My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
“Everyone wanted to be like Mike. Mike didn't want to be like anybody else.”
What It Means
Great performers focus on developing their unique strengths rather than copying others' approaches.
Why It Matters
Shows that authentic excellence comes from developing your own methods rather than following conventional wisdom.
When It's True
When you have unique strengths or perspectives that others lack and the confidence to develop them.
When It's Risky
When you ignore proven methods and reinvent everything from scratch unnecessarily.
How to Apply
Identify your unique strengths and lean into them
Resist pressure to copy competitors' strategies
Build methods that work for your personality and situation
Example Scenario
“Entrepreneur develops unique company culture and management style that fits their personality, rather than copying what worked for other successful companies.”
Related Knowledge
The best product is just you pushed out to the world
Your authentic self - with all your unique experiences, opinions, and interests - is your strongest differentiator
Anti-Business Billionaire Framework
A framework identifying five core traits of entrepreneurs who build massive companies by being contrarian to typical business advice: high disagreeableness, extreme self-confidence, product obsession, total control retention, and refusal to sell at any price.
Edisonian Principle of Design
A product development approach focused on rapid experimentation, immediate feedback, and constant iteration rather than master planning.
Maintain freedom to work on what you love while building a successful business
Ability to work exclusively on projects you're passionate about, declining lucrative distractions, and having money follow from doing what you love rather than chasing money directly.
Family Heirloom Business Model
Viewing your business as a family heirloom to be passed down through generations rather than an asset to be optimized for sale.
Go Slow Now to Go Fast Later
Deliberately limiting initial growth to deeply learn fundamentals, enabling exponentially faster growth later when you apply accumulated knowledge.