Everyone here is talking about getting a job working for someone else. Let's talk starting our own businesses.

cray-cray-cray · 2014-05-14T19:19:32+00:00

I have a ton of entrepreneurial advice. I'll try to give a little that relates to this sub, since most of it really doesn't. (much like optimal deadlift form is better off discussed elsewhere). I'll just give a few random things from my experience.

Find mentors - It's networking. The difference between a 40 year old success and a 20 year old newbie is mind boggling, regardless of field. Even at 40, some 50-60 year old mentors are helpful.
Expect Failure - Your ability to learn from failure is EVERYTHING. You don't need to hit home runs every time. Sometimes you strike out. A few singles and doubles keep you in the game long enough to keep swinging for the fence.
Don't expect LTRs to like risk-taking behavior. Ummm, they don't in that case. Even if you can handle the risks, girls often can't. Let's say you have 2 businesses. One made 10k last month, and one lost 5k. Women will generally focus on the -5k. Let's say you made 10k each of the last 12 months, but -2k last month. For fuck's sake, unless you know what you're doing, you wouldn't want to tell a wife that. It's like losing frame big time, and you'll see the same results. In 99% of cases, you won't get sympathy, help, or anything like it. The only thing you'll accomplish is making her insecure about yourself and everything else. (even if you are indeed confident, understand the issues, and just speaking factually about a shitty month.)

Any personal anecdotes about being an entrepreneur?

For me, there's nothing better than forging your own way. It's all like a big game to me, played with real money. I've burned to the ground a few times, and rebuilt each time. If I ever want any motivation, I start looking for jobs in the classifieds... for about 10 minutes.

Generally, girls like the idea of someone who owns their own business. But most won't really understand it.

Idrinkjdbythegallon · 2014-05-14T20:54:39+00:00

Running a small business is very emotionally taxing. There's risk, unexpected events, overtime?, and lots of ups and downs. Personally, it takes up all of my emotional quotient. Ltrs are not an option and the few girls I see can tell I'm checked out. I could divert some of that energy and money but I care more about my businesses than about making some girl happy.

Aside from that being in business for yourself is very rewarding. I make more money than doctors and lawyers, I don't have a boss and I set my own schedule.

wanderingfun · 2014-05-14T23:53:11+00:00

The following comments are oriented towards men starting with a bootstrapping approach, small business (anything that yields $1M or less per year gross income to you as business owner, W-2 and/or capital gains). If you're the product of a nepotistic deal a la Hunter Biden, other rules apply. Lots of TRP principles apply hugely to business.

Always work to be better than you were yesterday.

Powertalk does not belong to the inner circle of a new small business. You either find people you can straighttalk with to work and literally trust with your life with in a dark room, or you're going to get steamrollered by your competition who isn't wasting time being all obscure and deniable. Powertalk the shit out of everyone else, sure. If you can't find anyone you can trust like that, go it alone and hire professional help where needed.

Identify your weak points and ruthlessly weed them out. First step is to admit you have weaknesses.

Don't blow off the shit that only takes 1-3 minutes a day to take care of.

Manage your time, don't let it manage you.

Some of your annoying clients can be your most loyal and profitable. Separate your emotion out and work the business.

Stand ready to do whatever it fucking takes. Nothing is ever "beneath" you as a business owner. Never tell someone to do something you won't do yourself. Shit-blasted toilet some cunthead left behind, it's lunch hour and all the registers are ringing up orders outside? Roll up your fucking sleeves and get in there, because you realize that your order takers trained by your manager will tally orders faster than you ever can. Don't call attention to it like a pantywaist, either; just do it. Subordinates notice this, respect the hell out of you when they notice, and there are fewer decisions you can make that earn more loyalty.

It's a game of inches. Google Pacino's speech from the Any Given Sunday movie. Most success in business consists of unglamorous, tedious, frustrating shit.

A lot of times you won't know whether what the fuck you are doing will make a difference or not in the business. Most of the rest of businesspeople are in the same boat. There is more fad-following in business than business people let on. Use your head to critically discern what works for you, and you'll still be ahead of the game. Watch out for "fake it 'til you make it"; it is one of the single most popular strategies in business, and comes in innumerable guises.

