Random Chat, Thoughts, Posts, and/or Rants Thread

[Guest-5ty5s4]

If you want to enter business (as a young guy) with higher likelihood of success, get into something boring and old school. Even if you don't have the best work ethic, you'll win against the old order on baseline energy and innovation alone.

The simple fact that everyone here can type well and use the internet will put you in the upper echelon of old-school business. I'm not kidding.

Many of these businesses can be millionaire makers, and many of them still have fax machines.

(Our biz is old school, but we use some very new school technology)

 

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[Guest-5ty5s4]

I really like this idea on paper. But in reality, this usually means an offline business that ties you to one location and requires you to deal with some difficult people.

This is true as well.

I do often envy the guys pulling down big dollar amounts with just a dream and a laptop.

Haven't met anyone like that in real life, but very cool and very desirable.

(I have, however, met lots of these old school millionaires, easily verifying how damn rich they are too just by looking at county records)

 

[becks22]

@thechosen1 I still have a fax lol but at least it's an e-fax service that automatically converts everything to a PDF. I still need it for clients and vendors

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

@thechosen1 I still have a fax lol but at least it's an e-fax service that automatically converts everything to a PDF. I still need it for clients and vendors

that's smart, you're using it well with a new bit of tech for the PDF conversion, and it's helping you make money.

I see no problem

 

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[Antifragile]

If you want to enter business (as a young guy) with higher likelihood of success, get into something boring and old school. Even if you don't have the best work ethic, you'll win against the old order on baseline energy and innovation alone.

It sounds like you are saying that
A) the old order - is older people
B) they don’t have energy and thus easily influenced by any young person with less than stellar work ethic.

Your eloquent post made me first think “hmm probably right” only to think deeper again. And I disagree.

Old businesses that are still in business are either successful or dying. If successful then young people will have to climb that career ladder. They’ll have to prove their work ethic is impeccable. And if the business is dying… what would be the reason to get into it? And how would a “don’t have the best work ethic” young gun help?

It sounds like you are bringing some personal observation and experience with this post but it doesn’t apply to most businesses I can think of as “old school”.

moreover, I’ve been hiring older and experienced people for our business as well as young. People are just people, some old are so energetic and efficient that it’s infectious for young. And some kids we hired were such losers staying on their social platforms during the work, only to play video games at night and come in lethargic again - yes, fired.

we are all motivated. Either to binge watch Netflix motivated, or to create something for our business.

If you want to enter a business with higher likelihood of success - my advice is to work on yourself. Your work ethic, discipline and grit will define your success. Not old or new business.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

It sounds like you are saying that
A) the old order - is older people
B) they don’t have energy and thus easily influenced by any young person with less than stellar work ethic.

Your eloquent post made me first think “hmm probably right” only to think deeper again. And I disagree.

Old businesses that are still in business are either successful or dying. If successful then young people will have to climb that career ladder. They’ll have to prove their work ethic is impeccable. And if the business is dying… what would be the reason to get into it? And how would a “don’t have the best work ethic” young gun help?

It sounds like you are bringing some personal observation and experience with this post but it doesn’t apply to most businesses I can think of as “old school”.

moreover, I’ve been hiring older and experienced people for our business as well as young. People are just people, some old are so energetic and efficient that it’s infectious for young. And some kids we hired were such losers staying on their social platforms during the work, only to play video games at night and come in lethargic again - yes, fired.

we are all motivated. Either to binge watch Netflix motivated, or to create something for our business.

If you want to enter a business with higher likelihood of success - my advice is to work on yourself. Your work ethic, discipline and grit will define your success. Not old or new business.

I kind of disagree.

People sell perfectly good businesses for perfectly normal reasons.

Retirement, for example, doesn’t mean the biz is failing.

And you don’t “climb the ladder” to become an owner or entrepreneur.

The top employee there probably doesn’t have the means, credit, or understanding to “own” the business.

