I'm lost after going down from 200k$ to 70k$ need advice please !

P

PhilipLuc

Newbie
Joined
Sep 20, 2026
Messages
2
Reaction score
1
hello guys!

tbh im a bit embarrassed to write this but im kinda at a point where i really need some outside advice...I've been trying to figure this out myself for quite a long time but lately i just feel pretty lost and i dont want to keep making the same mistakes

So from 2023 to 2025 i was running a business in a bit of a gray area and it worked really well with my skills in automation coding and marketing ;at some point i was making around 500$-1k/day and managed to accumulate around 200K$ ..

then things changed completely, during the last year the business became harder and harder until it basically stopped working. i kept trying to make the same business work again for months but honestly nothing really worked
during those 3 years i also spent around 130K$ on living expenses and failed projects and now im basically left with around 70K$

the biggest problem for me now isnt even just the money its more about my mindset i got used to making relatively easy money and sometimes making 500$ or 1k$ in a day going back to building something slowly and maybe making almost nothing for months became really difficult for me... , i started so many projects during the last year and left most of them half done cuz i would start thinking this probably wont work anyway and then move to something else,i feel like i lost the ability to focus on one thing and actually give it enough time

im a very technical guy with 9+ years of coding and automation experience and i also have pretty good knowledge in marketing
i could obviously go back to freelancing but ive done freelance basically most of my life and honestly i really dont want to go back to that for now ... i would love to build my own thing

so im looking for some advice from people who maybe went through something similar if you had around 70K$ left how would you approach rebuilding, what online business models are actually working these days

- is there any legit arbitrage opportunities that can be automated or coded
-if you had strong coding + automation + marketing skills what would you personally try to build ?
-would you invest some of the 70K or keep most of it while trying different things

and probably most importantly how do you fix your mindset after getting used to easy money im not looking for some magic get rich quick method, i know there is no guarantee and i probably need to rebuild properly from zero again i just feel really stuck right now and honestly pretty discouraged after spending so much time trying to make the old business work ...

i know i have skills and i know ive made money online before but somehow right now i feel completely lost and keep making bad decisions because i just want to get back to where i was Before

if anyone has been in a similar situation and managed to turn things around i would really appreciate hearing what you did even if you just have an idea or a business model i should look into or something you tried yourself

Anything that could give me a direction would honestly mean a lot right now, and again thanks to anyone who actually takes the time to read all this and give me some advice
 
Advertise on BHW
Park most of the 70k where you can't touch it, pick one idea and give it 90 days no matter what, and sell your automation skills as a productized service while you build, so you've got income coming in and don't feel the pressure to jump ship.
 
You didn't pull the plug when you needed to. Happens to the best of us.

Read this forum and other related subs and FB groups. Identify something that can be improved upon than what is being offered right now and build a SaaS.
 
app_pilot said:
Park most of the 70k where you can't touch it, pick one idea and give it 90 days no matter what, and sell your automation skills as a productized service while you build, so you've got income coming in and don't feel the pressure to jump ship.
Click to expand...
Thanks i appreciate and honestly that's what i'm trying to do !
 
Suffered same fate, I made around $10k which was huge in my country from smart betting. I felt on top of the world, all I had to do was make bet365 accounts and start betting. But my ship had serious cracks even though it was obvious, I kept making quick amends untill I sank with the ship. Since then I've been unable to find my footing. Wasted time and resources beating a dead horse,
because I felt too comfortable in my comfort zone.
 
you already built something that worked so focus on one project instead of starting five new ones give it and dont chase quick money again that's my advice for you
 
Starting from scratch is a blessing. You bounce back with all the knowledge you wish you had before. You will stop making certain stupid mistakes.

In my opinion, everyones' life and business will know some rainy days. It's a blessing you made it this far, because not many people actually get there.

Take your rest. Put your money away safely. Think to yourself - what can you work on which is something you can build on for the next 10 years? And in the same time, also bring decent cashflow in the building phase?

