My $0 to $1 Million Guide - How I Would Start Over in 2024

0:00All right, today I'm going to answer the question that I get the most often, which is that if I was starting over again from scratch and I had no money in my bank account, I didn't have any special skills, I didn't have any special.

0:37I want to give you an observation about this question because the question is actually, I think we would all agree, it's a money question. It's a success question. How would you make it? That's really what people want to know, but they always add this, if you were 21 years old again, if you were 25 years old again, they add this age component to it, which is sort of funny because I don't care if you're 21, you're 31, you're 41. If you're broke, you're broke. If you're not successful, you're not successful. It doesn't matter what age you are. It is your day one. You can't go back in time. So really, it doesn't matter how old you are.

1:07The reason I think people say if you're 21 again or 25 again is because they're like, if all the possibilities were on the table, if you had all the hope in the world again at that age. And the reality is one thing you should take away from this is you should always have that 21-year-old mindset. You should always have the belief that my whole world is in front of me, that my best days are ahead of me, that anything is possible, and that I can reinvent myself right now. I could today, on the spot, reinvent myself and decide I'm a different guy now. I do a different thing. I do things a different way.

1:40That old guy, he's gone. He's the old me. And so I think the first thing to do is to free yourself of the time constraint, the age constraint, which only adds pressure and doubt and anxiety to the equation, which none of that helps you be successful. I remember when I was 29 years old and I had this like excellent existential crisis. Cause I was like, Oh, I thought I was going to be Forbes 30 under 30. And I thought I'd be, you know, I have a million dollars in my bank account by now. And I didn't have any of those things. And then I was like, all right, well, guess that didn't happen moving on.

2:10And I just continued on. And by 30, all of a sudden I sold my company and had a whole bunch of breakthroughs. And a big part of that was just getting the weight off my shoulders of feeling like I'm behind or playing catch up. Instead, I wanted to be playing offense. And so my question, my answer to this question is comes from a place of offense. So let's take the age out. Let's think of it like it's karate. We're white belts again. If we started as a white belt and we want to make our way up to a black belt in the game of success, what would we do? So let's break this down into smaller chunks.

2:39I, the best metaphor I have or our best framework I've heard from my career was that everybody goes through three phases in their career. And the three phases are number one, learn, earn, and legacy. So this learn, earn, legacy framework that your career will go into those chapters. The beginning of your career is generally the learn period. This is when you got internships or you're just starting your first business, you're making a bunch of mistakes, or you go work at a bigger company just to see what it's like and you're getting your experience. That's the learn phase of your career. What's most important in the learn phase of your career is what you optimize for.

3:14so one job offers you an extra$15 ,000 the other job offers you$15 ,000 less which job should you take most people take the one that pays them the extra 15k a year which is like 9k after taxes or something like that and even though the other job would have been a far better learning experience for them that they were going to get way more hands-on experience working with way smarter people on more interesting projects which in the long run would have paid off in a much bigger way so why is it important to know you're in the learn phase because you know what to prioritize your key kpi is how much learning per month am i doing how much am i growing per month as a person i'm building me as a product right now that's the learn phase earn phase is now i've built myself as a product i have the skills i know what to do i understand the market and i can actually go and i can reap what i've sowed so i can actually extract some value now i have cash in the bank which lets me get to the ultimate point of financial freedom where your money works for money and you work for you.

4:15That's where your investments generate enough income. You don't need to be doing any jobs. So that way you can just work on whatever you're most interested in, whatever you're passionate about, whatever you love. And so the earn phase comes next. And then there's a legacy phase, which is where you see a lot of people get to when they, you know, they want to go to Mars and then they want to, uh, you know, buy this newspaper company to keep, you know, or start a foundation or go back and teach at their college or whatever it is. Legacy is how you give back. It's how you remember it for doing something that's beyond yourself contributing.

