This content shares the journey of an individual who, inspired by an online video, built a successful online business generating over $20,000 per month in profit, enabling him to quit his job and achieve financial freedom. It emphasizes the importance of action, consistency, and mindset shifts for aspiring entrepreneurs.
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if you're interested in making money
online enough money to potentially even
quit your job then hopefully you'll get
a lot of value from this video I've been
able to make around 20K profit per month
every month for the past 6 months which
is almost double my full-time income as
a software engineer and I quit my job
about four to 5 months before I hit that
profitability that is Aman a 23-year-old
who watched one of my videos when he was
a broke college student and he actually
took action based on the advice I shared
at the time and has now made enough
money to quit his job and live and work
from anywhere in the world on his own
terms so at this point I can pretty
confidently say I don't expect to have
to go back to a 95 job if I don't want
to now when Aman messaged me that he was
visiting Hong Kong where I live I wanted
to have him here on the channel to tell
his story because there are so many
people who watch YouTube videos just
like this one but 99% of people never
even take that first step they never
even get started and of the 1% that take
action and get started 99% of those
people don't stay consistent long enough
to actually see results Aman is that
rare person who watched a video actually
followed the advice and took action and
did it consistently enough for a few
years to finally see results yeah
resistance is the problem here like I
feel like a lot of people they see
things and they immediately come up with
all these reasons why it wouldn't work
for them and so in this video we're
going to break down exactly how he did
it and what mindsets and strategies and
tools helped him along the journey from
broke college student to now making over
$20,000 a month from his online business
I can confidently say that one can make
10K a month online from almost nothing
so the way this video is going to work
is that we are going to hear Aman's
story and then I'm going to share my own
perspectives and by the way if you are
new to the channel and you're like who
the hell is this guy hello my name is
Ali I'm a doctor turned entrepreneur and
author of The New York Times bestseller
Feelgood productivity and these days my
main gig is that I'm the co-founder of
Sparkle Studios where we are building a
suite of productivity apps to help you
save more time and have more fun on
route to achieving your goals and on the
side I've been making YouTube videos on
this channel since 2017 documenting my
journey from medical student to doctor
to entrepreneur and sharing the books
ideas strategies and tools that can help
us live more intentionally be more
productive and build a life that we
truly love anyway let's dive into Aman's
story and what we can learn from it if
we are trying to make enough money
online to be able to one day quit our
day jobs let's go back 4 years to May of
2020 around this time I was 19 years old
I was at home with my family and I
remember I was sitting in my living room
when my brother who's about a year
younger than me came to me and said hey
there's this guy who's a doctor and a
YouTuber and he posted about how much
money he made and they put on the TV
actually and my brother and me and my
parents actually sat down and we watched
that video and I don't know what about
it was so incredible but something in
that moment was just like holy
this guy he's working as a doctor
which is amazing but then also on the
side he's making passive income from
places like skillshare and YouTube and
AdSense I remember all I wanted to do
was either be like an engineer doctor
lawyer or politician in my mind I never
thought oh I could like start a business
and actually you know be F Financial
Freedom as a phrase has never even
entered my vocabulary yet so yeah like
watching that video was what actually
made tangible that someone could
actually do this so that was
revolutionary to me and within that week
I launched this skure class actually so
it's pretty crazy so what's interesting
about this is that 2.1 million people
have seen that video that I made 4 years
ago where I was documenting how much
money I was making online but having now
met a lot of people who've seen that
video in real life and at conferences
and talks that I've given the impression
I get is most people will see a video
like that and will immediately say not
me not now maybe this thing worked for
this person but the timing is not quite
right for me there seem to be a lot of
people who watch the stuff but don't
take action on the stuff and so I asked
Aman what was it about him and his
brother that made them actually take
action yeah resistance is the problem
here like I feel like a lot of people
they see things and they immediately
come up with all these reasons why it
wouldn't work for them maybe something
that was different about me at that time
or even now is that I feel like I just
have an absurd level of self-belief
there's basically anything that someone
has done I feel like with given enough
time effort and work I could replicate
at least a little bit of that success I
don't know if it's delusional but
something I think there was that like
self-belief there and I think also a lot
of it was the fact that it was someone
who on paper looked to be very similar
to me so it wasn't like Barack Obama was
saying launch your business right it was
someone who like looked like me on paper
with a very similar background and
upbringing it wasn't like you were born
to like a billionaire family or
something like that I think this is a
really really helpful mindset shift to
have and that anyone watching if you're
watching this right now you can also
have that mindset shift the thing that
Aman said which is that no matter what
if there is something that someone has
done given enough time and effort and
work I could replicate at least a little
bit of that success and there's a
concept in Psychology called locus of
control now there are some people with
an internal locus of control and some
people with an external locus of control
and basically what locus of control
means is that do you believe that the
events in your life are controlled by
you I.E an internal locus of control or
do you believe that your success or the
events in your life or whatever are
controlled by other people external
events the environment the government
whatever that thing might be what we see
from Aman's mindset is that it's very
internal locus of control it's very much
like hey someone else has achieved that
