Codie A. Sanchez

Investing millions in Main St businesses & teaching you how to own the rest | HoldCo, VC fund, Founder

On a mission to create financially free and free-thinking humans.

I founded a media company called Contrarian Thinking that teaches people to think critically and cashflow unconventionally with boring businesses.

Our newsletter has over 1M+ weekly readers, here → contrarianthinking.biz/li

Our community has taught 9,000+ members biz buying, biz growing, and doing deals. 

We value experience over degrees.
Betting on yourself over building someone else's dream.
Main Street over Wall Street.

My mission is less suits, more boots. Meaning: we the people holding the power… and the purse strings.

🔗Join 1M+ others who get our free newsletter: contrarianthinking.biz/li
🔗YouTube: @CodieSanchezCT
🔗Instagram: @codiesanchez
🔗Twitter: @Codie_Sanchez
🔗Weekly business-buying newsletter Main Street Minute: contrarianthinking.biz/minute-li

Founder

We help free minds and build bank accounts.

Investing millions in Main St businesses & teaching you how to own the rest | HoldCo, VC, Founder | NYT best-selling author

Harsh truth:

Running a company is simply a game of prioritizing problems.

Here’s how to become the Chief Problem Solver in your business:

Want to know Elon Musk's "secret" to running Tesla, SpaceX, and 3+ other billion-dollar companies?

According to Marc Andreessen, it's simple:

"He shows up every week, identifies the biggest problem, fixes it, and does that 52 weeks in a row."

Most companies hide from problems:

- They reframe them as "challenges"
- They create layers of abstraction
- They delegate them into oblivion

But problems aren't biohazards - they're your biggest opportunities.

Bigger the problem? Bigger the potential.

There’s a reason SpaceX is able to send a 400-foot skyscraper into the sky knowing it might explode.

Because they want to know exactly what breaks, when, and why.

Every failure incapacitates dozens of future problems.

This approach works because running a company is simply prioritizing problems.

Your earnings directly reflect what you solve...

Big problems pay better.

Another great example of this is Brad Jacobs.

He built 7 billion-dollar companies in logistics, waste, and warehousing - industries most people find boring until they see his bank account.

Here’s how he evaluates risk vs reward on different deal sizes:

Jacobs' model breaks down like this:

- Small, low-risk deals: exist but limited reward
• Small, high-risk deals: limited reward with high risk (avoid)
• Big, low-risk deals: unicorns (don't exist)
• Big, high-risk deals with solvable problems: "the bingo quadrant"
One of my favorite lines from his book is:

"If you want to win, you have to rearrange your brain to lean into those big, hairy problems and figure out how to cut off the hair and de-risk."

This is exactly what your job is as a CEO.

It’s simple: hire the smartest people in the world... and solve the problems they can't figure out.

That's it. That's the whole job.

Not avoiding problems, but identifying and selecting the right ones to solve.

Becoming a Chief Problem Solver requires you to create your own weekly problem-solving loop:

1. Identify your single biggest constraint
2. Focus all resources on solving it
3. Measure the result
4. Repeat next week

1 problem. 1 solution. 52 weeks in a row.

The best entrepreneurs don't just "think differently" about problems. They actively build muscles for problem identification and execution.

Then they do it again and again.

Fair warning though, this isn't glamorous work. It means:

- Living inside friction
• Facing uncomfortable truths
• Fixing things no one else wants to touch

But it's where all the leverage is.

If your business is stuck, your unlock is often solving ONE big problem.

↓↓↓

P.S. If this post spoke to you, you should come to Main Street Over Wall Street in Austin. 

You can expect a bunch of billionaires speakers and tons of networking opportunities - essentially the perfect petri dish of builders. 

Hope to see you there: http://bit.ly/3WQfYzu

5 uncomfortable truths about success:

1. You can't be a real leader and a people pleaser.

2. One day they'll go from judging you to bragging how they know you.

3. You win in life by being ok with people: not liking you, disagreeing with you, and wishing you'd fail.

4. It’s supposed to be hard, and you’re supposed to do it anyway.

5. The underrated part about being rich... you get to do what you want, say what you want, and people unfollowing or not agreeing matters ZERO.

