The honest guide to money, freedom, and a life you don't have to escape from.
84: Building a life on your own terms... Compressed into one page.
This is the compressed version of everything we write about. Money, lifestyle, health, and mind. Everything in this FAQ connects. Money builds the foundation for your lifestyle. Lifestyle determines what improves your life. Health is a prerequisite for both. Your mind? Determines how far you take all of it.
How to read this:
New here? Start with the money section. Everything else assumes you have a predictable cash flow or are working towards it.
Been reading for a while? The lifestyle and health sections should be used for an audit.
Format? Each question is standalone. You do not need to read this in order to get the most out of it.
Money - Career, Side Business & Investing
Building a financial foundation helps you with everything else.
1. What is the most important thing one can do to escape?
There is only one answer… Business. Side business, or however you want to call it. It is the only way to escape it. What you are looking for is something that will help you stop trading your time for money. Trading your time for money at a higher rate is also something you should strive for. But it is not comparable at all because you are always capped by your available hours. If you can’t leave for two weeks and come back with more money in your account. You are not running a business.
2. How do I start the business?
There is no one right answer to this. There is an 80% chance that your business idea can become a reality with just a few hours of low to medium effort. The first thing you should do after settling on an idea is test demand. You don’t need a product. One fake checkout page, a few DMs asking you how to purchase your item, or a simple landing page with an email capture. That is all it takes to know if you have something.
This is where those basic principles, such as knowing how to purchase a domain, create a landing page, or understand the checkout process… You need all of those to start. While at the same time playing a game where you do not need unnecessary inventory, expenses or overall failed products. Learn how to test before building something bigger.
3. What is the best business model?
There is no best business model. This is the wrong approach to starting your business. Everyone’s answers will be different. The "best business model" is a mediocre idea pushed by those trying to sell you a course.
What you should do instead is ask yourself:
What is my current skillset - knowledge that others would be willing to pay for?
How does my current skill transfer to other business ideas? What is overlapping between them? Do I have leverage there?
Can my career (job) be leveraged into starting a business?
These questions will help you identify the business model(s) that offer the most leverage based on your situation.
4. You mentioned evergreen online business models. What do you mean by that?
Evergreen business models have existed since the beginning of the Internet and will continue to do so. Software, affiliate marketing, and e-commerce are the best examples. They are usually your best bet for what to focus on.
5. What are your predictions for niches and industries that will blow up in the future?
Your goal should never be to bet against degeneracy. Our picks are social skills, pets, skincare, gambling, and mental health. Why? People have never been worse at socializing. What about pets? They are the new kids. What about skincare and gambling? Two things that will never go out of demand. People are trying to make quick money and look pretty. Mental health? The average person has never had a worse mindset and outlook on their life. At the same time, it has never been easier to achieve big things.
6. Should one prioritize profit above all else?
One should always maximize profit. But as long as you deliver the best work possible without causing harm. Why? This approach enables you to build something long-term. To create a legacy that everyone talks about and a cash flow you can count on. It allows you to think three steps forward without being blinded by short-term gains and poor decisions. Those who focus on long-term games always win in the end.
7. Are professional careers still worth it?
Yes, they are worth it. One of the best things you can do for yourself as a young person is to enter a professional environment that provides a predictable cash flow. What do you mean by that? A predictable cash flow will allow you to think strategically and see the bigger picture. It gives you leverage by providing funding you can use to start your business and improve the quality of your life. The key to getting more out of your career is having a clear mission.
You need all the answers:
Why are you there? What is the purpose of having a career?
What will it take you to win and get a promotion year after year?
Do you understand that you will have to play the social game to get further?
8. Securing a job is rough in the current market. What is the easiest way to get a job?
One of the goals should be to bypass HR whenever possible. Sending direct mail to the hiring manager or DMing your future colleagues leaves an impression. It also lets you go straight for referrals, which will do more for you than any other qualification. This doesn’t mean you don’t need a good background… You must. It just means you won’t be playing the game that those around you play. One that doesn't get you anywhere. The days of spamming CVs and hoping for a call are behind you. The key to securing a job is taking matters into your own hands and learning to sell yourself and your story.
Read more:
9. The most important thing you will take away from your career?
That you will always be underpaid for the effort you put in. The second big one is realizing that social skills and your ability to sell (yourself, your work, achievements…) determine everything. It is not about being the best performer. It is about being the one who can best sell the story and impress those who matter in the process. The same principles apply to most areas of your life.