thing if I just did loads of work but
loads of time and effort and work into
it I could probably get a little bit of
the way there and so I might as well
just give it a go it's really hard for
me to not do things when I feel like I
should do them or what I want to do them
like for example we can talk about this
a bit later I I ended up quitting my job
within 24 hours of making that decision
so within the same day of me realizing I
could quit my full-time software
engineering job I want to do this and
iring out a plan I could not sit there
and work for any longer I had to quit
within the day I drafted my resignation
letter and sent it the next day so I
guess I just naturally had kind of like
almost like an impulsive bias for Action
where any anytime I would discover
something think about doing something
decide on doing something I would
immediately start to take take action uh
almost to a detriment with like other
areas of my life where it was like I I
tend to get distracted quite easily
about like new opportunities and new
Ventures all right so what we're seeing
here is a strong bias to action there
are a lot of people who have a bias to
analysis a bias to planning you know
what when I hear something I need to
analyze it a lot I need to think about
it I need to make plans but then there
are some people that strongly bias
towards action you know what I've heard
something interesting let me just try it
out and see what happens now a lot of
people talk about the theory of biased
to action and I've made tons of videos
talking about why when you're starting a
business or a YouTube channel or
anything actually just getting started
is the most important thing but I think
it's useful to hear what this actually
looked like for Aman at the time I
immediately sat down with my brother and
we sat on the couch and thought okay
what can we make what do we know that we
can teach so we came up with a few ideas
the first one was standardized testing
we both did very well on our
standardized test classic right uh so we
thought oh we can make a skillshare
course about teaching the ACT which is
the exam in the US that all the high
schoolers take uh there was a couple
other options one was like a music class
or something we both had done music for
piano and other instruments and stuff
like that growing up and finally what we
decided on doing was or actually what I
decided on doing was making just like a
random course on C which is a
programming language I was working on at
the time in my internship so the way I
pulled this off was I didn't know
anything about cameras microphones
editing nothing so I just asked my
friend was doing like videography stuff
in high school can I borrow your
microphone I want to make a course so he
literally just lent it to me for 3 days
I spent like 5 to 6 hours drafting up a
random idea for this course like very
basic programming Concepts filmed it
within like an afternoon edited and
launched it within like 3 days so I
literally just like full full full story
just literally just like came up with
this idea edit it launched it within a
couple days and just put it on the
platform nice this is exactly what bias
to action looks like and so the question
I would profit to you if you're watching
here in the video is to what extent do
you have this bias to action in your own
life see the thing that most people
would say in this context is oh
skillshare that's a cool idea I can make
some courses on that but let me spend
some time doing some research and then
they'll forget about it for 3 weeks and
then 3 weeks later they're like oh you
know what I did a little bit of research
but oh I don't have the right gear yet
and they wouldn't think to just message
a friend and borrow a microphone they'll
think oh let me then research all the
gear that I need to get oh I don't quite
have enough money 8 months from now when
Christmas rolls around and I'll get my
Christmas bonus then maybe I'll be able
to buy a microphone and a camera and
plus you know I'll have to check with my
work what if they find out that I have
this tiny ass class on skill show that
no one's ever going to see what if my
work finds out like oh no I I'd have to
write a letter to get permission and
there's all of this analysis that goes
into it analysis is the enemy of action
especially when you are just getting
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let's get back to it so have a pause of
this video and have a think this guy
made this course 4 years ago he made an
online course he put it online how much
money do you think it's made all right
cool so youve got a number in your mind
I think it's really helpful if you have
a number in your mind because there is a
point that I want to make a little bit
further around so please do generate a
number in your mind if you haven't yet
and now let's hear from Aman and how
much has that course made you in the
last four years yeah that course has
passively generated $1,500 which pretty
sick for a few hours of work but yeah
that was it's interesting because I
don't know how to feel about that
because part of me is like that's
actually great like I was able to make
money online but I guess if you compare
that to how much I made through other
areas it's really not that much now I
suspect for most people watching this
video your guess as to how much money he
would have made would have been higher
than $1,500 he might have thought he
made like five figures you know a few
tens of thousands of dollars or maybe
even hundreds of thousands of dollars
this is the impression that I get when I
do talks where there are aspiring
entrepreneurs in the audience people
generally have a skewed perspective of
how successful the first thing is going
to be you never really see stuff online
from people who tried launching an
online course and only made $11,000 in 4
years we only tend to hear the stories
of of people who have already made it
for example I've done a video talking
about how I've made over $10 million
from online courses Iman godi has made
over $100 million from online courses
these are the sorts of people you hear
from you tend not to hear from the
person who tried an online course
initially and then like it kind of
failed and they made like nothing and
then the next thing failed and they made
like $20 and the next thing failed and
they made like $300 over a 5year period
and the common mistake that people make
here is thinking that the first thing
you do has to be the last thing you do
and let's hear from Aman about that what
was great about that skillshare course
was the fact that it was it was just me
taking action to do something it's not I
think there's a common mistake that a
lot of people make thinking that the
first thing you do has to be the last
thing you do right it's like oh I don't
