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Free registration at the forum removes this block.Great advice. You are learning a lot.Now that I'm 30 and started visiting this forum when I was in my early twenties, I may as well update this thread since it's popped up in my email once again.
I would tell myself the following:
Don't try and learn to become a programmer unless it's what you're truly made to do.
Instead, learn how to sell and learn marketing.
Don't try and reinvent the wheel. Just find a business model that is already working and repeat and do it better. Find something you like, and pursue that. Go be a personal trainer who sells online packages if you're super fit. Or sell microgreens online, or maybe even start a web design agency or market agency if you want. Start an HVAC company, or an equipment rental business. No need to go and start the next SaaS wonder single handedly. You'll waste years of your life attempting that.
Focus on sharpening your leadership.
Get and pay a mentor who's much further ahead of you.
Don't go to college unless you want a trade. Instead buy training you can apply immediately from people who have the results you want to have.
Enjoy the process. Don't make yourself miserable on the journey because you'll burn out and you'll start to weigh the suffering you're creating yourself against the success you want... So make your journey fun. Think of it all as an adventure. Risk is an adventure.
Set a long term big goal but also define shorter steps in a concrete plan but don't get attached to it because that plan will change as you learn new things.
Once you have the cashflow, hire a recruiting company to start finding you people to add to your business. Don't be a DIY kind of person. Be a leader who gets others to do the work.
You're probably going to fail a bunch of times until you figure things out, so just fail forward and do it fast.
Also know you're going to have to change as a person from starter and fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants to manager/leader if you really want to grow your business.
Maybe it only appears that way. But, I can tell you as a parent of four, that kids are listening -- even when we don't know it. My "boys" are in their late 40s and my step kids are in their 20s. As adults, every one of them now quotes us from what they heard when they were growing up. When they were young, we adults were the dumbest people on earth according to them. Now that they are adults, we have gotten SO smart in their eyes.I wouldn't tell him a thing. He wouldn't listen.
Why do you think that process of setting goals is a waste of time? Or is it the actual goals themselves that you think of as a waste?Probably I would tell my 18-year-olds self that don't waste your time and start thinking goals for his life. Also read a lot, because life experience could be so small that you miss a lot of things. It's like this forum, if we don't read TMF , or others books probably a lot of us we would not be trying.
Why do you think that process of setting goals is a waste of time? Or is it the actual goals themselves that you think of as a waste?
I'm just finishing up a set of goals I set as a teenager. I'm glad that I had that foresight when I was a young pup to think that way. I just wanted more for my life -- and I spent my life's energies chasing that dream -- also known as goals.
How do you know where you're going without goals?
And how do you know when you get there?
I read and listen to audiobooks all the time. But, that information is sure no substitute for life experiences. My life experiences have been huge. I've lived several lifetimes during my years on earth. I've done more than most people around me. And I have influenced scores of other people through those years.
What have you done during your lifetime?
What do you want to do with the rest of it?
The goals I'm setting now are totally different from the ones that I set when I was young. But, they are no less important. I truely value my life.
I agree. Keep control of your money! It's great advice.I'm bumping this thread.
1. Learn the basics of accounting and book-keeping.
2. Keep your business money and personal money separate. As soon as possible. I'm working on this right now but I'm more than three years late. If I started off sooner, it would've made accounting/book-keeping much more easier and in general it's better to keep these two separate.
You're funny. Your #1 about getting "laid" is a 2 edged sword. What IF you had gotten her PG? Were you ready to a father? What if you had caught something? Did you have good health insurance and the good sense to take care of it? Maturity and good judgment have some perks too!To my 18-year-old self (I'm 26).
1. Get laid ASAP and go to the gym
2. Study computer science
3. Wear earplugs in clubs
4. Cut out sugar and become carnivore
5. Most advice is bs
ou
You're funny. Your #1 about getting "laid" is a 2 edged sword. What IF you had gotten her PG? Were you ready to a father? What if you had caught something? Did you have good health insurance and the good sense to take care of it? Maturity and good judgment have some perks too!
Circling back to this thread now at 26 with some of the things I did right.
1. Find Mentors: My mentors shaved decades off my learning curve, I think differently and my businesses have gone way farther with their help.
2. Think Long Term: Don't start a business hoping to just make 10k/mo. It's just as hard to make 300k/mo as it is to make 10k/mo you just need to think long term about your decisions. You need systems, people, and sacrifice short term goals to achieve the latter.
3. Diversify: Lots of people thing you should focus on 1 thing. I didn't I built my ecom company, invested in real estate, got my degree, worked full time. The more you do, the more opportunities you create. You just need to be disciplined
I guess no has told you that women can get pregnant -- even during the first time. And you can get all kinds of diseases from getting "laid". Oh well. Now you know.What
Maybe I'm gay. What do you know.I guess no has told you that women can get pregnant -- even during the first time. And you can get all kinds of diseases from getting "laid". Oh well. Now you know.
You're right. I don't know. What I do know is that life is full of oops moments and missteps. Most young people don't have the vision and foresight to see what can happen when they take on adult activities. You put getting laid as your #1 advice you would give to your younger self. It's a classic young man's answer to the question. I just wanted you to contemplate the issue as to whether you were ready at that time for the responsibilities.Maybe I'm gay. What do you know.
I'll stop here cuz this is getting ridiculous and bringing zero value.
For 18 year old self:
I learned it all backwards as a teenager. (Not 25 years old yet.)
- Learn sales/lead gen. It boils down to volume, messaging and offer.
- Then learn delegation.
- THEN worry about finance.
- Bonus: You can learn much faster from other people with proven track records.
Hopefully, you will throw some personal financial education in there. I'd hate for you to waste all those years and come out worse off than when you started. I know SO many young people that are drowning in debt. They blindly walked into that noose never recognizing the danger. It's a trap that can take years and years to untangle -- of you ever do.For 18 year old self:
I learned it all backwards as a teenager. (Not 25 years old yet.)
- Learn sales/lead gen. It boils down to volume, messaging and offer.
- Then learn delegation.
- THEN worry about finance.
- Bonus: You can learn much faster from other people with proven track records.
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