How I Built A $1.2M/yr One Person Business (Beginner Guide)

I've always thought that business was like a maze.

At the end of the maze there's...

• Work you enjoy.

• Work that pays $1m/yr.

• Work that travels anywhere.

• Work that takes 2-3 hours a day.

• Work that fulfills your life's purpose.

But this maze is not a regular maze... it's infested with roadblocks, traps, and temptations.

Most people want to walk through the maze, but they don't have the guts to do it.

Only a small percentage have the courage to walk.

It might take them months, years, or decades, but eventually they make it to the end.

When I started walking through the maze I was so excited.

But as I kept walking... it got harder.

When I'd sit down to "work," I'd just stare at my screen, search the web, and switch browsers. But, I made no progress.

My brain went from soaring with excitement to gut wrenching thoughts of working a 9-5 job for the rest of my life if I didn't figure this out.

But I kept walking. I'd walk even when I felt lost, discouraged, or hopeless...

Here's what happened:

Nothing happened for a long time... then everything happened at once.

In this newsletter, I'm going to show you the path I took to build a $1.2M/yr one person business, so you can copy me instead of wasting years wandering around the maze by yourself...

5 Steps I Took To Build A $1.2M/yr One Person Business

1) Pick A Difficult Problem To Solve 

Solving a difficult problem will guide you through the maze.

Pick a problem the market will pay well for.

Pick a problem you'd enjoy solving.

Pick a problem that challenges you, but won't break you.

Here's what I did:

A few years ago I was obsessed with sneakers.

Sneakers were selling for $100, $200, $500, and even sometimes $1,000 profit.

I made my first $200 online reselling a pair of Nike sneakers.

But I knew that making a couple hundred bucks here and there was not going to make me $1m/yr working a few hours a day... I needed something better.

Then I realized I was paying $20 a month to be part of a sneaker reselling community.

And I thought to myself... "I wonder how much the owner of this group is making?"

The owner was 16 years old making $20,000 per month.

That opened my eyes... "What if I helped people like him get more members?"

So that's what I did.

2) Stop Studying… Start Executing.

After I picked the problem, I spent weeks studying so I'd be qualified, but this only left me with 10 pages of empty notes and I felt overwhelmed.

Avoid this.

If you get stuck here there's a chance you'll never start walking down the maze.

Remember what it was like to learn how to ride a bike?

Balance. Pedal. Fall. Get up. Try again.

Every time you get back up you get a little bit further... and eventually you're riding a bike!

That's exactly what I did to get rid of my analysis paralysis.

Instead of studying I'd try and fail.

My first community was pretty embarrassing. I partnered with someone that didn't know much about sneakers, but they were willing to go 50/50 with me.

So I started working.

"What should I do first? What should I do after that? Then what?"

I created a logical outline of what I needed to do.

Most projects boil down to: build, write, sell.

A few weeks later we launched a $20 per month community and made $400.

Only $200, but I was finally walking through the maze.

3) Crawl, Walk, Run, Sprint. 

After we made $400, I was eager to figure out how to make more money.

My goal was to make $5,000 per month.

That's 250 new members at $20 per month.

So that's what I spent my entire summer working on.

After failing a few more times, new members started rolling in...

We went from 20 to 250 paying members within two months.

That was the big win I needed to be able to quit my 9-5.

After that I slowed down on getting new members to focus on keeping what we had.

When the school season picked back up, members started canceling.

Revenue decreased from $5,000/mo to $2,500/mo within a month.

That's when I learned to never slow down.

Crawl, walk, run, sprint...

Never stop sprinting.

4) Earn To Learn.

Eventually our revenue sank to $1,000 per month, so I had to keep working my job.

At this point I felt like giving up, but I had an idea to sell my business for $20,000.

This opened up a new door I never expected...

One of the group owners I pitched laughed at my $20,000 offer, but he saw potential.

He asked, "What if you just helped me get members for my group instead?"

Just like that we partnered up and he gave me 33% of all the new members I brought in.

This partnership was a HUGE upgrade for me... his product was better than mine, his price was $75 per month, and he had a ton of experience.

Over 11 months, I got paid $100,000 to learn what I needed to know to make $1,000,000.

He paid me to learn everything so we’d both earn more.

That’s leverage.

5) Learn Leverage.

Leverage is what you get out for what you put in.

Instead of spending 8 hours to make $80 at my job... I learned to sell a $75 product.

Instead of selling a $75 product... I learned to sell a $3,000 service over the phone.

Instead of selling a $3,000 service over the phone... I learned to sell through writing.

Every time I learned something new it increased my hourly rate.

From $10 per hour to $50, $100, $250, $500, $1,000…

Pick a desired hourly rate and minimize time spent on less rewarding tasks.

Leverage your time building, writing, and selling.

Work less, live more, earn more.

So if you want to make $1.2M/yr:

Pick a difficult problem to solve.

Stop studying... start executing.

Crawl before you walk. Walk before you run. Run before you sprint. 

Earn to learn.

Learn leverage.

See ya next time,

Brady.