My First Million - Best of This Week: March 18th

Starting point is 00:00:03 I feel like I can rule the world. I know I could be what I want to. I put my all in it like no days off. On a road, let's travel, never looking back. Hello and welcome to My First Million, Best of the Week edition. This is Ben Wilson. Best of the Week brings you some of the best clips from this week's episodes, no new content, just highlighting some of the great moments we've had over the past few days.

Starting point is 00:00:24 We have some great clips for you today. To start off with what we've got Sam and Sean recapping the Mr. Beast interview on Joe Rogan and talking about the power of betting on yourself. You saw Mr. Beast went on Joe Rogan. I don't know if you caught the episode at all. I didn't. Just a couple of the clips where they said like, what do you do at your money?

Starting point is 00:00:42 And he's like, not much. He goes, I used to have a roommate up until recently. And we split our place for $700. But I got a fancier place because someone broke into my house. So I needed like some security, but it's still like pretty normal of a house.

Starting point is 00:00:53 Yeah, I didn't see that. So I've only seen one clip. And it was basically the clip of like, how did you make it on YouTube? And it's a great clip, right? Like it's a, so he goes.

Starting point is 00:01:02 So he's 20. three now. And he goes, I started doing this when I was 11. And Joe's like, what? He's like, yeah, he's like, I came home and he's like, he's like, I started to do 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 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, YouTube. wasn't like a thing 12, 13 years ago, you know?

Starting point is 00:01:36 So it's like, he's like, yeah, I just was doing it because I liked it. He goes, I hated school. He's like, in high school, I just never even brought a book home. Like I just like, I remember doing zero studying. My parents got so mad at me. He's like, and then like when I turned 18, he's like, he's like basically, so his win in three phases. He goes, from 11 to 13, I was trying to make videos, but I was like super embarrassed because

Starting point is 00:02:00 they were so bad. And Joe's like, are they, did 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

Starting point is 00:02:27 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 on it 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 that's like that's how that video got popular and then i got i wanted to chase that 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

Starting point is 00:03:02 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 six 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 because I don't want to do anything else? What was his number? 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 $400 a month or something like that. And he's like, you know, it's the 300, 400 or 400 bucks. He's like, So my mom gave me this ultimatum. She was like, you know, you're moving out or you're like going to community college.

Starting point is 00:03:36 Like you're not going to do this video thing. And so he's like, uh, 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.

Starting point is 00:03:53 He's like, I do that all day and I 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. By the end of this 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.

Starting point is 00:04:15 And then I could like do this like full time moving on my own. It'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, you know, we say burn the bridges.

Starting point is 00:04:33 I don't know why we say that. It's burn the boats. Like, if you want to take the island, you got to burn the boats. And so he burned the boats when he did that. And knew what he wanted to do, right? Because, like, school's great, but school's not for everybody. If you kind of know what you want to do, you're much better off, I think, competing in the free market on that thing than, like, competing for your teachers, like,

Starting point is 00:04:57 love and affection, you know, with writing the essay, they want a grade as an A, plus, 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 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.

Starting point is 00:05:31 Right. Yeah. You know what I mean? Are you actually, do you actually have a thing you love? Most people do not. I remember my sister when she was going to college. My dad was like,

Starting point is 00:05:39 all right, well, like, what do you want to major in? She's like, I don't know. He's like, well,

Starting point is 00:05:42 what's your favorite subject? Like, what do you love to study? She's like lunch. Like, you know, I just, I'm not,

Starting point is 00:05:48 I don't have anything against any of them, but like, do any of them make me happy? Not really. So what? Now what? And like, I think that's how most people's careers go.

Starting point is 00:05:55 It's like, all right, well, I don't hate it, but I don't love it. But now what? What am I supposed to pay? Yeah, yeah. So I think that's the rarity here is that he actually, that he liked something enough. But anyway, that's a good story. I'll have to go and watch this podcast. All right.

Starting point is 00:06:10 Next up, we've got a segment from the Kanye West episode where Sam and Sean are recapping the new Kanye documentary on Netflix. And by the way, if you haven't listened to that episode, you need to go back and listen to it if for no other reason than to hear Sean's incredible impression of Donda West. Kanye's mom. It's just spot on. It's incredible. But on this clip, they're actually talking about knowing who you are and what you want to do and how that enables you to achieve more. Which, which by the way, a lot of people forget, do you realize how much he produced before he actually got famous? No, that's kind of crazy. It's pretty crazy. Like the big one was

Starting point is 00:06:42 age to the iso. And there was like, there's like dozens more. I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but there was a dozen more where you like, wait, you did that? 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 it. He's like, yeah, people want my beat. He's like, oh, I want, can I 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 didn'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, 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

Starting point is 00:07:17 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 them. 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. And he's like what? And he goes, why are you guys say that man? It's like saying I'm the best kid rapper in the game. He's like, what, man? I say 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 of them are whack.

Starting point is 00:07:50 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 them 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.

