My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Society wrongly stigmatizes intense work while celebrating intense practice in sports and music. Working long hours on something you love is equivalent to athletes practicing all day.
The Reasoning
We accept that mastery in any field requires intense practice and long hours. Business building is a craft like music or sports, requiring similar dedication. The stigma exists only because business can generate money, but the motivation is craft mastery, not money.
What Needs to Be True
- Work can be intrinsically rewarding like sports/music
- Monetary outcomes don't invalidate craft motivation
- Intensity is necessary for mastery in any field
- Social stigmas about work are culturally constructed
Counterargument
Business work often exploits others while sports/music doesn't. Work intensity can damage relationships and health. Some work is genuinely just about money, not craft.
What Would Change This View
Evidence that business intensity systematically harms others more than sports/music intensity, or that most intense workers are purely money-motivated rather than craft-motivated.
Implications for Builders
Don't feel guilty about working intensely on things you love
Frame your work as craft development
Communicate the craft aspect to family/friends
Choose work you can sustain long-term
Example Application
“An entrepreneur works 80-hour weeks building their company but frames it as practicing their craft of building businesses, similar to how musicians practice music for hours daily.”