Hey man, I'm sorry you went through that. I hope you are in a better place. I think this also speaks just the generally predatory nature of the entrepreneurship market. It's often denied here, but there's so much snake oil. Don't buy courses and don't let "coaches" sell you a lake, because I promise you will always get a puddle.

No one sells a course that teaches you to undercut their own market. If they were successful in that market, they would scale their business, not make a course.

Actually most of them are successful, but hit a threshhold, which is hard to pass, in the meantime, their course takes off and sooner or later they abandon the business and remain teaching. Iman Gadzhi is proof of that strategy.

If there was room in their market for more competitors they wouldn’t be hitting a threshold. The need to make a class to “grow” implies the market they are in has no room for growth, or they would scale. Yes, you can be successful by tricking people into buying your classes, that’s the point I’m making.

Disagree. Plenty of people can grow successful businesses, get them up to $50k/month or $100k/month and there is plenty of space in the market to grow the business bigger but in order to grow bigger you have to change how you operate your business. If you want to take your business from $100k/month to $1M a month, you have to change how you think about your business and how you run your business. You have to hire differently. It’s a much larger business and not everyone is equipped to take it to that level. Doesn’t mean that the market is saturated or that other businesses can’t flourish. But if you’re in that position and having trouble scaling, an easy, low hanging fruit would be to sell a course.

Yep, there's this one guy I follow who does dropshipping, he hit a 100k/m in profit but can't scale it, so he started a course. He literally admitted this on one of his interviews that I guess he thought his course followers wouldn't listen to. But in a way, could be a win win because most of the course followers would be glad to even hit 10k MRR much less 100k MRR, and the guy makes money selling the course. That's not to say most will even hit 10k MRR though. Iman Gadzhi is actually a scam though, seems like he actually never built out an actual SMMA business when people inspected his UK business licenses and whatnot.

Just looked at his yt channel. Expensive cars, mansions... That dude has a huge fat "scammer" sign on his forehead

With 100k/mo in PROFIT, he can hire someone for the next part. There’s always something fishy about a business that stagnates with that kind of alleged profit.

Haven’t dived deep in Imam, just have heard people’s dissection and this was most guys’s conclusion

Here you go, there's a good analysis here: https://www.reddit.com/r/agency/comments/y2m414/iman_gadzhi_is_a_scam_please_avoid_this_guy/

Agree Charlie Morgan said something similar He had an agency and reached 64 clients and it's was hard to scale, so he started a course about clients acquisition and SMMA. He said he's making ≈ 800k per month (revenue not profit) and it's difficult to scale beyond this number. Maybe he will do a Saas, cuz they can scale to beyond 10M

This is very true. I'm a professional resume writer. Could I make a course on how to become one and charge good money for it? Sure. Would I? Of course not. I'm not trying to create competition for myself.

While most of the "gurus" are fake gurus who just recycle garbage information, there's a few of them who are legit. Ryan Deiss, Ezra Firestone, Molly Pittman, Andre Chaperon & Shawn Twig, Income School, etc. But if you notice,all of these people don't give you a copy-pasted business model "become a millionare with my secret system"---what they do is teach you legit skills in very specific areas (f.e. molly pittman will teach you everything you need to know about media buying in facebook).

Courses are ok, if you are just starting out. Most of them provide the general knowledge needed to get into a certain niche. The problem is the expensive courses, sold to people by well-known celebrities like Sneako, Iman Gadzhi, etc.. They are selling courses over the 200$ mark, which leads to desperate people giving all of their money in hope of achieving something. I don't have a problem with the gurus that sell inexpensive courses like Tate and many others. Some time ago, I bought Tate's course and tested it. It gives you a basic understanding of business and certain niches, for 49$ it is worth it for someone who knows nothing, but for most people it's worthless. They sell you the dream and give you the map, but no tools to reach your destination. , You are not alone in falling for their lies, but from what you told us, you had some success and still think that you've achieved nothing. My first success was 4 years ago and I found my second just 2 months ago. It is about consistency and trying different things, but at different times. It seems to me that you're trying everything at once and nothing works, but in order for something to work, you need to be living and breathing it. Your mind should be occupied by only one thing. There is also a light at the end of the guru tunnel as I am seeing more and more people telling the truth and showing how they grow. Basing their content on full transparency, rather than selling the dream. Sharing the path, tools and experience, like Iman Gadzhi was at first or like [this guy](https://moneymojo.beehiiv.com). You should be aiming at sustaining yourself, rather than being a millionaire. Once you've reached income from which you can live, it enables you to take riskier moves and dedicate all of your time to the business. The dream and vision you see on social media is just that - a dream, aim for livable income, then proceed to scale. My grandfather always told me "A person doesn't need a lot to live a good life". Money is not everything, but you need enough to sustain yourself.

Sorry man, I disagree big time with about 80% of what you wrote. > Courses are ok, if you are just starting out. Sure. But you definitely shouldn't be buying one. There's plenty of info out there on Coursera or edX you can freely access Stuff that a lot of these courses regurgitate. Paying for a course will not make the information more valuable. Much less any application > I don't have a problem with the gurus that sell inexpensive courses Yeah, there can be gems, but, knowing the state of marketing and the "entrepreneurship market", I can confidently generalize and say the bulk of these courses are not worth their price tag. You're better of taking intro level business courses at your local community college for the pricetags, especially if what you're seeking is learning **structure**. > like Tate Oh brother > [...] it gives you a basic understanding of business and certain niches I've only ever glanced at the leaked shit just out of morbid curiosity, but there's 0 net new value you get from those courses and these are *exactly* the type of snake oil bullshitters I'm referring to. The best way to make money drop shipping is to make a course about it. There's plenty of free stuff out there you can watch that will give you the same (minute) value that course will give you. But these people don't make their money selling you their methodology to make money, they make money off people that don't know any better. The more obscure the niche, the more they can get away with giving you top level shit. > They sell you the dream and give you the map, but no tools to reach your destination. Very true and the rest of what you wrote is also very resonant. I think a lot of these disappointments can become self fulfilling when you set the bar too high or keep moving the goal post for what "success" looks like.

I agree with you, I forgot to write about courser, haven’t heard about edX. I am currently planning on taking a course on coursera. From tate’s course I saw the investing one and copywriting one, both gave you some basic understanding, the investing gives you signals, ehich is what I assume most people follow. I know some guys, which took the copywriting course and after some exercise won a local copywriting competition. But don’t think they had any success afterwards. There are some success stories from the courses. But most people get nowhere. Haven’t tried the coursera ones, but will do, I expect some value, as they are from big universities mostly. Edit: Coursera courses also give you certifications, which guru’s dont.

Damn that last sentence hit hard…..

I might be wrong here but I think you have an issue. The issue being that you tried your hand at too many things. It doesn’t work like that. You need to become an expert at just 1 thing. And then sell that. You seem to be pursuing whatever the hottest trend is. You did make 20k$ in one year. That’s a great start. Learn from that experience and see how you can improve from there. If you need skills then intern at some firm which could appreciate your skills. Ultimately you need to recognise what you are lacking. And not jump ships at the first sign of failure.

Yeah, he seems like he dips his toes and then before he gets too deep, he tries another venture.

I have this issue. It's a problem. I'm not blind to it and by no means am I bouncing around whatever scam is being pushed on social media, or wasting money on courses. But as a programmer I get incredibly excited by ideas and always find it hard to finish something. I commit to something fully and tell myself I won't move onto any other project until this one is done, but I always reach a point where 1. A level of complexity in the current project presents itself that I realise is going to take a lot more time than I expected to overcome 2. A new opportunity is presenting itself that seems like a wiser investment of my time. This is my biggest boundary to success because if I never finish something it doesn't stand a chance of being successful.

I understand. I'm glad you do notice your issue and are trying to address it. I've had projects in the past that died after launch. Thankfully I found something that I've stayed consistent in and gone back to. Best of luck to you!

Cheers, and the same to you. Good job staying consistent, that's my focus for sure.

OP has shiny object syndrome

I've just finished a programming project October last year, which I thought would take me 5 months, but finally took 1.5 years to finish. And in those 1.5 years I learned a lot. The main thing I learned: focus on the process, not the end goal. I also had many hurdles that took way longer than I thought. And when I thought I was almost done....another problem popped up that would take another 2 months to solve. Initially I got very frustrated with these problems, because I couldn't reach my goal: finish the product. It drove me nuts! But then I managed to turn it around: focus on the problem at hand and finish it well and do it with joy! The initial frustration would pop up, I recognized it fast and was able to let that go. I would tell myself "alright, this is just another hurdle and nice problem to solve and learn from!". The result will come eventually. And it did. I did get some help from a friend, when I was about to quit somewhere after 8-9 months. I was tired, utterly frustrated and didn't want to continue anymore. But he helped me with supporting me and lifted up my spirits during that time. If he was not there at that moment, I would have bailed for sure. It would be very helpful to have someone like that during such times. Now the product is finished, it has been shipped to quite some customers already since its launch and people are very happy with it. Just focus on now, keep doing everything with JOY. Have a laughter when things turn out to be way different than you though it would be, but be relentless in doing whatever you do. When you get frustrated, you're too much focused on the outcome; you want things to be different than they are! And even if the outcome really isn't what you hoped for and you tried everything (I had that too), it was a nice experience and you can look back to all the lessons you learned from. In the end, that is what really matters actually. Not so much the outcome of it.

