I would say that the lesson learned for
me to anybody else out there interested
in starting a business is please find
something you’re passionate about
because it’s so much work it’s so much
time it’s so much effort but if the
subject matter is something that you you
genuinely love to be involved with it’s
not going to be that big of a drag and
it’s not going to be that big much work
it’s going to be incredibly exciting and
rewarding because to your point you’ll
feel like you’re living your the life
that you’re meant to live a company is
simply a group of people and as a leader
of people you have to be a great
listener and you have to be a great
motivator you have to be very good at
praising and looking for the best in
people and you know people are no
different between two implies that you
water flowers they flourish if you
praise people they flourish and and
that’s the critical attribute of a
leader
[Music]
your actions you should always feel
enlightening in your jobs your actions
are somehow have a good purpose behind
they better the world in some way don’t
ever do something just because it’s an
assignment you better believe that it’s
just there is some in the interval that
is good for the world almost every new
invention and computer and all came
about from those ideals I mean I really
want to help the world communicate so
much you know other people inspired me
into a revolution I want to be a part of
James whooping want to be a part of
better education what the apart of the
Yonkers and have them so much mastery
over technology and be able to do things
they never could before
those were the goods that were pushing
me it is almost all without those thirds
I wouldn’t even designed a computer if
you’re going to start your own thing you
know maybe you have a grand grand vision
of like all the different features it’s
going to have and all the different you
know revenue lines you’re going to do
and you know keep keep that vision but
do one piece of that first and do it
really really really well it’s so much
better to do a few things well than many
things poorly
you can’t you can’t fulfill your full
passion whether it’s through music or
art or dance if you’ve lost sight of the
things that make you a real person and I
had to like refine myself almost like
wow what is it that makes me me and once
I refined that it’s like everything else
came together again I was able to write
again I was able to create but without
those things then you lose sight of
everything the definition of values is
they’re the behaviors or principles that
you religiously adhere to within your
company
when I say religious I mean that no
amount of data will sway you and from
from those principles and the degree to
which that you have the courage to
maintain your conviction around those
ideas is the degree to which you’re
going to be successful over the long
term so many things go wrong when you’re
starting a company and often I think
people ask you know what mistakes should
you avoid making and you know my answer
the question is don’t even bother trying
to avoid mistakes because you’re going
to make tons of mistakes right and the
the important thing is actually learning
quickly from whatever mistakes you make
and not giving up right and I mean there
are things every single year of
Facebook’s existence that could have
killed us or made it so that it just
seemed like moving forward and making a
lot of progress just seems intractable
but you just kind of
and you learned and nothing is
impossible you just have to kind of keep
running through the wall
[Applause]
basically the theory is we’re all born
thinking like entrepreneurs you know
like when we crawl and we thought oh and
Paul you know we’re trying to walk we
figure it out
entrepreneurs always figure out you’re
born thinking like an entrepreneur that
you know what I’m going to figure this
out regardless and I’m going to keep
going now
Austin’s the challenge is families and
friends convinced you not to be an
entrepreneur because when you say I’m
going to change the world maybe the most
famous person I’m going to save the
seals they say don’t do that you it
didn’t happen before it’s never having
you’re going to you’re going to you’re
going to fail you can embarrass us and
put the limiters on it they push the
limit is they put the blinders on you
but true entrepreneurs was just keep
figuring it out if you’ve got a movie
fan you’ve got a movie maker like
there’s I’ve never met a film maker that
wasn’t a movie buff first I don’t care
who it is whether it’s like me or great
directors like Scorsese and Quentin
Tarantino they’re hardcore movie fans
who still imbibe so I don’t think it’s
possible to be a filmmaker unless your
film fan so I always encourage everyone
in those q and A’s where I’m like if
you’re here listening to me talk about
this stuff you are not a film fan your
filmmaker you just have made of film yet
go out and make your film because who
knows better how to do with stuff and
pretty people that consume it on a
regular basis
we’re not different I was you i sat
there watching other people’s stuff and
I just got to a place where I was like
why then why not me
like if this camp is a movie why can’t I
make a movie and stuff which is funny
because that’s what my movies make
people do that like you know Gosar’s
counts
I’m making a movie that’s a good call to
arms on I’m not even insulted by that am
i good whatever makes you step forward
and try yourself expressions the only
reason anyone knows my name or my work
and I’ve been doing this for 22 years I
haven’t had to get a real job is because
it started with the first step gone like
why can’t I do that you know like I see
people do it and that’s interesting and
I like their stories but never saw my
world represented up on the screen and
that’s where I looked for myself I never
found myself in a classroom never found
myself in the church men closest moments
I’ve ever had to finding out who I am
that’s been an art sitting in the movie
here watching the movie man some dark
mirror you see yourself reflected in a
weird way in reading and listening to
music watching TV these are the closest
moments where I was like oh I think this
is who I am stiffly good so that’s
that’s within everybody
the people I talked to thought I was
crazy and like it’s very possible in an
alternate universe I might have been
wrong but just the fact that people were
taking more photos and that each and
every person had a camera in their
pocket meant that there was no way that
there was going to be something around
photos that would happen in in the
valley and people starting companies
around it the question would be can you
compete against the big guys and we were
just unique enough and we position
ourselves in such a way that we were
differentiated and people wanted to use
it and not just like kind of started the
flywheel
and you know what everybody wants to
hear what they already believe to be
true and so the last thing they want to
hear is an original idea that
contradicts their belief system so it’s
very hard to even bring that kind of
stuff up but those are the things those
are the only things things that you
believe that everybody around you
doesn’t believe when you’re right that
creates real value everything else
people already know there is no value
created it’s just business legal so it’s
so important to think for yourself
[Music]
don’t solicit feedback on your product
your idea of your business just for
validation purposes be really careful
about that you want to tell the people
that can help move your idea forward but
if you’re just looking to your friend
coworker husband wife for validation
be careful because that is love and
concern a lot of people will express
some concerns and it can stop a lot of
multi-million dollar ideas right in
their tracks in the beginning and if
you’re really trying to achieve
something then so to say hey here’s my
vision and I’d like to say be obstinate
about your vision but be really flexible
about your tactics what does that mean
it’s sort of like think big act small
what that means is it’s important to
have a vision of where you’re trying to
go how you get there is a series of
experiments now you can call them Excel
yers when they don’t work but they’re
learning experiments where you try
things see what works try the next thing
well I think that’s hope you always have
to ask themselves do you believe in the
concept of what you’re doing you believe
that there’s really is there there ii
forgot to write you know product package
or white way to reach users as you
believe that then you know keep keep
scrapping because usually there’s a way
[Music]
your online limitations are those which
you set up in your own mind or permit
others to set up for you but it seems
like knowing who you are inside who you
are and believe it in that person and
remember that your life and saying today
it’s a good person I am and I have some
good honest and a good hand on my
shoulders and I don’t want to be
corrupted by the successes I’m going to
have in life and in business I don’t
want to be corrupted and go in different
ways if I make a lot of money I still
want to be that good you’re human he
thinks well like I said don’t don’t set
yourself up for those frowns you know
and you don’t always have to win every
single argument you can think your way
and believe your thoughts are good in
your own brain and somebody else doesn’t
agree with you it’s okay
they just think a different way there’s
no need to look at the world oh we’ve
all got to be in competition it’s my way
everyone has to be just like me or
they’re no good they have to use my
computer then go to my school they have
to be my country you know them to do
things my way that’s not the way to
think be very open to a lot of different
people have differences and we can all
still see each other as good and we get
along a lot better and have a lot more
peace that way acceptance of others is
the key what we really want to do is
raise our level of awareness so the
expectation becomes a natural state for
our mind to be in and we’ve already
mentioned that expectation is a mindset
it’s a mental state and you’re going to
find that that state comes to you with
an increase of awareness I never give up
I never give up I go my own way risk my
life so this I always tell the people
not because one one faith fall down you
just give up never give up never give up
one day you succeed
I think it’s really to be true to
yourself and listen as much as one is
able to other people whose opinions you
respect and look up to but in the end it
has to come from from you and you you
can’t really worry too much by looking
to the left or the right about what the
competition might be doing or other
people in your field might be doing it
has to be a true vision
[Music]
and there are a lot of people from whom
we can learn a lot and I think like you
know the one piece of advice like don’t
underestimate anyone you come across a
trend like whether they’re you know a
blue collar worker waiting for the bus
or they’re you know helping you at
you’re the server bartender at the
restaurant or they’re a lower-ranking
employee I mean the smartest leaders
I’ve ever seen have always gone around
the room and asked for everybody’s
opinion and oftentimes the best
methodology is to start with the perfect
experience just one person get that
right and then forget how to scale
something great instead of scaling Sammy
not so great and then trying to improve
it that’s really hard to do
you’re really trying to solve a new
problem in a different way you have to
come to problems with beginner’s mind
right not knowing something can be a
very powerful tool in to accomplishing
it because you don’t know that it’s not
possible that’s what doing a startup is
not realizing that something is
impossible in doing it anyway
we get to create any company we want
right we get to create the reason for
its existence we get to create the rules
the game and who we hire and how we hire
them and who can stay and who can’t stay
it’s beautiful
and so I just would encourage everyone
that as we all contemplate life to try
to question the assumptions that we live
by and the default options that are
given to us and expand our thinking to
wonder what we really can do with our
lives
[Music]
your job is to make sure that you stay
as agile as possible so that you can
find what will be your company as you
grow and it comes down to the fact you
need to iterate as quickly as possible
to find fit
[Music]
a lot of people don’t want to try things
that might not work you know they never
wants to try the short thing and there’s
no such thing as a sure thing and if
you’re looking at somebody else’s work
to try to gauge your own as I have for
years you will constantly feel like a
failure
instead concentrate on telling your
story I bring this thing I’m real big on
your voice is your only crusade that’s
all I got the things you see and
perceive the prism through which you
process all the information that you
take it as may be the most unique
supercomputer on the planet you need
from everybody that perspective is
valuable insanely valuable so nobody
else could give it but you and that’s
why it’s always better to shoot weird or
shoot different or shoot original as
opposed to shoot what works like or go
for a successful model or as I’ve tried
to do try to be John Reeves or something
like that you’ll never succeed that way
if you try using your own boys you try
expressing your own thoughts that nobody
else to do that’s obsessed shot at
success because that’s the thing you
bring to the table that nobody else
could bring and if your timing is
fantastic and say the right thing at the
right time you could have a career so
when you get into business they tend to
like tell you to shoot it up and like
take off the edges and make it look like
this hey that works do that but always
shoot for that thing that you want to do
[Music]
a wealth a well-thought-out critique of
whatever you’re doing is as valuable as
gold and you should seek that from
everyone you can but particularly your
friends
performing under pressure whether it’s
me or anybody else is the same you know
I have the same pressures as anyone else
there’s time there’s performance there’s
financial I mean zero you know there’s
deadlines my pressures are not unique
the situations may be different or you
know but but everybody has the same
kinds of pressures but what I found for
what I find fascinating is the
interpretation of the stimuli let me let
me explain so I was watching the
Olympics last summer Olympic and I was
amazed at how bad the questions were
that the reporters would ask all the
athletes and almost always they asked
the same question whether they were
