My First Million

The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.

People buy value not price

Even at very low prices, products without genuine value won't sell (laser discs at 5 cents example)

Focus on creating genuine value rather than competing on price

In commodity markets, price is the primary differentiator

Premium newsletter can charge $600/year because it provides genuine trading edge, while free alternatives don't get adoption

Wait for Your Pitch Strategy

Like Ted Williams mapping his batting average by strike zone, identify your 'sweet spot' opportunities and only swing at

Transparent vs Opaque Opportunity Assessment

Opportunities are either 'windows' (transparent, can see outcome clearly) or 'doors' (opaque, unknown what's behind).

Value vs Uniqueness Business Matrix

A 2x2 matrix plotting business opportunities on axes of total value (y-axis) and uniqueness (x-axis) to determine strate

Light User vs Heavy User Funnel Strategy

Strategic positioning framework where businesses deliberately avoid heavy users who demand low margins and instead focus

Systematically expose yourself to different worldviews to avoid becoming cynical and maintain fresh perspectives

Regularly discovering new business ideas, maintaining curiosity, avoiding the 'old bear' mentality, and finding unexpect

Build a profitable newsletter business from scratch using subject matter expertise

Newsletter generating $10M+ annually with 30k+ subscribers paying $600+ per year, growing organically without paid adver