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

[ZF Lee]

Sometimes you may think what you are currently working on is good...until it isn't.

Few weeks ago, I got hit by acid reflux right during my grandma's birthday dinner. Suddenly felt that somewhere in my stomach was stuck, and bile kept gathering in my throat. No amount of hot water drank would wash them down.

I had read before that it was caused by eating too big, or some trigger allergy food...and only had it once before very, very long ago after a big dinner.

I overreacted and was so distressed that I got an x-ray done immediately. And blood work.

The doctor found I had some constipation-- and my cholesterol was not good. LDL and other markers a few points above the benchmark.

The thing is that my toilet time before this wasn't so bad until I was fighting to shit hard stools out. I'm not the kind to take all the fried and sweet stuff on a daily basis.

The only weaknesses I know I have are lack of more intense exercise (outside of the treadmill at gym), and me eating takeaway to compensate for lack of time (and mental energy) to cook. I did my best to pick takeaway that had balanced foods, but of course it ain't going to be as healthy as home-cooked for many reasons. I ate fruits regularly...a lot of eggs for breakfast.

I was SO down and embarrassed that the acid reflux happened in a family event.

Also very sad that even though I DEFINITELY lived healthier than MOST folks I know, as imperfect as I am, it all wasn't enough to keep my body working. For the first time in my life, I start blaming everyone around me for not buying me greens to eat...my social network for not helping me to cultivate a better health-driven environment...well everything.

Even got into a spat with my parents on this.

(they may know choke-tons on what they think is good for me...but bad at being sounding boards to just listen when someone is feeling very down)

After many hours in blame-mode, I was left numb.

All that remained in my head was just a few steps I could think of to get my body back in shape.

And I did these:

1. To eat out WAY less, I subscribed to a meal prep delivery service that basically sent over prepped veges and chicken that I could just heat up. Honestly I could have made my own chicken breast and baked veges...but if someone can do it better and faster than me...why not have them help?

2. Killed 90% of carbs like rice and noodles. I still ate some potatoes, but only as a side dish and if the menu didn't have anything else (when eating out)

3. Every start of the week, I would load up the shopping cart with raw veges and fruits like cucumbers, cherry tomatos, blueberries, etc. More than before. Washed them all at one go so I can just chew on them throughout the week.

4. Started intermittent fasting to give my gut some break-time...usually skipped breakfast.
There's a lot of debate out there on whether breakfast is REALLY the most important meal of the day or some conspiracy spun up by the cereal companies...but I chose to skip breakfast because that was usually work time.

Stopped eating after 10pm...not even a snack.

5. Bought some mixed fibres-probiotic mix:

https://www.deslimmalaysia.com/en/?page_id=213081

Recommended by my dad...took it every night after dinner.
The label said it would get me to the loo more often to deal with the constipation, but I only went to the washroom once per day.

I think there could be cheaper options for the gut like prunes and yoghurt...but these are just passive foods. that take time to set in. For now, I need immediate stuffs to clear me quickly.

6. Raised my exercise time from once a week to three times a week.
This is a laughable amount of time...but I got work and clients to do.

For now I'm still stuck 45-mins to 1 hour at the treadmill, but I hopped onto YouTube to emulate some dumbbells routines. I don't have any intention to build muscle for now...I just want to get my body working.

7. Update my social environment
After this acid reflux incident (and a separate car accident), I realised how limited my time and health actually were.

I stepped back from many social gatherings (even with mentor-figures) to rest and have more time for myself.
I also realised this year I had helped at too many charity events at church and elsewhere. They weren't bad activities and much was learnt-- but could I have made a better impact if I had MORE money, skills, networking and health?

I left my youth cell group for good. It was the last remaining circle of folks my age...I don't know WHY I stayed so long with them, or even wasted time debating with them on many menial issues. Maybe because I joined it since college...so the sentimentality held me back.

But when I thought carefully if I was willing to fight traffic weekly...just to go to their meetings, listen to un-dynamic, mediocre people give their surface-level opinions on the Holy Writ...and dismiss almost every of my ideas on improving life as 'too adult' or 'generalizing everyone'...then WHY GO?

I thought about finding new social groups to replace them once I was better.

I felt a bit lighter when I realised I had options open now.

Go for some gym group class? Ask my mentor-figures for admission to their country club? Hit up the church's business mastermind (where I come from, it charges a fee for membership, so it's not a light decision)?

Go buy a good course that has a mastermind?

I haven't bought a course in AGES...but after reading some stuff from Chris Orz and Troy Ericson...I was thinking of getting their stuffs on email list management. It's a step-up from the usual email copy work I do, but if it can help add more value and I meet with more hard workers out there, why not?

My only requirement for the new social circles to take on must be that they have to have an entry barrier of some sort (money, camaraderie, time, etc). They cannot be another sleazy free Meetup.com session that sends me to Amway.

But honestly this is at the bottom of my list...I want to focus on health first.

So far I think something works, because my eczema cooled down enough for me to go back to lotion...my stomach doesn't feel bloated anymore...and no acid reflux came back.

