How I built a $120M company at 22 years old

I spent two years doing jack [ __ ] [music] Still, I am able to claw my way back to Columbia for the simple reason that I learned. [music]

Welcome to the Royale podcast. 3 years

ago, I got kicked out of Harvard. After

that, I spent a full year locked up in my parents house. Uh genuinely did not leave the building for a full year. I

went to community college for another year. Then I transferred to Columbia

year. Then I transferred to Columbia University. Uh I left college. I made a

University. Uh I left college. I made a million dollars and then I subsequently raised $20 million to build the company that I'm at right [music] now. Um,

here's exactly how to turn your life around and why it only takes two weeks.

Pretty much every success in my life can be directly attributed to this one phenomenon of nature called winner's effect. And how it appears in biology is

effect. And how it appears in biology is this. Animals out in nature when they

this. Animals out in nature when they get in fights with these larger animals, they're much more likely to win if they've already won a couple fights against smaller, littleer animals. Even

if those wins are guaranteed and those animals are [ __ ] tiny, um it's it's that small win that makes them biologically get rewired into thinking, you know, like, oh, I can actually win.

Like, I'm that guy. I'm I'm like pretty [ __ ] tough now. And you will see this reflected in in every single successful person's life as well. If you look at every single any billionaire in the

world, their entire journey can be traced back to a single point in their life where they had to learn the lesson, hey, I can make a single dollar outside of working a real job. And it's that one

lesson that they learn that teaches them, I don't need to work a job to make money. And they they then they they make

money. And they they then they they make more and more money online and eventually that $1 becomes $10,000 a month that they make online. And that

10,000 becomes a million. Eventually

they're a [ __ ] billionaire. And

that's exactly how it works. And

in reality, you just need that one win.

And if you don't have it, then it's it's almost hopeless. [music] You can almost

almost hopeless. [music] You can almost never win if you cannot think or fathom that you could actually win. Um, and in in in my own life, when I transferred [music] to Colombia, it came off the

back of me getting kicked out of Harvard. So, so in in in my my senior

Harvard. So, so in in in my my senior year of high school, I I I get accepted to Harvard early action. Um, and after that, uh, it's later revealed that that I I lied and I didn't I didn't report a

suspension on my application. Harvard

kicks me out. Uh, and I have this two-year block in my life where, um, I'm stuck at home and I don't do [ __ ] I'm dillydallying. I'm jerking off. And I go

dillydallying. I'm jerking off. And I go to community college. Um, and here at community college, I'm still like I'm not really doing anything productive in my life. I'm literally just [music]

my life. I'm literally just [music] chilling at community college. And

around me, there's like people who genuinely there's some smart [ __ ] at community college.

They're genuinely smarter than me. I'd

say about 10 people who are genuinely smarter than me without a doubt. And

when it comes time for application [music] season, I still have in the back of my head the knowledge that at one point I got into Harvard. Like I'm I'm [music] I know that I can do it. Um so I end up applying to Columbia University

and and some other Ivy Leagues and and all the 10 [music] guys who are smarter than me, they don't. And it's because they never had the win that that made them realize like, oh [ __ ] I could actually do this thing whereas I did.

And even though I just spent the last two years of my life just jerking off my bed, I get kicked out of Harvard and I spent two years doing jack [ __ ] still I am able to claw my way back to Columbia

for the simple reason that I learned that I could do it and I got my first win. And that that is how [ __ ]

win. And that that is how [ __ ] important it is to get your first win.

Cuz if you if you get your first win, you can spend two years of your life jerking off every [ __ ] day [music] doing jack [ __ ] and being the most unproductive person in the world and still you can make your way back and you can just leaprog everybody else who who

who who is ahead of [music] you because all you need in life is conviction that you can win. So if you actually want to use this concept of winner's effect in your own life, I I think there's generally three things that you need to

know. Um the the first thing you need to

know. Um the the first thing you need to know is every successful person is pretty much lying to you when they explain how they got successful and and the the reason is is this they will say

every single successful person will say to you okay so all you got to do to be successful is just work hard sit down and work hard for 10 years and you'll be successful just like me and like sure this is true but in reality like the

difference is this is that what is hard work for that successful person is not the same as hard work for you because when You walk into a fight and you don't know that if the guy is a gun or not and

everyone around you is saying like, "Yo, he has a [ __ ] gun." Like, you might die in there. It's going to be really [ __ ] hard for you to win the fight.

Versus if you go into a fight knowing, "This guy's got no gun. He's only a little bit stronger than me. It's

possible for me to win if I just hit a lucky shot." Um, if you actually know

lucky shot." Um, if you actually know that [music] that second thing, it's way easier for you to be in there fighting than if you're in the first [music] case and you're genuinely [ __ ] your pants

wondering when is this guy going to pull out the [ __ ] gun? Uh, how does this relate to real life? So, for these billionaires and these successful people who have already experienced what it is like to win, they already know that it's

possible for them. [music] They know that it's not the case that the guy's gone. It's not the case that this goal

gone. It's not the case that this goal is [ __ ] impossible. I actually can do it because I've done it before. But you

[music] you actually haven't. You're

sitting here. You're probably some 19-year-old like unemployed college sophomore and you've never made a buck online and [music] maybe you're [ __ ] failing all your classes. So, how could you possibly think that you could become

a billionaire? Like, even if you

a billionaire? Like, even if you theorize like, "Oh yeah, I can do whatever I want." Like, [ __ ] whatever. Like, you genuinely do not

whatever. Like, you genuinely do not have [music] the conviction that someone who's done it before does. So when when an actual billionaire comes comes over, Elon Musk comes over and tells you you just got to work hard, you know, pick a hard problem and work hard, like [music]

maybe you will listen, but you're genuinely not going to understand it the same way that Elon does. The second

principle you need to learn is that there is only so much time you have to get your first win. Uh the second you decide this is a goal I have in my head.

