My last thread - some parting advice for others

[Darkside]

Well anyways if there's no questions to be asked then I will say farewell. Goodbye to JamesF, BBarakti, David, and anyone else I'm forgetting who has helped me out and who I've had discussions with. I hope you all succeed in your endeavors. I'm not here to brag or to hate on others. I figured since I've spent so much time here it was the courteous thing to do to say goodbye. If anyone has a question feel free to ask and I'll try to answer, otherwise this will be my last post. Goodbye.

 

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[Lights]

It's all about moderation.

Adios

 

[Gold777]

I just said that it's become clear to me that based on the amount of relevant knowledge I'm gaining from this forum I'd be wasting my time if I stayed.

Why would you sign up to a site only to gain knowledge relevant to your business? It's like "Oh I've leached everything I could from here that will help me run my business, time to leave". This is a site for entrepreneurs to share their knowledge and experience with each other about a whole range of things.

Let me put it like this, it's like going to football practice just to learn how to throw the ball, because you want to be a quarterback and that's all you care about. You don't care about how to defend a potential sack, etc. Yeah sure learning how to throw a ball is great because that's what you want to do, but there's a whole different range of things to learn that could expand your outlook on certain things AND make you a better player, period. If you don't care about either of those that's fine by me though.

I have other useful advice but if I shared it, I feel like it wouldn't be as useful; like if I know a useful area to exploit and I told everyone about it then the secret would be out and it wouldn't be worth as much anymore. I only share that kind of advice with close friends who are also into business.

What? I'll ignore the conceited statement but just want to point out that not all advice is knowing an area to "exploit". I said advice in general, not things to exploit (unless you're exploiting your potential).

That's false. For one thing, everyone should be worried about competition. Only a fool doesn't worry about competitors.

You know what's funny? I was watching 500startups live earlier today and some pretty successful people were giving presentations about business, being successful, etc. And a question a lady who was presenting was asked is "Do you worry about competition?". She said "No, I don't worry about competition because I feel that if you worry about competition you get too caught up in what they're trying to do, and as a result you're constantly looking at what they're doing, what new features they're adding, etc, and it's like you're trying to play catch-up."

You know what? I'd have to agree, of course it's common sense that we all ACKNOWLEDGE the competition, but to analyze every little thing they're doing down to the T, and worrying about what they're doing could potentially kill innovation. But of course I'm sure even though she's highly successful, Dave McClure vouchers for her, and she got onto 500 Startups, she's a fool for not worrying about competition as you said... *sigh*

GroupOn is another business with a low barrier to entry; anyone can set up a similar service. However, the reason why they control 85% of the market isn't because they provide a much better service than everyone else; it's because they were the first and they raised lots of money to expand quickly before other people realized how profitable that business was.

Again, what? There were several coupon websites/companies that were almost exactly like Groupon both at the time of its launch and in the past that were unsuccessful. Have you did any research on that statement? Groupon wasn't first to the market, they just had good timing, a great reason to sign up (crazy discounts), and launched a viral campaign.

... I'm done, when you say that Groupon was first and that's why it's a household name, lmao that's when you lose all credibility in knowing what you're talking about.

Rather, I've learned everything that relates to my particular business and I feel like staying here wouldn't teach me anything new about how to run my business.

Okay I'll bite on this last one..

Having a one on one conversation with Warren Buffet or Bill Gates probably wouldn't teach you anything new about how to run your business, so you would deem learning from them a waste of time too?

Ah, gotcha.

 

[FastNAwesome]

First off, I'd like to thank Darkside for the first post, it was really useful to me. Also congratulations on your success and best of luck.

I believe I understand - you simply want to focus fully on your business and have no distractions. But I was inspired to add a few mistakes to the list you started and Biophase continued. These were MY, real life mistakes, that you just reminded me of, so hopefully it's useful:

Mistake #7 - Burning bridges needlessly: Nothing wrong in leaving the forum, permanently or for just some time. But whenever you leave either some work place, or business partnership or any relationship, it's good not to burn bridges if possible.

You NEVER know in life when you'll need someone again. And trust me, this comes from a very proud and stubborn person. So many times I exclaimed I'm done with this or that without having to (could've walk away nicely). It felt so good, and felt like progress towards new.
Later on, as life unrolls, you can come to a situation where it would be sooo good to have that bridge! But you ain't got it anymore. Or at best you can swallow your pride (a non option for me) and be taken back, but at much worse terms. So difference between coming back as WINNER or LOSER - just a simple sentence.

