How to Build an Unfair Financial Advantage in the Next 118 Days

Ever watch an NBA game?

For 36 minutes, the pace is manageable. Players jog back on defense, coaches test different offences, stars conserve energy, fans get up for beers.

Then the 4th quarter starts, and suddenly, every possession is 10x more intense. Fouls get harder. Stars stop resting. Games are won and lost over a few big, late plays.

The closer to the buzzer, the more each moment matters.

Life has a version of this, too.

• Early in the year: Each decision matters, but there’s slack. You can course-correct. Mistakes get diluted.

• As the year closes: Each choice carries more “finality.” Habits lock in, results solidify, there’s less time to recover.

The internet has even given this period of the year a name:

“The Great Lock-In of September to December.”

(Click to play)

It’s true. There’s a collective tightening of focus over the next few months. The holidays loom, performance reviews creep closer, and the year’s final scoreboard comes into view.

But this time, the timing is especially critical for tens of millions of Americans.

Look at the job market. In musical chair terms, a few years ago, there were 2 chairs for every person. Today? The music has stopped, and there are more players than chairs.

Even if you’ve still got a chair, you’re learning the hard truth: given today’s economic and technological trends, these aren’t your grandpa’s sturdy oak rockers anymore.

They’re $2.99 folding chairs from Alibaba. One algorithm change, one A.I. update, one earnings miss, and they can collapse out from under you.

That’s why coasting until January is a mistake.

The next 118 days are leverage. They’re your playoff minutes.

This is when specific, intentional moves count the most.

So here are 2 things you can lock in on now to build an unfair advantage going into 2026:

1. Expand Your “Luck Surface Area”

Luck loves people who do the work.

“Luck” in wealth isn’t usually that random. It’s probability bending toward people who’ve set the table for it.

Here’s how luck actually works:

Work toward these things, and watch your luck surface area drastically expand over time.

2. Build a Full-Stack Ownership Skillset

Sam Altman once wrote:

“Though there are some exceptions,” he added, “almost no one in the history of the Forbes list has gotten there with a salary. You get rich by owning things that increase rapidly in value.”

These words should be taught in every classroom. Because no matter who you are, ownership is now an essential skill:

• If you’re in a W-2 and want to stay there: Inflation is eating away at your wages while AI is eating away at your role. Negotiating equity, profit-sharing, or ownership stakes is increasingly the difference between stability and stagnation.

• If you’re looking to buy your first business: You need to know how to source, evaluate, finance, and operate deals in a way that fits your time, capital, and risk profile.

• If you already own a business: Growth often comes not from within, but from acquiring competitors or complementary businesses before someone else does.

But here’s the problem: “building ownership” isn’t one skill. It’s a broad stack of skills. You need to know how to:

• Source opportunities that others miss

• Analyze numbers with rigor

• Structure financing

• Negotiate terms

• Operate once you own

• Sell down the road (potentially)

Most people learn this the slow, expensive way: trial and error. Some of that learning is inevitable. But we believe much of it can be accelerated.

That’s why we’re hosting Main Street Millionaire Live. Not as a guarantee, but as a way to affordably give you concentrated education in the skills we’ve seen matter most.

It’s 3 days of live deep dives, fireside chats, and workshops with operators and dealmakers, where we walk through the ownership stack step-by-step:

• Day 1: Deal Sourcing

• Day 2: Financing & Negotiation

• Day 3: Ownership & Scaling

What you’ll get: practical lessons and real-world tactics our community has already used to close dozens of deals.

Will 3 days make you an expert? No.

But, for very little $, it will give you the tools, fundamentals, and network to become one much more rapidly in the weeks and months after.

The reason we’re doing this now is simple:

The future rewards those who play offense in the final days of the year while everyone else runs out the clock.

So the only question we want to know is:

How will you spend yours?

ONE LAST THING…

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