I'm going to work relentlessly to achieve the goal. And and every single one of you watching has already experienced this. you know, the sudden

experienced this. you know, the sudden burst of motivation. I'm going to get abs. I'm going to get a girlfriend. I'm

abs. I'm going to get a girlfriend. I'm

going to start doing jumping jacks and get lean. Like you you you the second

get lean. Like you you you the second you set that goal, immediately [music] a timer starts. And that timer lasts for

timer starts. And that timer lasts for most people around 3 days. Um and if if if you're lucky and and and you're you're dead ass very serious about the goal, you just got cheated on by your girlfriend and now you dead dead every

single fiber of your being wants to get fit. [music] You got like 2 weeks cuz

fit. [music] You got like 2 weeks cuz the reality is that human willpower is not infinite. I mean, we don't just

not infinite. I mean, we don't just spawn and like like there's no human being who just spawns into this world ready to sit down and grind for 10 years at something that they they have no idea about. So, the reality is that you

about. So, the reality is that you actually don't have that much time. And

the the actual reason why so many people just meander around in life and don't do anything is because they might set goals, but they they don't realize that the second that timer runs out, you're not going to work with the same passion

that you had when the timer was still running. Um, unless you got that first

running. Um, unless you got that first win, unless you got the momentum and the conviction you need to like keep carrying yourself on. When you do set a goal, set the goal and realize that

[music] the timer that has set, you have a few days to get your first win. And

that first win is as make it as small as it needs to be for you to genuinely think like, oh yeah, this is possible.

Like all you need to do, your only goal is before that time of willpower, that intense willpower that you have runs out, get your first win. Cuz in that [music] intense time, you actually are

capable of doing like 6 months worth of work in in in like a night, like overnight. Like humans when they

overnight. Like humans when they genuinely are like grinding with like like their life [ __ ] depends on it for even a few days, you can achieve so much. And let's say you wanted to open

much. And let's say you wanted to open up a clothing store over 2 days. If you

dead that ass you sat down with one of your boys and you grinded that [ __ ] out, you'd have a website up, you'd have your first first shipments of orders coming in. You'd have your first design set up.

in. You'd have your first design set up.

You'd have a name and logo set up. You

could have all that [ __ ] set up. It

wouldn't even take you a [ __ ] couple hours, bro. You You would have the

hours, bro. You You would have the Instagram set up and you could come out and and put out like [ __ ] 20 pieces of content. You could do all that over

of content. You could do all that over the course of two days if you dead ass just [music] sat down and tried. If your

goal was to make a [ __ ] juice company, bro, like like you could do the exact same [ __ ] You could [ __ ] set up a stand and start selling juice the day of. In reality, it's actually very

day of. In reality, it's actually very simple to accomplish these things and there's not that much work. And when you are in that state of hyperproductivity, like you can do [music] so much. And

your goal is genuinely give myself enough momentum, get that first win in that in in those first few hours, those first few days for me to actually be able to like finish this thing off. The

third and final thing you need to learn is um you need to think very carefully about what it is that you want [music] out of life. It's very easy to lock yourself up into a world where every

single day, [music] the life that you live does not get you any closer to getting the first win that will lead to the life that you want. And for for example, there's so many people that will wake up, clock into a 9 to5 at

McDonald's and [music] then clock out and then go home and spend [ __ ] 5 to midnight just doom scrolling and jerking off. Uh and then they'll wake up and do

off. Uh and then they'll wake up and do it all over the next day. And when you actually ask these people, "Hey, what do you want out of life?" They'll say, "Oh yeah, I'm trying to become an investor and I'm trying to start a couple businesses and I'm trying to have a bunch of ventures and I'm going be a millionaire and I'm going to own a bunch

of properties." Like, dude, if you lived

of properties." Like, dude, if you lived the life that you live every single day for 20 [ __ ] years, you would not be one inch closer [music] to living your dream life. How can you say that's the

dream life. How can you say that's the life that you want and then not even like try to get a win that that will get you closer to that job? Like, you're not you're not learning that it is possible

for you to make money outside of working this job at McDonald's. You're not

learning that it is possible for you to just get up and quit and move the move across the country and that's possible.

You're not learning any of the things that would make you realize this life is actually possible. You're [music] just

actually possible. You're [music] just mentally jerking yourself off to the possibility that you could one day while in reality not and not a single part of your soul genuinely believes that you can.

So that's it. It's actually very simple.

Stop what you're doing right now. Step

back, think about the life that you want, and set a goal. Set a goal for yourself. Upon setting the goal, give

yourself. Upon setting the goal, give yourself a timer of a few days, maybe a week, and and genuinely think, uh, what is the thing that I can do while I'm in this hyperproductive state that will get me to my first win? Chase that first

[music] win relentlessly. Because once

you get it, the next step is actually going to be extremely clear. And I want just be clear, it'll be very easy to take that next step when you're riding on the back of momentum. It's momentum

that got me from community college to Colombia. It's momentum that got me from

Colombia. It's momentum that got me from Colombia to making millions of dollars in profit. And it's [music] what it's

in profit. And it's [music] what it's momentum that got me to raising $20 million for my startup. And it's

momentum that will get me wherever I go next. And um as soon as you realize this

next. And um as soon as you realize this that all you need is that first win that everything in [music] the in this world is possible. If you just get that first

is possible. If you just get that first win and you start riding the back of momentum, then the world will truly open up. This is the Royale podcast. I will

up. This is the Royale podcast. I will

see you on the next episode.