Thank you! (Great talk, and nice dash of humour)
And I also like the "advice" of being prolific, rather to "focus" like we hear often on Hacker News.
What has worked for me in the past (here comes a story, not an advice) is trying many personal projects until I found one that worked on many aspects (financial / personal lifestyle choices / meaning / etc...).
Having too many projects at the same time was very stressful to me, so I found that I could work on one main project and a new side project every month at the same time.
In the end, it is one of the side projects that started to work better than the others.
This week, I am going to be working full-time on it and I am happy about it :)
I'm at a stage where I've worked for a significant amount of time on one project outside work that hasn't really been successful. I'm now working on a few things and trying to validate the ideas with customers before building them out properly.
Why am I getting the Jobs stanford speech vibe in your talk.
That said, great talk, found it pretty inspirational as a jaded 30 year old, so doubtless those kids would have taken away some of your 'stories' and filed them under advice!
pud, you mentioned having been bought out a few times. Did you not have to stick around 'under new management' at any of the places?
While employed, I spent some evenings and weekends trying to find clients. I quit my job when I got my first paying client.
The company I started isn't around anymore -- but here I am 18 years later still happily self-employed and doing well. So I'd say it was a success.
Edit: Last month I gave a convocation address at Syracuse University graduation where I talk about how I got started as an entrepreneur:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5RJAN5mNhA