You don't pay any membership, nor have any contract to get out of, so no need to explicitly obligate your self to not come back. You could've post your parting advice differently:

1 - by just posting it
2- by saying "guys I wont be logging for a while, time to focus on my business, so here's some advice for y'all"
("y'all" word optional)


Mistake #8 - Not being aware of other people's emotions: Now this can be one costly mistake in business and in life. I'd also say it's a cornerstone of any marketing effort. When you said you have nothing more to learn from the forum, and that your further presence here would be a waste of time - I was cool with that (just had a bit of WTF moment).

BUT - Your words had the potential to come off as arrogant and offensive, and to some people they did, and here you have a flaming in no time, and with valued, known members too.

Imagine walking into a bar where you were a regular, and calling whole bar's attention:

Hey guys, here's one round on me, for the whole bar! (Reaction: Yay!)

Because I'm leaving and not coming back (Reaction: We're so sorry, maybe even worried, why do you leave?)

Well, I just got smarter things to do now, can't waste time. Was fun though (Reactions: What a douche!)


Not comparing forum to a bar, just trying to paint a picture of emotional roller-coaster certain actions can produce. Being aware of it, in my opinion gives anyone tremendous edge in business and in life.

 

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[GlobalWealth]

I feel like I've learned everything that I need to learn or could learn from being here and I feel like my coming here from this point onward would just be a waste of time.

Here is the reason for the aggression Darkside. Language is vitally important, especially when you do not have the benefit of body language and tone. I hope you at least learned a lesson about communication.

When I was 25 (38 now), I too felt like I knew all I needed to know. I had started my first real company when I was 21 and the company was well over $1m in revenue earning me a decent 6 figure paycheck. I was on top of the world.

The problem was, I didn't know what I didn't know. Sure, it sounds cliche, but it is also reality. I lost money due to my arrogance and ignorance. Big money. Almost all of it was ego related losses. I thought I knew it all - in reality I was woefully ignorant.

You claim that you aren't learning anything anymore on the forum. To some extent, I would have to agree with you. There are a lot of 'kids' <25 who have just read TMF and are early in their journey.

They are posting a lot of stupid threads: 'just read the book, now what', 'should I quit/start college', 'where do I find a need', 'how do I xyz'. This crap fills up space on the forum and pushes good posts to the bottom of the page because some punk kid is too lazy to use the search feature.

I also agree you need to be wise about use of you time. Too much time on the forum takes away from your business endeavors. Or your personal life. Or whatever else is important to you.

But to say you know more than 99% of the people on this forum about so many topics is hugely egotistical and ignorant.

I have taken a couple of companies beyond the $1m revenue mark. Am I bragging, no. Just stating the facts. There are many people on this forum who make my successes seem pathetic. Those are the ones I want to learn from. Have you taken a company past $1m?

Do you know more than Biophase or BlueFire about ecommerce or internet marketing? I highly doubt it. I have learned an enormous amount from both of these guys. They have provided me with a huge amount of value that has had a direct financial impact on my business.

Do you know more than Runum or Rickson9 about real estate and investing? Doubtful. As you stated, you don't need to know about money management yet - which is understandable. But do you need to dismiss such knowledge that can open your eyes to opportunities today?

Do you know more than me about corporate structures? Even your original post stated how stupid it was to register your company in CA. You are 100% correct. From an asset protection and a tax standpoint, it is stupid. In most cases a CA LLC is unnecessary even if you live there. You state NV and DE are the best? Do you know why? Do you know why maybe WY or NM may be better? Do you know which of the 13 states' LLCs are good for asset protection? Do you know why? Do you know which 2 states are best for single member LLCs? Do you know why? Do you know which state's LLC is best for ecommerce? Do you know why?

The point is you have a lot to learn, even if you don't think you do. It's funny how the forum members who have found the most success realize they need to keep educating themselves and the young ones that haven't seen any real business success think they know it all.

That was not an age based comment as there are several younger forum members <25 who have seen significant business success. And there are many on here that aren't...ahem...young, who have not seen great business success either. But strangely enough, those with age and/or success see the value in learning. The younger ones, <25, who have neither age or success seem the most egotistical.

I wish you all the best, but encourage you get you ego under control and always seek knowledge whether on this forum, in books, at seminars, with mentors, or wherever else you may find it.

 

[Vigilante]

I totally get you. I was there once. When I was in my young 20's, I quit Best Buy. I was pissed off (when I was within a few years of your current age) that I wasn't the CEO of Best Buy. I "knew more" than 99% of the people there. It was with great humility a little over a year later that I came crawling back in the doors of the company that I left - grateful for a chance to start over after recalibrating and realizing it was a huge world out there.

