How bad do you want it?

If you called me a dummy when I was in my 20s, you wouldn’t be wrong.

My dad was a corrections officer and my mom worked various jobs over the years. They taught me some very valuable things, but none of them knew the first thing about business or anything remotely related to money - just not their thing.

So when it came to my career I basically had to brute force it. I figured it out from scratch, one step at a time- and predictably made a lot of really dumb mistakes that probably cost me years and millions of dollars over the course of my entire career.

For example, dropping out of college after one quarter when I was 18 because I thought a degree was “just a piece of paper.” And I didn’t need one, because surely everyone would recognize how amazing and great I am, and throw great job offers at my feet, right??

You can imagine how that worked out 🫠

But to give myself credit, I did get two things right:

I listened

When people gave me advice (or just showed by example), I took it. I did what they told me to do, even if I had some doubts. My cousin who was an investor, the boss at my first real agency job, etc etc - I had the humility to follow their advice, and it worked.

I worked HARD

To make a long story short, I knew I f*cked up and that I had to make up for it. So every spare minute I had on nights and weekends, I taught myself Javascript, PHP, Flash, MySQL, etc etc. Made dozens of experimental websites, animations, etc.

When I eventually went back to college I took the toughest classes I could, and the most credit hours they’d let me. And I’ve worked 360+ days a year for the last 10-11 years straight.

Not easy, but it had to be done— and it was worth it.

In 2013, I was worth -$90,000 (yes, that’s negative $90k). In 2025, I don’t have f*ck you money, but I do have “no thank you” money- meaning, I can say “no thank you” to anything that doesn’t sound fun or interesting.

And if the S&P gods treat me well, I should be able to retire in ~5 years if I want to.

And now, back to you / your situation:

With some people, I just have to question if they really want it bad enough.

You probably know the type - they talk a big game, but when it comes time to actually put in the work to make their ideas real, they melt.

To put a finer point on it, their actions don’t match their ambitions.

Like when I talk to someone who says “Business has been slow this year- I’m getting kinda nervous. We really need to get some new clients or we’re in trouble.”

But when I ask them what they’re DOING about it, it feels like they’re in slow motion:

They’re not doing any outreach. They’re not going to local meetups to shake hands. And if their content gets underwhelming reach or engagement, they give up after a week and me they “took some time off to recharge.”

🤦

They’re giving it maybe 40% effort. Can they be surprised that they’re also getting mediocre results?

The ONLY REASON things worked out for me is because I pushed myself to the absolute limit for years and years at a time. Because I pushed and pushed through physical and mental exhaustion, spent time learning new skills instead of going to the bar, and chose to read O’Reilly books instead of watching TV.

I know it's considered a dirty word to praise hard work. And you're supposed to say how bad “hustle culture” is, but the reality is sometimes that's just what it takes.

You won't achieve extraordinary things without extraordinary effort.

I'm friends with a lot of people who have done extraordinary things, and I can tell you that none of them got there by giving it 40% 🤷

It's easy to imagine the life you want, but the real question is:

How bad do you want it?

If you really want it, you'll go get it. And if you're not willing to go get it, maybe you don't really want it.

So here’s the takeaway:

I'm not telling everyone to work 70-hour weeks for the next decade.

But I think all of us occasionaly need a gentle-but-firm nudge to push ourselves a little bit harder. Just like having a personal trainer with you in the gym: if they're standing next to you holding you accountable, chances are you'll squeeze out three more push-ups than you would on your own.

Don't go overboard because that's not sustainable.

Just give it an extra 5-10% on everything you do. Instead of sending 5 DMs today, send 7. If you go to an in-person event, stay an extra 15 minutes and say hi to two more people. etc etc

And occasionally, give it 110% for a little while to get something really incredible done- eg, overhauling your technical SEO. These kind of bursts are draining, so save them for the things that really count.

The bottom line:

Work harder than you think you need to. Then go touch grass.

Repeat as needed ✌️

PS - I still don't have anything to sell you because I don't have room for more clients. But I always love talking to new people, so if you want to get on a Zoom call to say hi, just reply to this email and we'll set something up!