WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.860 Imagine for a moment that you're trying to drive 00:00:01.860 --> 00:00:05.019 a car across the Atlantic Ocean. Okay. You have 00:00:05.019 --> 00:00:06.780 the engine, the steering wheel, a full tank of 00:00:06.780 --> 00:00:08.800 gas. You're pushing that pedal to the floor. 00:00:08.839 --> 00:00:10.900 Right. You're working harder than you have ever 00:00:10.900 --> 00:00:12.960 worked in your life. Yeah. But you're sinking. 00:00:14.699 --> 00:00:16.660 It doesn't matter how much effort you put in. 00:00:16.940 --> 00:00:19.199 You chose the wrong vehicle for the terrain. 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:21.320 It's a brutal image, isn't it? But it is the 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:23.699 perfect description for starting the wrong business 00:00:23.699 --> 00:00:27.120 in 2026. You can work 18 hour days. You can hustle 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:29.379 till you burn out. But if you're trying to swim 00:00:29.379 --> 00:00:31.920 against a two and a half trillion dollar AI wave. 00:00:32.590 --> 00:00:35.030 you're just going to drown. It is Friday, February 00:00:35.030 --> 00:00:38.350 6th, 2026. And as you said, AI spending has hit 00:00:38.350 --> 00:00:41.210 that massive figure. The fundamental rules of 00:00:41.210 --> 00:00:43.909 how income is generated have been, well, rewritten. 00:00:44.009 --> 00:00:46.350 A lot of the old advice is frankly dangerous 00:00:46.350 --> 00:00:48.929 now. It really is. So today we're doing a deep 00:00:48.929 --> 00:00:52.909 dive into 25 best AI business ideas for 2026. 00:00:53.189 --> 00:00:56.869 The Honest Guide by Max Zahn. Our mission is 00:00:56.869 --> 00:00:59.450 to dissect the four distinct buckets he outlines 00:00:59.450 --> 00:01:02.509 to see where the real value is. And I love how 00:01:02.509 --> 00:01:04.510 he structures this. It's not just some random 00:01:04.510 --> 00:01:08.329 list of cool ideas. He creates a hierarchy. We've 00:01:08.329 --> 00:01:10.170 got the trash bucket stuff you need to run away 00:01:10.170 --> 00:01:12.409 from. Okay. Then the easy bucket. That's your 00:01:12.409 --> 00:01:15.069 first five to 10 ,000 a month. The medium bucket, 00:01:15.250 --> 00:01:18.709 scaling up to 50K. And then finally, the hard 00:01:18.709 --> 00:01:21.170 bucket. That's where you're talking asset building, 00:01:21.310 --> 00:01:23.930 generational wealth. Let's start at the bottom. 00:01:24.090 --> 00:01:27.189 I think avoiding failure is just as important 00:01:27.189 --> 00:01:30.819 as finding success. Yeah. The trash bucket. Yeah. 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:33.640 And it's called these black holes that just eat 00:01:33.640 --> 00:01:37.000 time and capital. But the thing is, they don't 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:39.579 look like trash from the outside. No, that's 00:01:39.579 --> 00:01:41.079 the trap. They look like gold mines. They're 00:01:41.079 --> 00:01:43.040 sirens. They look approachable. They're these 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:45.640 shiny objects, but they're just dead ends. And 00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:47.819 the first ghosts we have to exercise are the 00:01:47.819 --> 00:01:51.099 holdovers from, what, the early 2020s? Specifically, 00:01:51.239 --> 00:01:54.609 NFT flipping. I remember the vania. But is anyone 00:01:54.609 --> 00:01:56.730 actually still trying that in 2026? You'd be 00:01:56.730 --> 00:01:58.469 surprised. People see the old data. Oh, this 00:01:58.469 --> 00:02:00.750 board ape sold for millions. And they think the 00:02:00.750 --> 00:02:03.989 market's just, you know, sleeping. It's not sleeping. 