Imagine earning more in a year than the CEOs of McDonald's, Ikea, Ford, Motorola, and Yahoo combined.Sounds insane, right? But that's exactly what I did as a twenty-something, leading to a portfolio revenue of $200 million.<a href="https://elevatedpath.beehiiv.com/subscribe">The Art of Habits</a> (It's free)By age 33, I hit $100 million in revenue. This isn't to boast, but to inspire the select few who are ready to learn how to truly leverage their time for massive success.

The Unbelievable Story

Most of us have been misled about what it takes to make money. We've been told that hard work and long hours are the keys to success. However, this mindset is fundamentally flawed. Here’s a breakdown of the true equation:

How Making Money Really Works

Traditional definitions of work are outdated. For knowledge workers, work should be defined as outputs, not just effort or hours put in. My definition is simple: Work = Outputs (Volume x Leverage)To work faster: Work Rate = Outputs / Time﻿

Work Equals Outputs

To increase your outputs, you can either increase your activity (volume) or improve your leverage. Volume is limited by time and physical capability, but leverage is unlimited. Take Warren Buffett, for instance. He earned $500 million in dividends from Coca-Cola last year with minimal effort compared to the CEO who earned $50 million but worked much harder.

Leverage is Key

Let’s break down how leverage works in real-world scenarios:<ol><li>Skill and Tools: If two people make the same number of calls, the one with better skills or tools (like an automated dialer) will achieve more.</li><li>Quality Leads: Given the same tools and skills, the person with better leads will perform better.</li><li>Better Offers: The individual with the superior offer will outperform others with the same leads, tools, and skills.</li><li>Automation: Recording a pitch and sending it to millions outperforms even the best live caller.</li><li>Team Leverage: Managing a team of callers can exponentially increase outputs </li></ol>

Practical Applications of Leverage

There's a common myth about passive income. In reality, nothing is truly passive; it's about how active the income generation process is. Even a seemingly passive activity like stock trading involves a significant amount of time analyzing and executing trades. The real measure is how much you can earn for each unit of time invested.

The Misconception of Passive Income

Adapting to new methods and ideas often involves a predictable emotional journey:<ol><li>Uninformed Optimism: Excited about a new opportunity without fully understanding it.</li><li>Informed Pessimism: Realizing the challenges involved.</li><li>Crisis of Meaning: Questioning the effort and considering giving up.</li><li>Informed Optimism: Discovering effective strategies and starting to see results.</li><li>Success: Achieving your goals and attracting attention from others.</li></ol>

The Five Stages of Change

If you want to outwork your competition, you need to out-leverage them. More outputs for your time means more success. Don't fall into the trap of switching opportunities without fully understanding and leveraging the current one.

Leveraging for the Future

Have you ever felt like you were spinning your wheels, trying to juggle multiple business ventures or ideas, but not truly excelling at any of them? You're not alone. In a world obsessed with multitasking and quick wins, it’s easy to fall into the trap of spreading yourself too thin. But, as many successful entrepreneurs will tell you, the secret to true success lies in focus and patience. Iwe'll dive into some eye-opening insights from a seasoned entrepreneur, who shares hard-earned lessons on why sticking to one thing can lead to extraordinary results.

How to Truly Succeed: Focus and the Power of Patience

"Everyone thinks the grass is greener" . This colorful analogy highlights a fundamental truth: every business, no matter how glamorous it appears from the outside, comes with its own set of challenges. The key to overcoming these challenges is not to hop from one opportunity to another but to dig in and understand the nitty-gritty of your chosen field. Whenever we're starting something new, we encounter something that makes it shittier."

