Om Malik: Pioneering Blogs (Part 3)
Check other articles in the series...Om discusses his first brush with the Internet. And we talk some philosophy.
SM: What year was this? OM: It was 1992.
SM: It was before the Internet bubble had started. OM: That was one of the things that crystallized things for me. While I was in London I had acquired a laptop and signed up with CompuServe. I read a few things about ARPANET and it had a profound impact on how I thought and how the world looked to me at that point. I thought it would be an amazing story, and that I would try to follow that chain of thought.
SM: Were you working for Forbes in New York at that time? OM: No, I came here without a job. Basically, I came here with some freelance work.
SM: It was a fairly risky move for you to go to New York at that point. OM: Yes. I didn’t have a plan. When you are young you are stupid, which is absolutely the upside.
SM: Heavens yes! If you knew what you were getting into, you wouldn’t get into it! OM: Exactly. That is why this whole past week I have been amazed … finally I get it why Zuckerberg doesn’t want to sell Facebook. What you don’t know, you don’t really know and it can’t hurt you.
SM: When you are that young, if you don’t make a billion dollars right away it is fine. OM: One of the things I always talk about is that when I got here I did some part time work. It was not a shining moment of my life. I did some pretty hard jobs, but you can’t go wrong. Even if I was making just $500 a week, it was more than I would make in my entire lifetime as a reporter in Delhi. It was a little stupid and foolish, but in some ways what was required at the time. When you are 30, you worry too much. In the end, it all worked out. You have to have a little bit of faith also.
SM: The most important thing is to have faith in yourself. OM: I don’t really credit it to bravery, I think it was a little luck and a bit of a divine plan.
SM: You have to trust that divine plan. You have to trust your destiny and that your destiny is going to take care of you. You have to have the internal resources to cope with the swings you take at life. OM: I think it is easy to just “do it” because it is not like I am going to Congo. This is America. You can speak the language; historically this has been a welcoming place. Sure, the odds are against getting a job in a mainstream American publication, but why not?
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