[Ruivinho]

My goal for my future would look something like this,

- 1 or 2 bedroom Modern apartment in a good safe area of Santo Domingo (piantini, naco), DomRep.
(avg price around 1-2k usd per month)

I've been to Santo Domingo four times now and have a close friend who lives there so I'm close with their family and have seen how life is there. I swear I fall in love with the country more and more everytime I go.

- Nice car. This is subjective I know, but for me my dream is to drive a 1996 Corvette.
The price is around 15-20k USD. So not expensive by any stretch although running costs would be im sure.

- I'd like to be able to eat out atleast twice a week preferably, not so much of an issue though.

Be able to work on my own terms not tied up to a 9-5.

I've always been passionate about carving a lifestyle for myself and the lifestyle I desire I don't believe to be out of reach by any stretch.
If you dont think so, please let me know why?

My idea from reading many threads on here is that the best way to go about this is through having a side passive income,
- Saving high
- Investing RE
- entrepeneurship


Some BG info about me:
20,
living in England,
low income household but good savings,
no siblings

Currently applying for foundation courses at universities.
(If unaware foundation is a 1 year course that gives you guaranteed to a degree at that university, considering you pass of course)
Looking to probably study a degree like Business when I get onto my degree course.
Not entirely sure what career to go for,
I think business is good because its flexible. I've heard alot of people say accounting is a much better degree to have..?
any advice/info on career choices and stuff like that would be cool.

England is bad in my opinion. I've grown up here all my life and so have all my family. However, I just strongly dislike everything here from the culture, the attitudes of the people, the weather and the politics to the women. If you're wondering then yes i am a white male lol (becoming uncommon in southern england )

Quality of females here is really bad honestly, really bad. Too much makeup, poor ageing, lazy appearance and for some odd reason many seem think acting stupider than they already are is somehow attractive to males.


The thing that scares me most in life is a shitty retail job with low pay and long non-fleixble hours. I did that last year and awful was an understatement. All the floor managers were depressed and angry at life, having to deal with asshole customers and long hours. FUCK RETAIL is pretty much i learned from that.


My question is,
How much do you think I'd need to be earning per month to live the above lifestyle?
It would be great to hear from older guys on here that maybe have similar ideals to me.
Id love to hear what you'd do if you were in my current situation?
What is your current situation and how do you like it, what would you improve?
Any advice and wisdom would be greatly appreciated!


Cheers guys!

[Phoenix]

You have correctly identified that entrepreneurship is your best hope. However, you have then said you're just going to go to university. Business and going to university are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

At university, you will be told what to do, pay a bunch of money to laze around and have fun, and then after 4 years go out and spam the job market with your mediocre resume along with thousands of others just like you. That may have worked in previous economies, but can you see it happening now? Expect to join the hordes of young unemployed grumbling about the job that they expected just to be handed to them by virtue of their magic piece of paper.

In business, no one tells you what to do. You also can't ask anyone what you should do. No one consoles you, or promises you jack squat. There are no salaries and 9 to 5. No one helps you. If you employ someone they will consider themselves entitled to what you provide them whilst they begrudgingly drag themselves through their 'mondayitis'. Governments will find every way they can to rob you and put roadblocks in your way. You'll have no days off and no 'sick leave'. You'll be in active competition against other men in the same situation. And you'll have nothing standing between you and bankruptcy or years wasted without anything in return but your own industry.

In exchange, you'll have a chance to be that fatcat everyone envies, wading through piles of horny Dominican sloots every day when you try to leave your sweet Piantini pool-equipped penthouse, then sweeping them off your drive way with a broom so you can take your baller 1996 Corvette out for a ride.

People forget that business is the original job. There is no "meat salary" on the African savanna. You have to go out and do your best, some days you get rewarded, some you don't. Sometimes the farmer is rewarded for his years backbreaking never-ending labour with a massive harvest, other times he starves. Such is business. Jobs and salaries are merely side effects of business -- residual order flowing from what business is -- the attempt to satisfy constant personal wants in a chaotic world.

