The L/P Bootstrapper Thread

He's TOO mature for an 18 year old... I know sheldon pretty well... I like him too, which is pretty astounding... But the Kid needs to fcuking be a kid.

 

Hahaha. Thank you! It means a lot coming from you! I know where I want to go and am always rushing to get there. That being said, you are still the master of Kentuckiana. Lol I can't forget that.

I am in the midst of my bootstrapping so nothing to talk about yet. Currently building my dream company.

 

I love hearing about everyones trials and tribulations, its the best motivation there is.

I would like to hear Roman, Allan, Fortis and LPDaddy.

 

 

Ive told this story in one form or another before... Maybe not all in one place... So I guess theres that...

 

 

OK... So I might as well go back to the beginning, because none of it really matters without the back story.

 

Im a Dyslexic.

 

I didn't learn to read or write until fifth grade... And I did first grade twice, so theres that too. But in 1976 in the podunk rural suburbs of L.A. nobody had heard of "dyslexia"... Certainly not my old-school, emotionally and PHYSICALLY abusive first grade teacher. To her I was just "retarded". Which is how she diagnosed me. She wanted me out of her class, and to get me sent to special ed, they needed to test my IQ, which they assumed would be low... So I went to dr. after dr. They didnt tell me why at the time... All I knew was that for weeks, Id come home from school, and we'd go off to a new Doctors office and theyd give me a "test" with pictures of silly boxes and patterns and numbers and such... I found them all a bit boring. They never told me what I was doing or my scores but I later found the paperwork and learned that I had to keep doing it, because the results were not turning out as expected, so they insisted I redo it at new places to verify the results (in fact, each time they gave me a test, my IQ, which tested at the genius level initially, kept creeping higher- I was getting used to the tests, and bored, and when I stopped "worrying" about getting the right answers, the tests got even easier.) Well... Unfortunately I was stuck with that bitch for the rest of first grade. Which started a lifelong loathing for teachers and school in general... Ironic since I ended up going to school for 24 years in total.

 

In fifth grade I learned how to read and write... From "Mad Magazine" of all places... You'll notice (and you can go back to any of my older posts, its a "tell"... And its always been there), that many of my sentences end in elipses "..." Thats how EVERY SENTENCE in Mad ended... And its stuck as an unconscious testament to them.

 

To this day, I cant tell the difference between a lower case bdp or q. I struggle to tell time on an analog watch (despite my love for Rolexes). My handwriting is... "different". I have a single alphabet consisting of some upper and some lower case letters and its not at all unusual for a Capitol LEttEr to show up in the middle of a word. I block write. Cursive might as well be chinese.

 

In fifth grade I was reading at a 1st grade level.

In sixth grade I was reading at a 10th grade level.

By 7th grade I was in the top 1% on the english and reading comp standardized tests. (I ultimately scored a 730 on the SAT verbal section)

 

Despite my smarts, my future looked bleak. Being smart with no way to convey that in writing is pretty useless... Especially in one size fits all public schools. Plus my horrible first grade experience caused me to shut down... I was pretty articulate verbally, but my goal was to hide and keep my mouth shut for the nine months school was in session.

 

Steve Jobs saved my life. The Macintosh computer (dos was a dyslexics nightmare... I cant tell :/ from \ came along and allowed me to work a computer and type my work... And I was able to get into a small progressive, highly competitive boarding school... I struggled... A lot... My hatred for school had never gone away... And I still had to take tests, with pen and paper, like everybody else... A lot of the teachers hated me (I found this out from my adviser, one special, brilliant man who took me under his wing and went to war with his colleagues on my behalf- He ultimately gave me the confidence to break out of my shell and use that sharp wit of mine). But I made it through... And like a lot of dyslexics, I excelled in athletics (football). So colleges were interested in me playing for them...

 

I struggled through my early years at college as well... Even changed schools... But as a junior I started finally taking classes that interested me... Pre-law... And I killed the curve. I wanted to play pro football... But a few days after my last football game I was attacked and robbed by four gang members in san Francisco... They damned near beat me to death, and it took months to recover, so that wasnt in the cards. So I went off to law school to become a sports agent.