Always stay hungry. You are only as good as your last sale.

If you don't like selling, fuck off, learn it, then come back. Approaching dimes is training grounds for selling. If you aren't comfortable just chatting up dimes, you'll die a death of a thousand humiliations the first time you enter a competitive bid where there is a faction at the client who hates your guts just for showing up.

It helps to be smart to succeed, but really consistent hard effort counts for more. I know a few guys who I personally and objectively consider way smarter than me who started out roughly around the same time I did, even in the same industry as competitors. No longer in business.

A man who owns a successful business with subordinates that they manage but doesn't talk about it unless directly asked, and the man is comfortable performing sales: huge turn-on for a lot of women, across a big, big age range.

If you lift, stay fit, are solvent (look at some of my other posts for what I consider relatively "made it" and solvent in the US), have moderate game, and don't let on the business is on your mind all your waking minutes, you will not have trouble getting laid. See elsewhere in thread re: comment on talking any business downs with women in your life: just don't as a rule of thumb.

slcjosh · 2014-05-14T19:09:06+00:00

/r/entrepreneur

noblepaladin · 2014-05-14T21:33:12+00:00

Honestly, being an entrepreneur is just a bad strategy for most males. Getting a career going, building up a safety net for yourself, then trying to get a start-up going is a solid plan, but just having this "I refuse to work for anyone but me, I am the boss, I shall be an entrepreneur because unless all these follower males, I'm a leader!" right out of college is ridiculous.

Unless of course you actually are very talented, have a network of people who can help you build a MVP and get it out in front of people, have charisma, and are willing to relocate to the optimal area for receiving funding for your goal... If you have all of that and you are 20, sure, drop out and follow your dreams.

Ideally if you want to become an entrepreneur and you aren't the above, then you need to build up a platform and network first. Want to build the next great social network? Go work for a social network startup, many have really solid salaries. Just grind it out, learn from the founder's strong characteristics and weak ones, build your network, save your money.

Ultimately, it comes down to what you want. Do you dream of starting a company, to the point a job at Google would be torture for you? Fine, go do it now. Are you just a dude who fantasizes about getting to skip the career rat race, humble-bragging about what you do / how busy you are, and think you will get easy money? Get higher "CMV" if you will, career market value (skills + experience + network + prestige of past employments/education), and then after you have built that, you will be able to make a more informed decision about whether being an entrepreneur is right for you.

leftajar · 2014-05-14T23:36:46+00:00

Three months ago I finally made the jump from wage slave to self-employed.

First off, working for someone else prevents you from being paid your full value.

How does that work? Simple: a company will ONLY hire an employee if they make a profit from that employee.

In other words, if your job pays you $40,000/year, they MUST be making AT LEAST that much off you.

Personal example: I was a sales associate, making 10% commission. I sold about 550k in profit in 2012, netting myself 55k. Woot! Oh wait, except that the company kept 495k of that.

Which brings me to my next point:

Starting your own business is the process of figuring out how to *offer value directly to the customers.*

Ultimately, others will pay you to solve their problems. Never forget that: you serve the customer.

Many new entrepreneurs, especially those with a fantastic idea, will focus on that idea to the exclusion of everything else.

This is ass-backwards.

Start with your customers: what do they want? What problems are they having? How can they help you to solve their problems?

Third thing: picking a field with a lot of competition is a good thing.

Many new entrepreneurs are disheartened to find out that others are already doing their idea. They feel like they need something totally brand new to be successful.

That could not be more wrong.

If others are doing "your" thing, that means there's demand for it! There are an infinite number of ways to make money in the world, and that one has already been validated as effective!

How to succeed in a crowded field:

Pick a particular niche and dominate it.
Pick a broader niche and do it better than everybody else.
Offer better service/be more personable than others.

Which of the following is more likely to succeed:

"I provide landscaping services," OR "I help environmentally-conscious homeowners to plan and install sustainable gardens with low water requirements."

