31–40 of 317 posts
There's probably also a marginal reduction in reward, as the reward of entrepreneurial success for the poverty-stricken would include safe housing, food, education for children, etc., which the wealthy already have, but it seems we have no problems desiring to spend more than we currently have.
Ten years back, when I was fresh out of college, I joined a startup - not as a founder but as the first employee. A lot of it was driven by reading Paul Graham's essays, and I was naive and immature enough to believe that I was doing something great (as an aside, I came from an economically disadvantaged family; and every cent of my assets today is something I have earned and not something which I have inherited or o…
> It is very hard to take risks when you are not financially secure There's a caveat here. It depends on your responsibilities. If you have children, fixed expenses, then absolutely. If you have nothing to your name and no responsibilities, it's very easy to take risks without anything to fall back on. After all, you have very little to lose.
On the other hand, if you come from a rather poor background and have no one to fall back on, finding yourself with a failed company, in debt, maybe kicked out of your place because you can't pay rent, I'd say that rather terrifying.
I'm all for entrepreneurship, but if failing means living in the street, then let's just not start a company for now.
"I'm now further from where I started, than where I started was from where you started. So if you couldn't even make it from where you started to where I started, how do you expect that you could have made it from where I started to where I am now?"
People may choose to respond to this by saying something that confirms their idea that they are fundamentally more worse off than you. They may call you privilege blind. They may say it is easier if they had X more capital. The may say anything that confirms their hypothesis that without having whatever they credit you with possessing, they are less capable.
I implore you, be not discouraged, nor believe your success any the lesser. Recognize that they are disempowering themselves and, that by believing that success is something that must be given to them rather than something they create, they are acting privileged and entitled, the very things they are trying to say you are. Recognize and, if you like, benevolently point out, that this chosen self-disempowerment, this unworkable attitude, is a poverty of the spirit that will disadvantage them ( by their own choice ) far more than any difference between how much they started with, and how much you did.
For if at every step of the way, people are looking to those who have more than them and, "proving" to themselves that this difference was all about different starting points rather than about a different sequence of choices, then such people are disempowering the power of choice, and, how likely do you feel such people will be, to ever make a string of choices that leads to success?
No, friends, heed not their admonishments, and keep your children away from their siren songs, for they are only the delusional whispers of a people soothing themselves into apathy by telling themselves they never coulda, instead of believing that they fully could have, had they only chosen to take responsibility for success, instead of deluding themselves that it was owed to them.
To put it in more general terms : Being a fake victim doesn't work, you just disempower yourself. When you see people better of than you, choosing to be inspired and to acknowledge their achievements works. Choosing to pretend to yourself that success is something that must be given to you, instead of something you create yourself, is just acting privileged and entitled, and it doesn't work and it actually, this attitude, makes it less likely for you to succeed. An attitude that acknowledge the choices that lead to success, and that takes responsibility yourself to create your own success through your own choices, this attitude works, and makes it more likely for you to succeed. Anything else, any stories you choose to tell yourself about how it's so unfair, is just you choosing to substitute the fake payoff of feeling like a righteous fake victim of unfairness, for the real payoff of actually creating results.
Trying to spread to others the claptrap that people are powerless, so you can confirm your own delusions that they are, is just incorrectly trying to disempower others, and it's just wrong.
TL;DR -- Deluding yourself that success is given, rather than created, is not an attitude that works to help you create your own success.
I hope this cleared some things up for some people. Those too far gone in excusing themselves a lack of success due to a fantasy of disadvantage may or may not be beyond the reach of such simple words, and I hope they can be reached. For everyone else I have even more hope.
Keep the faith, it is up to you.
Ten years back, when I was fresh out of college, I joined a startup - not as a founder but as the first employee. A lot of it was driven by reading Paul Graham's essays, and I was naive and immature enough to believe that I was doing something great (as an aside, I came from an economically disadvantaged family; and every cent of my assets today is something I have earned and not something which I have inherited or o…
I haven't been turned away from the tech startup world, but I'll be much more calculated if I'm ever to join another one. I also don't plan on staking my career purely in startups and am attracted to bootstrapped business now more than ever.
Friends! If you find someone trying to criticize your achievement as being "just because you are privileged" say "I'm now further from where I started, than where I started was from where you started. So if you couldn't even make it from where you started to where I started, how do you expect that you could have made it from where I started to where I am now?" People may choose to respond to this by saying something…
Friends! If you find someone trying to criticize your achievement as being "just because you are privileged" say "I'm now further from where I started, than where I started was from where you started. So if you couldn't even make it from where you started to where I started, how do you expect that you could have made it from where I started to where I am now?" People may choose to respond to this by saying something…
Yet there's a fundamental difference between "Having just enough for rent" and "Having just enough to start a company". There's something impoverishing to the spirit when you spend your last $5 and its still 1 week to payday. Its often not a choice to feel that way; its disingenuous to say "You could just invest like I did!"
In other words, starting a business isn't much different than it was in the past - capital and connections are essential. Sure, there're exceptions when someone with little money and hard work managed to grow their business, but they're that - exceptions. The older I am the more I realize how naive thinking "I just need to create something better than my competitors!" really is. You can have a mediocre product but wi…
My grandfather (and father) were that person.
Ten years back, when I was fresh out of college, I joined a startup - not as a founder but as the first employee. A lot of it was driven by reading Paul Graham's essays, and I was naive and immature enough to believe that I was doing something great (as an aside, I came from an economically disadvantaged family; and every cent of my assets today is something I have earned and not something which I have inherited or o…
> It is very hard to take risks when you are not financially secure There's a caveat here. It depends on your responsibilities. If you have children, fixed expenses, then absolutely. If you have nothing to your name and no responsibilities, it's very easy to take risks without anything to fall back on. After all, you have very little to lose.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yet there's a fundamental difference between "Having just enough for rent" and "Having just enough to start a company". There's something impoverishing to the spirit when you spend your last $5 and its still 1 week to payday. Its often not a choice to feel that way; its disingenuous to say "You could just invest like I did!"
So go out and make another $5. How you expect to make a 1MM if you can't even make $5. Thank you for reading it, and also stop making excuses. Everyone one else commenting please refer to this comment, thanks.
A person who's life is made up of 'being at the end of their runway' is shamed for not just 'go out and make another $5'. Nothing disingenuous about this dichotomy?
Ten years back, when I was fresh out of college, I joined a startup - not as a founder but as the first employee. A lot of it was driven by reading Paul Graham's essays, and I was naive and immature enough to believe that I was doing something great (as an aside, I came from an economically disadvantaged family; and every cent of my assets today is something I have earned and not something which I have inherited or o…
> It is very hard to take risks when you are not financially secure There's a caveat here. It depends on your responsibilities. If you have children, fixed expenses, then absolutely. If you have nothing to your name and no responsibilities, it's very easy to take risks without anything to fall back on. After all, you have very little to lose.