How many haters did you create this week?

When an entrepreneur who is stuck comes to me seeking advice, that’s usually the first question I ask. (Which often causes them to freeze in their tracks.)

No haters usually means you spent the week playing not to lose. Polishing the safe message.  Avoiding friction.

A week of this turns into months like this, and months like this turn into boring, forgettable brands that no one gives a fuck about. And branding is everything when you want to grow your biz or make a bigger impact.

Now if you sell something like drinking straws, payroll services, or office furniture, you might think this advice doesn’t apply to you.  After all, you’re not OpenAI, SpaceX, or Taylor Swift.  But here’s the paradox…

The more ordinary your business, the more extraordinary your signal must be.

Yes, “boring” businesses can become giants.  Walmart.  Waste Management.  Cintas.  But those companies are outliers.  For most entrepreneurs, especially those of you in startups and early-stage ventures, the least important thing on your list should be fitting in or playing not to lose.  Boring equals death.

Mediocrity creates indifference.  Greatness creates emotion. Risky is the new safe.

Do you remember the hysteria when LeBron James made his decision to leave Cleveland  and pursue a championship with the Miami Heat? In Ohio, they were tearing down his posters and burning his jerseys. (Then of course, bought new ones when he returned.  And burned those when he left again.)

When people burn your jersey, it means you matter.

That was more than a decade ago and LeBron still creates fervent reactions both positive and negative. That means he’s relevant, and still doing important things.  Every time Manny Machado steps into the batter’s box in an opposing team’s stadium, the crowd boos him relentlessly.  Then he smiles inside, takes a couple practice cuts, and silently reminds himself, “They don’t boo nobodies.”

Athletes switch sports teams all the time. If they’re mediocre, no one cares. If they’re good, fans get upset. If they’re great, people are passionate enough to burn their jerseys, hire sky writers, or some other public act to show their anguish and agony.

I once told my friend Alan Weiss that if some people aren’t unfollowing me every day…I’m probably not doing my job.

If you want to be a thought leader, market leader, or change the world – you need to give up the need to be liked. Telling people what they want to hear makes you popular. Telling people what they need to hear makes you relevant, significant, and impactful.

If no one hates your message, it probably isn’t strong enough to matter.

I’d rather coach an entrepreneur who irritates 70 percent of the marketplace…because the other 30 percent will become ride-or-die fanatics.  (Think Apple, Cirque du Soleil, or Nike.)

If you participate in my Breakthrough U entrepreneur accelerator, you know that I’m constantly beating the drum about becoming the face of your business, and why personal brands eclipse corporate ones. Now let me add this:  Safe brands get customers. Dangerous brands create movements.

I’m a high school dropout.  But allow me to share one idea worth more to you than a Ph.D. in marketing:

People don’t become evangelists because they like you. They become evangelists because your signal helps define who they are.  When someone reads a strong message, one of three things happens:

1. They reject it.
2. They ignore it.
3. They adopt it as identity.

As an entrepreneur or other agent of change, your goal is number three.

As Naval Ravikant wisely points out, most new businesses think they need investors when what they actually need is signal.  Signal is the beacon you send out, transmitting the message, “Something important is happening here.  It matters, and it really matters to you.”  So let me ask you the real question:

Are you building signal…or just trying not to offend anyone?

Peace,

- RG

Previous Post: Money Can’t Fix Bad Thinking

If Nobody Hates Your Brand, You’re Probably Irrelevant

March 14, 2026

Most people believe money makes you wealthy. And that belief is a primary reason so many of those people are broke.

When someone has a big bank account, a juicy net worth, and all the toys, we label them rich and move on. But that assumption is based on a bad premise…

Money doesn’t create wealth; it’s the effect, not the cause. Your bank account, investment portfolio, or real estate holdings are simply the scoreboard reflecting how you think…the physical manifestation of a mindset that existed long before the money arrived.

Your bank account isn’t the engine of prosperity. It’s the mirror reflecting how you think.

Yet most people reverse this relationship. They believe if they could just acquire enough money, prosperity would finally show up. Confidence would appear. Security would arrive. Life would begin to feel abundant.

But that’s not how prosperity works in the real world...

Prosperous people do not think the way they do because they have money. They have money because they think the way they do. In simpler terms, they developed prosperity consciousness. The thinking came first, and the money followed.

In my upcoming book, Wealth Without Apology, I make the case that the most important variable for living a prosperous life is not where you were born, the wealth of your parents, your connections, or your education level. It’s your mindset.

That mindset determines the decisions you make every day…which opportunities you notice…which problems you attempt to solve, and what level of reward you believe you deserve.

Over time those decisions compound into results.

Those results show up as businesses, investments, and other income streams. Eventually they appear in the external world as the things we label wealth. But those things are simply the trailing indicators of prosperity consciousness.

Think about what happens when someone receives money without developing that consciousness...

You see this frequently with people who hit the lottery or receive a large inheritance. You know how this story ends. The effect was present, but the cause was missing. Without the cause, the effect cannot sustain itself.  Because…

Money can’t fix bad thinking.

It’s a similar dynamic when you see someone build wealth, and lose it to a natural disaster, government failure, or other unforeseeable event – and then build it right back up.  To someone ignorant of these principles, it looks like luck.

In reality, these people have the mental operating system that produces wealth. Even if they lose the money, they still possess the cause that created it in the first place. Once you develop prosperity consciousness, you need never worry for your financial security again. When you’re operating from poverty consciousness, no amount of money can provide you financial security.

Two people can stand in the exact same environment and experience completely different realities. One sees opportunity everywhere. The other sees obstacles everywhere. One sees scarcity. he other sees possibility.

Same world. Different window.