I specifically recommend you read biographies of winners. There is some in this thread: thread-41548.html . I've yet to see a success story that went like "I went to university to get a business degree and then landed a job paying me $100M per year so now I'm rich". Hustling is the core, everything else is just a tool. Even Masayoshi Son used his time at university for business endeavors. He had racked up $2M before he even graduated.

[WeekendCasanova]

(02-01-2016 03:08 PM)Phoenix Wrote:  

You have correctly identified that entrepreneurship is your best hope. However, you have then said you're just going to go to university. Business and going to university are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

At university, you will be told what to do, pay a bunch of money to laze around and have fun, and then after 4 years go out and spam the job market with your mediocre resume along with thousands of others just like you. That may have worked in previous economies, but can you see it happening now? Expect to join the hordes of young unemployed grumbling about the job that they expected just to be handed to them by virtue of their magic piece of paper.

This couldn't be more false.

University builds a good foundation of skills. The problem comes in the application of University concepts. If you're going to university you have two routes - the standard "hit the pavement and apply", or the Entrepreneurship route. Just because you go to University doesn't mean you can't start your own business.

I went to University for Finance/Economics with no intention of spamming the job market. It's a good way to get skills, and knowledge while building your business at the same time. In fact lots of Universities are encouraging entrepreneurship now.

You may have 'had fun' in University, but others (those who want to be entrepreneurs) take it seriously. Don't pigeonhole University because of your experiences or what you've heard.

Lot's of entrepreneurs have gone through university, lots haven't. It's how you use what you've learned. If he wants to take a one-year program, a two-year program or whatever, while building his business - it's a smart move. Attending university is never a bad thing, unless you're just doing it to say you did it.

Also - people love to focus on the outliers. "Oh how many mega-millionaires went to University?" who knows the real number, but what I do know is that thousands of 'millionaires' went to University.

Go to University if you want, don't go. I wanted to be an entrepreneur - I went. If there's a purpose for going, such as a program specifically targeted to what you want to do, it's purposeful.

[samsamsam]

University is fine if you go with the intention of learning useful skills. Sadly, most do not come out with useful skills.

[Phoenix]

(02-01-2016 04:05 PM)WeekendCasanova Wrote:  

This couldn't be more false.

That's a pretty dishonest response isn't it?

"Couldn't be more false" would be "0%" of this is true. So let's have a quick check:

http://www.independent.co.uk/student/new...35958.html

Do you have any conflict on interest in this argument? Do you work for a educational institution by any chance?

My post had a very specific purpose: to make OP think hard about his course of action, and not simply take the easiest course of action. It was appropriately worded, and accurate enough. You could argue "going to university is orthogonal with business success, not inverse to", but not that it "couldn't be more false".

[lavidaloca]

(02-01-2016 02:28 PM)Ruivinho Wrote:  

My question is,
How much do you think I'd need to be earning per month to live the above lifestyle?
It would be great to hear from older guys on here that maybe have similar ideals to me.
Id love to hear what you'd do if you were in my current situation?
What is your current situation and how do you like it, what would you improve?
Any advice and wisdom would be greatly appreciated!


Cheers guys!

1000 USD a month rent .
750 USD a month Car
750 USD a month food
1000 USD a month dating / gym / miscellaneous
500 USD a month flghts / trips

My guess is it would be roughly $4,000 USD a month to be able to do it comfortably.

Realistically if you want to get there based on passive income it will take you 10-20 years. You are going to likely need to find a way to make money while living there if you want to get there faster. $4,000 USD passive a month takes a pretty substantial nest egg.

[pitt]

2,500 US dollars is more than enough. You should not pay more than 1,000 dollars for an apartment in Santo Domingo.

Don't study business if you want to have a decent job. Why don't you learn a trade and start making money now? Then immigrate to Canada and continue on working in your trade. I understood this a bit too late, this is what I am doing now.

Why the name Ruivinho? Just wondering.