know what my Niche is or I don't know
how to I don't know what what idea to
start my business I need to look for an
idea I've heard this so much talking to
friends and family about starting
businesses they're like I need to look
for a good idea once I have an idea then
I'll start my business I'll leave my job
I'll do that but the fact that my first
forign to entrepreneurship was a really
frankly shitty C course on on skillshare
that only made 1.5k but that started
into creating this entire world of
Entrepreneurship 4 years later I don't
know I think the first thing you do
doesn't all does not have to be the last
thing you do in fact the first thing can
just be your first step into the journey
and that's what creates the rest nice
this is a really really really important
point the first thing you do does not
have to be the last thing you do and the
way I think of it is that when you're
starting a business your first three
businesses are probably going to fail
and that is a very good thing because
it's sort of like riding a bike in order
to learn how to ride a bike you don't
just watch videos about how to ride a
bike you you get on a bike and then you
try and then you fall off a few times
you get on you try again you fall off
you get on you try again you fall off
and eventually you learn how to ride a
bike not by consuming knowledge or
watching lectures and stuff about how to
ride a bike but by actually getting on
the bike and doing it and it's the same
thing with business if you're trying to
make money on the internet and you have
not yet failed at at least a few
business ideas you're probably worrying
too much about analysis and getting it
perfect rather than just taking action
another another point on this is like
you mentioned earlier millions of people
watch these videos and you have 6
million subscribers and I'm always
shocked when I talk to someone who has
hasn't started a business who's like oh
I love Al abdall like that doesn't
really computed by head how can you
watch Al AB doll's Channel and not have
already launched a YouTube channel or a
business or do taken action on something
right but I think there's a lot of
people out there who have just like
passively consumed this content but
haven't actually done what these people
say they're doing and I just don't get
it right why would you watch it and not
do what they're saying like if you want
if you want that life so there's someone
you want to be like is saying do X Y and
Z how how could how is it possible to
watch that and not even like take a
first step towards that direction you
know what I mean and I it's not even
just D like for anybody else like Chris
Williams and Alex heroi um even hza from
time to time I will like listen to
something they say and if something
resonates with me I'm like yeah that
makes sense just take action on it and
even if it has to be like a very basic
shitty version right not skillshare
class I think skillshare took it down
even like last year or something cuz it
just I don't know didn't fit some new
standard or whatever but that was just
like I just got quick feedback I just
tried something launch laed it made a
couple tens of dollars a month passively
through that and that just inspired me
to keep the flywheel going and often it
takes like 5 10 15 of these small random
things before even one thing works out
and as as you hear it took me 3 to four
years of trying like this before
one thing actually worked out and I was
able to quit my job and make money
online M again Aman has got it spot on
it often takes like 5 10 15 of these
random little things before one thing
works out in my case I had like eight or
nine failed businesses that just I
didn't make any money from before I
finally built my first business when I
was in medical school that actually
succeeded and made some money but all of
those different failures taught me the
ropes of like how to build a website how
to code how to accept payments how to
like actually get customers for the
first time and I just wouldn't have
gotten any of that if I just spent all
day watching YouTube videos and trying
to read books and trying to come up with
the perfect idea all right so now we
move on to talking about the strange
concept of difficulty as it relates to
entrepreneurship even even when I speak
to Izzy sometimes I'm sure she won't
mind me mind me saying this but she
often feels that YouTube feels really
hard for her therefore she's a bad
YouTuber and therefore she's not cut out
for this I'm like bro if you got like
700,000 subscribers with like 50 videos
I had 700 subscribers when I had 50
videos like come on and like by all
objective standards is he is a very very
good YouTuber and yet the fact that she
feels it's hard makes her go to the
conclusion that I suck mhm and I think a
lot of people have this kind of
conception that like if it's not
effortless if if I'm not finding it easy
from day one clearly I must be a bad
Entre entrepreneur I'm not cut out for
this you know uh I'm not like Elon mask
I just don't have it in my DNA there's
all these things that come up at the oh
at the prospect of friction I don't know
if you VIP with that at all like that's
something that you've seen with with
people that you know I think this is one
reason why I find Alex Hero's content to
be valuable I think this is one benefit
of it is the idea of like pain tolerance
just being able to deal with like the
discomfort of something not working and
often often times I come back to the
fact that if it was so easy then
everybody would do it and the fact that
everybody can't do it is it has to be
hard there has to be some level of
discomfort um so yeah 100% I think well
for the fact that Iz he has like 500
plus thousand subscribers like that is
unbelievable yeah like I'm still working
to get there 4 years later so I would
say yeah I I believe I think people have
this expectation that something is going
like you said something is going to be
incredibly easy they they come into it
they're like oh they encounter one
roadblock and then it immediately falls
falls apart again this is why I think
that this law of Entrepreneurship which
is that your first three businesses are
probably going to fail and that is okay
is really helpful to know I think that's
why content like this and podcasts with
other business owners are also really
interesting to listen to because they
all talk about how hard it is no one
ever says oh yeah it was super easy and
I was making money from day one they all
talk about the difficulty of the process
and so if you recognize that the process
is going to be difficult when you find
it difficult then you're not going to be
surprised but if you think the process
is going to be easy and you find it
difficult which you will then you'll be
very surprised and you're going to be a
