Making Your First Million (and Beyond)

Everyone says you need a “personal brand” to make a million dollars and be successful.

Rule #1: They’re lying.

Rule #2: You don’t.

I hate the phrase personal brand.

A brand is a lie. It’s the gap between reality and perception.

Coca-Cola is brown sugar water.

But their brand? It’s rollerblading demigods gliding through a beach sunset, popping carbonated bottles like they just discovered the secret to eternal youth.

So when someone says, “I need to build a personal brand,” what are they really saying?

That they need to manufacture a reality gap? That they need to pretend to be something they’re not? That they need to lie?

Why not just be great at something and let the world figure it out? Why not just work smart?

Lying is hard work. Making a million dollars is easier.

It can be done. By anyone.

The Myth of The One Thing

One million dollars.

People treat it like a magic number.

Like a force field will suddenly form around you, repelling all of life’s problems.

They say, “Find your one thing and commit your life to it.”

That’s dumb.

I was a software engineer. A hedge fund manager. A day trader. A writer. A stand-up comedian. A podcast host. A chess master. A startup founder.

If I had stuck with one thing, I’d probably be miserable, or worse, broke.

Success doesn’t come from obsessing over the “one thing.”

It comes from creating your own unique intersection. Be the best at this thing + that thing + one more thing no one expects.

If you’re a finance guy who can write and you speak Mandarin, congratulations—you just built your own monopoly.

If you’re a lawyer who understands TikTok, you’re already ahead of 99% of the legal industry.

If you’re a comedian who understands business, you have a better shot at making money than most entrepreneurs.

Find your niche? No. Create one.

The Business Formula No One Talks About

Every business, at its core, is the same:

1. There’s an excess supply of something. (Empty car seats, unused bedrooms, underutilized expertise.)
2. There are people who need that thing. (Passengers, travelers, knowledge seekers.)

A platform connects the two. (Uber, Airbnb, online courses.)

Find a way to bridge the gap between supply and demand, and you have a business.

Nick and I talked about one of the easiest ways to make a million: buying businesses that already work.

80% of small businesses don’t get sold—they just shut down. An old laundromat owner wants to retire?

Buy it with seller financing. Acquire five laundromats. Combine them. Boom. Instead of selling at 2X earnings, you sell at 5X because now you own scale.

Laundromats. Car washes. HVAC companies. The boring stuff is where the real money is.

The 20 Million Dollar Rule

People don’t like to talk about “their number.” How much do you really need?

I used to think $100 million was the answer. Then I made $115 million. Then I lost it all. Then I made it back. Then I lost it again.

Now? I think the answer is $20-30 million.

At 20 million, you don’t have to think about money anymore.

You can live however you want. First-class flights? No problem. Want to buy a comedy club just so you can get on stage whenever you want? Done.

If you have 20 million and you put it in safe investments, you’re making $400K-$500K a year passively.

That’s enough to live rich, but not so rich that you need bodyguards.

How to Make Your First Million (Fast)

Find a boring business with steady profits.

Buy it cheap, ideally with seller financing.

Grow it. (Or buy more and combine them.)

Sell at a premium.

Or, if you’re good at writing, finance, or fitness, start a newsletter.

People will pay for knowledge.

The “Get Paid, Get Laid, Lose Weight” rule applies:

• Finance newsletters = $$$
• Dating newsletters = $$$
• Health newsletters = $$$You can scale a newsletter to millions in revenue.

I did it. Others have done it. It’s one of the easiest, lowest-cost businesses in the world.

But whatever you do, don’t wait. Don’t overthink. Just start.

Stop Making Content. Make Art.

Everyone is “creating content” now.

STOP.

Content is disposable. Art is timeless.

Nobody says, “Vincent van Gogh made content.” Or, “Shakespeare was a content creator.”

They made art. They created something real.

So don’t just chase views. Chase truth. Chase something meaningful.

That’s the real path to success.

And maybe—just maybe—a million dollars along the way.

Author: James Altucher

Source: Altucherconfidential.com