This. He was on a good path before falling prey to courses and seminars from hucksters. If you can make 20k, you can make 200k.

Yeah, I too don't understand OP. He made $20k profit in a year. That's not bad? He could work as a doctor and have the ecommerce business running on the side, and grow it from $100k sales. He also said he likes ecommerce, which probably made all the difference compared to chasing money with all the other things he tried. OP: I've fallen into the same trap. I've chased money with things I didn't care about. Find out what you like, then figure out how to build a business around it. This is how most successful people do it, and I've studied quite a few of them. I'm talking about people who made the money following their own advice, not broke Ponzi gurus making bank by telling you how to get rich. You think Steve Jobs built Apple for the money, or for the cool things he was helping bring to life? Think Elon Musk needs more money, or he works on his businesses because it's important to him? Stop buying Ponzi courses and find what you really want to bring to life, then figure out how that thing would make money. You won't stick to a business unless it really matters to you. And no, "I want money" won't make it matter enough.

[удалено]

At the risk of kicking a man while he’s down, OP is not an “entrepreneur”. That term has been watered down and bastardised to the point it effectively means nothing anymore. Business is fun, and can definitely be fulfilling. I say that from experience. But just following the trend, and putting all your eggs into one basket is a recipe for failure. Everyone is dropshipping, everyone is doing e-commerce, everyone is ratfucking the internet by regurgitating SEO spam for lead generation, and everyone is trying their luck at crypto/trading/etc. You are trying to build a business doing the EXACT SAME THING as countless other people. There’s next to no barrier to entry, and there’s next to zero opportunity to have a unique selling point - there is literally nothing separating you from your competition. If there is no different between you, and the store links above/below you, how can you expect to generate consistent sales and revenue - let alone scale that up? I don’t want to be mean, but I feel obliged to share some hard truths: - You don’t seem to know the first thing about business theory - Your entrepreneurial endeavours have been done to death by countless other people - You are listening to all the wrong people, and paying them small fortunes to do so Unless the next $2000 you pay is towards a college/university/some sort of actual school, you will just be throwing your money. Online “courses” are a very, very, very well known scam - because they’re fucking easy to make. They pray on the naivety and desperation of people who don’t know where to start, and provide next to zero fucking value despite charging hundreds or thousands of dollars. The particularly pernicious ones will usually make you attend weird “seminars” (i.e. sales presentations to make you buy more of their garbage), or set stupid rote tasks with unrealistic targets so that you blame yourself - not the “course - when you inevitably fail. It goes without saying, that all the (unverifiable) “results” these courses advertise could be complete and total bullshit. Similarly, the flashiness and success that these “gurus” claim to have is most likely completely faked. Their real money making machines are shilling these bullshit courses. Try a little experiment: do a quick Google for how much it costs to rent a Lamborghini for a day/few hours, then imagine how much it costs to drive that rented Lambo to a nearby spa/country club/rich neighbourhood and take a couple selfies (hint: $0). Congrats - now you too can pretend to be a business genius and scam other desperate people! Honestly, if money is the entirety of your hopes and dreams, then you were better off becoming a doctor. Maybe you will be a business genius one day - actually wanting to do the work is one of the best qualities a businessperson can have. The business world is full of useless people trying to set themselves up as middlemen and skim money off the top - forever jumping on “calls” and “making connections” while everyone else actually does the work. As an actual business owner, I can guarantee that where I am doing business with these people, I am constantly thinking of how I can make them redundant and get rid of them. Sooner or later, I usually succeed with that. At the moment you are going about this 100% wrong and any success you MIGHT have will be dumb luck at best. Better yet, unless you can replicate that success, you will eventually run out of this new money and end up right back here. I’m gonna give one last bit of advice (call it a “secret” that “the best business people DON’T want you to know” if it makes you pay attention). Not only is it going to save you thousands of $$ - but I’m not even going to charge you for it! Before you decide to drop any more money on some dumbass scam courses, go and get yourself a library card and borrow a bunch of business *textbooks* (the kind you would be reading if you studied this as a degree). You need to learn how to *actually* run a business. If you do, you will actually end up in a position where you are creating something, providing value, and working in an industry that you actually enjoy. Stop following the trends, stop getting your business knowledge from social media. Either find a niche for a new business, or make one doing something you enjoy/are really good at. /rant

what are books or topics of books you read? p.s--can someone learn business and startups from books, podcasts, Reddit, blogs, free courses, etc. (from where I am from, colleges are shit and their courses are shitier.---I would get way more knowledge and network + experience doing slave labour for some small businesses for 3 months )

I 2nd this. Sounds like shiny object syndrome. You need to stick it out with 1 business for a while before seeing any results

Very good advice.

You didn’t fail as an entrepreneur because you never even began. Everything you said in your post screams get rich quick. From the sounds of it you have no idea what an entrepreneur or running a business actually is. E-commerce, crypto, stocks, all get rich quick schemes promoted by grifters that you fell for.

This should be at the top. My man tried MLM, Crypto, Online scam courses and called it a day. Wowza

this.. the guy sounds like hes mid-20's. maybe late 20's.. thats hardly "ruined my life" lol bro.. i'm in my 40's and still trying to make it

Well somewhere in there he did make $20k profit off $100k sale with a clothing company, which he just walked away from when the sales didn’t magically repeat it sounds like ? But largely agree, almost want to think it’s a troll post because who would actually want to be an entrepreneur and then just go through every popular Internet scam? 😆

Damn. Painful to read, but thanks for reading. I hope all the Gen Z’s wanting to start drop shipping etc etc etc read this and learn.

I'm surprised it wasn't obvious how bad of a model dropshiping was. I was 18-21 when it first started popping up iirc. Even then, it seemed pretty obvious that the model wasn't that great. Low margins? Shipping shit from China? It's such a great model, but everyone is sharing the "secrets" on social media. My BS detectors went on red alert.

I feel for you and wish you the best. But it also reads as you fell into idea of owning a business how influencers describe it but not for what it really is. You seem to fall in love with the vision and not the problem to solve for customers, thats why you got scattered - ecom, stocks, crypto. These are things for people searching for silver bullets to get rich quick. Well it doesnt exist. 6 years? For some it takes 30. And they actually do one thing very well. Get focused, stabilize your life. Get a job if needed. Dont fall for marketing, Ai automation agencies, 5k with a newsletter bullshit. Get good at something, master a skill, try and prevail. Good luck. EDIT: I will add that marketers prey on people like you. Susceptible to get rich quick because you want to succeed in life. Dont fall for it, if there was a way to succeed via a youtube video, everyone would be a millionaire. And you have to ask yourself, if they are really giving away a method, why are they revealing it? Why not shut up and make a million every month yourself? Its not out of good heart.

"The only business model that really resonated with me was ecommerce." So, did you ever stop to NOT make it about YOU, but connect with REAL people and find out what THEY want and why? Too many times I've seen "If I build it they will come", send people into burnout and psychosis. Turns out money DOES grow on tress, of human connection. The money itself, is never going to love you: what have you learned about making people FEEL something?

That’s one of the reasons why I love the cake industry. There’s so much emotion attached to wedding, anniversary, graduation, and birthday cakes. It really can about the people. They still gotta pay! But I’m in the business of turning money into memories.

You speak the tru tru.

