The Ingenious Methods Warren Buffett Used to Launch His Career

For the past seven years, I’ve been obsessively studying success.

I’ve spent thousands of hours researching, poring over hundreds of biographies, and more importantly, sitting down one-on-one with the people I was dying to learn from.

For business, I interviewed Bill Gates; for music, Lady Gaga; computer science, Steve Wozniak; poetry, Maya Angelou; Larry King, Jane Goodall, Pitbull, Jessica Alba, Quincy Jones, and many more.

I chased Larry King through a grocery store, hacked Warren Buffett’s shareholders meeting, crouched in a bathroom to get to Tim Ferriss—getting each interview was an equally wild adventure. And they were all packed with surprising lessons.

Some of my favorite lessons came from my eight-month adventure researching and tracking down Warren Buffett.

Here are 3 of the most ingenious stories I uncovered about how the most successful investor in history launched his career.

1. Offer to Help With Their Taxes

After Buffett finished undergrad at University of Nebraska in Lincoln, he was working as a stockbroker, which essentially means he was a stock salesman. Though nearly every time Buffett tried to get a meeting with a businessperson in Omaha, he was turned down. No one wanted to meet with a young guy with no credibility, trying to sell them stocks.

So Buffett changed his approach—he began calling up businesspeople and made them feel he could save them money on their taxes. All of sudden the businesspeople said, “Come on in!” And just like that, Buffett booked his meetings.

This is the thing. Although people won’t meet with you for the reason you want, that doesn’t mean they won’t meet at all. Just find another angle. Figure out what they need and use that as your way in.

Ask yourself: Are you facing the kind of rejections where you can’t understand why the other person won’t take your meeting? What’s that person’s equivalent of “helping them with their taxes” that will get them to say “come on in”?

2. Work For Free

When Buffett was working as a stockbroker, he decided he wanted to hone his skills and go to business school. He applied to Columbia University because he knew Benjamin Graham, the Wall Street legend known as the father of value investing, taught there. Buffett got into Columbia, took Graham’s class, and eventually Graham became his mentor.

When Buffett was about to graduate, he decided not to take a high-paying corporate job, which most MBA’s did, and try to work directly for Graham instead. Buffett asked Graham for a job, but Graham said no. Buffett then offered to work for free. Graham still said no.

So Buffett went back to Omaha and worked as a stockbroker again. But he continued writing letters to Graham, visiting him in New York, and in Buffett’s own words, after two years of “pestering him,” Graham finally gave him a job.

Buffett was married and had a child by this point, but he still flew to New York as soon as possible to begin working. Buffett didn’t even ask if there was a salary. He spent years at a desk outside of Graham’s office, learning first-hand under the master.

Two years later, when Graham retired and closed down his firm, Buffett moved back to Omaha to start his own fund. And when Graham’s old clients were looking for a new place to invest their money, Graham referred them to Buffett.

Buffett is famous for being a long-term value investor and this story shows he treated his career the same way.

He could’ve gotten a high-paying job right out of school and made far more money in the short term. But by offering to work for free under Graham, he set himself up to make much more in the long term. Instead of trying to get paid as much as possible in dollars, Buffett chose to get paid in mentorship, expertise, and relationships.

Be honest with yourself: Have you had opportunities where you had to choose between getting paid in money versus in relationship-currency? What can you do starting today to ensure you invest in your long-term future and get pain in relationships?

3. Read the Footnotes

After Buffett opened his own fund, a writer called one day and asked to interview him. The writer posed a tough question to Buffett about a public company. Buffett told him the answer was in an annual report he’d just read. The writer studied the report, but then called Buffett to complain there wasn’t an answer.

“You didn’t read carefully,” Buffett said. “Look at footnote fourteen.”

Sure enough, there it was.

The writer was dumbfounded.

While the story is short, the lesson is huge, and I think it’s one of the biggest keys to Buffett’s success. When everyone else skims a report, Buffett is obsessively scouring the fine print, going above and beyond, studying every word, looking for clues.

You don’t have to be born a genius to read the footnotes—it’s a choice. It’s a choice to put in the hours, go the extra mile, and do the things others aren’t willing to do.

Reading the damn footnotes isn’t just a task on Buffett’s to-do list—it’s his outlook on life.

Let’s be real: Where are moments in your career where you can go the extra mile and “read the footnotes”? What’s stopping you from starting to do it—now?

Making That Choice

When Warren Buffett asked to work for free, that was a choice. When he read the footnotes day after day, that was a choice.

We all have the power to make little choices that can change the course of our lives forever.

You can either choose to wait around and hope life gives you what you want—or you can choose to jump up and put in the work to make your dream come true.

Are you ready to make that choice?

Let me know in the comments below.

The life you’re capable of living is waiting for you—all you have to do is choose to go after it. 

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Alex Banayan is the bestselling author of the new book The Third Door: The Wild Quest to Uncover How the World’s Most Successful People Launched Their Careers. The book chronicles Alex’s five-year journey tracking down and learning from Bill Gates, Lady Gaga, Steve Wozniak, Maya Angelou, Larry King Jane Goodall, Pitbull, Jessica Alba, Quincy Jones, and many more.

Business Insider named The Third Door “one of the best business books of the summer.” It’s filled with even more practical lessons and wild stories to empower your career. Click here to order it today.