In this brief Honor Roll segment, host Mike Michalowicz poses a simple math test: is $10 per hour or $100 per hour better? After thanking corporate sponsors, he reveals the correct answer is “not enough information,” emphasizing that the value depends on how the earnings are generated. He argues that earning $100 per hour through personal sweat is limited by the finite number of hours one can work, whereas earning $10 per hour by leveraging others’ work (while enjoying leisure, e.g., a mojito) can be scaled indefinitely. The core lesson encourages entrepreneurs to shift their mindset from being doers who chase high hourly rates to investors who create systems or employ people, allowing recurring, uncapped income streams. The talk underscores the importance of leverage over sheer hourly rate and cautions against the illusion of unlimited high‑rate earnings.
Chapters
Welcome to Honor Roll. And now here's your host, Mike Michalowicz. Alright, we're gonna run a quick math test. What's better, $10 per hour or $100 per hour? Now here's your choices. Option A, $10 an hour. Option B, $100 an hour. Option C. You didn't provide enough information more Ron for me to make a decision. Now while you hang on that, let's first thank my corporate sponsors. Look at this invisible string. And there comes Skype. Thank you. American Express. Thank you. That was Grasshopper. Thank you. That one shot by and Dex Digital. Thank you. And here's my boys at Provendis Group. Thank you. Okay, so what is the best option? A, B or C? It's actually answer C. I didn't provide enough information. Now if you're a typical entrepreneur, Most people say 100 bucks an hour, moron. That's what I want, the big money. But the truth is it depends how you make it. If you make 100 bucks an hour, but it's on your sweat, that's capped out. At a certain point you can't work more than 24 hours a day. Quite frankly, I've never seen someone able to work 24 hours a day every day. I think it's impossible, but maybe that's just me. Ten bucks an hour. If someone else is doing the work and you're taking home 10 bucks an hour while drinking your mojito, well now it becomes pretty cool. So here's the lesson. Entrepreneurs often mislabel themselves as the doers and they're targeting the hundred bucks an hour. I suggest you consider yourself an investor and that the money you make, you invest in getting other things or other people to do it. So. So you can net 10 bucks an hour. Now I recognize you're not going to be a billionaire overnight if you're making 10 bucks an hour and then a little more, and then a little more. But do recognize this, if you're not making the effort, there is no cap on those $10 an hour. And how many times you can have that. If you're doing 100 bucks an hour but it's off your sweat, you become capped very quickly. Don't be an entrepreneur who does be an entrepreneur who invests mojito.