about to compete or after they competed
were you nervous right and to a team all
the athletes went no right and what I
realized is it’s not that they’re not
nervous it’s their interpretation of
what’s happening in their bodies I mean
what happens when you’re nervous right
your heart rate starts to go you’re you
know you sort of get a little tense you
get a little sweaty right you can have
expectation of what’s coming and we
interpreted that is I’m nervous now
what’s the interpretation of excited
your heart rate starts to go you become
you’re anticipating what’s coming right
you get a little sort of like tense it’s
all the same thing it’s the same stimuli
except these athletes these these
Olympic quality athletes have learned to
interpret the stimuli that the rest of
us would say is nervous as excited they
also the same thing no I’m not nervous
I’m excited and so I’ve actually
practiced it just to tell myself when I
start to get nervous that this is
excitement you know and to where when
you used to be speaking for a large
audience
somebody say how do you feel it’s a
little nervous now when somebody says
how do you feel and like really excited
actually and it it came from just sort
of telling myself no no this is
excitement and it becomes a little bit
automatic later on
but it’s kind of a remarkable thing to
deal with pressure by interpreting what
your body is experiencing as excitement
rather than nerves and it’s really kind
of effective it makes you want to rush
forward rather than pull back and yet
it’s the same experience
the hardest thing to do is start you
have all these ideas and everyone has an
idea but it’s really about executing the
idea and building the idea and
attracting other people to help you work
on the idea that is the biggest
challenge but the way to begin is to get
the idea out of your head draw it out
you know talk about it program it if
you’re a programmer or make it if you’re
building something you are going to
incur it incur a lot of disappointment a
lot of failure a lot of pain a lot of
setbacks a lot of defeats but in the
process of doing that you will discover
some things about yourself that you
don’t know right now
what you will realize is that you have
greatness within you what you’ll realize
is that you’re more powerful than you
can ever begin to imagine what you will
realize is that you’re greater than your
circumstances that you don’t have to go
through life being a victim
[Music]
the road to success is through
commitment and through the strength to
drive through that commitment when it
gets hard and it is going to get hard
and you’re going to want to quit
sometimes but it’ll be colored by who
you are and more who you want to be
it’s not about having more followers on
Twitter than your friends
it’s not about outdoing anyone it’s
about how to outdo yourself it’s not
about selling more books or getting more
TED views than somebody else it’s about
how to make sure that the work that
you’re producing is better than your
work you produced before you are your
competition and that is what ensures you
stay in the game the longest and that is
what ensures you find joy because the
joy come not from comparison but from
advance
[Music]
[Music]
now when I decided to leave the gym and
go independent this was already a goal
of mine I read out I’ve written out all
of my goals writing goals are very
important is very important
I wrote my goals out and I think it was
like 10 of them and then a year later
maybe 2 years later I went back to that
book and I’m sweating everything I’ve
written now I hate it without even
thinking about it something powerful
about writing your goals
[Music]
we’re not going to always make the right
steps and sometimes you have to back up
and try again and if you’re in a
position where you can’t back up and try
again you’ve trapped yourself and the
system will set out honey pots for
people to get trapped in the system will
set out the ideas of retirement the
ideas of the golden years providing you
benefits providing you a healthy work
environment why well because they want
people to work for them they don’t want
people to realize their own dreams and
escape but those let’s pain in the ass
you got to hire more people and train
them and they want to set it up so that
you stick around stick around some sort
of an unsatisfying world it’s up to you
to see that video game problem to see
that issue as it comes up on the map
known I think this is a right turn to
see all the problems that could
potentially lay in front of you and
calculate your your future and then also
look around all the people that didn’t
do it and look at the misery that
they’re in and learn you don’t want to
be like them and then look at the people
that are kind of tipping chances
navigated their way what do they do
differently what would objectivity do
they have that maybe you lack what
insight into their own mistakes are they
willing to delve into that you’re not
that you step back and because you know
I just don’t I just don’t want to look
at myself that closely but the person
who’s able to look at themselves the
closest it’s going to get the more
rational results
[Music]
you already know who you are and that
piece that piece that we’re after lies
somewhere beyond personality your need
for acceptance can make you invisible in
this world don’t let anything stand in
the way of the light that shines through
this form risk being seen in all of your
glory
[Music]
[Music]
and it so it’s okay to have a sense of
self-awareness and identity but it’s not
okay to have an ego because what an ego
does is the ego is a funny it’s a funny
it’s a funny entity within the human
brain it is on your side when you are
doing great but have you ever noticed
when you when you think you fail it’s
the ego in your mind that tells you it’s
so bad everyone’s looking at you you
start to sweat across your forehead and
you’re like oh my god I can’t believe
this is happening the whole entire world
is watching and none of it is true when
you’re doing great you shouldn’t listen
to that voice when you’re not doing it
great
you shouldn’t listen to that voice
because it’s not good when you’re doing
great it’s going to get you hooked on
that feeling so that when you come down
and and because we all life is a
rollercoaster there’s valleys and peaks
when you hit that valley if you can’t
deal then you won’t make it
[Music]
I feel guilty at 10 to 5 if I’m not in
the office and that might sound sound
strange to you but that’s a second if
there’s a work ethic that I have to be
half dead not to not go to work
when you give somebody your word your
word is so important once I gave her my
word I had to come even I I got the
million other things I got to do with it
well I get with my word and that don’t
go a long way which is in business once
you give somebody where it’s good to get
them right everything that you need to
get done but when you give somebody your
word you got to stand by because when
you start standing by your word you’ll
be able to build more relationships and
resources
[Music]
Oh
[Music]
if you don’t I don’t know the passion
and love you doing for money stuff that
emotional outcomes will be disasters
that’s of my experience is really was
enough I don’t have to be a it’s a pure
passion and the love what I’m doing
[Music]
the separation of talent and skill is
one of the the greatest misunderstood
concepts for people who are trying to
excel who have dreams that want to do
things talent you have naturally skill
is only developed by hours and hours and
hours of beating on your craft there’s
no easy way around it no matter how
talented you are your talent is going to
fail you if you’re not skilled you know
if you don’t study if you don’t work
really hard and dedicate yourself to
being better every single day you’ll
never be able to communicate with with
people
you
a bunch of people that will say yeah
well I’ve a family show you know it’s a
great idea for you to just go out there
and go crazy you have people to support
you need to listen stop saying that
stop saying any of those things every
single person who has ever done anything
worthwhile or exceptional or difficult
or extraordinary anyone whether it’s
great artists or authors or
mathematicians or whatever the it is
everyone encounters difficulties there
is no easy road it does not exist it is
impossible everyone has issues if you
have time to pursue a hobby if you have
time to do anything in your life you can
better yourself and here’s one way you
can never better yourself when you come
up with excuses for why other people are
successful you’re not that’s it’s
dangerous when you give yourself an
escape yeah well that’s easy for you to
say you know you do do do-do-do to trust
me everybody has a hard road I wanted to
jump out a window several times during
my young life I wanted to jump in front
of a train just end it because too much
pressure not really but you know I’m
saying theoretically we all go through
hard times we all go through depression
we all do go through doubt and then
moments in your life where it’s really
difficult when you’re trying to figure
out what your path is going to be it’s
hardest but Stephan and I we’re talking
about this before the podcast starts
that hay is what makes you a person and
those difficult moments are what build
your character show me a great man who’s
the son of a great man
[Music]
yes it’s very easy to be seduced by
doing things efficiently trying to do a
lot of things well I don’t believe
that’s the most important thing the most
important thing is picking the right
things to do in the first place and
that’s being effective versus just being
efficient so within a start-up its
success I don’t think it’s measured by
how many things you can do at once
measured by how effectively you’re able
to pick the one or two things into the
highest priority and there’s always
going to be a deduction to get
distracted and focus on 20 things to
watch and the most effective
entrepreneurs I know are very good at
focusing on one or two things and either
eliminating the rest delegating to other
people or outsourcing it so it’s not
done within the team but it’s actually
two third parties
[Music]
one of the things that I do do before I
go to bed at night is I make a quick
list of the things that I know I have to
deal with of the next day and I try to
get those knocked out before noon
because from Yunnan it’s kind of like
the wild wild west I don’t know what’s
going to happen I don’t know what new
issues going to come up and so you want
to really be smart about your time to
knock out the things that you have – who
do I have to talk to what do I have to
review what do I have to do with a bank
or an employee or one of the businesses
you want to get out what I would call
the housekeeping you get the
housekeeping done in the morning and
then you get to kind of go farm the
fields for the rest of the day and part
of the challenge or part of the
challenge for me at least is that that
lines get very blurry of when the day
actually shuts off and that can present
a real challenge to you know your
personal life and your friends and and
kind of that balance so it’s hard but
the first part of my day is the focus
and on this particular day when we got
to the end of the run there were some
free bagels and they had picnic tables
set up and on one side was a group of
volunteers on the table were boxes of
bagels and on the other side was a long
line of runners waiting to get their
free bagel so I said to my friend let’s
let’s get a bagel and he looked at me
and said there’s lines too long and I
said free bagel and he said I don’t want
to wait in line and I was like free
bagel and he says not it’s too long and
that’s when I realized that there’s two
ways to see the world some people see
the thing that they want and some people
see the things that prevents them from
getting the thing that they want I could
only see the bagels he could only see
the line and so I walked up the line I
leaned in between two people put my hand
in the box and pulled out two bagels and
no one get mad at me because the rule is
you can go after whatever you want
you just cannot deny anyone else to go
after whatever they want
now I had to sacrifice choice I didn’t
get to choose which bagel I got I got
whatever I pulled out but I didn’t have
to wait in line
so the point is you don’t have to wait
in line you don’t have to do it the way
everybody else has done it you can do it
your way you can break the rules you
just can’t get in the way of somebody
else getting what they want
[Music]
the other thing is that you get to work
your butt off if you think that you’re
gonna go and accomplish something really
special and be the best in anything in
the world and you think you can do it
without working you make a big mistake
because no matter what I did if it was a
bodybuilding or an acting or if it is me
in the political arena it always took a
model out in York and we got to put out
and you got to you know something like a
lot of sacrifices notice if you don’t
really work hard
forget about it so there’s another rule
that is very important when you wake up
in the morning and your life means
something to somebody other than you
that you have a purpose if you don’t go
do the things that you’re going to do
people’s lives will suffer and I think
that that kind of purpose that’s like to
live in service not to you but to live
in service to humanity
to live in service to your family to
live in service to your church to your
city to your country to the world living
in service is that I feel like that is
the purest form of joy
sometimes your life will be in a slump
just like sports some of the best
shooters can’t hit baskets different
times and games they get in a slump do
they sit on the sideline ization you
digested hit a basket today
no they continue to execute I suggest to
you that if you are facing a challenge
don’t stop
stay busy work your plan continue to do
those things that you know that work for
you after you have evaluated yourself in
the situation
continue to move stay busy stay busy
stay busy
[Music]
just have to have a total and complete
passion because there’s going to be so
many dark moments you know I think the
dark moments are true for any
entrepreneur or any startup company I’m
sure that you talked to Steve Jobs and
Apple you see many many dark dark
moments ours happened to last a little
longer than most of them but you really
emotionally have to be prepared for
those dark moments I think every
entrepreneur I’ve ever spoken to which
would echo that yeah there are dark
moment when everything is on the line
that’s the life of an entrepreneur and
so you’re going to be into it you better
be prepared for that you know you have