The first one, you will have to sell your ass off to get customers. The second one, you just need to spread the word and your customers will self-select.

Make sense? Open for questions.

john-b · 2014-05-14T20:17:03+00:00

I hate the word entrepreneur. 150 years ago it was normal and expected for you to go on your own after training or studying. I don't need a special label attached to me when I'm being independent.

In the general course of human nature, a power over a man's subsistence amounts to a power over his will. - Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Paper #79

cray-cray-cray · 2014-05-14T19:50:00+00:00

My uncle is a home contractor in a white collar neighborhood. He makes great money off people's vanity, like a plastic surgeon, and he hires cheap labor.

ProAssad · 2014-05-15T03:06:41+00:00

I think most people think its harder than it is. For example i know many people who opened their restuarant with less than 40k cash, if possible they then use their family to pool the rest and use your credit, if your smart you can fix your lowish credit score within 6 months and that alone can net you 10-20k cash if you max everything out and you now have 60k now imagine that doing that with your wife etc. If you look at many small business owners in america they are asian. They are smart they open small hard to fail business that have nothing to do with being fun or something they think will be a dream to own. Something like a gasoline station or dry cleaner. These things are not something you see yourself doing but they bring in cash. In my opinion just do something that you know will make money. Many people ask why would you ruin your credit and run 20k in debt? my question to you is, if your opening a business and it fails, your credit is gona dump anyway? Its all a risk.

Stormhammer · 2014-05-15T08:19:50+00:00

So, for all the negative nancies in here...

I work full time in cyber security. Have to pay the bills, right?

On the side, I've started an e-commerce site that sells, of all things - candles. The scents are a very niche market. It's all automated - people and or business order the candle(s) online, they pay me, the order goes to my manufacturer, they charge me, they make the candle, with my branding, and ship it on my behalf to the customer.

It cost me about $60 to start, and a couple of weekends to figure things out website wise. Currently I average around ~$7200/mo in gross profit.

Tips for a budding entrepreneur? Stop pulling your pud and just fucking do it. Don't worry if its a good idea or not. Keep your main job, work on it on the side. Visit /r/entrepreneur if you want validation. Visit www.entrepreneur.com if you want a lot of great resources.

As for a personal anecdote? Well, I make more per month doing nothing except answering a few emails than I do working my normal job. So there's that. This all stemmed from my prior job where I was hired to do something challenging and ended up being assigned of laying out power strips... and watching Netflix all day, being bored and getting depressed. Figured fuck it, might as well do something with my time.

PimpMasta · 2014-05-14T19:07:21+00:00

It depends, I wouldn't really consider trading a "personal business", more of like a hobby for now. I have gotten a ton better at trading though.

If I did start a business I would do two things:

1) Make a blog

2) Make a youtube channel

Especially if you want to sell a product, or a book, or something you must create a loyal and strong fanbase. Its not the 1960's anymore, there are actually tons of people like you, but what's going to make you different is you have hilarious videos or a great blog.

I don't have a business so I don't have too many anecdotes however the best piece of advice I can give you from trading is persistance persistance persistance. Failing will happen, but it's a good thing that allows you to grow.

blazingcopper · 2014-05-15T00:40:00+00:00

I started a window washing business 2 years ago. Hired some people, realized I preferred to do everything by myself and fired them. All in all my time ends up averaging about $40/hr. But with no one to support and no boss to force me to work, I end up taking too much time off and I haven't really built anything valuable out of the experience. Looking to exit, but having difficulty to transitioning to the idea of working "for the man" again, and I have no real technical skills out of which to start my next venture. I'm stuck.

2014-05-15T05:54:33+00:00

Entrepreneurship is one of the most red pill lifestyle's that a man can lead. You're in absolute control of your life and it reflects on your personality in every possible way. There's a certain unspoken confidence that shines off of a successful entrepreneur. You can just tell when someone is calling the shots in the business/tech world.

Anyway, it's also one of the most emotionally draining paths that one can take (as someone else posted). Something like 90% of all startups fail so persistence is key here. You're going to fail a lot. And you'll get back up again, if you have the balls. Do NOT get into entrepreneurship solely for the money, fame or status. That will fucking burn you in the end. Chasing money is my biggest regret in entrepreneurship. It never ever works that way.

