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Hey fam,
Today, we are sharing what Irene said from a simple question:
“What idea stayed with you?”
Hundreds of responses came in.
Some were about business, some were about money, some were about life but one reply from Irene caught my attention because it wasn’t really about business at all.
It was about something she noticed.
“A strange pattern”.
Here’s what she wrote:
“I’ve been subscribed to newsletters for years. Business newsletters, marketing newsletters, creator newsletters, productivity newsletters.
The funny thing is that I can’t remember most of them.
I read them, I nodded, I closed them and then I forgot them.
It became a strange pattern.
Every newsletter promised to help me make more money, every newsletter promised growth hacks, every newsletter promised some secret strategy but after reading them, I felt exactly the same.
Then I found yours and something felt different.
You rarely talked about business without first talking about life.
You talked about trust before sales, relationships before networking.
Ownership before income. Patience before growth. Character before wealth.
I came looking for ways to make money online.
Somehow I left learning about myself.
The idea that stayed with me wasn’t a tactic.
It was when you said:
‘Stop building income. Start building assets.’
I’ve probably read thousands of business tips over the years.
I forgot almost all of them but that sentence stayed with me.
Because for the first time I realized why I always felt exhausted.
I wasn’t building anything, I was chasing everything.
Since then, I launched my newsletter.
Started writing consistently. Built my first digital product and even though I’m still early in the journey, I finally feel like I’m moving in the right direction.
It’s strange.
I subscribed to learn business.
But what changed me most were the lessons about life.”
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When I read Irene’s message, I had to stop for a moment because she noticed something I had never intentionally planned.
The truth is, I never wanted this newsletter to be another newsletter.
The internet already has enough newsletters teaching people how to get rich.
Enough newsletters teaching people how to go viral, enough newsletters teaching people how to beat algorithms.
What I believed creators needed was something different.
A reminder that business is ultimately a reflection of who you become.
This is because the creator who lacks patience will struggle to build an audience.
The entrepreneur who lacks discipline will struggle to build a business, the person who lacks self-awareness will struggle to lead others and the person who constantly chases money will rarely build lasting wealth.
That’s why so many of our lessons were never really about newsletters.
They were about life because life is the foundation upon which every business is built.
Reading Irene’s email reminded me of something I’ll never forget.
People rarely remember information, they remember transformation.
They forget strategies, they remember shifts in perspective.
They forget tactics, they remember moments that changed the way they see the world and perhaps that’s why this community became what it became.
Not because we discussed business but because we discussed the human beings behind the businesses.
What happens when you throw out the GTM playbook
That investor was wrong. Gamma is now worth $2B, with 50M users and more than half their growth driven by word of mouth.
They're one of 6 AI-native startups in HubSpot for Startups' free Bold Bets Playbook. Replit grew revenue 50x after half the team pushed back on the strategy. Ramp generated 100M+ views from a single stunt. Clay's co-founder wouldn't hang up a sales call until the prospect DMed him in Slack.
Each one took a GTM risk most founders would never greenlight. Each one paid off.
As the Top 1% Creator System approaches its final chapter, I find myself grateful for messages like Irene’s as they remind me that the greatest value isn’t always in the lesson itself.
Sometimes it’s in the person you become after learning it.
So if you’ve been following this journey, I’d love to hear from you too.
“What lesson helped you make a decision?”
Not the most profitable one, not the smartest one.
The one you still think about weeks later.
The one that changed the way you see business, wealth, creators, or life.
Hit reply and tell me.
Tomorrow’s newsletter features a reply because while the Top 1% Creator System may be ending, the impact it leaves behind is only beginning.
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