- Joined
- Aug 25, 2014
- Messages
- 452
Rep Bank
$1,655
$1,655
User Power: 352%
What have I been up to the last 2 years?
The last 2 years has been a period of self establishment (student loan, debt, moving out into my own place, etc) and self-understanding in how I really want to spend my time and what kind of work I truly want to do and be a part of. I’ve spent many days hemming and hawing back and forth between entrepreneurship and some semblance of corporate life.
Luckily, I’ve been extremely fortunate to be able to design a life to put myself in a position where I could self sustain on my business and get by in a non-Californian environment. I could continue building a business and branch out to new ventures. I could travel. I could F*ck-off and do nothing for a while – so why consider corporate life when it is seemingly everything that this forum is against?
-Because I want to feel extremely technically challenged and outside of my comfort zone.
-Because I want to create generational impact.
-And ultimately, because I want to spend my time doing some of the best work of my life.
What does this mean? I believe it is a vastly different perspective and experience between people.
I’ve always had an innovative mind and a knack for creating, tinkering, and designing – that is why I became an engineer in the first place, and over the last two years of procrastinating and bouncing between business and engineering, I’ve came to the realization that I’ve been extremely bored with what I am doing day to day.
And I keep asking myself why?
I’m extremely lucky.
I’m in a position people would die for.
People work night and day working 2 jobs sustain their family while I have an additional income stream that is higher than the average annual income, with only having to put in 4 hours a week in sustaining, if that.
Am I appreciative of my position? Every day.
Did I work hard to put myself in this position? Of course.
Should I be happy? Yes.
Am I Happy? No.
Am I Fulfilled? No.
And the reason that is, is because the work I have been doing, both in my business and at my job, has not been bigger than myself. Much of it is a means to an end, but what have I really been doing to create a big impact on the next generation?
Nothing.
And that is what I realized and decided to take action to address. I asked myself:
"What position can I put myself in which my passion for engineering, my interest in business, and craving for impact can all intersect? And when I dug deeper, what position should I put myself in that aligns with purpose?"
And just like that, an opportunity presented itself at the opportune moment.
One of the leading Autonomous Vehicle startups began to expand and build their teams and I was hired on as the lead power engineer to head the team responsible for all power architecture, distribution, and design across the company. How did this align with what I think I am looking for?
Have I been working 60-80 hour weeks? Sure
Have I worked on my business at all during this time? Not particularly
Am I challenged? Beyond Belief, every single day
Am I growing? Both on the technical side and on the business side
Does my business still generate income? Most definitely
Why can I do this? Because I can.
So Why Did I Write This?
In all honesty, in the past, I’ve felt extremely guilty to be part of the forum and procrastinating on my business while working for a company. My initial philosophy was that entrepreneurship is the way and that’s what I have to aspire towards in creating freedom which created guilt and anxiety – As I’ve matured a bit, my true understanding of the forum’s (and book’s) philosophy is to create a life in which you can do what you want with your time. My self worth is not defined strictly on having a successful business.
If I want to spend my time developing an autonomous vehicle, then that is okay. The point is that it is my choice to do it out of freedom and not necessity.
I am in no way abandoning my business, but life to me is about purpose and fulfillment. How I spend my time is of the most importance – If I can save the life of 1 person through developing this technology, then I’ve created a priceless impact in the world. I can’t put a dollar value on that.
My Biggest Lessons
1. As Kak Says, Think Bigger
Through my time being in this position, I’ve had to restructure my thinking from a bottom up perspective to a top down perspective. What does this mean?
Engineers inherently think of the technical benefits of various solutions and features – But all of these decisions directly impact the business. I’ve had and been in presentations with executive leadership and they way they inherently think and perceive the world and business decisions are vastly different than a typical day-to-day worker/engineer.
If I want to be successful in life, whether it is in business, entrepreneurship, or working at a company, I need to think outside of my core competency and analyze the business cases first and solution’s impact on the bottom life among many other things could be a whole separate post.
2. To Trust My Judgement, Skillset, and Stick To My Guns
As with entrepreneurship, you lean on your past experience for guidance, but many times it is not enough. Life will smack you in the face and you will question whether you are good enough, if you made the correct decision, if you are in over your head, and ultimately, fit for a position of leadership.
Leadership is difficult, both in technical environment and business environments. It takes bravery that takes cultivation. It takes ownership and integrity. And it also takes humility and communication.
You wake up and do the best you can in and out of every single day. You’ll feel in over your head. You’ll be swamped with work. You’ll feel like you’re getting nothing done, but the small steps each and every day will lead to large gains, and in this case, a vehicle that can effectively drive itself in some of the most difficult terrains you can imagine (I’m looking at you SF, NY, LA and your damn no traffic law environments)
3. Know Your F**kin’ Numbers
Last but not least, If people look to you for leadership, you better be certain on your numbers. Many will take what you say as gospel. Decisions will be made based on what you say, sometimes not even what you officially show.
