Some people envy me online.
To display that envy they trash talk me. They call what I do a pyramid scheme. Or say that investing or any new tech trend is nothing more than a pyramid scheme.
They say this because they can’t make the online game work for them. Rather than figure it out they continue to show up online part-time instead of crack the code and do it for a living full-time.
You can’t help the mindless. You can’t change closed minds. So I don’t.
Before you think I’m an internet Jesus, I have to admit something. I was one of the mindless. I was an envious hater. I started out as a Youtube troll and became a tweet replies d*ck.
What held me back the most was my 9–5 job. Many of you can relate.
“I love my job, I love my job, I love my job”
One of the strangest experiences I had in the last 12 months was catching up for lunch with my old boss.
He had the worst job managing me. Not because of me, but because of those around me. They were soul-sucking zombies. They were spreadsheet warriors and made dumb decisions.
He eventually quit. I stayed.
The new company he went to sounded like a Silicon Valley tech startup p*rn fantasy. I assumed he was happy.
That’s when he said “I tell my team every day to say I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.” I thought he was joking. He wasn’t.
They said this mantra to distract themselves from how much they hated their jobs. It made me sad. So many of us live like that. We go to work each day and pretend we like our jobs.
The truth is we like our job just enough NOT to quit.
But is that enough? I don’t think so. I had a career in banking and lied to myself. I thought I loved what I did but I hated it. Banking products are boring, lifeless, soulless, rent-seeking, capitalistic weapons.
They add little value but extract maximum profits from humans.
I felt smart though. I felt high status. It all sounded great at dinner parties and startup cocktail events. It was all a lie and it took me over a decade to admit it and face the music.
Here’s why we stay at a job instead of build an online empire.
1. It’s easier to put things off
None of us are stupid.
We know we need to build or do something online. Like no sh*t Sherlock. We don’t do it though because it’s easier to put it off.
We’d prefer to watch others make their online dreams come true and tell ourselves it’ll be us one day. But it won’t because we never start.
It’s so easy to say “I’ll do it this weekend” “I’ll do it over the holidays” or “I’ll do it when I finish this project at work.”
All of this is just wishful thinking that goes up in smoke and creates a bonfire of anger inside our heads as we get older and closer to the truth.
Stop putting things off. Just create one thing online every day.
2. It’s easier to procrastinate with podcasts and books
We live in the information overload era.
There’s content coming from every direction that we have to dodge, like Neo in The Matrix trying to duck and weave from all the bullets.
I love books too. But my rule is I create more than I consume. If I start to consume too much, my brain gets full of junk food content & I can’t think. You don’t need all this new information.
Just start online from where you are.
3. It’s easier to become a slow-cooked froggy
This analogy is one of the best and it’s cliche as hell.
We’ve all heard the story of the frog that jumps into a pot of warm water. The water is nice so they stay for a while.
Gradually the human boiling the water turns up the heat. Eventually that frog is sitting in boiling water and can’t escape.
The poor froggy gets boiled to death.
Ouchhhh. This is what it’s like at most jobs. The job is nice and comfortable. It’s warm and cosy and we can learn the basics that’ll get us the salary pretty fast. Once we’ve got the salary crack, it’s hard to let it go.
So we stick around in a job for longer than we should. But over time the water goes from warm to boiling. We start to feel like we were meant for more. The stress and regrets start to cripple us. By the time we’re ready to jump out of the boiling pot of water … it’s too late.
We’re too old and it’s time to prepare for the cemetery.
When I go swimming with my 8 month old daughter the water is uncomfortably cold. But after a few minutes we both get used to it and we’re not cold anymore. This is what it feels to build an online empire.
Hard at the start, easy once you get used to it. So start.
4. It’s easier to believe your employer’s B.S.
Employers don’t help the cause.
They have dreams to sell you because they need you to give up on yours and build theirs. Makes sense.
So they peddle the following snake oil to you:
- Climb the career ladder young skywalker
- Become a leader and get 5% more pay
- Get access to all these great benefits — ping pong, pizza, beer, arcade machines, fun dinners, team building events.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with these things, except they’re designed to distract you. To attract you toward their incentives so you’ll forget you’re working for them.
