[ApexJeff]

Sup fam, been on RooshV for a few years now as a pure lurker, but now I thought I'd share my journey with you all. I've decided to make this thread not to advertise my site, but too get ideas flowing between us about how the feat would be achievable.

My site is http://www.oneyearnotice.com and basically I've decided to document my journey from employee to business owner. At the end of the timer on the front page I'm going to publicly live stream me quitting my job in purists of a more fulfilling life. The kicker is this is going to happen whether I'm in a financial position to doso or not.

The blog acts as a hub for me starting 3 separate businesses. Of which will be unveiled as I go along. The categories are product production, media distribution, and service. My first venture is podcasting.

My question for my Roosh fam is: What things could I do too tip the odds in my favor? Anybody have any resources, tips, or strategies they think I could incorporate?

BTW, my goal is not to be super rich (yet), my goal is to produce enough income to allow me to quit my 9-5 and still live comfortably. I make 50k now, so its not impossible.


Also I know this forum is pretty big on anti spam, so I don't want to come off as such. I'm not selling anything, or even trying to get viewership from you guys. Purely look for conversation around the concept.

[Menace]

OP did you do ANY research regarding podcasting at all? There is basically no money in it whatsoever in and of itself. It's simply a vehicle to engage with an already existing user base and to expand said user base.

Listen to this: https://www.stansberryradio.com/James-Al...Podcasting

I don't even know why I bothered.

[Saweeep]

Start one, the best one.

Nobody can start 3 "proper" businesses at the same time and expect them to be successful.

[ApexJeff]

(10-23-2015 01:41 PM)Menace Wrote:  

OP did you do ANY research regarding podcasting at all? There is basically no money in it whatsoever in and of itself. It's simply a vehicle to engage with an already existing user base and to expand said user base.

Listen to this: https://www.stansberryradio.com/James-Al...Podcasting

I don't even know why I bothered.

Theres some pretty successful people in the podcasting space. Granted, most are people that probably already had somewhat of a following,but I figure the eco-system of what I'm trying to do would help with audience acquisition.
The readers from the blog would listen to the podcast, the podcast listeners would read the blog, and the two other businesses audience would integrate.
Plus, the subject matter of what I'm doing the podcast on is a very unique concept (revealed later). I think that would pull in listeners alone. I'm def going to check the link you put tho. Thanks


[/quote]

[ApexJeff]

(10-23-2015 01:44 PM)CrashBangWallop Wrote:  

Start one, the best one.

Nobody can start 3 "proper" businesses at the same time and expect them to be successful.

On some levels I know this. I'm going for the throw it all against the wall concept and hope one sticks. 6-7 months in I'll evaluate and ditch the one thats not performing. If all of them are generating money, I'll start utilizing a team and convert to a more of automation is gold mentality.

[Gmac]

I think it's a good goal. Just to piggyback off of what Crash said... You might want to start with one goal and focus your energy on that first. If you achieve it within a reasonable time, maybe you can better multitask in your future pursuits.

Quitting your 9-5 is a goal many men have, but seeing yourself through to actually realizing that dream is another story. Not for the faint of heart, or the poorly disciplined. Be ready to fail in your first 20 ventures, but don't afraid to take some risks and to have some skin in the game (you kind of have to). Just don't get taken along for a ride.

[tynamite]

Anyone who says that they're going to start three businesses at the same time has already failed. That's impossible. Millionaire Gavin McInnes says that only a third of his businesses are successful, and he's rich.

[jamaicabound]

I know there's people who make money from Podcasting, Joe Rogan has a huge podcast. That said for 99% of people podcasting in itself is not a business and there is very little money in it, Podcasting however is a great platform to push some other type of business or service. Personally I make youtube videos which honestly I don't get that many views on, however the views I get lead to consulting and coaching gigs at a very high rate so though youtube in itself only makes me about $100 a month it leads to other opportunities to find clients.

I like doing a bunch of things at once but honestly you wind up doing a halfass job at everything. I would pick one thing to focus on and don't move on until you got something going. I don't mean to say don't do a podcast because that can compliment your service business but don't go out trying to start 3 different businesses independent of each other. For example say I do coaching on helping people private label. I coudl start a podcast which I give tips and advice for free, grow a listener base and try to land jobs with them but don't go trying to start a podcast about one topic, a service business on a totally unrelated topic and make products all at the same time as nothing will be great.

