Codie A. Sanchez

Investing millions in Main St businesses & teaching you how to own the rest | HoldCo, VC fund, Founder

On a mission to create financially free and free-thinking humans.I founded a advisory and investment company called Contrarian Thinking that helps owners buy and scale businesses.Our newsletter has over 1M+ weekly readers, here → contrarianthinking.biz/liOur community has taught 9,000+ members biz buying, biz growing, and doing deals. We value experience over degrees.Betting on yourself over building someone else's dream.Main Street over Wall Street.My mission is less suits, more boots. Meaning: we the people holding the power… and the purse strings.🔗Join 1M+ others who get our free newsletter: contrarianthinking.biz/li🔗YouTube: @CodieSanchezCT🔗Instagram: @codiesanchez🔗Twitter: @Codie_Sanchez🔗Weekly business-buying newsletter Main Street Minute: contrarianthinking.biz/minute-li

Founder

We help free minds and build bank accounts.

The best advice that no one follows:

- Wake up at 5:45am.
- Marriage done well is a huge superpower.
- Trust God.
- Be careful what you read, it becomes the way you think.
- No going out on a school night.
- If you have to drink to hang out with someone, you probably shouldn't be buds.

Feel free to share if you agree ♻️

Investing millions in Main St businesses & teaching you how to own the rest | HoldCo, VC, Founder | NYT best-selling author

I have no energy for hate. Love you, wish you well, or hope you heal. That's it.

You will make 10x more money if you present ideas like this to your clients or leaders.

Underrated superpower:

Just dumb enough to believe in yourself, just smart enough to execute.

You don’t have anxiety because you think you CAN’T do it.

You have anxiety because deep down you know you CAN be doing bigger things.

People overestimate business plans and “genius.” They underestimate irrational inability to quit.

Dumber people than you have done it.

Let's get after it 💥

Follow for more & repost if you need this to be your new mantra.

You don’t get lucky.

You make your luck.

There are 3 ways to increase your odds of luck:

1. Do, repeatedly. Try, then iterate.
2. Be consistent. Resist the urge to give up.
3. Gain knowledge. Invest in yourself.

Knowledge without action is worthless. So is acting without knowing what you’re doing.

Say you want to buy a business.

You could get the best advice in the world from the smartest people in acquisitions… But if you don’t act, you’ll never buy one.

OR

Your could have all the drive in the world, the right mindset… But ruin yourself financially because you didn’t learn the right tactics.

13 other unreasonably simple habits to change your life:

1. Waking up at 5:45am solves 99.9% of daily issues.

2. Grab your to-do list. Do the thing you want to do least, first.

3. Stop all 60 min meetings, make them 45 minutes. Tighter meetings, more time.

4. No social media, email, or text when you wake up. Write something, read something, or create something before you get sucked in.

5. Do the $1,000/hr Test. Group work in 3 buckets based on return: $10, $100, $1,000. Offload one low ROI task per day.

6. Change one meeting a week to a walking call. Watch how excited the other meeting member becomes.

7. Add a How vs Won't check-in. When you say, "that WON'T work." Instead ask, "How could that work?"

8. Be the dumbest one in your friend group, then move on when you’re not. As they say, if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.

9. Take a picture of your net worth. What gets measured gets managed. Check finances daily.

10. Always the stairs, never the elevator. Pick the hard option. See how much stronger you are than you think.

11. Never write to-dos in stone. You're 10x more productive if you reprioritize daily.

12. Meditate. 10 minutes a day. For a twofer - do it in the sauna. Sometimes hacking culture gets it right.

13. Get intimidated. Everything you want is on the other side of fear. Do something every day that scares you a little bit.

Life is the small things repeated daily.

Change one daily habit, and beautiful things start to happen...

So pick one.

↓↓↓

Also...build the habit of getting ownership, not income. 

Come to MSM Live to learn how: https://lnkd.in/gf6hPHdF

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Harsh truth:

Running a company is simply a game of prioritizing problems.

Here’s how to become the Chief Problem Solver in your business:

Want to know Elon Musk's "secret" to running Tesla, SpaceX, and 3+ other billion-dollar companies?

According to Marc Andreessen, it's simple:

"He shows up every week, identifies the biggest problem, fixes it, and does that 52 weeks in a row."

Most companies hide from problems:

• They reframe them as "challenges"
• They create layers of abstraction
• They delegate them into oblivion

But problems aren't biohazards—they're your biggest opportunities.

Bigger the problem? Bigger the potential.

There’s a reason SpaceX is able to send a 400-foot skyscraper into the sky knowing it might explode.

Because they want to know exactly what breaks, when, and why.

Every failure incapacitates dozens of future problems.

This approach works because running a company is simply prioritizing problems.

Your earnings directly reflect what you solve...

Big problems pay better.

Another great example of this is Brad Jacobs.

He built 7 billion-dollar companies in logistics, waste, and warehousing - industries most people find boring until they see his bank account.

Here’s how he evaluates risk vs reward on different deal sizes:

• Small, low-risk deals: exist but limited reward
• Small, high-risk deals: limited reward with high risk (avoid)
• Big, low-risk deals: unicorns (don't exist)
• Big, high-risk deals with solvable problems: "the bingo quadrant"

One of my favorite lines from his book is:

"If you want to win, you have to rearrange your brain to lean into those big, hairy problems and figure out how to cut off the hair and de-risk."

This is exactly what your job is as a CEO.

It’s simple: hire the smartest people in the world... and solve the problems they can't figure out.

That's it. That's the whole job.

Not avoiding problems, but identifying and selecting the right ones to solve.

Becoming a Chief Problem Solver requires you to create your own weekly problem-solving loop:

1. Identify your single biggest constraint
2. Focus all resources on solving it
3. Measure the result
4. Repeat next week

1 problem. 1 solution. 52 weeks in a row.

The best entrepreneurs don't just "think differently" about problems. They actively build muscles for problem identification and execution.