10. Best career path?
All the best paths share the same core principles. They drive revenue and directly impact the company's cash flow. They are profit centers. Sales, tech, fundraising, and marketing roles are what you should be looking at if you want to go down this path.
11. Thoughts about personal brands?
We all operate in the attention economy. Meaning it is not the best and most quality that wins. The one that gets in front of the most eyes and holds someone's attention for the longest wins. Distribution wins. Not building a personal brand or not leveraging it as part of your strategy is not something you want to do. The idea that the work will speak for itself is one of those lies from the old world. When everyone has access to the same tools, the barrier to entry disappears. How does one win that game? By being in front of the most eyes.
What this means for you:
Forget about being an influencer. You just need a presence somewhere your audience already spends time.
Distribution > product (most of the time). A mediocre product with great distribution always beats a perfect product with no distribution. Hard pill to swallow.
12. Best personal finance advice?
Everything in life compounds. Optimize for the long term and understand the risks associated with everything you do. The basic concept to understand is that having 3 to 6 months of savings is a must, and without those basics, you have nothing. This will help you avoid short-term thinking and unnecessarily rushed decisions. Once you take it a step further, your goal is to get out of survival mode and to ensure you stay out of it. The beauty of life only becomes apparent once you don't have to think about the things others around you are wasting hours on.
13. Must have investments?
There is no right or wrong answer here. The must-have investments offset unnecessary risk while giving you enough room to get something out. Your goal should be to find the perfect balance between risk and opportunity. Giving you the best of both worlds. That means minimal risk with something that will grow over the long horizon. As your portfolio grows, so does your risk tolerance and what you consider must-haves. The portfolio should not be the same for someone who is 20 years old and someone who is 60 years old. The risk profile and the ability to make long-term decisions with it are completely different.
Fundamental portfolio structure for someone with a long-term investing horizon:
(S&P500 and QQQ) + more risky investments (crypto + individual stocks)
14. I have zero idea about personal finance. What should I focus on?
Predictable cash flow: You want to have at least 1 income stream at all times.
The more of them you have, the easier your life becomes.
Safety net: Ensure you have 3 to 6 months of savings (emergency fund).
All the extras you have after you take care of your bills, debt, and other expenses should be invested in your business (to create other income streams).
Invest the rest: After you cover your business's operating costs and pursue scaling opportunities, allocate the remaining funds to assets and investments (your portfolio).
Fundamental approach: Index funds → individual stocks → crypto
Avoid leaving money in a savings account or anything similar. You want something that at least beats inflation.
Debt is not necessarily bad. If your investment return beats the interest rate on your debt. You are always better off investing and paying the minimum. Math works in your favor.
Life & Lifestyle
The decisions and system that determine whether the money you make actually improves your quality of life.
1. Things you should never take for granted?
Time and health. Neither can be replaced once they are gone. You want to ensure you don't waste your time in life and do whatever is necessary to keep your health in top shape. Good diet, cardio, sleep, supplements, and everything else that goes with it. Quality of life is everything, and your setup has to be structured to maximize your energy and creativity.
2. What common lifestyle traps do young people fall into?
Debt
Bad social circle
Trying to live a lifestyle to impress those around you
Treating their lives as a lottery
Debt should be self-explanatory. Debt = no freedom. It instantly puts you in one of the weakest positions you can be in. Not to mention, most people get into debt to buy material things to impress people who don’t care about them. What about a bad social circle? The people you surround yourself with shape how you view the world. What happens when you surround yourself with pessimistic and lazy people? You box yourself into a position you won’t be able to get out of. You want to surround yourself with those who have a positive outlook on life. The environment is everything.
When was the last time you asked yourself who you are? What do you like? What gets you going? Are you just living a lifestyle to impress those around you, or is it something you want? All of those answers matter far more than the average person thinks. You do not want to wake up one day only to realize you are living someone else's ideal lifestyle. One you have built entirely around impressing others.
The last piece of the puzzle is realizing that most young people treat their lives like lottery tickets. They are always waiting for that perfect moment that doesn't exist, thinking it will solve all their problems overnight. This way of thinking leads you to base all your decisions on hope. Ignoring the fact that life doesn't work that way. It runs on decisions, habits, skills, and systems. The boring approach works. Treating your life as a lottery ticket. Not really.
