Need some advice (follow your passion? Binary options?)

[Vigilante]

You've heard it because it's true. Would feel good doing something you hate? That's like having a JOB!!!! EEEKK. Would you feel good doing something you don't do well? The trick is figuring out what endeavor will get you up in the morning, eager to move the ball forward. Self-assessment is tough and might be easier to start by asking friends or family. Even strangers can have a better perspective on your talents than you might. "Not stopping until I succeed" is pointless without a goal.

My son came home from college spouting this same concept that he heard from a college professor. The professor undoubtedly read it from some feel good business book. "Do what you love" he said " and you will never work a day in your life."

"Really?" I said?

Then we had a discussion. My son loves cars. Knows more about mechanical and design aspects of cars than anyone else.

So what would this unicorn look like that would have him "doing what he loves" so that he would "never work a day in his life?"

Should he

• try to make it in the NASCAR circuit? You start at the bottom, at local races, busting your a$$ for peanuts and doing mechanical work on your own broken jalopy while kissing small time sponsor's asses for a few bucks to keep your car running. Seemed like a lot of work.

I could spot him some cash so he could:

• start his own dealership, working it up from a few cars into a huge empire over the course of a decade or two. 5AM rise and shine. Get it started. Too much work to feel like you never worked a day in your life.

With his automotive engineering degree, he could always

• go to work at ford, starting on the bottom rung of the ladder and putting in his obligatory 60 hours a week as he climbed, scratched and faught his way up the automotive engineering ladder into executive leadership.

THE REASON most businesses fail is because they don't have a VALUE proposition to offer. I love little kittens, so I am going to open a kitten farm, because that is where my passion is. However, I forgot to assess the market, where the value most people place on kittens is FREE. Boom. I followed my passion, and all I have to show for it is a couple dozen kittens, several litter boxes full of kitten shit, and a going out of business sign.

It took me 20 minutes to deprogram my son from the advice of following passion. I guarantee you that his professor is passionate about teaching kids, but can't F*cking wait until his next vacation.

Find a need. Create scale. Make it in an area with barriers to entry. Exercise market control, and separate your income from time. When you do that.... you will have all the time in the world to pursue your knitting, your sailboarding, or your race car driving. Rather than picking something you can spend the rest of your life doing so that you can pretend you are not working, how about building something of value, cashing out on it, and spending the rest of your life following your passions where ever they take you?

 

[randomnumber314]

Is Steve Jobs just an exception who "got lucky" doing what he loves...

No, no he's not. Look at how enthusiastic any successful person is about the company they run. It's not that they love building computer, or they love selling people napkins. It's that they love building an empire. That is the passion people speak about in business.

For some reason people hear someone with success say stuff like "I wake up at 5:30 and read the newspaper while I ride the exercise bike. Then at 6:30 I have a fruit smoothie and head to the office" and take this as literal advice to do those activities. Stop. Don't. You're trying to replicate their routine that brings them success. Take the underlying implications as the advice.

The common theme you hear from successful people is to work hard, keep working, and learn to love what you're doing (working hard). Think about Job's words in this video,

I was lucky, I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees.
​

He ends that bit with

We had just released our finest creation the Macintosh a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired.
​

He's not saying he started building computer and loved it. No! He says we founded Apple, we grew apple for 10 years. We had 4,000 employees. We had just launched our best creation yet. I got fired! I was still building an amazing company...

He loved taking Apple from two people in a garage to $2b in sales and 4,000 employees. That's what he loved doing. He built an empire on an idea. The idea that he could find an untapped desire in the market and build a solution to fill that desire with the best possible hardware in the world.

That's what he did when he returned to Apple. He took his struggling empire that had deflated due to dry unimaginative management, and made it one of the best companies in the world by rebuilding the empire to give the market things it didn't know it wanted.

