A business is started the moment you sell something to a stranger. Not before. Not when you’re getting ready or setting up your Instagram. The moment a stranger buys from you, that’s when it’s real.
Table of Contents
How to Make Your First Million with One Skill
Most people overcomplicate the path to their first million. They spend time building websites, tweaking logos, and setting up fancy systems that don’t actually move the needle.
The truth is simple. There’s one skill that can get you there faster than anything else. And when you stack it with a few supporting skills, you’ll not only make your first million, you’ll build the foundation for lifelong wealth.
1. Master Sales and Persuasion
Sales is the ignition switch for every business. Until you sell, you don’t have a business. You have a hobby.
Here are the 3 S’s of selling:
Sell Yourself First
Confidence sells more than words. If you don’t believe in what you’re offering, no one else will.Signal with Body Language
People buy certainty. Eye contact, posture, and even how you knock on a door communicates whether you can be trusted.Secure the Commitment
Most people talk forever and never ask for the sale. Don’t reject yourself before the buyer ever gets a chance.
Most people reject themselves before the buyer ever rejects them.
2. Learn Public Speaking and Communication
Your ability to communicate clearly will open more doors than any credential. Speaking isn’t about being flashy, it’s about connecting.
3 steps to speak like a pro:
Embrace the Nerves
Nerves mean you care. Shift the focus from yourself to serving the audience.Know Your Material
Talk about what you’ve lived. Depth comes from experience and repetition.Tell Stories, Not Facts
Facts fade. Stories stick. They connect your knowledge to the heart of the listener.
A table of how storytelling beats facts in communication:
| Approach | Outcome | Long-Term Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Sharing facts only | Audience forgets | No lasting influence |
| Sharing stories | Audience connects emotionally | Builds trust and authority |
Winners lose more than losers. If you don’t get the reps, you won’t get the result.
3. Build Your Network Intentionally
Your environment dictates your results. If you’re the smartest in the room, you’re in the wrong room.
Here’s how to upgrade your network fast:
Host Events
Give yourself a platform to invite high-level people in.Send Hyper-Personalized Emails
Reference something specific to prove you’ve done your homework.Run Virtual Meetups
Zoom roundtables create leverage and deepen relationships anywhere in the world.
If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.
4. Create Content and Tell Stories
Content creation is the master skill that multiplies every other skill. It’s how you build trust at scale, attract opportunities, and earn attention.
4 keys to content mastery:
Study the Best
Curate your feed so every scroll is a masterclass.Create Daily
Consistency beats perfection. Reps equal results.Get Feedback
Don’t just post and ghost. Analyze data, ask for input, and iterate.Pick One Format
Long form, short form, podcast, or tweets. Pick the one you’ll stick with for a decade.
Reps equal results. If you’re not willing to do the work, you won’t get the reward.
Start Building Your Million-Dollar Skillset
You don’t need a complicated plan to hit your first million. You need one skill, sales, stacked with communication, networking, and content creation. If you’re willing to do the reps, you’ll build unstoppable momentum.
Start today. The first million is always the hardest. Once you prove it to yourself, you’ll realize wealth is a skill set you can repeat again and again.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the number one skill needed to make your first million dollars?
The number one skill needed to make your first million is sales and persuasion. Selling is the foundation of every business because a business only starts the moment a stranger pays for your product or service. Learning to sell with confidence, clear body language, and a strong closing process is the fastest way to generate income.
How does public speaking help you become a millionaire?
Public speaking helps you become a millionaire by improving your ability to communicate ideas clearly, influence others, and build authority. Whether pitching investors, selling clients, or leading teams, strong communication opens more opportunities than credentials alone.
Why is networking important for building wealth?
Networking is important for building wealth because the quality of your relationships often determines the quality of your opportunities. Hosting events, sending personalized outreach, and connecting with the right communities expands your influence and creates partnerships that accelerate financial success.
How can content creation lead to financial freedom?
Content creation leads to financial freedom by building your personal brand, generating attention, and creating scalable income opportunities. Posting consistently, telling stories, and iterating with feedback allows you to attract an audience, monetize products or services, and position yourself as a trusted authority.
What is the fastest way to master the skills that lead to wealth?
The fastest way to master the skills that lead to wealth is through consistent practice, feedback, and volume of repetition. Just like MrBeast published hundreds of videos before seeing results, committing to sales calls, public speaking reps, networking events, and daily content creation accelerates learning and guarantees growth.
