In this solo vlog recorded in Marbella, Spain, entrepreneur James Blackwell reflects on the five core lessons he wishes he had known before generating over $30 million online. He begins by emphasizing the power of routine and repetition, explaining how a consistent daily schedule (same coffee shop, same gym, same golf course) reduces trivial decision‑fatigue and frees mental bandwidth for big business choices. The second lesson explores the "art of being alone" – distinguishing healthy solitude from isolation – and how early entrepreneurial stress (credit‑card‑funded agency, panic attacks) taught him to make hard decisions solo while still valuing community. The third lesson focuses on kindness, teachability, and adaptability: learning from bad hires, shifting friendships, and maintaining a "high teachability index" (10/10 willingness to learn) and adaptability score as predictors of multi‑millionaire success, alongside a Christian ethic of compassion. The fourth lesson stresses showing up every day, even at 1 % effort, by building remote offshore teams, systems, and leveraging consistent grit; consistency beats motivation, and continuous learning through books, mentors, and podcasts sustains performance. The final lesson reveals that massive wealth does not fill inner emptiness; after achieving an 8‑figure net worth and purchasing a dream home, Blackwell turned to his faith in Jesus Christ, finding peace and purpose. He now aims to use his success to spread the Gospel and help other entrepreneurs become liquid millionaires, offering a call‑to‑action link for coaching. Throughout, he interweaves personal anecdotes, metrics, and spiritual reflections to illustrate each principle.
Chapters
Hello, ladies and gentlemen, James Blackwell here. And today I'm going to be sharing the 5 lessons that I wish I knew before making over $30 million online. So the best skill I ever learned when I come back and reflect wasn't sales, it wasn't marketing. It was actually just showing up every single day, even when I just had 1% to give. I'm here in my place in Marbella in Spain, as you can see in the backdrop. It's a bit colder weather in the UK, so spend a bit of time here in Spain. Really, I just wanted to share these 5 lessons. And lesson number 1 is you need to know what you love and repeat it. So I love eating the same food. I love ordering the same thing, the same routine on repeat. And one thing I realized was it isn't boring. You need to know exactly what matters to you. So every day when I'm here, I go to the same coffee shop, I order the same things, I get a coffee, croissant, and a water, and I sit and reflect on my journal. And I do that every single day. And I go to the same golf course, I go to the same gym, and pretty much have a similar routine most days. And one of the things that really benefited me by doing that is you make fewer small decisions. It leaves more mental bandwidth for you to make the big ones. And it's really important. I come here and think all of the time. And if you're making decisions every single day for little things, changing routine, that's what causes that effect. And the same goes for business. It's like you keep one offer. You probably always heard one niche, one sales process, one fulfillment process. So when you're starting business or you're in a business where you're doing $20K to $50K a month, for example, It's important just to stay in that one offer first. Lesson number 2 was like the art of being alone and feeling lonely. It's a lonely road as an entrepreneur. One of the mentors I learned from on a book, How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis. Like the early days when I first started my first agency, that was over 11 years ago now, which is crazy. I started that with just a £10,000 credit card. And it was very lonely, very stressful. I remember having my first panic attack. I was like, what is actually going on? And I remember I hated being alone because I worked at a company with lots of friends, staff members, etc. And I was just alone by myself. And as a founder, you make the hard calls alone. Like, whether it's hiring, firing, risking all your own money, like, you need to have that skill of enjoying being alone. So you, if you choose not to have business partners, for example, like I did, I love my freedom. You need to make sure that like you are focused on being comfortable being uncomfortable and being alone isn't the same as being isolated. So I mentioned mentors. I've had friends that are successful. Having these communities is still important, but even just sitting here, I normally sit here on the chair behind me. contemplating. I love my alone time. I love my peace. And as I've made more and more millions, and which I'm going to touch on obviously one of the other lessons of coming back to faith, it's really important to understand yourself. Lesson number 3 is some people will come to teach you a lesson, so be kind anyway. That goes for business and personal life. So there are bad hires that you make. There are people and employees that you shouldn't have hired, but you learn from that. Okay? And one thing I've seen with entrepreneurs is there's a lot of these younger kids that come on the block. They haven't even went through the phase of building a team, a culture, hiring and firing. And you've got to go through that. And each single one gives you this lesson. And it's like graduating into different levels of business to understand the hires that you should make, the hires that you should fire. And things a lot quicker. And the same with friendships as well. Some friends fall away once you made money. A lot of my friends now, and definitely some of my best friends, aren't friends that I've had for a long period of time. These are friends that I made mostly in Dubai when I went