4:44And I think this framework is a good framework for a career. And I think it is the natural evolution of a successful career. That's the first thing I would keep in mind. So those first 10 years, and I say 10 years because 10 years sounds like a long time, but what's the phrase? We overestimate what we can do in a year and we underestimate what we can do in 10. So true. the first 10 years you are in the learn phase you are actually just dabbling so we are told that we should stick to it be determined do blah blah blah that's the wrong advice it's the same bad advice that gets you when you're 18 19 years old to declare your major I even love that they call it declare like I'm gonna be like yeah you know chemistry right like you know what do we do Based on what?

5:29Based on what experience? I'm a bio and chemistry major. I knew nothing about any of those. I don't even know what jobs they create. But at 18 years old, I'm supposed to declare my major or fall behind. Silly. And so we don't want to fall into the silly traps and pressures that people pigeonhole you into. So what are you going to do for your major? What are you going to do for your career? What field are you in? The answer is I'm dating around, right? Just like we date before we get married, you want to do the same thing with your career. So you're going to be dabbling. So you should be expecting to, I don't know, every 18 months, turn over and reinvent yourself and hop into a new situation to keep challenging yourself.

6:03And what you're trying to do is not, you're not trying to change. You're using change to find the thing that you are uniquely capable of. And that's the next key lesson, identifying your edge. So the second thing I would do if I was starting over again is I would realize that I'm in the learn phase. I would start dabbling and I would be trying to identify my edge. This really breaks up into two categories. The first edge is one that everybody who's not successful yet has, which is you're small and you're helpless. And what that means is that people will help you. Like, I can't tell you how many meetings I got with amazing people, how many opportunities I got, how many times I got to shadow somebody or ride along with somebody because I just told them like, Hey, I think what you do is amazing.

6:45And I don't know the first thing about it. I don't know how I can help you. I want to help you someday, but at least I can help you because, hey, it always feels good to give back, right? To help somebody out, I'm giving you that opportunity. Can I just learn this with you? Will you show me how this works? And being small and helpless is an absolute edge that most people who are unsuccessful try to hide. They're embarrassed that they're not successful. They're embarrassed that they're starting at the beginning. And because of that, they throw away one of their best edges, which is that people want to help people who are beginners.

7:15And so embrace that you're a beginner. That is part of your edge. The next thing is you got time. You're not busy. So for me, there are so many opportunities I don't do because I have a$5 ,000 an hour time budget. So if something's going to cost me an hour, it needs to be worth at least$5 ,000. But when I was younger, I would have done, I did psych studies. I would go take a pill or go, you know, try to read from this card for$7 an hour, right? My hourly rate was much lower back then. And so I was willing to do a whole bunch of things that other people wouldn't do because I'm not busy. My calendar is clear.

7:48That's a huge advantage you have. That's another part of your edge. Another part of your edge. You have nothing to lose. And by the way, a lot of this is mindset because the actions you take are downstream of your mindset, right? Like the actions you take, which is what people want. They want the answer. What I'm giving you is a way for you to always get the answer. So you don't need to watch a video like this. You can be the guy who makes videos like this. And how do you do that? You figure out the mindset first so that then the actions come quite naturally. So let me finish the mindset section, then I'll tell you the actions.

8:18So the next part of the mindset that matters is you have nothing to lose. So just like you're small and you're helpless, just like you've got a clear calendar and nothing to do, you also got nothing to lose. You're already lost. You got nothing. You're starting at rock bottom, but that's a pretty solid foundation. And what you want to do with that foundation is take more risks than somebody who has something to lose. For me, now, if I go do something, I have my reputation. People could see me fail. I have to do some things of a certain caliber, and that means I might be overlooking some hidden gem type of opportunities.

8:45opportunities. I don't go to conferences. I don't go to certain meetings, but you should, if you're in that boat where you have nothing to lose because you got everything to gain. The last thing is you now need to find your personal edge. So those first ones are the common edges of losers, right? The loser's edge. And losers have those edges. And you should embrace the loser's edge because the loser's edge is what helps you become a winner. Now you need to find your personal edge. Your personal edge is going to be the thing that comes naturally to you. It comes easy to you. Maybe you're funny.

