June 24, 2025 • 32 mins
In this episode of Growth Talks, I sit down with entrepreneur and author Noah Kagan — an early employee at Facebook, founder of AppSumo, and the mind behind the recent bestseller Million Dollar Weekend.
We dive deep into the practical insights from his book and explore key strategies for launching a business from zero. Noah shares actionable tips on:
Finding your first customers
Getting paid early
Validating ideas quickly
And building momentum fast
Whether you're thinking of starting your own business or are already in the trenches, this episode is packed with real-world advice you can apply immediately.
Stick around until the end — you won't want to miss the powerful takeaways Noah drops in the final minutes.
📗 You can find Noah's book here:
https://amzn.to/3ZF1N2f
📚 Suggested books:
https://amzn.to/43UgWiH
https://amzn.to/4lcutIN
https://amzn.to/4ezs1tn
🛠️ Suggested tools:
https://appsumo.8odi.net/4Gq7On
https://appsumo.8odi.net/xLRKV1
👍 Follow our guest here:
https://www.youtube.com/@noahkagan
https://x.com/noahkagan
📔 Read my book "Growth Talks"
https://amzn.to/3zfqRTu
🧲 Watch my free lead generation course:
https://gaito.link/skillshare
🙏 Subscribe to the channel:
https://gaito.link/subscribe
📚 Download the Reading List:
https://gaito.link/gtbooks
We dive deep into the practical insights from his book and explore key strategies for launching a business from zero. Noah shares actionable tips on:
Finding your first customers
Getting paid early
Validating ideas quickly
And building momentum fast
Whether you're thinking of starting your own business or are already in the trenches, this episode is packed with real-world advice you can apply immediately.
Stick around until the end — you won't want to miss the powerful takeaways Noah drops in the final minutes.
📗 You can find Noah's book here:
https://amzn.to/3ZF1N2f
📚 Suggested books:
https://amzn.to/43UgWiH
https://amzn.to/4lcutIN
https://amzn.to/4ezs1tn
🛠️ Suggested tools:
https://appsumo.8odi.net/4Gq7On
https://appsumo.8odi.net/xLRKV1
👍 Follow our guest here:
https://www.youtube.com/@noahkagan
https://x.com/noahkagan
📔 Read my book "Growth Talks"
https://amzn.to/3zfqRTu
🧲 Watch my free lead generation course:
https://gaito.link/skillshare
🙏 Subscribe to the channel:
https://gaito.link/subscribe
📚 Download the Reading List:
https://gaito.link/gtbooks
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chow everyone, and welcome back to the show. And rough
your host and my guest today is no A Kagan.
I know, how are you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I don't know much Italian, but I love the Italians.
I love when I see them in Spain, and I
love and when I see him on the streets and
the way they talk and their personalities and the way
they dress. It's great, great people.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
So it means that you are in Spain, but there
are a lot of Italians in the streets, I suppose. Okay, yes, man,
thanks for doing this. You know I loved your book.
I told you before and you also know that the
Italian version just came out and I'm the one on
the back. So I really love to, you know, talk
(00:46):
a little bit about the book and the ideas inside
the book and let you share a few you know
inside and tips and tricks. I want to start with
the title. You know, it's a very powerful one. So
million dollar a week and what do you mean? It's
kind of, you know, a big one. So can you
be a billionaire in a weekend? What doesn't mean?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, you can? You can? So let me be clear,
you will, someone will eventually, but you will not get
a million dollars in a weekend, but you will start
the business that will eventually get you a million dollars
and I guarantee that. Now, let's talk about some examples myself.
I started appsuma dot com in a weekend because I
(01:30):
had an idea of a problem that I wanted solved
and I was like, Okay, let me see how I
can do this really quick and really cheap and if
people really want it. And there's other things in the
book that explain how you can make sure you're validating
a large business to make sure you're not wasting time,
and then it's a million dollar, billion dollar opportunity and
you can start it and get it going in a weekend.
(01:50):
There's another business that everyone's used called Facebook that was
launched in a weekend. There's a lot of examples that
you start unpacking things where where people are doing things
so quickly to validate that people want something, and validate
means that people are actually excited to take their wallets
out and give you money. And the reality raph is
(02:12):
that most people that listen to this conversation, whether they're
in Italy, Germany, America, Spain, they're going to spend a
lot of time and a lot of money and a
lot of podcasts and YouTube videos doing things that people
don't want. And that's the hope with the book and
what I have seen results. I literally just got a
message today that people read the book, they sent the emails,
(02:36):
they did the actions in the book, and one person
just said, Hey, I need six thousand dollars this weekend,
which is which is you know, freaking insane, And that
is the steps they eventually get to the millions and beyond.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, you just spoke about the validation and that was
my favorite chapter of the book. I also say that
in a video that I recorded, you know, when the
book was out. But I want to talk about that
in a bit, So I want to start from these.
I have a lot of notes inside the book, and
I want to start with this one. There is this
(03:10):
paragraph that is called always be Asking. Tell us more
about the power of asking and why you decide to
write a whole you know paragraph in the book about that.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I wrote about it because that is the difference between
people who get what they want and people who think
about what they want. There's so much more information out
here on pot There's literally unlimited hours. There's literally a
super brain called opening eye that can tell you everything. Literally,
everyone hears a genius. And then the question is, well,
(03:50):
if everyone can be a genius, how do I win?
How do I win? And you win by getting customers,
you win by getting employees. You win by getting people
that are excited about what you're doing, and so how
do you actually get those people? Now, what most people
do is they pray, they go to a church or
a mosque or a synagogue, and they're like, well, I
(04:11):
hope I'm going to magically vibe code some product that
people magically find and look. That can work in fantasies
and then you know from fantasy books and in reality.
If you want to make it easier and more effective,
if you practice asking, you can find out things immediately,
(04:34):
whether people want things or not. And when you start
realizing the power of asking, you start realizing it's actually everything.
If you're marriage, right, did you ask your wife on
a date? Did you ask her to marry you? Yeah?
And when you want someone to buy something, if it's
an ask like hey, do you want do you like this?
Do you want to be my customer? Do you want
(04:55):
to give me a dollar? Do you need me one hundred? Dollars,
and the thing that's important for people. They see me
and maybe they think like, oh, well, you're you're extroverted
and you're this person that's always been talking, and that's
probably true, but when you realize that asking is a
skill that can be developed, and I talk about the
coffee challenge is one way to develop a skill like
(05:16):
anything we're learning, like making a YouTube video like you've
done like you were telling me, you've done so many
videos and each time, over years, you get better and better.
And the same thing happens with asking. And so I
want people, even though there's so much out there and
everyone the genius, what are the fundamentals that are never
going to change? And asking is the foundation of it.
And what I encourage you is to do the coffee challenge,
(05:36):
which people can read about in the book. But asking
is even a simple thing that I still do to
this day. I literally was at McDonald's and I asked
for a free mustard. I was like, hey, I got
a mustard, I got this, but can I get a mustard?
