I've been meaning to make a thread like this for some time now due to the messages I've been getting regarding my business posts.
I'm 19 and from a relatively poor family that has eventually become somewhat rich due to my father's role.
At the age of 17 I started my own business from absolute scratch and still maintain it till this day. After starting my first business, other options began to open up and I opened up multiple streams of income. In my absolute prime, I was making stupid amounts of money for my age and it was all passive. I had people working for me, I paid their rents, fees, trips. I bought my first car and paid for a year's insurance. That alone should tell you how I was doing.
I take the term "entrepreneur" seriously. I didn't just open an online store then call myself an entrepreneur the next day. It's my mindset that makes me who I am.
I'm going to share a few things I've learned in this lifestyle that might be helpful to some people here. Trust me, when you've dealt with the business world a couple of drunk girls in a nightclub don't mean shit.
One of the biggest lessons I've learned from this is that people WILL betray you for money. Money changes people. When I was earning quite a big amount of money and gained something of a reputation in the community, I became friends with a guy who was in a similar situation but was barely making any money.
I gave him tips, offered to help him and promote his work all because I genuinely saw him as a friend. One day he asks me to send him money for a certain thing. I delayed the process but did it with a joke. The moment I dropped the joke, I logged out only to come back and see a flurry of insults and accusations thrown my way. The guy I saw as a friend was calling me evil, using every word in the book, hell he even compared me to Hitler and said that I wasn't treating my workers right. I still have the messages and here is a quote:
"I don't even make one third of how much you make and you can't even give a few dollars for a friend."
It proceeds with dozens of insults and how I am a bad person etc. We cut our friendship there but he also revealed that he hated me from the start but only stayed because he wanted to see me destroyed.
The second lesson is that people only care about themselves. People will trample over you if give them the slightest opportunity and don't try to teach a pig to fly.
Last year I got a group of male and female developers together to come together to create something massive that would bring in a ton of money. One of the developers made slightly more money than me and would often challenge me in every situation because everybody saw me as the leader. I once had a conversation with him telling him exactly how he could make more money in a month. He shot back with:
"If it's so easy, why haven't you done it?"
I literally gave this guy a straight forward method to making 2k more than he already earns and instead of going ahead and doing it, he challenged me and refused.
People don't really care much about your style unless/if they can see that you have social proof and even then, it needs to be higher than theirs to be successful. This can be applied to dating situations too. When I was starting out at the age of 17, I had zero money and no way to hire a single worker. I remember messaging people promising them money if they would work with me. Obviously all refused, some didn't even answer. Skip a year later and I had people emailing me for work. One guy who worked in the computing industry took time out of his work (with his boss's permission) to make and create a demo that he could send to me so that I could approve it and maybe display it in one of my projects. I've also had articles and interviews done on me and my projects. All of this happened because of the social proof. Very few people have actually spoken to me directly but they know of my brand and will cave in. However if at all the person has a higher gathering than me, they wouldn't even pay a second notice.
This lesson is by far the most important one I've learned in all my time of doing this. The art of learning to deal with criticisms. This was genuinely the hardest thing for me to learn and I'm still learning it. To further explain, some of my businesses sell products and some make programs and video games. In the video game section and product section, you'll get people who openly insult and criticise you in every way. Now this isn't a case of ignoring them. They can easily corrupt those who do like your work which eventually causes you to lose funds. It's a whole different ball game when you're reading things over a screen, people calling you all sorts of shit and insulting something you spent hours on. I remember in my early days not being able to look at articles and reviews written on my products because you'd see the occasionally unjustified hate.
You can have 500 people in a room listening to you and all it takes is one loud voice to separate the crowd. I remember one point it got to a terrible level when people were openly insulting the work of one of my workers. She had spent weeks finishing it then read some comments in her free time only to see hate. She messaged me distraught and asked me if she could change it.
All I'll say about this is that if people hate what you are doing, you're very often doing something right.
Lessons:
- People WILL betray you for money. No questions asked.
- People only care about themselves.
- People will trample over you if give them the slightest opportunity.
- Don't try to teach a pig to fly. You can't do it and it annoys the pig.
- People don't care much about your style unless/if they can see that you have social proof that is higher than theirs to be successful.
- If people hate what you are doing, you're very often doing something right.
- This is more a tip than a lesson and I learned this straight from the "How to win friends and influence people" book. If you want someone to do something, appeal to their needs and praise them. I had a guy once delay work for 3 weeks which exceeded my deadline. Instead of being angry, I thanked him and told him that his work had improved and he was doing much better. The dude was over the moon.
Also as a quick side note, the majority of my workers are all females. Probably only two males out of 30ish people. This is because women are easier to work with than males. As strange as it sounds, the women aren't ambitious at all. One of the guys is currently trying to start his own thing on the side so that he can eventually be his own boss. The women on the other hand are very happy to keep getting paid a certain amount from me every month. Hell, in the early days some would even try to flirt to get more. I won't comment much on this but I did find it interesting.