The Illusion of the Green Grass

One of the most impactful stories shared is about a friend who owned a roofing business but was also dabbling in general contracting and house flipping. When asked why he wasn’t focusing on just roofing, the friend said he didn’t want to leave money on the table. But the truth, as the speaker points out, is that "the money you are leaving on the table is the focus that you're not giving to the one thing that matters." By scattering his efforts, his friend was missing out on the potential to build a billion-dollar roofing business

The Power of Focus

The importance of genuine learning, which only happens when you apply new knowledge and change your behavior accordingly. To achieve true success, you need to do one thing for a very long period, get help from others, and learn from mistakes quickly.

Key Insights on Learning and Growth

"Ordinary business done for extraordinary time creates extraordinary results." This nugget of wisdom speaks to the power of compounding. When you stick with one business and continuously improve it, the effects of your efforts multiply over time. It’s about making better use of what you have rather than constantly chasing new ventures. "If the vehicle you are in right now does not compound with time, then change the vehicle."

Compounding Success

Imagine if you had a magic wand and could eliminate all your side projects except for one. How easy would it be to grow that one business? Most people realize it would be significantly easier. The difficulty lies in making the tough decisions and having the hard conversations to let go of distractions. "All the riches you want are on the other side of a few hard conversations," reminds this.

Inspired by "The Matrix," the metaphor of the woman in the red dress to describe distractions. "You need to become the person who can say no to the woman in the red dress." The idea is that as you become more successful, new and seemingly better opportunities will constantly tempt you. The ability to say no to these distractions is crucial. This discipline must be exercised at every level of success, whether you’re turning down a small opportunity or a multimillion-dollar one.

Avoiding the Red Dress

The overarching message is clear: focus is the key to multiplying your success. By sticking to one thing and making it better, you create leverage and drive growth. "Better is better than new." If you want to see real results, you must resist the urge to chase every new opportunity and instead commit to doing one thing exceptionally well.

ommit to doing one thing exceptionally

Have you ever felt stuck in a loop, constantly seeking the next exciting thing to boost your business? It's a common trap for entrepreneurs. But what if I told you that the real key to success lies in the mundane, the repetitive, the boring?

The Power of Boring Tasks

Many entrepreneurs leave their jobs and get an emotional high from starting something new, only to jump ship when the initial excitement fades. This pattern is dangerous because it teaches you to associate quitting with rewards. The truth is, as you advance in your entrepreneurial journey, you need to unlearn this habit. Success comes from sticking with the boring but crucial tasks that others avoid.“Better comes from boring. It is not exciting to run your 38th split test on a landing page, but it does make you more money.”

Breaking the Cycle of Quick Fixes

Think about the list of tasks you know you should be doing in your business but aren’t. Often, these tasks are the ones that will bring the most value. We avoid them because they seem dull compared to more stimulating activities. However, embracing these tasks is where the magic happens.

Identifying What Needs to Be Done

“Most of us know what to do and we don't want to confront it because we want to do something more stimulating and exciting that makes us feel alive.”

Having multiple businesses might sound impressive, but it often leads to diluted efforts and poor results. ﻿“It's so much easier to stack the deck in your favor if you just do one thing. When you focus on one thing, you make it unreasonable to fail.”

The One-Business Focus

Consistency is often underrated. Whether it’s sales calls, role-playing with your team, or testing new ads, doing these activities regularly—not just once—yields significant results. The difference between a good and a great business often comes down to who is willing to put in the repetitive work.

The Role of Consistency

Many entrepreneurs are in a rush to grow, leading them to take shortcuts that undermine their product or service. The key is to build a solid foundation, even if it takes longer. This approach ensures sustainable growth and positive word-of-mouth.“The guy who takes the first year to get the product right makes everything easy. But no one can wait 12 months because they can't see the big picture.”

The Long-Term View

The concept of leverage is crucial in maximizing your efforts. By focusing on better offers and improving your product incrementally, you can achieve significant growth.

Leveraging Better Offers

“The way you get more from what you do is you first do everything that you know you should be doing better.”

Ready to leverage your time for maximum success? These insights are for You..