As far as leaving behind a 9-5. I know people who left their job with nothing but Fiverr as a side gig. That said they were only making like $400 a month but they were crashing on couches or living in a van and only needed about $20 a day anyway. Many people on here to live in southeast asia or other places where you could live decent off a very modest google adsense payout every month.

I left my job 8 months ago but was making 5x my salary with my business before I left so though I was still nervous about being a fulltime entrepreneur and uncertainty I had a good amount of money banked and had a good stable business.

If you have any specific questions or anything happy to chime back in. Also would love to hear your three businesses, some of us may have done one of them and could tell you don't waste your time before you start.

PS I do have to give you a compliment on the blog. I've been blogging and stuff for years and honestly I care more about content than production value whether thats a smart decision or not I dont know but you have a pretty well put together blog so props on that. Busy now but saved it to my bookmarks and will give a few a read later this weekend.

[Guitarman]

(10-23-2015 01:59 PM)ApexJeff Wrote:  

(10-23-2015 01:44 PM)CrashBangWallop Wrote:  

Start one, the best one.

Nobody can start 3 "proper" businesses at the same time and expect them to be successful.

On some levels I know this. I'm going for the throw it all against the wall concept and hope one sticks. 6-7 months in I'll evaluate and ditch the one thats not performing. If all of them are generating money, I'll start utilizing a team and convert to a more of automation is gold mentality.

You'll be back to your 9-5 in a few months ""if"" they'll have you back. I see little substance and too much overconfidence and a total lack of business experience in your business ideas.

You need to actually do something tangible, in demand and real that people are willing to pay you for to make a go of it, not some internet pipe-dream.

[CleanSlate]

I can't imagine trying to start 3 businesses at the same time. One at a time is enough work on my plate!

[WanderingSoul]

(10-23-2015 01:44 PM)CrashBangWallop Wrote:  

Start one, the best one.

Nobody can start 3 "proper" businesses at the same time and expect them to be successful.

This.

Start one business and focus on it for three years. That's a much better idea.

[Guitarman]

just read your site, high on bluster, very low on substance. So your first great business idea - podcasts. My thoughts - so 2008.

[sour grapes]

An exploding field right now is data science - which includes data storage and maintenance.

[jamaicabound]

Let's give the dude some direction rather than just shitting on his ideas, though I do agree with the sentiment.

To the OP, if you had to pick one thing what would it be?

Writing ebooks
Creating Digital Products
Ecommerce/Amazon/eBay
Selling A service


The above are only a few of the many ways to make money but figure out what direction you want to go, I would suggest not doing content creation whether blog, youtube, podcast, most likely isn't going to be able to support you and is somethign that will take years to get rolling to anything significant.

[Thomas the Rhymer]

I thought this video was pretty useful.

Ignore the title of the video though, the author deliberately made it a clickbait title. A better title would be, "The Best Way to Learn About Running a Business."

[Phoenix]

Some guys have successfully started a business with no money, not just using kickstarter. They generally do investigative work until they spot a common need showing up that isn't being fulfilled, then they pitch a "pre-sale" of a solution to those companies, with the carrot that "they'll get to provide input into its features" etc. Like kickstarter, you then get your financing and demand confirmation plus feature requirements in one simultaneous swoop. As usual though, you have to pick up the phone or email random dudes and pitch.

[wi30]

Who says "fam"?

[ApexJeff]

Thanks for the advice guys, to address a few concerns:

1. I'm starting 3 businesses at the same time, but my main concentration will be disbursed in waves. Waves 1 is the podcasting business. I expect it to be slow, as I have no following. The subject matter and the ecosystem from my blog should be able to drive some traffic between all the projects. The money will be made primarily from sponsors and a service that derives from the show. Podcasting is a long term investment, not something I'm looking for a return on right away. Wave 2 is the product launch phase (also giving me more subject matter for the blog). This is where money will starting generating from.

All of the businesses are internet based. There more along the line of "lifestyle businesses." There primarily location independent, and once up and running, can be managed with little actual hands on work. Even though this is a solo adventure I'm definitely working with a team. I utilize contractors, freelancers, and outsource a lot of work for each project.

2. My blog is more a journal than anything. There are only 4 post so far, the post will evolve overtime into a much more intimate account of what I'm going through at a given time. Some post will have nothing to do with the one year challenge, but a completely separate subject matter I want to talk about.

3. I was trying to remain anonymous as possible until the one year is up. This is proving to be more and more difficult as I start. I need an about me section to build an emotion connection with my audience, but I'm not sure how to go about it. Any suggestions?