lot more likely to quit all right so now
we move on to talking about the idea of
friction and Aman is going to give an
example from his singing lessons but I
think there is a so much to be learned
from this specific example I've been
doing singing lessons for the past few
years I'm like hey I want to find a
singing teacher so Step One is like
Google singing teacher Raleigh North
Carolina to take that to to do that
Google I've been thinking about it for a
week okay I was thinking I should
probably find a singing teacher first
Google's a week later then scroll
through click on a few websites ah none
of this looks that good done for two
weeks then I remember oh I should
probably find a singing teacher I do the
same Google again I look oh I find some
person I F A contact form don't hear
back for another few weeks okay then I
come back and think oh I should probably
find a singing teacher so it is actually
it is kind of surprising to me how uh
non-real it is to really do anything
because often to get anything done you
have to make five to 10 various attempts
for it to happen and then it actually
works out so for example if in your mind
you're like okay I should probably start
a I want to start a business what is an
easy way to start a business oh I can
start creating content online okay I
have to create my Channel all right I'm
going to go on YouTube I'm going to
create a channel all right I have to
film my video or I have to make a script
now I'll do it tomorrow I'll do it later
so I think there is there is like real
value into like that sequential step by
step by step and there's friction at
every step of the way so if you're
someone who can just like see things
through to completion be like I am going
to complete this no matter what it takes
so for example if you're like I have to
start a channel you can't just let
yourself be satisfied with a trying to
try I'm like I'm going to try to start a
channel I'm going to like make an
account I've done the work I've done it
you have to do what's necessary to
achieve the outcome rather than seeing
the the effort as enough so this is
something I've been thinking about a lot
since I had that conversation with Aman
that with anything you try and do there
is friction at every single step and the
trick is to be able to follow through
and and get through the friction and
this is where that mindset shift is
really important to recognize which is
that as soon as most people encounter
friction they will just drop off the
thing they'll just stop doing the thing
be like oh this friction I'm not going
to bother anymore but if you can be as
it relates to starting a business or
anything you want to do in that 1% of
people that sees the friction recognizes
okay this is friction this is normal I
just need to work through the friction
then you are far more likely to succeed
at whatever you're doing all right so
that was friction let's now talk about a
really common excuse which is the timing
is not right right now so we we do these
like meetups for our YouTuber Academy
and inevitably you know like 100 people
will show up the majority of
conversations I'll have with them I'll
be like oh so how's the channel going
and they'll say oh well I haven't been
consistent with it for for the last few
months or all this sort of stuff and
they'll never say I have quit YouTube
they will always say life got in the way
it's not the right time right now and
that's I think what is interesting about
this it's sort of like this thing that
you and I know because we we've consumed
the Kool-Aid of the self-help books kind
of not yet not right now is the thing
that takes all the dreams to the Grave
because the timing is never right we had
talks in med school uh from um doctors
with kids who are always like look if
you want to have kids literally the
timing is never right there will always
be another exam you could take another
step of the wrong that you could climb
when you're a junior doctor you'll think
oh once I once I get my exams out of the
way once you got your exams out of the
way you'll think ah well and I'm once
I'm a senior registar once you're a
senior registar you'll think when I'm a
consultant when you're a consultant you
think well I'm a junior consultant right
now and you know once I find my feet and
eventually you become 48 and you can't
have kids anymore and they were like a
lot of the message was like if you want
to do something recognize that the
timing will never ever ever feel right
and you actually just need to do it
right now and I think that is the thing
that that's a thing that holds a lot of
people back thinking the timing is not
right right now honestly I feel like the
mind is the worst enemy in fact it's
like it's so easy to I feel like people
are great at convincing themselves to to
do to like basically not follow their
own dreams it's like if you talk to
anybody very often you cannot convince
someone to do something like that
because they have so much of of like
arguments and baggage in their mind like
if let say someone says oh not right now
they can probably give you three to five
reasons why now is not the right time we
all have this fallacy in different
spheres of our life like oh the timing
is not quite right to do this thing but
it's worth recognizing like the thing
that I've always found helpful is to
recognize that that is just
procrastination in Disguise and for
almost everything the timing is never
going to be quite right and so what
would happen if you just acted now
assuming that the timing is never going
to be right so you make the skill share
class you're 19 years old you make the
skill sh class you release it presumably
nothing much happens what happens next
what happens next is I just start taking
action on all these different things I
hear from you and other people so for
example I also just launch a Blog and an
email newsletter at the same time so
week one is skillshare week two is blog
so bottle domain make a website Nat a
license preaching webflow so I use
webflow build that website I read a
bunch of books to start writing book
reviews I start a newsletter thoughtful
Thursday still around weekly email
newsletter start posting that every
single week great that's done then after
that week three or four I'm like hey you
know someone's saying to make a YouTube
channel maybe I should start this
YouTube channel thing so I also launched
a YouTube channel around that time it
was July 2020 I think to myself I
actually have a document that I wrote in
a car on a road trip which is what are
my what can I teach what can I talk
about in YouTube channel I still have
that document available um I was good at
the saxophone in high school so I was
like oh I can make music videos with the
saxophone I was great at doing
standardized test like I mentioned
