Eleazar Lopez II

Window Replacements SMB owner/operator. Investor. SLC, Utah 📍

[Eleazar Lopez II @EleazarLopezII]

👀

[Legacy Windows @thelegacywindow]

Some of our work.

[GREG ISENBERG @gregisenberg]

Here are 50 realizations that changed my life as an entrepreneur:

1. Startup valuation is literally a made up number

2. It's impossible to work with people who don’t answer texts within 24h

3. The internet can be your lottery ticket or your prison sentence

4. If Abercrombie & Fitch can rebrand (up 285% in 2023), then you can rebrand too

5. Having an internet audience is still wildly underpriced

6. Build products that no one asks for but everyone wants

7. It's actually a good idea to be poor in your 20s and reinvest everything in yourself (learnings, travel, network, figuring out who you are)

8. Google is probably not going to “copy your startup”

9. Content is your salesperson that works for you 24/7

10. Look for opportunities that are low status now, but probably high status in a few years

11. Lifestyle businesses are still massively underrated. You can often turn them into non lifestyle business if you want

12. Avoid dependency on anything. Social apps, VCs etc. Freedom is two words: self-sustaining

13. Taking a break doesn’t mean you’re lazy, burn out is real

14. Whatever you do, don't be mid-curve

15. The only things that should change your mood are things that will change your life

16. Copycats are a nuisance, not killers. They are usually mosquitoes, not sharks.

17. Good design can’t fix a poor product. But good design can multiply a product that’s working.

18. People follow a journey, not a social account.

19. If you’re doing stuff you hate, you aren’t rich

20. Don't create a startup without a "why now"

21. Strangers don’t want to hear about you. They want to talk about themselves or better themselves.

22. The best negotiators talk 10% of the time, and listen 90%

23. Good things happen when you add value to people’s lives through content & community

24. You could learn a lot about someone by their likes on Twitter

25. First find the niche, then learn from the community, then the startup idea will come to you

26. On hiring: if it isn’t a hell yeah, it’s a hell no. Never compromise for fit.

27. Startups never go according to plan. There is no real plan for startups, only a direction

28. The best businesses are the ones that look like a movement. It needs to be an identity, not a product.

29. Your identity is never your company ever. Your company is your business

30. Change scenery 2-3x per day to be extra creative

31. People always want to see behind-the-scenes

32. The happiest people live pretty simple lives, not chasing more and more

33. If there is an active community, there’s a business there

34. Digital businesses beats any laundromat, self-storage or vending machine business (easier, better margins)

Quick break: follow me @gregisenberg for more of this

35. Only create 50+% margin businesses like SaaS, paid communities etc.

36. Cash flow over valuation any day of the week

37. Hire global talent. The world is bigger than NYC or Silicon Valley.

38. You create your own narrative. Narrative drives word-of-mouth which drives revenue which is your oxygen.

39. If something is sold out, customers want it 10x more. Human nature.

40. Diversify cash flow every year. multiple bets, multiple products

41. Selling your first company is an emotional journey

42. Designing rituals into your communities is what brings people back. Remind them to ‘see you tomorrow

43. Being around people who have a clear understanding of what they want from life is refreshing

44. Competitors can copy your products, but can't copy your community

45. Make friends with people in your industry. Earn their trust. on’t ask for anything for a long time. Overwhelm with value. It’ll payback.

46. Listen to podcasts and take notes. It’s basically like you’re sitting in the room with the world’s greatest founders and entrepreneurs

47. Pick a niche and make a meme page. If you understand the memes, you understand the people. Don't build until you understand the memes

48. The only audience you have is the audience you own (email, texts, community etc)

49. There's a fine line between generalist and procrastinator

50. People expect opportunities to come to them. They rarely do. Assume you're alone and go after it

What are some realizations you've had as an entrepreneur, creator, maker etc?

Reply or quote RT to let the people know

[Eleazar Lopez II @EleazarLopezII]

@game0fpower Thank you Saul Alinsky. Mentor to the Clintons and Obamas, and more.

[Alex Hormozi @AlexHormozi]

I built wealth without:

1) Reading a book a week
2) Making my bed
3) Journaling
4) 2 hour morning routine
5) Giving up alcohol
6) Waiting to marry
7) Giving up netflix
8) Leverage

You just gotta find shit people want.
Then sell it to them for more than it costs.
Many times.

[Tyrann Mathieu @Mathieu_Era]

During a study at Harvard in 1957, Dr. Curt Richter placed rats in a pool of water to test how long they could tread water.
On average they'd give up, sink and drown after 15 minutes.
But right before they gave up due to exhaustion,

the researchers would pluck them out,
dry them off,

let them rest for a few minutes and put them back in for a second round.

In this second try, how long do you think they lasted?

Remember, they had just swam until failure only a few short minutes ago...

How long do you think?

Another 15 minutes?

10 minutes?

5 minutes?

NO!

60 HOURS!

That's not an error.

That's right!

60 HOURS of swimming which is 2.5 DAYS!

The conclusion drawn was that since the rats BELIEVED that they would eventually be
rescued,

they could push their bodies way past what they previously thought impossible.

I will leave you with this thought:

If an Unstoppable Belief can cause exhausted rats to swim for that long,

what could a Belief in yourself and your Capabilities Do for You?

Remember What you’re capable of.

Remember Why you’re here.

Keep swimming and

Never Ever Quit!

[Eleazar Lopez II @EleazarLopezII]

This.

[Nick Huber @sweatystartup]

Entrepreneurship culture in America is all messed up and it’s a shame.

TechCrunch. Product Hunt. Shark Tank.