Pretty soon, it’s easy for 1 year to turn into 40 years.
Don’t let employers do it. See anything an employer says as propaganda designed to destroy potential online empires.
Take their salary … but build something online after hours.
5. It’s easier to take on too much work, then call yourself #busy
I meet would-be transitioners all the time.
They want to slowly work their way out of a job and into an online pursuit they fully control. But what holds them back is some version of “I’m busy.”
I had the same problem. My last employer was an expert at loading me up with low-level work. There was always some spreadsheet to fill in, eLearning to do, or dreaded meeting to attend.
Finding time was hard.
If you let “busy” run your life, you’ll forget your online dreams. The antidote is simple. Starting saying no.
Stop taking on more work and doing nonsense admin. Many of you purposely stay busy so you don’t have to do the hard task of chasing your online dream and getting started. I see you. Enough is enough.
Trade busy for freedom.
6. It’s easier to play with yourself
I’m not tryna be naughty.
Let me explain. So many things in life are glorified versions of p*rn. That is, they provide cheap dopamine that makes you feel good.
- Video games
- Netflix tv shows
- Scrolling TikTok
- Alcohol, junk food, happy pills
It’s easier to play with yourself and engage in these p*rn-like activities than it is to build an online empire.
Stop it. Have some self-control (I’m looking at you too Timbo). Chase cheap, easy, free dopamine for the joy of hard work that’s done on your online dream.
The challenge with an online empire is there is no instant gratification. It takes months and even years to get any traction. So without the built in reward system that the p*rn life has, it’s easy to give up. Don’t.
Lower your expectations.
7. It’s easier to hang out with friends
Friends can be destructive.
They want to keep you at their level. And their level might be one level slightly above homelessness or a life of crime.
Yes, it’s important not to be a loner and to see others. But you don’t need to be around people 24/7. Time alone is good for you.
Solitude is where wisdom is born.
Cancel all the social activities and stop pretending you have to be there. If a friend gets pissed because you didn’t show up to their cat party to celebrate their 5th housewarming in the last 12 months … then they’re not your real friend. They’re a distraction. They’re a liability.
The best thing I ever did was make friends with others who wanted to build online empires. That way, I get to work on my dream and socialize at the same time. Winner winner chicken dinner (wtf does that even mean???).
8. It’s easier to think your job was hard today and it’s time to relax
Work-life balance — the excuse that enables self-care and too much chilling. I used to get home from work and tell myself it was hard.
Was it really Timbo? Sitting in that glorious air-conditioned, skyscraper office. All those free snacks and back-to-back coffee “meetings.”
I was fooling myself. The reason we need a break and feel tired from the workday is often because our emotions are at rock bottom from ignoring our true dream of what we’d rather be doing.
When I stopped working jobs and I followed my calling, I suddenly didn’t feel drained at the end of the workday anymore.
I actually finished work with higher energy than I started.
That’s what obsession, passion, purpose, and meaning all rolled into one can do to one’s life. You just have to get in closer proximity to it.
9. It’s easy to live as if you’ll be alive for many more decades
Let’s finish where we always like to finish B2.
The #1 reason we don’t do what we know we should do online is because we believe that we’ll be around for decades more.
The guy that just died from a random brain aneurysm seems random. It will never be us. We’re healthy. We eat an apple a day. We get regular check-ups at the doctor. We stand more than we sit. We pump weights at the gym like Arnold Schwarzenegger or go for long runs.
That’s all nice. But death can come for you at any moment.
Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.
In 2015 I had a near-miss with cancer. It woke me the hell up from the zombie life I was living. Then I met a man named Michael Crossland. He’s had random cancers five times in his life.
He’s still alive but he knows at some point one of those cancers is gonna get him. So he’s gonna grab life by the curly ones and build his online speaking career before it’s too late. I suggest you follow Michael’s lead.
Stop thinking you’re superhuman. Start thinking you’re a real human racing against a death clock in a kind of hunger games that is cruel yet beautiful at the same time.
It’s better to do work you love for a year and then die, than it is to do work you hate for 40+ years and die an early death in your 20s or 30s that’s followed by a funeral to bury your body in your 70s or 80s.
NOW is the only time to build an empire online.
