I did everything wrong when I started my career.

Ok, maybe not ALL wrong. I mean, I could have gotten high on meth and tried to wrestle alligators...

(I live in Florida--it's not unheard of)

But I did make a lot (A LOT!) of mistakes. And there are a lot of things I would change if I had to go back to being 18 and do it over again.

Of course if I wanted to get philosophical, I could say that even the "mistakes" were what gave me the right experiences I needed at the time...

And money isn't the only thing that matters.

Both of those things are true. But in terms of pure speed-to-money, I didn't get off to a very good start.

I did what my parents and society expected me to do. The same old story of just about everyone of my generation:

• Went to college

• Got a (useless) degree

• Couldn't find a job for an entire year

• Went back and got a master's degree

• Finally got a full-time job (that paid peanuts)

Eventually I learned some stuff that was actually valuable, and got a "respectable" $70K/year job.

Then I quit my job to start doing freelance work building fancy spreadsheets.

And then started selling a course showing other spreadsheet gurus how to start their own freelance business.

I did eventually get to making six figures, but it took a LOOOONNNNNGGGGG time.

Much longer than it should have.

Which really sucks as a young guy, because it meant I was low status, people walked all over me, girls didn't like me, and I didn't have freedom.

No fun.

I'm writing this with younger self in mind: I want to show you how to get there much faster than this version of me did.

And if I can't figure out a way to send this back in time, then maybe someone else can benefit from it now.

If you're starting from zero with no skills or experience, all the better. This is the best time to start.

After all, having money, time and freedom is much more fun when you're young.

Six Paths to Six Figures

In the grand scheme of things, $100,000 a year is not all that much money.

There are a bunch of ways to get there.

1) Corporate

This is where I started. Spend 6 years in college, spend 5 years "climbing the corporate ladder", switch jobs a few times, do decent quality work...

...and eventually you'll land a job that pays 6 figures.

This is what I did in the beginning.

It works, but it's slow.

You don't get much freedom. You have to work on someone else's schedule.

You usually have to work longer hours and spend more of your time in meetings as you move up...

And even if you get up into management, you're probably still going to be stuck in the low end of 6 figures.

2) Doctor/Lawyer

If your main goal is to make your parents proud, become a doctor or lawyer.

You'll make 6 figures almost out of the gate.

But you'll have to go through hell to get there.

Many years of school, super intense study schedule, no sleep...

...and you'll leave with a mountain of debt and an Aderall addiction.

Probably not the best option, unless you really have a passion for it.

Side note: if you've ever noticed that a lot of doctors don't seem to really care about helping you be healthy...it's probably because they only studied medicine to please their parents.

3) Criminal

You can make good money selling cocaine.

But you'll probably end up in jail or shot.

4) Artist/Athlete

If you want to dedicate every waking hour to your craft for a TINY probability of ever making it...be an artist or an athlete.

Plus it's really really hard to keep the momentum going when you haven't reached the top 0.1% that actually get recognized.

(I'm not judging--I spent years trying to make it as a musician)

5) Investor

You can try to time the next big crypto.

But the odds of success are small, and you're completely at the mercy of the market.

6) Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is someone who can fail 99 times, succeed ONCE, and be rich.

That's right, you can have a 99% failure rate in business and still be a successful entrepreneur.

Having your own business is nice, because it's an iterative process.

You try something and it doesn't work.

So you look at the data, figure out what part didn't work, and change it a bit.

Try again and see what happens.

Keep doing this over and over again and eventually you'll have a well-oiled machine that dumps cash into your bank account.

Predictably.

Repeatably.

You get to set your own schedule.

The income potential is unlimited.

And, depending on the business, you can hit six figures in profit the very first year.

(I've now done this multiple times)

So I may be biased, but I'm going to recommend that you follow the Entrepreneur path.

Focus On Marketing

All you need to have a business is a product (or service) and marketing.

The accounting and logos and LLC and all the other stuff can come later.

If you have a thing and you can get people to buy it--you have a business. 

