u/BarbellMindset

I’ve been in the beginner trenches and the messy mid-game. Here’s what actually helped, no guru talk.

1. Your first “business” is just a learning vehicle. Treat it that way.

When I started, I thought my first idea was the one. Spoiler: it wasn’t. And that’s normal. Your first venture teaches you sales, operations, and emotional resilience. The goal isn’t to build a unicorn right away, it’s to become someone who could build one later. Detach your ego from the idea and attach it to your growth.

2. Clarity beats motivation.

Motivation is a liar, it comes and goes. What actually keeps you moving is clarity, knowing exactly what the next step is, even if it’s tiny. When I felt stuck, it was rarely laziness. It was usually confusion disguised as procrastination. Break things down until the next action is so simple it’s almost insulting.

3. Mid-game loneliness is real. Plan for it.

The beginning? Everyone cheers you on. The mid-game? Crickets. You’re too far in to quit but too far from “success” to feel safe. This is where most people silently fade out. Find 2-3 people at a similar stage and build a mini mastermind. Not mentors who are 10 years ahead (they are very useful), peers who are 10 feet ahead. You need people who get the current struggle, not just the highlight reels.

4. Revenue hides a lot of problems. Profit reveals them.

In the beginner phase, any money feels like a win. In the mid-game, you can be making decent revenue and still feel broke, stressed, and trapped. I learned this the hard way: track profit margin, not just top-line numbers. A business that makes $10k/month with 90% margin is completely different from one making $10k at 10% margin. Don’t let busy replace profitable.

5. Most “mentorship” should be paid or traded, here’s why.

Cold DMs asking “Can I pick your brain?” rarely work because they’re one-sided. Real mentorship often starts as paid consulting, a skill trade, or a genuine relationship built over time. If you’re a beginner, offer to do grunt work in exchange for exposure to how someone thinks. If you’re mid-game, invest in someone who’s solved the exact problem ahead of you. Specificity > status when choosing who to learn from.

6. The skill stack > the one superpower.

Don’t obsess over being the best at one thing. Combine three decent skills into one rare combo. For example: decent copywriting + basic automation + good taste in design = someone who can launch landing pages that convert. That combo is way harder to compete with than trying to be the world’s greatest copywriter. In the mid-game, your weird mix of skills becomes your unfair advantage.

7. Document the journey, even if it’s ugly.

I started sharing what I was working on, not as a polished thought leader, but as someone figuring things out in public. That alone attracted collaborations, referrals, and eventual mentor figures. People root for the builder with dirty hands, not the guy pretending he already has it all figured out.

I’m still in the messy middle myself. What’s one thing you know now that would’ve saved you six months of pain when you were starting out? For me it was a free course I found made by a multi-millionaire called Charlie Morgan.

I didn't believe it at first, but it's a rare find. Feel free to reach out if you want it.

Though seriously what's the one thing you know now you could've known alot sooner, let's build a thread worth saving.

I’ve been in the beginner trenches and the messy mid game. Here’s what actually helped, no guru talk.

1. Your first “business” is just a learning vehicle. Treat it that way.

When I started, I thought my first idea was the one. Spoiler: it wasn’t. And that’s normal. Your first venture teaches you sales, operations, and emotional resilience. The goal isn’t to build a unicorn right away, it’s to become someone who could build one later. Detach your ego from the idea and attach it to your growth.

2. Clarity beats motivation.

Motivation is a liar, it comes and goes. What actually keeps you moving is clarity, knowing exactly what the next step is, even if it’s tiny. When I felt stuck, it was rarely laziness. It was usually confusion disguised as procrastination. Break things down until the next action is so simple it’s almost insulting.

3. Mid-game loneliness is real. Plan for it.

The beginning? Everyone cheers you on. The mid-game? Crickets. You’re too far in to quit but too far from “success” to feel safe. This is where most people silently fade out. Find 2-3 people at a similar stage and build a mini mastermind. Not mentors who are 10 years ahead (they are very useful), peers who are 10 feet ahead. You need people who get the current struggle, not just the highlight reels.

4. Revenue hides a lot of problems. Profit reveals them.

In the beginner phase, any money feels like a win. In the mid-game, you can be making decent revenue and still feel broke, stressed, and trapped. I learned this the hard way: track profit margin, not just top-line numbers. A business that makes $10k/month with 90% margin is completely different from one making $10k at 10% margin. Don’t let busy replace profitable.

