most people who want to change their life by diving headfirst into self-improvement books...
they get hit with a ton of tasks like fixing their mindset, building better habits, optimizing their morning routine, and while none of that is bad advice, for 9 out of 10 people, it's not the first problem to solve.
so what is the first problem to solve?
making money...
if you're stressed about money, none of the self-improvement BS is going to mean much.
it's become popular to say "money isn't everything"...
but it's easy to say that in a nice apartment, a full stomach & a family that's taken care of.
the reality is that if you're an adult and your finances aren't sorted, that's your number one problem and everything else comes second. it's hard to focus on growth, relationships, health, or anything meaningful when you can't pay rent. so let's start there...
WHAT MOST OF THESE ARTICLES GET WRONG
the reason it's kind of difficult to write "one-size-fits-all" content like guides on how to turn your life around is that everyone is different. some people are naturally gifted at communication, some are analytical, some are creative, some are technical.
i have close friends who couldn't do what i do even if i dedicated hours every day teaching them, and those same friends are better than me at things.
so the goal isn't to copy someone else's path, it's to find the one that actually fits your natural talents & interests.
if you don't know what your natural strengths are yet, that's fine, you'll find them through trying things. just don't be too stubborn to pivot when something genuinely isn't working. test fast & move on faster when you need to.
THE THREE-STAGE PLAN
p.s. this article is written assuming you're starting from absolute scratch - no knowledge, no experience, no nothing.
STAGE 1: choosing your lane & studying relentlessly
i can only advise you in the online business space since that's all i've ever been exposed to & it's where i found my success.
as far as online biz formats - i'd only look at these 4:
software, ecommerce, info, and agencies.
within each of those there are specific roles that people are constantly looking to fill and willing to pay well for.
e.g. software companies need someone who knows how to grow their social media presence. an ecom brand needs a solid copywriter or someone who can produce good AI ad creatives. someone running an info business needs someone to help them w/ content. an agency needs a closer.
there are thousands of roles like this that you can potentially fulfill. none of them require a degree or years of experience, but they do require one thing... and that's being good.
before you pick one, ask yourself a simple question: will this role directly help the business i'm working with make more money? if the answer is yes, there's demand for it and someone will pay for it.
once you've picked something, your job for the first 30 days is to study it every single day with the intention of becoming genuinely good at it. you'd be surprised how much ground you can cover in a month of focused work when most people can't even stay consistent for a week.
use free resources, paid courses, youtube, whatever... just make sure you understand how it works & building a real skill & putting it into practice.
the other thing to start doing in this stage is figuring out who the key people are in your chosen industry. the operators, the business owners, the builders. you don't need to reach out to them yet, just get familiar with who they are and where they spend their time online.
STAGE 2: infiltrating the community
studying in the shadows will only take you so far, at some point you need to be around the people who are already operating in the space you want to work in because that's where opportunities actually come from.
find where they hang out, X, linkedin, discord communities, telegram group chats, etc. and start showing up consistently.
get into conversations, be of genuine value, create content that's actually valuable to people in your industry.
most people use these platforms to just blatantly advertise their services. if you flip that and just try to be genuinely helpful, & the advice you share is genuinely helpful, you'll get far...
get on calls with people, get added to group chats, reply thoughtfully to posts. the goal isn't to network in the fake linkedin sense, it's to become someone that people in your space actually know and trust. that reputation will open doors for you.
don't underestimate how powerful it is to just be known within a niche community as someone who knows what they're talking about & helps.
STAGE 3: get your hands dirty & become part of a team
i unknowingly got many mentorships by working for an agency & software company when i was coming up, everything i learned during that time reflected positively once i decided to start my own thing.
working within an established operation gives you quick feedback on what works, and what doesn't. you get to see real ROI & what caused it. it's an invaluable lesson.
this is why i repeatedly rant about how the most overlooked form of mentorship is just working with someone who's doing what you wanna do.
you don't have to pay for it and you don't have to ask for it, you get it automatically by doing work inside someone else's operation.
when you're doing smaller jobs within a team or business, you start absorbing how everything actually works: the way they acquire clients, how they structure their offers, what they do when things go wrong, how they think about growth. none of that knowledge is in any course.
in this stage the goal is to land a role, even a small one, with someone who's operating in the industry you've been building toward.
ideally it's paid. if not, becoming an affiliate or offering to help with one specific thing for free can still get you in the door and give you the exposure you need. the experience and the case studies you walk away with are worth more than whatever you'd have made doing random freelance gigs in the same time period.
the people you work under will also answer your questions and introduce you to their network if you're actually useful to them.
you help them, they help you grow, and it doesn't have to be transactional or weird. the best working relationships at this stage tend to feel more like collaboration than employment anyway.
WHAT NOW?
by the end of this you'll have a real skill with market demand, a network of people in your industry who actually know who you are & the value you bring to the table, firsthand experience working inside a real business, and a clear picture of how that type of operation works from the inside.
at that point you don't need a roadmap anymore because you'll be able to see the landscape yourself.
you'll know how money is made in your industry, where the gaps are, what you're capable of, and what the next logical move looks like...
whether that's going deeper into your role, picking up more clients, or starting to build something of your own.
i don't need to add a stage 4. stage 4 will appear to you naturally as you proceed through the 3 stages.
most people never reach this point not because they aren't capable, but because they try to skip these 3 stages.
they want to be the leader, they want to have their "own business". but they didn't work their way up the ladder.
it's time to work your way up the ladder my friend.