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Is Your Work Habits Like An Heir or a Immigrant?

by The Niche Man
14 replies
Internet marketing is a topic that immediately triggers visions of big or fast money ... for little work. Or at least far less work than a “normal” business, right?

In fact, some of the most popular questions asked in the Internet Marketing section always include the words easy, easiest and least or similar words. And ironically they’re often answered (or guessed at) without the knowledge of the persons background, experience or even skills. Huh?

To me those questions, and often answers, represent an "Heir" mentality (hard work -bad, unnecessary, avoid), as opposed to the immigrant ("whatever it takes") mentality.

In fact, an immigrant mentality, if applied to Internet Marketing would eliminate loads of competition in itself, I.M.O. Why? Because so many people (and growing) approach it looking for the easiest, fastest and least (The Heir mentality).

Here’s two articles I read representing each viewpoint that inspired this thread on the advantages and disadvantages of each mentality.

I’m sure I’ll get some critics, skeptics and doubters because of this weird concept applied to Internet Marketers. But as always I welcome your comments, agreements and disagreements.

Immigrant Mentality.................................................. ......................Heir Mentality
Why Immigrants Are More Successful Than You ……........……. How Heirs Squander The Family Fortune
12 Immigrants Who Came To America and Made a Fortune …... Why Families Lose Their Fortune.
#habits #heir #immigrant #work
  • Profile picture of the author Poprugan
    Wow, very interesting reads. I could not agree more with the different mentalities between Heirs and Immigrants. Immigrants do have a harder work ethic, they see themselves starting at the bottom and slowly working to the top- they're not looking for the easiest and fastest road. Success is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Success is a slow process, and I do think a 'we'll get there by working on it' mentality is how you gain success your entire life. It keeps you motivated and prevents you from giving up.
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    • Profile picture of the author iam8iam
      Plenty of Fish founder Markus Frind in his own words does not work hard, runs the site without a single employee and travels the world on the side. He is definitely not an immigrant
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      • Profile picture of the author The Niche Man
        Originally Posted by iam8iam View Post

        Plenty of Fish founder Markus Frind in his own words does not work hard, runs the site without a single employee and travels the world on the side. He is definitely not an immigrant
        You need to read the rest of his story sir. You're just seeing the 4th quarter results. Go with me to his beginning. He graduated with a degree in Computer Systems Technology (immigrant mentality), he worked full time (16 hour days) from 2003 to 2007 (immigrant mentality) which is when he began hiring employees.

        Even today, with all his success he lives in a modest apartment and does most of his business from a spare bedroom. So, yea he does pretty much what you say he does ... but he didn't start out that way.

        ---------------------------------------------Newsclip------------------------------------------------
        Markus Frind is the founder of Plentyoffish.com. He graduated in 1999 from British Columbia Institute of Technology with a diploma in Computer Systems Technology. Over the next few years, he worked for several dot.com companies as the number of them in Vancouver began to wane. Markus ended up working at a company as a website and database administrator where he found and fixed errors.
        In 2003, Frind had to learn ASP.NET and to better learn the language, he built a dating website. The free dating website quickly grew in Canada and then spread, via word of mouth, to the U.K., Australia, and the United States. To keep the site free, Plentyoffish began using AdSense to generate revenue. The first cheque arrived in July 2003 and was for $1,100 USD.
        In 2004, PlentyofFish became a full-time business for Frind. He ran the site independently until 2007, when he began hiring other employees at his new Vancouver headquarters.
        - See more at: https://www.crunchbase.com/person/ma....3OVi9osI.dpuf
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        • Profile picture of the author iam8iam
          Although I agree with you about your immigrant vs. heir mentality classification, there is this grey area when the success is concerned which evades any rational explanation.


          Some people had the opportunities fall into their lap and they didn't have to toil hard to amass the fortune fast. That's called being at the right place at the right time or just being lucky.


          Samuel Brannan made his fortune during California Gold Rush by buying all the picks, shovels, and pans for cents, then setting up the only store between the San Francisco and gold fields, and finally selling the tools to diggers at $15 a piece.


          Gary Dahl, who recently died at the age of 78, was in a bar with friends and listened to them complaining about their pets. Boom! He got an idea for a pet rock.The product went viral and in 1975/1976 more than 3M were sold making Dahl a millionaire.


          Dot-com bubble made some people overnight millionaires, literally.


          My point is that one can become successful without even trying and some can die trying and success never comes.
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          • Profile picture of the author The Niche Man
            iam8iam
            I agree with your points about what I call the lucky exceptions that can happen in business. Much like winning the lottery. But what I was trying to do in this thread was point out the the type of success people have a semblance of control over.

            But even in the example you gave of the lucky few, many fall into the same two categories. You have people who get a lucky break and go onto greater fame and fortune (immigrant mentality)

            -and -

            Then you have those who get a lucky windfall and end up back where they started or worse (Heir mentality). Like 70% of Lottery winners, 60% of NFL and NBA players and 60% of inheritance babies.
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  • Profile picture of the author art72
    I often question whether we truly have a semblance of control over our success?, or are those who are considered to be successful - controlled by their success?

