I’m fascinated with learning how to build businesses online, and Dan Koe and Dickie Bush are two of my favorite people to learn from. 

I spent the last couple of days listening to a 3+ hour conversation they had last year. 

These are the 6 insights I found: 

1. Education is the foundation of the creator economy…helping others learn and improve 

The way people learn is transforming at an insane rate. 

The old education model is broken. Creators are increasingly the teachers of the present, and the future. 

And it has never been more lucrative to be a teacher. 

Educate yourself around solving your own problems, then help others solve those problems, and get paid for it. 

2. When you put your ideas into the world, you are establishing mindshare with the people who consume them

When those people use your ideas to build their own worldview and create their own ideas, then your mindshare with them and with others compounds. 

This is why online, creator businesses grow at exponential rates.

(Think James Clear’s concept of atomic habits)

3. Gotta strike a balance between building equity with your audience and extracting the equity

Give value, give value, give value…offer a product or service to extract value (and hopefully provide more value). Then get back to giving value. 

Gary Vee called this Jab, Jab, Jab, Hook. 

4. You can only focus on and pursue three things at a time

When you are considering a thing or someone presents you with an offer, ask yourself what you’re willing to give up to say yes.

Getting clarity on what those things are is the first step. 

Saying no to everything else is the next step. 

5. Be willing to experiment & iterate

Your first attempts will suck.

That’s okay, because very few people are even paying attention. 

Iterate, iterate, iterate. 

Adapt your approach based on data. 

6. Build community

Find your people, serve them, connect them to each other. 

Watch their full conversation here:

https://youtu.be/V4TXnvrhuZw?si=IB0ZOLIlWtL8oM2o

I’ve heard some grumbling about the new Wonka movie, but I thought it was one of the most inspirational films I’ve seen in the theaters in a long time.

Maybe these people are part of a different generation than me. 

But the Gene Wilder version was a HUGE part of my childhood.

It made me believe that I could do anything, that imagination is the most powerful force in the universe.

I thought this was the perfect biopic of Wonka’s childhood.

Timothée Chalamet absolutely NAILED every part of it. He was the perfect young Wonka. 

So if you have been reluctant to watch because of whispers you’ve heard, and you were a fan of the Gene Wilder Wonka, please do yourself a favor a go see it in the theaters. 

I legit had tears in my eyes at the end.

And you might even learn something. 

I think of Wonka as the archetypal entrepreneur in these 3 ways: 

1. OBSESSION

He is OBSESSED with everything about chocolate. He travels far and wide to learn everything about it from every resource he can find.

All he wants to do with his business is create the most incredible chocolate treats possible, so he can share them with the world.

And thereby bring joy to the people who eat it to make the world a little bit better.

2. Insane, unyielding OPTIMISM

He starts his journey with next to no money, and uses every dime to try to bring his creations to life.

He experiences setback after setback and never once considers the prospect that it won't work out.

Every barrier is just something else to figure out, something that must be worked around to achieve his goal.

3. GENEROSITY

From the start of the movie to the end, every step he takes is motivated by a spirit of generosity.

In the opening scene, when he has basically no money, he generously gives it away to help people, always presuming that he will make plenty more later.

I truly could not recommend the movie any more, especially to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to change the world.

Take the time to go soak up inspiration and experience pure joy.

Naval Ravikant is one of the deepest thinkers on the art of wealth building in Silicon Valley.

I spent last week devouring his Almanack.

The 10 biggest learnings I took away (30-second read):

1. Following your genuine intellectual curiosity is a better foundation for a career than chasing what is lucrative now. If it entertains you now but bores you one day, keep looking.

I have learned this one first-hand. When you choose to do something for the money that you aren't deeply interested in, others who have that genuine curiosity will out perform you every time.

2. Business networking is a complete waste of time. If you are working on projects that are interesting, then people will come to you to work with you. 

3. Your goal in life is to find the people, business, project, or art that needs you most.

This applies broadly, but is particularly applicable in the pursuit of wealth. The most money you can make is downstream from serving the people that need you most.

4. If your curiosity leads you to a place where society eventually wants to go, you’ll get paid extremely well. 

The best evidence for this is probably Joe Rogan. He talks to people who interest him for long periods of time. Years later, society came to value people who talk to other people they are interested in for long periods of time.

Naval put this a different way when he said, "You will get rich by giving society what it wants but does not yet know how to get. At scale."

5. Fortunes require leverage. Business leverage comes from capital, people, and products with no marginal costs for replication (Code and media).

For the first time in history, you can create digital products that cost almost nothing to make and cost nothing to replicate. This is the secret to building wealth in the modern world.

6. Code and media are permission-less leverage. They’re the leverage behind the newly rich.

You can create software and media that works for you while you sleep. If you can’t code, write books and blogs, record videos and podcasts.

7. Productize yourself

Become the best in the world at what you do. Keep redefining what you do until this is true.

No one can compete with you on being you. Most of life is a search for who and what needs you most.

8. If you can’t decide, the answer is no.

Because we have an infinite number of options. If it’s not an unequivocal yes, then it’s a no. 

