Million Dollar Weekend: The Surprisingly Simple Way to Launch a 7-Figure Business in 48 Hours

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

📚 GoodReads Info 📚

Overall Link to heading

Practical, fun, real and to the point. I plan to recommend this as a MUST READ and a FIRST READ for anyone who ever asks me on “how to start a business.”

I enjoy my current “day job”, and though I’m not a co-founder, I very much see myself as one here. Going into this book, my goal was not to escape it, but to learn new tips and reinforce existing ones to be as successful in it as I can day-to-day.

Even when applied to an existing company, the “new project” mindset is really useful in challenging whether what you’re doing day-to-day is what you actually need to be doing to either save, grow or expand the company. I also have side project ideas on an almost weekly basis, so I thought it’d be a fun opportunity to see what I could improve to actually get one of them off the ground. Here’s the latest one: QRSticker.

Noah’s Backstory Link to heading

If you’ve been around the Bay Area long enough, you most likely have met someone who either became very successful, missed or passed on an opportunity to be very successful, failed horribly, and everything in between. Whenever things don’t go as planned, it usually accompanied by disappointment, stress, frustration and anxiety. Hearing Noah’s backstory made me reflect how I would’ve felt in his shoes…

In the mid 2000s, he had an internship at Microsoft but was not offered a full-time position. He got an offer from Google, but it was rescinded. He was employee 30 at Facebook, but was fired a few months before hitting hit one year clif and vesting 0.06% of the company.

Noah also goes into how he father was an Israeli immigrant and never afraid to ask and get rejected. As an Israeli immigrant myself, with a very similar father, I could relate.

My key takeaways on how do succeed? Link to heading

My biggest takeaway is to just ask the obvious question and then do the obvious thing. Fear and overthinking are the biggest obstacles to success. A lot of it has to do with the Hawthorne effect and external pressures which makes use start to question ourselves, but all we need to do to succeed is just eliminate that.

  • Continue trying more and more things until you succeed.
  • Have fun trying to succeed, at least most of the time.
  • Focus on the first dollar and don’t be afraid to get your ass kicked.
  • Remember that customers want solutions, not ideas
  • Remember that all multi-billion dollar companies start with personal human connections
  • Solve your own problems
  • Whenever you hit a new daily problem, jot it down

Actionable Advice Link to heading

  • Find your 1000 true fans
  • Build your first 1000 true fans by finding a niche within a niche and connecting with them
  • Ask friends for referrals with a ton of detail but followup by saying “no pressure”
  • For marketing emails - start with “You’re awesome”
  • Add a subscribe button to your landing page
  • The power of text (email, blogs, etc) lies in the power of having a high quality connection between the author and the reader
  • Have fun when you’re selling!
  • You need to get comfortable with selling BEFORE the product exists. Discounts, future features, markets, etc…
  • Use google trends and facebook ads to validate your ideas and market size

Taking Photos Link to heading

At one point in the book, Noah talks about a college experiment where students had one of two options:

  1. Get graded based on the quality of 1 amazing photo
  2. Get graded based on the overall quality of 100 okay photos

The second group ended up getting much better grades not only because taking “the perfect photo” is hard, but because they weren’t afraid to try things out and experiment. They did so much of it, that by the end, the quality of their 100th photos was higher than the “perfect photo” of the first group which was obsessing over all the details.

Favorite quotes Link to heading

“The Magic of NOW, Not How”

Creator’s Courage Link to heading

I believe everyone is born with this courage, and for those who have lost it, this book will help you rediscover the ability to come up with ideas (starting) and have the courage to try them out (asking).”

Entrepreneurship - Experimenter Link to heading

“Show me an experimenter, and over the long run, I’ll show you a future winner" .—Shaan Puri”

Entrepreneurship - Loneliness Link to heading

You’re going to get frustrated and lonely as an entrepreneur. That comes with the title, so you’ve GOT TO HAVE the right group around you—other entrepreneurs who get the unique path you’re walking. Especially starting out solo, you need to create your own social infrastructure for support, partnership, learning, and accountability.

Entrepreneurship - What is it? Link to heading

Entrepreneurship is nothing more than the ability to come up with ideas and the courage to try them out.

Why is it so hard? Link to heading

The problem was, for every Michael, Jennifer, and Daniel, there were a thousand “wantrepreneurs” in my social media feeds who could never get started. It was a big mystery to me: If all the information you need to start a business is freely available, if the Million Dollar Weekend process works if you just commit to it, why is it SO HARD TO DO for SO MANY PEOPLE?”