I’m 38. Here are 17 lessons from 17 years in business I wish I knew at 21:

Never Lose Money There's a reason this is Warren Buffett's #1 rule. It doesn’t matter if you make $10 or $10M. If you lose money faster than you can make it, you're screwed. Everything else in business is secondary to not going broke.

99% Of People Don't Move Fast Enough Believe it or not, you have an actual cost to inaction. Every time you say "one day," you cost yourself future dollars. I waited a year to take my Goldman Sachs job. That delay cost me 6-figures.

Go Big If you're distracted by small things, you'll never get the big things done. 55% of productivity is lost to your phone. We check it 36 times per hour while working. Put the phone down. Pick up the money.

Give 10x Before You Ask For 1x This is the rule of reciprocity. When you give value first, money always follows. I probably gave away probably millions worth of free advice before anyone paid me. Rich people give. Poor people hoard.

Do The Dirty Work Everyone wants to be an influencer or start the next sexy AI company. But the cold truth truth is the sexier the business, the less money you make. 87% of actors in Hollywood don't qualify for health insurance. Remember that the next time you’re tempted to follow your passion.

Sell Things To Rich People They pay more and negotiate less. Rich people have bigger problems and bigger budgets. There’s no number that’s too high as long as you make their lives easier.

Solve Bigger Problems Bigger problems = bigger paychecks Don't tackle $5 problems when you can solve $50K ones . Both require effort but one pays your mortgage and the other pays for coffee.

Build Once, Sell Continuously You can’t grind forever. Create flywheels where one business feeds another - like a mini Amazon. This is how you make more money without working harder.

Humans Are Contagious Your friend group predicts how much money you'll make. Studies show having 10% more friends worth over $100K increases in your net worth by 10%. Success is contagious. So is failure.