Brutus_buckeye

I am sure if "Hustle" replaces "bootstrapping" it will also start to receive a negative connotation from various groups.

There are a lot of things that people do not consider about the bootstrapping that is not really discussed because it adds complexity and nuance. As Jake correctly points out, there are a lot of ways to make income but each individual circumstances determine how feasible it is. Certainly, a single mother with young kids would not have a practical time working 2-3 jobs and caring for kids. However, if you are single and only responsible for your time, that is a good option. When you are 20 and starting out, stock and real estate speculation proceeds may not be an option, but publishing and royalties are certainly feasible for many people to achieve if they put their minds to it. For me, I would never make a dime on a music gig, but there are other ways that allow me to generate income both passive and active. Certainly, bootstrapping is a simplistic term, but the beautiful thing about it is that it encompasses a ton of activities that people can do to raise their lot in life. Many often do not require much investment, many have low startup costs, and if people are willing to be creative and invest in themselves (regardless of going to college) they can achieve some level of success and independence in their lives. Jake does a good job of laying out numerous ways that work for him, but his roadmap does not have to be specific to everyone.

I dont think people do.. It is an important element but not the only element. Working hard is extremely important, working smart is even more important.

I thought we may get to the point where we could have an actual discussion but you seem to not be able to resist trying to get a petty dig in. Sad. It is nice you cite this work, but even the authors admit that there are number of theories when it comes to measuring inheritance. As with the social sciences, the individual methodologies and hypothoeses they use are not grounded in hard fact but rather assumptions based on their bias. So, that is fine if you want to believe these professors. It still does not make your point any more right despite how you may otherwise try and convince yourself.

I don't think any business owner or anyone who has achieved a high level of success recognizes that this is just about bootstrapping. Hard work is an essential element but it is not the only factor. You need to have some understanding of the market and timing has to be right. There is a lot that can still go wrong. You can build an emerging hospitality business and then it comes crashing down when the government shuts down things for COVID. Bootstrapping and hard work get you so far, but yes, there are other factors too such as timing that come into play. Just hard work and bootstapping will not guarnatee you success. Nothing in life is guaranteed. Just because you dont smoke does not mean you wont die of lung cancer. Just because you are a world class athlete does not guarantee you the hall of fame. I get the sense that you want some type of roadmap to success or contract that if I do my part, I will achieve. It may be nice if life worked like that but it never has.

Life is about taking risks and chances. There is no set guarantee in anything. Those who succeed often take the biggest risks. Bezos had a 6 figure Wall Street job with a prestigious firm that he gave up to start Amazon. That is pretty risky, but he wanted to be an innovator. This is why risk takers are rewarded.

https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/real-1-percent https://bic.financial-planning.com/news/1-in-3-us-millionaires-foreign-born-or-first-gen-americans https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0810/7-millionaire-myths.aspx https://www.guidevine.com/newsroom/eighty-percent-millionaires-first-generation-millionaires-wasting-time-garbage/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2016/10/05/a-record-number-of-the-u-s-billionaires-are-immigrants/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/millionairenextdoor.htm Here is some reading for you. There are many more sources. I know this directly contradicts your narrow worldview of things but maybe it may help you open your mind a bit more.

You can bootstrap and be a bartender, you can work in a warehouse. Bootstraping is a means to an end. It is not the job or type of job that matters. As much as I knock AOC, she effectively is a product of this and did not realize it. She worked nights bartending and traded her bartending in for a shot at Congress and big raise and platform. She is able to spew her venom and idoicy on a national level now but at the end of the day, she actually was someone who bootstrapped her way to success.

a majorfity of people do not understand a wealth tax or what wealth actually is. Almost every European country that has tried a wealth tax in the past has repealed it because it was overly burdensome, too difficult to enforce and did not bring in much to the treasury and actually cost more. Why do you want to push a failed policy that has been tried and failed in numerous places in the past. This is just populist sentiment that is not grounded by economic realities.

Because there are a lot of loud voices on the left that say just that. Bernie thinks Billionaires should be banned. AOC has consistently attacked the wealthy as stealing from the working class and seeks to divide people. Warren proposed a wealth tax which is nothing more than an arbitrary and punitive tax that does little to raise funds for the treasury but is primarily intended to punish success. So yes, it is out there. The thing is, in the US, the vast majority of wealth is not passed down from generation to generation. It is first generation wealth. And it takes the individual owner to recognize these trends and develop a plan to capitalize on them. Take Bezos for example, as you point out, he essentially put the Sears catalog on the internet and made billions. That may be true to a certain extent, but he actually did it. Many others could have come up with the idea, but he was able to execute on it. That is what separated him from everyone else.

