I finished reading The Wolf of Wallstreet recently (very fun read) and something the really struck me was how the Strattonites would swear undying loyalty to Jordan and he would make them rich. They'd buy into the system, the lifestyle, the fraud and he'd build them into champions. They would have to sacrifice everything, but greatness was promised if they bought in.
And then it struck me... I did something very similar earlier in life to find my mentor.
No, it didn't involve any midget tossing or as many women as I would have liked (happily in a relationship now), but I did swear my undying loyalty.
Working at GiftCardRescue.com as the first employee gave me a real first hand business education. We were a bootstrapped e-commerce startup, fighting against venture funded Silicon Valley companies, in a cut throat somewhat grey industry.
I saw a lot of things. I took paycuts. I worked 80+ hour weeks, sacrificed weekends and STILL went to college at night.
Am I special in any way? No. I think this is what you have to do, at least initially. Forget the 4-hour work week, that's an alternate reality.
I swore my undying loyalty to the boss that we would ride the thing out. That no matter what happened, I would be there and we would make it work.
Call it foolish optimism.
Today GiftCardRescue.com is #138 on the INC 500 list.
The founder and CEO Kwame Kuadey sits on the board at my new company Natural Stacks.
We just got an endorsement from the #1 biohacker in our niche, Dave Asprey, The Bulletproof Executive.
So where do people get mentorship wrong?
While admirable, going at it alone is the wrong thing to do. Having real relationships with entrepreneurs with killer business sense will help you 1000000x over. You may have to go to war for them. It may take years to build that trust.
People think that they can help out and get a mentor that way. Let me say this - NO ONE WILL HELP YOU UNLESS YOU'VE HELPED THEM FIRST.
You need to provide maximum value to get their attention and then appeal to their needs in order for the relationship to be profitable for both sides. If you're a no one, THERE IS ZERO CHANCE an influencer will help you unless you've done something for them.
And by something for them, I mean make them money / famous / powerful / etc.
You do this by swearing your undying loyalty and going to war.
It may work out or it may not. But getting experience on someone else's dime, will prevent you from making the same mistakes over and over again.
I've literally saved tens of thousands in development, design, marketing, seo, and PR with my new company from the skills I learned bootstrapping before.
Don't feel like you need to start a business right away, you can work for a startup before building one of your own. You'll build real relationships that scale, be networked with the right kind of people and set yourself up for longterm success.
And then it struck me... I did something very similar earlier in life to find my mentor.
No, it didn't involve any midget tossing or as many women as I would have liked (happily in a relationship now), but I did swear my undying loyalty.
Working at GiftCardRescue.com as the first employee gave me a real first hand business education. We were a bootstrapped e-commerce startup, fighting against venture funded Silicon Valley companies, in a cut throat somewhat grey industry.
I saw a lot of things. I took paycuts. I worked 80+ hour weeks, sacrificed weekends and STILL went to college at night.
Am I special in any way? No. I think this is what you have to do, at least initially. Forget the 4-hour work week, that's an alternate reality.
I swore my undying loyalty to the boss that we would ride the thing out. That no matter what happened, I would be there and we would make it work.
Call it foolish optimism.
Today GiftCardRescue.com is #138 on the INC 500 list.
The founder and CEO Kwame Kuadey sits on the board at my new company Natural Stacks.
We just got an endorsement from the #1 biohacker in our niche, Dave Asprey, The Bulletproof Executive.
So where do people get mentorship wrong?
While admirable, going at it alone is the wrong thing to do. Having real relationships with entrepreneurs with killer business sense will help you 1000000x over. You may have to go to war for them. It may take years to build that trust.
People think that they can help out and get a mentor that way. Let me say this - NO ONE WILL HELP YOU UNLESS YOU'VE HELPED THEM FIRST.
You need to provide maximum value to get their attention and then appeal to their needs in order for the relationship to be profitable for both sides. If you're a no one, THERE IS ZERO CHANCE an influencer will help you unless you've done something for them.
And by something for them, I mean make them money / famous / powerful / etc.
You do this by swearing your undying loyalty and going to war.
It may work out or it may not. But getting experience on someone else's dime, will prevent you from making the same mistakes over and over again.
I've literally saved tens of thousands in development, design, marketing, seo, and PR with my new company from the skills I learned bootstrapping before.
Don't feel like you need to start a business right away, you can work for a startup before building one of your own. You'll build real relationships that scale, be networked with the right kind of people and set yourself up for longterm success.
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