Insignificant. Unknown. Rejected. Despite a Lot of Money
You are not someone unless there is undeniable proof
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
— Ralph Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
You are insignificant
“ You are never too small to make a difference.”
— Greta Thunberg (2003-)
I was interviewing a software engineer in the early days of my company, 2006. We were in a big boardroom. He seemed impressed. He asked me, “How many people are there in the company?”
8.
8? His jaw dropped and he started writing the number 8 on the table. 8 or 80?
8.
I could tell he was frazzled. The interview ended rather quickly after that. He had lost interest.
You are not worth my time
“ Not all those who wander are lost.”
— J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)
I was attending the Harvard Advanced Management Program in the fall of 2008, just when the financial crisis hit.
I was the youngest student in the program at age 37. I was surrounded by Fortune 500 executives or soon to be executives.
I was speaking to a top executive at Goldman Sachs Hong Kong. He asked me how many people I had in my company. 60.
He looked at me and then just walked away.
I told this to my mentor, Dr. Christopher Hartnett, also a Director of my company. The next day, the Goldman executive came up to me at lunch and apologized to me, saying he respects me and to ask him for anything at all. I wondered what had happened. My Director had told him about my accomplishments in business.
You are rejected
“I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat.”
— Sylvester Stallone (1946-)
We wanted to move to a building with a view of the Pacific ocean, the sunrise and the sunset. We had our eye on Harbour Centre. We applied for a small 2600 square foot office. We got rejected. We asked why. The landlord wasn’t confident in our ability to pay. We were doing tens of millions of dollars. We sent them our financials. They begrudgingly agreed. We would later rent out almost an entire floor. Plenty of Fish, the free dating site and Markus Frind would take our 2600 sq ft office as we moved out. They sold for $600m USD to IAC.
Establish undeniable proof
"Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself."
After the 8 incident, I had this thought that I should get our company in some media article so that our company would have credibility.
I considered contacting our local papers, The Vancouver Sun and The Province. They were a stone’s throw away. My heart said no. Wait. God will direct. Hmmm, ok, I shall wait.
I was set to go to a Domain conference in Las Vegas in March 2007.
On welcoming night, I had a gentleman come up to me and ask, “Are you the man behind Cameroon?” That question took me by surprise. I had tried to keep my association with that secret. I replied, “I had help.”
He, Paul Sloan, was a reporter with one of my favourite business magazines, Business 2.0.
I had dinner with him and learned he was half Jewish and half German with a Lutheran background. I was curious with his ‘religious upbringing’. I asked him questions like why God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and not Cain’s? He asked me a lot of questions about how I built my business.
He told me he wanted to write an article about me along with several other domainers. Maybe this is what my heart had told me, to wait. God would provide. It felt right.
My Life Questions:
“A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.”
— Bruce Lee (1940-1973)
1. What is your secret identity that no one in the world truly knows?
You have a superpower that the world has not seen. What is it? What are your 3 core values?
2. How do you overcome rejection, insignificance?
Rejection doesn’t mean you are insignificant. It signals that you are not with the right people, the right values, the right tribe, the right time. Change perspective, environment, tribe. Find where you ‘belong’.
3. How will you matter?
You will matter, even if to yourself, one other person or a group or a community or even a future generation. Many an artist like William Blake died unknown in poverty and is now proclaimed as one of Britain’s great poets.
My Life Lessons Then: (from my 29 year old self)
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945)
1. Establish your results as your ‘resume’.
Results speak loudly. Having no known credibility makes everything harder. You don’t need to brag, but boldly and confidently proclaim your value in the service of others.
2. Focus on the results of your Vision.
Your vision is your north star. Never lose sight of it. If you don’t have a vision, pray for one, seek one. This is the “WHAT” of your life. The mountain peak you climb to in a decade or decades.
3. Believe in something greater than yourself.
When you fall, the fall is endless if there is no bedrock of faith to anchor you and be your foundation. For me, this is God and Jesus. The next layer is loved ones. Who will you ‘pray’ to if there is no one more powerful to you than yourself?
Life Advice Now: (from my present 53 year old self)
“The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.”
— John Ruskin (1819-1900)
1. Humbly acknowledge praise to whom praise is due.
I could not have planned nor orchestrated many things in my life. I thank Chris Hartnett for his guidance and helping me at Harvard and in life. I thank God for His countless blessings in my life and those around me. I thank my team, my wife and my kids for always being there for me when I fell hard.
2. Leverage what is given to you.
Don’t run away and descend once you get to the top of the mountain. Stay there a while and enjoy the view. It took a lot of work and luck to get there. Savour the moment and reflect, write about it. You let the fear of success, the imposter syndrome get to you too quickly.
3. Be humbly confident in yourself
The gifts of life are handed freely. Unwrap them, open your heart and give them freely away. This is your true gift. One day they must be returned.
Next week: Cover Story. The Man Who Owns the Internet
Kevin Ham is the most powerful dotcom mogul you’ve never heard of
Here’s how the Master of Web Domains built his $300 million empire
“Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures, and that is character.”
— Horace Greeley (1811-1872)
See you next Thursday!
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