Thanks for everybody's feedback so far.

[jamaicabound]

(10-24-2015 08:44 PM)ApexJeff Wrote:  

Thanks for the advice guys, to address a few concerns:

1. I'm starting 3 businesses at the same time, but my main concentration will be disbursed in waves. Waves 1 is the podcasting business. I expect it to be slow, as I have no following. The subject matter and the ecosystem from my blog should be able to drive some traffic between all the projects. The money will be made primarily from sponsors and a service that derives from the show. Podcasting is a long term investment, not something I'm looking for a return on right away. Wave 2 is the product launch phase (also giving me more subject matter for the blog). This is where money will starting generating from.

All of the businesses are internet based. There more along the line of "lifestyle businesses." There primarily location independent, and once up and running, can be managed with little actual hands on work. Even though this is a solo adventure I'm definitely working with a team. I utilize contractors, freelancers, and outsource a lot of work for each project.

2. My blog is more a journal than anything. There are only 4 post so far, the post will evolve overtime into a much more intimate account of what I'm going through at a given time. Some post will have nothing to do with the one year challenge, but a completely separate subject matter I want to talk about.

3. I was trying to remain anonymous as possible until the one year is up. This is proving to be more and more difficult as I start. I need an about me section to build an emotion connection with my audience, but I'm not sure how to go about it. Any suggestions?

Thanks for everybody's feedback so far.

I think your holding yourself back by being anonymous. Look at all the super successful people who do what your trying to do, their brand is typically their name or at the very least an alias. People want someone to connect with if you want people to buy what your talking about, people can't connect with a nameless faceless person. Assuming your business is legit I can't see any reason not to want to put your name on it. At the very least create a alias.

Your talking in very vague terms which is fine if your afraid fo sharing your idea but keep in mind whether you share with us or not you need a very specific plan for what your trying to do.

The way your rolling out and talking makes me think this is more a hobby that maybe could grow into a business in a few years but it sounds like your intention or goal is to start replacing your fulltime income immediately and I dont think thats going to happen with what your trying to do.

[Pyrrhic victory]

You will spread yourself thin starting 3 businesses as once. In order to be as efficient and effective as possible with any startup you must focus on one.

I've been self employed most of my life and would sometimes get into a side hustle to make a few extra dollars.

Each and every time I have done this it has cost me more in operating my primary business. As a result , I do not do anything within ( reason of course )that pulls me away from my core competency anymore.

[Chemistry]

It sounds to me like you have ONE business ... whatever product you're launching ... and the podcast and blog are both "hobbies". That's fine. I think you'll find it works out better when you feel internally committed to one thing.

*

When I was about 24, I had 3 or 4 business ideas that were rolling around in my head. I've still got the journals I wrote in, I've still got the to-do lists I made to push EACH idea forward, and I've even got remnants of code and sales copy from each strewn around on my hard drive.

It tells the story of a man who was always doing something, but whose ideas never got enough of his attention to really start moving.

[Zona]

(10-26-2015 12:21 PM)Chemistry Wrote:  

When I was about 24, I had 3 or 4 business ideas that were rolling around in my head. I've still got the journals I wrote in, I've still got the to-do lists I made to push EACH idea forward, and I've even got remnants of code and sales copy from each strewn around on my hard drive.

It tells the story of a man who was always doing something, but whose ideas never got enough of his attention to really start moving.

Not gonna lie...this hit pretty close to home for me. You basically just described all of my prior business efforts. I was (and still am to a degree) the guy who was always busting his ass on some hustle, but never saw any real success with anything. A big part of it is the natural tendency to fail many times before finding success, but a lot of it also has to do with my tendency to spread myself too thin with too many projects.

OP, I like the idea of what you're trying to do, particularly by giving yourself a hard deadline. However, I tend to agree with the other posters in that you probably ought to prioritize your attention toward your product/service. The blog/podcast stuff is cool, but likely won't begin to yield any fruit for several years (assuming you can continue to pump out engaging content for that long). They can be good marketing tools for your primary product/service though.

As for staying anonymous, I've also struggled with that on some of my blogging and writing projects. Use an alias if you don't feel comfortable putting your real name out there, but you definitely need a persona that people can connect with. The thing about an alias is that you really need to commit to it. Think carefully about how you plan to market yourself in the future, and whether you want to continue operating under some assumed identity.