I’ve spoken to over 50 founders and CEOs. Here’s the advice they wish they knew at 21:

[PART 2/7]

💡 Your life is a business.

My thoughts below:

Business is the game of solving problems. Human nature dictates that we thrive from solving problems. You can say “it’s in our nature” ;).

@Mia Gradelski always says “You are the CEO of your life.” And it has truth to it. Not only does this connect to my [PART 1] post about being responsible for your own actions, but it also describes the operating procedure you should run your life on.

Being the CEO means that you are the leader. You pick the direction to go. You rely on others often. You pick up many along the way. You may have to leave some as well.

We can even get technical and think about the inputs and outputs that a business contains. At the end of the day, all business is, is inputs going through a black box (the business operating) until it gets spit out as an output.

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I’ve spoken to over 50 founders and CEOs. Here’s the advice they wish they knew at 21:

[PART 1/7]

💡 You, alone, are solely responsible for your actions and your own environment.

My thoughts below:

Designing your own environment allows you to operate at peak performance. Getting rid of the negative stressors and friction will not only allow you to work better, but also feel better about your work.

You must also remember that your actions have RE-actions. They can be negative or positive. It doesn’t really matter. But you must realize that you are directly responsible for controlling the actions you take, and thus the overall consequence.

Also, to bring this full circle, this is an idea likely taken from The Daily Stoic.

Stoic-ism is the teaching of the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions. Something I think that we can all use a little of nowadays!

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5 pieces of success (from Steve Jobs — RIP)

1. Be passionate about the work you do.
   ”The reason is, is because if you don’t have it, any rational person would just give up.”

2. Simplify everything.
   ”Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

3. Unleash your creativity.
   ”[try to] expose yourself to the best things humans have done and then try to bring those things into what you’re doing.”

4. Skills can be taught later.
   ”Hire for personality and culture-fit first.”

5. Become the chief story-teller.
   ”Don’t introduce products. Tell a story.”

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Wow. I’ve been with @Doorvest for about a week.

Here’s what I learned about being at a venture-backed startup:

👉 Your teammates are everything.
— They make the work fun and they’re an asset to the work you do.

👉 You make a lot of decisions without knowing all the variables.
— The saying of “building a plane on the way up” is really true. Sometimes, you don’t know exactly how something works, but you roll with it.

👉 Experimentation is the heart of the business.
— Throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks is the foundation of everything.

👉 Everyone you meet is brilliant.
— I met a ton of people. And there’s always something to gain (be it encouragement, a skill, a thought, etc).

👉 Figuring out the “FOCUS” is really hard.
— There’s a million directions to run, but to make significant progress, you need to pick one path and sprint.

P.S. peep the new profile picture ;). Shout out to @Minhtri for the 📷 shot!

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#TheMillionImpactMission

One of the funniest parts about making content (and scheduling it)?

I schedule these posts usually 1-2 weeks ahead of time. Sometimes, by the time it goes live, it really fits in with what’s happening in my life at the moment unexpectedly.

It feels like I’m writing a letter to my future self.

It’s one of the reasons I love doing it.

Sometimes, I’m like “Dang, when did I get so philosophical.” And other times, it’s more like “Dang, that was depressing.”

Either way, it helps me think. It brings clarity. And it connects me to other people (especially in a pandemic world).

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You don’t always hit home runs. Sometimes you strike out.

…and that’s okay. Get up and try again

…and one day, you’ll hit every one.

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I own 12 t-shirts. They’re all black, size small, and from Banana Republic.

Some people find this odd until they learn about decision fatigue.

Basically, it’s the idea that the more decisions you need to make, the worse you’re going to be at making good decisions. Your mind gets tired of it, even if it’s a small decision (like getting dressed).

Think about all the decisions you make when you wake up.
1. The snooze button
2. Getting up right away
3. What clothes to wear
4. What you eat for breakfast

Owning 12 of the same t-shirt in a neutral color removes a daily decision for me. But now multiply this across all menial decisions. I eat the same breakfast everyday.

Some will call this bland and boring. But it saves me time and daily brainpower that I allocate elsewhere.

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You’re the story.

I think it’s great that a lot of the people closest to me read my LinkedIn posts. They’re always supportive and they tell me exactly which one they learned something from.

But what’s sad is that there aren’t more creators. I follow over 500 people and I see posts from 5 on the daily.

And when I talk to people who want to start, they tell me “I don’t know what to post about.” My amateur advice? Tell your story.

👏 YOU. 👏 ARE. 👏 THE. 👏 STORY.