You did it once, you can do it again.
 
I've been through this, and if you think yours is "embarrassing"...well it's not.

In my case, not only did I make less money than you, but I've been in the shitter for more time that you have. So basically, not being able to get out.

I've been having a REAL hard time, not just with concentrating, but with confidence, even after having done multiple 6 figures in online sales. And I've tried everything to get back.

I, don't think it's a blessing, like someone else mentioned. It's only a blessing, if you make your way to the other side...otherwise you're screwed, and 10 years might go by and you still stuck on "trying to win the lottery again".

Personally, I think that probably the only way out, is to either:

A) Try something you know nothing about. The fact that you "know" automation coding, could kind of a thorn in your side, as you "expect" things based on what you know, and thus why you "think this project won't work" before hand, which cuts off at the possibility that it could. Starting something you know nothing about, tricks you a bit into focusing on the process...so you might actually push harder than if you had experience. Of course, there is absolutely no guarantee that this new thing will work...but at least you can not get in your own way that much. After a lot of testing around, I'm doing this, right now...but again, no guarantee, which is the worst.

B) Find that 1 thing that, you could still do for 5 years, because you love it so much. This is tough because well...it takes 5 years. This one also is no guarantee, but at least you'll have the fuel you need, to keep going. So a personal brand...basically...because you're the only thing you won't give up on, so to speak.

But it's tough.

What do YOU think you should do? What are your next plans?
 
What are some fb groups to look at?
NirvanaWolf said:
You didn't pull the plug when you needed to. Happens to the best of us.

Read this forum and other related subs and FB groups. Identify something that can be improved upon than what is being offered right now and build a SaaS.
Click to expand...
 
Coding & automation is on steroids with AI. You should take advantage of the trends and use your experience to build something in demand.
 
app_pilot said:
Park most of the 70k where you can't touch it, pick one idea and give it 90 days no matter what, and sell your automation skills as a productized service while you build, so you've got income coming in and don't feel the pressure to jump ship.
Click to expand...
agreed with everything especially selling those skills. and don't try to do everything, pick a lane.
 
You are actually in the perfect era where automation is going nuts and making people bank.
Check out skool. com. There are so many different communities that are taking advantage of the current climate.
 
hey I have a really similar background to you, im also very technical with around 7 years experience. I did a lot of reverse engineering during the sneaker hype and botting and made my first money like that, later I also had a gray area business making around 1-2k daily for a short time and made like 50k from it. I invested a lot into crypto and made quite a bit more but also lost a lot again after that

since then ive been trying to build something new around automation and bots, my last prject is basically an automated used item sourcing system that searches marketplaces texts sellers and negotiates with them but im close to giving up because I cant really get costumers. I also have another much bigger gray area project which could make 10k+ daily but its extremly hard to build

would love to chat because I think our situations are pretty similar and maybe we could even build smth together. im basically never on this forum so best just add me on discord: 1234x
 
Luxinos said:
hey I have a really similar background to you, im also very technical with around 7 years experience. I did a lot of reverse engineering during the sneaker hype and botting and made my first money like that, later I also had a gray area business making around 1-2k daily for a short time and made like 50k from it. I invested a lot into crypto and made quite a bit more but also lost a lot again after that

since then ive been trying to build something new around automation and bots, my last prject is basically an automated used item sourcing system that searches marketplaces texts sellers and negotiates with them but im close to giving up because I cant really get costumers. I also have another much bigger gray area project which could make 10k+ daily but its extremly hard to build

would love to chat because I think our situations are pretty similar and maybe we could even build smth together. im basically never on this forum so best just add me on discord: 1234x
Click to expand...
On the marketplace automation side of things - interesting one. DM me.
 