Want to SCALE your business? Go here: https://acquisition.com 
Want to START a business? Go here: https://skool.com/games 

If you’re new to my channel, my name is Alex Hormozi. I’m the founder and managing partner of Acquisition.com. It’s a family office, which is just a formal way of saying we invest our own money into companies. Our 10 portfolio companies bring in over $200,000,000+ per year. Our ownership stake varies between 20% and 100% of them. Given this is a YT channel, and anyone can claim anything, I’ll give you some stuff you can google to verify below.

How I got here…

21: Graduated Vanderbilt in 3 years Magna Cum Laude, and took a fancy consulting job.
23 yrs old: Left my fancy consulting job to start a business (a gym).
24 yrs old: Opened 5 gym locations.
26 yrs old: Closed down 6th gym. Lost everything. 
26 yrs old: Got back to launching gyms (launched 33). Then, lost everything for a 2nd time. 
26 yrs old: In desperation, started licensing model as a hail mary. It worked. 
27 yrs old: "Gym Launch" does $3M profit the next 6 months. Then $17M profit next 12 months.
28 yrs old: Started Prestige Labs. $20M the first year.  
29 yrs old: Launched ALAN, a software company for agencies to work leads for customers. Scaled to $1.7mmo within 6 months. 
31 yrs old: Sold 75% of UseAlan to a strategic buyer in an all stock deal. 
31 yrs old: Sold 66% of Gym Launch & Prestige Labs at $46.2M valuation in all-cash deal to American Pacific Group. (you can google it)
31 yrs old: Started our family office Acquisition.com. We invest and scale companies using the $42M in distributions we had taken + the cash from the $46.2M exit.
32 yrs old: Started making free content showing how we grow companies to make real business education accessible to everyone (and) to attract business owners to invest or scale their businesses. 
34 yrs old: I became co-owner of https://Skool.com to help the many people who want to start a business online do so.

Today: Our portfolio now does $200M/yr between 10 companies. The largest doing $100M/yr the smallest doing $5M per year. Our ownership varies between 20% and 100% ownership of the companies. Many of them we invested in early and helped grow (which is how we make our money - not youtube videos).

To all the gladiators in the arena, we’re all in the middle of writing our own stories. The worse the monsters, the more epic the story.

You either get an epic outcome or an epic story. Both mean you win. 

Keep crushing. May your desires be greater than your obstacles. 

Never quit,

Alex

*FULL DISCLOSURE* 
I make content to make money - just - on a longer time horizon than most. I want to build trust with business owners so we can find the best ones and help them scale. And if they’re awesome, write them a check and go all the way as partners.

marketingandsales

Marketing & Sales

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

business

Business

videos

Videos

$100M Leads Book Launch
Free Live Virtual Event 8/19 (You’re Invited)
👇 If you want a copy before it sells out - be there live. 👇 
ACQUISITION.COM/LEADS


Alex Hormozi

How to get SO rich you question the meaning of making money

Elon Musk’s early life in South Africa, marked by a turbulent family environment and relentless bullying at school, shaped his resilience and desire to escape. His voracious reading habit, particularly science fiction and biographies, fueled his ambitions.

Early Life & Influences

Musk’s entrepreneurial journey began early, with his first venture, Zip2, providing online business directories. Despite numerous challenges, he successfully sold the company, marking the start of his remarkable career.

Entrepreneurial Spirit

Co-founding X.com, which later became PayPal, Musk disrupted the financial industry with innovative online payment solutions. The eventual sale to eBay for $1.5 billion provided Musk with the capital to pursue his larger-than-life ambitions.

PayPal Revolution

Musk’s passion for space led to the creation of SpaceX. Despite initial failures, including three consecutive rocket crashes, his perseverance paid off with the successful launch of Falcon 1, revolutionizing the space industry.

Mission For Space Exploration

Musk’s involvement in Tesla transformed the electric vehicle market. His vision for sustainable energy and innovative approach to car manufacturing challenged traditional automotive giants and positioned Tesla as a leader in the industry.