earlier I can talk about that I can talk
about studying in University I can like
talk about my my in college so I just
decided hey I like Apple I'm a computer
science student I'm going to film a
video called why the MacBook Pro is
perfect for computer science students so
that was my first video on my channel
it's still available right now posted
that July of 2020 it's terrible quality
the lighting is bad the audio is
terrible I have no conviction when I
speak whatsoever but I decided to just
do something launch my channel and I
think you were also at the time talking
about how the consistency is key you
just kind of have to stay I think there
was like an MKBHD y combinator interview
that's the one where he was like if you
just stick with anything for 10 years
it's hard to not be successful at it so
I just set the intention I'm just going
to post something every single week so I
just started making videos on studying
computer science Quizlet versus anky
todoist things
three just like budget bad quality
productivity videos and studying in
computer science while also running the
newsletter while also being a student so
that was year one I made 20 something
videos just consistently and I had maybe
1,000 subscribers or 500 or actually I
think I only had like 100 subscribers in
year one so I just consistently post it
every single week on something I could
think of every single week I think this
is the harsh truth about trying to make
money on the internet or trying to build
any kind of business online which is
that if you are trying to go for an
extraordinary outcome if you're trying
to go for something that most people do
not have you often have to put in more
work than most people are willing to do
there is almost no one I have ever met
who's made enough money to be able to
quit their job who didn't have to
sacrifice something to make that happen
and it's really just a case of what are
the trade-offs you are willing to pay
what is the price that you are willing
to pay in my case for example I didn't
need to sacrifice hanging out with
friends and family but I did need to
sacrifice watching Netflix watching TV I
set a rule for myself when I got to
University which is I'm never allowed to
watch TV shows on my own instead of
using that time watching Netflix I would
sacrifice that time and put it towards
my YouTube channel or my business or
writing my book everything has a price
and if you don't want to pay that price
that's totally okay you don't have to
but it's worth recognizing that if you
want the thing on the other end of that
hard work on the other end of that
sacrifice you kind of have to pay the
price and also what I did was I was just
consuming all of this self-improvement
productivity self-development content
and I also think that is underrated I
think there's a lot of people out there
who tell who say it's all the same stuff
it's all the same idea why do you why do
you have to watch every single one of
this person's videos or why do you have
to read every single one of this book
it's all the same thing you already know
what you have to do but there's
something about just hearing that
message over and over and over and over
and over again of you just have to stay
consistent you have to keep doing this
you have to keep doing this unless it's
not going to work out um and on that
note I would just Implement all these
little productivity hacks and techniques
so for example one thing that probably
made 50% of my progress was Thomas Frank
he made this video about how he would
get charged by this app called be minder
if you didn't wake up on time so I
watched that about four to five years
ago and I decided to like make that
automation but for posting on YouTube so
be minder would charge me $100 if I
didn't post every single week to my
credit card and I've already paid them over
over
$1,000 because I did miss many weeks but
and people thought I was crazy when I
told them this I was like yeah dude like
I get charged of it on post on time so
that also was just like the fuel on the
fire just building these small things to
like force myself to stay consistent in
year one in year 2 and year three so
yeah year one posted 20 30 videos they
were all right they were not that good
and just like trying to come up with
these things to motivate me to keep on
going over time that's a long time to
grind at it for without seeing any
results that's very impressive like I'm
amazed I would I wouldn't have done that
yeah you know you always talk about how
I think it was like for you what like
six to 12 months in when you had like
viral video or something yeah about 10
months in I had a viral video 10 months
in yeah I hear that I'm like I think you
posted a lot more than me though like
video for me video 91 was a viral yeah
yeah I've only ever posted like 90 full
L videos or something at this point so
for me I think I was posting like less
frequently but over a longer period of
time I actually went 16 or 18 months
before my first video Hit 100K views I
think it was also just consuming other
people's content where you're talking
about I think this is another thing I
don't think you realize the impact that
you have when you actually rehash the
same ideas over and over and over and
over again cuz I see the comments being
like Oh just repetition and I think oh
like it's like a knife a knife to my
heart where I'm like am I just saying
the same I guess I am just saying the
same I mean yeah I guess I guess yeah
and then I think I don't want to make
this video because I'm just saying the
same thing again to saying the same
thing again but there is really
something to be said about saying the
same thing over and over and over again
because that is the message you need to
hear like someone like me I needed to
hear every single week from o doll's
Channel just stay consistent just stay
consistent just stay consistent I'm
reading this book on the side just just
stay consistent so there is something
special to that and like even on my own
channel I often say the same thing every
video and I also get those comments
which are like bro falling yeah bro
falling off bro saying the same thing
bro remakes the same video every month
like but that is what you actually have
to do there's a concept that Aman and I
were discussing over lunch that day when
when he came over to hang out which is
that your YouTube feed reflects your
priorities like the algorithms on
YouTube and Instagram and Tik Tok
they're all pretty good at figuring out
what we actually care about what we
actually spend our time on and so a fun
little exercise is to go on your YouTube
homepage and see what's the sort of
content that's coming up is it the sort
of content that is aligned with the
goals that you want to go for or not you
can actively start to pay more attention