More Resources
Tools Mentioned
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Stripe – Payment processing platform to collect money online.
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YouTube – Platform for building authority and scaling personal brand through video content.
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Instagram – Social media channel to connect, network, and grow influence.
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TikTok – Short-form video platform for storytelling and reaching new audiences.
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MrBeast YouTube Channel – Example of consistency and iteration in content creation.
Full Transcript
The Only Skill You Need to Make Your First $1M – YouTube
Transcript:
(00:00) I taught a 100 kids this one skill that if you learn it, you’re almost guaranteed to make your first million. I’ve gone from dead broke at 24 to a millionaire at 27. And today, I help business owners generate millions for themselves. In fact, I’ve helped over 10,000 business owners around the world get rich.
(00:20) But I’m on a mission to make young millionaires. So, I’m going to take you behind the scenes and show you how to make millions even if you’re starting from nothing. Now, this one skill will make you a millionaire, but there’s also three other skills that if you stack them, it’s a guarantee. The first skill is sales and persuasion.
(00:41) A business is started the moment you sell something to a stranger. Not before, not getting ready, not registering your incorporation, not setting up your Stripe account, not getting the website ready, not setting up your Instagram. The moment a stranger buys from you, the business is started. Now, there’s only three S’s of selling that if you understand you’re able to get somebody to part with their money, which is wild and awesome the first time you do it.
(01:05) The first point is that the first sale starts with yourself. You ever talk to somebody and they’re saying all the right things, but you know damn well they don’t believe in themselves? Yes. Yeah. their eyes are twitchy or they’re too aggressive or they’re like it’s almost like they’re reading from a script and it’s it’s it feels bull like it’s not real.
(01:23) Whereas other people when they talk they don’t even have to talk fast. They don’t have to use big words. They don’t have to be aggressive in their ask. They just talk with a level of confidence and certainty and you go, “Oh, that person believes in what they’re talking about.” Does that make sense? Say yes. Yes. See, when I’m talking to somebody about what they sell and I look them in the eyes, it’s not do I believe you.
(01:44) It’s do I believe you believe in what you’re saying? I can tell and if I feel you haven’t sold yourself, I’m not buying. The second is signal your body language. How you show up. Have you ever talked to somebody and they can’t even look you in the eyes. As soon as I look somebody in the eye and they look away, especially if they’re a salesperson, I just see somebody that’s not confident in themselves.
(02:05) Hence, they’re not confidence in the product and they’re not confident in the ability to service the sale. Anytime you buy something from somebody, you’re asking yourself, will this person take care of me after the sale? So, if you want to go door todoor, like I said, if I’m standing like this in somebody’s door versus like this, what do you think that communicates? This feels pushy.
(02:25) Right? Imagine you open the door and there’s a person like this. Hey, I’m just asking about your gutters or, you know, the painting of your house. You’re going to be like, yo, like get out of my yard. versus I go knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock and as soon as I knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock I take a step back and I’m looking away they open
(02:44) up the door I’m doing this and I just like oh I didn’t even think you’re going to be home hey my name’s Dan I just was just noticing d and then you got a coffee cup and they’re like oh this is just a person in the neighborhood they’re trying to help me out way different communication if you just show up with a coffee cup you all of a sudden communicate to the person that you’re chill You’re relaxed.
(03:08) You’re just walking around trying to help people out, not sure if you’re a fit. That style with that coffee cup will make you more money. And most people don’t realize how they’re signaling to a buyer that they’re not serious. The third is secure. You have to get a commitment. Most people do all the work, literally the whole conversation, and never ask for the sale.
(03:30) First sales call, I get on a sales call and I’m selling and I’ve got like my outline. Okay. Start here, then I go there, then I go there, then I go there, then I go there. Okay, so I’ve like I feel like I’ve listened to a bunch of CDs and I’ve taught myself how to sell and I’m really excited. So I do the thing.
(03:45) Hey, tell me about your situation. They’re talking. Oh my god, they’re talking so great. Okay, then I go, “Well, tell me more about that like that pain. That sounds that sounds hard. Tell me about that.” And they’re like, “Oh yeah, it is hard.” I’m like, “Okay, now they’re telling me about their problem.