[defguy]

(02-01-2016 04:05 PM)WeekendCasanova Wrote:  

(02-01-2016 03:08 PM)Phoenix Wrote:  

You have correctly identified that entrepreneurship is your best hope. However, you have then said you're just going to go to university. Business and going to university are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

At university, you will be told what to do, pay a bunch of money to laze around and have fun, and then after 4 years go out and spam the job market with your mediocre resume along with thousands of others just like you. That may have worked in previous economies, but can you see it happening now? Expect to join the hordes of young unemployed grumbling about the job that they expected just to be handed to them by virtue of their magic piece of paper.

This couldn't be more false.

University builds a good foundation of skills. The problem comes in the application of University concepts. If you're going to university you have two routes - the standard "hit the pavement and apply", or the Entrepreneurship route. Just because you go to University doesn't mean you can't start your own business.

I went to University for Finance/Economics with no intention of spamming the job market. It's a good way to get skills, and knowledge while building your business at the same time. In fact lots of Universities are encouraging entrepreneurship now.

You may have 'had fun' in University, but others (those who want to be entrepreneurs) take it seriously. Don't pigeonhole University because of your experiences or what you've heard.

Lot's of entrepreneurs have gone through university, lots haven't. It's how you use what you've learned. If he wants to take a one-year program, a two-year program or whatever, while building his business - it's a smart move. Attending university is never a bad thing, unless you're just doing it to say you did it.

Also - people love to focus on the outliers. "Oh how many mega-millionaires went to University?" who knows the real number, but what I do know is that thousands of 'millionaires' went to University.

Go to University if you want, don't go. I wanted to be an entrepreneur - I went. If there's a purpose for going, such as a program specifically targeted to what you want to do, it's purposeful.

I digress. You wont come out with useful skills, however University has TONS of resources. If you go in with the mindset of using every department and entrepreneurship professor, clubs, associations, etc. to help you start your business, you can have an inferior product and make millions due to the connections and resources your University has; regardless of major. But you really need to hustle and find professors (not necessarily take their classes but find them, tell them your goals and ask them for help). It is so competitive becoming a teacher that college professors are networked and connected to the hilt. Using them properly can get you a job, business contract, government subsidies or resources, even college funding that you would never qualify or get on your own. If I were OP, I would pull a van wilder until I was a millionaire, take 2-3 classes at a time to keep you active as a student (and eligible for college resources) then spend the rest of the time FULL time on your business. If you have an even remotely decent business Idea and you give it 100% there is no reason why you couldnt become a millionaire within 5 years. FYI I am assuming University and not a junior college.

[WeekendCasanova]

^^As a disclaimer, if by 'you', you mean OP, then ignore this reply, but if you mean everyone in general, then read on haha.

Saying "You won't come out with useful skills" is such an incorrect, facile thing to say that I don't even want to argue it, but I will. Finance, Economics, Accounting, CS, and every other degree specifically designed for a specific career arms you with the 'useful skills' that you need to succeed in a chosen career.

Clubs, associations help with networking, however, the majority of your career-specific skills will be learned from classes. Sure, you have bird courses and liberals that you don't need, but everything else has a reason. This pessimistic view that a lot of people have on University is completely unfounded. If you know what career you want, University is the way (provided you need a degree for the profession).

If I didn't gain the skills I had from University, I would have failed the job interview. Not everyone can benefit from University - but for 90% of industries in which people want a career - uni gives you the requisite skills.

[Ruivinho]

(02-02-2016 02:17 AM)lavidaloca Wrote:  

(02-01-2016 02:28 PM)Ruivinho Wrote:  

My question is,
How much do you think I'd need to be earning per month to live the above lifestyle?
It would be great to hear from older guys on here that maybe have similar ideals to me.
Id love to hear what you'd do if you were in my current situation?
What is your current situation and how do you like it, what would you improve?
Any advice and wisdom would be greatly appreciated!


Cheers guys!

1000 USD a month rent .
750 USD a month Car
750 USD a month food
1000 USD a month dating / gym / miscellaneous
500 USD a month flghts / trips

My guess is it would be roughly $4,000 USD a month to be able to do it comfortably.

Realistically if you want to get there based on passive income it will take you 10-20 years. You are going to likely need to find a way to make money while living there if you want to get there faster. $4,000 USD passive a month takes a pretty substantial nest egg.

