M&Ms: Reinvent Yourself

Why you should reinvent yourself way before you have to in the 92nd edition.

Hey Team,

When I was starting my career, I landed a role that paid more than my mentors earned.

But my two of my mentors back then had close to a decade of experience and were the go-to guys in a massive software company, and when I told them what my new salary would be, they were shocked.

That offer was the jolt that woke up at least one sleeping giant.

Here is this kid just out of school and coming from working in a restaurant, now offered more than me with a decade of experience in this field. I could tell that's what at least one of my mentors, Oliver, thought when he stared at my offer letter, although he never said it. But I could read his facial expression. It's hard to hold back shock.

I never intended to shock him; I had no idea what he was making. It wasn't until he said, "this is more than I earn," that I understood what happened. Wayne, who had pretty much the same amount of experience as Oliver, was impressed but not shocked. (Oliver and Wayne are not their real name; I am holding back for privacy.)

But both Oliver and Wayne had become comfortable.

They enjoyed being the go-to guys and mentoring a bunch of juniors like me. Upper management saw they enjoyed being the go-to guys so much and took full advantage. They showered them with praise and plenty of puppies like me to mentor. It was a good life as long as they were okay, taking significantly less than the market rate for their salary. And they were both incredible engineers, involved in the toughest problems and the biggest challenges we had as a group. And I'll reiterate that they both loved the praise and attention.

But I know seeing a junior land something that pays more than him stung Oliver a little.

My offer letter was the jolt Oliver needed.

He began reinventing himself right away. He started learning new tech and frameworks and asking me questions. Given how good he was, the stuff I told him I was learning on the side was a breeze. After all, he and Wayne had pretty much taught me everything I knew technically and professionally up until that point. Wayne, on the other hand, went back to the things he enjoyed. The comfort, being the go-to guy, and the praise. He must've thought this kid earning a lot more than me was some sort of anomaly.

But in less than a year, Oliver's reinvention paid off, and he landed something that doubled his salary at one of the best FinTech firms in the world. He thanked me for the jolt, and we still meet and talk when we can. The role he landed was with a great firm that constantly kept up with the market in terms of pay; over the decade, Oliver got several significant raises. I know because we celebrated all of them over beers.

Wayne, on the other hand, stayed in that same role. Although, he did occasionally show up for the free beers. According to him, his role was good, it was safe, and he got showered with praise.

But Wayne missed out on all that compounded knowledge and salary Oliver got over the years. The salary part is no chump change, no exaggeration; it amounts to at least a million or more over the last decade. And what's more, our old firm recently had layoffs. And now Wayne is trying to learn all these changes to our industry he chose to ignore all these years. He is very worried about his role.

Unfortunately, people like Wayne, who allow themselves to fall so far behind, end up trying to change in desperate markets and desperate situations like today's environment.

Jeff Bezos said this is true for firms, too, not just people:

"I've made billions of dollars of failures at Amazon. Literally, none of those things are fun, but also, they don't matter.

What matters is companies that don't continue to experiment or embrace failure eventually get into a position where the only thing they can do is make a Hail Mary bet at the end of their corporate existence.

I don't believe in bet-the-company bets."

If we are forced to reinvent ourselves after being out of a job, out of money, or seeing the end coming, that will almost always be worse than if we had done it sooner. My former mentors, Oliver and Wayne, are perfect examples of this. Oliver has consistently worked with the latest and greatest tech all while earning top dollar, Wayne chose praise and perceived “safety.”

The path of the person that tries nothing new, places no small bets, never risks discomfort, and never risks a mistake is to slowly fall behind and then risk everything on one big "Hail Mary" pass.

---

Three Tweets: Doing, What Won’t Change, The Coming Change

Unfortunately Naval is right, the answer seems to always be to start doing. You’ll study what you need along the way.

---

Speaking of Jeff Bezos, There is this wonderful video out there of his initial approach to success with Amazon.

Rather than worry about how big the new stuff will be, he says worry much more about what you know that wont change.

---

Over the next few decades, a staggering amount of change is coming to economies.

Individuals and small teams are more empowered than ever, thanks to tech. What people are doing in the creator economy has been the biggest eye-opener for me of how much and how fast things are changing. You have solopreneurs earning a million plus a year as one-person businesses.

---

Three Memes: Writing is the glue, Calendars, Your Code

I made this meme off of a conversation I had tonight with an “unemployed person.” One of the things both the unemployed and the employed agree is a good idea.

---

A fun meme about meetings. Getting stuck in them all the time is a crappy life, I tell you from experience.

---

It’s human nature to try and blame everything else.

---

A small update from me:

I have partnered in the small bets community and decided to help more. I was already very active there and teaching people about newsletters and realestate, but Daniel Vassallo, the founder, recently asked me if I would be open to more.

And the answer is anytime someone offers to pay you for something you already do for free, you should do it. Chances are high you enjoy it and you’d be good at it.

All of this is to say that until now, my links to Small Bets were entirely out of love for that community, and I did not profit from that, but in the future, I will profit from them. And I want to be transparent with you. I never knew I loved teaching so much until I started doing it, and I can't wait to do more in the coming months.

---

As always, thank you for reading!

-Louie

P.S. you can reply to this email; it will get to me, and I will read it.