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Failed entrepreneur, broke, unemployed, now taking care of aging parents. Help.

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Re: Failed entrepreneur, broke, unemployed, now taking care of aging parents. Help.

#141

Post by userulluipeste »

Hello. Maybe this is the last thing you want from others, but I'll say it - I'm sorry for you. Although I, like many others, have been in situations somewhat similar, I have to admit that it doesn't match the depth level. Therefore what I'll say doesn't have an empirical-derived proven value. It is just a outside perspective that I hope you'll find useful.

1. Priorities in order. I see you worry about a lot of things, like unemployment, loosing professional momentum, your parents, your depths, and about a lot of other multiple aspects of your life. As a former entrepreneur, I'm sure that you can find a way to deal with each one accordingly. I would consider first of all my sanity, especially the mental stability, no mater what.

2. Discipline. Manage your own life and improve the chances of getting needed and desired targets. Peace and free time would be incentives to new ideas, which are essential for getting back on your feet.

3. Research. Study everything that looks promising (for new opportunities).

Re: Failed entrepreneur, broke, unemployed, now taking care of aging parents. Help.

#142

Post by jtheory »

yardie wrote: post #137
john61 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also grow your own vegetables in the garden. It's not only cheap, it has also no pesticide pollution, tastes much better and is very healthy because it's fresh. But the most important thing is the psychological effect: You seed, you care, you work on it, you watch it growing and then you harvest and eat your own effort. That's like beeing an entrepreneur on a small scale. Build on this positive experience and grow to…

I would just like to add that starting an organic is not cheap. It's cheaper than, for example, scuba diving or photography. But gathering the materials to get started was a more than I anticipated at first. Just like produce, the chemical free, organic stuff (soil, fertilizer, seeds) cost more than the general stuff. But you only have to do this once, after that it's just the recurring cost of maintaining it. But it…

"starting an organic is not cheap"

You mean garden, right? Not farm? A garden is very much a kind of "do only as much as you feel like doing" kind of thing.

I have a mini garden, which I suppose is more or less organic by default, because I don't fertilize (or buy soil for that matter), with chemicals or otherwise. I had a big compost bin already -- it was there when we moved in -- so I dumped a bunch of the soil from the bottom of that into some planters, plugged in seedlings for tomatoes and peppers from the supermarket plus a few basil plants, and just watered those now & again. At one point I put in stakes and tied the plants to them to protect them from getting blown over, but otherwise that was all the work (beyond harvesting the veggies when they were ready).

We also have fruit trees and berry bushes, which are even better -- it doesn't work out every season (sometimes there's a late frost that kills the cherries, etc.) but every year we get at least something -- sometimes an overwhelming amount of either cherries, apples, figs, kiwis, raspberries, red currants, and some other kind of berry who's name I can never remember but is sort of like a big raspberry. It's important to pick trees/bushes that are relatively "native" to your area so they won't require much care (our fig is a bit too far north for its liking, unfortunately, so the fruit isn't often ripe in time), but otherwise it's easy going.

Final note: ideally find a neighbor or two who already has a garden going. You can research how to grow anything online, but there's such a glut of information -- often focused on people with more spare time than you may have, and often based on a different region than yours -- that it's much easier if you have someone local you can ask for advice.

Re: Failed entrepreneur, broke, unemployed, now taking care of aging parents. Help.

#143

Post by mimicoctopus »

It seems you're rationally aware of the choices, the actions and the causes. As for the problems, from what I understand about entrepreneurship so far, its always going to be challenging and that's exactly why it chooses people like you who are inherently blind to comforts in 9-5 jobs and who hate routine. If not positive, you're gonna stay rational and thus focused. Don't worry much. You're just feeling alone and with a planet full of 7 billion people, it's not gonna stay that way for long :)

Re: Failed entrepreneur, broke, unemployed, now taking care of aging parents. Help.

#144

Post by thenomad »

TamDenholm wrote: post #87

Some advice for the short term, assuming your parents will be ok, get away for a week or so, go stay somewhere with a friend, sleep on their couch/spare room or something. Have a few beers, watch some movies and just try to relax for 2-3 days. Then while still there, start making some plans (see advice from other commenters) about what to do next. The getting away from it all for a week or should help clear your head…

This. Excellent advice.

I'm rather appalled by the smug "this is easy to fix" or "the problem is all in your head" attitudes exhibited by some posters here. This Shit Is Hard.

Much sympathy for what genuinely sounds like a very unpleasant situation, mattman, and please don't listen to the people saying you're bad and wrong.

Re: Failed entrepreneur, broke, unemployed, now taking care of aging parents. Help.

#145

Post by jbjohns »

palish wrote: post #97
bloggergirl wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree with erikstarck. This is actually an amazing opportunity -- when you get past the whole "being poor" thing. (Good news is that we're in a recession, so there aren't any Joneses to keep up with.) Now that you've had your cry and been flooded with support from HN, start the next phase of your life. The Starting from Scratch Phase. If you're having a hard time seeing your options clearly, pretend you're…

I just got back from McDonalds since $1 McChicken is all I can afford to eat. This is the taste of liberation. Mmm.

No, this is the taste of upcoming medical problems.

Re: Failed entrepreneur, broke, unemployed, now taking care of aging parents. Help.

#146

Post by deweyusa »

palish wrote: post #86
mattman wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes I actually agree with you. I should have provided better context: 9-5 meaning that people here are mostly content with what they have. They aren't out and about in the city looking to build new ventures, take risks on big, unproven ideas, etc.

They aren't out and about in the city looking to build new ventures, take risks on big, unproven ideas, etc. Is it really like that in SF? I've never lived there, only visited; and almost got mugged at a gas station. The description reads like a fairytale or wishful thinking. I hope I'm wrong, though, because that would be amazing.

Sideline topic: Yeah, I can't handle these types of crowds, even though I really need to find a co-founder. I can't go to these specifically because of all the talking of sh__ that goes on. I'm afraid many people in the startup scene may think they will be the next best CEO in the world, so they go to these events and typically spend the entire time droning on with enough business/tech-laced hot air you could fill a balloon with it big enough to have saved the Titanic from sinking. But, when it comes to rolling up sleeves and getting things done...well...crickets.

Re: Failed entrepreneur, broke, unemployed, now taking care of aging parents. Help.

#147

Post by zackattack »

nostrademons wrote: post #85
zackattack wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Important edit: I recommend buying books if you can afford it. Many reasons for this. One, it's fun to receive packages in the mail. I get a rush every time I rip a package open. Two, it's good for the ego. It helps you keep perspective on how much you've been reading. Three, you can underline the books as you read them, this can be VERY helpful. Unfortunately I do not recommend loaning books to friends, you will nev…

Reading books can be a useful starting point, but by themselves they won't get you those skills. They're called skills for a reason: you have to practice them. I'll repeat the advice out of one of Peter Drucker's books: the only way to really improve in life is to feed back from actions to results. Try to do something. When you fail (and you probably will, the first time), take an honest look at your performance, and…

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