Then they do it again and again.
Fair warning though, this isn't glamorous work. It means:

• Living inside friction
• Facing uncomfortable truths
• Fixing things no one else wants to touch

But it's where all the leverage is.

If your business is stuck, your unlock is often solving ONE big problem.

Maybe you know exactly what it is, but don't know how to solve it. Or maybe you're not sure what the problem is yet...

P.S. If you want to see how we think about solving these problems for our own businesses, you might want to check this out: https://lnkd.in/enaBvipE

A reminder to myself and you this Saturday...

It’s really just you against the mirror. You vs you. No one else can win at a game of one. I know it’s hard not to get distracted, race horses wear blinders for a reason. Your lane you’re game. LFG.

Underrated quality of awful leaders:

They try to please everyone & lead by committee.

The hardest parts about leadership:

• Telling truths people don’t want to hear
• Watching decisions people will regret
• But you can’t force mentorship
• No one cares about your business as much as you do
• Micromanaging means YOU hired wrong

Doesn't mean you have to be a jerk.

But often trying to please everyone is the worst thing you can do for your people.

What do you think?

Wall Street has one rule:

Never start what you can buy.

Here’s everything you need to know about buying a biz in 2025: 

While 90% of startups fail, 80% of acquisitions survive the first year.

88% of people worth $30M+ have done at lease one acquisition.

That means the best way to get rich isn’t to start a business like they love to tell us.

The best way to wealth with the highest degree of certainty is through acquisitions.

Right now, the average small business owner in the US is 67 years old. When you’ve run a business for 10+ years, you're bound to be exhausted.

These owners are motivated to sell by what I call the 7 D's:

• Departure
• Divorce
• Disease
• Disagreement
• Distress
• Death
• Dullness

They’re desperate to exit the game but don't know how. 

Most people think they need millions in capital to buy a businesses.

But they don't realize 60% of all business sales involve seller financing.

Instead of going to a bank for a loan, the seller becomes your bank.

You put some money down, and they get paid over time from the business profits.

There are 3 reasons why a seller would agree to this:

1. Cash

Let’s say the bank offered the seller $750,000 for their biz but you offered the seller $1.15 million paid over time.

They’ll make an extra $400,000 by being the bank.

2. Taxes

Lump sum payments hit the seller with massive tax bills.

Installment payments spread over 10 years means lower tax brackets and potentially hundreds of thousands saved.

3. Speed

Bank loans take 3-9 months to close. Seller financing can close in 2-3 weeks.

Now which businesses to target? 

Ones under $10 million in revenue with at least 15% profit margins.

Blue-collar service businesses fit this bill - HVAC, landscaping, cleaning services.

They're cash-flowing, recession-resistant, and boring enough that private equity ignores them. 

BUT, before searching anywhere, create what I call a deal box. Define exactly:

• How much cash flow you need annually
• Maximum purchase price
• Geographic preferences
• Industry focus
• Must-haves and can't-stands

If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you’ll never find it.

Next up, how to find businesses to buy? 

1. Venmo Challenge

Pull your payment history and filter out friends and big companies. What's left are small businesses you already pay - cleaning services, handymen, landscapers.

2. Personal P&L Review.

Open your credit card statements and look at small businesses you spend with. These are owners you can reach out to.

3. The 9-5 Strategy:

One of our community members bought her coworker's $1.5M business with full seller financing after he decided to retire to go skiing with his wife.

↓ ↓ ↓

As a thank you for sticking around to the end, I want you give my "Deal Clarity Workbook."

It helps you figure out what business is right for you.

Grab it here: https://lnkd.in/enPdVi_D

What I wish I was told before I had success.

The “Hate Us ‘Cuz They Ain’t Us” Curve:

When you first start out, they tell you...

You’re lame.
You’re crazy.
That’ll never work.
Oh, she’s a one-hit wonder.
She probably has a rich dad.
Or slept her way there.

THEN, we hit the top of the curve. Your success is obvious. And things start to change... They say…

Oh yeah, I know her.
Hey, long time no talk!
Love to meet up and pick your brain.
How did you do that?

And the grand finale...
They ask you for a job.

If success is your goal, expect people to talk a lot of crap for a long time. Let them. Because one day, you’ll just get to point at the scoreboard.

↓↓↓

FYI 

If you're ready to step out of your comfort zone this year and buy a business, come to my live event this week. 

I'll teach you how (over 3 days): https://lnkd.in/eEye_qd6

The richest people in the world don't just build companies...they buy them.

Here’s how you can too (without their millions): 

Three reasons why buying beats building a business from scratch:

- 45% of new businesses fail within 5 years
- Most entrepreneurs make only $67k/year
- First 3-4 years are unprofitable

Compare that to when you buy...

You inherit customers, systems, and profits from day one.

"But Codie, I genuinely can’t afford one."

That’s what I thought too when I started. 

There are 3 ways to buy any business (without needing millions):

1. Experience
2. Sweat equity
3. Money

You only need ONE of these three to pull off a deal.

1. Experience

This is perfect for people who know the industry inside and out.

Maybe you've been a plumber for 20 years and want to buy a plumbing company.

Sellers value genuine knowledge over $$ because they know you won't destroy what they built.

2. Sweat Equity

If you’re thinking about working in the business and growing it, this is for you.

Many retiring owners care more about their legacy than maximizing the sale price.

They want someone who'll take care of their employees and customers, not just squeeze the biz for cash.

3. Money

This doesn't have to mean YOUR money.

I've bought plenty of businesses with 0-15% down using other people's money. You can:

- Use SBA loans (government-backed with low rates)
- Get investors to fund the deal
- Or structure seller financing

Seller financing often works as a win-win too. 

Banks tend to lowball business valuations and charge high interest rates.

But when sellers finance you directly, they get a premium price AND earn interest on the loan.

They make MORE money by cutting out the bank.

