I'd like to retract my Tim Ferris comments. While I think he's a little self-promotion-ey without having done much, he's a genuinely nice guy and a good marketer. And comparing him to Sebastian is not at all apt, I've just realized.
I hadn't actually watched your videos, Sebastian. You need help. Not like a life coach, but a real therapist, probably one who can prescribe medication. You genuinely have a screw loose or something. Did you seriously curse out your agent (for what felt like hours) because you had trouble coordinating a time to do a skype call?!?
And then you made a movie with your shirt off, ranting at the executives at S&S and at your agent about how you're going to destroy them all?
I know you think you're this crazy wildcard guy and you're hated by most and loved by a few, but you're wrong. You're a crazy wildcard guy, but you're about as unprofessional as I can imagine and you're never going to have a positive impact in the world unless you get the help you need.
I've met and worked with hundreds of true professionals over the years, and I don't know of any that would work with you after seeing a stunt like this. Apparently if someone you're working with fails to return an email fast enough, they'll be treated to a video of a shirtless pudgy guy telling them to fuck off on youtube. Not exactly confidence-inspiring.
Sad. You won't stop running your mouth about how impressive you are, but when asked for some proof or evidence of any kind, you immediately go on the defensive. Why don't we already have the evidence? It's definitely not modesty. And the publicity would only help your projects. The only reason you haven't posted any kind of proof or evidence of your outlandish claims of building an empire is because you're all hot air. All hat, no cattle.
So I'll donate whatever you like to your orphanage, if it exists. As in, if you have an orphanage that you own or created or sponsor at least mostly by yourself. But you don't. You probably have plans for one, but that's all.
Seriously, you're a smart guy with a lot of passion and ideas. But you haven't actually done anything, and every time I read a word of what you've written, I roll my eyes because you're such a blowhard. And with no justification.
The biggest thing in all of this S&S story that makes me think the publishing industry might be on the verge of collapse is that they agreed to publish the first book of a self-described strategist with no track record, no experience, no nothing. But it sounds like you helped them solve that problem.
I think Sebastian really is the next Tim Ferriss, but not at all in a good way. I think he's all talk and almost no results, and he's trying to spin that into a success that then justifies him tooting his own horn as a "strategist" (what the fuck?). All over his blog, all over his comments on HN, he makes himself out to be this amazing business guru, juggling 27 world-changing projects at a time, upending major industries with a stroke of his pen. This is from a comment in this thread:
In the last four weeks, I was able to hire like 30-40 people or so, keep six or so projects running, do a deal with a top hotel chain and top jeweler, put out a book in a week, lead a struggle for reform against traditional publishing, made $38,500, shot a bunch of videos, had a bunch of fun, hired an architect to build an orphanage in Ulaanbaatar, and so on.
I call bullshit on all of it. Well, almost all of it; maybe he had fun. Sebastian is always waving his hands and declaring things like this, but there's just no evidence. None. Zip, zilch. Why doesn't he ever post any proof of his results? Why no links to any of these projects, no naming of the major companies he's helping change? He clearly has no problem with self-promotion, so it's not out of a sense of modesty. Anyone who has ever hired knows that if you managed to hire 30-40 people in a month, you don't have time for anything else. My guess is that he emailed 30-40 people on the internet and maybe hired one or two for some small contract work.
Even in this whole thing with S&S, he seems to miss the possibility that not only might they not really care that they lost him, they might be glad. Maybe they took a hard look at the drivel he was churning out and realized that they were better off with the relationship severed.
Enough talking, Sebastian. Put your head down and fucking build something, then you can write a book in ten or twenty years and tell us about it. We don't need another vapid self-promoter selling books exhorting people to manifest themselves to greatness.
And if I'm way off and you really are what you portray yourself as, post some fucking proof. Don't just give us the old "you're free to believe me or not" bullshit that every scammer says. You want some real personal brand equity? All it takes is some proof of the results you're constantly harping on.
If asked to name the top three people I'd be most unlikely to work with, I'd only be able to name one: Aaron Greenspan. I am so tired of the constant stream of whining (on his blog, HN, twitter, quora, etc) about how everyone is against him and everything is not fair. And now he's bad-mouthing more people, all as part of his overall theme of whining about how Facecash is a brilliant idea that obviously can't get any traction because of the big bad unfair regulators who don't get what he's trying to do.
Aaron, please, please, for everyone's sake, find something more constructive to do with your obviously impressive intelligence. This is just sad.
I'd like to retract my Tim Ferris comments. While I think he's a little self-promotion-ey without having done much, he's a genuinely nice guy and a good marketer. And comparing him to Sebastian is not at all apt, I've just realized.
I hadn't actually watched your videos, Sebastian. You need help. Not like a life coach, but a real therapist, probably one who can prescribe medication. You genuinely have a screw loose or something. Did you seriously curse out your agent (for what felt like hours) because you had trouble coordinating a time to do a skype call?!?
And then you made a movie with your shirt off, ranting at the executives at S&S and at your agent about how you're going to destroy them all?
I know you think you're this crazy wildcard guy and you're hated by most and loved by a few, but you're wrong. You're a crazy wildcard guy, but you're about as unprofessional as I can imagine and you're never going to have a positive impact in the world unless you get the help you need.
I've met and worked with hundreds of true professionals over the years, and I don't know of any that would work with you after seeing a stunt like this. Apparently if someone you're working with fails to return an email fast enough, they'll be treated to a video of a shirtless pudgy guy telling them to fuck off on youtube. Not exactly confidence-inspiring.
Seek help.