 

I excelled in law school... I quickly got a reputation as a bright student, with vicious oratory skills. After all those years of being put down in school, I had developed a massive chip on my shoulder, and law school was the perfect place to let my skills really shine.

 

First year students take part in a "mock appellate trial" called "moot court". The presentations are video taped and put in the library so that students can learn from each other. I did what I had always done... I waited for my opponent to slip up and I pounced and tore her apart... A few days later I heard by accident that The story of how I had ripped my opposing council apart had gotten out and people were watching my tape to see it for themselves... I eventually went over to the library to see if it was true (I had no interest in watching myself and never did)- My tape had been checked out thirty someodd times, and I knew that GROUPS of people were watching it together... There were only 180 students in the class. That meant almost everybody had seen it. It was an interesting revelation for me... These were bright folks... But they had seen something in me that THEY wanted to learn, to the point that they took their almost non-existent free time as a 1L to watch and learn from me.

 

My confidence soared.

 

My second year of law school I sent out my resume for my summer internship...

 

I sent out 400. I heard back from 2. One was my dream job with the L.A. Raiders... But they were moving to Oakland that summer and I couldnt afford to follow them.

 

The other was with Roger Corman, King of the B-Movie. My best froend from high school lived a few blocks from his office, so I slept on his couch that summer... The first day I got there they had me updating law journals that hadnt been updated in years... It was a tedious horrible job, and at lunch I thought about quitting. I did that for three days. Then my boss who had been at the cannes film festival returned on my fourth day. He walked in and said "Hi... Im Ed...what are you doing?" And I told him I was dutifully updating his journals... He said "I dont have time for you to do that... I need these deal memos turned into contracts" and slapped a stack of deal memos for actors down on my desk. I said "I dont know how to do that..." He said "figure it out." I wasted a reem of paper "figuring it out", but I did... And quick. By the end of the next week I was negotiating contracts. On my own. The kid who couldn't learn to read was negotiating contracts for actors he'd grown up watching on TV... It was crazy... And I discovered as a twenty five year old man, hanging out with doe eyed starlets was more fun than hanging out with 300 pound linemen... And I never looked back.

 

After law school I took a job with Spelling Entertainment. (90210, love boat)... It was hard. My boss was a serious hard ass... But she probably made me a better attorney... And years of struggling with dyslxia and all the rest had prepared me for it. A few weeks after I got there I was given an awful assignment... I had to go through each contract of our 3000 title library to see if anything prevented us from leasing our rights to a third party. The project took about 8 weeks...At first I was just a busy little worker bee... But then as I got near the end it all became clear... That afternoon I walked into my bosses office and said "Now that I've determined that everything we own is for sale to the highest bidder, should I get my resume in order?" She looked up and quietly said "close my door." Once the door was shut she smiled and said "you're going to be fine.... But a lot of those people out there, wont be."

 

And it was true. I became the grim reaper... When I got off the elevator on your floor, it was your ass...I went through 5 sets of corporate lay-offs and downsizings in 4 years. Ultimately my office was two doors from the CEOs... And then it was our turn.

 

Luckily I had been moonlighting on the side. Representing young independent artists in my free time. I even managed to be involved in the production a motion picture with James Caan and Kirsten Dunst without my boss ever finding out. So when it was finally my turn to take the axe, I already had a thriving business started.

 

I was also taking my various income streams and investing them... Namely in vegas real estate... And I managed to hit that big during the height of the real estate boom... I made myself and multiple members of my family, millionaires from one very lucrative investment... And one tough ass negotiation on my part.

 

Then of course I got cancer and decided to cash it all in and retire to my 92 acres in kentuckiana.

 

 

So.... Whats the moral?

