You needn’t reinvent the wheel.
Media hypes outliers, causing many to try becoming outliers:
Alexandr Wang became the world’s youngest billionaire at 25. Zuckerberg before him. Musk becoming a trillionaire.
Ambition is great as long as it isn’t bad strategy.
Most don’t need billionaire outcomes, and would be thrilled with millionaire status. Most can, & should aim there.
So they should follow a strategy that matches that goal from the bottom-up.
Shooting for the moon doesn’t always mean you land among the stars.
Nice quote, but in reality it usually means you never get enough fuel to launch.
Don’t play market-discovery. Play market-entry.
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
This is red ocean vs blue ocean.
‘Red ocean’ means entering an existing market. There is already competition there (sharks), hence blood in the water.
‘Blue ocean’ means trying to create or dominate an untested market. No sharks yet.
Sounds sexy, usually isn’t.
Because blue ocean strategies require a concept:
1) so original that no one has done it, and
2) so valuable that the masses will pay real money for it.
This combo exists but is much rarer than how pop-media makes it look.
Most influencers, creators, & business media are competing for your attention, so they lean on top .001% examples:
“Billionaire hacks.”
“Top CEO routines.”
“Jeff Bezos’s exact .”
Interesting? Yep.
Useful for normal people? No.
The danger: it’s entertainment dressed as advice.
It attempts to apply ultra-specific outlier methods en masse.
You likely fall into the “masses” category in at least one sense:
You’re not starting with unlimited money, elite connections, absurd IQ, world-class luck, or a mix of them.
Don’t plan your life based on someone else’s lottery ticket.
The Outlier Trap
Zuckerberg, Musk, Trump – they’re examples of the top .00000001% (literally 1-in-a-few-billion).
Aiming for $1M to $10M already means you want a top-tier outcome. That’s already ambition & nerve.
So if you would genuinely be happy with that result, it makes little sense to gamble everything to force an even more extreme outcome.
The ultra-wealthy are usually a mix of unfair advantages, talent, luck, & hard work.
Hard work matters, but is the price of entry. It’s the minimum viable path (which is why everyone can still achieve million-dollar outcomes).
Trump inherited hundreds of millions.
Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard, but he first got there.
Alexandr Wang was raised by physicist parents.
Extremely hard workers, but not playing on normal difficulty.
Don’t judge yourself against them; don’t build your strategy around them.
And you probably don’t even want to.
Boring Businesses are Underrated
Take inspiration from mums and dads running laundromats, or pilates teachers, physios, fencing companies, & cleaners.
Not sexy.
But they’re often quietly doing seven figures.
They’re not glorified by social media as they aren’t extreme enough to get clicks.
That’s why they deserve attention.
You don’t need cutting-edge tech, genius IQ, nor a wholly original idea.
You enter a proven market & execute better than are willing to.
“Ideas are nothing, execution is everything”.
Ideas usually aren’t the moat. Others can ‘have’ your idea overnight.
But they can’t take your execution, mileage, systems, judgement, consistency, relationships, reputation, alpha (proprietary info), & your momentum.
Usually, you need momentum, not a moonshot.
Demand Generation vs Fulfilment
If people already want the product, delivering it well is the easier half of the equation.
Imagine you’re wandering the desert in need of water.
You find an oasis.
Others are there, hydrating.
Perfect.
Now you’re aware of the water.
You know it’s usable.
You know people rely on it, so you can too.
That’s a ‘boring business’ strategy.
The disruptor path is:
You walk away from the oasis, hoping to discover another water source only you know of.
Maybe you’ll find it.
Maybe you die first.
Maybe it isn’t drinkable.
And all you wanted was water.
That is what many wantrepreneurs do: ignore proven demand because it’s less romantic.
But romance doesn’t pay. Demand does.
Let Competitors Work for You
The worst stage of a business is the start.
No cash flow, capital, & no clue which direction to go in.
You don’t know where demand is. You don’t know if it’s even there.
That’s the pain of product-market fit.
It’s brutal as you can spend weeks to months (sometimes longer) pushing, only to hear crickets.
Now, the upside of entering a red ocean:
Your competitors already did that hard part for you.
If you examine a niche and see businesses already serving customers, that’s actually good news.
They already verified demand exists & that someone can build a supply to meet it.
That removes your risk, uncertainty, & shortens your trial-and-error cycle.
If businesses are advertising, there’s money there.
Sharks only swim where there’s prey.
When Should You Try a ‘Disruptor’ Business?
Moonshots make sense once you have a base:
Cash, liquidity, safety, & a life that doesn’t collapse if your idea fails.
And that’s cash, not just cash flow.
Even a healthy business can get disrupted, decline, or die easily. A business is still a concentrated asset. Cash is optional.
So if you want to chase blue ocean, high-risk, disruptor-style play, do it from a strong position:
- When you’re already financially secure.
- When you can absorb repeated failure.
- When losing doesn’t destroy your lifestyle.
Then, moonshots are rational.
For most people, the smarter order:
Win in a red ocean first. Then, take home-run swings.
Waves are more likely to kill you than sharks. Prove you can build something first.
Summary
You needn’t invent the future to build wealth.
The internet glorifies outliers; reality rewards those who pick suitable games and stay long enough to win.
Don’t worship disruptors.
For most, it’s smarter to start where demand already exists, execute well, & let momentum compound.
For most, boring is an advantage, not a settlement.