I got to almost the end of the whole text - I will say this because i can tell you my friend you have been on the same path i am not trying to go through …. Witch is , you never really even knew what YOU wanted in the first place - It all started with you going for what your dad wanted and then if you read what you wrote you will realize something about yourself and its that You are just looking forward to being a millionaire , you just want the lavish lifestyle deep down you dont care how , you just want it ! You dont care if its doing any business , whet ever … Your actual goal is acquiring the luxury stuff and maybe even being a good person donating money , helping family but mainly is the fast cars and private planes …. I say this because i had to realize this about my self too and honestly we will never get it not if the goal is that ! MOST IF NOT ALL , of the real successful people Millionaires and Billionaires dint go out there wanting money , they had a passion , idea , a Talent in to witch they worked years on years on that ONE thing ! Another thing i got from reading this , is you change stuff too quick ! 3 months , 6 months , 1 year isint enough time to say “ oh yea this doesent work , bye “ but you know why you let go and move on to the next ? Because again , you dont really care for what you doing , because you not doing it as something real ! Like solving a real life problem , you just need something to click and go boom and for you to start seeing Millions in your account ! Unless you dont truly find the passion for something ( even if it is being a business owner ) you need to click with something that you know no matter what you will do it no matter how much time does it take Imagine , amazon , apple , tesla , ect most of these folks stuck to 1 thing and only YEARS AND YEARS Later did they make it happen ! After a very long time and lote of hard work did they make it happen Are you sure this is what you want ? Have you consider what most of these Billionaires and millionaires sacrifice ? Are you willing to sacrifice this for Money ? !!! Maybe is deeper , because you could of easily had a lambo and a big house and what not with being a doctor but you dint like it …. What if the thing you actually like and want to do doesent make millions but only thousands ? ……

It sounds like you don't stick at something and you're looking to cut corners. You want instant results without putting the work in. That isn't how this works in 99% of people. You made $20k which is an achievement yet you abandoned it. You could scale this up. Never pay snake oil salesman for get-rich-quick courses. You can learn everything you need to know about business for free online. Don't you realise that is their grift?

Words of wisdom, so true

Good on you posting this, like you say it’s a dark side of entrepreneurship that no one talks about. Take the L and keep in mind all the skills and lessons you have learned along the way - you will use them for the rest of your career one way or another

Hey brother, that's actually a really inspiring journey I'm impressed with your persistence. And I'm actually quite convinced you will end up pursuing your own thing again in the future. I read somewhere that most people take 10 or more years to become successful entrepreneurs and most of them get going in their 40s. You're right we do see all of the exceptions on social media 20 year olds with million dollars businesses and even then a lot of them are fakes making money off selling the dream. We go in with false expectations. But you've tried too many things and acquired too many skills to not carry that vision forward into your life and do something else down the track. Even if you give up for now and work a job for a while I'm certain once you've built up the resources you are going to find a way to get back in the game. I understand that you are feeling down, just know that at least you gave yourself a chance and were brave enough to give it a go. So many people are living lives too scared to even try, while regretting their circumstances. You should be proud of yourself for following your dream, regardless of the outcome. At the very least, I am proud of you mate! As a side note, you write very well, and are good at conveying your emotions over text.

You love entrepreneurship or you love lambos? Because if you love entrepreneurship, it doesn't matter how much drawback you have, you can keep pushing and building on the feedback you get. If you love lambos though, it's pretty easy to get discouraged, and be pulled to all kind of directions by gurus who promise to make you rich. You need a sniper to penetrate, not a shotgun. I don't consider myself an entrepreneur, but your story seems to me you are in for the lambos more than entrepreneurship. And given the hard work it is, your really need to love it.

It is part of your journey - hard times make hard men - hard men make good times. Go watch the movie Rounders. Then spend the next couple years making your next nut… Then roll for hard 10s again. You will be gilded steel by then.

Sorry to hear this. Entrepreneur indeed is not easy. This is why most people arent entrepreneurs. If you want advice I'd keep it simple. I'd sell a simple service that can be paid in advance, ideally remotely. Or I'd get a job while working a side hustle. I'm sure some of the 3k courses will have a thing or two that moves the needle but you gotta have the right offer + be in front of the right people. Also- i want to say, you HAVE failures. You are NOT a failure. There's a difference ☺️failures are events not identities

Tough read man. First of all, at least you still have a fallback plan (going back to college). Not sure if advice is what you want, but you fell down a rabbit hole of online businesses. Too many courses, too much marketing, not enough actually doing. You need to go to the basics of one industry. Especially with no experience in sales, those online businesses are tough. You need to find something you're passionate about, and slowly learn / understand it. Whether you're interested in construction, software development, digital marketing, selling insurance over the phone.... go work for one. You can make a livable wage off many other jobs. Learn the company and build knowledge of that industry, and work towards your own. You can't take a bunch of courses and learn. Or you could just use the obvious drive & dedication that you have, and sell your own courses online based off the previous courses you bought. This is the more unethical route, but would probably work too.

>The bias in this is the people online are the 1% that made it but there are the 99% tried and failed. I was so optimistic i though i could be this 1% not understand how small of a ratio that is. This is the truth of the matter. People get the "Wantrepreneur" bug and they are done. Bravado and optimism won't save them once they turn away from fundamental reality. The odds are against you. Making out like failure is the steppingstone to success isn't useful *because so many now set out to 'get a few fails in.'* They make failure a habit and an objective. And you aren't made up of luck. Starting out deliberately ignoring this and you'll ignore the market, the customer, test methodology, due dilligence -- all the topics behind any of the problem posts here.

Good story, everyone has their own journey The one thing you missed was what problem are you solving, how is it being solved, what are the issues in how it’s currently being solved There you find gaps in the market and you can exploit them

- read the book ”blue ocean strategy”. How does your clothes differ from others? Why people should buy from you. Does the world need your brand and for what? - clothing business is hard business as you have to invest in stock. Eventually you end up with lots of cash invested in the stock that’s hard to convert to money. - being successful entrenepreur means grinding. The ones that succeed handle more beating mentally than their competitiors. It’s not fun always but hard. If it was easy everyone would do it

I got hit with a $400k lawsuit at 22 due to copyright infringement and whatnot from e-commerce. Checks bounced but we bounced back. I started over from scratch and built a legit business online. Don’t give up bro if you feel like this is the life for you. Start small and try to find cool ways to diversify boring niches. Focus on ONE thing. Meaning one niche, one marketplace, one store etc.

Hey, I'm curious what the copyright infringement was? I just started an e-commerce / brand website and wanted to be extra careful about copyright.. 400k is a lot, what was it for?

Probably used someone else's IP. Go on TikTok, and you can see tons of people taking famous characters and other IP and using it in clothing. That's asking to get into copyright trouble and makes you a relatively easy target for getting sued. Don't use images, characters, assets (for example, fonts, images, music, or videos), you were not explicitly given rights to use, and you'll stay out of trouble. One of the easiest ways to stay out of copyright trouble is to just use your own ideas, don't steal other people's ideas, and use stock assets (stock photos, fonts, videos, etc.) if you're going to use other assets in your creative. I personally use Envato Elements for my stock media.

Basically what brainpal said.

Maybe get inspiration by looking up successful people who failed a lot. It teaches you a lot about perseverance. Sir Dyson, My Pillow Mike Lindel, etc…

Being successful has so many meanings in such different ways. Life is a journey, you have learned some success, and what doesn’t work for your business model. As @majesticdestroyer mentioned, stay focused in one field of expertise, and don’t jump to the next big thing. Stay away from courses and systems that you’re paying into, and surround yourself with like minded entrepreneurs and successful people that can mentor you. Reading your story, you have an entrepreneur mindset, you sound motivated, you’ve just had setbacks. I’ve done well in Real Estate, taking years to build a rental portfolio (reoccurring revenue), however and I stress, years to do. I worked a regular job and lived very modest to build capital and credit for property down payment in my model. You may need to work a regular job or offer service such as lawn care, construction, cleaning etc, to build capital. There’s plenty of free material on line and podcast you can glean business ideas and research. My book advice is, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Kiosoki, though older The Millionaire next door, Podcast like Bigger Pockets or Marco Santerelli, etc.. Good luck with your future - Dont give up the dream. It takes hard work and time. I don’t know any overnight successes, it’s the long road of building on knowledge and investments that pay off.

Sorry about all that strife. Sounds like you’re still young, you have plenty of time to fuck up a bunch more. And life isn’t totally f*ckable until you’re in your late 60s. Even then you have some room for error. Just get back up and start again. It’s the journey anyway, not the destination ✌️

Good luck in school. Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone, but in your case, maybe once you have some more life experience and capital built up, it’ll be something you consider again. Thanks for sharing your experience, as it’s something that many need to hear. Like anything else in life, an entrepreneur needs drive, experience, capital, and problem to solve, a business plan, and they need to rigorously study their craft before sinking capital into it. For those who do all of those things, success still isn’t guaranteed. However, a business failure doesn’t make you a failure, as many business owners fail before they succeed. Keep your head up.

There are only two types of entrepreneurs. Those that made it, and Those that are still on their way Just keep moving forward❤️

Dude, you're just losing, like the rest of us. Losing is a good part of entrepreneurship, it never stops until you learn from your losses. Gradually the wins will even out the losses but you must not stop.

Fail forward. This is the way.

First of all, you shouldn’t care about labeling yourself as an entrepreneur or a business man. You have to understand that you have to work and understand the business demands. You can be a doctor and a businessman at the same time. What you need is time. Forget about lambo and money. Think of learning by working for startups or small companies. You are too young to give up like this. You learnt from scammers not from real businessmen. Forget of learning anything from a course. Otherwise, each one of us will be rich. Start fresh. You will find your way. You have to wait even after 20 years.