 

Dont fcuking bitch about how hard you've got it... None of us have it easy... The kid who couldnt learn to read, had to teach himself through "witty comebacks to stupid questions" and "spy versus spy", but ultimately did and made it through 24 years of fcuking school... I recently had a conversation with somebody on here who was lamenting they hadnt gotten as successful as me... And then I reminded them at their age I was making shit money, was hated by my fellow employees and was getting staplers thrown at my head.

 

Dont give up. My life didnt at all turn out like I planned it... I got thrown more curve balls than Rollie Fingers' catcher... Roll with em and adapt, overcome and persevere.

 

Take risks... I took a lot in my career... from going with an unpaid internship in an industry I didnt know shit about, to moonlighting, to risk in the markets... If this shit was safe and easy, everybody would do it...

 

Keep your sense of humor... Ive needed mine... A lot... Like when I got the cancer.

 

And most importantly, be humble. The first day I got to spelling they walked me back... I expected a cubicle. I had an office... A REAL office... with a tree!!!! I remember this thought of "holy shit, I made it!" came over me... And my next thought was "bullshit... This is all fake..." And I sat down and typed myself a note. "You'll never be important enough that you can treat others badly... And you'll never be so important that somebody else has to bring you coffee." I put that on my wall... And when I was destroying people's careers, I think it helped. They knew I was just doing my job... I hated it. And it wasn't personal.

Wow, thanks for that Roman. Reading it was both inspiring and humbling.

 

 

 

That was very interesting and actually emotional read.

 

I first up caught and stick, not because owning a Lamborghini was in my realms anytime soon, but because people here where sharp and wit people, in a way I had not come across before. None other more so than somebody called Romandad.

 

I had heard the dyslexic and mac part, and had some kind of vague clue that you were or had been Hollywood lawyer back then, but didn't know the rest 99% of it.

 

Thanks Eric!

 

ps. I got some motivation out of that too. Mostly that seding out 400, resumes. As I have sent so far more like that latter number.

Also being kind and staying humble, which can be hard sometimes.

 

 

 

 

Bravo Erik, I've heard most of that story, but good to see it all in one place. Thanks for sharing!

Erik,

That was an inspiring read. I too have read tidbits of that from your posts and our PM's over the years, but I feel like I know you so much better now. Congrats on your success. I also had no idea you had been diagnosed with cancer, and am devastated to hear that. I remember being curious when you mentioned leaving California and moving across the country, but I somehow missed the underlying circumstances that led to such a big change in life. All the best my friend...

Erik that is fantastic! I have heard several parts of your story from talking with you, but to see it all written down like that is truly inspiring. More people should read that and realize that they have the power to make themselves better.

 

You should write a book and then sell it with that pic of you and the Countach on the cover! I will invest in it lol

I haven't made it big time yet, but I definitely am living comfortable.

 

my story is similar to RobberBaron, did not come from rags at all, but did not live off my parents. started doing web development at 16-17.....on my 18th birthday got myself a Jag XJ (and continued to do so every 2-3 years). paid off my (private school) college tuition in cash (both bachelors and masters, from the money I made doing development work). tried to get into a few other things as well, stocks, real estate, misc businesses....had some success and some failures.

 

a few years ago I had enough to purchase a gallardo outright, but was in a serious relationship that I knew was going to the next level, so I put that money towards a wedding/house and to pay off her school loans. im 28 now, living comfortably and happy, just got a new Jag a few weeks ago, working on the next "big thing"....hope to have a lambo in the next 2-3 years. I probably could have had a lambo already, but my wife and i have a taste for expensive things, watches, vacations, etc....so instead of sacrificing that, im making sure i do what it takes to get both

Everything you said is so true Roman. You can never take things for granted and always have to stay hungry.. but manage to remember what is important. I agree with being a humble person, in my industry you never know when the person working for you will be your boss. Most people see success and don't truly care what it takes to get there, they just want the results. I wasn't dyslexic but I didn't speak English in grade one so the teachers put me in the corner and wrote me off. I also did not care for the education system and had a lot of teacher difficulties, my father being a strict European tho always gave me shit and sided with the teachers. It great to hear you've overcome your physical battle as well. You truly deserve to enjoy the finer things in life Roman.