9:14Maybe you don't mind grinding things out when everybody else gets fatigued. Maybe you have an eye. You have really good taste. And even though you're not a great designer or product builder today, you can identify great design and product building and understand it. And taste, it could be part of your personal edge. My friend Chris Williamson told me this today on a call. He goes, yeah, you're like a bear riding a unicycle. I go, what? He goes, you know, a bear, that's cool, but not altogether that special. A unicycle, that's cool, but not that special. A bear riding a unicycle, that's fucking amazing.

9:49And so a bear riding a unicycle is a way to think about finding that unique combination of things that makes you you. So for some people, it might be that they are a really talented programmer, but they also love to study anatomy or biology, and they should actually go into that field, the crossover of computer science and biology. For some people, it's that they're just really good with, they're really good people person. And that's cool. But now how do you pair that with, um, you know, you're, you're willing to work twice as hard as the average person, or you love sports or whatever it is. You try to find an overlap of two or three things that are true about you that create a unique combination for me, for example, I'm a successful business guy, but I'm not the most successful business guy, right?

10:31There's people who are worth hundreds of million dollars. I'm not, but I'm more successful than 98 % of people on the business side. But then I'm also kind of entertaining and funny. I'm good at talking and there's a lot of better talkers than me, but they're not that successful on the business side. There's a lot of better business people than me, but they're kind of boring when they talk. And so my overlap is some combination of, I love, you know, creating content. I love being curious about things and turning into content. I'm good at talking and I'm successful. That became my first million, a podcast that really nobody else could host.

11:02It was unique to me. It was my bear on my unicycle. And I only found that when I started following my personal edge. And so you want to find your personal edge. And if you don't have one today, don't worry. That's okay. You're again, you're a blank slate. Ask your friends, what are some things about me that are true? Where am I more above normal people or more than normal people when it comes to some area of my life? Maybe other people can see it for you. Or maybe you say, look, it's my opportunity to develop that. I'm going to become a great writer by practicing. I'm going to become a great salesperson by practicing.

11:34And that'll be one of my things. So you want to create your personal edge. All right. So you've decided you're in the learn phase. You're dabbling. You're discovering your personal edge. All right. That all comes together. And what happens? The scoreboard still says zero because the scoreboard is this lagging indicator of how many companies you've sold, how many millions of dollars you have in the bank. But you are building up. You are not actually at zero. You have made a ton of progress, but there's still one more unlock that you have to do, and that's picking the right project. So what projects would I pick if I were in this category?

12:09There's a general question. I'll give you some common questions, fork in the roads that people come to. So a fork in the road I often get is, should I start my own company or should I join an existing company and get experience that way? And smart people will tell you both things, right? generally people just say the thing that they did and they say that's the best way to do things. So I think the real takeaway is that either way works. Which one should you choose? Well, again, when you're optimizing for learning, there's a really specific thing you're actually trying to do. You are trying to get around the smartest and most ambitious people you can that also want to do the thing that you want to do.

12:49It doesn't matter if that's your musician and then you should be hanging out with other musicians that are trying to make it. I have friends that are big TikTokers or Viners or YouTubers. They all moved to LA. They all moved into houses together or on the same street as each other. And they hung out with other people who were super driven at the same thing that they wanted to do. That's why I moved to Silicon Valley. And that's one thing I would do again. I would pick up and move to a place where I could find other people that are just like me chasing the same dream as me, because that is contagious and you'll be sharing information.

13:19So you won't just be learning your lessons. You'll be learning from the other people around you. And that it will become normal to see people succeed at doing this. It's very underrated how important that is to see other people just like you that you know are not so much more special than you succeeding at the thing you want to do. It's what will keep you going even when times get tough. And so that's the first thing you're trying to do. You're actually trying to pick either the company or the job that is going to get you around the smartest, most ambitious people that want to do the same thing as you want to do.

