Teach your children early...

None that he knows of.

No, but I did have cat's.

I am taking an outside view of this. Do you not think an observational impartial stance is not equally as valid if not possibly better than being a parent? If a parent, you would first be emotionally attached to passing on your views to your kids. Your views are ultimately related to your experiences, biases, upbringing, intelligence, dogma associations etc. hugely variable.

Not talking about practical stuff like how to apply for this, fill out forms, things you can physically do, that you can pass on, because you have done them and that can be useful.

Talking about trying to impose attitudes, prejudices etc. I think you know what I mean. Given that they make up a lot of your life experiences, I think it would be extremely difficult for a parent to hold off on doing.

Well can you Ever win if no one loses

If you only value thing based on their scarcity and put things in terms of comparison to others and how you are doing compared to how others are doing

People with real abundant mindsets can start with scarce resources and over time grow them exponentially. People with scarcity mindsets can start with a million dollars and then watch it shrink over time trying to conserve it because they never expect to earn more

Wait that's a competition based mindset if you use the term winning or win it means at least one many thousands must lose

If I had a child or children now as the grow older I can teach them how to use solar and wind power that is abundantly available to power their electricity needs instead of scarce and diminishing fossil fuels once batteries go from using rare earths (scarcity) to far more abundant and easily reusable materials sustainable electricity with be far cheaper than fossil fuels

In any case mindsets can just be different and not actually in opposition to each other

Stop telling tales Mr. Whitacre.

Sticky notes weren't even a thing back in the horse and buggy days!

Claude or Kay, now that you have grandkids do you say "Grandkids today" ? Or you just leave that for your kid to say about his kids ??

Don't blame me, I just write what Kurt sends.

When I was selling in people's homes, he always thought I was poor. Even when I showed up in a new car. Even when I told him I had employees. The same with all my uncles and grandparents.

"When are you going to stop selling and find a job with a future?" was a common sentiment.

I was the only salesman in the family. They just had no point of reference.

Even after I wrote a few books, and made speeches, they thought I was just wasting time.

It wasn't until I opened a retail store that my Dad, and then the others, decided I was a real businessperson. Why? They understood what a retail store was. It had walls, inventory, signs....it looked stable.

And my Dad really enjoyed doing the electrical work (he was an electrician), because he thought that I had finally accomplished something. Because it was something they understood.

I did learn early on (in my 20s) never to mention how much money I made. I don't know if my parents would have believed me, or they may have thought I was doing something illegal.

But a retail store? That they understand. Even though they still had no idea how I generated a profit from that.

My Dad even gave me this advice once;

"Why don't you just take the most expensive vacuum cleaner you sell in the store, and just sell that, and nothing else? You could make more money that way" I don't remember my response, but it again showed that retail wasn't something I was going to be able to explain....

Nor could I ever explain how selling worked, or marketing, or advertising, or speaking for money, or copywriting. Loving, giving, good people who loved me....but never had a clue how I made money.

An extension of my business may shed more light on this.
We used to sell ceiling fans along with vacuum cleaners. My Dad offered to install them for me. I paid him for the installation, and he often did additional electrical work for them, and would charge them directly, because he was really good at his job.

But I would schedule him to be at their home at 9AM, and I'd tell Dad when to be there. He would always be several hours late. Calling him at home, again and again, trying to get him to show up at their home when I told them he would be there.....all to no avail. He'd show up whenever he was ready. Being six hours late wasn't unusual.

It took me quite a while to figure out why. It's because, to him, he was showing up for me. To him, I was his boss...and it never occurred to him that not showing up on time mattered...because it was just me.

Eventually, I would have him call the customer directly and set a time. And then he would show up on time, because they were his customer...his boss.

But me? I was always just his kid. I once told him that I was getting paid to speak. He couldn't stop laughing. it was just such an absurd idea to him.

I wonder if you had volunteered to the family the information about how much you earned each year would have eventually changed their views, after all from their perspective, money talks and will impress (although have ultimately made them a bit jealous perhaps)

You could have pointed out that despite this form of selling/making a living, while possibly volatile, could allow you to put aside much more each year and start to invest very early on. While, their conventional model is more a paycheck to paycheck one so little could be saved each year. When you got your new car, did they ask if you paid cash?

Also, my perception of America before coming here was that entrepreneurship was a big thing, especially compared with the UK, and none of them had the bug, ideal or any indoctrination's. I did feel that "freedom" to try when I came over, much more than the UK imparts or supports.

So did you get the impression that your father, before he went, was eventually proud of his son's achievements?

Yes, explaining the in's and out's of the selling process would result in glazed eyes for them.

Rather like when I read your post's.

What I'm gathering is that the people who know you best find it ludicrous that people pay you to speak.

Everybody who's anybody knows that you are one of
the most highly respected members here. You let the
rest of us talk our smack and you are always a good
sport about it, it breaks the monotony and we all get
a much needed laugh.

As to your son rolling his eyes and scoffing, most of
our adult children behave that way towards us. That
is perfectly normal and you shouldn't take it personal,
or feel that it's an isolated thing. Your son knows you
are the real deal. And so does everybody else.

There is nothing quite as humbling as letting your friends and family put you in your place

kidding aside I have to confess it is interesting to hear about your Life and what you have done

Claude you are from a different planet

But I agree with you expense incurred to generate profits for the business but you need to generate profits that the irs can tax or it is considered a hobby .

More complex than that but I understand what you mean.