Your words have weight and your perception to other leaders needs to remain in high respect to be able to get things done efficiently and effectively.
In the engineering world and business world, it is no different. My power loss calculations are just as important as how many cents I will save per part. Being able to develop a system that meets the bare business case is as important as developing a safe system.
I can engineer the most elegant solution the world has ever seen. It can be Nobel Prize worthy – but if it doesn’t meet the bare minimum business case, the world will never see it and it will vanish into the ether.
4. It Takes A Village
Creating a product based business and creating a sustainable income stream is achievable for anybody on an individual basis. This can be done completely on your own and an individual can be perfectly content and happy.
But in order to create a product that defines a generation it takes a team. Look at technology in the past 2 decades - How many of these (hardware based) industry disrupting companies were truly made by a single individual before it reached scale?
The iPhone took millions of dollars of R&D to create and launch after years of successes and failures in the computer market.
Netflix was created with a team of software engineers and business partners to create a library to disrupt an industry.
3G, 4G, 5G technologies take years and years of technology and process development to enable these kinds of data speeds through network infrastructures
Electronic vehicles & Battery technology is a whole different ball park.
In the past, because technology was still in relative infancy, an individual or two could create a disruptive product (see the original computers, the wright brothers, Ford, Tesla).
Now as technology has matured there is far to many areas of expertise required to create a truly outstanding and disruptive technology. Specialization is okay if you can place yourself in the right position.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I look back on my late 20’s and early 30’s, I hope I can say that this was truly some of the best work of my life.
Feel free to ask me anything about electrical engineering or the Autonomous Vehicle world. I will explain as much as I can within the general topics I am allowed to speak towards (NDA & Legal).
The last 2 years has been a period of self establishment (student loan, debt, moving out into my own place, etc) and self-understanding in how I really want to spend my time and what kind of work I truly want to do and be a part of. I’ve spent many days hemming and hawing back and forth between entrepreneurship and some semblance of corporate life.
Luckily, I’ve been extremely fortunate to be able to design a life to put myself in a position where I could self sustain on my business and get by in a non-Californian environment. I could continue building a business and branch out to new ventures. I could travel. I could F*ck-off and do nothing for a while – so why consider corporate life when it is seemingly everything that this forum is against?
-Because I want to feel extremely technically challenged and outside of my comfort zone.
-Because I want to create generational impact.
-And ultimately, because I want to spend my time doing some of the best work of my life.
What does this mean? I believe it is a vastly different perspective and experience between people.
I’ve always had an innovative mind and a knack for creating, tinkering, and designing – that is why I became an engineer in the first place, and over the last two years of procrastinating and bouncing between business and engineering, I’ve came to the realization that I’ve been extremely bored with what I am doing day to day.
And I keep asking myself why?
I’m extremely lucky.
I’m in a position people would die for.
People work night and day working 2 jobs sustain their family while I have an additional income stream that is higher than the average annual income, with only having to put in 4 hours a week in sustaining, if that.
Am I appreciative of my position? Every day.
Did I work hard to put myself in this position? Of course.
Should I be happy? Yes.
Am I Happy? No.
Am I Fulfilled? No.
And the reason that is, is because the work I have been doing, both in my business and at my job, has not been bigger than myself. Much of it is a means to an end, but what have I really been doing to create a big impact on the next generation?
Nothing.
And that is what I realized and decided to take action to address. I asked myself:
"What position can I put myself in which my passion for engineering, my interest in business, and craving for impact can all intersect? And when I dug deeper, what position should I put myself in that aligns with purpose?"
And just like that, an opportunity presented itself at the opportune moment.
One of the leading Autonomous Vehicle startups began to expand and build their teams and I was hired on as the lead power engineer to head the team responsible for all power architecture, distribution, and design across the company. How did this align with what I think I am looking for?
- Engineering: I get to take my past experience and apply it to building a team, advising, mentoring, and defining how the whole structure and architecture of power will be within the company and the product.
- Business: I am the lead technical decision maker for power across the company. I have visibility all the way up to executive leadership and they lean on my expertise to make informed and thoughtful decisions.
- Impact: We are creating technology that will define future generations. By the time my parents get to old to drive, my hope Is that there is no need to drive at all. We can reduce the amount of deaths via driving. Create a safer environment for the clients, bikers, and pedestrians. The AV Section has the potential to usher in a whole new industrial revolution that will redefine transportation and infrastructure.
Have I been working 60-80 hour weeks? Sure
Have I worked on my business at all during this time? Not particularly
Am I challenged? Beyond Belief, every single day
Am I growing? Both on the technical side and on the business side
Does my business still generate income? Most definitely
Why can I do this? Because I can.
So Why Did I Write This?
In all honesty, in the past, I’ve felt extremely guilty to be part of the forum and procrastinating on my business while working for a company. My initial philosophy was that entrepreneurship is the way and that’s what I have to aspire towards in creating freedom which created guilt and anxiety – As I’ve matured a bit, my true understanding of the forum’s (and book’s) philosophy is to create a life in which you can do what you want with your time. My self worth is not defined strictly on having a successful business.
