TheDerekJohnson.com - Latest Comments in Age Doesn’t Matter! - thederekjohnson.com

Re: Age Doesn’t Matter! - thederekjohnson.com

Dior Sunglasses — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 00:11:14 -0000

Wow, thanks for encouraging young people to start their business and take an initiative. I am also working on the same plan n looking to achieve great goals in near future.

Re: Age Doesn’t Matter! - thederekjohnson.com

Nikita — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:20:54 -0000

You have a point. But the thing is that they are always worrying that you have no basic experiences about it because you are still young. That is what they always say but I appreciate that you've manage to think of some solutions to do something about it. Great post by the way.

Re: Age Doesn’t Matter! - thederekjohnson.com

Mark McCaghren — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:13:35 -0000

I'm right there with you on your 3 main points, and I completely agree with your suggestions. An advisory board is something I've worked on for a while, and outsourcing accounting and legal services is definitely the way to go when first starting out. Good post, and I love the blog.

Re: Age Doesn’t Matter! - thederekjohnson.com

Scott Pierce — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:40:46 -0000

The discussion on my share of this article on Facebook goes something like:

DAN:
He should wait a bit longer, get more experience, and then lie downward about his age. Tom Anderson did it, and there are still some people out there who think he is cool.

ME:
The train's already left the station for Derek, he can't say "Sorry, my bad, I'll go back to school" because their projections on unique eyeballs are really good, and doing something that noone is doing well. It's just time to ride the bull, perform brilliantly, and you don't bring up age... but keep something in the chamber in case someone does.

That's a good point on Tom. I think the big takeaway is: white t-shirts never go out of style.

Re: Age Doesn’t Matter! - thederekjohnson.com

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:28:03 -0000

When it comes to the young, we rock! When the situation calls for wining and waltzing, though, the elders move smoother and more gracefully than when they started out at our age.
I look forward to seeing many of your successes, Derek! And I will enjoy reading about them here.

InJoy!
j

Re: Age Doesn’t Matter! - thederekjohnson.com

Russell Tripp — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:55:35 -0000

I think after reading this, you need to rename this post. If "Age Doesn't Matter" then there would actually be no advantages to you being younger than many other company execs. There are also a couple of problems with your logic - On item 1, I _can_ work 15 hour days, 7 days a week just like you, even though I'm older. The difference is, I _choose_ not to - I've done it, and one day, like me and countless others, you'll probably realize why doing it is a bad idea. Also, on the caffeine pills - seriously, don't overdo it. I've actually had a friend end up in the hospital from scarfing down too many of those in too short a time - it's serious stuff.

On item 2, I've worked enough that I have backup emergency plans, insurance, and funds in place so I can actually afford (financially) to take huge risks and often do. We're both at a point where we can afford, in different ways, to do this - and so are a lot of other people who are probably older than you.

Item 3 I'll grant you - cool is the providence of the young... except many people who are uber-cool are actually old, but they've been cool a long time. You won't convince many people that Jack Nicholson isn't cool (he's 71), or Steve Jobs (he's 53), or (for the truly geeky) Woz (he's 58).

You have some valid points about why it's not a detriment that you're young, though - and good thoughts concerning turning over certain aspects of your company for other people to handle, but those are good suggestions for anyone running a company at any age.

Re: Age Doesn’t Matter! - thederekjohnson.com

Rosy V — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:48:30 -0000

Age does matter is right. As long as you are commited to anything, you will succeed.