on my journey in Dubai for 5 years. I made a lot of friends there. And yeah, the other friends will fall by the wayside if they're not leveling up with you on that journey. And that's okay. Some people are just part of that journey. And then when you become and involve that new future self for yourself is you will attract different friendships. Same with partners as well. And one thing that I learned from an old mentor was having a high teachability index. So it's really important as an entrepreneur that you have a high teachability index, which means 10 out of 10 willingness to learn. And then the adaptability to change on a scale of one to ten, how much are you comfortable being uncomfortable adapting to change? So if it's ten out of ten adapting to change, ten out of ten high teachability index, you have a very high chance to be a multi-millionaire. And you never know what someone else is going through as well. One thing I've learned in life is to be kind more, and definitely following Jesus Christ and following the Bible. I've really learned to not be as much judgmental. One of my traits is I am very judgmental and I think it's a good trait to have in business. But in personal life, it's like making sure you treat everyone and love thy neighbor. And that's one thing that I've learned over time. Lesson number 4 was showing up every day, even if it's just 1%. I was contemplating this the other day because I have 3 companies, they all do 7 figures, and I have the freedom to pretty much play golf every day. After recording this video, I'm off on the golf course again, and I'm very blessed with that. And that's one of the skill sets that I feel I've adapted is the remote leverage and having an offshore remote team, having systems dialed in and leveraging a business model that can give you that freedom. And, but it's important to still show up every day. So I noticed that consistency will always beat motivation. There will be days and times that you don't want to do the work. There will be days and times you don't want to make those calls, do those meetings, do that outreach, whatever it is. It's just as an entrepreneur, having that grit to show up every single day. And really, there was times for me where I was just so tired and working so hard. That there was times I didn't want to show up, but I just did anyway. It was ingrained in me. And these are the things that you need to instill in your mindset. So when you're at 1%, if you've built the right type of systems and you've got some sort of team, you don't want to just be a solopreneur. You need at least a remote team, an assistant, someone in ops, someone in marketing. If you have someone that they will help carry the business in the times that you're not 100%. And one thing with that that's going to help you always show up, even if it's 1%, is learning through books, mentors, podcasts. Like, I'm always reading and learning every single day. The high teachability index, the willingness to learn and willingness to adapt to change. And it just takes hard— it takes longer than you think, okay? The hard times don't last, and as an entrepreneur, you've just got to get through it. And lesson number 5 is one of the biggest shifts for me over the last year and a half is the money won't fill the gap. I built an 8-figure net worth. I'm actually flying back to the UK in a couple of days to sign for the purchase of a multimillion-pound property. My first, what I'll call dream home. Everything I ever dreamed of. Big 4-car garage, massive garden land, big mansion, something that I always dreamed of. And I realized I don't have a big high from that. I'm just very grateful and thankful on my heart. Because I know it wasn't just thanks to my hard work. I had an amazing time in Dubai for almost 5 years. All of the nice cars, which I still have, yes, I like luxury things like the cars, some watches, and homes, but I still felt that something was missing inside my soul. And that emptiness for sure led me to my faith in Jesus Christ. And that happened about a year and a half ago. And I just feel this when I'm alone. I feel that peace in my heart, and the relationship I have with God has really helped me on that journey as an entrepreneur. So I think, and I'm thankful for going through that journey, by the way, because if I didn't go through that part of the journey of the materialism, building the wealth, the stress and the struggle early on, because God did really test me when I look back. 10, 11 years ago, God really did test me. I had a lot of lucky moments where God really saved me. I could have went down a dark road partying and those type of things, and I know God was there in that side. And that's all thanks to the glory to him. And because the skill set that shaped me, the knowledge and the wisdom, it has all came through the Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus Christ. So now I want to use that success to spread God's word and make a bigger impact on other business entrepreneurs. And I know that's like my mission now. And one of the biggest things that I'm doing now is trying to spread that message. But also I realized that most entrepreneurs that get stuck, life changes so rapidly when you have at least over $1 million liquid net worth cash in your bank account, whether it's invested or whatever. And I want to bring as many entrepreneurs through to being liquid millionaires as possible. So one of the things I do that is how to buy back your time as a founder to focus on what really matters in your business. So if you're interested, there's going to be a link below where you can book in a call. But if you did enjoy it, let me know your 5 lessons or even just one lesson that you've had on your journey as an entrepreneur. Hope you enjoyed the video and I'll catch you on the next one.
