Oh, greatness.
My dear love, my worst enemy — how can I catch you?
I tried (and I really tried) everything.
You’ve always slipped through my fingers!
Now, here’s my last try.
… or I’ll say goodbye.
The never-ending battle between you and me
Hello.
I’m DiMOLNAR.
You know my name well… how could you forget it?
Our history together.
The fights that cost too much. The war that took everything from me.
I’m naked:
- dropped-out detective student
- dropped-out computer science student
- dropped-out psychology student
- marketer who has lost faith in his profession
- ex-poker player, who was even willing to throw away his success for you
I’m dead.
Well, I was dead.
But now — as always — I got to my feet. I have risen from my ashes, like a phoenix that has died a hundred times but risen a hundred and one. And you know what? I’m stronger than ever. This phoenix will fly again.
And it remembers every single one of its previous lives.
For example, at the time of my first big fight with you — my first success —, I was reading online poker journals. In them, players described:
- their average days
- their weekly results
- their monthly summaries
… and their progress throughout the years.
Oh yes, the golden age of the internet — the beautiful blog era (before social media).
I fucking loved it… and now I will do the same.
But don’t let our many nostalgic memories fool you, I’m not too old for you. Not yet. When I’m writing this, I’m in my twenties. When somebody reads this, I’m in my thirties.
Greatness, you motherfucker.
I tried everything:
- I learned a lot — from books, people, philosophies
- I changed careers — more often than I changed underwears
- I built my pillars — my home, my love, my babies
… and I found my greatest weapon against you:
My life purpose.
I laid the groundwork for peak performance — I’m more prepared than ever.
Now, as we come to my last attempt, I will put this all to practice. I pour my gigantic inner world into outer word.
I’m ready.
“For the first 30 years of your life, you make your habits.
For the last 30 years of life, your habits make you.”
—Hindu saying
I made a lot of mistakes on the way here, and they weren’t the last. The road to you is paved with mistakes, and that road is what this blog will be about.
I’ll catch you now, you bastard!
The journey to greatness
This is the blog I wish I had read the first time I started chasing you.
It’s going to cover the lessons I learnt from this war, including my:
- daily habits
- yearly goals
- tiny wins
- epic fails
- secret tricks
Everything from productivity, psychology, marketing, growth, motivation, content, writing, creativity, world building.
How I build my personal brand from scratch — backed up with real numbers.
Now, I’m not saying that there aren’t any good places (online & offline) for the readers to learn about these things. There are tons of amazing resources out there. More successful entrepreneurs, smarter creatives and better writers. I know, because I read as many of them as I can, and I’ll be sharing the best of what I find.
But what we’re going after with this blog is a different perspective. A view from the soldier’s eyes, with actionable takeaways that you can put directly into your own personal war. You won’t find any Situation Room analysis here — everything I will write about will be hard-earned lessons from the battlefield, as I learn them on my way to $100,000 in yearly revenue.
There will be blood.
Why $100,000 in yearly Revenue?
One, because goals matter.
And big milestones like that one give me a massive red bullseye to aim for, every time I look at my roadmap.
One of the biggest (and most counter-intuitive) lessons I’ve learned as a content creator/entrepreneur is that just about the hardest way to make more money is to try to make more money.
Confusing, I know.
Rather, the easiest way to make more money is to provide more value.
Nobody cares that I want to make more money, nor should they. They do care that I want to improve their life, help them to do their job better, and make their brands succeed. And that way, God help me, maybe they would be willing to pay for it.
And two, because it’s only the first step of the big picture: the Master Plan.
The Secret DiMolnar Master Plan
There’s a noname, failure-after-failure, quiet and retiring figure you’ve probably never heard of:
Elon Musk.
In 2006, he wrote a document laying out step-by-step how he was going to bring the energy transition to life with Tesla:
The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan (just between you and me).