Hope this one puts a little air in your tires today 😉

Btw - feel free to follow me Codie A. Sanchez if you haven’t yet

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Talks about #growth, #finance, #investing, #venturecapital, and #contrarianthinking

Dear chronic people pleasers,

5 reminders as you to learn to be disliked:

1. People criticize you to hide from the real work: having to change themselves. You winning is a mirror most people can't handle.

2. You'll never look back and wish you made more nameless humans on the internet like you. Never give first-row opinions to those who paid for nosebleed seats.

3. Never take advice from someone who hasn't achieved the thing they're advising about. Listen, sure. But filter advice viciously.

4. Our brains are trained to focus on the negative, aka survive. People question me online all the time — about my ethnicity, my career, my body. It's all good, it'll happen to you too. Always remember, you're the one doing sh*t not talking sh*t.

5. Choose your f*cks carefully. You’ll never be everything to everyone anyway.

↓ ↓ ↓

PS: I have a weekly newsletter sharing stories and tips from business owners. Highly recommend to anyone trying to be better → https://lnkd.in/euh-mDd8

What they told me about partnerships was bullsh*t. 

The Disney movies got it wrong.

It’s not knights on horses and damsels in distress.

Instead, it’s two animals, defining territories, testing boundaries, pushing one another.

I wish they would have told the truth. That I’d need to step up, be more, set lines, move some, and allow him to be the wild, strong, hard-edged independent man he is.

I wish they would have told him he’d have to back down, lift me up, and allow me to be the spark, the fluid, mercurial, creative woman I am. And sometimes... be late to sh*t because timelines are more like suggestions right 😉

Half the problem today is we try to tame one another.

We want men who have six-packs, can throw us up against a wall, leaders of men, and build empires... but we want them to “want” to wash the dishes and fold their underwear properly.

Men want women who are sexy, strong, make their own $$, well-dressed, actually like to listen about golf scores but also, who cook them apple pie like their mommies. Extra points if you do it in aprons.

The TRUTH...

You gotta choose. Do you want the mommy, do you want the docile tame non-threatening man, or do you want the edges?

Turns out only edges allow you to sharpen one another.

So I’ll choose edges, adventures, questions, and creation any day.

We’ve never been given anything the easy way… but man is it more satisfying on the other side of two humans who do the work.

It’s a tragedy how many hate what they do.

There is nothing I love more than solving big problems.

Playing the game of business.

Having big conversations.

Meeting smart people.

You deserve to do work that makes you feel the same way.

Feel free to repost or follow if you’re a psychopath like me who’s willing to publicly proclaim how much you love working😂

The best founders do one thing brilliantly... 

Hire.

Here’s how we think about finding & attracting A-players for our portfolio companies:

Most owners hire like they're running a restaurant.

They think more cooks = faster service.

Instead, they get a kitchen full of people bumping into each other, burning food, and blaming everyone else.

That’s why hiring isn’t a numbers game.

You don't need more people. You need the RIGHT people.

It’s impossible to build a worthwhile business with mediocre talent.

Over the years, we've developed a framework to find, attract, and close the top 0.001%. 

I call it the 4 C's to Top-Level Talent:

1. CURATE

Start hiring before you start hiring.

Follow smart people in your niche on Twitter. Connect on LinkedIn.

Bookmark stuff that makes you say, "Damn, I wish I wrote that."

Treat talent like a portfolio. Study first, invest later.

The best hires happen when you're NOT desperately hiring.

1. CULTIVATE

Engage without being weird.

Compliment their stuff. Comment. Ask smart questions. Send them ideas.

The best talent moves when THEY'RE ready, not when you need them.

Plant seeds early. Water them consistently.

3. CLOSE

When it's time to close the sale, go HARD.

Fly them in. Meet their spouse. Pay more than you're comfortable with.

