Best of This Week: March 18th

So he goes, so he's 23 now, and he goes, I started doing this when I was 11. And Joe's like, what, 11? He's like, yeah. He's like, I came home and I, he's like, I started doing this when I was 11. And he's like, I sucked obviously at the beginning. He's like, so he's like, he's like, look at me now. I don't look cool now. Like, imagine me at like 12. Like, I was like, you know, pimply, you know, pimply face, scrawny, awkward, mumbly kind of guy. And like, here I am trying to like, make videos. And he's like, back then also YouTube really, there wasn't a thing like YouTubers, wasn't like a thing 12, 13 years ago, you know? So it's like, he's like, yeah, I just was doing it 'cause I liked it. He goes, I hated school. He goes, I never, he's like, in high school I just never even brought a book home. Like, he's like, I remember doing zero studying. My parents got so mad at me. He's like, and then like when I turned 18, um, he's like, he's like, basically, so his, his win, it went in 3 phases. He goes, From 11 to 13, I was trying to make videos, but I was like super embarrassed because they were so bad. And Joe's like, do they still exist? He goes, no, I deleted my channel when I turned 13 because like I got like, I don't know, like bullied in school a little bit. I felt embarrassed. So I deleted all those videos, but I like started fresh again at 13 and like whatever, kept going. He's like, so then from 13 to like 17 or 18, I was just trying to make like videos all the time because my first video randomly got like 20,000 views. He's like, that was the best thing that ever happened to me. I got like this instant hit and I was hooked. And then like, it didn't happen again for a while, but like that first one, which was about like, he like hacked some video game, like here's how to beat this level in a video game or whatever. He's like some obscure game and it just like, people wanted to know how to do that hack. So that's how I got popular right away. Um, or he's like, that's how that video got popular. And then I got, I wanted to chase that, that, that feeling again. So he's like, I wasn't making any money. He's like, finally I got to the point where I was making a dollar a day. And he's like, yes. And he's like, so I saved up for like a few months and I bought a microphone. And I was like, yeah, like now I sound good. Like, here we go. And he's like, I just kept doing that. I kept like making a couple bucks, saving it, and then like buy a camera or buy like, you know, like a better computer so I could like edit the videos or screen record or whatever. And so he just kept doing that for like 6 years. He's like, my whole goal was that by the time I graduate from high school, can I like just make enough money doing this? Cause I don't want to do anything else.

So it did not happen. He's like, by the time I— he's like, by the time I graduated high school, I was making like $400 a month or something like that. And he's like, you know, it's $300, $400. He's like, so my mom gave me this ultimatum. She's like, you know, you're moving out or you're like going to community college. Like, you're not going to do this video thing. And so he's like, fuck, okay. He's like, I didn't want to go to community college. He's like, it's like the worst thing in the world. Just sitting there listening to this lecture. Like, it's not what I wanted to do. He's like, so I started skipping. He's like, every day I would just go to my car and instead of going to community college, I would just edit videos in my car. He's like, I'd do that all day and I'd come home and my mom thought I went to school. He's like, and he's like, that created a clock because now she was going to find out, like, by the end of the semester, I had zeros as my grades. Like, she was going to know that I did not go to community college. So I had to, like, I bought myself, like, one semester more of time. He's like, and in that time, I pulled it off. Like, I got to the point where I could, like, self-sustain. I just moved out., and then I could like do this like full-time moving on my own. He's like, and so that's kind of like the progression of how I did it. And I was like, how awesome is that? How awesome is that? Exactly. Like a bet on yourself story where burn the bridge behind you. Right. So, so, you know, you, uh, we say burn the bridges. I don't know why we say that. It's burn the boats. Uh, like if you want to take the island, you got to burn the boats. And so he burned the boats when he, when he did that and, uh, and knew what he wanted to do. Right. Cause like, school's great, but school's not for everybody. If you, if you kind of know what you want to do, um, you're much better off, I think, competing in the free market on that thing than like competing for your teacher's like love and affection, you know, with writing the essay they want to grade as an A+, right? Like writing the thing they want you to write about in the format they want you to write in a way that will get them to give you the grade, right? Like that's like, that's like not a real market. Whereas you make videos on YouTube, you're competing in like a real market, or you want to be an athlete.

