Transcript
0:00 Look, I have made videos on many books to date. But this is one book in my life that taught me the science of making money. In June 2022, I was working a job somewhere and only earning enough for bare survival. Like you, I also used to think that if I just got a good job, life would be set. But I soon realized that if I just kept doing a job, I would never become a wealthy person. Those big dreams I had seen since childhood were probably never going to come true with a job.
0:37 But just 6 months later, in December 2022, I had an asset of my own that still earns me lakhs of rupees a month. And this book has a major contribution behind this shift in my life. Because this book tells us the secret principles that rich people don't want us to ever know. So if you give me your next 15 minutes, I will show you five such dark principles that will let you control your financial destiny like I did. And at the end of the video, there is a bonus point that even the richest people in the world crave. So let's start by breaking your first illusion, which is that money equals wealth. Tell me one thing, if Mukesh Ambani stops going to his office from tomorrow morning, will his money stop coming in?
1:27 Absolutely not. But if you stop going to the office tomorrow morning, what will happen? Obviously, your salary will stop. This is the difference between wealth and money. Middle-class people like us always think that wealth means money. But this book works to break this very illusion of ours. In this book, Naval Ravikant says, "Wealth is nothing but assets that earn while you sleep." This means that wealth is something that earns you money 24/7.
2:01 Regardless of whether you are working or not. For example, this YouTube channel of mine—whether I am sleeping at night, working, not working, or even traveling, my videos keep getting views , which generates a consistent income. So in this way, my channel is an asset for me. Similarly, if you have a business where your team is working for you, or even a stock that pays dividends, then that is your asset or wealth that earns for you. But contrary to wealth, if we look at the concept of money, it is just an exchange mechanism . Where you earn money in exchange for your time. Meaning, you are trading your time for money. For example, you work 9 hours daily at a company to earn a specific monthly amount. Now, the day you stop giving your time, you will stop receiving money as well. And this is the trap in which over 80%of India is stuck. And what makes this situation even worse, is one thing that is the enemy of every middle-class person.
3:16 Which is status. Status means an obsession with things that make us look a little richer in society. Like an iPhone, a car, or branded accessories. People have a huge misconception that their iPhone will make them look rich. But those same people struggle to pay the monthly EMIs for the phone. Naval first explains in this book that we, people from middle-class families, are always chasing status. Thinking that perhaps it is wealth. And that is why they can never build real wealth. Now, if you want to break this trap and get yourself out of those 80%of Indians who are always caught between financial management and survival, then you need to identify your specific knowledge.
4:07 But what exactly is this specific knowledge? Have you seen the movie Chandni Chowk to China? There is a dialogue in it that I do not fear the 10,000 moves you have practiced once. But I fear the one move you have practiced 10,000 times. So, in this dialogue, that one move of Akshay Kumar is his specific knowledge that no one else can copy. Naval says that if society can train you for something, it will train someone else for the same thing who will eventually replace you later on. If that went a little over your head, let me explain it in a very simple way. Suppose you listened to people, learned coding, and got a good job. But within a few months, if your company finds a candidate who codes better than you, then indirectly you become replaceable. That is why you must develop your specific knowledge.
5:12 Specific knowledge means a unique skill that you naturally possess. This knowledge is not taught to you in school. You have to find it yourself. And a perfect example of this is Fabian Ponkers. Recently, we had the opportunity to attend India's biggest business and tech event, Odoo Community Days in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. A guy came onto the stage here wearing a normal shirt, simple shoes, with no show-off at all. People were thinking, "Oh, he must be some coordinator." But when they found out his net worth was $ 4 billion, the whole hall went silent.
5:52 Do you know why this person became so successful? Because at the right time, he understood his specific knowledge, which was coding. Since childhood, he was naturally inclined toward coding. He wasn't taught this in school. He learned to code by reading books on his own, and he started it from a small room. An app where you can fulfill all your business needs. Whether it's invoicing or accounting, everything is in one place. And look what happened today. Today, it is one of the biggest companies in the world. But the guy is still so down-to-earth that when he was in India, he lived in a rented 2 BHK apartment. And furthermore, he didn't go to the office in a luxury car.