Roman, brilliant! Thanks for sharing. I hope the cancer is in remission.

My success story isn't finished yet but I think this is an awesome thread (thanks Dave!), so I figured I'd contribute so that maybe in a few years, It'll be fun to look back on.

 

I grew up incredibly poor in Northern NJ. Neither of my parents went to college and we were broke from the day I was born. My Father was a genius with a 170 IQ and a life-long entrepreneur, that despite dozens of money-making ventures that fascinated me as a kid, he/we never quite made it "big". My Mother used to say that his ego got in the way, and because of that he was often more stubborn than he should have been (his pride could never bring him to apply for and WORK for someone else, so though matter how many days in a row we ate rice or pasta, getting a "job" like everyone else was out of the question). My Mother therefore had to pick up the slack, and she worked various part-time jobs and was a cashier at Burger King when I was in grade school. We were on welfare and for 9-10 years I hid from my friends the fact that I bought lunch every day with a meal-ticket. We moved 8 times before I started HS, sometimes on a days notice so switching schools and quickly boxing up my room became the norm for me. Getting bullied because of my clothes, shoes, and the cars that we drove (that ALWAYS broke down directly in front of the school) was everyday life for me. My Father was confiding in me one day when I was a teenager and told me that the reason he felt that he never became a millionaire, was because "he never had enough money to weather a storm". He "was always bootstrapping things with $50 in a savings account and because of that, none of his ventures ever turned into anything big as he could never quite get over the initial hills and hurdles". He made me promise that day that though matter what happened, I would figure out a way to go "all the way" in school...so that if something ever happened and I "needed" to find a job, I always could.

 

Because of our struggles with money (and my lack of any kind of an allowance), I grew up learning how to hustle and was the kid in school that ALWAYS had a gig on the side to make money. When I was in 5th grade I almost got suspended when the school discovered that for 6 months, I had been running a candy selling business during lunch every day. (a jealous, blackmailing classmate destroyed that empire). When I was in 8th grade I began buying and selling video games amongst my friends, then began doing the same thing with BMX bikes and had fliers posted all over town. I worked hard and during HS, I became the youngest department manager ever at a local Kmart in my town, requiring me to work 30 hours a week to keep the position which was unheard of for them for a HS kid. For the first time in my life, I had what (to me) was serious spending money and could BUY things that all of my other friends had always had. Sony discmans, starter jackets, nike air shoes, replica NBA jerseys, jansport backpacks, etc. It was all finally within reach.

 

My Father began working as a wrestling coach at an expensive private college in my home-town, and because of his employee perks package, I was able to get 4 years of college education at a fraction of what it should of cost. I decided to take full advantage of it and double majored in Business Management and Finance, figuring that I might as well take it for everything that it was worth. He was also very sick at the time and while this is terrible to say, I knew that my "discount" for being the son of an employee could disappear at any time. So I entered every semester as though it was my last, grabbing as many classes and credits as I could from 2000-2004.

 

After college I had dreams of going into finance and crushing Wall Street, but ended up taking what I "assumed" would be a stepping-stone job with the Department of Defense. The job paid relatively well and on my first day there, I discovered and applied to a program they had to pay for higher education and was accepted on the spot (amazingly, very few people were taking advantage of the fact that the Army was basically giving away Masters degrees, as long as you signed an employee contract guaranteeing 3 years of service upon completion). 2 years later, I finished my MBA. I then got accepted into another program they had and was blessed to have them pay off the remainder of my student loans from undergrad. I was doing well at work and purchasing major weapon systems and ammunition for the Army, and eventually became warranted and was promoted to an Officer. I quickly bought my first house and 2 years later another (investment property), figuring that investing in real estate was the BEST way I could possibly spend my money and take advantage of a high 5-figure/low 6-figure salary. Making that sort of money and owning home"S", I was proud of myself and figured at the very least, I was making my parents proud. I also discovered at this time that I had somewhat of a knack for trading, and I began investing every spare sense I had into the stock market. Eventually, I had a very respectable trading account (I was throwing around over $250k at the height), and was dreaming of the future riding on cloud 9. For the first time in my life (and despite the situation below involving my real-estate issues), everything seemed to be going my way. I had dreams of paying off my Mothers mortgage and changing it ALL for my family. It all seemed to be lining up perfectly.