to content that is aligned with your
goals like if you're here in this video
you probably want to build some kind of
business to probably make money on the
internet it would make sense for you to
just consume loads more of that content
compared to other things that you might
be consuming in your spare time instead
again if you want you don't have to I'm
not trying to tell you what to do Aman
is not trying to tell you what to do
we're just sharing the stuff that has
worked for us for me I deeply
intrinsically cared about YouTube it was
it was my dream it was my passion it was
what I wanted to work out I actually
remember I was late to work multiple
days because I was so engrossed in
writing my script in the morning before
work that I would show up late I would
take unnecessarily long lunch breaks to
work on the channel so much told them
like I told you about the conversation
with my boss he was not happy about that
I would leave early to work on the
channel and I I don't think it was a
grind but it also wasn't that much of a
grind because I had that flame it was
like oh like I can't wait to get home I
can't wait to ride a script like I would
I would watch my own videos with the
zest like the editors came back with the
new cut like I'm so excited to watch
that there were times where during my 9
to5 job but I actually I would go into
the meeting room which is like a
separate room I would like lock the door
go on my laptop and watch a cut of my
cut of my recent video cuz I was like
and I guess you're not supposed to do
that but it was something I was so
intrinsically excited to watch so I I
think I just had like a joy of kind of
going back to like enjoying the journey
right I think I at the time like I'm
only now realizing I think I really did
love that because of was outside of my 9
to5 job so was something that I
intrinsically really did care about so
if it was something where like I it was
a massive slug every single part of the
journey if I hated it I it would not
have worked out at all yeah that's I
think where you know when people ask me
about my days where I was like how how
did you do the thing while you were
doing the J day job and stuff and it it
it comes down to that nalism of like
find the thing that feels like play to
you but looks like work to others to
others it would look like work to be
grinding on a video edit or whatever at
like you know 7:00 p.m. 800 p.m. 9:00
p.m. after after a shift at work but for
me at the time and it sounds like for
you as well it was like I was delighted
to do it there were some days where I
didn't feel like it where you know
that's where the beinder reminded that's
where like the consistency it's like H
okay on those days where I really don't
feel like doing it I'm still going to do
it that's where I have to motivate
myself with the dream with the negative
visualization with all that kind of
stuff but for the most part because I
enjoyed the process it didn't feel like
work trying to find ways to sprinkle in
play Power people into all the stuff
field of productivity all that shtick
trying to make it fun because that fun
was where like the the excitement that
excitement and motivation was was was
generated by I'm still chasing that
flame honestly like I remember yeah
there there certain things where it's
like something about toiling away on
like a landing page at like 8:00 p.m.
for a new product I don't know what
about that is Sox love that like I
remember when I launched my program in
January of this year I was in London for
a couple weeks just for vacation and I
was in you know foils like in in London
I was like upstairs in their Cafe just
toiling just like grinding on that
landing page and I was so happy I don't
know why it was just something about
like it being the dark and just grinding
and building out this page and same to
like watching cuts of my video like
working on a script and of course there
were times that I I wasn't intrinsically
motivated I think for me I don't really
enjoy filming videos
same I much prefer this this for 100% I
think this is way more fun and it it is
a bit of a grind like I have three video
scripts I have two video scripts done I
need to sit down I have to build a setup
I have to sit down I record it it's a
big ruling it's my my throat hurts it's
a bit sweaty like I don't like to do
this I have to keep Mo motivating myself
to keep going but for the most part you
I do intrinsically enjoy it I I don't
know if it's possible maybe it is
possible but I don't know if it's really
practical for for anyone to do anything
longterm enough to make it work because
again like this was four years of grind
if I hated every minute of it there's no
way I would have done that I really
agree with this I found it to be so true
in the lives of most people that I know
including myself which is that it's just
impractical to do something for a really
long time if you absolutely hate it if
you don't find a way to enjoy the
process this is kind of the whole
concept of my book feel good
productivity you know back when I was
grinding on my YouTube channel and stuff
I was really focusing on how do I make
this so enjoyable that I choose to keep
working on it rather than forcing myself
to keep working on it now I want to
share a common objection here so you
know I've heard people again when when I
do talks and stuff people come up to me
and say you know well someone will hear
this advice of hey you should do
something you enjoy because then you
you're going to be more consistent with
it you're going to stick to it and some
people will say but what if I have
nothing in my life that I actually enjoy
I don't have any passions I just like
watching Netflix and playing video games
and scrolling social media this is the
thing like we all have hobbies which are
things that we do for fun but in the
capitalist world that we live in there
are some hobbies that let you double dip
in terms of you have fun doing the hobby
but you could also make money or you
could also become healthier or you could
also have more love in your life through
relationships for example sitting on the
couch and watching Netflix sure maybe
that makes you happy but if for example
you go for a run that can make you happy
and also makes you healthier what about
playing board games playing board games
makes you happy but it can also improve
your relationships because you generally
want to have friends over to play board
games one of my hobbies back at
University was doing hackathon side
projects with my friends where we would
go on a mini holiday together and we
would try and build an app within 24
hours that could make some money that
was a hobby that would make me happy
because it was fun but it also improved
my relationships cuz now I'm hanging out
with my friends and it also had the