There’s a whole separate type of person who owns the biz vs the ones climbing the ladder.

 

[Antifragile]

I kind of disagree.

People sell perfectly good businesses for perfectly normal reasons.

Retirement, for example, doesn’t mean the biz is failing.

And you don’t “climb the ladder” to become an owner or entrepreneur.

The top employee there probably doesn’t have the means, credit, or understanding to “own” the business.

There’s a whole separate type of person who owns the biz vs the ones climbing the ladder.

We might need to start talking specifics on which businesses are “old school”.
In my mind, as a yong guy with no experience or money you aren’t “buying” an old school business…

 

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[Guest-5ty5s4]

We might need to start talking specifics on which businesses are “old school”.
In my mind, as a yong guy with no experience or money you aren’t “buying” an old school business…

You only need 10% down to get an SBA loan.

Owner financing could make that zero. Outside investors could also make that basically zero.

And what does “no experience” mean?

Did Mark Zuckerberg have experience running one of the largest technology companies in the world before he started?

Nope.

Pretty sure a mechanic shop is easier to run than Facebook.

 

[Antifragile]

You only need 10% down to get an SBA loan.

Owner financing could make that zero. Outside investors could also make that basically zero.

And what does “no experience” mean?

Did Mark Zuckerberg have experience running one of the largest technology companies in the world before he started?

Nope.

Pretty sure a mechanic shop is easier to run than Facebook.

Hmmm:..

1. Mark Z didn’t buy a “mechanic shop”. You are helping me make my argument- thanks.
2. Mechanic shop is a hard business to run and do well these days. Most are mom and pop because the owner is often the mechanic and this isn’t fastlane at all.

In my mind when I hear “old order” or “old school” business- I’m thinking manufacturing of animal feeds, factories etc. Bigger business.

I’ll repeat my key argument. If you are young and don’t have great work ethic - which business you chose matters less. You should work on yourself first: grit, discipline will define your success or failure.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

Hmmm:..

1. Mark Z didn’t buy a “mechanic shop”. You are helping me make my argument- thanks.

What?

that was literally my point...

I agree with everything else you said about work ethic and the biz not mattering as much.

That comment was like you just repeated what i said back to me and then called me wrong

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

@thechosen1 I still have a fax lol but at least it's an e-fax service that automatically converts everything to a PDF. I still need it for clients and vendors

In "Notes" on your iPhone, there is an icon that says "Scan Documents" -- it does a great job of scanning papers. Then you can email them.

There is no way anyone in this day and age should be faxing, much less paying for a service.

If you are young and don’t have great work ethic - which business you chose matters less. You should work on yourself first: grit, discipline will define your success or failure.

+1. However I think he is just saying that in an "old school" business you might have a better margin for error with improved probabilities.

 

[becks22]

In "Notes" on your iPhone, there is an icon that says "Scan Documents" -- it does a great job of scanning papers. Then you can email them.

There is no way anyone in this day and age should be faxing, much less paying for a service.



+1. However I think he is just saying that in an "old school" business you might have a better margin for error with improved probabilities.

I can scan through the Dropbox app which I do frequently but you would be surprised how many faxes I need to send. For employment and education verifications, HR departments still fax me things. I still have vendors that will only accept faxed results. A lot of my healthcare clients use HIPPA compliant fax lines for things as well.

I don't use it unless they require it and everything is e-faxed (so I have PDF records of everything) through Ring Central so I'm not actually dialing a number on my printer but it's still a fax nonetheless. It's about $100 a year so it's an expense but a very very minor one.

 

[Antifragile]

What?

that was literally my point...

I agree with everything else you said about work ethic and the biz not mattering as much.

That comment was like you just repeated what i said back to me and then called me wrong

hmmm…. Must be your Texan accent!

didn’t I tell you not to argue online? Oh wait that was you again.

 

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[WillHurtDontCare]

If you want to enter business (as a young guy) with higher likelihood of success, get into something boring and old school. Even if you don't have the best work ethic, you'll win against the old order on baseline energy and innovation alone.