00:02:04.329 --> 00:02:06.829 It's a graveyard. The liquidity dried up years 00:02:06.829 --> 00:02:09.430 ago. Unless you're washing money or you're a 00:02:09.430 --> 00:02:12.770 massive celebrity, there is just no organic market 00:02:12.770 --> 00:02:15.370 there. Then you've got crypto trading. Now, hold 00:02:15.370 --> 00:02:18.629 on. I know people who still trade. Are you saying 00:02:18.629 --> 00:02:22.139 it's impossible to make money on? Not impossible, 00:02:22.259 --> 00:02:24.759 no. But let's distinguish between gambling and 00:02:24.759 --> 00:02:27.919 a business. Unless you have serious capital, 00:02:28.039 --> 00:02:30.300 sophisticated risk management algorithms and 00:02:30.300 --> 00:02:32.680 the emotional control of a monk, you're just 00:02:32.680 --> 00:02:34.819 providing liquidity for the whales. It's just 00:02:34.819 --> 00:02:36.879 so much easier to lose money than to make it. 00:02:36.939 --> 00:02:39.479 It's a casino, not a business model. Fair enough. 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:42.000 The source also throws multi -level marketing 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:44.840 MLM into this bucket. Ah, the pyramid with better 00:02:44.840 --> 00:02:47.259 branding. Yeah. Look, if your business model 00:02:47.259 --> 00:02:49.099 depends on recruiting people who recruit people, 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:51.219 it's not a business. It's a mathematical trap. 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:53.280 But here's where it gets really interesting for 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:57.819 2026. NA identifies specific AI victims. These 00:02:57.819 --> 00:02:59.960 are business models that used to be legitimate, 00:03:00.099 --> 00:03:01.759 you know, decent ways to make money, but they're 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:03.599 trash now because the tech just got too good. 00:03:03.819 --> 00:03:06.479 I'm curious about these because usually technology 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:09.129 helps businesses. Which ones are now obsolete? 00:03:09.370 --> 00:03:12.949 Okay, so basic captioning and subtitles. Three 00:03:12.949 --> 00:03:15.449 years ago, you could make a living on Rev or 00:03:15.449 --> 00:03:19.270 Upwork transcribing audio. Today, gone. Tools 00:03:19.270 --> 00:03:21.930 like Descript, YouTube's AutoCaps, they're faster, 00:03:22.009 --> 00:03:25.439 cheaper, and 99 % accurate. There's no edge left 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:27.780 for a human. You can't charge a dollar for something 00:03:27.780 --> 00:03:30.180 a machine does for a fraction of a cent. It's 00:03:30.180 --> 00:03:32.080 just a race to the bottom on price. Exactly. 00:03:32.099 --> 00:03:35.000 Same with low -level data entry. If a human can 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:38.419 copy info from a PDF into a spreadsheet, an AI 00:03:38.419 --> 00:03:40.479 agent can do it for a penny. That's what those 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:43.419 Fiverr micro -tasks have become. It keeps you 00:03:43.419 --> 00:03:45.919 busy, sure. You feel productive. But you're treading 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:47.879 water while the ship sails away. And don't even 00:03:47.879 --> 00:03:49.960 get me started on print -on -demand. Wait, print 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:52.139 -on -demand? That's always touted as the ultimate 00:03:52.139 --> 00:03:54.909 passive income side hustle. Put a design on a 00:03:54.909 --> 00:03:58.710 mug, sell it. It was, but now. Generative AI 00:03:58.710 --> 00:04:01.669 means anyone can create 10 ,000 designs in an 00:04:01.669 --> 00:04:04.750 hour. The market is just flooded. Unless you 00:04:04.750 --> 00:04:06.949 have a hyper -niche audience like, I don't know, 00:04:06.969 --> 00:04:09.050 left -handed knitting enthusiasts in Austin, 00:04:09.330 --> 00:04:12.289 you're just adding noise to a landfill of identical 00:04:12.289 --> 00:04:15.110 t -shirts. So Anka gives us a trash filter. Three 00:04:15.110 --> 00:04:16.810 questions to ask before you start anything. I 00:04:16.810 --> 00:04:18.509 think these are crucial for anyone listening. 00:04:18.670 --> 00:04:21.389 Right. Question one, is AI replacing this right 00:04:21.389 --> 00:04:23.829 now? Question two, is the industry shrinking? 