There are a few things that I can lend to this thread as your 15 minutes of fame wind down here :

Give as much as you take : You have revealed that you are here to take and not give. That's why you have a high post count and a low speed number. I know that you don't care about that, as you have said as much. I don't care about a speed number either, but I care about what it represents. It represents an exchange of value, which is what you seem to be seeking in the business world. This is a great sandbox and testing ground for value exchange. You've pretty much failed in the value exchange here, and that parallels the real world. If you set out to take and not give value, you'll fail. I hope that you grab that concept and take it with you. If you focus on what you can contribute, you will find that value follows you. People are drawn to a positive value exchange.

Open your eyes : When I coached youth football, we spent a significant amount of time telling our middle schoolers to "see what they hit." Young people have a tendency to keep their head down for some reason, and it allows them to easily get run over. If you "see what you hit" you are much more likely to see opportunities all around you to make a play. You are a 25 year old kid who has your head down. You think you know the play, and your position. However, you have no idea what linebackers are about to hit you. You can't see them.. and I can tell you with 100% certainty they are coming for you. As you leave, the best advice I can give you is to learn to "see way you hit." You haven't learned that yet, as this place has a wealth of information both current and archived that answer the exact questions that you are scouring Barnes and Noble for. For some kids, they have to have their bell rung by the linebacker a few times before they start to keep their head up and their mind alert. I hope for you it doesn't take too many hits to the face before you realize you can learn from people that have gone before you.

Fundamentals matter. I have more experience on this forum than several that have come along lately. However, as I have watched them go through formative stages of their businesses, it has reminded me of some fundamental disciplines that I have brought back into my business(es). I have loved watching them learn, and I have learned from them. When you have been in the game for a while, you start to look at business cycles through a certain prism... and you lose some of the early excitement and discovery that an inexperienced startup might bring to the table. New processes, new ideas, and new systems that didn't exist "when you were 25." There's been a value exchange here for me... in threads that I started, that people think they are learning from. I am learning from them. I am learning things from this thread.

One of the best threads I started you will never see, because you never thought enough of what people were offering here to invest in the inside. See, on the inside, I became more vulnerable. I decided I didn't know everything. I took a brand new product launch, and I asked people to tell me how to make it better. I'm the expert, right? Wrong. They're the experts. I look at things the same way, because I know everything. Their advice was invaluable to me. I took everything I knew, added to it what they saw, and made it better. I had people take my words and wordsmith them better than I could ever do. I had web guys telling me how to change aspect ratios of images and technologically alter them to be more visually appealing. We changed color schemes, we changed SEO, we changed text, images, bullet points. They helped me see the product through the eyes of customers, and through the new technology that these whippersnappers know that I never knew. They taught me.

But you don't get that. The wisdom (and there was some!) in your farewell post will be lost to history, as for some strange reason you decided to kick sand in everyone's face... including assumptions on the motive of the guy who started this forum. As part of keeping your head up to see what you hit... when you're at Barnes and Noble researching things that are discussed freely on this forum, you might want to pick up a copy of How to Win Friends & Influence People: Dale Carnegie: 9780671027032: Amazon.com: Books. A Wal-Mart executive made me read that book to slow down my management style and my tendency to look past people whom I judged to be of little value to me. You likely would benefit greatly from the same.

So. See ya later. Go learn some stuff. And then bring it back here. I for one will attend B&P while you are gone... because I have an estate to plan, another new product to launch, and a book or two to write... and there are people here that know WAY more than I do about a lot of that and I have a few cocktails to buy in anticipation of the favors I will need down the road.

 

[socaldude]

People are very valuable. That is one of the most powerful things I have ever learned. Now imagine a group of people. The reason I say they are valuable is because we all hold different perspectives and different insights.

And when it comes to business all we need is this one little piece of advice or insight and it could mean the difference between selling 50 units of our product or selling 1,000,000.

Sure most of us might be a bunch of naive, freshly minted high school grads who mentally masturbate at the thought of a roaring Lamborghini exhaust. But a good 10% of us are VERY serious about creating value and creating an enterprise that means more than just making money. So serious, we would eat dog shit to get there.

Almost all of life is looking forward. Looking back is always easy. But you only get one shot today to make the right choice to create the outcome you want a day later. There are no second chances. Sure there will be more opportunities but that is just plain wasting time. The best way to make the right choices in business in life is to learn from OTHERS mistakes. People here are very open to sharing those mistakes. This advice could save you thousands if not MILLIONS.

Learning with others will always help you better shape your perspective to better fit reality.

When I took a public speaking course I learned with OTHERS, which better helped me. Here is how: Before taking that public speaking course the thought of public speaking made my heart race, my palms sweat and my adrenaline running. My voice would sounds nervous. I would say "ummm , like, you know". I thought everybody was negatively judging me. But then another fellow student told me something that changed my life: he said "whats the difference between a person in the audience looking at you and a person looking at you in public such as at the wal mart?" This is whats called a cognitive distortion. Reality is not what you think it is. Here another person helped me gain a better picture of what really was and what really isn't, no matter how much of a smart a$$ I was.

