No is going to save you. No one will take you under their wing and make you rich or make you happy.
OK. They might. If it’s a close relative, they might help make you rich. Or famous. Can you believe the number of Hollywood folks with older relatives in the business. Amazing. That’s how the world works though.
For about 10 years, I always thought that if I partner with right person I’d get rich. There were about 4-5 people I partnered with over the years in commercial real estate that I thought would make my life easier. That never happened. Some of the partners weren’t better off than me I realized. And others had issues. We all have issues.
There was one when I was 23 who helped out us kids a ton. I should’ve learned more from our investor/benefactor. But I was too young and stupid to understand the opportunity we were given. Regret. I have a post on this one coming out soon.
Then when I was about 34 I realized I just have to do this myself. I got put the pieces together. I have to figure out how to add value. So I did and still am.
I’ve always worked a lot each week. So the number of hours didn’t matter. Instead I had to put together processes so I could add value to future partnerships.
By this time I had helped a lot of startups with financing and sales. I was only OK. I did realize all of them were bad at b2b lead generation. So I figured out how to build a team so we could scale lead generation. More on that later.
I also realized most companies need software. About four years ago I ran into Sajan, my Augment partner, and I realized that his Indian offshoring experience could be amazing. So we decided to start a software services company. I had no idea how to sell services (still I’m pretty bad).
I can go on about other stuff. It’s not that I’m so great. Far from it. I just want to show to others that if you want to make things happen in this world, you just need to do it yourself. Don’t wait for others. If you have a well connected or rich family, then you have a leg up. It still won’t be easy.
Our crazy minds make sure nothing is ever easy.