Keep your W2.....for now

**An entrepreneur's recipe for sweet success**

2.5min Read

Wild week over here! First week back to school for the kiddos— where in the world did summer go???

My parent peeps, maybe have another doughnut today, you need it ;)

SO. The other day I hopped on a call with a buddy of mine

He's got a business idea he is FIRED up about. And honestly, I am as well! I love me a good business idea ideating sesh!

I really think it has legs and so does he…

But here's the twist.

While he's thinking through this, he also has a job offer sitting on the table. A W-2. But a company that perfectly aligns with the client that he would ultimately want to have.

Catch 22, right? Take the safe job, or bet on yourself?

You already know what the internet gurus would scream at him. “Burn the boats! Quit everything! If you have a backup plan you'll never make it!”

Buuuut, I respectfully disagree..

I told him to take the job.

Not because I don't believe in the idea. Because the job IS the idea.

Think about what he just got offered:

A front row seat inside the exact industry he wants to build in
The vendor contracts, the pricing, the education
A paycheck building his runway while he learns
A network of every tons of people that he’ll want to be connected with WHEN he goes solo

He's already spotted a gap in what the company does. This company gets millions of views on YouTube and does almost nothing to repurpose it. No content packages for their speakers. Nothing.
Which MEANS his employer might literally become his first client… which would be pretty cool!

This is what I like to call a paid apprenticeship… I'm sure other people call it that as well…

You guys know my story. I built everything I have while I was still a cop. The 9 to 5 funded it this.

PART 2 —

I had an “ask me anything” call on Tuesday and there was a really interesting conversation that came up there worth sharing.

We had a guest on who's doing $25k a MONTH.
He legit started this business just selling $100/month websites to contractors he found in local Facebook groups. He'd find a guy with no website, mock one up, screenshot it, and text it to him.
That's it.

His advice to the community was SO simple:

Sell the thing before you know how to do the thing.

Get someone to pay you. Then figure out how to deliver it. And if you completely blow it? Refund them. You're out nothing, and you just got an education you can't buy.

(Obviously don't lie to people. Be upfront that you're new, discount accordingly, and make it right if you mess up. Your reputation is the whole business.)

The reason I'm putting these two stories in the same email.

They sound like opposites. Take a job vs. sell before you're ready.

They're not.

They are the exact same principle just in different light:

Get paid to learn.

The W-2 version: someone pays you a salary while you study the industry from the inside.

The freelance version: someone pays you an invoice while you learn the skill in real time.

The only version that doesn't work is sitting at home, watching tutorials, "getting ready," earning nothing, learning nothing real.

Tuition is due either way. Might as well have someone else pay it.

So this week, pick a freaking door. Take the meeting, send the mockup, apply for the thing, WHATEVER… Just make sure somebody is paying you while you figure it out.

BITES

🍩BITE 1 — Your merch sucks

My buddy from the first story posted on LinkedIn that he was going to start reviewing corporate merch... hook was literally "your merch sucks." TONS of views and companies are now sending him requests. Proof that the weird niche thing only YOU care about is a genuine content goldmine.

What's something weird that you really enjoy that you would be willing to create content about?

🍩BITE 2 — Mysterypreneur Link (pic)

Really interesting opportunity here!
“You learn about "Homeless" week for the first time... What's your business plan?”

🍩BITE 3 — AI juice 🧃

“Major AI companies now automatically embed hidden, machine-readable watermarks into text, images, and files generated by their systems.”

Woah.

WHAT THIS MEANS:
Is that it’s never been a better time to know how to create content organically, without AI.

Until next time...

Stay in the fight,

My best tweet this week:

Kevin Bell 🍩

@kevinasrx

I'm not saying that a multi billion dollar Industry is being disrupted, BUT...
I just had a conversation with someone by most accounts is NOT techy... or young for that matter, and this is what she said
- At one point she had QuickBooks with several entities.
- They charged

8:41 PM • Aug 11, 2026

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My favorite tweet this week:

Chris Koerner

@mhp_guy

How much does YouTube pay me for 1 video?
Well, if my video is about “How to Think like a Billionaire” I’ll make ~$6 per 1,000 views.
If my video is about “How to Make $1,000/month Building Garage Shelves” I’ll make ~$22/1,000 views.
Average is $16. There’s a lesson in there.