two choices in life basically it’s it’s
basically to succeed or to fail you know
saying and I’ve been the negative Road
and I’ve been the positive road and I
would never give up the positive road
never I would never even if you know I’m
saying it’s always the biggest flop in
the world
I only invest in things that I
understand and things that I use or
would use myself this is really really
really important
anytime I step outside of that is
usually when the universe kicks me in
the nuts really hard and I lose my money
I think it’s critical to as an
entrepreneur scratch your own itch it
increases the odds of success or the
probability of success and then it as an
investor I look for people who are
scratching their own itch
passion is not an actionable word it’s
correct you know that those who do the
things that they’re passionate about do
better but it’s not helpful advice and
so the question is where does patch and
come from passion is a result passion is
an energy passion is the feeling you
have when you’re engaged in something
that you love passion is the feeling you
have that you would probably do this for
free you know and you can’t believe
somebody pays you to do it you know
and I think we mistake that passion is
something we do in our private lives but
it shouldn’t be done you know in our
careers for example and I’m a firm
believer that you are who you are and
anybody who says I’m different at home
than I am at work in one of those places
you’re lying and the goal is to make
everything you do in home and at work
something that you have excitement to do
so how do you find the thing that you’re
excited to do well it’s actually easier
than you think what are the things that
you love to do what is that you would do
for free everywhere everyone likes to
talk about failures you know but the
main thing is you might have a lot of
little small steps every one of those
steps seem to not take you anywhere and
money it didn’t get you much more money
didn’t get any money but you know you’re
kind of proud you show them off to
friends even your mind was increasing
your methods of coming up with better
solutions was increasing you not only
have to now read a book on how things
are done you can write the book and
that’s called creativity you create new
things yourself
success with the progressive realisation
of a worthy ideal anyone that has a goal
and they’re moving towards if they’re
successful and so you want to begin to
take some chances you want to begin to
challenge yourself and make it okay to
fail and learn from you failure I wake
up to have a chance to meet new people
and learn things it’s a people game
right like the people you surround
yourself with over time or the people
that kind of influence what you end up
doing further on and I just saw so many
people starting companies there was like
seems like a lot of fun I want to try
that too
[Music]
anybody can do this crap I’ve spent 20
years trying to tell people like pick up
a camera it doesn’t take much sometimes
you just need somebody to be like it’s
this simple dude and give you three
steps and suddenly you’re like that’s it
I can take it the rest of the way
getting started is always the hardest
part
yeah the best business models in the
world are the ones where you like ask
people what they want and they tell you
and you go and you build it and like
every now and then you have to read
between the lines because no one at the
beginning of Instagram was like I want a
photo sharing app no one in fact very
few people but when we built it they
were like over it no I don’t want a
photo sharing app that just does what I
know photo sharing apps do I do want a
photo sharing app that makes my photos
look cool some of the greatest work
comes from paying or some great word
comes from some love from loss it’s like
wanting to be the best at whatever you
do never stop it to you the best like I
don’t believe they’re doing anything
halfway I believe in going all the way
so never stop
[Music]
you know you you can’t change the way
you are wired much but you can change a
lot of what you do without wiring when
you write down the qualities of that
person that you’d like to buy to 10% of
look at that list and ask yourself is
there anything on my list I couldn’t do
the answer is there won’t be and when
you look the person yourself short and
you look at those qualities that you
don’t like if you see any of those in
yourself you can tell them whatever it
may be selfishness you can get rid of
that I mean that is not ordained and if
you follow that and then Franklin did
this and my old boss Ben Graham did this
early ages and their young teens they
just Ben Graham looked around and he
said who do I hire you know and we want
to be admired himself and he said you
know why do I bother these other people
and he said if I admire them for these
reasons maybe other people will admire
me if I behave in a similar manner and
he decided what kind of a person he
wanted to be and if you follow that at
the end you’ll be the person you want to
my 10% off I mean that’s the goal in the
end and it’s something that’s achievable
by everybody in this room
[Music]
[Music]
we all go through hard times we all go
through depression we all do go through
gout trust me everybody has a hard road
that is what makes you a person and
those difficult moments are what build
your character sometimes you just got to
get up and get done because sometimes we
have to pull yourself up and you have to
push forward even if you want to stay in
bed
[Music]
it constantly seek criticism a well a
well thought out critique of whatever
you’re doing is as valuable as gold and
you should seek that from everyone you
can to particularly your friend
[Music]
my thing is this I keep my eyes on the
prize
I never focus on things outside her way
my focus is the guy that’s in front of
me I always had a dream and my dream was
to be the best no matter what address
[Music]
see we can’t control the thoughts that
come in our minds but we can control the
thoughts that we dwell on
[Music]
now why did I say that entrepreneurship
is the solution to all problem because
entrepreneurship in my view is not about
business it’s about the willingness to
take responsibility for your own life so
anybody can be an entrepreneur in any
situation whatsoever you don’t have to
be a business owner for that you are an
entrepreneur as long as you stand up and
say I am responsible for what happens to
me and I am taking ownership of my life
and I will do what is necessary to make
the results that I want
to happen
[Music]
I had the privilege of going to a Marine
base once and talking to Marines about
how they plan their next move there’s
this phrase called bias towards action
the idea that you can spend all of your
time thinking about what the perfect
next move is trying to plan am I going
to work at Google am I going to work at
Microsoft like which one Kinsey or Bain
like the next perfect move and spending
a tremendous amount of time trying to
figure that out
the Marines say you can spend all the
time you want but by the time you
figured it out your debt so like
sometimes you need to make a trade-off
of what is the action I can take with
the appropriate amount of information
and risk to move because moving and
progress is what gets us to the next
step by moving and learning it all adds
up that summation of your experience
over the last 10 years is what makes you
into the thing tomorrow that will be
successful all the other jobs that I had
offered there were like two or three a
couple out of start-up one at Microsoft
one of Google I took the lowest salary
of anyone any of the offers that I had
because I wanted to work in a specific
job at Google I didn’t care what job it
was actually I just cared that it was at
Google and I would surround myself by
amazing people that was the first lesson
that I learned just like go to where the
people are short term long term trade
offs just go to where the people are of
course we look for disconfirming it
would have
one of the directors said very simply we
should make a list of everything that
irritates a customer and we should
eliminate those defects one by one
and of course that is the way to compete
on a service business involves
continuing fanaticism and so forth one
of the reasons we bought the little
company in Logan Utah is that we like
the service at ethos of the place and
their recruitment methods well is it to
be the best every day the goal isn’t out
to outdo your competition every day
that’s a finite construction finite
player is play to be bet to beat the
people around them infinite players play
to be better than themselves to wake up
every single day and say how can we make
our company a better version of itself
today than it was yesterday how can we
create a product this week that’s better
than the product we created last week we
also have to play the instant game it’s
not about being ranked number one it’s
not about having more followers on
Twitter than your friends it’s not about
outdoing anyone it’s about how to outdo
yourself it’s not about selling more
books or getting more Ted views than
somebody else it’s about how to make
sure that the work that you’re producing
is better than the work you produced
before you are your competition and that
is what ensures you stay in the game the
longest and that is what ensures you
find joy because the joy comes not from
comparison but from advancement
[Music]
I just didn’t spend money on myself I
just dumped all the profit back in the
business and we’re buying vintage stuff
you know for years that it costs five
ten fifteen fifty dollars and you’re
selling it for you know one hundred two
hundred thousand I mean I bought things
for $8.00 that I’ve sold for a thousand
and that’s like that’s really good cash
flow right I didn’t know what that word
even meant you know but it was just like
it looked really good just like building
in the bank
[Music]
[Music]
the separation of talent and skill is
one of the the the greatest
misunderstood concepts for people who
are trying to excel who have dreams that
want to do things talent you have
naturally skill is only developed by
hours and hours and hours of beating on
your craft
[Music]
and I think that’s actually a really
interesting part of this for me is and I
mean being in a place like this where
obviously a lot of you guys are thinking
about starting these starting companies
then you know for me so much of the
lesson that that I feel like I’ve
learned is I feel like it’s really hard
to decide to start a company right you
know Facebook I didn’t started to start
a company I started it because I really
wanted this thing personally and I
believed that it should exist globally
although I wasn’t quite sure that that
we would be able to play a role in doing
that it was mostly just through kind of
like wanting to build it and having it
be this hobby and getting people around
me excited that it eventually kind of
evolved into and got the momentum to
become a company but I never really
understood the psychology of deciding
that you want to start a company before
you understand what you want to do and
this gets back to the question of why
did we why did we first open it at
colleges that had competitors I have
this big fear I think of getting locked
into doing things that aren’t actually
the most impactful things to me this is
like the trait that entrepreneurs have
is they just have this like laser-like
ability to go find where they can have
the most impact and you know when you
take on a new project especially if you
hire people or start a company you’re
doing that project and I mean there are
ways they’re obviously different ways
that it can exit and all that but I
think having the flexibility to explore
a lot of different things which you can
do when you’re in college which is one
of the amazing things about being in
colleges you can work on all these
hobbies and and encode a lot of stuff
and try a lot of different things it’s
this amazing flexibility that I think
most people take for granted and once
you decide ok I’m going to start a
company and I’m going to do it with
someone else you immediately now need to
convince someone else if you want to
change your mind on something and I
think people really undervalued the
option value and flexibility I think
explore what you want to do before
committing is really like the key thing
and keep yourself flexible and know I
think that that’s I agree yeah but but I
think in it you can definitely do that
within the framework of a company but I
think you have to be wary about starting
a company too rigidly because you’re
going to change what you do I mean
people talk about pivot all the time as
if it’s like it didn’t didn’t your thing
didn’t work so you pivoted Facebook
pivoted many times I’m interested you
know we kind of we work College and then
we were not College and then we were
just
website and then we were a platform
right and you’re going to change what
you do
so the first step before even thinking
about investing is getting out of debt
once person gets out of debt now you
want to think about money building money
creation right and money savings like
how to save on taxes and so on and so
forth and that’s what I really like like
the focus of people is getting their
beliefs straight and then building up
wealth right and then once they build up
well there’s this idea of you know
letting the best for the future and so
on and you know what are you investing
for the future for and usually they’ll
say well retirement and that’s only
going to be like let’s say you know for
some people they might not even reach
there other people might be like three
years five years maybe it’s maybe ten
years maybe maybe longer something like
that but why would you leave your whole
life and miss out on all your younger
years because you want to have some
money and if you live a frugal life in
your younger years believe me when you
get older what are you gonna buy them in
your more but you just going to go on
vacation or something like that easy
like I think there’s this is over
emphasis on the retirement people can
focus better on getting financially
independent and financially free and
enjoying their life while they’re young
and also doing good things and they have
that energy and time and and really
bring the happiness that everybody’s
looking for I’m investing
[Music]
but understand that naturally nobody was
interested the world cared less you have
to persuade them you have to show that
you’re the one person out there that can
do it
and so it’s not just about doing focus
groups it’s not just about you know
double-checking your vision it really is
about integrating the concept of testing
our ideas rigorously throughout the
product development process out the