9. The best jobs are neither decreed nor degreed.

They are creative expressions of continuous learners in free markets. 

10. Set an hourly rate for yourself, then say no or delegate everything that comes your way that will produce a lower hourly rate than that.

How often do you see people take marriage advice from people who don’t have healthy marriages?

Or financial advice from people whose financial life sucks? 

This is a common and simple mistake.

It grew out of a business-specific rule I have for myself:

don’t take business advice from someone whose business you wouldn’t want to own. 

Remember this the next time you need some advice. 

Stop taking advice from people you don’t admire. 

Donald Miller is one of the global experts on the power of story telling.

His book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years is about how to turn your life into an epic movie.

Here are the top 8 lessons I learned from reading it:

1. A story is a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.

To live an epic movie, you have to figure out what you want, what the obstacles are to getting it, and how to overcome them.

2. A character is what they do

Stories are made of roles. You fill many different roles over the course of your life.

To become the hero of your own story, identify the set of roles you want to fill, and go find them.

3. The point of a story is the character arc, which is how they change over the duration of the story

Character transformation is the whole point! It doesn't matter where you start or where you end.

All that matters is how you change as a result of the journey.

4. The character of the character matters…save the cat early

No one roots for bad guys. They can, and do, root for flawed characters.

But the character has to do something generous and kind early in the story for the audience to care about their story.

Like save the cat.

5. Characters need an inciting incident that forces the character toward the obstacles.

They won’t just go because they need to.

An inciting incident is a doorway through which the protagonist walks and cannot turn back.

A one way door.

6. A story is made up of turns.

Positive turns move the protagonist toward the goal.

Negative turns move the protagonist away from the goal.

You need both in a great story.

7. The pain that the characters go through binds the group

Think Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Game of Thrones.

Characters go through hard times, which builds bonds of trust and camaraderie.

8. “part of me wonders if our stories aren’t being stolen by the easy life.”

If your life doesn't feel like an epic movie, your story might be getting stolen by the easy life.

Get off the couch. Choose a big goal. And go experience your turns.

Which is better?

Here's a list of pros for each to help you decide.

PHYSICAL

• 100% owned by you: cannot be taken away by a platform (like Apple Notes or Notion) or lost if the company goes under.

• Completely private: companies cannot peek at your writing, even if they wanted to. Not vulnerability to hacking. This is a big one since your journal is primarily a place for your most private thoughts.

• Independent of technology: in the event that something happened to the power grid or the digital infrastructure at-large, your journals would be safe.

• Creativity and personalization: can be drawn upon, so you can make them beautiful. Turn each one into a specific piece of art.

• Mindfulness and focus: writing by hand slows down the process, so you have more time to formulate and wander around the ideas than you would by typing.

• Tactile experience: writing by hand tends to be a more enjoyable experience for most people.

• Memory retention: studies have shown that information written by hand is retained at higher rates.

• Distraction-less writing: you can put away all technology and focus all your attention on what you're writing rather than being tempted to check notifications or go do something else on your device.

• Physical archive: a tangible record of your thoughts and experiences that can be handed down to your loved ones.

• Therapeutic benefits: the physical act of writing has been shown to increase emotional intelligence and alleviate the effects of past trauma.

• No technical skills required: all you need is a notebook and a pen and the ability to write.

• Historical significance: physical journals become valuable historical documents over time.

• No power constraints: since you don't need power for your journal to function, you don't have to worry about the power going out.

DIGITAL

• Convenience and portability: easy access from various devices makes it easy to journal anywhere.

• Searchability: easy to search for specific keywords to find specific passages.

• Backups and cloud storage: making copies of your digital journal is simple.

• Multimedia integration: you can include pictures and video.

• Integration with other digital tools.

• Instant sharing: allows you to include other people on your posts or share to social sites to get feedback on your writing.

• Voice-to-text: your digital journal can be a secretary to take dictation of your ideas, if you are not into writing or just prefer the spoken word.

• Automatic time-stamping

When I was little more than a boy, I had a dream.

I awoke in a bed I knew was mine. After getting my bearings, I looked underneath the bed.

There, piled high, sat notebook stacked upon notebook. More than I could count.

I noticed wrinkles in my hands.

Confused, I moved to the mirror hanging on the wall. An old man stared back.

Something told me to pull the notebooks out.

I picked one at random. The date was ten years in the future. It told the story of how I met my wife.

In disbelief, I grabbed another and opened it.

Three years after that. There I read about the birth of our first child.

I don't know how long I sat in that floor reading.

Could have been hours or days. In that time I read the story of my life in my own words. A story of trials and triumphs, of love and loss, of failure and success.

The scene changed.

I was watching from above now.

The notebooks were piled high on a table. My family crowded around. The mood was heavy...was it sadness?

Yes. Why?

At once, I knew I had died. The mood was grief.

But they were laughing as they read from one of the notebooks.

I watched them for a long time in somber acceptance, longing to console them, to let them know I was okay.

Then I was awake again in my bed. My real bed. And I knew what I had to do.

I went at once to purchase my first journal.

I would not deprive my loved ones of their consolation.

This is how it began.