Relying only on your self-limits you.
Learn from those above you. Soak up as much wisdom as you can from those who’ve already lived your goals.
This past semester I had the pleasure to speak with an entrepreneur.
My instructor for one of my classes invited Mr. Yaron Samid to speak to me and the rest of the class.
He didn’t hold back his thoughts.
After a short introduction about himself, he called out the energy levels of the class. He didn’t feel any enthusiasm.
There were around 35+ students sitting in the room, and none of us mustered a speck of life.
Have you been in this situation before? When one person asks questions to a room full of 30 people, but there’s no spirit?
You can feel it.
He criticized students for aimlessly going through the motions of life with no real goals.
I’m not talking about a boring goal of trying to fit in with everyone else:
I’m not talking about following what people told you throughout your life. To work for someone else with no legitimate growth.
Mr. Samid gave us an interesting activity for the class to follow.
It was simple, all he wanted us to do was to tell him what we would do with our lives if money wasn’t an issue at all.
I was shocked. He wasn’t pleased with the answers about securing a normal job after graduation.
He wanted to hear our real passions. Let me repeat, he wanted to hear what we wanted to do with our lives if money wasn’t an issue.
Our answers bored him.
If you could do anything you wanted, free from a job, what would you do?
He wasn’t satisfied with our answers so he gave some examples:
Do you want to be a musician?
Would you write and travel?
Some people stated that they would like to do these things, but it’s just too much work…
He asserted to us that putting in the hard work isn’t optional; especially if one wants to develop their entrepreneurial skills.
Finally one of my peers gave him a real answer.
“I would create a podcast with all of my friends to talk about movies…”
He applauded him for speaking with authenticity. He didn’t care what he wanted to do, he needed to hear something authentic.
Something rooted in passion.
Now, how can this passion bring you money?
Build a business. Put your entrepreneurial skills to the test.
David Ogilvy, the father of advertising, once said: “If you’re both a killer and a poet, you get rich.”
Stay true to what you’re ambitious about, but don’t forget the end goal. Money.
Mr. Samid told us more about his personal background:
In his own words, he was the “poster child for the undecided.”
Like most people, he went to college and graduated not really knowing what to do with his life after.
He worked at top PR firms after college, thought of a great idea to simplify press clippings, and then his boss fired him for challenging the structure of his job.
What did he do without a job?
He realized that his true passion was in business. It was time to develop those entrepreneurial skills.
His words ignited a spark of motivation. Instead of wasting time on video games, Netflix, or whatever, I need to focus on my real future.
Having a job is comforting, but to be an entrepreneur? Liberating.
Yaron told the rest of the class that there’s someone in this class he wants to speak to.
“There’s someone in this classroom right now, that knows they need to speak with me…”
“…some are fine with the idea of finding a comfortable job, and living your life like the way you were told to…but there’s someone out there who can’t stand the thought of working a normal job and going through the motions of life like everyone else.”
If you have a job, make sure it’s something you’re fired up for every day.
You don’t want to wake up one day and realize you’re stuck in a soul-crushing cycle with no way out.
He said he’d speak with those that resonated with his words.
Someone who wants to challenge the norms society places on us.
Someone who wants to be a Maverick.
Find like-minded people.
Let’s develop our entrepreneurial skills. Good luck.
J