3. What skills should one focus on to improve one's life?
Social skills
Knowing how to sell
Looking for and predicting patterns
Managing your energy, stress tolerance, and knowing how to keep childlike curiosity alive
Relying on just one skill won't get you far. You want all of them working in your favor.
Social skills get you through the doors. Selling gets you paid. Recognizing patterns tells you where things are heading before everyone else. Energy lets you keep doing all of them without burning out.
4. If you had to pick traits that differentiate winners from losers. What would you choose?
High energy and stress tolerance. Both are necessary in all areas of life. Want to build a business? You need both. Want to stay in good shape? You need both. Want to build a social circle? You need both.
5. How do you become someone with high energy and stress tolerance?
You build both over time. To the point where external events no longer have much influence on you. Becoming someone with high energy means operating from within. Structuring your life so that what you do gives you a sense of being in the right place at the right time. Taking complete ownership of your situation and what you are doing. Developing stress tolerance comes from hard work and regular exposure to unfamiliar situations. There is no sexy answer around this, and there are no shortcuts around them.
6. Trick that helps a lot with quality of life?
Automate everything. This applies to your career, business, investments, and every aspect of your life. Automate everything you do regularly and can predict in advance. Doing this will free up your cognitive space and save time. If you know in advance that you will have something to do? You should do everything you can so you don’t have to use energy thinking about it.
7. Does life start to suck after the 30s, as everyone claims it does?
Life only improves after your 30s if you did your 20s right. Everyone else is just coping or living in the past.
8. Hobbies seem like a waste of time. What is your take on them?
You need hobbies. You want to have hobbies. You want to have a social life. Nothing is sadder than someone who can talk about nothing but their job. What you want to do is pick a hobby and become good at it. How to pick a hobby? You can either focus on keeping your body active, sparking your creativity, or improving skills. All of these would be good choices to base your hobbies on.
9. Should one go to college?
Yes. But only if you have a clear goal for going there, such as networking (attending a good college where successful people put their kids). When we say networking… We mean it. And it is exactly the reason why rich people put their kids into college, even though they are fully aware that it is a waste of time. But knowing someone who might be creating a new Meta or Uber gives you a massive advantage. This is the most surface level thinking we could give you. Yet it should make complete sense what we are aiming at.
10. What is one thing that will give you a lifestyle advantage over others but doesn’t get enough attention?
Identifying your chronotype
The moment you start finding work easier is when you begin to realize whether you are an early bird or a night owl. It could easily be done in less than a month with some effort.
Doing bloodwork regularly
Tells you everything you need to know about what is currently lacking in your system and what should be done differently. Vitamins, hormones, micronutrients. Mix it up with AI to help you notice patterns (you want all your previous results) and do it at least 2x per year.
Fixing your attention span
Being able to focus for 3 - 4 hours on one thing while most others can't hold their attention for 20 minutes is a lifestyle advantage most never manage to achieve.
11. What common mistake do young people make that holds them back?
Spending too much time on things and people that don't deserve it in the first place.
12. The best way to stay consistent with a well-defined goal?
The pocket notebook and pen. No matter where you go or what you are doing. Bring those two. The idea is not necessarily to journal, but to use them as a capture system. Write down everything that comes to mind, from ideas and observations to the things you have to do throughout the day. There is something powerful about writing things down by hand and building momentum out of it.
13. What does it take to become as efficient and above average in certain aspects of your life?
It takes around 2 years of focused effort to operate at the level that most can only dream of. Putting 1500+ hours into something is sort of a guarantee that if you have done things right you will be able to make money from it or be good at it. What you always want to do is pick 2 skills (at most) and split your available daily hours between them. This allows you to build a system where, even if the first skills don’t work out. You have a backup, which statistically doubles your odds. Structuring things so both skill sets compound and carry over into each other. Preventing you from doing "all-in" which leads most to burnout.
14. Does money improve life?
It does. There is no denying it. Not only does it improve your life, but it also improves the lives of those around you. The funny part is that the most significant improvement to the quality of your life usually costs under $2K. Good mattress, a proper gym membership, supplements, the right set of books, earplugs, or a proper software subscription.
Read more:
15. The ultimate life advice?
Start exposing yourself. This applies to everything, from your career and the people who inspire you to your ideas. That is how you build leverage and never have to worry about going broke. Make sure to wish everyone around you success and to be in a better position than you are. Be happy for their victories and genuinely look forward to their achievements. You will be rewarded. It is an unwritten rule of life.
