Lessons I've learned after 10 years and $10m in sales.

Love it, solid list. I'll comment on each of the points:

Bet on yourself, but make sure it’s actually a bet… Learning new skills… Meeting great people… Travelling or experiencing the world

This is underrated. You might have a major end goal in mind with your business, but there's a ton of upside to be gained along the way. You should arrange your calendar such that you're guaranteed to learn a ton, meet great people, and make new experiences while running your business. That way, even if you fail for months or years, you come out of the other side a much better person, and having had a lot of fun.

The worst thing you can do is lock yourself in your room and code for 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. There's no upside to that. Even if your startup succeeds, you'll have no fond memories to look back on. That'd be like going to college, making zero friends, trying nothing new, and doing nothing but studying to get your degree.

Build your tribe… You don’t need mentors. You don’t need investors. You need 5 friends with similar ambitions trying to figure this shit out with you.

I think mentors can help. Your friends can be your mentors, and vice versa. I recommend putting people into a Telegram group, which is the perfect informal chat setting where you can ping each other casually, either as a group or 1-on-1.

As for how to meet someone, just reach out and be helpful. If you see someone cool you want to get to know better, look at what they're working on and see if there's any overlap in your knowledge. I'm good friends with Julian because in the early days of IH, he messaged me out of the blue with a ton of helpful tips on monetizing communities and podcasts. That stood out, because 99% of my emails were people asking me for help rather than offering help.

Just launch something

This is the most oft-given piece of advice on the IH podcast. "Just get started."

There's a lot of wisdom there. I'm a big planner and strategy nut myself, but so many lessons can only be learned by jumping in and doing something. You'll learn some surprising lessons that you couldn't have predicted, and then you'll course correct. This is why people who have a bias toward action end up becoming the most successful founders.

Launching quickly is a good forcing function for other healthy habits, too. For example, if you're the kind of person who's very embarrassed to launch crappy half-baked products, launching early will force you to build very small products that you have time to polish. And starting small is a great habit.

Every successful company I’ve seen has taken at least 3 years to get some hint of product market fit.

I don't agree with this sentence, but I agree with the sentiments that follow. Plenty of people have built things that seem like overnight successes. But this is usually because they put in years of work and learning and attempts beforehand. Don't let that discourage you. The years are going to pass anyway. You might as well spend them learning new skills and getting better at various tasks, so 2-3 years from now you can have one of those "overnight" successes yourself.

Check your ambitions… The cash was enough, but a life of leisure isn’t a great goal for a 30 year old. I stopped growing, learning.

I see this all the time. You set a goal, it seems lofty, you work hard, you eventually hit it, then you realize you want to aim higher. The fact that this is so common is proof that it's all about the journey, not the destination.

You will want to quit

Yes, which is why you should start small and easy with new projects. It's much harder to quit small things. On the other hand, it's very discouraging to invest months or years into a behemoth project that doesn't go anywhere.

You might surprise yourself

When you start something that works, it is surprising! The most successful people i've talked to are all very regular people who were more surprised than anyone else when they hit on something big. Luck plays a role. Skill will help you get lucky faster. And so will starting more things and getting more shots on goal.

Really cool article, James! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, I can see myself in as lot of the points mentioned :)

Great article! Thanks James.

Thanks for sharing your experience, James! It's really helpful to hear from more experienced people.