Make money by making concentrated bets on yourself.
Lose money by making diffuse bets on others.
Invest money by betting on people you would work with, running businesses that you could run.
"If you want to have a maximum effect on the design of a new engineering system, learn to draw. Engineers always wind up designing the vehicle to look like the initial artist's concept."
- From Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design
You’re gonna lose sleep.
You’ll doubt whether it’ll work.
You’ll stress to make ends meet.
You won’t finish your to do list.
You’ll wonder if you made the right call - and have no way to know for years.
This is what ‘hard’ feels like.
And that’s okay.
I’ve said that you should offer to work for free for someone to learn from them. Two caveats:
1) Go for someone 1-2 steps ahead of you, not 20. Elon musk doesn’t need someone getting his coffee.
2) Don’t offer to do stuff for free. DO IT. Don’t ask “how can I provide value?”
^It’s now costing me time to try and figure out a way for you to provide value to me.
Be an adult. Do your homework. Figure out what you can do. Then DO IT. And expect that the person won’t care.
Then keep doing it. And if it’s good, they’ll give you a shot.
You gotta remember - you’re the one with everything to gain here.
Low skilled labor is not in short supply. And training people is expensive.
So - if you want someone further ahead to give you a hand, give them something they’d wanna stick out their hand for.
And if no one is taking you up on your offer, you’ve gotta make it better. Simple as that.
And real talk - sometimes timing isn’t right. I had someone ask to translate one of my books for me. I was distracted. And I said I don’t have time for this now. Guy took it personally. 6 months later I hired a book manager and we’re translating in a lot of languages now. If he reached out now - it would probably work out. No different effort. Just timing FOR ME.
An offer I would take is something that helps me NOW. Make my life easier and faster INCLUDING the interaction w the person (hard hurdle).
Real real - if you wanna do something for me you’re probably gonna have to do work for a leader in my company. Then they’ll offer you a job and I won’t be involved.
Anyways - the work for free cheat sheet:
1) Target people a couple steps ahead not eons ahead.
2) Provide the value first. Don’t ask what you can do.
3) Make then an offer so good theyd feel stupid saying no: what they want, easier, faster, risk free.
—>and realize that the timing may not be right - and be willing to ask more than one person or ask again in the future without getting butthurt.
Hosting a SF #HackerHouse, this summer 🏡☀️
$900/month
June 1 - September 1 🗓
Includes events, speakers, a guide to the city, plug-in to investors, and a wicked community.
Interested? Shoot @SatvikAgnihotri a DM for the link
#SanFrancisco#Tech
If you want to get stuff done faster, organize to create more leverage.
Ex:
If you want to shorten your morning routine, there are 3 things you can control.
1. The number of actions
2. The speed at which you do them
3. The order of actions
Focus on 1,3, then 2.