Just make sure you show what’s in it for them:

- Higher purchase price (ex. 15%+ premium)
- Tax advantages (spread over time vs lump sum)
- Faster close (30 days vs 120 days)

A win-win.

So what businesses should you target?

A few strategies I use: 

1. SOWS method:

- Stale: Revenue hasn't grown in 3+ years
- Old: Been around 5+ years
- Weak: Competitors are terrible
- Simple: You can explain it to an 8-year-old

2. The Venmo Method

Look at your personal P&L:

- Who do you pay every month?
- Who are your competitors?
- What vendors do you use?

These are the businesses you should buy.

Instead of paying to get your problem solved, why don’t you get paid to solve it for other people? 

Right now, boomers own $5-10 trillion worth of businesses.

And when these owners retire…

It’s either we buy these businesses, or BlackRock does.

I’d rather see more of us own our local than have PE swallow everything up.

If you want to learn how to buy a biz, you should come to my masterclass today. 

It's completely free & solely focused on teaching you how to buy a biz for a little as $0. 

Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/e86jsivr

How to be unrecognizable in 90 days:

1. Be obsessed

Every outsized outcome I’ve seen came from people who genuinely enjoy the pressure. Not motivated people. Obsessed people. It’s almost impossible to compete with someone who treats the thing you dread as fun.

2. Clean out your closet

Get rid of anything that doesn’t fit the person you’re becoming. Cluttered space creates cluttered thinking, and cluttered thinkers don’t make money. Changing how you show up physically is one of the fastest ways to change how you behave.

3. Clarify your ONE thing

Not five ideas. One. Put a number on it and give yourself 90 days to get there. You have to prove to yourself that you keep your word.

4. Tell a better story about yourself

Not a vision board. Write down the words. If your life were a book, what’s supposed to happen next? What goes wrong and how do you react to it? When challenges show up, it’s much easier to keep going if you already decided they were part of the plot.

5. Start a not-to-do list

Becoming elite means cutting distractions aggressively and doing fewer things better.

6. Eliminate distractions

Most distraction is optional so make it harder to waste time and easier to focus. Small changes here create outsized results.

7. Outwork people

If you wake up earlier, protect the first part of your day, and eliminate distractions, you will get ahead faster than you think. Because most people just aren’t willing to work hard.

8. Move in silence

When you’re actually changing your life, you don’t need an audience. Do cool shit. Then talk after the result.

Do this for 90 days and your life will look different.

Because you WILL be different.

Is talking about vanity superficial? Maybe.

Is it effective? Absolutely.

Being well-dressed and well-groomed is a massive edge in any negotiation. It’s hard to push back on someone who looks like they’ve already won. Own your 2026 look.

I asked my mom & dad for advice recently from raising me and my brother...

This is what they told me, maybe you’ll find it useful too:

1. Your kids are not your friends. They’re yours to safeguard and support, but set rules. Biggest problem with most kids in our generation, their parents wanted to be liked not respected.

2. Psy ops are underrated. My mom had this line for whenever I got into trouble. She’d say, “When I ask you a question like this, I already know the answer. I am giving you a chance to come clean...” At which point I’d sing like a canary because I’m a scaredy cat. I found out today she rarely knew the answers. Brilliant and maniacal.

3. Always on the same page. My mom and dad rarely fought in front of my brother and I. They would never go back on the word of the other. United front to deal with us mini terrorists.

4. Make time. My dad had this silly line that is actually not silly: “You can make money, you can make a cake, but you can’t make time.” So they made allllll the time for us.

5. Four chairs. We have these four chairs in our living room, no tv. Growing up, we’d sit and debate and talk for hours. Politics. Opinions. Our days. Only thing not allowed was an opinion you couldn’t defend unemotionally. We still do this today.

6. Mi Sangre mi siempre. They’d always say, blood comes first. They meant it. I hired my brother, my dad, my mom, my cousin at times. We stick together and we may fight like hell but never in front of others.

7. Once you decide, you don’t quit. We could play any sport or instrument BUT if we committed we had to play the full year all out. No 3 lessons and quit. Taught us to choose thoughtfully and keep going even when it hurt.

8. Always call. They still pick up the phone nearly every time it’s family. My dad in a meeting will pause to answer my mom. My husband taught me this too, and I try to do the same. If they’re your first priority this is an easy way to prove it.

9. You’re not a princess, you’re a president. My dad always used to say that line. He told me this week that I lived up to it. Gutted me. He taught us we didn’t need to be saved, instead we could save ourselves and help others.

10. Hug often and seriously. If you’ve ever hugged my parents, they mean it when they do it. Such a simple, free gesture. My mom always gives you a hug and says vaya con dios… go with God. How can you not do big things with parents that hold you like that?

Just some Lessons from the Road from parents I happen to think are some of the best in the world.

Moms and dads everywhere, I’m in awe of you.

Hardest job I’ve ever seen.

*This is one of my favorite pics of me and my dad. Doesn’t get old.

Harsh truth on scaling businesses: 

Your goal as CEO is to build a team that runs your entire company better than you.

5 other lessons I’ve learned the hard way from 15+ years of being an owner:

1. Operating Systems Win

The difference between McDonald's and your local burger joint isn't the food.

It's that any 16-year-old can run McDonald's because of their systems.

If your business needs you to be the hero every day, you own a job, not a business.

No systems = Everything breaks when you aren’t there

The most effective systems I’ve seen all had the same four features.

I call it the PEIC framework:

1. Proven (battle tested)
2. Explicit Processes
3. Implementation
4. Continuous Improvement

Apply them across your core functions and your business will pretty much run on autopilot:

2. Your Revenue Is A Reflection Of Your Vision Distributed

Every time you say your employees don’t care about your business, you're admitting you failed at distributing your vision.

When your team can't see where you're going, they can't help you get there.

Your business needs two guiding metrics. 

At Contrarian Thinking, we call them “Oars.”

One needs to be quantitative and one qualitative. These act as our north stars to drive prioritization and resource allocation. 

