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Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal

How to start a 7-figure business in 2025: Advice from 4 millionaires

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Ali Abdaalhost

Dec 16, 202438mWatch on YouTube

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CHAPTERS

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Chapter summaries

Why Join Someone Else's Small Business First
Ali asks whether it's better to join a startup or start your own. The guest strongly recommends working two years inside a small business, since in a team of a few people you see the whole company, unlike in a big corporate.
- •Careers fairs mostly feature big corporates, which funnels young people down that path
- •The UK has about 7,000 large companies and 5.5 million smaller ones, most with 10 people or fewer
- •In a four-to-six person company you often know the revenue, profit and weekly activity of the whole team
- •The guest recommends two years inside a small business before starting your own
Learning the Unwritten Rules by Sitting in the Room
The conversation compares learning on the job to medicine. The guest describes sitting in on list-swap and revenue-split negotiations between ages 19 and 21, and Ali shares his own experience of discovering how lobbying works at a conference.
- •Theory differs from the practical dynamics you only learn on the job
- •The guest watched a list swap and revenue split being negotiated and agreed in a meeting
- •Ali was surprised by how lobbying a congressman actually works
- •Fancy job titles hide mundane day-to-day work
A Lead Generation Business: Franchise Roadshows
Ali asks about the guest's lead generation company at 21. The guest explains how they worked with franchisors, ran roadshows that put one franchise in front of 50 potential buyers, and earned a cost-covering fee plus a 15% success fee.
- •Clients included financial planners and franchisors
- •At a franchise expo, 300 franchisors stood side by side, which the guest saw as saturated
- •Roadshows put one franchise in front of about 50 potential customers
- •The deal was costs covered first, then 15% of a $60,000 franchise fee
- •Leads were found through advertising, direct mail and fax broadcasting
Finding a First Offer Without Doing the Work Yourself
Ali imagines losing his YouTube channel and starting over with a web design or video content offer. The guest says to find someone credible to deliver and sell a roughly $2K package, and gives a video content example run by a team.
- •Ali's target: a roughly $2K offer sold about five times a month
- •The guest suggests selling web development packages for someone else to build
- •A monthly personal-brand video package for founders is a strong example
- •The first 10 grand needs only concept, audience, offer and sales
The Entrepreneur as the Organizing Force
The guest argues that an entrepreneur's job is to organize people rather than do the work. He says he has built multiple $10 million-plus companies without hands-on skills, and calls the habit of asking which skill to offer a product of the schooling system.
- •Doing the work makes you a video editor, not an entrepreneur
- •The guest says he has built multiple $10 million-plus companies without web, video or design skills
- •The schooling system trains you to be component labor
- •Get clear on what the customer wants and bring together the people to deliver it
Reframing Sales as Professional Problem-Solving
Ali admits to feeling uneasy about sales. The guest says good salespeople are professional, and describes sales as a mental model of current reality, desired reality and obstacles, closely resembling a doctor's diagnosis and treatment plan.
- •People describe good salespeople as professional: they ask questions, listen and don't push
- •The sales mental model is current reality, desired reality, obstacles, and a path of least resistance
- •Sales resembles a doctor's questions, assessment and treatment plan
- •Ali's negative picture comes from imagined used car dealerships
Apple Sales Training and the LAPS Framework
The guest uses the Apple store as an example of positive sales, noting that staff receive 40 minutes of sales training daily. He then introduces LAPS (leads, appointments, presentations, sales) as a weekly rhythm entrepreneurs should track.
- •Apple staff do 40 minutes of daily sales training covering product knowledge, rapport and objection handling
- •Their recommendations feel positive because they solve the customer's problem
- •LAPS stands for leads, appointments, presentations, sales
- •Good salespeople track these on a dashboard, digital or physical
Scaling From Six to Seven Figures and Beyond
A speaker explains that six figures is just selling one product through one channel to one avatar. Seven figures comes from doing that consistently, and growth beyond that means getting out of delivery and building a core team. The conditions for taking on a client are product-market fit, a reliable acquisition channel and a core team.
- •Six figures: one channel, one product, one avatar
- •Seven figures: the same thing done consistently
- •One to three million means getting the owner out of delivery and hiring a first couple of competent people
- •Three companies' minimum criteria: product-market fit, one reliable acquisition channel, a core team
Moving From Employee to Business Owner
Ali asks how an employee could get from zero to six figures doing what they love. The guest cautions against confusing revenue with income, notes that you remain an employee of your own business at first, and outlines advertising, selling, then splitting delivery into chunks.
- •Revenue is not income, and a business can leave you with just another job
- •Switching means you are still the employee, now also responsible for everything
- •Pick one of five advertising methods and do it consistently
- •Break delivery into chunks so several people each do a share of the work
Finding Something to Sell When You Think You Have No Skills
Ali poses the worry of someone who doesn't know what to sell. The guest says everyone knows something, points to three buckets (parents' work, past jobs, current interests), and recommends starting with low-risk service businesses to pay down 'ignorance debt'.
- •Everyone has unique knowledge from their experience
- •Three buckets: parents' jobs, your past jobs, and current interests
- •Sell the problem you can solve that is most valuable to others
- •Most entrepreneurs have a graveyard of failures, so don't expect a perfect first business
- •Service businesses are lowest risk, and early income is mostly education
The Quitting Framework
Ali brings up the quitting framework from a guest's first book. The guest argues that quitting and starting are equally the actions of winners, and the framework asks whether something is hard or simply sucks, then whether the hardship or effort is worth the reward.
- •Starting something new requires quitting something else
- •If it's hard, quit only if the hardship isn't worth the reward
- •If it sucks, ask whether you could fix it and whether the effort is worth it
- •Hard and meaningless is the worst situation to be in
31:00 – 38:09 Read this chapter
Productizing Your Knowledge
A guest explains how to scale beyond selling time by packaging knowledge into digital products like a writing course. He advises starting with services, using paid work to learn what clients ask, and giving away most of what you know for free.
- •Productizing removes the constraint of being paid for time
- •Start with a service to learn clients' questions, problems and frameworks
- •Give away 99% of what you know for free
- •Paying customers buy implementation, accountability and access, not just information

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