5. Most “mentorship” should be paid or traded, here’s why.

Cold DMs asking “Can I pick your brain?” rarely work because they’re one-sided. Real mentorship often starts as paid consulting, a skill trade, or a genuine relationship built over time. If you’re a beginner, offer to do grunt work in exchange for exposure to how someone thinks. If you’re mid-game, invest in someone who’s solved the exact problem ahead of you. Specificity > status when choosing who to learn from.

6. The skill stack > the one superpower.

Don’t obsess over being the best at one thing. Combine three decent skills into one rare combo. For example: decent copywriting + basic automation + good taste in design = someone who can launch landing pages that convert. That combo is way harder to compete with than trying to be the world’s greatest copywriter. In the mid game, your weird mix of skills becomes your unfair advantage.

7. Document the journey, even if it’s ugly.

I started sharing what I was working on, not as a polished thought leader, but as someone figuring things out in public. That alone attracted collaborations, referrals, and eventual mentor figures. People root for the builder with dirty hands, not the guy pretending he already has it all figured out.

I’m still in the messy middle myself. What’s one thing you know now that would’ve saved you six months of pain when you were starting out? For me it was a free course I found made by a multi-millionaire called Charlie Morgan.

I didn't believe it at first, but it's a rare find. Feel free to reach out if you want it.

Though seriously what's the one thing you know now you could've known alot sooner, let's build a thread worth saving.

This is how people go from zero to a thousands from thousand to a million and from a million to multi millions.

It all starts with an identity shift, because with your current self, your beliefs and your standards, you won't be really successful.

So you have to replace your current way of being with an identity that can achieve a goal.

Just like the difference between when you were a child and you now. Your mentally not the same person, the same with being successful you have to change your current reality to the point where achieving these big goals isn't just a dream - it becomes a goal.

A goal that is "easily" manifested through a loong chain of iterations and consistency. Consistency and discipline becomes play when you get used to it.

Our psychology can love pain and get addicted to work...

(I don't recommend getting addicted to work and just meanless pain, Im talking about pain that benefits you and being able to work so hard to the point where work becomes the best thing in your day, because lets be real that's were you'll find freedom. Not doing the work will lead you to being depressed with your current reality, unless your "satisfied" or your living a comfortable "delusion")

Your identity is the product and your situation is the byproduct.

So in order to achieve a goal you have to become someone that can and because you can you do.

Now the big question is how do you change your current identity or personality to match the personality of your goal reality?

You start by changing your beliefs (You might be like what?) Here me out:

In consulting, but this also applies to ANY business (you can conceptualize it):

1. You're income is a direct result of how many clients you sign.

2. How many clients are signed is a direct result of how many appointments you book.

3. How many appointments you book is a direct result of how much outreach you do.

4. How much outreach you do is a direct result of a behavior.

5. And your behavior is the direct result of your beliefs.

So we have to change our beliefs about certain facets of business like for example a lot of people hate cold calling. It is not cold calling that produces the pain, it is you. Inanimate objects or an action doesn't produce nervousness or anxiety or that daunting feeling.

So when you do cold calls or something that seems daunting. Thing of it as it is. Cold calling is just typing numbers and dailing a phone and telling people what you do.

But because of our paradigms it's a hard thing. Though all honesty you can change your behavior and your identity, there's a guide (not made by me or a paid course) that teaches you how to have a millionaires mindset. (Im not a millionaire btw to clarify a millionaire made this program for free, and this sounds crazy, but I bet you its a hidden gem)

Feel free to reach out. You might not have an epiphany moment when reading this. For me this was a quite wonderful discovery, but this is just scratching the surface of the philosophy on getting rich and successful in all life spectrums, but mostly business.

Btw business isn't just a pursuit to get rich, your literally becoming someone else - a higher version of you. I can send you the program if you want.

🤝

6 things that actually move the needle when you're starting out

After a few years of running my own business (and making every mistake in the book), here’s what I’d tell my day one self. No theory, just scars and feeling dumb as hell.

1. Validation isn’t asking your friends. It’s getting a stranger’s credit card.

I wasted months building something “people said they’d love.” Family and friends will always cheer you on. Harsh truth: if someone won’t pay you a small amount, even $5 to solve the problem today, you don’t have a business yet. Pre-sell, run a smoke test, put up a crude landing page. Interest is not demand.

