Agree or Disagree: Entrepreneurship is a privilege

[MJ DeMarco]

I saw read their story, looks like they got a lot of publicity early on and didn't have to pay for the marketing. They also had an unremarkable product, so must be cheap to produce. Looks like they won on both fronts of capital (doesn't happen to many). Their power is in their story. If that story, didn't end up getting the big initial publicity upfront, they would be paying up the arse like any other business for publicity like that.

TLDR for everyone else: Tom's, the huge shoe company "got lucky".

I am trying again, but I haven't lived at all because of entrepreneurship.

I've just been sacrifiing too long and my whole life is on put.

In other words, your friends all have nice cushy jobs and are consuming to the hilt with their nice cars and fancy condos.

You feel left out.

If this is your mentality about entrepreneurship and how you "live" during the process, you should just update the resume and forget about it.

enjoy your excuses and have a good life

Pretty much.

but that doesn't mean you disregard the numbers. If both a wealthy person an a poor person both have the entrepreneur mindset. The wealthy can afford to start immediately and fail more times. Failure isn't free. There is a monetary cost like I have experienced. Like right now, I can't do much with my venture until I build up capital again. A wealthy person can afford to keep trying non-stop. I can keep trying, but I will have to keep building up funds again from slowlane for another business venture.

Of course a wealthy person has more OPTIONS, more SPINS, better probabilities, and MORE to gamble.

That's F*cking life.

I can't believe we're talking about this and need to explain it to someone, but I guess that's the product of today's "rich people are evil" and "privileged" educational indoctrination camps that turns everyone into a victim who isn't the right gender, skin color, or social class.

It's clear as a beginner with ZERO WINS and HUNDREDS OF EXCUSES, you're focusing on the wrong types of businesses.

I can think of dozens of great businesses I would start if I was back at square 1... having a job, having debt, low to zero capital, and nothing but a dream to be an entrepreneur.

And no, I wouldn't be plotting how to start the next uBer or airBnb. I'd be plotting on how to score some small wins while growing my skills.

While a "productocracy" would be on my mind as a long-game construct, my first objective would be purely building skills and building capital. If that happened in a "me too" business, I wouldn't care because "me too" businesses still can grab market share through other executional advantages. (Better service, better branding, better marketing, better story, etc.)

This is typical slowlane bias about "the rich". You think if you throw a lot of money into a project, it will work out no matter what. That's BS, it takes more than that.

You mean the OP wants to jump in the pool and become Michael Phelps in 1 week?

IOW, he doesn't see the value in the process, the value of starting from nothing with perhaps, a "me too" product that builds capital. Nope, his view of a "productocracy" is too spend billions in R&D and then compete against Apple's iPhoneX.

He fails to see that you can own a pool cleaning business (pure human capital) can still have the the makings of a productocracy -- not an easy road, certainly not, but certainly not impossible.

This entire thread is a classic example of how you think internally, destroys how you act externally. When you got it wrong on the INSIDE, you most definitely will be wrong on the OUTSIDE.

Good luck.

 

[jon.M]

Being an average or low income person is a privilege because hard times make strong men.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Just hate how the startup culture is all about, everyone has an equal chance.

My books have nothing to do with the "startup culture" but about creating a small business that sets you free. You can create a small business and a productocracy.

You don't need money to start, but you will need TIME and a COMMITMENT. Human capital (learned skills) can compensate for a lack of cash.

As for the Silicon Valley cult, I'd imagine there's some truth to your assertion that getting into that circle requires a minimum amount of money, INSIDERS contacts, and the right amount of globalist sentiment.

 

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[biophase]

Wasn't talking about those low barrier "Me-Too" businesses. Which is a complete waste of time to do based on my experience. Anyone can start those and capital is rarely a limiting variable.

Its the Productocracy businesses (Real Business) for change that cost a lot because they require a ton of R&D. R&D ain't free. Especially with a physical product development.

This is because you aren't smart enough yet. Don't confuse being ignorant or uninformed with impossible. That's like saying it's impossible to get to the moon because you don't know how to build a rocket.

You have to realize your limitations and REALIZE that these are YOUR limitations, not everyone elses. Guess what R&D is free, thinking.

What about TOM shoes, aren't they a me too business? They just sell regular shoes. Did they have to do R&D?