marketing process even as a scalar
[Music]
[Music]
and I think the reality is just you know
not quite so glamorous there’s sort of
there’s no glee side to being an
entrepreneur and also just more
importantly with what you’re actually
spending your time on is just a lot of
hard work today I mentioned this but
you’re basically just sitting at your
desk heads down focus answering
customers customer support emails doing
sales figuring out hard engineering
problems so it’s really important that
you kind of like go in with eyes wide
open
[Music]
[Music]
I think serious you got to make sure
that that you whatever you’re doing is a
great product or service but it has to
be really great and I go back to what I
was saying earlier where if you’re a new
company I mean let’s just like some new
industry or new market that if it’s an
untapped market or then then you have
more ability to do business the standard
is lower for your product or service but
if you’re entering anything where
there’s an existing marketplace against
large entrenched competitors then your
product or service needs to be much
better than that it can’t be a little
bit better because when you put yourself
in the shoes of a consumer and they say
why would you buy it as continuing or is
going to buy the trusted brand unless
there’s a big difference so a lot of
times you know entrepreneur will come up
with something which is only slightly
better and it’s can just be slightly
better rather be a lot better
[Music]
if anybody ever knocks you down in the
sky or tells you you can’t do something
or you know just put the down on what
you’re trying to do in general don’t
don’t take don’t let these things get
you don’t let what these people say have
any effect on you whatsoever you have
the control of your future the control
of you is all in your mind your mind and
your hands trust me if you want
something you can go out there and get
it and and it might take a bit longer
than you first thought doesn’t matter if
you keep going you will get there in the
end if you want it that bad you will
don’t let anybody take control of your
future other then
[Music]
so I have like four friends that are
billionaires and I’ve won one mentor
those two mentors that are billionaires
I’ve always wanted to be a billionaire
to stay seven so I’m almost halfway
there and I think you surround yourself
with the people who are actually you’re
trying to go to get there a whole lot
faster okay we tend to make half the
mistakes you know you’ve kind of
marginalized the risk and so you know if
I give you a really good advice so you
don’t even read the next book I’m not
going to unlock your mind over the books
educate you but they don’t make you
apply anything and if you want to attend
a course courses like great to events
are great because you know you learn a
lot but the application and the
execution is still up to you a mentor on
the other hand will hold you accountable
you know he’ll make you responsible and
he’ll challenge you to really execute on
for the stuff that you learn it so if
idea the dime-a-dozen if you can’t
execute on it it’s worth nothing
you have a most brilliant idea in the
world all the town in the world and you
know
[Music]
I’ve never really viewed myself as
particularly talented where I excel is
ridiculous sickening work ethic you know
while the other guys sleeping I’m
working what other guys eaten I’m
working there’s no easy way around it no
matter how talented you are your talent
is going to fail you if you’re not
skilled you know if you don’t study if
you don’t work really hard and dedicate
yourself to being better every single
day you’ll never be able to communicate
with with people with your artistry the
way that you want so the only thing
[Music]
[Music]
let’s say you’re the leader in a
particular arena if your competitor
focused and you’re already the leader
then where does your energy come from
whereas if your customer focused and
you’re already the leader customers are
never satisfied so you always if your
customer focused you’re always waking up
how can we make that customer say wow
how can we you know our energy are
passionate we want to impress our
customers we want them to say wow it’s
that kind of divine discontent that
comes from observing customers and
noticing that you know things can always
be better
[Music]
you don’t have a team you got to figure
out what that balances for yourself you
can’t take on too much but at the same
time you don’t want to just do one thing
I like to spin a lot of plates because
you put all your eggs in one basket
don’t work out you’re bored you’ve
wasted all that time but the fact of the
matter is back in the day we used to
make a movie and then work on just the
movie and wait so the movie was out and
then figure out what to do next and now
you know it would lead sometimes to like
let’s say you made your 0 you make the
movie over the course of a while it
comes out and of whom I said it’s over
like in a week or two weeks so I like to
spin as many plates as possible that way
like this thing in panning out or this
thing is too far off in the distance or
this thing going to happen the way I
want it
boom we could shift over to something
else so that’s why I do it but when you
do be careful you got to find the right
balance I wish there’s a formula to give
you there’s not all up to you it’s
inside of you
just do as much as you can before you
get to the point where like okay anymore
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
to express oneself honestly not lying to
oneself and to express myself honestly
no fact my friend is very hard to do and
it’s not difficult to learn and speak
the word there’s nothing the difficulty
me
it’s behind what is the meaning what’s
all on the expression and feeling behind
those words now I think that successful
ingredient in it was because I was doing
usually so myself right and did that
part just express myself like I say
honestly express myself
[Music]
[Music]
boys you must strive to find your own
voice because the longer you wait to
begin the less likely you are to find it
at all
the roles that most men lead lives of
quiet desperation
don’t be resigned to that breakout
[Music]
if you want a thing bad enough to glide
and fight to work day and night to give
up your time your peace and your sleep
and if you gladly sweat fought and
fretboard and plan for it and lose all
your terror of the opposition for and if
you simply go up to that thing that you
want with all of your capacity if
neither cold poverty famine circles
sickness the pain of body and grave can
keep you away from the thing that you
want you’ll get
[Music]
you
reflecting now back in my career like my
dedication is what made me successful
because I’ll be honest I wasn’t the most
genetically blessed guy on stage I just
had a lot of dedication commitment and I
was relentless
it all begins kind of with you so you
know that’s about belief you can’t
expect a bunch of people out there to
believe you are this thing unless you be
this thing yourself
[Music]
to be successful you have to be focused
on the life and I think both news
because people mentioned because this is
really important to be successful you
have to be focused on why you are what
why would a keyboard ability if I was to
ask you you know you want to make money
the question is why
what is money by itself is it gonna make
you happy is it going to give the
contention I don’t think it is by itself
wonderful in contention there are many
people in the world who have so much
money available to do without me but yet
they might overdose on drugs or you know
they are also that they might commit
suicide on this or that because model by
itself in disease does not quick
analysis and content so you have to
focus on why you need that goal
why you want to achieve that goal
whether it’s a financial goal with a
location well whatever it is why also
fell right now one of my hearing
[Music]
how many people have you met in your
life who have said things like I had
that idea I knew about that or I I was
so close but I gave up I think sometimes
a difference between success and failure
winning and losing is a very fine line
between those people who will continue
to move forward
[Music]
[Music]
often I just want to ask or I want to
find out what drives people some people
are really driven by money and I don’t
think that’s a bad thing it’s just like
not usually a fit here some people are
really driven by like wanting to make
the world a better place some people are
really driven by wanting to learn like
what drives people like what gets them
up in the morning what like where does
the fire come from because like the best
people in the world just have a fire
about something not about everything but
about something
[Music]
this is my time I own my life I had to
start thinking I had the ability to do
this and I had the mind that that I’m
unstoppable there is something in you
that can transcend your circumstances
that can transcend the nulls and
rejections that can transcend anything
that you’re going through
[Music]
most startups that fail do it ultimately
because they did not make something that
people wanted they made something that
you know that they thought people would
want but they were either in denial
about it about you know whether it was
actually any good or somebody else came
along and made something that people
wanted even more
[Music]
Oh
[Music]
I mean if other people are putting in
40-hour work weeks and you’re putting in
100 hour work weeks then even if you’re
doing the same thing you know that you
will achieve in four months what it
takes them a year to achieve
[Music]
[Music]
when you start with a your company
you’re going to have a lot of anxiety
and stress and fear and your job is to
transform that into self-confidence and
to give you kind of that you know the
ability to say I have clarity I trust
myself I have a feeling for my vision I
can see that happening I work with
entrepreneurs all the time that kind of
shift from you know anxiety to trust
that’s the most important thing that
that they can go through
[Music]
but what we really need to do is think
about what is the smallest possible test
that I can run for this idea for this
concept for this theory get it out there
and get customers views because your
customers are going to be the one to
tell you if it’s really working or not
[Music]
what this all comes down to is doing
something exceptional for users whether
it’s in community whether it’s in
connection or whether it’s in design
this is our big advantage that we can
actually get away with doing it we can
make this the core part of why we’re
doing business
[Music]
about this to size of pain and I don’t
think a lot of people really understand
right
there’s spirits one side of pain that’s
the suffering and the discomfort side of
things because that hurt you remember
what that feels like within there’s
another side of pain
that’s called effort it’s called glory
it’s called if you can find a way to
push through pain there’s something
breathing on the other side of it
I do believe that organizations human
organization transparently unstable they
will fall over and you have to work to
keep the muffler but they fall slowly
most people don’t notice it they let
their success is blind them they don’t
see a following over the following takes
place close at the clasp is quick you
have to do constant assessment you have
to look for the hard crews
[Music]
we are generally a little bit forward
leaning when it comes to trying to make
progress happen for me it’s about
problem-solving and loving to solve
problems and so if you are passionate
about solving problems I end so
sometimes I just like to describe this
as like imagine a really great math
professor with no problems right the
great a great math professor somebody
who who wants the hardest problems who
wants to solve them and love solving
them that’s kind of how I feel about my
work and so it’s not about a man in a
hurry it’s more about really interesting
problems in the world and how you lean
into them and solve things that people
maybe thought weren’t even possible to
solve and that’s fun
[Music]
I always want to better myself I don’t
consider myself I don’t surround
consider other designers competition you
know for me my competition is me from
the season before I’m very ambitious I
always want to better myself
I never sit back and say wow
[Music]
I knew that I wanted to change my life I
knew that I didn’t want to go down the
path that I was going down because I got
scared and fear is a great motivator
I think that success in business is a
very difficult thing to achieve and it’s
more difficult today probably than any
other time despite the vast number of
opportunities and as it relates to
finding your calling in terms of what
the opportunity or the entrepreneurial
adventure is going to be it has to be
linked to something that you are so
passionate and crazed about that you’re
willing to knock down walls and climb
mountains and do the things that are
going to put yourself in a position of
sacrificing so many other things for its
success and you can only do that when
there’s a compelling underlying feeling
that you have that this is something I’m
going to fight to the death people and
without that I think it’s going to be a
commodity based experience not only for
the customer but for you and I think you
can’t really succeed at the levels that
you want to unless you find that thing
that you’re so passionate excited and in
love with and I think because if you’ve
got it along the way you’re going to
have to convince so many other people to
believe in you and the idea any
opportunity and the struggle and the
obstacles of that are going to come can
over only be overcome by this passion
that you have in which you’re going to
be able to get people to follow you over
the over those hurdles I know it sounds
a little bit sophomoric but it’s so true
[Music]
first of all I’d say starting a business
is not for everyone yeah so I generally
starting a business I’d say number one
is have a high pain threshold so the
friend of mine has got a good thing
which is that starting a company is like
eating glass and staring into the abyss
okay that’s that’s generally what
happens because when you first start a
company there’s lots of optimism and
things the things are great and then
sort of happiness at first is high then
you encounter all sorts of issues and
happiness will steadily decline and then
you’ll go through a whole world of hurt
and then eventually you’ll if you
succeed and in most cases you will not
succeed and and Tesla almost in succeed
came very close to failure then if you
succeed then after a long time you will
finally get back to happiness