 

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[matteblack]

People who need the money the most end up becoming so blind that they cant think of anything other than it
Yet people who are self sufficient and have enough money ,can think of beyond money ,and dive into the realm of providing value that they end up earning the most

 

[Antifragile]

Side note, I also briefly tested asking if it was a good time versus asking if it was a bad time.

Spoiler alert, it's never a good time. Those calls did not go well at all. The rate of hostility was highest on those calls.

There is a subtle but important difference:

GOOD
(A)
"is now a bad time?"
"ah, yes... I am about to..."
"ok, what is a better time?"
(B)
"is now a bad time?"
"ah, no actually... I am about to..."
"ok, 60 seconds - you can time me!"

VS

BAD

"is now a good time?"
"no." + ... *hostility*

NEVER a good time! But often not a bad time.

Give that random person permission to say NO and hostility goes down.

Early in my career I've made thousands of cold calls, lately I've done zero. I was very good at it and lessons stayed for close to 20 years, served me over and over again... From starting my first business till now.
(I can't believe I am using such timeframes, dating myself here)

Lately I do pitches for board approvals etc. Same logic holds.


P.S. Hope some of you youngsters find this helpful as you try to get random people to just listen to your spiel.

 

[BizyDad]

Sometimes you may think what you are currently working on is good...until it isn't.

Few weeks ago, I got hit by acid reflux right during my grandma's birthday dinner. Suddenly felt that somewhere in my stomach was stuck, and bile kept gathering in my throat. No amount of hot water drank would wash them down.

I had read before that it was caused by eating too big, or some trigger allergy food...and only had it once before very, very long ago after a big dinner.

I overreacted and was so distressed that I got an x-ray done immediately. And blood work.

The doctor found I had some constipation-- and my cholesterol was not good. LDL and other markers a few points above the benchmark.

The thing is that my toilet time before this wasn't so bad until I was fighting to shit hard stools out. I'm not the kind to take all the fried and sweet stuff on a daily basis.

The only weaknesses I know I have are lack of more intense exercise (outside of the treadmill at gym), and me eating takeaway to compensate for lack of time (and mental energy) to cook. I did my best to pick takeaway that had balanced foods, but of course it ain't going to be as healthy as home-cooked for many reasons. I ate fruits regularly...a lot of eggs for breakfast.

I was SO down and embarrassed that the acid reflux happened in a family event.

Also very sad that even though I DEFINITELY lived healthier than MOST folks I know, as imperfect as I am, it all wasn't enough to keep my body working. For the first time in my life, I start blaming everyone around me for not buying me greens to eat...my social network for not helping me to cultivate a better health-driven environment...well everything.

Even got into a spat with my parents on this.

(they may know choke-tons on what they think is good for me...but bad at being sounding boards to just listen when someone is feeling very down)

After many hours in blame-mode, I was left numb.

All that remained in my head was just a few steps I could think of to get my body back in shape.

And I did these:

1. To eat out WAY less, I subscribed to a meal prep delivery service that basically sent over prepped veges and chicken that I could just heat up. Honestly I could have made my own chicken breast and baked veges...but if someone can do it better and faster than me...why not have them help?

2. Killed 90% of carbs like rice and noodles. I still ate some potatoes, but only as a side dish and if the menu didn't have anything else (when eating out)

3. Every start of the week, I would load up the shopping cart with raw veges and fruits like cucumbers, cherry tomatos, blueberries, etc. More than before. Washed them all at one go so I can just chew on them throughout the week.

4. Started intermittent fasting to give my gut some break-time...usually skipped breakfast.
There's a lot of debate out there on whether breakfast is REALLY the most important meal of the day or some conspiracy spun up by the cereal companies...but I chose to skip breakfast because that was usually work time.

Stopped eating after 10pm...not even a snack.

5. Bought some mixed fibres-probiotic mix:

https://www.deslimmalaysia.com/en/?page_id=213081

Recommended by my dad...took it every night after dinner.
The label said it would get me to the loo more often to deal with the constipation, but I only went to the washroom once per day.

I think there could be cheaper options for the gut like prunes and yoghurt...but these are just passive foods. that take time to set in. For now, I need immediate stuffs to clear me quickly.

6. Raised my exercise time from once a week to three times a week.
This is a laughable amount of time...but I got work and clients to do.

For now I'm still stuck 45-mins to 1 hour at the treadmill, but I hopped onto YouTube to emulate some dumbbells routines. I don't have any intention to build muscle for now...I just want to get my body working.

7. Update my social environment
After this acid reflux incident (and a separate car accident), I realised how limited my time and health actually were.

I stepped back from many social gatherings (even with mentor-figures) to rest and have more time for myself.
I also realised this year I had helped at too many charity events at church and elsewhere. They weren't bad activities and much was learnt-- but could I have made a better impact if I had MORE money, skills, networking and health?

I left my youth cell group for good. It was the last remaining circle of folks my age...I don't know WHY I stayed so long with them, or even wasted time debating with them on many menial issues. Maybe because I joined it since college...so the sentimentality held me back.