You gotta love the grind. You have to have passion for the niche your business is in--not a passion for the work itself, or even the product--but a passion for providing things so valuable to people that they will wait in line to get them. Sure Jobs liked his iPads, but he probably LOVED the market response and the way his empire strengthened off the back of his thesis: Make great things. Never settle. Be different.

This got a bit wordy, but the ultimate point is that it doesn't matter what you sell, it matters how you sell it. It matters that you love the process of creating, marketing, and fulfilling. <-- that, by the way, is the process we talk about. Create, market, fulfill. Once you create something and someone says, "wow, here's my money I want that," you'll be in love with the process too.

 

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[Vigilante]

I don't see "what you love" having any bearing. Find a void in the market. Fill it. If the market wants a new design of a flyswatter, you don't have to love pest extermination to fill the void and help people. In fact, I propose the opposite. In the physical products arena, be product agnostic. Never fall in love with what you sell. Why? You are not emotionally invested in the transaction itself. Sell because it solves a need, not because you "love" the merchandise. Loving merchandise is borderline creepy, and makes you irrationally attached to commodity. I don't see emotions playing ANY role in what it takes to create a successful business. Passion about process? Yes. Passion about customers? Yes. Passion about value? Yes. Doing what you love? Zero requirement. Love is a weird rule to use, as it conveys an emotion rarely attached to business outcomes.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

So I want to start a business, few days ago I lost $293 on bullshit and it pissed me the F*#k off.

Lemme guess, binary options?

You've heard it because it's true. Would feel good doing something you hate?

It's not true. It's regurgitative guru clap-trap, a predefined script into a fixed-mindset.

Passion doesn't pay the bills. People who avoid doing things they hate never grow to what they need to become. For example, I just spoke to group of entrepreneurs in Scottsdale and being the introvert I am, you could say I hated it. But after it was done, I loved it. If I fell into the some old crap/clap trap of "follow your passion" I would have declined to speak, arguing, "I'm not passionate about it."

The best smackdown of the "follow your passion" BS comes from Mike Rowe.

http://yellowhammernews.com/faithandculture/alabamian-gets-schooled-mike-rowe-dirty-jobs/

Every time I watch The Oscars, I cringe when some famous movie star – trophy in hand – starts to deconstruct the secret to happiness. It’s always the same thing, and I can never hit “mute” fast enough to escape the inevitable cliches. “Don’t give up on your dreams kids, no matter what.” “Don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t have what it takes.” And of course, “Always follow your passion!”

Today, we have millions looking for work, and millions of good jobs unfilled because people are simply not passionate about pursuing those particular opportunities. Do we really need Lady GaGa telling our kids that happiness and success can be theirs if only they follow their passion?

Passion has it's place and it spurns from meaning and purpose. With meaning and purpose, passion is a side-effect, and that passion ultimately becomes indifferent to what you are doing. Do you think the person trying to overcome cancer will deny treatment because he's not passionate about it? Or will he do whatever it takes because now he has a meaning and purpose?

Returning to my public speaking session, meaning and purpose got me on stage, not passion.

 

[Unknown]

I'm passionate about Amazon sending deposits to my bank account.

 

[Vigilante]

The passion argument is simple.

Make real money from whatever you're doing, and you will experience real passion for it.

If you do it in reverse, then instead of experiencing passion for what you're doing, you will come to hate what you once loved.

Why?

Because you can't change people's minds. You can't force them to buy your shit. You can only get people to do things they already want to do.

If they don't want your product & don't see a need for it, then you can be passionate as hell but no one gives a shit.

Passion doesn't sell products that people don't want. But it does help sell products that they do want.

So write a book, or make an app, or create some piece of art...

If it sucks, or if it isn't what people want, then you will fail at selling it.

The reason some great authors are artists make it big isn't because they started with passion.

It's because they delivered something people valued.

I have a guy that cleans my house.

He says that his wife hates his cleaning business.

I said "no she doesn't."

He said "What do you mean?"

I said... "Would she hate it if you made a million dollars from it?"

He said "No... she would love it."