me to anybody else out there interested
in starting a business is please find
something you’re passionate about
because it’s so much work it’s so much
time it’s so much effort but if the
subject matter is something that you you
genuinely love to be involved with it’s
not going to be that big of a drag and
it’s not going to be that big much work
it’s going to be incredibly exciting and
rewarding because to your point you’ll
feel like you’re living your the life
that you’re meant to live a company is
simply a group of people and as a leader
of people you have to be a great
listener and you have to be a great
motivator you have to be very good at
praising and looking for the best in
people and you know people are no
different between two implies that you
water flowers they flourish if you
praise people they flourish and and
that’s the critical attribute of a
leader
[Music]
your actions you should always feel
enlightening in your jobs your actions
are somehow have a good purpose behind
they better the world in some way don’t
ever do something just because it’s an
assignment you better believe that it’s
just there is some in the interval that
is good for the world almost every new
invention and computer and all came
about from those ideals I mean I really
want to help the world communicate so
much you know other people inspired me
into a revolution I want to be a part of
James whooping want to be a part of
better education what the apart of the
Yonkers and have them so much mastery
over technology and be able to do things
they never could before
those were the goods that were pushing
me it is almost all without those thirds
I wouldn’t even designed a computer if
you’re going to start your own thing you
know maybe you have a grand grand vision
of like all the different features it’s
going to have and all the different you
know revenue lines you’re going to do
and you know keep keep that vision but
do one piece of that first and do it
really really really well it’s so much
better to do a few things well than many
things poorly
you can’t you can’t fulfill your full
passion whether it’s through music or
art or dance if you’ve lost sight of the
things that make you a real person and I
had to like refine myself almost like
wow what is it that makes me me and once
I refined that it’s like everything else
came together again I was able to write
again I was able to create but without
those things then you lose sight of
everything the definition of values is
they’re the behaviors or principles that
you religiously adhere to within your
company
when I say religious I mean that no
amount of data will sway you and from
from those principles and the degree to
which that you have the courage to
maintain your conviction around those
ideas is the degree to which you’re
going to be successful over the long
term so many things go wrong when you’re
starting a company and often I think
people ask you know what mistakes should
you avoid making and you know my answer
the question is don’t even bother trying
to avoid mistakes because you’re going
to make tons of mistakes right and the
the important thing is actually learning
quickly from whatever mistakes you make
and not giving up right and I mean there
are things every single year of
Facebook’s existence that could have
killed us or made it so that it just
seemed like moving forward and making a
lot of progress just seems intractable
but you just kind of
and you learned and nothing is
impossible you just have to kind of keep
running through the wall
[Applause]
basically the theory is we’re all born
thinking like entrepreneurs you know
like when we crawl and we thought oh and
Paul you know we’re trying to walk we
figure it out
entrepreneurs always figure out you’re
born thinking like an entrepreneur that
you know what I’m going to figure this
out regardless and I’m going to keep
going now
Austin’s the challenge is families and
friends convinced you not to be an
entrepreneur because when you say I’m
going to change the world maybe the most
famous person I’m going to save the
seals they say don’t do that you it
didn’t happen before it’s never having
you’re going to you’re going to you’re
going to fail you can embarrass us and
put the limiters on it they push the
limit is they put the blinders on you
but true entrepreneurs was just keep
figuring it out if you’ve got a movie
fan you’ve got a movie maker like
there’s I’ve never met a film maker that
wasn’t a movie buff first I don’t care
who it is whether it’s like me or great
directors like Scorsese and Quentin
Tarantino they’re hardcore movie fans
who still imbibe so I don’t think it’s
possible to be a filmmaker unless your
film fan so I always encourage everyone
in those q and A’s where I’m like if
you’re here listening to me talk about
this stuff you are not a film fan your
filmmaker you just have made of film yet
go out and make your film because who
knows better how to do with stuff and
pretty people that consume it on a
regular basis
we’re not different I was you i sat
there watching other people’s stuff and
I just got to a place where I was like
why then why not me
like if this camp is a movie why can’t I
make a movie and stuff which is funny
because that’s what my movies make
people do that like you know Gosar’s
counts
I’m making a movie that’s a good call to
arms on I’m not even insulted by that am
i good whatever makes you step forward
and try yourself expressions the only
reason anyone knows my name or my work
and I’ve been doing this for 22 years I
haven’t had to get a real job is because
it started with the first step gone like
why can’t I do that you know like I see
people do it and that’s interesting and
I like their stories but never saw my
world represented up on the screen and
that’s where I looked for myself I never
found myself in a classroom never found
myself in the church men closest moments
I’ve ever had to finding out who I am
that’s been an art sitting in the movie
here watching the movie man some dark
mirror you see yourself reflected in a
weird way in reading and listening to
music watching TV these are the closest
moments where I was like oh I think this
is who I am stiffly good so that’s
that’s within everybody
the people I talked to thought I was
crazy and like it’s very possible in an
alternate universe I might have been
wrong but just the fact that people were
taking more photos and that each and
every person had a camera in their
pocket meant that there was no way that
there was going to be something around
photos that would happen in in the
valley and people starting companies
around it the question would be can you
compete against the big guys and we were
just unique enough and we position
ourselves in such a way that we were
differentiated and people wanted to use
it and not just like kind of started the
flywheel
and you know what everybody wants to
hear what they already believe to be
true and so the last thing they want to
hear is an original idea that
contradicts their belief system so it’s
very hard to even bring that kind of
stuff up but those are the things those
are the only things things that you
believe that everybody around you
doesn’t believe when you’re right that
creates real value everything else
people already know there is no value
created it’s just business legal so it’s
so important to think for yourself
[Music]
don’t solicit feedback on your product
your idea of your business just for
validation purposes be really careful
about that you want to tell the people
that can help move your idea forward but
if you’re just looking to your friend
coworker husband wife for validation
be careful because that is love and
concern a lot of people will express
some concerns and it can stop a lot of
multi-million dollar ideas right in
their tracks in the beginning and if
you’re really trying to achieve
something then so to say hey here’s my
vision and I’d like to say be obstinate
about your vision but be really flexible
about your tactics what does that mean
it’s sort of like think big act small
what that means is it’s important to
have a vision of where you’re trying to
go how you get there is a series of
experiments now you can call them Excel
yers when they don’t work but they’re
learning experiments where you try
things see what works try the next thing
well I think that’s hope you always have
to ask themselves do you believe in the
concept of what you’re doing you believe
that there’s really is there there ii
forgot to write you know product package
or white way to reach users as you
believe that then you know keep keep
scrapping because usually there’s a way
[Music]
your online limitations are those which
you set up in your own mind or permit
others to set up for you but it seems
like knowing who you are inside who you
are and believe it in that person and
remember that your life and saying today
it’s a good person I am and I have some
good honest and a good hand on my
shoulders and I don’t want to be
corrupted by the successes I’m going to
have in life and in business I don’t
want to be corrupted and go in different
ways if I make a lot of money I still
want to be that good you’re human he
thinks well like I said don’t don’t set
yourself up for those frowns you know
and you don’t always have to win every
single argument you can think your way
and believe your thoughts are good in
your own brain and somebody else doesn’t
agree with you it’s okay
they just think a different way there’s
no need to look at the world oh we’ve
all got to be in competition it’s my way
everyone has to be just like me or
they’re no good they have to use my
computer then go to my school they have
to be my country you know them to do
things my way that’s not the way to
think be very open to a lot of different
people have differences and we can all
still see each other as good and we get
along a lot better and have a lot more
peace that way acceptance of others is
the key what we really want to do is
raise our level of awareness so the
expectation becomes a natural state for
our mind to be in and we’ve already
mentioned that expectation is a mindset
it’s a mental state and you’re going to
find that that state comes to you with
an increase of awareness I never give up
I never give up I go my own way risk my
life so this I always tell the people
not because one one faith fall down you
just give up never give up never give up
one day you succeed
I think it’s really to be true to
yourself and listen as much as one is
able to other people whose opinions you
respect and look up to but in the end it
has to come from from you and you you
can’t really worry too much by looking
to the left or the right about what the
competition might be doing or other
people in your field might be doing it
has to be a true vision
[Music]
and there are a lot of people from whom
we can learn a lot and I think like you
know the one piece of advice like don’t
underestimate anyone you come across a
trend like whether they’re you know a
blue collar worker waiting for the bus
or they’re you know helping you at
you’re the server bartender at the
restaurant or they’re a lower-ranking
employee I mean the smartest leaders
I’ve ever seen have always gone around
the room and asked for everybody’s
opinion and oftentimes the best
methodology is to start with the perfect
experience just one person get that
right and then forget how to scale
something great instead of scaling Sammy
not so great and then trying to improve
it that’s really hard to do
you’re really trying to solve a new
problem in a different way you have to
come to problems with beginner’s mind
right not knowing something can be a
very powerful tool in to accomplishing
it because you don’t know that it’s not
possible that’s what doing a startup is
not realizing that something is
impossible in doing it anyway
we get to create any company we want
right we get to create the reason for
its existence we get to create the rules
the game and who we hire and how we hire
them and who can stay and who can’t stay
it’s beautiful
and so I just would encourage everyone
that as we all contemplate life to try
to question the assumptions that we live
by and the default options that are
given to us and expand our thinking to
wonder what we really can do with our
lives
[Music]
your job is to make sure that you stay
as agile as possible so that you can
find what will be your company as you
grow and it comes down to the fact you
need to iterate as quickly as possible
to find fit
[Music]
a lot of people don’t want to try things
that might not work you know they never
wants to try the short thing and there’s
no such thing as a sure thing and if
you’re looking at somebody else’s work
to try to gauge your own as I have for
years you will constantly feel like a
failure
instead concentrate on telling your
story I bring this thing I’m real big on
your voice is your only crusade that’s
all I got the things you see and
perceive the prism through which you
process all the information that you
take it as may be the most unique
supercomputer on the planet you need
from everybody that perspective is
valuable insanely valuable so nobody
else could give it but you and that’s
why it’s always better to shoot weird or
shoot different or shoot original as
opposed to shoot what works like or go
for a successful model or as I’ve tried
to do try to be John Reeves or something
like that you’ll never succeed that way
if you try using your own boys you try
expressing your own thoughts that nobody
else to do that’s obsessed shot at
success because that’s the thing you
bring to the table that nobody else
could bring and if your timing is
fantastic and say the right thing at the
right time you could have a career so
when you get into business they tend to
like tell you to shoot it up and like
take off the edges and make it look like
this hey that works do that but always
shoot for that thing that you want to do
[Music]
a wealth a well-thought-out critique of
whatever you’re doing is as valuable as
gold and you should seek that from
everyone you can but particularly your
friends
performing under pressure whether it’s
me or anybody else is the same you know
I have the same pressures as anyone else
there’s time there’s performance there’s
financial I mean zero you know there’s
deadlines my pressures are not unique
the situations may be different or you
know but but everybody has the same
kinds of pressures but what I found for
what I find fascinating is the
interpretation of the stimuli let me let
me explain so I was watching the
Olympics last summer Olympic and I was
amazed at how bad the questions were
that the reporters would ask all the
athletes and almost always they asked
the same question whether they were
about to compete or after they competed