But when I thought carefully if I was willing to fight traffic weekly...just to go to their meetings, listen to un-dynamic, mediocre people give their surface-level opinions on the Holy Writ...and dismiss almost every of my ideas on improving life as 'too adult' or 'generalizing everyone'...then WHY GO?

I thought about finding new social groups to replace them once I was better.

I felt a bit lighter when I realised I had options open now.

Go for some gym group class? Ask my mentor-figures for admission to their country club? Hit up the church's business mastermind (where I come from, it charges a fee for membership, so it's not a light decision)?

Go buy a good course that has a mastermind?

I haven't bought a course in AGES...but after reading some stuff from Chris Orz and Troy Ericson...I was thinking of getting their stuffs on email list management. It's a step-up from the usual email copy work I do, but if it can help add more value and I meet with more hard workers out there, why not?

My only requirement for the new social circles to take on must be that they have to have an entry barrier of some sort (money, camaraderie, time, etc). They cannot be another sleazy free Meetup.com session that sends me to Amway.

But honestly this is at the bottom of my list...I want to focus on health first.

So far I think something works, because my eczema cooled down enough for me to go back to lotion...my stomach doesn't feel bloated anymore...and no acid reflux came back.

That is quite a strong reaction to a little acid reflux and constipation.

I am a little concerned for your family when you experience joint aches from age.

(Joking, I'm only joking)

 

[Kak]

That is quite a strong reaction to a little acid reflux and constipation.

I am a little concerned for your family when you experience joint aches from age.

(Joking, I'm only joking)

@ZF Lee about to address his family after his first headache.

 

[ZF Lee]

That is quite a strong reaction to a little acid reflux and constipation.

I am a little concerned for your family when you experience joint aches from age.

(Joking, I'm only joking)

Yes, admittedly so.

Still, it may be better to spring into action earlier, rather than get the doctor's diagnosis later that you have something alien growing in your gut.

My family (especially the male figures) have a history of F*cking up their health with greasy foods and smoking until they are older and they have to get a stent for the heart or something. This cycle has to stop with me-- so for all these 'symptoms' to come up does alarm me.

I realise that health is the WEAKEST point for a lot of people...even successful Fastlaners.
Of all my current mentor figures (whom I meet physically), only one has it figured out. Interesting profile as a stem cell practitioner...qigong expert.

He is in his sixties, but he has skin like a baby's and keeps sending photos to our group chat on the many eateries he visits and reviews on Google Reviews. Told me why cholesterol-hating is BS (its vital for hormones)...why you shouldn't avoid eating egg-yolks...why full marathons are suicide and why sportspeople live shorter...many things.

I need to expand my social circle better in health areas. I'm an introvert, but I do find that when I am with people who have results that I desire, I do improve and move in that direction.

 

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[Kak]

Yes, admittedly so.

Still, it may be better to spring into action earlier, rather than get the doctor's diagnosis later that you have something alien growing in your gut.

My family (especially the male figures) have a history of F*cking up their health with greasy foods and smoking until they are older and they have to get a stent for the heart or something. This cycle has to stop with me-- so for all these 'symptoms' to come up does alarm me.

I realise that health is the WEAKEST point for a lot of people...even successful Fastlaners.
Of all my current mentor figures (whom I meet physically), only one has it figured out. Interesting profile as a stem cell practitioner...qigong expert.

He is in his sixties, but he has skin like a baby's and keeps sending photos to our group chat on the many eateries he visits and reviews on Google Reviews. Told me why cholesterol-hating is BS (its vital for hormones)...why you shouldn't avoid eating egg-yolks...why full marathons are suicide and why sportspeople live shorter...many things.

I need to expand my social circle better in health areas. I'm an introvert, but I do find that when I am with people who have results that I desire, I do improve and move in that direction.

Break the cycle. Very important. We are not trapped by our family's bs cycle, but we are predisposed to the junk we are surrounded by if we don't break the cycle.

I broke the smoking and drinking cycles of my dad, who was a great dad, but died young.

It's important to remember that you have a lot of life to live ahead of you without your family's direct input. I don't know when you'll move out, but one day you will, and your decisions will be solely yours to make.

For now. Eat what your momma makes and like it.

 

[ZF Lee]

Break the cycle. Very important. We are not trapped by our family's bs cycle, but we are predisposed to the junk we are surrounded by if we don't break the cycle.

I broke the smoking and drinking cycles of my dad, who was a great dad, but died young.

It's important to remember that you have a lot of life to live ahead of you without your family's direct input. I don't know when you'll move out, but one day you will, and your decisions will be solely yours to make.

Thanks Kak.

I have already moved out, but I and the parents still visit each other now and then.
I'm trying to take more of the initiative now to check up on them...which isn't always easy with work and all.

 

[Lex DeVille]

Has anyone come across anything like this?

Hostile architecture that (this youtuber claims) is designed to keep the homeless away.

I'm curious to read others' thoughts. Interesting idea from an entrepreneurial perspective.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Hostile architecture that (this youtuber claims) is designed to keep the homeless away.

Classic policy decisions by politicians who love to address symptoms, but never fix problems. Also subject to the Cobra Effect.

 

[BizyDad]

Has anyone come across anything like this?