Exactly, I agree completley with you. It take time and it is a slog. You and I have very similar backgrounds and trajectories. I was fortunate enough to have a hard working parent who was able to get me a good education and i was able levy that into a business I was able to build through my hard work and bootstrapping. Things were not always easy growing up, my father lost his job and took a job out of town for a few years to support the family and was not around much during my high school years. The job paid a lot less too so we had to figure out how to strecth things. It changed my way of thinking about life and career and sent me on an more entrepreunial track. It allowed me to meet my wife who is also very hardworking and does well. I will never apologize for any of this nor do I feel any sense of remorse for this. I recognize that yes, we all achieve some form of help to succeed. Whether it be a parental help, business partner or mentor, we all come at our level of successes differently. However, the one key takeaway that I have seen in talking to many other small business owners and self made individuals is that they all possess a couple key qualiites. 1) the willingness to play the long game and build something up over the course of years or a generation or two. (Very few people hit the lottery) and 2) a tenacity and desire to succeed. there seems to be an inate quality that you see in many people where they are able to overlook the setbacks and keep moving forward. - You hear this out of people who make it big in Hollywood all the time. Nobody sees the multiple rejections and failures they went through early on or the sacrifices both personal and physical they made to become the perceived success they are. Same with business owners. Nobody cares when they are working out of their parents garage or their one room apartment, but when their efforts pay off, people are quick to come with their hands out demanding their "fair share" and claiming that what that particular person earned was somehow stolen from others.

But I specifically mentioned millionaires and multi-millionaires. There are a lot more examples of them rising up by bootstrapping and building businesses and becoming successes. They are also the ones that the Bernies of the world and AOC's pick on when in fact they bootstrap and work their way up and build their businesses while Bernie is sleeping in a commune and AOC doing shots with her patrons at the bar.

Most people do not make a distinction. People chastise Bezos too. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

People always look at the millionaire with envy and chastise them for not giving them their fair share of his/her wealth. These are the same people who looked at him/her with derision and laughed at them as they worked 12-15 hour days doing unglorious work building their empire.

An old law school friend of mine spent 2 years working between 2nd and 3rd shift in a ketchup factory while he was working during the day to establish his business. After a couple years he was able to quit and hiave his loans paid off. He was vastly overqualified to be filling ketchup packages but he said it was one of the most enriching experiences he has had.

I agree. He is a pragmatic Republican that listens to constituents, does not draw a hard line on issues and is open for compromise and other opinions. The sad thing is that Republicans dont love him because he is not hard line enough and the Dems like him only so far as they do not have a strong enough candidate to take him out.

Beshear may have an above water approval rating now, but midway through his term, he is not going to win re-election. I am calling that one now.

They do, it is empty rhetoric until they actually take action. But openly violating a court order by a government official is a big deal. It is not Oct 5 yet so we will have to see what happens.

Agree or disagree wiht him, I think Dewine is doing a good job of listening and taking into account the interests of all constituencies in the State. There are certainly many things I disagree with him on but I do understand his POV and respect his decisions. He shows he is listening to everyone and does have a bit of humility that he shows too. This is a big difference between him and Beshear in KY who seems to want to pander and stoke animoisity against those who do not agree with him. I respect Dewine and recognize he is in a tough position.

Do people still play that?

Of course, that being said, I am not the one putting up my money to build it.

I just find this a disappointment for this building. I wish we could have had a tower of some sort on that spot.

It was a bit tongue and cheek. But that is one of the challenges Cleveland faces right now. A big reason why people move to the SunBelt is weather. That does pose a bit of a challenge for Cleveland to overcome. Personally, it was a consideration I had when I moved from Cleveland.

If Cleveland wants to reposition itself as the place where people go it needs to turn its climate into a tropical paradise. Instead of cool winds blowing off Lake Erie 8 months of the year, it needs to be warm tropical breezes. Cut winter down to 2 months a year instead of 8 months. Cleveland does not have the same institutional power of New York or Chicago ot overcome the climate issues.

The standard on commercial is still 6% but the caveat is that much of the commercial market is off market or the broker keeps it to their internal buyer list so they negotiate a cheaper commission. However, even with that most of the million dollar commercial deals still have at least a 4% commission or higher