Yea there is a huge time investment for running a business. That's why I stopped running a small business to focus on college. But come on you can take 20 minutes every night to grind some threads?

And BTW this forum is very life changing. I owe quite a few beers . I better hope bud light does wholesale.

 

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[Jonleehacker]

def: internet suicide

When someone in a forum, newsgroup, etc. says they are leaving (sometimes "and never coming back"), but actually wants to see how people react to their leaving. Usually as the result of drama.

 

[Runum]

def: internet suicide

When someone in a forum, newsgroup, etc. says they are leaving (sometimes "and never coming back"), but actually wants to see how people react to their leaving. Usually as the result of drama.

I didn't know it had a proper name, but , there it is.

 

[Vigilante]

People are very valuable. That is one of the most powerful things I have ever learned. Now imagine a group of people. The reason I say they are valuable is because we all hold different perspectives and different insights.

And when it comes to business all we need is this one little piece of advice or insight and it could mean the difference between selling 50 units of our product or selling 1,000,000.

Sure most of us might be a bunch of naive, freshly minted high school grads who mentally masturbate at the thought of a roaring Lamborghini exhaust. But a good 10% of us are VERY serious about creating value and creating an enterprise that means more than just making money. So serious, we would eat dog shit to get there.

Almost all of life is looking forward. Looking back is always easy. But you only get one shot today to make the right choice to create the outcome you want a day later. There are no second chances. Sure there will be more opportunities but that is just plain wasting time. The best way to make the right choices in business in life is to learn from OTHERS mistakes. People here are very open to sharing those mistakes. This advice could save you thousands if not MILLIONS.

Learning with others will always help you better shape your perspective to better fit reality.

When I took a public speaking course I learned with OTHERS, which better helped me. Here is how: Before taking that public speaking course the thought of public speaking made my heart race, my palms sweat and my adrenaline running. My voice would sounds nervous. I would say "ummm , like, you know". I thought everybody was negatively judging me. But then another fellow student told me something that changed my life: he said "whats the difference between a person in the audience looking at you and a person looking at you in public such as at the wal mart?" This is whats called a cognitive distortion. Reality is not what you think it is. Here another person helped me gain a better picture of what really was and what really isn't, no matter how much of a smart a$$ I was.

Yea there is a huge time investment for running a business. That's why I stopped running a small business to focus on college. But come on you can take 20 minutes every night to grind some threads?

And BTW this forum is very life changing. I owe quite a few beers . I better hope bud light does wholesale.

Bud Light works for Patrick. You can slide a Jim Beam black on the rocks down to the end of the bar at B&P if you want to buy this old man a drink or three.

 

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[Gravytrain]

Quite the thread. I'm a little curious as to how long you've been spending on forums every day? I find more than enough time to drop in to numerous forums to read and respond to a few posts on top of owning a business doing 6-fig annual revs and attending university to earn a degree in Pharmacy.

I look at the time I spend on discussion forums as time spent working ON my business as opposed to working IN it. I've picked up a number of nuggets of wisdom and some new clients simply by taking the approach of "give without expectation of return".

Do what you like, but don't blame a forum if you're wasting your time on a regular basis.

 

[biophase]

Like I've said, given the amount of time and energy I've devoted to this business I feel like I know more about it than 99% of people on the planet much less this forum. It would be like if you had a business that specialized in selling zebras to Canadian zoos. I highly doubt that you would find much info about that type of business on here and I would wager that you would have acquired more knowledge than pretty much anyone else here about that subject.

This is by far your biggest mistake. I am posting this assuming that you won't read it, but that others who continue on this forum will greatly benefit from it.

If you are selling zebras to zoos, do you want to hang out with 3 other people who are selling zebras? All 4 of you know everything in the world about zebras and walk around as the zebra expert. Then one day you guys run into a little kid that says, "do you have pink striped zebras?" and you say, "you are silly, that would be ridculous." the little kid says "all the kids at my school have pink zebra backpacks." and you suddenly realize that pink zebras are super popular in some kids cartoon. Hmmm, maybe you can dye a zebra pink for a few days...

There's a reason that mastermind groups have people of all different disciplines. You don't want to hang out or get advice solely from people in your industry. Because everyone in your industry eventually thinks the same way, you won't innovate until you get outside opinions. I can't think of anything more boring that sitting at a table with other ecommerce guys talking about increasing conversion rates by .5% and changing buy now button colors. But you throw in an airline pilot, pro golfer and surfer into that table and all these new crazy ideas and suggestions will come from left field and one of them might just work!

