You forgot to close the loop on the shoe people!Let me tell you a story.
Some years back, a young man and his girlfriend didn't party much. They were students, and we'd see them on campus. It was odd because almost everyone else was enjoying life—studying, working, yet still finding time for get-togethers.
A small group of bubble tea drinkers, karaoke singers, and sometimes in-home board gamers—a tame crowd—managed to get this couple to come out.
They showed up in a BMW 3, not a bad car for a young couple. Everyone assumed their parents paid for their education, with the car as the cherry on top. They fit the image perfectly.
Conversation started, and it turned out they imported sneakers as a "hobby," keeping them too busy for partying. They didn’t invite many friends to their apartment because it was always full of boxes and not visitor-friendly.
All eyes were on them. That’s an amazing hobby. Does it pay?
Well, it paid for our education and the car.
I still remember that couple. It inspired me to chase my first business. It failed before it could even start. I was just 20 and knew nothing. Worse yet, I didn’t want to hear what I was told—too "smart."
There was a thread about "if you had to do it again, what would you do?" The answer’s easy—there is no "again." If I were 20-year-old me, I’d do the same dumb stuff, but I’m not 20. I’ve had decades to get better. I am better now, so it’s not "again." It’s "still." Doing it still.
I remember my first attempt at business, thinking that because I had a buyer for a product, it was in the bag—I’ve got this. Then I thought it was about execution; if only I had the right team, we’d be crushing it. Then I thought I’d just need to know how to do it all, so I could better guide people. Then I thought if I only had enough money, it’d all work out amazingly well.
Business is generally hard. There’s no way to write out steps to follow, as we solve both short-term and long-term problems—sometimes in conflict with each other. Decades taught me this: you need a little bit of everything. Some of it is intuitive, some of it is not.
The moral of the story - get started. The sooner you do, the sooner you'll pick up what you are missing. Because truly, there is no "all over again", there is only "still". You are either "still" not getting better, or "still" getting better.
What happened? Are they quadrillionaires today? Did that company ultimately become Brooks? Don’t leave us in suspense!
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