18 Comments
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Ninah's avatar

This is happening now because of TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest and other social media. There was a big boom in developing hobbies and interests since Lockdown. I’ve improved my crocheting, learned Feng Shui, learned Chinese Medicine that changed the course of my business and gotten some great advice on improving just about everything. All of this just from being curious. Yes, entrepreneurship is alive and well today!

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Kathleen Nilsson's avatar

I’m not sure about back then but I thought you couldn’t make a contract with a minor. Good idea though if you can. Also I always liked Jimmy Buffet. Reminds me of a friend who always wanted to be a pilot wham he was a kid and he made it

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Lisa Maniaci's avatar

I heard a story the other day from a friend who said his cousin has a brilliant mind. He suffered a sports injury years ago, was prescribed meds, got addicted, eventually became a heroin addict. Through all of that, his brain continued to work on his invention, regardless of the situation he was in, because the problem that made him think about it in the first place didn't go away. Today he is a healthy businessman with a very good product on the market and investors who trust him. One of the things that helped him to get and keep his investors was his honesty about addiction.

So when someone asks when is a good time to start a business, develop a product or take on a huge investment, the answer is different for everyone. External factors shouldn't be the reason not to, but maybe the catalyst for moving forward.

If you want to see his story and learn about his product, you can go here: https://shoptabboo.com/our-story/

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YT Personal's avatar

Instead of writing “he or she” please use “they”. In this way you not only correctly use these words, in addition you will stop perpetuating the binary language. FYI that government agencies, judges and other institutional systems have also started to use “they” rather than “he or she” when the identity of the person is unknown.

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Greg Colley's avatar

I'm reminded of Wayne Huizenga who borrowed $5,000 from a relative to buy an old garbage truck. He went around town getting commercial contracts for garbage pickup. Today, that company is Waste Management. He's also owned a few other companies as well as a MLB team.

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Israel Sanchez's avatar

Thanks for the book highlights, Bill!

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Millie Bianco's avatar

Another great “food for thought”, but just makes me wish I was now a young man . Wish I hadn’t said that.

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Leah Ward-Lee's avatar

How inspiring!

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Tim's avatar

Great insights from the past...

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Michael Mohr's avatar

Often old books--even ancient ones--tell us much more honestly about us now, if for no other reason than back then people could write non-ideologically and fully honestly. Society and cultures shift, but many facets remain universal and have been since time immemorial. I’ve been thinking and reading a lot about George Orwell lately. (I have a piece on him coming out on my stack soon.) In many of his books he was writing ironically about 2023.

Michael Mohr

‘Sincere American Writing’

https://michaelmohr.substack.com/

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Ninah's avatar

How about Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations RJT was written around 170’s AD. And been in print at least since 1811. There’s some really ancient writing that is still applicable to today.

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Jack Thro's avatar

RJT. Ninah, those 3 letters are the initials of my full name, and so they caught my attention. But I can’t figure out what you mean by “Meditations RJT.

Could you please enlighten us a little more on this point? Thanks!

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Ninah's avatar

Haha. I have no idea where RJT came from. I just checked my original source for the dates of publication, and there’s no RJT. So looks like AutoCorrect just wanted you to read the thread. 🤷‍♀️

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Darrell's avatar

When Stephen Covey was researching for his 7 Habits book he reviewed 200 years of self-help books. He found the first 150 years was all character based and the last 50 were personality based. It was published in 1989 so his research went back to at least 1788 or earlier.

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Paul Scott Duesterdick's avatar

I find these stories interesting. I also like the adage of buying several cases of wine suitable for aging when a child is born to have great vintages for your guests at a child’s wedding, all of which cost more than I could have dreamt and both of which were the proudest days of my life with my daughters.

There are plenty of ways to earn a living but precious days with your family are so much more valuable

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Kim Cooper's avatar

From many different perspectives, I loved this story. Especially given the fact that I've recently retired from a long and successful 'corporate career,' and now giving serious consideration to launching a new business venture. No rest for the wicked, I guess.

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Rose Marie Mack's avatar

Mr. Cameron (writing as either Miles or Christian, I can't remember which) has a series called The Long War, set in ancient Greece during their Persian War. He quoted one of the Great Philosophers to the effect, youth of 500(?) BC are not what we were back in the day.

Made that Philosopher sound just like one of the group of grumpy old men sitting at the local diner "fixing the world."

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Vivienne Long's avatar

Thanks. Great idea, too!

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