2. Talk to 20 potential customers before writing a single line of code (or ordering inventory).

Not surveys. Real conversations where you listen. Ask about their last bad experience with the problem you’re solving. You’ll find out what they actually buy, not what they say they’d buy. The insight that made me pivot came from customer #17, not my own brain.

3. Distribution > Product (at first).

I thought a great product would sell itself. It doesn’t. In the beginning, spend 50% of your time on the product and 50% on manually getting customers. Cold DMs, posting where your audience hangs out, doing things that don’t scale. A mediocre product with a clear distribution channel beats a perfect product nobody hears about.

4. Launch before you’re ready.

You will never feel ready. That knot in your stomach? It means you’re about to learn something real. Ship a stripped down version, charge for it, and let complaints guide your next three features. The faster you embrace public imperfection, the faster you improve.

5. Your first goal is $1, not a million.

Instead of dreaming about scaling, obsess over getting one paying customer with a genuine problem you can solve better than anyone else. Then get five. Then ten. Momentum is built one dollar at a time. The vision matters, but early survival depends on tiny wins.

6. Don’t quit your job as a badge of honor.

Burning the boats is romantic, but pressure distorts decision making. Keep your day income as long as possible, and use evenings/weekends to hit a small but consistent revenue number. The best businesses I’ve seen were built by people who had the calm to iterate because rent wasn’t due next week from a shaky startup.

Bonus: Build your audience before you need it.

Share what you’re learning publicly on Reddit, X, LinkedIn, wherever. Document your journey, help people solve small problems. By the time you launch, you’ll have a tiny crowd that trusts you, not a cold launch into the void.

Btw im not acting like Im this big figure of authority. Im still a beginner entrepreneur and having made much. These are the things i really wish i could tell myself 5 months ago.

If your also a complete beginner like me I've found a free program (no guru nonsense where you have to pay) I wish i saw it a lot sooner, because not only did it make me understand why most businesses fail, how to succeed and the key principles of running a business. There's also a mindset module that gives you the perspective of a millionaire.

So if you want it feel free to reach out. Though important notice, this is an affiliate link and I might get a commission.

🤝

6 things that actually move the needle when you're starting out

After a few years of running my own business (and making every mistake in the book), here’s what I’d tell my day one self. No theory, just scars and feeling dumb as hell.

1. Validation isn’t asking your friends. It’s getting a stranger’s credit card.

I wasted months building something “people said they’d love.” Family and friends will always cheer you on. Harsh truth: if someone won’t pay you a small amount, even $5 to solve the problem today, you don’t have a business yet. Pre-sell, run a smoke test, put up a crude landing page. Interest is not demand.

2. Talk to 20 potential customers before writing a single line of code (or ordering inventory).

Not surveys. Real conversations where you listen. Ask about their last bad experience with the problem you’re solving. You’ll find out what they actually buy, not what they say they’d buy. The insight that made me pivot came from customer #17, not my own brain.

3. Distribution > Product (at first).

I thought a great product would sell itself. It doesn’t. In the beginning, spend 50% of your time on the product and 50% on manually getting customers. Cold DMs, posting where your audience hangs out, doing things that don’t scale. A mediocre product with a clear distribution channel beats a perfect product nobody hears about.

4. Launch before you’re ready.

You will never feel ready. That knot in your stomach? It means you’re about to learn something real. Ship a stripped down version, charge for it, and let complaints guide your next three features. The faster you embrace public imperfection, the faster you improve.

5. Your first goal is $1, not a million.

Instead of dreaming about scaling, obsess over getting one paying customer with a genuine problem you can solve better than anyone else. Then get five. Then ten. Momentum is built one dollar at a time. The vision matters, but early survival depends on tiny wins.

6. Don’t quit your job as a badge of honor.

Burning the boats is romantic, but pressure distorts decision making. Keep your day income as long as possible, and use evenings/weekends to hit a small but consistent revenue number. The best businesses I’ve seen were built by people who had the calm to iterate because rent wasn’t due next week from a shaky startup.

Bonus: Build your audience before you need it.

Share what you’re learning publicly on Reddit, X, LinkedIn, wherever. Document your journey, help people solve small problems. By the time you launch, you’ll have a tiny crowd that trusts you, not a cold launch into the void.

