

A New Billionaire’s 10 Rules for Success - vwadhwani
http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2011/06/24/a-new-billionaires-10-rules-for-success

======
switch
Just a quick comment on the people who're hating on the Rules of Success Bob
Parsons has put up and on GoDaddy

* If one of the things he recommends turns out be of great value to you.

Then does it really matter whether or not he objectifies women or does a hard
sell?

 __ __ __ __*

It seems that we as geeks tend to love people who pretend to be all goody-
goody like Google and open source people but if someone has the balls to be
politically incorrect then it automatically means that the strategy they are
using must be bullshit.

He shot an elephant != His advice is not good.

 __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

Here's a little story about 'When you're ready to quit you're closer than you
think.

One of my sites got closed down by a hosting company. Some stupid reason. I
was thinking about closing down the other site hosted by that hosting company
too - Didn't, Stuck with it and that site has ended up making me $440K over
the last two years.

At the moment when it seemed most hopeless i.e. the bigger site is just nuked
and what's the point in sticking with the fledgling site -> sticking with it
ended up being a great decision.

That's just one example.

Perhaps rather than applying your ethics and morals filter it might help to
consider his advice on its own (i.e. separate from the person). Does it stand
up - are there examples in your own life that prove that?

 __ __ __ __*

A Colombian Cocaine Warlord might figure out the same strategic magic that
Jack Welch does (perhaps something like - If you don't have a competitive
advantage, don't compete).

It's still great strategy.

~~~
nupark2
I tend to ignore advice from people who I consider unethical because I
generally find that their advice runs counter to my personal goals, my
approach to work, and (obviously) my ethics.

Take your advice, for example:

 _One of my sites got closed down by a hosting company. Some stupid reason. I
was thinking about closing down the other site hosted by that hosting company
too - Didn't, Stuck with it and that site has ended up making me $440K over
the last two years._

I've never had a site closed down by a hosting company. I don't even know why
I _would_ have a site closed down by a hosting company. I also don't know why
I'd walk away from a product I'd developed if it _was_ shut down by a hosting
company.

To me, it appears that you (and Bob Parsons) have _VERY_ different ideas about
personal fulfillment, and as such, your advice (and his) don't really seem to
apply to me, outside of the fortune cookies style generalisms ("don't quit",
"push yourself").

~~~
switch
It was shut down by the hosting company for nothing illegal. It was just one
of those - we had something very specific in our terms which you didn't read -
type of things.

Nothing like gambling or illegal or porn or anything. Just a minor
technicality.

I find it interesting that you would attack me or to be precise assume that
I'm supporting Bob Parsons' ethical or moral fiber.

All I'm saying is -> Good strategy is good strategy.

It seems to you like a platitude. It seems to this billionaire like reality.

Perhaps you should try it before you write it off.

Besides, the stuff he writes aren't fortune cooke type generalisms. When you
most want to quit is usually when you are closest to success - that's a
remarkably accurate statement.

Look back at your own life and if you've mastered any skills you'll see the
truth in it.

 __ __ __ __ __ __ __

Seriously, try to imagine what you would think of the points if they were
written by someone who fell into your 'good person' bucket and think about
whether they hold true or not.

~~~
quanticle
>When you most want to quit is usually when you are closest to success -
that's a remarkably accurate statement.

Accurate in the sense that a broken clock is right twice a day. As you
accumulate failures, your motivation flags and your desire to quit increases.
Now, this might meant that you're about to make a breakthrough that will turn
your business into the next Google. It also might mean that you're bashing
your head into a brick wall and you need to pivot in order to become
successful. Your desire to quit gives you no information as to what your
strategy should be, and, therefore, is totally useless as a decision-making
strategy.

tl;dr; Your desire to quit is also greatest right before you go totally
bankrupt and wreck your life.

~~~
switch
quanticle, This is the thing that I think people don't realize. Even the most
successful people failed a ton before they got big success.

