And i'm Fired

[TacoCat]

I got told today that I'm beeing laid off. Due to lack of productivity. And to be honest, I'm not blaming them. I did spend a lot of time scheming my next move in the Digital Warefare.

At this point I'm left with no income, no savings. A credit line of 1.4k that I have aviable and the salary that they are going to pay me out, that should cover two months of living expenses.

Now I'm at the crossings, I have to choose, weather to pursue IM full time, I would say that there is a 60/40 chance of succeeding witht he Internet Shop that I was running. As I wanted to expand it to another country. (since I found a niche that sold like crazy here I wanted to try just that in a country that has more to spend)

OR I could look for another job.

By pursuing IM there is a chance that I could end up with no money at all and unable to pay the rent and a maxed out credit card of 1.4k.

if I take on a job, I can barely spend any time to work on IM, since it takes a lot of time to get to and from work, then make a meal and then do some shit. Maybe 2 hours max per day.

I just needed to write this down. I will make a decision this weekend.

 

[Michael]

2 months of savings? I'd find another job asap, then work out your next step from there.
You're gonna he homeless otherwise no?

 

[finnegan]

Can you move back in with the parents for awhile?

Only having 2 months worth of savings is not enough in this economy. Interview processes alone will take a month which means you'd have to get an interview with someone in just a few weeks time to land a job before you're broke. And that's if you're really lucky or really good at what you do.

Can you get a gig on Upwork instead? What about waiting tables? Those jobs are usually available in some capacity.

Landing a new desk job though will take time as corporations hold all the cards in this crappy economy and will take their sweet time picking the right candidate for their company.

Good luck though. I feel for ya man...I've been there.

 

[TacoCat]

@Michael and @finnegan I'm not sure that you saw my journey thread.

All the numbers do add up and I should be able to make money. But then again, I might be wrong.

I think I will go with it like this.

I will work for a month on the projects, if I see it going somewhere I will continue working on it full time, if not if I won't be making even half of what I need to live (by the way, living costs here are around 500 euros per month) I will look for a day job.

Technicaly with the credit line, I have around 5 months for living, but the credit line would be my very last resort.

 

[Andrewkar]

If you have some IM experience, and even running ecommerce already I would say leave regular job, and go for it. Even if it's painful at the beginning, and you will end up in a bigger shithole than you are right now, still go for it I would say (I did it, it's painful and challenging at all times...).

Also, there are those basic jobs also, like cleaning dishes, waiting etc. Doesn't matter as long as you can get some food to eat, and shelter so you can survive. And Internet access so you can work to lift yourself, fast!

@Michael and @finnegan I'm not sure that you saw my journey thread.

All the numbers do add up and I should be able to make money. But then again, I might be wrong.

I think I will go with it like this.

I will work for a month on the projects, if I see it going somewhere I will continue working on it full time, if not if I won't be making even half of what I need to live (by the way, living costs here are around 500 euros per month) I will look for a day job.

Technicaly with the credit line, I have around 5 months for living, but the credit line would be my very last resort.

Man, with this attitude go look for another job right away, and don't waste your time. I'm not hating or anything like this, but as you have said earlier you are at the crossroads... Maybe that's your five minutes? Your opportunity? Your ground zero? Really.

Don't be scared, take those 60 days, and make most of it, like your life depends on it. You are in charge! You can always get back to regular "job". My 2c.

 

[Steve Brownlie]

2 hours per day plus weekends is actually a lot of time. If it's not making any traction in that time, enough to quit needing to work, then you need more time/security of having some income coming in until you start to get it going. Freelancing can be a good 'low pay' option to tide you over without travel/schedule/interference in your side projects though. I've done that in the past rather than get a job immediately.

 

[Calamari]

I don't see it as a "this or that" decision right now. You can look for a job while working the site 60 hours a week. That way two months from now you'll have a much better idea if you can make it or not while being much further along in the process of finding a job.

 

[TacoCat]

Man, with this attitude go look for another job right away, and don't waste your time. I'm not hating or anything like this, but as you have said earlier you are at the crossroads... Maybe that's your five minutes? Your opportunity? Your ground zero? Really.

