My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Curse of Familiar Riches
The mental trap where entrepreneurs can easily envision 1-2x income growth (because they understand those mechanisms) but their brains short-circuit when trying to think of 10x growth paths.
How It Works
Once you achieve a certain income level, your brain becomes familiar with the methods that got you there. You can easily see similar opportunities at the same level, but the neural pathways for dramatically different approaches don't exist.
Components
Identify your current 'familiar' income level
Consciously refuse all 1-2x opportunities for a period
Daily ask: 'How would I make 10x more?' until brain stops short-circuiting
Research people who actually make 10x more and reverse-engineer their methods
Add time constraints to break existing mental models
When to Use
When you notice yourself only considering opportunities that are incremental improvements over your current situation.
When Not to Use
When you're genuinely content with your current level and want to focus energy on non-financial goals.
Anti-Patterns to Avoid
Example
“Shaan made $120K salary and could easily see paths to $150K-240K, but couldn't imagine $500K+ until he forced his brain to study people at those levels and ask different questions.”
Related Knowledge
Identify investment opportunities in companies you already pay as a customer
Becoming an equity partner in a business you already use, potentially seeing significant returns as the business grows with your help.
affiliate_vs_equity
Audience Co-Founder Framework
A business partnership model where someone with a trusted audience becomes an equity partner to provide unfair distribution advantages, essentially acting as a non-fungible go-to-market cheat code.
Trust Depth Over Reach Breadth
When evaluating audience partnerships, trust depth (how much influence you actually have) matters exponentially more than reach breadth (total follower count).
Money does make you happier, but the 'never enough' psychology persists at every level
Pursue wealth for the genuine benefits it provides, but don't expect it to eliminate the desire for more
Invest in your P&L
Look at your business expenses and try to become an investor in the companies you're already paying