Tesla & Electric Vehicles

With SolarCity, Musk aimed to make solar energy accessible and affordable. This venture aligned with his broader goal of reducing humanity’s dependence on fossil fuels and promoting sustainable living.

SolarCity & Renewable Energy

Musk introduced the Hyperloop concept, envisioning a high-speed transportation system that could drastically reduce travel time between cities. This ambitious idea reflects his continuous pursuit of groundbreaking innovations.

Hyperloop Concept

Musk’s journey has been fraught with challenges and controversies, from production delays at Tesla to public spats on social media. His unfiltered communication style and relentless work ethic have drawn both admiration and criticism.

Challenges & Controversies

Musk’s leadership is characterized by a demanding, often intense approach. He sets high expectations for himself and his employees, driving them to achieve extraordinary results but also causing high stress and turnover.

Leadership Style

Musk’s ability to think outside the box is a recurring theme. His willingness to tackle seemingly insurmountable problems with innovative solutions sets him apart as a true visionary in technology and business.

Innovative Thinking

SpaceX achieved significant milestones, including the first privately-funded spacecraft to reach orbit and the successful landing of reusable rockets. These achievements have paved the way for more cost-effective space exploration.

SpaceX’s Milestones

Under Musk’s leadership, Tesla disrupted the automotive market with its high-performance electric vehicles. The success of models like the Roadster, Model S, and Model 3 has redefined consumer expectations for electric cars.

Tesla’s Market Impact

Musk’s ventures are deeply rooted in his commitment to environmental sustainability. Through Tesla, SolarCity, and his advocacy for renewable energy, he strives to mitigate the impact of climate change.

Environmental Commitment

Musk’s Neuralink aims to create advanced brain-machine interfaces, potentially revolutionizing medical science and human-computer interaction. His interest in AI also extends to warnings about its potential risks, advocating for responsible development.

Neuralink & AI

The Boring Company, another of Musk’s ventures, seeks to revolutionize urban transportation by creating underground tunnels for high-speed travel. This project reflects his innovative approach to solving urban congestion.

Boring Company & Infrastructure

Musk’s public persona, amplified by social media, makes him one of the most influential figures in technology. His tweets can move markets and spark widespread discussions, highlighting his significant impact on public perception.

Public Persona & Influence

Despite criticisms, Musk has engaged in philanthropy, supporting education, renewable energy research, and disaster relief efforts. His contributions reflect a desire to leverage his wealth for broader societal benefits.

Philanthropic Efforts

Musk’s personal life, marked by multiple marriages and high-profile relationships, adds complexity to his public image. Balancing his personal and professional life continues to be a challenge for the relentless entrepreneur.

Personal Life & Challenges

Musk’s ventures and persona have left a profound cultural impact, inspiring a new generation of entrepreneurs and innovators. His story exemplifies the power of vision, resilience, and the pursuit of ambitious goals.

Cultural Imp

Looking ahead, Musk’s vision encompasses interplanetary colonization, AI advancements, and sustainable energy solutions. His relentless drive to push boundaries ensures that his influence on technology and society will continue to grow.

Future Vision

Discover the extraordinary journey of Elon Musk, a relentless visionary transforming industries with SpaceX, Tesla, and more in this gripping biography by Walter Isaacson.

From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter. When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist. His father’s impact on his psyche would linger. He developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive. At the beginning of 2022—after a year marked by SpaceX launching thirty-one rockets into orbit, Tesla selling a million cars, and him becoming the richest man on earth—Musk spoke ruefully about his compulsion to stir up dramas. “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life,” he said. It was a wistful comment, not a New Year’s resolution. Even as he said it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the world’s ultimate playground. Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place, his mind went back to being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to own the playground. For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the question: are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?

technologyandthefuture

Technology & The Future

books

Books

space

Space

Walter Isaacson, a professor of history at Tulane, has been CEO of the Aspen Institute, chair of CNN, and editor of Time. He is the author of 'Leonardo da Vinci; The Innovators; Steve Jobs; Einstein: His Life and Universe; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life; and Kissinger: A Biography, and the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. Visit him at Isaacson.Tulane.edu and on Twitter at @WalterIsaacson

Walter Isaacson

Elon Musk

Smith emphasizes the importance of clear and straightforward strategies. Complex strategies often lead to confusion and poor execution. Focus on simple, actionable plans that everyone in the organization can understand and implement.

