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I'm sharing a story I experienced that I feel we've all witnessed in our observations of other entrepreneurs. People that have goals but looking for the easy way to riches, get rich quick schemes, pretty much sidewalk think. We've seen it in others, I'd argue that most of us here began in this stage. I'm talking about the stage where early on we go through many mistakes, we sell some useless red ocean market item like t-shirts or sporting supplements, etc. expecting that it's just going to sell and make us rich over night, which unfortunately is never the case. Unfortunately the truth is the majority of entrepreneurs get trapped into this pendulum and very few of us ever escape it.
I'll share a story of a friend of mine that had goals and dreams of grandeur, like all of us, but let his ego guide him instead of learning from his mistakes. I went to high school with him, he was a good friend, charismatic, smart, but lacked drive. He knew what he wanted in life, but even then he lacked the ability to put effort in the right areas. I remember in many of our classes together, he would never study. Instead he would come up with methods to cheat on exams. He had notes sown into his clothing, contraptions in his pens with notes that would come out, printed labels inside his water bottles, etc., he put so much effort into cheating on his exams that if he just spent the effort studying he would have actually done well. Instead, he ended up doing quite poorly. We'll refer to this friend as Sam instead of using his real name.
Sam, unfortunately, was plagued by the idea of "making it" via Hollywoods outlook. He looked up to movies like Wolf of Wallstreet where making it meant partying heavy, strippers and blow and fast cars and living the dream surrounded by women. An absolute fantasy world that is the fast track to poverty.
After high school he claimed to have gone to a prestigious university in their engineering program, which I knew at the time was a lie. He didn't have the grades, nor did he put in the effort for university. I was taking CS at a really good university at the time, so I expect he was trying to prove something to me. After university I ended up working for the military as a pilot, whereas he kind of disappeared for some time. I was fortunate enough to make some early investments in crypto during university so came out minimally scathed by debt, was able to get a nice car, kinda fell down that slowlane trap. My investments we're doing well for me, I wanted to learn more, I was reading books on investment and leadership. I was fortunate enough to come across MJs first book, Millionaire Fastlane, and despite the clickbaity title, my intuition told me to pick it up and give it a read. Sure enough it changed my life forever. I started reading more, providing myself skills, I was extremely fortunate enough that because of his book I was able to completely bypass that stage of get rich quick schemes.
Fate would have it I would meet up with Sam again and we would catch up. He was determined as ever to make it, but in our discussions I realized he was struggling with his business ventures. He had numerous failed ventures selling absolute garbage that didn't sell. I knew exactly what his issues were and I asked him if he ever reads. He replied to me reading is stupid. I asked him what skills he learned latest, which the answer was none. He wasn't solving problems, he was the problem. I genuinely wanted to help him, so I bought him MJs first book. Naïve me thinking he would read it. I pushed him every day for a month to read it, telling him he needs to read this book. He told me he was reading it, I asked questions pertaining to the book (without his knowledge) and he was unable to answer them. It was clear he was putting 0 effort.
Sam did not give up in his get rich quick schemes however. He had a pickup truck and somehow got a contract delivering BBQs and stuff to people from a major retail store (just one franchise owner). I would hardly call it entrepreneurship but it was serving him a small income and he felt like a bigshot. Sam felt big and he was going to make it big so he came up with a plan. Fake it till you make it. If rich people see me as rich, they'll think I'm rich, take me in and make me actually rich. I assume that's what went on inside his head. His goal was to network and have all these rich people think he was rich and they would take him into their business endeavors and he would then make it rich. But how was Sam going to make people think he was rich? Well, the next week we meet up and he had leased a brand new BMW M4. A car that was wayyyy out of his budget, but if you're willing to sign on x interest rate you can get approved for anything. He had made it. He was bragging to me every day about how he was out partying and doing blow with all these big shots, how he was banging hookers, how he was rolling in cash. Obviously it was a lie, but in his eyes everyone thought he had made it and any time now millionaires were gonna pull him in and he was going to be one himself.
About two months of this, and he calls me. He was asking for me to lend him $150 because he couldn't afford his car after a personal financial emergency as he called it. I told him politely to F off. He pursued again the following three days. He had been bragging to me about doing blow and banging hookers and driving a near 6 figure car, etc. and now I was to just hand him cash? I told him that thinking he would learn from it, but my mistake. For the following month he continued on his escapades of being a bigshot. I encouraged him again to read MJs book (I knew he wouldn't), but a month later he asked me for cash again. I let him have it. I told him exactly what I thought. Productive criticism mind you, I told him where he was, what he was doing and what I thought he needed to do to fix it. Well, boy could he not take any criticism. A key lesson and a necessity in entrepreneurship is being able to take and learn from criticism. He broke down, called me every name in the book. How I was so lucky because I had a successful business, a hot girlfriend, training as a fighter pilot and I was just so lucky. Luck luck luck. In his eyes, I didn't work for any of it, but rather he thought what I did was what he was trying to do, fake it till I make it. A few months later he got that car repo'd. Despite that, he'd post about the car all the time on social media.
I blocked Sam after that, he was un helpable. I should have blocked him way earlier in fact. He had no desire to better himself, to learn, or adapt his skillset. He wanted the easy way to riches, and unfortunately, it made his life tenfold more difficult. He cared not for learning, but rather for free handouts. I recognize this isn't for everyone unfortunately. This is sadly the route most entrepreneurs follow. I've seen similar stories replicated time and time again elsewhere. MJs books really helped me escape that path fortunately. They are an absolute gold mine. It's unfortunate the path that these people follow, but they're valuable lessons that we can all learn from. Last time I looked on social media out of curiosity, he is still following that same path.
