Hi Layla, this was your first email that Mom helped you write and send out to our community:
Hi – my name is Layla Sand and I’m starting a Pet sitting business. I can watch your pet while you’re on vacation. I can watch any pet except dogs (for now). Please call my mom if you are interested. My mom‘s phone number is ###-###-####.
I love pets, and I promise to take good care of them.thanks
Layla Sand
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.” –Adam Smith
This applies in business but also in your personal life.
You are going to live a long life. This is hard to comprehend when you are younger. But everything you put your body through is going to add up over time and multiply when you are older. I have seen a lot of people not treat their body well in the early years (e.g., alcohol, or performance enhancing supplements ) and regret it in their later years. Realize you will live a long life and treat your body and brain accordingly.
When it comes to business, you want to play the long game. Keep the end in mind. Forget about the short-term slights or revenge that you really want to take, and play a few moves out in your head. How is this going to play out? What will happen next? And after that? And is that what you want/intend. Make rational, long-term moves. Don’t do the easy, convenient, or feel-good thing today if it’s going to hurt you in the long term.
When you choose to start something, you have to train yourself to also finishing it. It is one choice, not two. You chose to start this, so you also chose to finish it.
This was a hard lesson for me to learn and profoundly important in pretty much every aspect of my life. My friends used to joke that I was a “parallel” entrepreneur because I started two or three companies at the same time. I would take on any project without giving much thought to how I would finish it, or how I might be overwhelmed in the pursuit of too many goals. I ended up scattered and unfocused, just trying to keep up with the demands that I signed up for. It was an unsatisfactory life and taught me a crucial lesson. If I didn’t escape this trap, it would have doomed me to a mediocre life.
As far as your work life goes, the most important thing to learn in life is how to change and adapt. Yes, the skills you have in an industry are important. But the most important skill is the ability to level up and adapt. So if your job gets eliminated or your industry gets decimated, it’s not a big deal for you to start again in a new industry.
What’s interesting is, when you are young, you can learn these skills by doing just about anything. My sister was talking about how she wants Eli to become a pilot. My initial reaction to this was maybe it’s not a good idea because I don’t think there will be pilots in 20 years. When I asked a friend’s opinion, he immediately said, “the most important thing is to learn how to change.” I thought this was very wise. That being the case, chase your passions to your hearts content. If you really dig in and commit, you will learn the skills you need to do anything in life.
