INTRO 19, Dutch, Entrepreneur or not?

[Sjoerd]

Hello everyone!

My name is Sjoerd. I live in a small city close to Rotterdam, Holland. Recently I turned 19 which made me realize it’s time to get more serious about my future. That is also why I’m now posting this introduction because I want to be a part of this community!

When I was 15 I was lucky enough to stumble across The Millionaire Fastlane. Reading the book completely changed my perspective on life. I’m so grateful to you, @MJ DeMarco for making me see there are more ways to live life than the slowlane. My parents do truly believe in the slowlane, but thankfully they are open for my views on life and we enjoy talking about it.

I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I haven’t achieved anything since I’ve read the book. The last couple of years were just school and having fun! At the moment I study Business Administration at Erasmus University. I dislike it very much. All I’m learning there is how to become a manager who uses a lot of fancy words, but doesn’t get anything done. That’s NOT who I want to become. I have made the decision to stop at the end of the school-year.

I also work at a store which has a webshop. It is small scale but very successful. The owner has become a multimillionaire, which is amazes me because it’s just a simple store. Just observing his decision making teaches me a lot about how to do business.

So I’m a bit lost at the moment. I have no idea what my future holds, which both scares and excites me at the same time. I hope this forum will help me find out if entrepreneurship is the road for me, or if I’m better suited in a different role.

I may not have much life and business experience, but I will try to be of value to the community. Looking forward to interacting with all of you!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Welcome Sjoerd!

 

[Guest24480]

Hey Sjoerd, you shouldn't feel bad for not making any progress yet. You were blessed to find this book at 15 years old, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying your youth and building relationships. Contrary to what you may believe, you are still very young and have a lot of opportunity in front of you. Just put the foundations in place and start taking small steps sooner than later.

I found this site when I was your age and have since learned a lot about myself and life in general, and have never been in a better position to pursue my dreams. I have made a lot of mistakes and spun my wheels for the majority of those 3+ years, not going to lie. It took a long time for the truth to sink in. With that said, this book opened my eyes up to seeing the world differently and not being afraid to challenge the conventional wisdom of the masses. That was hard to accept at first, but it has a calming effect once you fully internalize it. It was life changing.

The one piece of advice I have for you is to avoid isolating yourself from others who may not think like you do. Make sure to immerse yourself in what the world has to offer and the rest will fall into place.

Welcome.

 

[Sjoerd]

MJ DeMarco and Holmzee, thank you for welcoming me to the forum!

What you wrote @holmzee really resonates with me. Especially what you said about seeing the world differently and challenging the view of the masses. Sometimes it does make it hard to respect the views of other people who “don’t see it”. So your advice about not isolating yourself makes a lot of sense. Thank you for taking the time to write this advice!

I also have a question for you. You said that it’s a case of putting the foundations in place and to start taking small steps. What would you say is that foundation? And what was that foundation for you? I would love to know!

 

[MarekvBeek]

Hi Sjoerd,

Welcome! I live in Rotterdam for five months, and I really liked the city! It has a lot of things to offer.

To me it looks like you have a great place to root your "entrepreneurial mentorship" if you like. A place were you work with a boss that is succesfull sounds like an amazing place to gain some "business" experience. Have you thought about being of massive value to the shop you work at?

Groetjes, Marek

 

[Sjoerd]

Hallo @Marek,

Thanks for welcoming me! Nice to see a fellow Dutchie here Rotterdam is a truly great city, fantastic to hear that you like it so much! I just read your progress thread, your results are quite impressive.

In response to your question, yes I try to be of value to the shop. It teaches me a lot about dealing with customers, salesmanship and daily dealings of business. The downside however is that I can’t make a big impact there. The owner is not fond of change, so if I have an idea to improve something, it’s never allowed to be put into action. But for now it’s a great place to learn!

 

[Guest24480]

MJ DeMarco and Holmzee, thank you for welcoming me to the forum!

What you wrote @holmzee really resonates with me. Especially what you said about seeing the world differently and challenging the view of the masses. Sometimes it does make it hard to respect the views of other people who “don’t see it”. So your advice about not isolating yourself makes a lot of sense. Thank you for taking the time to write this advice!

I also have a question for you. You said that it’s a case of putting the foundations in place and to start taking small steps. What would you say is that foundation? And what was that foundation for you? I would love to know!

The foundations I mentioned are different for everybody because naturally people will end up on different paths with a different mission altogether. Mainly for myself it was related to mindset. If your mindset is out of wack you will inevitably lose motivation and get nowhere. You will jump from project to project with no clear direction.

Like I said, I had a difficult time internalizing this stuff at first despite thinking I had it all figured out. I dealt with a constant underlying feeling that I was forcing myself to start a business for all the wrong reasons. I had to take a huge step away from it multiple times to reassess what I wanted out of life and business alike. WHY was I doing this again?

I think Unscripted does an excellent job of explaining some of these mindset limitations and how to overcome them. The big one for me was my ego. I have an ego the size of California and for years my pride refused to succumb to a "real job".

So what did I do? You guessed it, I got a real f'in 9-5, and it's taught me a ton about life and what steps I want to be taking in my free time to propel myself forward.

@MJ DeMarco I find it very ironic that the best advice you ever gave me was to "GET A JOB", but it couldn't be more true. Now I truly am well on my way to the land of FU, if not there already.