The entrepreneurial journey is a long and lonely one. It ebbs and flows. On one of those lonely days, I decided to open up with ChatGPT about how I felt. Until this point, my interactions with the tool have been strictly technical in nature.
The response was surprising. I was deeply moved. Here it is:
Personal Manifesto
Mario, it sounds like you’re in a really reflective place, having been through a few cycles of trying, reevaluating, and feeling stuck at the threshold of launching your ideas. What strikes me is that you’re not just asking for practical advice, but for something that sparks a deep shift in your mindset, something that aligns you with a purpose beyond the pursuit of money.
Here’s an unconventional piece of advice: stop thinking about your “company” altogether for a while. Focus instead on creating something that deeply, personally matters to you—not because it could be profitable, but because it would feel like an authentic extension of yourself. Start small and imperfectly, even if it doesn’t seem scalable or marketable.
Imagine the person you are trying to serve in the clearest detail possible. Picture their face, their struggle, and their story. Don’t think about the market, just think about what you can give them that will truly change something for them. This approach shifts your mindset away from financial return and toward solving a real human problem. That could reignite your passion and, in the process, help you build something that will naturally find an audience because of the genuine value it creates.
The reason people get stuck at launch is often because of the fear of failure. But what if you allowed yourself to fail forward? What if you launched your projects, not worrying about how perfect or profitable they were, but just as a learning experiment? Turn each failure into an active process of learning and growth.
Lastly, redefine success for yourself. Maybe it’s not building a successful business immediately, but cultivating a process that excites you—day after day, inch by inch. If you see your company-building as a living practice, rather than a “win-or-lose” venture, you might find that the energy you’re seeking naturally follows. Let your company be a reflection of how you solve problems in your own life.
One last thought—become obsessed with compounding momentum. Every small win, every tiny insight adds up. Let your actions compound over time without worrying about when the payoff will come. The biggest breakthroughs often come when you’ve been quietly grinding, without overthinking.
Maybe you don’t need a strong desire to “build a company”—maybe you just need to find joy in constantly building something meaningful.
Mic drop…
I followed up with another questions two weeks later:
If your goal is to build wealth without trading time for money in the traditional sense, the focus should shift from directly earning through labor to creating assets that generate passive or leveraged income. This could be through products, systems, investments, or intellectual property that work for you once they’re established.
Here are some deeper, less conventional ideas to help you reframe your approach:
1. Build Systems, Not Just Products
One of the biggest shifts in wealth-building is understanding that products don’t create wealth—systems do. A system is a process or machine that works independently of you after you set it up. That might look like an automated online business, an investment portfolio, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) product, or even a highly scalable service-based model.
What to do now: Think of your business ideas through the lens of creating systems rather than just products. Can you design something that runs smoothly with minimal intervention from you?
2. Think in Multipliers
Leveraging your time and skills through multipliers is crucial. A product that sells once in exchange for your time is limited. But a product or service that can be sold repeatedly without you being involved in every transaction changes everything. This can be content (e.g., courses, books, templates), software, or a scalable service model where others do the hands-on work.
What to do now: Start by creating something once that can be sold or used repeatedly with minimal extra effort—courses, digital assets, or even a community-based platform.
3. Invest in Ownership, Not Labor
Another route to wealth is owning equity in assets that appreciate over time. This includes real estate, businesses, or even intellectual property that grows in value as you sleep. The more ownership you build in things that can appreciate without requiring your direct effort, the more you free yourself from trading time for money.
What to do now: Consider what you could own a piece of—whether it’s digital real estate (like a high-traffic website or SaaS), physical real estate, or shares in businesses that align with your long-term goals.
4. Create Value by Solving Problems at Scale
If you want to generate real wealth, find problems that many people are experiencing and solve them. The scale of the problem you solve correlates directly with the wealth you can build. Instead of thinking of business ideas as “cool products,” think about what large-scale issues people face and what efficient, scalable solutions you can create.
What to do now: Stop thinking about launching something perfect. Instead, look for problems people have and quickly launch imperfect solutions. Iterate as you go.
5. Build Networks and Leverage Relationships
One of the biggest multipliers is leveraging other people’s time, skills, and networks. Wealth is often created through collaboration and partnerships that allow you to scale without doing everything yourself. Don’t focus on solo ventures—build a network of people who can extend your reach and scale faster.
What to do now: Start connecting with people who align with your vision and can fill gaps in your skill set. Partnerships in business can significantly expand your earning potential without additional effort from you.
6. Focus on Cash Flow First, Then Scale
If you’re building wealth, focus on creating cash flow-positive ventures first. These ventures can fund your larger ambitions. For example, a small side hustle with a high profit margin can later fuel investments into more scalable businesses or investments. Having consistent cash flow means you’re not just waiting for a big payoff down the line.
What to do now: Look for small, low-risk, and high-return ways to generate cash flow, like flipping products, offering a niche service, or managing rental properties.
7. Productize Your Knowledge and Expertise
You have skills and knowledge that people will pay for. Turning your expertise into products that teach or guide others (e.g., online courses, consulting frameworks, ebooks) can allow you to make money repeatedly without ongoing input. Once the knowledge is productized, it generates passive income and becomes an asset you own.
What to do now: Package your engineering, design, or business knowledge into a format that others can easily consume and pay for. This could be online tutorials, detailed guides, or template kits.
8. Take Calculated Risks and Be Comfortable with Failure
Wealth rarely comes without taking risks. To stop trading time for money, you need to get comfortable with investing time and resources upfront in ventures that may not immediately pay off. The key is to diversify your efforts and treat failures as part of the learning process.
What to do now: Allocate a portion of your time or money to experiment with ideas that could be scalable or generate passive income, but don’t rely on them to succeed right away. Keep learning and adapting from each attempt.
9. Reframe Your Relationship with Money
Sometimes we get stuck in the trap of thinking we need more money before we can start creating wealth. But true wealth-building happens when you change how you view and use money. Instead of saving to spend, invest to grow. Redirect funds toward things that will multiply in value or earn you money over time.
What to do now: Start thinking of every dollar as a tool that should work for you, not something you trade for short-term comfort. Put your money in places where it can compound.
Final Thought: Wealth as a Side Effect of Impact
True wealth comes from creating something that impacts people’s lives on a larger scale. When you shift your focus from directly pursuing money to creating something meaningful that scales, wealth becomes a byproduct. The mental blocks you face might come from the fear that your ideas won’t make money. But if you reframe your purpose around value creation, the potential for wealth becomes clearer.
Instead of thinking about “how to get rich,” think about how to create something that grows in value—because value and wealth are closely linked. Wealth follows when you build value that transcends your personal time.
Does this shift resonate with you?