[Siddartha]

Good morning Gents,

I've taken a running dive into resources for becoming self-employed and an entrepreneur over my day job of burning my life to create value for others that don't much know nor care that I exist.
I'm balls deep into the Tim Ferris and Jocko Podcasts, and reading through 4 hour work week and the 100$ startup.
I also get together with another dude in this entrepreneur group we started; who's currently spinning up his company now, but it's just us in this entrepreneur group and he's far closer to his current goal than I am.

I'd like some good books, reccs or anecdotes about becoming financially independent and starting one's own business and networking with the like minded.

[Ski pro]

(05-07-2018 08:17 AM)Siddartha Wrote:  

Good morning Gents,

I've taken a running dive into resources for becoming self-employed and an entrepreneur over my day job of burning my life to create value for others that don't much know nor care that I exist.
I'm balls deep into the Tim Ferris and Jocko Podcasts, and reading through 4 hour work week and the 100$ startup.
I also get together with another dude in this entrepreneur group we started; who's currently spinning up his company now, but it's just us in this entrepreneur group and he's far closer to his current goal than I am.

I'd like some good books, reccs or anecdotes about becoming financially independent and starting one's own business and networking with the like minded.

You don’t need books.

You need an idea. Then get on with making it work.

Stop procrastinating.

[Donfitz007]

(05-07-2018 08:17 AM)Siddartha Wrote:  

Good morning Gents,

I've taken a running dive into resources for becoming self-employed and an entrepreneur over my day job of burning my life to create value for others that don't much know nor care that I exist.
I'm balls deep into the Tim Ferris and Jocko Podcasts, and reading through 4 hour work week and the 100$ startup.
I also get together with another dude in this entrepreneur group we started; who's currently spinning up his company now, but it's just us in this entrepreneur group and he's far closer to his current goal than I am.

I'd like some good books, reccs or anecdotes about becoming financially independent and starting one's own business and networking with the like minded.

You need an idea first. Then you have to have a REALLY DETAILED and thought out plan with contingencies. THEN you have to learn to execute. THEN after all of that, you need to be prepared to have a failure plan.

[ColSpanker]

Put my company up for sale with one of the online services. No takers so far, but it's still early in the game. I decided the other day that ten years plus was too long to hope things would turn around.

[Siddartha]

(05-07-2018 01:57 PM)Ski pro Wrote:  

You don’t need books.

You need an idea. Then get on with making it work.

Stop procrastinating.

(05-07-2018 02:11 PM)Donfitz007 Wrote:  

You need an idea first. Then you have to have a REALLY DETAILED and thought out plan with contingencies. THEN you have to learn to execute. THEN after all of that, you need to be prepared to have a failure plan.

Do you not ask those that have fought the hardest battles for some wisdom before stepping into the ring?

I installed a whiteboard in my room and putting every actionable idea I get along with it's next immediate step on it.
I have one idea that I'm currently cooking up; but it's simply a health and lifestyle e-book without any online/blog/twitter presence/momentum behind it currently.

Going to need to set up a website at some point and look into twitter marketing. Aside that, read through this thread, and look for local entrepreneur/crypto meetups near me.

[Super_Fire]

You still need an idea first, but that's easier said than done.

For example, it took me plenty of time to get an idea, but it only really came about because I was heavily into a hobby. After being in it long enough, and learning as much as possible, I decided that there was a niche I could fill, with products that I wanted to see being made that weren't being made.

In a sense the idea presented itself to me, rather than me trying to hunt it down, but YMMV. Some people can go the Kramerica route and try to invent stuff, throw it against the wall, and see what sticks. As long as the idea you have is something you really care about, and is a product/service you would actually use yourself.

[Thomas the Rhymer]

(05-07-2018 08:17 AM)Siddartha Wrote:  

Good morning Gents,

I've taken a running dive into resources for becoming self-employed and an entrepreneur over my day job of burning my life to create value for others that don't much know nor care that I exist.
I'm balls deep into the Tim Ferris and Jocko Podcasts, and reading through 4 hour work week and the 100$ startup.
I also get together with another dude in this entrepreneur group we started; who's currently spinning up his company now, but it's just us in this entrepreneur group and he's far closer to his current goal than I am.

I'd like some good books, reccs or anecdotes about becoming financially independent and starting one's own business and networking with the like minded.

I think the older Valuetainment videos are good for helping get into the mindset of an entrepreneur. His new videos are also pretty good, but not so much for the beginner as his early videos. Link:
https://www.youtube.com/user/patrickbetd...&flow=grid

Tropical MBA podcast also has some valuable teaching, but episodes can be a hit or miss. Link:
http://www.tropicalmba.com/

With regards to ideas, I have a system for brainstorming that may be of use to you.

