A podcast you should listen to
I went on 100+ podcasts in 2025. This episode is the one you shouldn't miss.
We talked about how I acquired Somewhere.com, negotiated the deal, raised $20 million, borrowed $9 million, the exact details and structure of my deal, how I built the executive team after acquisition.
You can listen to the episode on Apple or Spotify.
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I receive a ton of emails each week. A lot of them are from followers or readers of this newsletter who are early in their journey looking for career advice. They want to start a sweaty startup or get into real estate or both. Here's an example of an email I received:
“Nick, I wanted to ask if you had any advice for a 20-year old looking to begin their journey in entrepreneurship, specifically in real estate or business services? Thank you!”
I responded with this:
Unless you have rich parents or very wealthy friends you can raise money from, forget real estate for now or simply get a job in the real estate business as a broker, agent, loan officer, or another role.
Real estate is not the best way to build wealth when you are just getting started because it is insanely capital intensive. It is the most capital intensive business in the world actually. If you can raise money, go for it. If you can't, you should learn to operate a company instead.
You’ll learn skills that will serve you forever (management, sales, hiring, firing, delegation) and it will make you much better equipped in your 30s to build serious wealth later on.
How do I start?
If you want to start a business, my advice is to go trade your time for money doing something for yourself where you can make $50-100 an hour. I was making $40 an hour in 2003 running a lawn care company.
Once you get more work coming in the door than you can do by yourself, hire somebody!
That is how most entrepreneurial journeys start.
Not with a big idea. Not with raising money. Not at a pitch competition.
They start by going out and trading your time for money and then building from there.
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Another email I received:
"I'm not ready to start a company because I have a lot to learn and I need money now. What career should I pursue?"
My response:
Pick a career with "time leverage."
Do a job where the people who win can stop working and keep getting paid.
In most jobs people simply trade their time for money. If they stop working, there is no residual income and no ability to delegate.
Good options:
Operations, sales, insurance, wealth management.
Bad options:
Doctor, lawyer, teacher, anyone doing repetitive tasks that can't be delegated or they are billing by the appointment / hour.
A good test for this:
Go to your local golf course on a Tuesday afternoon. Walk up to everyone playing golf who is younger than retirement age and ask them what they do.
It is VERY likely that they have time-leverage and are getting paid while they are on the golf course. Those are the jobs you want.
The kicker:
Most of those jobs (sales, insurance, wealth management) all start off very slow. It takes doing hard work for years to build a book of business that then pays you for the rest of your life.
If you're looking for a hair brain scheme to get rich from, it won't happen.
Another thing about getting jobs that are more likely to lead to success:
Finding a growth oriented owner in a growing company is where all the opportunity is.
It's hard to rise up quickly through the ranks at very large companies. You can't get promoted at your big 4 position 3 times in 1 year. There is structure, bureaucracy, and established ways of doing things.
At a small business that is growing like crazy all bets are off and the cream rises to the top quickly.
You can start at a company like that and be running the damn thing a few years later if you have a smart, aggressive owner.
Find that if you really want to bet on yourself. Find the chaos. Because chaos means change.
Change means opportunity.
Opportunity means wealth for people who can make things happen.
Therefore people who can make things happen thrive in chaos.
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Another hard-fast rule for young hustlers who want to start their first business:
If you aren't rich yet, every business you start needs to be cashflow-positive in the first 3-6 months.
If your business can't do that for you and you aren't rich, you need to go find a new business or go work for somebody who has a profitable, growing company.
Starting a new-idea business takes skills and it takes backup capital. Cash to fall back on. The ability to pay your bills while you gamble and experiment with your time.
Trade your time for money and bootstrap your business instead.
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Last piece of advice for young people:
Define what RICH means to you.
How much money do you need to do what you want when you want 100% of the time?
How much money coming in each month do you need to live the life you want?
For me that was $20k when I did this exercise back in 2008.
If I made $20k a month working a few hours a week (owning assets that made me money) I could join a local country club, send my kids to a good school, and not worry about money. I'm not a complicated individual with expensive taste.
What level of rich is your goal?
Run every career decision from that point forward through this test:
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And remember something else:
Move quickly. Respond to emails quickly. Work quickly. Make decisions quickly.
It will get you ahead of almost everybody.
The reason is all the best entrepreneurs are the opposite of perfectionists.
They get shit done fast and ask questions later.
They write emails fast. They talk fast. They walk fast. They make decisions fast.
It compounds and they get good at working fast. Leading to exceptional productivity.
Many of the most successful people I know can do a weeks worth of work in 4 hours.
It all starts with a sense of urgency.
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A few posts from this week:
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Onward and upward,
Nick Huber
P.S.
If you are interested in selling your business, I can help.
My business brokerage can get your deal in front of hundreds of thousands of people in my audience.
Fill out this form and if it's a good fit, my team will reach out.
Want to see our deals as we bring them to market? Fill out our buyer form.
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