Read more:
16. Should one be frugal?
Being frugal is a negative trait. One that often leads you to a position where others start seeing through your attempts to save those $5. The only way to break free from the poor mindset? It always comes down to making more money. The healthier approach is to buy items that will last. Those that never go out of style will always have value. Watches, shoes, jackets, all the way to the right tech stuff. Less is more.
17. What about AI?
Your priority with it is to offload cognitive tasks and free up your time. Everything else is less important, and one thing you should ensure is that you do not base your whole identity on this. You want to start with your 9to5. Automate your most repetitive workflows. Something that used to take hours now takes minutes? Perfect. All that extra time should be spent on your side business or anything else you consider productive (life-improving).
It is worth mentioning that since everyone has access to the same tools. You will have to look for leverage and rely on what others will not. Creativity and social skills are the main drivers and a big advantage. Also, it is becoming more about being fully aware that it is no longer a question of whether to use AI… It is all about how you use it and whether you are actually freeing your time or just wasting it.
18. Compounding effect?
Everything in life compounds. Skills, health, relationships, and mindset. Either in your favor or against you. There is no neutrality here, and it should not surprise you. When you start running the numbers for your own situation, you will realize how unrecognizable you can become after just one year of focused work. No one talks about compounding because it is nonlinear.
The early periods always feel like nothing is working in your favor. Results? People quit before they see the real results. It is worth mentioning that common sense can also work against you. Meaning that there is both positive and negative compounding. What happens when you stop going to the gym? Not only does your physical appearance feel off, but you are not operating as sharply as before because of your brain fog… This brings us to the point that compounding never stops. The key is to point it in the right direction.
Compounding sanity check (audit):
Take 90 days
Ask yourself:
Can I specify one thing I can do now that I could not do 90 days ago?
Has the environment changed (to a point where your original concept changed)?
If both answers are negative you have work to do.
Read more:
19. What about information diet and content consumption?
The key to getting reliable information that will positively impact your life is finding sources you trust. Building a consumption system that works in your favor. Use RSS feeds, newsletters, books, and vetted YouTube content. Don't rely on an algorithm. Or anything else of low value. If you do this right, the filtering process will run automatically, and you will find only information relevant to your situation. We are at the point where consuming less information (but the right kind) will get you much further than consuming hours of content that will get you nowhere.
Audit yourself:
How many of your information sources did you choose?
How many were selected for you by an algorithm?
What would you miss if you removed them?
This will give you all the answers…
Health & Mind
None of the above matters if your body and mind are not on point.
1. Does woo-woo (mental models) make sense?
It doesn’t until a certain point when it does. Usually, that point comes later in life, when you get tired of superficial knowledge and wasting your time. Woo-woo and mental work make a lot of sense. But not everyone understands it.
2. A powerful mental trick that has a huge impact on your life?
No one is better than you. No one is smarter than you. No one can work as hard as you do. The only reason someone is better than you at something is that they have been doing it longer. Remind yourself of this often.
3. What is the difference between those who gain something from mental work and those who do not?
Your belief system. The difference between those who improve their lives and those who don’t comes down to that. The same reason you decided whether something works for YOU or not… It is a thin line most never managed to figure out.
4. Why have people never been more miserable? Yet we have never had more chances?
It is all because you are always one click away from someone who has more. There is always someone with a better car, watch, boat, or bag. Something you do not possess and it is outside of your reach. The same holds for physical appearance and for showing the lifestyle they live. Look at that perfect body or amazing relationship they have. The reality is that there is always someone better than you at something. The same way you are better at something than they are. That will never change. What needs to change is realizing that comparing yourself with others won’t get you far. The moment you stop comparing yourself is when you start enjoying your life.
5. One non-negotiable that has a huge impact on quality of life?
Cardio and weights can save you. 3 to 4 sessions per week are all you need to stay in great shape and feel your best. It is a must do for everyone reading this and will carry over into every single area of your life.
6. Getting rid of the brain fog seems impossible. What is the trick around it?
Sleep, diet, and 10k steps a day. One supports the other.
7. When does life change drastically?
The general answer is that it happens once you escape "survival mode". Those with a tougher upbringing will have a harder time getting out of it than those who had it easier. To explain our point. If your parents always had to worry about putting food on the table. There is a good chance that you were consistently operating in survival mode. If you grew up in more comfortable surroundings where you went skiing once a year or always took trips abroad…
There is a good chance your parents didn’t operate in survival mode. To get back to our point. Once you get out of survival mode, you finally have time to think about the things you never considered before. This is where mental, mindset, and other woo-woo stuff start to make sense. Why? Because you finally have time to think about them instead of worrying about whether you can pay the bills.