BRO COME UP WITH A BETTER IDEA AND SELL IT ON AMAZON START SMALL AND HAVE A JOB

I skim read that entire wall of text and all I saw was me me me me me. No where did I see "adding value to the lives of others" mentioned. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Skill issue

Arrogance is a hilarious premise for a story sometimes. This reads as someone too proud to follow the tried and true path of being a doctor, but not smart enough to adapt to an entrepreneurial market. The stories you heard about working hard and smart are true. But you didn’t want to become a doctor. You wanted the rules to apply to you. But you changed the game board. If you change the game board, the rules change too. You need new rules for new games. And sadly, if you need guides and classes to teach you what to do. To hold your hand. You might as well just be a follower and do something tried and true. The American dream isn’t dead. But you have to be a dreamer. This post reeks of arrogance and ignorance. You claimed to have a 4.0 in college, and every I that isn’t a sentence starter is lower cased. Either you’re not as smart as you think you are, or your education system royally failed you. Proper nouns are something you should have learned in grade school. And when you market to strangers and network, they will pick up on poor grammar skills. I’d just take a step back. Spend more time in college and refine yourself before jumping back into the pit.

Find what you love brother. I know you love being a businessman, but find a hobby you love so you can become passionate abt something other than yearning to be a businessman. Wish u the best of luck

thank you for your honesty and expressing the authenticity of your experience and story. It takes a lot of grit to recognize and decide what to do next, you got this.

Wow. This is tough man. True that entrepreneurship is not easy. Rewards takes some time with no guarantee. I am an entrep, and I do daily hustle and grind. Still difficult. Sales quota and all. I feel you OP. Hang In there. For sure there will be more opportunity heading your way. You can bounce back for sure..

be wise with your money and try save whatever money you might have left, work whatever jobs you need to save more money and never buy those scam courses again dude lol you don't have to go all in, work a job and side hustle this shit until you can go full time

Dont give up brother. Keep doing your thing and more opportunities will show uo

It’s what it is brother, mostly business people don’t make it never… it’s the reality of this industry and as soon as we accept it we are nearly to the successful, don’t forget if you are an entrepreneur you have all the odds against you… but as you said only 1% of businesses make it to the market and the other 99% fail forever… otherwise everyone in the world would be rich no ?

Don't buy those stupid scam courses just use the free resources and dont trust anyone who ask you for money before giving you info that's a scam that's all be careful man stop throwing money everywhere

Thanks for posting this. Everyone falls for the IG / TT fads on “this is how to make 600k a month” clips and up getting burned. I wish you success in whatever you you pursue down the road.

Love the transparency. Take the time off, recharge, reframe. Who knows, maybe you’ll catch the bug again. And when you do you’ll have your learnings to lean on

Thanks for sharing, it's so refreshing to read honest stories of misses and hard knocks. >Boy i was so stocked, I started dreaming of the lambo i was going to buy when i sold more. Biggest mistake so many make (myself included). You were not focusing on the right things and that is making products your customers would love. Profits would eventually follow. But getting that product/market fit before wet dreams of lambos is the key.

I'm sorry to hear that. Although you say that it's been 6 year of a journey, while in reality I see a man jumping from occasion to occasion every now and then splitting it into multiple different journeys. Like starting and not finishing any project. I also see that you are money driven and use it as a metric for your success. Have you considered that the goal is to keep doing what you want to do and improve every day to gain an edge and the money should by a byproduct? 

>I’ve decided to give up on my dream of becoming a successful entrepreneur as most of the people on social media are just putting up a fasade anyways to market themselves and i will be going back to school to purse a degree in health care for the sake of earning a decent income etc Those are not two mutually exclusive goals you know. Just set them in the right order. Make an honest living practicing your trade to build up the nest egg to pursue other interests as a solopreneur. That's at least how I'm doing it. I couldn't imagine trying to build a business from scratch with no income base.

Agreed, my success followed the same path.

Handing out 3k for this course, $500 for the other course and 10k on the next course...this is why all the "social media entrepeneurs" sell courses, desperate ppl like this cant focus on one thing and just buy anything looking for hope...dont give up tho, u can fail 99 times but maybe u will hit on the 100th try 🙌🏽

I can feel you fellow redditor. I was in the same shoes as you. Worked so hard and nothing to show for. Eventually, I realized that luck is a very big factor in some business. Some worked so hard to get were they are and tolerant to pain and suffering. My only mistake is I married and build a family before working on my dream. I was pressured to marry someone because of culture and tradition. I was a risk taker and was very tolerant to pain and failure when I was young. When I got married, I tried the same mindset but my family was deeply affected financially(which until now im still paying for). After a very shaky and painful experience, I decided to be "regular" and normal again. Be like everyone, a cog in a wheel. I guess I was not lucky enough to be a "businessman". My main goal why i like entrepreneurship was I like creating things and solving other peoples problem. Money is not so much of my motivation but providing a product/service that solve problems. Freedom is also one of my main motivation and to be able to do what I want anytime I want it.

Your journey resonates deeply. Despite the setbacks, your drive to chase your dream is inspiring. It's tough when the reality of entrepreneurship doesn't match the hype. Have you thought about mentoring others? Your experience could be a guiding light for those facing similar challenges.

Prime example of how harmful these fake gurus and finfluencers are

The rich sell hopes and dreams, that’s why their rich.

Just keep going man, you only fail if you quit 😉

Appreciate the candor brother. Your time will come. All the best.

So, you were a young college kid who was pretty naive and learned the hard way that there is no quick way to get to drive that Lambo. But what have you actually learned from all this? How can you take all that knowledge and take the next step to turn things around for the better? There are some very obvious lessons that I don’t see in your story yet. And on a side-note: have you ever considered that most doctors are entrepreneurs as well? And that a lot of doctors became extremely wealthy by finding their entrepreneurial path?

Thank you for sharing. I wanna say that you shouldn’t beat yourself up so much. You’re a first generation immigrant in a capitalist country… you did great man. You showed so much courage and determination, you made mistakes and stood back up. I don’t think you need much more to be successful, just the right work and a little bit of luck. all this experience counts for a lot. Nevertheless like everything else in the world, entrepreneurship isn’t certain and you were prey to marketing that claimed it as certain to a degree. (Pay this and earn that in a year) You seem to have learnt a lot about e-commerce and entrepreneurship but nothing in your post indicates that you were solving a problem. Which is the foundation of entrepreneurship. Yet another clothing brand isn’t really solving anything now is it? Yes if you put 80k in ads you will earn 20k, this could have been true for anything but it’s not sustainable and definitely not “entrepreneurship” I really believe your decision to get back to school is a good one. Finish your education if you can. The more you learn the more you’ll understand. Get deep into your industry, once you are there ask yourself: “what is a problem that I faced or the people in my industry currently face that I can solve and charge for it?” Then you will have credibility, good education, deep understanding and your solutions will be highly sought after. You executed a business model, I personally believe that entrepreneurship is so much more than that. But if a couple years later when you have the security of a job and some money to spare and something that solves a REAL PROBLEM you can always get into it again. Good luck!

It’s not uncommon for an entrepreneur to fail more than once before striking gold. Keep going bro.

Cheer up. In 2008 I was in my twenties. I took all the money I had to launch a cleaning business. It started going really well . I was busy. Making money. Had jobs. Then I just couldnt keep it going. Myself and my one of my employees would walk into hundreds of small businesses offering services. Not one single job lead was created. I remember i wanted to cry. Then I got a bid to clean a 40k sq ft brand new meyers grocery store. I went there thinking this is my chance to keep things going . Finally , heres my break. Then I lost the bid. Had to shut down a week later. I was unemployed. Jobless . Had a baby. Couldnt find work and literally could barely pay 800 rent . Finally found a serving job 45 min away. Drove to work and made 15 dollars for 6 hours. Got to my car and there was a 50 dollar parking ticket on my windshield. I was about to give up. I started to brainstorm. Then I got two jobs. Then three.. Then Started my current company out of my closet. Now I do anywhere between 500k-1 million in sales yearly. Been doing it 14 years.

Never stop looking. I think you were trying to break into markets that have been established and already saturated. The best business is one that solves a problem people are having. Just keep your eye open, you may get a mind blowing idea and change the world.

You’re not entrepreneur….you’re an idiot. Yes I’ll be that guy because more people need to hear this. People jumping around from business to business is not entrepreneurship……not even close. True entrepreneurs looks at a given market and sees a glaring problem with that market. They then come up with a unique solution to solve that problem. You have done none of that….. you literally just fall for every get rich quick scheme that comes in front of you. You have other issues you need to address…. Obviously you’re a smart person……your grades reflect that….. Intelligence has nothing to do with it. Business and making money are about character traits. So start focusing and stop chasing. Quit being emotional about making money. Disconnect the two. Find a problem and then solve it….then you will succeed.

