My progress has been seriously hampered by listening to “friends” they mostly mean well and they are good people or they wouldn’t be friends, but they often give you general advice that has been told to them from someone else and it is possibly good advice to 95% of people or the advice was missing some caveats. I can’t imagine how many millions I have lost by not investing in the stock market earlier, by not starting bigger businesses earlier, by not taking more risks, by not leveraging debt. I only have myself to blame but we are told to listen to our friends but not to listen to just those that have already amassed wealth.
Even some of my friends still give me “silly” (uneducated) warnings about the stock market, of course, you will lose money if you do no research or have no risk management strategy, etc. There is trading and there is investing, many people confuse them, also within each one is several different strategies with various risks. I tell these people please do not give this bad advice to people about the stock market, that it is evil and risky and designed to take all your money, please advise people to do a lot of research first, then it’s ok.
I’m not trying to sell some courses, but there are plenty of books out there, try all of Jack D Schwager’s books namely Market Wizards and Joel Greenblatt’s books “The Little Book That Beats the market” and John C Bogle’s book about common sense investing. In fact, Tony Robbins “Unshakeable” is a great start and “Money Master The Game”
I am still told to diversify in business and in stocks, this limits upside but risks downside, you have to look at the bigger picture, what you know, what your risk appetite is, how many years you have left in the market, your targets etc. I think diversification is great at a later stage, but better to dominate in one area first and get some huge gains.
At least when someone robs you, you can fight back or you are limited to what you can lose. But when your friends influence you not to do something, there is no limit on what that cost you and everyone around you. I am very cautious when advising people not to do things because I imagine and see the gains they may have lost. If I lose a business opportunity, I have to grieve over the lost fortunes that I could have made, it breaks my heart because I can see and envision those losses, which is what makes me successful at business.
I also see what toxic people do to companies and people around them, I even have to check myself, if your moaning to people or complaining all the time, you are passing negative energy that has to get channelled elsewhere, its not an exact science but we have all had our days ruined and end up taking it on someone else, this is like a dominos effect in your company. If I am getting abused by an enemy, it makes me work 10 times harder to show them and dominate.
I have made this post because we drop our guard and listen to friends to much, lets say they are truly rooting for you, (some often don’t want you to better yourself and make them feel inadequate or scared of losing you — both selfish acts) they just want you to be safe, and that’s, not the best path if you are shooting for the starts, the answer is to discuss your goals with a mentor or someone like-minded or on the same path. This is another reason why you become the average of the 5 people you hang around with, not only they will push you, open doors, inspire you (more effective than any pushing) they won’t tell you not to follow your dreams, or invest in things, instead they will point out any risks you need to be made aware of and help you with the right strategy according to your risk appetite and financial situation.
Just remember as Dan Pena says, you aren’t successful to make your parents proud, you did it to prove them wrong! I’ve managed to reach out to a famous YouTuber Gary Vee by sending him abuse in the title of an email, he gets 1000’s of emails daily, but he’s looking for abuse to motivate him, so I knew I could get him to open an email that way and of course I apologised and he replied saying nice one and added me to his “superphone” book. It’s amazing how I don’t have time for people, but when someone attacks me, I end up spending half a day sorting it out, reacting positively by adding value to any of my businesses that I can. I have gone much further up the ladder due to negative comments online, that has motivated me and pushed me beyond anywhere I ever imagined going, as for friends, they have probably set me back many years, either way this is a process of learning in life and I got there in my lifetime, some people aren’t aware of how important it is to who your friends are. I have inspired many business/entrepreneur people, that really floats my boat and that’s exactly why I like to inspire people rather than pushing them, to inspire them, I need to take action and be successful, totally selfish really, but everyone wins.
