I have a friend with whom I regularly share conversations—some deep, some casual, but always meaningful. Often, ideas emerge from these exchanges that stay with me long after the call ends. To preserve their essence, I’ve started jotting them down, ensuring nothing valuable slips away. The topics we explore are diverse: reflections on the past, insights into technology, business strategies, and more. What makes these ideas special is their potential to resonate beyond our conversations. They’re not just personal takeaways; they could serve as a roadmap for others—offering guidance, inspiration, or even a chance to transform their lives.
One thing I have noticed is how much my friend missed technology for almost a decade long. We went to the same school which had a high tech outlook, and we both got a computer education back in the 80s. But for the longest time, he completely disconnect himself from tech, from the 90s to the 2010s. He didn't meant to, he just focused on other things.
However he managed to miss the digital mobile phones, discman players, the early internet, blackberry and finally smartphones and apple computers. He eventually got back a few years back mid 2010s and got a computer. But he is very disconnected from the surface level of tech. He gets often surprised watching bank transfers and specialized mobile applications.
As a technologist, I have told him about open source software, GNU/Linux, the histories of many of the modern IT corporations like Oracle, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Facebook and also the digital economy and Bitcoin. Sometimes I feel I am talking to an old guy from the level of disconnect I get from him. Sometimes I feel so surprised on how 'regular people' live around me. What if he is not the exception but the rule?
My life is so different from him, I have traveled the world many times over, lived in different countries with people that speak different languages and in contrast, he has always been in my hometown and never really left the city for more than a couple of week vacations. The only time he really lived abroad for a long period was when he was in high school and college. That makes me think that some of this gap that I feel comes from that different lifestyles we have had.
When we talk about business, he seemed to cut himself short. He has a good education, and has kept himself informed about business and other things, but he has failed to take the steps to use those tools in his career. I get the feeling he build a wall and use it as an excuse to never venture out and experiment with his connections and give it a try and compete in life. He has some land that he has been trying to sell for the past 10+ years without much luck and has no money, hopping to sell it one day.
My issue with that is that, selling your assets is not a good way to make a living, but use your skills to generate the income you need to live and then use your assets as backup or even increase them through other type of investments. But then I think he has so many ideas but can't focus on one. One day he wants to get cattle for his land, the next day he is going to build an apartment building with some of his investor friends, and the day after he wants to gather an investment committee to fund the development of an eco-tourism hotel. All those plans seem fine except they take a lot of money and I am not sure he knows what he is doing.
Today we talk about past connections and harness his contact network to perform small to medium tasks to earn an income and get at least a few coins his way. He has been doing real state and has been actually quite successful and getting more clients, but I think he isn't getting as well paid as he could. He could easily be doing 10x if he was actively looking for clients. But also he could be doing other things and not just selling houses but other things like building a digital storefront of products and services.
He seem to have a strong network full of successful people, but for some reason, he hasn't contact them because he still stuck on his old idea business as opposed to just be open and see what they have to offer. This is where I think he freezes like a deer on the highway. Hopefully I can help him but like anything is hard for people to share the vision, and hard for them to pick themselves up and get going. I've told him as an example, imagine you talk to your friend and want you to fly to his office and offer you a job so you can get some income and get off your feet, and go back home with at least 30k usd after 6 months of working hard. It would have solved a 15 year old plus, issue and can finally move on.