It's genuinely useful to know that making $X a year is the same as Y clients paying $(X / Y / 52) a week, if you've never thought about a business in concrete terms before.
Obviously this is old and repetitive if you're a working software engineer who's been reading HN for years and has seen a ton of motivational LinkedIn bullshit, but it's the kind of thing a career councillor might go over to make running a business seem approachable. Equally obviously it would be much better advice if it came with a real-world example of a forecasting spreadsheet and a link to your government's "how to start a business" website. That doesn't make it bad advice.
The example thread from Naval is the same. Second tweet is basically "conspicuous consumption wastes money, buy appreciating assets instead," but couched in pornographic insight. One of the later tweets is "pick business partners...with integrity." They're both good bits of advice. Just because you already know a piece of advice, and just because it's given by a charismatic writer over far too many individual tweets, doesn't make it bad advice.
> One of the later tweets is "pick business partners...with integrity." They're both good bits of advice.
Really? This is good advice? Is "don't work with a known thief" also good advice? Most people know this already. They make it seem like it's this grand knowledge. it's not. It's worthless advice dressed up to sound good.
One of my (distant and now deceased) family members got ripped off by a business partner who fled the country, who he knew was slimy but decided to trust for some reason. Yes, it would have been good advice for him.
It's not grand knowledge unveiled by the Secret Brotherhood of Hidden Twitter Masters, it's just...normal good advice. You shouldn't go into business with crooks. People do it all the time, and it often ends poorly for them. "Eat your vegetables" and "take your car in for a service when it makes weird noises" are also good bits of advice, for the right audience.
> who he knew was slimy but decided to trust for some reason. Yes, it would have been good advice for him.
He knew he was slimy, and did so anyway. This advice would not then help.
> You shouldn't go into business with crooks. People do it all the time, and it often ends poorly for them.
The problem isn't that they don't know they shouldn't do business with crooks. Most of them do. Just like many know that murder is wrong and yet people still kill.
Eating vegetables is almost directly actionable. So is taking your car in for service. But this is far from the "don't do business with crooks." Which is generic, unhelpful advice. And many crooks have made it rich and made others rich too. Is the advice even always true? Many a person got rich off of corruption.
> There are people that are surprised when the partner who cheated with them in their previous relationship also cheats on them in the current.
Is it that these people don't know the risk, or they willingly choose to take the risk, because of some potential reward, such as having a partner? I say that is more likely. A lot of people know things are bad decisions and do them anyway - often because of hopes.
I often don't know whether my potential business partner has integrity, in which case this advice wouldn't help me.
If I do know, then this advice is so obvious as to be meaningless. Unless I'm an idiot, in which case, again, this advice wouldn't help me.
There is some merit in the very inexperienced learning different ways to think about revenue. "You can choose to target one or two big contracts or many smaller contracts, and those have the same result" is useful advice, not that either one is necessarily easier than the other.
But "don't choose a business partner who's crooked" seems tautological and empty.
Obviously this is old and repetitive if you're a working software engineer who's been reading HN for years and has seen a ton of motivational LinkedIn bullshit, but it's the kind of thing a career councillor might go over to make running a business seem approachable. Equally obviously it would be much better advice if it came with a real-world example of a forecasting spreadsheet and a link to your government's "how to start a business" website. That doesn't make it bad advice.
The example thread from Naval is the same. Second tweet is basically "conspicuous consumption wastes money, buy appreciating assets instead," but couched in pornographic insight. One of the later tweets is "pick business partners...with integrity." They're both good bits of advice. Just because you already know a piece of advice, and just because it's given by a charismatic writer over far too many individual tweets, doesn't make it bad advice.