Interesting, Although I dont think I'd be spending 1000usd on rent. I have good connections in the city that im sure could hook me up with a good place for a good price. I could also work for one of my connections and make good money but I'd need to be fluent in spanish and have a degree in Accounting, Law or something useful for a company.
This is not a guarantee. Just a feeling I got when I met the President of their family company. He spoke well of me and was curious to know what I planned to study in Univeristy and said to my friend, he thinks I should take Spanish classes when i get back to the UK.

I'm mostly trying to figure out which degree would be most useful for me at the moment, since i hear so many contrasting opinions.

[Ruivinho]

(02-02-2016 09:14 AM)pitt Wrote:  

2,500 US dollars is more than enough. You should not pay more than 1,000 dollars for an apartment in Santo Domingo.

Don't study business if you want to have a decent job. Why don't you learn a trade and start making money now? Then immigrate to Canada and continue on working in your trade. I understood this a bit too late, this is what I am doing now.

Why the name Ruivinho? Just wondering.

2,500 per month is enough to cover the expenses above you feel?
That seems pretty low. Food and going can be more expensive in DR than lots of US cities i found.
I know guys that work trade jobs here in the UK and some of them are earning up to £1200 per week!
Thing is with guys who work trades, they are usually not the smartest guys. Pretty ignorant guys and having boring conversations about utterly meaningless things is their daily. They blow their cash on booze and a house and a family and never really seem to become rich. This is just from my experience of working small trade jobs like fitting kitchens and bathrooms, to warehouse backyard shit.

Why do you say move to Canada with a trade?
I'm not even sure thats possible from the UK. Wouldn't I need a job already in Canada to get me a green card or something. I thought it was very difficult for UK citizens to move to the US and Canada?

Ruivinho is nickname a Brazilian girl i used to have a thing with gave me. Stuck with me ever since.

[Ruivinho]

(02-01-2016 03:08 PM)Phoenix Wrote:  

You have correctly identified that entrepreneurship is your best hope. However, you have then said you're just going to go to university. Business and going to university are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

At university, you will be told what to do, pay a bunch of money to laze around and have fun, and then after 4 years go out and spam the job market with your mediocre resume along with thousands of others just like you. That may have worked in previous economies, but can you see it happening now? Expect to join the hordes of young unemployed grumbling about the job that they expected just to be handed to them by virtue of their magic piece of paper.

In business, no one tells you what to do. You also can't ask anyone what you should do. No one consoles you, or promises you jack squat. There are no salaries and 9 to 5. No one helps you. If you employ someone they will consider themselves entitled to what you provide them whilst they begrudgingly drag themselves through their 'mondayitis'. Governments will find every way they can to rob you and put roadblocks in your way. You'll have no days off and no 'sick leave'. You'll be in active competition against other men in the same situation. And you'll have nothing standing between you and bankruptcy or years wasted without anything in return but your own industry.

In exchange, you'll have a chance to be that fatcat everyone envies, wading through piles of horny Dominican sloots every day when you try to leave your sweet Piantini pool-equipped penthouse, then sweeping them off your drive way with a broom so you can take your baller 1996 Corvette out for a ride.

People forget that business is the original job. There is no "meat salary" on the African savanna. You have to go out and do your best, some days you get rewarded, some you don't. Sometimes the farmer is rewarded for his years backbreaking never-ending labour with a massive harvest, other times he starves. Such is business. Jobs and salaries are merely side effects of business -- residual order flowing from what business is -- the attempt to satisfy constant personal wants in a chaotic world.

I specifically recommend you read biographies of winners. There is some in this thread: thread-41548.html . I've yet to see a success story that went like "I went to university to get a business degree and then landed a job paying me $100M per year so now I'm rich". Hustling is the core, everything else is just a tool. Even Masayoshi Son used his time at university for business endeavors. He had racked up $2M before he even graduated.

I do believe entrepeneurship is my shot at a location independent lifestyle.

However having a degree from a Univeristy is the entry requirement for going into almost any field of work nowaways that pays decently.

I very much understand that Univeristy is run by left wing professors who have never actually worked in the field they teach.