Clarity Over Complexity

Successful strategies leverage a company’s core strengths. Identify what your company does best and build your strategy around these capabilities. This focus ensures that resources are directed towards areas where you have a competitive advantage.

Focus on Core Strength

Strategy is useless without proper execution. Ensure that all levels of the organization are aligned with the strategic goals. This alignment fosters a unified effort towards achieving the objectives and minimizes wasted resources.

Alignment & Execution

Put the customer at the heart of your strategy. Understanding customer needs and preferences is crucial for developing products and services that meet market demands. This approach helps in building strong customer relationships and loyalty.

Customer-Centric Approach

In today’s fast-paced business environment, agility is key. Be prepared to adapt your strategy in response to changing market conditions and new opportunities. This flexibility allows for quick pivots and helps maintain relevance.

Agility & Adaptibili

Base your strategy on solid data rather than assumptions or gut feelings. Use analytics to gain insights into market trends, customer behavior, and operational performance. Data-driven decisions increase the likelihood of success.

Data-Driven Decisions

Allocate resources strategically to areas that offer the highest returns. Avoid spreading resources too thin across too many projects. Focus on initiatives that align with your strategic priorities and have the potential for significant impact.

Resource Allocation

Empower employees to take ownership of their roles and hold them accountable for their contributions to the strategy. This empowerment fosters a sense of responsibility and encourages proactive problem-solving and innovation.

Empowerment & Accountability

Adopt a mindset of continuous improvement. Regularly review and refine your strategy based on performance metrics and feedback. This iterative process helps in staying competitive and responsive to changes.

Continuous Improvement

Clear and consistent communication is essential for successful strategy implementation. Ensure that strategic goals, progress, and expectations are communicated effectively across the organization. This transparency builds trust and keeps everyone on the same page.

Effective Communication

Strong leadership commitment is crucial for driving strategic initiatives. Leaders must not only endorse the strategy but also actively participate in its execution. Their commitment sets the tone for the entire organization and motivates employees to align with strategic goals.

Leadership Commitment

Cut through the noise with Alex M. H. Smith's "No Bullshit Strategy." Learn how clarity, focus, and execution can drive your business to new heights.

Most strategy is, let’s face it, bullsh*t. A bunch of fancy words which mean nothing at all. At best harmless and easy to ignore. At worst confusing and destructive. What if strategy could instead be clear, simple, bold, and even actually useful? That’s what No Bullsh*t Strategy is all about. It sweeps away all the garbled corporate nonsense and dry academic theorising to leave you with pure strategic sauce, which can be actioned right away. It’ll make you see your business in a totally new light, and effortlessly unlock insights you didn’t know you had in you. Even better, it makes strategy fun. Ideal for the young entrepreneur and accessible to anyone, if you're wanting to demystify strategy and apply it instantly, No Bullsh*t Strategy is the book for you.

startup

Startups

Alex M H Smith

No Bullsh*t Strategy

You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.

•	Anticipate future needs. Relying solely on current feedback can limit innovation and delay success. How can you better anticipate the future needs of your audience or market?	•	Lead with your vision. True innovation comes from pursuing your unique vision rather than just following others’ demands. Jobs’ approach inspires you to lead with your own ideas. What bold vision can you pursue today that sets you apart?	•	Adapt quickly to changes. Flexibility and quick adaptation are crucial in a fast-paced environment.

Innovate: Lead with Vision, Not Just Feedback

That’s been one of my mantras—focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.

