Hello, all,
Tonight I'd like to revisit a subject I talked about a few nights ago. That is, what it takes to start a business online(or any venture, really). More specifically, though, I want to address the thing that most people seem to be missing - the real key to success. There are many things that may stop a person from getting started, but this is the one thing that will hold you back more than anything else.
I'm not going to tell you what it is just yet, though. First, I'd like to discuss once more the common excuses people give for not starting their business. The top three are all "lack of" situations, meaning that the excuses involves not having something that seems vitally important. The three things people complain about missing the most when starting a business are inspiration, money, and time. However, as we've discussed before, these are all false obstacles.
Inspiration is a matter or perspective that can be easily overcome with a change of pace or environment. Money is non-issue as getting started online doesn't have to cost a cent(30 Day Challenge), and at most it shouldn't cost more than about $50.00 if you take that route(we'll discuss this more in another post). Finally, we have the issue of time, which is really just an excuse. There are a million things one could cut out of one's daily life to free up time(in the short run, at least). So, there really isn't an issue here, is there?
We also discussed the thing that really might hold someone back - namely, fear. I know I mentioned brainwashing and lack of drive, but both of those are really just evolutionary bi-products of our fear of failure. Honestly, most people have enough drive to win the Indy 500, but just can't seem to get going. The brainwashing and fear are things that have to be overcome on an individual basis, usually by facing the fear and going out on the limb, scary though it may be.
Ok, so by now you're dying to know what the realy problem is, right? If you've got time, inspiration, motivation, enough money($0?), and all that drive, what's keeping your tires from spinning? Torque. Let's use the analogy of a car, shall we? Namely a black 1969 Dodge Charger 500 Hemi with an OHV V8(don't worry, you don't need to understand all that).
Now, this car has 425 horsepower at 5000 RPM. This could be equated to your drive. Add that much power to an all-steel body(your determination) and you can take out solid 4x4 fence-posts without denting your fender(I know, trust me). You could go from 0 to 60mph in 5.7 seconds and run the quarter mile in about 13.48 seconds, hitting a top speed of 109mph in that time. For some reason, though, you're still sitting at the starting line. That's because we've left out one very important spec: the torque. Now, the Charger has 490 torque at 4000 RPM. Can you say the same for yourself?
"Wait, wait, wait! What exactly is torque anyway?" You might be asking. Well, torque a measurement of how well a car transfers power from the engine to the wheels. From a Physics perspective, it's also the translation of linear force into rotational force, but that's a bit more complicated than we need to get right now. Let's get back to our analogy.
What you are right now, it basically a 1960's muscle car stuck in neutral. What we need to do is put you in gear. We need to find the thing that will take your drive and determination and turn it into action. The best way to do that is to find your passion, and the best way to that is to read this post.
Ok, so we've got that covered, just wanted to throw that analogy out there and maybe get you thinking in a bit of a different way. Now, there was one other thing I promised I talk about tonight before I wrap things up, and that was the group of people I think turn out the best marketers and entrepreneurs. Who are they? Hackers.(*gaspshockhorror*) I know, I know, but let me explain.
First, let me teach you the difference between a "hacker" and a "cracker." A hacker finds inventive ways of making a something perform a task it should be capable of doing in the first place. If that means turning your Powerwheels into a Mars Rover, then that's what it means. A "cracker"(try not to be juvenile - if you don't know what I mean, all the better), on the other hand, make a point of trying to exploit a bug of a given system in order to gain access or privileges that they normally wouldn't have. In other words, hacking is about functionality, cracking is about cheating.
Ok, so why do hackers make great marketers and businessmen? Well, that's easy, they have a unique way of looking at things. We(yes, I are one) have a fascination with figuring out how and why things work. We test everything to the point of absurdity, and we're obsessed with covering our own asses. Now do you see why we make good for good business?
All right, I promised some reading material, so I'm going to give it to you, then wrap this up. The one thing I would have you read is the Hacker's Manifesto(Or The Conscience of a Hacker). I've provided it here for easy access.
==Phrack Inc.==
Volume One, Issue 7, Phile 3 of 10
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The following was written shortly after my arrest...
\/\The Conscience of a Hacker/\/
by
+++The Mentor+++
Written on January 8, 1986
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Another one got caught today, it's all over the papers. "Teenager
Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal", "Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering"...
Damn kids. They're all alike.
But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1950's technobrain,
ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what
made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him?
I am a hacker, enter my world...
Mine is a world that begins with school... I'm smarter than most of
the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me...
Damn underachiever. They're all alike.
I'm in junior high or high school. I've listened to teachers explain
for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it. "No, Ms.
Smith, I didn't show my work. I did it in my head..."
Damn kid. Probably copied it. They're all alike.
I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is
cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it's because I
screwed it up. Not because it doesn't like me...
Or feels threatened by me...
Or thinks I'm a smart ass...
Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be here...
Damn kid. All he does is play games. They're all alike.
And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through
the phone line like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is
sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is
found.
"This is it... this is where I belong..."
I know everyone here... even if I've never met them, never talked to
them, may never hear from them again... I know you all...
Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. They're all alike...
You bet your ass we're all alike... we've been spoon-fed baby food at
school when we hungered for steak... the bits of meat that you did let slip
through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We've been dominated by sadists, or
ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us will-
ing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.
This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the
beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying
for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and
you call us criminals. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek
after knowledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color,
without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals.
You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us
and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals.
Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is
that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like.
My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me
for.
I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual,
but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike.
+++The Mentor+++
_______________________________________________________________________________
So there you have it, folks. Read up. Take this to heart. I may take the time to explain it in another post, but I think you should be able to understand what's being said.
"I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto."
Live and Learn,
Josh
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