For example, let's say you want to start a business more or less related to the industry you are already in (because it's easier to start a business in an industry you are familiar with).

You don't mention what you do, but let's pretend you work at a customer service desk.

So what are the tools/ needs of customer service? Make a list: desk, chair, phone, business premises, uniforms, training, paper etc...

Consider if there is anything that is done really lousy and that needs improvement. Maybe you can start a business installing better desks or phones...

Then consider all the tools/needs of all the companies that supply your job's tools/needs: Where does the phone supplier get his plastics and wires and tech support? Where does the uniform manufacturer source his material? Where does the paper factory get the raw pulp from? etc etc, and consider if there are any issues in the supply chain where you feel you could make an impact by starting a small niche business that solves a specific weak point for that particular industrial problem.

Then consider all the tools/needs of the raw material suppliers to the companies - what are the issues that the raw pulp supplier might have? What are the issues at the factory that makes the wire, or the mine that supplies the metal for the wire? etc etc Consider if there are any weak points which you can exploit with a business solution.

You can basically make a mind map with your current job in the middle of the page and then try recreate the intricate network that allows your job to exist, then try to figure what are the weak points that make your job suck and if there is some way to alleviate the suckiness with a business solution.

You can run this exercise with other starting points. For example, if you really like pickles, and want to get into something related to the pickle industry, you can consider all the things that make up the final product: the cucumber, the jar, the sticker, the metal lid, the shelf on which it was sitting on in the store, and then think think of the needs of the farmer, the jar maker, the sticker printer, the metalworks, the shelf supplier, and so on and so forth, until you find something that attracts you and maybe you can find a weak point somewhere in the chain where you can introduce a business solution.

I guesstimate that 80% of businesses are not doing a great job, so if you can find an obscure niche and fill it with an excellent product or service that is far above the standard of the competition, you are more likely to succeed, in my opinion. I believe the exercise I described can help people find these obscure opportunities.

[CleanSlate]

(05-06-2018 10:52 PM)Disco_Volante Wrote:  

Is it just me or do married men you try to do deals with have 0 sense of urgency and expediency? I imagine when you go home to the same pussy every day for the rest of your life it must drain you of any ambition. Whatever happens they go home to the same pussy so WHY would they give a shit about moving quickly? Time is nothing to them. They don't care about wasting 6 months because they know they won't be getting new pussy anyways.

Simply arranging a Skype, phone call, conference call, email exchange, etc.. takes them MINIMUM 2 fucking weeks to respond.

I'm sitting here trying to get rich, fantasizing about all the exotic places I'm going to go to get pussy yet I have to deal with middle managers who are 45+, usually 50+, and are stuck in their routines and mediocre old bag pussy. They're perfectly comfortable letting time float by, no killer instinct whatsoever. Being married must mentally check you out of life anyways. It's absolutely infuriating.

Boomers still own everything and if they're going to play ball with your business they're going to throw up all sorts of barriers needlessly. I'm angry at all the time wasted / gone by.

My pussy ass patent attorney was the same way. I'm eager to launch and his advice was 'no you need to wait a couple years and do market research'. and I wanted to scream in his face "THAT'S WHY YOU WORK FOR SOMEONE ELSE'S LAW FIRM INSTEAD OF YOUR OWN YOU FUCKING PUSSY MOTHERFUCKER!".

Especially with new technologies you can't wait, you have to strike quickly and aggressively. I don't think married men should even be in R &D. Anyone who gives you advice to 'wait' is probably a pussy or just retarded about the nature of technological change.

I had to vent.

As a self-employed business owner, I feel you man. Sometimes I feel like I'm at the one-yard line towards closing a plum deal with a deep-pocketed company. Then the decision maker drags his feet for weeks and weeks, only to have him respond to my 4th unanswered email followup and say "we have decided not to move forward, but I'll let you know if we ever need your services."

[Off The Reservation]

(05-08-2018 01:26 AM)CleanSlate Wrote:  

(05-06-2018 10:52 PM)Disco_Volante Wrote:  

Is it just me or do married men you try to do deals with have 0 sense of urgency and expediency? I imagine when you go home to the same pussy every day for the rest of your life it must drain you of any ambition. Whatever happens they go home to the same pussy so WHY would they give a shit about moving quickly? Time is nothing to them. They don't care about wasting 6 months because they know they won't be getting new pussy anyways.

Simply arranging a Skype, phone call, conference call, email exchange, etc.. takes them MINIMUM 2 fucking weeks to respond.

I'm sitting here trying to get rich, fantasizing about all the exotic places I'm going to go to get pussy yet I have to deal with middle managers who are 45+, usually 50+, and are stuck in their routines and mediocre old bag pussy. They're perfectly comfortable letting time float by, no killer instinct whatsoever. Being married must mentally check you out of life anyways. It's absolutely infuriating.