•	Strive for clarity in your thoughts. Simplifying your thoughts requires effort and discipline, but it leads to clearer and more effective actions.	•	Prioritize simplicity in your tasks. Complex solutions can be less effective and harder to execute. How can you simplify a current task or project to make it more effective?	•	Focus on what truly matters. Distractions and unnecessary complexities can hinder progress. Jobs’ focus on simplicity teaches you to concentrate on essential goals. What steps can you take to eliminate distractions and focus on what really matters?

Simplify: Achieve Greatness Through Focus and Simplicity

In business, if I knew earlier what I know now, I’d have probably done some things a lot better than I did, but I also would’ve probably done some other things a lot worse. But so what? It’s more important to be engaged in the present.

•	Let go of past mistakes. Dwelling on past errors can prevent you from fully engaging in the present. Steve Jobs emphasizes that learning from the past is important, but it shouldn’t hinder your current focus. 	•	Be mindful and present in daily activities. Fully engaging in the present moment enhances productivity and satisfaction. 	•	Adapt to current challenges with flexibility. Being present means addressing today’s challenges with a fresh perspective and readiness to adapt. How can you better adapt to the challenges you face today?

Focus on the Present

My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other’s kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That’s how I see business: great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people.

•	Value the strengths of each team member. Every person brings unique skills and strengths that contribute to the team’s success.	•	Keep each other’s negative tendencies in check. Collaboration involves mutual support and constructive feedback to manage weaknesses. How can you provide and accept constructive feedback within your team?	•	Focus on the collective goal. Achieving greatness requires unified effort and a shared vision. Jobs’ reminds you that teamwork can create results greater than the sum of individual efforts. How can you better align your team’s efforts towards a common goal?

Collaborate: Achieve Greatness Through Teamwork

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.

<ul><li>Reflect on past experiences. Understanding and connecting your past experiences can spark new ideas. Steve Jobs highlights that creativity comes from linking these experiences. </li><li>Practice synthesizing ideas. Regularly combining and recombining ideas can lead to innovative solutions. Jobs emphasizes that creativity involves synthesizing different elements into something new. How can you practice merging different ideas to create something unique?</li></ul>

Connect: Unlock Creativity by Linking Experiences

And [innovation] comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.

<ul><li>Identify your top priorities. Knowing what is most important helps you focus your efforts effectively. Steve Jobs emphasizes that saying no to distractions is crucial for innovation. </li><li>Learn to say no to less important tasks. Declining tasks that don't align with your priorities allows you to concentrate on what matters most. Jobs' advice encourages you to protect your focus by saying no. What tasks or opportunities can you say no to in order to stay focused?</li><li>Regularly reassess your commitments. Continually evaluating your commitments ensures that you remain aligned with your main goals. </li></ul>

Focus: Prioritize by Saying No to Distractions

You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology—not the other way around.

•	Understand customer needs deeply. Prioritizing customer experience begins with a deep understanding of their needs and preferences. Steve Jobs emphasizes starting with the customer to ensure a successful product. How can you better understand your customers’ needs today?	•	Design solutions from the customer’s perspective. Create products and services that solve real customer problems effectively.	•	Continuously gather customer feedback. Regular feedback helps refine and improve the customer experience. How can you implement a system for continuous customer feedback?

Focus: Prioritize Customer Experience First

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

Embrace New Beginnings<ul><li>New beginnings bring freedom and opportunities for creativity</li><li>Steve Jobs used being fired from Apple to start fresh and be more creative</li></ul>Find Lightness in Uncertainty<ul><li>Embracing uncertainty can lead to personal and professional growth</li><li>What uncertain areas of your life can you approach with a sense of lightness and curiosity?</li></ul>Use Setbacks as a Catalyst for Growth<ul><li>Setbacks can be a catalyst for significant personal and creative growth</li><li>Jobs' firing from Apple spurred his creativity and growth</li><li>How can a recent setback in your life become a catalyst for growth and creativity?</li></ul>

Transform Setbacks into Opportunities

The Apple II peeled off the hardware layer. You didn’t need to know about the hardware to use a computer. The next step was the transition from the Apple II to the Macintosh, which peeled off the computer-literacy layer, if you will. In other words, you didn’t have to be a hacker or a computer scientist to use one of these.