And most people are just afraid. And what they realized
is that the moment of not getting what you want
is not that bad, and the upside is unlimited of
(05:57):
the things that you can get if you just ask
for it, whether it's a wife, whether it's a customer,
whether it's a raise, whether it's a job, whether whatever
it is in life. And that's why asking and as
well starting or the fundamentals of success in business.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
And I love it because this is so powerful. But
at the same time, it's also very easy to kind of,
you know, exercise every single day. You know, with the
coffee challenge, for example, you can try and you know
that it's going to be awkward, but it's going to
be helpful in the long run. So yeah, that's why
I love it. Related to that, there is also this
(06:32):
part in the book where you talk about where do
you find customers, and you say that it's really important
to have access, you know, to the people you want
to you want to help. Why that is important and
why you think this is a big mistake that usually
people make where they're building a business.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Conceptually, what I'm trying to have people realize because let
me just start at the end after many years, so
let me let me just work one to share my
story and then maybe it'll help with this. Right, So
I would grew up in Silicon Valley, middle class normal
tried so many things over many years, and eventually at
(07:17):
Sumo work at Atsumo dot com people check it out,
and then over a fifteen year period, I'm finally pretty rich,
Like not as a brag anything, but like I'm doing
pretty well and I can't believe it. He didn't believe it.
I'm like, this is cool. I didn't know it was
going to happen. I thought it would eventually would, but
it's like I started it and I asked and I
kept going. Now, the reality is that we all have
(07:39):
some skills, and we all have some networks that we
are special for right, Like you're in Italy. I will
never be able to beat you in Italy.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Now.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Why is it though, when people are starting businesses, they're like,
I'm gonna go do Italy stuff. Like I have a
friend who I love and he's like, I'm going to
try to do real estate in America, but he lives
in Europe And I'm like, you think you're going to
beat people or living in America and didn't been doing
it there for so many years? Probably not. And So
what I want people to think about, and on the
point of that is who do you already have access
(08:09):
to to make it easier for you to succeed? As
well as what skills have you been practicing or are
you curious about that you can take advantage of? And
the whole point of it is how do you make
it easier to have success? And the reality though, the
question is why would anyone make it hard? They make
it hard so when they fail or it doesn't work,
there's no one to blame. It's like, well, you know,
(08:31):
I try, you know, but if you actually do the
skills you have and the network or access to people
you have, there's a chance someone's gonna say no, But
there's also a chance someone will actually be excited about
what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
What do you say to people that argue and to say, oh,
but I don't have a network, you know, I don't
know anyone, you know, I don't. I just thought that
I don't know. What's the first step to do to
you know, have access to those people?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, that's it. You know, the book starts with frequently
made excuses as you know Italian, how do you say
that in Italian school? Quinn? It sounds so good. I
think Portuguese used to be my favorite language. But it
might be Italian, it might be Italians frequent and you
(09:22):
know people. I have a friend, I won't call him out,
but he's been wanting to start a business and he
keeps consuming m and he doesn't have a network, and
he doesn't have this, and he doesn't have that. But
what I've realized a lot of times in life is
that when you have limitations or you don't have all
access to things, that that's when you're gonna get creative.
(09:45):
And when people say they don't have a network, that's
just not true. There's no one who's absolutely alone. No
one's like, unless you're literally in a cave, I don't know, Like,
I don't think anyone's entirely alone. And so let's let's this.
Someone's like, Hey, I'm in high school, I'm in college.
I don't have anyone who has money. Okay, do you
have a parent, yes, my parents are poor. Okay, let's
(10:08):
exclude that. Do you go to a doctor, yeah, okay,
your doctor has money. Do you go to anywhere else?
You go to a dentist? Do you have anyone in
your family? And so when you say you don't have
a network, I think people use that as a way
to avoid actually getting starved. And so for me, I'm
listening to Kiss Do you know the band kiss Yep?
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah I do.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Anyway, you know Old School Agent, and I'm listening to
their biographies. For some reason, I don't I don't even
care for the music, but I just find it fascinating.
The guy just called people and was like, Hey, I
want to be in movies. You're the guy. I saw
your name on one of the movie lists. I just
called him and he just asked if he could be
in movies before they you know, I think they're pretty famous.
But I think the point of it is is like,
don't let the limitations be an excuse. You don't necessarily
(10:56):
need a network to build a big ass business. Does
it help, yeah, well you get over time. Yeah. But
instead of using that like Okay, I need two years
to get an MBA, or I need two years to
go meet a bunch of friends, like go find one
person like I think one of the easiest hacks anyone
can do is go work for a rich person.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Like.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
You know, I've had a decent amount of people, mostly
young people younger and we're both young, but younger people
in their twenties. I'm in my early forties that just
hit me up with really good messages and we're like, hey,
I just want to do whatever I can to be
around you. And from that they've all gone on to
like create some pretty good businesses or get even better jobs.
And I think that's just if you don't have anyone,
(11:38):
just go find someone who has them and do whatever
you can to kiss their ass and help them accomplish
their goals and they'll probably connect with other people. If not,
you can help them and connect with them.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah, I said before that My favorite chop in the
book is Chapter five is the one about the validation.
I tell you why. You know, I've read a lot
of books, you know, start up books, let's say, start
up books you too, and there is a lot of
going on about validation, you know, and techniques and strategy
(12:12):
to validate. But your chapter is very straightforward and and
you know and also very through. Uh. You say something
that is like you have to ask for money. That's it.
That's the only form of validation that makes sense. So
asking for money is the best form of validation. Why
is that?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Let me just tell you another story. I'm in Spanish
classes today and there's these girls they're probably twenty years old,
maybe nineteen, and I can't believe it, but they're on
their freaking phone and they're talking the whole class, the
whole class. I'm like, yo, I'm here in Spanish, shut up,
(12:54):
kayet or for four and they're just trying to and
you know, I'm thinking, why don't they care? Why are
they not paying attention like I am? You know why?
Because I paid for the class, okay, and their daddy's
or mommies paid for their class. Sorry, I don't mean
you were going to say you don't know, but yeah,
(13:15):
because I paid for it. You know what that means.
It means I'm taking it seriously because it was money
that I'm not buying diapers from my daughter, and I
had to earn that money to be able to afford
the class, and they didn't, and so to them, it's
just whatever. And the same goes with validation with your customers.
It's very easy to say, yeah, yeah, your product looks
good or you know, there's a lot of excuses people
(13:35):
can make, like oh yeah, yeah, come back when it's
more done, oh yeah. Like, but when you finally solve
a problem that people are excited about, they will pay
you and you will be surprised. Now it's easy to
say like to build things and say you need to
build things, but you can also get pre orders. It
(13:56):
is something I've talked about in the book, which Elon
Musk is literally model three cyber truck, the Tesla roadster.