00:04:24.350 --> 00:04:26.730 And question three, is it statistically easier 00:04:26.730 --> 00:04:29.899 to lose money than make it? If the answer is 00:04:29.899 --> 00:04:32.759 yes to any of those, Ron. I have to ask. Yeah. 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:35.459 If the data is so obvious, if the trash nature 00:04:35.459 --> 00:04:39.079 of these models is so clear in 2026, why do people 00:04:39.079 --> 00:04:41.240 still get trapped in them? Why are these courses 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:43.839 still selling? Because they look easy. They promise 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:46.120 a reward without the friction of learning a real 00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:49.439 skill. It's the path of least resistance. And 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:51.180 unfortunately, in business, the path of least 00:04:51.180 --> 00:04:53.600 resistance is usually the path to nowhere. So 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:55.939 it's the illusion of ease that traps them. Precisely. 00:04:55.939 --> 00:04:57.579 Let's pivot to something that actually works. 00:04:57.620 --> 00:04:59.790 Let's move to this. Second bucket, the easy bucket. 00:05:00.069 --> 00:05:02.850 OK, so let's clarify easy. This does not mean 00:05:02.850 --> 00:05:05.470 push button, get money. It means low barrier 00:05:05.470 --> 00:05:08.529 to entry. The goal here is five to ten thousand 00:05:08.529 --> 00:05:11.490 dollars a month. And the timeline's usually 30 00:05:11.490 --> 00:05:14.790 to 60 days. You're not trying to be Mark Zuckerberg 00:05:14.790 --> 00:05:16.689 yet. You're just trying to learn how to talk 00:05:16.689 --> 00:05:19.029 to humans and exchange value for money. This 00:05:19.029 --> 00:05:21.009 feels like the training wheels phase, but with, 00:05:21.069 --> 00:05:23.709 you know, real paychecks. What are the key opportunities 00:05:23.709 --> 00:05:27.089 here? First step. Short form video editing. Just 00:05:27.089 --> 00:05:29.470 look at our behavior. We're all scrolling TikTok, 00:05:29.750 --> 00:05:33.149 Shorts, Instagram constantly. Creators need clips. 00:05:33.509 --> 00:05:36.509 But here's the secret. Creators hate editing. 00:05:36.689 --> 00:05:39.750 It's so tedious. But didn't we just say AI does 00:05:39.750 --> 00:05:42.050 this? It does the heavy lifting, yeah, but not 00:05:42.050 --> 00:05:44.879 the storytelling. Tools like Descript, Captions 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:47.379 .ai, and Vizard make the mechanics ridiculously 00:05:47.379 --> 00:05:50.319 easy. The strategy is arbitrage. You take a long 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:52.759 video like this. You use AI to chop it into 10 00:05:52.759 --> 00:05:54.839 clips, add the dynamic captions, take out the 00:05:54.839 --> 00:05:57.399 silence. Then you, the human, pick the funniest 00:05:57.399 --> 00:05:59.980 moments. You check the pacing. You charge $200 00:05:59.980 --> 00:06:02.399 to $500 for a batch. So you're using the tool 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:05.000 to do the 80 % of the work that's boring, and 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:06.740 then you sell the finished product. Totally. 00:06:06.819 --> 00:06:09.500 It's service arbitrage. Then you have social 00:06:09.500 --> 00:06:12.949 media copywriting. Similar concept. Founders 00:06:12.949 --> 00:06:15.149 hate writing. They just do. They're busy building. 00:06:15.290 --> 00:06:18.350 So you can use ChatGPT or Jasper to get the structure, 00:06:18.550 --> 00:06:21.610 the hooks, the body. But you need that human 00:06:21.610 --> 00:06:23.810 touch to make it authentic so it doesn't sound 00:06:23.810 --> 00:06:26.649 like a robot. You just cold DM niche industries, 00:06:26.769 --> 00:06:29.149 fitness coaches, real estate agents, and say, 00:06:29.209 --> 00:06:30.990 hey, I can make you sound like a thought leader. 