I wasn't even looking for a company President when I met Marc. I wanted a CRO.

But after one conversation, I knew he was our guy.

So I changed the org to fit HIM.

That's how good hires work. They change you.

Don't squeeze top talent into your current structure.

Bend your business around exceptional people.

4. CONTINUE

Top performers won't always stay forever. That's okay.

Even when they leave, keep them close.

My old Head of Content now runs a 7-figure business. We still trade notes.

They send better talent than any recruiter ever could.

As someone who’s hired 100s of people, take it from me:

Your best hires won't walk in the door with a resume in hand.

They're already working somewhere else, crushing it.

It’s your job to go find them.

Hiring the right people is one of the most powerful growth levers for any business.

If you want to see exactly how we attract and retain top-tier talent across our portfolio, I’ll be breaking it all down in an upcoming workshop (tomorrow).

This is just one of several proven scaling strategies we’ll cover— more info here: https://lnkd.in/emd63SuT

Formula is do, fail, learn, fail, do again.

Have they built what you want? If not, their opinion is worthless.

Lara Ferguson

The worst thing that can happen isn't failure.

It's never trying and drowning in mediocrity.

When I get anxiety about work, I:

Go small, or go BIG...

1) Go small.

Grab your to do list. Do the thing you want to do the least.

2) Go big.

Take a huge swing on whatever it is you've been thinking about doing.

Which sounds scarier?

That’s the one you need to do.

Full send this week. You can do this.

Follow me Codie A. Sanchez for more business advice and gentle bullying 😉

A reminder to myself and you this Sunday...

It’s really just you against the mirror. You vs you. No one else can win at a game of one. I know it’s hard not to get distracted, race horses wear blinders for a reason. Your lane you’re game. LFG.

The faster you move, the more money you make.

The first person you need to forgive is the old version of you. 

Stop blaming the past and learn how to use this release to build your future.

The only way to move forward is to figure out how to let them go.

Bradford Brooks

What they dream of: Starting the next Apple

What I dream of: Owning a painting biz...

Trillions of dollars are about to fall into the hands of those who are paying attention.

Let's talk numbers:

- 33.3 million small businesses in the US.
- That's 99.9% of all businesses.

What does this mean?

A sea of opportunity. Here’s what’s interesting...

Over 80% of these businesses have no employees. Just solo owners, doing their thing.

But of the other 20% (aka 6.6 million)... Many are ready to sell.

Problem is, most people are still daydreaming about sexy startups and AI breakthroughs.

They’re not daydreaming about plumbing companies. Laundromats. Self-storage units.

Because they’re not sexy.

In fact, they kind of smell like hard work. They smell like Main Street.

But the thing about these businesses is:

They quietly cashflow.

So.. why don’t you just start one?

A few reasons why starting sucks:

- Cashflow takes time
- You start with 0 employees (aka, you do all the work)
- You start with 0 customers (aka, even more work)
- You have to find a profitable biz model.

But there’s another option…

BUYING a business (done right) means:

- Instant cash flow.
- Existing customers.
- Proven business model.

You're not reinventing the wheel. You're taking something that works and making it work better.

It's a path to financial freedom that most people overlook.

The opportunity of a lifetime is hiding in plain sight.

So here's my challenge to you:

Stop dreaming about the next big startup.

Start looking at the businesses in your backyard.

Then go big and DO the damn thing.

Here's your first step:

1. Mark your calendar for November 2-4 
2. Come to Main Street Over Wall Street here in Austin

If you want to learn from, network with, or just be around other builders... this is the place to be: https://lnkd.in/eKnKnh2h

We’ve completely forgotten why we're entrepreneurs.

When did we become a group of vitamin-D-deprived, Allbird-wearing, alternative-milk-drinking, extreme PowerPointers?

Many of us got soft.

We don’t climb mountains, we only take risks with other people’s money, we sit behind keyboards bragging about how ChatGPT did all the work.

What a terrible thing to strive for.