Like you've done it pretty well doing pre orders. And
there's a lot of other examples that I give him
the book. But the point being here is you can
spend six months, twelve months, and this is what most
people need to do. They need to go do it
their way. See it doesn't work, Like, hey, I need
(14:18):
to build up an audience on YouTube and hopefully it'll work. Okay, okay,
sure that. Hey I need to work on the product
to finally show them something. Okay, okay try and then
after that point they're like, hey, it didn't work. And
the reality in business is that it's important. And I
start the book with this is that you have to ask,
but you have to start. And the reason is is
because people may not want want what problem you're solving,
(14:40):
and so then you have to keep finding and going
and going and going and going and going. I literally
went from twenty to thirty to finally find at starting
my own businesses a problem that could be a pretty
substantial business. That took me ten years. You know, I
do think that I've learned a lot and I've condensed
it in the books so that people can do that,
you know, in a weekend. If not, I think we
(15:00):
gets pretty quick, so they can do that validation to
understand if there's demand and guess what if there's not,
you can learn and move on.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
So the two things are kind of related. So the
you know, power of asking and the also uh validation
with with you know, with with money, because if you
have developed the skill of asking people and you're not
afraid anymore of that, you're not embarrassed by, you know,
an awkward moment. You know that you can ask for
(15:31):
money even if you have just only I don't know,
a prototype and not the final product.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Right yeah. I mean I'll give people an out, which
is if you're afraid, and that's okay, people. The fear
never really goes away. Like when I do the coffee challenge,
I still have I'm uncomfortable. It's not like it's like
you can gets easier. But what I what I recommend
for people that are like I still don't want to
ask for money. That's okay, do it for free. Just
(15:59):
do it for free, and then if you can get
enough success, then you could start asking or do it
for free, and if you get too busy, then start asking.
And that's the way that it's a little bit softer.
You know. I think for some people that that might
work a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
And there is another thing that I found that was
very simple and yet powerful in the book, and this
is the low of a hundred. You say that sometimes
people give up to early, and you say that the
best way to try something is to do it at
least one hundred times before giving up. What do you
(16:39):
mean by that? Why this is so important?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yeah, I was in a relationship once and it wasn't
working out, and I said, you know, I'm going to
commit to this relationship for six months and I'm going
to be the best boyfriend. Ever, however, you're never going
to see a better boyfriend than me, And I'm going
to do it for six months and then I'm going
to make a decision whether I should be with this one.
(17:03):
At six months we broke up. And the law one
hundred is the same thing for business. It said, look,
You may want to quit something. You do want your business,
you do have a dream, you have some goal you
want to accomplish, do it at least one hundred times,
so at least you have an informed decision before you quit,
because everyone has a story, everyone that I shouldn't have
stopped that, and if I only would have kept going,
(17:24):
what would have happened. And it doesn't have to be
big things. It could be one hundred videos. It could
be one hundred sales calls, you know, if you're trying
to do real estate, it could be one hundred offers.
It could be one hundred blog posts, one hundred I
don't know, open AI prompts, whatever it is. And at
that point you have enough data to make an informed
(17:45):
decision whether you want to continue or not. But sometimes
when you go to the gym for the first time,
it doesn't feel good, but as you go more and more,
Like I came to Barcelona, I was really fat because
I was drinking a lot in Tokyo and just eating
so much sushi and good food. It was amazing, you know.
I committed, you know, and two weeks and I'm like, okay, good,
Now my fitness is back to where it's been, and
(18:05):
so you need a time frame in parameters to be
effective in making better decisions about whether you should continue
or not, because so many people are not happy with
their lives professionally, and they can be, but they have
to stick with something to get to that point. And
the law of one hundred helps you do it a
hundred times to then make that informed decision.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
But I suppose there is also the other side of
the of the thing. So how do you understand when
it's time to give up? So let's say that you
have been trying a lot a lot of video on YouTube,
so a lot of I don't know, ideas or whatever.
Then that there is a moment when you should actually
stop because you need your energy and and you know,
(18:46):
and morney and time. Yeah, on another project, right.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, I don't think it's absolute in that sense. What
I do encourage people the book is called A Million
Dollar a Weeknd, and the idea is that if you're
starting something, try to find out in a weekend whether
it's going to be a business or not, because there's
no point in doing something one hundred times that no
one wants. This thing is is more related to someone
(19:10):
something is working. You know or there's something potential there, Like, hey,
you know, I've been doing the video. It seems like
it worked. I'm going to do one hundred. Now. What
I would encourage people to think about is try to
find businesses and specifically problems. All businesses is just a
problem that you solve that no one else has or
in a way that no one else has. That's it.
And find a problem that you won't quit on. I
(19:31):
think that's the better thing for people to be thinking about, Like, hey,
I just you know, and look, you can quit at
some point. The law one hundred helps you think like, okay,
I'll quit it maybe after one hundred or beyond, but
I just want to keep doing this for a long time.
I'm really enjoying and these are guiding principles that I
have found effective, where like, hey, you spent a weekend,
which everyone has fifty two of them, whether you have
a full time job or a family, but you have
(19:52):
fifty two times to go try to do something. And
as you find something that you're enjoying and that people
actually seem excited about and potentially they paid you ideally,
then now you can continue it and practice it one
hundred times. So one hundred videos, one hundred sales, one
hundred asks, whatever that is. So I wouldn't say it's
an absolute thing, but I'd say you can use these
in ways to find to get to the level of
(20:13):
success that people are. I think most people are dreaming
of it. The reality rap is that I don't know
if people all realize that they they can get there.
I think that's part of it, is that I've met
so many impressive people not getting what they want. Way
smarter than me, way way more ability than me, but
they're more afraid.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Why is happening?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yeah, they're more afraid than me. They're more comfortable than me,
and there's other reasons I like it, but there's a
lot of people that we know. I've met so many
people I'm like, Wow, you are way smarter than I am,
and you don't seem like you're actually doing the thing
you really want to do, but you're a little afraid.
And so that's why in the book, I try to
put it in a safe environment so you're not feeling
(20:56):
like this big I got to take some crazy entrepreneur risk.
That's never been my approach, Like a very unrisky entrepreneur.
I don't take a lot of big swings of big money.
Yet I test a lot of things, you know, stuff
that the business has grown, like apps, you know, to
give you know, it's a it's a high eight figure business,
and that's through a lot of like small tests. And
(21:17):
that's what I'm encouraging a lot of the audience like
you can do something that we can act and get
to that size. It's not beyond mhm.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Do you do you think that the ideas and and
strategies and tactics in these books are you know, both
for solopreneurs and for teams. I mean, if there be
someone reading the book and they don't have a team,
they're just you know, by themselves. Are the ideas inside
(21:46):
the book and the things that we are talking about
today also useful for people working alone?