Boomers still own everything and if they're going to play ball with your business they're going to throw up all sorts of barriers needlessly. I'm angry at all the time wasted / gone by.

My pussy ass patent attorney was the same way. I'm eager to launch and his advice was 'no you need to wait a couple years and do market research'. and I wanted to scream in his face "THAT'S WHY YOU WORK FOR SOMEONE ELSE'S LAW FIRM INSTEAD OF YOUR OWN YOU FUCKING PUSSY MOTHERFUCKER!".

Especially with new technologies you can't wait, you have to strike quickly and aggressively. I don't think married men should even be in R &D. Anyone who gives you advice to 'wait' is probably a pussy or just retarded about the nature of technological change.

I had to vent.

As a self-employed business owner, I feel you man. Sometimes I feel like I'm at the one-yard line towards closing a plum deal with a deep-pocketed company. Then the decision maker drags his feet for weeks and weeks, only to have him respond to my 4th unanswered email followup and say "we have decided not to move forward, but I'll let you know if we ever need your services."

Interesting post Disco.

Don't stop at "married" or you will miss taking this observation to a more useful level. You need a more sophisticated set of observations about your sales process, what you are selling and to whom.

First, the attorney comment. Become "attorney wise." Realize that 99% of them just get a job (they call a file) and intend to milk it to a predetermined level,. When they are experienced they know how much they can push the file without making the client too angry. Your pattent lawyer experiences no stress over your file I assure you, maybe you are on a flat fee. Recently a state tried to extort a very large sum of money from me. A top aw firm took care of it for me successfully. When I was reviewing the bill I remember seeing a line in the invoice "received a call from xyz and spoke to them and agreed that no money was due." 40 minutes. Recieved a letter confirming this and reviewed it. One hour. Etc. Pages and pages of this. I laughed and paid. Attorney wise.

Now to the meat. Maybe you are trying to see the commonality in your rejections and slow moving so called decision makers and have speculated that married is the problem. While this may seem to tie them together it misses the mark. Yes, a cucky marriage and a corporate drone lifestyle do go together. Lack of ambition, lack of fast paced decisiveness go with the jobs of the people you are dealing with, and whether they are in boring marriages is irrelevant to your problem.

Whatever it is you are selling and whatever the structure of your sale and compensation is limited (based on what you are saying) by having to deal with these middle rung desk warming title holders. This will never ever change unless you change what, how and to whom you sell, and what your organization looks like. The great Ray Dalio calls it putting up with badness. Aka putting up with shit. You are putting up with shit, and have decided to blame boring married men instead of yourself as you should be Disco.

I know nothing about your business I didnt look into your posts to see what you do. It isn't required. You can use this frustration to figure out how to put up with dealing with dumb ass corporate managers (and never stop bitching, since it will always suck) or you can figure out something else.

I know its possible to do, I did it. I only deal with people that I want to, and its been a decade since I spoke to a "middle manager" other than to tell them how high to jump. I am not asking for decisions to be approved upward through them, I am telling them what I have decided and need, and they know this is based on a decision from above them.

[Siddartha]

(05-08-2018 01:16 AM)Thomas the Rhymer Wrote:  

With regards to ideas, I have a system for brainstorming that may be of use to you.

For example, let's say you want to start a business more or less related to the industry you are already in (because it's easier to start a business in an industry you are familiar with).

You don't mention what you do, but let's pretend you work at a customer service desk.

So what are the tools/ needs of customer service? Make a list: desk, chair, phone, business premises, uniforms, training, paper etc...

Consider if there is anything that is done really lousy and that needs improvement. Maybe you can start a business installing better desks or phones...

Then consider all the tools/needs of all the companies that supply your job's tools/needs: Where does the phone supplier get his plastics and wires and tech support? Where does the uniform manufacturer source his material? Where does the paper factory get the raw pulp from? etc etc, and consider if there are any issues in the supply chain where you feel you could make an impact by starting a small niche business that solves a specific weak point for that particular industrial problem.

Then consider all the tools/needs of the raw material suppliers to the companies - what are the issues that the raw pulp supplier might have? What are the issues at the factory that makes the wire, or the mine that supplies the metal for the wire? etc etc Consider if there are any weak points which you can exploit with a business solution.

You can basically make a mind map with your current job in the middle of the page and then try recreate the intricate network that allows your job to exist, then try to figure what are the weak points that make your job suck and if there is some way to alleviate the suckiness with a business solution.

You can run this exercise with other starting points. For example, if you really like pickles, and want to get into something related to the pickle industry, you can consider all the things that make up the final product: the cucumber, the jar, the sticker, the metal lid, the shelf on which it was sitting on in the store, and then think think of the needs of the farmer, the jar maker, the sticker printer, the metalworks, the shelf supplier, and so on and so forth, until you find something that attracts you and maybe you can find a weak point somewhere in the chain where you can introduce a business solution.

