I absolutely love that photo. You might recognize the silhouette from the home page
This photo was taken in Costa Rica with the love of my life. We had only been dating six weeks at this time, but it was already clear we would spend the rest of our lives together. Looking at the waterfall with her was the moment that meant everything to me.
Because at this moment, things changed.
Not only did one become two, but everything about my businesses had changed. I have done lots of shitty businesses and most had failed. Some saw moderate success, but none had “taken off” in a way that made a material way.
A year later, I had started a consulting business and made nearly $200K….all on the side. We owned 13 investment units, with another 49 on the way. Even better, we had a little guy on the way.
I’m now well on my way to retiring at 30, making $10K a day on the side.
She changed my life, in so many ways. Not only is she my soulmate, but her arriving in my world is what prompted me to get my act in gear and progress from shitty businesses to businesses that work.
My hope is that something written below can help you progress from fake business as well to a business that can meaningfully change your life.
Here are all the business models I've tried, and recommend you don't do
- Dropshipping: Why the economics don't work. BTW, I made over $10K doing this and still hate it
- Amazon Kindle eBooks don't work either. I made $213 on $3,00+ invested
- Skip Amazon Affiliate Marketing: they don't need you....so sell your "niche sites" while you can
Why I think consulting makes the most sense to get started
- How I made$50K in my first six months on UpWork...while working a full time job
- How I made $171,887 consulting in my first year, all on the side
- The skills consulting teaches, and why you need that to start a "real" business
The skill sets you need to succeed in consulting
- How to run outbound campaigns to get people on the phone
- How to sell when you get on the phone
- How to set up and manage back office to manage the "boring" legal and accounting and payroll systems that actually matter
- How to consistently hire good freelancers, and how to outsource everything to them
- How to stay sane while balancing multiple projects at once
How to start and run a business
Starting and scaling business
- Your goal should NOT be to launch the next Airbnb & Uber
- The criteria I look for in a business
- How to get and test a business idea
- The actual business plan I used to start my business
Launching a business
- How to launch a business (tools, process, and more)
- How to get your first 100 customers
Scaling your business
- Why you need SOP’s
- How to scale from 100 to 1,000 customers
- How to make $10,000 a day and work <1 hour (coming when I turn 30)
How to put all of your business profits into real estate
- Why my fiancee and I put all our money into real estate
- How to get started in real estate investing
- You need to buy properties you've never seen before (We own $2.5M of real estate we've never seen)
- How to get to know a real estate market
- Our process (from property identification to setting up an LLC email address to closing) to buying real estate
- How to protect your real estate investment from liability
- Our strategy to buy a property with less money down
- How we manage and keep track of dozens of units and nearly $400,000 in yearly rent
The Self Improvement steps you need to take
- The unglamorous look at what my life as an entrepreneur really looks like
- Why you should write goals down every morning and what I learned after doing it for three years
- Why you need self discipline to succeed
- What I've given up to succeed