 

Unfortunately, my ventures into real-estate began in 2005/2006...during the absolute TOP of the housing bubble. 6 months after I bought the first house, the market in my area collapsed, and I found myself $40k upside down on a house I had only made a few mortgage payments on. I didn't worry at first, figuring it was just a bad year and that perhaps, my realtor was just being conservative with his estimates. In 2008 (a few months after I bought my rental property), the same thing happened. Every few months when I thought it couldn't get worse and that prices had FINALLY bottomed, I was wrong. The prices just kept diving and like the rest of the country, short sales/foreclosures destroyed all the comps in the area. I eventually sold the rental property and took a small loss, happy at the time just to be rid of it. My principle residence on the other hand was now worth $100k less than what I paid for it, essentially trapping me in a house that I had bought as a "starter home" right out of college. To make matters worse, a series of BAD decisions in 2010-2012 almost wiped me out of the stock market, essentially resetting my trading account and losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in gains I had made in the years prior. I became very depressed and felt like an absolute failure. I gained a ton of weight and had no idea what I was going to do. For a while I almost lost it, beating myself up and figuring that I had let everyone down. Despite this, I kept up a pretty happy "façade" on the outside, so that only my closest friends and family knew just how sad and broken I was feeling on the inside. Eventually, I stopped feeling sorry for myself and decided it was time to pick myself up and keep fighting. Some of the famous motivational/entrepreneurial quotes about "no rainbows without the storm", "its not about how hard you can hit", etc. began driving me again.

 

So now (at 33 years old)...here we are. I still trade actively on the side and have multiple side gigs/businesses running, but nothing that has taken off yet. I have now been with the DoD for almost 12 years and while it is a good job with a comfortable salary, it is nowhere near what I want to do the rest of my life (nor is it the beachside FL home with an Aventador in the garage type of income or job). I am still living in the same house, hoping that in the next year or two I will finally have paid it down enough to where I can sell it for a break-even and start over, without having to bring a HUGE check to the closing table just to clear the loan (which is depressing enough, after having made 120+ mortgage payments). I have thought about just saying "f#ck it" and purchasing a used Gallardo many times over the years (forgetting what MJ Demarco and my other mentors have taught me about "delaying gratification"), but I always come to my senses in time and remind myself that it would be a foolish decision financially, and that just because I could figure out a way to buy the car, doesn't mean that I can "afford it" yet. Getting out of NJ and buying a house in Florida with my new Wife is much more important to me right now.

 

Sorry for my rambling and thank you to anyone who reads this. Hopefully in 2 years I'll have a lot more to add to this one! Thank you to all of the owners and success stories here who continue to inspire me. You have given me drive and aspirations in ways that very few of you probably realize.

 

Cheers!

Thanks for that Roman! I knew parts but to see it all written out makes the story even better.

This thread has to be one of my favorite threads of all time. To hear these stories is remarkable. I love learning more about who we all interact with everyday. I really wish any of the morons who want to punish all hard working people could read these. I wish they could meet all of us and see where we all came from and where we are now. Amazingly enough none of us are assholes working off of someone else.

Amazingly enough none of us are assholes.

 

Let's not get hasty now.

Roman, thanks for telling your story, it is quite motivational. You and I have some things in common, i.e. both suffer from a condition that makes activities that are very easy for normal people very difficult and thus make normal functioning in the world difficult, both repeated first grade, both didn't like school, etc...Lightning your story is motivational also. Keep striving to achieve your goals.

