I've tried lots of things but haven't finished any.
lionhearted: You're thinking too externally:...capital, capital, people, people, publishing, acceptance/denial... and so on.To be successful, you can't wait to be blessed or funded or accepted by anyone else. A good place to start would be trying to get small jobs/contracts/articles/whatever that'll make you a bit of cash, a bit of success, and some lessons and contacts.Also: Feel free to ignore the people telling you to soak in your youth. The Western world infantalizes people - keeps them younger than they need to be. Kids used to be officers in the army as early as 14, coming of age ceremonies at age 12, starting basic work at age 8. I was making pretty good money playing cards at age 18 and started my first successful company at 19.Getting a huge head start on professional success now is quite likely to lead to a fun life with lots of cool people, experiences, and travel. Don't sweat missing opportunities to drink beer and socialize with young girls - it's overrated and you can do it in a much more high class and comfortable way after you make it later.I'd recommend you start shooting for small wins that pay just a bit. Don't worry about your hourly rate, focus on your monthly rate. If it takes you 50 hours in one week to make $500, but you learn from it, that's good. Hell, 50 hours to make $200 in business could be worth it - it takes a long time to get started in business to the point where you make any money at a reasonable speed, but controlling your own destiny scales up much better. My first year in business I think I averaged like two dollars and change per hour - we're talking 50+ hour weeks for like a touch over $10,000 at the end of the year. Ugly, but I learned the ins and outs of running my own shop, which was necessary for later.For now, look to grab some small wins. Try to not spend much too - if you can build your bank account up to the $50,000+ range over the next 2-3 years (very possible), then you'll be ready when you get a good opportunity to invest in some people, you can frontload marketing and distribution contracts for better economies of scale, you can test hire someone for six months if you meet a good person, you can throw in and get a share of a commercial real estate deal... look to live off of rice, ramen, cheap rent, minimal alcohol, the dollar menu at fast food restaurants, and bank all you make. Do a lot of little stuff, don't get arrogant and think anything is beneath you or not paying enough. You're 18, so everyone is going to write you off. It sucks, but all us young entrepreneurs went through it. You don't have a track record, and there's also a lot of things that you're not aware you don't know. Hustling and taking little projects, jobs, opportunities when possible helps fix both those problems, and can build the bank account for the bigger wins later.Best wishes - I admire the ambition. Most of my friends were on a similar track at your age, and a lot of them have come out crazy-well just now into their mid to late 20's and early 30's.