Our left oar? Revenue. Our right? Followers. 

Everything flows downstream from those two numbers. 

3. Successful People Make Quick Decisions

Not only that but they move fast, in the right direction.

It always sounds simple but it comes down to knowing exactly what you want and having systems to execute on it.

That’s where planning in layers comes in:

Annual → Quarterly → Monthly → Weekly

Once you're clear on direction, decisions become obvious.

All that’s left is to track:

- What team
- What goal
- Who
- Percentage Done
- Status

 Keep an eye on all five and you’ll always have a pulse on what’s going on in your biz.

4. Successful People Hang Out With Other Successful People

Your success as an owner is determined by who you surround yourself with.

If you're the smartest person in your business, you're doing something wrong.

Your goal should be to build a team that runs your company better than you do.

5. Find 1-1 Mentors To Hold Your Hands

I used to turn my nose at masterminds.

But then I realized my only other option was to figure sh*t out with years of expensive mistakes.

That’s why I have coaches for everything now.

Most wealthy people got rich by paying for shortcuts whenever they saw one.

There’s no shame in stealing someone else’s 10,000 hours.

Time is the only thing you can't buy more of.

Get in rooms with people who've already solved what you're facing.

↓↓↓

I'm running a masterclass this week on how to grow any business faster. 

Sign up here to reserve your seat: https://lnkd.in/eJcGFHnN

Only 6% of Americans own a business.

And of that, less than 1% ever hit $1,000,000 in revenue.

After investing in businesses for 15 years, here are three reasons why 99% of businesses never scale past 7-figures: 

1. Organizational Challenges

There are a ton of sub-catagories here but today we’re going to unpack “Executive Vision.”

Most owners think their problems stem from poor strategy, when it’s typically poor execution.

You can have the best plan in the world, but if your team can’t understand it... you're not going anywhere. 

You need to have a clear vision that every person in your business believes in and wants to fight for.

The best CEOs think in years, then translate this vision in plain english to their team.

Make it stupid simple: everybody needs to know where the biz is going, what their contribution is, and why they are important.

When done right, it creates a flywheel:

• Executive vision gets translated into specific quarterly goals
• Goals become daily/weekly metrics on dashboards
• Dashboards drive structured team communication
• Communication reinforces the culture you're building 
(…which makes scaling almost inevitable).

When you nail this sequence, your team starts executing your vision without you having to micromanage every decision. 

2. Finances & Future Casting

The worst thing you can do is manage your business like a personal checking account.

Sadly, that’s what 99% of owners do.

They look at what's in the bank today and make decisions based on that number.

There’s a reason why that never ends well… 

Because revenue is vanity and cash flow is sanity. That’s not just to make a cute rhyme.

If your business lost all revenue tomorrow, how long would you survive?

You need to know this number.

That’s why we tell all our owners to have a rolling 90-day view of expected cash inflows & outflows.

With this data, you know:

• When to hire
• When to invest
• When to hold back on a big purchase

Scaling a business is hard enough, keep a little sanity in your life by keeping a pulse on collections, obligations, and cash reserves. 

3. Avatar Defintion

When owners say people can’t afford their product…

99% of the time, it's not a pricing problem. It's an avatar problem.

Most businesses chase anyone with a pulse and a credit card.

As a result, they end up selling snow to Eskimos instead of hot chocolate to skiers. 

Compare that with owners who get obsessed with ONE specific customer type.

And I’m not just talking about demographics…I mean knowing their pain points, what podcast they listen to, where they go on vacation…

I have yet to find a business that can’t scale to $10M focusing on one person.

↓ ↓ ↓

Come to my masterclass to learn how to scale your business farther than you may think you can push it.

More info here: https://lnkd.in/eJcGFHnN

Everyone should be obsessed with chasing their first $500k.

Capitalism has pulled more people out of poverty than any system ever created.

Stop pretending it’s evil.

↓↓↓

And one of the most important skills to learn to hit your first $500k? 

Sales. 

Read this to learn why now is the perfect time to get great at sales: https://lnkd.in/eqESyABe

The #1 killer of businesses is bad cashflow.

15 other harsh business truths for you:

1. The greatest muscle you can build is urgency. Bureaucracy is business poison.

2. Decrease the time between having an idea and getting it done. Everything changes.

3. Never sacrifice reputation in the name of business. You can always start another company. You can never create a new reputation.

4. Long-term games and long-term people compound. Resist shiny objects.

5. Hire smart people, pay them well, set them up for success... Then leave them the hell alone.

6. “There’s nothing worse than being sick, fat, tired and trying to run your business.” - Dana White

7. The highest ROI investment founders & owners can make is in themselves. Health shapes mindset. Mindset shapes action.

8. You're better off learning negotiation than financial modeling. Business is less spreadsheets than words.

9. The best business of all time has only you, a computer, and the send button.

10. Every additional employee increases complexity. Hiring is a last resort.

11. The best advice comes from those just a couple steps ahead of you. These people still vividly remember the problems you're facing today.

12. Sell painkillers, not vitamins. There's more money in needs than wants.

13. No discounts. Compete on value, not price. Any biz with $$$ can enter your market and bleed you out. Differentiate beyond commodity.

14. A happy customer is the most powerful marketing. Prioritize reviews. Humans are social animals.

15. If no one thinks you’re crazy, you’re too late. If everyone thinks your idea is good? Even worse. Outsized returns lie in non-conformism.

↓ ↓ ↓

Come to my masterclass tomorrow to learn how to grow your revenue & profit. 

It's 90 minutes + fully remote. 

Details here: https://lnkd.in/eJcGFHnN

7 Years in Pharma until I Escaped the 9 to 5 | I Help 249+ People Build Financial Freedom ($29.3M+) by Passively Investing in Multifamily Real Estate

Concerned with the sobering reality that you're not on track to provide for your family.

No one to turn to develop a strategy to help. I get it, and that's why I am here for you.

