Steve Rolle

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HOT TAKE: All of us are inherently narcissistic until we have children. You don't realize you're narcissistic until that first baby pops out and you realize, I now care about me so much less than I care about you. That baby being born is our first inclination that "wow, I really was watching out for me, myself and I"

We're not going to have the same opportunities as everyone else...and guest what...? We shouldn't want that. We each GET to go through our own battles, our own obstacles, and that's what makes us who we become. Look at what other people have and have a little bit of envy...I encourage you to compare yourself to them. If that steals your joy, it's because you believe you're not capable of going to get that. Now ask two questions: -why not me? -how can I become the one who's capable of going after those same things?

Dangerous Belief: you're not in control of anything in your life. Complete victimhood status is where you believe life is just happening to you and your actions don't have an impact. That's where you get extreme depression because you don't believe you have any control at all. So I ask, really, nothing is in your control? You can't decide to make your bed? You can't decide to make that call? You can't decide to drive yourself to the gym? If that's in your control, then what else is maybe in your control?

Why do people think that their day job is security? They see layoffs happening all the time, or a cool sends out an email on a Monday morning and 30,000 people are laid off. If you asked those people the week before, they probably would have said, "well, you know, the reason I'm not starting a business is because I have all this security." Boom, it's gone. Well, what now? Security comes from you being in control & if someone else can choose your future for you, you don't have security.

Business owners who are stuck at their own capacity saying, I want to grow, but I don't have the capacity to do more, should look in the mirror and ask: how did anybody else ever figure this out? How are there businesses that do more than $3 million a year in revenue? What was that person able to do? Answer: They were able to do less. They transitioned from being obsessed with the product and the customer (which are worthy obsessions when you start) to transferring that obsession to their people while creating an environment for other people to be successful.

Beware the man who can fluently articulate all the things holding him back, because that man has no agency. When you grow up in low-income communities, everyone around you often thinks the same way you do. They think from a sense of lack. They don't have agency, and they can articulate why things aren't working out well for them and why it's not their fault.

People say stupid stuff like they have to quit their job and have their back against the wall to be successful in business...but... Really?! You HAVE to burn the boats or you'll quit??? Why is it so bad to have a safety net? Why is it so bad for you to have a fallback plan if your side hustle doesn't work out? Like, why do you have to go quit your job in order for you to go position somewhere else and start a business for yourself? That doesn't make any sense to me.

I love the example of a teenager going out to shovel snow for somebody. There's no LLC, logo or website. And yet...it works??? They knock on a door, talk to a customer, and say, it's snowing outside. Do you want me to shovel this for you? It's going to cost you $20. We get out of that mindset as adults and think we need the sophisticated operation, the employees, the LinkedIn profile, and all of the logos. It is such a waste of time because it makes you feel productive. In reality, you're procrastinating talking to a customer because you're scared they don't want your product or service.

Don't be scared of AI. Go out and use it. Go experiment with it. Of course you're going to be scared of the unknown world until you actually start to play with it for yourself. Here's my advice: keep it real-world...solve your problems, then identify how you can take those problems you solved and the knowledge you gained to add value to your job or the marketplace via a side hustle. We shouldn't be scared of AI. We should just be using it.

In stoicism, Marcus Aurelius says you prepare for the battle, you bring your men, they bring their men, but ultimately it's "up to the gods". The problem is that most people give "up to the gods" way too early when they're still the ones who have control. What is it that the gods control? Is there any element of that I can control instead? Your goal then is to become a god by controlling the parameters that other people leave "up to the gods"

The laziest guy you know has probably won The Legend of Zelda three times over and beat the big boss before anybody else. He's not actually lazy...he's just interested in different stuff. All of us have something we're excited to do that feels like play and probably looks like really hard work to other people. One of the most important things you we do in your lives is figure out what that thing is. Then get into an environment that rewards what we love doing...that's one of the keys to success in life.

People said that Teslas with full self driving are a liability on the road. Now, it's the human driving the car that's going to be the liability. You driving a Tacoma is 10 times more dangerous than my Tesla driving me around. If that really is true, there should be laws outlying human drivers in the next five years. If you get caught driving your own car and somebody dies from it, you get in the death penalty.

People start a business and leave a 9-to-5 because they want more control of their free time. Then they're in worse bondage in their business than they were when they had a 9-to-5. Because they're still in employee mindset trying to do the work themselves. If your ultimate goal is to be in control, the business you start has to build repeatable engines that allow people to come in, replace you, and remove you so the business can continue to scale.

When someone depressed because life is out of their control...I ask: "really, nothing is in your control?" You can't decide to make your bed? You can't decide to make that call? You can't decide to drive yourself to the gym? You CAN make that decision and follow through, and prove to yourself you're the type of person who is in control. By progressively increasing the difficulty of those steps you begin to believe that your potential is unlimited...and that maybe EVERYTHING is within your control

If you want to be an employee, that's great. Just know that there's someone else who's out there who gets to decide whether or not you have a job tomorrow. That's not a threat…it's reality. But there's a cure. The employee who has savings, knows how to learn new skills & and knows they have employment options elsehwere isn't worried about a thing.

Kids have business figured out as teenagers but adults overcomplicate it. When you see a teenager going out to shovel snow for somebody, there's no logo and no website. They knock on a door, talk to a customer, and say, it's snowing outside. Do you want me to shovel this for you? It's going to cost you $20. Adults lose that simple mindset and think we need the sophisticated operation, the employees, the LinkedIn profile, and all of the logos. It is such a waste of time because it makes you feel productive. In reality, you're procrastinating talking to a customer because you're scared they don't want your product or service.

For the 45-year-old man who's worried about AI in the future, the number one trait is: The ability to say: "I don't have to have all the answers. I'm just going to start playing with this stuff right now. I'm not going to be replaced by AI. I'm going to make myself better with AI. If I keep my job, great. If I don't, I just created optionality for myself because I'm now a top 10% AI user." How many employers are looking for people who are leveraging themselves with AI? You're now on your way to becoming AI proof.

Great advice someone once gave me: If you want to go into finance, move to New York. If you want to be in startups, go to Silicon Valley. Get around people where it's normal for them to be doing the things you want to accomplish in life. You'll be surprised how much faster you accomplish great things just by getting around that community.

Want your employees to have a sense of purpose? They need to know your vision and where they fit into it... One of the easiest things you can do to get someone motivated and bought in is to share the vision. Here's where we're going. Here's the role you play in helping us get there. Here's how I see that playing out over time. Performance reviews should track from where we're now to where we're trying to get to and the role that person plays inside of it. That's how you give someone purpose.