Live Truly

My boss pointed out an important fact not mentioned in Rich Dad, Poor Dad: in the Silicon Valley, when you join a company, you also become an investor. It’s not the salary, but the stocks that build your wealth. They are your assets. This is the advantage of joining a start-up. You own a large percent of the company, and you’re taxes on it are on the money you invested (if it’s a founder’s stock). So when there is nothing and you buy your parts at $0.001, that’ll be what you’re taxed on. The other side of it is the company uses this to keep you in, you don’t get all your shares transfered to you right away. They come with a percentage each year. So, if you leave right away, the company can buy back the shares not transfered to you at the old price. It’s kind of a leash thing, but it’s something that Rich Dad never gave the people working at his stores.

So why do companies do this? Why give away a share? Because when a person actually owns part of something, she becomes a lot more productive. She has an interest to succeed, and an interest to stay.

Other things, joining established or not? Here’s the gamble, on one hand it takes luck but on the other without taking this risk, it’s hard to ever get passed regular income. Joining a small starting group or starting your own thing means a very high investment of time and energy and it might not succeed. If it does, you’re set. If it doesn’t you’ve lost time but learned a lot. On the other hand, say you join a big company, in fact an ideal working environment by Good Business : Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning standards. You get paid a nice salary, are gauranteed a steady, and secure life. You also get stocks, but at such a high price, the exponential growth point has most likely passed (although it did grow a lot this year).

This is the tough choice. As someone just starting out, and very eager to make my first hundred thousand and go to Thailand to study (yes, that’s part of the plan now, once I make my first first hundred thousand, I’ll study for all those pesky certifications and exams in Thailand, it’s a good motivation to get myself to make it fast), I wondered if it wouldn’t be just easier to join the simple happy job, instead of working like mad and risking not getting anything. However, seeing yesterday’s events and seeing how a real passive income generation works and how a business starts to take off, I got really inspired. It may be harder right now, with little income coming in. But I’m determined to break out of the rat race. I know that a person cannot depend on an hourly wage to truly live and I want to build something, whether it’s a real estate empire, an invention, or a product. For a while, I was getting really tired and annoyed, but yesterday inspired me. I’m more eager than ever to finally get this project done, and I’m really annoyed at myself for having taken this long and for not really appreciating how great an opportunity this is.

I have an interview with the big established company next week. The phone interview was a disaster, but I guess my resume and writing helped a bit. I don’t know. I’m actually not that interested, which makes the whole idea of interviewing kind of fun. For the position and for the long term, they’d have to offer something really creative. Perhaps they will. I’m just curious at what it could be. Nearly half a dozen of my aquaintances work there right now, and they love it, and the lure of having that steady income sounds really nice when you don’t have it. But I’m just checking it out. I’m determined to finish this project first and hopefully get the chance to grow where I’m at right now.

So much going on right now: project, tutoring, real estate class. As the The ABC’s of Building a Business Team points out, now is the time to develop character. I have a few goals, very little spare time, and very little sleep. We’ll see how it all turns out.

I’ve been working from 2-10 and studying from 7-11. Commute is less than an hour. Where do those extra two hours disappear?!
Very drained. Very excited about things at work. Coursework is interesting too. Very busy. Very drained. A bit tuned out. But strangely alive.
I’ve become numb. Kind of crazy. I have to finish this project. This is the moment where people either get stronger or snap.

Yesterday I applied for what seems like a dream job. As in a job where I get to learn about every aspect of a business I’m really interested in. Decent pay, but amazing experience. I couldn’t wait to hear back from them. I was so excited about it that I’d be happy to take it even if it meant a big cut in pay.

Well surprise, surprise. I guess this is what happens when you get ready to move on. Today my boss lets me know that our start-up just got more funding and that I can finally expect to start making some of it. This presents an interesting situation, on one hand I know that there’s more opportunity and pay in this field, and a wider reach, and more creative and complex work. There’s also an amazing team and every day I feel lucky to be around such bright people. On the other hand, I’ve been saying I’d like to get away from the field for the last few years. The people and work is great, but I come home at eleven, dead and drained. In the morning I’m eager to do everything, study, anything, except go there. I feel like I’ve stopped growing and I feel like I’m losing my life there. When inside that little office, I just want to rip out my hair and run away. My main motivation for working is because I want to finish the project so I can move on and away. But now, with promises of different work and better pay, I wonder if maybe it is worth trying and I’m feeling bad because these things are negotiated with investors. At the same time, I just want to get as far away as I can, stick with my goals and plans, try other fields, and maybe spend six to eight hours in front of a computer instead of eighteen.

I’m really not sure which way to go. Both the dream job and my current place are a lot of hard work. In my current place, I’ve gained more experience than in my entire university education, and I have a chance to work and learn from top notch programmers and entrepreneurs and simply fascinating people. It’s super small, so we’re all one to one. This really is building something huge, true business, and it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. At the same time, I feel no flow at this job or with what I’m doing and want to move and try another professions to know what to really pursue. Not because of self-doubt or laziness, but because I’ve been saying this to myself for the last few years and I’ve finally started the process. Tough tough choices in the next few days. In any case, I’m determined to finish the current project. We’ll see where things go after that.

I thought Good Business was just another business book. Not that I don’t like business books, but this one is far more. The way the author describes working environments that foster flow and the way he discusses responsibility and purpose. He breaks it down so clearly. I want to go out and get the print version and take notes from it. It’s so clear and so powerful.

What is flow? Flow is when you’re vibing, it’s a period of time when you’re working at your maximum capacity. It’s when time gets distorted and you completely forget about yourself. You have clear goals and you become the task you’re accomplishing. The amount of flow time in one’s life corresponds with a feeling of purpose, happiness, and well-being. The author talks about strategies of bringing flow into the workplace, but also, toward the end of the pack, talks about choosing a life and career or business that’ll foster such time. He covers all sorts of topics like time allocation, family and work, and has so many insightful quotes. This is one of the few books on tape, that I’ll probably listen to twice.

Another really neat part of his work deals with complexity. He combines evolution, physics, biology, religion, and purpose and weaves through metaphoric threads to prove the need for growth in our lives. Building up step by step, he really creates a work of art, a very powerful one. This is definitely no regular business book. This is a book about living a meaningful life.

The most important concept I got from it so far, and there are many to choose from, is that in order to live a meaningful existence one must do something that’s enjoyable and complex enough to challenge, and at the same time it must benefit mankind. It’s that simple (broken down in far better detail in the book): find something challenging that you love and that helps people. If you make a bad choice, get stuck, and start losing energy, try something else. Find what you love, not what you’re not good at and not what’s too easy. Choose a fun challenge that’ll help others and help you.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook from the US Department of Labor is a deep source for information about jobs and careers. Tonight, I tried getting more information from monster and a few other sites but none offered organization as clear as the OOH site. It discusses required education, outlooks, salaries, and job conditions. It also lists similar careers. Of all the sites out there, this one was the richest and easiest to use. It even offered earning statistics for commission-only jobs.

I finally sat down and wrote out my first long term goals draft in over a month. It took three hours to sort things out, and it’s just a rough draft, but even with the ideas clearing up, I’m feeling the peace and clarity coming back. I also found a job that has the perfect combination of work, learning, and location, and fits perfectly with the goals. Applying tomorrow morning (in 3 hours). Can’t wait to start learning and earning while truly living each day.