Everywhere you look, people appeared to have mastered their finances, and yet no one talks about money or helps. 

Being in this situation is confusing.

In 2015, I was confused.

I had an average income...

and a high expense lifestyle. 

I viewed it as normal.

I was not on track.

Why do I share this?

Because it's a honest, simple and powerful realization that most people don't reach.

This reality is true for a lot of us, irrespective of income.

I say this backed by anecdotal evidence.

Everyday I help people redefine their relationship with money. 

I've done it for 277+ people. 

Making them $14.9M+ since 2018.

Growing their net worth by $31.9M+.

And the average client has a similar story. 

Looking to make money, but doesn't know where to start.

And no time to figure it out.

And so, I help people build financial security.

Using the tips and tricks that I've done for myself. 

I help people that are: 

- Tired of paying too much in taxes
- Confused with how to manage their investments
- Unsure how to grow their business
- Flustered with the myriad of options   
- Overwhelmed with where to start

Nothing is more important to me than adding value to those around me. This is why I actively work to understand pain points and how to turn them into the foundation for people to scale. 

What I do isn't for everyone. If you think we might be a good fit, contact me:

📞 https://calendly.com/mustafal/15min

📧 ml@velocecapital.com

Disclaimer: Please note that past performance is not indicative of future results and investing involves risks, including the potential loss of principal. There are no guarantees in any investment. Content is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Any forward-looking statements or forecasts are based on assumptions and actual results may differ materially from those expressed in such statements.

Before investing, carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the investment product or strategy. Each investor's financial situation and investment objectives are unique, and the information contained herein may not be suitable for all investors. Prospective investors should consult with a financial or legal professional to determine the appropriateness of any investment in light of their individual circumstances.

Mustafa Ladha

You’re doing everything right

So are you tense?

You earn

You work hard

You’re responsible

But there’s a quiet tension underneath it all

Because deep down, you know one thing:

If this one income stopped

Life would get hard very fast

That’s not a money problem

That’s a design problem

And design isn’t really about investments

It’s about meaning

A meaningful life needs space

Space to breathe

Space to choose

Space to slow down without fear

That space only exists when your life isn’t dependent on one pillar

Some people rely completely on a paycheck

Some make great money but have zero freedom

Some know they need a plan

But keep delaying it

Different situations

Same root issue

And procrastination is what keeps it in place

Not because people are lazy

Because planning forces decisions

Decisions create responsibility

Responsibility feels heavy

So ‘later’ becomes the strategy

Until time passes anyway

Diversification is how you remove single points of failure from your life

Not to get rich

To create freedom

Because freedom is what gives success its meaning

Be honest with yourself

Where are you right now?

The answer usually tells you what needs to

From 9–5 to Financial Freedom | Helping 291+ People | Generated $20.2M+ in Passive Income & Increased Net Worth by $35.2M+ | Learn How You Can Too

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Adam was fired...

Along with half his team

Replaced by someone that doesn’t need food

Doesn’t need sleep

And can improve efficiency beyond belief

When I read something like Block firing ~50% of their staff

Citing how they’re going to invest in AI instead

It feels like the writing is on the wall

It feels like we all need to take radical accountability

If AI replaces jobs as we know them

We will pivot

We will survive

Life will go on

But there will be pain in the market

When people say 7 streams of income

This is why

Because the market is always in flux

It’s always changing

And yet

Only 50-65% of people invest in the stock market

Only 10-20% of people invest in real estate

The top 20% of people in America are worth $890k+

But people don’t have financial freedom

Realistically most people I work with are aspiring to get to $3-5M

So how do you bridge the gap?

There honestly isn’t a one size fits all answer

You can follow the tried and tested path...

Save more than you earn

But most people don’t get there by saving

They get there by following the path of least resistance

By investing

That’s what I did 

Until I quit at 29

I was offered a promotion ~6 months before I quit

And honestly, this promotion didn’t materially change my financial health 

What was a modest ~6% salary increase going to change

What was a new title going to change

It wasn’t creating the freedom I was looking for

I got that freedom by diligently investing and growing for 7 years

I say this to say that there is only one person that can build you financial freedom

It’s you

Everything else is designed to help build you up

Or knock you down

What steps will you take?

Everyone loves free things

So how do you design life that way?...

I got upgraded to a Mercedes GLE

Paid $50 

Got $275 in value

Fun perk 

But here's why it actually matters for building wealth

After helping 291+ investors deploy $64M+ into real estate 

I've noticed something:

The investors who move fastest don’t just have money 

They have the total stack 

Things like the ‘right’ credit cards

Credit cards aren't about the perks 

They're about what those perks represent:

→ Credit history that gets you approved for better financing terms
→ A profile that signals reliability 
→ The discipline to use debt as a tool, not a trap

One of my clients came to me last year wanting to invest $100K.

Great income 

Weak savings 

He used a line of credit

A high risk strategy that we talked though

We structured a fixed income strategy

It covered the cost of the line of credit

He invested the rest in a high growth opportunity

3 Years Later...

He’s happy he took the risk

He leveraged the bank’s money to make a huge time weighted return

But all investments carry risk

And when it came to investing I had to caution him on the risks associated with this approach 

This move helped him strategically wealth building

The people that build wealth

Look for ways to be efficient 

Ways to build in asymmetric risk 

To get more out of life...

When done right

You look back at life and appreciate the grand design

My client made 30.14% 

Here's what he did next

He pulled out all his money

Because of missed expectations

Honestly, I get it

And it's painful to admit I didn't deliver

But the reality is more nuanced

This client wanted more regular touch points

Not a newsletter or a LinkedIn post

1 on 1 interaction

I can't fault him for that

He also wanted a 20% return a year

Not 30.14% over two years

That's a communication gap

I can't legally promise a specific return

He expected something I couldn't deliver, 

Something I can’t imagine committing to

So clearly I messed up when we first spoke

So here's what I did:

-Sent him the steps to cash out.
-Asked for feedback.
-Sent steps I'll take to address it.

