Get RICH in Your 20’s: DON’T Start a Business

I get this question all the time which

business should I start and I think the

answer is you shouldn't start a business

through the process of dropping out of

college fifteen thousand dollars in debt

and working my way up to making twenty

thirty thousand dollars per month I've

learned many lessons and I think one of

the most important ones was you

shouldn't start a business if you don't

have skill sets I'm that kid that was

always on YouTube trying to figure out

what's the next side hustle what am I

gonna do next how I'm gonna make money I

just never wanted to be in that nine to

five World such a scam The Matrix is

strong go to school getting a ton of

debt I mean honestly it's just a system

that they put you in so you can work for

them forever what's the quickest way out

how do I get back my time how do I get

my freedom in order to do that I knew I

had to make a lot of sacrifice had to

work really hard who's gonna carry the

boats and figure out how to break free

so ultimately it was start a business

like what is a business a business is

you being able to take your skill sets

provide value to the marketplace the

service a product and in order to do

that I mean fundamentally you need to

know a handful of things in order order

to start this business who do I have to

become who do I need to be what skill

sets do I need to have the first

business I ever started was a car

detailing business I went around to all

my neighbors knock on their doors give

them a pitch and then ultimately I'd

start washing their cars and me and my

friend in high school scale this

business up I was taking home probably

like a thousand bucks a weekend it was

super cool at the time what I didn't

like about that business is I was

working in the Texas heat 10 12 hours a

day so I saved up all that money and I

got into e-commerce the first month I

did four thousand the second month I did

18 000 the third I think I did 35 000. I

was doing High Revenue but not a lot

saved my pocket I think I kept six seven

thousand but then the whole business

crashed the summer after my senior year

of high school and I was trying to

figure out how do I escape college and I

watched The Social Network I'm sure

maybe you've been there before it's like

okay now I'm gonna create an app idea

I'm gonna be the next Zuckerberg so

that's exactly what I did

it's so dumb now that I think about it I

started building this app it was called

book me it was the connection app I went

and hired a ux designer I was you know

talking to different teams like in India

to start developing it I was putting all

the pieces together and then I came up

with this make-believe budget of I need

a hundred fifty thousand dollars to

start and so I was like okay how do I

get 150 000 I texted everyone that I

knew had nice cars and I was just trying

to find someone to pitch the app idea to

one of the responses that I got

fundamentally changed my life forever so

I still remember I was going to my

friend's house he was about to leave for

college my school just got canceled I

was going to Pepperdine out in

California because it was 2020 what

happened then it got canceled pandemic

blah blah I was getting ready for online

school all my friends were leaving as I

was driving to my friend's house I got a

text hey come over I got 45 minutes

let's see what you got so I went to Utah

and I drive over there and I'm sweating

and I live in Texas so like granted it's

100 degrees but I'm sweating more than

normal I'm super nervous the guy I was

pitching it to is pretty intimidating I

walk in there with my laptop I sit down

pull up my slide deck I feel like I'm

pitching to a brick wall I'm being

stared at I just start going through the

slide deck it was probably like a two

minute pitch it felt like five years I'm

just looking around trying to figure out

does he like the idea does he not like

the idea and when I got finished I sat

there I didn't know how to ask for money

I didn't really know what I was doing so

I just kind of looked at him and said

uh so like what do you think and he

looks at me and I still remember and he

goes Jacob I have a lot of money

but I wouldn't give you any money for

this

and I was just like damn and I'm

paraphrasing that something along those

lines I didn't know what to say I just

kind of froze I just got my dreams

crushed everything fell down this was

going to be the way I escaped The Matrix

the way I escaped school and I was gonna

kind of you know Break Free become a

billionaire all that sort of thing and

obviously that's not what happened I was

kind of sitting there I just didn't know

what to say and then he looked at me and

he goes like why do you think that you

can do this I had a belief in myself but

I didn't really have any logic behind it

I was like Zuckerberg did it like I can

do it too and he goes let me clarify the

question do you know how to code I'm

like I no I don't know how to code but

I've been talking to these developers

he's like okay okay do you know how to

sell

I'm like like what do you think and he's

like he didn't sell me okay

fundamentally what skill sets do you

have to be able to get this business

started I washed cars had some marketing

skills with the e-commerce stuff but I

was really a master of nothing but

that's kind of when the Epiphany

happened it's like I don't have any

skill sets to build a business so I

pretty much just gave up on the app idea

I was just like I'm gonna go to school

I'm gonna get a job I really just didn't

know what to do from there and then I

got a text a couple days later and he's

like where do you lift and I was just

like the local gym HCI and he goes why

don't you start lifting with me and I

started lifting with him a couple times

a week and so as I was lifting with him

I was like I'm gonna start a real estate

business I took all the savings I had

from the car washing business all the

cash I had I was cold calling I was cold

calling trying to analyze different

properties and I paid for a coaching

program twelve thousand dollars I

couldn't afford it up front and I just

did a payment plan as I began to start

that business I quickly realized that I

still had no skill sets so a couple

months go by I'm losing three to four

thousand per month this was a pretty low

point for me I hated school I was doing

the wholesaling and so I'm sitting in

the same place I was I kept building

businesses and then they just kept

failing I was going into I just really

didn't know where I was going to go from

here some of the days I'd be sitting in

bed half the day just honestly pretty

depressed and then one day I walked in

Alex's house we were talking and then I

get this phone call and it was a sales

call so I jump on it I get in the corner

I like hunch over I was honestly

embarrassed to take the call in front of

Alex and Layla after the call is

probably a 5-10 minute call I walk over

and he's and he just said

you suck at sales and then boom Another

dagger laid down the tough love which I

appreciate a ton I was just like well

how do I get better at sales and he just

goes well you got to do it I'm like okay

well how do I do it and he goes let me

make a couple calls let me see if I can

get your foot in the door at gem launch

his company bottom level cold calling

position you're gonna have to go through

the interview process you're gonna have

to get approved for the team and if you

do get the job it's grow or die they

will fire you if you do not perform I go

through the interview process I end up

getting the job cold calling I'm cold

calling I'm cold calling side lesson

here volume negates luck like if you

start something new and you just do a

ton of it the more you do the better

you'll get in a shorter amount of time

and at first you're gonna suck I started

sales I dropped out of college I put my

back against the wall I ended up

shutting down the other business and I

said I'm going to make this work I just

sacrificed everything in my life

everything to this one specific skill

set about six months later I got my

first check 375 dollars 6 to eight

months later I was taking home twenty

thousand dollars a month and this was

crazy less than a year later I was

taking home more money than most of my

friends parents just because I learned

this one skill set it's not about what

business you should start it's about

what skill set should you learn media

leadership if I can start stacking those

skill sets while still getting paid by

the first skill set I stacked and I've

learned a skill set that's going to

serve me for the rest of my life maybe

my perspective will change but hey the

more skill sets you stack it's not going

to make you poor