Don't be scared, take those 60 days, and make most of it, like your life depends on it. You are in charge! You can always get back to regular "job". My 2c.

I'm not sure wich direction your trying to point. *btw in any case, no offense taken*, maybe I just didn't write it proprely. If I decide to go IM way, it will be a 16h per day grind for a month. If I'm seeing the results I'm not looking for a job, if at that point there isn't any results, then I start looking for a job and still grind hard.

I don't see it as a "this or that" decision right now. You can look for a job while working the site 60 hours a week. That way two months from now you'll have a much better idea if you can make it or not while being much further along in the process of finding a job.

This, I like this.

 

[CCarter]

I remember when you said something about getting a job even though you were making money (Taking a 9 - 5 job to learn) and thought - wtf is he doing? You wanted to "learn more" - and look what's happened you've exchanged freedom for chains you can't get out of.

You should be honest with yourself, you got fired cause you weren't happy and not productive since you wanted to pursue another passion. Yet here you are trying to get another job? For what? Won't you just do the same thing over?

People love safety nets, and that's why they don't take IM seriously, it's always a side gig for them. Talk to most people that made the jump, their ambition to win in this thing of ours was too great so they risked it all.

You can't win without risking it all.

Anyone giving you advise to get another safety net ask them if they have taken the plunge themselves? Are they all in with IM? Are they winning in IM? If not why not? Are they happy with their cubicle job?

When I realized the cubicle life wasn't for me I saved up every single penny I had for 6 months of living expenses then quit and never looked back. Once you start making money for yourself there is a new "freedom" you come to realize. You never have to depend on anyone else, don't call anyone boss, and you now are in charge of your own destiny. You literally can do ANYTHING you want whenever you want. You want to go get a 3 hour lunch and catch up with a friend - do it. You want to go on a vacation tomorrow for 2 weeks, do it. You want to recharge your battery and go to the gym all day today, do it. You have true freedom once you are in full control of your life. That freedom is terrifying for the cubicle dweller, but once you exit the cubicle you quickly realize how silly it all was.

The fear wasn't real. Having 2-5 months worth of savings puts you in ultimate hustler mode, all nonsense drops away, all you are left with is pure drive to eat and live. Your brain starts only concentrating on survival since you have nothing to fall back on. You then turn to what you think will be the fastest way to survive and generate money.

But then again, I might be wrong.

Wow, sounds like you might have already been defeated. You need to change your attitude towards life. "Failure is NOT an option. It's impossible to fail when your hustle is 24/7" - unless you just aren't learning from your mistakes.

Here is the real reality, there never was a safety net. You just experience it, you got fired. You can get fired ANYTIME working for someone else. The company can go bankrupt because of your bosses and managers bad decisions. Customers can backlash your company and now everyone is unemployed. There is no safety net - people want to pretend there is so they feel comfortable in their current circumstances - but they are lying to themselves.

If I ever had to work for someone else in a cubicle I'd just hang myself, at least I'd go out on my own terms instead of a slow death into nothingness where you have to jump through hoops for people clearly less smarter and ambitious than you.

2-5 months, the universe just opened your door of opportunity, its up to you to step through and hustle to make it. Cause the NEXT time this happens in 6 months or whatever you'll take less risk and next time even less risk and eventually the fire to win will die inside of you - you'll never be a man of action again.

 

[built]

@CCarter What about getting a job to scale websites faster? Im thinking of getting a job then dumping my whole salary into content, links etc

 

[Sutra]

If you hustle hard, you can make enough to get by relatively quickly on Upwork, if you're willing to write for cheap. Say $1 per 100 words (of course I'd try to negotiate for higher if you can). Your English and writing ability are far better than many entry level writers on there. Knowing what I know now that's what I would do if suddenly found myself in a similar situation. The fact that you only need $500 a month for living expenses makes it even better.

Doing something like that will allow you to set your own schedule pretty much, so you can work on IM at the same time.

 

[CCarter]

Im thinking of getting a job then dumping my whole salary into content, links etc

I don't get it, why have you wasted so much time on SEO? You were doing traffic leaks of 10K and over 100K visitors in a single day with a single traffic leak. There is NO reality where you will be able to generate 10K or 100K visitors in a single day from brand new websites through SEO. Why trade in a tank for a dull sword?