I'll share a story of a friend of mine that had goals and dreams of grandeur, like all of us, but let his ego guide him instead of learning from his mistakes. I went to high school with him, he was a good friend, charismatic, smart, but lacked drive. He knew what he wanted in life, but even then he lacked the ability to put effort in the right areas. I remember in many of our classes together, he would never study. Instead he would come up with methods to cheat on exams. He had notes sown into his clothing, contraptions in his pens with notes that would come out, printed labels inside his water bottles, etc., he put so much effort into cheating on his exams that if he just spent the effort studying he would have actually done well. Instead, he ended up doing quite poorly. We'll refer to this friend as Sam instead of using his real name.
Sam, unfortunately, was plagued by the idea of "making it" via Hollywoods outlook. He looked up to movies like Wolf of Wallstreet where making it meant partying heavy, strippers and blow and fast cars and living the dream surrounded by women. An absolute fantasy world that is the fast track to poverty.
After high school he claimed to have gone to a prestigious university in their engineering program, which I knew at the time was a lie. He didn't have the grades, nor did he put in the effort for university. I was taking CS at a really good university at the time, so I expect he was trying to prove something to me. After university I ended up working for the military as a pilot, whereas he kind of disappeared for some time. I was fortunate enough to make some early investments in crypto during university so came out minimally scathed by debt, was able to get a nice car, kinda fell down that slowlane trap. My investments we're doing well for me, I wanted to learn more, I was reading books on investment and leadership. I was fortunate enough to come across MJs first book, Millionaire Fastlane, and despite the clickbaity title, my intuition told me to pick it up and give it a read. Sure enough it changed my life forever. I started reading more, providing myself skills, I was extremely fortunate enough that because of his book I was able to completely bypass that stage of get rich quick schemes.
Fate would have it I would meet up with Sam again and we would catch up. He was determined as ever to make it, but in our discussions I realized he was struggling with his business ventures. He had numerous failed ventures selling absolute garbage that didn't sell. I knew exactly what his issues were and I asked him if he ever reads. He replied to me reading is stupid. I asked him what skills he learned latest, which the answer was none. He wasn't solving problems, he was the problem. I genuinely wanted to help him, so I bought him MJs first book. Naïve me thinking he would read it. I pushed him every day for a month to read it, telling him he needs to read this book. He told me he was reading it, I asked questions pertaining to the book (without his knowledge) and he was unable to answer them. It was clear he was putting 0 effort.
Sam did not give up in his get rich quick schemes however. He had a pickup truck and somehow got a contract delivering BBQs and stuff to people from a major retail store (just one franchise owner). I would hardly call it entrepreneurship but it was serving him a small income and he felt like a bigshot. Sam felt big and he was going to make it big so he came up with a plan. Fake it till you make it. If rich people see me as rich, they'll think I'm rich, take me in and make me actually rich. I assume that's what went on inside his head. His goal was to network and have all these rich people think he was rich and they would take him into their business endeavors and he would then make it rich. But how was Sam going to make people think he was rich? Well, the next week we meet up and he had leased a brand new BMW M4. A car that was wayyyy out of his budget, but if you're willing to sign on x interest rate you can get approved for anything. He had made it. He was bragging to me every day about how he was out partying and doing blow with all these big shots, how he was banging hookers, how he was rolling in cash. Obviously it was a lie, but in his eyes everyone thought he had made it and any time now millionaires were gonna pull him in and he was going to be one himself.
About two months of this, and he calls me. He was asking for me to lend him $150 because he couldn't afford his car after a personal financial emergency as he called it. I told him politely to F off. He pursued again the following three days. He had been bragging to me about doing blow and banging hookers and driving a near 6 figure car, etc. and now I was to just hand him cash? I told him that thinking he would learn from it, but my mistake. For the following month he continued on his escapades of being a bigshot. I encouraged him again to read MJs book (I knew he wouldn't), but a month later he asked me for cash again. I let him have it. I told him exactly what I thought. Productive criticism mind you, I told him where he was, what he was doing and what I thought he needed to do to fix it. Well, boy could he not take any criticism. A key lesson and a necessity in entrepreneurship is being able to take and learn from criticism. He broke down, called me every name in the book. How I was so lucky because I had a successful business, a hot girlfriend, training as a fighter pilot and I was just so lucky. Luck luck luck. In his eyes, I didn't work for any of it, but rather he thought what I did was what he was trying to do, fake it till I make it. A few months later he got that car repo'd. Despite that, he'd post about the car all the time on social media.
I blocked Sam after that, he was un helpable. I should have blocked him way earlier in fact. He had no desire to better himself, to learn, or adapt his skillset. He wanted the easy way to riches, and unfortunately, it made his life tenfold more difficult. He cared not for learning, but rather for free handouts. I recognize this isn't for everyone unfortunately. This is sadly the route most entrepreneurs follow. I've seen similar stories replicated time and time again elsewhere. MJs books really helped me escape that path fortunately. They are an absolute gold mine. It's unfortunate the path that these people follow, but they're valuable lessons that we can all learn from. Last time I looked on social media out of curiosity, he is still following that same path.
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