13:47For me, that was starting a startup and moving to Silicon Valley. For you, that might be joining whatever this generation's Google is and getting around really smart people that have all flocked to this thing, like OpenAI or one of these companies where it's a talent magnet for young, ambitious, motivated people. The next thing you need to do, you got to pick the opportunity, whether it's a job or your company or starting a company, that will let you do actual work versus being an observer on the fringe. So unfortunately for most people, they go take a job at some prestigious company and they think, oh, I'm getting the experience because of course, working at Facebook in 2024 is like, you know, that's, I'm getting experience.

14:28But their employee number 42 ,000 sitting on the fringe, not even knowing what's actually going on inside Facebook, not getting any access to the real problems. And so whichever path you choose, for me, I chose the path of starting a company and that's the one I would do again. But even if you choose joining a company, here's your criteria. You have to be working on the A-plus problem. Every company has the A-plus problem at any given time. Sometimes the A-plus problem is we're getting sued and we need to deal with this. Sometimes the A-plus problem is our growth stopped and we have no idea why, and we got to get this thing back growing again.

15:03Sometimes it's we're growing so fast, we can't even keep up with operations. Hey, can somebody go move to Atlanta and spin up our Atlanta office because we need more people in Atlanta, right? I know people that were early at Uber. This was what was going on. Uber was working. They couldn't even keep up with demand. People who made millions of dollars and became really smart at Uber were people who were like, yeah, I'll go move to Kansas City. I'll boot up Kansas City as a market. And they're like, do you have any experience with Kansas City? They're like, hell no. Couldn't even find it on a map.

15:29Didn't matter. They were willing to go work on the A-plus problem. I'll give you a personal example. When we got acquired by Twitch, they were like, your job is, they bought our esports platform, and they were like, you're now the director of esports. Okay, cool. I'm supposed to work on this e-sports thing. And my friend said something to me that my co-founder, Furkan, he said something to me that stuck with me. He goes, he was, he was looking at the overall company dashboard and he's like, they're making some, I can't say the number. It's not, I'm not allowed to, but some huge number starts with a B and ends with an alien in revenue.

16:02And so they were like, he was like, don't you think that when we're here, you know, I don't know how long we're going to be here. Our vesting date is a year from now. Like, don't you think we should work on something that at least moves the needle 5%. The way he said it was, wouldn't you feel like a bitch if we worked here for a year and we didn't even make a 5 % swing in the company? And I was like, I would feel like a bitch if that happened. Now that you say that, I can't go back to just where he's like, do you think the thing we're doing right now can swing it by 5 %? I was like, hell no. That's not what this is going to do.

16:34This is going to do these other things, but it's not going to do that. And so we basically went on strike from day one. And we were like, we're just not going to do work until we figure out what is is the A plus problem? What is the thing that actually matters in this company? And we're just not going to busy ourselves until we find that. And luckily at a big company, nobody knows what the hell you're doing anyway. So the first two weeks, I was just walking around asking people questions, trying to figure out what actually matters here. And I found a project that was actually a big project. And we pitched it to the CEO and we're like, hey, this is a big problem.

17:03Do you have anyone who's solving this? And he's like, no. It's like, cool, I'm free. He's like, you're free? I thought you were supposed to be working on the thing. I'm like, yeah, but this is bigger, right? And he's like, yeah, it is bigger. And so he created a special team and we ran it to do that thing. And we actually made a big impact. This happened again. I remember when I was at Twitch and the top streamer on Twitch was this guy named Ninja. He got sponsored by Red Bull and he was like the star. He was on TV all the time and Fortnite was in its heyday and Ninja was the guy. And then Microsoft came and paid Ninja like$20 million to leave Twitch and go over there.

17:34And we lost our biggest streamer overnight. It's like if the Warriors, if somebody came and took Steph Curry off the Warriors, just paid him and he left. It's like, oh, shit. And it was an oh, shit moment. I said, well, that's probably the A plus problem right now. So what did I do? I dropped everything I was doing and I started working on that. Nobody had told me even what to work on, but I wrote a memo. I said, hey, it looks like he left. Here's some data analysis on how big of a problem that is or how little of a problem that is. Here's my strategy recommendation on what we should do. And I just sent it to the CEO.