Laze around and have fun is defintiely not what I had mind at Univeristy.
This is why alot of my friends went to univeristy, for the nights out, the slutty girls and getting shitfaced every weekend to forget the misory of their week.
That kind of lifestyle does not appeal to me in the slightest. I very rarely drink too.
That paragraph you wrote sums up the majority of univeristy students i agree but I assure you thats not what id be doing with my degree. Its just something you kind of need in the modern society. Also the likelyhood is in the UK i'd never pay back my student loan.

I think you misinterpreted my ideals of what kind of lifestyle i wish to achieve. I'm not searching for a baller lifestyle, but simply a location independent minimalistic lifestyle that covers my expenses of 1 or 2 simple luxuries, all the while accumulating wealth through investments for the future.

[Raptyr]

(02-02-2016 04:26 PM)WeekendCasanova Wrote:  

^^As a disclaimer, if by 'you', you mean OP, then ignore this reply, but if you mean everyone in general, then read on haha.

Saying "You won't come out with useful skills" is such an incorrect, facile thing to say that I don't even want to argue it, but I will. Finance, Economics, Accounting, CS, and every other degree specifically designed for a specific career arms you with the 'useful skills' that you need to succeed in a chosen career.

Clubs, associations help with networking, however, the majority of your career-specific skills will be learned from classes. Sure, you have bird courses and liberals that you don't need, but everything else has a reason. This pessimistic view that a lot of people have on University is completely unfounded. If you know what career you want, University is the way (provided you need a degree for the profession).

If I didn't gain the skills I had from University, I would have failed the job interview. Not everyone can benefit from University - but for 90% of industries in which people want a career - uni gives you the requisite skills.

I have to agree here. A university is a vendor, like any other. Some vendors provide a good product, others provide a bad one. Some are a value in terms of what you get for what you pay, and others are less so, even though they do provide you with something of worth. And on top of all of that, you have to make sure that what you buy is going to be what you need; even the best university, on a full scholarship, will be a waste of life if you get a degree in medieval literature.

People abound who have gotten degrees that brought them no value. People abound who have gotten degrees that put them on the road to stellar success. And studies have shown again and again that having 2+ years of college (degree or not) is the real key, because of the skills and capabilities that are taught. I work for a very large consulting company, doing some really interesting work. I never finished college, but I constantly draw upon what I learned in the 3 years I did spend there. I could neither have gotten to this job nor could I perform this job without that time in college.

Here are some basic guidelines; none of them are rules without exceptions, but they make for a good starting point:

• For-profit institutions are a bad bet. Their business model is about the financing of your education, not the revenue from actually providing one.
• More broadly-applicable majors (marketing, business management, engineering, etc.) majors that tie into actual production of goods and services are useful.
• Majors that may be intellectually stimulating but essentially don't have anything to do with anyone making money (history, literature, basket weaving, etc.) are a bad idea.
• Don't pick a major based on what jobs are in demand now. By the time you're in the job market, everyone else who jumped on the trend will be there too.
• Apply the standards of self-improvement to your search for a college, selection of a major, the way you will pay for your education, the classes that you choose while there, and what you do with your time while there. For that's all college should be; an exercise in using an outside vendor to help you self-improve as a man.
• Remember that you are the steward of your own self; you are responsible for your outcome, and should govern yourself accordingly. Even the best universities have bureaucrats and morons; do not simply accept what they push upon you or try to get you to do.
  

Obviously, there are other things to consider that I either missed or which would be particular to a specific person or their circumstances. But if you approach higher education with this mindset, you'll be in far, far better shape than most people who go to college.

[Baphomet]

(02-05-2016 08:32 AM)Ruivinho Wrote:  

I do believe entrepeneurship is my shot at a location independent lifestyle.

However having a degree from a Univeristy is the entry requirement for going into almost any field of work nowaways that pays decently.

As long as you want to be a wage slave, sure... I guess.

I'm with Phoenix here. Unless you are specifically going into a STEM field, there is literally no reason to waste your money and more importantly, your TIME on the 95% of drivel that you'll endure in a "University."

