9 Business Truths We Wish We Knew on Day 1

Spend 10 minutes on LinkedIn and you’d think all you need to unstick a business is “10 AI hacks to 100x your workflow.”

Spoiler: it’s not.

We work with 2,000+ business builders and buyers every day.

Here are the business tools, truths, and forces we’re seeing that are ACTUALLY moving the needle now.

TOGETHER WITH SOFI

1. A One-Stop Shop for Business Financing

We work with hundreds of business owners to help them scale their businesses. One thing we tell them: this needs to be in their toolkit from day 1.

Why? Because accessing capital is hard and takes time (that you probably don’t have). You have to fill out applications, network with bankers, and sometimes even schlep into physical bank branches.

SoFi’s Small Business Loan marketplace solves that.

In one simple search, SoFi matches you with providers that meet your financing needs in just minutes, so you can see exactly what you qualify for and on what terms.

If you want, you can search for options without hurting your credit score†, and stay a step ahead.

Click HERE to search for financing options now. Terms apply:

2. Yes, an AI Arsenal

This year we hired a guy to wire AI into everything we do. His name’s Chadwick:

AI Won’t Replace You… but guys like Chadwick Might.

Here’s what we’ve realized: AI isn’t the end of human intelligence. It’s the beginning of leveraged intelligence. Chadwick’s job? Find every unfair advantage AI can give us and build it.

Here are 3 (of many) tools Codie is using today:

1. Whispr Flow

Hold Fn, speak normally, and type 2–3x faster.

2. Superhuman

Email with shortcuts, AI autocomplete, and instant profiles of everyone who writes you.

3. Perplexity Pro

Cost? A pie of pizza per month. Value? A personal McKinsey bro who never sleeps.

Every business has use cases for these now. The question is whether you’ll actually use them.

3. This (Nearly) $0 Business Growth Tool

There’s a massively underrated growth lever hiding in plain sight.

It’s basically free, yet most owners never truly leverage it. What is it?

• 89% of consumers check reviews before buying

• 66% say they’re the #1 influence on purchasing decisions

BUT, here’s the twisted part…

Angry customers are more likely to leave reviews than happy ones.

So if you’re not engineering the ask, your haters are literally writing your story.

Here are 6 practical ways we fix this.

4. Having the RIGHT Customer Avatar

There are usually 2 worlds of entrepreneurship:

1. Selling cheaper products to price-sensitive customers

2. Selling fewer, better things for more money

The volume game can work. It’s built some of the biggest business empires (Walmart, Amazon, McDonald’s, etc). Three small issues:

• That game is brutally competitive.

• Scaling requires massive infrastructure.

• Even the best eventually move into higher-margin products.

That’s why we’re seeing lot of success among those going after world #2. Rich people want you to sell them something. Remember that.

And there are 5 reasons rich people buy. Every single one falls into this hierarchy we call The Rich Desire Pyramid.

If you want to sell to wealthy customers, ask yourself: Does your offer hit at least TWO of these categories?

5. Access to a Community

Your network is your net worth, and it’s probably shrinking.

• In-person socializing dropped 20%+ between 2003-2023.

• Solo dining is up 29% in just two years.

• Adults now buy ~3 movie tickets a year but watch the equivalent of ~8 movies per week at home.

• Spending 5% more time alone has the same impact on life satisfaction as a 10% pay cut.

We’ve built a world that defaults to isolation, even when real connection makes us happier and probably more wealthy.

This all sounds bleak, but we think it’s also an important opportunity. When isolation is the norm, a community becomes an unfair advantage.

One of our Contrarian Community members spent a year searching for a business to buy. The deal he finally found? It came from a conversation at church.

This is REALLY cool, but it actually shouldn’t be surprising.

It’s the power of community.

6. A Need for Speed

If there’s a muscle the top 1% build better than anyone else, it’s urgency. They shrink the gap between idea and action.

Take Codie’s mentor, Bill Perkins. Mega-wealthy hedge fund dude + high-stakes poker player + the guy behind Die with Zero.

