Free Work Is Different Than Valuable Work | Ep 748

So Lila and I are walking around an outdoor shopping mall and this guy kind of walks up to us relatively in shock and he was like, holy cow, it's you guys. I will do anything to work for you. And I was like, you know, we're good, man. Appreciate it, though. And he's like, no, I'll do anything. Like, this is my opportunity. And I was like, I appreciate it. Thanks again, man. You know, just keep hustling, whatever. And he said, no, like, there's no way that, like, you guys can't just take somebody else who can, like, take your coffee for you or, like, take the trash out. And I was like, nah, man, we're good. And, you know, the guy was kind of following us a little bit. And so I think he got the hint and then eventually just kind of like went on his own way. But, you know, it got me thinking about this for probably another, like, hour after that. I just kept thinking about basically the combination of desperation and ignorance that— and to be clear, I don't think that there was any kind of, like, weird intent or anything like that. But if you want opportunity, you don't wait for it to come to you. You have to hunt. So opportunists are hunters. They're not gatherers. And me walking in front of this guy, he lacks the idea that his time isn't that valuable to me. And so by saying, hey, I'll give you my time in exchange for basically your time, like, how could you not want that deal? So basically he says, I'll work for free if you educate me. And it's like, I have no lack of people who can get my coffee and take my trash out. This is not a very difficult skill to find. And I'm also very willing to compensate people with money to do that so that I do not have to compensate them with my time. And so I think the reason I wanted to make this was because it just demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of how economics works. In how the marketplace works and how value exchange works. And I think that's why this individual was, was excited about this opportunity, because he fundamentally doesn't understand. So it's kind of a chicken and egg problem, and I can understand why, why he would do that. I also am making this podcast for everyone else who would be in that same situation and hopefully equip you with the right things to do, which is number one, offering your time means nothing to someone who has money. To be very clear. Number 2, your time is valuable to somebody who has less money and then would— can't afford many people's time. And oftentimes that's somebody who's just a little bit ahead of you, which is a great place to start. Like the first, you know, internship I had, I didn't go for Jeff Bezos to be his secretary. I would have— that would have been amazing. But But guess what Jeff Bezos's standards for his EAs probably are? Exceptionally high. And for context, for the individual who is, who's, who's talking to us about like, I'll bring your coffee for you. Layla and I have 4 EAs. 4. So like, we have no lack of people who are attending to our personal needs to make sure that we have the most amount of time maximized and they are trained by the older EAs on how to minimally invade our time and space so that we can work as much as we can. And I just— I bring this up because it was just like— it was just such this lack of understanding of how the world works that all that this individual was saying was like, oh my God, this is such an opportunity for me. But if you want the other person to get excited, it's like you have to have it be an opportunity for them. And all I can hear is all the things that I'm going to do for you in your life. And that doesn't sound very compelling for me. And so I think that's where I just got very frustrated with this, because you have to— if you're going to try and work someone for free, you're going to have to only work 1 or 2 steps ahead, not 100. And you have to bring something to the table besides just your time and your hands, right? Like you have to have other skills and The idea that he was waiting for this to be the opportunity, I thought was ridiculous because— is you going to— are you going to bet your whole life on somebody else walking into it? That's a terrible— those are terrible odds. And the vast majority of people who listen to my stuff probably won't randomly run into me, you know what I mean? And so you have to go make the opportunity. If he all of a sudden became the best at one particular skill, he could almost guarantee that we would hire him. Right? And so it's like, why leave it to chance when you can guarantee the outcome by just being the best? And so, well, how do I become the best? You do shit. You try. And so this is what was top of mind for me. And, uh, no, this is not, I guess, a regular podcast, but it was just something that, like, you gotta hunt. You gotta hunt. And you have to make it about the other person. And this is the same thing with, you know, the people who are starting out trying to get their first customers. They're like, no one wants me to work for free. They won't even let me work for free. It's like, yeah, because the other costs are greater. The hidden costs are greater. Because anybody who's had a team, for example, knows that like even if you bring in an employee who has experience, there's cost of onboarding. And the promise that we have is that this employee has the skill that they promised. And so we make that trade. If someone comes in and says, hey, I have zero skill, please incur this cost of bringing me into your organization, then no, even if you quote work for free, it still costs me money and it still costs me time. And there's no promise of upside. And my upside is that you want me to just go teach you everything. Like, come on, get the fuck out of here. You know what I mean? Like, I want to be, you know, we put this stuff out there that's to help people to get started. But, you know, I'm not a saint and I like to be very clear about my intentions. Like, I'm here to make money and I try to build a positive brand by putting out lots of valuable stuff that helps people make money. But you have to do it. You have to fucking do it. And at the same time, for everybody who comes, like, you know, I get people come up to me and say, you know, I wouldn't be in the same place without you. I also like to push back on them, be like, it's 100% you. Like, if you fail, it's on you. If you succeed, it's on you. It's all you. It's not me either way. So that's Alex's rant of the day. Appreciate you guys. Keep slaying. And I'll catch you guys on the next podcast.