That window influences far more than most people realize. It shapes the risks you take, the ideas you pursue, the opportunities you recognize, and even the level of income you believe you deserve. Over time the size of that window quietly reveals itself in your financial life.

Your net worth is simply the echo of your thinking.

Once you understand this, the strategy for creating wealth changes dramatically. Instead of obsessing over tactics, shortcuts, or lucky breaks, you start working on the real leverage point: your consciousness. You examine the beliefs you hold about money, value, opportunity, and your own worth. You challenge the programming that taught you to play small and begin expanding the way you see the world.

And something interesting happens...

The money starts showing up as a side effect. Not because you’re chasing it harder, but because the way you think now naturally produces the conditions where prosperity can emerge.

When you hear about someone building extraordinary wealth, notice your instinctive reaction.  Do you immediately think, “They got lucky”?  Or do you think, “What did they see that others missed?”

Curious…which side did your mind go to first?

Because the real net worth calculation isn’t the number on your balance sheet.  It’s the level of prosperity consciousness you operate from every day.

Money doesn’t create prosperity consciousness.  Prosperity consciousness creates the money.

Peace,

- RG

Previous Post: 17 Shifts Creating the Next Fortunes

Money Can’t Fix Bad Thinking

March 11, 2026

(Most People Won’t See Them Coming)

A little puppy jumped into my arms and licked me in the face. I was instantly in love. There was just one small twist…

The puppy had been cloned in a biotech lab in South Korea.

Most people would have walked away thinking, Well that’s weird. But the moment stuck with me for a completely different reason. Of course, I knew we were supposedly cloning animals, but it still was some abstract idea in a faraway test tube to me.

When that frolicking puppy licked my face exactly as would one rescued from a shelter, shit got real.

If scientists were already cloning adorable puppies, what other breakthroughs were quietly developing just out of sight? What technologies, industries, and social shifts were about to leap from science fiction into everyday life?

That question sent me down a rabbit hole that forever changed how I look at the world. Instead of looking only at what’s happening now, I started thinking what’s about to happen next. And more importantly…

What challenges are about to happen next – and what opportunities are hidden in those challenges for entrepreneurs?

That thinking led me to write Risky Is the New Safe, which hit top 10 on the USA Today, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists, and went on to chart in multiple languages around the world. When I was doing the media tour in 2013, people were looking at me like I was eating spiders.  One host literally started shrieking – in a good way (I think) – asking how I was able to think the way I did.

If you read it today, you’ll probably nod along, thinking, “Well of course, that makes sense.” 

My new Gen Z and A readers would probably scratch their heads and say, “You mean there was a time when people questioned the ideas of cloning, ocean-floor real estate development, asteroid mining, cryptocurrencies, countries leaving the EU, social media killing traditional marketing, vacationing on the moon, and virtual reality sex?”

Looking back now, most of those developments seem obvious. But the real payoff wasn’t being right at cocktail parties. (Since I wouldn’t be caught dead at a cocktail party.) The real payoff was recognizing the business opportunities those shifts created before everyone else saw them. That way of thinking has made me many millions of dollars over the years… and helped a lot of entrepreneurs who follow my work do the same.

Which brings us to this post…

There are massive shifts coming over the next decade. Some will follow the trends everyone already sees. But the biggest opportunities will come from the ones hiding just around the corner… the ideas that sound a little crazy today but will look obvious ten years from now.

NOTE: First, my apologies. This topic deserves to be a full-length book.  But it’s vital info you need to know now, and I don’t have time today to write another book. So having said that:

Let’s peek around the corner as I posit 17 shifts that could create the next wave of entrepreneurial fortunes…

1. Personal brands become more valuable than university degrees
2. The creator economy collapses
3. The 40-hour workweek goes extinct
4. Human experiences become the fastest-growing luxury market
5. A fierce anti-tech backlash erupts
6. AI disrupts three billion jobs
7. The AI industry crashes harder than the dot-com meltdown
8. The first solopreneur billion-dollar company appears
9. Trillionaire becomes a thing.
10. Fusion energy works — and crashes the global energy economy
11. Longevity breakthroughs push human lifespans toward 150 years
12. The first digital nation state is recognized
13. Bitcoin collapses after global regulation
14. SpaceX Will Be the Biggest IPO Ever — and the Biggest Bust
15. The “billionaires shouldn’t exist” movement threatens economies
16. A free Cuba becomes the crown jewel tourist destination of the Atlantic
17. Trump is removed from office – and the two-party system collapses

Some of these may sound crazy to you today. That’s the point. Because that’s where the opportunities lie.

Which one (or six) do you think I’m dead wrong about? Which one (or six) would you bet $100,000 on? But before you answer…please read through my posits, as I prosecute the case for why I believe these 17 Shifts will create cataclysmic disruption – and thus earth-shattering opportunity.  Let’s break down each of them…

1. Personal Brands Will Be More Valuable than University Degrees

The college degree used to be a signal of competence. Today it’s often just proof you’re saddled with more than $100k in debt.

Employers are already shifting toward portfolio-based hiring, skill verification, and reputation signals built through real-world work.  Speaking personally, I’m already hiring people for 80k and 120k positions based on the personal brand they built.  It wouldn’t even occur to me to ask if they had a college degree because that information is irrelevant to me.

For a while, company HR directors will still want to hire people with diplomas because it covers their ass. But this practice will shrink as alternate methods of credibility become stronger. And I believe your personal brand will be the top choice.

The smartest Gen Z entrepreneurs already understand this. They’re building audiences, portfolios, and reputations while their classmates are still building debt.

