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Comment by 989throwaway66 | Hacker News Reader

I am a small business owner, doing unpleasant work. My business has been doing well, exactly because it is unpleasant: a lot of people want to outsource what I do, even if it is a bit expensive.

I also have found that many people are OK to do some jobs for me that I find really really unpleasant. You need to find the right person for the right "unpleasant" though. This is the beauty of capitalism.

And I am now a millionaire. And when I describe what I do, people yawn and don't want to do it. Even if I find it quite darn interesting.

Beware survivorship bias: I strongly believe it is much easier, and way most likely, to become a millionaire if you set your mind to become a millionaire, and not a billionaire. Many more ways and options. No need for a wild unproven new idea.

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>Even if I find it quite darn interesting.

Did you find it interesting to begin with? Or did you just think the sector would be a good investment and then later, after you were successful, it became interesting?

It was a very good fit with my skills. And I really had wanted to start something for a long time, and did not find anything. Not passionate about the sector at all. Still not.

But after working on this for many many years, improving little things here and there, then a few bigger things, it became more and more interesting, with a sense of pride that comes with competence and achievement, regardless of the sector.

How much of your success would you attribute to "luck"? How much to your upbringing?

Quite a bit. Good brain, good upbringing, good education, that's my biggest luck in life.

I got lucky with finding that opportunity that really met my skills. But I actually had been looking for one for a while, so it's half lucky. And nobody gave me money. I forced it then, and ever since, because nothing comes easy.

But I am lucky also because I don't have a very strong competition. But maybe because I am in a niche, so not fully lucky?

Sorry for being not very specific in all this...

...so? what is it that you do?

Not sharing on a very public platform with so many readers, by fear that, even if 99.99% will yawn, someone will decide to try to compete with me... Living small, discreetly, living happy.

That is the trouble with you guys: You propose ideas that work - but only as long as only very few people do it. Thank you for demonstrating it so clearly - by the way, did you yourself even notice this catch?

It may work for anyone, but not for everyone. I love that in English those words sound so similar. I might be tempted to consider that's part of the problem (as part of the larger "how does language influence thought" topic, where the answer currently seems to be "generally not too much, but it depends"), but in my (non-English speaking) country the same kind of thinking isn't exactly unknown either.

You are right: not everyone can do the same thing, some ideas are limited. But usually, those are the Jobs, Gates, Zuck's type of ideas. There are many more ideas beyond those. Especially those that don't scale, because many don't want to do them.

But if you decide to start a plumbing company in the US, and if you have the brains, put the hard work, talent and discipline to run it very very well even just in a local area, I would not be surprised that you can reasonably become a millionaire over time. Because it's always hard to find a good plumber and electrician. But many people yawn at plumbing, and you'll never be a billionaire. And it will take more than 3 years, and it won't be flip and repeat.

It's a template, lots of businesses fit it pretty well. He isn't inviting competition to his corner of the garden, you'll have to find your own. This won't work for self-indulgent humans, very true - so it won't work for everyone.

I refer to what I already wrote. Nothing you say addresses my point. It only works for some.

> lots of businesses fit it pretty well.

Keyword: "businesses". If everybody follows that path, who is going to work at those businesses?

You completely failed to grasp my point. You keep looking at a niche and miss the big picture: I only works for a few!

Not to mention what it would mean if everybody could become a millionaire, never even mind how.

You are agreeing with me strenuously. Anybody can follow the path, with more success than any of the common approaches to starting a business. No approach will guarantee success for everyone who tries to start a business, needless to say.

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