Most people trying to start a business focus all their energy on having the perfect product.

Something innovative and cool and unique, with a catchy name and cool logo.

Skip it.

It's hard to come up with something truly unique, and 99% of successful businesses don't.

Think about it:

• McDonald's is not the only company to sell hamburgers

• Nike is not the only company to sell sneakers

• Your local traffic lawyer with all those obnoxious billboards is not the only person suing people for car accidents

Instead of spinning your wheels trying to find the perfect product, you're going to focus on marketing AS the product.

I'll explain what I mean by that in a minute, but first let me show you WHY marketing is the best place to start.

Businesses see marketing as valuable, because it's close to the money.

Let's say you write an ad that brings in 1,000 customers that pay $100 each, your efforts just made the company $100,000.

It's super obvious that you're providing value to the company.

Though in reality, it wasn't just you.

In order to make that $100,000:

• Somebody had to create the product in the first place.

• Somebody had to deliver the product to the customers.

• Somebody had to provide customer service.

• Somebody had to enter the numbers in the accounting books.

But none of those people's contribution is as clearly tied to the money as yours.

You made an ad, and $100K came in to the company.

That's why your contribution, as the person doing the marketing, will always be the most highly valued.

Again, I did this all wrong when I started out.

I did back-office support work, messing around with spreadsheets.

(which pays decent, because it's a specialized skillset that's important to the company--but it's not as highly valued as marketing)

You're better off starting at the top of the pyramid.

Business Structure

Our goal here is to get to 6 figures as fast as possible. We're optimizing for speed to profit.

That means we want to create a business that:

• Provides a valuable service

• Easy to implement

• Low tech

• Low cost

• No employees

• Quick to learn

The best business to fit all these criteria is...

Helping other companies get clients.

Remember when I said your product IS marketing?

That's what I mean.

You provide marketing services for companies.

You help bring customers in the door.

This checks all the boxes. Valuable, easy to implement, low cost, etc.

Don't worry if this business doesn't sound like your ultimate life purpose.

That's OK.

It's a first step. It will teach you the skills you need to get there.

Because EVERYTHING requires marketing.

If you want to be a pastor, you have to get people to come to your church.

If you want to be a writer, you have to get people to buy your books.

I failed to make it as a musician not because I wasn't good at music, but because I wasn't good at MARKETING.

Doesn't matter how good your music is if nobody hears it.

It's also easy to fall into thinking that the only business opportunity out there is selling courses or coaching.

That's because most of what's being marketed to YOU is courses and coaching.

And I actually thinking courses/coaching is a better business than what I'm recommending here.

It's how I've made most of my money. It's more scalable and less headaches.

But it requires you to have some expertise that you can teach people. Which you may not have at this point.

Once you're successful at marketing for companies, you can always pivot to teaching other people.

And if you're focused on building a following on social media...

That's a good long-term play, but this is much faster.

And you'll probably find that building a following is much easier when you're already making money.

Approach

There are a lot of people trying to start freelancing and marketing agencies, and there are right and wrong ways to approach it.

Most people do it wrong.

Most people obsess about finding the perfect customer niche, like dentists or roofers.

Usually it's a business they know nothing about.

Don't do this.

Instead, find a business that you have experience with, or you have a personal connection to.

For example, if you have a job working for a company, you could help bring in customers to the company you work for.

Or if your uncle owns a restaurant, help him get people into the restaurant.

This is a much better start than targeting some business you don't have any experience or connection with.

(if you don't know any business owners personally, I'll give you some ideas a bit later)

This will also inform what skills you learn.

Most people make the mistake of FIRST learning a skill, and then trying to get people to pay them for it.

Like Facebook ads, SEO, video creation, etc.

Instead, learn whatever marketing skill is going to help the most for the business you're working with.

If it's a restaurant, that might be getting good reviews and high ranking on Google Maps.

If it's a moving company, it might search engine optimization (SEO).

If it's a course creator, it might be YouTube ads or building a following on Instagram.

What To Expect

This business is dead simple.

However, you WILL run into obstacles.