Making complex technologies easy to use can broaden their accessibility and impact. The Apple II made it unnecessary to understand hardware to use a computer.Eliminate Barriers to Technology UseRemoving barriers to technology use can democratize access and empower more people. The Macintosh allowed people to use computers without needing extensive technical knowledge.Innovate User-Friendly SolutionsCreating user-friendly solutions can transform how people interact with technology. Steve Jobs focused on making technology user-friendly with the Apple II and Macintosh.

Make Technology Accessible to Everyone

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc., was truly one of this generation’s most innovative and forward-thinking entrepreneurs. Apple, under his vision and direction, changed the way people interact with each other and think about technology. Known as much for his genius as his privacy, the advice and knowledge he did share with the world gives exclusive insight into the most important man of the past century. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.” “We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.” “The cure for Apple is not cost-cutting. The cure for Apple is to innovate its way out of its current predicament.” “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.”

creativity

Creativity

humanresources

Human Resources

Alan Ken Thomas

The Business Wisdom of Steve Jobs

The people who aim to succeed in life despite starting late or facing disadvantages.If you weren’t born rich, don’t consider yourself a genius, or grew up without knowing what you wanted to do, don’t worry.Success is still within your reach, even without special skills or talent.Here’s how you can achieve it.<a href="https://elevatedpath.beehiiv.com/subscribe">The Art of Habits</a> (it's free)

Introduction

No one will spoon-feed you information, especially when you're trying to get ahead in life. You need to become a relentless learner, constantly seeking out new knowledge and skills.Forget expensive universities and additional degrees. Utilize resources like<ul><li> books</li><li>online courses</li><li>podcasts</li><li>mentors. </li></ul>Self-study is incredibly powerful, and the key is to learn, learn, and learn.

Get Hardcore About Self-Learning

"You start making progress once you take responsibility for your own progress. You must keep learning new things every single day."

People who have achieved what you aspire to have already paved the way. They've made mistakes, learned lessons, and found strategies that work. You can stand on their shoulders.Learn from them. Read their <ul><li>biographies</li><li>follow their careers</li><li>take note of their advice.</li></ul>Adapt their <ul><li>habits</li><li>attitudes</li><li>strategies </li></ul>to suit your own circumstances. As Jesse Livermore once said:

Copy Your Heroes (The Winners)

"Set your own rules and stick to them; never argue with the market; never make a play you can’t afford; never give way to irrational exuberance. Above all, don’t be a sucker."

While copying is a great way to start, you must always pave your own path. Everyone has a unique perspective based on their <ul><li>Experiences</li><li>Values</li><li>Beliefs</li></ul>Combine the skills you’ve learned with your experience to cultivate your perspective on everything. Remember, no one in the world has your exact set of <ul><li>Skills </li><li>Talents</li><li>Perspectives</li></ul>

Combine Your New Skills with Your Unique Life View

"Try not to live other people’s lives. Do what you can to pursue your unique viewpoint of a good life. Because that’s what sets you apart from everyone else."

Once you start developing your own perspective, it’s time to act on it. Do something that’s unique to you. This could be an <ul><li>Innovative business idea</li><li>A unique approach to solving a problem</li><li>An investing strategy that works for you</li></ul>It takes time, and you have to be patient. My own path took years:<ul><li>Tried various jobs after graduating from university</li><li>Started writing in 2015 at age 28</li><li>Truly created something unique in 2024 by combining investing insights and Stoic views</li></ul>

Do Something Different in Your Field

"It’s easy to follow the crowd, but it’s the ones who dare to be different that truly stand out. If you want to succeed, you need to differentiate yourself from the rest."

