How I Would Build A Business in 2025 (If I had to start over)

The video outlines a roadmap for starting a business, emphasizing that nearly anyone can do it with the right approach. It challenges the traditional educational system's conditioning, which can hinder entrepreneurial thinking by prioritizing obedience and perfect answers over disruption and iteration. The speaker highlights that true entrepreneurship involves creating vision and executing the beginning and end stages of a project, with the middle tasks being outsourced, a role AI is well-suited for.

It debunks the myth of widespread business failure, arguing that the risk-reward ratio is often misunderstood. The video introduces the concept of a "lifestyle business" focused on fun, freedom, and flexibility, rather than just endless growth. It also contrasts the declining industrialized economy with the rising digital economy, suggesting that aligning with tech-enabled and AI-driven industries is key to improving living standards.

Ultimately, the video stresses that understanding how businesses actually function—by focusing on customers and their willingness to pay, rather than just having something to sell—is crucial. It advocates for a "766 apprenticeship" to gain practical experience, emphasizing founder-opportunity fit and the importance of selling to affluent clients who can justify higher prices for the value they receive.

• The traditional education system often trains individuals for employment rather than entrepreneurship, emphasizing compliance over disruptive thinking.
• Entrepreneurship is about visionary tasks (steps 1 and 10), while the execution can be outsourced, especially with AI handling middle tasks.
• The notion of widespread business failure is a myth; instead, businesses operate with asymmetrical risk, offering a tiny downside and massive upside.
• A lifestyle business prioritizes fun, freedom, and flexibility, aligning with personal life rather than focusing solely on endless growth and profitability.
• Successful business building involves understanding customer needs, finding founder-opportunity fit, and targeting affluent clients who perceive higher value.

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School Didn't Teach You How to Be an Entrepreneur [1:32]

• Traditional schooling conditions individuals to succeed within existing systems, often promoting traits opposite to those needed for entrepreneurship (e.g., seeking permission, following schedules, striving for perfect answers).
• The historical shift from apprenticeship to industrialization led to a schooling system designed to create compliant factory and office workers, suppressing entrepreneurial qualities like disruption and attention-seeking.
• Children are naturally entrepreneurial, exhibiting traits like negotiation and deal-making, which are often discouraged and later need to be relearned.

"If you are disruptive in the economy, they call you the front page of they put you on the front page of Inc magazine."

The education system often instills habits that are counterproductive to entrepreneurship, such as prioritizing conformity over independent thought and action. This conditioning requires individuals to unlearn these habits and actively cultivate entrepreneurial skills.

The Entrepreneur's Mindset Shift [5:25]

• Many aspiring entrepreneurs seek "business in a box" or turnkey solutions, wanting to be told exactly what to do, which is antithetical to the nature of entrepreneurship.
• Entrepreneurs are the "shot callers" and creators, dictating their own path, similar to a band creating its own music rather than playing cover songs.
• The entrepreneurial role involves focusing on the critical beginning (vision, strategy) and end (commercialization, next steps) of a project, outsourcing the execution (the middle tasks).
• AI is highly capable of handling the middle tasks but cannot independently determine the initial vision or the ultimate use of the output.

"The desire to be told what to do is antithetical to entrepreneurship."

The desire to be told what to do, common in employment, is fundamentally opposed to the entrepreneurial spirit of creating and directing. Entrepreneurs must embrace the role of the visionary and strategist, leveraging tools like AI for execution.

The Lie You Were Taught About Business [12:59]

• The traditional path of school, university, and then a job, once a guarantor of financial security, is now largely a myth due to factors like cost of living and automation.
• Jobs, while offering a smooth start, can lead to rough endings, especially with ageism and economic shifts, leaving individuals unprepared to start businesses.
• Entrepreneurship, though initially a rough road with no immediate paycheck, offers a smoother path to long-term financial freedom and opportunity.
• The myth of high business failure rates (e.g., 90%) is debunked by the sheer number of businesses that continue to operate, and the concept of asymmetrical risk highlights a small downside with potentially massive upside.

"A job at best is a smooth road that ends rough. And a business is a rough road that ends smooth."

The perceived security of a traditional job is diminishing, making entrepreneurship, despite its initial challenges, a more viable path to long-term financial well-being. The risks associated with starting a business are often exaggerated, and the potential rewards significantly outweigh the investment.

