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Korea (South)1897 Posts
SUMMARY: LONG AND NOT WORTH THE READ IF YOU'RE NEW TO TL. thx.
A RESPONSE
Well, I got a FB msg that I wasn't able to respond to, asking where I've been for the past year and really I've tried to write a few posts here and there, but ended up deleting them. It just wasn't enough material to write something authentic or insightful. And I haven't felt the need to write as a means of reflection, but it's been on a mind a while, after all this blog has been around since the start of my independent business journey and I think at this point I've come full circle.
JOE & HIS CUZ
I have this client from Taiwan 'Joe' who I've known for 8 years and he has a cousin 'James' who is nearly 15 years his junior and 20 years mine. And he asks me if I can have dinner with him because the kid is not focused, but he is smart and disciplined and graduated with his math degree from university but hasn't impressed in the company Joe owns. So it has perplexed him for the last couple of years.
About 8 months ago, Joe actually brings James to see me for 3 days, -now- this isn't just taking a 1 hour drive, he actually flies him to Manila from Shanghai and tells him to just talk to me over the next 3 days.
Now of course, it's clear that Joe wants James to take over the family business, and it's a big deal and over the last few years, when I was really tight and down, Joe was one of the few guys who was there for me and extended me a massive line of credit when I needed it.
When Joe was a young man and new to Macau and bigger business, I took him under my wing for a bit, and he flourished on his own, but Joe himself is a pretty smart guy, so over the years when he has had major issues he's always either called or actually come to meet me or resolve them. Joe himself when he was young, was a major networking point for me, so it was always good, but this was the first time he asked a favor like this.
JAMES THE YOUNG SEXY BEAST
So I meet James and he is a very good looking guy, he eats right, works out a lot, but he eats properly, he works out for power and balance, and he is extremely well read. First impressions were exceedingly high, but after about 15 mins of listening to him speak and his body language, I can see why Joe is perplexed. James seems like the total package, but he isn't.
James says to me, 'so, my cuz says that you're a pretty smart guy and that is a surprise because he never says that about anyone, and that over the next 3 days you're supposed to figure me out or something?'
And I reply, 'I wouldn't say I'm smart, but as for figuring you out - who knows if there is anything 'wrong with you', I'm just meeting you as a favor to your cousin'
James replies; 'Oh, so you're not going to psycho analyse me or pick me apart?'
'No, but if I like you, we can hang out over the next few days, if not and you don't like my company either there are a lot of fun things a young guy like you can do in Manila over the next few days.'
So anyway- we go out that night, I drink, he gets drunk, and he doesn't have any local cash on him and Joe is flying in late the next day, and since James has picked up a chick, I have him dropped off at a nearby hotel and give him enough cash for the room and deposit.
Over the next 2 days, I don't say much, just ask him his opinion on a few things here and there, and he tags along with me for my late afternoons, as he wakes up at 1pm or so. Joe ends up coming on the 3rd day instead, and so finally we go for nice dinner just the 3 of us.
THE RECKONING
And the first thing Joe says as we sit down is, 'my cousin is a retard right?' Right in front of James. (FYI Joe went to private school in Texas, so his English is fluent, but he talks like a Texan if you can image that...)
And I say, no he isn't. then Joe says, 'then what is his problem?' And then James says, 'He doesn't know, he has just been drinking with me and not saying much'
Joe turns to James and says 'shut up retard, you think he doesn't know exactly who you are after 3 days?' And James looks at me and says, 'do you?'
I look at James and I say to him, 'Yes, I do, I know you exactly who you are, but what would be the point to saying it to you?'
Now this gets James' curiosity going and then of course he challenges, me, 'why wouldn't you tell me if you do know?' now this has gotten to the level of a grade school stare down and I reply,'you're not ready to hear it, so it would just be wasted words,' At this, James sits back and starts to grin, 'ok this is bullshit right? Joe thinks you know everything, but here you are acting as if you do know everything, but you're saying nothing. And I've been shadowing you for the last couple of days, and nothing you've done either has impressed me'
Joe, stands up from the tables and says, 'I'm going to go the washroom, and in the few minutes I'm gone, Atom, tell this retard what he asks, as a favor to me, whether it helps this dumbass or not, it doesn't mater to me at this point.'
So Joe leaves the table and now it's just me and James looking at each other, and I'm just drinking my fine red wine at this fine restaurant not saying anything at all. James looks at me in silence for about 10 seconds and says in a smug but still curious voice, 'well, are you going to tell me something or what, the clock is ticking', and I say, 'let me enjoy this wine a bit more, and I will.'
So he watches me swirl the wine around and then I take a small sip and put the glass down. And then in about 5 short sentences I break him down, articulate his position, character and attitude, in about a minute and I ask him in a calm nonchalant rhetorical way 'does that sound right to you?' And he is speechless and says, 'yes...how did you do that?'
At this point, Joe comes back to the table, looks at us, and sits down. And James still in shock says, to Joe, 'Atom just broke me down perfectly...how did you do that...' and Joe turns to James and cuts him off and says, 'of course he did, why do you think I flew you out here to meet him you dumbass.' Then Joe turns to me and says, 'ok I just want to know, how do I fix this kid, tell me you have the answer.'
Then me and Joe proceed to speak as if James wasn't there.
'Unfortunately, Joe, there is no answer, at this point. Your dumbass cousin will continue to be a dumbass for the foreseeable future, I don't see him having any urge to change and you've already spoiled him with everything a young man shouldn't have at his age and the fact is that it was clear he was going to smart enough to recognize what I was saying was true, as he is a very bright kid, but there isn't a solution now for him, time will tell if something else turns up that can change things for him, but for now, he is a retard, will continue be one. So, sorry it's not better news, I'm not a miracle worker.'
Joe sits back and looks at James and says, 'damn it' and gives a big sigh. 'Ok so what should I do with him' and James at this point knows that it was out of fake courteous that we were acting as if he was an equal participant in the last few days, he just sits there and takes the humiliation, but yet not, as he is sitting up, listening...
I tell Joe, 'listen, send him to me every few months or so for a week, he can stay at my place, let him do what he wants in the meantime and lets take it from there.' Joe replies, 'You don't think this is a waste of your time? I am happy to do that, but isn't it a bit much for you?' And I say, 'I know how significant this is for you, if James is up for it, then I'm happy to do it for you, after all, since you're pretty fucked up, and likely to fuck up things in the future, maybe it's better we have James as a back up for you!'
'Fuck you, that kid ain't ever going to be better than me, but, yeah, lets do that; James are you up for meeting Atom again or was this a big waste of time for you?'
And James replied, back, in all seriousness, 'yeah, I'd like to visit Atom again'.
Over the past 10 months, I've seen James about 5 times, sometimes 3 days, other times he has stayed a month. He has opened up about a lot of things like family pressure, expectations and things that he knows he could never speak to Joe about, My kids love uncle James, as they think he like superman, (but of course I'm the hulk). And recently, I've given him some very tough love and basically swore/hit him for a couple of days and have told Joe to not send him back to me until he can speak Mandarin fluently.
QUORA FAN
But to get to the point of all of this, James loves to read Quora, and while I read the top stories every couple of days, James is addicted to it, and the kid loves guns and military history as well. So a few months ago, it comes up that we both read it, and he says, 'Atom, you must be an expert poster on Quora!, where would I follow you?' And I say to him, 'oh I don't post anything there.' and James asks, 'why not, there is so much you could share,' and I say, 'no not really, the quality of the posters and their knowledge and expertise far exceeds mine, in fact, I would feel that none of my posts would really be insightful or informative enough, in fact, when I do skim through some of the other more specific business topics, I'm amazed at what information I pick up and how up-to-date everyone is.' And James replies, 'I disagree,' and we leave it at that. But the reality is, it's not that I don't think I could be insightful or informative enough, and a couple of times I have been really tempted to answer a few questions that I felt really missed the market even though it has been upvoted a hundred times. -
the reality is, I don't give a shit about the people at Quora, I don't care about that community, I'm not one to waste my time on anything or anyone, I live a very very hectic complex lifestyle with a ton of responsibility as well as support my own family and relatives.
LET THEM BLEED OUT
I don't need to prove that I'm right, and the other people are wrong or misinformed, in fact, I've said this so many times, in business, who cares if someone is saying something you think is wrong, let them be wrong, let them shoot themselves in the foot, let them bleed out and die, go ahead, be right, and die being right. I don't give a shit, not because I don't have the ability to give a shit, but I chose not to waste my time on things I don't care about or identify with. And one thing I care very deeply about and identify myself with is Teamliquid and being a gamer.
