Starting My Million Dollar Weekend

Starting small, starting fast, and not worrying about what I don't know.

Source: Noah Kagan on Twitter

“You can build a million-dollar business in only 48 hours.”

This is the promise of Noah Kagan’s new book, Million Dollar Weekend.

I picked it up after seeing

Tommy Dixon

post a Substack Note about their book launch. It was quite timely, too, as one of my 90-day goals was to start my own business by March or April this year.

After months of wanting to become an entrepreneur, I figured maybe it's about time that I work on it.

Why I Want to Start a Business

My Papa and I jointly provide for our family’s expenses, including the college fees of my two younger siblings. I’m lucky to have a job that pays well, but it’s unfortunately not enough to cover our expenses.

After weeks of stressing over the problem, I realized there are two ways we could overcome the situation:

1. Reduce costs and living expenses.

2. Earn more money.

The first one—cutting costs and saving more money—was the primary option. However, after my parents and I listed our monthly expenses in detail, we realized that there isn’t much we could cut costs on. Most of our expenses are from food and college fees.

So, we were left with Option 2. For this one, I considered finding another job, but I already have my hands full during the weekdays. I also want to have full autonomy on what I’m working on for a change.

That’s why I thought of starting my own business. I’d have the freedom to learn new things, pursue what I want, and help solve other people’s problems.

Beginning Before I’m Ready

Building a business seemed like a big deal, so I felt like I needed to fully prepare for it before I could start. After all, I couldn't afford to lose all my money.

But it turns out, I had it wrong all this time. Noah Kagan argues that building a business isn’t as complicated as we make it out to be. In fact, he says starting a business doesn’t even require money (at least at the start).

Million Dollar Weekend (MDW) suggests that the best way to start a business is by:

• Starting small

• Starting fast

• Not worrying about what I don’t know

This means starting even if I don’t have much capital. This means doing stuff even if I don’t know everything yet. This means treating all this as an experiment, rather than a no-mistakes-allowed project.

This is why the first set of MDW Challenges focus on gaining momentum and just getting started. These would be the following:

1. The Dollar Challenge - Asking for a $1 investment

2. The Now, Not How Challenge - Asking for a business idea

3. The Freedom Number Challenge - Calculating the money I need to live comfortably

4. The Coffee Challenge - Asking for 10% off the next time I order coffee

Each one of these challenges could be done in less than an hour. When I found out that this was all I had to do in order to start, I felt more at ease.

I told myself that if I can accomplish even just one of these, my entrepreneurship journey would have already started.

#1 — The Dollar Challenge

The first challenge aims to help me make money even before I start my own business.

I thought this was crazy at first, but it was actually quite easy. This is what I had to do:

Ask somebody I know for a $1 investment in my entrepreneurship journey.

I felt good taking on the first challenge, so I decided to ask for ₱100 instead, which is roughly equivalent to $2. To add to the challenge, I also asked someone who isn’t a family member or a friend I’ve known for a long time.

I decided to ask Julia, a friend and workmate whom I met just three months ago. I crafted a short and well-thought message providing just enough context, then I pressed send without hesitation.

Here’s what I sent her:

I’ll be honest. My hands were shaking when I sent the message. I was worried about what she would think of me for making such a request, but the response turned out to be a lot more positive than I expected. 

Just like that, I made my first ₱100.

#2 — The Now, Not How Challenge

Ask one person I respect for a business idea.

The idea of this challenge is for me to have a business idea even before I think of one myself. It’s meant to prevent me from procrastinating and just get something done.

Instead of reading all these business books to find the “perfect” business idea, I can save time and effort by simply asking someone for an idea I could try out.

For this challenge, I decided to ask

Harrison Moore

, the author of

The New Workday

and a friend I met through Write of Passage.

I was expecting Harrison to share just one or two ideas, and that would be it. Challenge accomplished. But when Harrison and I hopped on a call, we ended up chatting for an hour.

We didn’t just talk about possible business ideas. We also discussed how I could cultivate my own ideas and how I could be more free and creative with what I wanted to pursue.

By the end of the call, I’d gotten five great business ideas. The ideas ranged from building a welcome basket business for Airbnb clients to crafting beautiful dividers for fellow writers. These are ideas that I could have never thought of myself.

In retrospect, this helped me realize two things:

1. I never know what’s possible until I ask for something.

2. I have freedom to pursue ideas that are different from what I’m accustomed to.

#3 — The Freedom Number Challenge

Choose a short-term monthly revenue goal.

The freedom number defines the amount of money I need to make each month to live comfortably and be able to do what I want.

My freedom number is ₱30,000. The calculations for it was pretty simple:

• Additional Budget for Monthly Expenses = ₱10,000

• Education Allowance for Books, Courses, or Bootcamps = ₱10,000

• Extra Allowance for Anything I Want = ₱10,000

I thought that if I made an extra ₱30,000 each month, my family and I would no longer have to worry about the bills. And on top of that, I could finally buy the things I’ve always wanted, like that walking pad that has been on my wishlist for MONTHS.

