Why Warren Buffett Tried to Work for Free

How I got here…

21: Graduated Vanderbilt in 3 years Magna Cum Laude, and took a fancy consulting job.
23 yrs old: Left my fancy consulting job to start a business (a gym).
24 yrs old: Opened 5 gym locations.
26 yrs old: Closed down 6th gym. Lost everything.
26 yrs old: Got back to launching gyms (launched 33). Then, lost everything for a 2nd time.
26 yrs old: In desperation, started licensing model as a hail mary. It worked.
27 yrs old: "Gym Launch" does $3M profit the next 6 months. Then $17M profit next 12 months.
28 yrs old: Started Prestige Labs. $20M the first year.
29 yrs old: Launched ALAN, a software company for agencies to work leads for customers. Scaled to $1.7mmo within 6 months.
31 yrs old: Sold 75% of UseAlan to a strategic buyer in an all stock deal.
31 yrs old: Sold 66% of Gym Launch & Prestige Labs at $46.2M valuation in all-cash deal to American Pacific Group. (you can google it)
32 yrs old: Started making free content showing how we grow companies to make real business education accessible to everyone (and) to attract business owners to invest or scale their businesses.

Today: Our portfolio now does $200M/yr between 10 companies. The largest doing $100M/yr the smallest doing $5M per year. Our ownership varies between 20% and 100% ownership of the companies. Many of them we invested in early and helped grow (which is how we make our money - not youtube videos).

To all the gladiators in the arena, we’re all in the middle of writing our own stories. The worse the monsters, the more epic the story.

You either get an epic outcome or an epic story. Both mean you win.

Keep crushing. May your desires be greater than your obstacles.

Never quit,

Alex

*FULL DISCLOSURE*
I make content to make money - just - on a longer time horizon than most. I want to build trust with business owners so we can find the best ones and help them scale. And if they’re awesome, write them a check and go all the way as partners.

[megalomedia]

Fun fact: Warren was the only student ever receiving an A+ under Graham.

[h.u.l.k.]

Warren Buffet comes from a wealthy family, so he didn't need the money, he needed the knowledge. 😎

[LuisGonzalez-uiow]

80% of America cannot afford to just work for free my dude. Unless you’re a teenager with good loving and supportive parents, you cannot afford do stuff for free.

[benjamindorge]

You can't work for free unless you have the family resources.

[rafam]

Plot twist: Warren pay Graham for working in the firm.

[thorsvenson]

Ben Graham didn't hire Buffett because at the time firms would not hire Jews. Ben only had 4 employees, all Jewish because they would not be hired anywhere else. When other firms began hiring Jews, Ben called Buffett and offered him a job. Buffett likes to tell the joke that Ben said he was overpriced, but its just a joke, not the real reason.

[katiemackey]

You said “season of learning not earning” how can you do that without spending money? I have college loans to pay back but can’t get a job in biology because I “don’t have the experience” I don’t want to have 100k in loans like my friends, 40k is stressing me out as is

[Aubatron]

The real reason he didn't want Warren Buffet to work for him, is because Ben Graham was only hiring Jewish people at the time. Warren was actually one of Ben's students and was the only student who scored an A in his class, and Ben Graham still didn't want Warren buffet working for him, because this was all right after WWII where the Jews were treated extremely badly. Eventually Graham let Warren work for him, then when Graham retired he asked Warren to take over and run the fund, and Warren declined because he didn't want to run the fund without Ben. Ben Graham then closed the fund because he didn't trust anyone else to run it.

[RezzpektMVP]

When houses could be bought for 3dollars 🤷‍♂️

[liufi]

Ah, yes the good old times when a degree was not necessary to work at mcdonalds and student loans were not a thing.

[gurjotsingh]

Basically to become a Warren you must have Ben Graham in your life

[paulroseberry_saves_society]

Lesson: always know the value of a Graham…

[lukwasser]

Working for free or even for less is a luxury most people simply can’t afford. It’s not a novelty that is noble to do, it’s a privilege.

Don’t get me wrong Warren Buffet is great. That whole work for free or take a temporary hit in income to learn and play the long game thing isn’t just applicable to most people, who need everything to pay their rent, car and food. And No, for most people that doesn’t include a mansion, a new Land Rover and restaurant visits they could cut back on. For most people, these are already lower class necessities.

It’s hard to come from a wealthy family and not make something of yourself, when you simply don’t have the pressure of existing, bankruptcy or simply staying afloat. Not to the lengths of warren buffet, sure. But it’s still hard to fuck up in a Szenario, where you have possibilities, most people practically don’t. Which equates to lower competition too by the way.

[TechHobbying]

The smart thing Warren did was not take no for an answer.

[jamesyork]

Season of learning because he was already wealthy lol

[jordanredlin]

More to the story, initially they wouldn't let him in because he wasn't Jewish, however they later made an exception.

[toinfinityandbeyond]

You also have to be privileged enough to be able to afford to not take a salary

[Cin]

That is a BS story and never happened - you can literally just look up where he started a job and when.

[dragonYT]

Your "hero" is warren buffet.
Get a grip

[purnendusharma]

Ben graham rejected buffatt in starting because he only use to employee jews that time
Later he changed his mind