It’s all about new ideas. Changing the world. Innovation. 0 to 1. Blue ocean. Venture capital and exits and scalability.

And IT’S ALL A LIE.

If you ask the average American who a real entrepreneur is they’ll say Jobs, Musk or Zuck. We read their books and idolize them and hang on to their every word.

So the brightest among us think they need a moat. A new idea. Something revolutionary. We're setting them up for FAILURE.

I took an entrepreneurship course at Cornell in 2011. 24 kids with new ideas. Big plans. Pitch decks looking for series As.

I was #25 with a regular old-fashioned business. When professors asked me what my differentiator was I didn’t have an answer.

"We're just going to pick up people's stuff and store it when they go home for the summer. I'll answer the phone, do things a little better and I think I can make some decent money."

I saw a company out there doing sweaty, non-scalable work. They weren't very good at it and yet they made really good money.

I started by trading my time for money. Bought a $1500 cargo van. Storage Squad was born. Used the things I had in my life to make some profit.
I wasn’t trying to educate a customer base.
I wasn’t following my passion.
I didn’t need funding or a network.
I wasn’t competing against brilliant folks from Stanford.
I want trying to prove a concept.
I wasn’t emotionally attached to anything except adding value.
My customers and my competitors existed. I could study them interacting with each other. I made decisions with my brain, not my heart. I was competing against folks with fax machines, clipboards and paper ledgers.

And the best part... WE WERE PROFITABLE FROM DAY ONE.

Not a single one of those 24 folks in my class succeeded. They all went and got jobs. Their new ideas didn’t catch on. They all had dreams of millions of users and an exit. Scalable models that could work anywhere from a computer. But 99% failed to make a single dollar.

We made enough money in a few years to build our first self storage facility. That grew into the 60+ property $100m+ portfolio we own and operate today. We sold the service business in January 2021 for $1.75 million. We had no debt and no silent partners. My business partner and I split the cash.

So who are the real entrepreneurs? Who are the wealthiest people you know? I’m not talking about money. I’m talking about the people who do what they want to do when they want to do it. Who are they?

Now here comes the hard truth. I know a lot of wealthy entrepreneurs. None of them had new ideas. Very few of them raised VC money. None of them were on shark tank. They all did common things uncommonly well. Regular old businesses just a little better.

BORING STUFF.

Most of them have a few things in common: They worked really hard doing something not fun for 5+ years. Many times 20+ yrs. They started out trading their time for money. They did things that weren’t scalable. Many of them offered services.

They all had to talk to people. Most of the time face to face. They had to sell themselves and their ideas. They didn’t take a lot of risk. Most of them hired coders but few of them were coders.

The main point:

Stop buying into the hype. The click bait. The sexy stories of overnight success and mega riches. Entrepreneurship isn’t that complicated. Do something with good odds, low risk and moderate rewards. Don’t master your craft, master leading other people.

Think with your head, not your heart. It’s not about you and what YOU love or what YOU want to be doing. And lastly.. Start SMALL.

Biz is about momentum. I started 10 yrs ago carrying boxes up spiral staircases. Now I’m buying millions worth of real estate.

And the best part. When you’re successful, experienced, wealthy and you have a killer network...

It’s time to change the world with something BIG.

[Dan Go @CoachDanGo]

Nutrition cheat codes I know at 43 I wish I knew at 23

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

Life "cheat codes" everyone should know:

[Alex Hormozi @AlexHormozi]

Only listen to people’s opinions if they have bigger dreams for you than you do.

[Keith Wasserman @Keith_Wasserman]

This is something to be very proud of @elonmusk. H/t @kimmytaylor

[Nick Huber @sweatystartup]

After talking to a lot of bankers and mentors the target for my next business has been decided:

A debt brokerage firm.

We’ll source and secure debt for real estate investors.

I’m already working on building the team (this takes time and a lot of convincing).

We’ll do it better than anyone else and my 30m eyeballs a month on twitter along with my 41k newsletter subscribers will be the main marketing funnels.

The model will be very similar to my insurance business (@titanrisk1) and cost seg firm (@recostseg):

Partner with a 10xer and expert in the field, layer in competent help in the US via @recruit_jet, Colombia and the Philippines through @weareshepherd, web page and lead funnel through @webrunlabs, begin servicing clients.

From there, I fill the pipeline of customers while the team grows and gets better and better.

[Car Dealership Guy @GuyDealership]

Here is full list:

[Alex Hormozi @AlexHormozi]

The Queen of England died 5 months ago….

She ruled an entire nation and accumulated more wealth than 99.99% of humans…

And…yet…you haven’t thought about her except for this tweet.

You’re gonna die.
Everyone will move on.
Do what you want.

[Eleazar Lopez II @EleazarLopezII]

@patrickbetdavid Necessity is driving them.

[Eleazar Lopez II @EleazarLopezII]

@pitdesi @sweatystartup Wet wipes

[Eleazar Lopez II @EleazarLopezII]

@johncanzanobft USC wins the natty next year!

[Eleazar Lopez II @EleazarLopezII]

@bubbaprog 💀💀💀

[Eleazar Lopez II @EleazarLopezII]

@RodrickP16 BRUINS BABY

[Eleazar Lopez II @EleazarLopezII]

@Keith_Wasserman @sweatystartup @AlexHormozi @garyvee

[Eleazar Lopez II @EleazarLopezII]

@jhwill No #15 ??

[Eleazar Lopez II @EleazarLopezII]

@RodrickP16 @adamgorney @GregBiggins @latsondheimer @MilesplitCA @PrepCalTrack @milesplit @serratfxc Bro take your talents to Westwood. The show is yours for the taking!