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Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

tik.dev

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Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#131

Post by mehrdadn »

neonate wrote: post #10
daxfohl wrote: post #4

There's a pretty high correlation between parental wealth and success as a startup founder. I assume it's because of the safety net. My friends who have been successful (and who had blue-collar upbringings like me, and all in mid-40's now) all worked full time jobs until their side projects were self-sustaining. None of them hit unicorn status, but I think all of them have lived healthy, fruitful lives. Also note by…

Given the research on adverse childhood experiences, there's likely a subtler advantage too, for founders who were raised in more stable and secure environments. Growing up under greater pressure (violence, abuse, trauma) leaves you less resilient, more risk averse, more at risk. I'm not saying wealthy families don't have this, or that poor families can't be stable and secure. But on average it probably makes a diffe…

> Growing up under greater pressure (violence, abuse, trauma) leaves you less resilient

Is this a thing? I thought the common wisdom was that you gain resilience once you get past hardships, not lose it.

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#132

Post by jsharf »

mehrdadn wrote: post #131
neonate wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the research on adverse childhood experiences, there's likely a subtler advantage too, for founders who were raised in more stable and secure environments. Growing up under greater pressure (violence, abuse, trauma) leaves you less resilient, more risk averse, more at risk. I'm not saying wealthy families don't have this, or that poor families can't be stable and secure. But on average it probably makes a diffe…

> Growing up under greater pressure (violence, abuse, trauma) leaves you less resilient Is this a thing? I thought the common wisdom was that you gain resilience once you get past hardships, not lose it.

It's possible for past hardships to leave you emotionally messed up for years, which could make it harder for you to deal with future hardship.

I don't think there's a hard rule on this, and it depends on the mentality of the individual. It's possible for people from rich and poor backgrounds alike to be resilient.

But I do think emotional security helps you deal with challenges in life. It's not the only thing and it's possible there's other ways of dealing with it. But growing up in a secure environment makes a difference (note, this doesn't necessarily mean rich. It means stable. If you're rich, but a close family member dies when you're young or some other hardship occurs, you can still be emotionally hurt despite having an otherwise secure environment -- that's why it's a bad idea to judge people on their backgrounds, you never know the full picture)

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#133

Post by Polylactic_acid »

manigandham wrote: post #111
neonate wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the research on adverse childhood experiences, there's likely a subtler advantage too, for founders who were raised in more stable and secure environments. Growing up under greater pressure (violence, abuse, trauma) leaves you less resilient, more risk averse, more at risk. I'm not saying wealthy families don't have this, or that poor families can't be stable and secure. But on average it probably makes a diffe…

Pressure can also make diamonds and I know a lot of people who have become incredibly driven and successful precisely because of what they went through, while others who have had it easier tended to coast through life.

I see privilege as both a head start and a multiplier to your individual effort. People who put in no effort will still end up nowhere unless they have an absolutely enormous amount of privilege that allows them to succeed on a head start alone.

Someone with little privileged who puts in a huge amount of effort can overtake someone with a high privilege who puts in a normal amount of effort.

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#134

Post by Polylactic_acid »

cortesoft wrote: post #123
manigandham wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In that case then both perspectives are equally true and false.

They aren't equally true and false... the truth value is just unknown

Reminds me of the line "The sun can either come up in the morning or it doesn't. Therefore there is a 50% chance the sun will come up tomorrow"

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#135

Post by spir »

kentrado wrote: post #23
tannerc wrote: post #2

I like Austin Kleon's insights here [1]: "A day job gives you money, a connection to the world, and a routine. Freedom from financial stress also means freedom in your art. As photographer Bill Cunningham says, 'If you don’t take money, they cant tell you what to do.' Because the real truth is, once you start making money doing what you love, it BECOMES A JOB. And with it comes all the hassle of a job." It's why I've…

I would like to try that approach but I just don't have the energy after working all day to come home and start investing time chasing wildly creative projects.