Hostile architecture that (this youtuber claims) is designed to keep the homeless away.

I'm curious to read others' thoughts. Interesting idea from an entrepreneurial perspective.

I have seen this kind of stuff. Been around a while..

As someone who lives in a working class area of Phoenix, I would argue it doesn't "keep them away" but more like "redirects them" to less desirable area. The city isn't installing this kind of stuff in the areas south of my neighborhood. I'd wager the same is true in most US metros. Try to keep the homeless out of the affluent or commercial areas.

 

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[monnffffiiiiiii]

Few know that Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift are among the top business people of all time.

Those who laugh at this statement don't know what it takes to succeed.

 

[Kak]

Few know that Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift are among the top business people of all time.

Those who laugh at this statement don't know what it takes to succeed.

I guess it takes being a famous airheaded sex symbol with actual business people behind you.

 

[Kak]

If you give to your kids early, it can grow in their possession instead of yours.

IRS Increases Gift and Estate Tax Exempt Limits — Here’s How Much You Can Give Without Paying

 

[Antifragile]

Few know that Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift are among the top business people of all time.

Those who laugh at this statement don't know what it takes to succeed.

What a stupid thing to say with confidence. Are you being ignorant, stupid or just trolling?

While TS is a great businesswoman, great artist and entertainer - she's no where near the top business people of all time.

Read about:

• Andrew Carnegie
• John D. Rockefeller
• Henry Ford
• Steve Jobs
• Walt Disney
• Bill Gates
• Elon Musk
• Sakichi Toyoda
• Sam Walton
• Jeff Bezos
• Warren Buffett
• Mark Zuckerberg
• Andrew Grove

I am honestly getting tired of just listing names that pop into mind...

With that, Mr.Troll - show me where I am wrong.

 

[Kak]

Has anyone come across anything like this?

Hostile architecture that (this youtuber claims) is designed to keep the homeless away.

I'm curious to read others' thoughts. Interesting idea from an entrepreneurial perspective.

That's interesting. A big need for a lot of cities nowadays.

The guy in the video come across as super entitled to benches. Wow.

It needs better PR than "hostile architecture" how about "suggestive architecture?"

 

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[CosmicMind]

Has anyone come across anything like this?

Yeah that’s common in a lot of cities.

Architecture gives you clues where the ruling elites want to drive the culture.

 

[Lex DeVille]

That's interesting. A big need for a lot of cities nowadays.

The guy in the video come across as super entitled to benches. Wow.

It needs better PR than "hostile architecture" how about "suggestive architecture?"

Our town is small, but the homeless population has grown a lot in the last few years. Seems like a good time to swoop in and get the city to drop big bucks on new architecture.

The guy in the video used another word at one point, but I don't remember. Whatever the term, it was less hostile than "hostile." The video got 11M views in a couple of weeks, so I'd say the term worked out well for his purposes.

 

[ZackerySprague]

What a stupid thing to say with confidence. Are you being ignorant, stupid or just trolling?

While TS is a great businesswoman, great artist and entertainer - she's no where near the top business people of all time.

Read about:

• Andrew Carnegie
• John D. Rockefeller
• Henry Ford
• Steve Jobs
• Walt Disney
• Bill Gates
• Elon Musk
• Sakichi Toyoda
• Sam Walton
• Jeff Bezos
• Warren Buffett
• Mark Zuckerberg
• Andrew Grove

I am honestly getting tired of just listing names that pop into mind...

With that, Mr.Troll - show me where I am wrong.

Was his statment about as bad as mine?

A few that beat Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian that I admire are:

Noah Kagan
MJ DeMarco
Kara Goldin
Glenn Stearns *his book is absolutely amazing*
Andy Frisella
Tom Golisano
Judith R. Faulkner *Last time I read she was a sweet lady who's big into philanthropy.
Nick Seavert
Michia Rohressien

Sports Professionals:
David Goggins.

*Continues the onslaught of DMs in Slack at work for patching*

 

[GPM]

So for that experiment where we had to reach out and find the most famous or successful person we could... We only had 24 hours.

Most of the other guys went for sports figures and such. One actually got a video message from a Canadian gold medalist from the 90s which is kind of cool. But sports? Meh.

I tried to swing for the fences on that. I am still waiting to hear back from Pierre Poilievre (99% chance of him becoming the next Canadian Prime Minister). A few other high net worth individuals I didn't get a hold of. I did have an interesting conversation from a possible very successful Chinese man who @Kak says is crazy connected, but he may have been pulling my chain with a second phone #, you never know.

While we only had 24 hours to complete this, that makes the email I received back today not count, but it's still cool. I got an email back and a shout out from the forums favorite Grant Cardone. I think it's pretty cool. I'd take contacting ol' GC over a hockey player any day.

 

[monnffffiiiiiii]

I guess it takes being a famous airheaded sex symbol with actual business people behind you.

Tbh I thought you'd agree with me.

 

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[Kak]

Our town is small, but the homeless population has grown a lot in the last few years. Seems like a good time to swoop in and get the city to drop big bucks on new architecture.