HONESTLY I DO...CARE...
A lot of newer members -ones who have just joined over the years- who can't stand my blogs tend to think I'm writing to make them feel bad about their lives or that I'm here to show off or if I am so great and powerful why would I post here to just get the adoration of little peons for my self-delusional world. And when I mean newer members, I mean members who have joined, but ultimately haven't stuck around, they read the one cryptic post I wrote and have to comment something because they want to point out one of the above points so they can be stand up to the Mightyatom blog of whatever delusion/ego/elitism etc. But if you see, I always try to reply back in the most constructive way, unless the person is just so rude there is no point, because, this is a community that I deeply care about.
BUT I ONLY CARE ABOUT TL.
How relevant is TL to me now? That's another question, but I think which can be clearly answered in how much I do participate in other threads, which is zero for the last 3 years I guess. But in terms of how relevant is TL to me 'always', and the community that I know and that knows me, - it will always be relevant - just like close friends you haven't seen for years, we don't change that much really, and it's not hard to start off where you left off from.
AN OLD SCHOOL GAMER
As a gamer as well, my identity there is fading, at coming on to 42 now, it's hard to keep to keep a young mentality, I use gaming to relieve stress more that trying to win, which makes playing public games nuts sometimes for my team mates because I'm not so consistent with my play. Dota2 and Company of Heroes 2 are the only 2 games I play anymore. Even those games are barely able to keep my interest. I play Disney infinity with my 7 year old, but it's such an effort to get into it. But again, at the heart of my personal identity is that I am a gamer. old school, but still. But being a gamer has also helped me keep relevant as well as given me insight in my current industries. I miss the entire SCBW international scene, the Korean one for me, being in Korea was cool as a spectator, but I had so much pride in being part of the international scene and it was such a special time, like when Pride FC was at it's peak. I still have so many great memories from the first WCG in 2000.
THIS BUSINESS ABOUT BUSINESS HAS RUN ITS COURSE
In terms of coming full circle in business, I think I nearly have. So many things I have learned from the time of being a hotshot goldenboy executive to where I am now. And after all this time, I think I can now distill it to just a few key points.
-When I left being a multinational senior director, I assumed that doing my own business would just be a 2 year adjustment. When really it has been a 6 year adjustment, and the reason for that is that being an executive and being an entrepreneur is just a total paradigm shift. It's not there isn't anything similar between the two, there are, but it's in a totally different framework and logic that it simply took time. I was over confident to approach being an entrepreneur as if it was just like learning a new industry, rather it was equivalent to being a mid-western American and learning to become a native Chinese citizen living in central China.
You spend the first 2 years looking for similarities on what you do know, but then realize that it causes more misunderstanding than understanding.
You spend the next 3 years starting to learn the language properly and realizing how American you really are and how not Chinese you are.
Then in the last year you actually start being Chinese.
And the key word is start.
And I'd say, whether I'm a slow learning or not, or that being a strategist is hardwired into my brain, it took 5 years of my life to actually start to have the right mind set/approach to being an entrepreneur. But the difference with me is that I did have these really preconceived understanding/frameworks that had always worked for me in the past. Getting past this was a major major huddle.
SENIOR EXECUTIVE TALENT = ENTREPRENEURIAL FAIL
Now in this respect, how to transition from an executive to an entrepreneur, I think I could write a definitive book on it. Which if an entrepreneur read it, they would say, 'duh obviously, these points are a given', but if an executive read it, they would probably say, 'thank god Atom has dissuaded me from thinking I could become an entrepreneur'. And yes, my message would be to 98% of senior established executives who simply want to make money, be successful and have stability and power, just stay put. You had the talent to make it to the top that quickly, it's probably the same talent which will work against you as an new entrepreneur. But if you are shit executive, well, maybe trying your hand at your own business isn't the worse move. lol.
NO WINS
At this point, I know I'm a shit entrepreneur or can I say, noob entrepreneur. I should not be giving advice on how to run your own business. It's not to say that I haven't learned a helluva lot or that I'm not not 3 times the man I use to be, but this has been an absolutely brutal experience that I've put my family through and while I'm still on this track, I probably did it the worst possible way on all fronts, which if you see my blog over the last 5 years, there are some small moments of victory, but most are blogs trying to grind or inspire or just survive. So in the last year when I did realize that I had finally made a paradigm shift to actually being an entrepreneur, I took stock of my immediate resources and of course one of them was my executive skill set and business negotiator background, so then I treated these as resources rather than who I am (i.e. than these skill defining and dictating the direction of business) and I just started to use them as if was just a staff in my own company that I had access too.
FULL CIRCLE
So nearly full circle, still doing the same thing, but in a totally different framework with totally different results. I had my first real win ever in the last 5 years this past 3 months, with a major international fund, buying out one of the companies I made, - this gave me such a morale boost and gave me some space to think clearly. I didn't make anything off of the sale, but I did get all the investment money back, which was 7 figures and a small percentage on the upside for the future.
But the network to the fund was my objective, which I got.
I finally pivoted my main company -twice- the first time just because I was desperate for any kind of win, and the second time, because I knew it the right move, even though it totally gave up on the initial market, -which I'm still on the hook to explain to my board about - this won't be an easy discussion and who knows, the effect in the market is still 60 days out, I could still screw the goose on this and that would basically destroy my reputation in the industry.
But I have 2 things going for me. I negotiated a very small exclusive distributor agreement that won't make much money, but will be enough to cover all my company's fixed expenses -assuming I don't hire anyone else- and I have one last Hail Mary unicorn agreement which I've been working on for the last 2 years, which may close tomorrow. Maybe not, I'm not banking on it, but it would be nice to be powerful again. ^^
NOT MY LAST POST
So I guess this is it, I won't say this is my last blog post, but this will be my last blog post on what I'm doing in business, because I think that journey is now done; as much as I don't need to post on TL to reflect on where I am at, and as much as this blog has become too vague when it comes to details (and thus a cryptic post which serves no purpose but to frustrate) -whereby I had to write that way because of being burned before by publicly posting and having a competitor and investor use it against me - which at this point am a I'm a lot more careful now and out of the spotlight ^^- but which makes for shit reading.
Again, this isn't my last blog post, just the last one for the entire business journey. So this isn't a good bye or anything, just wanted to explain and give some closure, but also say, Thank you TL, we are a great community, I am proud to have been a hyung to some of you, and thank you for reading, supporting, it was many times when the only support I had was TL in that it gave me some space to reflect, express and receive a good word of 'fighting' which is more than most people can hope for. TL is this place where I share, but it's like that is my other life and this is my life here. Hard to explain, but really I feel timeless here, as though I could be typing from 2005 and now in 2016 wouldn't be and isn't any different.
Every comment I appreciated, every read count I appreciated and it was never my intention to belittle anyone of you, it was my intention to contribute as I am to this community as the character that I am here, and presenting another side of experiences, while I feel that Quora probably will do that better than any blog post I could write, and that was never my intention, to educate TL or readers, it was just my way of contributing.
NON APOLOGETIC FUCK YOU
As a closing note this all. Money, materialism, stability. These are just byproducts and people really do think that happiness is a byproduct of money, materialism, stability. People will say, no that isn't the case, but really, people lie to themselves, life is always better with a bit more money, more material goods and of course stability.
But happiness for me, has been in competing in business -when I was a senior executive- and I was never saying that that is happiness for everyone, it's a profile of me, to share with you. And yes, at the end of the day, power which comes from money, reputation, stability etc, it gives me a high, and still does and will give, if I get to that point again, but I won't apologize for that, more than anything - I think about how I can remember these moments and not let myself get drunk with the feeling of power if it should come again. So I can still be myself, and not some asshole dickhead who really believes that having money and power makes him/her a better person or smarter and lose touch with reality-which I've done which lead me to giving it all up before.
But life is very tough for everyone, this blog was never meant to be a put down on anyone, but it isn't also apologetic either. I want to close and say, it's a choice, to be unbalanced to just focus on money or some kind of success alone. It's a choice to make hard decisions for the long term like moving your family for a chance. And there are sacrifices that other's aren't prepared to take, because it is a risk, it is selfish, etc. But for me, just me, it's ambition that defines me. And that's it. And it's why I don't regret, because I have no room for the regret because I am always pushing forward. It's not a life for everyone and it isn't a judgement on anyone, but it is the standard that I live by and what I did purposely want to present when I wrote.
MACHINE MODE
I am a Machine.
Because I chose it.