She doesn't hate the cleaning business. She simply hates the lack of big money. If the same business were throwing off money like a duck throws off water, all the sudden she would love it.

The reason Steve Jobs LOVED his business was because it made him billions of dollars. Eventually, the message becomes "do what you love" because he did, right? Would he have loved it if it made him bankrupt? Doubt it. There's a correlation between giving value, getting money, and loving that exchange. I propose it is not the product, but the process of generating good will, providing value, and making cash that people LOVE.

When I wrote the passive income thread, it was my coming of age realization that I found a business that I LOVED. Not the product... but the process and the fact that the cash register rang at all hours of the night. I now do what I love I guess... I learned how to provide value and value prints money.

 

[Andy Black]

It has nothing to do with collecting likes. It has to do with being a valuable person to the community. Sling this low-value B.S. on the inside and you're throwing your money away. Learn to listen, read, and comprehend and the INSIDERS' section will have value.

^^^ If it's not blindingly obvious why your rep bank is in dollars and is engineered to increase as you help or entertain the people around you, then this advice is the single most important advice for you at this stage.

Look at what people are "liking" and passing rep for.

What's the pattern?

Sometimes it's from creating a helpful thread for others to read.

Sometimes it's from curating content out there on the web and pointing to an article that this community would be interested in.

Sometimes it's from spending 20 minutes responding to someone's query.

Sometimes it's from being grateful.

Sometimes it's from being open and honest about your problems and "bleeding on the page" (mostly INSIDERS threads because they aren't indexed).

Sometimes it's from a few insightful prods (@jon.a is very good at this).

And if you're worried you don't have anything to contribute, then sometimes it's just from doing some hard work to help others in this forum (see plenty of Gold posts by new members who dig out all the other gold in here and hand them to us on a platter).

 

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[Charnell]

Sorry man, I'll dumb myself down from now, perhaps you'll relate to me more.

 

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[Glorydog]

When I was playing football, my coaches always talked about being "coachable". What they were talking about was when a Wide Receiver drops a pass, and the coach gets in their face and tells them to do this or that, they listen. When, as a Running Back, I outran my blocker, my coach got on me and told me to do it a different way instead. Damn it, I liked doing it my way! But, at the end of the day, who do you think knows what's better? Me, who has been in the game for 10 years including peewee, or the coach who is on his 50th season as a coach and has coached championship teams? I listened to him.

My point is, Luffy, that you have so many people here who have been in the game for much longer than you and I have. Many are proven to be successful. They've been through it, they know what works and what doesn't. They know the do's and the don'ts. They're trying to coach you, just be coachable.

 

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[biophase]

I'm sitting at the airport waiting for my flight in 3 hours. So I go looking for some popcorn eating threads to pass the time and I find a thread started by Luffy! It's like Christmas morning!

 

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[randomnumber314]

I want some advice to point me in the right direction.

Seriously, pick a niche, pick up the phone. It's not easy, trust me I've been cold calling like crazy, but it gets you much closer to helping other people with their problems than this thread ever will.

 

[DeletedUser394]

The only thing worth noting from this thread, is that Emma Watson is freaking beautiful.

 

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[SlowlaneJay]

I made this thread in the hopes of getting some kind of advice or inspiration, something to get the creative juices flowing

@Luffy did you get what you asked for? So far it looks like:

• Don't follow your passion (continued in another thread).
• Work on your interpersonal skills.
• Stay away from binary options.

Was that what you were looking for?

 

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[Charnell]

How about you stop posting and start reading. There are image macros with your name on it because you post nonsense a majority of the time, constantly asking for answers to questions that aren't asked.

So I want to start a business, few days ago I lost $293 on bullshit and it pissed me the F*#k off. I'm really motivated to start a business immediately but I've been thinking for the last few days and I'm drawing a blank as to what to do. Without getting sarcastic or posting stupid memes. I want some advice to point me in the right direction.

You want advice. You are providing nothing to be advised on. You lost a few bills, your downstairs mix-up is sore, and you want a step by step guide on how to get your money back and then some.