Please don’t infer I’m throwing shade on the value of going to college. I can see how for many people a four-year experience on campus can be very helpful in discovering who they are and what they want to do. What I am saying is that a diploma will be worth less than your personal brand for getting a job.  And that going into steep debt for a degree has now gotten to the point where it’s foolish.

The opportunities for entrepreneurs here are enormous. Platforms that verify expertise, showcase portfolios, or help individuals build trust networks will explode. Communities built around reputation capital—where credibility compounds through demonstrated value—will replace universities in this regard. Balaji Srinivasan has some fascinating ideas on using the blockchain to demonstrate reputation and results.

And that’s just the first domino. Because the next shift will decimate creators…

2. The Creator Economy Will Collapse

For the last decade we’ve proven that anyone with a smartphone can become a creator.  But the math on becoming a prosperous creator actually making money is brutal.  And with AI, they just got markedly worse…

Your perfectly lit, tastefully designed, expertly produced content, is getting buried. You can’t out-slop the AI slop. AI-generated avatars have better teeth, bigger boobs, nicer skin, and more lustrous hair than you do. (Not to mention 12-pack abs.) The algorithms recognize and reward attention faster than you, or any human, ever could. To compete on the algorithm battlefield, you must surrender your humanity and beclown yourself.

What happens next is a consolidation phase. A small percentage of creators will thrive, but the vast majority will discover that chasing algorithms is not a sustainable career path. When that correction arrives, it will feel like a collapse to many participants.

But of course, from disruption comes opportunity. I see two great possibilities here.  First, creators who are unabashedly human who deliver authenticity and build trust.  Authenticity builds trust. When all the AI avatars are zigging, you want to be zagging.   (And if creators are struggling now, wait until you see what happens in Shift 6.)

Secondly, businesses that support creators rather than compete with them will do well. The ones that offer things like analytics, production tools, niche distribution platforms, and membership systems. Many of the next generation of entrepreneurs will build infrastructure around creators instead of trying to become one. In every gold rush, most miners go broke. Your best shot at creating a fortune may be selling the picks and shovels.

3. The 40-Hour Workweek Goes Extinct

The forty-hour workweek was designed for factories. Industrial economies required synchronized labor schedules, and that standard eventually spread across the entire workforce.  Today’s employment scenario doesn’t need that.

And automation, AI, and digital collaboration are erasing the link between time and value. Increasingly, work will be measured by results not hours. Some people will work intensely for six months then take a year off.  The side gig economy will accelerate exponentially.

Entrepreneurs who design companies around leverage rather than labor will kick ass and take numbers in this environment. Small teams equipped with automation can produce results that once required hundreds of employees.

Your opportunity lies in building businesses where value comes from creativity, intellectual property, and systems, not from the number of hours Mary sits at her desk.

4. Human Experiences Will Become the Fastest-Growing Luxury Market

As life becomes more digital, the rare commodity becomes something profoundly analog: real human experience. People can stream endless entertainment and live much of their lives through screens. Hell, it won’t be long before you can spar with Bruce Lee, discuss philosophy with Socrates, or have dinner with Marilyn Monroe in a holo-suite. But that very abundance will create more craving for authentic human interaction.

We’re already seeing the early signals. Luxury travel is booming. Immersive events sell out quickly. Private clubs, retreats, and adventure experiences command premium prices. The VIP options for my seminars and coaching sell out before the cheap seats.

In a world drowning in digital content, people increasingly value moments they can’t download.

Entrepreneurs who design businesses around transformative experiences: education retreats, curated travel, immersive entertainment, live “no device” communities, etc. will tap into this demand. The more artificial the digital world becomes, the more valuable genuine human experience will become.

5. A Fierce Anti-Tech Backlash Will Form

Every transformative technology eventually produces a backlash and this one has already started. People are spooked by the levels of surveillance from both marketers and government. We already have lunatics burning Waymos.  But this is not a movement fueled by crazies, it will be sane people, reclaiming their rationality and privacy.

The social media platforms have betrayed us, with their endless scrolls of rage bait, polarization, and misinformation. They’re rotting our brains, destroying our focus and manipulating us into harmful behavior. I’ve been screaming for years that no kid under 12 should have a smartphone and social media platforms should be age gated and I’m no longer a lone voice in the wilderness.

The way AI scales this surveillance and manipulation will finally drive people to revolt.  As algorithms shape our attention, employment, and personal data, many people will begin to question how much technological influence they want in their lives.

The opportunity lies in building technology that respects human boundaries. Privacy-first products, human-verified information networks, ethical AI frameworks, and tools that give individuals control over their data will become major industries. The savvy entrepreneurs in this space won’t try to kill technology, but reshape it.

6. AI Will Disrupt 3 Billion Jobs and Cause a Global Economic Shock

Automation has always replaced some jobs while creating others. But AI is unique because it can perform cognitive work, not just physical labor. Entire categories of employment like customer service, administrative work, basic analysis, and even creative fields are about to be almost vaporized.  I keep telling my speaker, author, and consultant colleagues that in two years, no one is going to pay you for what you know, they will only pay you for what you think. (See number one above.)

The scale of disruption will create economic shockwaves. Governments are already scrambling to adapt labor policies, education systems, and social safety nets. But technology has already lapped them. Businesses that rely on routine knowledge work will face massive restructuring.

You’ve heard predictions saying millions of jobs will be disrupted. Maybe tens of millions. You heard it here first: the number is closer to three billion.

And this will create MASSIVE opportunities…

New roles will emerge around supervising AI systems, designing complex solutions, and building businesses powered by unprecedented productivity. Entrepreneurs who learn to harness AI as leverage rather than fear it as competition will have an enormous advantage.