Because I want the power,
to crush any regret
I could have.
If for one moment, you needed to be the Machine, I wanted my community to know, that is what it looks like - for that day or period, when you have to chose to be a Machine because you had no choice but to.
But I'm no fool, the Machine can't run forever, and there is the man in the machine, I chose to be the Machine as long as I could, and now it's time to let it go...and be
an Archon!
Power
Overwhelming.
Fuck did you really think I was going to go out on a pussy note?
The day will come when I'm old, frail, and I want to spend more time with the things that really matter in life, but not for this post, this blog, and this is here when you need it.
No regret, crush those who would crush you, and above all else protect the weak.
What do guys think I've been doing all this time?
Inspiring gamers to crush is a calling. ^^
 
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I'd love to have the chance James had... Or be him if he is the complete package, minus the dumbass aspect of course.
Your blogs have served me as inspiration and knowledge at some point in my life, not to it's full extent yet. Maybe at the start of my next circle I'll come back and read them again to use them to their full extent.
I also dream of victory by annihilation, that victory where I crush my opponents rip their hearts out and eat to my heart's content. Instead of being a damn caterpillar... some day, just some day...
Anyways, great blog as always, TL is also that old friend for me which you haven't speak to for a long time, that you can get along with very easily if you had time.
Sadly life moves on and somehow the gamer inside me slowly fades, but somehow I still come back after long absences just for the blogs or when I feel the urge to revive that excitement felt from watching the finals of some tournament.
Best of luck to you Atom, and Fighting!
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Interesting, I am one of those new users who started reading your posts within the past 5 years (join date March 2011.)
However, I never felt that your blogs belittled me, but rather inspired me to do better. The fact that almost everything I've read from you has been a business blog doesn't mean that that is what I take away from it.
When I read about your social interactions between other people I simply look back on my past and want to kick myself in the face with a steel toed boot. I've missed so many opportunities when I've gotten to meet on personal terms with some people I'd consider extremely successful and simply not made a great impression. One of those opportunities could have been a small time job to get my foot in the door of my industry and could have (big "could have") allowed me to skip over this stupid 4 year degree that I'm working toward.
edit: If I were James I could imagine myself wasting that opportunity.
Reading your interactions makes me want to emulate some of them, and brings to light my past mistakes.
All of this might be because I have a similar mentality to yours. At least as demonstrated by your poem and closer.
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On January 29 2016 12:55 MightyAtom wrote:
LET THEM BLEED OUT
I don't need to prove that I'm right, and the other people are wrong or misinformed, in fact, I've said this so many times, in business, who cares if someone is saying something you think is wrong, let them be wrong, let them shoot themselves in the foot, let them bleed out and die, go ahead, be right, and die being right. I don't give a shit, not because I don't have the ability to give a shit, but I chose not to waste my time on things I don't care about or identify with.
Those couple lines would have been very welcome a few year back.
Thank you for the sharing.
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Your blogs are really good ^^. I enjoy reading the,.
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Korea (South)1897 Posts
Guys,
Thank you for the comments. I'll make a new blog post in a couple of weeks? ^^
Best!
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I've always loved your blogs, since the very beginning. I understand why you had to stop being so specific in regards to your business blogging, but I've still enjoyed them immensely. Hope you keep blogging, about any subject.
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Thanks for always blogging. It's always been an inspiration to read. I had been debating for 4 years whether I would do my own start up or not, and your perspective combined with other sources convinced me not to. While I think I would be more than willing to help be part of one, I don't think I would ever do it on my own.
Here's to hoping for many more blogs!
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Thanks MightyAtom Hyung!
You pmed me a couple years back, and your advice helped me on some of my more difficult projects. Definitely helped me make the jump from being a wantrepreneur to being an entrepreneur just because of knowledge I had from reading.
MightyAtom hwaiting
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As someone who joined TL later (2010? 2011?) during a time in my life where I was a business student and now working in industry, I always enjoy reading your blogs and hearing your perspective on things.
This James guy is having the best opportunity of his life being mentored by you. I think its great that you've decided to invest in him as a person and hopefully he recognizes that too.
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Even cryptic posts like this one about business would be fine since it's nice to know how you are doing. Like feeling happy or sad for you, sharing your enthusiasm - it's a battle you fight and I genuinely want you to succeed.
<3 Atom
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Will you at least give an update in the future about 'James' ?
It was an interesting anecdote.
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Yeah, I'm in the same boat as most of the people above: we don't know each other, and yes your posts are cryptic as hell, but I thoroughly enjoy reading them !
Keep on crushin' mate, and keep us informed :-)
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Shit, I'd love for someone to break me down in five sentences like that. It's always a great circumstance towards improvement.
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I need the mighty Atom to smack the retard outta me... and some people I know... Open up a school.
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Korea (South)1897 Posts
Hey guys,
give me a few days to get to replying to any questions,
I just need to catch up on some work over the next few days.
And thank you as always for the comments, appreciate it.
I will go back to some old blogs that I didn't reply to as well,
and try to answer any questions as well.
cheers!
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Always enjoyed your blogs even though I tend to loathe the "business" world. You have a gift of insight and expressing yourself that is not common. I think you have many here who will continue to read as long as you choose to write... cheers.
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Sounds like there's little reason to hope for you to retire and write more :D
I fully have to agree with Glowsphere though.
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I'm actually sad that are choosing to stop posting regarding your business journey.
To me it has always felt, even when you were being cryptic, that it was very true to you.
If this is or isn't the last business journey post you make I would like to thank you very much for sharing them over the years, this is one of the few things that has kept me connected to TL.
I have enjoyed reading your mindset change over the years, your escapades, and your ventures especially those that seemed to be interestingly timed.
Thank you, you have added a lot of value to my life.
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I enjoy your writing, I'm curious what you'd blog about if not about your curent conquests.
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United States996 Posts
always fun to hear how its going for you.
nice blog and good luck with everything
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Japan11285 Posts
Can you go over to Manila again to figure out this retard?
In all seriousness, I'm glad you still blog here. I haven't read every blogpost but the ones that I have, (still halfway through this one) I enjoyed reading.
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I think it's misleading to label your writing as being just about business. it's much more about self awareness, analysis, and improvement, and those are things that can be applied to anything in life. The topics you'd often right about just tended to focus on business. The world would be a much better place if everyone was willing to be honest with themselves and work towards change as you do. Your blogs are great, apologize for nothing.
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As someone who has followed your blogs for years (albeit dif acc back then) I really appreciate the time and thought you put into them.
Obviously it became a necessity to take out some of the details as you stated, but I don't think that makes many of your blogs too vague to be of any use.
The other question is of course if you can talk about past business interactions that no longer impacts any current stuff and talk about your thought process on different items there or if you're worried it'll come back to bite you again.
Remember DotA2 and CoH have nothing on playing some BGH in SCBW :d
Hope to see more blogs, purely for the thought perspective they offer. Also just remember some of your hilarious and awesome ones on more general subjects like how to clean a shirt in a hotel emergency or the business travel one inspired by up in the air.
Keep up the writing, TL still has enough old peeps left who appreciate you and new people who can pick up your great blog!
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Korea (South)1897 Posts
On January 29 2016 14:38 Nerios wrote:
I'd love to have the chance James had... Or be him if he is the complete package, minus the dumbass aspect of course.
Your blogs have served me as inspiration and knowledge at some point in my life, not to it's full extent yet. Maybe at the start of my next circle I'll come back and read them again to use them to their full extent.
I also dream of victory by annihilation, that victory where I crush my opponents rip their hearts out and eat to my heart's content. Instead of being a damn caterpillar... some day, just some day...
Anyways, great blog as always, TL is also that old friend for me which you haven't speak to for a long time, that you can get along with very easily if you had time.
Sadly life moves on and somehow the gamer inside me slowly fades, but somehow I still come back after long absences just for the blogs or when I feel the urge to revive that excitement felt from watching the finals of some tournament.
Best of luck to you Atom, and Fighting!
Everyone is a dumbass at one point or another, but intensity always makes up for time wandering.
But ain't nothing like that kind of victory, but for that always happens when you 'leave nothing left for the swim back' ala the movie gattaca -watch if you haven't ^^
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Korea (South)1897 Posts
On January 29 2016 15:48 Thaniri wrote:
Interesting, I am one of those new users who started reading your posts within the past 5 years (join date March 2011.)
However, I never felt that your blogs belittled me, but rather inspired me to do better. The fact that almost everything I've read from you has been a business blog doesn't mean that that is what I take away from it.
