I went to law school so I know a bit about schooling. It’s not for me. I’ve also worked 9-5 in a humanitarian society. And even though poverty alleviation is what gives me the greatest pleasure, I had to quit because I discovered 9-5 is also not for me.
My strength, the only thing I’m really good at, is identifying and tracing a problem and pursuing it with all creativity and resourcefulness until it is solved. If you try to do that in school you will fail (because you have to follow the procedure laid down by the lecturer or the book) and if you try to do that in a job, you will encroach into other employees’ space (because everyone has their role assigned to them and even if one employee is messing up in his area and in so doing breaking the whole process, you can’t do jack without encroaching into his space). The only thing that gives you the legroom to do that kind of stuff is what I’m doing now… what I later discovered is popularly called startup.
I know how to code but I won’t really call myself a developer. I only learnt how to code because I needed it to solve the problem I’m pursuing now and I was too broke to afford a developer. Same reason I won’t call myself a founder, or manager or sales rep. I only learnt about all those stuffs as means to an end.
So going to school or getting a job is really not an option for me if I want to keep my sanity.
And trust me, this is not the first time I’m having this conversation. This is not the hundredth time either. Remember that like most of you guys I was born into an African home, to Nigerian parents where statements like: “I cannot get a job” does not meet with applauds.
That was why I said I agreed 100% with @akindolu (I actually agree with him 99.99%). I was hoping that will end the conversation. Because you have not had a more pointless argument than trying to convince an omnivore that you can only eat plants. To him, you just said you can only choose to eat plants. Being an omnivore, he cannot wrap his head around the fact that there’s such a thing as a herbivore. It obviously must be a choice like with vegetarians. Because all animals should be able to eat both meat and plants. So the argument becomes focused on Choice and not Ability and falls into an infinite loop from the very beginning making it rather pointless.
Of all the ways I know to make money, startup is the hardest of them all. It’s even harder than armed robbery. And armed robbers get shot. So why would someone chose to only do startup? It’s not normal. Like Ed Cole said: It is perverse for a man to pursue pain. And I, like most men, will choose pleasure any day, anytime. It’s just that, in some things, you just don’t have a choice.
So yea, don’t assume that because something comes naturally to you mean everyone can or should be able to do it. That’s the kind of mindset that promotes discrimination.