I guesstimate that 80% of businesses are not doing a great job, so if you can find an obscure niche and fill it with an excellent product or service that is far above the standard of the competition, you are more likely to succeed, in my opinion. I believe the exercise I described can help people find these obscure opportunities.

Completely awesome response, thank you.
I'm currently in the IT field, graduated in December and am at my current job in part because of your networking guide and the cold-calling books someone else dropped in that job-hunt thread.

My ideas board receives only things I have knowledge of, work with often or I know I can do.
This past weekend I set up and tested a recording studio for some of those ideas; which would allow me to podcasts, interviews, videos, and VA work.

I also have ideas that would require a bit of legwork and learning about how chinese manufacturing works, and also about initial investments in products one brings to market along with creating and sustaining demand.
Almost finished with 4HWW, TF had a good guide on reselling, inventing, or selling information products that I'm going to go re-read until it's burned into my brain.

I'm currently just working on getting financially independent and out of where I'm at A S A P.
Expecting to have the manuscript for the book finished this month, which is something good I have going for me.

[Ski pro]

(05-07-2018 11:56 PM)Siddartha Wrote:  

(05-07-2018 01:57 PM)Ski pro Wrote:  

You don’t need books.

You need an idea. Then get on with making it work.

Stop procrastinating.

(05-07-2018 02:11 PM)Donfitz007 Wrote:  

You need an idea first. Then you have to have a REALLY DETAILED and thought out plan with contingencies. THEN you have to learn to execute. THEN after all of that, you need to be prepared to have a failure plan.

Do you not ask those that have fought the hardest battles for some wisdom before stepping into the ring?

I installed a whiteboard in my room and putting every actionable idea I get along with it's next immediate step on it.
I have one idea that I'm currently cooking up; but it's simply a health and lifestyle e-book without any online/blog/twitter presence/momentum behind it currently.

Going to need to set up a website at some point and look into twitter marketing. Aside that, read through this thread, and look for local entrepreneur/crypto meetups near me.

You see this is more like it. This is the sort of work that will get you somewhere.

There are too many people around who claim to be entrepreneurs but don’t have the mindset for it, too many people giving advice to entrepreneurs who are actually fucking employees.

When you sit around listening to Tim Ferris who is selling you a false dream on how t short cut the hard work it takes to run your own gig, that is not becoming an entrepreneur.

You have to get off your ass, do work, get busy. Look around, there’s an idea somewhere for you. I have businesses in a couple of fields where there are already businesses of that type. Just doing that better counts as an idea.

I’m not bashing on you man, I’m just telling you to get on with it. You’ll learn far more by getting involved in something to see if it works than listening to podcasts, reading books or asking the fine gents in this thread for their advice. You do those things as a compliment to what you’re doing.

[Off The Reservation]

(05-07-2018 02:11 PM)Donfitz007 Wrote:  

(05-07-2018 08:17 AM)Siddartha Wrote:  

Good morning Gents,

I've taken a running dive into resources for becoming self-employed and an entrepreneur over my day job of burning my life to create value for others that don't much know nor care that I exist.
I'm balls deep into the Tim Ferris and Jocko Podcasts, and reading through 4 hour work week and the 100$ startup.
I also get together with another dude in this entrepreneur group we started; who's currently spinning up his company now, but it's just us in this entrepreneur group and he's far closer to his current goal than I am.

I'd like some good books, reccs or anecdotes about becoming financially independent and starting one's own business and networking with the like minded.

You need an idea first. Then you have to have a REALLY DETAILED and thought out plan with contingencies. THEN you have to learn to execute. THEN after all of that, you need to be prepared to have a failure plan.

(05-08-2018 08:48 AM)Ski pro Wrote:  

(05-07-2018 11:56 PM)Siddartha Wrote:  

(05-07-2018 01:57 PM)Ski pro Wrote:  

You don’t need books.

You need an idea. Then get on with making it work.

Stop procrastinating.

(05-07-2018 02:11 PM)Donfitz007 Wrote:  

You need an idea first. Then you have to have a REALLY DETAILED and thought out plan with contingencies. THEN you have to learn to execute. THEN after all of that, you need to be prepared to have a failure plan.

Do you not ask those that have fought the hardest battles for some wisdom before stepping into the ring?

I installed a whiteboard in my room and putting every actionable idea I get along with it's next immediate step on it.
I have one idea that I'm currently cooking up; but it's simply a health and lifestyle e-book without any online/blog/twitter presence/momentum behind it currently.

Going to need to set up a website at some point and look into twitter marketing. Aside that, read through this thread, and look for local entrepreneur/crypto meetups near me.

You see this is more like it. This is the sort of work that will get you somewhere.

