✈️ The Rise of Personal Holding Companies

First-time traveler? Welcome aboard, Jetsetter! 👋🏼

Before we take-off, there’s one thing you should do:

Join 10,000+ entrepreneurs by subscribing here.

The Rise of Personal Holding Companies: Exploring the Future of Entrepreneurship

✈️ First Time Listener? Here’s What You Missed…

Each week, I reflect on lessons learned growing my Personal Holding Company — the good, the ugly, and everything in-between in raw, unfiltered, free-form writing.

8 Lessons I Wish I Learned

8 years ago, my life changed forever.

I quit my 9-5 job to start my own company.

Since then, I made $20 million over 8 years being my own boss.

Do I have freedom? Yes.

Do I love my work? Yes.

Do I enjoy my life? Yes.

But it wasn’t easy.

I’ve lost friends, almost went bankrupt, and been verbally attacked by a client… on Christmas Day.

(I’ll never eat another Panettone again in my life.)

I learned a lot over the last 8 years.

Here are 8 lessons I wish I learned sooner:

1. Never doubt yourself, ever.

Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster ride. One day, you’ll be on Cloud 9. The next day, you’ll be crying for mercy.

It’s all part of the game. You’ll never make it if you don’t believe in yourself.

Stay positive and always believe in yourself.

You’ll have to be your biggest supporter of yourself at times.

When everything is crumbling around you, never doubt yourself.

2. Discipline will determine how far you’ll go.

Starting a business is like giving birth to a newborn.

Your job is to watch it relentlessly until it can walk, feed itself, and survive on its own.

And to do that, you need discipline.

You’ll need to think about your business 24/7 for the first several years.

No weekends, no holidays.

You’ll lose some friends. I did.

But don’t give up.

3. Push yourself to dream bigger.

It’s just as hard building something small vs. big.

Your impact is just greater when you dream bigger.

I thought I was building a tiny ecommerce shop to make a decent living.

Now, I realize it’s just another piece in my @PersonalHoldCo portfolio of SMB businesses.

Your own vision of yourself is how far you’ll go.

Anything is possible.

So why not dream bigger?

4. Working hard ≠ More money

Most profitable business in my Personal HoldCo?

It made me $3.3 million last year.

It's also the one I spent the least time on.

Working hard doesn’t mean you’ll make more money.

So, what is it then?

More leverage = More money

Optimize for leverage.

5. Time is a compounding mechanism.

Whether you like it or not, you are compounding something every single second.

If you’re in a positive cycle, you compound positive growth.

I’d you’re in a negative cycle, you compound negative growth.

Time doesn’t care who you are: rich or poor.

Time just amplifies your positioning.

Get on time’s good side or else you’ll find yourself in trouble real fast.

6. Get rich by not getting rich.

I never went into this game trying to get rich.

I was just trying to build something meaningful.

Over the past 8 years, I’ve reinvested every penny I can back into my business.

The longer you can delay your own gratification, the bigger the opportunity.

Don’t cash in your chips too early.

7. Problems will get bigger as you grow.

I used to think that my problems would go away as my company grew.

Boy was I wrong.

The problems will find you. Trust me.

If your problems are getting bigger, it’s a sign that you are growing.

It’s a good sign. Embrace them.

8. This too shall pass.

My dad used to tell me this all the time. I never knew what he meant… until I started my own business.

Every once in a while, you’ll run into obstacles that seem bigger than you think you can handle.

It’s almost like this outside force of energy smacking you in the face.

Whether it’s a lawsuit, finances, or team leadership issues, you’ll run into some pretty nasty situations.

Just remember that this too shall pass.

Everything will be OK.

Thanks for reading!

Yong-Soo

Newsletter:

• Subscribers: 10,236

• Open Rate: 42.15%

• Click Rate: 4.17%

👍🏻 Recommendation: Thinking of starting a newsletter? I use and recommend Beehiiv with powerful features like boosts, recommendations, segmentations, automations, and detailed subscriber metrics.

Podcast:

• 90-Day Downloads: 9,147

• 30-Day Downloads: 3,121

• 7-Day Downloads: 870

👍🏻 Recommendation: Best hosting platform for your podcast? I use and recommend Buzzsprout. Get $20 when you sign-up using this link.