Watch this clip. I'm really glad to see this get traction.
I think too many people shame women who want to be stay at home moms. And the sad part is that it is usually other women:
--
What I'm about to say will upset a lot of people. If this offends you, I'm sorry. But here goes:
Entrepreneurship culture in America is all messed up and it’s a shame.
TechCrunch. Product Hunt. Shark Tank.
It’s all about new ideas. Changing the world. Innovation. 0 to 1. Blue oceans. Venture capital and exits and scalability.
And IT’S ALL A LIE.
If you ask the average American who a real entrepreneur is they’ll say Jobs, Musk or Zuck. We read stories about them and idolize them and hang on to their every word.
So the brightest among us think they need a moat. A new idea. Something revolutionary.
And we're setting them up for FAILURE.
I took an entrepreneurship course at Cornell in 2011. 24 kids with new ideas. Big plans. Pitch decks looking for series As.
I was #25 with a regular old-fashioned business.
When professors asked me what my differentiator was I didn’t have an answer. "We're just going to pick up people's stuff and store it when they go home for the summer. I'll answer the phone, do things a little better and I think I can make some decent money."
They hated the idea but I knew it would work.
I saw a company out there doing sweaty, non-scalable work. They weren't very good at it and yet they made really good money.
So I started by trading my time for money. I bought a $1500 cargo van and Storage Squad was born. Used the things I had in my life to make some profit. I wasn’t trying to educate a customer base. I wasn’t following my passion. I didn’t need funding or a network.
I wasn’t competing against brilliant folks from Stanford. I want trying to prove a concept. I wasn’t emotionally attached to anything except adding value.
My customers and my competitors existed. I could study them interacting with each other. I made decisions with my brain, not my heart. I was competing against folks with fax machines, clipboards and paper ledgers.
And the best part... WE WERE PROFITABLE FROM DAY ONE.
Not a single one of those 24 folks in my class succeeded. They all went and got jobs. Their new ideas didn’t catch on.
They all had dreams of millions of users and an exit. Scalable models that could work anywhere from a computer.
But 99% failed to make a single dollar.
We made enough money in a few years to build our first self storage facility. We built it for $2.9 million and it's worth over $10 million today. It has created enough cash / value for me that I could live on that one project alone until the day I die.
That grew into the 68+ property $130m+ portfolio we own and operate today and we sold the service business in January 2021.
We had no debt and no silent partners. My business partner and I split the cash.
So who are the real entrepreneurs? Who are the wealthiest people you know?
I’m not just talking about money.
I’m talking about the people who do what they want to do when they want to do it.
Who are they?
Now here comes the hard truth.
I know a lot of wealthy entrepreneurs. Almost none of them had new ideas. Very few of them raised VC money. None of them were on shark tank.
They all did common things uncommonly well.
Regular old businesses just a little bit better. BORING STUFF.
Most of them have a few things in common:
They worked really hard doing something not fun for 5+ years. Many times 20+ yrs. They started out trading their time for money. They did things that weren’t scalable.
Many of them offered services. They all had to talk to people. Most of the time face to face. They had to sell themselves and their ideas. They didn’t take a lot of risk.
The main point: Stop buying into the hype. The click bait. The sexy stories of overnight success and mega riches.
Entrepreneurship isn’t that complicated.
Do something with good odds, low risk and moderate rewards.
Don’t master your craft, master leading other people. Think with your head, not your heart.
It’s not about you and what YOU love or what YOU want to be doing.
And lastly.. Start SMALL.
Biz is about momentum. I started 15 yrs ago carrying boxes up spiral staircases.
Now I’m buying millions worth of real estate and my portfolio of companies make millions every month. And the best part:
When you’re successful, experienced, wealthy and you have a killer network... It’s way easier to change the world with something BIG.
--
A few posts from this week:
--
--
--
P.S. Tax season is coming.
Did you purchase commercial real estate and want to take advantage of 100% bonus depreciation?
You can enter the details of your deal and estimate your savings here.
A few minutes of work could save you a TON of $$$ in March/April this year.
--
Onward and upward!
Nick Huber
.gif)
