Instagram Stories). Buy some keywords and post a video on Google
and YouTube. No manager says “I don’t like business.” The Four are
business; nothing is immune, and if you don’t get them, you
(increasingly) don’t get business today.
Despite the airbrushed version of me presented on Wikipedia and
my NYU Stern bio, I do not take naturally to technology. However, I
am passionate about being relevant and creating economic security for
me and my family. So, I am on Facebook and, sort of, understand it.
My preference would be to post a banner across my Facebook
homepage (is that what they even call it?) that reads “There’s a reason
we haven’t stayed in touch.” Instead, I try to understand what a “dark
post” is and then ping over to Instagram, click on ads, and try to
understand why brands are spending less on TV (which I understand)
and more on the visual platform. Using and understanding the Four is
table stakes. Get. In. The. Game.
Equity and the Plan
Try to get equity as part of compensation (if you don’t think equity in
your employer is going to be valuable, find a new employer), and
increase that ratio (ideally) to 10 percent and 20 percent plus of your
compensation by the time you are thirty and forty, respectively. If
there are no equity opportunities at your company, you need to create
your own by maxing out all tax-advantaged accounts (401k and
others) and charting a path to $1–3–5 million, based on your income
and spend levels. Time goes strangely slow, and fast. The part where
you wake up at fifty without economic security can happen fast.
Assume you won’t make huge dollars or buy a stock that goes up a
hundred times, and, as early as possible, begin building that egg.
I’ve had several multimillion exits and still managed to wake up, as
I had failed to chart a patch, one September morning in 2008 with
almost no money. This was about the same time I started having kids,
and it was fucking scary. Avoid the fucking scary, and chart a (Plan B)
path... early. Except when in school, spend less than you make. The
happiest people I know are ones who live beneath their means, as they
don’t have the constant ringing in their ears of economic anxiety.