 

[TacoCat]

I remember when you said something about getting a job even though you were making money (Taking a 9 - 5 job to learn) and thought - wtf is he doing? You wanted to "learn more" - and look what's happened you've exchanged freedom for chains you can't get out of.

You should be honest with yourself, you got fired cause you weren't happy and not productive since you wanted to pursue another passion. Yet here you are trying to get another job? For what? Won't you just do the same thing over?

People love safety nets, and that's why they don't take IM seriously, it's always a side gig for them. Talk to most people that made the jump, their ambition to win in this thing of ours was too great so they risked it all.

You can't win without risking it all.

Anyone giving you advise to get another safety net ask them if they have taken the plunge themselves? Are they all in with IM? Are they winning in IM? If not why not? Are they happy with their cubicle job?

When I realized the cubicle life wasn't for me I saved up every single penny I had for 6 months of living expenses then quit and never looked back. Once you start making money for yourself there is a new "freedom" you come to realize. You never have to depend on anyone else, don't call anyone boss, and you now are in charge of your own destiny. You literally can do ANYTHING you want whenever you want. You want to go get a 3 hour lunch and catch up with a friend - do it. You want to go on a vacation tomorrow for 2 weeks, do it. You want to recharge your battery and go to the gym all day today, do it. You have true freedom once you are in full control of your life. That freedom is terrifying for the cubicle dweller, but once you exit the cubicle you quickly realize how silly it all was.

The fear wasn't real. Having 2-5 months worth of savings puts you in ultimate hustler mode, all nonsense drops away, all you are left with is pure drive to eat and live. Your brain starts only concentrating on survival since you have nothing to fall back on. You then turn to what you think will be the fastest way to survive and generate money.



Wow, sounds like you might have already been defeated. You need to change your attitude towards life. "Failure is NOT an option. It's impossible to fail when your hustle is 24/7" - unless you just aren't learning from your mistakes.

Here is the real reality, there never was a safety net. You just experience it, you got fired. You can get fired ANYTIME working for someone else. The company can go bankrupt because of your bosses and managers bad decisions. Customers can backlash your company and now everyone is unemployed. There is no safety net - people want to pretend there is so they feel comfortable in their current circumstances - but they are lying to themselves.

If I every had to work for someone else in a cubicle I'd just hang myself, at least I'd go out on my own terms instead of a slow death into nothingness where you have to jump through hoops for people clearly less smarter and ambitious than you.

2-5 months, the universe just opened your door of opportunity, its up to you to step through and hustle to make it. Cause the NEXT time this happens in 6 months or whatever you'll take less risk and next time even less risk and eventually the fire to win will die inside of you - you'll never be a man of action again.

Ahhh yes... the good times, if you remember I had a site going for about 7 months that was sustaining me and I was doing it full time. It went to shit though, but I guess that happens, there are a lot of things that I learned fromt hat project, the main lesson was - don't build your castle on glass foundation.

I basically screwed it from the beginning. But oh well.

You're right, that I'm not super confident about my abilities to make money online. I've never made a TON of money, just one of my projects launched, to be honest, it was the first real project ever. Maybe you have some suggestions on how to be more confident?

 

[Calamari]

Maybe you have some suggestions on how to be more confident?

You can't just be more confident, you have to become more confident. The only way you'll do that is by taking a risk and succeeding, and having the courage to try again if you fail.

 

[c4yrslf12]

You can't win without risking it all.

Never been so scared when I dropped the office job and went online. Never had so much worry in my life the next few years.

Of course, looking back, never been so sure I made the right decision.

@CCarter is right. Go after it, or don't. You can't play in the big leagues if you're not willing to go full-time in at least a AAA at bat.

 

[eliquid]

Maybe you have some suggestions on how to be more confident?

So this might all be about making money online, but most times if someone is not confident, it spans everything in their life. From women to money to anything.

If this you, the problem really comes from failure and rejection.

I would tell you to start embracing failure and rejection and one way you can do this is to seek it out and let it hit you.