00:06:31.170 --> 00:06:34.509 I want to touch on AI chatbot setup. This one 00:06:34.509 --> 00:06:36.649 feels like it's specifically for local businesses. 00:06:36.889 --> 00:06:40.089 It is. Think about a gym. or a salon, or a law 00:06:40.089 --> 00:06:42.649 firm, they get asked the same five questions 00:06:42.649 --> 00:06:45.910 every single day. How much is a cut? Are you 00:06:45.910 --> 00:06:48.850 open on Sundays? Do you take walk -ins? It just 00:06:48.850 --> 00:06:51.410 distracts the staff. It's friction. Huge friction. 00:06:51.949 --> 00:06:54.290 So you set up a bot using tools like Intercom 00:06:54.290 --> 00:06:57.250 or ManyChat. You program it to answer those specific 00:06:57.250 --> 00:06:58.910 questions. The value isn't the coding. There 00:06:58.910 --> 00:07:00.949 is no code. The value is the implementation. 00:07:01.490 --> 00:07:03.670 You save them time. They pay you a setup fee, 00:07:03.730 --> 00:07:06.529 maybe $1 ,000, plus a monthly management fee 00:07:06.529 --> 00:07:09.110 to keep it running. And I see AI receptionists 00:07:09.110 --> 00:07:10.610 on the list, too. Is that different from a chat 00:07:10.610 --> 00:07:13.329 bot? It's slightly different. This solves the 00:07:13.329 --> 00:07:16.410 missed call pain point. If a plumber misses a 00:07:16.410 --> 00:07:20.230 call, they lose a job. That's $500 gone. An AI 00:07:20.230 --> 00:07:23.529 receptionist. and there are voice AI tools for 00:07:23.529 --> 00:07:26.949 this now, answers the phone, qualifies the lead, 00:07:27.149 --> 00:07:29.649 checks the calendar, and books the appointment. 00:07:30.009 --> 00:07:32.509 It feels indispensable to the business owner 00:07:32.509 --> 00:07:34.269 immediately because it's directly protecting 00:07:34.269 --> 00:07:36.410 their revenue. There's one more here that caught 00:07:36.410 --> 00:07:40.949 my eye, the UGC middleman. Can you define UGC 00:07:40.949 --> 00:07:43.470 for the listener? Yeah, user -generated content. 00:07:44.060 --> 00:07:46.519 Brands want real people showing off their products, 00:07:46.579 --> 00:07:48.899 not polished models. It converts way better on 00:07:48.899 --> 00:07:51.439 TikTok. But brands hate coordinating with 50 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:53.699 different 19 -year -old micro -influencers. It's 00:07:53.699 --> 00:07:55.759 like herding cats. So you're basically the project 00:07:55.759 --> 00:07:58.480 manager. Precisely. You are the bridge. You find 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:00.500 the creators, you manage the deadlines, you make 00:08:00.500 --> 00:08:02.839 sure the quality is good, and you hand the finished 00:08:02.839 --> 00:08:05.240 content to the brand. And you just pocket the 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:07.480 difference between what the brand pays and what 00:08:07.480 --> 00:08:10.019 the creator charges. Now, you call this the easy 00:08:10.019 --> 00:08:12.360 bucket, but I imagine there's still a learning 00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:17.970 curve. Oh, absolutely not. And look, I'll be 00:08:17.970 --> 00:08:20.149 vulnerable here. I still wrestle with what we 00:08:20.149 --> 00:08:23.310 call prompt drift. What's that? It's so frustrating. 00:08:23.629 --> 00:08:25.990 You'll have a prompt that's working perfectly 00:08:25.990 --> 00:08:29.420 for a specific output, say... writing a certain 00:08:29.420 --> 00:08:32.200 style of email. Then the AI model updates on 00:08:32.200 --> 00:08:33.960 the back end or something shifts and suddenly 00:08:33.960 --> 00:08:36.299 the quality just drops. The output gets weird. 00:08:36.379 --> 00:08:39.559 It happens. So even in the easy bucket, you have 00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:42.220 to be willing to tinker. You have to be the pilot, 00:08:42.259 --> 00:08:45.519 not just the passenger. So if everyone has access 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:48.860 to Descript and ChatGPT, why does one person 00:08:48.860 --> 00:08:51.360 make $10 ,000 a month and another makes zero? 00:08:51.639 --> 00:08:54.289 What is the primary differentiator? It's the 00:08:54.289 --> 00:08:56.370 service. It's showing up. It's understanding 00:08:56.370 --> 00:08:58.509 the client's problem. The tech is a commodity. 