potential to make money I'm not saying
you have to spend all of your time doing
productive things but what I'm saying is
that if you care about making money on
the internet which you probably do if
you're watching at this point in the
video if you care about that and you
have limited time which we all do then
actually finding hobbies that double dip
finding hobbies that are fun and also
have the potential to make money is
going to make you way more likely to
make money compared to having hobbies
that are simply just fun I think also
there's there's something around you
won't know until you've tried it like I
wouldn't have thought that like I
thought I wanted to be a like a singing
guitar acoustic sort of Music YouTuber
and that to me felt fun because I was
like oh that feels fun but I wouldn't
have thought that writing educational
content and like coming up with
Frameworks and would actually be
enjoyable but it actually is
and it's like it's kind of fun I know a
lot of people who count themselves out
of the business game or they'll hear a
conversation like this being like oh man
I get okay so the secret is to really
enjoy the thing but I don't I don't know
what I'd really enjoy and that's what's
stopping them from they're they're
almost like self- projecting ahead
knowing that like okay I mean Ali and
Aman are saying that you've got to grind
at YouTube for like 2 to four years to
see any results can I see myself right
now without having a YouTube channel
enjoying that process absolutely
absolutely not like who would who who
would think that they might even enjoy
that person but when you start with it
when you when you're building the thing
and you're seeing those initial bits of
momentum and stuff there's something
about that that lights the flame that is
so hard to predict ahead of time so when
did things start working mhm okaying so
Midway through year four I I honestly
Define one of the biggest inflection
points is realizing that I could spend
money on knowledge which I had not
actually realized nor internalized for
much at all other than buying books so
i' had been buying books for years that
was something I was reading in the
background I was reading many books but
there were two great unlocks I had in
year four which was actually about a
year ago the first one was realizing
that I could read business books which
is something I just did not realize I
was like wait there are books on
business that I could read like for
example all of Russell brunson's books
Alex Hero's books just these books on
sales and marketing I can read to just
like level up my brain in the world of
business I didn't realize that was a
thing that was one great unlock the
second one was realizing that I could
buying that I could buy coaching from
people who have done the thing I've done
and then learned their lessons and
supercharge my progress and I
procrastinated for months on doing this
so the first thing I actually invested
in was Captain ced's YouTube coaching
program I've been watching his videos
for years it was the first time I spent
money on anything and because of that it
created like a level of fire and drive
to actually perform so I believe he said
later on that I was probably the best
client he ever had of like over 100
people because I showed up to there were
24 calls and I didn't miss a single one
um I was on a plane for two of them so I
bought Wi-Fi on the plane and joined
zoom using a VPN so I could actually
show up to the call and not miss it and
I said a video Al Loom beforehand of
like all of my questions for him that I
had before so I listened to if he said
jump I said how high and that
immediately supercharged everything
because up until this point I had a
bunch of like raw potential I had a
bunch of like building blocks there I
had done a bunch of internships that
gave me an unfair advantage that I could
actually talk about on YouTube I had the
skills I had a video editor so I knew
how to like edit videos and also had to
manage a video editor I had built a
skill of writing so I was like pretty
decent at actually writing these scripts
and I could write them effectively but
he basically like put fuel on the flame
when it came to making marker research
or making good videos titles and
thumbnails he also taught me how to
negotiate sponsors and he told me hey
you have something that you can teach
which is getting internships and getting
jobs in software engineering is
something you've done before so you
could probably charge people to actually
make the transformation and it is worth
it like that knowledge is worth 203k if
I can get someone a 20 to $30,000
internship if they couldn't get before
so it was that mental unlock which made
me decide to actually launch my program
which is a software engineering
accelerator um to actually make that
progress happen so that was the greatest
unlock it was buying programs some
people might be hearing that and
thinking well I can't believe you sign
up for these courses like all course
sellers are scammers what's your take
what's your take on that I think loss AV
version is a big issue that a lot of
people face which is that they would
they're more worried about losing $5
than they would be excited about earning
$100 people often fight that uh issue of
loss of version like if you kind of like
think about it in terms of time for
money right people would take a lot of
people would spend an hour taking the
bus to avoid $20 for an Uber but they
wouldn't spend an hour doing like a
freelance gig for $50 right that doesn't
make any sense that's like an asymmetry
there so you kind of have to like like a
fool yourself into like overcoming the
like innate urge for loss aversion think
about the fact that what is the risk
reduction here right like there is a
guarantee almost every single program
you'll ever pay for as a guarantee
because these most of these things are
good and worth it where it's like if you
do this thing and if you do X number of
things or you can get a refund if it's
not actually good there are a bunch of
reviews and testimonials and even if the
program only gets me a few thousand in a
year it will have paid for itself and
the chances are it's going to get me a
lot more there so you need to like kind
of overcome that that that thought there
and finally I think a lot of people
don't really realize what knowledge they
don't have that could actually get them
really help them out a lot so what I
would often think back to is could I
influence my 17-year-old self to do
great things beyond what I already did
one 100% there's so much knowledge I've
learned over the past few years in the
world of careers and world of Education
the world of health and wellness and and
relationships everything you've learned
so much through this like living life