What might not be remarkable to you might seem remarkable to others — your experiences, your mental frameworks, your hardships, and your wins. This is the basis of your viral content.

It’s you.

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I’ve never gotten a job traditionally yet.

I came to the realization after talking with @Kristina Nguyen the other day that all 3 of my previous and my current positions all came from cold emails.

What made these cold emails successful? Honestly, I’m not entirely sure.

But here’s why I think they were successful:

👉 The emails provided value
— Your email shouldn’t be about you. Make it about them. Answer “How can you help them achieve their goals.”

👉 I came in without expectations
— Many people feel entitled to an audience (or even a job), but you’re going to be disappointed, quickly.

👉 They were SHORT
— Important people don’t have much time. If your email is long, it’s likely going to never be read in full. Work on cutting out EVERYTHING unnecessary.

If you’re looking for the template I use, send me a DM with your email and I’ll send it over to you (free).

*And no, I won’t add you to an email list (but you can sign up for mine on my website if you want— link in comments).

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👏 Adding a connection on LinkedIn isn’t networking. 👏

Networking is truly important to your career. There’s actually a cheesy saying that “your network is your net worth.”

There’s some truth to that. But you need to do it right.

Here’s how I do it:

👉 Start by attracting people to you (create content!)
— you can’t connect with cool people if they never find you

👉 Actively reach out to cool people
— engage on their content, cold DM/email them, and provide value

👉 Maintain your relationship (if you feel you hit it off!)
— schedule periodic calls, continuously engage their content, and send frequent DM/emails

👉 Take opportunities that come to you
— if you’re successful, opportunities naturally gravitate to you

I’ve met some pretty cool people doing this. Some are just friends now. Some became my employers. And some became my mentors.

Build your network. Build your net worth.

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I’m happy to announce I’ll be joining the Growth team over at Doorvest starting today!

If you saw my Monday post, hopefully I didn’t leave you in too much suspense. But this was my “news to come” :).

Doorvest helps you identify, purchase, and own your first (or 10th!) rental home for as little as $35k. We help you generate passive, reliable income from day one.

We’re on a mission to democratize real estate investing for the next generation even if you have 0 (yes, zero!) experience investing in real estate.

I don’t need to tell you about the benefits of investing in real estate. They’re well-known and well-documented. But if you’re interested in Doorvesting, let me know :)!

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The REAL Conversation Cheat Code — How to build a deeper friendship

❌ How are you?
✅ How are you, really?

❌ What’s up?
✅ What title would you give this chapter in your life?

❌ What do you do?
✅ What are you passionate about?

❌ How’s work?
✅ What’s the most fulfilling part about what you do?

❌ Is something wrong?
✅ What do you need right now more than anything?

❌ What’s new?
✅ What are you most looking forward to?

❌ How was your day?
✅ What made you smile today?

This is the difference between acquaintances and friends.

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P.S. I found this on an unbranded phone case — not sure where it comes from :)

I’m naive. It’s my competitive advantage.

I believe I can do anything. Let me explain:

A few years ago, I talked to someone I looked up to and they told me, “Always say yes, even if you don’t know how to do it.”

Saying yes has been and I hope, will always be my competitive advantage.

Why?

💡 It pushes me to learn. QUICKLY.

This year has been full of “firsts” for me. First job, first time leading a project, first time coding, first time pandemic.

Life is constantly presenting opportunities to grow. And there’s never going to be the “PERFECT” time. You won’t be ready.

Saying no might protect you from failure. But saying yes gives you the opportunity to be successful.

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Today is my last day at XY Planning Network!

News to come on what’s next. But I’d like to give my public thank you and shout-out to XYPN for being an awesome place to start off my career journey.

To recap, I’ve been with XYPN for about 6 months now as a Member Success Intern being pulled into all kinds of data analytics projects (my interest and a need — perfect match, you can say).

XYPN earned Inc’s 2019 Best Workplaces award. And I’m happy to report that this is definitely true!

I’d highly recommend their internship program headed by Pearl Michalson.

I was supported enough, but had enough leeway and free-range to explore my interests, was able to work on projects I wanted to work on (and propose my own), and test out my abilities cross-departmentally working with XY’s Compliance team!

For my fellow students, I’ll post (or share) when I see their program pop up again for hiring! There are also new full-time position posted every ~4 days as well on their careers page.

Special thanks to all of these wonderful mentors I had and met at XY: Kassy Betterley, Vince Hockett, Stephanie Foster, Alan Moore, Travis Johnson, Maddy Roche, Kori Lennon, Jerrylene John, and Isabel Leong.

