What advice would you give to your 21 year old self?
When you're 21, there's a lot of things that you think you know for sure. But in reality, you're just starting to learn about life and all of its complexities.
The best advice I would give to my 21 year old self is to own my situation. I am where I am because of the decisions I have made.
I am responsible. And the future will come about from new decisions that I make. So, it is important to
focus on providing value to as many people as possible. This will help me grow as a person and as an entrepreneur. By helping others, I will be able to achieve more in life and business.
Here are other lessons I learned along the way:
- Always be learning. No matter how successful you become, there's always more to learn. Keep reading, attending seminars and networking with other business owners. The more knowledge you have, the better equipped you'll be to succeed.
- Don't give up. There will be times when things don't go the way you planned, and you'll feel like giving up. But don't let those negative thoughts take over - push through the tough times and keep going.
- Stay focused on your goals. It's easy to get sidetracked by things that aren't important, but if you want to be successful, you need to stay focused on what you're trying to achieve. Write your goals down and refer to them often to keep yourself on track.
- Don't be afraid to ask for help. There's no shame in admitting that you don't know something and asking for help. In fact, most successful people have a strong network of mentors and advisors they can rely on for support.
- Believe in yourself. You're your own biggest advocate, so believe in yourself and your ability to succeed. When you have confidence in yourself, others will too.
Special thanks to
@Hanabi for prompting this thread:
I'm not personally interested in RE development at my stage in life right now, perhaps in the future. I think others on the forum interested in entering RE would love it. However, I listened to your interview on Kak's podcast, and I really enjoyed it. It was the first episode of his I listened. I like your thought process about entrepreneurship. If you wrote a post about the biggest lessons you learned on your entrepreneurship journey, mindset changes to take your business to the next level, tactics you've used to enter a hard business field, leveraging capital effectively, life wisdom in general, and etc., I think it would be cool and beneficial for a lot of us. If not, I guess I'll be the one eager person to read it.
Here are my answers (and thanks for asking!):
"post about the biggest lessons you learned on your entrepreneurship journey"
It is not about me. The world doesn't care about what I want, what I love to do etc. No one cares!
The biggest lesson was when I failed a few businesses in my 20s. Back then I focused on money. I thought if I had an idea and a product - I'd be successful. But I don't bring anything valuable to the table! Obvious opportunities were obvious to everyone else too and I failed. There is a reason why tax accountants make more money than regular accountants - because tax is hard and no one wants to do it. Money is just the result of providing value. That's the biggest lesson. And the rest are the basis of this post, see above for the "What advice would you give to your 21 year old self?".
"mindset changes to take your business to the next level"
@Kak made it sound like my business is this "next level" but in my mind it is not, not yet. It is still a start up with only 12 employees and a small downtown office.
Real estate has large numbers, but I stand behind my opinion that now is not the time for me to talk about "next level". Ask me in 10 years again please.
"tactics you've used to enter a hard business field"
Real Estate development is hard for two reasons: one, it is very complex and two, it requires large capital. Entry is incredibly hard. To do that I devised a simple plan. I needed to a) find experienced partners and b) learn how to raise capital. Then I got lucky when I landed a job that got me access to both. The rest is... as they say - history.
"leveraging capital effectively"
How to use the available financial resources in a way that maximizes profits and minimizes risk?
There are a few things to consider when leveraging capital. First, it's important to make sure that the
investment is worth the risk. There needs to be a good chance of getting a return on investment, or ROI. Second, it's important to make sure that the company has the
cash flow to cover the loan. And finally, it's important to make sure that the
terms of the loan are favorable and that the interest rates are reasonable.
"life wisdom in general"
I often ask myself "What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?" I then work on a plan to get it done.
This is a great way to end the first post and leave with the same question to readers:
What advice would you give to your 21 year old self?
let's go...