Big Failures = some people who let failure become bigger than them and destroy
them + some people who learn from it and succeed big down the line.

When you write:

 __tl;dr; Your desire to quit is also greatest right before you go totally
bankrupt and wreck your life.

 __ __ __ __*

You're exaggerating the consequences.

There's the type of failure where you take on bank loans and have to go
bankrupt and there's the type of failure where you run out of your own money
and have to start from scratch - perhaps with a new venture, or perhaps take
up a job and then come back to entrepreneurship after a while.

The former is what you're assuming. The latter is reality - provided you don't
go overboard in where you get money.

Just out of curisoity - what would the Color guys qualify as. It looks like
they might fail. Would that be 'wrecking their lives'?

 __ __ __ __ __ __

Here's the interesting part:

1) If you always give up right when you feel things are bleakest -> You'll
never _go bankrupt_ or to be more precise _never experience total failure_.

2) At the same time - you'll never experience the best possible success you
could have. Because if everything is easy and guaranteed that probably means
you never did the maximum you could and never pushed yourself.

 __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __*

Again, the first point he says - Stay outside of your comfort zone.

Is it a bit of a cliche? Yes.

However, lots of people who you would probably quantify as 'not evil like Bob
Parsons' succeeded precisely for this reason. They pushed out of their comfort
zone.

I think entreprenuership pretty much means getting out of your comfort zone,
getting other people out of their comfort zone and changing things - for the
better, or, if you are not inclined that way, for money.

~~~
quanticle
>Even the most successful people failed a ton before they got big success.

That's just survivorship bias[1]. Yes, the big successes failed a lot. But so
did the big failures. When all you see are Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.,
its easy to ignore all the little companies that failed and bankrupted all who
were involved. For an example of the downside, see this:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOOw2yWMSfk>. Can you really, honestly say
that Mark Griffin hasn't ruined his life?

You ask about the founders of Color. The cannot be failures. Why not? They've
already succeeded at least once. The entire reason Color is as hyped as it is
right now is because of its "supergroup" status. The only thing distinguishing
it is the fact that it was designed and built by programmers and designers
that were extremely successfull at other companies. Without that cachet, its
simply just another photo-sharing app.

>If you always give up right when you feel things are bleakest -> You'll never
go bankrupt or to be more precise never experience total failure.

>At the same time - you'll never experience the best possible success you
could have. Because if everything is easy and guaranteed that probably means
you never did the maximum you could and never pushed yourself.

That's true. But, before you go all-in, you should ask yourself, "Can I afford
this?" Yes, its easy to say yes if you're a 25 year-old with no family, no
mortgage, and no debt. But, if you're a 40 year-old with obligations? Do you
really want to put your dependents through the stress and hardship of a
default? Before you attempt to beat the odds, make sure you can survive the
odds beating you [2].

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias>

[2] <http://www.despair.com/overconfidence.html>

------
whereareyou
Summary of Godaddy founder Bob Parsons' 10 Rules for Success:

1\. Get and stay out of your comfort zone.

2\. Never give up.

3\. When you’re ready to quit, you’re closer than you think.

4\. Always be moving forward.

5\. Be quick to decide.

6\. Measure everything of significance.

7\. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate.

8\. Never expect life to be fair.

9\. Don’t take yourself too seriously.

10\. There’s always a reason to smile.

~~~
raldi
1-4 are essentially the same piece of advice: Never quit moving forward
outside your comfort zone.

------
athst
He forgot to mention the whole part about objectifying women, bad product, and
constantly pestering customers to buy stuff they don't want.

~~~
fabiandesimone
Curious... I knew you were talking about Godaddy just by reading your
description. Now... that's branding!

~~~
jonkelly
ha! That cracked me up as I had the same reaction. I'll add that, while I
agree with the gist of athst's comment, the advice was much better than the
average for this kind of article.

