Generals and Solders - Swifty's Art of War

To be a good general you need to be a good dolder. To give orders you must know how to take them. However good solders do not neccesarily make good generals. Some people are not built to be entrepeneurs. Most entrepeneurs are not built to be executives.

What is unfair is how we forget how symbiotic the two are. A general is nothing without his crew and of course vice versa. The most important thing is realizing which you are. Don't try and be a boss just because that is what you think you are supposed to be. Don't become a boss just because you can. You may be able to do more damage (and make more money) as a truseted right hand man or woman.

I was mentored by several entrepeneurs who taught me the ropes. From my pops to Nick Eisenman at Nervous Records to Claudia Cuseta at Maxi/Max'n (anyone who remembers that is my motherf*cker). I, in turn, have tried to pass on that knowledge to young cats that have passed through our office as well as coleagues and friends who I have worked with over the years. I hate to see talented cats waste their lives afraid to live out their dreams. What I have realized is that this is not the path for everyone.

I am an entrepeneur and I don't think I would do well in a larget system. Working for someone would certainly be a challenge, to say the least. Entrepeneurship is one of my passions. Taking an idea from light bulb to fruition is what lights my fire. But I couldn't do it without my team.

And because you came up with the idea does not make me the smartest cat in the room, nor does it gurantee you will be the richest cat in the room. In fact, with the risk you take you will be poorer than most and appear dumber than everyone.

To all the solders in big systems, rocking it, I salute you. To all the entrepenurs with no savings and two mortgages, but a heart full of desire and brain full of ideas. We are brothers.