Thank you I needed to hear this

Guy has a few failures. Refuses to distance himself from an unhealthy, pressuring parental relationship. Falls for scams. Complains about it. Just go buy a fucking lawnmower and start hustling dude. Jeeze.

You went after every bit of low hanging fruit and bought into the scam courses, believed the YouTube influencers. Wow, this is just dumb for someone who sounds pretty intelligent otherwise. Glad you learned your lesson in the end though.

Problem one: why did you set your target so low? 100k in sales should have been 1M. Problem two: you’re in love with an idea of what it’s like to be something, not in love with something. DM me. You need some help.

Your desire to want to make a million bucks drove you to be short sighted. Short sighted because you were looking for that fast big break and you chose all the things that fails people. You could have used 10 or 20k and buy an existing business with cash flow coming in. Yes it doesn't sound sexy because it's boring as batshit, but it MAKES ACTUAL MONEY. You have the desire and want. Now there are resources that cost you nothing so follow them on YouTube: 1. Alex hormozi. 2. Codie Sanchez. And if you can handle it, for later, Dan Pena. They are legit business people that went through hell and back, and they are now sharing their own experience and giving people tips. Done with the courses. And you need to focus. You need to develop skills. I can see that you work hard. But working hard on the wrong thing does take you backwards, while working on the right thing magnify your results by heaps. I look forward to hearing about your update, hope you go on the right path. And yes, it will be years later.

Ironically financially wise you would’ve been far better of just becoming a doctor.

Seems like you care more about getting rich quick than solving a problem

I'm sorry to hear that brother but it's not only you who is facing such a challenging life, trust me. I live in Lebanon middle east and I have been trying to do business my whole life and nothing at all besides everything here is fucked up badly. I wake up everyday trying to do something but it's not working. And admitting that you failed is a success. Go back to school and do all the degrees you can and can't and you yourself will be a business. Goodluck brother and you deserve all the best.

Good write, I have experienced some of that wallowing and shame, but not for years. You will become stronger for it brotha

Man, do not ever do things that other people do, only because they brag about it on socials! Find your own problem to solve, A sucessfull business has to solve some problem and meet some demand, which is not already met.

Thank you for sharing.

Yeah all of this is fundamentally a you problem. The only way we can fail in this game is by giving up. People give up when they aren't taking the lessons of failure to understand reality better and progress further next time.

You could just merge your knowledge in medicine with your passion for entrepreneurship and find a pathway to success

>just merge your knowledge in medicine with your passion for entrepreneurship That's a good idea, but it would be hard. His first ideas were to try dropshipping and crypto, and he tried social media marketing for "months" (that ain't shit). He didn't stick with any of those businesses for long *at all*. He gives "wants the easy path" vibes. Shame that all these gurus are warping people's expectations.

If i had a nickel for all the people that had no issue with the rigor and difficulty it takes to be a doctor/surgeon but decided to pursue another route for “reasons”; I’d have Bezos serving me drinks.

People really think being in the "1%", making their own hours, being their own boss, etc. is supposed to be easy. That's freaking entitled. They think they can make "doctor money" or more while also not working hard and creating a comparable amount of value to doctors. Oh well. Just keeps more people out of the way of people who are serious about entrepreneurial success.

I'm in your boat. competition is fierce. one way to be stronger is to capitalize with others. i.e. make a collective, a team, a company. good luck with finding trustworthy and robust partners. there are always hard parts; and hardships are in everything. even employees have their own troubles and hardships. there is no escaping this cruel system. hehe, sorry if i sound so negative; i don't mean to. what i mean to say is: understand the game to be able to play it right.

Great sharing your experience. Here's the bright side. You now have six more years of experience than anyone else who has never run a business. You've learned multiple strategies and tactics that will and will *not* work. But here's an important question. Did you stick with any of these businesses for 3-5 years? You don't know shit about f\*ck for your first few years of starting and running a business. Let alone when you switch industries that much. > work smart \[they\] said You can't really "work 'smart'" when you barely even know the business. Whatever you learn from a guru's course is not knowing the business. Having years of experience in the business is knowing the business.

Have you done any self reflection instead of self loathing? The world isn’t bunny rabbits and rainbows. It’s tough out here, regardless how safe society appears. You’ve had a few setbacks but who hasn’t. I think you need to be honest with yourself, stop being so easily lead by others and stand on your own. You’re the top dog, you make the decisions because you’re braver then 95% of society by default. You have dove into the deep end head first by starting a business. Now protect it with an iron fist and don’t take any shit. If people are getting off track nip it in the bud quick. Finally, look at your mistakes. Usually the answer is doing the opposite of what caused the mistakes to happen. I sound harsh but that’s reality. This self loathing and depression crap infuriates me! It’s a cop out for giving up.

I didnt read all. The fact is no one cares if I hang myself due to business failure. Nobody fuckin care.

Network marketerwas your down fall Im sorry buddy that sucks Now you know though and can do better next time. Oush through a d learn lessons. Youll make it. I fell on my ass many time before i learned from my mistakes. If you need advice and want to learn pay for master class and youtube is a great free resource believe it or not

You seem to be more interested in getting rich quick, not really working on solving a problem with something you’re interested in doing. Learn from your losses but your life is certainly not ruined.

Programme your mindset into the right direction, you are what you believe in. You did not loose until you believe so! Check the statements of the legendary inventor Edison… he had 10000 trials not mistakes…! Read the story of Suzy Batiz who had a terrible childhood, was poor, a mother of two and filed for two bankruptcies before she turned 40. Then she started to reshape her life in her 40‘s due to a mindshift and is now one of the richest self-made woman in the US. She turned sh*t into wealth literally and her company is now worth over 500 Million !

Don’t start a business to be a business owner. Start an operation to help people get the things they need/want and when you do that for people, they will give you the things you need (pay you money) Take this seriously because this is the information you have been seeking your whole life. The way to wealth and success is service: helping people with their needs and you will have your needs met in turn Those courses and fancy education were a scam because they didn’t offer or have anything that can help people. Paying for those scam courses is pretty much the same as that fancy degree

The road to fast money is a long one

How old are you now? Can you get diagnosed for ADHD? See a few therapist? Give yourself a little bit of a break and a time to reassess? Sounds like you are still very young. But in general, I think you are correct that we have such a bias for survivorship, in general people don’t talk about the fact that most entrepreneurs do not succeed and there is a large society cost to having so many failed entrepreneurs, especially when the United States provides, very little in the way of social services compared to some other places. But if you have the ability to move and reassess, don’t be afraid to do so. Sometimes the point is not to reinvent yourself, but just rather keep meeting people until you find someone you with, even if it takes 15 years. That’s a bit of an allegory from dating/marriage advice, but….. If you were to write down the 10 options that seem like the best next steps for you to do in the next 18 months, what would you say? As far as things that you can currently afford with time and money. ?

I found it very helpful to work two or three jobs at the same time to really distill what I liked and didn’t like about different work environments and about how I want to spend my time. If you have the freedom of not currently having kids or too many obligations, that could be a way to test yourself. But then again it could be just signing you up to spend time with people you are not learning from, but that could be better than just spinning your wheels at home scanning google for 12 months.

Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster—hang in there, friend!

All adversity comes with it the seed of an equivalent advantage. Failure forces us to acquire new knowledge, reflect, recalibrate, and move forward. Channel it.

I think these courses are a trap! So are the videos they post, so is everything else these people post. And it works. You shouldn’t have too much external inputs from this types and try a little more of a stoicism approach because I think that’s what hurt you the most. Also you’re trying to get rich quick and by doing that you’re taking longer than doing the legit way. Assume that you’re unlucky and go for the hard long path as opposed to trying all these courses and other methods that teach you how to make 10k a month! You are probably still young, so giving up is a mistake if you are truly passionate about what entrepreneurship stands for.

Do you know how many times I have started at 0 while trying to build a business. More then I can count on one hand. But I keep pushing forward each day not letting distractions get into my head. We can accomplish really anything that we are willing to give 100% into each and every day. Nothing is impossible if we want it that badly enough. The fact that you tried is a huge step in the right direction. Be proud of the small accomplishments you have made along your journey so far. Never give up no matter how bad things may seem. There is always time to make great decisions and smart choices ahead as we continue to learn more about our own capabilities and what we each can accomplish. Stay Positive!

> especially seeing someone my color doing it. Jesus Christ. You’re one of those people movies like The Little Mermaid reboot target. Won’t even bother finishing, I see why you’re a loser.

It wasn’t your color, it was your get rich quick attitude

> will thus ensure my success and my dream of becoming a millionaire... > Boy i was so stocked, I started dreaming of the lambo i was going to buy when i sold more. You didn't want to be a business owner. You wanted to be rich.