Might I recommend blackhatworld or warriorforum? You could probably round that $293 to an even $300 buying some nonsensical PLR WSO step by step guide on how to spam YouTube with dog shit hoping some sucker downloads your adware and you make a few dimes.

 

[OscarDeuce]

Instead of worrying about your passion or whatever, why not find a need and figure out a way to fulfill that need? Look for goods or services lots of people (or just a few wealthy people) need and use but don't want to make or do themselves. You'll never go broke performing a service people need but don't want to or can't do for themselves. Start making money, then figure out how to scale it up.

When I was in high school, a kid down the street asked is dad to buy him a motorcycle. Dad said no, you need to learn to earn the money yourself. So, he started mowing lawns. Then, hired other kids to mow lawns. Started providing other services such as treatments to make lawns greener. Today, he has one of the largest national lawn care businesses in the country. But, his passion was motorcycles, not lawns.

Cheers,
O2

 

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[GuestUser113]

I have a guy that cleans my house.

He says that his wife hates his cleaning business.

I said "no she doesn't."

He said "What do you mean?"

I said... "Would she hate it if you made a million dollars from it?"

He said "No... she would love it."

She doesn't hate the cleaning business. She simply hates the lack of big money. If the same business were throwing off money like a duck throws off water, all the sudden she would love it.

The reason Steve Jobs LOVED his business was because it made him billions of dollars. Eventually, the message becomes "do what you love" because he did, right? Would he have loved it if it made him bankrupt? Doubt it. There's a correlation between giving value, getting money, and loving that exchange. I propose it is not the product, but the process of generating good will, providing value, and making cash that people LOVE.

When I wrote the passive income thread, it was my coming of age realization that I found a business that I LOVED. Not the product... but the process and the fact that the cash register rang at all hours of the night. I now do what I love I guess... I learned how to provide value and value prints money.

Passion is Bullshit. I don't think I can say it any better. (NSFW)

 

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[randomnumber314]

Here people collect LIKES too.lol

Thanks for your free advice. Ok, I'll avoid to be an INSIDERS without a ton of LIKES.

It has nothing to do with collecting likes. It has to do with being a valuable person to the community. Sling this low-value B.S. on the inside and you're throwing your money away. Learn to listen, read, and comprehend and the INSIDERS' section will have value.

 

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[Tim Freriks]

You can't "do what you love" or "are passionate about" all the time. You have to have the commitment to do a lot of awful tasks, like managing people and tax reports and filing, etc. For entrepreneurs, 80% of doing what you love takes doing crap you don't want to.

 

[Vigilante]

Of course, I didn't mean and then waiting for money would fill my pockets itself. What's Vigilante's thread on?

Printing money.

 

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[GuestUser113]

@Luffy did you get what you asked for? So far it looks like:

• Don't follow your passion (continued in another thread).
• Work on your interpersonal skills.
• Stay away from binary options.

Was that what you were looking for?

Personally, I've learned a lot in this thread. I've also put another person on the ignore list.

 

[theag]

Protip: you can also post lots of Emma pics as likebait

 

[Tim Freriks]

Think about what you're passionate about, then what you're really good at. Follow your strengths, passions, and experience, but don't be tied to the baggage of previous jobs. You'll find something.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Binary Options rigged, there is little control there.

LOL. Funny how some people don't want to listen when they're told the fire is hot. Nope, they need to walk into the fire and feel the burn for themselves.

 

[Charnell]

You could write an ebook on what to avoid when doing binary options.

 

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[Lex DeVille]

The passion argument is simple.

Make real money from whatever you're doing, and you will experience real passion for it.

If you do it in reverse, then instead of experiencing passion for what you're doing, you will come to hate what you once loved.

Why?

Because you can't change people's minds. You can't force them to buy your shit. You can only get people to do things they already want to do.

If they don't want your product & don't see a need for it, then you can be passionate as hell but no one gives a shit.

