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Gentleman's Gazette
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The number one thing that I wish I knew in my 20s was that you cannot save your way to prosperity. Let me start by saying that I was never embarrassed of being broke because I was a broke student pretty much all the way throughout mid-20s and even when we started theGentleman's Gazette; in the first few years, I didn't pay myself a salary. However, eventually, my father-in-law, Tom, shared a story at a point where he realized that he could not save himself into wealth and instead just had to make more money so he could get the things and do the stuff he wanted to do.
The second lesson I learned was to set aside your pride if it makes financial sense. It's a lesson I learned in my early 20s. My wife was doing a day job and I was working on the Gentleman's Gazette and I was not really contributing anything to our household income. Then my wife lost her job and we could have gotten by by taking low paid hourly jobs at McDonald's or Target but her parents offered to help us. Initially, I wasn't happy with that because I had always been raised to be very independent but we thought about it and agreed to take hem up on their offer to help because it enabled us to pursue the things we wanted to do.
The third was that college or graduate schools aren't always worth it. I know it's a hot topic right now with rising costs and more students graduating with tons of debt. Personally, I went to law school in Germany but a year in, I realized I hated it and after the internships, I also never wanted to work in law, however, at the time, I would have created all of the debt if I would have just dropped out so I just stuck with the school.
The fourth thing I would tell myself, if you can dream it, you can build it! Growing up, I was never really exposed to entrepreneurship. It took me some time to realize that I never performed my best when I was an employee but I was much more content and satisfied when I was working for my own. Looking back, deep down, I knew I wanted to do something by myself but I simply didn't have the guts or to believe that I could do it.
Five, I would definitely tell myself to abandon things earlier if they're not working. It could be a job, relationship, or anything under the sun.
Six, thinking too much or too little about the future can hurt you.
Yes, it's good to think about the future but to also live in the present.
Seven, life can sweep the rock out of you in a moment's notice. In 2012, both of my parents were diagnosed with cancer within months of each other. My mom had breast cancer, my dad pancreatic cancer and we thought they were going to die. At the time, we didn't have much money but probably just enough for a plane ticket to go over there and spend the rest of their lives with them together, as I thought. Fortunately, as events turned out, they are both in remission now, they're both alive and happy!
The eighth thing I wish I would have known earlier was that you can teach yourself anything if you really want to. I probably would have second-guessed my desire to go to law school if I knew that I could learn things at first and figure out if there was something that I want to pursue or not. That being said, aside from law school, I'm pretty much self-taught.
The ninth thing I wish I had known earlier was that I should consult mentors or organizations with like-minded people that can really help you grow from a business point of view but also personally.
Last but not the least, one of the most important things I would tell myself is to delegate, delegate, delegate. It's particularly true for entrepreneurs but honestly, it is true for anyone out there and it's one of the ways to truly become happier.
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