All right. 3, 2, 1. Let's get it today I want to share with you a concept that I stumbled upon Suneel Gupta's book. Backable. It's a great book. And he talks about earned secrets. I love this concept. Earned secrets are insights. That go beyond what you can simply Google. In the book Gupta writes about the venture capitalist, Ben Horowitz. And Horowitz was asked, how does he find good ideas? And Harowitz said. I looked for earned secrets.
one example that he gave was when he became an early investor in Airbnb. Great concept today, but think about how it all started. He said the reason why he invested in Airbnb. Was not just because of the idea. It was how the founders. Arrived at the idea. See the founders at Airbnb. Stumbled across the whole idea. They didn't set out to start a business. They set out to cover their rent. see their landlord went up on the rent. And they didn't have enough money even cover the rent.
So instead of bitching and complaining. They notice there was a convention here in town and all of the hotels. We're rented out or max capacity. So they said, what if we just buy a couple of air mattresses and put them on our floor? And we rent these out because people are still wanting to come into the city. too See this convention. And over 500 people responded. To the ad that they put in there. This insight. Born out of necessity. Was their earned secret.
They discovered a billion dollar business, but. with a B. A billion dollar business. By simply trying to solve their own problem. He was just trying to cover the rent. Gupta emphasizes how you arrive at the idea. Is just as important, if not more important. Then the idea itself. What I love about an earned secret. Is. It's so unique. Is so yours. And it's your skin in the game. That's what life requires skin in the game. 'cause you got. You got to flex your, figure it out. Muscle.
It's not something you can really find the answers online. The only way you get the answers. Is by discovering those answers. This is where you got to wrestle with it. You got to stumble and Bumble along the way, trippin fallen, frustrated yet you keep going back at it. And instead of blaming and complaining. You just keep rolling up. Your sleeves. You create your own breakthroughs. And you become more curious as you go along the way you become more creative and resourceful.
And you're making progress, even though the conditions aren't perfect for you. Earned secrets. Let me tell you something, man, a secret isn't a secret. If everyone knows it. If it's blatantly obvious. It's not a secret. earned secrets. Often lie in plain sight. And they're only going to be discovered by someone. Who is curious and creative enough. To take what to think to what you Google, what to think. How to think. That's how you make it your own. This is where you go on a daily discovery.
And. It's so important. That, whatever it is that you're chasing. That's your heart and your emotions. Are in there because let me tell you something. It's not pay dirt. It's not instant. The game that you're playing is eventually and ultimately, and so people. I don't know. I think if someone like questioned you like, man, this sounds crazy. Why are you doing this? I think you're on your path to discovering your earned secret. It's because the masses are calling you crazy.
The masses want to know, well, how much money you making off this? Nothing is actually costing me money. And they're like, what? That's crazy yet, you know, in your heart and your emotions that you're on the right path. You can't even explain it. You can only do it. It's an earned secret. That's the path. To an earned secret. Case and point when I started this podcast in 2017. The free app that I was using. The only gave me five minutes of recording time. So I had to figure out.
How to deliver a message. From soup to nuts and only five minutes. Now I could've strung those along and had. Many episodes tied together. But I said no only got five minutes, which was good for me because at the time I wanted to start a podcast, but I didn't have a lot of time to devote to it. I didn't have hours. Only had minutes. So this worked out really strangely. Perfect. Uh, you only got five minutes. And so it was the act of writing.
Then I discovered that two sheets that I write on a legal pad. Equal five minutes of recording time. So I had to learn how to get my message, my thoughts in line. And get it under two pages. That's how I came up with the write one page per day, it's two and a half minutes. And two pages was five. And it was doing that. That I was able to deliver a message. For one year, every single day, trying to get back to that. Sometimes man, I think I'm too much in thought.
But I do, man, I have this yearn I'm telling you like this thing, the biggest source of frustration is I want to come out with a daily podcast again. I just got to figure out how to do it again. Sometimes you get too complex. Drilling back. In 2017, that five minute bandwidth that I had in to legal pages dude, that was an earned secret. And not only did it help me get a podcast out, but it helped me think clear, more concise. And it saved my life. It turned my whole life around.
The idea of the podcast was already out there. Everybody was already doing it. But I wanted to do it. The way I wanted to do it. And I discovered an earned secret or on along the way. In the same way my wife wanted to start a gym. We didn't have half million dollars to start a big box gym. And my initial thought was I don't have a half million dollars to invest in a big box gym. And through our conversations. And collaborating.