I will give you a product that I'm launching in to that is 100% a me too businesses. Fishing lures. Yes, I'm selling regular f*king fishing lures. Just plunging into Amazon with a straight up private label lure. But guess what... I know of one that's missing in the market and not on Amazon. You want to know why? Because I go fishing and this one simple problem frustrates me so much AND I can't find its solution anywhere.

I have 2 more product lines that do require R&D, if you see my thread one is costing me $600 for samples, that's not much R&D. The next one will be way cheaper for a sample. Again, I'm pretty confident at these niches because they are unserved and not served very well. How did I come across these niches? Both are from doing fun stuff outdoors and realizing that something I needed was missing.

I'll even give you one more because I don't have time for this one. Make a biking backpack that can conceal a handgun that is accessible without having to stop the bike. Please? Then take my money and the money of hundreds of other mountain bikers.

So many ideas... not enough time.

 

[GoGetter24]

Yes a lot of lies and bullshit circulates around about this.

The first thing that must be understood is the power law of return. Thiel talks about this in his zero-to-one book. "Theoretically" everyone can get rich with a startup, but if you look at who does get rich and where, there are a lot of patterns. The internet, supposedly "democratizing" everything, actually resulted in most of the big name tech companies coming out of the San Francisco bay area.

Claiming it's just about having a good idea and working hard is complete bullshit. Instagram was not a good idea. It's dead simple. People were already sharing pictures on the internet long before Instagram. But instagram got a bit of traction so they hit it with multiple rounds of funding until it blew up. Instragram simply would not have become a household name were it not for the millions pumped into marketing it. Mass popularity is bought.

This is all because of the power law of return. The VCs pump huge cash into 10 ventures, multiplying investments by around 10 at each stage of confirmed progress, because they know due to the power law curve that the 9 that fail are irrelevant as long as they get 1 that blows up.

This is the same reason that people say "your first 1 million is the hardest", because after that you're up in the blade of the power law curve, and a 1% shift horizontally causes a 10% shift vertically. E.g. once you create an offer that reliably converts, and you know an ad for it costs $1 per click, and it makes you back $5 lifetime customer value, it's just a case of pumping money into the ads, and managing fulfillment and cash flow in order to blow it up.

This is why the best step from being poor is not to launch into some capital heavy business, but to focus on building a marketable skill and reputation for that skill, until you can make enough income per hour to save up money and reinvest it in business pursuits.

It's not about jumping from being a shoe store clerk into opening a restaurant chain. Those concepts are just foolhardy and encourage more failure than is necessary. That's why you've got 1000 guys grinding away at their fluff blog getting nowhere, because one guy pulled it off once and 10000 people heard about it. It's about increasing your active income, from your marketable skill, first. I.e. getting to the point of sale, not being some lowly unskilled (or skilled) laborer at the bottom of a corporate hierarchy. After that it's much much easier to build more passive income (leveraged) projects, because you've got more surplus income, more savings, and a skill & reputation you can fall back on if your passive projects fail.

 

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[Scot]

I'm going to start quoting this whenever a philosophy thread pops up on the forum.

I'm taking this thread on a slight segway, hop on a small soap box.

You ever notice that some of the big players here like Kak, Vig, JasonR, Bio go missing for weeks, even months on end?

Its because they're getting sh*t done. They're building. They're working. They're growing.

I think I've logged into the forum and actually read something maybe... 5 times in the past 2 months. I've been busy. Growing. Building. And I look back at all the time I wasted with mental masturbation online, when I could have gotten more accomplished pre-launch.

What I mean to say is.. think before you post something. Ask, "Is this mental masturbation or am I genuinely working?" Now, I don't mean to say not to provide value to others. Because that's what makes this forum a gold mine. But, that's the question to ask to. "Is this helping someone else to grow?" If you fail both those questions, maybe you should concentrate on your business or ideas.

 

[arl_]

Stop victimizing yourself

 

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[jpanarra]

Entrepreneurship is not a privilege, its human nature. A lot of people strive for something bigger in their lives and contribute to society in ways you don't even realize is entrepreneurship.