Btw im not acting like Im this big figure of authority. Im still a beginner entrepreneur and having made much. These are the things i really wish i could tell myself 5 months ago.

If your also a complete beginner like me I've found a free program (no guru nonsense where you have to pay) I wish i saw it a lot sooner, because not only did it make me understand why most businesses fail, how to succeed and the key principles of running a business. There's also a mindset module that gives you the perspective of a millionaire.

So if you want it feel free to reach out. Though important notice, this is an affiliate link and I might get a commission.

🤝

I see the same Pinterest quotes recycled here every week. Here are a few things that actually move the needle, most of them learned by screwing up painfully. Use them, ignore them, call me an idiot either way, they’re not generic.

1. The first sale is the only validation that counts.

Your mom loving the idea, 200 upvotes on a concept post, a landing page with 500 email signups, none of it matters. A stranger, who could easily keep their money, giving it to you for your scrappy, imperfect thing, that’s data. Everything before that is fanfiction. Go get one paying, non-pity customer before you build anything scalable.

2. Cash flow kills you faster than a bad product.

You can limp along for years with an ugly, buggy product if enough cash comes in the door. You can have the best product on earth, but you’ll be dead in 60 days if you can’t pay hosting, suppliers, or rent. Neglect the bank balance and you’re just running a time bomb hobby.

3. Solve the thing people already complain about loudly.

Don’t try to invent a problem and then educate people they have it. Go to niche subreddits, trade forums, trucker Facebook groups, and read what makes them furious. “I hate how hard it is to find X” or “software Y crashes every Tuesday.” Build a tiny fix for that visible pain. People buy aspirin, not vitamins.

4. Your first 10 customers won’t come from ads or virality.

They’ll come from manually DM-ing 50 people, cold calling 100, or hand delivering a sample to a local business while sweating through your shirt. Scraping, unscalable hustle is the secret. Automate only after you’ve done the painful manual version and know exactly what converts.

5. Sell the outcome, not the mechanics.

No customer cares about your “AI-powered proprietary algorithm” or your tech stack. They care that they get 3 hours back in their day, 20% more leads, or the leaking sink fixed by morning. Write every headline, landing page sentence, and sales pitch to the result they already want.

6. Double your price, then add 20% more. Right now.

New entrepreneurs almost always undercharge because they’re terrified of rejection. Underpricing attracts the worst clients (cheapest = most demanding), starves your ability to deliver quality, and makes you resent the work. Price based on value delivered, not hours spent. If nobody flinches at your quote, you left money on the table.

7. Co-founders are business arranged marriages without the romance.

Don’t jump in with a best mate over a beer. Vest the equity (4-year, 1-year cliff). Have the awkward conversation now: who decides when you disagree, what happens if someone stops showing up, who owns the IP if one leaves. These talks feel horrible until they save your entire company later. Most first-time founder breakups are messier than divorces because nobody wrote a prenup.

8. Boring, unglamorous industries print cash.

Everyone wants to build the viral SaaS or DTC brand. Meanwhile, the guy who modernised booking systems for dumpster rentals quietly does 7 figures, works 40 hours a week, and has zero competitors who understand Instagram. Look for software, services, or products in industries your friends would never consider cool.

9. Marketing is fishing where the fish actually are, not where you wish they’d be.

You want to be on TikTok, but your 55-year-old contractor customer is reading a dusty trade forum every morning. Go there, help for free, don’t pitch. Just become the most recognisable helpful presence. That “boring” channel will consistently outperform posting reels into the void hoping for virality.

10. Say “no” to almost everything.

That coffee meeting, that “can you also do X” feature request from a non-paying user, the shiny new side project idea at 2am, they’re all disguised quicksand. The founder superpower isn’t hustle; it’s focused prioritisation on the one thing that gets revenue in the door this week. Everything else can wait.

11. Your health and closest relationships will silently deteriorate if you don’t defend them like a business-critical meeting.

Book workouts and date nights as non-negotiable calendar events. Entrepreneurship amplifies any underlying neglect. You don’t get a medal for burning out and having no one left to celebrate the exit with.

12. Imposter syndrome doesn’t vanish, you just get comfortable charging money while it’s screaming in the background.

You’ll feel like a fraud selling a half-baked thing. That’s normal. Ship it anyway. The people who wait until they feel “ready” never launch.

