Driving wrong vehicle with wrong passenger on the fastlane

It was more than 2 years ago in 2008, I posted my fastlane plan. I am still far from reaching the goal. It’s time to seriously review my plan. I still have good faith on what I am doing. The question is this. Am I driving the right vehicle? So a year later in 2009, I had reality check. Now it’s time to ask the same question again. Am I driving the right vehicle or driving on the wrong direction.

I am sure I will come back a year later to review the progress.

In my point of views, a real fastlane plan is something with the following natures.

• Something that is created by user generate content.
• Something that is viral.
• Something that has demand and high profit margin.
• Something that has no inventory, no shipping and no return.
• Something that don’t need much customer services.
• Something that can scale up
• Something that can sell itself
• Something that can last longer
• Something that has proprietary technology and hard to duplicate
• Something that has no physical boundary and can be access on the Internet

I still think my plan is a Fastlane plan. However, there are problems in front of me and huge challenge that I have to conquer.

The problems:

• I can’t do it all (biggest problem)
• The targeted user don’t generate content. They either don’t have time or don’t know how.
• The content require attention to keep at good quality
• There is demand, but there is not enough incentive to make it viral
• The profit margin drop due to economy
• There are too many competitions
• Not using email marketing, social media to create viral demand.
• I am not in the 100% full speed mode.
• I have been too nice to the wrong people in the wrong crowd

With deeper review about the causes of the problems, I can pretty much blame on my lack of execution and risk management. I still have a lot of to learn about being a true entrepreneurship.

Solutions:

• Hire the right people to do the right thing (I think this is the biggest one)
• Follow 20/80 rule. Find the right customers who can pay more
• Better time management
• Better email marketing strategies.
• Better branding using Social Media
• Better risk management
• Create process and get ready for sell
• Be Evil! There is only profit and no friendship or enemy in the business. (I know this will piss lots people. Well! They are not the people I should be networking with)

How far can I go with my current plan?

It’s been more than 2 years, since I had this idea and 5 years since I become my own boss. I am still far from reaching my goal. My mom and few others have told few times to look for a job or to do something else. It’s going to be heart breaking to start over again as a corporation slave. No way. That’s not what I am looking for 5 years ago. I am luck that my wife have been working full time for 5 years to pay the bill.

I keep telling myself, there must be something out there that I can use to turn thing around! What would that be? With all the efforts I put into the current plan, I seem to have a big picture in front of me. I think I am just one step away to make big improvement.

Plan B:

I need a faster vehicle. The vehicle will have the following characteristics.

• Recession proof.
• Instant cash flow
• Higher profit margin
• Easier to be viral and to create demand

Really! After all these years, I have learned one thing! The #1 key to success is PEOPLE! The #1 key to failure is PEOPLE as well!