And even if you are going into a STEM field, you're probably better off going to a Technical School rather than going to some university that forces you to take nonsense courses like Sociology & Psychology 101 for your first two semesters.

[Phoenix]

(02-05-2016 08:32 AM)Ruivinho Wrote:  

That paragraph you wrote sums up the majority of univeristy students i agree but I assure you thats not what id be doing with my degree. Its just something you kind of need in the modern society. Also the likelyhood is in the UK i'd never pay back my student loan.

I think you misinterpreted my ideals of what kind of lifestyle i wish to achieve. I'm not searching for a baller lifestyle, but simply a location independent minimalistic lifestyle that covers my expenses of 1 or 2 simple luxuries, all the while accumulating wealth through investments for the future.

"You just kind of need" cannot be a reason to dedicate 4 years of your life and thousands of dollars of burdensome debt to. It cannot. Nor can not wanting to feel left out -- wanting to follow your peers -- even if it's into an abyss. You must think through exactly and clearly why you are doing anything -- do not make assumptions.

Accept that your programming to go into university comes from nothing more than a circulating rumour that "having a degree is safer". That rumour is completely false. Your only safety is in your hard work.

Keep in mind, you can always go back to university later. You could work and do business for some years, and get a clearer image of what you want to do. If you then decide there is some specific university courses that would help you achieve that, you can do that. With a few more years age difference, you'll also be more attractive to the girls there if you do. You'll also be more employable, because all companies really care about is your ability to make them money, and having done prior business you'll understand this much better than a plain graduate.

My description of a baller lifestyle is just to paint a picture. You don't get to where you want to be by aiming for "a bit more". As the old saying goes, "Aim for the moon; even if you miss you’ll land among the stars".

[Truth Tiger]

Ruivinho, welcome. I'm going to share my experience but first, you've been given some wisdom by Phoenix (a more senior member here) that is very sound. I highly recommend you print out his posts (just his) and read them. With a pen. Mark words and phrases that stand out.

Put those notes away, get off the forum, lift, eat well as you can (quality over quantity) get sleep FFS. Go to your shitty retail job and count yourself lucky for having one. Make the best of it. Make it a point to make a customer smile or laugh, not by being a kiss up but by finding ways to let your real personality shine. If you're charismatic even cleaning toilets will get you noticed. People want to buy from people who make them feel something - either happy or fearful, but I prefer happy (with a little angst thrown in when necessary to prompt action). Don't cry if a customer is a bitch. You're becoming a man, every painful experience is a golden opportunity to humbly learn something you obviously didn't know before. If you can't succeed in basic retail you will never succeed in having a business. First job fresh out of high school I decided to be a waiter. It was so hard I wanted to quite the first day but my folks convinced me to stay and I really didn't want to give up that soon. A stayed a year and it got better and better because I embraced the pain, weirdness, awkwardness, strange customers and just learned to take it in stride. I still apply lessons from that minimum wage job 20 years ago in my business - all the time. It was the best goddamn job I'd ever had, including corporate gigs paying near 6 figures with stock options. Bigger pay working for the man often means bigger headaches. The clever man finds ways to create value as efficiently as possible, usually by paying close to attention to what is and isn't working at various jobs he has or in the world at large. Observe, take notes on what you'd do differently or better. Pick up a book before you take a college course. Think, question, examine, meditate, sleep on ideas. You have to train your brain to be always considering options and never to get stuck in one way of processing - otherwise you will become a drone. Constant and Never Ending Improvement (CANI) is an idea the Japanese hold and is the basis for every Quality man's life.

Then at the end of each day busting your hump, go back to the posts that you most disagree with me decide what you've learned that day that might broaden your perspective. I have found in...a few years of being a business owner / business builder that when I disagree with someone, I'm likely missing out on gaining from their experience. Maybe you'll have to suffer the pains of being young and cocksure - God knows I sure did - but life moves too fast these days to allow years to play catch up.

I'm about double your age. I got a University degree in a STEM field (science, to be specific). Graduated magna cum laude, won two grants while in school. I got a decent job with it, then a good job, then a really good job. Could see the white picket fence, the Silicon Valley dream unfolding before my eyes.