I don't usually ask for feedback

I don't like probing and bothering people

It's their money

They can take it back whenever they want

This bias is stopping me from growing

The goal isn't just to ‘get good results’

The goal is alignment between results and expectations

Most frustration in investing doesn't come from the numbers

It comes from unclear expectations:

How often will we talk?

What does ‘good performance’ actually look like over time?

What does this strategy feel like in the slow months?

I normally avoid probing questions

Avoid reaching out uninvited

I like to protect people’s space

But silence doesn't always feel like respect

Sometimes it feels like being left alone with uncertainty

And uncertainty is dangerous

It’s where people start making emotional decisions...

Even when the investment is performing

The ‘miss’ here wasn't effort

It was alignment

And I'd rather learn it now than repeat it 10 times

Have you ever left an investment that was working...

Because it didn't feel right?

If you’re in your 20s or 30s

This is huge

Your biggest asset isn’t your income

It’s your time

And time + leverage is powerful

You don’t need ten properties

You need one

One property bought intelligently

One that cash flows 

This one decision changes your trajectory

Because real estate has a superpower

Something rare

You can use other peoples’ money responsibly

That leverage accelerates ownership

Most people delay this move

They want perfect clarity

Perfect timing

Perfect confidence

But momentum doesn’t come from perfection

It comes from starting

If you looked back 5 years from now

What would you wish you had bought today?

Hey

This is why you’re stuck

You keep asking:

Should I persevere?

or

Should I pivot?

But that question is almost impossible to answer in real time

Because you’re asking it after you’re tired

Stressed

And in your head

...

On our podcast, Rob Durant pointed out something that just clicks

The real leverage is deciding before you’re emotional

So here’s the habit

Write down why you started 

While you still have perspective.

Then add a few ‘decision rules’

What does success look like in 6–12 months?

What evidence would tell me to keep going?

What evidence would tell me to pivot?

What’s a non-negotiable I won’t trade away?

Later

When things get messy

You don’t have to guess

You can look at what you wrote and say

‘This is still true - I stay’
 
Or

This changed - I pivot

That’s the difference between a strategic pivot 

And a panic move

If you’re deciding between pushing and pivoting right now

What’s the one signal you’re watching most closely?

If your real estate plan feels ‘comfortable’

You should be nervous

Mohammed Quadri, MD, MBA, SSBB said this on my podcast

‘Leadership isn’t doing what people want

It’s pointing to the direction they don’t want to go’

That’s how I help people too

It’s not my job to push an opportunity

It’s my job to guide 

Even when the answer is:

Not this opportunity

Not this timing

Not this leverage

Not this level of risk

That can sound crazy in a world that rewards transactions

Because sometimes it means I step back

Even when I could push it through

Even when it would be easier for me

Even when it’s a clean ‘yes’

But I sleep better

Because the long game is trust

And peace of mind may feel expensive

But it is really invaluable

What’s the uncomfortable truth you’re avoiding in your real estate plan right now?

Here’s the truth

A bad market won't kill your portfolio

A broken plan with no backup will

That's what happened on one of our opportunities

We strategically bought the land 

We rezoned the land

We pushed approvals through

Then the city came back with something unexpected

Approved for 11 units instead of 15

Four units gone

Just like that

I remember staring at the numbers

Running the same model three times

Hoping it would somehow change

It didn't

Most people panic here

Or they force the original plan and hope the market saves them

We did neither

We sat with it for a week

Then made the call

Instead of 15 one-bedrooms

We shifted the unit mix

Studios, 1-beds, 2-beds

That pivot protected income

We ended up making about $300 more per unit than expected

Then the second punch landed

Cap rates expanded

The market moved from sub 5% to around 5.5%

Asset value came in about ~$1M less than projected

At this point most operators start ‘explaining’

We focused on outcomes

We sold our equity and returned 65% to investors in 24 months

A 32.5% IRR

Was it the original plan?

No

We targeted a 1.25x refi

For every $100k invested, the investor gets $125k back tax-free

And still owns the asset

That didn't happen

But here's the part most people miss

Real estate isn't about being right

It's about managing risk

And maximizing value

Creating options

And always having a clean way out

Those investors made a 1.65X 

More liquidity in a similar time frame

What's the tightest spot you've navigated in an opportunity?

I'd love to hear how you handled it

This might sting a little.

But it’s worth saying:

Most people aren’t stuck financially because they lack options.

They’re stuck because they’re trying to live someone else’s strategy.

While trying to have it all.

So here are 3 filters I use to decide what fits:

1) Time
 
How many focused hours can you realistically give real estate each week?

Be honest. 

‘Almost none’ is a real answer.

2) Energy
 
Do you enjoy the messiness and unpredictability of working with people?

Contractors. 

Tenants. 

Lenders. 

If that drains you, don’t force it.

3) Competence

Are you willing to invest years becoming truly skilled?

If not, partner with someone who already has.

None of these answers make you better or worse.

They just help you clarify your path of least resistance.

And when your strategy is clear...

You will stop feeling behind.

You will start scaling faster.

You stop forcing growth.

You start compounding strategically.

If you’re stuck between ‘do it myself’ vs ‘go passive,’ 

DM me CLARITY and I’ll help you map the next step.

I live for this

[And you would too...]

It’s the reason I get up in the morning

I got a call late one night

Let’s call him ‘Adam’

He has a senior role in tech

With a high income

On paper

Everything looked perfect

But his first sentence wasn't about money

‘My son just asked if I'm coming to his game tomorrow

I told him, 'I'll try.'

He said, 'You always say that’

This line, from a child to a parent, hurts

We do everything for our kids...

Honestly, 

I've heard this story so many times

From executives

Business owners

Founders

‘I'll slow down after this project’

‘Once I hit X, then I'll have more time’

But the target keeps moving

And the people we say we're ‘doing it for’

Get what's left of us

Not the best of us

His story hit close to home

Adam is essentially asking 

‘How do I earn more?’

