NeoDialectic
Successfully Exited the Rat Race
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The Past Wasn't Easier
There is so much misguided sentiment about "the good old days being gone" or that "every good idea is done". It's not just on these forums, but with many aspiring entrepreneurs I meet in real life. Everyone seems to be under some kind of self-delusion that entrepreneurship and even more specifically ecommerce used to be easier in the past. Having the tools and knowledge you have NOW, maybe. But the point is that the tools you have now didn't exist, and no one yet knew the knowledge you take for granted today!
E-commerce wasn't easier, it was just solving for a different problem. As a paradigm shift (like e-commerce) starts to unfold, there is little competition but many unknowns. Your job is to learn everything there is to know about the field (which could be insanely technical) and then apply that knowledge to literally make the tools/knowledge that all of us take for granted 10 years later.
As lessons are learned, the field becomes easier for people that aren't trailblazers. But this comes at the cost of increasing competition. So over the next X years, the hardships don't get any easier, they just change. E-commerce is now extremely easy to get into on the technical and logistics side, but it is much harder on the marketing side.
There is usually a short time during this progression that can be described as a golden zone where it is relatively easy to get into with a little bit of grit and at the same time relatively uncrowded. This lasts for like 3 minutes out of the entire paradigms cycle. But dwelling on not getting in at that time is like dwelling on not picking the right lottery ticket numbers after you've seen the result. There are a 1000 other things going on right now that are relatively easy to get into and also uncrowded. How do you know which one's going to be the winning ticket? Dont forget that even with this winning ticket, all you've really won is the chance to do more work!
Example time
I could go back in the past and tell you eCommerce is the future and it would all be to naught. If I told you to build an eCommerce store before Amazon and Shopify existed to take care of all your problems, we all know what most of you would reply
"Uhhh, wait, how do I set up my domain? DNS? WTF is that? Wait Neo, how do I make a storefront. HTML by hand in a word processor?! Even if I knew how to code, how am I supposed to get people to pay me? I have to convince THE BANK to allow me to open a merchant account?! What! OK OK OK. But if I do all that I'll start rolling in the big bucks? I'll be the only one advertising, right? Wait, people don't even know it's an option that they can find goods by search? I've got a life and job man, I'll just wait till someone makes it realistic for me to do this."
Do you know how I know that? It's simple. Everyone knows some form of AI is going to be a staple of the future. Whether that's today or 20 years from now. It's happening. For all intents and purposes, AI is still in its infancy. It may destroy a lot of jobs as it gets better, but it will make 10x the opportunity for entrepreneurs as they apply it to the 100000s of fields and as new fields are born to service it. What are you doing about it? Why aren't you getting in when there is no competition and it's easy?
"Uhhhh, wait, how do I code AI? Neural Network? WTF is that? Wait Neo, I don't have the resources to make a powerful network. Open source? API? What is that? I'm not a programmer. How would I monetize this thing anyways? Is there a Youtube telling me how best to monetize? Uhhhh, this is too intellectual for me. I'll just wait till the tools are easy enough for me to use"
AI is just one example of endless other "new" opportunities and golden tickets.
My Journey through the "easy" times
I can't believe I ever thought making a webpage 100% made out of Macromedia Flash would work well. It was the new technology and looked so cool. Who could have known that it was a failure? Now "everyone knows your page should be simple and intuitive". is taken for granted, but it was hard-earned knowledge by those that came before you. Luckily learning HTML was only a book away and we adapted.
I can't believe I had to call a bank and prove my worth to open a merchant account just for the privilege of being able to accept payments. Why do you need to know more than my EIN?! (That I can now make in 2 minutes on the government website) Anyways, people BETTER NOT use AMEX. I don't want to pay the higher fees! Plus I heard they are so hard to win chargebacks against.
I can't believe that @fastlane_dad and I had to stuff boxes and supplies into every available cranny in our apartments. It would bleed into our living spaces and somehow our wives (GF's at the time) were cool living like that. Forget about trying to explain to rental management why every day we have 30 boxes outside the door waiting to be picked up by the mailman. No it's not an eye sore. It's an upsell to new tenants to know they can start their own businesses and you will support them. I promise!
Your Turn
There are more new millionaires being minted today than at any other time in history. The more complicated the world becomes, the more niches are created.