Its essence can be summarized in a few sentences:
“Without giving away too much, I can say that the second model will be a sporty four door family car at roughly half the $89k price point of the Tesla Roadster and the third model will be even more affordable. In keeping with a fast growing technology company, all free cash flow is plowed back into R&D to drive down the costs and bring the follow on products to market as fast as possible. When someone buys the Tesla Roadster sports car, they are actually helping pay for development of the low cost family car.
So, in short, the master plan is:
1. Build sports car.
2. Use that money to build an affordable car.
3. Use that money to build an even more affordable car.
4. While doing above, also provide zero emission electric power generation options.
Don’t tell anyone.”
Well, it’s not a secret anymore, nor is it a plan — it’s 100% reality.
Fucking great inspiration, but not the only one.
There is a guy called Alex Turnbull. He and his company (Groove) have written a startup diary showing each week the hurdles they have to overcome to reach the funds they need to sustain themselves: $100k per month.
Why was it such a big hit that, alongside Elon Musk, I drew inspiration for the diary from him?
- 97% of their revenue (!!!) came through their blog — everyone read it like there’s no tomorrow.
- The focus was not on marketing, but on content — they went viral, while they didn’t even know what marketing phrases like “SEO” was.
- The goal was achieved in just over 1 year — now they are producing many times more.
… and that’s where the $100,000 a year comes in.
There’s an interesting phenomenon called: hedonistic treadmill.
It means that humans are quickly returning to a standard level of happiness, even when a major positive or negative event or life change — birth, love, death — happens.
After a certain level or time, we bounce back and stay on our baseline of happiness no matter what happens… or how much more income we earn.
As the studies show, that number is around $75,000 per year for Americans. It may be more for some, less for others. But nobody needs $1 million per year to be happy. If you earn $75,000 with 4 days of work, or $1 million for 7 days of work, you will be happier with the previous one.
Well, the study was conducted in 2008, so if we calculate the inflation, and let’s add I’m not American, then we can agree on $100,000.
This number is important, because with it, I can show that:
1Even artists don’t have to starve
The world is full of stories of artists who had a very hard life before they became successful: Bach, Van Gogh, J. K. Rowling.
… but the internet changed everything.
In short: we can enjoy our life while we create our masterpieces, not just after — journey vs. destination.
2Money doesn’t make us happy, but not having money makes us unhappy
By the time I will reach the age of 30, I have a perfect home, a beautiful family and we are all healthy. That’s everything I want — plus the Master Plan.
Financially, it’s not much, because I’m not motivated by money.
… but I hate stress.
If I can’t pay my bills, it causes stress. And the stress distracts me from my artistic work.
3It’s just the first step
With money, you can support your bigger goals — just like Elon Musk has spent all his revenue on R&D.
Do you know how much Tesla spent on marketing?
Zero.
I don’t need more real estate, investments or passive income. I want to spend all my money on my Master Plan.
So the $100,000 yearly income is just the first step.
- what comes next?
- what is my ultimate goal?
- what motivates me if not money?
Legacy.
To create something important.
To do what I love: creating content — even if it’s an article, a book, a TV show or a presidential campaign.
But in the meantime, I want fewer ideas (and with them: people) to die. Even phoenixes die eventually — but the human race is even more wonderful than a phoenix. That most ideas die before they are born is the greatest tragedy of our species.
“The graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered.”
—Les Brown
You may rightly ask: is it the world that matters to you, or yourself? Are you selfish, or altruistic?
Well, speaking of Tesla, what is their mission statement?
“To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”
It doesn’t matter if Tesla will be the one who brings it or not. The world is what matters. That’s why they released all of their patents.
The same is true for me. It doesn’t matter if I create the “tool” that help people make better content or an AI will create it and I will be forgotten forever: the important thing is that better and better works of the big three surprise the world:
- art
- scientific results
- system of governments
My mission statement:
To help the kings and kingmakers to make the world a better place.
