How to Get Rich
Execution trumps ideas. Follow-through prints billions.
businessErrors, like straws, upon the surface flow; He who would search for pearls must dive below.
AQ's take: Skimmed surface errors too long. Diving deep scares me but pays.
Oct 4, 2023“Success is never permanent; failure is never fatal. The only thing that really counts is to never, never, never give up.” That’s that old windbag Winston Churchill again.
AQ's take: Churchill calls out my quitter streak. Never quitting? Game-changer.
Oct 4, 2023I am told that during the Vietnam War, a sign was kept nailed on a wall above a particular marine commander’s desk which said: “Assumption is the mother of all f***-ups.” Those seven words should be carved into the heart of every entrepreneur,
AQ's take: Assumed team knew shit. Vultr outage fucked us. Verify everything.
Oct 2, 2023Worse still, by continually wishing and never delivering, you risk denting your confidence, beginning a vicious downward spiral that appears to draw misfortune like a magnet. The assumption that you might be able to achieve some goal if you only wished hard enough is not just a f***-up. It’s a potential personal tragedy.
AQ's take: Wishing wrecked my confidence for years. Delivering fixed it. Brutal truth.
Oct 2, 2023There is absolutely nothing more likely to dampen the prospects of becoming rich than a nice, fat, regular salary check.
AQ's take: Salary trapped me comfy. Quit Cloudways, built real wealth.
Sep 28, 2023Having a great idea is simply not enough. The eventual goal is vastly more important than any idea. It is how ideas are implemented that counts in the long run.
AQ's take: Goal crushed my hosting idea obsession. Execution freed me.
Sep 20, 2023If you want to be rich, then watch your rivals closely and never be ashamed to emulate a winning strategy.
AQ's take: Copied Rocket.net's plays. Grew Cloudways fast.
Sep 20, 2023If, on the other hand, you spend your days thinking up and developing in your mind this great idea or that, you are unlikely to get rich. Although you are likely to make many others rich. That is usually the way of it. Ideas don’t make you rich. The correct execution of ideas does.
AQ's take: Ideas fueled others' riches. My execution drought ended at Bionic.
Sep 20, 2023Until one is committed, there is hesitancy; the chance to draw back; always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elemental truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one commits oneself, Providence moves all. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issue from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of incidents and meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamed would come his or her way. —JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
AQ's take: Committed to BionicWP, doors opened. Hesitancy killed my old startups.
Sep 14, 2023Lady Luck is bald behind,”
AQ's take: Grabbed bald Luck's head once. Slipped away. Prep next time.
Sep 14, 2023“Luck is preparation multiplied by opportunity.” — SENECA, ROMAN PHILOSOPHER
AQ's take: Seneca nails it. My 'luck' droughts? Zero prep.
Sep 14, 2023“The harder I practiced, the luckier I got.” — GARY PLAYER, GOLF CHAMPION
AQ's take: Practiced cold calls daily. 'Luck' closed Emirates deal.
Sep 14, 2023“Luck is a dividend of sweat.” —RAY KROC, MCDONALD’S FOUNDER
AQ's take: Sweat built BionicWP to $30k MRR. Luck tagged along.
Sep 14, 2023Ralph Waldo Emerson: No matter how much faculty of idle seeing a man has, the step from knowing to doing is rarely taken.
AQ's take: Knew marketing cold. Did zero. Emerson calls out my paralysis.
Sep 13, 2023committees are discouraged on the battlefield. A commander may be proved wrong. He may be proved right. But prompt decisions and orders, right or wrong, are far healthier than endless debate and prevarication.
AQ's take: Debated features endlessly at BionicWP. Ship first, fix later wins.
Sep 13, 2023To sum up then, if you wish to be rich, you must grow a carapace. A mental armor. Not so thick as to blind you to well-constructed criticism and advice, especially from those you trust. Nor so thick as to cut you off from friends and family.
AQ's take: Grew thick skin after agency firings. Criticism now bounces off.
Sep 13, 2023After a lifetime of making money and observing better men and women than I fall by the wayside, I am convinced that fear of failing in the eyes of the world is the single biggest impediment to amassing wealth. Trust me on this.
AQ's take: Feared looking dumb launching BionicWP. World still turned.
Sep 13, 2023Money is one of the most neutral substances on earth.
AQ's take: Money's neutral? Explains why my AdSense bucks bought zero peace.
Sep 12, 2023Anyone not busy learning is busy dying. For as long as you foster a willingness to learn, you will ward off sclerosis of the brain and hardening of the mental arteries. Curiosity has led many a man and women into the valley of serious wealth.
AQ's take: ADHD brain dying without learning. Curiosity saved my stalled career.
Sep 12, 2023Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it! Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
AQ's take: Boldness? I waited years dreaming. Now I just ship shit.
Sep 12, 2023There are three kinds of lies. Lies, damn lies and statistics. —THOMAS CARLYLE, CHARTISM
AQ's take: Stats lied to me on ad spend. Woke up broke.
Sep 12, 2023The follow-through, the execution, is a thousand times more important than a “great idea.” In fact, if the execution is perfect, it sometimes barely matters what the idea is. If you want to get rich, don’t sit around waiting for inspiration to strike. Just get busy getting rich.
AQ's take: Burned out chasing ideas without execution. This slaps my lazy ass awake.
Sep 11, 2023No task is a long one but the task on which one dare not start. It becomes a nightmare. —CHARLES BAUDELAIRE, MY HEART LAID BARE
AQ's take: That nightmare task? My unfinished blogs. Starting kills the monster.
Sep 11, 2023