Cheers
EDIT------
A few of the groups I mentor have recommended that I create some sort of blog where everyone can come and read what I have to say. I decided to also share it here.
https://absentmasculinity.com/
It's a basic WordPress blog with no bullshit popups, course nonsense or motivational speeches. I give methods not motivation. You won't find tips on how to text girls so if that is your interest, the blog won't be for you.
I should also add that this blog is partly catered to the groups I mentor in which I teach them ways to be successful and stand out from the crowd. You may find my terminology there to be a little harsher than it is here on Reddit. You are also free to contact me over there if you have any direct inquires.
volcanolairbadguy 6y ago
Good for you mate. Any tips on how best to go about your business ventures? What set you off in motion? Did you have any mentors? Role models? How did your family income go from poor to well off or rich? I am more fascinated by the realities of what Jordan Peterson says of women and agreeableness. How this is offensive to the stupid and yet, the facts in your business which show just that.
Lendoran 6y ago
I'm not going to sit here and lie to you, for me like many others, it was a right place and right time kind of thing for my first business. I could barely get into a low level college beforehand and could only see a future as a code monkey.
Once I started making money however and realised that I actually owned a business, my eyes opened up to other business ventures.
This is the part I find most interesting actually. Think of it like a video game. When you are level one, you only get one upgrade. The moment you gain a higher upgrade, all the other upgrade trees become visible. You may not be able to access it yet, but you can see it.
Example: You can now see that at level 50, after gaining 20k kills, you'll unlock a magical sword. Whilst being level 1, you couldn't even see the level 50 upgrades.
I unfortunately didn't get the chance to find a personal mentor but I've learned all I can from people online and a few millionares I met in person.
I have no role models because I see that as something that may push me back.
My father is the most redpill person I have ever met, he worked hard and gained his dream job which moved my family from a poor place to a nice suburb on the west of the UK. I keep planning to write a post on him but never get round to doing it haha, I may write it up today so look out for that.
In terms of women, never confuse them to be your friends. I'm not saying this to put any down. They NEED money and therefore they come towards me. I always make it a point to balance control so that they don't disrepect me. But generally women are incredibly easy to work with. Pay them every month and they'll do as you like. I also mentioned in one of my posts that when I hired some new girls, they would occasionally flirt with me. I once paid a woman £1000 for one piece of drawing, only to find her calling me romantic names and asking to throw in some free work.
I hope that answers your questions mate!
volcanolairbadguy 6y ago
Lendoran mate, thanks for the message. Any advice on just pulling the trigger? I am not inventing the wheel. I am tapping into things like meditation, psychedelics, dmt, etc. exploring consciousness and self knowledge. I am in a period of ambiguity. Its frustrating a bit but, I am letting it ride. I know I don't want another ten years of the beaten path. Are you rich? I am thinking the new rich is as Ferris put it. Free. Its not the 100k salary gig working 80hr weeks. Burning your health and life into the ground. I rather 30k/USD and mobile world wide. Its just no cake up and sales are essentially everything. Any book recommendations that really got you going? I just need to make the leap and pull the trigger for my next move. I just feel like I am not fully ready for what I am seeking to do atm.
Kinbaku_enthusiast 6y ago
Couldn't disagree more. I'd rather have an ambitious person who dares to take risks and takes responsibility, than an unambitious person who plays safe and doesn't take responsibility.
It should go without saying that this is a generalization, but my experiences were far better supervising male workers than female workers.
No011235813 6y ago
Do you really want a highly ambitious, risk taking, daring accountant?
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Lendoran 6y ago
You're not wrong at all. There's a lot I missed out in my OP.
All the males are loyal to the end. One of my guys even tells me to not worry about payments that I can pay later whenever I want.
The women on the other hand, if you manage to miss one payment prepare for their attitude. I had this Russian girl who I literally picked up from the shadows and made into somebody who could fend for herself. This girl ends up lying to me about doing work. She would take the money then go on holidays and when she'd return, she wouldn't tell me because she felt comfortable with the money she was earning from commissions.
Once I found this out, I immediately cut her off so that she could do her own thing.
Come a few months later, this girl sends me an email literally begging for work. I remember the last part of the email where she specifically told me that payment isn't an issue and she can wait until I feel like paying.
Male workers are definitely better but in my current state of things, women just do as their told so it just keeps things steady for me.
Kinbaku_enthusiast 6y ago
I can see why you're succesful. Women do rock the boat less. And reflecting back, it's harder to keep the well-performing males in your company. The other side of ambition.
angryomlette 6y ago
Interesting post and thank you.
zoarfalish 6y ago
I need help. Trying so hard to make some money but struggling. I literally work everyday all day. But nothings working for me.