Speaker 2 (21:54):
I think it's the book was written based on my
story and my experiences, and I found it's best to
start along and then it's best to build a team
to grow. To start alone, I think it's just so
easy to make excuses and then be like I don't
like my person, I didn't like this, this thing, this,
But as you want to run a business, like right now,
(22:16):
I don't run Appsumo. There's a guy named Sean who
was the president, and I spend my baby, you know,
talking to you. I have a spinish class. I take
care of my daughter and I go for a bike
ride and hang out with my wife. And that's through
a team. And so I would recommend it more for individuals. Again,
I think for people listening to this and the book
has been really well received and it's been awesome to
(22:36):
see that. And what I wanted to me it's not
to sell more books, Like I haven't really actively super
promoted it after it came out, But I want to
see people start something today. The people who are tire
of their jobs, not sure what's going to happen with
this AI thing, and they want to get on the
other side where they control their time, they control their schedule,
(22:57):
they control how they want, you know, they want to
go on a vacation, they want to work from a
different country. They can do those things. They don't need
to ask them for permission. The only permision they need
to ask to their customers.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
You just mentioned AI. How do you think AI is
going to impact these approach the whole you know, ideas
and process that you describe in your book. Now we
have very powerful tools. You mentioned JBT for example. So
what's going to change. I mean, is it good or
(23:27):
bad that we have AI? And I think yeah that
I think.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
I know AI is going to be good for the winners.
A is going to be good for the doers. So
if you think about it, now, with a I, you
can literally have unlimited business ideas, which has always been
it's been kind of the easy part. But the people
who are willing to do the work and do the
starting and do the asking and follow the steps I
lay out are going to have the success. And I
(23:55):
think AI, unfortunately, is going to get a lot of
people fired. Oh a lot A term minuted. I don't
think people realize how big of many AI is not
like the iPhone, which is opening jobs, or the Internet,
which open jobs. AI is reducing jobs permanently, and I
don't see those jobs we need to really other places.
So the question is then what stuff does not get
(24:16):
replaced or how do I be on the winning side.
And the winning side is, well, what is what are
all these people that are running the AI companies need?
They need housing, they need food, probably clothing, experiences. Those
things aren't going away? And then on the AI side,
either you need to join the companies that are there
clearly winning in this or figure a way to be
(24:37):
even a YouTuber talking about those things, I do think
AA is going to take a lot of people out,
not just companies but just jobs. And so how are
you taking actions? So I think more than ever, the
book focuses on fundamentals, which is are you starting, are
you asking? And are you solving a problem that people
want to pay you money for? And in this civilization,
(24:57):
on this planet that we're floating in, is still very important,
whether you're paying for an office, whether you're paying for
Spanish classes, whether you're paying I'm trying to rent a
boat for my wife's birthday. So there's still ways to win,
and the winners are going to win bigger and the
losers are going to lose more and that that's scary.
Depending on what team you're on.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
M in your experience, what are the most common mistakes
that people make that they want to start a company
or you know, a project or build an idea.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I think I know, you know, I've literally you know,
I've had tens of thousands of people at a course.
I've had you know, two hundred I think two hundred
thousand people have bought the book. The simplest thing that
people can do today, and I'll just give them a tactic,
is that look at the amount of time you're consuming
content versus working on your business. That's it. Just that's it.
(25:58):
That's it. Look at it like, if you want to
be a YouTuber like ref do you have a full
time money making, good looking Italian guy like doing this stuff,
and it's not bad to consume content like I probably
spend way more time consuming content these days. Then that's
I'm not trying to make more money or make more
business person. I have enough, which is also a European
versus American thing, which is very interesting. But I think
(26:21):
for anyone who's not happy where they're at, which I
think a lot of people aren't, I think a lot
of people are either given up, don't realize they can
do it, or just think, yeah, it's not gonna be
me and it can be them. Just look at how
much time you're consuming Instagram or TikTok or chat, GPT
and all these things, and then look at how much
actual time you're sending out offers, actual time you're asking
(26:42):
people to be your customer actual time working on would
projects or whatever projects that actually someone would buy. And
if you can just allocate fifteen minutes a day, like
fifteen minutes of Netflix a day, towards an actual business
seat of consumption, I think people will be shocked at
how that compounds. Because I will say, the best investment
you can ever do. People like, what stock should I do?
(27:03):
The best investments is business? Starting in business is the
best investment ever. Like you put money in any stock
like okay, ten percent a year, one hundred percent five years.
You can do that with very low capital now with
insane upside, and so that enables what kind of ever
kind of dream life people want. So again, the whole
point your question was what should they be aware of?
(27:24):
It's see how much you're consuming versus your producing. That's it.
And if you can spend more time in production line,
you will get to a successful business.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
And I totally agree on that. And I see the
same thing with friends or colleagues that they want to
be content creator and they just don't start. They watch
a lot of YouTube videos, but they never record the video.
So yeah, let's just start, guys.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
So yeah, I mean, now I was even thinking about
it this morning, Like vibe coding is this whole trend,
which is great, you know, it's making it easier to
make things, but it doesn't solve the problem. How do
you find the people to use the thing? You know,
app Sumo is a way you find people to use
your thing. Twitter magically Candy could go pray to Elon
that he hooks you up. But it's still the same
(28:09):
fundamentals of It's not it's not make something and find customers.
It's find customers as well to make something that they
actually want.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah, I think too many times it's it's they're they're
making things and like, okay, let me see if I
can find anybody. That's very tough. So I like to
work backwards from like who do I know what I
have access to? And look, if you're interested in these things,
it can work other ways. There are many ways. Uh,
you know, it's to Italy. Let's let's pick like, you know,
Bologne or something or Napolie. There's many ways to get
(28:39):
to napoly You could fly and you could drive, you
could walk, you could bike, you could you know, take
a drone. I don't know a lot of ways. I'm
just sharing my way that works the most fastest and cheapest,
because I've spent a lot of years on things that
didn't and we don't have too much time on the planet,
so I'd imagine most people want to get it done,
you know, as effectively as possible, and that's the way
I like my approach.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Uh No, We usually uh end the conversations here on
the podcast asking every guest to share a great book
that they have read recently and a great tool that
they have used recently. What do you want to share
with us? Of course your book is going to be
linked in the description below, But have you read something
very cool lately?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yeah? I mean I always track. I track every single
one of my books and good Reads. Oh wow, yeah,
every single book I read.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
You know.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
It's funny though, after my book came out, I will
tell you I stopped writing books, okay, because I felt
I was so pissed off you were writing like three stars.
I'm like, I put my life in this book. You're
three stars, jerk, So I don't. I don't try to
take that, you know. I try to be mindful of
anyone who's creating. I try to have a lot of
respect alside the books I'm reading today. I'm really enjoying
(29:53):
these rock and roll books. So I'm reading the biographies
of Jeens Simmons, Paul Stanley, and Sammy Hagar are and
I really enjoy them. I just did the audiobooks from
a library for free. I don't know if that's like
in all countries. You can you can get them on audible.
And I think what I'm looking for is alternative industries
(30:14):
with longevity. That's also interesting. You know, they're like doing
drugs and a bunch of women and guys just crazy shit.
But I'm looking for and I'm interested in, like these
other verticals outside of tech, because I'm tired of self
help or tech bros and books where they created something
or how did they create something? And how have they
stuck around? Because so many things go away so quickly,
(30:37):
so that that's the book.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
What it's called again.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
The three books I've read was Sammy Hagar Read, Paul Stanley,
Faced the Music it might be called or something like Face,
And then I'm finishing Jean Simmons book, which is Kiss
and make Up, okay, And then I think my next
book is going to be the Blink Win eighty two
Guys book mark hopples and then the tool. Yeah, dude,
(31:02):
it's so funny because everything in my life is like
not but a lot of things in my life are
like baby related, So uh, probably the nan It. It's
like a baby tracking app that I used to check
my baby sleeping. That was probably.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
There's there's a lot of cull tours on AMO for
business building. I'm not in a business building uh phase
right now of my personal life. But nan It is
probably the app let me let me see, give me
give me two sides.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, go for you, And uh.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
I did that or like yeah, I would say that,
or honestly, I would say I am using breeze dock.