The scope of owning your own business is vast and it's found in every single human civilization you can think of. However, there are some limitations to how you can scale depending on where you are. For example, you can't be as successful as Jeff Bezos in China. Speaking of China which is considered a communist country in the modern world, go to the streets of any major city there and you'll find business owners and innovators swarming the streets trying to sell or entertain in exchange of money.

Reality is, entrepreneurship is everywhere. It is scaling a business that's different where you go in the different parts of the world due to government control and economics. But to categorize it as a privilege or not is a weird way of wording it.

The fact is, you're already on this forum and you write good English and it might even be native to you. Which means you probably have access to free internet and capital. Which means you're already 'privileged' compared to the rest of the world and is probably in the top 1% of the world's population.

To keep things in perspective, my salary from my full-time job is in the ballpark of 50k a year. That puts me in the top .30% in the world.

 

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[biophase]

I'll even give you one more because I don't have time for this one. Make a biking backpack that can conceal a handgun that is accessible without having to stop the bike. Please? Then take my money and the money of hundreds of other mountain bikers.

Soooooo... after typing this 5 days ago I've been thinking about it all week. I brought it up with my friend who is ex special forces and he gave me some great ideas on it. Sooooo.... I may be jumping the gun a little bit, but I think this is going to happen and will probably have him as a partner. Can't think of a better way to start this company than with a vet/spec ops as a partner. This is an example of combining totally different knowledge and skills into a partnership.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

this is the worst thread i’ve ever seen

Because a lot of times the worst questions bring out the best answers.

It happens a lot here.

Spend the next 12 months building your skill and getting more independent work at higher rates. You'll increase your personal margins, more dollars per hour of work, more liberty in choosing from whom, more savings. Then you can move forward into greater leverage (so called 'passive income' plays).

It's just how it is. Blame a**hole parents, a**hole teachers, a**hole university mongers. But there is a pride in this. Now, for once, the difference between the life we have now, and the life we will have in 1 year from now, is under our control.

My agreement rate with you is generally 50/50 but this little piece of advice is spot on. When money is tight and someone is *stuck* in the system (debt, entry level job, etc) the answer is human capital -- making yourself more skilled and adept, and eventually, those skills can be used to build the system to escape the system.

 

[biophase]

I am starting to realize that entrepreneurship is actually a priviledge thing. Hear me out. If an average income person wants to build a business, they gotta make huge sacrifices for the time being. Just because most if not all productocracy businesses require substantial capital and time to get it going.

A wealthy person starting a business, doesn’t have to cut back much at all and continue living life as is without making sacrifices because they got capital.

Poor person trying to start a business? Full on cut everything out of life to even have a sliver of a chance.

To beat a dead horse... I don't remember what thread I posted my early tax returns in, but they basically said my AGI was like $30k, $18k and $30k in the years that I started my business. I don't believe MJ was rolling in dough when he started his business. Maybe have @SteveO come reply about how he worked 18 hour days, coming back from bankruptcy to making a few million. Your conclusion again, comes down to the fact that you just don't have the knowledge yet. Instead of trying again, you base your failures on your situation.

 

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[GPM]

The fact of the matter is that poor people have no business starting a business. That's lottery mentality. If you're worried about having enough to eat and pay rent, you should not be worrying about business, you should be working for someone else, and working on increasing your labour value and cash reserves.

Are you F*cking kidding me????

Ever read about any of the titans of industry who started USA on the path to becoming the greatest and most powerful nation the world has ever seen? They were broke as shit! If they had that attitude then "The West" would be nowhere. No offence to those who were here before us, but they were not exactly industrialists.

That has to be one of the stupidest statements I have ever read. There is nearly NO TIME that an individual can't be working on bettering himself and those around him if they so choose. It is your choice in the matter. Want to sit around and do nothing in your life, you have the right to do so. Want to get off your a$$ and do amazing things? You have the right to do that as well.

 

[Scot]

Edit: Still working on my business regardless though.

Less philosophy posting, more working.

 

[Fox]

That privilege mindset is putting massive blinders on your ability to see the millions of examples that don’t match your beliefs.

Did some “privileged” people start businesses - ya sure
Have millions of others done so with little or no resources - yes of course

Play with what you got and don’t worry about the others.

—-

On the flip side to all this privilege nonsense - who wouldn’t give their own children the biggest leg up they could in life? For every privileged person there is someone who behind the scenes who put in the work and sacrificed.