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CasaDeFranco 6y ago
Women are easier to work with - perhaps but men get shit down.
We have a few dozen employees (engineering startup) and kept mostly male even for non engineering roles. That said our best employee is a female Havard grad but she's a gem. Women broadly as you noted aren't ambitious - the best thing I did was give equity to early engineering employees; they earned a shitty first year salary but that sweaty equity paid off for the first 20 employees.
We closed our Series A, have good salaries + bonus's and every contract we close doubles our companies valuation (B2B contracts worth 8 figures).
A motivated man in his 20's is a workhorse, hire them but know how to manage them first.
I'll be writing a post about my TRP experience.
jackandjill22 6y ago
I disagree a women has to be exceptional for her to be good for business,they average women's way too mediocre.
redpill77 6y ago
Yes, I'm very interested if you go into how to manage these 20-something motivated workhorses.
CasaDeFranco 6y ago
Create objectives with quantifiable milestones.
If he is a mechanical engineer, design this component by the project plan timeline, if he is a sales executive, close this contract or get the MSA signed by the client, etc.
Appeal to their competitive drive. Men want a challenge, they want to grow, they want someone who recognizes their hard work and rewards it.
If you close x or perform beyond my slightly high expectation, we'll have a glass of whiskey to celebrate, I'll note your high performance at that weekly meeting and I'll give him a bonus in equity from the company ESSOP at their annual review.
Give credit where credit is due.
But conversely, critique bad performance, state I know you're working hard but I'd suggest you do this, prove you can live up to my expectation. But short, concise.
If they continue to perform poorly, I'll note that during the weekly plan updates, if they continue to not hit expectations; access my expectations, if they are reasonable then I'll line up a brief discussion, if there is no improvement I'll terminate their employment.
I'm 28, I have colleagues who are older and higher, they are all smarter than me broadly speaking. I learned from the military and my previous corporate role what makes a good leader and a bad leader. I also try to continually improve how I behave. I hold myself to the same high standard, try to leave last and come in first.
redpill77 6y ago
Thanks.
Learning how to manage people seems to be an important aspect of becoming a self-sufficient man. And there aren't many posts about it. Your outline makes a lot of sense, and its good to have a base structure. Also, the point about being concise with criticism is a very relevent tip for me.
Do you have any books/sources you recommend?
CasaDeFranco 6y ago
Mentors are usually better than books. As is practice.
Leadership in a football team, organising anything which involves people is the best way to become a better leader.
I could suggest books like How to Make friends and influence people but it’s best to learn this content by doing.
yomo86 6y ago
I guess what OP meant was, if you just need replaceable drones, hire women you are superior to just because of your rank. For everything else, males only.
CasaDeFranco 6y ago
Your company is only as good as your team, they execute on your vision.
If you only select replaceable drones, your business is fucked.
Hire the best, the best just happen to be mostly male in my experience.
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Lendoran 6y ago
Yes! This is what I like to hear. You'll be really packed and set up when you get to 19 mate!
Grapetomania 6y ago
Great set of insights, man.
RompeChocha 6y ago
Can you make a list of books for people trying to make a business? Technical side aspect included.
CasaDeFranco 6y ago
The hard things about hard things
Zero to 0
The American Challenge by Jean Jacques
The Black Swan
Honestly, the best knowledge you will find will be from books and mentors; but I stress mentors. My company has offices in three continents and the universal thing is understand people, how to find good talent and manage them, how to sell a product, how to sell a vision to VC's, these skills can be learned but usually by action alone.
If you don't have a good idea or vision, cut your teeth on working for a young startup that does and double down. My CTO joined in early, and through two years work with reasonable hours (sometimes 996 hours but still) is a millionaire; albeit mostly on paper.
everyone_wins 6y ago
I recommend "80/20 sales and marketing" by Perry Marshall. Also, anything written by Richard Koch, especially his book "Simplify".
Source: I have a seven figure net worth in business equity. Six years ago I was broke and living in my parents house.
Lendoran 6y ago
Checkout what the others have posted but I have a few issues with books. At one point I went into a shop and bought a bag of self help books and have only managed to read a few. None of the business books I've read have helped me get anywhere in my business, it was more mindset books that helps.
My recommendation:
Again like I said I didn't get to where I am because of a technical tutorial. You need to shift your mind into something else. It really is strange. Once your mind starts thinking in a certain way, you'll just see opportunities everywhere.
The-os2 6y ago
Do you have any insights in how our thought process changed? As in, where were you and were are you now, mentally? It's a curiosity thing, not a-to-mimic thing
[deleted] 6y ago
Be unconventional
I went to a few seminars in college for entrepreneurship and it was BS. Don't follow the herd man.
newName543456 6y ago
There's a story of a guy who won lottery and his own brother hired a hitman to assassinate him. Look up William Post.