The guy in the video used another word at one point, but I don't remember. Whatever the term, it was less hostile than "hostile." The video got 11M views in a couple of weeks, so I'd say the term worked out well for his purposes.

For his purposes, yes. His purposes were to propagandize the unemployed, 4hr per day youtube communist, against such installations.

For your purposes, and I think it's a very solid business idea, the word hostile isn't going to be good.

 

[MTF]

One of the biggest advantages I have in my business is that I can do everything myself. There is no task that I can’t do.

And I can’t say the same about most owners. 90% of business owners out there aren’t able to do every single task that goes on in their business. And I don’t mean that they don’t have the time, but rather that they don’t have the skillset.

• Write sales copy
• Create social media content
• Create apps & program
• Run paid media campaigns
• Run webinars / workshops
• Take on sales calls
• Accounting & Financial Management (and I don’t just mean read a balance sheet, I mean actually know how to balance accounts and record stuff in your favor based on your business needs)
• Cold outreach campaigns
• Building & managing teams
• Optimize websites for speed (with complex, optimizations, not just clicking a few buttons on a plugin)
• Graphic design, logo creation, visuals.
• Write and create contracts and agreements.
• Create and design presentations from scratch.
• Coach and train others.
• And the list goes on.

There is no task inside my business that I cannot do. The two biggest advantages:

1) My people have maximum respect for me, because I’m at the front of the charging army, not at the back.

2) Speed. This is the biggest one. If you want to create an app, it will take you, unless you’re a programmer yourself 3-6 months at least (and more if it’s highly complex, rather than an MVP). For me, it’s 2-3 weeks of working day and night to get it done (and that includes learning). And then after 3-4 months you realize that there is a better way to do it, but oh shit, back to development and taking ages because developers are lazy and screwing you over. And on and on it goes.

In a digital business this is a huge advantage. The business that moves the fastest wins. You cannot move the fastest if you always rely on other people and cannot get your hands dirty.

This does result in very long hours of work sometimes, and it took an inhuman amount of effort to get here. I cannot emphasize this enough. Inhuman. Like not doing anything apart from working on your business from morning to night. Day after day, the same on repeat, for 10 years. It’s why I say that if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t be able to.

But now I’ve started to cross that point when you get to the peak of the mountain, and it all starts to go downhill from there and you gain momentum. Things get easier. There’s fewer and fewer things that surprise you or you don’t know how to handle.

I know that some people here advocate to focus on the big picture and leave the details to others. I have no doubt that in the short run they will beat me to the cash. But they have no chance in the long run as the advantages in terms of leadership and speed begin adding up.

My path may be very hard and perhaps not for most. But I see it as the most certain path to success.

Oh man I soooo want to hear what @Kak and @Antifragile think about this.

I like the idea of being able to do every task in your business so that you aren't dependent on someone but IMO it's not always possible.

I mean, can you honestly say that you're as good at graphic design as a professional graphic designer AND at the same time as good at coding as a coder AND as good at law as a lawyer?

Man if that's true then I really wouldn't want you as my competitor as you're a superhuman.

I know I suck at many things. I can do many tasks at a passable level but man, no way I can do them even 1/10 as good as a pro.

My huge realization about this was when I had a ghostwriting agency. I realized that a freelance writer I hired produced stuff I wouldn't even dream about creating. It was way, way better than my writing. And that's despite writing being my by far number one skill that I've practiced for 15+ years.

 

[MTF]

In my view, most professionals out there aren’t very good at their jobs. Sure, there are some that are true experts and I’m definitely not better than them.

But a real expert will cost you a fortune. If you want to hire one of those whizz programmers who crosses every T and dots every I, never makes mistakes, is never sloppy, always looks for the most efficient way to code things, and so on… you better be ready to pay a fortune.

But… most doctors, even famous ones, suck at their job. I’ve had doctors that cost $500+/hr and lawyers that cost $500+/hr advise me wrongly. And I didn’t listen to their advice, and it turned out I was right.

Example: I had a pilonidal cyst. Nasty thing, that according to most doctors you need to have a surgery for, and the surgery can’t be closed — you need to keep it open and let it naturally heal over months. My best friend had it too, and he had the surgery. I went to 5 doctors, the top doctors around for this problem. They all said surgery. Guess what I did? I researched it, identified the correct antibiotics, went to my GP, and told him I order him to write me a prescription for these. He did. Took them, got cured, never had it recur after 10+ years.

And I can give you 20+ examples like that.

So can you really trust the experts? Personally, I only trust myself. The experts are very often uninterested in your problem, too tired to care, etc. and usually the more famous they are, the more likely that this is the case. A famous doctor who sees 30+ patients per day… that guy can’t possibly give your case the attention it deserves.

And at what point would you trust someone else? What if you had a rare type of cancer that only one doctor had an extraordinary success rate treating it?

And how about things you need to learn from someone else for safety reasons, like mountain climbing or freediving? Would you question the professionals as well and try to prove them wrong?

There must be a point where you either don't have the mental capacity (can you really know more about launching rockets than a SpaceX engineer?), sufficient fundamentals that take years to master (like construction) or where it simply makes no sense to try to figure it out yourself (why study immigration law if you can hire someone to get the job done for you?).

