How does one work 50+ hours a week?

The last thing any business owner wants to hear from anyone when there is money troubles is how to go spend more money. It is a fact and one of the hazards of being the owner is that the whole damn thing can go South and for no failure on the owners part. Markets and needs change and more than one solid decently run business has suffered this fate. It's part of the game.

Agreed, and i wasnt asking my father to spend any money, and the conversations i have with him are beyond the scope of this internet forum and this topic.

With what i've been through with this market, its no news to me that a business can fail in short order.

The funny thing about success is that during the process of achieving it, everyone tells you you're out of your mind, and criticizes you, but thats fine they live in fear, i do not.

The cynic is rarely successful, but they're always there to laugh at your stive for success, if you fail.

The successful, they wish you well and admire you from afar.

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

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I already offered to speak to you in a private message, i'd be more then happy to explain what i do.

You are much more interested in calling me a liar on the internet, then you are actually interested in speaking with me.

Thats fine, you apparently know more then me, i wish you well.

Nope that's not how the game is played. You spoke, I called it and the cards are thrown on the table. You commented on an open forum on the net so you made the table that the game is played on. That's how it works.

I never called you a liar on the net as you claimed. All I did was respond and present a challenge which you failed to meet under a ruse of an excuse.

I never claimed I knew more than you either. Again you spoke, I challenged and you haven't met the challenge.

Welcome to my world and the world of most self employed individuals. When you speak be prepared to back up what you say with facts, a performance record and a serious resume otherwise it's far better for you to just go to lunch or something.

By the way, thanks for wishing me well. You do likewise.

Simply because i have an opinion on a topic doesnt require me to post my resume'. I took your opinion for what it was worth without asking for proof of how long you've been operating, how many business ventures your persued and how many were successful and what your net worth.

I chose to keep my business life somewhat seperate from my internet forum life, and i would appreciate that you respect that much like the respect i've offered you.


PS

I dont feel the need to except challenges by those who would set me up for failure reguardless, but thanks anyways.

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

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Simply because i have an opinion on a topic doesnt require me to post my resume'. I took your opinion for what it was worth without asking for proof of how long you've been operating, how many business ventures your persued and how many were successful and what your net worth. I chose to keep my business life somewhat seperate from my internet forum life, and i would appreciate that you respect that much like the respect i've offered you. PS I dont feel the need to except challenges by those who would set me up for failure reguardless, but thanks anyways.
Correct spelling is a form of respect, too.

I got to this party a little late, but I can't help but drop a word or two. First, I appreciate SkinnyGoomba's entrepreneurial spirit. Second, I respect the wisdom of the other members who've had experience working and building their businesses. It's often a labor of love with little financial reward, but most people whom I;ve spoken with say it's worth it. That said, I think ******'s got a case of the youthful hubris. It often accompanies youth and fades with time and experience. I'm about the same age as he and I see it all the time in my classmates, thinking they know better than lawyers with 25+ years experience. A little knowledge is dangerous. Of course, there's always the "we built this business uphill both ways in the snow" hyperbole that occurs with anyone with lots of experience or time in a field. It's just the perspective one gets. That is not to denigrate anyone's experience or the hours they clocked working, but there's almost always a tendancy to think that the new kids know nothing (although they rarely do! ). Occasionally, they do have some clever ideas though. Me, I spend 40 hours a week working while in undergrad, then worked 60-70 hrs a week from the time I graduated until I started law school, where I had to drop to less than 20 hrs a week in accordance with ABA regulations. I schlepped ****** out of bed at 3.30 in the morning, worked a 4-4.5 hour shift, then went to class all day long. That had to stop when my grades suffered. But I want to be a lawyer. I know that I will be putting in 60+ hours a week, easily. It's part of the job. You need to work long, hard hours to be successful. There's really no other way, short of lottery windfall or a trust fund. I resent younger kids with entitled attitudes who think they know better. I am not pointing fingers. I worked service industry on a Ivy campus for a while and saw it every day. Makes me sick. Respect your elders, especially when you ask their opinions. Often, they know better for a reason. To answer the OP's question: How does one work 50+ hours in a week? Easy. You do what you have to do to succeed.

Originally Posted by Brian278

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Correct spelling is a form of respect, too.

Touche.

Also, whenever I hear a younger guy on a forum speaking of amorphous business plans, talking about the bespoke suit he's having made, and remarking about his Zegna and Canali jackets, my skeptic meter starts to beep a little.

It might be that I am too cynical and sarcastic. Working the service industry for 5 years will do that to a person.

I think you need to take a few steps back here and realize that you really do not know who you are speaking to or about. Zero knowledge of the experiences i've had in my life.

My rambling 2 cents:

People are stupid. You will find that out often.

People think that working their tails off and putting in 60+ hr. weeks will get them ahead. Maybe. A lot of people spend years pulling 80-90 hr weeks because they are "going somewhere." But they are missing the fact that there are ways to make the money they are "going to" *now* rather than delaying it.

I have many friends who work 80-100 hrs. a week and make their work their life. They take their work home and continue to work. Work is their life, there is no separation. If you ask me, this is a pathetic excuse for a life.

In college, do what interests you and what you love. College is not a vo-tech school, you are there to expand your mind, not to learn a trade. Your "major" in school means very little in the real world. Teach yourself skills which differentiate you from the herd of kids who will do the same damn thing. Profit. When I was in high school, I read an article about the highest paying jobs in the field that correlated with one of my interests. The number one field was impossibly hard to break into. So I taught myself and got the experience. I majored in something I loved and that was completely unrelated to my chosen field. I had 10+ job offers upon graduation. I work less than 40 hours a week and make more money (relative to my peers, at least) and have more perks than god. My work is my hobby; I do the same things at work as I would do for fun.