So what's your excuse?
There is so much misguided sentiment about "the good old days being gone" or that "every good idea is done". It's not just on these forums, but with many aspiring entrepreneurs I meet in real life. Everyone seems to be under some kind of self-delusion that entrepreneurship and even more specifically ecommerce used to be easier in the past. Having the tools and knowledge you have NOW, maybe. But the point is that the tools you have now didn't exist, and no one yet knew the knowledge you take for granted today!
E-commerce wasn't easier, it was just solving for a different problem. As a paradigm shift (like e-commerce) starts to unfold, there is little competition but many unknowns. Your job is to learn everything there is to know about the field (which could be insanely technical) and then apply that knowledge to literally make the tools/knowledge that all of us take for granted 10 years later.
As lessons are learned, the field becomes easier for people that aren't trailblazers. But this comes at the cost of increasing competition. So over the next X years, the hardships don't get any easier, they just change. E-commerce is now extremely easy to get into on the technical and logistics side, but it is much harder on the marketing side.
There is usually a short time during this progression that can be described as a golden zone where it is relatively easy to get into with a little bit of grit and at the same time relatively uncrowded. This lasts for like 3 minutes out of the entire paradigms cycle. But dwelling on not getting in at that time is like dwelling on not picking the right lottery ticket numbers after you've seen the result. There are a 1000 other things going on right now that are relatively easy to get into and also uncrowded. How do you know which one's going to be the winning ticket? Dont forget that even with this winning ticket, all you've really won is the chance to do more work!
Example time
I could go back in the past and tell you eCommerce is the future and it would all be to naught. If I told you to build an eCommerce store before Amazon and Shopify existed to take care of all your problems, we all know what most of you would reply
"Uhhh, wait, how do I set up my domain? DNS? WTF is that? Wait Neo, how do I make a storefront. HTML by hand in a word processor?! Even if I knew how to code, how am I supposed to get people to pay me? I have to convince THE BANK to allow me to open a merchant account?! What! OK OK OK. But if I do all that I'll start rolling in the big bucks? I'll be the only one advertising, right? Wait, people don't even know it's an option that they can find goods by search? I've got a life and job man, I'll just wait till someone makes it realistic for me to do this."
Do you know how I know that? It's simple. Everyone knows some form of AI is going to be a staple of the future. Whether that's today or 20 years from now. It's happening. For all intents and purposes, AI is still in its infancy. It may destroy a lot of jobs as it gets better, but it will make 10x the opportunity for entrepreneurs as they apply it to the 100000s of fields and as new fields are born to service it. What are you doing about it? Why aren't you getting in when there is no competition and it's easy?
"Uhhhh, wait, how do I code AI? Neural Network? WTF is that? Wait Neo, I don't have the resources to make a powerful network. Open source? API? What is that? I'm not a programmer. How would I monetize this thing anyways? Is there a Youtube telling me how best to monetize? Uhhhh, this is too intellectual for me. I'll just wait till the tools are easy enough for me to use"
AI is just one example of endless other "new" opportunities and golden tickets.
My Journey through the "easy" times
I can't believe I ever thought making a webpage 100% made out of Macromedia Flash would work well. It was the new technology and looked so cool. Who could have known that it was a failure? Now "everyone knows your page should be simple and intuitive". is taken for granted, but it was hard-earned knowledge by those that came before you. Luckily learning HTML was only a book away and we adapted.
I can't believe I had to call a bank and prove my worth to open a merchant account just for the privilege of being able to accept payments. Why do you need to know more than my EIN?! (That I can now make in 2 minutes on the government website) Anyways, people BETTER NOT use AMEX. I don't want to pay the higher fees! Plus I heard they are so hard to win chargebacks against.
I can't believe that @fastlane_dad and I had to stuff boxes and supplies into every available cranny in our apartments. It would bleed into our living spaces and somehow our wives (GF's at the time) were cool living like that. Forget about trying to explain to rental management why every day we have 30 boxes outside the door waiting to be picked up by the mailman. No it's not an eye sore. It's an upsell to new tenants to know they can start their own businesses and you will support them. I promise!
Your Turn
There are more new millionaires being minted today than at any other time in history. The more complicated the world becomes, the more niches are created.
So what's your excuse?
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