To do this, I would like to write a book on how anyone can communicate (outer word). But you can only communicate if you have something to communicate, so I should write a book on thinking (inner world). But to be more than an armchair analyst in the Situation Room, I could create something (outer world).
Would, should, could.
And between the outer world and the inner world, there is another category: my loved ones. Polgar Laszlo is a Hungarian (I’m Hungarian, too) teacher and educational psychologist who raised 3 girls — the chess prodigies. They are the best female chess players in the world.
But he didn’t do it for success, he did it to give the girls something to relate to: meaning. As you may already know, I suffered a lot from not knowing what to do. I’d like to spare my children that. I will raise geniuses — not for the sake of success, but for happiness.
First, I will teach them languages (english, spanish, etc.). After then, the universal language of mankind: music.
To sum it all up…
I need to become a kingmaker.
So, in short, the master plan is:
- $100,000 yearly revenue: sustainable one-person business
- Non-fiction book: Inner world
- Non-fiction book: Outer word
- Fiction book: Fantasy
- While doing above, raise geniuses
Don’t tell anyone.
Where Our Journey Starts
Around $20,000 per year.
Well, it’s not bad money in Hungary.
It’s enough for the basics:
- home
- food
- learning
But it’s not enough for advancements:
- entertainment
- health
- freedom
So I have neither money nor time… the two most important resources for an entrepreneur. It’s nice to win from here, isn’t it?
But I have a healthy body. A mind full of knowledge. A humble work ethic.
… and maybe, maybe, some creativity.
What else do I need?
What You’ll Learn
Starting with our next post, we’ll outline how — exactly — we got to where we are today. We’ll talk about the strategies and tactics I applied, and the lessons I learned, including:
- how to get social media followers
- how to get people to read your site
- how to create content that people love
In short:
How to achieve greatness.
Fair warning: there are over a dozen “big lessons” like the ones above that we’ve learned up until now. This next post will be very personal.
But it’s going to be packed with detailed explanations, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that if I had this information before I started chasing greatness, I’d probably be at $100,000/year, or much-much-much more by now. If you get even a fraction of that benefit from reading it, I’ll be happy.
After next week’s post, we’ll shift to a more real-time perspective on our mission. I’ve got hundreds of ideas I am going to try, and whether I win or lose, I’ll be sharing the results with you. And if all goes well, we’ll continue to share our insights and lessons all the way to $100,000.
… and beyond.
So What’s Next?
Hopefully, you’ll join us on my journey. It’s totally free, and you don’t have to support me to achieve my goals (though you’re more than welcome to do it here).
I’ll be releasing a new post every sometimes, starting with the one outlined above.
To get each post emailed to you as soon as it’s published, sign up for the mailing list.
… or just figure out what is this whole “greatness-thing” is all about.
Here’s a 15-seconds summary:
- Greatness — It’s the starter: what this whole project is about.
- Inner world — It’s you: self-improvement, psychology, thinking. To become king.
- Outer word — It’s your work: creativity, social-psychology, communication. To become kingmaker.
- Modern — It’s the extra: bonus articles for inner world & outer word. Always up-to-date, never taught in school.
- Ancient — It’s my bestest work: in only 2 books. Everything is evergreen… the opposite of my articles.
- Hall of Fame — It’s the supporter team: people with whom we make it all happen. Join us (in 2 minutes).
- Wall of Nameless — It’s the exclusive club: my only 2 topics, in 2 minutes. Only in emails… nowhere else.
- Myself — It’s me: past to present. The way how I wanted to become a kingmaker.
- My journey — It’s what you are currently reading.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below or hit me up on X & Instagram.
Beleírni, hogy sokkal jobb cél:
- Felírtam az anyagi céljaimat (pl.: évi két nyaralás, stb.)
- És elérni, hogy ehhez passzívan legyen elég pénzem (szabadság)
Ez belülről jön, szemben a 100k külső céljával.