The Unfiltered Truth About Who Really Runs the Game: Why Your Grind Is the Only Currency That Matters.

Let’s start with a story you won’t hear in TED Talks or polished LinkedIn posts.

Five years ago, I was sitting in a shop, nursing a "$8 overcharged - could have made at home" starbucks coffee. I was listening to a podcast about founders and one of them told this story about how they were listening to two guys in Patagonia vests. They were laughing about how they’d just closed a $2M seed round for their app - an app that let you order smoothies to your yoga studio. Their secret sauce? “Dad’s golf buddy knew a VC.”

Meanwhile, they were bootstrapping their startup in a sector where women make up less than 15% of leadership roles, working 80-hour weeks between their day job, late - night coding sessions, and arguing with suppliers who talked to them like they were their secretary.

(We can relate).

That’s when it hit me:

?? Rule #1: The Elite Playbook: Pedigree, Privilege, and Napkin Ideas

Let’s name the elephant: The “elite” don’t build - they buy access.

You’ve seen them. The ones who stroll out of Ivy League incubators with a half-baked idea scribbled on a cocktail napkin, only to raise $100M because their uncle “knows a guy.”

The ones who preach “just network smarter” while sipping champagne at alumni mixers their parents’ donations paid for. The ones who’ll never admit that their “overnight success” was built on a foundation of trust funds, legacy admissions, and last-name privilege.

But here’s what they’ll never tell you:

? “Family and friends” money isn’t an option when your family is surviving paycheck to paycheck.

While DaddysMoney? startups are handing out equity like candy, you’re maxing out credit cards to keep the lights on. I’ve been there. In 2020, I sold my soul to fund my first startup. No investors, thousands of pitch deck changes - just desperation and duct tape.

? Elite degrees ≠ grit.

I don’t have an MBA. My degree? A state school, bachelor's, top 4% of the class hustle and a library card because we all know books are expensive as hell. Meanwhile, I’ve watched Harvard grads flame out because they’d never had to fight for anything harder than a summer internship.

? Media loves a “rags to riches” story - as long as the rags are designer.

Ever notice how Forbes profiles founders who “started from nothing”… but fail to mention their Park Avenue condo or their dad’s board seat at Goldman Sachs?

The truth? Privilege is the ultimate cheat code. But here’s the kicker: You don’t need it to win.

?? Rule #2: The Underdog’s Arsenal: Scrappy, Relentless, and Unapologetic

Let’s talk about the builders they ignore.

? The single mom coding apps after her kids go to bed.

? The immigrant turning a food cart into a franchise.

? The college dropout cold-emailing 500 clients because they can’t afford a sales team.

This is where real innovation happens. Not in boardrooms, but in basements, coffee shops, and the 3 a.m. silence of exhaustion.

?? Case Study: The Penny-to-Dollar Hustle

Take Sara Blakely who turned $5,000 and a pair ofI cut-up pantyhose into a billion-dollar empire - while selling fax machines door-to-door to pay rent. No investors. No connections. Just pure, unrelenting "solve the damn problem" energy.

Or Howard Schultz who grew up in Brooklyn housing projects and built Starbucks after being rejected by banks 217 times.

These aren’t “exceptions.” They’re proof that - scarcity breeds creativity. When you have no safety net, you learn to fly - or you crash.

And crashing isn’t an option.

?? Rule #3: The Forgotten Truth: Your Grind Is Your Greatest Asset

They’ll mock your hustle. Call you “small” for bootstrapping. Whisper that you’re not “scaling fast enough.” or call you tenacious, all while writing a check to a buddy who never built anything "cough cough" Elon or asking you for unpaid interviews for the idea that you will work for "free".

Let me be clear: F that.

Here’s what people will never understand:

1. Bootstrap grit > Venture capital. (If you raise, which isn't bad, just make sure they see your vision & your tenacity from a mile away, I've been there and its best in the early stages to raise from Angels who care).

When you’re forced to monetize Day 1, you learn to build what people actually want - not what looks good on a pitch deck.

My first client in my 1st startup? My aunt who paid me $300 to get her online. That $300 got put right back into the company to try to make it another week, but it made me see that I needed to work harder, and not want to light the whole thing to the ground because I couldn't afford to renew my domain to keep the business going. That’s stakes.

? We turn pennies into dollars

2. Underdogs innovate harder.

No $100K developer budget? Learn to code. No sales team? Become the sales team. I learned to design using free YouTube tutorials, a 10-year-old laptop, and a WHOLE lot of Monster Energy Drinks.

3. Your “weakness” is your edge.

No fancy degree? Good. You’re not brainwashed by textbook theories. Grew up poor? Even better- you know how to stretch a dollar into a breakthrough.

?? Rule #4: Real Talk: How to Build When the Odds Are Stacked Against You.

1. Own Your Grind

Stop apologizing for your hustle. Working three jobs isn’t a “distraction” - it’s your training camp. Every shift you clock, every client you woo, every late-night panic attack is "fuel".

Action step: Audit your time. Cut 'one' hour of Netflix or doomscrolling. Use it to cold-call, prototype, or learn a skill.

2. Leverage Scarcity

No money? Good. Constraints force innovation.

- Use free tools: Canva for design. Aston for sales.

- Barter services. Traded my expertise for a techs help with deploying code.

- Pre-sell. Validate your idea before building it.

• Build a freakin' community around you, who will be your sideline cheerleaders (except the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, they haven't won since 1996).

3. Weaponize Your Story

Your struggle isn’t a liability - it’s your brand.

When I was building (and failing) my first startup, I didn’t hide my “non-elite” roots. I shouted them. My newsletter’s first subject line:

*“No Trust Fund, No Ivy League, No F*cks Given.”*

People loved it. Why? Because people are starving for realness, and not some sugarcoated BS they feed you on Forbes 30 under 30

which most of the Forbes 30 under 30 ended up in federal prison, so you’re safe if you haven't applied yet!

4. Ignore the Haters (Including Your Inner Critic)

The “DaddysMoney boys” or LinkedIn course creators, will mock you. The LinkedIn influencers will preach “just raise capital!” or sell you their BS courses while never selling a thing in their life, as if it’s that simple.

Here’s your mantra:

“I don’t need your permission, your pity, or your playbook.”

Here's my Final Words: The Underdog Revolution Starts Here

Building something meaningful weather in a startup or in Corporate America. It isn’t about pedigree. It’s about showing up every d*mn day, even when you’re terrified, exhausted, outgunned, or just on your last straw ??

They can keep their napkin ideas and vanity metrics for Y Combinator.

I love you YC, know that, ?? but please for the love of God almighty, FUND people who actually made it from the mud, I wanna see and listen to their stories.

We’ll be over here, turning pennies into empires - one sleepless night at a time.

Your move.

P.S. If this pissed you off or fired you up, good. Subscribe to Unfiltered with Honor newsletter . It's raw & real.

? No gatekeepers.

? No sugarcoating.

? Just the raw truth and tools you need to win.

P.P.S. Share this with someone who’s sick of the bullsh*t. The underdog army’s recruiting ??

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With love, - Honor ??