Attracting the money is what works. As MJ DeMarco has once said - Money is like a mischievous cat. You can chase a cat all day long and it will avoid you. Pour a bowl of milk and the cat will come to you.

Get into entrepreneurship if you have a burning desire to create value. Your passion doesn't matter, regardless of what people will tell you about doing what you love etc.

Create a valuable biz that the free market demands, put a ton of sweat equity into it, and THEN your business will potentially succeed with a hint of luck.

HitlersCow · 2014-05-14T21:26:11+00:00

For the video games I play I'm at the top percentile. I wouldn't say I'm "famous" because fame within a game is downright retarded, but I get messages every day asking me to stream or make educational videos. I figure if I knew anything about editing or youtubing I could turn a soulsuckingly miserable addiction into something profitable and helpful for other people. Not exactly a business but I think it's something I'll look into if I ever get a better computer.

RedBigMan · 2014-05-14T23:12:24+00:00

Most people talking about working for someone else are doing so because they are just learning or starting out.

Also one of the least risky ways to become an entrepreneur is to do so while also working for someone else part-time. This way you can start it up without falling flat on your face on months you have no income from your start up or even negative income.

troubadour1492 · 2014-05-15T11:12:09+00:00

Know when your idea sucks, and it's time to walk. I've owned three businesses, and I currently work for someone else while I try to figure something else out. Meanwhile my father lost his ass and then some holding onto a dream too long. It's OK to burn it to the ground, just don't burn it way down into the basement.

TheIslander829 · 2014-05-14T19:25:38+00:00

I think reading Darren Hardy's The Compound Effect would be a good start.

Kalepsis · 2014-05-15T04:11:22+00:00

I had a great idea. I want to buy an ice cream truck and park it outside the DMV at 6:45 am.

harkrank · 2014-05-15T10:10:32+00:00

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Watermelon_Salesman · 2014-05-15T11:22:44+00:00

Tips on finding a niche market for a new business?

I'm in South America, there's probably untapped markets around here that are already covered in the US.

Olipyr · 2014-05-15T12:39:58+00:00

Prepare for the worst. Expect the worst. Work towards the best.

Do not bring friends into it, and to an extent, family.

If you haven't had a job, get one anyway. It will/should give you the motivation you need to succeed. It will show you what working for someone else is like. Plus, it will give you some cushion in paychecks that should go towards a rainy day.

Don't be afraid to take risks. You want to be successful? Take risks. You're not going anywhere near the middle if you're a pussy in business. It's not for scared little boys who want comfort. It's for men who aren't scared to let failure into their lives and learn from that failure. EDIT: Let me restate something, don't take stupid risks.

When you become successful, diversify your stocks. Hell, try to get into a managed account with a top bank. You can get into that with as little as $25k now.

EDIT 2: For the love of Christ, and it's been said, DO NOT BRING WOMEN YOU'RE DATING INTO YOUR BUSINESS INNER CIRCLE. Do not give her the inside scoop on how you're running it. All she needs to know is you're a business owner. She doesn't need to know how much/little you make or anything like that.

tmpjb · 2014-05-15T21:49:31+00:00

I don't believe entrepreneurship is as attractive for men in today's environment. A lot of men (including me) worked hard to gain success thinking that women were at the end of the road. But money doesn't have 1% of the effect on getting women as it did in the 50s. Because in the 50s the family would be heavily involved in who the girl married and warned her against becoming a slut. So if you're not planning to get married it's hard for me to understand why you would take a big risk when mens' material desires are so much less than womens'. Beyond 100k/year i wouldn't know how to spend my money but maybe that's just me and you can get that mostly risk free.

GuruLand · 2014-05-16T00:24:06+00:00

The Red Pill theory and its understanding of true human psychology without any sugar-coats, emotions or biases, is so powerful that can be applied in many, many fields not only in women-related affairs.

