Famous Failures

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Stanley

Stanley

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Jun 24, 2006
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Nice video if you need a bit of inspiration..

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If you're a consistent failure, no amount of inspirational videos will help you.


PS: Brownie points to anyone who can tell me what song that is.
 


Great video.. my friend is always telling me im taking a huge risk not getting a job now and doing online business, he asks me what am i going to do in 5 years if i fail and try to get a job and i've got no work experience or references. i tell him to fuck off.
 
johnmatrix said:
Great video.. my friend is always telling me im taking a huge risk not getting a job now and doing online business, he asks me what am i going to do in 5 years if i fail and try to get a job and i've got no work experience or references. i tell him to fuck off.
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Tell him, having a job is the worst case scenario. Ask him how does he feel after 5 years being in the worst case scenario, while for the 5 years you enjoy more freedom than him.
 
johnmatrix said:
Great video.. my friend is always telling me im taking a huge risk not getting a job now and doing online business, he asks me what am i going to do in 5 years if i fail and try to get a job and i've got no work experience or references. i tell him to fuck off.
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Tell your friends they don't know what the fuck they are talking about a few people I know basically said this same thing to me in the past.

I told them what the fuck do you mean I'm getting more work experience now then I would in any other job I could get.

Putting on your resume that you've ran your own company for the last 5 years or so shows a good amount of leadership and dedication, not to mention that fact that it shows how hard of a worker you are.

Even if you eventually failed your still one up from the next guy if you can explain to your future boss (If you go back to work) what you did wrong and what you now know won't happen in the future.

The business skills you learn from working for yourself can be a whole lot more then what you would learn when being told what to do, I'm talking about more along the problem solving types of skills, ect...
 
johnmatrix said:
Great video.. my friend is always telling me im taking a huge risk not getting a job now and doing online business, he asks me what am i going to do in 5 years if i fail and try to get a job and i've got no work experience or references. i tell him to fuck off.
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Risk, you damn right its a risk. The same is true for every self employed entrepreneur. My question about your friend is whats going to give you better work experience. Learning how to kiss your bosses ass, or bust'n your hump on a dream?
 
Aequitas said:
Putting on your resume that you've ran your own company for the last 5 years or so shows a good amount of leadership and dedication, not to mention that fact that it shows how hard of a worker you are.

Even if you eventually failed your still one up from the next guy if you can explain to your future boss (If you go back to work) what you did wrong and what you now know won't happen in the future.
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Quoted For Truth. I've learned more in the last 6 months of working for myself than I did during 8 years at my old job. I don't plan on ever working a 9-5 ever again, but I agree - still looks amazing on a resume and very impressive to say you run your own business. ;)
 
Same here man ! I love working for myself and being independent for the last 8 months.

MyOwnDemon said:
Quoted For Truth. I've learned more in the last 6 months of working for myself than I did during 8 years at my old job. I don't plan on ever working a 9-5 ever again, but I agree - still looks amazing on a resume and very impressive to say you run your own business. ;)
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MyOwnDemon said:
Quoted For Truth. I've learned more in the last 6 months of working for myself than I did during 8 years at my old job. I don't plan on ever working a 9-5 ever again, but I agree - still looks amazing on a resume and very impressive to say you run your own business. ;)
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I have to disagree. I fully agree that you gain the most experience working for yourself, but I don't think it looks the best on your resume. If down the road, you have to go back to a 9-5 and your own company is your previous job, it just tells the interviewer that you failed. This is very crucial point if your "business" was doing consulting/contractor work. Potential employers may be concerned that you are just scoping out clients to steal, etc. They are also concerned that after a short time you may not like being back at a 9-5 and will quit to startup another company.
 
audax said:
I have to disagree. I fully agree that you gain the most experience working for yourself, but I don't think it looks the best on your resume. If down the road, you have to go back to a 9-5 and your own company is your previous job, it just tells the interviewer that you failed. This is very crucial point if your "business" was doing consulting/contractor work. Potential employers may be concerned that you are just scoping out clients to steal, etc. They are also concerned that after a short time you may not like being back at a 9-5 and will quit to startup another company.
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Well when i was applying for graduate jobs at most of the big companies here in australia, I got through the first round of applications at about 75% of the companies I applied for because I had my own small online businesses on the resume. I had websites I created and made nice income from, I have a lucrative business on ebay... Nobody got through the first round of elimination as easy as me cos my resume was impressive, it stood out from the usual crap they see like '1 year at mcdonalds', '3yrs at coles while studying for my degree'. My high school marks sucked, my uni marks sucked also.. i had like a 65% average and it didnt matter in the slightest.

