What I learned from taking a break from BHW..

Tensegrity said:

There's a bit that I've learned about life by taking a break from BHW and marketing forums in general, the most important one being that there is only so much reading and interacting with the IM community I can do before I realize that I'm not putting enough into action. Great information here, of course, but also a lot of wasted information. By that I mean people read it and then ask for spoonfed methods and secrets without flexing the blackened matter in their head they call a brain and it just causes a lot of noise to sift through. At the end of the day, while a great forum, the potential of earning money while being a part of it is finite for me, mostly because I find that it stifles creativity. Without creativity, you just can't get anywhere in IM. You need to think outside of your linux box. You need to use a pen and paper now and then. You need to be away from a computer for a long period of time at least a couple times a week to really have an impact on developing a solid plan. You HAVE to be creative. And that is how I suddenly became a few tens of thousands of dollars richer in the past month...

I live in New York City. It's full of rich people. Instead of dreaming about being one of them, last year I buckled down and made every minute of my life about work. My recreational time was spent watching movies on my laptop, playing tetris and chess games online, and perusing IM forums. I lost a lot of friends because of it. I even kicked some to the curb who were in my way or wasting my time. I lost my social life almost completely, but it was absolutely worth it. Throughout 2013 I developed prototypes for a few pieces of software that I'm very proud of. When I looked at the amount of time I spent on IM forums learning new methods and seeing people's ideas about driving traffic to offers, it was a little sad. All that time I could have been doing what I'm doing now. I'm not knocking it, I made quite a bit of money from my blog network in 2010-2011 and that was because of BHW. It just got old. I don't think it's bad, I'm not knocking it. You gotta do what you gotta do to get by. I just was sick of reading about methods and attempting them to find that they were dead by the time I got there, then reading post after post of stupid questions, no responses from the OPs, and of course the trolls. So I decided develop my own method and look for an investor to make it happen.

I began targeting rich people with a business plan and non-disclosure for a piece of software I made for marketing on Pinterest. I didn't target people who wouldn't take me seriously. If anyone here knows me offline, I have a bit of an off-beat personality, a half-baked resume, no credentials, credit that is shot to shit and I like to drink a lot of beer. So I targeted the rich people outside of my industry who would benefit from my software apps. (There is no one answer as to who to target, you have to figure that out for yourself). Finally someone bit and overnight I became the CEO of a small company in New York consisting of 5 people (2 programmers, 1 designer, 2 sales). I now have an office in Brooklyn, and am finally having my software apps built and pushed out the door starting with the Pinterest app later this month. I also have a nice chunk of change in my bank account

So, what did I learn?

My point isn't to gloat. I just want to give some people some perspective and positive reinforcement. I wouldn't have been able to do this if I continued to spend so much time on the forums. I lost a couple contacts and possible gigs online because of it, but I'm in a MUCH better place now with a real start-up, a solid business plan, and not calling myself a CEO while coding in my underwear by myself in my bedroom like an ass (note: I've never actually called myself a CEO before...I think it's appropriate now). A big part of the shift was thinking creatively. I used other people's designs, art, music, photography and performances in New York to inspire me, and I watched Halt and Catch Fire (that show is awesome) along with some good sales pitch movies like Glen Garry Glen Ross, Boiler Room, Wall Street, etc and, when I was ready, I just went out for the kill.......and came home with the bacon. While it was a lot of hard work initially, I now feel like I've completely created a job out of thin air and am realizing I probably could have done all of this years ago without even the prototypes for my software under my belt because it really doesn't take that. For me it took a shift in perspective, a break from routine and to think outside myself onto other people's creative projects, and that is something you can do any day of your life.

Good luck folks. I'll hopefully be seeing some of you higher ups in Las Vegas.

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Visit said:

lol, that is actually a really good point. That's why I stopped playing league of legends, aside from me saying "gg newbs easy game", everytime I barely win, and realizing how bad LoL is

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kinlee said:

Time off the forums does wonders

Congrats on your success!

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funkybunker said:

This place carries pretty good info for building & marketing a business.
But leaving the forum to go use that info is the entire point. I come back to read useful threads and apply them to my company that I would NEVER had built spending every day on here.

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Tensegrity said:

I lost a couple contacts and possible gigs online because of it, but I'm in a MUCH better place now with a real start-up, a solid business plan, and not calling myself a CEO while coding in my underwear by myself in my bedroom like an ass (note: I've never actually called myself a CEO before...I think it's appropriate now).