There is nothing more sad than someone who follows "all the rules." That guy who goes into a specific major, does four years, goes back to grad school, and takes some job that correlates with his major that he dosen't really enjoy. He pulls 80hr weeks and makes 60-100K a year once he advances. That's bullshit money and a bullshit job. Avoid.

What really matters in life is having choices, and having choices comes from having money. Unless you are born into money, win a big lawsuit, or start a company and have a great idea, the easy way to make money is to invest. These guys making pocket change "working their way up" will see the big dollars when they are 40 or so, and by then it is far too late to accumulate real wealth (unless they are part of a very, very small percentage of people.)

Finally, the people that say, "if you want to be successful/make money/etc." then you "work your tail off" are victims of the herd. Work smart, not hard. To me, unless you choose manual labor and believe in a good hard days work, then the blanket statements regarding the virtues of "working your tail off" are a sign of inefficiency and the narrow mindset of an unsuccessful wage slave.

Note that the above does not apply to surgeons, I-bankers who can make 400K by 25, and others in similar circumstances. More to the guys who insist "working your tail off" is the only way and have little to show for it, which is the majority of the people I know.

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

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I think you need to take a few steps back here and realize that you really do not know who you are speaking to or about. Zero knowledge of the experiences i've had in my life. What you read on the internet and what you assume about me is what you know. I'm not sure what to make of you zegna and Canali jacket comments, they way i'm recieving that comment, i'm pretty offended, i would appreciate you clarify what you mean by that. Though i wonder if your speaking of me, i'm not having a bespoke suit made.
To preface, none of this post is meant as a flame, nor do I want to start a silly quarrel on an internet forum that's generally civil. Sure, just as we really don't know the experiences of others on the forum. It's silly to use the "you don't know me" defense. I can infer, based on your age, you have likely not had the totality of life experience of many others on this forum. Moreover, if you are bumping elbows for business plans with people netting several million dollars, I can also infer that your life experience has not been the same as mine. Sure, I don't "know" you, but we each have some sort of internet persona based on the posts we've made here. For example, going through my posts, I am positive that there will be a ton of typing errors and edits to my posts to correct them. I am not a great typist - my internet persona shows this. And on a forum, obvious typing errors aren't a big deal to me. And the comments were along the same line as your calling "bullshit" for those who proclaim working 60+ hours a week. You are skeptical of these members' claims of long hours for success. I am skeptical of a younger man who has access to Zenga and Canali. They're expensive. Younger guys generally don't have a ton of money. Goes to credibility. Thus, I am more likely to trust the opinion of an older, most established worker when it comes to what's necessary in a work week than of a younger member who already can purchase such items. I'd love to have some nice Zegna and Canali. I was up in NYC this last weekend swooning at the men's suiting options. My comments were not meant as a personal attack. Simply weighing experience and credibility when it comes to work. Do you want a surgeon with 20 years experience or a face fresh from med school rotation holding the scalpel when you do under?

Originally Posted by arnach

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Finally, the people that say, "if you want to be successful/make money/etc." then you "work your tail off" are victims of the herd. Work smart, not hard. To me, unless you choose manual labor and believe in a good hard days work, then the blanket statements regarding the virtues of "working your tail off" are a sign of inefficiency and the narrow mindset of an unsuccessful wage slave.
You do have to work hard. Smarts are generally not inherent; they are often learned. You have to work hard to learn how to work smart. It's not *necessarily* a herd mentality, it's the truth as I see it.

excuse me, did i read that correctly and you're questioning me because i own canali and zegna jackets.

So basically you're assuming i'm dishonest because i own expensive things, if thats the case i think you really need to rethink your views.

PS
have you ever looked in the buying and selling forum?
canali and Zegna jackets are regularly bought and sold for $200-$350

Originally Posted by robbie

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There are 168 hours in a week. If you sleep 8 hours a night, that takes 56 of your hours leaving you with 112 which is still plenty of hours in which to party and work 50 hours.

No no, you need to work those 112 hours to maximize the networking synergy potential of your paradigm's Biglaw I-Banking task force, obvs...

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

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excuse me, did i read that correctly and you're questioning me because i own canali and zegna jackets. So basically you're assuming i'm dishonest because i own expensive things, if thats the case i think you really need to rethink your views. PS have you ever looked in the buying and selling forum? canali and Zegna jackets are regularly bought and sold for $200-$350
Credibility 1 : the quality or power of inspiring belief <an account lacking in credibility>; 2 : capacity for belief <strains her reader's credibility — Times Literary Supplement> Honesty 1 (obsolete) : chastity; 2 a: fairness and straightforwardness of conduct b: adherence to the facts : sincerity; 3: any of a genus (Lunaria) of European herbs of the mustard family with toothed leaves and flat disk-shaped siliques Assigning credibility to an opinion does not necessarily deal with honesty. It's a matter persuasiveness. I assign more weight to a guy's opinion who has worked and built his own business over a number of years than to that of a young green guy. Sure, you're honest. But your relative greenness doesn't inspire me to believe that your opinion is correct when it comes to a hard week's labor.

What ever happened to working smart, and working hard.

Many high achievers I've seen, most of the extra product they have gotten out of working smart has gone into working more so they can realize their goals even quicker.

That being said, I also have friends who run small businesses and are content with taking it at a leisurely pace - not to say that they aren't bringing home the bacon, just different mentalities and a difference in drive.