(03:58) ” Then I say, “Well, what made you decide to reach out?” Now they’re tell now they’re selling them on me and why they reach out. Oh my god, this is so good. And then then they and then I go, “Well, how where do you want to go from here?” And they go, “Well, how does it work working with your software?” And I go, “Oh jeez, ask me about my software.
(04:10) ” And I tell them about the software. And I go, “Does that sound good?” And they sound that’s great. And guess what I do? I get too excited. I get nervous and I’m scared. What do I forget to do? Ask for the order. Do you know most salespeople are scared to ask for the sale? Why? Because they don’t want to know. If I never ask you and you never say no, I can’t be rejected.
(04:36) I have a guy in one of my companies on the sales team and every time you look at the leaderboard, this guy does three times more than everybody else. And everybody that sees a leaderboard goes, “Hey, what makes that guy special?” I’ll tell you. Yeah, he’s good. He follows the process, but he just makes more offers.
(04:52) I think most people reject themselves before the buyer ever rejects them. If you don’t learn the three S’s, you’ll always be wondering, what does it look like to actually build a real business? Now, that’s the first skill, but you need two more before you get to stack it with the master skill. Which brings us to the second skill, public speaking and communication.
(05:12) People see me talk and they see this confident, clear, concise person. They go, “Hey man, how did you learn to speak? You’re so good at it.” My first talk was a complete mess. You can literally go on YouTube and search my name and find me on a dark stage. I didn’t even make sense to me. I’m watching that going, “What was I thinking?” I need you to understand, we all start horrible.
(05:35) Is he going to cut? Jordan on the move. Baseline left. Oh no. The only difference is how fast can you get good? Jordan with two seconds to go. Puts it up and scores. He’s at the buzzer. Michael in the air shows up. He made it. Your ability to communicate clearly and concisely will open more doors than your degree ever will.
(06:05) When I’m teaching my friends on how to communicate and speak, these are three steps that I teach every time so they speak like a pro. The first one is you got to embrace the nerves. I will tell you before I shoot videos, I shoot reels, I go on stage, I literally get nervous. Why? Cuz I care. I always go, “Hey, Dan, just serve, man.
(06:24) Just like be here. Be be with the people.” Here’s the kicker, though. Don’t make it about you. Make it about the audience. All the hard work’s done. You know, you got invited to speak. You’re you’re on the stage. Maybe you got paid. Let’s just deliver. And when you embrace those nerves and make it about the audience and not about yourself, all of a sudden that energy is felt by people.
(06:45) The second area is know your I can’t tell you the amount of times I see people nervous, stumbling, turn red, freaking out. Why? They’re talking about stuff they’ve never done. And you don’t have to be further along. It’s not like you can’t teach a millionaire how to improve their marketing if you’re not a millionaire.
(07:05) But there needs to be something you’ve done within that area of marketing that is impressive and that will teach that person. Ideally, it comes on the back end of volume, 10,000 hours type of stuff. There’s reps required. Can you imagine somebody saying, “I didn’t make the NBA and I only shot like 10 free throws a month.” Okay, Steph Curry.
(07:25) Does anybody know how many free throws he shoots before a game every time? 100% of the time. Does anybody know that number? It’s 500. Okay. Like if you listen to Kobe and his practices, he would do three a days. He realized if I wake up early, I could practice at 4 in the morning, then go back with the family, recover, go back, practice again at like noon, and then go back and meet up with the team at 4 and practice again.
(07:50) While everybody else is doing one, he’s doing three. I’m going to say this so that you guys really understand it. Like, listen to my words because as I share it, you might not hear it. So, pay attention. Winners lose more than losers. And to the parents, if you’re watching the live feed, let your kids fail or they’ll become losers.
(08:11) If you know your and you practice, it’s hard to mess it up. The last one, number three, is tell stories, not facts. You’ve probably heard this quote that nobody’s going to remember what you said. They’re going to remember how you made them feel. What I’ve seen the best of the best do when it comes to speaking communication is they tell stories.
(08:29) They tell emotional, heartfelt stories. Now, not just any story. This is the kicker. They tell the story that explains to the audience why they know that information. They use the story to connect with the audience, to have them self-reflect on their journey, where they’re at in that process. And it’s not about the facts.
(08:47) Yes, you can talk about like deep AI networking, like some of the nerdy stuff I do, but that’s not what’s going to get them to remember me. What’s going to get them to remember is using my story to connect the information with the heart. When you do those things, you can’t lose. Before we get to the master skill, there’s one more skill you need to learn.
