When I first started as an entrepreneur, I had delusions of grandeur. Go massive or go bust. But that was self-sabotaging. Once I dropped the delusions, I started making money. I made ~$100k in internet money in 2022 and am on track to make more this year.

I look back and think how crazy my mindset was in the beginning. Now I think and ask: “How can you make millions on your own if you can’t even make a few dollars sustainably?”

I had delusions of grandeur partly because of what I’d seen as an early engineer at a startup that worked out. And partly because the “go all in on one thing & eat ramen for years” is the prevailing wisdom dished out to tech folks like me.

Once I dropped that mindset: I wasn’t too big to build a small software product on a weekend & try something new. I wasn’t too big to record a course. I wasn’t too good to put out a PDF book. Those and a few other small things made me $100k in just internet dollars in 2002.

I credit the http://smallbets.co community with helping me change my mindset. Of course, I am biased and very active in the community now. I teach a lot there, build things for it, etc. But that community changed my mindset way before I became active in it.

This doesn’t mean I don’t have ambition anymore. But it does mean I put ambition on a leash. Ideas that work and make money sustainably, you can bet I’ll invest more in those. Place more small bets against them. But I stopped limiting myself to what I’ll try.

Charlie Munger, who had a diverse & sustainable entrepreneurial journey from the beginning, said: “Be careful; it’s the strong swimmers that drown.” You might be very capable, and ambitious, but the real world doesn’t care. My advice is drop the delusions & get to survival.