“Normal inputs = normal outputs.”

“Abnormal inputs = abnormal outputs.”

If you want to hit $1M per year, $10M, $20M+ you must accept that you’re trying to be a statistical outlier.

Because here’s the truth: your choices, your sacrifices, your weird obsessions, 999 out of 1,000 people won’t understand them. And that’s okay. That’s how outliers are made.

Why Most Founders Get Frustrated?

Let me start by naming something I see too often: founders feel tension in their identity. On the one hand, you want to be “normal”, you want to belong, you want acceptance, you want to not freak people out. On the other hand, building something meaningful requires stepping off the cliff, going extreme, being misunderstood.

That tension is real. The late nights, the trade-offs, the social sacrifices, they invite questions from friends, family, and even your own mind: “Am I doing too much?” “Is this worth it?”

You’re not alone. I’ve been there. And the truth I want to tattoo into your brain is: you can’t get abnormal results with normal behavior. You must lean into the weirdness. The edge. The irritation. The stuff others can’t see, don’t believe in, or laugh at.

This is not about blind hustle or glorifying burnout. It’s about aligning your actions with your ambition. Let’s unpack how you tilt from average toward outlier, and how to actually make that useful in your founder journey.

1. Understand the Asymmetry: The World Favors Outliers

Before you lean in, it helps to see the playing field. The game isn’t “linear progression + time.” It’s heavily skewed.

• According to global wealth distribution studies, over 1% of adults hold a huge portion of the wealth, while the vast majority hold very little.
• Between 1980 and now, real income for the bottom 50% in the U.S. barely budged, while the top 10% saw growth of over 145%.
• Oxfam reports that since 2020, 63% of all new global wealth went to the richest 1%.

Why does this matter for a founder? Because success is not evenly distributed. It isn’t about 10% or 20%, it’s about being in the 0.1%. That’s where leverage lives. That’s where power, optionality, and radical freedom live.

So your job isn’t just “be good.” It’s “be exceptional where it matters.”

2. Accept the Loneliness, Because It’s Not a Bug

When you choose extreme, you’ll feel dissonance. Most people will look at you as though you’re doing too much. The moment you apologize for working weekends, skipping social events, or saying no to “normal” things, you’re negotiating your own trajectory.

Let me tell you: you’re not supposed to be relatable (in the conventional sense). You’re supposed to be the one who’s willing to do what the other 999 ($1M per year) or 34,999 ($20M per year) won’t.

That doesn’t mean you’re heartless or cold. It means you accept the burden of being misunderstood. If you’re doing extraordinary work, many people around you won’t see the vision, and their discomfort is about you going farther than them, not about you being wrong.

When I first led Nomad Foundr, there were skeptics: “Why don’t you take it easy? Why not a safer path?” I had to hold my ground, over and over. The confusion is a signal, not a judgment.

3. Lean Into Weird Patterns, The Input Side of Outlier

To produce something great, your inputs must be abnormal. Here’s how you design your input strategy:

a) High-Variance Experiments

Rather than small, predictable bets, place a few big bets where upside is huge if they land. Be okay with many “misses” so you can hit a “moonshot.” Founders like Paul Graham long ago taught this: startups are built on high upside skew.

b) Obsessive Learning Loops

Don’t just “learn a lot.” Build feedback loops so you compress learning cycles. Read, write, teach, fail, tweak, repeat. The slope of your learning matters more than your starting point.

c) Apply Cross-Discipline Thinking

Some of the best ideas come when you import a principle from one domain into another. For example: taking a habit from martial arts to personal discipline, or a psychology insight into product design.

d) Build Identity Around the Work

You don’t “do side hustle and find balance now.” Your identity must start to shift into “I am the type of person who builds.” That changes your decisions daily. Over time, your decisions become inevitable extensions of who you are.

4. Strategy Over Tactics: The Framework of Outlier Execution

You now accept weirdness, you’re running high-variance bets, you’re building learning loops, but how do you structure your work so it doesn’t collapse into chaos?

I propose a three-layer framework I use at Nomad Foundr and with founders I mentor:

Layer 1: North Star Anchor

This is the mission-level metric or goal you commit to for 6–24 months (e.g. “help 100 first-time founders launch $10k minimal viable businesses”). Everything else should ladder into it.