(09:07) Now, the third skill to stack is connecting and networking. I believe that your life is a byproduct of your environment, and the people in your environment are going to dictate your success. When I was in my early 30s and I moved back to my hometown where I grew up, but I didn’t know other millionaires.
(09:23) I had to do the work to reestablish my network. I was coming back from living in San Francisco where you can’t throw a rock and not hit other successful tech entrepreneurs. I couldn’t even tell you one successful person in my hometown other than my brother and my best friends cuz I just was disconnected. So here’s what I did.
(09:38) I decided to organize an event, essentially a dinner with my buddy who’s a chef, a great friend Shaw, who came and spoke and then curate each table and then I cold called a handful of entrepreneurs that I got names for and I tried to figure out if they were the right fit. So, what’s crazy is the night it happens, you understand? There’s 80 people in the room and I’ve never met any of them in person.
(10:02) It was almost like the world’s largest blind date and they were all like, “How do you know Dan?” They’re like, “I’ve never met him. He cold called me. It was wild. But I will tell you that night, that event, having moved back from San Francisco, not knowing anybody, established my relationships in that city. And those people went on to be people I invested in their businesses with, I partnered with in business, I did playdates with my kids, or traveled the world with, and it’s available to everybody, no matter how small your town is. If you’re the
(10:28) smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room. So when young people ask me how to upgrade your network, this is exactly what I tell them. First off, think of events. Why are events so powerful? Well, one, you have a reason to reach out to these really successful people and bring them into your world.
(10:46) When my buddy Marcel called me up one day and he’s like, “Hey man, I want to get to know more people.” I said, “Run.” He’s like, “But I don’t know anybody.” I said, “That’s the whole point. You have a platform you create, which is a stage. You invite them to speak on it, which gives them a reason to show up.
(11:01) You’re the one that coordinates the conversation with that person so you get to know them. Then you use that person speaking to go recruit people to come listen, which is a wildly productive strategy. See, when I moved to San Francisco and I was asking myself, who is the person that knows all the people I want to meet? It occurred to me that the event organizers, they were the center of the hub.
(11:21) They knew all the speakers. They knew all the people. And they weren’t being harassed every day by people on social media because they had big audiences. Most of these organizers didn’t have a lot of people who even knew who they were. So that’s who I built relationships with. The second is hyperpersonalized email.
(11:37) Now, this one requires work because you can’t cold email somebody and expect them to reply if they don’t think you’ve done a little bit of work to get to know who they are. The amount of people that send me Mr. Martell, Dan Martell, like literally cold email templates gone wrong. when my buddy Chris messaged me years ago and not only referenced something he saw on my stories on Facebook, but he also mentioned a recent video I just uploaded on YouTube.
(12:05) And he was very clear that he doesn’t know me or anybody that knows me, but he has a way to help me support my business and that if I’d be open to it that it’d be really quick and it would take 3 minutes. I replied and said, “Shoot the video, send it over.” These hyperpersonalized emails are so powerful. Chris not only delivered on his promise, he’s made me tens of millions of dollars and is still somebody that is in my life.
(12:26) He actually helped me edit my book, buy back your time, which is wild. How are you going to stand out amongst all the emails? What are you going to do to make it seem like you took the time and the effort to actually get to know the person you’re messaging? If you want my email template for cold emailing people, just find me on Instagram and just message me the word YouTube cold email and I’ll send it to you because in it talks about how do you mention something recent in their life that makes it look hyperpersonalized and relevant. And the
(12:51) second thing is how do you do an ask that is so simple that gets the person to almost guarantee they give you a reply. Now the third is similar to one which is host the meetup. But I do these all the time virtually. So, for example, I’m building out my AI venture studio, Martell Ventures, and my only goal is to connect with other people in the AI space.
(13:11) So, all I do is I scroll on Instagram, scroll on Tik Tok. I identify people talking about this stuff, and I invite them to a meetup. It’s essentially a Zoom lunch meeting. I call it the AI expert round table. Everybody introduces themselves. They talk about what they’re working on, what’s good, what’s bad, and everybody else tries to just be helpful.