were you nervous right and to a team all
the athletes went no right and what I
realized is it’s not that they’re not
nervous it’s their interpretation of
what’s happening in their bodies I mean
what happens when you’re nervous right
your heart rate starts to go you’re you
know you sort of get a little tense you
get a little sweaty right you can have
expectation of what’s coming and we
interpreted that is I’m nervous now
what’s the interpretation of excited
your heart rate starts to go you become
you’re anticipating what’s coming right
you get a little sort of like tense it’s
all the same thing it’s the same stimuli
except these athletes these these
Olympic quality athletes have learned to
interpret the stimuli that the rest of
us would say is nervous as excited they
also the same thing no I’m not nervous
I’m excited and so I’ve actually
practiced it just to tell myself when I
start to get nervous that this is
excitement you know and to where when
you used to be speaking for a large
audience
somebody say how do you feel it’s a
little nervous now when somebody says
how do you feel and like really excited
actually and it it came from just sort
of telling myself no no this is
excitement and it becomes a little bit
automatic later on
but it’s kind of a remarkable thing to
deal with pressure by interpreting what
your body is experiencing as excitement
rather than nerves and it’s really kind
of effective it makes you want to rush
forward rather than pull back and yet
it’s the same experience
the hardest thing to do is start you
have all these ideas and everyone has an
idea but it’s really about executing the
idea and building the idea and
attracting other people to help you work
on the idea that is the biggest
challenge but the way to begin is to get
the idea out of your head draw it out
you know talk about it program it if
you’re a programmer or make it if you’re
building something you are going to
incur it incur a lot of disappointment a
lot of failure a lot of pain a lot of
setbacks a lot of defeats but in the
process of doing that you will discover
some things about yourself that you
don’t know right now
what you will realize is that you have
greatness within you what you’ll realize
is that you’re more powerful than you
can ever begin to imagine what you will
realize is that you’re greater than your
circumstances that you don’t have to go
through life being a victim
[Music]
the road to success is through
commitment and through the strength to
drive through that commitment when it
gets hard and it is going to get hard
and you’re going to want to quit
sometimes but it’ll be colored by who
you are and more who you want to be
it’s not about having more followers on
Twitter than your friends
it’s not about outdoing anyone it’s
about how to outdo yourself it’s not
about selling more books or getting more
TED views than somebody else it’s about
how to make sure that the work that
you’re producing is better than your
work you produced before you are your
competition and that is what ensures you
stay in the game the longest and that is
what ensures you find joy because the
joy come not from comparison but from
advance
[Music]
[Music]
now when I decided to leave the gym and
go independent this was already a goal
of mine I read out I’ve written out all
of my goals writing goals are very
important is very important
I wrote my goals out and I think it was
like 10 of them and then a year later
maybe 2 years later I went back to that
book and I’m sweating everything I’ve
written now I hate it without even
thinking about it something powerful
about writing your goals
[Music]
we’re not going to always make the right
steps and sometimes you have to back up
and try again and if you’re in a
position where you can’t back up and try
again you’ve trapped yourself and the
system will set out honey pots for
people to get trapped in the system will
set out the ideas of retirement the
ideas of the golden years providing you
benefits providing you a healthy work
environment why well because they want
people to work for them they don’t want
people to realize their own dreams and
escape but those let’s pain in the ass
you got to hire more people and train
them and they want to set it up so that
you stick around stick around some sort
of an unsatisfying world it’s up to you
to see that video game problem to see
that issue as it comes up on the map
known I think this is a right turn to
see all the problems that could
potentially lay in front of you and
calculate your your future and then also
look around all the people that didn’t
do it and look at the misery that
they’re in and learn you don’t want to
be like them and then look at the people
that are kind of tipping chances
navigated their way what do they do
differently what would objectivity do
they have that maybe you lack what
insight into their own mistakes are they
willing to delve into that you’re not
that you step back and because you know
I just don’t I just don’t want to look
at myself that closely but the person
who’s able to look at themselves the
closest it’s going to get the more
rational results
[Music]
you already know who you are and that
piece that piece that we’re after lies
somewhere beyond personality your need
for acceptance can make you invisible in
this world don’t let anything stand in
the way of the light that shines through
this form risk being seen in all of your
glory
[Music]
[Music]
and it so it’s okay to have a sense of
self-awareness and identity but it’s not
okay to have an ego because what an ego
does is the ego is a funny it’s a funny
it’s a funny entity within the human
brain it is on your side when you are
doing great but have you ever noticed
when you when you think you fail it’s
the ego in your mind that tells you it’s
so bad everyone’s looking at you you
start to sweat across your forehead and
you’re like oh my god I can’t believe
this is happening the whole entire world
is watching and none of it is true when
you’re doing great you shouldn’t listen
to that voice when you’re not doing it
great
you shouldn’t listen to that voice
because it’s not good when you’re doing
great it’s going to get you hooked on
that feeling so that when you come down
and and because we all life is a
rollercoaster there’s valleys and peaks
when you hit that valley if you can’t
deal then you won’t make it
[Music]
I feel guilty at 10 to 5 if I’m not in
the office and that might sound sound
strange to you but that’s a second if
there’s a work ethic that I have to be
half dead not to not go to work
when you give somebody your word your
word is so important once I gave her my
word I had to come even I I got the
million other things I got to do with it
well I get with my word and that don’t
go a long way which is in business once
you give somebody where it’s good to get
them right everything that you need to
get done but when you give somebody your
word you got to stand by because when
you start standing by your word you’ll
be able to build more relationships and
resources
[Music]
Oh
[Music]
if you don’t I don’t know the passion
and love you doing for money stuff that
emotional outcomes will be disasters
that’s of my experience is really was
enough I don’t have to be a it’s a pure
passion and the love what I’m doing
[Music]
the separation of talent and skill is
one of the the greatest misunderstood
concepts for people who are trying to
excel who have dreams that want to do
things talent you have naturally skill
is only developed by hours and hours and
hours of beating on your craft there’s
no easy way around it no matter how
talented you are your talent is going to
fail you if you’re not skilled you know
if you don’t study if you don’t work
really hard and dedicate yourself to
being better every single day you’ll
never be able to communicate with with
people
you
a bunch of people that will say yeah
well I’ve a family show you know it’s a
great idea for you to just go out there
and go crazy you have people to support
you need to listen stop saying that
stop saying any of those things every
single person who has ever done anything
worthwhile or exceptional or difficult
or extraordinary anyone whether it’s
great artists or authors or
mathematicians or whatever the it is
everyone encounters difficulties there
is no easy road it does not exist it is
impossible everyone has issues if you
have time to pursue a hobby if you have
time to do anything in your life you can
better yourself and here’s one way you
can never better yourself when you come
up with excuses for why other people are
successful you’re not that’s it’s
dangerous when you give yourself an
escape yeah well that’s easy for you to
say you know you do do do-do-do to trust
me everybody has a hard road I wanted to
jump out a window several times during
my young life I wanted to jump in front
of a train just end it because too much
pressure not really but you know I’m
saying theoretically we all go through
hard times we all go through depression
we all do go through doubt and then
moments in your life where it’s really
difficult when you’re trying to figure
out what your path is going to be it’s
hardest but Stephan and I we’re talking
about this before the podcast starts
that hay is what makes you a person and
those difficult moments are what build
your character show me a great man who’s
the son of a great man
[Music]
yes it’s very easy to be seduced by
doing things efficiently trying to do a
lot of things well I don’t believe
that’s the most important thing the most
important thing is picking the right
things to do in the first place and
that’s being effective versus just being
efficient so within a start-up its
success I don’t think it’s measured by
how many things you can do at once
measured by how effectively you’re able
to pick the one or two things into the
highest priority and there’s always
going to be a deduction to get
distracted and focus on 20 things to
watch and the most effective
entrepreneurs I know are very good at
focusing on one or two things and either
eliminating the rest delegating to other
people or outsourcing it so it’s not
done within the team but it’s actually
two third parties
[Music]
one of the things that I do do before I
go to bed at night is I make a quick
list of the things that I know I have to
deal with of the next day and I try to
get those knocked out before noon
because from Yunnan it’s kind of like
the wild wild west I don’t know what’s
going to happen I don’t know what new
issues going to come up and so you want
to really be smart about your time to
knock out the things that you have – who
do I have to talk to what do I have to
review what do I have to do with a bank
or an employee or one of the businesses
you want to get out what I would call
the housekeeping you get the
housekeeping done in the morning and
then you get to kind of go farm the
fields for the rest of the day and part
of the challenge or part of the
challenge for me at least is that that
lines get very blurry of when the day
actually shuts off and that can present
a real challenge to you know your
personal life and your friends and and
kind of that balance so it’s hard but
the first part of my day is the focus
and on this particular day when we got
to the end of the run there were some
free bagels and they had picnic tables
set up and on one side was a group of
volunteers on the table were boxes of
bagels and on the other side was a long
line of runners waiting to get their
free bagel so I said to my friend let’s
let’s get a bagel and he looked at me
and said there’s lines too long and I
said free bagel and he said I don’t want
to wait in line and I was like free
bagel and he says not it’s too long and
that’s when I realized that there’s two
ways to see the world some people see
the thing that they want and some people
see the things that prevents them from
getting the thing that they want I could
only see the bagels he could only see
the line and so I walked up the line I
leaned in between two people put my hand
in the box and pulled out two bagels and
no one get mad at me because the rule is
you can go after whatever you want
you just cannot deny anyone else to go
after whatever they want
now I had to sacrifice choice I didn’t
get to choose which bagel I got I got
whatever I pulled out but I didn’t have
to wait in line
so the point is you don’t have to wait
in line you don’t have to do it the way
everybody else has done it you can do it
your way you can break the rules you
just can’t get in the way of somebody
else getting what they want
[Music]
the other thing is that you get to work
your butt off if you think that you’re
gonna go and accomplish something really
special and be the best in anything in
the world and you think you can do it
without working you make a big mistake
because no matter what I did if it was a
bodybuilding or an acting or if it is me
in the political arena it always took a
model out in York and we got to put out
and you got to you know something like a
lot of sacrifices notice if you don’t
really work hard
forget about it so there’s another rule
that is very important when you wake up
in the morning and your life means
something to somebody other than you
that you have a purpose if you don’t go
do the things that you’re going to do
people’s lives will suffer and I think
that that kind of purpose that’s like to
live in service not to you but to live
in service to humanity
to live in service to your family to
live in service to your church to your
city to your country to the world living
in service is that I feel like that is
the purest form of joy
sometimes your life will be in a slump
just like sports some of the best
shooters can’t hit baskets different
times and games they get in a slump do
they sit on the sideline ization you
digested hit a basket today
no they continue to execute I suggest to
you that if you are facing a challenge
don’t stop
stay busy work your plan continue to do
those things that you know that work for
you after you have evaluated yourself in
the situation
continue to move stay busy stay busy
stay busy
[Music]
just have to have a total and complete
passion because there’s going to be so
many dark moments you know I think the
dark moments are true for any
entrepreneur or any startup company I’m
sure that you talked to Steve Jobs and
Apple you see many many dark dark
moments ours happened to last a little
longer than most of them but you really
emotionally have to be prepared for
those dark moments I think every
entrepreneur I’ve ever spoken to which
would echo that yeah there are dark
moment when everything is on the line
that’s the life of an entrepreneur and
so you’re going to be into it you better
be prepared for that you know you have
two choices in life basically it’s it’s