The 5 most common survival mode scenarios:
Living paycheck to paycheck with debt
Living paycheck to paycheck without debt
Covering expenses but no safety net
Covering expenses with money left over to invest
Earning a lot but lifestyle inflated to match it
All of these are possible scenarios and quite common in survival mode.
Realistic timeline to escape each:
Paycheck to paycheck with debt: 2 - 3 years minimum
Paycheck to paycheck without debt: 2 - 3 years
Covering expenses without a safety net: 1 - 2 years
Money left over to invest: < 1 year
Lifestyle inflated: < 1 year (lifestyle cutting)
The survival mode escape sequence:
Become aware of your scenario (be honest)
Track where your money goes for 30 days
Cut everything non-essential and focus on building your safety net
Start buying back your mental energy (no more worrying about bills, food)
Accept that the process takes 1 - 3 years to recover fully
Read more:
8. How does business impact your quality of life and mental health?
What no one mentions about the online space is that running a successful business creates abundance. You lose the feeling of dependence on others once you create an income stream. There is no dependence on location or an employer. You experience a sense of freedom and a sea of unlimited opportunities. This is yet another reason why starting your own business is one of the best decisions you can make for your mental health and the quality of your life.
9. Is there a method to remind yourself what to focus on daily that works with your big picture?
You want to build a mental database. Take a piece of paper or your notebook and start writing everything that matters to you. Your principles, priorities, and what you want out of your life. This is where reading it daily becomes a must if you want to become the person you set out to be. You want to internalize it until you no longer need to reference it to know who you are.
This is one of the most efficient ways to stay on track and ensure that your actions are aligned. What you want is something that takes under 20 minutes per day and is easy to reference. The trick is to use it in a way that not only references it but also actively understands it and is fully present when doing so.
Read more:
10. The single most underrated factor for performance? Energy
Time, energy, and health are the ultimate three resources. The complicated part? You can influence them only to a certain point. Yet they are mandatory for everything that improves your life. There is a reason most successful individuals you meet operate at a higher energy level than everyone around them. What most people do wrong is that they 100% focus on the physical part and forget that there are other components involved. Thinking that if you just lift weights and eat well, you will have unlimited energy. Wrong. The mindset and alignment (having everything set up properly) play a big role and will have a direct impact. Bad environment? Surrounding yourself with losers? Not having clear enough goals? Being low energy in that scenario should not surprise you.
Read more:
11. Something that doesn’t get enough attention, but it should when it comes to mental work?
We are our own worst enemies. Most people know exactly what they need to do. Most know how to do it. Most know what results they could achieve in specific time frames. Realization? Internal resistance. That is why people are not moving forward. Being engaged in this pattern is holding you back. No one else to blame but yourself.
Once you learn to work around this problem and eliminate the resistance from your life. The game changes. The second thing to remember is that everything you say about yourself (and everything you think about yourself) programs your reality. Tell yourself you are not capable, not smart enough, not good enough, and it will become true. The same mechanism works in reverse just as easily… Just a reminder to be careful with your words. They become real.
12. Why are attention span and focus the unfair advantage of the next decade?
We already mentioned attention as one of the super weapons you possess in the current environment. The ability to focus on one thing without getting distracted is a skill. It also comes down to compounding and realizing that one hour of focused work beats three hours at 20%. Short-form content, multitasking, notifications, and background noise all steal it. This is where you have to start countering those by slowing things down. Walks, silence, and keeping notifications off at all times. The idea behind it is that you reset your dopamine sensitivity and your ability to focus increases.
Stealing your attention span and focus:
Short-form content
Social media and endless scrolling (algorithms)
Constant background noise (podcasts, music)
Where to start:
All notifications off (except family and emergencies)
Figure out your chronotype and routine that works to your advantage (highest-focus hours)
Start using tools such as a tab limiter in your browser and enforce yourself not to multitask
No "fun activities" before work (video games, scrolling social media or watching TV)
Read more:
Bookmark and audit this often.
Disclaimer: None of this is to be legal or financial advice of any kind.
Thanks for making this. Really neat read
"Everyone’s answers will vary. Ask the SaaS founder what the best business model and ask the affiliate manager…" Can you explain it, please?