00:08:58.730 --> 00:09:00.509 The ability to listen to a gym owner complain 00:09:00.509 --> 00:09:02.889 about missed calls and say, I can fix that by 00:09:02.889 --> 00:09:05.470 Friday. That is the differentiator. So execution 00:09:05.470 --> 00:09:08.450 and client service beat raw tech. Every single 00:09:08.450 --> 00:09:10.929 time. Let's level up. The medium bucket. The 00:09:10.929 --> 00:09:13.929 goal here is $10 ,000 to $50 ,000 a month. And 00:09:13.929 --> 00:09:16.330 it describes this as shifting from hiring for 00:09:16.330 --> 00:09:19.429 output to hiring for results. This is the sweet 00:09:19.429 --> 00:09:21.129 spot. You're not just a pair of hands anymore. 00:09:21.269 --> 00:09:23.850 You're a problem solver. you are tying your work 00:09:23.850 --> 00:09:26.669 directly to the client's revenue the first opportunity 00:09:26.669 --> 00:09:29.309 here is automation agencies this sounds a bit 00:09:29.309 --> 00:09:32.289 more technical it is but it's no code technical 00:09:32.289 --> 00:09:35.710 businesses are just drowning in manual work they're 00:09:35.710 --> 00:09:38.570 copy pasting data from emails to spreadsheets 00:09:38.570 --> 00:09:42.210 to crms it's a nightmare automation agencies 00:09:42.210 --> 00:09:46.789 use tools like xavier make or na10 these are 00:09:46.789 --> 00:09:49.389 like digital glue Can you give us a concrete 00:09:49.389 --> 00:09:51.909 example? Sure. Imagine a real estate agency. 00:09:52.110 --> 00:09:55.549 A lead comes in from Zillow. Usually an agent 00:09:55.549 --> 00:09:57.730 has to see the email, type the info into their 00:09:57.730 --> 00:10:00.129 phone, then remember to text them. An automation 00:10:00.129 --> 00:10:03.929 agency builds a flow. Lead hits Zillow. Zapier 00:10:03.929 --> 00:10:06.980 grabs the data, sends it to the CRM. triggers 00:10:06.980 --> 00:10:09.720 an AI text to the lead within 30 seconds, slacks 00:10:09.720 --> 00:10:11.679 the agent. That speed probably doubles their 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:14.100 conversion rate. Easily. And because you're making 00:10:14.100 --> 00:10:16.480 them money, they will happily pay you a monthly 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:18.659 retainer to keep that system running. I found 00:10:18.659 --> 00:10:20.500 the concept of Microsoft's really fascinating 00:10:20.500 --> 00:10:23.639 in this bucket. This is huge. So SawSaws is software 00:10:23.639 --> 00:10:26.659 as a service. Usually you think of these giant 00:10:26.659 --> 00:10:29.559 companies like Salesforce. MicroSaws is about 00:10:29.559 --> 00:10:31.679 solving niche problems. You're not trying to 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:33.799 build the next Facebook. You're building, say, 00:10:33.940 --> 00:10:37.460 a scheduling tool just for dog walkers or a lead 00:10:37.460 --> 00:10:39.460 scraper that connects to specific government 00:10:39.460 --> 00:10:41.700 APIs for construction permits. And you can build 00:10:41.700 --> 00:10:43.559 these without being a traditional coder. Yes. 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:46.200 You use no -code tools like Bubble or Softar. 00:10:46.279 --> 00:10:48.440 You're literally dragging and dropping logic. 00:10:48.779 --> 00:10:52.049 Whoa. Imagine scaling a Microsoft to a billion 00:10:52.049 --> 00:10:54.990 queries without writing a single line of traditional 00:10:54.990 --> 00:10:59.250 C++ or Python. The leverage there is just staggering. 