.org50 Cent Explains Why You’ll Never Succeed
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In an interview about his new book in the latest issue of Fortune, 50 Cent hits on exactly what’s wrong with 95% of independent online businesses:
People…live too much in the now. They go for what makes them comfortable right then instead of the future.
His co-author continues:
Whenever he has a business decision, he doesn’t concern himself with the upfront money; he’s thinking three years down the line.
Too many of us fail because we can’t handle delayed gratification. We want it now — even if “it” is only a few dollars. We gladly (or unknowingly) sacrifice the long-term on the altar of the immediate and wonder why we’re still not making enough to quit our day job. We don’t give any thought to the future result of what we’re doing today.
Take some time today to really think. Are you whoring out your blog to make a few bucks, while in the meantime chasing away readers who would have formed the foundation for a very successful business one or two years down the line? Are you living on the edge of legitimacy trying not to get caught when, ultimately, you always will? Have you grown so fat feeding off the free traffic from Google that you’ve ceased trying to make your site more defensible?
If so, don’t start whining a year from now when those who took a long-term view of things are working for themselves, and you’re still having to answer to someone else.
Jason
September 26, 2008 at
5:57 pm
Great Post! Similar to internet start-ups (maybe I remember this from the story of Digg): no ‘real’ business plan in hand at the beginning, just concentrate on building communities, adding value, measuring your success in traffic and eventually the money should come in naturally…
Mariah
September 30, 2008 at
8:37 am
Finally, somebody gets it! Americans in general can’t handle delayed gratification. Too many are living outside of their means, going into debt, grabbing at the cents instead of patiently waiting for the dollars. It’s not only the scenario for online businesses, but the average Americans as well. What if a 2-income family learned to live as though there was only 1-income? What if they did the math and didn’t take the home loan for a $450,000 when in reality they should have bought the $200,000 house and still been able to buy groceries. Its all about “sign now”, “gimme now”, pay for it later - I hope I’m teaching my kids to be patient, think smart, ’cause you can’t fix stupid.