We discovered we had a LLC that was just parked we'd started years ago. And it was just parked it. Wasn't doing anything. And we were able to leverage that LLC. And get a small business loan. Very small. Enough to buy 80% of the gym equipment, the rest of it, we paid for it ourselves. She found. A spot. That was 1500 square feet prime location. Rent was super reasonable. Even if there were no members, we could still fit the bill. That's how we set everything up.
And now she's got the only all women's gym. In Southwest Louisiana. It's an earned secret. So she could have just Googled. How to open a gym. How to be a personal trainer goes way beyond that. That's superficial. You can't get an earned secret that way. That's everybody knows that. How do you go beyond that? How do you make the gym yourself? She started off just wanting to open a gym. Then it became an all women's gym. Because she was tired of the creepers at the gym. She was going to.
Looking at her bangin body while she worked out. Flirt. And she didn't have time for that. She went there to work. So she said, if I'm going through that, then there are women. Who are in great shape who are tired of being gawked at, but then there are also women who aren't. Comfortable in their own skin. They, they don't like the way they feel and look. And they don't go to the gym because of ridicule. Because they don't look like. Those who are super fit. She created a Haven. A home.
Man dude, sometimes they just, I go there and they're just hanging out. They've already finished their workout. And they don't want to leave. It's the energy. Is that her and secret man. Earned secrets. Are priceless. Because they're your own. And it may start with a basic idea. But as you evolve. You make it your own. It's what. Into how it's, what to think. And then you transform it in. How to think. And then how to do it. It's remarkable. So, let me ask you this. What do you want to know?
Or do more of. Chase that idea. Run with it, literally run with it. Wade into the waters of uncertainty. Embrace the adversity. And then you'll push the complacency is you're not settling. You're not satisfied. You're like, there's something more. I want to do more of this. I want to chase more of that. Don't talk about what you don't have use exactly what you have. Do what you can in the time that you have. But for God's sakes, don't sit there. Another second.
Wishing you have more money, more time. You got enough to get started. God has given you the talent. You got to develop your skill. And develop your consistency. It takes two rocks to create a sport. It does. You can't get a spark without another rock. So it's that friction of those two rocks at your effort and your ideas. You're clacking those things together. It creates the spark and you keep doing that. Until the spar becomes a fire.
But a fire can't keep going without substance and the substance that you need. At your consistency that you're developing your skills at your communication. The five CS. I talk about the communication you're communicating with yourself and others. You're collaborating. You're curious, you're asking more questions and not living in statements. You're not satisfied. You're creative when you lack resources. You use what you got and you become resourceful. You're a continuous learner.
This is part of that curiosity and creativity. And then you confront, man. You just keep going back out. Yes. There are days you want to quit. Sometimes, man, I think that if you don't want to quit, then you're not pushing hard enough. Yeah, many times I've wanted to just quit the podcast. Numerous times. Not because I hate it. Just because I just get frustrated sometimes with it. But then I come back to it again. And it brings me energy in life and I get to deliver another message to the world.
Literally. From sitting right here in my office, man, before I go to work. Uh, fascinating as that. And even if someone else has the idea. They may have the idea. But the execution. In the way you do things and how you deliver that idea and make it your own shit. Nobody can touch that. I mean case in point. I mean, think about podcast. Millions of podcast the way I deliver the message. My message. That unique. Someone can take what I write down and deliver it. But they can't sustain it.
They can copy my message and deliver it in the way they want to. But to sustain it. To do it for going on 900 episodes. It takes heart. It takes emotion it takes a thirst. It takes an earned secret. Many many earned secrets. So even if you don't know what you're doing, dude just start. You got to Bumble, you got to stumble. You just got to go along the way. It's just, what is it that you want to chase? What is it that you want to do more of? What is it that you want to know?
More of focus on that, do more of that. It's fertile, fertile, fertile ground. For discovering. Your earned secret. All right, let's get outta here. Thanks for sharing today's episode. Share this with one person today or more, but share this with at least one person today who needs to hear this message. What did it mean to you? If you would share this on your socials, also leave a rating and review. This will help get the show out. And help grow the show. All right, let's do this.
Remember the greatest sale that you will ever make is the sale you own. You keep it simple. Keep it moving. Never settle. Stay tough peace.