6:45 Instead, he would go by rickshaw. When I was talking to Fabian recently, one line he said really stuck in my mind. Money will find you once the world trusts your value. So check out Zoho. The link is given in the description below, and share it with a friend who wants to build their own startup. So basically, this is what happens. When you leverage your unique skill. Money automatically follows you. So, what exactly could this specific knowledge be? It could be something you have been doing effortlessly since childhood. You might be seeing some examples of specific knowledge from this book on your screen. Please take a screenshot of this. If you also want to identify your specific knowledge, Naval Ravikant says, "Specific knowledge is found by pursuing your genuine curiosity and passion rather than whatever is in hot trend right now." Meaning, the thing you find genuinely interesting, the thing you lose track of time while doing, the thing that is fun for you but work for others, that is your specific knowledge. Speaking for myself , I really enjoyed consuming content. I have always been watching educational content. I used to really enjoy listening to business case studies and exploring technology and trends. And unconsciously, I was absorbing every creator's style, their editing patterns , thumbnails, and strategies. In fact, in my early days, I used to upload many BTS clips of my shoots on this very channel. If you scroll a little and look, you will definitely find all those videos. And this is the combination in my life: storytelling plus business knowledge plus platform understanding. This became my specific knowledge. So, to identify your specific knowledge, ask yourself these four questions. Question number one: what did you do effortlessly in childhood? Maybe you were the child who loved taking cars apart, or perhaps the one in class who was an expert at explaining topics to others. You will have to introspect and analyze all these things once. After that comes question number two. What is something that might be boring for others? But it is not boring for you. You do it with all your heart and enjoyment. After that, question number three: what are your unique combinations? For example, if you have cooking plus camera skills plus regional language fluency, you can become a regional food content creator; or if fashion sense plus budget shopping plus video editing is your combination, you can become a fashion influencer. After that comes question number four. What advice do your friends consistently ask from you? If everyone takes tech advice from you, you have the potential to be a tech reviewer. If they ask for relationship advice, you could become a dating coach . So, when you give honest answers to these questions, you will find your specific knowledge. By the way, if you want, definitely tell me your unique combination in the comments. I will try to take some time and tell you about your potential career. Now look, just knowing your specific knowledge won't do anything, because if you keep working on it alone, you will earn money by selling your time, just like a laborer or a worker. But to actually build wealth, you need the next principle, which is the position of leverage. Look at the square appearing on your screen. That 1x in the small corner at the bottom left is you, and that is exactly who I was a few years ago. The small square there, up to 10,000 x, is the result of your hard work that you get right now. Which is obviously too low for you. But if you want 10,000 x, you will have to take the help of leverage here, in which you will put in only 1x effort but get 10,000 x results. But remember, 95%of you will never reach this 10,000 x. Now , why am I saying this? Because leverage means a multiplier for your efforts. If I explain it to you in very simple words, leverage means maximizing your results with the least amount of effort. Have you ever wondered why a YouTuber reaches millions of people by making just one video, while a teacher, despite working just as hard, only teaches 40 students? Now, here both the YouTuber and the teacher are putting in the same amount of effort. But why is there a difference in their results?
11:51 It's because the YouTuber has leverage here. You can also think of leverage as a system you build to scale your output . And in this book, three major types of leverage are discussed, which are very important to understand. Number one: Labor leverage. It simply means that other people work for you. Like employees working for their boss. But Naval calls this form of leverage one of the oldest and most fought-over forms. Because in this, we have to face many problems. Like management headaches, HR issues, office politics, resignations, and so on. Plus, another thing is that you have to become a leader. And honestly, most people are not natural leaders. So, before hiring others, think about whether you can handle them. If not, then perhaps the second leverage will be beneficial for you, which is capital leverage. In this , your money works for you. Stock market, real estate, and investments are all forms of capital leverage. Now, if you want to become wealthy solely through investments, I recently made a video on this topic where I showed investment options and their practical results in detail. Later on, make sure to click the 'i' button to watch this video, or check the link in the description. Do check that out. And now , let's move to Naval Ravikant's favorite type of leverage, which is code and media leverage. To simplify this even further, let's look at it in two categories. The first category is code leverage, meaning software.
13:36 Meaning, create something once that people need and sell it infinite times. Mark Zuckerberg built Facebook, and today 3 billion users are using it. Meaning, if the infrastructure is already built, then the extra cost per new user is almost zero. And the second category is media leverage, meaning content. Such as books, videos, podcasts, and blogs. With their help, too, you can build wealth. Now, take my example. I am making this video only once. But millions of people will watch it. My effort has always been the same.
14:19 Whether 100 people are watching or 100,000. But the output of the results keeps increasing significantly with the numbers. And that's how you can use three leverages to build wealth. But even before that, you need to understand which phase of life you are in. If you are working a job somewhere, you are in the first one, where you have zero leverage. You are selling your time. If you are freelancing, then you are in the second phase. Which is quite better than the first one. You can hire other freelancers for less money for your work or charge a premium for your services. And after this comes phase number three, which is about owning a small shop or business. Here, you can try labor leverage, but avoid hiring too many people because it will decrease your profit margins and increase your headaches. Now, this part about leverage is not as simple as it looks. Because for labor leverage, you will need people who follow your instructions. After that, for capital leverage, it is very important that people trust you. And in media leverage , your credibility is very necessary.