It's one of the tools on appsumodel U E R
E e Z E d O C dot com and
tidy cow, which is products we built because we wanted them.
Breeze dock is basically doc assigned without a subscription, and
then tidy cow is calendly without a subscription. I use
(31:59):
those old ones. I use it.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I'm huge fun so and all the games are going
to be in the description below.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Awesome. Do you have any feedback about how we can
make it better for you?
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Called no, no, at the moment. No, I love it.
I use it every day. So yeah, me and my team, Yeah,
we love it.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Do you have any feedback you let me know and
well yeah I will.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
I will. No, thank you very much for your time.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
That was great. Thank it was really good. Yeah, it's fun.
The first interview I've done in like a year, so
I appreciate you haveing me check out dot com.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Yeah, all right,
Chow everyone, and welcome back to the show. And rough
your host and my guest today is no A Kagan.
I know, how are you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I don't know much Italian, but I love the Italians.
I love when I see them in Spain, and I
love and when I see him on the streets and
the way they talk and their personalities and the way
they dress. It's great, great people.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
So it means that you are in Spain, but there
are a lot of Italians in the streets, I suppose. Okay, yes, man,
thanks for doing this. You know I loved your book.
I told you before and you also know that the
Italian version just came out and I'm the one on
the back. So I really love to, you know, talk
(00:46):
a little bit about the book and the ideas inside
the book and let you share a few you know
inside and tips and tricks. I want to start with
the title. You know, it's a very powerful one. So
million dollar a week and what do you mean? It's
kind of, you know, a big one. So can you
be a billionaire in a weekend? What doesn't mean?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, you can? You can? So let me be clear,
you will, someone will eventually, but you will not get
a million dollars in a weekend, but you will start
the business that will eventually get you a million dollars
and I guarantee that. Now, let's talk about some examples myself.
I started appsuma dot com in a weekend because I
(01:30):
had an idea of a problem that I wanted solved
and I was like, Okay, let me see how I
can do this really quick and really cheap and if
people really want it. And there's other things in the
book that explain how you can make sure you're validating
a large business to make sure you're not wasting time,
and then it's a million dollar, billion dollar opportunity and
you can start it and get it going in a weekend.
(01:50):
There's another business that everyone's used called Facebook that was
launched in a weekend. There's a lot of examples that
you start unpacking things where where people are doing things
so quickly to validate that people want something, and validate
means that people are actually excited to take their wallets
out and give you money. And the reality raph is
(02:12):
that most people that listen to this conversation, whether they're
in Italy, Germany, America, Spain, they're going to spend a
lot of time and a lot of money and a
lot of podcasts and YouTube videos doing things that people
don't want. And that's the hope with the book and
what I have seen results. I literally just got a
message today that people read the book, they sent the emails,
(02:36):
they did the actions in the book, and one person
just said, Hey, I need six thousand dollars this weekend,
which is which is you know, freaking insane, And that
is the steps they eventually get to the millions and beyond.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, you just spoke about the validation and that was
my favorite chapter of the book. I also say that
in a video that I recorded, you know, when the
book was out. But I want to talk about that
in a bit, So I want to start from these.
I have a lot of notes inside the book, and
I want to start with this one. There is this
(03:10):
paragraph that is called always be Asking. Tell us more
about the power of asking and why you decide to
write a whole you know paragraph in the book about that.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I wrote about it because that is the difference between
people who get what they want and people who think
about what they want. There's so much more information out
here on pot There's literally unlimited hours. There's literally a
super brain called opening eye that can tell you everything. Literally,
everyone hears a genius. And then the question is, well,
(03:50):
if everyone can be a genius, how do I win?
How do I win? And you win by getting customers,
you win by getting employees. You win by getting people
that are excited about what you're doing, and so how
do you actually get those people? Now, what most people
do is they pray, they go to a church or
a mosque or a synagogue, and they're like, well, I
(04:11):
hope I'm going to magically vibe code some product that
people magically find and look. That can work in fantasies
and then you know from fantasy books and in reality.
If you want to make it easier and more effective,
if you practice asking, you can find out things immediately,
(04:34):
whether people want things or not. And when you start
realizing the power of asking, you start realizing it's actually everything.
If you're marriage, right, did you ask your wife on
a date? Did you ask her to marry you? Yeah?
And when you want someone to buy something, if it's
an ask like hey, do you want do you like this?
Do you want to be my customer? Do you want
(04:55):
to give me a dollar? Do you need me one hundred? Dollars,
and the thing that's important for people. They see me
and maybe they think like, oh, well, you're you're extroverted
and you're this person that's always been talking, and that's
probably true, but when you realize that asking is a
skill that can be developed, and I talk about the
coffee challenge is one way to develop a skill like
(05:16):
anything we're learning, like making a YouTube video like you've
done like you were telling me, you've done so many
videos and each time, over years, you get better and better.
And the same thing happens with asking. And so I
want people, even though there's so much out there and
everyone the genius, what are the fundamentals that are never
going to change? And asking is the foundation of it.
And what I encourage you is to do the coffee challenge,
(05:36):
which people can read about in the book. But asking
is even a simple thing that I still do to
this day. I literally was at McDonald's and I asked
for a free mustard. I was like, hey, I got
a mustard, I got this, but can I get a mustard?
And most people are just afraid. And what they realized
is that the moment of not getting what you want
is not that bad, and the upside is unlimited of
(05:57):
the things that you can get if you just ask
for it, whether it's a wife, whether it's a customer,
whether it's a raise, whether it's a job, whether whatever
it is in life. And that's why asking and as
well starting or the fundamentals of success in business.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
And I love it because this is so powerful. But
at the same time, it's also very easy to kind of,
you know, exercise every single day. You know, with the
coffee challenge, for example, you can try and you know
that it's going to be awkward, but it's going to
be helpful in the long run. So yeah, that's why
I love it. Related to that, there is also this
(06:32):
part in the book where you talk about where do
you find customers, and you say that it's really important
to have access, you know, to the people you want
to you want to help. Why that is important and
why you think this is a big mistake that usually
people make where they're building a business.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Conceptually, what I'm trying to have people realize because let
me just start at the end after many years, so
let me let me just work one to share my
story and then maybe it'll help with this. Right, So
I would grew up in Silicon Valley, middle class normal
tried so many things over many years, and eventually at
(07:17):
Sumo work at Atsumo dot com people check it out,
and then over a fifteen year period, I'm finally pretty rich,
Like not as a brag anything, but like I'm doing
pretty well and I can't believe it. He didn't believe it.