When money is involved, trust no one.
Spets87 6y ago
Thanks for the post, great to see such a young man succeeding in business. How did you go about finding your niche/ problem to solve?
Lendoran 6y ago
The first ever thing I did that earned me money online was by studying and watching what was happening. I really can't be too specific about what I do because it'd instantly give away my identity. That said, I realised that I had an idea that nobody else seemed to have and better yet I had the drive to push it forward.
From then on, I just began to search for problems around me in my industry. My father put me in contact with a millionare friend who told me to look for problems in my area.
That's one advice I can offer in terms of that subject.
Spets87 6y ago
Not sure why you got negs for your answer, but it certainly makes sense. I understand you don't want to give away too much personal info either.
anyracetam 6y ago
But if you only hire female workers, your company won't move forward. Females are only capable of doing repetitive boring jobs.
Random_throwaway_000 6y ago
"If it's so easy, why haven't you done it?"
This is a fair question OP, I want to know your response. It's fair to question those who say they have the easy way to the high life. Most of the time it's MLM.
When he challenged you, did he ask questions or give solid reasons why it wouldn't work?
Lendoran 6y ago
Because he did not know that I ran multiple businesses. He made one video game and was profiting off that. He assumed that I only made one game as well.
I rarely tell people that information about me because they always change their view on you. My partners in the sales department assume that I only do sales. Those in the software development assume I only do software development and so forth.
You should only ever tell people enough so that they are content.
Regardless my answer to him was that it took too long to update that specific video game. Which is partly true.
My game updated every 5 months.
His game updates every month and sometimes twice in the same month. My advice to him was to contact a youtuber who could review his work. He ignored my advice.
I then offered to have one of his video game characters cameo in my project. Again, he assumed I only had ONE project and took the high ground.
This wasn't a case of challenging me; it was insecurity.
Troll_Name 6y ago
"If it's so easy, why haven't you done it?"
Everything seems easy when you're only pretending to do it. The kid 'winging it' with his hobby model instead of building the real thing, the "artist" scribbling in a sketchbook for years on end and never improving, the manager selected for his last name. These people are usually having an easy time.
This point hits home for me, because it's what I'm saying all the time about writing. Do you want to be a "writer" monkey typing aimlessly, a writer as in please publishers get money, or a writer who puts together a story that people love more than their significant other. For the last one the job of writing is as tedious, as frightening, and as quantifiable as being a pioneer in centuries past. On the other hand, writing is damn easy if you're plagiarizing and posing for red carpet cameras.
MikeKolas 6y ago
Thanks for typing up this post. It was well worth the read.
RoadkillPharaoh 6y ago
Great read, coincidentially I started my own business this week. I'm 18 and getting my life back on track. Glad to see a good example of someone overcoming their circumstances.
truedemocracy3 6y ago
What are some good entrepreneurial ideas or areas you think have growth potential in the next few years? I am always testing ideas and have tried to start some things but consider myself more of a wantreprenuer until I actually get a stable income stream.
Wish we saw more stuff like this on here. Congrats on the success and carving your own way!
[deleted] 6y ago
Pimps have an interesting business model. Monetizing frame.
Troll_Name 6y ago
Mediocre monetizing frame: a street pimp.
Expert monetizing frame: a business executive.
Master monetizing frame: 30+ year legislator with a net worth of more than 10x the total salary for that career.
[deleted] 6y ago
It’s funny. I’ve met too many masters of the universe that can’t manage women beyond knowing how to pay for pussy. Simps.
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SlySoothSayer 6y ago
I’m 16 and raking it in, I have about 60k in crypto and I’m expecting to turn that into six figures in the next month if it all goes well. Best of luck on your journey.
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forknpork 6y ago
These days? The market has been on a down turn for only 2 weeks.
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derpderp5000 6y ago
use some of that coin to travel in your youth
anyracetam 6y ago
I don't recommend traveling, or buying unnecessary things. Investing is number #1 priority.
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[deleted] 6y ago
Hard to meet a person with a mindset like you, good man.
htbf 5y ago
Travelling is important though
420KUSHBUSH 6y ago
My hat goes off to you, impressive. I'm currently looking to start an idea with a friend soon, hopefully all goes well
I wish you the best of luck and all the success and happiness you could ever want. Here's hoping our paths cross one day
cafeitalia 6y ago
The biggest lesson you haven't learned yet is you will fail. After you fail you will need to get up and fight again, but you will fail. It is what life is about it is what entrepreneurship is about. May not happen tomorrow but it will happen one day. Oh it will not be the first and the last as well.
anyracetam 6y ago
Exactly! Life is just like roller coaster, always ups & downs. The lesson I learned when I was fail that I know people who's fake and who's genuine.
cafeitalia 6y ago
You have not failed in business yet...
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