Introduction
Well, a lot of people will disagree with this list because, honestly, they’re looking for excuses.
But the reality is that there are things you don’t really need in order to be successful, even though it might seem that way.
Money
Starting off this list with maybe the most controversial one: money. You can put your pitchforks down because, look, you don’t need money to start something that will eventually be successful.
What you need is growth. We started off this channel with the smallest budget you can imagine, which is zero. Everything was done in-house on our own time, but we found a way to keep it on a growing path, which eventually led us into a position to create cool things that do, in fact, need a lot of money.
Connections
If you need connections to start anything, well, you’re not really the one starting it; somebody else is doing it for you. Real success comes from authenticity and the grind, not borrowed influence.
You don’t need to know anyone besides yourself and what you are capable of. The truth is, if you can’t do it alone, others can’t really help you.
A fancy college degree
College degrees—the real world doesn’t bow down to fancy diplomas anymore. School’s cool and all, but it’s not the only ladder to the top. The internet’s bursting with tools and courses that are just as good, if not better.
So save the sob story if you didn’t get into some Elite College, roll up your sleeves, hit the online grind, and show the world what you’re really made of through relentless hustle and smarts. A degree is just an expensive piece of paper; it’s your grind and guts that’ll force the doors open and leave the world no choice but to take notice. Your roadmap to success is work, not just a degree.
To have a high IQ
Look, there are plenty of highly intelligent people who are anything but successful. Many of them seem to be kind of miserable because they think too much and do too little. In addition, there’s nothing inherently complicated about building something great.
Intelligence does play a part in figuring out where things fit and how to arrange them properly, but figuring out a business is a test of resilience, not IQ.
A real-life mentor
A real-life mentor can provide guidance and speed up your learning curve, especially when you can have coffee every morning and discuss daily planning. They can put you in the right mindset and keep you on the right path.
But not everyone has access to or even knows any mentors. Success is a gradual climb, not a ticking time bomb. It’s not the hours you pour into it; it’s what you pour into those hours.
Time
You don’t need a clear calendar or a sabbatical to start something that can eventually take over. People really underestimate how much they can do in a couple of focused hours every week.
Statistically speaking, on average, people spend 3 hours and 15 minutes on their phone every day. Imagine what you could do if you spent even half of that time doing something that could actually count.
A complete plan
You don’t need time to have everything figured out from the start. Having a complete and detailed plan is not essential. What you need is a clear vision, a starting point, and the next few steps lined up.
Some of the most successful people don’t know how massive their ideas would become; they just took the first step, learned, and adapted along the way. You never really know how things could evolve over time if enough care and attention are given to them.
All you need in place to start is a general direction to go in; you’ll figure the rest out along the way.
Supportive parents
Having a support system is beneficial, but the lack of one, including supportive parents, should not be a barrier to your success. Your drive, passion, and determination—those are your true allies. Countless success stories have emerged from adversity, where a lack of support served as a catalyst for individuals to prove themselves and create something significant and meaningful.
It’s not about the hands that held you; it’s about the wings that you built for yourself. A lack of support isn’t a stop sign. Maybe they don’t know any better; maybe they had something else planned for you, but at the end of the day, it is you who has to live your life.
An Easy Childhood
An easy childhood Here’s something you probably weren’t aware of: Real successful people actively try to challenge their kids so they develop a sense of hunger in them. Because, well, they don’t want them to end up being ignorant. You see, an easy and carefree childhood is obviously not a bad thing, and everyone should get one, but it is not a prerequisite for success.
As a matter of fact, many people use their childhood struggles as fuel for their adult successes. You cannot choose how, where, and with whom you grow up, but you have all the tools to decide what you want to do with yourself afterward.
A New Idea
Your idea doesn’t always have to be groundbreaking or entirely new. This can be an improvement, a modification, or a variation of something already existing. Success can come from execution, marketing, and the value you provide rather than the novelty of the idea.
Most successful people have boring businesses that are executed perfectly. Things like cleaning services, software solutions for other businesses, transportation, and other things like that.
There are a million ideas out there, and they are all great, but even a stupid idea executed perfectly can make you successful. Realistically speaking, there is an incredibly low chance of coming up with an idea that literally nobody else has ever thought of. It’s always about the execution, and similarly, timing.
Timing
The notion of perfect timing is often just an illusion. The best time to start was yesterday, and the next best time is today. You see, timing is when your product perfectly matches the market condition, and since nobody can predict what the market will do, trying to time it is pretty pointless.
Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you don’t. In most cases, what bad timing really means is a bad product that nobody really wants or cares about.
To be organized
Being organized is a bit overrated. You don’t have to adhere to stringent routines or be overly systematic. Being overly organized is often more of a distraction than anything else.
A productive day is a day where you did most of the things you said you would do, and that’s all there is to it.
All the Tools to Start
Start with what you have and build along the way. Waiting to have all the perfect tools or resources is another form of procrastination. The early stages are about making the most of the available resources, being resourceful with them, and learning to improvise as you go along.
You’ll have all the means to buy what you need afterward, and that’s an achievement in and of itself.
Shortcuts, Quick Fixes, and Magic Formulas
There are no shortcuts or magic formulas that are going to catapult you to success overnight. There’s no perfect plan that doesn’t require any input or thinking on your part.
Even if you’re trying to emulate someone who did the exact same thing you’re trying to do, it’s still not going to work out the same for you.
Other People
Everything can be done on your own up to a point, but that point is far enough along to know if it’s worth scaling to more people or not.
But what you can do is try different things on your own to see what works and what doesn’t. When it gets to a point where you need a team around you, well, at least you’ve got something to show them.
Motivation
Motivation is at the core of human behavior. It’s unlikely you’ll do something if you don’t want to, unless someone forces you to do it or there are dire consequences if you don’t. Being unmotivated from time to time is totally normal.
The best thing that we found to work was momentum. If motivation is the why, momentum is the how. You just do it.
The momentum from the month will be strong enough to motivate you to finish that book. We hope you learn something valuable here.
