The advice I wish I’d heard 20 years ago.

This is a very important fact that most of us were never taught:
People do not create wealth by working hard at a job.

Even high-paying jobs like doctors and lawyers won’t give you real freedom—because you’re only earning while you’re physically working.

When you’re sleeping, you’re not making money.
When you’re retired, you’re not making money.
When you’re on vacation, you’re not making money.

Getting paid by your hours means you will never be financially free because you will always be replaceable.

If you look at doctors who do get really rich, it’s because they opened a private practice. The private practice builds a brand, and the brand attracts people.

If you don’t own a piece of a business, you don’t have a path toward financial freedom.

Everybody who really makes money at some point owns a piece of a product or business—even through stock options. But usually, the real wealth is created by starting your own companies or by investing.

This newsletter will focus on the first, because once you build something you love and build wealth with it — investing becomes easier.

You’re probably chasing money, when what you really want is wealth.

Money is how we transfer wealth. It’s the credits and debits of other people's time.

If I do my job right, if I create value for society, society says, "Oh, thank you. We owe you something in the future for the work you did in the past. Here's a little IOU. Let's call that money."

Wealth is the thing you want. Wealth = assets that earn while you sleep.
It’s the computer program that's serving customers at night.
It’s even money in the bank that’s being reinvested into other assets and businesses.
Even a house can be a form of wealth, because you can rent it out.

A job that pays you hourly is giving you money—but not wealth.

To create real wealth by doing something that you’ll love —
you need to “productize” yourself.

1. Think of what you are uniquely drawn to.

Find and build specific knowledge.

I mean figure out what you were doing as a kid or teenager almost effortlessly.
Something you didn't even consider a skill, but people around you noticed. Your mother or your best friend growing up would know.

Examples of what your specific knowledge could be:

• Sales skills — you’re good at talking to people.

• Musical talents — the ability to pick up any instrument.

• An obsessive personality — you dive into things and remember them quickly.

• Love for science fiction: you were into reading sci-fi, which means you absorb a lot of knowledge very quickly.

• Playing a lot of games, you understand game theory pretty well.

• Gossiping. That might make you into a very interesting journalist.

The specific knowledge is this weird combination of unique traits from your DNA, your unique upbringing, and your response to it. It's almost baked into your personality.

Specific knowledge is found by pursuing your innate talents, your genuine curiosity, and your passion. It's not by going to school for whatever is the coolest job or going into whatever field investors say is the hottest.

If you're not 100 percent into it, somebody else who is will outperform you. And not just by a little bit—they'll outperform you by a lot.

2. Sell it.
“What problem could my unique skills and interests solve?”

The next step is to ask yourself how you can use those unique skills and interests to provide something that other people need.

Society always wants new things. And if you want to be wealthy, figure out which one of those things you can provide for society that feels natural to you, is within your skill set, and within your capabilities.

This is hard. This is why it takes decades—not because it takes decades to execute, but the better part of a decade may be spent figuring out what you can uniquely provide.

When you’re competing with people, it’s because you’re copying them. But every human is different. Don’t copy.

You can copy others while you’re just learning new skills. But if you’re building and marketing something that’s an extension of who you are, no one can compete with that.

Who’s going to compete with Joe Rogan? It’s impossible because he’s built something that’s authentically him.

“Escape competition through authenticity.”

3. Scale it.
“How can I scale this with labor, capital, code, or with media?”

The most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner. You have to know how to learn anything you want to learn.

The old model for making money is going to school for four years, getting your degree, and working as a professional for 30 years.

But things change fast now.

It's much more important today to become an expert in a brand-new field in 9-12 months than to have studied the "right" thing a long time ago.

You can only achieve mastery in one or two things.
It’s usually things you’re obsessed about.

Then, you have to figure out how to take that obsession—that problem-solving business idea— and scale it. Figure out how you can get it in front of more people, more easily.

The internet has massively broadened the possible space of careers. Most people haven’t figured this out yet.

You can go on the internet, and you can find your audience. And you can build a business, create a product, build wealth, and make people happy just by uniquely expressing yourself online.

And the great news is: because every human is different, everyone is the best at something—being themselves.

If you’re committed to the journey of…
growing every day
to become your ideal self
and making this life an exciting adventure
through business, fitness, and relationships
join other inspired idiots like you!