Free today is better than free time tomorrow.
Youthful time sold today by working 5 days a week so you can buy elderly time later retirement in your twilight is a bad idea. Think how ridiculous it is. 5 for 2. Would you accept this rate of return in the financial world?
“Compound inflation is as powerful as compound interest.”
Henry Ford, when reduced the working hours all while keeping pay the same, said:
It is the influence of leisure on consumption which makes the 5-day work week so necessary. The people who consume the bulk of goods are the people who make them. That is a fact we must never forget. That is the secret of our prosperity.
– Henry Ford
If your brain is a friend who speaks to you daily, would you label him as an ally?
Unfortunately, on your scripted quest, your brain keeps your beliefs on slow lane alive.
In event idealism, events become the focus and process becomes the stepchild.
Unfortunately, that is what media wants us to believe in, event idealism. It’s the secret to accomplishing nothing and failing at everything.
Action-faking makes you feel good, and feel you’re making progress.
Action-faking as opposed to action-taking is when you take action that is not part of the bigger process.
“Anytime I hear someone say I’m on a diet, I want to throw punch them and shout Action Faker!”
In process idealism, it’s the little things that cause the big things.
It’s the little dominos that knock down the big dominos.
“If coach says you’re the best quarter back he has trained, thank him, smile and ask how I can get better.”
People throw around Income Inequality but…
What we don’t hear often is Production Inequality, Work Inequality and Value Inequality.
Test your luck. Try this experiment:
Flip a coin…. It’s tails. Did you call it correctly? If so, take a moment a think about your accurate prediction. Would you now label yourself as lucky? Or if you didn’t call it correctly, would you call it unlucky?
Probably neither, because you know the probability. Coin flips are 50-50 chance of losing and winning.
Now let’s change the narrative. What if a correct coin flip call wins $10 million?
Suddenly the outcome is considered luck simply because the attached outcome is significant. And yet the flipping odds and mathematics never change. What changes? Your perception.
If you do something that takes minutes to solve, is it really a problem?
Or are you stacking yourself on top of solutions that already exist? If you are starting a Mexican restaurant in a city already full of Mexican restaurants, you aren’t satisfying dire cravings.
The unfortunate reality of ‘It’s too hard’ as a roadblock is where great ideas are overlooked.
If your idea involves advanced programming and you don’t know how to do it, you move onto the next idea. If your invention requires electrical engineering and plastic mold injection, and you don’t know where to find these people, darn… next idea. A never-ending hunt for the next great idea, the one simply executed and the one perfectly fits your skillset and knowledgebase and the one that unfortunately solves nothing.
“The magnitude of the problem solved is the magnitude of the money you can make.”
People don’t see opportunities because you don’t see what you need to see.
Unknown variables, new skills, hard work, trial and error, risk and failure. Instead, they look for something that doesn’t exist, the clear path, a step by step blueprint, a millionaire mentor, a VC funded bank account and a fail-safe job waiting as a safety net.
“An opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
Bill, Bob and Belandre are the richest people in the town, and none of them owns restaurant.
Bill owns the real estate where the restaurant operates. Bob imports spices, fruits and vegetables. And Belandre tops them all. She owns a restaurant supply company, supplying everything the restaurant needs, other than the food.
“The best opportunities rarely come from joining the crowd but serving it.”
As unscripted entrepreneur, you’re fiduciary first and capitalist second.
Put your customer best interest in front of your own, deliver the value you promise, and money shall follow.
“Great marketing only makes a bad product fails faster.”
The ultimate judge and jury of your idea isn’t your mom, friends or colleagues.
It’s the market mind that reacts to it. So, engage the market and find out using 3A (Act, Access, Adjust).
“A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back to the crowd.”
Sing to the market mind.
“You are not good enough to get away with flying through the air and trying to play the violin at the same time.” Peers Morgan said. Cheryl piled on “What you’re doing is not enough to fill a theatre in Vegas.” Sterling went on to sell and make millions by simply hearing market mind, not the gate keepers.
Expect a lot of JIT learnings.
Just In Time (JIT) learning is learning based on the challenge in front of you. It’s jumping off the cliff and learning to fly on the way down.
Build the right prototype.
Start at the end. Begin at the customer experience. Visualize exactly how you as a customer expect the product to function and then move backwards using 3A model. Focus only on the necessary features. Bells and whistles come later, of course only if the market mind signals for them.
Prototyping stage – You Shall Not Pass
Prototyping stage is the graveyard for entrepreneurial dreams. Because prototyping a product or a service can take months, even years of lonely boring work, the risk of giving up is high. Entrepreneurs are clubbed with shiny object syndrome. Every idea seems better and easier than the one they’re working on. With no feedback loop, zero sales, emails or market response, motivation circles stall and passion can quit us. This is normal. Expect a long and lonely work. Mud through it and let the market mind light the way.
“Seriously prototyping is oddly like what happens to newly wed man. Suddenly every attractive woman is flirty.”
You can’t dismiss focus and working hard by working smarter.
Execution is hard enough, divert your focus and you’ll get killed by one who isn’t diverted. Work 4 hours a week and the entrepreneur working 10 hours a day will leave you in the dust.
Your personal biases can do more damage than good, when it comes to execution.
Despite MJ’s pop-up hatred, he uses them at his websites, because they work.
Reframe money.
Each dollar saved is another freedom fighter added to your slave army. Altogether your soldiers are fighting for your freedom. On the other hand, every dollar spent on the latest fad is one fighter killed.
“Sure, there’re lots of best practices you can learn, but you won’t know what needs to be known until you get there. You will never be ready”.