My old boss told me this quote and I've always loved it. When the self-made millionaire was asked what he'd do differently if he got to do it all over again, he responded "I'd ask for help."
Man... I was just told recently by a good friend that I am very good at helping people but bad at asking for help. I guess it's time for introspection...
Please do enlighten me. I read the whole post and am still not sure. Searching the web seems to be polluted by a nail polish brand named 'disco ball'. Is it simply slang for not taking oneself too seriously?
Sorry if I'm being obtuse ... you did see the large photograph at the top of this blog post showing the author wearing said disco ball necklace, drinking milk?
It says a lot about the endurance of the human spirit that in the midst of a catastrophe like Sandy, you still found the inner strength to chug a gallon of milk like a true meathead frat boy and presumably upload it straight to Facebook.
The disco ball is fitting, I think. You should keep wearing it.
I can understand how it might look if you don't know me and there's probably a lot of people who thought the same thing.
Looking back, it was just a coping method. In the same way that I make lame jokes when I feel nervous, this was just a reaction to the idea that my life just got flipped upside down.
And I totally posted it directly to instagram. Spade is a spade, I guess.
I seriously don't understand why you're supposed to feel bad about posting 4 pictures of yourself and making a joke photo. It didn't seem that wanky to me, so it's surprising that it was able to inspire this many people to forget about human courtesy and throw childish insults on the interwebs.
I was wondering if maybe these people know you and there's some kind of subtext here or something.
The Phillies 1B played himself in the office, IIRC. He pitched some absurd idea to his marketing guys about a movie wherein he was a super hero. Very tongue in cheek, I found it pretty funny.
Ryan Howard was a character that started out as a temp in the office and was on for many seasons of the show. He is not played by or based on Ryan Howard the baseball player. However, in the most recent season Ryan Howard the baseball player does do a cameo appearance on the show. Not confusing at all. I think the former character is what the OP was referring too.
I just read this moments after giving in, allowing my dad to take a 401k loan in exchange for the title to my car (I insisted) to help me pay rent and keep my startup dreams afloat a cpl more months. Humility doesn't come easy for some of us. Thank you for sharing Will. I really needed to read this today.
With all due respect - what is going to change about your startup in the next few months? Things like retirement account loans from your parents are to get you over a rare and unexpected setback in an otherwise exciting curve. Otherwise, you're just borrowing other people's money who need it (i.e. these are not wealthy individuals taking a risk with money they can afford to lose).
Bahahah. Let me clarify, I've been managing peons like yourself since high school. I've already climbed the six figure ladder. The view wasn't to my liking. See I decided to quit & build products designed for social good, hence why I turned down a CIO role at a bank last week & turned down $125k work-from-home contract at Wells Fargo today. I can make money anytime I return a headhunters voicemail. Maybe that's why my parents are cool with the risk. Go ahead Google me, my resume speaks for itself.
Why would you assume I'm a peon? Or that I haven't climbed the six figure ladder? In fact, you don't know anything about me, why would you react this way?
One of the things you learn as you get a little more maturity is that: a) it never pays to be rude or uncivil to anyone you don't personally know, b) no matter how much of a hot shit you think you are, you will look like a giant douchebag when you try to pull it on other people, c) there's always the possibility that you are wildly wrong.
You actually hit on all three of those points in this particular situation. Good luck with your startup.
"Do whatever you can to keep it going" only applies inasmuch as you're not taking advantage of other people to make it happen. The upthread poster taking money from his parents' retirement account to get "a few more months" on his startup and pay rent is not ideal.
I hadn't thought of it that way, but you raise a good point. At what point are people enabling you and at what point are you just being prideful (if you take it or not). Obviously you have to have some discretion, but I've always struggled with that line.
It's kind of like the hippocratic oath - "first, do no harm". You shouldn't be borrowing money from your parents' retirement account to get a few more months on your startup, unless it's a very specific situation.
Agreed. If this is a "I have a signed contract that will give me $Xk next month, if I can just make it to then" situation, sure, go for it. Otherwise, it's (almost definitely) just pissing away someone's money. There's always another way: get a job or freelance for a while and work on the startup on the side, take on funding, whatever.
This makes sense, but I can definitely see how I could get caught up thinking that with just "a few more" months I could get something to happen. By default, don't you have to ignore some data in a startup that says your failing and push on?
Otherwise you'd stop at square 0. I know there is a continuum of bullshitting yourself involved there, but it's certainly a grey area.
Seems like a mentor would be helpful in this kind of situation. I'm envisioning someone who's gone through success and failure, who isn't so emotionally connected with your project, who you can trust with the details even if they aren't flattering or optimistic, and who can help you make some of those judgement calls that get cloudy when you're right in the middle of something. A person like that is hard to find, but I think it's worth looking for.
Whoa damn! I knew Williamsburg was 'up-and-coming' when I lived there but that appears to have changed a lot in the last 5 years. Gentrification at it's finest.
We were living on the upper...upper east side. We might have been able to find a cheaper apartment in the bronx, but FWIW I was paying less in the last apartment than I was when I was living in Charlotte, NC.
It was a good trade off between being close enough to the "scene" and far enough away where it was cheap enough.
I spent the few months doing what I described in the post - pretending it didn't happen. It's amazing what you can convince yourself of.
When I finally decided I was being an idiot, I started to focus on finding a job. It was way harder than I thought it would be (there is a theme of being arrogant here - another post another day).
I'm now working at a startup as a software + product guy. Learning from some really smart people and loving it so far. In lots of ways, the storm was the best thing to happen to me.
I can only say that because I really have a lot of great people around me. It made me appreciate all the opportunities I've been given and can sympathize more with people who haven't had the same support.
There is more than one path, and admitting that I could use some help and a few tips here or there from the people who have already found success was a big lesson for me from the last 6 months.
If you succeed, it's success. If you fail, it's experience towards success.
