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I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.

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Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.

#71

Post by mathattack »

mindcrime wrote: post #61
mathattack wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you come from the country club life (first paragraph) it is indeed mediocre. I'll toss in the counterpoint that having kids that are thrilled to see you, even if you live in a tiny apartment, is anything but mediocre. The OP seems to have a lot of priorities out of whack.

To back up your point, in what world is having a good job, nice house, and large retirement savings "mediocre"? reply When you come from the country club life (first paragraph) it is indeed mediocre. I would consider that mediocre as well, and I grew up about as far from "country club" life as you can get. As in, dirt-poor, below-the-poverty-line, white-trash from rural southeastern NC. Of course, some of that is tha…

I would argue that having your own company just shifts the control from your boss to your customers. The one difference is you now have more control over resources.

Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.

#72

Post by graeme »

A lot of people rightly point out the melodrama in this post, and that the OP has it better than he realizes.

There's still some truth here. I'm 28, and doing ok now. I'm financially stable, and have 2K a month in recurring revenue + what I earn from short term engagements.

My peers now think what I'm doing is cool, and my parents now appear to accept that I'm not a hobo.

But, for the first year and a half, it was very tough emotionally. I was doing fine materially, but earning far less than I would have from a job.

I knew that what I was working on had potential. In fact, my short term (6-12 month) predictions were pretty spot on.

But that was based on my understanding of my niche. Others couldn't see inside my head. It was very, very hard for my parents to see that what I was doing would be worthwhile.

Now that I have externally verifiable metrics of success, it is much easier to convince people that what I'm doing is a good idea.

That in turn makes my work easier. I always felt that what I was doing was worthwhile. But it's a lot easier to work on something when your peers agree with your assessment.

Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.

#73

Post by Diamons »

I'm seriously starting to hate this "I'm an entrepreneur" circlejerk. An entrepreneur in my not-so-humble opinion is someone who is on the corner selling bottles of water. An entrepreneur is the guy who came up to me in the Home Depot parking lot yesterday and offered to fix some scratches and dents on my car for $15 but hustled me to $40. An entrepreneur is someone who has taken risks, stood in the face of being homeless, had a rough childhood, and has become shaped into an entrepreneur by the influencing forces in his or her life.

An entrepreneur is NOT a 23 year old who decides he has an idea and wants to see how it works out. An entrepreneur is NOT someone who spends all day attending networking events and attending events like Stanford eBootcamp or living off VC money.

Going to med school doesn't immediately make you a doctor. Going to law school doesn't immediately make you a lawyer.

Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.

#74

Post by mgkimsal »

mindcrime wrote: post #66
mgkimsal wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More to the point, most 'wantrepreneurs' rely on customers being in the middle class or higher, and having discretionary incomes from their stuffed 401ks to spend on their product/service/Saas/etc. To call that lifestyle 'mediocrity' and insult the very people that you need to grow your business is beyond the pale. Just wait until he starts hiring people. He'll need those people who are satisfied when their work life…

To call that lifestyle 'mediocrity' and insult the very people that you need to grow your business is beyond the pale. FWIW, I think "mediocre" is relative and very personal. A stable job, a modest house, a 401(k) with some money in it, etc., would be mediocre for me, because that just isn't what I want. But I would never argue that it's mediocre in any universal or objective sense. Whether someone's life is mediocre…

"I want to run my own company and have plenty of money,"

There are plenty of ways you could be 'free' without owning a company. We all need FU money, but if 'freedom' is the ultimate goal, you could reduce your wants and probably have FU money after a year or so at a decent job, then move to some asian island and live decently off the interest.

That's not the 'freedom' most of us aspire to though. :)

Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.

#75

Post by cko »

I'm only 27 myself, so I don't have much wisdom to share, but...

You did say that living your well-off lifestyle costs very little.

"I want to give the same unwavering devotion to my children as my parents gave to me, but I want to do it in a way that does not lead to living paycheck to paycheck."

You wouldn't be living paycheck to paycheck if you accepted a job. I'm a pharmacist. It's OK money - I'm sure software developers can get more. You can build up savings and investments for a few years while developing some projects on the side. This gives you breathing room. It seems like you're walking a tightrope right now - with fear of losing what you already have (girlfriend, material stuff) and fear of this idea you call "mediocrity" pushing you along.

At this point no one's going to write an epic poem about my life. I'm arrogant enough to hate "mediocrity" as well, but it's a small price to pay for peace of mind.

Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.

#76

Post by niuzeta »

frenchy wrote: post #68
niuzeta wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am young, just out of university, had a passion for writing, did a major-cs-minor-literature. Now I do 9 to 5, and write after work. Life is good for me and I am happy because I love my work and after-work. The purist obsession that you need to be 100% devoted to something is beyond me, but like I said, I am happy and know that I am happy because I knew this would make me happy. The OP has a different opinion of ha…

It's not so much his opinion of happiness, but his looking-down on other opinions of happiness.

exactly. that's why I'm rather unsettled by the article. However, I've seen a little too many of young-and-ambitious kinds that I've gotten used to them by now. Whether that's a good thing or bad is not for me, though.

Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.

#77

Post by AnIrishDuck »

mathattack wrote: post #71
mindcrime wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To back up your point, in what world is having a good job, nice house, and large retirement savings "mediocre"? reply When you come from the country club life (first paragraph) it is indeed mediocre. I would consider that mediocre as well, and I grew up about as far from "country club" life as you can get. As in, dirt-poor, below-the-poverty-line, white-trash from rural southeastern NC. Of course, some of that is tha…

I would argue that having your own company just shifts the control from your boss to your customers. The one difference is you now have more control over resources.

My dad, the sole attorney in his private practice firm, put it this way: "When you work a job, you have one boss. When you own a company, you have hundreds."

Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.

#78

Post by mindcrime »

mgkimsal wrote: post #74
mindcrime wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To call that lifestyle 'mediocrity' and insult the very people that you need to grow your business is beyond the pale. FWIW, I think "mediocre" is relative and very personal. A stable job, a modest house, a 401(k) with some money in it, etc., would be mediocre for me, because that just isn't what I want. But I would never argue that it's mediocre in any universal or objective sense. Whether someone's life is mediocre…

"I want to run my own company and have plenty of money," There are plenty of ways you could be 'free' without owning a company. We all need FU money, but if 'freedom' is the ultimate goal, you could reduce your wants and probably have FU money after a year or so at a decent job, then move to some asian island and live decently off the interest. That's not the 'freedom' most of us aspire to though. :)

There are plenty of ways you could be 'free' without owning a company.

Oh yeah, no doubt. That's the problem with engaging in too much reductionism in conversations like this. Human motivation is always more complex than just one or two things. I want to build a startup for other reasons than just financial independence, for sure. I guess the way I'd put it is:

"Founding a startup and growing a successful, profitable company seems - to me - to be the best path to satisfying a large number of my goals and ambitions and priorities, to an adequate degree, without compromising any of my fundamental principles".

Or think of it as an optimization problem... my calculations optimize the system of equations best by starting a company, based on what I know right now.

Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.

#79

Post by mindcrime »

mathattack wrote: post #71
mindcrime wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To back up your point, in what world is having a good job, nice house, and large retirement savings "mediocre"? reply When you come from the country club life (first paragraph) it is indeed mediocre. I would consider that mediocre as well, and I grew up about as far from "country club" life as you can get. As in, dirt-poor, below-the-poverty-line, white-trash from rural southeastern NC. Of course, some of that is tha…

I would argue that having your own company just shifts the control from your boss to your customers. The one difference is you now have more control over resources.

I would argue that having your own company just shifts the control from your boss to your customers.

Absolutely. But, personally, I would find that preferable. There's a big difference from having to be accountable and responsive to "the market" in the aggregate (and especially when you consider that you can "fire" a bad customer) and having a "boss" - one individual who has you under his/her thumb and can unilaterally order you around.

Re: I'm 23, An Entrepreneur, and Fucking Terrified.

#80

Post by mgkimsal »

mindcrime wrote: post #78
mgkimsal wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I want to run my own company and have plenty of money," There are plenty of ways you could be 'free' without owning a company. We all need FU money, but if 'freedom' is the ultimate goal, you could reduce your wants and probably have FU money after a year or so at a decent job, then move to some asian island and live decently off the interest. That's not the 'freedom' most of us aspire to though. :)

There are plenty of ways you could be 'free' without owning a company. Oh yeah, no doubt. That's the problem with engaging in too much reductionism in conversations like this. Human motivation is always more complex than just one or two things. I want to build a startup for other reasons than just financial independence, for sure. I guess the way I'd put it is: "Founding a startup and growing a successful, profitable…

BTW, are you ever back in NC?
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