I see it all the time. People with great potential abate their chances of doing amazing things for the world by surrounding themselves with idiots.

One of the things that I am required to do is spot who is a winner and who is a loser. This is very difficult and frustrating, because who you think might be a huge asset to you could end up being one of the worst mistakes you ever made. I think it’s really important to perfect this skill if you are trying to start a company, or build anything where you require help.

I read this book called “Never Eat Alone" that explained how much you really need other people to help you in order to obtain your goals. If you have high goals, losers will not be of much use to you when it comes to achieving them.

This was always a problem for me up until a couple years ago, because I was always trying to involve my friends with my adventures and ideas. And in trying to do so, failed miserably with most of them. I learned that two of the worst mistakes you can make with your company is a.) hiring friends and b.) not firing people fast enough.

Anyways. When it comes to work (and most of my life revolves around that, no complaints) I try my best to only surround myself with winners. And as much as possible, people who are better than I am. When I am surrounded by people who are more excellent than I am, it puts stress on me to play catch up. It definitely boosts how effective I am at self improvement. And it will definitely make achieving my goals a hell of a lot easier.

These are lessons I have learned while building my startup company radiorebel.com. In my spare time I write these articles as a way to express the things I learn during my entrepreneurial journey and to improve my writing skills.