I'm like, this is cool. I didn't know it was
going to happen. I thought it would eventually would, but
it's like I started it and I asked and I
kept going. Now, the reality is that we all have
(07:39):
some skills, and we all have some networks that we
are special for right, Like you're in Italy. I will
never be able to beat you in Italy.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Now.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Why is it though, when people are starting businesses, they're like,
I'm gonna go do Italy stuff. Like I have a
friend who I love and he's like, I'm going to
try to do real estate in America, but he lives
in Europe And I'm like, you think you're going to
beat people or living in America and didn't been doing
it there for so many years? Probably not. And So
what I want people to think about, and on the
point of that is who do you already have access
(08:09):
to to make it easier for you to succeed? As
well as what skills have you been practicing or are
you curious about that you can take advantage of? And
the whole point of it is how do you make
it easier to have success? And the reality though, the
question is why would anyone make it hard? They make
it hard so when they fail or it doesn't work,
there's no one to blame. It's like, well, you know,
(08:31):
I try, you know, but if you actually do the
skills you have and the network or access to people
you have, there's a chance someone's gonna say no, But
there's also a chance someone will actually be excited about
what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
What do you say to people that argue and to say, oh,
but I don't have a network, you know, I don't
know anyone, you know, I don't. I just thought that
I don't know. What's the first step to do to
you know, have access to those people?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, that's it. You know, the book starts with frequently
made excuses as you know Italian, how do you say
that in Italian school? Quinn? It sounds so good. I
think Portuguese used to be my favorite language. But it
might be Italian, it might be Italians frequent and you
(09:22):
know people. I have a friend, I won't call him out,
but he's been wanting to start a business and he
keeps consuming m and he doesn't have a network, and
he doesn't have this, and he doesn't have that. But
what I've realized a lot of times in life is
that when you have limitations or you don't have all
access to things, that that's when you're gonna get creative.
(09:45):
And when people say they don't have a network, that's
just not true. There's no one who's absolutely alone. No
one's like, unless you're literally in a cave, I don't know, Like,
I don't think anyone's entirely alone. And so let's let's this.
Someone's like, Hey, I'm in high school, I'm in college.
I don't have anyone who has money. Okay, do you
have a parent, yes, my parents are poor. Okay, let's
(10:08):
exclude that. Do you go to a doctor, yeah, okay,
your doctor has money. Do you go to anywhere else?
You go to a dentist? Do you have anyone in
your family? And so when you say you don't have
a network, I think people use that as a way
to avoid actually getting starved. And so for me, I'm
listening to Kiss Do you know the band kiss Yep?
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah I do.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Anyway, you know Old School Agent, and I'm listening to
their biographies. For some reason, I don't I don't even
care for the music, but I just find it fascinating.
The guy just called people and was like, Hey, I
want to be in movies. You're the guy. I saw
your name on one of the movie lists. I just
called him and he just asked if he could be
in movies before they you know, I think they're pretty famous.
But I think the point of it is is like,
don't let the limitations be an excuse. You don't necessarily
(10:56):
need a network to build a big ass business. Does
it help, yeah, well you get over time. Yeah. But
instead of using that like Okay, I need two years
to get an MBA, or I need two years to
go meet a bunch of friends, like go find one
person like I think one of the easiest hacks anyone
can do is go work for a rich person.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Like.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
You know, I've had a decent amount of people, mostly
young people younger and we're both young, but younger people
in their twenties. I'm in my early forties that just
hit me up with really good messages and we're like, hey,
I just want to do whatever I can to be
around you. And from that they've all gone on to
like create some pretty good businesses or get even better jobs.
And I think that's just if you don't have anyone,
(11:38):
just go find someone who has them and do whatever
you can to kiss their ass and help them accomplish
their goals and they'll probably connect with other people. If not,
you can help them and connect with them.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah, I said before that My favorite chop in the
book is Chapter five is the one about the validation.
I tell you why. You know, I've read a lot
of books, you know, start up books, let's say, start
up books you too, and there is a lot of
going on about validation, you know, and techniques and strategy
(12:12):
to validate. But your chapter is very straightforward and and
you know and also very through. Uh. You say something
that is like you have to ask for money. That's it.
That's the only form of validation that makes sense. So
asking for money is the best form of validation. Why
is that?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Let me just tell you another story. I'm in Spanish
classes today and there's these girls they're probably twenty years old,
maybe nineteen, and I can't believe it, but they're on
their freaking phone and they're talking the whole class, the
whole class. I'm like, yo, I'm here in Spanish, shut up,
(12:54):
kayet or for four and they're just trying to and
you know, I'm thinking, why don't they care? Why are
they not paying attention like I am? You know why?
Because I paid for the class, okay, and their daddy's
or mommies paid for their class. Sorry, I don't mean
you were going to say you don't know, but yeah,
(13:15):
because I paid for it. You know what that means.
It means I'm taking it seriously because it was money
that I'm not buying diapers from my daughter, and I
had to earn that money to be able to afford
the class, and they didn't, and so to them, it's
just whatever. And the same goes with validation with your customers.
It's very easy to say, yeah, yeah, your product looks
good or you know, there's a lot of excuses people
(13:35):
can make, like oh yeah, yeah, come back when it's
more done, oh yeah. Like, but when you finally solve
a problem that people are excited about, they will pay
you and you will be surprised. Now it's easy to
say like to build things and say you need to
build things, but you can also get pre orders. It
(13:56):
is something I've talked about in the book, which Elon
Musk is literally model three cyber truck, the Tesla roadster.
Like you've done it pretty well doing pre orders. And
there's a lot of other examples that I give him
the book. But the point being here is you can
spend six months, twelve months, and this is what most
people need to do. They need to go do it
their way. See it doesn't work, Like, hey, I need
(14:18):
to build up an audience on YouTube and hopefully it'll work. Okay, okay,
sure that. Hey I need to work on the product
to finally show them something. Okay, okay try and then
after that point they're like, hey, it didn't work. And
the reality in business is that it's important. And I
start the book with this is that you have to ask,
but you have to start. And the reason is is
because people may not want want what problem you're solving,
(14:40):
and so then you have to keep finding and going
and going and going and going and going. I literally
went from twenty to thirty to finally find at starting
my own businesses a problem that could be a pretty
substantial business. That took me ten years. You know, I
do think that I've learned a lot and I've condensed
it in the books so that people can do that,
you know, in a weekend. If not, I think we
(15:00):
gets pretty quick, so they can do that validation to
understand if there's demand and guess what if there's not,
you can learn and move on.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
So the two things are kind of related. So the
you know, power of asking and the also uh validation
with with you know, with with money, because if you
have developed the skill of asking people and you're not
afraid anymore of that, you're not embarrassed by, you know,
an awkward moment. You know that you can ask for
(15:31):
money even if you have just only I don't know,
a prototype and not the final product.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Right yeah. I mean I'll give people an out, which
is if you're afraid, and that's okay, people. The fear
never really goes away. Like when I do the coffee challenge,
I still have I'm uncomfortable. It's not like it's like
you can gets easier. But what I what I recommend
for people that are like I still don't want to
ask for money. That's okay, do it for free. Just
(15:59):
do it for free, and then if you can get
enough success, then you could start asking or do it
for free, and if you get too busy, then start asking.
