Steve Jobs – Think Different

 

“Here is to the crazy ones. The misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in square holes, the ones who see things differently.”

It is very easy to watch this video and say – Come on Einstein, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali, Amelia Earhart, Pablo Picasso – those are truly world changers. The probability of me having a similar impact on the world is ZERO.

LOL, if you are reading this post that’s probably true. Maybe a little bit higher than zero.  All kidding aside, Steve Jobs is challenging us to make a difference. Consensus thinking is not going to cut it.

At the end of our lives, we will ask ourselves several questions and one will be – Did I matter? Personally, my goal is to have an impact on a broader number of people than my direct family. Thru entrepreneurship and helping others pursue this path is how I’m attempting to make a difference. This can be a difficult and at times very lonely journey, but the rewards outweigh the risk in my opinion.

Note: Obviously there are numerous people who slave away all day or their day job and then spend countless nights and weekends volunteering and doing other things to make an impact. It is not my intent to imply that only entrepreneurs can make an impression. My hope is that we simply flip the switch and aspire to spend our most productive hours on our passion.

Question: Even if it your entrepreneurial endeavor completely falls apart, will you look back at it as a waste of time? Or will you smile and say at least I mattered – if only for a short time? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Steve Jobs “They’ll Get Used to It”

I have been slacking off on blojobsgging, but saw this story today by Silicon Valley investor Marc Andreessen on Steve Jobs (The Atlantic Wire) and just had to share it.

In the fall of 2006, my wife, Laura, and I went out to dinner with Steve and his brilliant and lovely wife, Laurene. Sitting outside of the restaurant on California Avenue in Palo Alto waiting for a table to open up, on a balmy Silicon Valley evening, Steve pulled his personal prototype iPhone out of his jeans pocket and said, ‘Here, let me show you something.’  He took me on a tour through all of the features and capabilities of the new device.

“After an appropriate amount of oohing and aahing, I ventured a comment. BlackBerry aficionado as I was, I said, ‘Boy, Steve, don’t you think it’s going to be a problem not having a physical keyboard? Are people really going to be okay typing directly on the screen?’ He looked me right in the eye with that piercing gaze and said, ‘They’ll get used to it.’

Wow, if I only had half of his conviction!

My Elevator Ride with Steve Jobs

Over the past few days I have watched hours of  tributes, read countless articles and witnessed my Twitter stream overflowing with emotions on the passing of Steve Jobs.   On the night we learned his fate, 9 out of every 10 tweets I received were in reference to him.  It’s amazing how many lives he has impacted and I’m proud to be included in that number.

Although I never met the man, I have often wondered how I would handle the infamous elevator ride with him. There are stories of employees who avoided getting on an elevator with him.  They knew that it wouldn’t be a simple exchange of pleasantries.  By the time they had gotten out, if they still had a job, their priorities would have been completely changed and would be under the gun with the clock ticking. Many couldn’t handle the pressure and would walk up the stairs instead.  I believe that I would have boldly gotten in and asked him “what floor?”  By the time he reached his floor, most likely I would be sweating profusely, but I would have been on the path of doing my best work ever. The following recounts my fictitious elevator ride with Steve Jobs.

PASSION:

Me:  Hello Steve

Steve: Hi, do you work here? I’ve never seen you around.

Me: No, I have an appointment with the CFO to talk about investing some of the company’s cash.

Steve: What are you talking about?  No one is going to invest our cash. What if I want to make a strategic acquisition and the money is tied up?

Me:  I’m only looking to invest a small percentage.

Steve: How did you get in here anyway?  I can’t believe the guard let you in here.  What makes you think you are qualified to invest our cash?

Me: I have been trading since 1995. I developed a strategy where I invest in stocks that are critical to new emerging trends – like mobile and the cloud.

Steve: First of all, I hate traders. Those are guys are constantly churning in & out of our stock. I like investors who are in it for the long haul.

Me: I’m not a day trader. I ride the trends. Sometimes I’m in for a couple of days or weeks.  The market has been very volatile lately, so it hard to stay in longer.  Ideally I would be in for months.

Steve:  I want people in our stock for years.

Me: Do you have any of your personal money managed by financial advisors?

Steve: Yea, those guys suck. My account has been flat for the last 10 years. I stopped paying them a management fee. I told if they don’t like it I would take my money somewhere else.

Me: If those guys would have only invested when the market was healthy and went to cash when it was not – your returns would be substantially better.

Steve: Yea, whatever.  I hear that traders blow up all of the time.  Have you ever blown up?

PERSEVERANCE:

Me: In 2000, after the tech bubble imploded.  I was hit hard – lost most of my money.

Steve: What did you do?

Me: For about a year I didn’t do anything.  I was shell shocked. I couldn’t believe what had happened.  I didn’t have a well thought out exit plan.  When I finally stopped feeling bad for myself – I started working on a strategy to get my money back.

Steve:  Did you get it back?

Me: Not all of it.  I was on a roll til 2008.