If yall want what helped me a lot with business, 5 months ago Ive found a guru destroyer course. I call it the guru destroyer because its free and its one of the most fastest growing business programs made by a multi-millionaire who literally gives you his understanding of business and mindset. If you want it feel free to reach out.

I see the same Pinterest quotes recycled here every week. Here are a few things that actually move the needle, most of them learned by screwing up painfully. Use them, ignore them, call me an idiot either way, they’re not generic.

1. The first sale is the only validation that counts.

Your mom loving the idea, 200 upvotes on a concept post, a landing page with 500 email signups, none of it matters. A stranger, who could easily keep their money, giving it to you for your scrappy, imperfect thing, that’s data. Everything before that is fanfiction. Go get one paying, non-pity customer before you build anything scalable.

2. Cash flow kills you faster than a bad product.

You can limp along for years with an ugly, buggy product if enough cash comes in the door. You can have the best product on earth, but you’ll be dead in 60 days if you can’t pay hosting, suppliers, or rent. Neglect the bank balance and you’re just running a time bomb hobby.

3. Solve the thing people already complain about loudly.

Don’t try to invent a problem and then educate people they have it. Go to niche subreddits, trade forums, trucker Facebook groups, and read what makes them furious. “I hate how hard it is to find X” or “software Y crashes every Tuesday.” Build a tiny fix for that visible pain. People buy aspirin, not vitamins.

4. Your first 10 customers won’t come from ads or virality.

They’ll come from manually DM-ing 50 people, cold calling 100, or hand delivering a sample to a local business while sweating through your shirt. Scraping, unscalable hustle is the secret. Automate only after you’ve done the painful manual version and know exactly what converts.

5. Sell the outcome, not the mechanics.

No customer cares about your “AI-powered proprietary algorithm” or your tech stack. They care that they get 3 hours back in their day, 20% more leads, or the leaking sink fixed by morning. Write every headline, landing page sentence, and sales pitch to the result they already want.

6. Double your price, then add 20% more. Right now.

New entrepreneurs almost always undercharge because they’re terrified of rejection. Underpricing attracts the worst clients (cheapest = most demanding), starves your ability to deliver quality, and makes you resent the work. Price based on value delivered, not hours spent. If nobody flinches at your quote, you left money on the table.

7. Co-founders are business arranged marriages without the romance.

Don’t jump in with a best mate over a beer. Vest the equity (4-year, 1-year cliff). Have the awkward conversation now: who decides when you disagree, what happens if someone stops showing up, who owns the IP if one leaves. These talks feel horrible until they save your entire company later. Most first-time founder breakups are messier than divorces because nobody wrote a prenup.

8. Boring, unglamorous industries print cash.

Everyone wants to build the viral SaaS or DTC brand. Meanwhile, the guy who modernised booking systems for dumpster rentals quietly does 7 figures, works 40 hours a week, and has zero competitors who understand Instagram. Look for software, services, or products in industries your friends would never consider cool.

9. Marketing is fishing where the fish actually are, not where you wish they’d be.

You want to be on TikTok, but your 55-year-old contractor customer is reading a dusty trade forum every morning. Go there, help for free, don’t pitch. Just become the most recognisable helpful presence. That “boring” channel will consistently outperform posting reels into the void hoping for virality.

10. Say “no” to almost everything.

That coffee meeting, that “can you also do X” feature request from a non-paying user, the shiny new side project idea at 2am, they’re all disguised quicksand. The founder superpower isn’t hustle; it’s focused prioritisation on the one thing that gets revenue in the door this week. Everything else can wait.

11. Your health and closest relationships will silently deteriorate if you don’t defend them like a business-critical meeting.

Book workouts and date nights as non-negotiable calendar events. Entrepreneurship amplifies any underlying neglect. You don’t get a medal for burning out and having no one left to celebrate the exit with.

12. Imposter syndrome doesn’t vanish, you just get comfortable charging money while it’s screaming in the background.

You’ll feel like a fraud selling a half-baked thing. That’s normal. Ship it anyway. The people who wait until they feel “ready” never launch.

If yall want what helped me a lot with business, 5 months ago Ive found a guru destroyer course. I call it the guru destroyer because its free and its one of the most fastest growing business programs made by a multi-millionaire who literally gives you his understanding of business and mindset. If you want it feel free to reach out.