15:36 And you get all three of these things through accountability. Now, being accountable means taking responsibility for your own things or attaching your name to your actions. Naval Ravikant says that if you want to become successful and wealthy, learn to take accountability. Take risks in your own name, because when you do that, society rewards you with responsibility, equity , and leverage. But yes, accountability is also a double-edged sword where if you are successful, you will get the credit. But if you fail, you will also be the one blamed for it. Here, Naval Ravikant says about himself that in 2013 Until 2014, his entire public image was just around startups and investing. But after 2014-15, he started writing about philosophy and psychology under his own name. Back then, people in the industry were asking him, what is this work you are doing? You are ruining your career. But he still took the risk, and today that very thing has become a part of his credibility and identity. So now, let's come to that brutal test I mentioned at the beginning of this point. The scalability of these leverages is the lowest. And that is where everyone gets stuck. So, if you want to master them, I have mentioned a free PDF at the end of this video. Make sure to download it . Now, these were the three principles that will help you become wealthy. But what about the mindset that rich people don't want you to know? The Almanack of Naval Ravikant book talks about two types of thinking. The first is salary-based thinking and the second is equity-based thinking. Now, this salary-based thinking is actually quite linear. Where people only think that the salary will come on the first of the month and I will spend it like this . Basically, these people live in their survival phase. These people just keep thinking about going to the office on Monday. I will have to wait for an increment. The boss didn't give a promotion. But at the exactly opposite end of this spectrum come people with equity-based thinking. They never even consider their effort or time. All that is on their mind is how to increase the value of their skills, product, or company. Salary-based thinking includes the doctor who studied for 10 years and is now treating patients in a hospital.
18:23 Their starting salary might be 5,000 and they will reach their peak salary only after many years of experience. But on the other hand, equity-based thinking includes those owners who own that hospital. And that owner will benefit from every single doctor working in their hospital. If there are 50 doctors, then 50 times the benefit. Now I know that this is not exactly new . Look, everyone says that having a business mindset is necessary. But still, we are unable to develop our mindset. Do you know why? We were taught in school that if you get good marks, you will get a good job. Our parents told us to apply for government jobs. Life is set. Our society told us that Mr. Sharma's son gets a 5 million package at Google. But has anyone ever told you to start your own business and we will invest? Perhaps very few parents would say that because we have a fear in our minds: what if the business fails? Our brain always tries to avoid that loss. But our goal is to change this mindset and this fear. For which this book talks about judgment, which is also my personal favorite point. Many such moments come in our lives. Where we are unable to make a decision. And many people's lives are destroyed because they cannot make the right choices at the right time in their lives. This very thing has been mentioned in this book too. If you cannot exercise judgment, you will never be able to become a wealthy person. While defining the word judgment, Naval Ravikant says that when you do not consider the long-term consequences of your actions for any of your problems, that is what judgment is . Basically, if you think about the long-term results before doing anything , that is not called judgment. And to become a good decision-maker, a good judgment-maker, you will need to know these three things. If you can’t decide, the answer is always no. The biggest decisions of your life, like should I marry this person? Should I invest in this business? Should I buy this house? Such decisions will impact your life in the long term. So, if you are confused while deciding these, your answer should always be no. Avoiding anything wrong is always greater than making the correct case. Because great decision-makers are not those who predict the future perfectly, but those who avoid such dumb mistakes. Never base your decisions on your past life experiences, thinking that since it happened yesterday, it will likely happen today too. Instead, it is better to base your decisions on mental models . Mental models are basically like a toolkit that helps you analyze a situation. For instance, Game Theory explains how people will behave in different situations. Evolution explains to us why people naturally compete and adapt. Economics explains how simple rules like supply and demand run society and the market. All these models act like a microscope for you.
21:59 Through which you can understand every decision deeply and make better choices . Look, these big millionaires. They don’t possess any magic. They are just like us. But the only difference is that they think by stepping out of their comfort zone. They make such decisions that give them profit in the long term, and that is why they become rich. Once you start making the right decisions, the fear inside you will also disappear regarding what I will do if I face a loss in something. And just by this, you can easily grow your mindset too. And now comes the last principle, which if we remove, then all the principles till now are of no use.