(13:28) It’s super informal, super easy, and anybody can run them. I actually have my team run them. I just show up as an attendee. It makes it a lot of fun for me and I can do it no matter where I’m traveling. Now that you’ve learned sales, public speaking, and networking, there’s one master skill that if you learn, you’re guaranteed to make millions.
(13:46) The final most important skill is content creation and storytelling. What’s wild is most people are new to me in the last 16 months, but I’ve been doing YouTube religiously for almost 10 years and I finally hit a million subscribers. It took 8 years to get to 100K and then things ramped up cuz I realize content creation, building my personal brand, and learning how to communicate better, tell stories is the future.
(14:14) You’ve probably heard this, but attention is the new oil. You have to learn to tell stories so well that people stop scrolling and actually lean in. There only two bets that I think are worth making on the future. One is AI and the other one is personal brand. So understanding this fourth master skill takes the rest of them and amplifies it.
(14:32) So when I’m teaching this to young millionaires, I always start with study the best so that you can make your social media feed a master class and a university of growth. I want to learn about AI. Ooh, my favorite topic. What passion topic do you like? What are you passionate about? Fighting. Okay, look at this. AI UFC. Look at that.
(14:52) This guy’s using AI to create UFC fighters. So then what you do is you go and you you go FYP FYP. By doing that, I told the algorithm, I like that. Send me more. You’re going to do it. Pick this guy. This guy looks like he’s talking about stuff. What’s he talking about? Chachi predicts UFC. That’s cool. That’s cool.
(15:10) Wouldn’t you want to know how to do that? Okay. Now go to his comments and then type FYP for you page. So what that does is it tells the algorithm that you want to receive more content like this. So next time you go on Tik Tok, guess what you’re going to get? You’re going to learn AI by going on social media. Do you like going on social media? So do I.
(15:30) But I don’t like to waste my time. I want to learn stuff that’s going to help my future. So now you go do a thing you like to do and while you’re doing it, you’re learning cool stuff. Cool. Awesome question. The second is you got to create daily. Most people can’t be consistent. So just creating daily sets you apart from everybody else.
(15:47) It’s about volume over perfection. And the more you iterate and learn, not just repeat, cuz that’s what most people do, is how you will learn faster than most. Trust me, it doesn’t take a long time to get good. You just have to start to get good. The third area is about getting feedback. Does anybody know Jimmy’s YouTube name? Mr.
(16:05) Beast. There we go. You guys all know Jimmy. That’s good. Um, Mr. beast today I think is you know mid20s and is one of the first billion YouTubers if you didn’t know that he’s a billionaire he’s a YouTuber. What I love about Mr. Beast is the fact that he started I think at 11 years old and posted 100 videos.
(16:28) What’s up guys? What’s up guys? I’m recording on my phone. I just Anyways, but um he literally published and published and published and didn’t have any traction. didn’t have like some of the people today come out of nowhere and all of a sudden they have 100,000 subscribers, right? Sam Sullic, if anybody’s in the fitness space, literally blew up, million subs, million views per video. Mr.
(16:50) Beast doesn’t have that story. He has the normal story. So, you might see me today and go, “Damn, that’s cool, bro. Million. Wow. But are you willing to do what I’ve done? Are you willing to do what Mr. Beast did?” He published. He published. He published. He tried things. It didn’t work. He kept trying. He became addicted. He became obsessed.
(17:09) He went allin. And if you’re not willing to do the reps, you’re not going to get the results. Okay? Reps equal results. Does that make sense? Say yes. What he’s saying is do a video, iterate something to make it 1% better. Post it. Do it again. Post it. Look at the analytics. Look at your retention graphs. Look at the tweaks.
(17:29) Ask for feedback. If you’re just posting and ghosting and not getting anybody else in your life to review what you did and give you feedback or reading the comments or looking at the fact that nobody watched, then you’re never going to get good at this. The fourth is pick one format. Most people make the mistake of doing all things at the same time and they get overwhelmed and they can’t be consistent and they can’t find the time to edit the videos and tweak the content. It’s crazy.
(17:51) Just pick one format. Long form, short form, carousel posts, podcasts, it could be tweets. Just choose the one that you know you would love to do and you would do it for a really long period of time. My philosophy is dedicate a decade. If you give me 10 years of posting, learning how to tell stories, being a content creator, and you go all in, I guarantee on the back side of that, you will have a million dollars in your bank account.
(18:13) Now, if you want to learn how to build a business that runs itself, click the video and I’ll see you on the other