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Welcome to Curious Jay, a weekly newsletter where I share actionable ideas on life, work, & business.

This Week’s Newsletter:

• The next few newsletters will reveal my philosophy and decisions for my future career. But for that to make sense, you have to know a bit more about me and how I got started.

• This week’s newsletter chronicles my journey from a broke high school student to running a profitable internet business at 18.

• Buckle in, this one’s juicy (5 min read).

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Growing up, I was obsessed with human potential.

Specifically, in the domain of basketball.

I wanted to know: what separated superstars like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant from everyone else?

As I grew older, that question expanded to people from many fields. Outliers like Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The underlying theme between all the greats that I studied was that they did the opposite of what the rest of their peers did.

You can't expect to live an extraordinary life if you only take ordinary bets.

With that mindset, I was determined to do the opposite of the crowd.

While everyone slept in, I went to the gym before school.

While everyone was goofing around in class, I took business calls.

While everyone else played video games after school, I studied sales & marketing.

I was on a mission.

If I wanted to live a life that most people didn’t live, I had to do things that most people didn’t do.

A portfolio of pivots

My greatest fear is laying on my deathbed and realizing that I had lived life on autopilot.

That I had walked around like a mindless zombie. Never thinking for myself. Never getting outside of my comfort zone. Never truly living.

I followed the crowd, accepted a ‘good enough’ job, and never dared to see what I was capable of.

(Just writing that scares the crap out of me.)

So I reframed business as one big experiment. Each new venture was me testing a hypothesis. If I failed, it was simply more data to make the next hypothesis even better.

1) Music Promotion YouTube Channel

My first business venture was a music promotion YouTube channel. The goal was to grow the channel and then charge artists to promote their songs through my channel.

I spent all summer trying to grow the YouTube channel. I posted a song every single day. I made little progress up until the end of summer when a motivational song blew up to over one million views.

Even though I had just gotten over the dip—right before my freshman year of high school, I decided to call it quits.

I realized I wasn’t that passionate about music. It was unsustainable. I wouldn’t be able to keep running the channel without burning out.

2) Clothing Brand

As I was researching different ways to start making money—I was inspired by people who built clothing brand businesses like Ben Francis of Gymshark and Jake Lavin from the Happiness Project (Jake went to a school near mine) around a shared mission.

I wanted to create a similar movement-focused clothing line.

It was going to be called Project Inspire. In Latin, Inspire means “to breathe life into”. The goal was to help spark positive change in people’s lives while donating a portion to a foundation that battled mental health challenges.

So I went to Walmart and bought a cartful of plain black tees and shorts.

But I pretty quickly realized starting a clothing brand would be A LOT harder than I initially thought. Not only did I have to set up the storefront and get my first customers, but I would also have to physically print, pack, and ship each order.

I realized that I didn’t just want to start any type of business—I wanted to build a business where my time wasn’t being traded for money. I needed to leverage the internet.

_{All those blank tees and shorts are still in my closet btw :)}

3) Instagram Theme Pages

My next venture was to grow Instagram theme pages to hundreds of thousands of followers and sell promotions to people who wanted to grow their accounts.

I started a lot (and I mean a lot) of Instagram pages:

AboutToBe - Motivation account

Wisdom² - Personal growth visual design account

Daily Wonderer - Stoic philosophy account

Leveraged Creator - Personal growth visual design account

DRVN Mindset - Motivation account

Visual Vault - Personal growth visual design account

I ended up growing the Visual Vault account to 120,000 followers and selling it for $1250. The rest I either had trouble growing or burned out and stopped.

While the Instagram theme page business wasn’t as successful as I thought it’d be, it taught me how to use social media to attract and funnel attention to an offer (A powerful lesson that I later applied to my personal brand).

While some may view each venture as a failure, I view them each as a step closer to the work that aligns with my zone of genius.

Each pivot brought a different (and much-needed) lesson. Each lesson compounded on the next.

Nothing happens, then everything happens

Along the way, I documented my entrepreneurship journey on Twitter. Even though I had a sizable audience, I couldn’t find a sustainable way to build a durable income.

After all of my ventures, none had stuck.

I was frustrated.

Worst of all, I was disappointed in myself.

While I wasn’t keen on spending my summer working a job instead of building my own projects, I knew I needed to learn more about how a business worked.

So this past summer, I chose my favorite company in the creator economy (beehiiv) and cold-emailed Tyler, the CEO, with ways I could help them.

_{More about how I landed the internship here.}

My time at beehiiv was an incredible learning experience. I learned how to:

• Prioritize which features to improve

• Launch a product for maximal hype

• Work in sprints to get the most done

• Collaborate with a team of talented A-players

This is where the exponential growth kicked in.

Here’s what happened since:

1) I hit my first five-figure month

Even though my internship at beehiiv exceeded all expectations—I knew I wanted to double down on my own business while I was in school.

Because of my work building the beehiiv 101 resource, I didn’t need to do any cold outreach to find new clients.