Yeah, it's just that most people think that they're like going to do something for life and they aren't willing to, or they don't actually want to. I think, I think the rarity here is not, is someone 18 incapable? It's, do they actually love what they're saying they love enough that they're willing to dedicate 10 or 20 years to it?

And he did it before he had his own thing. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And he was great at it. And then he's like, he talks about, he's like, yeah, people want my beats. They're like, oh, I want, okay, can I get one? Can I get, I need a beat. Give me a beat. He's like, and then they hear my song, they're like, yo, I hadn't heard this. Where'd you get this? He goes, that's my shit. I use that for me. And he's like, he's like trying to like, on one hand he needs to sell beats to pay for life, but every time he does, it's a step away from where he wants to be in a way, like to be a rapper. And so he's in this hallway and this guy's trying to hype him up because he's like, oh, you got the documentary crew? So he puts his arm around him. It's like the managing director at Rockefeller Records. And he's like, You know, this right here, Kanye West, he's the best rapper producer in the game. Best rapper producer in the game, period. And then Kanye's like, kind of like upset. He's like, what? He goes, why you guys say that, man? It's like saying I'm the best kid rapper in the game. He's like, what, man? I said you're the best rapper producer in the game. He goes, I'm just a rapper. If I'm the 50th best rapper, just say he's the 50th best rapper. Don't call me the best rapper producer in the game. That's whack. All them are whack. I'm not that. I'm a rapper. And like, think about what's going on in that moment, right? He's like fighting to get a record deal where most people are in desperation mode. Like they'll take what they can get. And instead he's got this identity and the whole world is trying to pull him to just be a producer because that's what's in it for them. Like that's proven and that helps, you know, helps them make hits. And you know, why aren't you just happy? Pat you on your head and say you're a great producer. And he had this identity in his head so strong that I think 99 people out of 100 in his position would just become a producer because the whole world was pulling him in that direction and it was a faster, clearer path to success. And the money was there and the success was there and he didn't have to grind as hard as he did to try to prove himself as a rapper. But he had it in his head, no, I'm a rapper. And if I'm the 50th best rapper, I'd rather be the 50th best rapper than the best rapper producer. And I just, it was such an example to me of like, people will stay consistent with their identity. And so you kind of gotta ask yourself like, what is my identity? Like if I said, Sam, are you, what's your job, Sam?

I'm an entrepreneur. Yeah.

And I would argue, so there's this book called 48 Laws of Power. Have you read it?

All right. It's awesome. So he's got this one chapter where he says you always have to reinvent yourself. And he gives a bunch of examples about that. And the reason why you wanna reinvent yourself is the person who you can't peg down typically can become the most powerful. Because there's something about changing yourself that it does a couple of things. First, this whole act as if thing, it's real. So if you like, act like you're going to be an expert artist or something and you work harder, you can eventually become that. But you kind of got to act as if. Second, it kind of reinforces habits. So you feel like, no, I'm a healthy person, therefore I don't do unhealthy things. And third, it gives you this aura of mystery. And people who have mystery surrounding them typically are powerful. Right. And, uh, and there's a ton of good examples about this. Like a really interesting and easy one because she does it so clearly is Lady Gaga. So like oftentimes she'll reinvent herself. So at first she was this like kind of just normal like white lady playing on the piano. If you see her like when she's a little bit younger, then she becomes like this weirdo person where she like puts meat on her body. Then she transforms and becomes, um, she starts playing jazz with Tony Bennett. You're like, what the heck? Lady Gaga's doing that? What the hell is that? Now she's like, just got done doing some acting and she was a great actor. So like constantly reinventing themselves. I think Arnold Schwarzenegger has done a really good job at that. We just can't— yeah, you just, you got to reinvent yourself consistently. And Kanye has done that where he's actually changed himself. And I think inventing, reinventing yourself, you actually need to make the decision. You gotta be like, I am this now. I am this.