 

[Antifragile]

One of the biggest advantages I have in my business is that I can do everything myself. There is no task that I can’t do.

And I can’t say the same about most owners. 90% of business owners out there aren’t able to do every single task that goes on in their business. And I don’t mean that they don’t have the time, but rather that they don’t have the skillset.

• Write sales copy
• Create social media content
• Create apps & program
• Run paid media campaigns
• Run webinars / workshops
• Take on sales calls
• Accounting & Financial Management (and I don’t just mean read a balance sheet, I mean actually know how to balance accounts and record stuff in your favor based on your business needs)
• Cold outreach campaigns
• Building & managing teams
• Optimize websites for speed (with complex, optimizations, not just clicking a few buttons on a plugin)
• Graphic design, logo creation, visuals.
• Write and create contracts and agreements.
• Create and design presentations from scratch.
• Coach and train others.
• Create custom wordpress plugins
• Create websites
• Do website security via .htaccess files
• Integrate with CDNs.
• Work with 3rd party APIs
• And the list goes on.

There is no task inside my business that I cannot do. The two biggest advantages:

1) My people have maximum respect for me, because I’m at the front of the charging army, not at the back. I can also take ownership of every single decision made. I don’t have to trust the way an accountant decides to file things for me — I can tell him what I want him to do. You can’t do this if you don’t know.

2) Speed. This is the biggest one. If you want to create an app, it will take you, unless you’re a programmer yourself 3-6 months at least (and more if it’s highly complex, rather than an MVP). For me, it’s 2-3 weeks of working day and night to get it done (and that includes learning). And then after 3-4 months you realize that there is a better way to do it, but oh shit, back to development and taking ages because developers are lazy and screwing you over. And on and on it goes.

I was going to stay out of this one... but

Oh man I soooo want to hear what @Kak and @Antifragile think about this.

MTF got me.

Of course I see the world of business differently than this.

Doing every task yourself seems incredibly inefficient and not feasible for most businesses of scale. And frankly I disagree with a few points made by @Black_Dragon43

In a digital business this is a huge advantage. The business that moves the fastest wins. You cannot move the fastest if you always rely on other people and cannot get your hands dirty.

I agree that moving fast is important and not just in digital business. It doesn't mean that you must do it yourself to move fast. Why wouldn't your employees be able to move fast on a task you need done?

This does result in very long hours of work sometimes, and it took an inhuman amount of effort to get here. I cannot emphasize this enough. Inhuman. Like not doing anything apart from working on your business from morning to night. Day after day, the same on repeat, for 10 years. It’s why I say that if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t be able to.

To be frank, I've sacrificed similarly but with a different objective and now with a different outcome. I never aimed at doing every task myself, but the tasks I took on had the biggest impact. They both alined with my abilities and business needs.

I was always obsessed about being wealthy. As a 14 year old kid I devoured biographies of people like Rockefeller and Henry Ford. I had this unreasonable, burning desire, whatever it took, I would do it. And it’s almost like that desire always minimized whatever obstacles stood in my path, and blinded me to the difficulty of it all, until I was so far along the path that turning back was simply impossible.

People always said you’ll just burn yourself out, this isn’t smart. I didn’t care, just kept charging ahead. Didn’t even see or hear anything else apart from the target — like a laser beam.

Now I’ve started to cross that point when you get to the peak of the mountain, and it all starts to go downhill from there and you gain momentum. Things get easier. There’s fewer and fewer things that surprise you or you don’t know how to handle.

I know that some people here advocate to focus on the big picture and leave the details to others. I have no doubt that in the short run they will beat me to the cash. But they have no chance in the long run as the advantages in terms of leadership and speed begin adding up.

My path may be very hard and perhaps not for most. But I see it as the most certain path to success.

Perhaps the difference is in the industries we chose. I recently interviewed a young man who's looking to transition form tech into RE. I asked him "What is the biggest difference between the two?" He couldn't answer. Here is what I said "In tech it's popular to move fast and break things. You can rebuild the app that didn't work easily. You cannot put up a high-rise condo building and then test it to realize you forgot the washrooms!"

Some industries benefit disproportionately from having experience. I cannot build up experience in Architecture, Construction, Engineering, Environmental, Finance, HR etc. in my lifetime to be able to do a good job at all tasks.

As a result, it was never even an option to do all things myself, not that I'd want to!

That said, your comment "some people here advocate to focus on the big picture and leave the details to others" isn't something I advocate either. I sweat the details the same way I'd sweat the details of what my doctor tells me when something hurts. I listen to their experience but I don't just leave it to them either. Same with my business, I have people who are 100x better than me in specific sections of our business and I understand maybe 1/5th of how they do what they do... But they do it better and faster.

In fact, I can't imagine scaling any company with the mindset of "I must be able to do every task myself" - WHY? I just don't get it. Do you really need to record your own invoices? I only sign cheques! Do you really want to file your own taxes? Why not leave it to accountants? And this goes on and on and on...