When I read about your social interactions between other people I simply look back on my past and want to kick myself in the face with a steel toed boot. I've missed so many opportunities when I've gotten to meet on personal terms with some people I'd consider extremely successful and simply not made a great impression. One of those opportunities could have been a small time job to get my foot in the door of my industry and could have (big "could have") allowed me to skip over this stupid 4 year degree that I'm working toward.
edit: If I were James I could imagine myself wasting that opportunity.
Reading your interactions makes me want to emulate some of them, and brings to light my past mistakes.
All of this might be because I have a similar mentality to yours. At least as demonstrated by your poem and closer.
Five years is still a long time friend ^^.
There is this thing, where, we have expectations and when we're young, many of these expectations involve a sense of entitlement or where we think we should start at. Rather, no one owes us anything and the world may look at everyone one of us as nobodies -because there is always somebody who may be more qualified or experienced.
But the thing I've found is everyone can appreciate someone with the right attitude to be humble yet confident to start at the bottom and learn like an open book - and - for that person to be ready to take on any opportunity, no matter how small to get the proverbial foot in the door. It's not that people are lucky, but rather people are prepared to take a small opportunity to position themselves to be ready to take on a bigger one. Exactly what you're saying, but with a step in between ^^
Thank you for reading.
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On January 29 2016 18:34 AbouSV wrote:Show nested quote +On January 29 2016 12:55 MightyAtom wrote:
LET THEM BLEED OUT
I don't need to prove that I'm right, and the other people are wrong or misinformed, in fact, I've said this so many times, in business, who cares if someone is saying something you think is wrong, let them be wrong, let them shoot themselves in the foot, let them bleed out and die, go ahead, be right, and die being right. I don't give a shit, not because I don't have the ability to give a shit, but I chose not to waste my time on things I don't care about or identify with. Those couple lines would have been very welcome a few year back. Thank you for the sharing.
^^ I think it's a good lesson to learn at any point in life. I mean how much time do we all waste on people that really aren't worth it? In fact, I think the kindest thing you could do is spend time to correct someone, because the only thing you get if you're recognized as right is a bit of ego, but they get a chance to change their life - even at that level.
It also comes with the maturity that you're not trying to win an argument because you yourself is insecure with your position and that is why you need the validation of another to convince really yourself.
When you know, you don't say, when you don't know, you listen and learn, then be better and crush them later. ^^
Thanks for reading.
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On January 29 2016 20:44 RvB wrote:
Your blogs are really good ^^. I enjoy reading the,.
Thanks, I always have enjoyed sharing here as well, and the kick out of getting a comment, never goes away hehe ^^
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On January 30 2016 02:56 Cauld wrote:
I've always loved your blogs, since the very beginning. I understand why you had to stop being so specific in regards to your business blogging, but I've still enjoyed them immensely. Hope you keep blogging, about any subject.
Thanks for the understanding, I have had a lot of 'posters' being very critical of it, but I guess at the end of the day, I'm not going to screw myself because of a request from a 'poster', but for TL members, I think everyone has been understanding or shot me a PM if they really wanted to ask a more specific question. And thank you, I think I'll blog about honey bees next ^^ or something.
Thx!
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On January 30 2016 03:15 DumJumJmyWum wrote:
Thanks for always blogging. It's always been an inspiration to read. I had been debating for 4 years whether I would do my own start up or not, and your perspective combined with other sources convinced me not to. While I think I would be more than willing to help be part of one, I don't think I would ever do it on my own.
Here's to hoping for many more blogs!
Well, for saving a soul from destruction, I should give myself a pat on the back hehe, no, but seriously, well that is great to hear, not that you're not doing a start-up yourself, but that you have gotten perspective on it. I'm not one to regret, but one thing I do know is that had I not gone off on my own, there would have been much more opportunities for me as an executive that I couldn't see because relatively I was quite young when I hit senior director as well as my rise was quite quick and it was hard for me to think that spending 2 years at the same role was a good thing. Patience is never the virtue of the young eh? ^^
Thx and good luck as well.
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On January 30 2016 03:42 MysteryMeat1 wrote:
Thanks MightyAtom Hyung!
You pmed me a couple years back, and your advice helped me on some of my more difficult projects. Definitely helped me make the jump from being a wantrepreneur to being an entrepreneur just because of knowledge I had from reading.
MightyAtom hwaiting
Hehe, well this is great too, someone who did go for it, I guess it helped being confused as to what side of the fence I was on. ^^ Ok good luck, I hope you crush it! Maybe we'll see each other on the other side!
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On January 30 2016 05:50 joshie0808 wrote:
As someone who joined TL later (2010? 2011?) during a time in my life where I was a business student and now working in industry, I always enjoy reading your blogs and hearing your perspective on things.
This James guy is having the best opportunity of his life being mentored by you. I think its great that you've decided to invest in him as a person and hopefully he recognizes that too.
That's super cool, I mean its cool when someone in business enjoys them as well. James, well, he is bright enough to know it's a good opportunity, but too dumb and horny i.e. distracted, to take advantage of it. So, for the moment, the James project is on hold until Joe smacks some sense into him. As it stands, it's not worth my time to repeat the same crap to him. Some times guys need some very tough love. ^^
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On January 30 2016 05:54 Lucumo wrote:
Even cryptic posts like this one about business would be fine since it's nice to know how you are doing. Like feeling happy or sad for you, sharing your enthusiasm - it's a battle you fight and I genuinely want you to succeed.
<3 Atom
Sincerely thank you. It's a post like that makes me feel like TL is always good. ^^
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On January 30 2016 06:25 BeStFAN wrote:
Will you at least give an update in the future about 'James' ?
It was an interesting anecdote.
Well, to keep it short,
we had a meeting where the translator was shit,
so he sat in the meeting,
and he was terrible,
and so in front of the client (who wasn't really a client, but a staff of the client),
I blew up on him, the girl translator and the staff guy and said,
'how the fuck can you not translate better than this? If this was English to Korean or vise versa, I could do this level conversation without thinking about it' and so I threw down the pen I was using on the table and broke it,
and the translator turned red and said, 'I'm just here for fun' (as she was the cousin of the staff),
I realized the staff was a complete moron too, and I lost all respect for him,
and James just looked down and I said,
'study fucking more, this is fucking ridiculous you speak this little mandarin' (considering James has been living in Shanghai for 3 years now from Texas).
So anyway, until he shows me something like progress, I'm not really going to tell him anything further,
and now I feel I really need to start learning Mandarin properly myself instead of just knowing curse words. ^^
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On January 30 2016 06:28 LoneYoShi wrote:
Yeah, I'm in the same boat as most of the people above: we don't know each other, and yes your posts are cryptic as hell, but I thoroughly enjoy reading them !
Keep on crushin' mate, and keep us informed :-)
Thanks brother, appreciate it ^^.
I will try to keep up the crushing, and I hope if things work out, I'll sponsor a SCBW tourney here on TL, but I've been saying that for years now, but you never know ^^ thx!
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On January 30 2016 08:53 Nikon wrote:
Shit, I'd love for someone to break me down in five sentences like that. It's always a great circumstance towards improvement.
You know one really useful and positive test I've taken in the last 5 years has been this:
Strength Finders
I think you need to pay $15 for the test online,
but I think it's really worth it.
^^
and btw the only reason I could do with him, was because he was so simple keke.
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On January 30 2016 15:50 SigmaoctanusIV wrote:
I need the mighty Atom to smack the retard outta me... and some people I know... Open up a school.
*Smack!*
Just cause I like you, the other can just bleed out. ^^
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On January 31 2016 04:09 Glowsphere wrote:
Always enjoyed your blogs even though I tend to loathe the "business" world. You have a gift of insight and expressing yourself that is not common. I think you have many here who will continue to read as long as you choose to write... cheers.
Hey thanks, I think I needed business to be sane...there is this guy, you probably know, Blaise Pascal and great thinker, mathematician etc, and in the end, he goes nuts - because he ends up thinking too much- after his death, his friends get together and gather all his crazy thoughts and organize it into a work call 'Pensees' i.e. thoughts.
Thing is, when I read pensees, I get where he is going, not that I'm a genius or anything, but I have the propensity to simply build abstract thoughts upon abstract thoughts and get lost in, something of reverse inception, rather than going below the consciousness, I make a delusional attempt to create something that reaches from consciousness to the cosmic structures of society and existence. But business, always grounds me, it's like my anchor to reality because theories need to be applied in a max span of 3-5 years and decisions have effects within a month, so every thought needs to be applicable or else it is discarded and for me, it has given me balance.
