Pressure Points - Extreme Wealth Creation

When trying to grow faster, scale, or reach your potential, there are always limited resources, so you can only grow in some directions - you have to pick your opportunities. If McGregor tried to kick with both legs and punch simultaneously, it wouldn't work so well.

Even if you pick the right niche with the right team, there are multiple paths for growth typically. As Sun Tsu said, opportunities multiply as they are seized, so the optionality grows more complex each year.

Rockefeller was famous for saying competition is a sin, and Sam Zell said that he preferred monopolies but would settle for an oligopoly. In other words, don't enter crowded markets with a commoditized offering; that just about ensures your failure or a painful experience. Charles Munger said that if you want a good reputation in business, choose the right business to enter in the first place.

Peter Theil talks about extreme focus, but how do you know what to focus on? One insight I have gotten from reading 95 books authored by billionaires and interviewing 40 of them is that they are voracious learners, so one of the areas I'm being more extreme in is digesting new information each day from billionaires. Bill Gates was asked what superpower he wished he had, and his answer was, "To read faster."

There isn't a more nerdy superpower to wish for, but also, it is not surprising, given that being a voracious learner is a common trait of billionaires.

For whatever reason, I was not expecting that. I thought "taking massive risks" or "getting into a niche very early" would come up way more often. Warren Buffet reads for hours a day and Mark Cuban talks about outlearning everyone in your niche if you want to win - it almost always comes up. Work harder at working smarter + work 2x harder.

You have to apply pressure and be "extreme" in a few or 4-7 ways most likely if not more or you will be average or slightly better than average - if you act like the average business or person in your space. It is obvious when you think about it that way, so it leads to thinking in what ways exactly you want to be extreme in.

All of these comments combined are related to my point that if you have a niche in business or "sandbox" you want to add the most value to long-term, you build the ability to have extreme focus, and if you admit you can only be "extreme" in a few areas, then the selection of those pressure points are essential.

How do you pick? How long do you stick to one before knowing whether it is working? When do you replace or upgrade your thinking on one without moving on or iterating too quickly? These are all questions many founders have to solve but are interesting to think through with your team, peer wealth creators, investors, etc. We will have small group discussion time next week at our investor club meeting to discuss these ideas.

Currently, I am balancing one pressure point that adds to my positioning, one that adds to my content creation, one that builds connections, and another that increases our investor flow of relationships over time. All of them are pointed towards building a thriving investor club, all are difficult to replicate, and each creates a greater moat around our business.

Need help to figure out where to apply pressure?

Eben Pagan always taught me to think about what I could do to make my success or goals inevitable. Also, one of my favorite quotes is from Tim Draper he said if something makes your hair stand up and doesn't feel good, run from it, if it makes your skin tingle with excitement run towards it - and use that as to help make decisions on what to go deep on.

I look forward to seeing many of you at our Family Office Club's investor strategy playbook mastermind next week, where we will discuss this and 30+ other wealth-creator strategies. On stage, the participants will get training from me and hear talks from an undefeated UFC pro athlete/investor, a member who raises $50 million a month, a centimillionaire member who just sold his business for 9 figures, and a member who has done $7 billion in deals.

Let me know in the comments below where you plan to be extreme.