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Why You Must Become an Entrepreneur

We need you:

Eric kim arm watch

You’re already an entrepreneur. Now the question is, “How high can you fly?”

Dear friend,

If you have a social media account and share your photos online, you’re an entrepreneur. But why do we need you?


1. Driving the human race forward

First of all, we need you to help drive the human race forward. Innovation doesn’t happen spontaneously by its own.

You need to become the first mover. Don’t wait around and wait for innovation to just happen. We need you to experiment, learn, and share your findings.

We need you to share your wisdom, ideas, tips, techniques, and processes with the rest of the world. Best to share your ideas on your own website and blog.

2. Wealth ain’t zero sum

Wealth isn’t zero-sum, which means:

Wealth isn’t a pizza pie, that only has a few pieces. In this traditional view, if I take a slice of pizza, you don’t get a slice.

No, wealth is like an unlimited Korean BBQ buffet! There is enough meat to go around! Just because I eat my share doesn’t mean that you don’t get your share.

Furthermore with entrepreneurship, you create new sources of value. You create new value where it did not once exist. The best way to create new sources of value is through your ideas and wisdom.

If your ideas can empower others, inspire others, motivate others, or help others, you are creating new value.

3. Hope is dope

We all need more optimism in life. Honestly I look around all contemporary news and media, and there seems to be a dark cloud which looms over everybody. Most of us are shackled to jobs we hate, and desire freedom.

But it is easy to fall into pessimism, and think to ourselves:

Life is pointless and fruitless. No matter how hard I try, I won’t be able to make an impact in the world.

I say fuck that. You have infinitely more power and potential than you think and realize.

To be frank, it isn’t your fault. I mostly blame the “meek, humble” philosophy which permeates most of modern thinking.

I say go opposite. In life, I think it is better to slant the other way. Better to be perceived as arrogant, conceited, selfish, self-centered, stubborn, inflexible.

For example, if Steve Jobs wasn’t so stubborn, the iPhone we know and love would be a lot uglier. He was stubborn on his design vision (extreme simplicity), that nerdy engineers didn’t understand. And thus his single vision was able to make almost all modern electronics more simple, beautiful and elegant.

Which also means this:

Your stubborn vision can change the world.

From a moralistic perspective, I don’t think there are any ultimately “good” or “bad” decisions or ideas. Thus, I think that true entrepreneurs need to create their own new table of values, ethics, and morals. Because when you have a stubborn vision, of course you’re going to ruffle some feathers and piss some people off!

4. Go hard!

Hardcore is better than softcore.

To have hard muscles is better than having soft and flabby arms.

To hustle hard and working hard won’t guarantee your success, but I can say:

Going soft in life will never earn you any glory or success in life.

Imagine two individuals:

  • Person A who is hustling hard everyday, to achieve her vision.
  • Person B who watches Netflix all day and play video games all day, and doesn’t pursue his artistic vision.

Who is more likely to succeed in life? Of course Person A!

5. Just don’t go broke.

But once again in life, this is what Makes entrepreneurship so noble and heroic:

There is a very good chance that no matter how hard you try, you will fail in some ways.

You cannot prevent failure, but you can certainly prevent terminal loss (losing 100% of your money).

Generally I follow the notion of Nassim Taleb:

Protect 90% of your money in boring savings (cash), and never use more than 10% of your savings for risky business ventures.

Thus if you’re starting your own business, don’t deplete your savings. Protect the stash. Use less money to start off your business, and use this as a “creative constraint”; often using less money is a good way to innovate.

Conclusion

Better to experiment in entrepreneurship, and learn along the way through trial and error, than to read books on entrepreneurship and trying it out.

Thomas Hobbes once said,

First live, then philosophize afterwards.

Thus in entrepreneurship we can say,

First experiment and take small risks, then figure out the philosophy and principles afterwards.

I’ve read hundreds of business and entrepreneurial books, podcasts, and other literature. And to be frank, none of them have helped me at all. Literally none.

The only type of books which have helped me were philosophy books: Stoic books by Seneca, Marcus Aurelius to conquer fear, Zen and Taoist texts about user interface and design, and Nietzsche for thinking outside the box.

And for getting pumped up, hip hop and rap music for empowerment.

Essentially what I mean to say is this:

Wisdom doesn’t lie in books, and success doesn’t lie in books. The only way to succeed is to put yourself out there, experiment, and try. Learn via feedback from reality, and don’t be afraid to take risks.

You’re not gonna die; what do you have to lose? You got everything to gain.

GO HARD! ERIC

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