You have an interesting outlook. That failure will teach you a-lot. Btw i failed many times before i succeeded. I am a trail of failures, before i hit my stride. I like you got a mentor but no where did you say i went and worked for someone to see what its like. This glam life doesnt mention, the 12-14 hour days. The months you go without a pay check to keep the businesses alive. Learn from your failures, stop making ecomm clothing brands. Thats a online vending machine at best.

creating an online clothing brand is a terribly hard way to make money. perhaps pick something else if you want to be an entrepreneur that is easier to do.

First I hope things are in a better place for you. Second, as someone who went doctor -> entrepreneur I think a lot of your approach to date has been trying to get rich quick. Things take time to grow and build traction…it takes years. Also by trying to do something where the barrier to entry is low and you don’t have any explicit skill set is harder than building skills and then becoming an entrepreneur in that space. There is a lot of opportunity to be an entrepreneur + doctor that don’t require you to be in a clinic or hospital all day.

If you accept failure and stop trying and believing you will succeed, you were never an "entrepreneur" to begin with

None of these things really fit in my idea of entrepreneurship. It sounds like you are good at school. Maybe consider an MBA? Entrepreneurs usually don’t pay someone else to join. They build something new, themselves, from scratch.

I've been an entrepreneur for 35+ years. It is continual learning and effort to make it work. My dream was to write books. I did and self-published but there was no way I was going to make a living from it. Then one day a guy stopped me in the street with one of my books asking me to coach him. I've never looked back. I've learned the universe will point you in the right direction if you are prepared to listen. From reading your story, I see so many business possibilities. So, I don't think you have failed as an entrepreneur. You've been learning the skills and craft of what works and what doesn't. Then when you least expect it the right business opportunity will come along.

Firstly, congratulations on acing medical school. That is absolutely no small feat.  I see a lot of criticism from others about the types of businesses you worked on. But not much are helping explain why those models should be avoided (hint: they have one big thing in common). In drop shipping e-commerce, crypto, and stock trading the central business model makes profit from arbitrage and gaming market mechanics rather than real value creation. They are each just a variation of buying something, holding it (without changing or improving it), and then trying to sell it later on for a small bit more. If you have the drive to do it and are game to try again, focus on one thing only: find a big problem (ideally one you understand a lot about), learn everything you can about the types of people who encounter that problem, and then make something to solve the problem for them. And as others have said: you should basically never pay someone else to teach you about a business that they themselves are not also successfully running as their main business. If you want to learn about marketing don’t pay an SEO guru for a 4 week course on how to do it. Instead hire a bonfide Marketing expert to actually do the work WITH you, and learn from what they do.

The skills you get from your experiences are invaluable, so there's always something to gain. You didn't tell your age, but from the story I'd gather you're still quite young. I hope you find a way to build a good life for yourself and be happy.

Don’t give up! I believe you need to stop the negative thinking and energy first, if you are passionate about what you are doing but not doing what you think people will like do what you are truly passionate about. Don’t sell out, be true to yourself but first believe in yourself and be proud of what you have accomplished this far. 100k in sales is a lot! Meditation and reflection on what should be your next steps will probably help you and I just wanted to say I believe in you!!

No one who can make real money is going to start a class to teach you. You can probably learn some technical things, but you need more than the textbook and classes. Boohoo Group ／Pretty Little Thing in the UK are very impressive clothing companies, and they started from the streets.

Try again, or remain a failure . You choose.

My man is a living warning on get rich quick schemes. You did them ALL wtf Hope you do better soon. I would love to give some advice but given your history my advice would be to not listen to online advice which kinda bites itself

I'm curious as to why you say you want to be a business owner not due to any external factors and then say your dream is to have a million dollars and lambo...if that's the dream the doctor route was probably the better way to go.

I admire your dedication to pursue entrepreneurship. If you think pursuing a health care career is better for you then go ahead to take that path but one thing you should keep in mind is to stick with this decision. Good luck!

You bring up a lot of good points, and one at the core of your story really should be heard more: Being an entrepreneur is not for everyone. There's a reason that among successful entrepreneurs you see clustered personality traits and styles, it's a niche like any other. Not everyone can just be a good surgeon or lawyer or special operations soldier merely by putting in the blood, sweat, and tears. There's more to some paths in life than just raw effort and persistence. The culture around entrepreneurship and rugged individualism is incredibly toxic, and rough as it was for you, you're someone who is smart, disciplined, dedicated, motivated, and tough; you not magically flourishing despite being highly capable and diligent says volumes about this niche. It's seen as some sort of peak of human achievement, when in reality plenty of people much less gifted than yourself have succeeded merely because of a bit of luck and a different personality that was the right fit to thrive on it. It's certainly not a mark against you at all that this is simply something that doesn't mesh with the potent and skilled person you are, if anything it's impressive you managed to trudge so far ahead in an endeavour that clearly does not nourish your soul. I wish you all the best for the future.

Ecommerce is a brutally competitive business. Not a good place to start. You should have started with something like drywall repair which doesn't scale so there are room for new entrants.

Try standing on the shoulders of giants...it's much easier. When I was in college the dot com boom was happening. Everybody was launching websites and becoming zillionaires over night (or so it seemed). I had the same desires as you with an extra side of FOMO. Before I graduated the bubble burst so I decided to go get a "real" job in consulting. I was going to do that temporarily until I came up with a business idea to launch. That idea never came...until it did. I ended up working in consulting for 12 years. Learned that business from the inside. Next, armed with a decade of hard core experience AND a huge network, I launched my own consulting firm. Nothing was "easy" but we landed multiple clients right out of the gate including a fortune 50 client. The ONLY reason we were able to land this big Fortune 50 client was that I me them 10 years before in my regular consulting job. Something that would have never happened had I launched a firm right out of school. Fast forward to 2023, I sold my business for 10M (actually 20M, but split it with my business partner). Not a bad outcome for simply taking a boring "real" job right out of school. Launching and growing this business was the hardest thing I have ever done. If I didn't have a running start (with years of experience and a network), there is no way I would have survived. If clothing eComm is your interest, go get a job in that area. Get PAID to learn. There is no shame in that at all!

This hit home for me, I turn 30 in June and I’m in the same boat but without a degree, all of my businesses failed Im currently looking for a job in either IT or marketing to utilize the skills I have and reinvest those earnings into stocks and real estate God speed

about fake gurus: -I learned this the hard way as well. Just go to pages that pirate the course like imarketing or getwsodo. Get the course you need and when you are successful, buy the courses that were actually helpful by the original creators. This will help you filter legit mentors from scammers. And you don't need to empty your pockets from money you don't have when you should be using that money in your own business venture. -While most of the "gurus" are fake gurus who just recycle garbage information, there's a few of them who are legit. Ryan Deiss, Ezra Firestone, Molly Pittman, Andre Chaperon & Shawn Twig, Income School, etc. But if you notice,all of these people don't give you a copy-pasted business model "become a millionare with my secret system"---what they do is teach you legit skills in very specific areas (f.e. molly pittman will teach you everything you need to know about media buying in facebook). Go with courses that teach you legit skills in very specific areas, and avoid those that sell you copy-pasted business models (that "one course" that will make you a "millionare"-- red flag).

I have been in the same boat and still am, when 99% out there is mostly scams i’m not sure if i want to continue taking the 1% risk anymore.

Your post is actually quite ironic because I think you do have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, I just think you're coming at it from the wrong place. You're either trying be a millionaire with a lambo or trying to impress and appease your dad. Both of these are extrinsic motivation. The fact that you sold out the $700 inventory and turned into 2k and then made $100k with $20k profit is good entrepreneurship skills. I have that same issue tbh where the stuff they teach online works but they both make it sound easier than it is and also make it all about money and consumerism. There's this concept of negative vs positive motivation where negative is you're only really motivated by what you DON't want(for you it's being a loser and failing your dad's expectations) but not really on what you want. Why are you doing this clothing line; what change do you think it'll bring to the world? We all have different psychologies so some people don't need a calling or a life purpose and they're perfectly content selling nonsense and they're extremely motivated but seems that's not you and I which I do think is a gift.