PhilipLuc said:
hello guys!

tbh im a bit embarrassed to write this but im kinda at a point where i really need some outside advice...I've been trying to figure this out myself for quite a long time but lately i just feel pretty lost and i dont want to keep making the same mistakes

So from 2023 to 2025 i was running a business in a bit of a gray area and it worked really well with my skills in automation coding and marketing ;at some point i was making around 500$-1k/day and managed to accumulate around 200K$ ..

then things changed completely, during the last year the business became harder and harder until it basically stopped working. i kept trying to make the same business work again for months but honestly nothing really worked
during those 3 years i also spent around 130K$ on living expenses and failed projects and now im basically left with around 70K$

the biggest problem for me now isnt even just the money its more about my mindset i got used to making relatively easy money and sometimes making 500$ or 1k$ in a day going back to building something slowly and maybe making almost nothing for months became really difficult for me... , i started so many projects during the last year and left most of them half done cuz i would start thinking this probably wont work anyway and then move to something else,i feel like i lost the ability to focus on one thing and actually give it enough time

im a very technical guy with 9+ years of coding and automation experience and i also have pretty good knowledge in marketing
i could obviously go back to freelancing but ive done freelance basically most of my life and honestly i really dont want to go back to that for now ... i would love to build my own thing

so im looking for some advice from people who maybe went through something similar if you had around 70K$ left how would you approach rebuilding, what online business models are actually working these days

- is there any legit arbitrage opportunities that can be automated or coded
-if you had strong coding + automation + marketing skills what would you personally try to build ?
-would you invest some of the 70K or keep most of it while trying different things

and probably most importantly how do you fix your mindset after getting used to easy money im not looking for some magic get rich quick method, i know there is no guarantee and i probably need to rebuild properly from zero again i just feel really stuck right now and honestly pretty discouraged after spending so much time trying to make the old business work ...

i know i have skills and i know ive made money online before but somehow right now i feel completely lost and keep making bad decisions because i just want to get back to where i was Before

if anyone has been in a similar situation and managed to turn things around i would really appreciate hearing what you did even if you just have an idea or a business model i should look into or something you tried yourself

Anything that could give me a direction would honestly mean a lot right now, and again thanks to anyone who actually takes the time to read all this and give me some advice
Click to expand...
Automated arbitrage is dying and will be dead soon. Everyone can vibecode their own slopbots, automate their own workflows, scrape the internet, etc. The people doing it and making good money are people with insane setups that literally cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's extremely capital-intensive. The margins are thin. Let it go. It's dead for 99% of the population.

I would think of your 70k as runway and not capital. Maybe you could take 5 or 10k of it as a capital investment for your next project but only if you guarantee yourself that you will not quit halfway through.

Honestly your best bet in your position is boring B2B software. Pick an industry, talk to 20 owners, do extensive market research. Honestly the market research and the marketing can be the hard part and also if you're not great at sales, sometimes that can be difficult. If you're selling something high-ticket you're going to need a closer but it's very, very doable. I've done this a few times and I ended up doing it for an AI SaaS startup and we were selling pretty high-ticket stuff. Doesn't have to be high-ticket but medium- to high-ticket is the best place to go.

Also stop torturing yourself with that "get back to where I was" mentality. It's going to kill you and it's going to kill all your projects. Every time you look at something, even if it's a project that will work, you're going to view it through the lens of "Oh, how fast is this going to get me back to where I was? Oh, this isn't going to make me 130k" and then you're going to abandon something that easily could have turned into a healthy stream of income.
 
Advertise on BHW
You must log in or register to reply here.
Sign up now!

Main Menu

Home Main Forum List Black Hat SEO White Hat SEO BHW Newbie Guide Blogging Black Hat Tools Social Media Downloads

Marketplace

Account Selling Content / Copywriting EBooks / Methods Hosting Misc Proxies For Sale SEO - Link building SEO - Packages Social Media Social Media - Panels Web Design More

Making Money

Affiliate Programs Hire a Freelancer IM Journeys Making Money Pay Per Click Site Flipping Want to Buy

BlackHat World

Dispute Resolution Forum Suggestions & Feedback Introductions Lounge
Back
Top