But then I got laid off - as an engineer. Quick a surprise but I felt really calm. Promised a job some month out by a solid former boss - but hearing that quarter after quarter ('no funding yet') got old and after a year I had to do something. But during that year, it was the best time of my life. I worked out, slept better, ate better, learned and gamed better, got a job in a more human-focused industry (what I wanted to be doing) and felt things were all improving. It was but the job would only last a year before I got fired (someone ratted me out to my boss running a totally unrelated side business - what I'm doing now).

I found out that I loved working with cars and that hobby became supercharged with more passion than before. That 'dabbling' became an obsession that pulled me 24/7. I was in my late 20s and still chasing pussy (got laid more being laid off than while working - no surprise, I had more time). But year after year I kept learning new things and few of them related to my industry. My Uni degree helped prepare my mind to learn and gave me some essential concepts useful to my first post-graduation jobs and also my business. But more importantly my hobby/business agreed with my natural disposition and curiosity. I could DO what I was LEARNING as my own creation, but I couldn't LEARN what I was DOING in a University. Some parts of it, sure, but the intangibles - no way. There was way too much that no book or academic could teach me; other the school of hard knocks (when I was dumb) or, even better, other business owners when I was started. Not just jacktards with MBAs or B.A.s in business but other crazy passionate entrepreneurs (and I don't mean some idiot with another dot Com idea that may or may not be the Next Big Thing). Plus I found only those passionate committed nuts could really understand and support me, even more than my family (who did give me a lot of support but more moral and financial than practical). I also met a few women - some the same age, some older - who I learned from and loved (or tolerated). I met even more amazing male mentors who inspired me to greater heights.

"Business" as a profession is not something you can learn in school. I know a 14 year old who is teaching himself guitar (lead and bass) and took no lessons. He's also a fucking amazing drummer, can sing pretty well and is a cool cat in general. He taught himself because he's talented and he's putting the time in. He plays first thing when he gets home, and last thing before going to bed. He outgrew his drum teacher, which his teacher hated. When you reach that point, you'll understand. Until you do, take classes but with an open commitment - you'll learn far more in the real world, outside the safe / sterile classroom environment. Consider it like daygame - there's no faking it, you either approach or not. Whether blown out or number or same day lay, you gotta give it your best and are constantly refining.

You've got to burn with whatever you want to get good at. Schools won't teach you to burn - they'll do their fucking best (especially these days) to put that fire out. Ironically, like how Roosh has been treated in the MSM, they need what men can and do create but like to denigrate those same men. But being a business man is the ultimate alpha. You aren't beholden to anyone and the day you actually can confidently turn an asshole customer away is when you've really arrived, in my opinion. I did that late last year- after 10 years of being in business officially and 6 years very diligently. It fucking felt awesome. I grow every day, because everything in my life shows up in how well or poorly I do on any given day, week, month, year.

In having your own business all your strengths and weaknesses are there for you to see - if you have courage to look. I thought I did but I was lying to myself for a few years (rather raw dog the hot nurse who loved to drop by on her frequent days off). I had to dive into all the vices, including drinking at 10am (never injected or snorted drugs, drew the line there) to see how I could be my own worst enemy. Working for 'the man' gives you a structure that most people need to survive. If you can't be disciplined, you'll have a fucking hard time succeeding in business (because there is no 'how to succeed in business without hardly trying'). The ones who make it look easy have probably had the hardest time and they'll admit it themselves.

Suggested resources:

1. Discover your passion. It's already there, but can you name it? I can. Read and do the exercises in this book: "Is Your Genius at Work?" by Dick Richard. It's on Amazon. Find it.

2. If your passion can be served in part by getting some university instruction, then go for it. But do so cautiously and with a 'less is more' approach. You can learn the fundamental of nearly anything online / via Youtube. I didn't have that 'back in my day' starting college. Knowing that now, I would hope someone would beat the sense into me to not think the University route is the best way.