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redrubies said:

There is nothing wrong with working from a bedroom, Starbucks, or being homeless and working under an underpass, as long as the person is doing their best. It does not make their work less important. Coding in one's underwear does not make a person an ass. What makes them an ass is scamming, being unethical, mean to others, or conceited. I'm in my jammies right now, waiting for my pedi to dry, while going through a batch of vintage jewelry to weed out what I don't want. And I'm on a laptop in my bedroom. I sell to the rich too. A good portion of the new jewelry that I sell is high end. Some people are nice, and some are awful. Having money doesn't impress me. What impresses me is a person with kindness and generosity. There is no reason for me to have an office. I'd like a store some day, but not all niches require non home offices. While it's great that your business has grown, and although I agree that too much time on bhw will result in getting less work done, there is nothing wrong with coding in one's underwear. As long as the person has a good heart and is trying their best, their self worth is just as valuable as the person who works from an office.

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Tensegrity said:

See, I used to think that too, until I met real millionaires in real life. Coding in your underwear only goes so far for 99% of people in the game. You can make money, you can even make *GOOD* money, but you can't ultimately be highly successful. You need to be organized, you have to be out in the world, you need to be dressed your best at all times and taking your business to the next level. I'm not saying it's impossible to be successful working in your underwear at home, but you're not a "CEO" or really even that successful of a person doing that simply because no one will ever actually take you seriously enough to want to work with you on any serious level. And when I say serious, I mean LOTS of cash.

Defend yourself all you want, but you'll learn soon enough that you're going to have to make the change eventually if you want to actually get in the game for real.

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Tensegrity said:

See, I used to think that too, until I met real millionaires in real life. Coding in your underwear only goes so far for 99% of people in the game. You can make money, you can even make *GOOD* money, but you can't ultimately be highly successful. You need to be organized, you have to be out in the world, you need to be dressed your best at all times and taking your business to the next level. I'm not saying it's impossible to be successful working in your underwear at home, but you're not a "CEO" or really even that successful of a person doing that simply because no one will ever actually take you seriously enough to want to work with you on any serious level. And when I say serious, I mean LOTS of cash.

Defend yourself all you want, but you'll learn soon enough that you're going to have to make the change eventually if you want to actually get in the game for real.

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t0mmy said:

I'd have to agree with redrubies here and disagree with you, you seem to be going down the tie and suit route with that statement which is cool if that's what you want to do, but to say others are not serious is silly.. "this is what makes you a business man" fuck that noise I enjoy the freedom IM gives me that lets me avoid that bullshit... "I used to think that too, until I met real millionaires in real life" I know millionaires that actually do code in their underwear, travel the world with their lap tops none of this dressed at your best sitting behind a desk.. believe me people will take you seriously if you make things happen.. what you wear or where you sit is irrelevant, that's the beauty of IM.

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t0mmy said:

I'd have to agree with redrubies here and disagree with you, you seem to be going down the tie and suit route with that statement which is cool if that's what you want to do, but to say others are not serious is silly.. "this is what makes you a business man" fuck that noise I enjoy the freedom IM gives me that lets me avoid that bullshit... "I used to think that too, until I met real millionaires in real life" I know millionaires that actually do code in their underwear, travel the world with their lap tops none of this dressed at your best sitting behind a desk.. believe me people will take you seriously if you make things happen.. what you wear or where you sit is irrelevant, that's the beauty of IM.

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Tensegrity said:

See, I used to think that too, until I met real millionaires in real life. Coding in your underwear only goes so far for 99% of people in the game. You can make money, you can even make *GOOD* money, but you can't ultimately be highly successful. You need to be organized, you have to be out in the world, you need to be dressed your best at all times and taking your business to the next level. I'm not saying it's impossible to be successful working in your underwear at home, but you're not a "CEO" or really even that successful of a person doing that simply because no one will ever actually take you seriously enough to want to work with you on any serious level. And when I say serious, I mean LOTS of cash.

Defend yourself all you want, but you'll learn soon enough that you're going to have to make the change eventually if you want to actually get in the game for real.

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Laubster said:

Yeah sorry but this just isn't true. Frank Kern runs his entire operation from his home PC and is insanely rich. I do agree that operating in certain industries requires face to face networking and whatnot, but to imply we have to be out networking with rich new yorkers in a suit to get rich is simply not true. There are PLENTY of ways to make a lot of money if you truly apply yourself, which is where most people fall short, but it just sounds like the niches YOU got involved with required face to face. Doesn't mean everyone else needs to.

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