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I spent the last 2 or 3 years, wondering what made people successful. I've since read about all the popele who I find successful. Here's the conclusion I've c
by noahc 16y ago
I spent the last 2 or 3 years, wondering what made people successful.
I've since read about all the popele who I find successful. Here's the conclusion I've come to.
1. They ship things.
2. They work on something everyday.
If you do those two things you will be successful.
- Retric 16y agoSounds like someone that only looked at successful people. It's human nature to pant simplified story's about how something came to be, but the reality is a lot of things have to go right to make a successful person. First off Don't get hit by a bus etc.
- noahc 16y agoSo what would you suggest instead then? We could sit here and think of all the reasons why that isn't true. You need to not get hit by the bus, not be a moron, have lungs, etc. Obviously, if you get hit by the bus its game over and it doesn't matter. The same with all the above. The point is that we know that successful people ship and work on things everyday. Maybe that's not enough to be a success, but it is the one thing they all have in common. Let's imagine a world, where all you make is crap. If you shipped crap one of three things will happen. You will become prolific, as in your crap will be everywhere. Look at Shepard Fairy's "Obey Giant." There's nothing special about that, but when you're everywhere it's hard to ignore you. Another option is that you actually improve. An awesome case study in this is go read iwillteachyoutoberich.com. You can tell from his first post to his posts today Ramit has really improved. The last option of course is that you neither improve or become prolific and you suck at life in general. Hopefully, you can avoid this, but if you can't at least work on things you think are important and fun. Most people hate their jobs, so it's not google payout success, but it is personal success.
- Retric 16y agoDon't focus on the story, you can make them say just about anything. Take a slightly different narrative. J.K Rowling is richer than just about anyone that's going to write an advice book. She made something around 1 billion executing an idea she was amazed to see make 105k. Her first book was rejected by 12 publishing company's for over a year. So, do what you love and double down even when it's not working. (Notice how no pivot is needed nor is improvement.) There is nothing magical about making money. People spend insane amounts of money on a wide range of things. All you need to do is find out how you can get a tiny slice of that. Sell a 300 million dolor boat to one person or 300 million dollar soda's and they are still a tiny fraction of a single years consumption. But, just 1% of those sales is plenty for most people to retire on. JK sold entertainment and iwillteachyoutoberich sells a fantasy, they are vary different markets that need completely different approaches. And when you start to look at the approaches to gathering wealth you can start to look at the people who where not successful. And some times it really does just come down to luck. So, find a nitch whose risks and lifestyle agrees with you and have at it. PS: Although Bloomsbury agreed to publish the book, Cunningham says that he advised Rowling to get a day job, since she had little chance of making money in children’s books. Now, consider was it bad advice at the time? And would it have mattered if she had taken it? I mean the book was already being published, so there was no need to double down at the time.
- noahc 16y agoI think we're saying somewhat similar things, in a different words. Thanks for the great discussion!
- keeptrying 16y agoYou missed the biggest part of the story ie, you need to interact with a lot of people asking for their help while backing it up with past achievement and not letting down the ones who trusted you. Knowing and interacting with tons of different people is what creates luck. Being good at something is what let's you capitalize on it.
- noahc 16y agoDoesn't shipping do that? It causes you to interact with tons of different people, either directly with your work or in the process of shipping your work.
- keeptrying 16y agoActually you could ship without talking to anyone. and shipping is an economic transaction. It's not a basis for a relationship. You need to know a lot of people who are invested in you personally. That doesn't happen if the relationship is transaction(in an economic sense) based - ie "I'm only interested in talking to you if you can help/buy my product". You need to go out and help people yourself and ask help from others.
- noahc 16y agoI view shipping as putting it out the door. You can ship a blog post that connects with others, and not have an economic transaction. Again, shipping is hitting the post button. You can ship on an e-mail you spent 12 hours researching to help x with their marketing efforts. Sending the e-mail was shipping.
- jscore 16y agoOne more point that's heavily overlooked: They're too busy to tell you why they're successful.
- klbarry 16y agoThis is also backed up by history/every biography I have ever read.
- VMG 16y agoYour conclusion is a non-sequitur. You cannot make that statement without considering all the people who shipped and worked on something everyday and are not successful.
- maxawaytoolong 16y agoI shipped things and worked on something every day from age 22 to 35 and was not successful. Silicon Valley is filled with people and the ghosts of people just like me.
- keeptrying 16y agoHey there. I'm sorry to hear that but I think you might have a lot of insights that would help us up and coming entrepreneurs if your willing to share. Something else is your actual calling. Maybe its helping entrepreneurs? PS: I'm not trying to sound trite. I mean this sincerely.
- maxawaytoolong 16y agoI'm not sure there's as much to learn from failure as various self-help business books would suggest. When you remove the specifics all startup advice is trite at best and dangerous at worst.
- keeptrying 16y agoWell what would you say that an entrepreneur needs to keep in mind regardless of what the self-help books say?
- c2 16y agoIf you could go back and change anything the last 13 years would you? 35 is still young too, plenty of successful founders at 35, albeit less common then under 30.
- maxawaytoolong 16y agoYeah, I would have skipped the startups and taken the job at Google.
- jacquesm 16y agoThe one thing you'll find they typically didn't do is spend 2 or 3 years reading about what made other people successful. They went and did things.
- keeptrying 16y agoThis made me laugh... Thanks.
- noahc 16y agoI get your point. Unfortunately, I didn't understand the danger or being just a consumer, not a producer. This is actually the best comment of the whole thread. It's just as dangerous to sit on hacker news or read about other people all day as it is to sit infront of the TV or play xbox all day.