3. Find someone in your area doing what you want to do and offer to work for them FOR FREE from 4-8 hours a week. If they offer to pay you, accept it but work even harder. This is your real education. I've trained probably 12 people in my business, 99% of whom have moved on. A business owner taking time to show you something is a real investment. We know we'll never get that time back except if you apply what you've learned and don't make the same mistake more than twice. Don't for a minute underestimate the kindness of some older dude giving you advice. He's probably seen and done more in his life than you can imagine. Never judge a book by its cover, especially when someone is humble but obviously successful (to me that primarily means still in business after 5 years and enjoying what they do).

4. Do some kind of personality test / self assessment. Understand your strengths and weaknesses. I like Myers-Briggs, but I also really like Gene Keys even more. The Human Design system is incredibly insightful as well. That's a subject for a lot of other posts, but until you understand your own decision-making process you will be a danger to yourself, your customers, and anyone around you. You will make promises you can't keep or that will stress you the fuck out. Ask me how I know. The Greeks carved on the door entering the temple at Delphi: "Know Thyself." Yes - this.

I could go on but that's the gist of it. The Richards (work)book is gold. Should have done it a year before I did (4 years ago). Helped me understand the value I had to offer my customers and the world at large. Being an entrepreneuer, creating a location-independent lifestyle requires you to be very creative, to see every problem as an opportunity, to develop a network yes but to be your own best network. You have to become self-reliant so others can trust you.

I'm honestly a little skeptical of most Millennials who want to go into business. I hope more prove me wrong but this is what I've seen. Older guys and women tend to be more dependable and less entitled. In this way, if you can buck the trend of your generation you'll be so far ahead of the curve. You can be solving problems no one can see in ways no one could imagine.

Read the classics. Follow Quintus Curtius's blog. Read Emerson's 'Self-Reliance'. I mean print it out, write in the margins and on the back. Make every book you read yours by writing your thoughts. Journal, every day or as often as you can. Write down 10 ideas every day and after a week come back to each one and see what you're excited about working on (pick 3 max at any given time). If you can make progress on any of those 3 in a few weeks or a month and you're still excited, that's a good sign.

Gary Vaynerchuk has a lot of great ideas on business and being a real entrepreneur - look him up on Youtube. For him business is about one thing- hustle.

And remember, you gotta burn!

[Truth Tiger]

By the way I'll also mention I'm designing my business to both run without me state-side and have an office overseas wherever I decide to spend most of my time. The detailed guideline and recommendations on making this process happen is something I credit Maui Masterminds with. Those people are experienced business owners / business builders. I'd argue that's a better place to put money - once you know your passion and have started working on creating a business for yourself - than a Uni degree. But that's getting ahead of myself - starting to build your ideas into a business are the first steps, but having a vision of the *kind* of business you want to build is important too. Do you want to run it yourself, have someone manage it for you, sell the business/idea, franchise, etc.? It's also easy to create a job for yourself vs. a business (where you create income for yourself but not a 9-5 or 9-9 job). You might end up working really hard for a while so that vision will help carry you through.

I've been able to take 4 months off the past two years (in two month blocks) and my business still ran, with about 50% engagement while I was on sabbatical / working vacation. It was an awesome feeling to say "I want to take 8 weeks in Europe" and then do it! Creating time and space to get away from everyone is really important for ideas to bubble up, or solidify. Don't fall into the trap I did for years thinking you need to work work work and play later. Doesn't sound like you would since you've got family nearby.

The networking you can get in school is powerful but Meetup groups can also serve that function. Toastmasters, Rotary, other social and service organizations, Chamber of Commerce, etc. Volunteer at least a few hours a week for some cause you support. True entrepreneurs give back and while non-profits can be a weird little world, you'll often make powerful connections in that world. If you're curious about Uni then go for it (small steps), but realize many potential mentors / employers / contacts are standing all around you. Being comfortable opening and engaging with anyone, anywhere will open up more doors than taking a class from every professor in town. If/when you are clearer on your PASSION (or your Genius and Dick Richards helps you identify) you will also stand-out more than the other 99 guys looking for that killer recommendation / referral but who have a cheesy (or no) personality. Your elevator pitch will actually grab someone's attention and you'll hear 'wow, that's great - I know this guy you should meet...'