P.S. And when that many jobs disappear, it won’t just disrupt companies… it will destabilize entire political systems. As you’ll discover in Shift 17…

7. The AI Industry Will Crater Worse Than the Dot-Com Meltdown

One thing anyone who has watched markets for long learns is that bubbles rarely burst because the technology fails. They burst because investors get the timing wrong.

The internet really did change the world. But in 2000, investors priced in a future that wouldn’t arrive for another decade. That’s exactly what’s happening with AI investing today.

Technology revolutions often happen faster than people expect…but the profits arrive much slower.

Right now, markets are behaving as if the productivity explosion from AI is already here. But most serious economic forecasts suggest the measurable impact could take years to show up in corporate earnings.  If that sounds negative to you, remember that this exact pattern played out with:

• railroads
  • electricity
  • cars
  • the internet

Every one of those technologies reshaped civilization. And every one of them produced massive investment bubbles before the real profits appeared.

And when expectations outrun reality, markets don’t politely wait. (I don’t know who needs to hear this, but day traders and crypto bros rarely wait patiently when expectations get ahead of results.)

Today the amount of capital flowing into AI…at the valuations being assigned…has reached the level of drunken delusion.

Eventually the market will demand results.  Companies built on hype will collapse. Investors will retreat. The correction will be violent. And headlines everywhere will declare that the AI dream has died.

But that’s when a huge opportunity will begin...

After the dot-com crash, companies like Amazon and Google went on to build the modern internet economy.  When the AI bubble bursts, I believe the same pattern will repeat.

The AI revolution is real. But the wealth it creates will arrive in stages. The infrastructure builders: chipmakers, cloud providers, data center operators, etc. will capture the first wave. Bigger fortunes come later, when entrepreneurs figure out how to use the technology to create new products, new efficiencies, and entirely new industries.

That’s where you want to be.

8. The First Solopreneur Billion-Dollar Company Appears

For most of modern economic history, building a billion-dollar company required armies of employees.

• Henry Ford had factories full of workers.
• IBM had thousands of engineers.
• Amazon built massive fulfillment networks.

Scale meant people. But artificial intelligence blows all this out of the water...

AI systems can already write code, design products, analyze markets, generate marketing campaigns, and run customer service. Tools that once required entire departments can now be handled by software. Which leads to a radical possibility…

The first billion-dollar company built by a single human. 

Not because that person works harder. But because they control an ecosystem of intelligent systems doing the work that once required thousands of employees.

Here’s the earth-shattering element of what I’m saying…

When that moment arrives, it won’t just produce a billionaire. It will redefine entrepreneurship itself.

Instead of raising capital to hire employees, founders will build systems that scale without human infrastructure. Small teams…or even individuals…will compete with organizations that once required corporate armies.

The entrepreneurs who understand leverage will dominate this era. Not the ones who work the longest hours, but the ones who build the smartest systems.  And that shift won’t just produce one outlier billionaire.  It will create an entire generation of one-person empires.

Because AI doesn’t just replace jobs. It can replace entire companies.

9. Trillionaire Becomes a Thing

The global economy increasingly rewards scale. A company that becomes the infrastructure for communication, finance, AI computation, or immersive virtual environments could accumulate value on a planetary level. We already have trillion-dollar companies, but no individual with a large enough ownership stake to become a trillionaire.

That changes soon.  (Just wait until the people we’ll discuss in number 15 see this!)

10. Fusion Energy Will Finally Work and Crash the Global Energy Economy

For decades scientists joked that fusion energy was always thirty years away. But recently several private companies and national labs have achieved breakthrough milestones in sustained reactions and energy gain.

When fusion becomes commercially viable, even partially, it will provide abundant, relatively clean energy…and create one of the biggest economic disruptions in human history.

Oil markets would destabilize.  Electricity costs could collapse. Countries that depend on oil exports could face economic crises. Entire geopolitical alliances based on fossil fuels would be shaken. Meanwhile, nations that control fusion technology could become the new energy superpowers.

The world economy has always been shaped by energy cost curves. When energy gets dramatically cheaper, entirely new industries appear. And it doesn’t just change industries. It changes geopolitics, as you’re about to see in a few other shifts.

And for entrepreneurs, the opportunity wave would be massive…

Vertical farming, desalination, data centers, new modes of transportation and manufacturing.  Ask yourself the question, when power becomes cheap and plentiful, what technologies that are impractical today, suddenly become practical?

11. Longevity Technology Will Create the First 175-Year Lifespans

Medical science is beginning to treat aging as a biological process that can potentially be slowed or reversed. People like Bryan Johnson believe it can be stopped completely. The advances we’re already seeing in gene therapy, regenerative medicine, and cellular repair suggest that dramatically extended lifespans may be available a lot sooner than you may think.

When people begin living far longer, the implications (and opportunities) are enormous...

The obvious business models are around longevity: health optimization, age-reversal treatments, lifestyle technologies designed for extended life horizons.  But there are plenty more lucrative avenues to think about.

A life that spans 175 years changes how individuals think about risk and long-term investment. Retirement models, career planning, wealth accumulation, and education will all have to be reimagined as well.

12. The First Digital Nation State Will Be Recognized

Communities are no longer limited by geography. Millions of people already organize economically and socially through digital networks. Some technologists believe these communities could eventually evolve into “network states.” These are organized populations with shared governance, capital, and (maybe or maybe not) physical territory.

When one of these digital communities gains diplomatic recognition, it will redefine the concept of nationhood. Citizenship might become portable, based on affiliation rather than birthplace.

Entrepreneurs will make fortunes building the infrastructure of these new societies: digital governance systems, decentralized finance, and services designed for borderless populations.