And that's the way that it's a little bit softer.
You know. I think for some people that that might
work a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
And there is another thing that I found that was
very simple and yet powerful in the book, and this
is the low of a hundred. You say that sometimes
people give up to early, and you say that the
best way to try something is to do it at
least one hundred times before giving up. What do you
(16:39):
mean by that? Why this is so important?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yeah, I was in a relationship once and it wasn't
working out, and I said, you know, I'm going to
commit to this relationship for six months and I'm going
to be the best boyfriend. Ever, however, you're never going
to see a better boyfriend than me, And I'm going
to do it for six months and then I'm going
to make a decision whether I should be with this one.
(17:03):
At six months we broke up. And the law one
hundred is the same thing for business. It said, look,
You may want to quit something. You do want your business,
you do have a dream, you have some goal you
want to accomplish, do it at least one hundred times,
so at least you have an informed decision before you quit,
because everyone has a story, everyone that I shouldn't have
stopped that, and if I only would have kept going,
(17:24):
what would have happened. And it doesn't have to be
big things. It could be one hundred videos. It could
be one hundred sales calls, you know, if you're trying
to do real estate, it could be one hundred offers.
It could be one hundred blog posts, one hundred I
don't know, open AI prompts, whatever it is. And at
that point you have enough data to make an informed
(17:45):
decision whether you want to continue or not. But sometimes
when you go to the gym for the first time,
it doesn't feel good, but as you go more and more,
Like I came to Barcelona, I was really fat because
I was drinking a lot in Tokyo and just eating
so much sushi and good food. It was amazing, you know.
I committed, you know, and two weeks and I'm like, okay, good,
Now my fitness is back to where it's been, and
(18:05):
so you need a time frame in parameters to be
effective in making better decisions about whether you should continue
or not, because so many people are not happy with
their lives professionally, and they can be, but they have
to stick with something to get to that point. And
the law of one hundred helps you do it a
hundred times to then make that informed decision.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
But I suppose there is also the other side of
the of the thing. So how do you understand when
it's time to give up? So let's say that you
have been trying a lot a lot of video on YouTube,
so a lot of I don't know, ideas or whatever.
Then that there is a moment when you should actually
stop because you need your energy and and you know,
(18:46):
and morney and time. Yeah, on another project, right.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, I don't think it's absolute in that sense. What
I do encourage people the book is called A Million
Dollar a Weeknd, and the idea is that if you're
starting something, try to find out in a weekend whether
it's going to be a business or not, because there's
no point in doing something one hundred times that no
one wants. This thing is is more related to someone
(19:10):
something is working. You know or there's something potential there, Like, hey,
you know, I've been doing the video. It seems like
it worked. I'm going to do one hundred. Now. What
I would encourage people to think about is try to
find businesses and specifically problems. All businesses is just a
problem that you solve that no one else has or
in a way that no one else has. That's it.
And find a problem that you won't quit on. I
(19:31):
think that's the better thing for people to be thinking about, Like, hey,
I just you know, and look, you can quit at
some point. The law one hundred helps you think like, okay,
I'll quit it maybe after one hundred or beyond, but
I just want to keep doing this for a long time.
I'm really enjoying and these are guiding principles that I
have found effective, where like, hey, you spent a weekend,
which everyone has fifty two of them, whether you have
a full time job or a family, but you have
(19:52):
fifty two times to go try to do something. And
as you find something that you're enjoying and that people
actually seem excited about and potentially they paid you ideally,
then now you can continue it and practice it one
hundred times. So one hundred videos, one hundred sales, one
hundred asks, whatever that is. So I wouldn't say it's
an absolute thing, but I'd say you can use these
in ways to find to get to the level of
(20:13):
success that people are. I think most people are dreaming
of it. The reality rap is that I don't know
if people all realize that they they can get there.
I think that's part of it, is that I've met
so many impressive people not getting what they want. Way
smarter than me, way way more ability than me, but
they're more afraid.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Why is happening?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yeah, they're more afraid than me. They're more comfortable than me,
and there's other reasons I like it, but there's a
lot of people that we know. I've met so many
people I'm like, Wow, you are way smarter than I am,
and you don't seem like you're actually doing the thing
you really want to do, but you're a little afraid.
And so that's why in the book, I try to
put it in a safe environment so you're not feeling
(20:56):
like this big I got to take some crazy entrepreneur risk.
That's never been my approach, Like a very unrisky entrepreneur.
I don't take a lot of big swings of big money.
Yet I test a lot of things, you know, stuff
that the business has grown, like apps, you know, to
give you know, it's a it's a high eight figure business,
and that's through a lot of like small tests. And
(21:17):
that's what I'm encouraging a lot of the audience like
you can do something that we can act and get
to that size. It's not beyond mhm.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Do you do you think that the ideas and and
strategies and tactics in these books are you know, both
for solopreneurs and for teams. I mean, if there be
someone reading the book and they don't have a team,
they're just you know, by themselves. Are the ideas inside
(21:46):
the book and the things that we are talking about
today also useful for people working alone?
Speaker 2 (21:54):
I think it's the book was written based on my
story and my experiences, and I found it's best to
start along and then it's best to build a team
to grow. To start alone, I think it's just so
easy to make excuses and then be like I don't
like my person, I didn't like this, this thing, this,
But as you want to run a business, like right now,
(22:16):
I don't run Appsumo. There's a guy named Sean who
was the president, and I spend my baby, you know,
talking to you. I have a spinish class. I take
care of my daughter and I go for a bike
ride and hang out with my wife. And that's through
a team. And so I would recommend it more for individuals. Again,
I think for people listening to this and the book
has been really well received and it's been awesome to
(22:36):
see that. And what I wanted to me it's not
to sell more books, Like I haven't really actively super
promoted it after it came out, But I want to
see people start something today. The people who are tire
of their jobs, not sure what's going to happen with
this AI thing, and they want to get on the
other side where they control their time, they control their schedule,
(22:57):
they control how they want, you know, they want to
go on a vacation, they want to work from a
different country. They can do those things. They don't need
to ask them for permission. The only permision they need
to ask to their customers.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
You just mentioned AI. How do you think AI is
going to impact these approach the whole you know, ideas
and process that you describe in your book. Now we
have very powerful tools. You mentioned JBT for example. So
what's going to change. I mean, is it good or
(23:27):
bad that we have AI? And I think yeah that
I think.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
I know AI is going to be good for the winners.
A is going to be good for the doers. So
if you think about it, now, with a I, you
can literally have unlimited business ideas, which has always been
it's been kind of the easy part. But the people
who are willing to do the work and do the
starting and do the asking and follow the steps I
lay out are going to have the success. And I
(23:55):
think AI, unfortunately, is going to get a lot of
people fired. Oh a lot A term minuted. I don't
think people realize how big of many AI is not
like the iPhone, which is opening jobs, or the Internet,
which open jobs. AI is reducing jobs permanently, and I
don't see those jobs we need to really other places.