Cheers and thank you^^
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On January 31 2016 06:55 y0su wrote:
Sounds like there's little reason to hope for you to retire and write more :D
I fully have to agree with Glowsphere though.
You know I think only TL appreciates my writing style because it's a bit too conversational/stream of consciousness - a product of typing really quickly in games and dealing with complex game situations mixed in with retarded daily happenings keke.
I think if I can take some time off, I'll get a full health check, and try to live a more routine healthy boring lifestyle watching my boys grow up ^^ but I get scared to think that in 8 years I'll be 50 lol. But Iike I said, writing, makes me feel timeliness.
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On January 31 2016 07:02 Etherone wrote:
I'm actually sad that are choosing to stop posting regarding your business journey.
To me it has always felt, even when you were being cryptic, that it was very true to you.
If this is or isn't the last business journey post you make I would like to thank you very much for sharing them over the years, this is one of the few things that has kept me connected to TL.
I have enjoyed reading your mindset change over the years, your escapades, and your ventures especially those that seemed to be interestingly timed.
Thank you, you have added a lot of value to my life.
Thank you sincerely, I mean I write this, but you know I mean it. ^^
Just having you comment like that, well you know, it has added a lot of value to my life as well,
to be recognized in a community I take pride in,
but to know that yes my writing had some significance.
thank you as well my friend. ^^
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On February 01 2016 08:38 Saechiis wrote:
I enjoy your writing, I'm curious what you'd blog about if not about your curent conquests.
I have no idea ^^ I was thinking of just making an ask me anything thread moving forward,
and make this epic thread of a repository of one man's answer to every gamer life question.
I have no idea if I have the time to actually respond properly, as even responding to this thread, was something I needed to deliberately take time on my schedule to do, but maybe I'll slip in some general updates in life, or, really get into some crazy tirades on my thoughts on certain life subjects that will be sure to filled with stories of nuttiness ^^
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On February 01 2016 14:18 Liquid`Zephyr wrote:
always fun to hear how its going for you.
nice blog and good luck with everything
Thanks, it's always fun to update when I have something actually interesting to write keke ^^
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On February 01 2016 16:51 c3rberUs wrote:
Can you go over to Manila again to figure out this retard?
In all seriousness, I'm glad you still blog here. I haven't read every blogpost but the ones that I have, (still halfway through this one) I enjoyed reading.
Hehe, thanks, I hope you enjoy them, even the ones rated 2 stars lol. I don't about the ratings, but I have found them to be accurate in the quality of the posts. Not that I'm always writing for quality, but it is blog so I should try right? ^^
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On February 01 2016 23:31 Pandemona wrote:Wow i nearly missed this post due to the new sidebar i can't see blogs all to well fml. Glad i caught this, glad you posted. I for one will miss hearing your business adventures. I still have aims and hopes you will release some memoirs or just fuck it and write a full biography  But i would just take a few short stories if you ever had time when you are greyer and older! Would you wish you did it the other way round right now? Started being the entrepreneur you are now 20 years ago? Then moving off into a high paid executive job after being headhunted to wind down too? I don't know why but stopping the business blogs seems to be you saying you are done chasing big dreams? I don't know just what i get from it i might be very wrong. You have been in the business sector for 30 years now right? 6 years of that on your own. Those 6 years were harder than the previous 20 i would imagine? Oh well im rambling as it's hard to put into words in so few characters as i don't like wasting your time haha! Just keep being Mighty Atom thats all we care about 
You know I watched the last 'steve jobs' movie, the one written by sorkin, and I thought, man, if I had to write a biography or go through the stories, 1. my wife would divorce me, 2. my kids would disown me, 3. my enemies would realize how much I fucked them, 4. my other enemies would realize that there is still I high percentage I will extract some level of ice cold revenge and 5 I'd probably never be able to work in 3 industries I'm a part of.
But, no, I'm happy with the path I took, mainly because I think for most entrepreneurs, they don't have a choice but to be an entrepreneur, that maybe they didn't go to the best school or had some learning disability or had a talent for trading and business and quick numbers at a young age. Me, if I didn't have what I had as an executive, I would have had nothing because I really do not have any entrepreneurial talent - its not to say I can't be an entrepreneur, but these are things I've figured out, not really born with and this is why I think a lot of successful and famous entrepreneurs say that this can't be taught, and while I've 'figured' out a lot of it, most of what I know is just basic instinct and knowledge to a 'real entrepreneur'.
I think why this is the last business post is that, I think I have the big dreams now finally in front of me, but that also, I see the end of my journey now. I never thought I would have limitations, but know I do, and it was depressing for some time - a couple of months-, but in another way, the limitation I saw made me realize that where I am strong, I am extremely strong, so it was also a re-awakening for me to refocus on my real strengths instead of chasing for what I felt was the path for the most potential and upside.
Can I share this;
I always was never afraid of competition.
Because in competition - I wanted to find who was better than me,
so I could learn from them,
and then take from them,
and be better than them.
And for the most part, you get to a point where you've out run all your peers, and then its a competition on how far can you go, to learn new areas, new industries, new roles and the to dominate in those fields too.
There is the limitation of time, but really, its not a limitation, because I was driven by want my passions and interests are, I don't care about lions and tigers, and really in the field of business, I don't care about equity trading either, -I've only bought stocks twice in my life- but I know about fund raising, valuations, corporate finance- but the thing I really wanted to learn was to have my own company that I started.
In the course of this I have learned a lot, and of course, if this was small business, I think I would have been extremely successful thus far, but I have always set my sights on making a billion dollar business, and because of that, I realized, no way, I'm not that guy, I won't ever be that guy. Not as the guy who does it from scratch. And it was my objective, my ambition, my ultimate goal, and I realized a few months ago, it will never be.
But that doesn't mean that I can't be part of making a billion dollar company, or make it from 200m to 1b, and so I've had to accept that - as ridiculous as it sounds to many of you- but at a certain point in business, it's just numbers.
If I told you that it's far easier to raise 10M usd then 1m usd, you'd be why?
Because the paper work and research will be about the same time frame and if you raise 10M, it will be from a fund that has 200M or even 1B, but if you raise 1M, it will likely be from high net wealth individuals who will buy in for 50k to 250k and to find someone to put up the total 1M would be stretch -because indivdiual investors, don't think that way as professional investors.
But taking a company from zero to one, is simply a talent or skill I do not have, but taking it 1 to a billion. I may not be as special as I want to be, but if I am still the best at what I do, then I can live with that. ^^
I've been in the business sector for only 17 years, and now coming on to my 6th year on my own come Feb. Before then I was a theologian, if you can believe that. ^^
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On February 02 2016 00:22 QuanticHawk wrote:
I think it's misleading to label your writing as being just about business. it's much more about self awareness, analysis, and improvement, and those are things that can be applied to anything in life. The topics you'd often right about just tended to focus on business. The world would be a much better place if everyone was willing to be honest with themselves and work towards change as you do. Your blogs are great, apologize for nothing.
Thank you. Appreciate your comments greatly. Thank you. ^^
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On February 02 2016 01:35 DarkNetHunter wrote:
As someone who has followed your blogs for years (albeit dif acc back then) I really appreciate the time and thought you put into them.
Obviously it became a necessity to take out some of the details as you stated, but I don't think that makes many of your blogs too vague to be of any use.
The other question is of course if you can talk about past business interactions that no longer impacts any current stuff and talk about your thought process on different items there or if you're worried it'll come back to bite you again.
Remember DotA2 and CoH have nothing on playing some BGH in SCBW :d
Hope to see more blogs, purely for the thought perspective they offer. Also just remember some of your hilarious and awesome ones on more general subjects like how to clean a shirt in a hotel emergency or the business travel one inspired by up in the air.
Keep up the writing, TL still has enough old peeps left who appreciate you and new people who can pick up your great blog!
You know, reading back on these blog posts does actually make me remember when and where I wrote them, the mind set etc. I think for the few guys that do know me in person and what I do, they know it hasn't been easy for me these last 6 years, but you know it's my hope that if I do make it, that I would do something solely in gaming again, and then I'd do it publicly.
And yes, nothing, nothing compares to BGH in SCBW, unless its Ice Hunters by Girl Guild keke.
