My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
“Trust is the total mispriced asset in the market”
What It Means
Genuine audience trust has enormous economic value but is consistently undervalued because it's hard to measure compared to simple metrics like follower count
Why It Matters
Most people focus on vanity metrics instead of trust, creating opportunities for those who understand and build real influence
When It's True
In any market where influence and recommendations drive purchasing decisions
When It's Risky
When trust is industry-specific and doesn't transfer to your target market, or when it's based on entertainment rather than expertise
How to Apply
Focus on building deep trust with smaller audience over broad reach
Measure trust through actions (purchases, event attendance) not engagement metrics
Price partnerships based on trust depth, not follower count
Invest time in authentic relationship building with audience
Example Scenario
“A B2B consultant with 10K highly engaged newsletter subscribers can command higher partnership fees than an Instagram influencer with 100K followers but low purchase influence.”
Related Knowledge
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.
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.
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.
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