18:03When in doubt, put a letter in the CEO's mailbox. And he's like, this is great. here joining a put me in three group chats right away, which were like the team, the exact teams that were working on that. And he's like, Hey, you know, Sean's in on this. And they're like, why he doesn't, he's supposed to be doing this other thing. And it's like, he has good, he has good thoughts on this. And so there's a way to work on the A plus problem, even if you're in a big company, or if you're an entrepreneur, by definition, you should always be working on the A plus problem. It's forced. And so I learned that skill because I first started my own companies and I knew you just got to always be working on the one big thing.

18:36What's the one A plus problem right now. So that's the second principle you have to do during this early phase. So what would I actually do? I would be, whether I start my own company or join one, I would be finding a way to work on the A-plus problem at all times. The last one is I'm creating luck. I'm creating a landing area for luck. And I want Lady Luck to come when she's flying by to see the surface area on my back and say, that looks like a good spot to set up camp for the night. And how do you do that? Well, I heard this great thing. I've said it a couple of times on the podcast, but you know what?

19:06Great things are worth repeating. There are four levels of luck. You got to be aware of them and then actually manufacture them. So luck is not something that happens to you. It is something that you can create and increase the odds of happening in your life. The first level of luck is just blind luck. That's the one where you didn't do shit. You just got struck by lightning. All right, fair enough. Nothing really, really you could do for that first level of luck, except for appreciate it when it does happen. Sometimes things truly do fall in your lap, but that's rare. Second level of luck is you're taking a bunch of action.

19:34You're just doing a bunch of shit and then good things happen to you. And this is fortune favors the bold. And so you should be looking at how do I just do more things, show up to more events, uh, make some introductions for people, uh, you know, just publish an analysis of something on the internet and maybe somebody smart will read it and think, Hey, this guy's awesome. I would love to meet him. You know, these are the things you do to create luck. Content is an amazing way to create luck. So if I was 25, again, I would be creating content in not because I think I could create a big audience.

20:03In fact, I almost think that would be a disservice if everybody's now listening to some 23-year-old, 25-year-old who's got no experience, no track record of success. I'm not trying to present myself as a thought leader. What I would be trying to do is publishing my thoughts, which puts pressure on me to have good thoughts and go learn some shit in order to hopefully have a small group of people who are interesting think that I'm interesting. And that increases my surface area for luck. So I'd be creating content on a regular basis, publishing my thoughts. I think when my intern came on here, the episode called, you know, my intern, uh, my 18 year old intern became a millionaire.

20:40One of the reasons why is because he said that he either he wrote it or his friend wrote an analysis about a stock, why the stock was good. And like, of course you're 18 years old. What do you really know about stocks? But it forced him to think why this could be a good buy. And he published it. And then someone interesting followed him because of that. And that became a lunch. And then that guy became his investor. And like all this series of events played out because he was putting his thoughts out there on the internet. And I think that's just like a core thing I would be doing on a regular basis, but not to become popular and not to, I always say, you don't want to be well-known.

21:15You want to be known well. So I would not be trying to be popular and get the biggest audience possible. I would be trying to put my original thoughts and most unique analysis out there so that the right people find me, the people that I want to be known well by because that's how new opportunities are going to happen. Okay. Okay, so let's say I've gone down this path. For me, that would be, I would start a company. Well, what company? It'd be any company where I feel like there's a problem and a solution fit. For me now, that would be a service company. I didn't do this at the time, but with the benefit of hindsight, I would say, cool.

21:49I would do some basic envelope math. I would say, well, I want to have, can I have 10 customers paying me$10 ,000 a month? 10 customers. now$10 ,000 might sound crazy but like for a business to business to spend$10 ,000 on things but I would say but that'd be my benchmark 10 customers paying me$10 ,000 a month that's$100 ,000 a month of income which is fucking baller if you missed that part so if you're doing 100k a month you're doing 1.2 a year you're doing the work mostly so it's you know 90 % profit margin you hire one or two schleps to work with you and now you know you're 85 % profit margin you're making a million dollars a year of profit.