“I move faster than everyone else,” he’s told us. “By the time most people have an idea, I’ve already taken action, done the thing, made 3 mistakes, and found a better way.”

That’s the secret: speed often beats strategy. At Contrarian Thinking, our team embodies this through something called the 24-Hour Rule.

You know how corporate America loves to say, “Let’s circle back on that next week”? Yeah, that makes us gag. You think like molasses, you move like molasses.

7. Your Economic Superpower: “I Do”

The best builders we know? They’re often elite partners.

KPIs, delegation, upskilling, aligned vision… Funny how the habits that make a marriage strong look a lot like the systems that help a company scale.

Economists say married couples are more likely to own appreciating assets.

• Married people build 77% more wealth than their single counterparts

• According to the St. Louis Fed, married couples had $393,000 in median wealth in 2022. Unmarried individuals: $80,000.

Over time, that leads to this:

Yet despite all the evidence that partnership can make us better off, the data says we’re opting out. That makes going against this chart your next unfair advantage:

When you have a partner, the ROI shows up in your business:

• More emotional resilience

• Longer lifespan, fewer health issues, lower rates of depression

• A stronger support system and greater risk capital

We see it firsthand, every day.

8. You Need an Enemy

The smartest builders we see today start with an enemy (even if they don’t know it).

Harley-Davidson figured this out in the 80s.

They were getting bodied by Honda and Yamaha’s smoother, faster, quieter bikes.

So they stopped selling bikes and started selling rebellion. Loud pipes. Leather jackets.

An enemy gives you direction. It clarifies what you stand for, who you serve, and what you’ll never be. It gives your team a reason to show up, and makes it easy for people to relate.

They help turn your business into a magnetic field, attracting the right people and repelling the wrong ones.

1. Define Your Villain:

Your enemy is the thing that makes your customers mutter, “This is so stupid” at least 3 times a week. Your job? Say it out loud.

2. Define The Victim

Too many businesses aim for broad swaths like “entrepreneurs,” “creators,” or “moms” and end up speaking to no one. But you’re gonna get weirdly specific.

3. Define Your Vow

What are you actually gonna do about it?

HAPPENING TOMORROW

9. The Ownership Stack

“Almost no one in the history of the Forbes list has gotten there with a salary. You get rich by owning things.” – OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

The future he’s building will reward ownership.

You could spend years (and a lot of money) figuring out how to put yourself in a position for that… or come to Main Street Millionaire Live TOMORROW, a virtual event where veteran operators walk you through the entire ownership-building playbook:

• Sept. 19th: Deal Sourcing

• Sept. 20th: Financing & Negotiation

• Sept. 21st: Ownership & Scaling

Whether you’re in a W-2, looking to buy your first business, or already own one, this event gives you the tools, tactics, and network to accelerate your path toward ownership (at a very, very low cost). Plus, you’ll get access to $1k+ worth of digital product deals, just for showing up.

Grab Your Ticket Here

ONE LAST THING…

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DISCLAIMERS

SoFi receives compensation in the event you obtain a loan, financial product, or service through SoFi’s marketplace. This webpage is owned and operated by SoFi Lending Corp., licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Financing Law, license number 6054612; NMLS number 1121636. (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). This page is NOT operated by SoFi Bank. Loans, financial products, and services may not be available in all states. All loan terms, including interest rate, and Annual Percentage Rate (APR), and monthly payments shown through SoFi’s marketplace are from providers not SoFi Lending Corp., and are estimates based upon the limited information you provided and are for informational purposes only. All rates, fees, and terms are presented without guarantee and are subject to change pursuant to each provider’s discretion. The actual loan terms you receive, including APR, will depend on the provider you select, their underwriting criteria, and your personal financial factors. The loan terms and rates presented are from the service provider. Please review each provider’s Terms and Conditions for additional details.

†Credit score impact: To check the options, terms, and/or rates you may qualify for, SoFi and/or its network providers will conduct a soft credit pull that will not affect your credit score. However, if you choose a product and continue your application, the provider(s) you choose will request your full credit report from one or more consumer reporting agencies, which is considered a hard credit pull and may affect your credit. Rates may not be available from all providers.

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