So the question is then what stuff does not get
(24:16):
replaced or how do I be on the winning side.
And the winning side is, well, what is what are
all these people that are running the AI companies need?
They need housing, they need food, probably clothing, experiences. Those
things aren't going away? And then on the AI side,
either you need to join the companies that are there
clearly winning in this or figure a way to be
(24:37):
even a YouTuber talking about those things, I do think
AA is going to take a lot of people out,
not just companies but just jobs. And so how are
you taking actions? So I think more than ever, the
book focuses on fundamentals, which is are you starting, are
you asking? And are you solving a problem that people
want to pay you money for? And in this civilization,
(24:57):
on this planet that we're floating in, is still very important,
whether you're paying for an office, whether you're paying for
Spanish classes, whether you're paying I'm trying to rent a
boat for my wife's birthday. So there's still ways to win,
and the winners are going to win bigger and the
losers are going to lose more and that that's scary.
Depending on what team you're on.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
M in your experience, what are the most common mistakes
that people make that they want to start a company
or you know, a project or build an idea.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I think I know, you know, I've literally you know,
I've had tens of thousands of people at a course.
I've had you know, two hundred I think two hundred
thousand people have bought the book. The simplest thing that
people can do today, and I'll just give them a tactic,
is that look at the amount of time you're consuming
content versus working on your business. That's it. Just that's it.
(25:58):
That's it. Look at it like, if you want to
be a YouTuber like ref do you have a full
time money making, good looking Italian guy like doing this stuff,
and it's not bad to consume content like I probably
spend way more time consuming content these days. Then that's
I'm not trying to make more money or make more
business person. I have enough, which is also a European
versus American thing, which is very interesting. But I think
(26:21):
for anyone who's not happy where they're at, which I
think a lot of people aren't, I think a lot
of people are either given up, don't realize they can
do it, or just think, yeah, it's not gonna be
me and it can be them. Just look at how
much time you're consuming Instagram or TikTok or chat, GPT
and all these things, and then look at how much
actual time you're sending out offers, actual time you're asking
(26:42):
people to be your customer actual time working on would
projects or whatever projects that actually someone would buy. And
if you can just allocate fifteen minutes a day, like
fifteen minutes of Netflix a day, towards an actual business
seat of consumption, I think people will be shocked at
how that compounds. Because I will say, the best investment
you can ever do. People like, what stock should I do?
(27:03):
The best investments is business? Starting in business is the
best investment ever. Like you put money in any stock
like okay, ten percent a year, one hundred percent five years.
You can do that with very low capital now with
insane upside, and so that enables what kind of ever
kind of dream life people want. So again, the whole
point your question was what should they be aware of?
(27:24):
It's see how much you're consuming versus your producing. That's it.
And if you can spend more time in production line,
you will get to a successful business.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
And I totally agree on that. And I see the
same thing with friends or colleagues that they want to
be content creator and they just don't start. They watch
a lot of YouTube videos, but they never record the video.
So yeah, let's just start, guys.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
So yeah, I mean, now I was even thinking about
it this morning, Like vibe coding is this whole trend,
which is great, you know, it's making it easier to
make things, but it doesn't solve the problem. How do
you find the people to use the thing? You know,
app Sumo is a way you find people to use
your thing. Twitter magically Candy could go pray to Elon
that he hooks you up. But it's still the same
(28:09):
fundamentals of It's not it's not make something and find customers.
It's find customers as well to make something that they
actually want.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah, I think too many times it's it's they're they're
making things and like, okay, let me see if I
can find anybody. That's very tough. So I like to
work backwards from like who do I know what I
have access to? And look, if you're interested in these things,
it can work other ways. There are many ways. Uh,
you know, it's to Italy. Let's let's pick like, you know,
Bologne or something or Napolie. There's many ways to get
(28:39):
to napoly You could fly and you could drive, you
could walk, you could bike, you could you know, take
a drone. I don't know a lot of ways. I'm
just sharing my way that works the most fastest and cheapest,
because I've spent a lot of years on things that
didn't and we don't have too much time on the planet,
so I'd imagine most people want to get it done,
you know, as effectively as possible, and that's the way
I like my approach.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Uh No, We usually uh end the conversations here on
the podcast asking every guest to share a great book
that they have read recently and a great tool that
they have used recently. What do you want to share
with us? Of course your book is going to be
linked in the description below, But have you read something
very cool lately?
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yeah? I mean I always track. I track every single
one of my books and good Reads. Oh wow, yeah,
every single book I read.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
You know.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
It's funny though, after my book came out, I will
tell you I stopped writing books, okay, because I felt
I was so pissed off you were writing like three stars.
I'm like, I put my life in this book. You're
three stars, jerk, So I don't. I don't try to
take that, you know. I try to be mindful of
anyone who's creating. I try to have a lot of
respect alside the books I'm reading today. I'm really enjoying
(29:53):
these rock and roll books. So I'm reading the biographies
of Jeens Simmons, Paul Stanley, and Sammy Hagar are and
I really enjoy them. I just did the audiobooks from
a library for free. I don't know if that's like
in all countries. You can you can get them on audible.
And I think what I'm looking for is alternative industries
(30:14):
with longevity. That's also interesting. You know, they're like doing
drugs and a bunch of women and guys just crazy shit.
But I'm looking for and I'm interested in, like these
other verticals outside of tech, because I'm tired of self
help or tech bros and books where they created something
or how did they create something? And how have they
stuck around? Because so many things go away so quickly,
(30:37):
so that that's the book.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
What it's called again.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
The three books I've read was Sammy Hagar Read, Paul Stanley,
Faced the Music it might be called or something like Face,
And then I'm finishing Jean Simmons book, which is Kiss
and make Up, okay, And then I think my next
book is going to be the Blink Win eighty two
Guys book mark hopples and then the tool. Yeah, dude,
(31:02):
it's so funny because everything in my life is like
not but a lot of things in my life are
like baby related, So uh, probably the nan It. It's
like a baby tracking app that I used to check
my baby sleeping. That was probably.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
There's there's a lot of cull tours on AMO for
business building. I'm not in a business building uh phase
right now of my personal life. But nan It is
probably the app let me let me see, give me
give me two sides.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, go for you, And uh.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
I did that or like yeah, I would say that,
or honestly, I would say I am using breeze dock.
It's one of the tools on appsumodel U E R
E e Z E d O C dot com and
tidy cow, which is products we built because we wanted them.
Breeze dock is basically doc assigned without a subscription, and
then tidy cow is calendly without a subscription. I use
(31:59):
those old ones. I use it.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I'm huge fun so and all the games are going
to be in the description below.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Awesome. Do you have any feedback about how we can
make it better for you?
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Called no, no, at the moment. No, I love it.
I use it every day. So yeah, me and my team, Yeah,
we love it.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Do you have any feedback you let me know and
well yeah I will.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
I will. No, thank you very much for your time.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
That was great. Thank it was really good. Yeah, it's fun.
The first interview I've done in like a year, so
I appreciate you haveing me check out dot com.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Yeah, all right,
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