There are too many people around who claim to be entrepreneurs but don’t have the mindset for it, too many people giving advice to entrepreneurs who are actually fucking employees.

When you sit around listening to Tim Ferris who is selling you a false dream on how t short cut the hard work it takes to run your own gig, that is not becoming an entrepreneur.

You have to get off your ass, do work, get busy. Look around, there’s an idea somewhere for you. I have businesses in a couple of fields where there are already businesses of that type. Just doing that better counts as an idea.

I’m not bashing on you man, I’m just telling you to get on with it. You’ll learn far more by getting involved in something to see if it works than listening to podcasts, reading books or asking the fine gents in this thread for their advice. You do those things as a compliment to what you’re doing.

Over planning and over thinking is just an excuse not to take action. Ski Pro has it. Don't get your weight loss advice from a fat Doctor...

I never heard of a "failure plan" and I am around entrepreneurs all the time. What the fuck is this? Sounds like a plan to fail.

[storm]

Launching our product in a few weeks and need all the help we can get with publicity. It's a product for consumers but in this niche the barrier is how well you can place yourself with partners so even if it doesn't make as much as anticipated we still win.

I brought on board yesterday a guy who has great skills in social media, understands the niche, and is generally passionate about our direction. I had to bring someone on because I've realized I don't want anything to do with social media and that this is why we have no presence.

It's been a nightmare finding a good SM guy, first there was this flop with a firm out of britain who were lazy and had no idea about the niche, then there was a community manager I scouted from a big forum but he broke down when he had to make his own media to post. Finally I ran into some "expert" in the niche who pegged himself as an entrepreneur but was a clown. I had basically given up on finding someone when this new guy contacted me himself: I've been active on his platform asking small questions and posting progress, doing light banter.

This close to launch my hands are already full with other things. My original launch date was yesterday but I pushed it back a few weeks ago when it became clear we wouldn't make it.

[PapayaTapper]

@ Storm

Congrats in getting to your launch and best of luck!

[BallsDeep]

@Storm

Nice to hear, keep us posted on the results.

Is this your first ever product launch? On what platform are you launching?

[ColSpanker]

(05-07-2018 08:15 PM)ColSpanker Wrote:  

Put my company up for sale with one of the online services. No takers so far, but it's still early in the game. I decided the other day that ten years plus was too long to hope things would turn around.

Any ideas how long I should wait before dropping the price? I have the ad for the next six months.

[Thomas the Rhymer]

(05-13-2018 06:38 PM)ColSpanker Wrote:  

(05-07-2018 08:15 PM)ColSpanker Wrote:  

Put my company up for sale with one of the online services. No takers so far, but it's still early in the game. I decided the other day that ten years plus was too long to hope things would turn around.

Any ideas how long I should wait before dropping the price? I have the ad for the next six months.

Have you had any queries so far? Maybe simply slapping 'negotiable' on the price tag might be enough.

Disclaimer: I've never sold a company before, I'm just helping you brainstorm.

[Enhanced Eddie]

(05-13-2018 06:38 PM)ColSpanker Wrote:  

(05-07-2018 08:15 PM)ColSpanker Wrote:  

Put my company up for sale with one of the online services. No takers so far, but it's still early in the game. I decided the other day that ten years plus was too long to hope things would turn around.

Any ideas how long I should wait before dropping the price? I have the ad for the next six months.

Hey ColSpanker, I haven't sold a company yet but I'm planning to in the future. Have you read "Built to sell"? Easy-to-read book kinda written in the style of "The E-Myth Revisited" and very insightful. The author also has a podcast by the same name that's worth listening to.

-Enhanced Eddie

[Suits]

I've got an 8:30AM meeting tomorrow morning with a potential client. I'm making a big leap in a way, because this will be the first potential client where I absolutely refuse to do any teaching work for them. This is already the understanding (the client's schools already have plenty of teachers), but general the interactions I've had with potential clients to date have involved them angling to have me in a classroom as the primary teacher on a regular basis. Over the past three months, I've demonstrated to myself that there is demand for my other skills and knowledge (skills and knowledge of a somewhat location independent nature), so going forward, I'm going to be giving a hard "no" to anyone who wants teaching hours included in the "consulting package" they pay me for.

