I’m a 22 year old desperate girl. I have no money, no job, no college degree. Do you have any advice,… by @jaltucher
Answer by James Altucher:
Yes. First, I’m going to bullshit around for a few paragraphs (please skip if you don’t care at all about me) and then in final paragraph or so I will tell you what to do.
When I was 22 there was nothing I wanted more than A LOT of money and a serious relationship.
I thought a lot of money was $600,000. I assumed I’d just make $60,000 a year off that on interest and then I could retire.
By “retire” I meant: I can sit around and watch TV and have sex all day. I’m not sure which came first. Like, was the TV what I would do while waiting for sex. Or would sex be what I do while waiting for my favorite TV shows to come on.
There was no “on demand” TV. I couldn’t DEMAND my favorite shows then. I had to wait. So it’s a reasonable question to ask.
I had one idea: I went to real estate offices and asked if I could videotape all of the houses they had for sale. Then real estate agents can more quickly show people homes while sitting in their offices. Nobody said “yes”.
I had another idea. I helped create the Internet Chess Club, which still exists at chessclub.com. And then I had another idea, write a lot of novels until I became a massive bestseller and made a ton of money.
I would stand in the shower and think about all the money I was going to make. I still do that. Picture it.
None of my ideas worked. Not even the idea of getting into a serious relationship worked. I’m 48 and I’ve maybe been in a few (enough to produce two daughters about to bloom into adulthood) but, in any case, I woke up alone.
Then I got into a serious relationship AND I made a lot of money. Almost at the same time. I think they are linked.
But because I was unhappy in my relationship, I ended up losing all of the money.
Let me tell you how.
Every day I gambled. I played poker every single day. And I would put millions into bad tech companies. Like a wireless software company that made text devices for deaf people. Or a company that sold magazine subscriptions online. Or a house where I put nothing down so my expenses per month skyrocketed so much that the idea I could live on $60,000 a year was like a cruel joke.
Every day feels like a sprint. Even now. It feels like I have to make changes TODAY, so that by tomorrow (or even tonight) my life would change and be better.
It’s so hard to realize the basic cliche “life is a marathon and not a sprint” is true.
Because everyone opens their mouth and shits out the word “NOW” or “mindfulness”.
NOW sort of implies it’s a sprint.
Ok, enough of this garbage. I have another paragraph or two you can ignore and then I’ll tell you what to do specifically.
FIRST: you have to build the foundation of well-being in your life. Without well-being you can’t succeed. It’s true.
Do this: sleep 8 hours a day, eat well, move a lot. Be around good people and ONLY good people. Eliminate all toxic people. Be creative at least once a day. Remember every moment to say “thank you” to the good things in your life.
Ok, that’s the foundation. You have to do it to succeed. For “creative”, at the very least write down 10 ideas a day to build your idea muscle. Else you will be one of the 99% dumb people. Be in the 1% and don’t be ashamed of it.
Now I will tell you what to do to make money.
Research something enough that you can become an expert. Do something in one of these categories: “Get paid, get laid, lose weight”. Write a 30 page special report that is unique. Or at least a summary of 100 other reports you’ve read.
We need more concise information in this world (and yes, that includes this long answer – I know you had that joke ready).
Make a Facebook ad for $10. Give away your special report for free but only if they sign up for your email list.
Now come up with a product to sell. Even if you did not make the product you can get a nice affiliate fee (at least 50% and up to 100% of the revenues).
Sell it to your new email list.
By the way, I would not recommend something I did not do myself.
All of the above works.
But I wouldn’t be telling you any of this if I didn’t wake up myself, alone.
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