WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.480 So, Lillian and I are walking around an outdoor shopping mall and this guy kind of walks 2 00:00:07.480 --> 00:00:14.920 up to us relatively in shock and he was like, holy cow, it's you guys. 3 00:00:14.920 --> 00:00:21.440 I will do anything to work for you and I was like, you know, we're a good man, appreciate 4 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:22.440 it though. 5 00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:25.440 And he's like, no, I'll do anything. 6 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:32.520 Like this is my opportunity and I was like, I appreciate it, thanks again man, you know, 7 00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:35.200 just keep us, whatever. 8 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:41.480 And he said, no, like there's no way that like you guys can't just take somebody else who 9 00:00:41.480 --> 00:00:45.440 can like take your car before you or like take the trash out. 10 00:00:45.440 --> 00:00:48.480 And I was like, no man, we're good. 11 00:00:48.480 --> 00:00:51.860 And you know, the guy was kind of following us a little bit and so I think you got the 12 00:00:51.860 --> 00:00:55.780 hint and then eventually just kind of like went on his own way. 13 00:00:55.780 --> 00:01:02.660 But you know, it got me thinking about this for probably another like hour after that 14 00:01:02.660 --> 00:01:08.520 I just kept thinking about basically the combination of desperation and ignorance that end to 15 00:01:08.520 --> 00:01:09.520 be clear. 16 00:01:09.520 --> 00:01:13.180 I don't think that there was any kind of like weird intent or anything like that. 17 00:01:13.180 --> 00:01:24.880 But if you want opportunity, you don't wait for it to come to you, you have to hunt. 18 00:01:24.880 --> 00:01:28.880 So opportunists are hunters, they're not gatherers. 19 00:01:28.880 --> 00:01:38.760 And me walking in front of this guy, he lacks the idea that his time isn't that viable 20 00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:40.160 to me. 21 00:01:40.160 --> 00:01:46.960 And so by saying, hey, I'll give you my time in exchange for basically your time, like 22 00:01:46.960 --> 00:01:49.120 how could you not want that deal? 23 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:56.040 So basically he says, I'll work for free if you educate me. 24 00:01:56.040 --> 00:02:02.640 And it's like, I have no lack of people who can get my coffee and take my trash out. 25 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:05.320 This is not a very difficult skill to find. 26 00:02:05.320 --> 00:02:08.760 And I'm also very willing to compensate people with money to do that. 27 00:02:08.760 --> 00:02:12.280 So that I do not have to compensate them with my time. 28 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:17.440 And so I think the reason I wanted to make this was because it just demonstrated a fundamental 29 00:02:17.440 --> 00:02:21.600 lack of understanding of how economics works and how the marketplace works and how value 30 00:02:21.600 --> 00:02:22.600 exchange works. 31 00:02:22.600 --> 00:02:26.160 And I think that's why this individual was excited about this opportunity because he 32 00:02:26.160 --> 00:02:27.160 fundamentally doesn't understand. 33 00:02:27.160 --> 00:02:30.680 So it's kind of a chicken and egg problem and I can understand why. 34 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:31.680 Why he would do that. 35 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:36.440 I also am making this podcast for everyone else who would be in that same situation. 36 00:02:36.440 --> 00:02:43.800 And hopefully equip you with the right things to do, which is number one, offering your 37 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:49.120 time means nothing to someone who has money to be very clear. 38 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:56.640 Number two, your time is valuable to somebody who has less money and then would can't afford 39 00:02:56.640 --> 00:02:58.200 many people's time. 40 00:02:58.200 --> 00:03:01.400 And oftentimes that's somebody who's just a little bit ahead of you, which is a great 41 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:02.880 place to start. 42 00:03:02.880 --> 00:03:10.720 Like the first internship I had, I didn't go for Jeff Bezos to be his secretary. 43 00:03:10.720 --> 00:03:12.720 I would have, that would have been amazing. 44 00:03:12.720 --> 00:03:17.600 But guess what, Jeff Bezos' standards for his EAs probably are. 45 00:03:17.600 --> 00:03:19.080 Exceptional eye. 46 00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:22.680 And for context for the individual who is who's talking to us about like, I'll bring 47 00:03:22.680 --> 00:03:24.080 your coffee for you. 48 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:26.600 Laila and I have four EAs. 49 00:03:26.600 --> 00:03:28.160 Four. 50 00:03:28.160 --> 00:03:34.480 So like, we have no lack of people who are attending to our, you know, personal needs 51 00:03:34.480 --> 00:03:38.160 to make sure that we have the most amount of time maximized. 