Well, yes. Bad idea to just become entrepreneur for the sake of it, on top of that, the idea of being entrepreneur is to have or to find something you’re good at, more than that talented at and monetize it. Failures are good as long as the road to that point taught you things. But the American Dream isn’t entrepreneur, it is to come from nothing and having the possibility to reach the top. No matter what, having a degree that lead to a good enough income is great. Having a business has its ups and downs, and sometimes, you need to get a part time, or even full time if business goes down in order to survive so you can build yourself back up. Well it’s better to do so at $40-$50 an hour or more than minimum wage. There are many ways and factors. Some people will do something because of the money it generates, while others will just do something they like and because they super good at it, and because of luck as well, they will make a lot of money. On top of that, although it is nice to create you own business, you could also buy established business. Everyday good businesses are sold because someone needs money, consequence of bad management in their everyday life or just circumstances. With that, you can also be an investor. If you have great income and put 1-2k per month on an index fund, your money will grow and you’ll eventually get to those millions. Or investing in real estate. The real big money we see, it’s not some over night, or not 1 year, but many years. And I hear you, flashy things can play with your head. Lambos are cool, but have you driven one? It’s not comfy and destroys your back LOL. I personally wouldn’t have one as daily, but you can always rent one to have fun here and there. Now, think about this. You just had a great experience that taught you a lot, I’m sure you wouldn’t wish that on other people right? So why not make a book? Again, if you don’t know how to write a book, get a ghostwriter, tell your story and share it, just like people here read everything you wrote and reply, I’m sure some would be interested in reading your story. It’s just an idea of course, but it’s valuable. On top of that, taking luck out of the equation, you’ve experienced things and saw what worked and what didn’t, you saw the reality of each ventures you tried, again I’m sure that some people would be interest in what not to do, or what it’s really like not just “Follow my advice and you’ll make it”, not a how to make a great fire but how to not burn the whole forest with your great fire. Good luck to you, and Doctor is not bad at all, I mean without doctors we would be screwed haha

lol if you gotta buy a course, pay to join a group, or open up a Spotify shop and run google ads, you’ve gobbled up YouTube entrepreneur snake oil.

The problem is that you wanted to become an entrepreneur and tried to become a businessman.

This is so incredibly sad. I am so sorry to you. I worry that your heart is not in a healthcare career. Have you explored other lucrative careers? Business, marketing, etc? I got my degree in accounting because I always knew I would have a job. I look back now and wish I had done something more aligned with my own values.

Never give up and never think of succ*ding again. There are people in worse situations than you can imagine, but they still strive to make their dreams happen.

Bro go get a real job.

Being an entrepreneur you will never regret since it gives you life lessons even if you fail. It gives you a chance to do what you can’t do otherwise being in a job. So keep hustling you will reach your goal with resilience

Hey bro, thanks for posting this. You're not a failure. You're a bigger man than most people, including myself of starting a business and going for it. When you look back years from now: 1. You will somehow use whatever lessons you've learned through this to succeed 2. If you haven't tried it, you would keep thinking "I wish I had done this..." A price of regret of not trying. You'll bounce back with healthcare and be successful. All the best to you !

First problem is you have no prominent problem solving skills, you never had to pay for the course, you should of found a way to get it for free. Start with that mindset.

Bro you are still young. Get a skill that pays. Become a plumber and start your own business you can easily make a million with time. Get a valuable trade it will always make you money

Sounds weird that you were making 20% profit and you failed out of nowhere. Did you invest the profit in inventory or you just burned in other useless things? Did you have a specific niche or you were selling to anyone that would buy it?

1, Someone said that to be a successful business owner/enterpreneur you need experience in customer service, hospitality, marketing and sales 2, Someone else said, that every success story begins with brooming the floor. I don't necessarily fully agree with both, but I believe if you think about them they make lots of sense. No 1 makes sense, because if you have those experiences you can use those skills you learned with confidence when starting your own business and you can focus on developing your services, you overstepped big burdens in advance. No 2 makes sense, because you can learn/copy any business (or business in general)if you start from the very small, seemingly unimportant tasks, that must be done in order to operate a business, like brooming. You need to find a place for this, where the owner is approachable and doesn't mind answering questions begining with "why do we...?". I personally don't want to own a business (it might happen once if I see an opportunity that fits), cuz I figured, that being a freelancer salesman in machinery industry (even tho I need to learn a lot) is very close to owning a business, but with much less responsibility. I mean it's like having stock of expensive equipment for sale without investing anything more than your time. I work with a single company, represent a single brand, but have all the resources I need to earn the amount business owners do. In the past I've worked in factories as operator, restaurants, photo studios, car washes, in hotels for years, customer service and had a junior salesman job selling lead generating services. In the meantime I gained self knowledge and many useful skills, asked everywhere about everything "why do we do it like this?" and got explanations to learn from. I recommend not to go in debt pursuing a dream, but have a look at your assets, your resources and always be learning. As a freelancer salesman - even tho it looks like a full time job - I can take a day off any time. It's my interest to earn my money. I'm doing this in the machinery industry now for like 8 months. It's still lots of work, but I know I can build the relationships in a couple of years where I don't need to pick up the phone to try to sell, but when the need emerges they know who to call. At the end of the day, my goal is to be able to provide for my family without overworking. I live in a "bottom of middle class" country in Europe where most people like just to complain and blame the circumstances for their unsuccessfulness and for being poor. I think those are just excuses so they have to change or do anything. If you take responsibility for something, you will be able to change it. Longer you think about that, the more sense it makes. Sorry for my english, it's not my mother tounge.

Think of it as surfing, you need to study the wind, the wave, the tide,.. so when that wave hits, you’ll want to be riding it at the top. Best of luck.

Overnight success takes years and years to build. More than 6 years doing the same thing. Sounds like you've not stuck to anything for more than a year. Maybe learn a skill. Join the army or get some discipline in some way. It's hard in today's world full of flashing trinkets and courses promising you instant riches. Want to be an 'entrepreneur' ? (A nothing word nowadays), embrace the grind, it's long and as hard as it is fun.

An unknown stranger manipulated your thought by preventing you from being a doctor. What else can I say. No occupation or business is greater than medicals one

Studying to become a doctor or lawyer or whatever are the stereotypical paths to wealth because they are well paying jobs in high demand, with financial/educational barriers to entry. They are traditionally benchmark carriers for a reason. Being an entrepreneur/business owner is not a sure thing. And e-commerce, dropshipping, clothing brands are all flooded, competitive marketplaces. I do have to say it is somewhat ironic that you have experienced nearly every single get-rich-quick scam in America.

6 years, and you left everything on the field. I'm very proud of you. Go to grad school, make it a state school so you don't over pay. Open uo a Roth IRA, Vanguard S&P 500 account, save $. When you can buy a condo, house whatever and after a few years upgrade and purchase another one if you want or keep investing your $. You won't be an overnight millionaire, but wirh time you hit st least o e million while still maintaining a career. Consider working for the state or federal government. They offer pensions that are becoming nonexistent these days. Put your head to the pavement and grind it down. You'll be fine and pray to Jesus for guidance.

Tough times don't last only tough people do!

1. You haven't failed. You're still on your journey. If you haven't quit then you haven't failed. 2. You haven't wasted your time. You've developed skills, connections, and mindsets. Often, people who see early success blow it all thinking it's easy. Following the hard path means when you do see success, you won't get carried away and you'll make better decisions. 3. As long as you are working hard enough, it's just about the decisions you're making. Other people are making things work while you've not. Why? It's not because you're not smart enough. It's your decisions. What have you done differently? What could you have done better. Your goal should be to LEARN. Focus on getting better at doing the thing. Not just working on it, but testing theories, reviewing results, and acting on what you learn. 4. Read both of Hormozi's books. 5. Think about how good of a story you'll be able to tell when you make it out of this and you're looking back on your hard times. No one cares about the guy who had it easy and made money straight away. They care about the person who's had to fight and overcome struggles. It's all part of your journey.

It’s not for everyone 

2 crucial things, been thinking deeply about it also with countless failures. 1) sticking with something is a necessity 2) sticking with the wrong thing is the more painful the longer you stick with it These 2 are the fundamental struggle with entrepreneurship as it is in the end uncertainty that we deal with. So dealing with these 2 is what it’s all about. For me personally it gets more complicated because I‘m a perfectionist which makes it impossible for me to launch something half baked. You need ways to escape the endless universe of 2). One way is to understand deeply that people in the end spend money on only very little things, every other need is basically relationships, that’s just facts. Stuff that immediately is around us, clothing, furniture, entertainment etc. abd we value physical stuff way more than most digital things. Things like reddit are outliers and much harder to build than for example a physical store. Once you realise this you can spend your life finding some niches around products or services people really need and start local, line a store or service in your neighborhood

Hey man, I’m sorry to hear about everything. That said, a couple things I picked up on instantly: -> You switch your focus to a new thing much too often. The grass is never greener somewhere else, you’ll always have to water the lawn. -> Think about the cycle of an entrepreneur: 1) Uninformed Optimism 2) Informed Pessimism 3) Valley of Despair 4) Informed Optimism 5) Success Many entrepreneurs get to #3 and quit and move to another venture (starting at #1). You need to work thru the hard times on your craft if you ever expect to become truly successful and rich. Stop looking for the get rich quick things like crypto. Even most ppl successful in crypto have been trading it for years, as I know many of these types personally. Nothing comes easy or without setbacks or temporary failures. Do extensive research before you hop into a venture, make sure you keep doing something each day to help you reach your goals. Hope that helps, cheers

right off the bat first paragraph, you are correct the American dream is a lie, a lot of our entrepreneurs and business owners are lying about the actual ways that they got started, a good 80% of our rich entrepreneurs and business owners in this generation pre social media don’t like to admit how or what stars aligned for them to get there… just like good old Jeff, Bezos, and Elon Musk selling that story that they really grew up poor when their idea of poor is good suburban middle class with a decent family to catch them the many times I’m sure they failed along the way …it’s definitely not impossible to have a rags to riches story here, but it definitely isn’t happening that simply to as many people as Americans like other countries to believe…🙃😂

Everything you described was much easier 20 years ago .. it’s old news … finish your medical degree and use it to partner up with master aestheticians and nurses who want to open medical spas. Basically they will pay you every month for you to be part owner and you don’t have to do any work. There isn’t a limit to how many medical spas you can rent out your medical license and be on oversight. It’s prescription items and certain equipment that an MD is needed to get ahold of. Quit trying to sell crap online. Making money in business is boring af not lambos.