00:10:59.450 --> 00:11:01.590 It really is. It changes the physics of software 00:11:01.590 --> 00:11:03.330 development. You focus on the problem, not the 00:11:03.330 --> 00:11:05.769 syntax. The guide also mentions motion graphics 00:11:05.769 --> 00:11:08.570 in this bucket. Why is this in medium and not 00:11:08.570 --> 00:11:11.029 easy with the video editing? Because while AI 00:11:11.029 --> 00:11:14.269 can do OK video, premium content still needs 00:11:14.269 --> 00:11:16.919 a sophisticated human eye. There's a workflow 00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:20.879 mentor using VO 3 .1 and Nano Banana Pro. These 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:23.940 are advanced AI video tools. They help you turn 00:11:23.940 --> 00:11:25.980 reference videos into these scroll -stopping 00:11:25.980 --> 00:11:29.279 graphics fast. But to charge five grand for a 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:31.960 promo video, you need design sense. You need 00:11:31.960 --> 00:11:34.399 to understand pacing, color theory, branding. 00:11:34.740 --> 00:11:37.279 The AI is the paintbrush, but you still need 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:39.659 to be the artist. And Anne emphasizes the need 00:11:39.659 --> 00:11:41.740 for measurable case studies here. You have to 00:11:41.740 --> 00:11:43.600 prove it. In the medium bucket, you can't just 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:45.879 say, I do automation. You have to say... I helped 00:11:45.879 --> 00:11:48.500 this real estate agent increase leads by 40 % 00:11:48.500 --> 00:11:52.120 in month one. That data is the currency of the 00:11:52.120 --> 00:11:54.460 medium bucket. So how does the billing model 00:11:54.460 --> 00:11:56.740 change effectively in this bucket compared to 00:11:56.740 --> 00:11:58.840 the easy bucket? You stop charging for the hour 00:11:58.840 --> 00:12:01.220 or the task. You start charging retainers. Pay 00:12:01.220 --> 00:12:03.559 me $3 ,000 a month and I will ensure your lead 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:06.740 flow never stops. Retainers create predictability. 00:12:06.840 --> 00:12:08.700 That's how you build a real business, not just 00:12:08.700 --> 00:12:11.000 a series of gigs. It stabilizes your cash flow 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:13.840 so you can hire help. So retainers create predictability 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:17.279 over one -off gigs. We have arrived at the hard 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:19.860 bucket. The goal here is millions. This is about 00:12:19.860 --> 00:12:22.820 owning assets and equity. This feels like a different 00:12:22.820 --> 00:12:26.500 sport entirely. This is where the rules change. 00:12:26.740 --> 00:12:29.779 You stop trading time for money. You start leveraging 00:12:29.779 --> 00:12:32.820 systems, capital and leadership. One of the opportunities 00:12:32.820 --> 00:12:35.220 listed is buying small businesses. This is the 00:12:35.220 --> 00:12:37.980 boring business strategy. You go to sites like 00:12:37.980 --> 00:12:40.899 Bisbee Cell or Flippa. You look for car washes, 00:12:41.179 --> 00:12:44.019 laundromats, RV parks, you know, businesses that 00:12:44.019 --> 00:12:46.179 are unsexy, maybe run by someone who wants to 00:12:46.179 --> 00:12:49.399 retire and is stuck in the 1990s. You buy them 00:12:49.399 --> 00:12:52.539 and then you layer AI automation on top. So you 00:12:52.539 --> 00:12:54.379 take a cash -flowing asset and you optimize it. 00:12:54.440 --> 00:12:56.580 Right. You install that AI receptionist we talked 00:12:56.580 --> 00:12:58.840 about. You automate the booking. You optimize 00:12:58.840 --> 00:13:01.600 the ad spend. Suddenly margins go up from 10 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:04.539 % to 25 % and the value of the asset doubles. 00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:07.019 You're essentially flipping businesses using 00:13:07.019 --> 00:13:10.860 technology. There's also investing in AI -first 00:13:10.860 --> 00:13:13.320 founders. Right. If you have capital from the 00:13:13.320 --> 00:13:15.279 previous buckets, you can use platforms like 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:17.519 AngelList or Republic. You're betting on the 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:19.700 jockeys, the founders who are building the future. 