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#TheMillionImpactMission

Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield is going to duplicate Clubhouse.

He said it directly to Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison. And he’s not the only one — there are plans for Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn too!

He said, “I’ve always believed the ‘good’ artists copy, ‘great’ artists steal things, so we’re building Clubhouse into Slack, essentially.”

What’s interesting is how blatant Paul is. But this is how most of big tech operates. They either acquire or copy successful startups.

Tiktok paved the way for Instagram Reels. Snapchat paved the way for “Stories” on other platforms.

It’s not about who did it first. It’s about who has the competitive advantage.

P.S. I think Slack is just copying Discord, personally!

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#TheMillionImpactMission

LinkedIn is creating a “Creator Mode”

I’m glad to see LinkedIn start to support creators. Here’s what to expect:

1. The profile of a creator will be optimized for growth.

2. A “follow” button, hashtags in the profile, and content at the top of the profile will be the standard for creators.

3. When going live, the video will display where the banner currently is.

4. Video profile photos will allow you to record a 15 second “promo” video for yourself.

With 700M+ users, a little over 1% actually post weekly content. Will this encourage more people to become creators?

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#TheMillionImpactMission

One of the best performing stocks of the decade wasn’t a tech stock.

It was Domino’s ($DPZ).

In 2009, the company was in complete disarray. Their revenues were down and their pizza was ranked in taste next to Chuck E Cheese’s. Their stock traded at about $7.

They heard the cries. They were struggling.

In 2010, they rebranded, worked on their formula, and most importantly, listened to their customers. They ramped up their marketing department and connected with their customers. Their stock then traded at about $14.

Today, Domino’s trades at over $372.

A $1000 investment in Domino’s would be worth over $50,000 today.

That’s the power of good marketing and connection.

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#TheMillionImpactMission

After writing over 110 LinkedIn posts over the past 4 months, here’s what I learned:

1️⃣ Growth is slow — I’ve probably written enough for a small book in the past 4 months. I’ve met a ton of people and I have a few I regularly talk to now! Score! It’s a vanity metric, but my views have marginally increased from about 50 views per post to about 1000 views per post. In perspective, one of my posts is now worth about $10-$15 in ad-spend on LinkedIn.

2️⃣ Those few people I talk to regularly are the best — They’re my “superfans.” They encourage me and mentor me along the way. They’re invaluable! Learn who these people are and make all of your posts for them. The rest follow.

3️⃣ Writing something everyday has made me a more interesting person — Reading is cool, but solidifying the accumulation of what you’ve read by writing is even cooler. Writing helps you solidify your thoughts and have others challenge your perspective. My #HigherEd posts are often subject to debate online and offline.

4️⃣ Luck plays a role, but you can increase your luck — always be prepared, increase the number of experiences you have (don’t be afraid to fail), and identify where you might have higher chances of luck.

5️⃣ HAVE FUN! The best diet is the one you can stay on. The best investment is the one you can stay on. The best LinkedIn strategy is the one you can stay on. It’s not about finding the next trick. It’s about being here long enough to excel.

It’s hard to distill this down into 5 points, but I’ve tried my best. Let me know your questions below :).

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Remember that you must die.

Not to be grim, but this is a Stoic philosophy called Memento Mori.

Steve Jobs said, “Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life” in his 2005 Stanford commencement speech.

He further adds, “Almost everything just falls away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important...You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

As I’ve been following icons like Tim Ferris, the idea of Stoicism has slowly diffused into me. That and reading The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday.

It’s been my secret weapon thus far :)

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Your financial advisor (or your favorite finance Youtuber) might have told you about their great portfolio of diversified ETFs.

Their portfolio of diversified ETFs might sound impressive, but in reality, ETFs are just baskets of stocks and bonds.

An ETF company (typically BlackRock or iShares, Vanguard, or State Street ETFs) will bundle stocks together and sell it under one ticker symbol on the stock market. It looks like a stock, quacks like a stock, but it isn’t a stock.

The most popular ETF tracks the S&P 500 index. For Vanguard, that would be the “VOO” ticker.

For you as an individual investor, ETFs are tax efficient, offer high liquidity, and allows you to diversify your portfolio with ease.

Don’t be conned into thinking ETFs are a holy grail, they’re a tool that is actually easy to access.

P.S. The photo says “passive” portfolio. This is loose, because there are actively traded ETFs, but they’re not very common.

P.P.S. The photo is from my upcoming course getting ready for beta launch soon! There will be a sign-up in the comments below for those interested.

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