I could have easily made ₱100,000 my target because that amount of money would remove all of our money problems. But the point of the freedom number is to help me set an achievable goal that would motivate me to get going.

Realizing that I only have to aim for an additional ₱30,000 per month, I thought it was something I could work with. It’s still an ambitious goal, but now that it’s clear and concrete to me, it’s something I can slowly work towards.

#4 — The Coffee Challenge

Go to a coffee shop and ask for 10% off my order.

I’m going to be honest. Out of the four challenges, this is the only one I couldn’t accomplish so far. Instead of finding ways to actually do it, I found myself coming up with all kinds of excuses.

“I only drink coffee once a week, so the opportunity just wasn’t there.”

“I’m too busy right now. I’ll do it when I have more time.”

“This challenge doesn’t make sense. What does this have to do with building a business?”

When I reflected on why this challenge was so hard, I realized that it’s because of my fear of being rejected.

I’m scared that when I ask the cashier for a 10% discount, she’d say no and people will stare at me like I’m some crazy guy. It didn’t make sense for me to ask for a discount for no reason at all.

Besides, I’m pretty sure I’ll get rejected, so why bother trying? But eventually, I realized that maybe that’s the whole point of the challenge.

When I start my own business, I’ll be asking people to pay for my services because I believe it will be valuable to them. When that happens, rejection will occur often. But I’ve got to learn to be okay with that because that’s how I’ll grow not only as an entrepreneur but also as a human being.

There’s this quote by Steve Jobs which says:

"Most people never pick up the phone; most people never ask. And that's what separates, sometimes, the people that do things from the people that just dream about them. You gotta act. And you gotta be willing to fail."

I Never Know What’s Possible

In Episode 8 of The Tim Ferris Experiment, Tim worked with Noah Kagan to help Cindy Manit, a freelance yoga instructor, start her own business.

Following Noah’s playbook, Cindy was asked to take on the coffee challenge. I noticed her twitching and fidgeting with her necklace as she listened closely to Noah’s instructions.

“Why would I ask for a discount?” she questioned.

I remember saying the exact same thing. Like me, Cindy hesitated to take on the challenge. However, what set Cindy apart was her willingness to take on the task despite feeling scared.

In the next scene, she entered the coffee shop on her own. Then, she slowly approached the cashier and made her request.

“Can I get one latte for 10% off?”

A while later, she came out of the cafe holding her cup of coffee. When Tim asked her how it went, she was laughing and smiling as she told them how she got a discount.

This scene left a lasting impression on me. Tim had earlier described Cindy as timid and shy, yet she successfully completed the coffee challenge. While I kept convincing myself that there was no point in trying, Cindy demonstrated that it's possible to get the discount if one were to ask.

I find myself wondering: What opportunities am I missing out on simply because I’m afraid of asking?

Perhaps it’s time for me to confront my fears head-on, much like Cindy did.

What’s Next?

The first set of challenges was designed to establish the foundations for my business, starting with the most important asset—myself.

In just a couple of hours, I made my first ₱100 and received five business ideas. I also defined my freedom number, a monthly revenue goal I’m determined to work on.

While I haven’t yet built a million-dollar business, I believe that what I have already built so far is far more important.

I built up the courage to do things I never thought of doing before. I built up my optimism for a brighter future, even if I’m aware that it’s going to be tough. And I built up momentum for myself to keep on going.

From here, the next step is ideation, or as Noah puts it, finding million-dollar ideas. Although it seems intimidating, I know that I’ll be brave enough to take on the next challenges.

I’ll keep you updated on my progress. And rest assured, I’ll let you know when I finally conquer the coffee challenge.

Thank you to

Becky Isjwara

for providing feedback and giving me courage to publish this piece.

How It’s Going:

🍂 — I decided to let go of all my trackers and routines for the meantime. I’ve been feeling less stressed since I made the change so I might keep this setup for a while.

📱 — This week, I learned that being on my phone all the time makes me feel sucky (it was a eureka moment). I’ve been trying to have more screen-free hours, which my brain is thanking me a lot for.

☀️ — I've been spending most of my time working on our terrace. I get to enjoy a view of the trees and mountains, and sunlight exposure has been giving me a good energy boost.

📖 — I’m still reading Kafka on the Shore (70% completed). The stories of Kafka and Mr. Nakata are slowly becoming intertwined, which is blowing my mind.

📚 — My 9th-grade tutee just told me he got 40/48 on his math test. We did what we could with the two sessions we have available (due to time constraints), but I know he worked hard to prepare for the test. I’m a proud tutor.

P.S. If you're starting on a new journey like me (whether it’s entrepreneurship or not), feel free to send me a message and let’s chat. I'd love to hear how it's going for you and what you’ve learned so far.