📚 A&B #178

👋 Hey everyone,

Here are a few popular posts you may have missed:

• America is in a reading recession.

• If you loved this book, read that book.

• 15 reading tips from 15 incredibly successful investors.

PS: Thank you to everyone who voted in last week’s polls. 74% of people voted for more life lessons so I’ll try to share new ones once every month or two.

🤓 Course Update:

I added a new lesson this week:

• How To Read Any Book In 1 Week (& 52 Books A Year)

I’m also working on collecting testimonials for the course. Here’s what Tiago Forte (bestselling author of “Building A Second Brain”) said:

Enroll now and join 150+ readers here! 👈

📚 Book Summary:

This week’s book is “Million Dollar Weekend” by Noah Kagan.

Noah has launched 7 $1M+ businesses and shares an actionable step-by-step guide on how to do the same. If you loved “The 4-Hour Workweek”, you’ll love this book.

Here are three lessons from the book:

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1) Focus on NOW, Not HOW

Noah has started businesses and taught thousands of people how to do the same. The most common mistake he sees new entrepreneurs make is focusing on the HOW instead of the NOW.

When most people decide to start a business they tend to overthink things and start by taking a course, watching business videos, or spending months doing research.

But successful people do the opposite, they start NOW and focus on the HOW later. Why?

You really don’t understand something until you’ve done it and the best way to learn about something is to do it. You can always optimize or improve it later.

For example, when Noah got the idea for AppSumo he hired a developer from Pakistan for $12 an hour to put together a website.

He spent some time on it as well and got a functioning website up in one weekend. AppSumo today does $80 MILLION in annual revenue (hence the title of the book).

So if you find yourself overthinking and procrastinating your business idea, remind yourself to focus on the NOW instead of the HOW.

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2) No ASK = No Get

Another common mistake Noah sees new entrepreneurs make is being afraid to ask for what they want.

But developing your ASK muscle is necessary for all aspects of life:

• If you want a new job, you have to ask for it.

• If you want more money, you have to ask for a raise.

• If you want to go on a date, you have to ask the person out.

• If you are selling something, you have to ask the customer to buy it.

Noah learned about the importance of asking early on from his father who sold copy machines for a living.

Noah remembers spending a day with his father and being sad that so many people had told his dad no. But Noah’s father’s response said something that would change his life:

“Love rejections! Set rejection goals. I shoot for a hundred rejections each week because if you work that hard to get so many noes in them will find a few yeses, too.”

This mindset shift of reframing rejections as something desirable changed everything for Noah. When your goal is to get rejected, you no longer fear asking for anything: the upside of asking is unlimited and the downside is minimal.

A few months after Noah’s father shared this life-changing advice, he entered a magazine subscription contest that offered a pizza party for the kind who sold the most magazines.

So Noah hit the streets knocking on every door in his neighborhood. He got rejected a ton, but every now and then someone said yes.

Noah ended up winning the pizza party challenge and celebrated with his closest friends.

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3) Turn Your Problems Into Profits

Every frustration or problem you have is a business opportunity in disguise.

So if you don’t know what type of business to start, take a few minutes to make a list of all of the things that bother you or that waste your time.

For instance, Noah started AppSumo because he couldn’t find big discounts on software products.

Another example is Noah’s friend Shane Heath. Shane loved coffee but hated that it made him anxious and jittery. So he went searching for a better solution and stumbled upon masala chai which he turned into the company Mud/Wtr.

That tiny problem of his is now making over $60 million per year!

And if you’re stuck finding problems, here are four questions to ask yourself:

1. What is one thing this morning that irritated me?

2. What is one thing on my to-do list that’s been there for over a week?

3. What is one thing that I regularly fail to do well?

4. What is one thing I wanted to buy recently only to find out that no one has made it?

Make it a habit to keep a notebook or notes page on your phone where you can quickly jot down any problems that happen during the day. Your most annoying problem just might become your most profitable one.

✅ Actionable Advice:

1) Focus on starting NOW and figure out the HOW later:

• Stop overthinking your business idea, start it today and figure out the rest later.

2) Practice your ASK muscle:

• Ask and apply for that dream job.

• Ask for a 10% discount at your coffee shop.

• Ask for that big guest to come on your podcast.

3) Make a list of all of the problems you encounter on a daily basis:

• Once you have your list, look at which ones might make for a good business.

📖 Reading Lesson:

21 Reading tips from bestselling author Morgan Housel.

💎 Weekly Gem:

Instead of sharing just one podcast in this section, here are 50+ amazing podcasts:

• My 15 favorite podcasts of 2023.

• My 15 favorite podcasts of 2022.

• My 12 favorite podcasts of 2021.

• My 10 favorite podcasts of 2020.

Thank you for your support, read on everyone!

-Alex W.