Layer 2: Leverage Engines

Pick 2–3 scalable mechanisms that amplify output. These become your lever arms. Examples: content engine, referral engine, community engine, platform integrations.

Layer 3: Micro-rituals & Habits

These are your daily, weekly actions, the tiny disciplined rituals (e.g., writing 500 words daily, 1 cold intros, weekly recap) that feed your leverage engines. These shouldn’t feel heroic; they should feel necessary.

When I launched Nomad Foundr, my north star was simple: I want first-time founders to get traction in 3 months. My leverage engines became content (blog + newsletter), cohort programs, and partnerships. Underneath, micro-rituals were non-negotiable writing, outreach, reflection. Over time, these three layers reinforce each other.

5. Anchor Belief: You Can’t Be Average and Build Average

You must challenge the lie that “if I just build steadily, things will get better.” That’s a slow bleed. In startup land, first derivative matters, momentum, trend lines, flywheels.

If your behavior aligns with the median, you’ll hit median results. If your behavior shifts above median, you make room for outlier returns.

The math you love illustrates this:

• To make $1M/yr, you must outwork your entire high school class (not just your friends).
• To make $10M/yr, you must be the best out of every high school in your city.
• To make $20M+, imagine a stadium of 35,000 people, you have to outlast every single competitor.

That’s why the weirdness won’t scale down. You can’t be half-outlier. You either lean in or you settle.

6. Case Illustrations: When Weird Wins

Outlier.org & Aaron Rasmussen

Aaron built Outlier (online education platform) by refusing to be “just another course platform.” He obsessed over pedagogy, data, and reducing cost. He leaned into weird: focusing on credit-eligible courses at $29, and it resonated.

VC Advice: Less, But Sharper Bets

VC founders now openly claim: “There are not 100 outlier founders every year to bet on, there are a dozen.” That means they filter heavily, and they bet big when they see signs of deviance. You want to be that deviant.

Talent Hunting: Find the Sharp Slope

Top firms (e.g. Braintrust / The Generalist) emphasize “rate of learning” and “trajectory slope” over static credentials. If a potential hire doesn’t learn fast, they won’t help you scale.

7. Pitfalls to Watch (and How to Recover)

Choosing the outlier path doesn’t immunize you from mistakes. Here are common traps and fixes:

• Burnout masquerading as bravery Fix: Track your energy, build rest into your loops, don’t celebrate collapse.
• Losing social anchor / relational cost Fix: Communicate your mission to close allies; bracket “negotiation-free” work times; guard your core tribe.
• Impatience with execution discipline Fix: If your small ritual layer collapses, everything crumbles. Protect your habits.
• Lack of feedback loops Fix: Set up metrics, reflection blocks, measurement mornings. If you’re moving hard but blind, you’ll miscalibrate.

Conclusion & Invitation

If you’re reading this, I believe you came here to do something that matters. But to matter, you must accept that you can’t be average and build something extraordinary. The world is noisy. It punishes weak convictions. It rewards audacity.

So lean in. Be weird where it counts. Build in public. Live by your identity, not by others’ expectations. The 999 won’t see it now, they’ll see it later when you’re standing on their horizon.

If you want to walk this path but want guardrails, join me at Nomad Foundr. We coach first-time founders to tilt into outlier status, not just survive but thrive on the edge. (Yes, you’ll have to be okay with weird.)

Want me to break down what your 2–3 leverage engines should look like for YOUR industry? Reply, and I’ll send you a custom blueprint.

Till then, commit to the weird.

Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I & Nomad Foundr can help you:

1. Join The Newbie Founder Newsletter: A weekly 5-minute read to help you break through mental blocks, blind spots, and skill gaps. Plus every month you’ll also get a new hands-on email mini-course to grow your business and audience, delivered straight to your inbox.

2. The Nomad Foundr Resources Vault: Access thousands of curated tools, templates, blueprints, mini-courses, and services designed to save you months of trial and error. Get the All-Access Pass to unlock the entire vault to accelerate your journey.

3. Join the First-Time Founders Program: Our 90-day flagship course with 3,000+ founders. Get the frameworks, skills, and hands-on guidance to turn your knowledge into a real business. Step by step, you’ll ideate, validate, build, launch, and land your first 1,000 customers. By the end, you’ll have launched your business and started growing your audience.