This one is actually quite easy to predict. The first Network State will be founded by Balaji Srinivasan and the smart betting is on him being the first elected president. In fact, if you’re looking for some fast money now, I suggest you build a Shopify store and start promoting “Balaji for Me!” bumper stickers and other campaign swag.  For a deeper dive on the concept, read Balaji’s book, The Network State: How To Start a New Country.

13. Bitcoin Collapses After Global Regulation

“But wait,” you say. “Isn’t the whole point of cryptocurrency to have the ability to make anonymous transactions without government interference?”  Of course it is.

But if you believe that Hell has no fury like a woman scorned, wait until you see how government bureaucrats feel when they can’t monitor, tax, and confiscate your money.

Don’t @ me bro.

Bitcoin may be one of the most elegant financial ideas ever created. But elegant ideas and political reality are two very different things.

Governments tolerate many things. Losing control of money is not one of them.

I’m not predicting Bitcoin disappears.  I’m predicting the dream of a completely unregulated parallel financial system disappears.  I am vehemently against governments regulating crypto. But I’m going on record that I expect this to happen.

Cryptocurrencies emerged partly as a rebellion against centralized control. But the more adoption grows, the more unlikely governments are to tolerate financial systems they cannot regulate. Once crypto reaches mass adoption, I believe regulators will impose strict identity requirements on large transactions.

I’ve seen this movie before…

You’re going to start to see statements from the government that criminals, sex traffickers, and terrorists are using cryptocurrencies to commit heinous crimes. (If you’ve been following the Guthrie kidnapping here in the States, you know this is already happening.)  They will propose some initial form of supervision, such as notice or ID required for transactions above certain thresholds.

They will make statements like “If you’re not a criminal, sex trafficker, or terrorist...you have nothing to worry about.” Then they will start choking the pipes. Banks, credit card companies, electronic payment platforms, and crypto exchanges.  They will threaten them with expulsion from the system and prison time if they don’t report suspicious transactions, which will eventually accomplish their goal of controlling your money.  I think Bitcoin still survives, but nothing like the concept Satoshi envisioned, and it will never reach the value that most of the people who are investing in it now dream of.  Bookmark this page so you can  come back and ratio me later: Cryptocurrencies are a bunch of mice, building their own cat.

And just like any market, some people make their money when things are going up, and others make it when things are going down.

Other entrepreneurs who build compliant infrastructure like identity verification, regulatory technology, and secure custody solutions may find opportunity in that transition.

14. SpaceX Will Be the Biggest IPO Ever — and the Biggest Bust

I can’t wait to see the ratios I get on this one!  Elon is the golden boy. SpaceX is one of the most celebrated private companies in history. When it goes public, I’m convinced the IPO  will be eye watering.

So why do I predict it will be a bust?

First off, I simply believe SpaceX gets caught in the collateral damage of the AI bubble mentioned in shift #7 above.

Secondly it’s the numbers. One of the oldest games in finance is taking a complicated, messy capital structure and cleaning it up just enough to roll it onto the public market looking like a thoroughbred. Debt gets refinanced. Obligations get moved around. Unattractive pieces get buried under a bigger, shinier narrative. The pitch becomes simpler, cleaner, sexier. But the underlying economics don’t magically transform because the optics improved.

And that’s the issue here. If private capital is being used to retire debt, simplify obligations, and create a more polished pre-IPO story, that may be smart financial engineering. But let’s call it what it is: engineering. Not necessarily strength. Not necessarily proof of durable economics. Just a better PowerPoint for the roadshow.

The real danger is that I believe 95 percent of the investors won’t be buying SpaceX the business. (Including many of the smartest VCs in the space.) They’ll be buying the Musk mythology, the AI halo, the robotics fantasy, the Mars dream, and the assumption that every company he touches deserves infinite multiples forever.

That works right up until it doesn’t.

When you have an auto company trading at absurd multiples, you can calm nervous investors by telling them it’s really an AI and robotics play. But when you already have an AI and robotics play trading at absurd multiples, there’s no next layer of narrative to spin.

That’s especially true if this IPO hits after the broader AI bubble has already started deflating. Because then the market mood changes completely. Suddenly investors stop rewarding vision and start demanding evidence. They stop paying for “someday” and start paying for cash flow. And that’s when a company can go from being the most anticipated offering in the world to the most expensive disappointment in the world.

None of this means SpaceX isn’t a remarkable company. It is. None of it means space isn’t a real frontier. It is. The mistake is assuming that a revolutionary company automatically makes for a rationally priced stock. History says otherwise. Some of the most transformative businesses in the world have still been terrible buys at the wrong valuation.

And that’s where the opportunity comes in for entrepreneurs and investors who keep their heads while everyone else loses theirs. If the IPO comes out overheated and then stumbles, the real money won’t be made worshipping the flagship. It will be made in the second-order plays: suppliers, satellite infrastructure, data applications, space logistics, defense-adjacent technology, and niche operators building real businesses around the ecosystem after the hype gets wrung out.

The first wave goes to the storytellers. The second wave goes to the disciplined builders. And the disciplined builders are usually the ones who get rich.

One last reason I’m sour on the deal is Elon himself.  It’s not that he’s not the most visionary entrepreneur of our generation. He is. And he has the social skills of an eggplant. (And just because my therapist might say I’m projecting my own personality deficiencies upon him, doesn’t mean it isn’t true. 🤪)

When a valuation depends heavily on one charismatic founder, that becomes a hidden risk factor investors rarely model.

If the IPO goes forward the way I believe it will, all of the projections assume Elon doesn’t have a mental breakdown, overdose, alienate three quarters of the market with obnoxious behavior… or simply wake up one morning, shut the whole thing down, and move to a goat-yoga commune in a trailer park outside Orlando.

