Rock Bottom to Rock Star

1. Be the Boss of Your Life: Take Responsibility and Add Value

Do more than what you get paid for, and you’ll always get paid more.

Take control. To become a rock star in any field, you must take responsibility for your life and career. Don't wait for others to provide structure or direction; instead, take initiative and expand upon what you already have. Add more value than expected, and you'll become more valuable.

The value formula. The more value you add today, the more value you'll receive later. This applies to everything from your job to your personal life. Look for opportunities to go above and beyond, and you'll be rewarded in the long run.

Earn the nickname. Being a boss isn't just about having a title; it's about embodying qualities like responsibility, adding value, and owning your career. Ask yourself what you can do to earn the nickname "The Boss" in your chosen field.

2. Quit Digging: When You're in a Hole, Stop Making It Deeper

When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging.

Temporary setbacks. Rock bottom moments are temporary, not permanent. It's crucial to realize that failure doesn't define you and that you can overcome adversity. Don't let shame, grief, or self-pity consume you.

Fight apathy. Apathy and self-pity are your enemies when you're at the bottom. You must self-motivate, even under extreme circumstances. Find something or someone to prove wrong, or make a vow never to return to that dark place.

Take responsibility. Regardless of how you got there, take responsibility for where you are in life. Have tough conversations with yourself and learn to fight your way out of your own holes.

3. Pay Attention to Your Timeline: Time is a Non-Renewable Resource

Pay attention to your time . . . line.

Time is precious. Time is a non-renewable resource; once a moment is gone, it's gone forever. As a successful businessperson, you must carefully examine your hobbies, obligations, and pastimes to isolate the ones that waste time and pull you away from your business.

Intentional living. Adjust the way you spend your time so that you can focus on things that will help your business in some way. If you want to read, read for profit. If you like movies, watch a movie that will give you a new perspective on your career or inspire you.

Optimize your time. The sooner you start optimizing your time, the more successful you'll be, and the more time you'll have to spend doing whatever you want. Mix business with pleasure, and enhance both your life and your business.

4. Find Your Superpower: Identify and Hone Your Unique Strengths

To be a rock star you must figure out what makes your work unique, nail this style, and hone it into a signature that clearly sets you apart from your peers.

Project your difference. The world celebrates difference. Figure out what makes your work unique, nail this style, and hone it into a signature that clearly sets you apart from your peers.

Secret weapon. Every entrepreneur needs to find their own version of a staring contest, their own secret weapon. Find your real sources of strength and utilize them to the best of your ability.

Grow into something else. Start with whatever strength you have now, whatever you think you're the best in the world at. If it truly is a superpower, it will grow into something else.

5. Embrace Your Failure Quotient: Failure is a Stepping Stone to Success

You have to get familiar with taking risks and sometimes failing.

Positive belief. Failure is part of the process of success. Build up a high tolerance for friction and maintain a positive belief about failure.

Take the stairs. See your career as a set of stairs going upward, not a roller coaster of peaks and valleys. What looks like a complete disaster today can look very much like a success ten or fifteen years from now.

Anticipate failure. You should anticipate failure, knowing that it will make you stronger and more well-rounded. If you haven't failed yet, you're doing something wrong.

6. Identify Yourself: Are You a Product Genius or a Business Rock Star?

There are great businesspeople, and great product people, but rarely are they both.

Great product people. A great product person is a perfectionist who understands their product down to every last detail. They have taken complete responsibility for the product’s creation.

Great business people. Business people are always looking for the next idea, product, project, or company in which to invest their time or money. They obsess over companies, culture, industries, processes, and avidly study economic and business cycles.

Find your identity. Figure out your identity now and own it, otherwise you'll end up saying yes to the wrong things and no to the right ones. And never forget my favorite mantra: Focus is saying no.

7. Funding First: Secure Resources to Fuel Your Vision

Your number one job is to make sure you have enough money in the bank at all times.

Raise money. If you don't have money, you have to raise it. There are many options, and if you can't find private investors, then you can crowdfund.

Be resourceful. A boss doesn't say to his most innovative employees, "Sorry, we don't have enough money to do that." A great boss, executive, or entrepreneur will always find a way to get the resources to make their best ideas come to life.

Manage it well. It takes the same amount of work to create a proper budget as it does to create a proper business model. If an executive comes to me with a plan for a $1 million marketing spend, I’d expect the same out of them as I would a start-up CEO presenting me with a $1 million investment opportunity.

8. Build and Rebuild: Business Models Must Evolve

Your business model is a living thing.

Constant iteration. Your business model needs to evolve at a more rapid pace than ever seen before. The only way to do that is to iterate an experiment until you find success.

Tear it apart. The moment that happens, you need to disavow yourself from your newfound sense of happiness and ask yourself—how can I tear this company apart? If I was my own competition, how would I take this customer from me?

Add to your foundation. Each time you rebuild it, you've added to your foundation more tools and resources, and more data, hard fought experience, and in some cases better instincts and a deeper understanding of your customers.

9. The Right Solutions: Don't Outsource Problems, Become the Solution

You can’t outsource problems, but you can fix them by becoming the solution.

Hire for skills. A common mistake I see companies make is trying to solve problems by hiring more people. I have studied problems, I have come up with strategies for fixing problems, and I have fired my way out of problems—but rarely have I hired my way out of one.

Learn and adapt. You'd better learn sales. Or marketing. Or product development. Or whatever it is that is going to help your company be the best at what it does.

Design around you. As an entrepreneur, you should design your company around your personality and try to find people who accept that personality and can work with it.

10. The Wrong Kind of Success: Chasing Ego Gratification Can Be a Trap

If you’re on the right track, and you just stand there, you’ll get run over.

Growth is valued. If you ever want to get rich, take your company public, or sell it for far more than the revenue you produce, then you have to demonstrate growth. Month over month, quarter over quarter, year over year.

Avoid the trap. Be wary of the ego gratification of having a public company and a paper worth of over $70 million, when you are actually due $70 million in cash at the end of the year.

Know the reward. They'll only tell you about the reward, not the trap. You're like an animal being hunted; if you're a smart animal, you'll hold back from making a move until you've seen the trap.

11. What Weakens You Strengthens You: Adversity Can Be Your Greatest Teacher

What weakens you, strengthens you.

Suffering is the greatest teacher. Responding to events you didn't plan for, experiencing the biggest injury of your life, and still having to work and fight during that time—it made me strong.

Duality of strengths. What makes you strong will one day make you weak. In every strength is an implicit weakness.

Get out of the basement. We can't be confrontational with competition constantly, otherwise that energy would get returned to us. We had to make the intellectual adjustment, and go from thinking, We're better than them to We're better than this.

12. Survival Skills: Adaptability and Resilience are Key

The best way to beat an enemy is to make them your friend.

Build a "fuck it" list. Build a "fuck it" list. Think about where you want to be in that moment, and right at the top of the list is Carnival in Brazil.

Turn enemies into friends. The best way to beat an enemy is to make them your friend. Reinvent antagonistic relationships.

It's okay to care. It’s okay to care about pleasing others, gaining their approval, and getting affirmation—only choose carefully. Otherwise you’ll waste your life trying to win the favor of people who will never ever approve of you.

Last updated: March 19, 2025