basically to succeed or to fail you know
saying and I’ve been the negative Road
and I’ve been the positive road and I
would never give up the positive road
never I would never even if you know I’m
saying it’s always the biggest flop in
the world
I only invest in things that I
understand and things that I use or
would use myself this is really really
really important
anytime I step outside of that is
usually when the universe kicks me in
the nuts really hard and I lose my money
I think it’s critical to as an
entrepreneur scratch your own itch it
increases the odds of success or the
probability of success and then it as an
investor I look for people who are
scratching their own itch
passion is not an actionable word it’s
correct you know that those who do the
things that they’re passionate about do
better but it’s not helpful advice and
so the question is where does patch and
come from passion is a result passion is
an energy passion is the feeling you
have when you’re engaged in something
that you love passion is the feeling you
have that you would probably do this for
free you know and you can’t believe
somebody pays you to do it you know
and I think we mistake that passion is
something we do in our private lives but
it shouldn’t be done you know in our
careers for example and I’m a firm
believer that you are who you are and
anybody who says I’m different at home
than I am at work in one of those places
you’re lying and the goal is to make
everything you do in home and at work
something that you have excitement to do
so how do you find the thing that you’re
excited to do well it’s actually easier
than you think what are the things that
you love to do what is that you would do
for free everywhere everyone likes to
talk about failures you know but the
main thing is you might have a lot of
little small steps every one of those
steps seem to not take you anywhere and
money it didn’t get you much more money
didn’t get any money but you know you’re
kind of proud you show them off to
friends even your mind was increasing
your methods of coming up with better
solutions was increasing you not only
have to now read a book on how things
are done you can write the book and
that’s called creativity you create new
things yourself
success with the progressive realisation
of a worthy ideal anyone that has a goal
and they’re moving towards if they’re
successful and so you want to begin to
take some chances you want to begin to
challenge yourself and make it okay to
fail and learn from you failure I wake
up to have a chance to meet new people
and learn things it’s a people game
right like the people you surround
yourself with over time or the people
that kind of influence what you end up
doing further on and I just saw so many
people starting companies there was like
seems like a lot of fun I want to try
that too
[Music]
anybody can do this crap I’ve spent 20
years trying to tell people like pick up
a camera it doesn’t take much sometimes
you just need somebody to be like it’s
this simple dude and give you three
steps and suddenly you’re like that’s it
I can take it the rest of the way
getting started is always the hardest
part
yeah the best business models in the
world are the ones where you like ask
people what they want and they tell you
and you go and you build it and like
every now and then you have to read
between the lines because no one at the
beginning of Instagram was like I want a
photo sharing app no one in fact very
few people but when we built it they
were like over it no I don’t want a
photo sharing app that just does what I
know photo sharing apps do I do want a
photo sharing app that makes my photos
look cool some of the greatest work
comes from paying or some great word
comes from some love from loss it’s like
wanting to be the best at whatever you
do never stop it to you the best like I
don’t believe they’re doing anything
halfway I believe in going all the way
so never stop
[Music]
you know you you can’t change the way
you are wired much but you can change a
lot of what you do without wiring when
you write down the qualities of that
person that you’d like to buy to 10% of
look at that list and ask yourself is
there anything on my list I couldn’t do
the answer is there won’t be and when
you look the person yourself short and
you look at those qualities that you
don’t like if you see any of those in
yourself you can tell them whatever it
may be selfishness you can get rid of
that I mean that is not ordained and if
you follow that and then Franklin did
this and my old boss Ben Graham did this
early ages and their young teens they
just Ben Graham looked around and he
said who do I hire you know and we want
to be admired himself and he said you
know why do I bother these other people
and he said if I admire them for these
reasons maybe other people will admire
me if I behave in a similar manner and
he decided what kind of a person he
wanted to be and if you follow that at
the end you’ll be the person you want to
my 10% off I mean that’s the goal in the
end and it’s something that’s achievable
by everybody in this room
[Music]
[Music]
we all go through hard times we all go
through depression we all do go through
gout trust me everybody has a hard road
that is what makes you a person and
those difficult moments are what build
your character sometimes you just got to
get up and get done because sometimes we
have to pull yourself up and you have to
push forward even if you want to stay in
bed
[Music]
it constantly seek criticism a well a
well thought out critique of whatever
you’re doing is as valuable as gold and
you should seek that from everyone you
can to particularly your friend
[Music]
my thing is this I keep my eyes on the
prize
I never focus on things outside her way
my focus is the guy that’s in front of
me I always had a dream and my dream was
to be the best no matter what address
[Music]
see we can’t control the thoughts that
come in our minds but we can control the
thoughts that we dwell on
[Music]
now why did I say that entrepreneurship
is the solution to all problem because
entrepreneurship in my view is not about
business it’s about the willingness to
take responsibility for your own life so
anybody can be an entrepreneur in any
situation whatsoever you don’t have to
be a business owner for that you are an
entrepreneur as long as you stand up and
say I am responsible for what happens to
me and I am taking ownership of my life
and I will do what is necessary to make
the results that I want
to happen
[Music]
I had the privilege of going to a Marine
base once and talking to Marines about
how they plan their next move there’s
this phrase called bias towards action
the idea that you can spend all of your
time thinking about what the perfect
next move is trying to plan am I going
to work at Google am I going to work at
Microsoft like which one Kinsey or Bain
like the next perfect move and spending
a tremendous amount of time trying to
figure that out
the Marines say you can spend all the
time you want but by the time you
figured it out your debt so like
sometimes you need to make a trade-off
of what is the action I can take with
the appropriate amount of information
and risk to move because moving and
progress is what gets us to the next
step by moving and learning it all adds
up that summation of your experience
over the last 10 years is what makes you
into the thing tomorrow that will be
successful all the other jobs that I had
offered there were like two or three a
couple out of start-up one at Microsoft
one of Google I took the lowest salary
of anyone any of the offers that I had
because I wanted to work in a specific
job at Google I didn’t care what job it
was actually I just cared that it was at
Google and I would surround myself by
amazing people that was the first lesson
that I learned just like go to where the
people are short term long term trade
offs just go to where the people are of
course we look for disconfirming it
would have
one of the directors said very simply we
should make a list of everything that
irritates a customer and we should
eliminate those defects one by one
and of course that is the way to compete
on a service business involves
continuing fanaticism and so forth one
of the reasons we bought the little
company in Logan Utah is that we like
the service at ethos of the place and
their recruitment methods well is it to
be the best every day the goal isn’t out
to outdo your competition every day
that’s a finite construction finite
player is play to be bet to beat the
people around them infinite players play
to be better than themselves to wake up
every single day and say how can we make
our company a better version of itself
today than it was yesterday how can we
create a product this week that’s better
than the product we created last week we
also have to play the instant game it’s
not about being ranked number one it’s
not about having more followers on
Twitter than your friends it’s not about
outdoing anyone it’s about how to outdo
yourself it’s not about selling more
books or getting more Ted views than
somebody else it’s about how to make
sure that the work that you’re producing
is better than the work you produced
before you are your competition and that
is what ensures you stay in the game the
longest and that is what ensures you
find joy because the joy comes not from
comparison but from advancement
[Music]
I just didn’t spend money on myself I
just dumped all the profit back in the
business and we’re buying vintage stuff
you know for years that it costs five
ten fifteen fifty dollars and you’re
selling it for you know one hundred two
hundred thousand I mean I bought things
for $8.00 that I’ve sold for a thousand
and that’s like that’s really good cash
flow right I didn’t know what that word
even meant you know but it was just like
it looked really good just like building
in the bank
[Music]
[Music]
the separation of talent and skill is
one of the the the greatest
misunderstood concepts for people who
are trying to excel who have dreams that
want to do things talent you have
naturally skill is only developed by
hours and hours and hours of beating on
your craft
[Music]
and I think that’s actually a really
interesting part of this for me is and I
mean being in a place like this where
obviously a lot of you guys are thinking
about starting these starting companies
then you know for me so much of the
lesson that that I feel like I’ve
learned is I feel like it’s really hard
to decide to start a company right you
know Facebook I didn’t started to start
a company I started it because I really
wanted this thing personally and I
believed that it should exist globally
although I wasn’t quite sure that that
we would be able to play a role in doing
that it was mostly just through kind of
like wanting to build it and having it
be this hobby and getting people around
me excited that it eventually kind of
evolved into and got the momentum to
become a company but I never really
understood the psychology of deciding
that you want to start a company before
you understand what you want to do and
this gets back to the question of why
did we why did we first open it at
colleges that had competitors I have
this big fear I think of getting locked
into doing things that aren’t actually
the most impactful things to me this is
like the trait that entrepreneurs have
is they just have this like laser-like
ability to go find where they can have
the most impact and you know when you
take on a new project especially if you
hire people or start a company you’re
doing that project and I mean there are
ways they’re obviously different ways
that it can exit and all that but I
think having the flexibility to explore
a lot of different things which you can
do when you’re in college which is one
of the amazing things about being in
colleges you can work on all these
hobbies and and encode a lot of stuff
and try a lot of different things it’s
this amazing flexibility that I think
most people take for granted and once
you decide ok I’m going to start a
company and I’m going to do it with
someone else you immediately now need to
convince someone else if you want to
change your mind on something and I
think people really undervalued the
option value and flexibility I think
explore what you want to do before
committing is really like the key thing
and keep yourself flexible and know I
think that that’s I agree yeah but but I
think in it you can definitely do that
within the framework of a company but I
think you have to be wary about starting
a company too rigidly because you’re
going to change what you do I mean
people talk about pivot all the time as
if it’s like it didn’t didn’t your thing
didn’t work so you pivoted Facebook
pivoted many times I’m interested you
know we kind of we work College and then
we were not College and then we were
just
website and then we were a platform
right and you’re going to change what
you do
so the first step before even thinking
about investing is getting out of debt
once person gets out of debt now you
want to think about money building money
creation right and money savings like
how to save on taxes and so on and so
forth and that’s what I really like like
the focus of people is getting their
beliefs straight and then building up
wealth right and then once they build up
well there’s this idea of you know
letting the best for the future and so
on and you know what are you investing
for the future for and usually they’ll
say well retirement and that’s only
going to be like let’s say you know for
some people they might not even reach
there other people might be like three
years five years maybe it’s maybe ten
years maybe maybe longer something like
that but why would you leave your whole
life and miss out on all your younger
years because you want to have some
money and if you live a frugal life in
your younger years believe me when you
get older what are you gonna buy them in
your more but you just going to go on
vacation or something like that easy
like I think there’s this is over
emphasis on the retirement people can
focus better on getting financially
independent and financially free and
enjoying their life while they’re young
and also doing good things and they have
that energy and time and and really
bring the happiness that everybody’s
looking for I’m investing
[Music]
but understand that naturally nobody was
interested the world cared less you have
to persuade them you have to show that
you’re the one person out there that can
do it
and so it’s not just about doing focus
groups it’s not just about you know
double-checking your vision it really is
about integrating the concept of testing
our ideas rigorously throughout the
product development process out the
marketing process even as a scalar