Example, every day find a way to get rejected or fail 1-3x a day. You could simply go to Starbucks and ask for a 50% discount. You could randomly talk to 2-3 girls a day and ask for their number and IF you do get it, throw it away. Do something like this for 30-90 days and you will see that there is nothing bad with failure or rejection and nothing bad came from it.

The point is getting use to failure and rejection. Once you do, you find there is nothing to worry about and overall your confidence will rise based on the fact you are no longer worried about failure and rejection.

Specifically with money, what's the worse that can happen?

You lose your house and car? So fucking what. You can get another one and many people today live without a car and live with bankruptcy/debt and don't even have a place of their own to live ( they share rent or live with parents, etc ) and they do just fucking fine.

Maybe you get a ding on your credit score? So what?

When you really really really think about it, there is nothing to fear if you can just let go.

I had a fear of speaking. Not just in public, just speaking. I grew up with a really horrible stutter and also southern draw that makes pronouncing certain words really bad like library which sounds like lie-berry when I speak it.

People made fun of me, I still get heckled even today. It was so bad I didn't talk to people for years as a shy recluse. I even hated writing because I have a ton of misspellings and grammatical errors and anything I write I have to go back and edit it 10x even if its a paragraph.

In the end, what really happened to me? Anything bad? Anything horrible? No.

In the end, I learned to let go and not care. I have a blog and a podcast now. I make money, sometimes I make awesome money. Nothing bad came from my rejection and failure and now I laugh at those that did make me feel extremely uncomfortable for almost 40 years now.

When it comes to money, I've filed bankruptcy before. I've lost a car, I've had to live hand to mouth before, I've had sell my soul to jerks and let people micro-manage me. I've stayed up nights wondering how the hell I was going to get groceries for my kids the next day. In the end it always worked out.

Nothing bad is really going to happen bro.

The only 3 things I think would be really horrible is prison, bad health, and death and if you can avoid that, all other things are good.

You can't just be more confident, you have to become more confident. The only way you'll do that is by taking a risk and succeeding, and having the courage to try again if you fail.

This also. You have to get a few wins under your belt to gain more confidence too. However, once you realize the other side of the coin ( failure/rejection ) is NILL, you start to see that you can take bigger risks and that your risk are more than likely not risks at all.

At that point you realize it would be stupid to NOT do something. Take an even bigger risk possibly.

 

[Cash Builder]

Loving the inspiration on this thread! I'm in my final year at university but I've just started making some money online in the last few months.

My decision is do I spend the next 5 months working on my dissertation (which would take up all my time), or do I use the fact that I can live off my student loan and just proper hustle for 5 months in the hope that I'll be making good money and won't have to get a job in the summer?

I'm only thinking of one thing here. Bye bye uni!

 

[Klayne]

The only 3 things I think would be really horrible is prison, bad health, and death and if you can avoid that, all other things are good.

I agree with everything you said above, but I do disagree with this.

Those are not things you should be actively seeking, and do whatever you can to avoid them within reason.

Prison.

Nothing amazing, but its most likely not that bad. You could read meditate, introspect, work out, conquer your fears etc. It can happen to anyone, even if you don't do anything wrong.
Of course it doesn't mean that you should try to get in prison, or that it justifies evil acts.

Bad Health.

Everyone should try to live a healthy lifestyle - exercise, keep relatively healthy, recharge. Don't get too obsessed with it, keep the pareto principle in mind here.
Bad health will come to everyone eventually, and it just a thing we as humans need to endure from time to time.

Death.
Is death really bad ? Why do we think of death as a bad thing ? It's natural, and were is life, there is death. They are like hot and cold. Without one another it can't exist.
Essentially it is fear of the unknown, fear of not achieving your desires before time runs out. But you never really can fulfill the ego, it endless loop. Don't look at it as black and white, it doesn't mean that you should give up on life and get depressed, no it's the opposite, it makes you more appreciative of life itself.

Think of death as you were before you were born. You had no such thing as time, so you won't need to experience emptiness for eternity, because there won't be an ego to experience the objective reality.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I waited till I had enough in savings AND the cashflow to replace my day job.

