Then file a patent application and outlicense your IP.
Subsequently, you can start with the next scientific challenge and repeat the patenting and licensing process.
In this way you don't have very high financial risks and you don't have to bother with the day to day problems of running a business.

 

[howandwhy]

To Davidla,
I agree with you and thank you for your input. But starting a business in another field will require some domain knowledge (at least what customers want in that field, cost effectiveness of the product and value addition) which I am afraid I do not have. I am glad I realized that I am on slow lane sooner and now working towards to get into fastlane as quick as possible without zeopardising my career and family.

 

[howandwhy]

To max momo,
Thanks for your suggestions. I agree with you learn to code to design a website is like learning carpentry to make your own furniture or learning ceramics to make your own bowl. Outsource it if you can.

I love the concept of being a part owner of a business where you share your expertise or skills thus minimizing risk and maximizing wealth creation provided it should suck away your substantial amount of time. I will definitely start exploring that option. Do you mind saying how much % of that business you own compared to how much time you put in to that business?

Build your salad with flowers in your own yard, not the flowers two states over. (Right on spot. I could not agree more)

20k in savings/investment isn't enough for a 37-year old- What do you expect from a guy who spent the first 33 years of his life going to schools, getting good grades without building a real product or without doing a real job?

 

[howandwhy]

To HenkHolland,
I admire that you have come out of the so called ivory towers hallucination and started something of your own.

You said, "I would recommend to start by setting up a company that provides a unique, but low-tech product or service, that only requires a small investment of money. Use your intelligence and, undoubtedly, highly analytical mind to outsmart possible competitors"

I will adhere to this. Thanks for this golden piece.

Patenting and out-licensing is one of the best idea in our field and it only hit me hard when I came across with Stephen key's book.

Thanks,

 

[davidil]

How realistic it is for a guy in mid thirties to start without any resources but few ideas?

100% realistic.

Good luck

 

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. :-)

[ohiguy]

How realistic it is for a guy in mid thirties to start without any resources but few ideas? What are the things I need to do to increase my chances to start something and get going? I know at the end of the day nobody but I have to decide what I need to do. But I need suggestions from people who have done practically from their mistakes and experiences.
Thanks all.

Find a product that fills a void whether you know much about it or not. Do as little re-inventing as possible and rely on outsourcing or other people to help you with that. As others have said, spend your time on what you know and do best. Your expertise and mostly your passion will allow you to leverage others' money to get the product developed and to market. Stay at your current job. Think of your current employer as being your first investor. They will continue to pay your living expenses while you do your R&D from home. Again, your passion will be the fuel for the late nights and long weekends.

Keep us posted!