Random thoughts on being an entrepreneur | Hacker News Reader

Random thoughts on being an entrepreneur

gapingvoid.com

67 pointsgokhan12 comments

"Smart, young, artistic people are always asking me which is a better career path, “Creativity” or “Money”. I always answer that it doesn’t matter. What matters is “Effective” and/or “Ineffective”."

Perfectly said. Every time I've ever tried to express the sentiment, people look at me like I'm an asshole alien who just slazered on their parade, particularly and most heart breakingly in the world of non-profits.

Again and again, I've seen good people do projects by the book that'd been written years earlier, wasting time, money and energy and ultimately hurting the communities they wanted to see served.

The thought on #25 is correct, but I find the last line amusing in a speculative-fiction sense:

> Bill Gates [won't] sire a million times more children than me.

Theoretically, with current in-vitro fertilization technology, Bill Gates could take about sixty sperm samples and use them to sire a million or more children (presumably with a million women he would pay for the opportunity.) He would have to dedicate an entire hospital to the task, but it could be done within his remaining lifetime.

Most of this makes sense to me with the exception of #13

"13. If you’re happy in your career before the age of thirty, you’re probably doing something wrong. Heck, if you’re happy in your career before the age of seventy, you’re probably doing something wrong."

Can someone shed some light on why I am doing something wrong if I am happy with my career?

This was the exact comment I was going to leave. I liked most of the post except for this point.

I think the author really means "comfortable". He is intending to say that entrepreneurship and "comfort zone" are contradictory.

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I thought "gapingvoid" was an ironic name.

> 24. MBAs are conditioned to use their brains in much the same way as sex workers are conditioned to use their genitals. Nice work if you can get it.

Can someone explain that to me? I have no idea what Hugh is trying to say there.

This link appears to have died.

A lot of these thoughts ultimately come down to selling and dealing with clients, which I find the hardest part of the thing. Can someone share some advice on it, or maybe suggest a couple of books on the matter?

Paul Graham has suggested "how to get friends and influence people" (the earlier editions, from before the author died). Good luck!

I really enjoyed reading Carnegie and he really makes you think about changing your behavior. Though his book is more like a story telling with a bit of advice. If you're looking for a more "scientific" book, you should probably try "Crucial Conversations" and "Influencer" (both on amazon) - those are great books with a lot of useful information, which, by the way, support all of Carnegie points and extend them to a certain level.

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