Last night I watched the The Social Network. It's the movie about the obnoxious kid who invented (stole the idea) Facebook. As I watched, in disgust, I realized that while the kid may have been very intelligent, his genius really came, not from inspiration or an epiphany, but from being very lucky. Myspace had already been out, friendster was available, as was iTunes. His genius came from having friends with money and his computer savvy. I look back at my life and sometimes wonder what might have been had I been in the right place at the right time. Had I had that one friend, who listened to my foolishness and had a couple thousand dollars.
when high school ended, I had no real aspirations of going to college. Knowing I had pretty much sunk my opportunities of a good college education, I signed up for some classes at Westchester Community College. I decided business management was a good plan of attack. I signed up for a course called Business Organization and Management. It was a freshman business class taught by a professor named McCabe. McCabe's only real connection to business appeared to be the friendship he shared with the owners of Gallo wine. Aside from that, he seemed pretty much at a loss in the teaching department. As a young man, he still represented authority and knowledge, so we listened.
Professor McCabe pretty much taught from the book and had very little revelations to disclose to us and even less personal knowledge. At that age, I felt this was fine, because I was looking for my next underage beer and bag of Doritos. I wasn't looking to be instilled with too much knowledge. I got that every night at the dinner table. College to me, as it is today, was a joke. In the middle of the semester, I had pretty much been labeled a wise-ass and a somewhat of a rebel. I had gotten caught up with a bookie very early and was in the middle of cleaning him out, using a mathematical formula for betting on games. I was living at home, no cares, no job and a lot of money. Well, at the time it was a lot of money. The class seemed like a chore, until an assignment came along that interested me. We were asked to prepare a business and prepare a business plan with a mission statement. This was right up my alley and I saw A+ in my future. I couldn't wait.
In attacking this assignment, I thought about every day things that people need and what is difficult. Where I lived at the time was my inspiration. I thought about all the little old ladies who lived in my building and the number of times I'd held a door, pushed their carts up the ramp in our apartment and the number of times they offered me money for doing so. I always declined, because it was human nature to help people. Our business plans were to be five pages including the cover letter. Mine was close to eleven. This was before the Internet, so there were many more steps than would be in today's world. My business was to create a supermarket shopping business, where a customer would call up and supply a list. The business would go to different supermarkets (to maximize sale prices), purchase the items requested and deliver them at the end of the day. I took into account every aspect of running the business and figured if one "carrier" could shop for four people a day, we could charge as little as 7%, plus tip. I handed my business plan in, proud and with a definite plan to follow through with this in my own neighborhood. A few days later, I received a grade of C+. There were many comments saying how it was well thought out, but no plausible. I had figured in payroll, gas, returns, everything. I couldn't understand it. I walked up to the teacher and asked him why I had received such a poor grade. His response "It's not a good idea. There is no demand. There is no need." Then he said "women love food shopping. You're proposing a business that takes that away from them." I came home and told my parents and they laughed. I was crushed though. I was 19 and actually believed that if someone could rise to the ranks of a business management professor, they obviously knew more than me. I threw the plan away and went on with my so called life.
Approximately one year after the course was over, I was in the campus bookstore. I was looking through the magazine's and came across Newsweek. On the cover was a 12-year-old boy with a caption that said something along the lines of "million dollar delivery boy." I picked up the magazine and read the article. I almost fell down in the store crying. This little kid basically implemented my plan to the tee. What's even better is, he hired kids in his neighborhood who were underage, so he had no overhead other than paying them. In one calendar year, he amassed one million dollars in profit all from a community with less than 10,000. That's a little more than $100 per person. I purchased the magazine and walked into the professors classroom (during a class). I walked right up to him, presented the magazine and said "when you're done with your rhetoric, read this, you asshole." A few years later, Peapod was all over the place and I was still sitting around drinking beers and eating Doritos. OK, maybe it's been more than a few years.
One would think I'd learn from my mistakes. Around the same time I was taking this class, my creative juices were really flowing. I honestly wasn't thinking I was a genius, I really just didn't want to work very hard. I was doing roofing at the time and I was coaching little league in the afternoons. I knew all the kids and one day, I saw a kid, who I knew loved the Yankees wearing an Atlanta Braves hat. I asked him why and he said "I love Deion Sanders." The next day I saw him wearing another team hat and he explained that he loved a player on that team. I told my girlfriend that it was a gold mine. I looked into renting a store front and contacted a company about buying the hats wholesale. After some significant research (no Internet at the time), I realize the markup was incredible. I could buy these hates for $3 a piece and sell them for about $12. $15 if they were fitted. I wrote up a business plan and it was perfect. The problem was I didn't know anyone who would give me the start up money. The idea soon faded and I convinced myself it was only a fad. A few years later Westchester was a buzz with word of a new store in the Westchester Mall. The store was called Lidz Inc., the professional cap store. All this store sold were baseball caps from every professional sports team. I later found out the guy who started it, sold it for millions of dollars before he turned 25. Once again I searched for beer and Doritos.