To complain about privilege is to also think it’s wrong to pass on your own lessons and resources to your children. In a way you are complaining that some benefit by their own families making smart decisions and working hard in the past. It’s mental maths for those who can’t do the work and always want a “fresh start” so everyone starts from zero again.

Fact - someone with less than you is going more while you sit and wish things that will never happen.

 

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[Timmy C]

We all get dealt different hands in life bud, do what you gotta do!

Low income or high income just go for it.

 

[Kak]

Is spelling a “priviledge”?

 

[Kak]

A wealthy person starting a business, doesn’t have to cut back much at all and continue living life as is without making sacrifices because they got capital.

Comfort is a threat and a big potential hinderance to entrepreneurship.

 

[biophase]

If both a wealthy person an a poor person both have the entrepreneur mindset. The wealthy can afford to start immediately and fail more times. Failure isn't free. There is a monetary cost like I have experienced.

Like right now, I can't do much with my venture until I build up capital again. A wealthy person can afford to keep trying non-stop. I can keep trying, but I will have to keep building up funds again from slowlane for another business venture.

You said your cost before was $600 for samples? $600 isn't that much. But that is assuming it works. If not, they you are constantly going to have to spend $600 for each new venture.

Yes what you say is correct, but how did the wealthy person get to be able to spend $600 on a sample. If this was 2007 and my first business, it would be hard for me to spend $600 on a sample. The fact that I can do it easily in 2018 and it was hard in 2007 has nothing to do with privilege.

Being wealthy doesn't help you at all without knowledge. The wealthy can also fail bigger and fail more. That's why you see people on Shark Tank that put in $500,000 into a losing venture. Was entrepreneurship easier for them since they had more money? No. In fact, bootstrap often leads to innovation vs. just throwing money at the problem.

I still think that you are totally wrong on your mindset here. If someone gave you $5,000 to get whatever you are thinking of off the ground. You have no better chance of success than if you waited 2 years and saved $5,000 yourself.

 

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[GPM]

Anyone who has access to the internet is privileged. That is it. If you have an internet connection you have no excuse.

Libraries revolutionized the way the world could obtain information. Now you don't even need to leave your damn house. You can literally become a master AT ANY SUBJECT IN THE WORLD from the comfort of your couch. Let me repeat that, you can literally become a MASTER at any subject in the world and not even have to leave your house.

Hell, I would argue that you only need to know more than the next guy in order to be considered an expert, or have someone come to you for information on that subject. Find an area in the world that needs someone who knows WTF they are talking about and learn about it. The second you start talking to anyone else about that subject or put yourself in a position to explain it to someone else your knowledge is going to skyrocket that must further and faster.

 

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[Deleted50669]

Your life is only limited by the laws of physics. That level of success is not guaranteed to anyone, rich or poor, though the rich have higher access to resources.

On the flip side, the rich tend not to have the same drive as the poor. I have a wealthy friend who could start a business at any moment, probably without even working in it, and he doesn't because he doesn't have to. The less choices you have in life, the more appealing the prospect of freedom becomes.

 

[DennisD]

On the main topic of this thread:

OP is correct. Some people will NOT BE ABLE to start certain types of business. This is a truth. Sometimes money is a huge factor that LIMITS your ability to get started in certain spaces. A poor black kid from Compton will NOT be able to launch a innovative smartphone

What you've missed is that for other types of business, TIME is the limiting factor. Or EXPERIENCE, or LAWS, REGULATIONS, or CUSTOMER RETENTION or EMPLOYEE RETENTION, or PATIENCE or SKILL.

Every business has its own unique set of challenges. Your job is to identify these challenges and overcome them.

Instagram was not a good idea. It's dead simple. People were already sharing pictures on the internet long before Instagram. But instagram got a bit of traction so they hit it with multiple rounds of funding until it blew up. Instragram simply would not have become a household name were it not for the millions pumped into marketing it. Mass popularity is bought.

I agree with you on the whole, but this point is a bit reductionist. You've reduced the complexity of the situation until it matched your cynicism.

Marketing isn't about funding. It's about communicating WANT and NEED. If the customer doesn't NEED your product and you can't make them WANT it, it doesn't matter how much funding you have.