In my world, I control the following "tasks":
- Money (debt/equity)
- New business
- Big ticket sales

The impact is too large and then work is too fun for me to pass it on too soon. Only recently I moved financing to our CFO entirely. At one point I'd like to just focus on the company direction and making decisions when others cannot. Typically when shit hits the fan.

Lastly, understanding every aspect of your business enough not to get swindled is important. Doing every task yourself isn't.

Just my thoughts... what do I know about digital marketing agencies? Are they Bitcoin?

 

[Kak]

@Black_Dragon43

I see your point, but if you want to grow beyond a certain point, that program doesn't scale.

I would consider myself a polymath. I'm well versed in a wide variety of things and there has always been the temptation to take on a ridiculous variety of tasks. Whenever I pushed it, my results suffered.

I believe I could hold my own pretty well in a lot of things I don't primarily do like law, or accounting, or a million other things adjacent to my business, but I'm thankful to have people I know, with 100 percent certainty, are better than me for that. Why? Because they devoted their entire careers to it and I'm not going to.

I know very little of how my chemicals are manufactured other than the standards and qualities we test for. I don't really know how our testing works. I also know very little about the end formulations they go into, and our customers all keep that pretty close.

The other day I had a customer tell me they didn't want flatbeds to deliver product anymore. I didn't even know we were occasionally sending on flatbed.

I had another customer request a 1/2 ton sample of one of our gas products. One of my team members pointed out that there are zero canisters around that size that are DOT approved. We found a workaround by sending 26 smaller DOT approved containers.

This is just a view at a tiny slice of a machine that needs all of its proper pieces in order.

My business can not be kept in one man's head, with sanity.

 

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[MitchC]

In my view, most professionals out there aren’t very good at their jobs. Sure, there are some that are true experts and I’m definitely not better than them.

I actually agreed with your first post but this is an insane take, are you just hiring the wrong people?

I can probably do everything in my business and I agree it helps me lead and give direction.

I also don’t think I should be doing everything in my business which I think you are saying too. Could do it if needed, but hire it out to free up time and increase output.

I have my creative suggestions taken seriously because I have created ads that have consistently out performed theirs for example.

I can design things in photoshop and canva

I can write copy

I can edit videos

I can do product photography

I can do light coding work

This does help you move faster and cheaper when needed

But man, I completely disagree that I am better than a professional at these things

Good designers, photographers, video editors, coders, you must be superhuman if you are claiming you are better than all of them at their profession, or you are hiring the wrong people

 

[BizyDad]

What a stupid thing to say with confidence. Are you being ignorant, stupid or just trolling?

While TS is a great businesswoman, great artist and entertainer - she's no where near the top business people of all time.

Read about:

• Andrew Carnegie
• John D. Rockefeller
• Henry Ford
• Steve Jobs
• Walt Disney
• Bill Gates
• Elon Musk
• Sakichi Toyoda
• Sam Walton
• Jeff Bezos
• Warren Buffett
• Mark Zuckerberg
• Andrew Grove

I am honestly getting tired of just listing names that pop into mind...

With that, Mr.Troll - show me where I am wrong.

I like a good challenge. Ok, here goes...

Each of these men blazed trails.

However your viewed is skewed in 2 key ways I think.

First, everyone you name has a relatively completed resume. Only one person on your list is under the age of 50. Very few of them achieved Billionaires status by 33. So the comparison is a little bit apples and oranges.

Second, if we had a crystal ball and could look back 100 years from now, what if I told you that the attention industry became the predominant industry of the next 30 years? What if social media and personal branding isn't just a fad but actually the predominant way things start getting done.

Who are the ones who set the new standards and rewrote the rules of the attention economy?

Hard to top Taylor Swift. One big difference between her and "attention experts" like KK or Mr Beast is she understands the commandment of control. She owns her stuff.

She has mastered the attention economy, but she also rewrote the rules of the music industry. The amount of "first person to ever" type things she has is pretty impressive, like first person to ever have 10 out the top 10 songs on Billboard's top 100.

She's done it twice.

She actually moves hundreds of thousands of units... Of VINYL records. She has done vinyl numbers no one has done in more than 40 years. That's her level of marketing.

And at 33, in business terms you could say she is just getting started. But her impact on the business of music, from how contracts are written, to how tickets get sold is undeniable.

Side note, I am far from a Swiftie, the only song I can name is shake it off. But biophase expressed appreciation for her business sense some months ago, so I did some reading up on her.

The Fed Reserve has officially written about her economic impact. Not everyone on your list can say that.

Those top business owners known as the NFL owners sure aren't complaining about the increased value of their brands from "the Taylor Swift effect".

No one is saying she is THE top business person of all time, or even top 10. But does she merit inclusion on the list of all time greats?

Well, let's see...

There's the "Henry Ford effect", the "Jeff Bezos effect" the "Mark Zuckerberg effect", the "Sam Walton effect" , the "Antifragile effect".

We all know the meaning of those, right? Saying this has an actual meaning.

If your name can legitimately be followed by the word "effect" in a legit business sense, written and studied by bonafide economists no less, you have achieved something very few in business ever do. Only the greats ever get to this level.