A hundred years ago a wonderful slender book was written, "How To Live On 24 Hours A Day" by Arnold Bennett. He suggests getting up early and doing your passion projects before work.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Live-24-Hours-Day/dp/1603863680

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#137

Post by greggyb »

daxfohl wrote: post #4

There's a pretty high correlation between parental wealth and success as a startup founder. I assume it's because of the safety net. My friends who have been successful (and who had blue-collar upbringings like me, and all in mid-40's now) all worked full time jobs until their side projects were self-sustaining. None of them hit unicorn status, but I think all of them have lived healthy, fruitful lives. Also note by…

> high correlation between parental wealth and success as a startup founder. I assume it's because of the safety net.

Supporting a few sibling commenters here. I believe it is more nuanced than a safety net provided by parental wealth.

I definitely come from a background of privilege. My grandfathers were both high status professionals. My parents were a combination of high-performing professional and Ph.D. I have pursued several ventures. I have no major success to report from a startup perspective, but plenty of professional success. I have certainly taken risks in my career.

I have never consciously planned risks around the thought that my parents could provide a safety net. I have always had backup plans several layers deep and my parents have never factored into those plans. I cannot rule subconsciously banking on their support. Luckily I've never had to fall through all my backup plans.

Like I said, I certainly come from privilege. I'm not trying to say I did it all on my own. I am not trying to say my parents had nothing to do with it. Just that my safety net has not been planned around any parental largesse. I built it on a foundation provided by them.

I like to put it this way: I am a self made man. I made myself and achieved what I have on my own. I have achieved it with skills and a mindset that I learned from my parents. That I learned from the high quality education that they directly gave me and that they made sure I got in my schooling. I have achieved it with a confidence borne of an upbringing that tells me I deserve success and should expect it if I work well. I have achieved it in an economy that is supportive of professional development. I have achieved it by working hard - and being lucky enough that my work got to start at 0 instead of in a socioeconomic hole. I have achieved it by being lucky enough to live in a society where I am not discriminated against. I have achieved it by being lucky enough to be born in a time and place, and to parents, that were conducive to my hard work and to my success. I am a self-made man, but I don't think that's too much to brag about given the privilege I was born to.

So, there was never any direct safety net from my parents, but the safety net was there d/t the circumstances of my birth and life and luck. These things enabled hard work to pay off. Unfortunately hard work is not enough on its own. Luckily for me, I did hard work in the right time and place.

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#138

Post by ruvis »

spir wrote: post #135
kentrado wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would like to try that approach but I just don't have the energy after working all day to come home and start investing time chasing wildly creative projects.

A hundred years ago a wonderful slender book was written, "How To Live On 24 Hours A Day" by Arnold Bennett. He suggests getting up early and doing your passion projects before work. https://www.amazon.com/How-Live-24-Hours-Day/dp/1603863680

But I get up at 4am already

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#139

Post by lotsofpulp »

davidjnelson wrote: post #128
overcast wrote: post #5

Probably the biggest hurdle is dealing with healthcare on your own, it's just prohibitively expensive to deal with alone in the US. Multiple incomes is where it's at, at least until one of the projects takes off to cover cost of living and healthcare nonsense.

Was just looking at this out of curiosity the other day and in California the equivalent plan to what you’d get from employment to cover a family is $1,500/month from anthem. This is the platinum ppo from the exchange. $15 doctor visits, $9,000 yearly max, no deductible, $30 tier 3 drugs. The price is similar to what you get from an employer, except the employer pays most or all of the premium.

That doesn’t sound right at all. I just searched on coveredca.com and anthem platinum ppo for 2 40 year olds with 10 and 15 year old children is $3,600 per month.

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#140

Post by lotsofpulp »

fastball wrote: post #83
gketuma wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s actually on the cheap side. If you have say a wife and 2 kids, you pay around $1500 a month on the health exchange.

1500/4 = 375, which is significantly cheaper than 530.

The person that said $530 said no deductible, and they’re probably a young person. $1,500 family of 4 insurance will have at least a $5k deductible and $13k oop max I would estimate.
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