------
sayemm
I agree, this list doesn't sound all that insightful. But it did make me want
to look him up on Wikipedia, and I found his history to be interesting:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Parsons>

He started out as a self-taught programmer in his late-20s and he founded his
first business when he was 37. Also find it interesting that he came from a
really humble background, along with a strong military background too. Reminds
me of "the anatomy of determination".

------
arkitaip
This is the sort of Top10ListWisdom rubbish that's almost tautological in
nature and worthless when it actually comes to running a business.

~~~
klbarry
I suppose everyone has to learn for themselves (it doesn't internalize from a
list), but there is value in the lessons. It would probably stick better in
story form.

For instance, I cannot tell you how many times success came after getting very
close to giving up. I left college after one semester to find work, and taught
myself basic SEO. After ranking my local pizza shop to number one to prove I
could do it, I started cold calling the big businesses in my neighborhood to
do work for them. My awkward self called thirty-ish businesses, on a list of
thirty five, then gave up. My girlfriend encouraged me to try one more, and
sure enough they bit. Without this experience my life track would have been
substantially different.

~~~
iamwil
This is advice that seem vapid until you end up learning them yourself. It's
hard to extract the real-life story and experience from just the list.

This sort of thing only reaffirms those that have already learned the lessons,
and brushed off as vapid from those that haven't.

------
fastfinner
I am with you all about all the negative reasons why not to like GoDaddy and
Bob Parsons. Just looking at the guy and his macho-posters I really do not
feel like I would even want to hold a 5-minute conversation with him. It reeks
of BS. That said, I do have (or force myself to have) a lot of respect for the
guy. Earning money is not easy. Building and maintaining your company is not
easy. Establishing a brand is not easy. Being a billionaire is... whoa. I do
think we have a lot to learn from him, despite the fact that we may not like
him.

------
aw3c2
Even if it is the Wallstreet Journal, you better directly visit the source:
<http://www.bobparsons.me/bp_16_rules.php?ci=21428>

WSJ picked 10 of those 16 rules to make a fancy "top 10 list". Bah!

------
nkp007
I'm surprised. A lot of this is good advice.

Always stay out of your comfort zone. Never give up. Never stop improving.
Measure everything of significance.

It's not a quick fix or a cure all, but I think it's helpful to internalize
whichever of these points resonates with you and actively apply it in your
life. You have to execute and that's the hard part.

~~~
billswift
I would say it is even more important to try to apply those points that
_don't_ "resonate" with you. Those are the things that are more likely to
help, since you probably already apply those you agree with, at least
partially.

------
dfischer
This is actually a really good list of rules. Despite what you may or may not
think about Bob, this truly is a solid set of ways to structure success.

------
primitur
_sigh_

I miss the InterNIC.

------
felipemnoa
It is actually depressing to think that you can encapsulate success on ten
easy steps/rules. Advise like this makes it seem like I'm being sold snake
oil.

~~~
cheez
Getting out of your comfort zone is the #1 recipe for success.

Do it, all the time.

~~~
felipemnoa
The thing is that everybody says it. There are no real secrets to becoming
successful.

~~~
Joakal
If everyone says it and the group is quite skeptical, and you know it has
basis, then it seems the steps to becoming successful are actually useful.
I'll call that common knowledge for lack of a better word.

Why would common knowledge be depressing?

~~~
felipemnoa
Making it seem as if he is the first one to discover it? It is common
knowledge.

~~~
cheez
Few people translate to action anyway.

------
schiptsov
Remarkable, someone still pay money for copy-pasting from "Think And Grow
Rich" and "How To Win Friends..". ^_^

------
VMG
Formatting bullet points doesn't seem to be a rule. Must fall under violently
executing his plan today instead of perfecting typography tomorrow.

------
edw
What bothers me — far more than the banality of Bob's rules for success — is
the WSJ's use of two spaces after a full stop. Do these guys think they're
publishing with a typewriter?