[Music]
[Music]
and I think the reality is just you know
not quite so glamorous there’s sort of
there’s no glee side to being an
entrepreneur and also just more
importantly with what you’re actually
spending your time on is just a lot of
hard work today I mentioned this but
you’re basically just sitting at your
desk heads down focus answering
customers customer support emails doing
sales figuring out hard engineering
problems so it’s really important that
you kind of like go in with eyes wide
open
[Music]
[Music]
I think serious you got to make sure
that that you whatever you’re doing is a
great product or service but it has to
be really great and I go back to what I
was saying earlier where if you’re a new
company I mean let’s just like some new
industry or new market that if it’s an
untapped market or then then you have
more ability to do business the standard
is lower for your product or service but
if you’re entering anything where
there’s an existing marketplace against
large entrenched competitors then your
product or service needs to be much
better than that it can’t be a little
bit better because when you put yourself
in the shoes of a consumer and they say
why would you buy it as continuing or is
going to buy the trusted brand unless
there’s a big difference so a lot of
times you know entrepreneur will come up
with something which is only slightly
better and it’s can just be slightly
better rather be a lot better
[Music]
if anybody ever knocks you down in the
sky or tells you you can’t do something
or you know just put the down on what
you’re trying to do in general don’t
don’t take don’t let these things get
you don’t let what these people say have
any effect on you whatsoever you have
the control of your future the control
of you is all in your mind your mind and
your hands trust me if you want
something you can go out there and get
it and and it might take a bit longer
than you first thought doesn’t matter if
you keep going you will get there in the
end if you want it that bad you will
don’t let anybody take control of your
future other then
[Music]
so I have like four friends that are
billionaires and I’ve won one mentor
those two mentors that are billionaires
I’ve always wanted to be a billionaire
to stay seven so I’m almost halfway
there and I think you surround yourself
with the people who are actually you’re
trying to go to get there a whole lot
faster okay we tend to make half the
mistakes you know you’ve kind of
marginalized the risk and so you know if
I give you a really good advice so you
don’t even read the next book I’m not
going to unlock your mind over the books
educate you but they don’t make you
apply anything and if you want to attend
a course courses like great to events
are great because you know you learn a
lot but the application and the
execution is still up to you a mentor on
the other hand will hold you accountable
you know he’ll make you responsible and
he’ll challenge you to really execute on
for the stuff that you learn it so if
idea the dime-a-dozen if you can’t
execute on it it’s worth nothing
you have a most brilliant idea in the
world all the town in the world and you
know
[Music]
I’ve never really viewed myself as
particularly talented where I excel is
ridiculous sickening work ethic you know
while the other guys sleeping I’m
working what other guys eaten I’m
working there’s no easy way around it no
matter how talented you are your talent
is going to fail you if you’re not
skilled you know if you don’t study if
you don’t work really hard and dedicate
yourself to being better every single
day you’ll never be able to communicate
with with people with your artistry the
way that you want so the only thing
[Music]
[Music]
let’s say you’re the leader in a
particular arena if your competitor
focused and you’re already the leader
then where does your energy come from
whereas if your customer focused and
you’re already the leader customers are
never satisfied so you always if your
customer focused you’re always waking up
how can we make that customer say wow
how can we you know our energy are
passionate we want to impress our
customers we want them to say wow it’s
that kind of divine discontent that
comes from observing customers and
noticing that you know things can always
be better
[Music]
you don’t have a team you got to figure
out what that balances for yourself you
can’t take on too much but at the same
time you don’t want to just do one thing
I like to spin a lot of plates because
you put all your eggs in one basket
don’t work out you’re bored you’ve
wasted all that time but the fact of the
matter is back in the day we used to
make a movie and then work on just the
movie and wait so the movie was out and
then figure out what to do next and now
you know it would lead sometimes to like
let’s say you made your 0 you make the
movie over the course of a while it
comes out and of whom I said it’s over
like in a week or two weeks so I like to
spin as many plates as possible that way
like this thing in panning out or this
thing is too far off in the distance or
this thing going to happen the way I
want it
boom we could shift over to something
else so that’s why I do it but when you
do be careful you got to find the right
balance I wish there’s a formula to give
you there’s not all up to you it’s
inside of you
just do as much as you can before you
get to the point where like okay anymore
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
to express oneself honestly not lying to
oneself and to express myself honestly
no fact my friend is very hard to do and
it’s not difficult to learn and speak
the word there’s nothing the difficulty
me
it’s behind what is the meaning what’s
all on the expression and feeling behind
those words now I think that successful
ingredient in it was because I was doing
usually so myself right and did that
part just express myself like I say
honestly express myself
[Music]
[Music]
boys you must strive to find your own
voice because the longer you wait to
begin the less likely you are to find it
at all
the roles that most men lead lives of
quiet desperation
don’t be resigned to that breakout
[Music]
if you want a thing bad enough to glide
and fight to work day and night to give
up your time your peace and your sleep
and if you gladly sweat fought and
fretboard and plan for it and lose all
your terror of the opposition for and if
you simply go up to that thing that you
want with all of your capacity if
neither cold poverty famine circles
sickness the pain of body and grave can
keep you away from the thing that you
want you’ll get
[Music]
you
reflecting now back in my career like my
dedication is what made me successful
because I’ll be honest I wasn’t the most
genetically blessed guy on stage I just
had a lot of dedication commitment and I
was relentless
it all begins kind of with you so you
know that’s about belief you can’t
expect a bunch of people out there to
believe you are this thing unless you be
this thing yourself
[Music]
to be successful you have to be focused
on the life and I think both news
because people mentioned because this is
really important to be successful you
have to be focused on why you are what
why would a keyboard ability if I was to
ask you you know you want to make money
the question is why
what is money by itself is it gonna make
you happy is it going to give the
contention I don’t think it is by itself
wonderful in contention there are many
people in the world who have so much
money available to do without me but yet
they might overdose on drugs or you know
they are also that they might commit
suicide on this or that because model by
itself in disease does not quick
analysis and content so you have to
focus on why you need that goal
why you want to achieve that goal
whether it’s a financial goal with a
location well whatever it is why also
fell right now one of my hearing
[Music]
how many people have you met in your
life who have said things like I had
that idea I knew about that or I I was
so close but I gave up I think sometimes
a difference between success and failure
winning and losing is a very fine line
between those people who will continue
to move forward
[Music]
[Music]
often I just want to ask or I want to
find out what drives people some people
are really driven by money and I don’t
think that’s a bad thing it’s just like
not usually a fit here some people are
really driven by like wanting to make
the world a better place some people are
really driven by wanting to learn like
what drives people like what gets them
up in the morning what like where does
the fire come from because like the best
people in the world just have a fire
about something not about everything but
about something
[Music]
this is my time I own my life I had to
start thinking I had the ability to do
this and I had the mind that that I’m
unstoppable there is something in you
that can transcend your circumstances
that can transcend the nulls and
rejections that can transcend anything
that you’re going through
[Music]
most startups that fail do it ultimately
because they did not make something that
people wanted they made something that
you know that they thought people would
want but they were either in denial
about it about you know whether it was
actually any good or somebody else came
along and made something that people
wanted even more
[Music]
Oh
[Music]
I mean if other people are putting in
40-hour work weeks and you’re putting in
100 hour work weeks then even if you’re
doing the same thing you know that you
will achieve in four months what it
takes them a year to achieve
[Music]
[Music]
when you start with a your company
you’re going to have a lot of anxiety
and stress and fear and your job is to
transform that into self-confidence and
to give you kind of that you know the
ability to say I have clarity I trust
myself I have a feeling for my vision I
can see that happening I work with
entrepreneurs all the time that kind of
shift from you know anxiety to trust
that’s the most important thing that
that they can go through
[Music]
but what we really need to do is think
about what is the smallest possible test
that I can run for this idea for this
concept for this theory get it out there
and get customers views because your
customers are going to be the one to
tell you if it’s really working or not
[Music]
what this all comes down to is doing
something exceptional for users whether
it’s in community whether it’s in
connection or whether it’s in design
this is our big advantage that we can
actually get away with doing it we can
make this the core part of why we’re
doing business
[Music]
about this to size of pain and I don’t
think a lot of people really understand
right
there’s spirits one side of pain that’s
the suffering and the discomfort side of
things because that hurt you remember
what that feels like within there’s
another side of pain
that’s called effort it’s called glory
it’s called if you can find a way to
push through pain there’s something
breathing on the other side of it
I do believe that organizations human
organization transparently unstable they
will fall over and you have to work to
keep the muffler but they fall slowly
most people don’t notice it they let
their success is blind them they don’t
see a following over the following takes
place close at the clasp is quick you
have to do constant assessment you have
to look for the hard crews
[Music]
we are generally a little bit forward
leaning when it comes to trying to make
progress happen for me it’s about
problem-solving and loving to solve
problems and so if you are passionate
about solving problems I end so
sometimes I just like to describe this
as like imagine a really great math
professor with no problems right the
great a great math professor somebody
who who wants the hardest problems who
wants to solve them and love solving
them that’s kind of how I feel about my
work and so it’s not about a man in a
hurry it’s more about really interesting
problems in the world and how you lean
into them and solve things that people
maybe thought weren’t even possible to
solve and that’s fun
[Music]
I always want to better myself I don’t
consider myself I don’t surround
consider other designers competition you
know for me my competition is me from
the season before I’m very ambitious I
always want to better myself
I never sit back and say wow
[Music]
I knew that I wanted to change my life I
knew that I didn’t want to go down the
path that I was going down because I got
scared and fear is a great motivator
I think that success in business is a
very difficult thing to achieve and it’s
more difficult today probably than any
other time despite the vast number of
opportunities and as it relates to
finding your calling in terms of what
the opportunity or the entrepreneurial
adventure is going to be it has to be
linked to something that you are so
passionate and crazed about that you’re
willing to knock down walls and climb
mountains and do the things that are
going to put yourself in a position of
sacrificing so many other things for its
success and you can only do that when
there’s a compelling underlying feeling
that you have that this is something I’m
going to fight to the death people and
without that I think it’s going to be a
commodity based experience not only for
the customer but for you and I think you
can’t really succeed at the levels that
you want to unless you find that thing
that you’re so passionate excited and in
love with and I think because if you’ve
got it along the way you’re going to
have to convince so many other people to
believe in you and the idea any
opportunity and the struggle and the
obstacles of that are going to come can
over only be overcome by this passion
that you have in which you’re going to
be able to get people to follow you over
the over those hurdles I know it sounds
a little bit sophomoric but it’s so true
[Music]
first of all I’d say starting a business
is not for everyone yeah so I generally
starting a business I’d say number one
is have a high pain threshold so the
friend of mine has got a good thing
which is that starting a company is like
eating glass and staring into the abyss
okay that’s that’s generally what
happens because when you first start a
company there’s lots of optimism and
things the things are great and then
sort of happiness at first is high then
you encounter all sorts of issues and
happiness will steadily decline and then
you’ll go through a whole world of hurt
and then eventually you’ll if you
succeed and in most cases you will not
succeed and and Tesla almost in succeed
came very close to failure then if you
succeed then after a long time you will
finally get back to happiness
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