15. The “Billionaires Shouldn’t Exist” Movement Threatens Economies

Economic inequality has become one of the defining debates of our time. As wealth concentrates in fewer hands, political movements demanding aggressive redistribution are gaining momentum.

The “billionaires shouldn’t exist” movement is crazy as is the proposed “billionaires’ tax” in California. But the anger, frustration and pain that are driving them are not. If we don’t find a way to create more opportunities to the disadvantaged and younger generations, we will see these movements gather steam.

These policies of extreme taxation, restrictions on wealth accumulation, and hostility toward private enterprise will alter the investment climate in multiple countries.

Entrepreneurs who anticipate such shifts may diversify geographically, build resilient global businesses, and support policies that encourage innovation.  But we also need to be part of the solution or the pitchforks are going to come out.

16. A Free Cuba Becomes the Crown Jewel Tourist Destination of the Atlantic

Cuba possesses natural beauty, cultural richness, and geographic proximity to major travel markets. And a repressive, corrupt, and bankrupt government that is teetering on breakdown.  In recent days there are signs that the collapse could be imminent.

A change to a free government would instantly attract investment in infrastructure, hospitality, transportation, and technology. It could rapidly jump to the top of the list as the most desirable destinations in the Atlantic region. Expect hourly flights from Miami.

Entrepreneurs who understand emerging markets and can operate early in newly open economies often capture extraordinary opportunities.

17. Trump is Removed from Office – and the Two-Party System Collapses

Say what you will about Donald J. Trump, he has already become one of the most consequential presidents in American history. Whether you view his legacy as largely positive or largely negative isn’t the point here.  The salient point is that he has accelerated one of the most dangerous trends in American politics: extreme polarization.

The United States now has one of the most emotionally charged electorates in its history. A growing number of voters on both the right and left are so consumed by visceral hate toward the other side that rational political discourse has virtually disappeared.

And when political systems become this polarized, they rarely stabilize. They break.

My prediction is that the next breaking point arrives in 2027, when Trump is removed from office after impeachment and conviction—with Republican votes helping to push it through the Senate.

Trump has survived scandals and legal battles that would have ended most political careers. He has maintained his position largely because of his powerful grip on the Republican Party apparatus and the fierce loyalty of his MAGA base. But even that coalition is beginning to show fractures.

As Trump continues to push the limits of executive authority, tensions inside the Republican Party will grow. Some members of the GOP still see themselves as guardians of the constitutional balance between the branches of government. The longer those boundaries are tested, the more internal conflict you will see.

After the midterm elections, the Dems will almost certainly move toward impeachment. That part is predictable. But this time I expect some Republican senators to decide that removing Trump is the only way to stabilize their own political future.

The shock will end the Republican Party.

A new competition will begin to become the party that replaces it. One group will attempt to rebuild around traditional conservative principles—limited government, fiscal restraint, and constitutional law. The other group will continue the personality-driven movement that formed around Trump.

But the story won’t end there…

While the Republican Party is collapsing, the Democrats will enjoy a surge of power. They will expand their influence in the courts, push aggressive policy agendas, and harness the populist backlash against wealth described in Shift 15, along with the economic anxiety created by the AI crash described in Shift 6.

And like dominant parties throughout history, they will eventually overreach.

That overreach will fracture the Democratic coalition as well. The progressive wing and the establishment wing are already uneasy partners. Under the pressure of governing…and the backlash that follows…those tensions will explode.

I believe that within a decade, the United States will no longer have the two-party system that has defined its politics for more than 150 years. Both the Republican and Democratic parties will collapse and be replaced by new political coalitions built from their wreckage.

And when you step back and look at the bigger picture, that outcome shouldn’t be surprising...

• Artificial intelligence is about to disrupt millions of jobs.
• The AI investment bubble is likely to burst.
• Populist anger toward wealth and institutions is already rising.
• Trust in government is collapsing.

When all those forces collide at the same time, political systems don’t gently evolve. They reset.

Which means the real takeaway isn’t which party wins the mid-term. The takeaway is that the United States is entering the most politically chaotic decade in modern history.

Chaos creates opportunity. And the more chaotic the situation, the greater the opportunity.

So, let’s land the plane…

All of these shifts…but particularly the emergence of AI…make this the single most cataclysmic, disruptive time in human history.  And at the same time, the greatest era of opportunity humanity has ever seen.

Ten years from now, much of this will look obvious. Today it might sound crazy to you. Bookmark this post so you can come back in a decade and tell me how stupid I was. Or jump down in the comments now and tell me how crazy you think I am.  Or share which shifts you agree are a high probability and you’re going to explore the possibilities. I seriously would love to see your thoughts either way.  Because things are about to get spicy…

Peace,

- RG

Previous Post: The Instagram Version of Entrepreneurship vs. the Real One

Crazy Today. Obvious Tomorrow. 17 Shifts Creating the Next Fortunes

March 7, 2026

One of the most important days in your life is the one when you realize that most of your limitations are self-imposed.

That realization isn’t motivational, it’s transformational.  Because once you truly understand it, your excuses collapse. You can’t blame your abusive parent, the president, or your ex.  Taking it to the next step, this means, if the ceiling is internal, then the leverage is internal too.

If your goal is to be a victim, this is terrible news.  But if your goal is to win, it’s the best news you’ll hear all month.

Sadly, most people stay convinced their struggle is circumstantial and that their breakthrough will arrive from the outside: The hot new crypto token. The next uptick in the economy. Maybe Oprah’s agent finally calling.  They believe the next event will finally deliver the feeling they’ve been chasing.

It. Doesn’t. Work. That. Way. 