What a Lifestyle Business Actually Looks Like [23:49]

• A lifestyle business is designed to provide fun, freedom, and flexibility, integrating with one's life rather than dominating it.
• Unlike traditional businesses solely focused on shareholder profit and endless growth, a lifestyle business aims to reach a point of "enough" that is better than a job.
• The existence of lifestyle businesses is a relatively new phenomenon, made possible by the internet, AI, social media, and affordable software tools.
• Examples include niche influencers, specialized online educators, and virtual service providers who leverage their passions and expertise to create profitable businesses that fit their desired lifestyle.

"It's about figuring out at what point do you have enough and when you've got enough, you've actually just enjoy having the business that gives you enough."

A lifestyle business is intentionally designed not for maximum growth, but to provide a high quality of life for its owner, offering a sustainable and enjoyable way to earn income.

Goodbye, Homer Simpson [30:55]

• The concept of a stable, high-paying middle-class job in a large corporation is a relatively recent historical phenomenon, largely post-World War II.
• Historically, businesses were much smaller, typically not exceeding around 150 people due to organizational limitations.
• The decline of the industrialized economy is contrasted with the rise of the digital economy, where technology enables individuals to thrive by participating in tech-enabled and AI-driven ventures.
• Entrepreneurship is presented as the most crucial factor in the digital age, eclipsing the importance of land, labor, and capital, which were dominant in previous economic eras.

"The industrial age is now being replaced by the digital age."

The economic landscape has shifted dramatically from industrialization to digitalization, making entrepreneurial skills and participation in tech-driven sectors the primary drivers of success and financial improvement.

How Business Actually Works [40:01]

• A business fundamentally exists when a customer wants to buy something and a supplier can fulfill that need.
• The presence of a customer signifies the existence of a business, with multiple customers indicating a more established enterprise.
• The critical distinction is having someone who wants to buy, rather than just having something to sell, as the former drives business into existence.
• Many entrepreneurs mistakenly focus on product creation before identifying a willing buyer, leading to wasted effort if demand is absent.

"A business is really when you start saying okay I'm going to have that I'm going to deliver value but to multiple customers."

Understanding that a business is born from customer demand, not just from having a product or service, is a fundamental shift that drives successful entrepreneurial endeavors.

The 766 Apprenticeship [43:43]

• A "766 apprenticeship" involves working for 6 months as a direct report to the founder of a business generating seven figures in revenue and six figures in profit.
• The purpose is to gain firsthand experience and learn the operational aspects of a successful, profitable business, including lead generation, sales, customer service, and product development.
• This "fast, cheap experiment" aims to de-risk major decisions, protect finances and family, and build self-awareness of one's strengths and weaknesses as a potential founder.
• Exposure to a small business is crucial, as working within large corporations provides little insight into the realities of small business operations.

"Your job is to sell yourself in. so that you can do whatever it takes to spend time up close and personal with the founder and to actually see what's going on behind the scenes."

The 766 apprenticeship is a strategic approach to learning the inner workings of a successful business by working directly with its founder, thereby mitigating risk and gaining invaluable practical experience.

Your Founder Opportunity Fit [55:34]

• Business ideas evolve significantly during growth; the initial idea rarely remains the final one, making execution more critical than the idea itself.
• The concept of "founder-opportunity fit" is key, meaning the opportunity should align with one's background, origin story, and existing strengths.
• Questions to consider for founder-opportunity fit include one's origin story (background, past successes), vision (future aspirations for the world), and mission (highest value activity).
• The most successful entrepreneurs focus on opportunities that naturally leverage their unique experiences and passions, rather than pursuing generic "big ideas."

"The real thing we're looking for is founder, opportunity, fit."

Identifying and pursuing business opportunities that are a natural fit for an individual's unique background, skills, and aspirations is more crucial for success than having a groundbreaking idea.

Pain Prize and Payment [01:01:00]

• Effective business ideas stem from solving a problem or pain point, delivering a significant prize or outcome, and offering something people are willing to pay for.
• Targeting customers with substantial budgets is more effective than focusing on low-paying customers, as a smaller number of high-paying clients can be more profitable and manageable.
• The market distribution of spending power shows that a small percentage of people hold a large portion of the budget, suggesting it's more efficient to focus on affluent customers.
• Businesses that succeed often involve selling products or services priced between $1,000 and $10,000 to 10 to 100 clients, or between $2,000 and $20,000 to a similar client base.

"Unless you know that information, the signal that you get from market is that everyone's broke. And the signal you get from market is everyone's really price conscious."

Focusing on high-value problems, significant prizes, and customers with larger budgets leads to more sustainable and profitable businesses than competing on price with a broad, less affluent market.