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Pandemona
Charlie Sheens House51450 Posts
On February 03 2016 00:16 MightyAtom wrote:Show nested quote +On February 01 2016 23:31 Pandemona wrote:Wow i nearly missed this post due to the new sidebar i can't see blogs all to well fml. Glad i caught this, glad you posted. I for one will miss hearing your business adventures. I still have aims and hopes you will release some memoirs or just fuck it and write a full biography But i would just take a few short stories if you ever had time when you are greyer and older! Would you wish you did it the other way round right now? Started being the entrepreneur you are now 20 years ago? Then moving off into a high paid executive job after being headhunted to wind down too? I don't know why but stopping the business blogs seems to be you saying you are done chasing big dreams? I don't know just what i get from it i might be very wrong. You have been in the business sector for 30 years now right? 6 years of that on your own. Those 6 years were harder than the previous 20 i would imagine? Oh well im rambling as it's hard to put into words in so few characters as i don't like wasting your time haha! Just keep being Mighty Atom thats all we care about You know I watched the last 'steve jobs' movie, the one written by sorkin, and I thought, man, if I had to write a biography or go through the stories, 1. my wife would divorce me, 2. my kids would disown me, 3. my enemies would realize how much I fucked them, 4. my other enemies would realize that there is still I high percentage I will extract some level of ice cold revenge and 5 I'd probably never be able to work in 3 industries I'm a part of. But, no, I'm happy with the path I took, mainly because I think for most entrepreneurs, they don't have a choice but to be an entrepreneur, that maybe they didn't go to the best school or had some learning disability or had a talent for trading and business and quick numbers at a young age. Me, if I didn't have what I had as an executive, I would have had nothing because I really do not have any entrepreneurial talent - its not to say I can't be an entrepreneur, but these are things I've figured out, not really born with and this is why I think a lot of successful and famous entrepreneurs say that this can't be taught, and while I've 'figured' out a lot of it, most of what I know is just basic instinct and knowledge to a 'real entrepreneur'. I think why this is the last business post is that, I think I have the big dreams now finally in front of me, but that also, I see the end of my journey now. I never thought I would have limitations, but know I do, and it was depressing for some time - a couple of months-, but in another way, the limitation I saw made me realize that where I am strong, I am extremely strong, so it was also a re-awakening for me to refocus on my real strengths instead of chasing for what I felt was the path for the most potential and upside. Can I share this; I always was never afraid of competition. Because in competition - I wanted to find who was better than me, so I could learn from them, and then take from them, and be better than them. And for the most part, you get to a point where you've out run all your peers, and then its a competition on how far can you go, to learn new areas, new industries, new roles and the to dominate in those fields too. There is the limitation of time, but really, its not a limitation, because I was driven by want my passions and interests are, I don't care about lions and tigers, and really in the field of business, I don't care about equity trading either, -I've only bought stocks twice in my life- but I know about fund raising, valuations, corporate finance- but the thing I really wanted to learn was to have my own company that I started. In the course of this I have learned a lot, and of course, if this was small business, I think I would have been extremely successful thus far, but I have always set my sights on making a billion dollar business, and because of that, I realized, no way, I'm not that guy, I won't ever be that guy. Not as the guy who does it from scratch. And it was my objective, my ambition, my ultimate goal, and I realized a few months ago, it will never be. But that doesn't mean that I can't be part of making a billion dollar company, or make it from 200m to 1b, and so I've had to accept that - as ridiculous as it sounds to many of you- but at a certain point in business, it's just numbers. If I told you that it's far easier to raise 10M usd then 1m usd, you'd be why? Because the paper work and research will be about the same time frame and if you raise 10M, it will be from a fund that has 200M or even 1B, but if you raise 1M, it will likely be from high net wealth individuals who will buy in for 50k to 250k and to find someone to put up the total 1M would be stretch -because indivdiual investors, don't think that way as professional investors. But taking a company from zero to one, is simply a talent or skill I do not have, but taking it 1 to a billion. I may not be as special as I want to be, but if I am still the best at what I do, then I can live with that. ^^ I've been in the business sector for only 17 years, and now coming on to my 6th year on my own come Feb. Before then I was a theologian, if you can believe that. ^^
THAT BOMB SHELL :o
Wow haha.
Thanks for the reply, i appreciate your time and your wise words Atom Hyung! Keep on fighting!!!
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On February 02 2016 23:43 MightyAtom wrote:Show nested quote +On January 31 2016 06:55 y0su wrote:
Sounds like there's little reason to hope for you to retire and write more :D
I fully have to agree with Glowsphere though.
You know I think only TL appreciates my writing style because it's a bit too conversational/stream of consciousness - a product of typing really quickly in games and dealing with complex game situations mixed in with retarded daily happenings keke. I think if I can take some time off, I'll get a full health check, and try to live a more routine healthy boring lifestyle watching my boys grow up ^^ but I get scared to think that in 8 years I'll be 50 lol. But Iike I said, writing, makes me feel timeliness.
I find the effect to have a very honest, straight forward tone. Never felt like you were trying to impress, brag or belittle anyone else. Doesn't hurt that the stories are interesting :D
Any advice for someone that became a father 10 days ago? (boy)
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Thank you for all the amazing pieces you've written.
I just started to work in my own field, and your pieces make me motivated to try to become the best in my field, however it also makes me a little bit intimidated thinking of how many incredable people that are out there, whom I probably never will be able to stand in shadows of.
Atom FIGHTING!
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On February 03 2016 05:46 y0su wrote:Show nested quote +On February 02 2016 23:43 MightyAtom wrote:On January 31 2016 06:55 y0su wrote:
Sounds like there's little reason to hope for you to retire and write more :D
I fully have to agree with Glowsphere though.
You know I think only TL appreciates my writing style because it's a bit too conversational/stream of consciousness - a product of typing really quickly in games and dealing with complex game situations mixed in with retarded daily happenings keke. I think if I can take some time off, I'll get a full health check, and try to live a more routine healthy boring lifestyle watching my boys grow up ^^ but I get scared to think that in 8 years I'll be 50 lol. But Iike I said, writing, makes me feel timeliness. I find the effect to have a very honest, straight forward tone. Never felt like you were trying to impress, brag or belittle anyone else. Doesn't hurt that the stories are interesting :D
I agree with this. I find the very frank tone actually appealing and easy to read.
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On February 03 2016 05:46 y0su wrote:Show nested quote +On February 02 2016 23:43 MightyAtom wrote:On January 31 2016 06:55 y0su wrote:
Sounds like there's little reason to hope for you to retire and write more :D
I fully have to agree with Glowsphere though.
You know I think only TL appreciates my writing style because it's a bit too conversational/stream of consciousness - a product of typing really quickly in games and dealing with complex game situations mixed in with retarded daily happenings keke. I think if I can take some time off, I'll get a full health check, and try to live a more routine healthy boring lifestyle watching my boys grow up ^^ but I get scared to think that in 8 years I'll be 50 lol. But Iike I said, writing, makes me feel timeliness. I find the effect to have a very honest, straight forward tone. Never felt like you were trying to impress, brag or belittle anyone else. Doesn't hurt that the stories are interesting :D Any advice for someone that became a father 10 days ago? (boy)
First off congrats!!! I have 2 boys myself keke.
Just remember that when we're born, we aren't born with love, but we know when love comes, but it is something we learn from receiving. So whatever happens, just let him know that you love him first, and that doesn't mean a love without conditions, but a love that has a mission to see him grow up to be a good man - and if you can just love him like that, you'll have done the most anyone can ask a father to do. ^^ It's working for me so far.
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On February 03 2016 06:36 sabas123 wrote:
Thank you for all the amazing pieces you've written.
I just started to work in my own field, and your pieces make me motivated to try to become the best in my field, however it also makes me a little bit intimidated thinking of how many incredable people that are out there, whom I probably never will be able to stand in shadows of.
Atom FIGHTING!
That's awesome, and it's a wonderful thing to be surrounded by those better than you, just take it step by step and never be intimidated, look at it as an opportunity to learn from the best to over take them and be the best. The greatest ninjas always come out of the shadows ^^
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On February 03 2016 20:45 AbouSV wrote:Show nested quote +On February 03 2016 05:46 y0su wrote:On February 02 2016 23:43 MightyAtom wrote:On January 31 2016 06:55 y0su wrote:
Sounds like there's little reason to hope for you to retire and write more :D
I fully have to agree with Glowsphere though.
You know I think only TL appreciates my writing style because it's a bit too conversational/stream of consciousness - a product of typing really quickly in games and dealing with complex game situations mixed in with retarded daily happenings keke. I think if I can take some time off, I'll get a full health check, and try to live a more routine healthy boring lifestyle watching my boys grow up ^^ but I get scared to think that in 8 years I'll be 50 lol. But Iike I said, writing, makes me feel timeliness. I find the effect to have a very honest, straight forward tone. Never felt like you were trying to impress, brag or belittle anyone else. Doesn't hurt that the stories are interesting :D I agree with this. I find the very frank tone actually appealing and easy to read.