 

Things may be finally starting to turn around for me where I can get the wheel rolling, so-to-speak. I will have a great motivational story in some number of years if/when I get to Lambo status.

Let's not get hasty now.

 

Well, if you only take that part... I will include myself in the group of assholes. Hey, a little narcism isn't a bad thing! We are just assholes who didn't become successful assholes off of the backs of others (contrary to what people like Sanders claim).

Roman, thanks for telling your story, it is quite motivational. You and I have some things in common, i.e. both suffer from a condition that makes activities that are very easy for normal people very difficult and thus make normal functioning in the world difficult, both repeated first grade, both didn't like school, etc...Lightning your story is motivational also. Keep striving to achieve your goals.

 

Things may be finally starting to turn around for me where I can get the wheel rolling, so-to-speak. I will have a great motivational story in some number of years if/when I get to Lambo status.

 

Hey! You have to go with "when". No "ifs"!

Hey! You have to go with "when". No "ifs"!

 

^ Set a goal, make it happen!

 

Erik, that was an amazing story. Didn't know you battled cancer. Glad to see you beat it, retired, and are doing well!

How the fcuk did you all miss the fcuking cancer thread???

 

 

Shit. Well. Here's the short version. My mom died of colon cancer at 62. So at 40 I was supposed to get scoped. I put it off. I'd been having "symptoms" for a while. Blood. "Tire tread" craps. Anyways. The day of the scope I damned near walked out. I was scared.

 

So the doc does it. I'm pretty loopy. But they found a polyp. Small. Doc says its 100% nothing to worry about. And he's seen a lot of assholes and even more polyps.

 

 

So the next morning I had a regular doctors appointment. Tell him about the polyp and he assures me if this dude says its cool, it's cool.

 

 

I get home and the phone rings. It's my dr. "Um. Yeah. That polyp was cancerous."

 

I don't remember much after that. The biopsy indicated it was at the earliest stage. But he sent it off to get a 2nd and third opinions. And sent me to a surgeon for a consult. The entire process took about 6 months til we all decided there was nothing else to do right then. I got re scoped at the one year mark and am due to go back next January. And that's that.

 

 

Definitely changed my outlook on life. Get busy living or get busy dying I suppose.

How the fcuk did you all miss the fcuking cancer thread???

 

^^ I somehow missed that one too..

 

Wishing you all the best - and great to read your updated story.

 

Definitely changed my outlook on life. Get busy living or get busy dying I suppose.

 

Sorry to get off topic. Did getting cancer change your diet at all? Crazy story.

 

Amazingly enough none of us are assholes...

Speak for yourself, sport.

Sorry to get off topic. Did getting cancer change your diet at all? Crazy story.

 

Um. Yeah. But probably not how you'd suspect.

 

From a lifestyle factor I shouldn't have gotten colon cancer. Ive always eaten or drank all the stuff that's supposed to prevent colon cancer. And avoided the bad stuff.

 

I love tomatoes. Blueberries. Salads. Etc. don't smoke. Not a huge drinker. Big on green tea. Not a huge meat eater etc.

 

So I'm convinced all that shit is balloon juice. It's genetics. 100%

 

When I moved here my diet went to hell. The stress of the move. The stress of the cancer. Living in a place where they serve gravy with every meal. My weight and diabetes both got bad.

 

Then last spring I bought that fcuking rowing machine. And stopped eating carbs. Completely. Been swimming. Lifting weights.

 

I'm Down to my off season college football weight. My goal is to get down to my in season weight (15 more lbs). Last week I shopped for jeans (don't really wear them). I'm in the same size as in college.

 

I'm benching like 225 (not bad for a 45 year old man with an arthritic shoulder).

 

 

fcuk you cancer.

 

 

(And fcuk you software that makes me sideways)

^ Wow, you look like Turtle from Entourage in that picture, LOL.

 

Good job Roman. You're killing it! Yes, I do agree, 100% genetics. More than likely, at least.

 

Ok, sorry to get everyone off topic!