Steve: Why would I want you to manage our money if every time the market hits a rough spot – you blow up?

Me:  I was hit hard, but I didn’t blow up.  I learned from 2000.

Steve: Sounds like you have been at this for awhile and can take a punch.

Me: I love the markets. I love developing a thesis and getting paid handsomely if it works. Plus, the flexibility works well for my life style.  I can trade from anywhere.  I can’t think of anything I would rather do.

PROCESS:

Steve: I want you to come back in 6 months. Prepare a 2 slide presentation.  On the first slide, I want you to describe your entire strategy. Entry criteria, exit plan and risk management process. On the second slide, I want to see your results over the past six months.

Me: Wow, that’s going to take more than 2 slides.

Steve: Do you know who you are talking to? I want a focused plan.  If you can’t explain it in 2 slides it’s too complicated.

Me:  OK

Steve:  Finally,  make sure that it is simple enough for the guard to understand – because if that SOB let’s you in here again he will be fired.

 

steve-jobs-ripRest in Peace, Steve Jobs.

Thank you for teaching me the 3 Ps of entrepreneurship – Passion, Perseverance, and Process. Thank you for teaching me to “think different.” Thank you for teaching me to be foolish enough to pursue my dreams. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. You will truly be missed.

 

Steve Jobs on Entrepreneurship:

A lot of people come to me and say “I want to be an entrepreneur”. And I go “Oh that’s great, what’s your idea?”And they say, “I don’t have one yet.” And I say, “I think you should go get a job as a busboy or something until you find something you’re really passionate about because it’s a lot of work.” I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.

It is so hard. You put so much of your life into this thing. There are such rough moments in time that I think most people give up. I don’t blame them. It’s really tough and it consumes your life. If you’ve got a family and you’re in the early days of a company, I can’t imagine how one could do it. I’m sure its been done but it’s rough. It’s pretty much an eighteen-hour day job, seven days a week for awhile. Unless you have a lot of passion about this, you’re not going to survive. You’re going to give it up. So you’ve got to have an idea, or a problem or a wrong that you want to right that you’re passionate about. otherwise you’re not going to have the perseverance to stick it through. I think that’s half the battle right there.

 

Think Different – Narrated by Steve Jobs

Disclosure: Long Apple Stock.

Steve Jobs Lesson For Investors & Entreprenuers

If you have read my blog in the past – you know that I am a big Apple supporter.  I own many Apple products, own shares in the company and respect the way that the company is run.  I also realize that many people hate Apple for numerous reasons.  Whether you love ’em or hate ’em the following Steve Jobs speech, to his new VPs, provides a valuable lesson for everyone.  I find it especially applicable in my world of  investors and entrepreneurs.

Steve Jobs gives employees a little speech when they’re promoted to Vice President at Apple, according to Adam Lashinsky in a new article in Fortune that’s not online yet.  Lashinsky calls it the “Difference Between the Janitor and the Vice President.”

Jobs tells the VP that if the garbage in his office is not being emptied regularly for some reason, he would ask the janitor what the problem is. The janitor could reasonably respond by saying, “Well, the lock on the door was changed, and I couldn’t get a key.”

An irritation for Jobs, for an understandable excuse for why the janitor couldn’t do his job. As a janitor, he’s allowed to have excuses.  “When you’re the janitor, reasons matter,” Jobs tells newly minted VPs, according to Lashinsky.

“Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering,” says Jobs, adding, that Rubicon is “crossed when you become a VP.”  In other words, you have no excuse for failure. You are now responsible for any mistakes that happen, and it doesn’t matter what you say.  (Business Insider)

I spend  a lot of time on Twitter more specifically StockTwits.  Jim Cramer, CNBC’s  Mad Money Host, is constantly being attacked on Twitter for calls that went awry.  Cramer has been a strong supporter of Silver.  The attacks hit a feverish pitch this week as Silver lost 25% – its worst week in 30 years.   The chatter prompted me to tweet the following:

As Steve Jobs says, “Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO reasons stop mattering.”  In my world, there is no one to blame.  If you are an investor and suffered a beat-down in Silver last week – look in the FREAKING mirror.  You are the only person responsible for your financial destiny.

 

Disclosure:  Currently holding a Long Term position in Silver Bullion – fortunately at much lower prices than current spot price.  No short term positions in bullion or Silver miners are currently held.

 

P.S.

I welcomed last week’s pull-back as an opportunity to acquire more ounces at lower prices.  Over the years, I have learned  that acquiring Long Term positions are best around Silver’s 200DMA.  We are not quite there yet.

Would Steve Jobs Have Kick-Started Your Quest for Financial Freedom?

I have a bachelor degree and two master degrees.  I can’t remember one word from the Commencement addresses. Actually I skipped two of the ceremonies, but from the one that I did attend – I can’t remember a word.  I wonder if someone like Steve Jobs had spoken – would it have had an impact on my pursuit for financial freedom. The following is an excerpt from Jobs’ commencement address to Stanford’s class of 2005.

“I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle. “

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