What I Knew When I Was 20 Chapter 1 Summary

In my quest to gain as much knowledge of the business world as I can, I have come across another personal goal of mine: to overcome my immense fear of failure. Every regular human being has an innate fear of failing, whether it be because of societal pressure, or instinctually ingrained behaviors, it is present in everyone. The goal of taking this entrepreneurship class was originally to learn about creating your own business, but after reading Tina Seelig’s What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20: A Crash Course on Making Your Place in the World, I have become driven to be able to step out of my comfort zone. This book covers a multitude of topics, nearly all boiling down to one lesson; Always take the risk.

In chapter two of Seelig’s book, she discusses

The chance that you could run into that person someday and need their recommendation is highly likely. This became a topic of discussion in class because some people believed it is better to just get it over with, rather than try to leave with on a good note. In my opinion, the best way to leave a job is to leave it on good terms. My father had an incident recently where he was at a humanitarian build with his girlfriend, and he ran into his old boss’s secretary, who despite not having seen him in almost twenty years, recognized him immediately. My father worked for a brokerage called Prudential, and in early 2002, left the company to spend more time at home. He had been working there for years, having worked his way to a high position, out of the bullpen, and into his own corner office with two assistants and two walls of windows, all to himself. After he left, the company was bought by another called Wachovia, and then bought by Wells Fargo. His girlfriend just so happens to be the head of the Wells Fargo for the region of Memphis, TN, and she knew the woman that recognized him. It was a complete coincidence. My father met his girlfriend nearly fifteen years after quitting, and never would have guessed that they would have these same connections. He is currently looking to get back in the business and move back to Memphis, and when talking to this woman, whom he had not seen since she was his boss’s secretary, about this she offered him a job. There is so much you cannot plan for in the future, but you can set yourself up to have offers for help by not burning