External achievements amplify who you already are. They don’t repair what’s unresolved. Having a baby, buying a Lambo, or floating your IPO won’t solve an identity issue. If you’re unsettled internally, success will feel temporary. You’ll enjoy the endorphin surge, then quietly return to baseline.

That’s why so many high performers reach a long-anticipated goal and feel strangely flat. They upgraded their circumstances, but they didn’t upgrade their self-identity.  I learned this the hard way when I rebuilt my life after losing everything.

Creating a prosperous life starts with examining the story you’re living inside. Somewhere along the way, you absorbed ideas about money, ambition, and what you’re allowed to have. You learned what was “realistic,” what was “too much,” and just how visible you were allowed to be.

Those ideas created your identity, which determines how you see the world...

The problem is, those ideas were never truth. They were interpretations. If you believe wealth corrupts people, you’ll unconsciously distance yourself from it. If you believe success isolates you, you’ll find reasons to stay just below your potential. The mind protects identity.  Especially when that identity is small.

Prosperity is not primarily a financial outcome. It’s an identity decision. Your income eventually aligns with your self-perception. It may lag, but it rarely disagrees.

If you see yourself as someone who struggles, you’ll recreate struggle in different environments. If you see yourself as someone who figures things out, you’ll behave accordingly. The external world reads your cues and mirrors the level of respect you show yourself.

This is where personal responsibility becomes non-negotiable...

Not blame, ownership. Instead of asking, “Why is this happening to me?” you ask, “What am I doing that’s contributing to this?” That question removes the comfort of victimhood, but it also restores power. Because if you’re participating in the result, that means you can change it.

Emotional independence is just as critical. Circumstances change. Markets fluctuate. People disappoint. Praise comes along with haters.  If your emotional state is tethered to every external shift, you’ll live in reactionary mode. Prosperity requires the ability to say, “My situation may change, but my identity doesn’t.”

When you stop outsourcing your happiness to future milestones, something subtle but powerful happens. You stop chasing outcomes for validation. You pursue them as expressions of who you are becoming. The ambition remains and the desperation fades.

That day when you recognize that most of your limitations are self-imposed is the day you stop waiting.

You stop waiting for permission. You stop waiting for ideal conditions. You stop waiting for someone else to decide you’re ready.

That realization doesn’t make life easy, but it makes you responsible.  And self-responsibility is where prosperity begins.

A prosperous life isn’t a single event, achievement, or award.  It’s the internal stability that says, “I am not defined by my circumstances, and I am capable of more.” When that shift takes place, external results tend to follow.  And that’s where the breakthroughs live.

Peace,

 

- RG

Previous Post: When “You” Call for Ransom Money

Prosperity Starts When You Stop Blaming

February 25, 2026

As we wrap up 2022, I’d like to thank all of you that support the Power Prosperity Podcast.  It was our biggest year yet for downloads.  For you guys that like year-end ‘best of’ lists, these were the Top Ten most listened to shows for the year – listed from one to ten. Find the link to your favorite streaming player below, and then search for the episode numbers you want to hear.

473: Mastering your Conscious and Subconscious to Live a Life of Success

#488: Prosperous Marriages & Relationships

#484: The Dangers of Lower Companions

#1: Defining Your Prosperity

#487: Getting to High Velocity

#478: Unleashing Your Creative Genius

#366: Breaking Through Prosperity Blockages

#480: The Secret to World Class Anything

#493: Finding Success

#508: The Truth About Crypto MLMs

Apple   Spotify   Anchor   Google Podcasts   iHeartRadio

Stitcher   Castbox   TuneIn   Overcast

As always, please rate and share the podcasts.  I'm told you can now comment on Spotify.  And if you’d like to make a contribution to support the show, you can do that at the Anchor link.

Peace,

- RG

Previous Post: The Possibilities of 2023

 

Your 2022 Power Prosperity Podcast Favorites

December 30, 2022

Happy Freakin’ Friday!

It’s time again for my weekly chat with you with the subject that I’m thinking about – and believe you might want to think about as well.  Today that subject is coasting in your comfort zone.

I’m thinking about this a lot because my annual TRIBAL event is coming up soon, and I’ll be working with some of the most brilliant thought leaders and agents of change on the planet.  And every one of them – and you if you work to make the world a better place – is going to be surrounded by people who give you permission to stay the way you are.

Back in the 70s, Rick Nelson created a ruckus when he released a song called “Garden Party.”  It was a simple enough pop ditty, but it did raise some issues about our proclivity to live in the past. Since most of you reading this weren’t even born yet, here are the lyrics:

Went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends
A chance to share old memories and play our songs again
When I got to the garden party, they all knew my name
No one recognized me, I didn't look the same

But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well.
You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself

People came from miles around, everyone was there
Yoko brought her walrus, there was magic in the air
And over in the corner, much to my surprise
Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan's shoes wearing his disguise

But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well.
You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself

Played them all the old songs, thought that's why they came
No one heard the music, we didn't look the same
I said hello to "Mary Lou", she belongs to me
When I sang a song about a honky-tonk, it was time to leave

But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well.
You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself

Someone opened up a closet door and out stepped Johnny B. Goode
Playing guitar like a-ringin' a bell and lookin' like he should
If you gotta play at garden parties, I wish you a lotta luck
But if memories were all I sang, I rather drive a truck

And it's all right now, learned my lesson well
You see, ya can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself

The song has some relevance to you once you accomplish something epic.  Because unfortunately, there will be a lot of people around you who are going to always keep asking for your “greatest hits.”  At least until they’re bored with you and you’re no longer relevant.

As a speaker, the danger is falling in love with your “signature story.” But if your entire body of work revolves around your story of climbing Mt. Everest, winning the Super Bowl, or rescuing someone from a burning house – how are you possibly going to stay relevant?  Another consideration: Your signature story isn’t really supposed to be about you anyway.  It’s supposed to be about the lesson it provides the audience.