As such, I have several rules that I will now use to govern my availability to clients:

• I will not do any teaching, aside from demonstrative teaching as part of a larger training package that would include a combination of in-person training of teachers and online course elements that teacher trainees would complete.
• My only on-site presence requirements will be to do in-person teacher training and implementation of my other deliverables. I won't agree to weekly hours of any kind and my only guaranteed time on site would be to do activities included in their service package for a specific number of hours (i.e. 5 hours to train staff on new curriculum system, 8 hours to setup/organize curriculum resources in the materials room, 1 hour to provide an update on product development at stage 3, etc)
• Some tasks would be done by me personally (such as most in-person training activities), but others, such as online training feedback and elements of product implementation could be done by my own employees. I don't have plans to hire anyone anytime soon, but I need to test out and confirm that my target customers would be willing to agree to this or I might have trouble scaling in the future.
• I won't agree to any type of supervisory/management role, even for a short period of time. My goal is reduce the limits on my person freedom, not increase them.
• Any in-person teacher training services I provide will always be in combination with online based training elements, so that my package includes a lot of added value. The reason for this is simple: if all I'm offering is services provided in person, the potential client will be inclined to divide my fee by the number of hours of training provided and may conclude that I'm charging a ridiculous hourly rate. As such, I'll only offer in-person training with other value added that is very cheap for me to provide once built, but significantly valuable to the client.
• Like all of my services, I'll only do curriculum development work for a set fee determined upfront with all of the project requirements clearly determined before I calculate my fee.
• Just like my landlord and all retailers, I require payment upfront. Generally, most larger products will be broken up into stages, with payment due before in stage begins.
• I'll be setting my fees based on the assumption that I'll have clients in different cities in the future and will need to charge enough to cover any travel costs. My plans are unlikely to be successful if I can only afford to take clients in one city, but have almost unlimited potential if I can take clients all over Asia, so I need to test the market's ability to pay my fees, even if I am currently Beijing based and only taking clients in Beijing.
• I will refuse to do any in-person training for schools that aren't providing their non-domestic staff with legitimate working visas. Not going to encourage that garbage or train people that could be arrested and deported at anytime.
  

Potential clients pretending to be interested in my other skills in order to get me to agree to doing teaching hours is a theme going back a couple years and as recently as February. Up until February, I hadn't developed myself and my physical products enough to seriously consider making the majority of my income from non-teaching work.

And from my experience, it seemed that potential clients were more than happy to allow me to define my role however I wanted, as long as they got what they wanted, namely a white face in front of students each week or more recently, an experienced manager and trainer that would be nothing more than a glorified employee who would be expected to maintain specific working hours each week.

That wasn't a huge problem, at the time, because I had little else I was prepared to offer. However, now that I've put a couple years work into self-development and product-development and have a lot more experience under my belt, I'm in a position to refuse to do work on anything other than my own terms. I've already earned about 33% of my income this spring from curriculum consulting/staff training work and there was enough demand for my services that I could have earned 100% of my income from that work if I had wanted to.

I'm currently transition to just doing 3 days of teaching work each week for my existing long term clients as a backup just in case I have trouble reliably acquiring paying consulting clients, but I'll phase that out as well in December if all goes well. Working those three hours a week will allow me to pay all my bills even if I don't acquire any other work. I haven't stuck to my guns in the past, because I was desperate at times for any work available to avoid ending up in a financial drought, but that all changes with this meeting.

I'd like to close this client I'm meeting tomorrow morning, but it won't bother me if I don't, because my bigger priority is to find out how much potential clients are willing to pay for the products/services I intended to begin offering more fulltime in September (and earn all of my income from beginning in December).

I would have been nervous putting my foot down about the sort of terms I'll now be demanding, but I have no fear now, because I'm financial stable even if I get no takers and without making the requirements I listed above mandatory, I wouldn't be willing to do this type of work, because there would be too much risk and too little freedom involved.

The information I'll gain, even if this new direction provides a failure is more valuable than temporarily earning money doing work that I am not interested in doing long term.

The end goal is to be doing work of which at least 75% can be done location independently and one week a month might be spent visiting clients a couple of key cities in Asia.

I have a low level of interest in going 100% location independent, as I really enjoy human interaction, but I'd also like to have some products and services that I can offer 100% location independent just in case I ever need a 6 month period of time that I don't want to do any business travel or I developed health issues that prevented me from doing frequent travel at some point in time.

[Ski pro]

(05-14-2018 08:36 AM)Suits Wrote:  

I've got an 8:30AM meeting tomorrow morning with a potential client. I'm making a big leap in a way, because this will be the first potential client where I absolutely refuse to do any teaching work for them. This is already the understanding (the client's schools already have plenty of teachers), but general the interactions I've had with potential clients to date have involved them angling to have me in a classroom as the primary teacher on a regular basis. Over the past three months, I've demonstrated to myself that there is demand for my other skills and knowledge (skills and knowledge of a somewhat location independent nature), so going forward, I'm going to be giving a hard "no" to anyone who wants teaching hours included in the "consulting package" they pay me for.