for years and years and years so how do
you not realize that you can just pay
someone else who's three to five years
ahead of you just to download their
knowledge and get yourself ahead yeah I
love that I think um there's something
uh this is something Alexy talks about
as well like he's invested hundreds of
thousands into these programs and his
goal is to be the best student they've
ever had and to like eventually like
outpace the instructor because of how
much he's executing uh my friend
Nicholas Cole talks about how every
single thing he's ever paid for has been
Roi positive because he's made it Roi
positive he pay $68,000 for a mastermind
he get and he's like okay well I need to
make sure I get at least $130,000 out of
this and therefore he's showing up to
the stuff he's doing the extra work he
he is taking responsibility for making
sure he gets the outcome from it I think
the mistake people make is that a they
don't sign up to the stuff in the first
place because of yeah this this sort of
loss aversion but you know case in point
with our YouTuber Academy like you're
one of the the the most students we have
in our accelerator that when when you
when you rock up to a call to ask me a
question you prepare a freaking document
to be like okay this is all here here
are all my problems these are my goals
these are the things I think you're
going to say here's what I would say in
response so this is really my ultimate
question you prepare for those questions
so much more than almost anyone else
does and you're getting value out of the
program and so a lot of it is like you
get what you put in um and I think you
and like other entrepreneur friends of
mine in including myself it's like if I
sign up for anything of course I'm going
to get the value out of it I'm not mhm
if it's a trivial cost for like you $200
for what it doesn't matter but if I'm
paying serious money for anything like
it's it's guaranteed to be Ro positive
because I will make it Roi positive
absolutely so you've invested all this
money into these educational programs
you've been grinding the out for 4
years how did it go how much money are
you making now so in June of this year I
joined another coaching program from
Charlie Morgan another guy he basically
taught me sales conversion fulfillment
for my coaching program almost
immediately I went from barely making 5
6K a month through like a handful of
brand deals here in and there some
random agency work on the side you know
stuff like that to becoming profitable
so I went from negative - 20K in the
whole on the business for 2024 and
immediately hit profitability in July I
hit $30,000 August also did 30k
September did around 30k October did 22k
but then November I had 55k in Revenue
December it's around 36k right now um
and expenses are like around
10K a month on average so I've been able
to make around 20K profit per month
every month for the past six months
which is almost double my full-time
income as a software engineer and I quit
my job about four to five months before
I hit that profitability how does it
feel yeah it feels good I mean it's nice
I think there's a lot of layers to it
first of all I have a sense of
confidence that I am not going to have
to go back to the 9 to5 job if you I
actually made a video cataloging this
journey um like a life update in May of
2024 where I mentioned how I need to
make 4K a month profit and then with
that number that was like my freedom
number if you used a million dollar
weekend term where I won't have to go
back to my 95 job and I've blown that
out of the park so at this point I can
pretty confidently say I don't expect to
have to go back to a 95 job if I don't
want to so that's nice that I feel like
I have that sense of security it's also
nice that I have freedom and flexibility
I think that was like people like us I
think that idea of freedom was like a
huge deal to me I I hated the fact that
I had to ask my boss if I was allowed to
take a PTO a day off here and there like
last year when I was in London for a
couple weeks I remember being so
stressed out because I had to work one
week remotely for my 9 to-5 job I was
worried about the US hour so I had to
stay up super late at like 11:00 p.m.
randomly just to continue doing this job
and I just had no flexibility whatsoever
and now I can be here in Hong Kong I can
record this podcast with you I just
complet I can do whatever I want
essentially and I just feel like that is
like infinitely valuable what advice
would you give to someone who's maybe
watched this far in the video maybe
they've some watched some of my stuff
they've seen some of you know they've
they've done the rounds of consuming
content and maybe even read some of the
books but they've not yet taken the
first step taking action what advice
would you have for that person there's a
couple things first of all I have
benefited immensely for paying for
educational resources I think a lot of
people will do this for University so
they'll pay for a $200,000 Business
Degree at a college which frankly
doesn't teach you much but they will B
at like a $1,000 program or like a
$2,000 program
which is teaching you business but is
updated for like the content ecosystem
and modern day marketing right so if you
have the capability I would recommend it
doesn't have to be any program I
mentioned in this conversation but
anything like if you find hey I want to
learn this knowledge I find it valuable
I really care about this I would
recommend you invest in your own skills
rather than like you know putting that
money in the stock market at this point
heroi talks about this it's pretty known
I feel like if you're already in this
podcast but like $1,000 in the S&P 500
is going to make you like 50 bucks at
the end of the year instead that, you
can like 10 to 100x that if you actually
invest in your own Knowledge and Skills
so I benefited immensely by investing my
money that I took from my 9 to5 job and
also my internships investing in Te
Knowledge and Skills and honestly just
keep doing it it like this is a case
study that it is possible it is still
possible to make a profitable YouTube
channel from not much it takes time it
is not easy it takes effort but just
know that if you are someone who is
willing to invest in your Knowledge and
Skills keep on going stay consistent and
just keep grinding until it works out it
is possible I can confidently say that
one can make 10K month online from
almost nothing so I would just say keep
going you can do this all right if you
got to this point in the video and you
enjoyed this conversation then you're
going to absolutely love this video
which is my honest advice for someone
who wants passive income thank you so
much for watching have a lovely day and
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