2 Weeks later I was penalized and my cashflow went to zero.

As you can see, I survived both methods: The Careful One and the Back Against The Wall.

As you can also see, neither provided a safety net. It's all a delusion and illusion. There is no safety. Realizing that is the difference between being a modern day warrior (entrepreneur) on the global battlefield (business), and being a wage slave employee.

Yes, you can USE income from a day job to launch you further, faster. But will you really? How many really do that? How many say they will and get shackled to a cubicle riding a desk because they got comfortable and increased their standard of living (aka getting suckered by consumerism)?

NOTHING works like riding your raft over to the unknown shore and then burning that raft into ashes. When you have no choice, your evolutionary instincts kick in.

So check it out. I lost all my income 2 weeks after quitting my job and moving to a new city. Guess what happened? I went through the 5 stages of grief in 24 hours, scooped up my nuts, took ALL of my savings to the very last penny, and started a "service". By the end of that year I made triple what I would have made if I hadn't crashed and burned. And I'm still here.

I've hit ground zero 3 times now, never took a day job, survived every bit of it. It only needed to be once or twice but I'm a little stubborn. But in the end, you either push through like this is still caveman times, or you accept the trade that modern society offers you... the lie of security at the cost of your authentic life.

People like us really LIVE the most adventurous lifetimes and lay down on our deathbed at 85 and say "Thank you, that was awesome." Or we die every day over and over again while pasting a fake smile on our faces just so people stop asking why we can't be happy with our great day jobs and fun weekends.

Live an authentic, genuine, unique storyline, or live a pre-determined narrative that has every chapter already written with no surprises and no joy.

 

[builder]

Get a job. A REAL JOB. One which pays you every month.

You do not need to abandon your dream. You can find time to pursue your dreams if you are passionate enough.

Most people who are advising you to risk it all are highly confident high achievers.

Right now, you are neither. You can be.

You need PERSISTENT confidence to win. Nobody who boosted your confidence temporarily by their posts in this thread will be able to keep your confidence up permanently. Only you can do that.

Achievements boost your confidence. That doesn't usually happen overnight.

Getting a job as fast as possible gives you steady cash flow.

Be one of the best at your job. Just don't get burnt out. It will boost your confidence. Ironically, it will also help you to come home with a positive attitude and start working on your dreams/goals.

While you are at it, SAVE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN[1], so that this never happens again.
[1] http://blogmaverick.com/2008/10/04/how-to-get-rich/

Find time to work on your digital dreams. If you don't find time while working, it is highly unlikely that you will find time when you don't have a full time job either - unless your mind undergoes a drastic overhaul.

Set ridiculously small financial goals for your part-time venture EVERY MONTH. Meet those goals.

Those financial goals must be related to CASH FLOW and PROFIT. Not traffic. Not building sites. Not receivables. Not even revenue. CASH. PROFIT. NOTHING ELSE.

Increase your financial goals slowly. Make them more challenging.

Once you get to an almost permanent "high confidence" state, and you get a healthy bank balance, read this thread again.

 

[Ryuzaki]

^ that's a legit post.

You're being given advice coming from two angles, and you'll need to choose one:

• Survive
• Thrive

Do you want to simply get by? Or do you want to prosper and build wealth? One takes serious sacrifice, determination, action, and willingness to suffer.

You don't necessarily need confidence if you'll just do the damn work. Like Dan Peña said, a monkey can get rich. All you have to do is follow the million blueprints out there, step by step. It helps if you have a human brain to use, but it's not a necessity.

There are a lot of paths up the mountain. One of them includes having a job. Find a newer, nicer one if you want. Or do freelancing as some have suggested. None of that matters. What matters is what you do for YOUR business, and you're acting as if it's one-or-the-other.

The real question is, how bad do you want success (and the suffering that comes along with getting there) versus how much you want comfort. Immediate gratification gets you nothing but fleeting moments.

You can get there with a job or without a job. That shouldn't even be the focus. There should be only one focus, and it should be a SUPREME FOCUS, directed at your business.

Some people take jobs. Some people create jobs. Producers and Consumers.

 

[TacoCat]

Wow, this turned out to be a great discussion.