Imagine having a business that 12 years ago did 100 million in sales, 8ish years ago did 250 million in sales, managed to survive/thrive during the pandemic shutting down your main revenue stream, and emerged out the other side to do 1.5 billion in sales.

What do we call business people who achieve that kind of growth? Perhaps another 5 years, 10 years, her business acumen might not sound so "ignorant and stupid" to you...

And for the second day in a row, men and women of the jury, I rest my case.

 

[biophase]

One of the biggest advantages I have in my business is that I can do everything myself. There is no task that I can’t do.

And I can’t say the same about most owners. 90% of business owners out there aren’t able to do every single task that goes on in their business. And I don’t mean that they don’t have the time, but rather that they don’t have the skillset.

• Write sales copy
• Create social media content
• Create apps & program
• Run paid media campaigns
• Run webinars / workshops
• Take on sales calls
• Accounting & Financial Management (and I don’t just mean read a balance sheet, I mean actually know how to balance accounts and record stuff in your favor based on your business needs)
• Cold outreach campaigns
• Building & managing teams
• Optimize websites for speed (with complex, optimizations, not just clicking a few buttons on a plugin)
• Graphic design, logo creation, visuals.
• Write and create contracts and agreements.
• Create and design presentations from scratch.
• Coach and train others.
• Create custom wordpress plugins
• Create websites
• Do website security via .htaccess files
• Integrate with CDNs.
• Work with 3rd party APIs
• And the list goes on.

There is no task inside my business that I cannot do. The two biggest advantages:

1) My people have maximum respect for me, because I’m at the front of the charging army, not at the back. I can also take ownership of every single decision made. I don’t have to trust the way an accountant decides to file things for me — I can tell him what I want him to do. You can’t do this if you don’t know.

2) Speed. This is the biggest one. If you want to create an app, it will take you, unless you’re a programmer yourself 3-6 months at least (and more if it’s highly complex, rather than an MVP). For me, it’s 2-3 weeks of working day and night to get it done (and that includes learning). And then after 3-4 months you realize that there is a better way to do it, but oh shit, back to development and taking ages because developers are lazy and screwing you over. And on and on it goes.

In a digital business this is a huge advantage. The business that moves the fastest wins. You cannot move the fastest if you always rely on other people and cannot get your hands dirty.

This does result in very long hours of work sometimes, and it took an inhuman amount of effort to get here. I cannot emphasize this enough. Inhuman. Like not doing anything apart from working on your business from morning to night. Day after day, the same on repeat, for 10 years. It’s why I say that if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t be able to.

I was always obsessed about being wealthy. As a 14 year old kid I devoured biographies of people like Rockefeller and Henry Ford. I had this unreasonable, burning desire, whatever it took, I would do it. And it’s almost like that desire always minimized whatever obstacles stood in my path, and blinded me to the difficulty of it all, until I was so far along the path that turning back was simply impossible.

People always said you’ll just burn yourself out, this isn’t smart. I didn’t care, just kept charging ahead. Didn’t even see or hear anything else apart from the target — like a laser beam.

Now I’ve started to cross that point when you get to the peak of the mountain, and it all starts to go downhill from there and you gain momentum. Things get easier. There’s fewer and fewer things that surprise you or you don’t know how to handle.

I know that some people here advocate to focus on the big picture and leave the details to others. I have no doubt that in the short run they will beat me to the cash. But they have no chance in the long run as the advantages in terms of leadership and speed begin adding up.

My path may be very hard and perhaps not for most. But I see it as the most certain path to success.

So I used to think like this.

I know that I can create a website, take product photos, run email campaigns, run ppc campaigns, set up Wi-Fi, troubleshoot PC problems, set up pallet racking, fix the toilets in my warehouse, put up walls in my warehouse, even move containers within my parking lot.

When I was a small business, I was proud that I did not have to call a guy to come and set up my security cameras. I didn’t have to call a plumber to come fix my toilet. I imagined how much money I was saving over the competition.

Four years ago we installed new pallet racking and I said to @Trevor Kuntz, this is the last time we are ever putting up pallet racking. We are too big to be wasting time doing stuff like this in our warehouse. So next time we move yes I am going to pay another company $15,000 to set up pallet racking.

I’m not wasting my time on every task now.

 

[biophase]

Side note, I am far from a Swiftie, the only song I can name is shake it off. But biophase expressed appreciation for her business sense some months ago, so I did some reading up on her.

The Fed Reserve has officially written about her economic impact. Not everyone on your list can say that.

Those top business owners known as the NFL owners sure aren't complaining about the increased value of their brands from "the Taylor Swift effect".

Well I had to jump in here as a TS fan. I’ve been following her business tactics since 2015. You have to ask yourself, why aren’t other musicians as big as her? It can’t be just because of her songs. Plenty out there have good songs. Why aren’t their fan bases the same? It’s because of a ton of branding and business decisions.

I know that these examples below are probably not “her” ideas. But I believe that her broader ideas have cultivated a raving fan base that have supported her to what she is today.

I mean who else releases the same album twice and gets more sales the second time?

Or who releases an album with 4 different album covers that turn into a clock so her fans have to buy an album 4 times! This clock will cost you $175!