Why Working Harder Won’t Make You Rich - Codie Sanchez
In a Nutshell
The core message is that most "business owners" are actually self-employed slaves to their companies, trapped by ego and the addiction of being needed. The key distinction is between founder mode (doing everything yourself, being indispensable) and owner mode (building systems, hiring people better than you, and making yourself replaceable). The most important takeaways are that you need two core metrics to run your business, should pay yourself market rate immediately, and that the transition from self-employed to owner requires giving up the dopamine hit of saving the day.
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The biggest lie people are told about getting rich is that it is about looking rich rather than actually getting rich. On social media, people display their success level, but their balance sheet would tell a very different story. Rich is defined as two things: having enough money to live the life you want, and actually liking that life. Naval's definition states that success is having what you want out of life, and happiness is the same thing.
Many business owners trauma-bond over the belief they should be miserable when running businesses. The idea that being rich or being an owner has to be miserable is a significant lie. Many people love the idea of working for themselves until they realize they become trapped by their own business. 46% of business owners are not profitable, and 64% of those who are profitable make less than minimum wage in California. The average business owner makes between $40,000 and $60,000 per year, while minimum wage in California for full-time work equals approximately $75,000 to $78,000 annually.
Most people do not need to take their job home with them or stress about making ends meet inside their business. The speaker receives criticism for advocating buying businesses instead of starting them, primarily because starting a business is extremely difficult and most fail. The businesses that succeed require owners to work for three to four years before eventually making money. Having a profitable business puts someone in the top 10%. A business making $1 million per year places owners well above the top 1%, though they typically take home around $150,000 annually. A $10 million per year business represents only 0.01% of all businesses.
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