How can you make the most money by employing the fewest people and doing the least amount of work? How can you get mailbox money? Or a fast exit so you can tweet about it?

The secret:

Entrepreneurs don’t exist just for a bunch of zero’s and some big exit, but because we are crazy people willing things into very existence.

We are supposed to be the next generation of explorers, risk-takers, adrenaline junkies. Addicts to the masochistic mission of achievement and ownership.

The feeling of being so damn unemployable your only option is owner. The inability to sleep because of visions so big they pull you from bed in the dead of the night. Dreams so futuristic people laugh when you tell them.

Those are the entrepreneurs I admire.

My husband and I have a saying: “Protect those who can’t, cast aside those who won’t, enable those who want.”

Here’s to all of you who want so badly your wants become realities.

↓
💥 Follow me Codie A. Sanchez for more

How to win in your 20s:

1. Choose your hard. If you don't choose your hard, hard will choose you.

2. Ask more questions. As Socrates said: “Smart people learn from everything and everyone. Average people learn from their experiences. Stupid people already have all the answers.”

3. Do whatever it takes

4. Chase purpose. A friend once told me: “I wish you not one penny over $299 million. Reality gets lost somewhere after that.”

5. Not every moment has to be productive. Silence is not your enemy.

6. Be bored more often

7. Get in shape, stay in shape (applies to both finances and fitness)

8. If someone you just met is talking shit about their ex, friend, partner, or boss, they will do the same to you next. Character matters.

9. Behind every successful person is a story that gave them no choice.

10. Put your relationships first. My number one regret in life is not prioritizing my marriage above just about everything.

11. You become the person you want when no one else is watching. It's the quiet, private reps that will never be cheered that actually lead to greatness.

12. Never take advice from someone who hasn't achieved what they're advising about. If you don't want their life, don't listen to their advice.

13. Inconvenience yourself. This generation went way too hard setting boundaries. Show up for those you love, even when it's not convenient.

14. The greatest muscle you can build is urgency.

15. If it's not a hell yes, it's a no.

16. You will be richer when you understand leverage. But you'll also be aware of when people are trying to take advantage of you. Learn it so you can spot it.

17. Learn to be disliked or you will find yourself stuck in a prison of other people's beliefs.

18. You don't have time to hate someone when you're busy building. The less you build, the more you criticize.

19. Your input eventually becomes your output.

20. 99% of people don't move fast enough. Every time you say "one day," you cost yourself future dollars.

21. Complexity makes you seem smart. Simplicity makes you money.

22. The longer something has been successful, the more likely it is to continue being successful.

23. Say you will do a thing, then actually do the thing.

24. The fastest way to build a memorable brand is to pick a fight.

25. Never let your worry be bigger than your faith. God doesn't give you a seed without provision for it to grow.

26. Nobody cares about your life.

27. Someone not as good as you is making more money because they're not afraid to start.

28. You will wish you started earlier and worked harder when you are young.

29. Waking up at 5:45 a.m. solves 99.9% of daily issues.

30. Work smarter, not harder is a beautiful lie. You will not know how to work smart until you've worked very hard for an irrationally long time

31. The size of the problems you solve equal the size of your bank account.

32. The smartest people I know obsess over their reputation. Do not play short-term games with your name.

Every successful person I know has a Not To Do List.

Here's mine and some people will hate this:

I don't pick people up from the airport.
I don't hire or hang out with people who cheat on their spouses.
I don't gossip about people, and I tell people that when they start to.
I don't wear stilettos for more than 60 minutes ever.
I don't take unsolicited phone calls.
I don't respond to texts that just say, "Hey, call me."
I don't do let me pick your brain coffee meetings.
I don't take a meeting or a phone call without getting the agenda first
I don't say that's impossible, or I can't do that.
I don't help friends move.
I don't take my phone off silent mode ever.
I don't fill up my own gas tank anymore.
I don't go to toddler birthday parties unless I have one.
I don't ever get my nails done unless it's at my office.

It's about creating a vision so powerful that people want to follow.

Tag someone who inspires you every day.

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