52 00:03:38.160 --> 00:03:44.360 And they are trained by the older EAs on how to minimally invade our time and space so 53 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:48.440 that we can work as much as we can. 54 00:03:48.440 --> 00:03:52.840 And I just, I bring this up because it was just like, it was just such a lack of understanding 55 00:03:52.840 --> 00:04:00.120 of how the world works, that all that this individual was saying was like, oh my God, 56 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:02.480 this is such an opportunity for me. 57 00:04:02.480 --> 00:04:06.440 But if you want the other person to get excited, it's like you have to have, have it be an 58 00:04:06.440 --> 00:04:08.800 opportunity for them. 59 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:12.680 And all I can hear is all the things that I'm going to do for you in your life. 60 00:04:12.680 --> 00:04:16.280 And that doesn't sound very compelling for me. 61 00:04:16.280 --> 00:04:19.920 And so I think that's where I just got very frustrated with this. 62 00:04:20.760 --> 00:04:23.960 You have to, if you're going to try and work someone for free, you're going to have to 63 00:04:23.960 --> 00:04:27.120 only work one or two steps ahead, not a hundred. 64 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:32.640 And you have to bring something to the table besides just your time and your hands, right? 65 00:04:32.640 --> 00:04:34.440 Like you have to have other skills. 66 00:04:34.440 --> 00:04:38.840 And the idea that he was waiting for this to be the opportunity, I thought was ridiculous 67 00:04:38.840 --> 00:04:44.800 because you're going to bet your whole life on somebody else walking into it. 68 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:47.240 That's a terrible, those are terrible odds. 69 00:04:47.240 --> 00:04:50.840 And the vast majority of people who listen to my stuff probably won't randomly run into 70 00:04:50.840 --> 00:04:52.200 it, you know what I mean? 71 00:04:52.200 --> 00:04:56.480 And so you have to go make the opportunity. 72 00:04:56.480 --> 00:05:00.880 If he all of a sudden became the best at one particular skill, he could almost guarantee 73 00:05:00.880 --> 00:05:03.800 that he would hire him, right? 74 00:05:03.800 --> 00:05:08.560 And so it's like why leave it to chance when you can guarantee the outcome by just being 75 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:10.680 the best. 76 00:05:10.680 --> 00:05:11.960 And so well, how do I become the best? 77 00:05:11.960 --> 00:05:13.440 You do shit. 78 00:05:13.440 --> 00:05:15.040 You try. 79 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:19.720 And so this is what was top of mind for me. 80 00:05:19.720 --> 00:05:24.680 And no, this is not, I guess, a regular podcast, but it was just something that, like you 81 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:31.120 got a hunt, you got a hunt, and you have to make it about the other person. 82 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:34.720 And this is the same thing with, you know, the people who are starting out trying to get 83 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:35.720 the first customer. 84 00:05:35.720 --> 00:05:38.280 So they're like, no one wants me to work for free. 85 00:05:38.280 --> 00:05:39.480 They won't even let me work for free. 86 00:05:39.480 --> 00:05:42.720 It's like, yeah, because the other costs are greater. 87 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:46.040 The hidden costs are greater. 88 00:05:46.040 --> 00:05:50.400 Because anybody who's had a team, for example, knows that like even if you bring in an employee 89 00:05:50.400 --> 00:05:54.800 who has experience, there's cost of onboarding. 90 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:59.760 And the promise that we have is that this employee has the skill that they promised. 91 00:05:59.760 --> 00:06:01.320 And so we make that trade. 92 00:06:01.320 --> 00:06:05.960 If someone comes in and says, hey, I have zero skill, please incur this cost of bringing 93 00:06:05.960 --> 00:06:08.760 me into your organization. 94 00:06:08.760 --> 00:06:12.480 And no, even if you call work for free, it's still cost me money and it's still cost me 95 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:13.680 time. 96 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:16.000 And there's no promise of upside. 97 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:19.520 And my upside is that you want me to just go teach you everything. 98 00:06:19.520 --> 00:06:20.520 Like, come on. 99 00:06:20.520 --> 00:06:21.920 Like get the fuck out of here. 100 00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:22.920 You know what I mean? 101 00:06:22.920 --> 00:06:29.480 Like, I want to be, you know, we put this stuff out there that's to help people to get 102 00:06:29.480 --> 00:06:30.480 started. 103 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:32.320 But, you know, I'm not a saint. 104 00:06:32.320 --> 00:06:34.480 And I like to be very clear about my intentions. 105 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:36.480 Like, I'm here to make money. 106 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:42.720 And I try to build a positive brand by putting out lots of valuable stuff that helps people 107 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:43.720 make money. 108 00:06:43.720 --> 00:06:46.280 But you have to do it. 109 00:06:46.280 --> 00:06:49.480 You have to fucking do it. 110 00:06:49.480 --> 00:06:52.480 And at the same time, for everybody who comes, like, you know, I get people come up to 111 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:55.680 me and say, you know, I wouldn't be in the same place without you. 112 00:06:55.680 --> 00:06:57.160 I also like to push back on the bed. 113 00:06:57.160 --> 00:06:58.680 Like, it's 100% of you. 114 00:06:58.680 --> 00:06:59.800 Like, if you fail, it's on you. 115 00:06:59.800 --> 00:07:01.800 If you succeed, it's on you. 116 00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:02.800 It's all you. 117 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:03.800 It's not me. 118 00:07:04.360 --> 00:07:07.760 So, that's Alex's Reign of the Day. 119 00:07:07.760 --> 00:07:09.480 Appreciate you guys. 120 00:07:09.480 --> 00:07:10.760 Keeps lag. 121 00:07:10.760 --> 00:07:13.440 And I'll catch you guys on the next podcast.