Unless you’re born with privileges, the odds of succeeding in life are against you. But success isn’t about where you start; it’s about where you end up. Real success means improving your life situation, not just fulfilling expectations.

The Odds Are Against You. Beat Them Anyway.

It can be hard to succeed in life if you don't have the privileges and advantages that others have. But you still can.

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

education

Learning & Education

How to Succeed at Life (even if you start late/have a disadvantage)

Chris Guillebeau introduces the concept of microbusinesses, small ventures that can be started with minimal investment, often around $100, and scaled to provide significant income and freedom.

The Micro business Revolution

Success often comes from combining passion with skills. Guillebeau emphasizes finding what you love to do and how you can turn that into a business.

Follow Your Passion

Unlock the secrets to starting a successful business with just $100. Chris Guillebeau’s “The $100 Startup” reveals how passion and creativity can fuel your dreams.

Lead a life of adventure, meaning and purpose—and earn a good living.   “Thoughtful, funny, and compulsively readable, this guide shows how ordinary people can build solid livings, with independence and purpose, on their own terms.”—Gretchen Rubin, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Happiness Project   Still in his early thirties, Chris Guillebeau completed a tour of every country on earth and yet he’s never held a “real job” or earned a regular paycheck. Rather, he has a special genius for turning ideas into income, and he uses what he earns both to support his life of adventure and to give back.    Chris identified 1,500 individuals who have built businesses earning $50,000 or more from a modest investment (in many cases, $100 or less), and focused on the 50 most intriguing case studies. In nearly all cases, people with no special skills discovered aspects of their personal passions that could be monetized, and were able to restructure their lives in ways that gave them greater freedom and fulfillment.   Here, finally, distilled into one easy-to-use guide, are the most valuable lessons from those who’ve learned how to turn what they do into a gateway to self-fulfillment. It’s all about finding the intersection between your “expertise”—even if you don’t consider it such—and what other people will pay for.  You don’t need an MBA, a business plan or even employees. All you need is a product or service that springs from what you love to do anyway, people willing to pay, and a way to get paid.   Not content to talk in generalities, Chris tells you exactly how many dollars his group of unexpected entrepreneurs required to get their projects up and running; what these individuals did in the first weeks and months to generate significant cash; some of the key mistakes they made along the way, and the crucial insights that made the business stick. Among Chris’s key principles: If you’re good at one thing, you’re probably good at something else; never teach a man to fish—sell him the fish instead; and in the battle between planning and action, action wins.   In ancient times, people who were dissatisfied with their lives dreamed of finding magic lamps, buried treasure, or streets paved with gold. Today, we know that it’s up to us to change our lives. And the best part is, if we change our own life, we can help others change theirs. This remarkable book will start you on your way.

The $100 Startup

Find 100+ Business Facts, Ideas & Insights - Curated from inspiring sources like Books, Podcasts & Articles - Genuine Insights from like-minded Users like You!

How to get SO rich you question the meaning of making money

Elon Musk

No Bullsh*t Strategy

The Business Wisdom of Steve Jobs

How to Succeed at Life (even if you start late/have a disadvantage)

The $100 Startup

Shoe Dog

Originals

5 Habits That'll Make You Happier (and Wealthier) Than 97% of People

The Art of Possibility: Embrace Abundance and Let Go of Control

It's time to
Read like a Pro.

How to get SO rich you question the meaning of making money

Elon Musk

No Bullsh*t Strategy

The Business Wisdom of Steve Jobs

How to Succeed at Life (even if you start late/have a disadvantage)

The $100 Startup

Shoe Dog

Originals

5 Habits That'll Make You Happier (and Wealthier) Than 97% of People

The Art of Possibility: Embrace Abundance and Let Go of Control

It's time to Read like a Pro.

It's time to
Read like a Pro.