Adding to this, don't be original. Copy a business model that already works, then improve on one key benefit.

Let other people validate ideas for you, then deliver better.

Oh, and always be marketing. ALWAYS.

 

[Antifragile]

+1. However I think he is just saying that in an "old school" business you might have a better margin for error with improved probabilities.

the way I read the OP is that somehow “old school” businesses are indeed “behind” and so margin of error is hidden even if your attitude and work ethic isn’t great. But from my observation, that wasn’t the case. My friends own an animal feed production factory - its busy as bees with no more room for error than a recent tech startup.

I think younger guys can help plug into marketing better, social media etc. But the nuts and bolts of an established and well performing “old school” business are good. So margin for error is low. You’d need to learn the ropes to impact it.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

the way I read the OP is that somehow “old school” businesses are indeed “behind” and so margin of error is hidden even if your attitude and work ethic isn’t great. But from my observation, that wasn’t the case. My friends own an animal feed production factory - its busy as bees with no more room for error than a recent tech startup.

I think younger guys can help plug into marketing better, social media etc. But the nuts and bolts of an established and well performing “old school” business are good. So margin for error is low. You’d need to learn the ropes to impact it.

I just think they’re less crowded and saturated (sometimes, there’s huge variety here)

For one thing, there are so many old school niches with so much technical info that most people can’t even tell you the industries that are out there.

Think about what @Kak does. How many people under 30 know about the B2B chemical industry and the market it serves?

Most people only know about business as far as what they’ve themselves purchased

 

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[Mathuin]

Kevin O'Leary and Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank are being sued for endorsing a company that used stock images for their Executives profiles and potentially scammed customers of thousands/ tens of thousands each.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv3lY4CKDao

 

[Lex DeVille]

Kevin O'Leary and Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank are being sued for endorsing a company that used stock images for their Executives profiles and potentially scammed customers of thousands/ tens of thousands each.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv3lY4CKDao

Not Kevin O'leary!! I really wanted to like Kevin.

 

[Mathuin]

Not Kevin O'leary!! I really wanted to like Kevin.

He's been pimping himself out on Cameo for a while now for $1200 a pop, basically just selling endorsements for the likes of Plastic Surgeon Lead Gen companies and questionable MMO gurus.

I guess it was only a matter of time before one came back to bite him.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3gH6zqjU-8

 

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[MattR82]

Not Kevin O'leary!! I really wanted to like Kevin.

It was funny to hear how Stephen Key and his guys at Invent Right talked about how weird and unfair Kevin's style of "licensing" was.

 

[Matt Sun]

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

Reddit is the worst place on the internet, omg... It used to be Twitter.

 

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[Kak]

Reddit is the worst place on the internet, omg... It used to be Twitter.

Even the libertarian subreddit is socialist.

 

[Madame Peccato]

Even the libertarian subreddit is socialist.

About 1/3rd of the posts from shitstatistssay comes from r/libertarian. How the mighty have fallen.

If you want a decent libertarian subreddit, there's GoldandBlack.

 

[Mathuin]

Even the libertarian subreddit is socialist.

About 1/3rd of the posts from shitstatistssay comes from r/libertarian. How the mighty have fallen.

If you want a decent libertarian subreddit, there's GoldandBlack.

r/LibertarianMeme and r/GoldAndBlack are the real Libertarian subreddits.

 

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[Lex DeVille]

lol saw this on YT..

 

[Antifragile]

Reddit is the worst place on the internet, omg... It used to be Twitter.

I’ve finished internet, twice! … in search of the truth

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

I’ve finished internet, twice! … in search of the truth



View attachment 39789

See, even Reddit knows it's Reddit! HAHA

 

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[Kak]

If you want a decent libertarian subreddit

I don’t.

 

[Superbia]

Good Time by Owl City had no business being so good back in 2012.

Also, you lost the game.