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The startup starts up because of money is often time uninspiring. It is a good thing that we have fewer startups like that. If you don't have a good problem, plz don't make a startup for it.
Twice exceptional people often appear to be "average" but find an "average" or normal life enormously frustrating. Because of having some sort of handicap, it can take a lot to get them going. Once they get going, they often outperform others. Life is vastly better for them when they can create their own niche because they simply do not fit in to normal societal expectations very well, try though they might.
No insult intended. I fit that profile, as do both my sons.
So, perhaps a good summary is if you are bright, but having trouble finding your niche, then starting your own company is a means to create your own niche. This is exactly what I have always told my oldest son. From an early age, it was clear to me he would not make a good employee. But that doesn't mean he won't eventually be successful. He just needs to grow his own.
Great post! I love reading pre-company autobiographical accounts from successful founders, as I find it to be a great way to get ideas for what pre-company experiences might best prepare me to be successful myself. Some additions I would make to Michael's list for "Why to start a start-up": - As a founder you get a level of control over what problem you're solving that you'll rarely have as an employee. - You also ge…
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I'd argue that if you're thinking in these terms, you're probably not the startup type. There was an interesting RibbonFarm essay on "guardian" vs. "commerce" syndrome that really crystallized this for me: https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2014/06/04/saints-and-traders-the... Entrepreneurs are the ultimate in "commerce" types, but beyond that, his key point was about bulletpoint #2, "exert prowess" vs. "compete". For most p…
Sure. This is a nice dichotomy. Until you add "living out of a car with your pregnant wife and 2 year old child" to the things you have organized your life to do. Humans are very adverse to ruin, and this has nothing to do with what they want to do or achieve. It has to do with what they do not want to experience or put others through.
not starting a project, not finishing a project, not learning something new, not starting a lifestyle business, not investing, not changing their career, not leaving a sucky job
It's not the wife, it's you.
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A combination of books and teaching. I'm experimenting with coaching and a company is sponsoring my React Native writing on a cobranded blog/yt channel. I publish monthly breakdowns on swizec.com and that lists all revenue streams.
Did you leverage a mentor to get started on running something on the side? If so, where did you find one?
It all boils down to this: Make things. Add "Pay For Thing" button. Tell people.
I started with following Ramit Sethi's emails for a few years (he's great to drive home the point that yes you do deserve to get paid), then Brennan Dunn's emails and content (he's great for "you totes can make shitloads"), then Nathan Barry's book Authority which is great for "Here are concrete steps to start making bank", and I went to Dunn's DYFConf which is like a baby MicroConf (to which I want to, but haven't, go), oh and of course I listened to all mp3s of all past talks from MicroConf. Patio11's writings helped a lot as well. I used Bryan Harris stuff for ideas on growing an audience, and Kai Davis is great for being a cheerleader and giving good ideas on positioning and writing.
Somehow I got invited to the Slack group where many of these micropreneur/microconf celebrities hang out and that's been superb as well. A lot of inspiration and great ideas.
Oh and I used Ken Wallace's MastermindJam to join a mastermind of likeminded peers. That helps with keeping you accountable and actually shipping stuff.
I also used Amy Hoy's 30x500, but I bought that too late (or too early, hard to say) and it didn't help super much. I should revisit.
Oh and levelsio's twitter stream is just a huge bundle of inspiration.
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While living out of my car is a bit more hardship than I'm willing to endure or put my wife through, I do know people who have voluntarily quit their job and lived out of their car for six months or so, because seeing the country, rock climbing, and camping by the side of the road was more important to them. Heck, my wife lived in a house with 3.5 walls for 2 years (Peace Corps). Hopefully you are not giving up thing…
Sure. When you're financially secure, it isn't a big deal to live out of your car and climb a few mountains for shits and giggles. But what does that have to do, prescriptively, with the reverse situation, when you aren't financially secure? Very little.
I think what commenters here are trying to drive home is that people have different "set points" about what acceptable risk tolerance is, and that we build up these ideas in our head of "I could never do X or live through X". But then if X happens, and we are experiencing it in the moment, suddenly the human brain has a way of adapting, most of the time. The important thing becomes that we are still alive, and we can still make choices, and then all the other strictures we set for ourself fall away.
Now, does that mean I suddenly want to go homeless, or have a grand in net assets, or live in a house where they didn't bother to finish all the walls, or try to build a startup while my kid is in the NICU? No. But by putting these options on the table, instead of making them no-go zones, you can consider them rationally and evaluate the likely probability of them happening, and then deal with them if & when they come up.