Passion doesn't sell products that people don't want. But it does help sell products that they do want.

So write a book, or make an app, or create some piece of art...

If it sucks, or if it isn't what people want, then you will fail at selling it.

The reason some great authors are artists make it big isn't because they started with passion.

It's because they delivered something people valued.

 

[Andy Black]

Passion is necessary but not sufficient.

If you don't love your mission, you're not going to see it through.

But if your mission adds no value, then you'll make no money.

I am passionate about helping people understand stuff I figured out, and helping people period.

If helping people or putting a smile on people's faces doesn't do it for you, then I think you've a hard road ahead.

 

[GuestUser113]

How about you stop posting and start reading. There are image macros with your name on it because you post nonsense a majority of the time, constantly asking for answers to questions that aren't asked.


You want advice. You are providing nothing to be advised on. You lost a few bills, your downstairs mix-up is sore, and you want a step by step guide on how to get your money back and then some.

Might I recommend blackhatworld or warriorforum? You could probably round that $293 to an even $300 buying some nonsensical PLR WSO step by step guide on how to spam YouTube with dog shit hoping some sucker downloads your adware and you make a few dimes.

 

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[The-J]

I lost $293 on bullshit and it pissed me the F*#k off

I dunno man, losing $293 doesn't sound that bad. You're doing something, you're failing, and there's a reason for the failure. There's learning opportunities there.

The only thing you're really doing wrong is posting about every little thing you do. We can't tell you what you should learn from each experience, only you can discover that for yourself.

I know the resident trolls F*ck with you a lot but they have a point. Chill out with the posting for a bit. Write down everything that happened that caused you to lose $293. Then write down how you could do it better next time.

Keep doing what you're doing, but think while you do it.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

So I want to start a business, few days ago I lost $293 on bullshit and it pissed me the F*#k off.

My son came home from college spouting this same concept that he heard from a college professor. The professor undoubtedly read it from some feel good business book. "Do what you love" he said " and you will never work a day in your life."

"Really?" I said?

Then we had a discussion. My son loves cars. Knows more about mechanical and design aspects of cars than anyone else.

So what would this unicorn look like that would have him "doing what he loves" so that he would "never work a day in his life?"

Should he

• try to make it in the NASCAR circuit? You start at the bottom, at local races, busting your a$$ for peanuts and doing mechanical work on your own broken jalopy while kissing small time sponsor's asses for a few bucks to keep your car running. Seemed like a lot of work.

I could spot him some cash so he could:

• start his own dealership, working it up from a few cars into a huge empire over the course of a decade or two. 5AM rise and shine. Get it started. Too much work to feel like you never worked a day in your life.

With his automotive engineering degree, he could always

• go to work at ford, starting on the bottom rung of the ladder and putting in his obligatory 60 hours a week as he climbed, scratched and faught his way up the automotive engineering ladder into executive leadership.

THE REASON most businesses fail is because they don't have a VALUE proposition to offer. I love little kittens, so I am going to open a kitten farm, because that is where my passion is. However, I forgot to assess the market, where the value most people place on kittens is FREE. Boom. I followed my passion, and all I have to show for it is a couple dozen kittens, several litter boxes full of kitten shit, and a going out of business sign.

It took me 20 minutes to deprogram my son from the advice of following passion. I guarantee you that his professor is passionate about teaching kids, but can't F*cking wait until his next vacation.

Find a need. Create scale. Make it in an area with barriers to entry. Exercise market control, and separate your income from time. When you do that.... you will have all the time in the world to pursue your knitting, your sailboarding, or your race car driving. Rather than picking something you can spend the rest of your life doing so that you can pretend you are not working, how about building something of value, cashing out on it, and spending the rest of your life following your passions where ever they take you?

Man I wish we could GOLD POSTS over THREADs.

 

[SlowlaneJay]

it makes me curious about what they achieved if all they know to do is post memes

This. Stop staying stuff like this. That's what GC means about interpersonal skills.

^This. Have you read this?