What do Silicon Valley and Kim Kardashian have in common? If you said silicone, that’s a creative answer, but it’s not where I’m going with this. Here’s why.
There’s a difference between silicon, which is the 14th element on the periodic table, and silicone, which is a synthetic substance that people use for many different things. You can figure that out on your own because this isn’t the video for that.
Don’t Waste Your Time
Let me tell you why it’s a waste of time for you to constantly compare your business to Silicon Valley and Kim Kardashian. If you do, you’re guaranteed to be disappointed 100% of the time. Here’s why. They’re celebrities. They’re on T.V., and magazines love writing about them. All these channels love talking about companies in Silicon Valley. They talk about how amazing they are, and that they’re going public and doing this and that.
Young entrepreneurs see that and say, “Oh my gosh, I want to be like those guys. I want to start a technology company out of Silicon Valley.” But what they don’t realize is the following.
- Only 4% of Fortune 500 companies are based out of Silicon Valley.
- Only five-and-a-half to six percent of Forbes 400 richest people are based out of Silicon Valley.
5 Reasons for Entrepreneurs to NOT Be Like Silicon Valley or Kim Kardashian
#1: Reality T.V.
It is simple. Kim Kardashian’s life is not real. It’s reality T.V. It’s for the entertainment of millions of people, not for you to say, “I want to be Kim Kardashian one day” because it’s not real. It is fake.
Silicon Valley is also fake. It’s a small little bubble. It’s not real business. The way they run their businesses is not the way 99.9% of businesses around the country run.
#2: The Math Never Makes Sense
Why did Facebook pay $20 billion to Instagram when they only did $400 million a year in revenue? Instagram wasn’t even making money. What happened there? The math doesn’t make sense. If you run a real, legitimate business, you can show the math. It’s different in Silicon Valley.
#3: You’ll be Disappointed
Comparing yourself with Kim Kardashian and Silicon Valley leads to disappointment 100% of the time.
If you look at Kim’s life and you look at the businesses in Silicon Valley that are so amazing, you may think you’re a terrible CEO or entrepreneur. I’m here to tell you, you’re not.
Let me tell it to you a completely different way. The guy that’s running a business doing $17 million a year may be just as good as any of those CEOs in Silicon Valley. Why? Because in Silicon Valley, one can go and raise $10 million in round one, $50 million in round two, and $200 million in round three. They also bring the right people around. They had one great idea, it blew up, and then they say, “This guy’s the greatest CEO of all time.” But the $17 million a year guy may be a better CEO. You can’t compare yourself to what Silicon Valley does.
#4: They Live on an Island of Their Own
Next, they live on an island of their own. They live in a completely different community, grew up in different schools, and ate in different restaurants. They’re in a completely different environment than, for example, someone out of Toledo, Duluth, Austin, or Jacksonville.
#5: Few Duplicatable Habits
Next, they have few duplicatable habits. What are duplicatable habits? What Sam Walton and Jeff Bezos did is duplicatable. When people take regular businesses and build them into conglomerates, those are duplicatable.
Here’s why that matters. Let me remind you that 60% of Fortune 500 companies from 1970 are no longer around today. Do you know what that means? Out of 500 companies, 300 of them are gone! What does that mean to you? Think about it! Silicon Valley may be nothing 40 years from now, where except for mentions in textbooks, no one even talks about them anymore. And those textbook mentions will cover the mistakes Silicon Valley made.
Now I’m not telling you that Silicon Valley doesn’t do a lot of things right. I use and invest in a lot of their companies. Just know that going out of business can happen.
Duplicatable Ways to Build Your Business
Now having said that, let me tell you duplicatable ways to build your business that are completely different than the reality T.V. world.
Learn How to Sell
Listen in here to hear how learning to sell is duplicatable.
Next, you save money.
You save ten grand, 20 grand, 50 grand, 100 grand, 200, 300, of your own money, in your pocket, because you did this for a couple of years. Save your money, then show proof that you know what you’re doing in an industry where you become an expert. Then you and a group of people may decide to start a business, and you own a piece of the company.
Then you raise money and then build your business. At that point, you either sell it off or keep growing your company.
This, my friends, is duplicatable. The Kardashians and Silicon Valley are reality T.V.
Listen, if you compare your personal life to our friend, Kim Kardashian, or if you compare your business to the ones in Silicon Valley, you’re bound to be disappointed and discouraged with yourself. So focus on your game. Focus on the fundamentals. Focus on doing what works and growing your business. See what you can do to improve your personal life. If you do things right, a big victory could be around the corner for you.
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