Raise your hand if you've ever tasted Virgin Cola.

Virgin poured millions into marketing. In 1998 Branson drove a TANK down times square and shot a coca-cola sign. It wasn't free, and only a company like Virgin could accomplish it.

Thousands of other companies have poured countless dollars into other products. Remember the Blu-ray vs HDDVD war? Why hasn't GOOGLE PLUS taken off? Why doesn't anybody own a ZUNE?

You can't buy popularity. Your product still has to FIT. Great marketing on a shit idea will net you shit returns.

Instagram became popular because of the question "how did you get that photo to look so good?"

The answer, of course, was Instagram's differentiator: "It's this app with these filters. Let me show you".

Before the integration of the filters they had zero traction.

 

[GMSI7D]

Being an average or low income person is a privilege because hard times make strong men.

talking bout hard times

they are at the door !

if you want to grow through adversity you will be happy my man !


hint : people won't really know how to adapt to chaos after a life of comfort and luxury




chickens are always happy and well fed before being cooked



Boiling frog - Wikipedia






.
.

 

[ChrisV]

I’m afraid for you for when @MJ DeMarco finds this thread.

You’re being a victim.

I hate the word ‘privilege’.. not to be harsh but, it’s really just liberal, left wing crybabying

Dude, half of these people started businesses while working the night shift at Denny’s

I mean yes, statistically successful entrepreneurs are more likely to have come from wealth and have a good education, but it doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

I mean yea if you’re trying to start a business that needs a lot of startup capita
l sure.. but there are tons of people on here that started books, apps, websites.. stuff that didn’t cost a lot to start.

I think this stems from the ‘takes money to make money’ myth

 

[Walter Hay]

I am not the only one whose story is not one of privilege. My biggest privilege was to remain alive through illness that at that time was almost invariably fatal.

I was not broke when I started my first big business - I had $47 in the bank. I also had a wife and 2 children to keep while still being a semi-invalid.

You can read the story here: Featured User - Walter Hay, Imp/Export Extraordinaire (Vandalay Industries)

Walter
P.S. I didn't even know what a silver spoon was.

 

[Invictus]

Less philosophy posting, more working.

I'm going to start quoting this whenever a philosophy thread pops up on the forum.

 

[Walter Hay]

That doesn’t make any sense. A productocracy is something you BECOME, not something you START.

If you’re looking to start a productocracy, you’ve already lost.

The thing is, privilege or not, it doesn’t matter.

Nobody cares about your privilege or lack of, it’s what you DO WITH IT.

Discussing privilege doesn’t move the ball down the court.

You know what does?......

Action.

How true. I started with $47 but I had to feed my wife and two children until I got that first order.

I had negotiated a monthly account with my supplier without any references or credit history. No money to buy inventory.

I made that big value sale and ordered the product from my supplier. I picked it up, hurried home, removed the labeling, replaced it with my own improvised label, hurried back to my first customer ever, and delivered the goods.

I persuaded the customer to pay within 7 days so we all got fed. I also had cash to pay for fuel to go out and sell more.

That business developed into a huge productocracy exporting to countries all over the Asia/Pacific region.

No privilege, no big bank account - just blood sweat and tears.

Anything is possible. How can MoreValue say it is not?

Walter

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I can see non-productocracy businesses that can be started with near $0 capital, but those businesses are pointless to start.

In other words, you want to start the next Facebook in 6 days. You want your "hard work" to be guaranteed and not wasted in failure. Screw being the best lawn mower in the neighborhood, that's for those hustling chumps who are OK making only $25/hour!

I can see non-productocracy businesses that can be started with near $0 capital, but those businesses are pointless to start.

If I were to make a physical product based business like a backpack that is a productocracy

Wuh? It's clear you don't even know what a productocracy is.

Not bothering any further.

 

[Raoul Duke]

The game is rigged!! Everyone, should just give up.

 

[Kak]

Oh, a grammer nazi.

I encourage you (and anyone for that matter) to hold yourself to a higher standard... Shrugging off your shitty grammar and spelling does you zero favors.

Also, you capitalize Nazi. It is a proper noun.

 

[PizzaOnTheRoof]

Money = Time = Energy

If you’re lacking one, you can make up for it with the other two.