Several founders reached out for advice on social media and newsletter growth.

I ended up closing 2 ghostwriting clients at $4000-$5000 per month from this.

2) I joined the Startup Archive

While I wasn’t looking to work for another company—when Mike explained the vision and mission of the Startup Archive, I was immediately bought in.

The Startup Archive is a media company dedicated to sharing timeless advice from the world’s greatest founders and investors.

After my internship at beehiiv, I became curious about the startup world. I knew that joining an early-stage startup and learning from Mike (who has consumed hundreds of hours of interviews and podcasts) would benefit me if I ever wanted to start my own startup in the future.

3) I started working with Noah Kagan

The fastest way to accelerate your career is to apprentice under someone who's doing what you want to do.

Noah Kagan’s been doing internet entrepreneur stuff for longer than I’ve been alive. It’s been amazing working with him and his talented team to launch Million Dollar Weekend.

4) I started consistently hitting five-figure months

My public work continues to generate more and more opportunities.

At one point, it got so overwhelming that I doubled my prices to filter through the noise. Ironically, that only increased the number of inbound requests I received.

These days, I charge:

• $500 for a 45 min strategy session

• Minimum $4000 per month for a ghostwriting client

• And I’m very selective with what projects I take on

All the experiments, pivots, and failures are beginning to stack up favorably.

Now I make more than the teachers at my high school.

It still feels surreal.

But I know this is just the beginning.

5 key takeaways from my story

1) Do permissionless work

When you’re looking for a job—whether you want to intern at a startup or work with your favorite entrepreneur, you must show two things:

1. Show that you want the job

2. Show that you can do the job

Permissionless work means to do the work upfront for free without asking them if you should do it. Essentially, it’s acting as if you already have the job.

For both beehiiv and Noah Kagan, I created simple Google slide presentations where I poked holes in their current strategy and showed how I could help them get better results.

By doing the work upfront for free, you not only show how badly you want that role, but you also prove that you can do the work.

Outwork your inexperience with hustle and preparation.

2) The internet is the great equalizer

The internet has democratized opportunity.

In the past, you were constrained by your location, college degree, job title, and network.

Now, your only constraint is the internet.

1. You’re one DM away from the most powerful people on the planet.

2. You can create and scale digital assets that spread and build your influence without you continuously working on them.

3. Your content acts as a magnet to attract like-minded people who share the same interests as you. Some of my greatest friendships have been forged through interacting on Twitter and then transitioning to meeting in person.

4. You control your income. You don’t have to beg your boss for a 3% raise. If you want to make more, you simply adjust the 3 levers: (1) Raise the price, (2) Get more eyes on your offer, or (3) Convert more people.

Everything great in my career thus far has been through the serendipity of the internet.

Instead of consuming content and letting the internet use you, create content and use the internet as a launchpad for your career.

3) Build a portfolio of proof

One of the greatest assets you can build is a portfolio of your previous work and results.

Instead of relying on a resume to TELL people what you can do, you can point to your portfolio and SHOW people what you can do.

In 2024, employers hire based on your social media profiles.

So use it to your advantage:

Show your work in public. Make a name for yourself. Document your journey.

When you do great work in public, each opportunity opens up the next.

Your results become your magnet.

4) Stack foundational skills

I’ve pivoted many times.

It’s okay for your interests to change.

It’s okay for you to evolve.

In fact, you must evolve.

That’s how you don’t box yourself into only having a one-dimensional skill set that makes you replaceable.

As an entrepreneur, you have to know a little about a lot. Be a polymath. Be a generalist. Try everything. Master a few.

It’s not shiny object syndrome. It’s figuring out what you like and what you don’t so you can build the foundation of what you do for the rest of your life.

Multi-dimensional skill acquisition is how you become irreplaceable.

Experiment. Pivot. Iterate.

5) Business growth leads to personal growth

Entrepreneurship is the greatest vehicle for personal growth.

Every time a problem needs to be solved, you must upgrade your skillset and mindset to do so.

• When I write my weekly newsletter, my verbal communication becomes more clear and more compelling because I’ve learned how to structure my thoughts.

• When I introduce myself to strangers at mastermind events, I become more confident when approaching new people at school.

• When I meet with potential clients to determine if we’d be a good fit working with each other, my ability to carry a conversation and connect with someone improves.

Over time, you solve so many problems that your mind notices the opportunities that the average person cannot comprehend.

Keep evolving. Keep growing.

Use your youth to build the life you want

If I could give one piece of advice to my fellow young people, it would be this:

“Enjoy your youth” by using it to build the foundation of the life you want.

• Start a business

• Develop a fit body

• Cultivate a strong mind

• Create a powerful network

The best way to predict the future is to look at your current habits. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Honestly ask yourself: Is my current self acting in alignment with my future self?

There’s no reason why you can’t actively work toward the life you want when you’re young.

Start now. Let time be your ally.

That’s my story. Hope you enjoyed it.

See you next Sunday,

Jay “Just the beginning” Yang

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