As such, I have several rules that I will now use to govern my availability to clients:

• I will not do any teaching, aside from demonstrative teaching as part of a larger training package that would include a combination of in-person training of teachers and online course elements that teacher trainees would complete.
• My only on-site presence requirements will be to do in-person teacher training and implementation of my other deliverables. I won't agree to weekly hours of any kind and my only guaranteed time on site would be to do activities included in their service package for a specific number of hours (i.e. 5 hours to train staff on new curriculum system, 8 hours to setup/organize curriculum resources in the materials room, 1 hour to provide an update on product development at stage 3, etc)
• Some tasks would be done by me personally (such as most in-person training activities), but others, such as online training feedback and elements of product implementation could be done by my own employees. I don't have plans to hire anyone anytime soon, but I need to test out and confirm that my target customers would be willing to agree to this or I might have trouble scaling in the future.
• I won't agree to any type of supervisory/management role, even for a short period of time. My goal is reduce the limits on my person freedom, not increase them.
• Any in-person teacher training services I provide will always be in combination with online based training elements, so that my package includes a lot of added value. The reason for this is simple: if all I'm offering is services provided in person, the potential client will be inclined to divide my fee by the number of hours of training provided and may conclude that I'm charging a ridiculous hourly rate. As such, I'll only offer in-person training with other value added that is very cheap for me to provide once built, but significantly valuable to the client.
• Like all of my services, I'll only do curriculum development work for a set fee determined upfront with all of the project requirements clearly determined before I calculate my fee.
• Just like my landlord and all retailers, I require payment upfront. Generally, most larger products will be broken up into stages, with payment due before in stage begins.
• I'll be setting my fees based on the assumption that I'll have clients in different cities in the future and will need to charge enough to cover any travel costs. My plans are unlikely to be successful if I can only afford to take clients in one city, but have almost unlimited potential if I can take clients all over Asia, so I need to test the market's ability to pay my fees, even if I am currently Beijing based and only taking clients in Beijing.
• I will refuse to do any in-person training for schools that aren't providing their non-domestic staff with legitimate working visas. Not going to encourage that garbage or train people that could be arrested and deported at anytime.
  

Potential clients pretending to be interested in my other skills in order to get me to agree to doing teaching hours is a theme going back a couple years and as recently as February. Up until February, I hadn't developed myself and my physical products enough to seriously consider making the majority of my income from non-teaching work.

And from my experience, it seemed that potential clients were more than happy to allow me to define my role however I wanted, as long as they got what they wanted, namely a white face in front of students each week or more recently, an experienced manager and trainer that would be nothing more than a glorified employee who would be expected to maintain specific working hours each week.

That wasn't a huge problem, at the time, because I had little else I was prepared to offer. However, now that I've put a couple years work into self-development and product-development and have a lot more experience under my belt, I'm in a position to refuse to do work on anything other than my own terms. I've already earned about 33% of my income this spring from curriculum consulting/staff training work and there was enough demand for my services that I could have earned 100% of my income from that work if I had wanted to.

I'm currently transition to just doing 3 days of teaching work each week for my existing long term clients as a backup just in case I have trouble reliably acquiring paying consulting clients, but I'll phase that out as well in December if all goes well. Working those three hours a week will allow me to pay all my bills even if I don't acquire any other work. I haven't stuck to my guns in the past, because I was desperate at times for any work available to avoid ending up in a financial drought, but that all changes with this meeting.

I'd like to close this client I'm meeting tomorrow morning, but it won't bother me if I don't, because my bigger priority is to find out how much potential clients are willing to pay for the products/services I intended to begin offering more fulltime in September (and earn all of my income from beginning in December).

I would have been nervous putting my foot down about the sort of terms I'll now be demanding, but I have no fear now, because I'm financial stable even if I get no takers and without making the requirements I listed above mandatory, I wouldn't be willing to do this type of work, because there would be too much risk and too little freedom involved.

The information I'll gain, even if this new direction provides a failure is more valuable than temporarily earning money doing work that I am not interested in doing long term.

The end goal is to be doing work of which at least 75% can be done location independently and one week a month might be spent visiting clients a couple of key cities in Asia.

I have a low level of interest in going 100% location independent, as I really enjoy human interaction, but I'd also like to have some products and services that I can offer 100% location independent just in case I ever need a 6 month period of time that I don't want to do any business travel or I developed health issues that prevented me from doing frequent travel at some point in time.

Nice one. With this new mindset that it will be on your terms or nothing else, you will in fact find that people will wAnt to deal with you more.

[ColSpanker]

(05-14-2018 03:53 AM)Thomas the Rhymer Wrote:  

(05-13-2018 06:38 PM)ColSpanker Wrote:  

(05-07-2018 08:15 PM)ColSpanker Wrote:  

Put my company up for sale with one of the online services. No takers so far, but it's still early in the game. I decided the other day that ten years plus was too long to hope things would turn around.

Any ideas how long I should wait before dropping the price? I have the ad for the next six months.

Have you had any queries so far? Maybe simply slapping 'negotiable' on the price tag might be enough.