I got rejected at the next rounds though cos i had no social skills apparently. Because im such a nice guy I let me straight A finance honours student friend put my business accomplishments on his resume to help him get a job because he had no work experience at all to put on his resume. Again it got him through most initial elemination rounds until he fucked up the social parts cos he has no social skills either.

I suppose this is different because its graduate positions, 5yrs down the track I'm still sure as everyone above has said that employers would love to see you having run a successful business for 5 yrs over being told what to do by some run down schmuck in an office.
 
if you're looking to work for the man down the road I would offer this bit of caution:

entrepreneurs look at problems in terms of opportunity.
entrepreneurs aren't afraid to try things in new ways.
entrepreneurs are able to set a course and lead.

you would think these are valuable traits, and when viewed by a smart manager - they are. problem is, 95% of the managers out there are dipshits and are frightened / intimidated by these skill sets - that equates to not getting hired. good luck.
 
Hmmm.. let's see, I entered the workforce in 1990.

3 years at one company until new tech came in and there was mass layoffs, saw it coming and left 6 months before the hop.

2 years at one company until new tech wiped it out, saw it coming left before the hacking started...

1 year at a shit company whose owners were trying to sell out.

7 glorious years at a high-tech company that went public and then crashed in the dot-com era and then got bought out by a bigger company. Total number of bosses in 7 years: 5. Every 18 months or so, I had to break in a new one. Total round of mass-layoffs that I survived before punching the ticket: 4

8. Been independent since 2004. Would rather die than go back to 9 to 5.

If anybody under the age of forty wants to "work" for somebody and not "work" for themselves, then they are crazy and/or were asleep during the 1990s/2000s.

My 2 cents...
 
Benji49 said:
Hmmm.. let's see, I entered the workforce in 1990.

3 years at one company until new tech came in and there was mass layoffs, saw it coming and left 6 months before the hop.

2 years at one company until new tech wiped it out, saw it coming left before the hacking started...

1 year at a shit company whose owners were trying to sell out.

7 glorious years at a high-tech company that went public and then crashed in the dot-com era and then got bought out by a bigger company. Total number of bosses in 7 years: 5. Every 18 months or so, I had to break in a new one. Total round of mass-layoffs that I survived before punching the ticket: 4

8. Been independent since 2004. Would rather die than go back to 9 to 5.

If anybody under the age of forty wants to "work" for somebody and not "work" for themselves, then they are crazy and/or were asleep during the 1990s/2000s.

My 2 cents...
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CIGAW?

Unless you have crushing debt or have very young kids, working on your own is the only way to go.

Ain't no thing to go from rags to riches 4, maybe 5 more times in my life. I'm 28. It's all a cycle that you learn from. Each failure pisses you off and sticks with you, each success is like a new form of herion (not that I'd know..) and you get addicted.
 
1nspire said:
Risk, you damn right its a risk. The same is true for every self employed entrepreneur. My question about your friend is whats going to give you better work experience. Learning how to kiss your bosses ass, or bust'n your hump on a dream?
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I just went through several interviews - you know how hard it is to explain that 5-6 years owning a company in their field is real proof? He kept talking down to me about my age and shit, and then I told him one line that shut him up "bring your top programmer for php in here and lets see who gets a project done first".

;)
 
This is a terrific thread. I've received many of johnmatrix's remarks from others, but I'm optimistic about the future. The fact of the matter is, we keep every penny we make. Working for others - you keep what they decide to pay, in spite of the profits you make for the company. In my opinion, that's pathetic.
 
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