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Flip the stick

sivers.org

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Re: Flip the stick

#31

Post by demallien »

pcc wrote: post #4
tylo wrote: post #2

"Think banks have an unfair advantage? Then be a bank. Think corporate radio is keeping your music from being heard? Then make a radio station." A willingness to oversimplify the world certainly makes it a lot easier to write the kind of motivational drivel that this post aspires towards.

Whoa there. You're not even mentioning that he gives an example for each of these. Besides, he himself is an example of this; as he says, instead of complaining about music distribution, he started a distributor. Is it not the case that our minds often like to tell us bleak stories that turn out to be far removed from reality? So maybe, reality doesn't necessarily need to be as complex as our minds might try to make…

Exactly - plus of course, when you run into something that is stopping you from doing what you want to do, it is highly likely that other people have the same problem - you've just discovered a potential market! Of course, if you are not an entrepreneur, this discovery may not interest you very much - you just want to do your thing...

Re: Flip the stick

#32

Post by abstractbill »

shawndrost wrote: post #3

If you're young and you're depressed by the phrase "It's all about who you know", I really encourage you follow this quick, life-changing script: email two or three people in your town that can help you, and offer to buy them lunch so you can pick their brain. It's very easy to meet people, and you don't have to be fake, politic, or even very outgoing.

There's another important benefit from doing this. When you don't know any really successful people, its easy to build the idea up in your mind that such people must possess superhuman powers of some kind. When you get to know a few of them you see that they're not so unlike you after all, and their success begins to seem much more like something you might be able to replicate yourself.

Re: Flip the stick

#33

Post by Psyonic »

sivers wrote: post #17
Psyonic wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's because he hasn't yet come to believe he's God. Hopefully he'll stay that way.

:-) Hacker News comments are really humbling. So many brilliant people here that really call you on your shit in an intelligent way. You can never mistakenly think you're brighter than most. Most of the time I feel, “Wow. I have nothing to add.”

"Wow. I have nothing to add." is how I feel most of the time as well. In your case, however, the things you add are almost always insightful. It's good to have you around!

Re: Flip the stick

#34

Post by ottbot »

It seems like it all comes down to what happens after the lecture from the BMI guy. He gets his card and then actually calls him.

I'm think if I was in this situation, I wouldn't capitalize on this and just shove the card in a drawer - having no clue what to actually call the guy about, or be too afraid to ask for something.

Re: Flip the stick

#35

Post by TheSOB88 »

ottbot wrote: post #34

It seems like it all comes down to what happens after the lecture from the BMI guy. He gets his card and then actually calls him. I'm think if I was in this situation, I wouldn't capitalize on this and just shove the card in a drawer - having no clue what to actually call the guy about, or be too afraid to ask for something.

Stop it.

Re: Flip the stick

#37

Post by grannyg00se »

tome wrote: post #28
fforw wrote: post #27

Don't like world hunger? Starve people yourself! Don't like murder? Start killing people!

That's not the point. The point is if you don't like what someone else (not something else) is doing to you, become one of them yourself.

"if you don't like what someone else is doing to you, become one of them yourself"

Someone is bullying my family. I'm to become a bully and harass their family? This seems childish at best and possibly an extremely harmful way to go about working through hardships.

I think the idea is more along the lines of: "if you don't like the way a service is being provided, don't sit around and complain, try to do it better". It's a decent idea, but I think you're setting up for failure if you try to live this way. We can't all create new cable companies, new phone companies, new banks, and new ISPs just because we don't like the way the existing ones work.

I can see the idea leading to a severe lack of focus. Imagine trying to rebuild something everytime you notice that you don't like the way the existing infrastracture works.

I would suggest instead of rebuilding and likely becoming that which you despise, find a way around the problem so that you're no longer affected by it, or at least reduce your exposure.

Re: Flip the stick

#39

Post by dataminer »

davidw wrote: post #21

In a lot of cases, the guy at the other end of the stick is going to do his damndest to make sure you stay where you are, because he likes being wealthy/in charge/whatever.

Then find a niche which doesn't interest the guy at other end and grow from there.

Re: Flip the stick

#40

Post by pw0ncakes »

Good story, absolutely horrible generalization.

"Shitty sticks" are usually a result of disadvantageous power dynamics, often set in place by the mistakes of previous generations, and therefore not so easily flippable, given the massive number of people who benefit from keeping them in position.

Take, for example, the relationship between VCs and entrepreneurs. VCs make entrepreneurs pay legal expenses, often ask for outrageous terms and returns (participating preferred, multiple liquidation preferences), and tend to demand such a degree of power as to ruin the company. That's, without debate, a shitty stick. The simplistic solution, "become a VC", doesn't make any sense. 1. Most entrepreneurs don't want to be VCs, and 2. most of them can't join that club.

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