22:46 Play long-term games. Look, it takes time to build anything. But this time feels longer when you are counting every single day. And people these days have no patience at all. Because of social media, editing apps, and fast delivery, we have become addicted to instant gratification. And that is why investing our efforts into anything valuable for the long term has become very difficult for us. But trust me, when your efforts start to compound, you will be the one to benefit the most . Even Naval says that all the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest. Take Warren Buffett's example. People think he is a genius investor. But the truth is, he is a patient investor. His net worth today is over $ 100 billion. But until the age of 50, his net worth was less than a billion dollars. Meaning, he built 99%of his wealth after the age of 50. At 60 years of age, 33.8 billion, at 70, 36 billion, at 80 years, 65 billion, and at 90 years, 100 plus billion. But 99.9%people would give up before reaching this point. Imagine if Warren Buffett had given up at the age of 50, he wouldn't have 100 billion today. If you have recently seen my comeback videos, in which I explained how I completely disappeared for 180 days and how I built this channel afterward, you will easily understand this long-term play concept. Naval says that when you find the 1%of your discipline that will not be wasted, which you will be able to invest in for the rest of your life and has meaning to you, go all in and forget about the rest. Basically, 99%of your efforts will be wasted anyway. But when you find that 1%that actually works, use it to scale. And remember, until you find this 1%, you will have to remain patient and consistent. And not just Naval Ravikant, if you have read the Bhagavad Gita, even there Shri Krishna has said that you must keep doing your duty. Never worry about the results. So , whatever you do to build your future wealth, just trust it and never quit easily. Before starting your journey, keep this mindset that I will be a long-term player. Because this is the one simple thing that sets us apart from rich and successful people. So these were the five principles that completely changed my perspective on money-making. And now let's see that bonus point that even the richest people in the world crave. Which is happiness. You will always find two types of people in our society. One are those who will say that happiness can be bought with money. And the others will be those who don't need any money to be happy. But actually, if we go by this book, Naval Ravikant says that yes , money is very important to be happy.
26:18 But it is only a small part of your happiness. He says that happiness is a highly personal skill that can be learned. But we Indians don't even know how to be happy properly. Our happiness is always dependent on external things. Whereas real happiness is learned within. The problem here is that our brain has become a survival machine. And all day long, it just runs on what the next step is and where will the money come from? How will the next deal be closed? And this constant missing feeling eats up our happiness. Naval has said in this book that when that missing feeling disappears from your life, then you come into the present moment. No regrets of the past, no tension of the future. Just this present moment, this is real happiness.
27:10 Now, everyone's definition of happiness can be different. But if you think success equals happiness, then you are wrong. Yes, it is definitely true that in today's date, everyone in the world is chasing success and keeping themselves in the delusion that when I get success, I will be happy. But Naval says that success often comes from dissatisfaction, in which you think that I want more, I need to achieve more. But this doesn't mean that you should give up on success. You need to build your happiness skill, which you can do with these simple hacks. Number one, consume less alcohol so that your mood remains stable. Number two, eat less sugar so that your anxiety will decrease. Number three, detox from social media so that your mind remains calm. And lastly, proper sleep, right food, and a little exercise. These things are a must for your sustainable happiness, and the biggest hack is to change the people around you. Naval says that a person becomes who their five closest friends are. Think, if there are negative people in your circle, then you will also become like them. But if your circle is positive, grateful, and motivated, then you will automatically become like them. But here, there will also be some people who will say that I follow all these hacks. But still, I am not happy. And that's why acceptance comes. In every situation in life, you have three choices. Number one: change it. If it’s possible, take action. Number two: accept it. If you cannot change something, then accept it peacefully.
29:02 And number three: leave it. If you can’t tolerate something, then just leave it. Because as people, our greatest suffering comes when we neither change, nor accept, nor leave a situation. We just stay stuck in overthinking. So, don't tie your happiness to any situation or any materialistic thing. Just try to be happy in all those little things. In the end, I’ll just say that business leaders can make money, make a name, and build empires. But the true victory belongs to the person who can say at the end of the day, "I am happy today."
29:47 Now look, even after this advice of mine, more than 90%of you will never become rich. Because most people remain poor due to their own choices. It’s not that people don’t know their options today. But people don't take decisions that would bring changes to their lives. And the main reason for this is that they never want to leave their comfort zones. Middle-class thinking is so deeply ingrained in people's minds that taking risks feels impossible to them. And societal expectations have become so heavy that even pursuing specific knowledge feels selfish. But remember, it’s you who is going to be responsible for your own situation, not your family nor your society. And if you want to be among the 10%who actually take action, then start your business right now. And to start a business, the first thing you need is a proper management system— billing, inventory, accounting, everything organized. This is exactly what Fabien did. He first organized his business systematically and then scaled it. So check out Odoo, the same platform that Fabien built, which is worth billions today. The link is in the description below. If you are serious about starting a business, then definitely try Odoo once, and do share this with a friend who wants to start their own startup. We will meet in the next video. Until then, keep hustling.
31:24 Keep learning, and as always, keep inspiring.