With authors, the danger is falling in love with your runaway bestselling book.  More Chicken Soup for the Soul and Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul may work, but by the time you get to Chicken Soup for Midget Porn Stars with Psoriasis, you’ve probably gone back to the well one time too often.  Your market gravity erodes book by book, until you wake up one day and discover you went from trend setting revolutionary to one trick pony.

Likewise for coaches, consultants, and thought leaders in general.  You may be known for writing the seminal book in your space, designing the manufacturing process that everyone in the industry follows, or developing the philosophy that is still taught in college courses for your profession.  Most of your tribe is going to want you to tell them the same bedtime story every night.  Until they’re too old for bedtime stories any longer. Here’s what you have to keep reminding yourself about your tribe…

They don’t know what they don’t know. And they especially don’t know what you know that they don’t know and need to know.  Being a thought leader requires leading the thought.  It’s your responsibility to get your tribe (and potential tribe) to see that you have important information that they need to know.  Even sometimes (especially sometimes) when that info is inconvenient for them, makes them uncomfortable, or completely blows up their perception about something.

I was catching up with episodes of The Voice television show recently. Ed Sheeran was the guest mentor for the contestants, and he tossed off a side comment that struck me like lightning. He said when he writes and records each song, they belong to him.  But once the record comes out, they belong to everyone else. Because in their minds, those tunes become their wedding song, graduation anthem, etc.  (Which is probably what Ricky Nelson is alluding to when he writes, “I said hello to ‘Mary Lou’, she belongs to me.”)

A lot of your tribe just want you to sing their favorite song again at their comfy little garden party.  But your job is to expand the vision they have for themselves.  To pull them from that cozy nostalgia and take them on an adventure of challenge, growth, and development.

Some will feel betrayed and look for someone else to follow. Love them and allow them to grow.  They’re not your tribe, at least not yet. Others will push back, trying to test your resolve.  When you hold firm, they will come around and become valuable members of your tribal community.  Yet others will be all in from the start.  That’s exactly why they found their way to you, because they’re looking for someone who makes them think about things in ways they’ve never thought about those things before. They’re looking for someone who challenges them to become the highest possible version of themselves.  Be that someone, even when, especially when, it means you have to challenge people.

Since we’re in the music theme this week, let me draw on another song, “Changes” from David Bowie.  I loved it when it came out, and it’s still on one of my workout playlists today.

And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They’re quite aware of what they’re goin’ through

This song speaks to people who want to blow up the status quo and step into their greatness. That’s the people you want in your orbit

As far as Ricky Nelson, he died in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve, 1985.  But before he went to the great Billboard Hot 100 in the Sky, he placed 53 hits on the chart.  So, he never had to play at garden parties, and I doubt that he would have had to drive a truck.

ICYMI, on the Success & Prosperity Blog: Losing My Religion for Bitcoin

New on the Podcast: How to Prosper in an Economic Meltdown

Apple  http://ow.ly/h6UV50JFHTT Spotify: http://ow.ly/8puz50JFHTR Anchor: http://ow.ly/wEV050JFHTQ Other Platforms: http://ow.ly/fBby50JFHTS

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TcXsZnHA0c&t=31s

Thought of the Day: Stop asking, 'Who am I?' and start asking, 'Who can I become?'

Peace,

- RG

P.S. Last Call!!! My TRIBAL event is happening in a couple weeks! If you see yourself making a bigger impression, changing the game in your space, making a real difference and co-creating the universe – lock in your space now. 

 

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June 24, 2022

Turning Hungry Hustle into Delicious Dinero…

September 25, 2021

Curing the Disease of Poverty

September 4, 2021

Unleash Your Prosperity!

August 28, 2021

Discover the Truth

August 23, 2021

The Path to Becoming Debt Free

August 9, 2021

10 Truths for Getting Rich

July 31, 2021

Turning Dreams into Prosperity Reality

July 26, 2021

Prosperous, Harmonious Relationships

July 19, 2021

What Really Matters

July 10, 2021

Circulation Principles for Prosperity

July 3, 2021

Billionaires Behaving Badly: A Case Study

June 26, 2021

What Keeps You Broke

June 21, 2021

The 5 Stages of Prosperity Consciousness

June 15, 2021

Creating Wealth Step-by-Step

June 7, 2021

Goal Setting…And Getting

May 29, 2021

Unleashing Your Prosperity Power

May 24, 2021

The 7 Most Empowering Prosperity Beliefs

May 17, 2021

Learn with Your Time, Earn with Your Mind

May 8, 2021

Create a Talent Catalog for Abundance

May 1, 2021

Creating a Mastermind & Your Circle of Power

April 24, 2021

Creating a Vacuum for Prosperity

April 17, 2021

Attracting or Repelling Prosperity

April 10, 2021

Overcoming to Become

April 3, 2021

Being Poor Is a Sin!

March 27, 2021

The Mental Side of Making Money

March 20, 2021

Murder Your Poverty Consciousness!

March 13, 2021

Your Prosperity Action Plan

March 6, 2021

Live Better than a Narcotrafficker!

February 27, 2021

Money Beliefs that Keep You Broke

February 20, 2021

Forgiving Others (And Yourself)

February 13, 2021

Reverse Engineering a Prosperous Life

February 6, 2021

Create Money Security

January 30, 2021

Living in Divine Discontent

January 23, 2021

Bad Beliefs About Money

January 16, 2021

Manifesting Prosperity on the Physical Plane

January 9, 2021

The 2021 Version of You

January 2, 2021