Thanks keke, we all bullshit ourselves, but insofar as I'm human and want to make things entertaining and lessen the embarrassment and oversell my achievements, I think authenticity is what ultimately gives the most peace for oneself. That's why even when I'm plus 40, I still write keke. ^^
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Question for you, how would you approach a big change in life ? Say I have a good situation, financially. But I don't feel intellectually challenged, and I would sacrifice this good situation for something more challenging. And I have a project in mind ; would you have any tips for preparing the transition ? (if it's too vague for you, forget it ^^)
RANT ---
I tend to think that spoiled children are doomed. It's not about the holidays or the christmas/birthday gifts or granma's check or anything. I believe it's a pure consequence of, "you ask you get". When I was a child, I knew I couldn't ask about even a 10c candy, because I may face a "no" (and I usually would). This makes simply for a different personnality growing up, and although I became spoiled myself for years later on, this "I can't have that for free" feeling still pops up every once in a while, and is actually a blessing ; I wish I had it more.
I can tell the difference between myself and my 11 year younger step brother ; he grew up with a dad and way more money than I did until I was 8 with only my mom, and that was enough to make him a dumbass. He is like your James, well groomed, fit, healthy, and overall a nice kid, but he's a dumbass with the only ambition to become a social assistant for a minimum wage and a half. That is perfectly fine, considering that all I need to know is, if I ever need someone to take over on some of my business (which shouldn't happen since I'm not an entrepreneur), I can't count on him. Your Joe needs to realize that and find someone else, like some sort of protegee or something. Unless you are confident you can turn things around, which you may be, I don't have the knowledge that it's impossible, mostly it's a gut feeling...
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France12760 Posts
On February 03 2016 00:16 MightyAtom wrote:Show nested quote +On February 01 2016 23:31 Pandemona wrote:Wow i nearly missed this post due to the new sidebar i can't see blogs all to well fml. Glad i caught this, glad you posted. I for one will miss hearing your business adventures. I still have aims and hopes you will release some memoirs or just fuck it and write a full biography But i would just take a few short stories if you ever had time when you are greyer and older! Would you wish you did it the other way round right now? Started being the entrepreneur you are now 20 years ago? Then moving off into a high paid executive job after being headhunted to wind down too? I don't know why but stopping the business blogs seems to be you saying you are done chasing big dreams? I don't know just what i get from it i might be very wrong. You have been in the business sector for 30 years now right? 6 years of that on your own. Those 6 years were harder than the previous 20 i would imagine? Oh well im rambling as it's hard to put into words in so few characters as i don't like wasting your time haha! Just keep being Mighty Atom thats all we care about If I told you that it's far easier to raise 10M usd then 1m usd, you'd be why? Because the paper work and research will be about the same time frame and if you raise 10M, it will be from a fund that has 200M or even 1B, but if you raise 1M, it will likely be from high net wealth individuals who will buy in for 50k to 250k and to find someone to put up the total 1M would be stretch -because indivdiual investors, don't think that way as professional investors.
Isn't it the same difficulty then, because if you raise 10M you have raised 1M as well :o.
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Korea (South)1897 Posts
On February 07 2016 21:05 wl4d wrote:
Question for you, how would you approach a big change in life ? Say I have a good situation, financially. But I don't feel intellectually challenged, and I would sacrifice this good situation for something more challenging. And I have a project in mind ; would you have any tips for preparing the transition ? (if it's too vague for you, forget it ^^)
RANT ---
I tend to think that spoiled children are doomed. It's not about the holidays or the christmas/birthday gifts or granma's check or anything. I believe it's a pure consequence of, "you ask you get". When I was a child, I knew I couldn't ask about even a 10c candy, because I may face a "no" (and I usually would). This makes simply for a different personnality growing up, and although I became spoiled myself for years later on, this "I can't have that for free" feeling still pops up every once in a while, and is actually a blessing ; I wish I had it more.
I can tell the difference between myself and my 11 year younger step brother ; he grew up with a dad and way more money than I did until I was 8 with only my mom, and that was enough to make him a dumbass. He is like your James, well groomed, fit, healthy, and overall a nice kid, but he's a dumbass with the only ambition to become a social assistant for a minimum wage and a half. That is perfectly fine, considering that all I need to know is, if I ever need someone to take over on some of my business (which shouldn't happen since I'm not an entrepreneur), I can't count on him. Your Joe needs to realize that and find someone else, like some sort of protegee or something. Unless you are confident you can turn things around, which you may be, I don't have the knowledge that it's impossible, mostly it's a gut feeling...
If you're young, hungry and ambitious, don't think further about it, do it.
Live without regrets, you only have one life.
We get caught up in what we think how live should be lived 'appropriately.'
But who gives a shit about appropriately, I'd rather have lived fully.
If you have a number of responsibilities and you dont' feel the burning drive to make a change and really put you're all into it. It may not be a great decision for you because the stress of the responsibilities and the lack of commitment on your part will make the new experience a regretful one as you constantly compare.
But if you have the right mind set, then every set back and new challenge, will be a learning experience and while it may be shitty for a lot of it, you will feel that you are progressing.
Even at my age, I still look for validation whether or not I'm on the right track or good enough, but I seek that validation not from everyone, but just those that I think really get it, and when others don't get it, that is also validation. There is a reason why it is the path less traveled.
As far as James goes, being spoiled as a lot to do with with it, but there are different levels of being spoiled: materially spoiled is the obvious one, but if those kids are also left to the same standards and being materially spoiled, then I don't think it ever ends well, but if they are also challenged to be the best of the best, then being materially spoiled does become somewhat superficial as the child understands that there is more to life than just toys and is able to prioritize.
But to your first point,
if you're gonna go for it,
just get it done.
and do it,
machine mode.
^^
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Korea (South)1897 Posts
On February 07 2016 21:44 Poopi wrote:Show nested quote +On February 03 2016 00:16 MightyAtom wrote:On February 01 2016 23:31 Pandemona wrote:Wow i nearly missed this post due to the new sidebar i can't see blogs all to well fml. Glad i caught this, glad you posted. I for one will miss hearing your business adventures. I still have aims and hopes you will release some memoirs or just fuck it and write a full biography But i would just take a few short stories if you ever had time when you are greyer and older! Would you wish you did it the other way round right now? Started being the entrepreneur you are now 20 years ago? Then moving off into a high paid executive job after being headhunted to wind down too? I don't know why but stopping the business blogs seems to be you saying you are done chasing big dreams? I don't know just what i get from it i might be very wrong. You have been in the business sector for 30 years now right? 6 years of that on your own. Those 6 years were harder than the previous 20 i would imagine? Oh well im rambling as it's hard to put into words in so few characters as i don't like wasting your time haha! Just keep being Mighty Atom thats all we care about If I told you that it's far easier to raise 10M usd then 1m usd, you'd be why? Because the paper work and research will be about the same time frame and if you raise 10M, it will be from a fund that has 200M or even 1B, but if you raise 1M, it will likely be from high net wealth individuals who will buy in for 50k to 250k and to find someone to put up the total 1M would be stretch -because indivdiual investors, don't think that way as professional investors. Isn't it the same difficulty then, because if you raise 10M you have raised 1M as well :o.
1. a 10M project has a different rate of return than a 1M project
2. if you raised 10M for a 1M project, you would be on the hook for those returns
3. at 10M you could raise from 1-3 sources, at 1M you could end up raising for 10-15 sources
4. usually a 10m project has a business entity which is more established, while a 1M doesn't -totally depends on the industry, but assuming same industry, so it is usually a much easier sell.
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On February 07 2016 23:49 MightyAtom wrote:Show nested quote +On February 07 2016 21:05 wl4d wrote:
Question for you, how would you approach a big change in life ? Say I have a good situation, financially. But I don't feel intellectually challenged, and I would sacrifice this good situation for something more challenging. And I have a project in mind ; would you have any tips for preparing the transition ? (if it's too vague for you, forget it ^^)
RANT ---
I tend to think that spoiled children are doomed. It's not about the holidays or the christmas/birthday gifts or granma's check or anything. I believe it's a pure consequence of, "you ask you get". When I was a child, I knew I couldn't ask about even a 10c candy, because I may face a "no" (and I usually would). This makes simply for a different personnality growing up, and although I became spoiled myself for years later on, this "I can't have that for free" feeling still pops up every once in a while, and is actually a blessing ; I wish I had it more.