00:13:19.980 --> 00:13:22.740 But this is definitely high risk, high reward. 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:25.019 And then there's the personal brand to deal flow 00:13:25.019 --> 00:13:27.360 model. Can you explain deal flow? That sounds 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:30.100 like Wall Street jargon. It's the Mr. Beast or 00:13:30.100 --> 00:13:32.980 Logan Paul model, but for business. Deal flow 00:13:32.980 --> 00:13:35.960 just means opportunities coming to you. If you 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:38.340 build a massive audience by creating content, 00:13:38.580 --> 00:13:40.860 which is easier now with AI, you have attention. 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:44.019 Attention equals distribution. Once you have 00:13:44.019 --> 00:13:46.240 distribution, you can launch anything, a product, 00:13:46.460 --> 00:13:49.100 a service, a software, and you have instant customers. 00:13:49.320 --> 00:13:52.460 Or companies will offer you equity just to mention 00:13:52.460 --> 00:13:54.980 them. It's the ultimate leverage. And finally, 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:57.500 licensing playbooks. Intellectual property. Yeah. 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:00.740 If you figure out a perfect workflow for, say, 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:03.620 automating real estate leads using Zapier and 00:14:03.620 --> 00:14:06.299 GPT -5, you can package that whole system, the 00:14:06.299 --> 00:14:08.799 actual code, the prompts, the automations, and 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:11.169 sell it as a product on prompt base or... Gumroad. 00:14:11.350 --> 00:14:13.330 You build it once, you sell it infinite times. 00:14:13.529 --> 00:14:16.250 Zero marginal cost of replication. What is the 00:14:16.250 --> 00:14:18.570 biggest barrier to entry for this bucket compared 00:14:18.570 --> 00:14:20.750 to the others? It seems like it's not just skill. 00:14:20.970 --> 00:14:23.669 It's capital allocation and patience. You need 00:14:23.669 --> 00:14:25.950 money to buy the business or make the investment. 00:14:26.070 --> 00:14:28.649 But more importantly, you need long term thinking. 00:14:28.789 --> 00:14:31.750 These aren't 30 day plays. These are three, five, 00:14:31.870 --> 00:14:35.029 10 year plays. So long term thinking and capital 00:14:35.029 --> 00:14:37.250 allocation. That's the gatekeeper. Before we 00:14:37.250 --> 00:14:39.210 wrap up, we need to address the elephant in the 00:14:39.210 --> 00:14:43.139 room. If the roadmap is this clear, why do most 00:14:43.139 --> 00:14:45.419 people never reach these buckets? And it talks 00:14:45.419 --> 00:14:48.240 about the 1 ,000 -day rule. This is my favorite 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:51.100 part of the whole guide. He identifies shiny 00:14:51.100 --> 00:14:54.080 object syndrome as the killer. It goes like this. 00:14:54.220 --> 00:14:56.240 You start the video editing business. You do 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:58.360 it for three weeks. It gets hard. You get a rude 00:14:58.360 --> 00:15:01.820 client. Then you see a YouTube video about dropshipping 00:15:01.820 --> 00:15:04.100 or crypto. It looks easier. So you quit video 00:15:04.100 --> 00:15:06.340 editing and you start dropshipping. And you reset 00:15:06.340 --> 00:15:08.620 your progress. Every single time. You go back 00:15:08.620 --> 00:15:11.080 to level one. Progress can't compound if you 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:13.960 keep resetting to zero. Yeah. Anna says winners 00:15:13.960 --> 00:15:16.580 lose more than losers, but they stay long enough 00:15:16.580 --> 00:15:18.679 for those losses to matter. That's a profound 00:15:18.679 --> 00:15:22.120 statement. It reframes loss as just data gathering. 00:15:22.299 --> 00:15:26.500 Exactly. The fix is the 1 ,000 -day rule. Commit 00:15:26.500 --> 00:15:29.840 to one bucket, one opportunity for 1 ,000 days. 