Starting point is 00:08:10 And, you know, why aren't you just happy? Patch 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, queer path to success. And the money was there and the success was there and he didn't have to grind as hard

Starting point is 00:08:31 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 got to ask yourself, like, what is my identity?

Starting point is 00:08:48 Like, if I said, Sam, what's your job, Sam? What do you do? Right now, my job is I do podcast. If I just say, like, who are you? What do you do for work? What do you do for a living? I'm a business person. Okay.

Starting point is 00:09:01 You're a business person. So if all of a sudden, it doesn't matter what HubSpot offers you, right? Like, okay, you're vesting out your deal. That's great. Well, let's say any company comes to you to say, Sam, we'd like to make you the vice president of marketing operations at biggest company in the world and you're going to get this and that. you're not going to do it because it's not consistent with your identity. You're like, I'm a business person.

Starting point is 00:09:21 I have to be an entrepreneur. So entrepreneur, I can't be an employee if I'm an entrepreneur. There's just not, they're two separate things. And like in the same way, you know, you're not going to do heroin because you're not, you're somebody who doesn't do heroin. You don't even have to weigh the pros and cons of it. It's just really not a discussion for you. It's not part of who you are.

Starting point is 00:09:38 It's not like, I'm trying not to do it. It's no, I just, I don't do that. I do this and I don't do that. And so those lines you draw for your, yourself are so important on identity. And I would argue, so there's this book called 48 Laws of Power. Have you read it? No, but I've heard of 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

Starting point is 00:10:02 you want to 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 things. First, this whole act as if thing, it's real. So if you like act like you're going to be an expert, artists or something and you work hard, you can eventually become that. But you kind of got to act as if second, it kind of reinforces habits. So you say like, no, I'm a healthy person. Therefore, I don't do unhealthy

Starting point is 00:10:26 things. And third, it gives you this aura of mystery and people who have mystery surrounding them typically are powerful. Right. 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.

Starting point is 00:10:42 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, she starts playing jazz with Tony Bennett.

Starting point is 00:11:00 You're like, what the heck? Lady Gaga's doing that? What the hell is that? Now she, 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. Yeah, you've got to reinvent yourself consistently.

Starting point is 00:11:14 And Kanye has done that. where he's actually changed himself. And I think reinventing, reinventing yourself, you actually need to make the decision. You've got to be like, I am this. Now I am this. Exactly. And then you got to choose that identity.

Starting point is 00:11:27 And after a while, then you could be like, all right, great. That season was, this season had a beginning in a middle and now it's come to the end. What's the next season of me? And you can actually pick and choose what those inventions are. And when I read that when I was a little bit younger, that kind of changed my perspective on things. Last up, we've got a clip from the Andrew Wilkinson episode. That's another legendary episode. I know I sound like a broken record, but another one you should go back and listen to.

Starting point is 00:11:50 And on this one, Andrew, Sam and Sean are talking about why some people are able to have just success after success, hit after hit. And what enables that and what it takes to get to that place. Andrew, I feel you've reached this point. And I used to be like, how did 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.

Starting point is 00:12:17 Then I have my current success. And then here's my three side successes that I had this idea. And then we just started doing it. And then guess what the lines 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.

Starting point is 00:12:32 It went viral. And then there's 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 an extreme luck component? And I felt that way for many years.

Starting point is 00:12:45 years, five, six years straight when I was pushing the bold 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 five 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 with less work and less stress than like the old stuff I used to do.

Starting point is 00:13:22 And I have no idea what changed or I have a kind of an inkling, but I don't really know. Sam, have you thought about this or do you know what I'm talking about? I know exactly what you're talking about. And I completely agree. You're on a role right now. And what's your inkling? I have a feeling of my my answer is it's kind of like a shitty. It's like a mindset, like abundance.

Starting point is 00:13:42 attitude and being on an offense versus defense. But what's your, what's your, what's your, what's your, what's your inkling? So my inkling is that I switched up my situation. So like I was in one situation for a very long time. Like 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.

Starting point is 00:14:12 and like what success might look like. And as soon as I got out of 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 podcast. I'll do a course.

Starting point is 00:14:35 I'll just try to get big on Twitter. Let's just see what happens. And, oh, you know, like five 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

Starting point is 00:15:03 ideas that might work versus, oh, let me just try this. Because I'm, I just kind of want to try it. And then 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 that 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

Starting point is 00:15:39 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 one foot hurdles. And so if you think about it, all the stuff you're doing, they're in your, you know, 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. And I'll catch myself occasionally getting pulled down rabbit trails of like,

Starting point is 00:16:16 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 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 $3 the next two 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 each other,

Starting point is 00:16:43 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 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, you 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 a hundred thousand dollars down on this house is a lot of money that's a you know that's six figures it's like well dude but it's

Starting point is 00:17:22 going to make 12 percent 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 that's it for this week thanks very much for tuning in and have a great weekend. Bye.

My First Million - Best of This Week: March 18th

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