"I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth...."

This is a reply to Michael Ross's post below.... I thought I'd drag it up here so it doesn't get lost.... :)

Michael, you made some great points I reckon... :)

A lot of these "successful entrepreneurs" were really born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

However, there are real "rags to riches" stories, and like you, those are the ones I find the most inspiring.... :)

One of my favorite "rags to riches" story is Joe Cossman's -- from "rags" at age 28 to "riches" at 29. I can't give the whole story here since it's quite long (I may rewrite it in my own words here some time) -- I know about it from pages 6-14 in the book "Making It!" by E. Joseph Cossman and William A. Cohen.

E. Joseph Cossman spent $50 on a portable typewriter and money on lots of postage stamps, and spent many many hours pounding out letters on that typewriter.

(He was also working for $35 a week during that time too -- he'd work 8 hours at his job at an export company, then he'd work 8 more hours at his kitchen table at home.)

After about a *year* of his own effort, he got his first deal, selling $180,000 worth of soap from the USA to Europe in 1946. His profit from that deal was $30,000 -- and that was in 1946. And he really was NOT rich to do this -- he was clever, hard-working, and had a lot of guts too!

Here's one thing Joe Cossman writes about this.....
During this, my first encounter with "big business," I was to learn that success requires more than work, study, imagination, and faith; it requires other people. And it requires every single percentage point of brain power you can squeeze out of your cranium. ["Making It!" pages 8-9.]

"Making It!" was the first business book I ever bought. However, I still find it one of the most inspiring and eye-opening books there is. In fact, just writing about it has made me want to re-read it again -- I think I'll get a lot more out of it on this reading than when I first read it several years ago.

I KNOW that some people will look at me and Sowpub, and say, "Man, how did that guy get to work with Gordon Alexander?" And you know, sometimes I think about it and wonder about it myself. :)

But the bottom line is I believe that to an extent, we make our own luck. You have to take some risks, and put yourself out there. My point of view has always been that education and knowledge are more important than money. So I've sometimes spent ridiculous amounts of my salary on educating myself, and that doesn't JUST mean buying and reading books, but also flying myself to Ohio as well.... and to me, because of my admiration for him, meeting Gordon is worth far more to me than meeting any Hollywood superstar would be. (I was lucky in the sense that my job had already taken me to Boston for a couple months, to work with some people at Boston University, but I still paid to get from Boston to Akron/Canton airport and back....)

Michael, did you ever see that film "Strictly Ballroom"? (For non-Aussies, this was a small Aussie movie made a few years ago.)

The surface plot is about a ballroom dancing competition. But several times during the film they come to the REAL theme of the movie, which is:

A LIFE LIVED IN FEAR IS A LIFE HALF-LIVED.

I have a funny story to tell about that movie. I was still an undergraduate student when the film was released in 1992.

There was this girl I kind of liked, even though deep down I knew very well that there was no way we were compatible since our personalities were so different. But you know how your powers of fantasy can work sometimes. :)

I'm not sure how it happened, but she asked me in a friendly way if I was interested in seeing "Strictly Ballroom." Seeing my opportunity to spend some time with her, I leaped up and said "YES!"

Otherwise, I wouldn't be caught dead seeing a film called "Strictly Ballroom" -- you know, it doesn't quite fit with the macho image that you care about so much in those testosterone filled days as a young male. ;)

Well, I didn't quite know what to expect from the film. After all, I wasn't really going along to see the film -- I was going along to spend a little bit of time with Nadine (not her real name).

Well, when I was in the cinema, I sat transfixed. The story is about a ballroom dancing competition, and about dancing new unorthodox steps in the competition, and all the opposition and fears associated with doing something different and new.

And throughout the film, several times, is the phrase,

"A LIFE LIVED IN FEAR IS A LIFE HALF-LIVED"

The idea was that, if you are living in fear of doing something new and different, then you are not fully living life. Your life is only HALF-LIVED.

That movie had me stunned. My mind was churning. I was relating the lesson in the movie to my own life. Dare to be different. Dare to be unique. If you feel fear, then do whatever it takes to conquer it. Strike out and conquer that fear.

This movie forced me to ask myself: Do you want a FULL life, or do you just want a life that is HALF-LIVED?

If you want a FULL life, then take a risk and tackle life head-on!

Nadine drove us both back, yet I was terrible company in the car. I was still half-stunned, my mind reeling with thoughts from that movie. She must have wondered what the heck happened to me. I was just half-stunned, my mind so full of possibilities on how I could apply what I had just learned.

Well, we never saw a movie together again.... I think I wasn't very great company for that first movie. :)

But on the other hand, thanks to Nadine, I learned one of the most important lessons in life. Which is, if you fear something, then that could be a sign that it is what you are "supposed" to do. Get out there and do it.

Live your life FULLY. Don't let it be HALF-LIVED due to FEAR.

I've applied this lesson many times in my life, and I still try to apply it now. I hope you enjoyed my little story. :)

Thanks Michael for your stimulating post, which resulted in this particular long ramble of mine! :)

Cheers,

Dien