‘How can I slow down
without everything falling apart?’

The answer was simple

The right real estate strategy that makes Adam enough to retire

So Adam makes money, whether he checks his phone or not

It wasn't overnight

But slowly…

The feeling shifted from ‘If I stop, it all stops’

To ‘I can choose my pace and still be okay’

The real win for Adam wasn't a spreadsheet

It was showing up to his son's midweek game

Phone face down

Fully present

For the first time in years

Same career

Completely different relationship with time

Is your life designed to support the life you want

Or is it structured to starve you of the freedom you crave

We can all be Adam

Book a call to learn more

Here's what's quietly draining your wealth.

It's not inflation.

It's not bad timing.

It's the need to feel certain before you act.

One investor told me 

He'd been ‘waiting for the right time’ for 3 years.

He wasn't lazy.

He wasn't even cautious.

He was protecting himself from the feeling of being wrong.

In the meantime he lost 8%

His $100 is now only worth $92

But he did nothing wrong

In fact 80% of people approach life the same way

They keep their money in the bank

Making 0% a year

That's what most people don't admit.

Waiting isn't about timing.

It's about avoiding regret before it happens.

And along the way we’re losing money 

Without realizing

So the questions loop:

‘What if the market drops?’

‘What if I pick the wrong opportunity?’

‘What if it doesn't work out?’

Each question feels like due diligence.

But really it's just fear dressed up as logic.

And we get caught up in analysis paralysis

Here's the part no one talks about:

The mental cost compounds too.

Every month you wait, 

You're not just losing opportunities.

You're reinforcing the belief that you're not ready.

That story gets heavier over time.

So what's the answer?

Not ‘just take action.’

That's reckless.

The answer is to reduce fragility.

Build a structure where being wrong doesn't break you:

1. Strong reserves 

So surprises don't derail you

2. Conservative assumptions 

So you're not betting on best-case

3. Trusted partners 

So you're not figuring it out alone

When the downside is manageable, 

Fear loses its grip.

And you stop needing certainty to move.

So if you've been telling yourself 

‘I'll start when I feel ready’.

Ask yourself this:

What is that story costing you? 

Not just financially, but mentally?

If you want help building a structure that makes the first step feel safe, 

Comment ‘READY’

It’s really that easy

You just need to take one step

Show me your calendar

And your circle...

80% chance I can tell how the next year will go

Because your results aren’t just about effort

They’re about what your week keeps reinforcing

What you talk about repeatedly

What you tolerate

What gets celebrated

What gets ignored

In a conversation on my podcast

Junaid Ahmed 📹 shared a simple idea worth passing on 

The people you spend time around shape your standards

Often more than your goals do

That’s why two people can want the same thing...

And get completely different outcomes

One person has a room that normalizes progress

The other has a room that normalizes excuses

So here’s the practical move:

Don’t just set a goal

Set a room

A community 

A circle

A space where the behavior you want is already normal

Because when the standard is higher

Consistency stops being a personality trait

It becomes part of the environment

If I looked at your calendar this week, what room are you in most often?

Comment one room that’s helping you (or one you need)

Bonus: tag someone who’s raised your standards just by how they operate.

Work-life balance is one of the biggest lies we tell ambitious people.

Not because balance is bad.

But because balance isn’t daily.

It isn’t fixed.

It’s fluid.

There are times where you’re building.

You say no more.

You move faster.

You carry more weight.

You’re not perfectly present.

And if you’re honest, 

This times creates the life people call ‘lucky’ later.

But here’s where people get it wrong:

They stay in the build mode forever.

They keep pushing...

Even when the income has skyrocketed...

The business is consistently growing…

The ‘why’, the deeper purpose, has already been achieved.

So the real skill isn’t balance.

It isn’t an even 50/50 split.

It’s knowing when to shift gears.

Building: intensity with a clear end point.

Autonomy: enjoying the fruits of your labor

You’ve built the structure, 

Delegated to the team, 

Invested to create passive revenue streams, 

And you’re spending time on the things that matter.

If you don’t switch, 

If you don’t find the right balance,

The work will happily take your whole life.

Money should buy you freedom.

Not a nicer cage.

You can love your job.

And still feel trapped.

Not because you're failing.

Because everything depends on you.

Last Friday I ran a poll asking:

"What's your real relationship with your job?"

One reply stopped me cold:

"I make great money. 

But I haven't taken a real vacation in 4 years. 

If I unplug, everything falls apart."

That's not burnout from overwork.

That's burnout from dependency.

Here's the secret no one says out loud:

You don't need a dramatic 25M exit.

You need leverage.

Here are the three numbers you need to know:

𝗥𝘂𝗻𝘄𝗮𝘆.
If your income pauses tomorrow...

How many months could you live?

If it’s under 3–6 months...

You’re not free yet.

𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻.
After life happens…

What’s left each month?

It only takes $300–$1,000 invested consistently…

To change your life in 2–5 years.

𝗡𝗼𝗻-𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵.
What are you building…

That foundation that grows without your daily presence

Investments.

Assets.

Systems.

That’s how you turn a vague goal

Into a real plan.

The person who sent that reply?

They didn’t need to quit.

They just needed a plan…

That didn’t require them to be ‘on’ 24/7.

That’s the difference between

Earning well

And building wealth.

What’s holding you back from building the life you dream of?

DM me ‘EXIT’.

I’ll send you a simple guide to map your next step.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth about 80% of people

We don’t lose money on bad investments.

We lose money on convenience.

Small things.

Food deliveries ‘because we’re busy.’

Subscriptions we forget about.

Upgrades that feel harmless.

Little purchases that make us feel like I were rewarding ourselves.

They don’t hurt individually.

But together?

They made us feel like we’re running fast and going nowhere.

Here’s the simple fix.

