The smartest strategies are often defined by the things you decide not to do. For anyone looking to build a successful content platform or side hustle business, the first step isn’t about chasing every trend. It’s about finding your unique sweet spot.
I used to turn beet red whenever a professor called on me in class. At parties, I needed a drink in my hand just to work up the nerve to talk to anyone interesting, otherwise, I’d break out in stress hives. Then, in my early twenties, the panic attacks started.
It’s a common belief that starting a business requires a mountain of cash. But what if that’s not true? The reality is, many successful ventures start with surprisingly little. Michael Trainer kicked off his media production company with just $2,500 for a camera—an investment he later recouped in full. He went on to work with Nobel Prize winners. Tara Gentile launched her publishing business with $80, and a year later, she was earning $75,000. For Chris Dunphy and Cherie Ve Ard, it was $125 that started a software consultancy that now pulls in over $75,000 a year while they travel the world.
It all started in an office in Anchorage, Alaska. Scott McMurren was working in media sales for a local TV station, a job that gave him a great view of Mount McKinley and a list of contacts all over the state. He also hosted a travel show on the side, but he never thought it would amount to much. For two years, his friend Gary Blakely had been nagging him about a business idea, but Scott kept brushing it off. Finally, worn down by the daily grind and his friend’s persistence, he caved. “OK,” he said, “let’s give it a try.”
It was 2008, and Jen Adrion and Omar Noory were just one year out of design school. They were doing what they were supposed to be doing—Jen was teaching at their alma mater while freelancing, and Omar had landed a job at a local design studio. From their tiny apartment in Columbus, Ohio, they were making ends meet with a side business with job structure. But the reality of commercial design work was setting in, and it felt a lot like burnout. Jen found herself wondering if she’d made a huge mistake, questioning if she should have pursued a completely different career.
You’ve refined your approach and put in the work to make sure your business is set up for success. You have a solid vision and you're ready to find the capital that will take it to the next level. So, what do you actually need to start talking to investors? And how do you prepare those materials to get the best possible outcome?
When you’re trying to turn a promising idea into a viable business, your entire world revolves around hitting the next milestone. Every bit of effort is about raising enough capital not just to reach that next goal, but to have a cushion for the inevitable surprises and a budget to market for the next round of startup funding. It's a game of levels. Even if your grand vision is an IPO or a legacy business, you have to win the level you’re on right now.
Most people who want to make more money ask the wrong question. They ask, “How can I make more money?” but a far more powerful question is, “How can I create recurring money?” How can you get paid over and over again for something you did once? That’s the kind of thinking that shifts your hour’s worth from $100 to $10,000.
If you're trading hours for dollars, you're on a treadmill, not a path to wealth. It's a simple, direct trade: the moment you stop working, the money stops coming in. I grew up hearing the phrase, “You don’t work, you don’t eat,” and it perfectly captures this trap. This kind of time-based income is a dead end if your goal is real financial freedom. It's linear and can't build wealth quickly. Sure, there are exceptions, like a top NBA draft pick with a $12 million signing bonus, but if that’s you, you probably aren't reading this.