I promise you.

I love this quote: "The obstacle is the way."

What that means is: you try to accomplish some goal, and you run into an obstacle.

The way to achieve your goal is to overcome the obstacle.

When you do, you'll run into another obstacle.

If you keep repeating this process, eventually you will overcome all the obstacles and achieve your goal.

The obstacle is the way.

At first, the biggest obstacle is going to be lack of skills.

You overcome that obstacle by learning skills.

You may have a lack of resources.

Overcome this obstacle by learning to be resourceful.

You may run into a change market, where what worked before doesn't work anymore.

The first marketing business I tried was helping companies build a following on Instagram.

I had grown my own personal Instagram to over 10K followers, so i thought I could help companies do the same.

But Facebook bought Instagram, changed the algorithm, and everything I used to do stopped working.

They even shadowbanned my account.

It happens. Expect it.

In addition, you're quickly going to find that the BIGGEST obstacle is your own mental junk.

Lack of skills or knowledge, or the economy, is NOT your biggest obstacle.

The biggest obstacles are in your own mind.

That's OK, you just have to face them.

You have to upgrade your mindset and change your way of thinking.

Ruthlessly destroy all the false beliefs that are in the way of your success.

The obstacle is the way.

Most people don't do this. This is why most people have low expectations, low ambition, and don't ever get very far in life.

Action Steps

If you're going to actually do this (I hope you do!), here are the specific action steps:

Step 1: Find a company or product

This could be your own product, if you already have a business.

If you have a job, it could be your company's product.

It could be a friend or family member's business.

It could be a business where you're a customer and you know the owner.

It could be an affiliate product.

If you tell a business owner: "I want to get you customers. I'll do it for free and it won't take any of your time"

...that's a pretty easy sell.

Heck, you could even pitch me with that offer. You can sell my products.

(of course, you won't work for free for long. Just enough to prove you can get results)

One caveat: you want to make sure the product is proven.

If it's a startup or a new product that hasn't gotten any sales yet, don't try to sell it.

You don't want to get stuck trying to sell something that people don't want.

Step 2: Learn the skills

No idea HOW you're going to help this company get customers?

No worries.

Now we're going to figure that out.

Think about how people normally make purchasing decisions for your industry.

Do people search Google? Do they read reviews? Do they see the sign when they're driving by? Do they see ads on Instagram?

I won't get too into the specifics here, because there are a lot of possibilities. But think about what marketing method, if done well, would bring in the most customers for the business you're working with.

Then go learn that method.

Read books, buy courses, watch YouTube videos. Whatever you have to do to learn the skills.

Step 3: Get results

Keep learning and trying things until you get results. Until you start getting repeatable sales.

Up until this point, you're working for free.

Nobody's going to pay you to do something you've never successfully done before.

So work for free, or you can work out a commission deal. Where you get paid a percentage of each sale you make.

That way it's zero risk for the business owner.

You only get paid if you generate results.

Keep working on your test business until you can get them clients.

Now you have a system that you can replicate in other businesses.

Step 4: Get clients

Once you've proven that you can get results, now you can sell your services for a price.

You can even start charging your test business.

The simplest way to get new clients is through networking with business owners.

Start casual conversations with business owners on their social media.

Be interested in them, ask what they're working on, and AFTER you've built some rapport...

Tell them about your service.

Show them the results you've gotten.

And give them some kind of risk reversal.

"It's $1000 a month, paid at the end of the month. And if after the first month you're not happy with the service, we part ways and you pay nothing."

Even though YOU know that your method works and you can get results, the business owner doesn't know that yet.

So give him an out. Minimize the risk to him as much as possible.

---

And that's the system.

If you want me to personally mentor you to build a business like this for yourself, that's something I MAY be willing to offer, depending on my availability.

(I don't want to promise, because I don't know when you may be seeing this)

This would be personal mentorship, not a one-size-fits-all online course or coaching program. Literally me talking you through it, directing you every step of the way.

If you're interested, send me a message on X/Twitter: @thechrisshupe