TRP theory would be awesome if we applied it to business: how to hire the best applicant (hamster? Confident? Find traits with TRP theory), how and when to take risks, how to socialize and be the alpha of the meetings, etc.

I hope TRP someday gets a "Business" section.

2014-05-16T03:22:21+00:00

Something like 90% of businesses fail in their first 2 years so it definitely isn't for everyone.

I run a small business on the side of my fairly well paying 9-5 job. It doesn't earn enough for me to make a living but it gives me some awesome tax concessions as well a little side income.

supercold1 · 2014-05-15T00:26:53+00:00

You need 1million dollars to start a successful business. Let me explain. Back at around 2003 or 2004, my idiot half brother somehow convinced my skeptical and intelligent father on a business plan opening a liquor store. Long story short, they thought they could do it for $80,000, which sounded low to me, but I didn't say anything because i lacked experience and felt my opinion didn't matter. The business didn't last long. He could never keep enough product on the shelf, because the distributors had made it cost prohibitive. Since he was only one store, he couldn't get the massive bulk discounts that the big liquor store chains got. This forced him to sell his product at outrageously high prices. This meant his business was dependent on his convenient location right next to a suburb and apt. complex, but it wasn't enough. That was bad enough to put the store under, but then he started to get a real bad attitude towards his customers and drove a lot of them away, ruining what little customer base he had. He eventually found another job and abandoned the store, forcing me to take it over and ride out the lease for the last year and a half. Believe me, there was no saving that store. Where does the million bucks come in? Well, I went around and talked to other liquor store owners to try and find some way to help the business. i took one look at their back rooms, and i immediately saw the problem. They had easily hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of product stored in the back room, something my half-brother never came close to having. These people started out with way more money than he got or could ever get from my father. A little inquiry got a figure out of them; it was close to a million bucks. Like, $800,000, or so. I surmised later, after investigating other business opportunities, that that's generally the amount required to start just about any business. Pretty much no matter what service or product you intend to sell, you better already have a million bucks worth of it.

As for the classic ideal of entrepreneurship? You know, where the guy invents something in his garage that everyone wants to buy and he becomes a millionaire? Yeah, that doesn't happen, either. My father could tell you better than me, but he's had lots of patents stolen from him. He's worked for lots of tech giants, and nearly each one of them has screwed him out of the money he was supposed to get inventing stuff for them. He tried suing once, but it didn't work, and just cost him more money. They basically employed the tech industry version of "Hollywood Accounting", where they had phony paperwork that could "prove" to any court of law that they actually didn't use his specific patent in the product, because they painted it red or some shit.

So there you have it. Entrepreneurship in America is dead. You need money to make money, period. And lots of money. Wanna open a store? You better be able to buy in massive bulk like the huge chains can. Wanna take that thing you invented in your garage that you know everyone will want and release into the world? Don't. Keep it to yourself or someone will steal it. Don't show it to another company in the hopes that they will buy you out and sell the product, because that won't happen. You need a million bucks to get it manufactured yourself with your own company, or have a friend with a million bucks that you trust implicitly. Or be lucky enough to inherit the money, which is just about the only way to start a business now.

Edit: Downvoted for the truth. Typical.

nitzxxl · 2014-05-14T22:03:47+00:00

Being an entrepreneur is stupid. You will work more than ever, earn less than anybody else in the beginning and you can always fail. You will risk all your stuff. Anyways here is my link list in no particular order. You will need a business plan before you start anything else. Write it while you work. Google soft and hard skills of an entrepreneur. There must be an entrepreneur in your heart or you will fail. There is much motivational stuff that will tell you that you just have to be yourself and start, but doubt yourself, you must be in best shape to be successful.

TheSKSpecial · 2014-05-15T13:47:49+00:00

[permanently deleted]

Title	Everyone here is talking about getting a job working for someone else. Let's talk starting our own businesses.
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	84
Comments	124
Date	May 14, 2014 6:48 PM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/TheRedPill
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/25k5bk/everyone_here_is_talking_about_getting_a_job/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/TheRedPill/everyone-here-is-talking-about-getting-a-job.15417 https://theredarchive.com/post/15417

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