But we will have to make sacrifices and take on more risk
This advice is for anybody who wants to be entrepreneurial
Nivi: Who is this advice targeted to? Is it for my Lyft driver? Is it for an Internet entrepreneur? Is it for somebody who wants to start a YouTube channel?
Naval: Because it comes from someone whoâs steeped in Silicon Valley and tech companies, itâs always going to have a bias towards that.
But I think itâs good for anybody who wants to be entrepreneurial. Anybody who wants to control their own life. Anybody who wants to deterministically and reliably improve their ability to create wealth over time, is patient, and is looking at the long haul.
If youâre 80 years old, retired and running out of energy, itâs probably best to stay retired. But there are 80-year-olds who have a lot of energy, who want to do new things and live for the future.
Obviously this can apply very easily to a young person. I would say 9 or 10 years old and up.
Midlife can be the most fruitful time to apply this advice
The most difficult one is probably midlife. When weâre in our 30s, 40s and 50s, we already have a lot invested. We have a lot of obligations. Those are the years weâre earning; people are relying on us. We donât want to change, because we donât want to admit defeat.
But thatâs when it actually can be the most fruitful. It may be the most difficult pivot: You have a 9-to-5 job; you have a family relying on you.
It may seem like the things in this podcast are far too idealistic, but maybe it can inform your weekend projects. Maybe it can inform your approach to education; for example, if youâre taking an online course at night. Maybe it can inform what roles you take on at your current company, because they move you closer and closer to points of leverage, points of judgment or points where youâre naturally talented, and youâre able to be more authentic. It might cause you to take on more accountability.
Even if applied piecemeal, these principles can guide youâregardless of what stage of life you are in, short of retirement. If youâre retired, test them to see if theyâre true and then teach them to your kids or grandkids.
There are many different ways to participate. It should apply to almost everybody who has a complete body, sound mind, and is looking to work.
Look up the value chain to find leverage
Nivi: One way to apply this advice is to look at who is getting leverage off of the work that youâre doing. Look up the value chainâat whoâs above you and whoâs above themâand see how they are taking advantage of the time and work youâre doing and how theyâre applying leverage.
People naturally do this because they want to move up the corporate ladder; but thatâs mostly about managing other people. You want to manage more capital, products, media and community.
People think about moving up the ladder in their organization. But they donât often think about moving to a different organization or creating their own company to get more leverage.
You will do better in a small organization
Naval: In general, ceteris paribusâfancy Latin words for âall other things equalââyou will do better in a smaller organization than a larger one.
You will have more accountability, and your work will be more visible. Youâre more likely to be able to try different things, which can help you discover the thing you are uniquely good at. People will be more likely to give you leverage through battlefield promotions. Youâll have more flexibility. There will be more authenticity in how the company operates.
Here is a good progression for a career: Start in a large company and progressively move to smaller and smaller ones. Itâs very hard to go from a small company to a larger company. Larger companies tend to be more about politics than merit; theyâre more stable but less innovative.
The goal is that we are all working for ourselves
The long-term goal is that we are all wealthy and working for ourselves. The people working for us are essentially robots. Today thatâs software robots executing code in data centers. Tomorrow it could be delivery bots, flying bots and mechanical botsâand dronesâthat are carrying things around.
This goes back to the idea that the best relationships are peer relationships. If thereâs someone above you, thatâs someone to learn from. If youâre not learning from them and improving, nobody should be above you.
If thereâs somebody below you, itâs because youâre teaching them and enabling them. If youâre not doing that, then get a robot; you donât need a human below you.
This is utopian and still a long way off, but in the not-too-distant future anybody who wants to work for themself will be able to do it.
You may have to make sacrifices and take on more risk. You may have to take on more accountability and live with less steady income. But more and more I think younger people are realizing that if theyâre going to work, theyâre going to work for themselves.