Disclaimer: I've never sold a company before, I'm just helping you brainstorm.

Nope, I may drop it a bit and see what happens.

[ballsyamog]

Suits.... this is where I’ve found having an abundance mindset comes into play. You can now set boundaries and walk away from companies that aren’t willing to work with you under your conditions. BTW how much are you charging for your consultation package? How did you come up with that price? How are you prospecting?

[Ski pro]

Posted this in the books thread but thought I would drop it here for y’all.

Just finished ‘Positioning, the battle for your mind’ - al rise and jack trout.

One of the marketing classics and spot on in terms of what it teaches about the concept of owning your position in the mind of your customer. I read the updated version where they have notes on where they were with their original predictions (it’s an old book)

A bit repetitive in some aspects, especially that concerning ‘line extension’ but food for thought in terms of how to market your business.

Worth a read for those getting into marketing or who want to understand it more deeply.

The more I understand about mArketing, I’m starting to realise that marketing IS business and not some abstract thing that needs some work every now and again. This hurts the introverts amongst us because you have to be willing to put yourself out there, make yourself a public figure in the early stages before you get your brand going.

[Irenicus]

I haven't written anything about my Ebay business for some time. I hope the things I have learned will help people in general, not just Ebay.


For starters, I have learned a lot from the video I linked below, and I have reevaluated my sales strategy because of it. I encourage everyone to watch it, it's quite good (and Dan Lok seems to be a good source of information, just be careful, there is a lot of blue pill crap as well).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2uj9eApGXI&t=42s


(I'm using Brave, so I can't embed videos).



In that video, basically, he divides clients into four types:



1. CHEAP CUSTOMERS - they are primarily concerned about price and, what is even worse, they are very, very demanding. No matter what you do, they will not give you any extra cash. Fortunately, I haven't met many of them, and I don't intend to.

2. DIFFICULT CUSTOMERS - as Dan says "they are not necessary cheap...they are just difficult. If you had a bad day, the'll try to make it worse." They use you as an emotional tampon for their bad emotions.

3. SOPHISTICATED CUSTOMERS - they not only have money, they have knowledge. They usually know what are they after and they have done their research. Thus, they'll ask very specific questions - they vary from item to item. The more you know, the better!

4. AFFLUENT CUSTOMERS - those guys buy on feelings. They don't care about the price - because they have money. If they like something, they will buy that, no questions asked. Your job is not to screw up, plain and simple. Yes, just like a Good Looking Guy Game.




Now, because I want to attract the last two types, I have sold out most of my less expensive products. Gradually, I am replacing them with high fashion stuff. Think Armani, Prada, Brunello Cucinelli... . Stuff that only sophisticated affluent customers can get. Granted, my sales dropped, because not many people have a $1000 in their pocket. Selling a $300 item is one thing, while selling a $1000 is completely another!



Again, because of that, my sales dropped, but margins have increased. I prefer it that way, because it's less work, but bigger profit margins - read, I earn more money.



I am gradually starting to sell women's clothing (very expensive, mind you). I was unsure about that before, but I have been thinking - if many women today have sugar daddies (thank you FB, IG and POF, I love you!), that means that they want them (sugar daddies) to buy them the best stuff designers can offer. Ladies... good old Irenicus will help you...for a price (I only accept money - my current supply of pussy is more than adequate, so I don't accept that currency).



I am also planning to start selling on Instagram. Once I get a little bit more of muscle (almost there, 1kg to go), I'll start modeling some of my jackets. In addition to that, I have to learn how to be a model. Yes, I am good looking and and have a good camera (Huawei P10 FTW!), but I don't know how to model without devolving into a soy boy (which most models are). If someone knows a good source of information, please contact me.



Programming is going well, so hopefully, in a year or so, I'll be able to join the IT workforce.

[Suits]

The last week since my most recent post in this thread has been educational.

I'm more convinced than ever about the value of the service I can offer (training, analysis) and the products I'm developing.

However, I'm not completely convinced that potential clients in China will appreciate the value of what I am offering or be willing to pay the rates that I would require to justify doing it at all.

A lot more exploring yet to do. This summer is going to be a crucial time of experimenting with marketing and seeing what the response/demand is.

(05-14-2018 07:36 PM)ballsyamog Wrote:  

How much are you charging for your consultation package? How did you come up with that price? How are you prospecting?

I'm still contemplating (and researching) the exact consulting services I want to offer (and how they will be defined), so I don't have a set of fees established yet. However, I consider my time (based on local living expenses and my own belief in my value) to be worth $90 per hour for in-person appearances/training and $50 for any work I do from home. However, my consulting services will be content based (with added value training and support included), so the total fee for most services will be higher than I would charge simply for my time, because additional physical/digital product will be delivered in addition to the time I put into providing service.