 

[The-J]

Like I've said, given the amount of time and energy I've devoted to this business I feel like I know more about it than 99% of people on the planet much less this forum.

LOL

Don't let the door hit you on the a$$ on the way out. Just because you succeed in business doesn't mean you're all that smart.

Congratulations on your success, however marginal, but seriously?! If the multimillionaire creator of this forum can admit to having a lot to learn, then you could at least show some respect to that. You chose your words poorly. You could have said 'I'm spending too much time on the forum and I need to use that time to focus on my business' and we would have congratulated you and given you tons of speed. Instead, all you got was lecturing by guys who make more money, drive nicer cars and have had more business failures than you.

Thanks for one thing: you've taught me never to make the mistake of assuming that I have no more to learn. And for that, I shall stay on this forum even when I can only spare 30 minutes here.

 

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[mohawkdcg]

Darkside, even though some parts of your post had a negative effect on some readers....it had the positive side effect of bringing out many great replies and opportunities to learn from the wonderful people on this forum regarding relationships and communication. So thanks for that and good luck with your business.

BTW, can someone tell me what MMA is that keeps getting mentioned?

 

[Darkside]

Here is the reason for the aggression Darkside. Language is vitally important, especially when you do not have the benefit of body language and tone. I hope you at least learned a lesson about communication.

When I was 25 (38 now), I too felt like I knew all I needed to know. I had started my first real company when I was 21 and the company was well over $1m in revenue earning me a decent 6 figure paycheck. I was on top of the world.

The problem was, I didn't know what I didn't know. Sure, it sounds cliche, but it is also reality. I lost money due to my arrogance and ignorance. Big money. Almost all of it was ego related losses. I thought I knew it all - in reality I was woefully ignorant.

You claim that you aren't learning anything anymore on the forum. To some extent, I would have to agree with you. There are a lot of 'kids' <25 who have just read TMF and are early in their journey.

They are posting a lot of stupid threads: 'just read the book, now what', 'should I quit/start college', 'where do I find a need', 'how do I xyz'. This crap fills up space on the forum and pushes good posts to the bottom of the page because some punk kid is too lazy to use the search feature.

I also agree you need to be wise about use of you time. Too much time on the forum takes away from your business endeavors. Or your personal life. Or whatever else is important to you.

But to say you know more than 99% of the people on this forum about so many topics is hugely egotistical and ignorant.

I have taken a couple of companies beyond the $1m revenue mark. Am I bragging, no. Just stating the facts. There are many people on this forum who make my successes seem pathetic. Those are the ones I want to learn from. Have you taken a company past $1m?

Do you know more than Biophase or BlueFire about ecommerce or internet marketing? I highly doubt it. I have learned an enormous amount from both of these guys. They have provided me with a huge amount of value that has had a direct financial impact on my business.

Do you know more than Runum or Rickson9 about real estate and investing? Doubtful. As you stated, you don't need to know about money management yet - which is understandable. But do you need to dismiss such knowledge that can open your eyes to opportunities today?

Do you know more than me about corporate structures? Even your original post stated how stupid it was to register your company in CA. You are 100% correct. From an asset protection and a tax standpoint, it is stupid. In most cases a CA LLC is unnecessary even if you live there. You state NV and DE are the best? Do you know why? Do you know why maybe WY or NM may be better? Do you know which of the 13 states' LLCs are good for asset protection? Do you know why? Do you know which 2 states are best for single member LLCs? Do you know why? Do you know which state's LLC is best for ecommerce? Do you know why?

The point is you have a lot to learn, even if you don't think you do. It's funny how the forum members who have found the most success realize they need to keep educating themselves and the young ones that haven't seen any real business success think they know it all.

That was not an age based comment as there are several younger forum members <25 who have seen significant business success. And there are many on here that aren't...ahem...young, who have not seen great business success either. But strangely enough, those with age and/or success see the value in learning. The younger ones, <25, who have neither age or success seem the most egotistical.

I wish you all the best, but encourage you get you ego under control and always seek knowledge whether on this forum, in books, at seminars, with mentors, or wherever else you may find it.

Perhaps I could have phrased my opening post to come across as less offensive but it was never my intention to be offensive or egotistical. I didn't say that I've learned everything about every subject related to business. Rather my point was that I believe I now know more about my particular area of business than 99% of people on the planet. It's not something general like real estate or ecommerce, etc. as it's a particular niche where I'm the first business doing what I do.

And, like you pointed out most of the threads are started by new people who ask basic questions. The amount of useful info to someone whose been here a long time like me is very small compared to the amount of questions that have been answered before. I don't see my leaving as kicking sand in everyone's faces. Rather, I view it as my graduating from the forum. I've taken a crash course in business here over the past two years, and I feel like I've learned what I need to learn to proceed from this point onward.