So last night while I watched The Social Network, I thought about these things. In my opinion, pre-Internet, these ideas were not only better, but much more simple to actually do. I regret not following my dreams, but realize that anything new is looked at with puzzlement and an air of doubt. I currently have two or three ideas, which I think are genius, but once again, I don't have to collateral, the computer savvy or the connections to follow through on these plans. Sadly, I'm counting change, just to pay for beer and Doritos.
when high school ended, I had no real aspirations of going to college. Knowing I had pretty much sunk my opportunities of a good college education, I signed up for some classes at Westchester Community College. I decided business management was a good plan of attack. I signed up for a course called Business Organization and Management. It was a freshman business class taught by a professor named McCabe. McCabe's only real connection to business appeared to be the friendship he shared with the owners of Gallo wine. Aside from that, he seemed pretty much at a loss in the teaching department. As a young man, he still represented authority and knowledge, so we listened.
Professor McCabe pretty much taught from the book and had very little revelations to disclose to us and even less personal knowledge. At that age, I felt this was fine, because I was looking for my next underage beer and bag of Doritos. I wasn't looking to be instilled with too much knowledge. I got that every night at the dinner table. College to me, as it is today, was a joke. In the middle of the semester, I had pretty much been labeled a wise-ass and a somewhat of a rebel. I had gotten caught up with a bookie very early and was in the middle of cleaning him out, using a mathematical formula for betting on games. I was living at home, no cares, no job and a lot of money. Well, at the time it was a lot of money. The class seemed like a chore, until an assignment came along that interested me. We were asked to prepare a business and prepare a business plan with a mission statement. This was right up my alley and I saw A+ in my future. I couldn't wait.
In attacking this assignment, I thought about every day things that people need and what is difficult. Where I lived at the time was my inspiration. I thought about all the little old ladies who lived in my building and the number of times I'd held a door, pushed their carts up the ramp in our apartment and the number of times they offered me money for doing so. I always declined, because it was human nature to help people. Our business plans were to be five pages including the cover letter. Mine was close to eleven. This was before the Internet, so there were many more steps than would be in today's world. My business was to create a supermarket shopping business, where a customer would call up and supply a list. The business would go to different supermarkets (to maximize sale prices), purchase the items requested and deliver them at the end of the day. I took into account every aspect of running the business and figured if one "carrier" could shop for four people a day, we could charge as little as 7%, plus tip. I handed my business plan in, proud and with a definite plan to follow through with this in my own neighborhood. A few days later, I received a grade of C+. There were many comments saying how it was well thought out, but no plausible. I had figured in payroll, gas, returns, everything. I couldn't understand it. I walked up to the teacher and asked him why I had received such a poor grade. His response "It's not a good idea. There is no demand. There is no need." Then he said "women love food shopping. You're proposing a business that takes that away from them." I came home and told my parents and they laughed. I was crushed though. I was 19 and actually believed that if someone could rise to the ranks of a business management professor, they obviously knew more than me. I threw the plan away and went on with my so called life.
Approximately one year after the course was over, I was in the campus bookstore. I was looking through the magazine's and came across Newsweek. On the cover was a 12-year-old boy with a caption that said something along the lines of "million dollar delivery boy." I picked up the magazine and read the article. I almost fell down in the store crying. This little kid basically implemented my plan to the tee. What's even better is, he hired kids in his neighborhood who were underage, so he had no overhead other than paying them. In one calendar year, he amassed one million dollars in profit all from a community with less than 10,000. That's a little more than $100 per person. I purchased the magazine and walked into the professors classroom (during a class). I walked right up to him, presented the magazine and said "when you're done with your rhetoric, read this, you asshole." A few years later, Peapod was all over the place and I was still sitting around drinking beers and eating Doritos. OK, maybe it's been more than a few years.
One would think I'd learn from my mistakes. Around the same time I was taking this class, my creative juices were really flowing. I honestly wasn't thinking I was a genius, I really just didn't want to work very hard. I was doing roofing at the time and I was coaching little league in the afternoons. I knew all the kids and one day, I saw a kid, who I knew loved the Yankees wearing an Atlanta Braves hat. I asked him why and he said "I love Deion Sanders." The next day I saw him wearing another team hat and he explained that he loved a player on that team. I told my girlfriend that it was a gold mine. I looked into renting a store front and contacted a company about buying the hats wholesale. After some significant research (no Internet at the time), I realize the markup was incredible. I could buy these hates for $3 a piece and sell them for about $12. $15 if they were fitted. I wrote up a business plan and it was perfect. The problem was I didn't know anyone who would give me the start up money. The idea soon faded and I convinced myself it was only a fad. A few years later Westchester was a buzz with word of a new store in the Westchester Mall. The store was called Lidz Inc., the professional cap store. All this store sold were baseball caps from every professional sports team. I later found out the guy who started it, sold it for millions of dollars before he turned 25. Once again I searched for beer and Doritos.
So last night while I watched The Social Network, I thought about these things. In my opinion, pre-Internet, these ideas were not only better, but much more simple to actually do. I regret not following my dreams, but realize that anything new is looked at with puzzlement and an air of doubt. I currently have two or three ideas, which I think are genius, but once again, I don't have to collateral, the computer savvy or the connections to follow through on these plans. Sadly, I'm counting change, just to pay for beer and Doritos.
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