The Most Important Things That Make or Break a Good Life
Hello Elixers and welcome back to our channel!
This video is for everybody, regardless of where you are in your life, sort of a back to basics. You know, it's good to have a refresher once in a while. We know you'll love this one. Welcome to Alux!
Now, we've been working on this business for a good couple of years now. During this time, we faced different types of challenges from both outside and inside. You’d think that running a YouTube channel is not that hard to do, but you see, this is just one part of the whole business.
But during these years, we've had the opportunity to play around with different ideas that seemed really cool to us. We tried different things, worked with a lot of people, and we grew together with you guys, the Aluxers.
We're not sure how many of you know this, but we actually did a mini travel series where we went and did short pieces on places we found fascinating. We'll link to it in the description. We had a lot of fun doing those videos, and we wish to work more on them, but other things had a higher priority.
We also successfully launched our own learning platform with our own courses, which you guys loved. More things to come on that front really soon.
And during this whole time, there was something really simple that became more obvious to us as we went deeper into this journey, and we'd like to share those things with you today.
So let’s start with who you hang out with. We've had this channel for seven years now. A lot of people came and went during that time, but very few stayed for the long game. You see, if you want to play the long game, you need to have long game players.
This isn't business advice; this is life advice. The people who you grew up with will shape your personality, whether you like it or not. It's not a good or a bad thing; it's just how it is.
When you grow older, though, you have the luxury to pick and choose who you hang out with, and you should always be mindful of this decision. Your first circle of friends can lift you up, call you out, and put you down. Your business partners can do the same thing.
It's amazing how much your entourage affects your way of being. It’s something you should actively try to evolve because it can open and close doors for you. Social skills are extremely valuable.
A lot of people miss out on this because the older they get, the harder it is for them to make new friends. If you're 30 plus, when was the last time you made a new friend? You probably find it awkward to even think about it.
You guys have no idea how many doors we managed to open just by reaching out to people. If you lack social skills and you look kind of suss in any group you're in, work on that. If you have the charisma of a wooden spoon, then work on that.
The way to be interesting for others is to do interesting things yourself. Also, don't forget to be human, okay? We all have different ways of conducting business, but everything involves people.
We've stopped working with people in the past, even though they did good work, just because we couldn't connect with them on a human level. Having a good network of people is hella valuable in the business world.
It'll make things faster and cheaper, and in your personal life, it'll make things easier and more memorable. No good story ever started with you sitting in a room by yourself. If you think back to the most enjoyable moments in your life, they all involve other people.
Do not neglect your inner circle. Be a good friend, a good mentor, and a good business partner.
Now for the second thing: where you hang out.
One of the hardest things for people to do is changing their environment. It's a really big decision, and it'll impact your life in ways you can't understand. The reasoning for this is because we're not Dr. Strange; we can't see what alternative realities look like.
It's really hard to imagine what your life would look like if you'd stayed in your hometown and never left. So, you become comfortable with whatever your current circumstances are. People find it hard to move to a new neighborhood, let alone a different city or a different country.
And the same goes with traveling. We know a lot of people who go to the same place every year and do the same thing. Nothing new and exciting happens. No, it's not because they can't afford something else; actually, more often than not, they go to really expensive places and do generic.
But the environment also means how your room looks, how your office looks, where do you go out to eat, where do you hold your meetings. A true story: we held a lot of meetings in a park super early in the morning while walking. It helps us to clear our mind.
The point is, your environment gives you constant signals. It puts you in a certain mood. It can boost creativity and help you to find inspiration. Most of the time, it’s super easy to make changes to your environment for your benefit.
People just don’t think about it that much. Something as simple as having a whiteboard with ideas near your desk can completely change the way you work.
Which leads us to our last point: what are you working on?
Earlier in the video, we mentioned our travel videos—a project that didn’t take off for various reasons. But the thing is, we’re super proud of it, and we had a ton of fun. We learned a whole lot, and we have a lot of memories from it.
Like the time we crashed our only drone the night before we were supposed to film at Four Seasons in Bali. So, we had to search the whole night for an open tech store to buy a new one. Fortunately, we found one and managed to make a cool video.
Or that other time in Italy when we went to the little town of Friscotti to make a video on a 9th generation Italian winery. The most magical moment happened when Eduardo randomly started playing "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" on the piano, a song we absolutely love.
Years after the fact, we still get goosebumps thinking about it. You see, the work you're doing doesn't always have to be about turning a profit. Sometimes, the work that makes you happy will lead you to the work that makes you rich.
The thing is, life is too short to work on stuff you're not proud of. There's something really magical when you work on something you're proud of, and it makes you want to share it with the world.
We believe that each person is a creator. Each human being has an internal need to make something and tell the world, "Look, I made this." And we get it—most of you have jobs that you have to be at, bills to pay, debt to cover.
But if you get an opportunity to work on something you really love, even for a short period of time, do it! It may not be the most profitable period of your life, but it will surely be one of the most memorable.
And that's it from us today! We hope you enjoyed this little one-sided chat with us. Now we're curious to know: last Saturday, we left you with a challenge. Have you made any progress? We'll check back in on you next Saturday.
And as a treat for the true Elixers who watch our videos until the end, here's your bonus: monetize everything!
Hey, this is Alux, after all! That travel show didn’t really work out, and we didn’t make any money from it, but we did get an award, some good press, and we actually got approached by other places because of it. They just couldn’t afford us.
Those people from our first circle? Yeah, some of them are now shareholders and business partners at Alux, and together we work on bringing the company to new heights. Others opened the door to become early investors in other companies.
Everything is monetizable if you’re smart about it. Just don’t let that be your only incentive.
We’ll see you back here tomorrow, Luxers. Have a great weekend! Thank you for watching this video!
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See you tomorrow!