Any other college grads with no desire to settle for corp. America?

[APXG]

The key question to ask yourself in the proposed scenario is:

How happy will I be if I DONT make it to the top echelon?


Personally, I have many dreams about future possibilities, but I know for a fact that even if none of them ever come to fruition, I will still be happy b.c. happiness for me is simply having them as possibilities, and fighting like hell(which I enjoy a lot) to make them a reality. So the only thing that could make me truly unhappy is an economic conversion to a system where possibilities are almost fully restricted, such as Communism or some sort of mental injury. Everything else can be overcome, and simply believing in that is what brings happiness.

[Mr. Now]

Everyone graduating from college with a business or compsci degree needs to be reading Marc Andressen's blog:

Example:
The Pmarca Guide to Career Planning, part 3: Where to go and why
http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/10/the-pmarca-gu-1.html

This blog has incredibly good content from a man who knows.

[spex x]

At one time in my life, I had the "I gotta make it BIG TIME" attitude. But then I started to make some money and I realized that the notion of 'making it big time' is a stupid and a foolish aspiration.

My attitude now is that I want to have enough money that work is optional and I can do the things that I want to do with my time, i.e., hang out with all the relatives that thought the risks I was taking were foolhardy. [note: those same family members later bacame my best investors]. I don't need to have $100 million in assets to have the kind of life I want.

The problem for me early on was that I didn't really know what kind of life I DID want. Turns out that having a lot of fancy and expensive stuff isn't that great, and exotic vacations all the time is too stressful. I realized pretty quicky that the kind of life I want includes reading, cultivating good friendships, community service, spending time with family, etc.

The power of wealth is that it buys you freedom to DO the things you want. Time is your only real commodity.

The general point that I'm trying to make is that IMO its better to focus on having enough. When you focus on having enough, the steps to attaining that goal suddenly seem so much easier.

Here is an article written by a real estate investor that I've learned a lot from.

[maxtower]

One of the things Marc says is that the easiest way to get venture funding (assuming your business needs more than your bank account to get up and running) is to get a job with a startup to network with VCs. So there is one reason to take a job.

Another reason to take a job is time. It is very easy to get a high paying job with great benefits in corporate America and then work 20 hrs./week. This gives you a lot of flexibility in your free time. Starting your own business may require you to skip that week in Mexico with your buddies, since they'll all be on vacation, but you'll be babysitting the biz. Go to the nursing home and ask a bunch of old people if they would rather have worked harder in their 20s or goofed off more.

[kyleb]

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It is very easy to get a high paying job with great benefits in corporate America and then work 20 hrs./week.

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Do you mean work 20 hrs/week outside of your 40-50 hours at your normal job? Because I don't think many high-paying jobs in corporate America have you at the office and working from home less than 50 hours...

[Tien]

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Simply put, I want to accomplish something great in my lifetime, but know that chances are stacked against me and that I will end up as a failure like the millions of people before me who also wanted to achieve greatness. Do those who make it bigtime attribute it to attitude or dumb luck? Does anyone else feel the same way? Anyone been down this path before that can offer some advice? Thanks for reading.

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I understand how you feel. I felt the same way for a long time. I decided to carve my own path and make my own future.

Regarding the rest of your post. Don't listen to what the corporate workers have to tell you about how to live your life. If you want to end up in corporate America 9-5, listen to your family, if you want to have the freedom to decide your own future and destiny, go carve your own path.

It's as simple as that.



Regarding failure. No successful businessman I ever knew went through his life without failing over and over and over and over. The only difference between one that makes it and one that doesn't, is how many times he keeps going everytime he gets knocked down.


Regarding being stuck forever in a mediocre business. Only those that don't continuously educate themselves about business get stuck. The ones that continue to educate themselves, going to seminars, reading books, audios, talking to more successful entrepreneurs, all those types continue to improve their business year in year out.


I see that with many business friends I have. The ones that are stagnant are the ones that hardly spend any money educating themselves, meanwhile the ones that increase revenues year after year are the ones that spend an enormous amount of money on education.


Make your choice, draw a line in the sand, and just go for it.

You know deep down in your heart what you have to do, it's just a matter of doing it now.

I was faced with the same crossroad path. I chose to carve my own path. The path I took was riddled with disappointments, failures, mistakes, frustrations. But the path I take is the path I love waking up everyday to continue carving.

[SossMan]

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One point your post missed is that many successful entrepreneurs once worked at 9-5 jobs. That is a great way to gain experience about a particular industry, and also network with possible future partners.

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bingo.

A successful woman once told me something that really stuck with me:

"Take 5 years and mess up with someone else's money before you mess up with your own. Ultimately, though, if you want to make 'real' money, you will have to ditch the safety net."


I followed that exact plan and can't imagine starting my business w/out the groundwork laid by my previous mistakes and learnings at my first few jobs.

[SunOfBeach]

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I chose to reduce my costs and have lots of time off every year, instead of stressing myself out so that I can buy a new Beemer or something else I don't need but society requires I purchase to keep me from stopping grinding.

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vnh, sir. I wish I thought like this more often...

[maxtower]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It is very easy to get a high paying job with great benefits in corporate America and then work 20 hrs./week.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you mean work 20 hrs/week outside of your 40-50 hours at your normal job? Because I don't think many high-paying jobs in corporate America have you at the office and working from home less than 50 hours...

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I meant 20 hours a week in a normal job. I know a lot of people who work about 20 hours a week. Sure their bosses think they are working 40, but many don't. You just have to concentrate on slipping through the cracks and only working on things that your boss will know about. I can teach you if you want.

[kyleb]

Oh, you mean defrauding your boss. Yeah, that's standard operating procedure.

You don't need to teach me anything about that; I'm practically a master of it. Of course, I own my own small business, so...