> Amazon affiliate sites I think this is a completely different mindset compared to engineers/"nerds", that's why most of us work for others instead of starting our own businesses.
Not clear why he couldn't sell any of those sites.
A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years
21–30 of 105 posts
Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years
#22thanks for sharing. Cool idea. (PS we're a baremetrics customer - keep up the great work! :)
Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years
#23I don't understand this spray and pray approach to business - I'm not businessman so I may be talking out my ass - but I would have thought business is like a long term relationship. May as well have a spreadsheet of 50 failed marriages. If you aren't in it for the long haul what are you doing?
What about dates instead of marriages?
Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years
#24I don't understand this spray and pray approach to business - I'm not businessman so I may be talking out my ass - but I would have thought business is like a long term relationship. May as well have a spreadsheet of 50 failed marriages. If you aren't in it for the long haul what are you doing?
Some people see it as a lottery. But in the case you loose (99.9% of the times) at least you learned something in the process.
What can you learn from the lottery...
Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years
#25I don't understand this spray and pray approach to business - I'm not businessman so I may be talking out my ass - but I would have thought business is like a long term relationship. May as well have a spreadsheet of 50 failed marriages. If you aren't in it for the long haul what are you doing?
What he called "business" others (myself included) would call "side projects" until one of such projects would evolve into "business". You have to start somewhere and try things out to find a business bringing revenue. And yes, it is "spray and pray" in essence. And I see nothing wrong with it. (probably because I tried to launch a similar number if not more of such "businesses"/projects and continue doing so)
[deleted]
Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years
#26I'm jealous that he's made so many things, surprised by the small amount of money they've been sold for, and unsure whether this is someone I should emulate or someone I should view as a cautionary tale.
“Working hard will not guarantee that you will be successful, but I guarantee you, that all successful people worked hard.” - Coach Kamogawa thru George Morikawa
Honestly, I'm not really sure if that's really true any more.
I wasn't working hard when I bought Bitcoin at three bucks a coin. I was just intellectually curious. If anything when I was working hard was two years before that on a soon to be failed startup. We crawled the web for ads just before the ad business went hyper targeted. I made -$20k from working hard.
I made a lot more from Bitcoin. I would have made way more if I'd put that $20k in Bitcoin and slacked off at some day job.
I guess I don't really follow my own advice though, as I'm presently working on a Sunday morning and I've only taken like two days off this month.
Edit:
Writing this comment briefly made me re-consider my whole life and I've come to the conclusion that being lucky and prescient observations are more likely if you've worked hard at some point. I did do an engineering degree with some economics electives at the best school in Canada, and understanding Satoshi's paper wouldn't have been possible without this background knowledge.
Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
“Working hard will not guarantee that you will be successful, but I guarantee you, that all successful people worked hard.” - Coach Kamogawa thru George Morikawa
Honestly, I'm not really sure if that's really true any more. I wasn't working hard when I bought Bitcoin at three bucks a coin. I was just intellectually curious. If anything when I was working hard was two years before that on a soon to be failed startup. We crawled the web for ads just before the ad business went hyper targeted. I made -$20k from working hard. I made a lot more from Bitcoin. I would have made way…
You are equating money with success.
Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years
#28> Amazon affiliate sites I think this is a completely different mindset compared to engineers/"nerds", that's why most of us work for others instead of starting our own businesses.
There is nothing wrong with working for others if it fulfills you. I envy people who can have comfortable lives with happy families and a simple desk job that pays for what they need. Something in my brain is telling me I need more or I won't be happy, so I have many startups I'm working on and have exclusively begun working for myself. The grass is always greener on the other side, that much I can say. Enjoy your comfy engineering job and be careful what you wish for.
If you are a nerd who wants to break into entrepreneurship, prepare for a lot of fun, but also prepare to do work you think is stupid or never saw yourself doing, only for it to end up as a niche product. That's fine.
Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years
#29I'm jealous that he's made so many things, surprised by the small amount of money they've been sold for, and unsure whether this is someone I should emulate or someone I should view as a cautionary tale.
“Working hard will not guarantee that you will be successful, but I guarantee you, that all successful people worked hard.” - Coach Kamogawa thru George Morikawa
It's not totally clear to me that hard work involves quantity (the OP, seemingly) over quality (others who have started fewer, more successful businesses).
In general, there are lots of activities which give the appearance of hard work but are actually fairly superficial and detrimental to your long-term goals.
Not at all saying that's the case here, more just musing on the idea of grinding for the sake of grinding.
Re: A spreadsheet of the businesses I've started over the past 15 years
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
“Working hard will not guarantee that you will be successful, but I guarantee you, that all successful people worked hard.” - Coach Kamogawa thru George Morikawa
Honestly, I'm not really sure if that's really true any more. I wasn't working hard when I bought Bitcoin at three bucks a coin. I was just intellectually curious. If anything when I was working hard was two years before that on a soon to be failed startup. We crawled the web for ads just before the ad business went hyper targeted. I made -$20k from working hard. I made a lot more from Bitcoin. I would have made way…
This is true even across generations. The reason white people (or anyone with a rich family) are able to live comfortably and not work today are due to the efforts of their ancestors at one point or another. "There's no such thing as a free lunch" is actually just true, and not a stupid idiom. At some point somewhere, work had to be done to get a reward.