It would be like if you were a college professor and you criticized graduating students for thinking that they've learned what they need to learn about the area that they're majoring in to leave the college permanently. Sure, there's always something new that we can learn but one has to factor in the time spent to acquire that knowledge. When a person is first starting out, almost 100% of the time that they spend learning anything is useful.

But, if they've covered the same topics before then that time spent becomes less and less useful. I'm not saying that this forum lacks value. Rather, the value that I receive versus the time that I spend here no longer makes sense for me to remain here anymore. I'm not just leaving this forum, I'm eliminating all other distractions.

I've canceled my Netflix account, I've stopped going out with friends on the weekends, I've stopped watching television except for football on Sunday which I view as a reward for my hard work during the week to take 3 hours to watch my favorite team play. I was also a member of other forums which didn't relate to business but rather other things that I'm interested in and I've stopped posting on those too.

I'm eliminating all these distractions not because I want to, but rather because I need to in order to focus and take my business to the next level. I get emails from customers at all hours of the day and I spend most of my time coding my site, trying to make sure that I don't go over my bandwidth limits, and most important of all trying to combat the threat of hackers which is constant.

There's so much that I don't know about website security which I'm learning up on right now through books and also by going to forums specifically dedicated to website security or asking questions on stackoverflow. Sure, I could learn about website security here as well but there's a lot more useful info regarding that subject elsewhere than there is here so I feel like if I devote more time to those areas I would gain more value from that time spent.

 

[Darkside]

Why would you sign up to a site only to gain knowledge relevant to your business? It's like "Oh I've leached everything I could from here that will help me run my business, time to leave". This is a site for entrepreneurs to share their knowledge and experience with each other about a whole range of things.

Let me put it like this, it's like going to football practice just to learn how to throw the ball, because you want to be a quarterback and that's all you care about. You don't care about how to defend a potential sack, etc. Yeah sure learning how to throw a ball is great because that's what you want to do, but there's a whole different range of things to learn that could expand your outlook on certain things AND make you a better player, period. If you don't care about either of those that's fine by me though.

Actually I signed up initially to gain a general knowledge of entrepreneurship as I was a totally ignorant like a lot of new people joining are. So, it benefited me before to learn as much as I could about everything.

But, now that I know what I need to do in my particular area of business, why would I need to spend time reading about the positives and negatives of certain real estate strategies, or how to increase referral clicks, etc.

I'm just using those two as an example, not attacking anyone who does those things, just saying that those things have nothing to do with my business.

What? I'll ignore the conceited statement but just want to point out that not all advice is knowing an area to "exploit". I said advice in general, not things to exploit (unless you're exploiting your potential).

I meant exploiting certain things that I know. Like for instance I've found a way to acquire new customers very cheaply; so cheap that it's almost like getting them for free. If I told others about it, then that method might get shut down or other people would start using it which would create lots of noise that would make it harder for me to gain customers.

It's sort of how like a few years ago advertising on facebook was extremely cheap compared to advertising on other sites. But, as more people use it now, the CPC rates are increasing, and the amount of ads that are show is increasing so a specific person's ads are less noticeable.

When it was only 1 advertisement shown per page, then that single advertisement stood out. Now, Facebook shows 7 ads on the sidebar so each individual ad gets less attention; generally speaking the more ads you show the less customers will pay attention to them.

You know what's funny? I was watching 500startups live earlier today and some pretty successful people were giving presentations about business, being successful, etc. And a question a lady who was presenting was asked is "Do you worry about competition?". She said "No, I don't worry about competition because I feel that if you worry about competition you get too caught up in what they're trying to do, and as a result you're constantly looking at what they're doing, what new features they're adding, etc, and it's like you're trying to play catch-up."

You know what? I'd have to agree, of course it's common sense that we all ACKNOWLEDGE the competition, but to analyze every little thing they're doing down to the T, and worrying about what they're doing could potentially kill innovation. But of course I'm sure even though she's highly successful, Dave McClure vouchers for her, and she got onto 500 Startups, she's a fool for not worrying about competition as you said... *sigh*

Is she more successful than Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart? He used to put on disguises and go into competing stores to see what new things they added and to check their prices on items. If he saw something that they were doing right he would quickly implement the same thing at his Walmart stores. The reason why people fail is often because they don't pay enough attention to their competitors. If yahoo had paid attention they could have crushed Google before it ever took off.

In fact, the founders of Google initially tried to sell their method of doing searches to Yahoo but the executives at Yahoo didn't think it was worth their time since they were the dominant search engine and they didn't think that anyone could ever threaten their position. Similarly, the founder of Netflix tried to sell his company to Blockbuster during the late 90s when Blockbuster was at the height of it's power and no one knew about Netflix.

