About to Finish College...Advice on how to kickstart an awesome lifestyle for my 20's
01-03-2014, 08:55 AM
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In an effort to not expend emotional energy getting into arguments, I rarely counter or argue with anyone on RVF - despite how much I might vociferously disagree with the opinion stated.
This is one of those rare occasions in which I think it would be idiotic to not take the simultaneously most hedonistic and riskiest option right out of the gates.
Party and travel for 6 months to get the wanderlust out of your system. If you don't do it, it will plague you while you work and ask yourself "what if????" Also, the stories and life experience you get from this will be fuel for creating a strong foundation and frame for you to pick up a lot of hot chicks in the future. Huge DHV to say that you traveled all over Asia and launched a business in China. Are you kidding me?
A lot of guys seem to be suggesting that you get yourself into a nice rhythm and create structure in your life. I counter by saying that structure is overrated and that having a nice stable 9-6 job that pays the bills will suck you further and further into complacency.
In contrast, if you go do a crazy gap year for travel and business, you always have the option of failing and then going back on the corporate path. That will never disappear as an option. At worst, you will have an interesting story to talk about in interviews and recruiters will respect your balls for attempting to strike out on your own. You'll also have better ways to justify your leadership abilities than the other kid being considered for the position, who is trying to play up his time as the treasurer for his fraternity - which amounted to doing keg runs every weekend.
Every month that you spend not pursuing your own ventures and opportunities, the riskier it gets to take the solo path.
I vociferously disagree with everyone who suggested that you take the safe/stable/corporate route.
In 2014, the "safe route" is actually a dangerous route. There is no such thing as career stability anymore, just an irreversible slide into mediocrity.
Also, you should read Torontokid's posts about entrepreneurship. He is in somewhat of a similar boat as you and he helped me with some projects I have going on.
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Failing nonstop in business for a year's time will give you experience and skill sets that are useful in the context of both entrepreneurship and careers.
Having a steady corporate job will institutionalize you and give you zero useful skills in the context of entrepreneurship - unless you are working in a startup or you are shadowing some veteran entrepreneur who does international trade, something like that.
This is a no brainer to me.
I've worked in the corporate world, spent a ton of time in academia, and have been an entrepreneur for the last three years.
I'm still getting job offers to return to corporate.
I can safely say that there isn't much I learned in the corporate world that prepared me to make things happen on my own.
Opportunities multiply as they are seized.
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*Edit* and *Caveat*
I took this sort of risky route right out of a masters program and it ended up working out for me.
High risk High reward. You might end up failing.
Simultaneously, if you failed, you'd be 21-22 years old with a lot of very good stories to tell and a lot more life experience.
In an effort to not expend emotional energy getting into arguments, I rarely counter or argue with anyone on RVF - despite how much I might vociferously disagree with the opinion stated.
This is one of those rare occasions in which I think it would be idiotic to not take the simultaneously most hedonistic and riskiest option right out of the gates.
Party and travel for 6 months to get the wanderlust out of your system. If you don't do it, it will plague you while you work and ask yourself "what if????" Also, the stories and life experience you get from this will be fuel for creating a strong foundation and frame for you to pick up a lot of hot chicks in the future. Huge DHV to say that you traveled all over Asia and launched a business in China. Are you kidding me?
A lot of guys seem to be suggesting that you get yourself into a nice rhythm and create structure in your life. I counter by saying that structure is overrated and that having a nice stable 9-6 job that pays the bills will suck you further and further into complacency.
In contrast, if you go do a crazy gap year for travel and business, you always have the option of failing and then going back on the corporate path. That will never disappear as an option. At worst, you will have an interesting story to talk about in interviews and recruiters will respect your balls for attempting to strike out on your own. You'll also have better ways to justify your leadership abilities than the other kid being considered for the position, who is trying to play up his time as the treasurer for his fraternity - which amounted to doing keg runs every weekend.
Every month that you spend not pursuing your own ventures and opportunities, the riskier it gets to take the solo path.
I vociferously disagree with everyone who suggested that you take the safe/stable/corporate route.
In 2014, the "safe route" is actually a dangerous route. There is no such thing as career stability anymore, just an irreversible slide into mediocrity.
Also, you should read Torontokid's posts about entrepreneurship. He is in somewhat of a similar boat as you and he helped me with some projects I have going on.
---
Failing nonstop in business for a year's time will give you experience and skill sets that are useful in the context of both entrepreneurship and careers.
Having a steady corporate job will institutionalize you and give you zero useful skills in the context of entrepreneurship - unless you are working in a startup or you are shadowing some veteran entrepreneur who does international trade, something like that.
This is a no brainer to me.
I've worked in the corporate world, spent a ton of time in academia, and have been an entrepreneur for the last three years.
I'm still getting job offers to return to corporate.
I can safely say that there isn't much I learned in the corporate world that prepared me to make things happen on my own.
Opportunities multiply as they are seized.
-
*Edit* and *Caveat*
I took this sort of risky route right out of a masters program and it ended up working out for me.
High risk High reward. You might end up failing.
Simultaneously, if you failed, you'd be 21-22 years old with a lot of very good stories to tell and a lot more life experience.