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:32.799 That's about three years. Consistency beats intelligence 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:36.600 every time. Why does quitting early feel so safe 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:39.110 to the human brain? Why do we do that? Because 00:15:39.110 --> 00:15:41.350 if you quit and start something new, you can't 00:15:41.350 --> 00:15:43.490 be judged yet. You're a beginner again. There's 00:15:43.490 --> 00:15:45.509 no failure in the beginning phase, only potential. 00:15:45.929 --> 00:15:47.889 If you stick with something for three years and 00:15:47.889 --> 00:15:50.269 it fails, that hurts. That's a blow to the ego. 00:15:50.490 --> 00:15:53.450 So we protect our egos by constantly restarting. 00:15:53.450 --> 00:15:55.570 So starting over means you're never technically 00:15:55.570 --> 00:15:58.549 wrong. It's a defense mechanism. And it keeps 00:15:58.549 --> 00:16:01.879 you broke. That hits hard. Let's recap the big 00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:04.779 ideas here. We start by avoiding the trash, the 00:16:04.779 --> 00:16:07.340 NFTs, the data entry jobs that robots have taken 00:16:07.340 --> 00:16:09.440 over. Right. Don't drive the car into the ocean. 00:16:09.659 --> 00:16:11.559 Then we move to the easy bucket to build confidence 00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:14.120 editing, chatbots, simple services. Get your 00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:16.259 first wins. Learn to sell. Learn to deliver. 00:16:16.500 --> 00:16:18.559 Then we scale to the medium bucket by solving 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:20.639 actual business problems with automation and 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:23.580 sauce. Moving from output to results. Shift from 00:16:23.580 --> 00:16:26.779 being a pair of hands to being a brain. And finally, 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:30.100 the hard bucket. Owning assets, equity, and IP. 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:34.000 Generational wealth. The end game. The core truth 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:37.419 here seems to be that in 2026, the competitor 00:16:37.419 --> 00:16:40.899 is not AI itself. It's the person who knows how 00:16:40.899 --> 00:16:43.460 to use AI. Absolutely. And remember that stat. 00:16:43.620 --> 00:16:46.220 AI job posts are growing three and a half times 00:16:46.220 --> 00:16:49.379 faster than any other category. The demand is 00:16:49.379 --> 00:16:52.039 there. You just need to pick a lane. So here's 00:16:52.039 --> 00:16:53.960 our call to action for you. Don't just consume 00:16:53.960 --> 00:16:55.980 this deep dive. Don't let this be another piece 00:16:55.980 --> 00:16:58.539 of content you scroll past. Pick one bucket, 00:16:58.679 --> 00:17:02.200 choose one opportunity, and execute without distraction. 00:17:02.580 --> 00:17:04.619 Commit to the thousand days. I want to leave 00:17:04.619 --> 00:17:07.039 you with one final thought. Consider the concept 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:10.119 of inbound deal flow versus cold outreach. When 00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:12.000 you start in the easy bucket, you're chasing 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:14.779 clients. You are knocking on doors. But if you 00:17:14.779 --> 00:17:16.880 build a reputation, if you build that personal 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:19.299 brand we talked about in the hard bucket, eventually 00:17:19.299 --> 00:17:22.039 that dynamic flips. Opportunities you can't buy, 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:25.279 partnerships, deals, equity offers, they start 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:27.160 coming to you. That is the ultimate goal. That's 00:17:27.160 --> 00:17:29.619 when the game becomes truly fun. Thank you for 00:17:29.619 --> 00:17:31.640 listening to The Deep Dive. We'll see you next 00:17:31.640 --> 00:17:32.319 time. See you.