You can't just be more confident, you have to become more confident. The only way you'll do that is by taking a risk and succeeding, and having the courage to try again if you fail.

I was looking for someone else to say this. As I know that you can't just become more confiden't in an instant. You try and you fail and with that you grow, my point was just to show that saying that I have some doubt doesn't show that I've already failed. In my opinion it just shows that your not delusioned that you will succeed 100%.

Now, you could be 99% sure if you had many victories under your belt and I would never argue with that kind of person when he says that he will succeed.

I'm just looking at all possible outcomes.

Get a job. A REAL JOB. One which pays you every month.

You do not need to abandon your dream. You can find time to pursue your dreams if you are passionate enough.

Most people who are advising you to risk it all are highly confident high achievers.

Right now, you are neither. You can be.

You need PERSISTENT confidence to win. Nobody who boosted your confidence temporarily by their posts in this thread will be able to keep your confidence up permanently. Only you can do that.

Achievements boost your confidence. That doesn't usually happen overnight.

Getting a job as fast as possible gives you steady cash flow.

Be one of the best at your job. Just don't get burnt out. It will boost your confidence. Ironically, it will also help you to come home with a positive attitude and start working on your dreams/goals.

While you are at it, SAVE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN[1], so that this never happens again.
[1] http://blogmaverick.com/2008/10/04/how-to-get-rich/

Find time to work on your digital dreams. If you don't find time while working, it is highly unlikely that you will find time when you don't have a full time job either - unless your mind undergoes a drastic overhaul.

Set ridiculously small financial goals for your part-time venture EVERY MONTH. Meet those goals.

Those financial goals must be related to CASH FLOW and PROFIT. Not traffic. Not building sites. Not receivables. Not even revenue. CASH. PROFIT. NOTHING ELSE.

Increase your financial goals slowly. Make them more challenging.

Once you get to an almost permanent "high confidence" state, and you get a healthy bank balance, read this thread again.

I absolutely agree, that most people that advise me to go for it are high achievers. And maybe I should get a job. But then again, if you don't take the plunge, you will never know. I really agree with @eliquid view, that it doesn't really matter what you lose, you can always come back from it.

I've done it before, I've had situations when I don't have anything to eat. If I look back I've managed quite well.

 

[GNews]

Nothing about having a Dream is practical

Therefore, if you are thinking ... hesitantly.. maybe you just aren't cut for this.

The reality of Ultimate, solo success.... it's for the people who are stupid enough, to not know when to stop

 

[Michel]

Hmm reading your thoughts and questions being asked reminds me of a friend of mine. Had some success online but always looking for the next big thing. Moving to another location to get a better feeling to work for, having another idea that might work better. Needing to hear your thoughts and brain storm together.

The thin red line in his life is his inner desire to think himself out of sticky situations feeling guaranteed of success even before work is started. What is lacking in this thread is action and alot of it.

Man I failed so much shit and fucked up a million times, I kind of started over from scratch 3 times working online, I still feel like a novice even though I run a 6 figure company(on track for first 7 digit year) hiring 7 people.

I still wonder if my crazy ideas will work out, but in the end so will I never know until I take action.

How comfortable are you with being uncomfortable? Can you deal with severe stress and anxiety? It will be there and it won't go away until things starting to work and money is coming in?

In the end so is it decision time, take the plunge. Because worst case scenario so will you fuck it up and if you fuck it up so do learn and deal with it and move on and start the next idea.

 

[Rageix]

I agree with both points.

On one hand you gotta do it, because how can you know if you don't?

On the other it's almost crazy because you chance of success is low considering you basically just have a few months tops and really only one go at it. Ultimate confidence in yourself is great, but determination wins the race. I feel it's more about getting past the "temporary defeat" more than anything.

I can't tell you what to do, but word of warning. I had a buddy who did something similar. Spent all his money. Crashed his car. Went nuts. Ran up tons of debt on his credit card. Ended up in the loony bin and had to be put on meds.

In short, it went fucking bad. I would love to give you all the confidence in the world but you might end up living on the street selling yourself for quarters.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, if the shot you are taking is going to destroy you if you fail you should consider look for better opportunities / odds.

Best of luck.