Try this challenge for 30 days:

Don’t cut everything.

Only cut the things you can’t clearly remember buying.

If you can’t remember it, 

It wasn’t adding value.

This one filter changes everything.

Because most spending isn’t about ‘need.’

It’s about avoiding friction.

And when your life is stressful, 

Friction feels unbearable.

So you pay to make it go away.

But here’s the punchline:

The more convenience you buy…

The more income you need…

The longer freedom takes.

Keep it simple:

Pay for convenience that buys time and supports goals.

Cut convenience that buys comfort and delays your future.

This is crazy...

But I see it all the time

Two people can look at the same opportunity

One feels calm

One feels anxious

Not because the opportunity changed

Because their life is different

Example:

Adam has $250k liquid

Stable income

No big expenses

Omar has $500k liquid

But also a mortgage

And private school tuition

So a chunk of this money is already ‘spoken for’

They both want to invest $75k

On paper, both can afford it

But life doesn’t pay out like it does on paper

One feels relaxed

The other knows he’s taking more risk than he should

Both understand that they need to invest to provide for their families

Both understand that investments carry risk 

That’s why I like asking a simple question before investing:

How much of my liquid cash is going into one opportunity?

Here’s a helpful guideline:

When one investment is 10–20% of your cash...

It usually feels easier to invest

You don’t overthink every update

You don’t need perfection

You give the plan room to work

That’s the quiet benefit of building the right strategic approach 

Investing done right builds wealth…

Without taking over your headspace

I’m curious…

What percent do you invest in one opportunity?

We don’t learn about money in school

We learn it on LinkedIn

[There’s a lot wrong with this...]

Here's what nobody tells us about investing

Volatility doesn't just change our portfolio

It changes our behavior

[And people don’t talk about this]

We're told to invest for the long term

Don't time the market

But here's what actually happens

People buy when stock are high

[After a big run-up in a bull market

We get hit with fear of missing out

FOMO]

Then sell after a big drop

[Once again

We make decisions based on emotion]

Not because we’re dumb

Because uncertainty is stressful

Crypto is the cleanest example

Bitcoin can make us huge gains and losses over short periods of time

That level of volatility is hard to sit through

So people do the worst possible thing

We turn a long-term plan into a short-term emotional decision

After helping 291+ investors generate $20.2M+ in passive income

I've seen this pattern constantly

Here’s what I mean

One client came to me after panic-selling

He lost $40K 

Not to the market

But to his own reaction

The stock recovered 3 months later

He didn't

The best investors I know don't have nerves of steel

They have a tried and tested strategy

Build by a solid team

A team that they’ve vetted

The core of that strategy is simple

Assets they can actually hold long term

That's the real edge

Not picking the ‘best’ investment

Picking one you won't abandon when things get uncomfortable

Before the next dip

Write your rules

If you can’t explain why you’ll hold it during a drop

You shouldn’t own it

What’s one rule you follow when markets get ugly?

P.S.

I buy when the market is down

It’s my version of black friday

I got an email from Govindar.

Govindar doesn't exist.

He's AI.

My brother Maitham Ladha built him.

Last week we decided to experiment with AI agents.

What that really means is 

I told him to go figure it out while I handle other things.

Here's what happened:

1. Maitham sent a prompt to an AI agent
2. The agent researched me online
3. It wrote a personalized email
4. And sent it to my inbox

No human touched it after the initial prompt.

That's the part that broke my brain.

This wasn't me searching for an answer.

This was software acting like a person.

Taking steps.

Connecting dots.

Executing.

Most people think AI is a better search engine.

It's not.

It's infrastructure.

And we're just scratching the surface.

What happens when it starts doing things for you?

Finding leads.

Following up.

Drafting emails.

Booking calls.

Running workflows while you sleep.

We're not software engineers.

We're businessmen willing to implement disruptive tech before it's obvious.

If technology feels like it's moving too fast...

Find someone younger who's obsessed with it.

Partner with them.

Learn from them.

Let them pull you forward.

Sorry, mine's taken 🙂

What's one part of your business you'd love to delegate to an AI agent?

Entrepreneur

80% of people obsess over upside.

The 20% that don’t, 

They protect their future

Making money lures us in

Managing risk enables us to build the foundation

The foundation to exponentially grow

Here are 4 simple steps I use:

1. Assume delays and surprises.

Don’t treat them as bad luck.

Treat them as normal.

Part of the process

2. Stress test the numbers.

Change your assumptions

Assume higher costs and longer timelines.

If it only works in the perfect scenario,

It’s not for me

3. Look at human behavior.

How have the people involved behaved when things went wrong in the past?

Character is part of risk management.

4. Ask: would I still do it if this is how it played out?

If the 'bad' version of the investment

Still leaves you standing,
 
You can breathe easier.


This isn’t about pessimism. 

It’s about protecting your future self.

If you want help pressure-testing the downside

In your current plan,

DM me review

And we can walk through it.

Everyone talks about AI

But nobody explains this part

It feels like a toy

Something ‘smart people are playing with’

Smartphones were like that

In 2004–2005, 

Basically 0% of the world used a smartphone

Today it’s roughly 70–80%

And it didn’t just change communication

It changed every aspect of our lives

Work

Learning

Investing

Generative AI is in that early same early stage 

Only ~10–20% use ChatGPT monthly

Most people ‘try it'

Very few rebuild their lives around it

Here’s the part people miss:

Technology changes how we live

But it doesn’t change the truth of building wealth

Here’s what I mean

Real estate has been creating wealth for generations

Own a physical asset

Let time do the heavy lifting

Let income + appreciation compound

But only about 10–12% of U.S. adults invest directly in real estate.

That’s not because everyone else is broke.

It’s because most people never get clarity

They never learn how to build wealth 

They don’t know where to start

If you’re curious how to build wealth 

Comment below or DM me

I’ve helped 291+ people make $20,200,000+ in real estate

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The Battle

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