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Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

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Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#111

Post by vinceguidry »

I may become an entrepreneur some day, but I will have to have climbed the social ladder to the upper class before I even attempt it.

Being middle class in the US in a second-tier city is just totally freaking awesome. The corporate job I have now is night-and-day better than the lifestyle I had in my twenties. Breaking through to the next level is so far down the list of my current priorities that it could never happen and I'd be totally fine with it.

What else do I do with my time? Learn to make music. Date. Cultivate good habits. Plan trips abroad. Have dinner with friends. Eat right and lose weight. Actually get better at programming instead of just scrambling to Get Shit Done. Read. Try out hobbies like Rubik's cube. Sit at the coffee shop on weekends and chat with random people. Go to the bar in the evenings and cultivate a social life. Work on myself and become a better person.

You want me to throw that all away for a vague promise of more money, sometime in the future? I already have, right now, vastly more options for improving my life right now.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#112

Post by [deleted] »

vinceguidry wrote: post #111

I may become an entrepreneur some day, but I will have to have climbed the social ladder to the upper class before I even attempt it. Being middle class in the US in a second-tier city is just totally freaking awesome. The corporate job I have now is night-and-day better than the lifestyle I had in my twenties. Breaking through to the next level is so far down the list of my current priorities that it could never hap…

[deleted]

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#113

Post by 13thLetter »

Mimu wrote: post #77
bobby_9x wrote: post #61

"Money won’t make you happy" I disagree with this. I've been running my own company for a little over 5 years. Not having to worry about my rent and being able to live a comfortable lifestyle has made me really happy. If I made $100 million and didn't ever have to worry about money again, I definitely would be happier. It's the peace of mind that I'm working toward. But, the money isn't the main thing that makes me h…

As my dad says (I don't know if it's from him or somebody else but who cares): It's better to have rich issues than poors issues.

Or put it another way, money doesn't buy happiness but it lets you be miserable in comfort.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#114

Post by rday »

samsonasu wrote: post #98
rday wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to see your consulting model. You speak as if keeping a full sales pipeline while making multiple clients happy is a simple thing. I'll agree that a single person consultancy is 0 risk. I can accept a job offer tomorrow and stop accepting new clients. But growing your consultancy is just as risky as any other business, if not more so. You don't have a wide range of low paying clients, like a SaaS model.…

Firing people is risky for the person potentially being fired, not for the owners of the firm. Growing and shrinking over time is part and parcel of running a consultancy. That's why you see it all the time, and I'll bet if you look closer at the ownership during layoffs you'll find that they very rarely miss a paycheck and usually escape unharmed. The fact that it's an unpleasant reality doesn't make it any more ris…

I agree with what you're saying, and this is probably why I don't hold a management position anywhere.

This also mirrors my experience with startups. I've been lied to about money many times to get me to keep working. The only things the owners care about is how they look to investors.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#117

Post by vinceguidry »

[deleted] wrote: post #112
vinceguidry wrote: post #111

I may become an entrepreneur some day, but I will have to have climbed the social ladder to the upper class before I even attempt it. Being middle class in the US in a second-tier city is just totally freaking awesome. The corporate job I have now is night-and-day better than the lifestyle I had in my twenties. Breaking through to the next level is so far down the list of my current priorities that it could never hap…

[deleted]

> I spend my time working on my company on evenings, week-ends.

I could do that. It sounds interesting enough. I do read a lot about startups and business and tech. The friends I have dinner with seem amazed at how much I know about this stuff, despite putting far less time into it.

But when I get right down to it, spending all my time trying to squeeze blood from a stone doesn't really hold all that much appeal to me. Now, if I had capital at my disposal, then I could do all that instead of having a job. But a startup would be too much work, so I'd need my own capital. That's why I'd need to be upper class first.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#118

Post by ralmeida »

mercurial wrote: post #116
ralmeida wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean for France or for Brazil?

France. Typically, working for the government means trading salary for job security.

Oh, I didn't know that! Here in Brazil, top 50th percentile or so civil servants are likely to be paid about the same as top 10th percentile in the industry (approximating the numbers based on personal knowledge).

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#119

Post by beachstartup »

vinceguidry wrote: post #111

I may become an entrepreneur some day, but I will have to have climbed the social ladder to the upper class before I even attempt it. Being middle class in the US in a second-tier city is just totally freaking awesome. The corporate job I have now is night-and-day better than the lifestyle I had in my twenties. Breaking through to the next level is so far down the list of my current priorities that it could never hap…

> I may become an entrepreneur some day, but I will have to have climbed the social ladder to the upper class before I even attempt it.

it sounds like you've been blessed with the temperament to not actually want either of these things.

you probably don't want to buy expensive stuff or exhibit control over other people or be written about either. that's also a blessing.

none of this stuff 'just happens, someday, maybe'. people who are driven by these urges are totally different than you. they wake up with the uncontrollable urge to do these things. when they see/think about something they want they are consumed by some kind of positive or negative emotion. you obviously don't experience any of this stuff because you're a normal person, but don't let yourself believe that you 'might do it someday', because you probably won't.

Re: Entrepreneur porn is a dangerous fantasy

#120

Post by rchaud »

sliverstorm wrote: post #107
Retric wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft's early story looks a little different when you realize Bill Gate's mother just happens to know IBM's CEO.

Well, it isn't rags-to-riches but it's still very impressive. IBM's CEO knew a lot of people, not just Gate's mother.

They served together on the board of United Way; they weren't just random acquaintances. The social proof conditions necessary for Bill and Paul Allen to make their pitch to him had been satisfied both through their parents' credentials, social connections and the fact that they both went to Harvard. Not to take anything away from Gates' technical skills and business savvy. But this goes to the crux of a lot of startup stories. It could all have been very different if even one of those 'background variables' had been different and the meeting with IBM never happened.
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