The story goes that he was laughed out of their building but he continued on because he believed that streaming movies over the internet was the future. Fast forward to today and Blockbuster is a bankrupt company while Netflix is a multibillion dollar company which has millions of subscribers.

So, that woman you are referring to is being naive. Sure, it's not productive to constantly obsess about the competition, but you do need to know what they're up to and if they're doing something better than you are, you need to implement the same service at your business or else see your customers go to them.

So, I put more weight into the example of Sam Walton who left behind the largest fortune in history to his family members, or Reed Hastings the founder of Netflix, over the example of Dave McClure who is a failed entrepreneur and now tries to teach people what he couldn't accomplish himself.

There's a reason why you don't see guys like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs(I know he's dead), etc. running incubators. They tend to leave that up to the failed entrepreneurs who want to piggyback off the successes of the next generation.

Again, what? There were several coupon websites/companies that were almost exactly like Groupon both at the time of its launch and in the past that were unsuccessful. Have you did any research on that statement? Groupon wasn't first to the market, they just had good timing, a great reason to sign up (crazy discounts), and launched a viral campaign.

... I'm done, when you say that Groupon was first and that's why it's a household name, lmao that's when you lose all credibility in knowing what you're talking about.

You're the one who doesn't know what you're talking about. Of course there were other coupon companies on the internet before Groupon. What made Groupon different was the social aspect. Their coupons didn't get charged unless a certain number of people purchased them in a time frame like a day or a week, etc. They also raised hundreds of millions of dollars to expand quickly on this concept.

It's sort of like how Kickstarter works, except for coupons.

Okay I'll bite on this last one..

Having a one on one conversation with Warren Buffet or Bill Gates probably wouldn't teach you anything new about how to run your business, so you would deem learning from them a waste of time too?

Ah, gotcha.

I don't feel they would share their most useful info with me unless I was a close friend. Otherwise it would be the same general stuff that you see them share in interviews.

 

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[Determined2012]

I think you are wasting time, taking time to check in and write back to everyone... Couldn't THAT time be used on focusing on your business as well?! Not trying to be a smart a$$ at all... I'm just saying...

 

[Darkside]

I think you are wasting time, taking time to check in and write back to everyone... Couldn't THAT time be used on focusing on your business as well?! Not trying to be a smart a$$ at all... I'm just saying...

Actually you are correct. Today will probably be my last day posting here. I wanted to answer a few questions people had because I felt like there were some misconceptions about what I meant and I didn't want to seem like I was running away instead of confronting the people criticizing me.

 

[DeletedUser394]

It keeps getting better. Thank you for this thread.

 

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[LamboMP]

Drama... Queen

 

[theag]

Goodbye

 

[AgonI]

All has been said but I want to add a few bytes to the forum database(sorry MJ ).

This thread has only one message: I came, I saw, I stole, I told them how selfish I am.
Bye thief...

 

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[Gold777]

Is she more successful than Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart? He used to put on disguises and go into competing stores to see what new things they added and to check their prices on items. If he saw something that they were doing right he would quickly implement the same thing at his Walmart stores. The reason why people fail is often because they don't pay enough attention to their competitors. If yahoo had paid attention they could have crushed Google before it ever took off.

This is 2012, analyzing competitors goes far beyond checking prices especially when it comes to Internet ventures. Once again, here's where common sense comes into play "What are my competitors charging? Because that's important, derrr." Now we have the Internet and things like prices/new products can be checked instantly. He was also just playing "catch-up" and while extremely successful and eventually surpassing all competitors (K-mart included), Amazon will soon be bigger than Walmart. So like I said, it could kill innovation, Amazon is innovative, Walmart is not, we'll see who wins in the long run. My money is on Amazon.

So, I put more weight into the example of Sam Walton who left behind the largest fortune in history to his family members, or Reed Hastings the founder of Netflix, over the example of Dave McClure who is a failed entrepreneur and now tries to teach people what he couldn't accomplish himself.

Lol, I actually agree with Dave McClure being a failed entrepreneur and all, but don't get too ahead of yourself...

"They are shamelessly trying to copy us. I think the most telling thing is that Tiger will ship at the end of the month and Longhorn is still two years out. They can't even copy fast." - Steve Jobs on Microsoft

SHAMELESSLY COPYING, IE not being innovative. Is Sam Walton or Reed Hastings more successful than Steve Jobs? Hahaha, NO.

You're the one who doesn't know what you're talking about. Of course there were other coupon companies on the internet before Groupon. What made Groupon different was the social aspect. Their coupons didn't get charged unless a certain number of people purchased them in a time frame like a day or a week, etc. They also raised hundreds of millions of dollars to expand quickly on this concept.

