I’m one of the luckiest people on earth. You have to create your luck, for sure, but luck is a key factor in success. I’ve always said that:
Success = Vision + Ambition + Execution + Persistence + Luck.
Initially, I’d omit persistence, partially because it was so obvious, but persistence is arguably the most important variable because you just have to keep trying. All the cliches support it, if you think about it (”we didn’t play 60 minutes”, “If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again” etc.)
Anyway, today I was reflecting on the concept of independence and how everything is relative.
To me, being free from my old partners and former employer is the single best thing I am grateful for (yes, I’m combining July 4th with Thanksgiving Day, I guess).
The reason why I am so grateful for being free of their poison is that I was really shackled. Leaving them was an emancipation of sorts. I’ll spare a lot of details but want to share an experience so that if you are being restrained and restricted, you know where to draw the lines and break free.
In California, apparently, non-competition agreements (which I outlined in depth here) are not valid. But in many other places, they are to some degree. Of course, even if they’re not valid, like all contracts, they can come back to haunt you. I’ll spare those details.
When I joined my old company in 2000, I signed the standard non-compete that called for me, over a period of 2 years, not to:
“Directly or indirectly carry on, engage in or participate in, any Competitive Business either alone or in partnership or jointly or in conjunction with any other Person; where “Business” means the operation of a men’s lifestyle web portal or any English, French or Spanish language online magazine, or similar publication, targeted towards a male market.”
That’s what my non-competition agreement called for in 2000. That contract was a contract of adhesion, it was put in front of me, I signed it. I purposely did not argue anything because arguing it and tweaking it actually gives it a dash of legitimacy. I signed it on the spot to even add to the argument that I was not even allowed to get a lawyer to read it [Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer and this should not be construed as legal advice. Please consult an employment lawyer; in fact, I can refer two big shot lawyers to you if you wish, tell them I referred you to them].
But as time went by, my role evolved and grew: by 2004, I had injected $6M in ad sales in his coffers (I went on to sell $8M for the ungrateful jerk). Despite this, or because of this, by summer 2004, my snake of a former boss put the following amended contract in front of me:
“Any shareholder whose employment terminates shall not undertake in competitive activities, competitive activities shall include any English, French, Spanish language magazine, or similar publication targeted towards a male market and published either electronically, or in printed form, or television or radio programming directed to male or general lifestyle interests.”
So now an online magazine was expanded to include TV and radio? And now male also includes female?
What the F&*$? This was clearly a dangerous person in front of me.
At the time I was doing radio, so I would have been in violation for starters.
My former boss was not the smartest fella in a sanitarium, mind you, let alone a boardroom. But by adding that, he did two things:
- he basically proved that he knew that radio and TV were off limits in the non-competition agreement, otherwise, why would he try to add them to the clause? It’s a good thing this was never an issue, cause otherwise I would have exposed him for the greedy and arrogant person he is, was and will be.
- more importantly, it proved to me that he was a greedy and irrational person who would never be happy with what I was doing for him, and I needed to break free.
That was sometime around Summer 2004.
By 2005, a bigger company knocked on our doors, lowballed and paid 8-digits for the company, made my former boss a millionaire, put a little bit of money in my bank account which allowed me to leave that prison and start my own company.
It was not easy, it was not obvious. I was lied to, I was screwed over… I won’t get into the extent over which I was f*&^%d over… but the point of this post (I promise there is one) is everything I went through was well worth the independence I have today.
You have your own examples, your own cases, your own anecdotes.
Never let anyone screw you. That just emboldens them to ask for more.
Cut loose and break free, you’ll thank me for it.
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