    Perhaps, I am of the Heir mindset, and yet choose to work like an Immigrant.... so if I am ever truly successful, I can only hope to not lose focus on the importance of truly helping others, as opposed to only feeding my own greed.
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  • Profile picture of the author Odahh
    donald trump .. ..bill gate parents where rich....

    anyway the world we now live in ..many of the people who would have once had to immegrate to the USA to find si=uccess.. have more oppotunities in the countries they come from..

    you are blurring the lines .. someone who moves from idapo to silicone vally to work in or start a tech company and become rich ..is as much working from the same mentality as an immigrant ..

    the willingness to move from where you are to where you believe theere is more oppotunity for you ..

    many people stil live close to where they where born and went to school and never move to where they can get better lives .

    and i work with many immigrants . or have worked with many immigrants..who have a huge jump in their standar of living getting to this country and getting a lifestyle that looks poor or totally like a failure to many here .

    and i have known many non immigrants who worked 10 12 16 hour days ....

    there are huge number of poverty stricken cites with high numbers of immigrants ..who are not making much money .

    you are in california ..you can probably drive through a few within a few hours nicheman ..

    the secret to success..is not having borders limit your success ..move to where you are more likly to succeed if you can find success where you are .
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    • Profile picture of the author The Niche Man
      Originally Posted by Odahh View Post


      you are blurring the lines .. someone who moves from idapo to silicone vally to work in or start a tech company and become rich ..is as much working from the same mentality as an immigrant ...
      I and my Original Post agree with you fully, I'm just not sure where or why you feel I am blurring the lines? I was merely talking work habits of two specific groups of people from two extremes, then posing a self-reflective question to the reader
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      • Profile picture of the author Odahh
        Originally Posted by The Niche Man View Post

        I and my Original Post agree with you fully, I'm just not sure where or why you feel I am blurring the lines? I was merely talking work habits of two specific groups of people from two extremes, then posing a self-reflective question to the reader
        then i am sorry ..i see what you are doing ..


        a lot of succesful imigrant come from environments and up bringing where they had to learn to hustle to eat ..

        and then there are many who come here to the Use ..work their tails off for several years and live what look like poor person lifestyle..but they will pay off a house in their home country and eithrer go back and live or support part of their faimily and go take month long vacations and live like kings .

        the problem someone born in the USA has no matter what part of the economic spectrum they are in..is many end up getting stuck in the condition they grew up in..or the move from one aerea to anoth with the same conditions ..

        ..especially those born into poverty who either go to jail..or start families to young or when they only have the skill to work in fast food places ..

        as far as heirs go.. my first long term full time job was a family own business that had most of the founders children work in it seemed every year they where not making much money in profit..but they eventual brought in industry professionals ..

        .. the key factor is figuring out .. if there is no opportunity for me where i am..getting to where one feel there is opportunity ..it real hard for your ship to come in ..if you live in a desert .

        as someone born in America it took spending a few months out of the country to figure out just how much opportunity is scattered around The USA ..it is just not spread evenly .
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  • Profile picture of the author PrettyJenny
    Thanks for interesting reads! This is actually a very unique perspective, even though not all immigrants work hard and not all heirs are fortune crashers.

    Actually I think success is a product of working hard like an immigrant and having the favorable conditions of an heir. If you read "Outliers" of Malcolm Gladwell, most successful people are made from the combination of being born in the right family and at the right time (having the ideal conditions to support their aptitude) and having practiced their field of mastery for at least 10000 hours.
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  • Profile picture of the author RealSocialSignals
    This types of dichotomy are a century old. Not older, that would be a good thing.

    The problem with the Heir paradigm doesn't lay inside the Heir. What does that mean?
    The heir is a discontinuation. More often than not, a conscious discontinuation.

    Funny how the culmination of a buisness is its negation.

    And, regarding this division, fret not, for the immigrant will swap places with the heir. Even when such situations didn't exist, empires fell. All did.
    And, when you have something that EVERY contester has failed to achieve, that ultimately speaks for the game itself.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cameron Chardukian
    I completely agree with you NicheMan, but I would build on this topic by stressing the importance of finding a way to put leverage on yourself so that you're able to be hungry and willing to work like an immigrant. I admittedly have not made a lot of money online so I can't comment on that specifically, but I've found crafting your environment to be huge in increasing your motivation and willingness to take action. Want to stretch your comfort zone? Buy a nonrefundable ticket to a country on the other side of the world. You're probably not going to skip a flight after spending $1,000 on it and I guarantee you that if you solo travel in a country you've never been to you'll experience some personal growth. Want to lose weight? Commit to posting a monthly picture of yourself shirtless on your personal social media account each month. Knowledge of the importance of hard-work is important, but finding what uniquely makes you tick and putting yourself in a situation where you have enough leverage on yourself to actually do the action is the next step (because we all know how many people have theoretical knowledge of how they should do things, but make excuses regardless, or rationalize their inaction by saying that they're still researching the best method.)
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    • Profile picture of the author Odahh
      Originally Posted by Cameron Chardukian View Post

      I completely agree with you NicheMan, but I would build on this topic by stressing the importance of finding a way to put leverage on yourself so that you're able to be hungry and willing to work like an immigrant. I admittedly have not made a lot of money online so I can't comment on that specifically, but I've found crafting your environment to be huge in increasing your motivation and willingness to take action. Want to stretch your comfort zone? Buy a nonrefundable ticket to a country on the other side of the world. You're probably not going to skip a flight after spending $1,000 on it and I guarantee you that if you solo travel in a country you've never been to you'll experience some personal growth. Want to lose weight? Commit to posting a monthly picture of yourself shirtless on your personal social media account each month. Knowledge of the importance of hard-work is important, but finding what uniquely makes you tick and putting yourself in a situation where you have enough leverage on yourself to actually do the action is the next step (because we all know how many people have theoretical knowledge of how they should do things, but make excuses regardless, or rationalize their inaction by saying that they're still researching the best method.)
      having done the travel to a country on the other side of the planet thing ..do make sure you have a round trip ticket out of the country that will get you a temporary tourist visa ....and make sure to tell your bank you are traveling..and have a hotel near the airport ready to stay at in your destination country ..and unless your planning on it avoid the hotel lounge if it turns out to be a strip club ..or maybe a brothel ..

      hehe ...and search online for places you can stay for a short time that are fully furnished and don't require rental agreements ..
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