I can tell the difference between myself and my 11 year younger step brother ; he grew up with a dad and way more money than I did until I was 8 with only my mom, and that was enough to make him a dumbass. He is like your James, well groomed, fit, healthy, and overall a nice kid, but he's a dumbass with the only ambition to become a social assistant for a minimum wage and a half. That is perfectly fine, considering that all I need to know is, if I ever need someone to take over on some of my business (which shouldn't happen since I'm not an entrepreneur), I can't count on him. Your Joe needs to realize that and find someone else, like some sort of protegee or something. Unless you are confident you can turn things around, which you may be, I don't have the knowledge that it's impossible, mostly it's a gut feeling...
If you're young, hungry and ambitious, don't think further about it, do it. Live without regrets, you only have one life. We get caught up in what we think how live should be lived 'appropriately.' But who gives a shit about appropriately, I'd rather have lived fully. If you have a number of responsibilities and you dont' feel the burning drive to make a change and really put you're all into it. It may not be a great decision for you because the stress of the responsibilities and the lack of commitment on your part will make the new experience a regretful one as you constantly compare. But if you have the right mind set, then every set back and new challenge, will be a learning experience and while it may be shitty for a lot of it, you will feel that you are progressing. Even at my age, I still look for validation whether or not I'm on the right track or good enough, but I seek that validation not from everyone, but just those that I think really get it, and when others don't get it, that is also validation. There is a reason why it is the path less traveled. As far as James goes, being spoiled as a lot to do with with it, but there are different levels of being spoiled: materially spoiled is the obvious one, but if those kids are also left to the same standards and being materially spoiled, then I don't think it ever ends well, but if they are also challenged to be the best of the best, then being materially spoiled does become somewhat superficial as the child understands that there is more to life than just toys and is able to prioritize. But to your first point, if you're gonna go for it, just get it done. and do it, machine mode. ^^
Great, thanks. I totally agree on the part of who is going to be the "judge". From my readings and understandings, it is clear that only a few, meaning, the best of a field, (and providing their intent is good, so mainly one's peers), can give one the appropriate judgement.
Ok, so I need to just get things done, I guess... ^^
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I've always enjoyed reading your blogs, and I never felt that you came off as trying to show off.
I mean, showing off to a bunch of video game nerds?
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I'm not an entrepreneur, never will be. I'm a simple man with simple pleasures and I don't much care for power or money or the stress and responsibility that comes with it, don't see the point in being admired, etc.
So it is very interesting for me to read a completely opposite perspective. Love the blog.
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Great blog as always. I wish you would post more about your business journey though, lots of insight for someone who does business in different countries too.
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congratulations~
this introduced me to quora, which is something i'd find myself liking a lot in this phase in my life.
i wanted to ask a pretty broad question, how do you keep a deep and meaningful connection between what you would like to do in your career/interpersonal relationships, and what you know you need to be doing instead?
just feeling it? experiencing, like most other people? do you just trust yourself?
i ask this because i'm feeling pretty stuck with where i can be. lovesickness aside, i feel like i'd lose a lot of what i've built up and thought was ideal in living and understanding things as they are. is there some style of mental fortitude where i can remember and cherish things as they are now, while living a very different kind of life?
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Korea (South)1897 Posts
Give me a couple of days to answer the above and comment. ^^ Thanks!
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Korea (South)1897 Posts
On February 10 2016 16:59 RinOrihime wrote:
I've always enjoyed reading your blogs, and I never felt that you came off as trying to show off.
I mean, showing off to a bunch of video game nerds?
Thanks, and that was exactly my thoughts too, in that, it was my intent to share, and when I do show off, it's definitely to impress a lady who holds the keys to signing a contract I need keke.
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Korea (South)1897 Posts
On February 10 2016 19:43 Osmoses wrote:
I'm not an entrepreneur, never will be. I'm a simple man with simple pleasures and I don't much care for power or money or the stress and responsibility that comes with it, don't see the point in being admired, etc.
So it is very interesting for me to read a completely opposite perspective. Love the blog.
Cheers. Ironically, at the end of the day, I think a lot of us, want the same thing, but because of the urge of security, arrive at it at a much later date, everything exquisite and luxurious becomes old fast.
The only thing that makes it a rational endeavor, in my view, is that both money and the power that comes with it (as limited as it is) can do further good, or put you in a position to react to what you may feel is a wrong. -conversely is it also the case where a lot of wrongs happen in our modern society- and it's not the only way, and it's not always a good way, but I think because of my pragmatism and my confrontational nature, it's something I personally need also to survive, I'm definitely not the Gandhi type. ^^
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Korea (South)1897 Posts
On February 11 2016 16:18 Shortizz wrote:
Great blog as always. I wish you would post more about your business journey though, lots of insight for someone who does business in different countries too.
Thanks,
well, now that I've come full circle, for me, I don't think I could post anything really insightful - in that, the reason I did post was to both reflect on what I had done and share with the community, but as you can see, with the lack of regular posts, and I guess age as well, the reflection part takes a lot longer to happen,- I do feel like I climbed this massive mountain and then tumbled over down the other side, but it's where I need to be.
As far as doing a lot of business in other countries, the only thing I've found is to be true, is that everyone is friends after a couple of bottles of my good friend johnny blue. ^^
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Korea (South)1897 Posts
On February 12 2016 04:17 nanaoei wrote:
congratulations~
this introduced me to quora, which is something i'd find myself liking a lot in this phase in my life.
i wanted to ask a pretty broad question, how do you keep a deep and meaningful connection between what you would like to do in your career/interpersonal relationships, and what you know you need to be doing instead?
just feeling it? experiencing, like most other people? do you just trust yourself?
i ask this because i'm feeling pretty stuck with where i can be. lovesickness aside, i feel like i'd lose a lot of what i've built up and thought was ideal in living and understanding things as they are. is there some style of mental fortitude where i can remember and cherish things as they are now, while living a very different kind of life?
Alignment. To be aligned.
I don't think anyone can keep two opposing desires in check while doing one or the other thing. But in our society, we also seem to make it a choice- choose on or the other, and we can't, it's paralyzing, and it's not us.
Growth.
But we can grow, we can evolve and those things that make us now, end up creating a more complex and fuller person we are as we grow into the next phase of our lives,
and all those things that you hold close, they are always with you,
and you'll always look back on those things,
but as you grow there will be other things that will mean so much more to you.
My first love compares nothing to my wife, but she was someone who was a critical part of my life, which shaped part of my character and how I do love my wife. As with most of my ex-girlfriends.
Or else, every job I've every had, has affected my outlook on every job since then.
But it is a matter to see something ahead, that what is ahead - may not be better than what you have now, in what you judge to be good today, but as you grow, everything finds it's place.
I think for those who do move on, but don't grow, everything looks better in the past, because you haven't sought out new experiences and all the challenges, joys and growth that comes with it. Like is full of unknowns and new beginnings, but if you're willing to grow with it, I don't think there will be anything to look back on, unless it's just a good memory of what brought you forward.
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So I just started using Quora, I have seen it before but never really knew exactly what it was until you wrote about it here.
The thing is... how much of it is believable / plausible? Or what are some good feeds to follow?
Because I've been following a bunch of finance / business related feeds and all the answers I see are all downright advertising or similar...
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Korea (South)1897 Posts
On February 18 2016 02:45 Nerios wrote:
So I just started using Quora, I have seen it before but never really knew exactly what it was until you wrote about it here.
The thing is... how much of it is believable / plausible? Or what are some good feeds to follow?
Because I've been following a bunch of finance / business related feeds and all the answers I see are all downright advertising or similar...
To be frank, the number 1 posts I read are on history and star wars theories.
BUT, I have seen some really awesome posts in the business sections, but I only read what is most upvoted and popular or commented on, otherwise, I don't.
In terms of business knowledge, any Q&A will be very specific to a particular situation- so especially for business you need to be very picky about what advice you take etc, and that comes from reading the 'classics' first, which are nearly all outdated -because that is the nature of business- but it's a necessary background to see how good business theory/practice can be, to what everyone dribbles. I would say that maybe 1/20 books I see nowadays in the business section of a airport are crap, unless you're looking at an entry level/introductory book, then I'd say 1/10 books are ok.
Go to the library first and read the last 5 years of Fortune/Bloomberg & Fobes magazines -cover to cover-, then go back to Quora and you'll be able to see the gems. ^^
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awesome, good luck with everything. you're amazing.
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This was very helpful. Thanks for sharing!
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EPT