It's sort of like how Kickstarter works, except for coupons.

Didn't I say they launched a viral campaign? And also you said they were first, first to what? You didn't clarify anything. You can't just say "They were first" and then end the discussion, that doesn't make any sense.

I don't feel they would share their most useful info with me unless I was a close friend. Otherwise it would be the same general stuff that you see them share in interviews.

So you would only ask them the exact same questions they get asked in the interviews?

*Facepalm*

 

[mottdog]

Good luck to you Darkside. However, I believe that you need to work on your group social skills a bit, which you would learn if you stuck around. That opening post did not come off very well and left everyone with a sour taste. Learn from the backlash you received and try to do better next time no matter how successful you get.
Cheers.

 

[NaPal]

I agree with one of your first statements.

After being on this forum for a period of time it gets to a point where your wasting your time on HERE when you could/should be spending this time on actually EXECUTING. It turns into just another social system where your treading your clock down.

Once you have began to execute I would recommend using this forum as a resource.

But then again, it can't all be work can it?

 

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[BrucetonGuy]

BTW, can someone tell me what MMA is that keeps getting mentioned?

That would be Mixed Martial Arts....

 

[Darkside]

I agree with one of your first statements.

After being on this forum for a period of time it gets to a point where your wasting your time on HERE when you could/should be spending this time on actually EXECUTING. It turns into just another social system where your treading your clock down.

Once you have began to execute I would recommend using this forum as a resource.

But then again, it can't all be work can it?

Thank you! You got the point of my opening post. Perhaps I didn't phrase it perfectly but I wasn't trying to insult anyone or say that there's nothing else to be learned on this forum. Rather, I've exhausted all the relevant info that I can gain from being here and I believe that anymore time spent here would distract me from my business endeavors.

Arguing the opposite is like telling people they should stay in college forever because there's still more to learn by being there. Sure, we could all remain in college our whole lives and not learn everything that we need to learn but eventually people have to get out there and start using what they've learned.

 

[Darkside]

Good luck to you Darkside. However, I believe that you need to work on your group social skills a bit, which you would learn if you stuck around. That opening post did not come off very well and left everyone with a sour taste. Learn from the backlash you received and try to do better next time no matter how successful you get.
Cheers.

Thanks for the advice. I never intended to insult anyone.

 

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[Darkside]

This is 2012, analyzing competitors goes far beyond checking prices especially when it comes to Internet ventures. Once again, here's where common sense comes into play "What are my competitors charging? Because that's important, derrr." Now we have the Internet and things like prices/new products can be checked instantly. He was also just playing "catch-up" and while extremely successful and eventually surpassing all competitors (K-mart included), Amazon will soon be bigger than Walmart. So like I said, it could kill innovation, Amazon is innovative, Walmart is not, we'll see who wins in the long run. My money is on Amazon.

You're proving my point once again. Walmart was wealthy enough to buy out Amazon several times over when they were first starting out in the 90s. Their arrogance in thinking that they didn't have to worry about competition from internet commerce and only had to worry about stores like K-Mart, Sears, etc. is what came back to bite them.

Now, there's no way they can afford to buy out Amazon. All they can do is try to compete with them by selling products through Walmart.com but it will be difficult for them to beat Amazon's prices since Amazon doesn't operate storefronts so they can afford to sell things cheaper, not to mention also that Amazon has a large market of independent vendors for pretty much every product out there.

Lol, I actually agree with Dave McClure being a failed entrepreneur and all, but don't get too ahead of yourself...

"They are shamelessly trying to copy us. I think the most telling thing is that Tiger will ship at the end of the month and Longhorn is still two years out. They can't even copy fast." - Steve Jobs on Microsoft

SHAMELESSLY COPYING, IE not being innovative. Is Sam Walton or Reed Hastings more successful than Steve Jobs? Hahaha, NO.

Steve Jobs was a huge copier. He stole the technology for the mouse and graphical interface from Xerox and used it on the Macintosh during the 80s. He didn't invent the mp3 player either, he just made it simpler to use and did an amazing job of marketing it.



Microsoft was also ahead of Apple in making tablet PCs but it's the name iPad that everyone knows. Steve Jobs' greatest strength was his marketing skills; he could whip people up into a frenzy to buy almost any product at very high prices; no one else even comes close to that level of talent. It's why I don't think Apple can maintain their dominance through the end of this decade since they no longer have their leader.

So you would only ask them the exact same questions they get asked in the interviews?

*Facepalm*

No. My point was that even if I asked good questions trying to get them to expose some of their best kept secrets, they wouldn't answer them. People only share their best info with those close to them, and I don't blame them.

 

[Eskil]

Wow, so much golden advice in this thread (people's responses to the OP)