Andrew, I feel like you've reached this point and I used to be like, how do these motherfuckers do this? Where I remember I was doing a startup and it was so hard to get my one thing to work. And then I would meet people who were like, oh yeah, so I have that past success, then I have my current success, and then here's my 3 side successes. That, oh yeah, I had this idea and then we just started doing it. And then guess what? The line's out the door. And then this other one, it's like kind of cool. We just started it, you know, like I accidentally, you know, my hand just fell on my keyboard and I accidentally wrote this app. It was amazing. It went viral. And then this other thing that I just tweeted about and then this all coming together nicely. And I just remember being like, what do they know? Something I don't know. Is there just like extreme luck component? And I felt that way for many years, 5, 6 years straight when I was pushing the boulder up the hill with my startup. And then I now have experienced exactly what the thing that I was most jealous of, and I have no idea what switched in between where like the last 5 things I've tried have all worked and all worked pretty much immediately. And it doesn't matter how big or small, like, you know, whether it's like the podcast or the course or, you know, my e-commerce business or my, the new Milk Road newsletter business, like each of these has just worked straight away in a bigger way than anything I'd ever done before. Um, with less work and less stress than like the old stuff I used to do. And I have no idea what changed, or I have a kind of an inkling, but I don't really know. Sam, have you ever thought about this? Are you— what I'm talking about?

So my inkling is that I switched up my situation. So like I was in one situation for a very long time, like, and it was a nice situation, it was a very nice situation, but it was like where I was going to this office every day, working with these people in this hierarchy with this boundary box of like what project or projects we can work on. And like what success might look like. And as soon as I got outta that and I was just me, I was like, oh, okay, so now that it's just me that I have to look out for, I guess I could just do a podcast. I didn't have to have like this big venture billion dollar outcome. I didn't have 20 engineers to go tell what to do. I had no engineers. So I just did what I could do with no engineers, which was like, I'll do a, a podcast, I'll do a course, I'll do, I'll just try to get big on Twitter. Let's just see what happens. And oh, you know, like 5 tweets go viral and boom, got 200,000 followers. It's like, there's these things that I just wasn't doing before because I think before I had a really set thing of like, here's what I need to do. Like, here's the only way to win. And I had like almost too much ammo. I had like too many people at my disposal, too much funding, too much everything. And because of that, I had a very narrow window of what could work. And so I was just trying to come up with ideas that might work versus, oh, let me just try this because I'm— I just kind of want to try it. And then when, once I got into, I just kind of want to try it and I didn't have it. I didn't have to worry about what other people thought or I didn't have to come in and manage anybody in that day and tell them what to do. I didn't have like investors to go pitch to. I just did the thing. And then all of a sudden I feel like, you know, sort of like all the talents and skills that I had been building up over the past 10 years, like finally got to just do them. Yeah.

Don't you think it's like dating or something though, where it's like, you, you know, you date a couple crazy girls and it's really exhilarating. And then over time you're like, wow, that was horrible. And there's pattern matching. You're like, okay, when I go to a restaurant and a girl's rude to the waiter, that's a no, right? And in the same way with business, you go, oh, okay. Like I used to think I wanted to build all these kinds of businesses, but those were 10-foot hurdles. I don't want to jump 10-foot hurdles. I want to jump 1-foot hurdles. And so if you think about it, all the stuff you're doing, they're in your circle of competence and they're relatively simple to execute. They don't require a lot of people, they don't require funding. I think learning that is like a 15-year overnight success kind of thing where it just clicks suddenly. Right. Yes. And I'll catch myself occasionally getting pulled down rabbit trails of like, oh, what if I did this crazy, you know, drone AI startup, whatever. But then I always go back to base hits.

And there's this third component of, of confidence. And so I think that because of like my work, I've been more confident and I understand like, Well, if I invest a dollar here, I think I can make at least, uh, $3 the next 2 years. So like just understanding how machines, like money-making machines work, investments. But then also I think Sean, because we get to hang out with pe— we hang out with each other, we hang out with Andrew, we hang out with our circle of friends, we hang out with all the people we've had speak at our events. We hang out with our, um, podcast guests. It becomes more normal. Like succeeding has become far more normal than not succeeding actually. And not succeeding is just like, Oh yeah, it's going to happen. But then you just move on and do the next thing. And it's like, and then inevitably it works. So it's not if it's, or it's not when it's if. And I think that confidence has actually helped a ton where, so for example, now if someone wants to like real estate's an easy one because it's so predictable, but with real estate, you're like, oh man, putting $100,000 down on this house is a lot of money. That's a, you know, that's 6 figures. It's like, well, dude, but it's going to make 12%. It's like, well, I don't know that. And I'm like, yeah, I know, but it's going to do that. So you actually want to invest more. So like that confidence of just knowing the motions and knowing the routine and process has actually helped a lot. All right.