If I want to spend my time developing an autonomous vehicle, then that is okay. The point is that it is my choice to do it out of freedom and not necessity.
I am in no way abandoning my business, but life to me is about purpose and fulfillment. How I spend my time is of the most importance – If I can save the life of 1 person through developing this technology, then I’ve created a priceless impact in the world. I can’t put a dollar value on that.
My Biggest Lessons
1. As Kak Says, Think Bigger
Through my time being in this position, I’ve had to restructure my thinking from a bottom up perspective to a top down perspective. What does this mean?
Engineers inherently think of the technical benefits of various solutions and features – But all of these decisions directly impact the business. I’ve had and been in presentations with executive leadership and they way they inherently think and perceive the world and business decisions are vastly different than a typical day-to-day worker/engineer.
If I want to be successful in life, whether it is in business, entrepreneurship, or working at a company, I need to think outside of my core competency and analyze the business cases first and solution’s impact on the bottom life among many other things could be a whole separate post.
2. To Trust My Judgement, Skillset, and Stick To My Guns
As with entrepreneurship, you lean on your past experience for guidance, but many times it is not enough. Life will smack you in the face and you will question whether you are good enough, if you made the correct decision, if you are in over your head, and ultimately, fit for a position of leadership.
Leadership is difficult, both in technical environment and business environments. It takes bravery that takes cultivation. It takes ownership and integrity. And it also takes humility and communication.
You wake up and do the best you can in and out of every single day. You’ll feel in over your head. You’ll be swamped with work. You’ll feel like you’re getting nothing done, but the small steps each and every day will lead to large gains, and in this case, a vehicle that can effectively drive itself in some of the most difficult terrains you can imagine (I’m looking at you SF, NY, LA and your damn no traffic law environments)
3. Know Your F**kin’ Numbers
Last but not least, If people look to you for leadership, you better be certain on your numbers. Many will take what you say as gospel. Decisions will be made based on what you say, sometimes not even what you officially show.
Your words have weight and your perception to other leaders needs to remain in high respect to be able to get things done efficiently and effectively.
In the engineering world and business world, it is no different. My power loss calculations are just as important as how many cents I will save per part. Being able to develop a system that meets the bare business case is as important as developing a safe system.
I can engineer the most elegant solution the world has ever seen. It can be Nobel Prize worthy – but if it doesn’t meet the bare minimum business case, the world will never see it and it will vanish into the ether.
4. It Takes A Village
Creating a product based business and creating a sustainable income stream is achievable for anybody on an individual basis. This can be done completely on your own and an individual can be perfectly content and happy.
But in order to create a product that defines a generation it takes a team. Look at technology in the past 2 decades - How many of these (hardware based) industry disrupting companies were truly made by a single individual before it reached scale?
The iPhone took millions of dollars of R&D to create and launch after years of successes and failures in the computer market.
Netflix was created with a team of software engineers and business partners to create a library to disrupt an industry.
3G, 4G, 5G technologies take years and years of technology and process development to enable these kinds of data speeds through network infrastructures
Electronic vehicles & Battery technology is a whole different ball park.
In the past, because technology was still in relative infancy, an individual or two could create a disruptive product (see the original computers, the wright brothers, Ford, Tesla).
Now as technology has matured there is far to many areas of expertise required to create a truly outstanding and disruptive technology. Specialization is okay if you can place yourself in the right position.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I look back on my late 20’s and early 30’s, I hope I can say that this was truly some of the best work of my life.
Feel free to ask me anything about electrical engineering or the Autonomous Vehicle world. I will explain as much as I can within the general topics I am allowed to speak towards (NDA & Legal).
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Membership Required: Upgrade to Expose Nearly 1,000,000 Posts
Ready to Unleash the Millionaire Entrepreneur in You?
Become a member of the Fastlane Forum, the private community founded by best-selling author and multi-millionaire entrepreneur MJ DeMarco. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has poured his heart and soul into the Fastlane Forum, helping entrepreneurs reclaim their time, win their financial freedom, and live their best life.
With more than 39,000 posts packed with insights, strategies, and advice, you’re not just a member—you’re stepping into MJ’s inner-circle, a place where you’ll never be left alone.
Become a member and gain immediate access to...
- Active Community: Ever join a community only to find it DEAD? Not at Fastlane! As you can see from our home page, life-changing content is posted dozens of times daily.
- Exclusive Insights: Direct access to MJ DeMarco’s daily contributions and wisdom.
- Powerful Networking Opportunities: Connect with a diverse group of successful entrepreneurs who can offer mentorship, collaboration, and opportunities.
- Proven Strategies: Learn from the best in the business, with actionable advice and strategies that can accelerate your success.
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with the most..."
Who are you surrounding yourself with? Surround yourself with millionaire success. Join Fastlane today!
Join Today
