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I’ve learned some important lessons looking back on my past, and I thought I’d share a few with you.
Let's be honest: building a company from nothing is incredibly hard. It has been for me. I started my entrepreneurial journey at age 8. Yep, you read that right....8! Since then, I've started, run and sold multiple businesses with no partners and no funding. All my life I've had to build something from nothing, and that's what I've gotten really great at - tenacious, creative and extremely smart strategy coupled with hard work. Welcome to The Do What Is Necessary podcast—I’m your host, Andrew Moon.
Listen in as I share all the mistakes I’ve made and, more importantly, what I’ve learned from them, with no fluff, and no rose-colored glasses. The Do What Is Necessary Podcast is a show where we cut through the toxic hustle and grind mindset and dig into what it actually takes to start and grow a “calm business”. Calm is family first. Calm is more independence. Calm is sustainable practices for the long term. Calm is joyful. Running a calm company is a choice.
I’ll be giving unfiltered advice every week, 10 minutes per episode each. I want you to walk away from this podcast with the mindset and tools you need to be successful.
This podcast is for entrepreneurs, side hustlers, and busy professionals with a short attention span (like me)—you’ll get quick-hitting, actionable information in every single episode. If you give me your time, I promise it won't be wasted. Now let's get to work!
Being a parent has been one of the
toughest challenges of my life by far.
But I have to say that
it's probably been well.
No, it is, it has been the
migrated east privilege of life.
And I actually have an 18 year old now and
I can't believe that I would actually have
an 18 year old who graduated high school.
Got his first full-time job.
I never thought I would be
in that position to be able
to give advice to somebody,
especially my son, but as he turned
18 this year, and as I'm teaching
him things about life and about
people, about emotions, about how
to express himself, cause he's, he's
a very much an introvert like me.
So I thought this episode,
I would take the time to.
To my younger self, what would I say?
What are the changes that if I had
to go back and do things differently,
maybe I would change a few things,
but more importantly, just what
type of mindset, what I give myself.
If I had to go back in time.
Now, a lot of you don't know that.
I was bullied a lot of my childhood
and that started in grade school.
Um, I had a couple of kids that picked
on me on a regular basis, got in
physical fights, but a lot of that
triggered negative emotions and it,
it triggered a lot of anger for a long
time that I carried into adulthood.
Um, I carried that chip on my shoulder
that desire to prove myself that I
was just as good as everybody else.
Well into my adult life.
And it really hasn't meant to
the last couple years that I've
been able to see what that anger
has done to my personality, my
ability to deal with change.
And it's weird because songs I
hear from the eighties and nineties
instantly triggered those emotions
that I had when I was young.
And they're not always good.
Some of them are great.
I remember certain songs.
You, you remember that girl you liked,
you remember when you were learning
to drive and get your driver's license
for the first time, and you remember
cranking that song in the car,
those emotions, the negative
emotions are what I would go
back and tell my younger self.
And what would I tell my younger self,
how to deal with those things a little
bit easier, a little bit better.
Well, I would tell my younger self
that don't let, what other people's
do other people do and say to
you, make you angry and hateful.
Don't let that hate.
And that anger that's inside of
you make you better use that to
fuel you, to make you better.
And, you know, especially when I
was younger, I didn't know how to
deal with that anger and that anger.
Physically and it came out and, oh,
the things that came out of my mouth.
Uh, so that's what I would go
back and tell myself, maybe do
things a little bit differently,
uh, with dealing with bullying.
So I understand it well, and I have
great empathy for people that I see
that are downtrodden people that I see
that are being bullied, uh, whether
that's physically, emotionally, or
now we have to deal with the social
media component of being bullied.
So I have great compassion for
those that have been bullied
and are currently being bullied.
The other thing I would go back and
tell myself, and when I look back on
it, my work ethic started very young.
Uh, we come from, you know, a very working
class family, so I learned to work hard.
Um, and I, and again, I knew
that my only way out of.
And being in a poor family was I had to
work a lot harder than everybody else.
We didn't have the money to go to college.
So I started working right at 18.
I graduated on Friday, had my graduation
party on Saturday, moved to Columbus, Ohio
on Sunday and started full-time work in
a paint shop at 18 years old on Monday.
But I knew that I had to, in my mind,
at the time I had to work out work,
everybody, nobody was going to outwork me.
That was my mentality, but I
paid for that a lot over time.
And what would I do differently?
What would I tell my younger self?
Why would tell my younger self that
there's more to life than work?
And again, looking back on it, 30 years
later, I would tell myself to cherish
the time and energy, especially when
you're young to help others, not just
yourself, take care of your health.
I didn't do that for a long time.
And you're only invincible for so long.
We think we're invincible.
When we're 18 years old, we're
ready to take on the world.
But when you write checks that
your body can't cash over time,
that does catch up with you.
So just take a quick moment
and remind my younger self.
Let's talk about now, how to
deal with change and uncertainty.
And we have seen unprecedented
change and uncertainty over the
last couple of years with COVID.
I mean, that is a word that we would
love to strip out of our vocabulary,
but unfortunately we can't, we've
been forced to deal with massive
change, both in our society, both in
our personal life and our business.
And that creates a tremendous amount
of stress that uncertainty and the
constant barrage of bad news eight
way, it really weighs on you and life
has taught me a lot of things in 30
years since I was that punk 18 year
old kid, ready to take on the world.
So I would tell my younger self to
embrace change, be ready for change.
Don't let things throw you sideways.
Be adaptable.
Life is going to throw you curve balls
every single day, every single year,
but be adaptable and learn to pivot
fast, learn to see where's the next
thing before it actually happens.
And I know we can't do that every
single time in her life, but I would
tell myself, Hey, just embrace,
change, and go along for the ride.
Now, like I said, when we're young,
especially when I'm 18 years old, we
think we can take on the world and we
think we have all the answers and I did.
And I see that in my son now where,
you know, you make recommendations
and you tell them certain things.
And I know dad and I
was just the same way.
Nobody could really, I thought
I knew everything, but life
quickly teaches us that we.
When you 18, 19, 20, 21, you quickly
figure out that you don't have all
the answers and that you are your
birdie, much making it up as you go.
You're learning to deal with things
in you're learning to deal with
change as it, as you go is what
would I tell my younger self?
I would tell my younger self
to be humble, learn to be
humble, continue to learn to be.
And to view hum, humility, not as
a weakness, but it's actually a
superpower being humble can actually
carry you through any situation.
It can make you stronger than you ever
thought you could be because you know, you
don't have all the answers and that others
sometimes have answers that you need.
So what would you tell your younger
self and what messages are you giving
your children right now in that same.
Hopefully this episode just takes me
back and it takes me back into memory
lane, um, as to what I currently
tell my son, and it's kind of a weird
dynamic and I would love it to hear.
What would you tell your younger
self share that on social media?
Let me know.
Um, and thanks again for
sharing your earbuds with me.
I'll see you on the next episode.