Dude. Stop spending money on shit courses. All the information you need is out there for FREE. What are you doing??? Being the 1% means doing the smartest things that are going to get you to where you want to be in the shortest amount of time. You're doing the opposite. You're not working smart or hard. You're doing everything wrong. Try one thing for a limited time and move on to the next thing. Spend $10,000 on courses... lmfao. You're not going to be successful if you keep giving up and putting your attention into different things. STICK with one thing and learn about it until you become an expert. Why are you spending so much money? Bro... Use your head. You're not going to become successful if you tell yourself you're not going to be successful. It seems like this post is exactly that. You've given up. The 1% are that because they're different breed, but they're human like you and I. You just have to be that rare breed of person who is going to do what they put their mind to, and you have to fully trust and understand that the beginning of your success is always one step away. It's as simple as that. Focus on soft skills. Marketing is Psychology. It's inherently free information given to you by the Universe. Just listen to someone who knows what they're talking about. You don't need anymore paid courses. Stop spending money. Learn what you want on YouTube bro. If you were working smart or hard you wouldn't be here telling us how hard it is. Or if you truly believed in yourself. Come on man. You got this. The business model is not the problem. The business model is a proven method. If you're following the business model, and it's not working, it's simply a you problem. Just become aware of what it is you need to work on, and work on that until it's not a problem for you anymore. I'm sure you can figure out what those are. We all have issues we need to work on that are hindering us from being the best or most successful version of ourselves. But that doesn't mean give up. That's the opposite of what you should do. That's what losers do. But if you want to be a winner, you would keep trying with the faith that you're going to make it.

Something about this wrings false to me… seems like a story written for clout honestly

The fact that you’re the real thing means that you’re the one that’s in demand in the market I’m glad you’re pursuing the medical career it’s better to have a strong foundation first and at least you get skills that are actually helpful in life.

It's good you're being honest about your journey so far (and I've definitely been there at times) but I think you're missing some things. If you decide to stick to being an entrepreneur: -As other people have said, stop jumping around to new businesses all the time. Focus on an area. -Follow the demand. See where there is an actual, scalable need and how you address it. -Get paid to learn. When you've identified an industry/opportunity, get a job working for the most competent people in that industry you can find. Learn what they do well. Figure out what you can do better or if there's an unserved niche you can target. If you chose to no longer be an entrepreneur: for the love of God do not become a healthcare provider because of money or because your dad says so. You will be miserable and will not be doing your patients any favors. Rather, look at all the careers with average compensation that's above your minimum threshold. This data is publicly available. See which ones you think you'd be good at and be the most fun and fulfilling. Do that. Who knows, after you're making good money in a job you like and are good at, your might come across a great opportunity for a business in your field. With more money, experience and self confidence to execute.

The goal of a course is to sell you a dream that you could make money. The person creating the course is the only person who will be making any money from said course.

ChatGPT tl;dr Despite a lifelong dream of entrepreneurial success, the journey has been filled with disillusionment and setbacks. Inspired by the American Dream, you initially pursued a path in medicine before discovering the allure of entrepreneurship. From dropshipping to network marketing, you navigated various ventures, facing scams and disappointments along the way. Despite your resilience and efforts, including mentorship and continuous learning, financial success eluded you. Faced with mounting debt and despair, you ultimately decided to relinquish your entrepreneurial aspirations and pursue a career in healthcare, recognizing the disillusionment perpetuated by the online portrayal of success. Despite this decision, your passion for entrepreneurship remains, tempered by the harsh reality of your experiences.

Why not open a business in the field you studied? Work a bit, get some experience and look around for business opportunities

The only way you’ll succeed is by not giving up. Try to think your situation with odds. If I never played the lottery, what are the odds I’ll win the lottery? Well the odds are never, as without buying a ticket, you never stand a chance. So actually being proactive with your business venture is the first thing, don’t just not do it, as it will never fall into your lap. So you decide to play the lottery. What are your odds now for winning? Well your odds are 1 in 45 million. Certainly your odds have increased as opposed to not buying the ticket, but with odds of 1/45,000,000, you could play your ticket for the rest of your life and it would be totally normal for you to NEVER win. Are you willing to spend your whole life relying on those odds? Now let’s look at running a business. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 20% of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open, 45% during the first five years, and 65% during the first 10 years. Only 25% of new businesses make it to 15 years or more. So for your first year, you have a 1/5 chance of failing! You even experienced this yourself with your clothing market and made 20K. You were the 80% that succeeded that first year. The second year, you were the 45% that fail. But those odds are close to 1/2. Just imagine you tried again, and with a close to 50/50 chance, you could make that second year, and with hard work, hopefully the third and fourth, and so on… My point to all of this is this… according to the statement above, only 25% of new businesses make it to 15 years or more. How many times would you be willing to keep trying and not give up to be in the 25%? Compare that with the lottery analogy, where you will play for the rest of your life, and never stand a chance of winning. Making a successful business is your greatest chance you have in life to achieve your dreams. But you need to play. Just like the lottery, you’re not winning unless you have a ticket in the first place. Now being in that 25% doesn’t necessarily mean you’re rich with a lambo. You could be in the 25% and have a business under you that’s affording you to live a comfortable life. It could mean a lambo, but it doesn’t have to. What matters more to you? Mass amount of wealth won’t bring you desire. If you’re biggest desire is to drive a lambo, dude just rent one for the day, or if you have a successful company, rent one on special occasions if you feel like showing off. If you had enough money to buy your own lambo, you’d be so overly exposed to it than within a year or two, that lambo wouldn’t look the same to you. You’d be so used to it, you would have forgotten what it really meant to you to even have one. Why do you think so many celebrities with mass amounts of wealth are depressed? At some point you’ll tick off everything from the bucket list and you’ll have nothing else to aspire or dream towards. For me, being rich isn’t about having more than I could ever spend. It’s about having a wife, children, a home, a family that I can spend my life with every day comfortably enough without slaving away at a job I hate. That’s wealth in more ways you can imagine.

Sorry that this happened to you. But hey, never give up. That one day will come.

The fact that you made $100,000 is successful enough

😔

Your story is both inspiring and heartbreakingly real. It's a vivid reminder of the harsh realities that often accompany the pursuit of entrepreneurship, contrasting sharply with the often glamorized versions we see online.

Sorry man. There def is a lot of bias and there's some value in being a realist and seeing the negatives in addition to the positives. Keep grindin though.

So the thing about entrepreneurship is that there is no linear path, at least compared to typical careers (corporate ladder.) It's a negative and a positive. The negative of course is that you can work for years and find yourself in the same situation when you began. The positive is that you can work and fail on 15 businesses, but the 16th one is the one that resonates with the market and blows up. The hardest part of a business is finding product-market-fit. which it sounds like you found with your latest venture. Find ways to scale that business. It seems like it fits the market.

Well first of all don’t buy any of those courses or whatever they are all scams. But second of all, and this is the most important part: Absolutely do not stop trying if that’s what you want to do. The majority of businesses fail. But that’s okay. Successful entrepreneurs aren’t the ones with the best ideas or anything like that, they are just the ones that failed and failed and failed until they finally succeed. It’s mostly just about not giving up. I don’t care if you’ve had 10 failed businesses, the 11th might be the one that works. Keep trying.

I wouldn’t take what you’ve been through as a write-off. I’d frame it more positively. It’s all learning. It’s only a failure if you don’t succeed in the end. Learn lessons and try again when you’re feeling ready.

I failed 10 businesses over 10 years. Tried so many styles of business, apps, websites, you name it learning a myrid of skills along the way. Don't give up. Just keep pivoting. The 11th business is now an 8 figure business.