Thread by @RomeenSheth

The ultimate hack to 10x your career:

Enter the Side Door.

Let's break it down 👇👇👇

Let’s set the stage. Imagine you’re in college and it’s Friday night.

It’s been a long week and it’s the party of the year at the local bar.

Awesome - you’re all set to go.

You get there and run into a huge problem.

There’s a massive line outside.

You do what most people do.

You stand in line in the freezing cold for an hour.

You’re tense and starting to worry.

You frantically call a friend of yours who managed to get in.

- Is there room inside?
- Any way you can talk to the bouncer for me?
- Is my (questionable...at best) ID going to get me in?

You leave your destiny up to the fate of the universe.

This is what most people do with their careers.

They take the front door AKA they do what everyone else is doing.

And what happens?

Well they get the same results as most people.

It’s hard to stand out and get the job you want.

Forget the front door.

Enter: the side door.

The side door isn’t as easy to find as the front door.

Back to the bar analogy - the side door is in some alley in the back.

It's not as obvious.

You have to find it..and even when you do - you may have to jimmy the lock.

But what happens when you go in the side door?

You’re 1 of 1 trying to get in.

Not 1 of 1000.

And therein lies the opportunity.

You’re playing the same game, but with a different set of rules.

Now here’s the thing about side doors - they aren’t “just sitting there.”

You have to think creatively and out of the box.

That’s where most people quit.

The people that go through the side door typically have a really strong desire to figure things out.

I’ve seen countless people do this and it has led to mega mega outcomes.

The cool thing about this framework is it works for anything you’re going after.

Let’s dig into some examples.

Example 1: Sales

Side Door:

- Find a company you like
- Figure out why their product wins
- Generate 10 compelling leads
- Send them to the VP of Sales

What’s more interesting?

Candidate 1 with a cover letter or you with real prospects.

Easy answer.

Example 2: Product

Side Door:

- Download the product
- Think about 10 features you would add
- Create a roadmap
- Send it to the VP of Product

Candidate 1 has hypothetical examples; you have something tangible for the team on Day 0.

Example 3: Venture Capital

Side Door:

- Build a portfolio of companies in public
- Write an investment memo on each company
- Track the performance

This is exactly what @TurnerNovak did.

He's the real deal - check out 👇

https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak/status/1033942944821256194?s=20

Example 4: Network

Don’t have anything particular in mind?

It still works. I started my pod to meet cool people.

I’ve interviewed NBA Players, Olympic Champions and awesome folks like @rabois, @DavidSacks and Chamath.

This project has led to some insane opportunities.

The “Side Door” relies on 3 things that I really believe in:

1. The best opportunities in life are often self created

2. Changing the rules in the game pushes the odds in your favor

3. Creative, out of the box thinkers matched with relentless tenacity will always be valued

Most people in life want one-of-a-kind outcomes.

The problem is, in the quest to get there, most people follow the same path as everyone else.

Lesson: If you want an n-of-1 result, don’t take the 1-of-n road.

This framework has helped me time and time again.

I hope it helps you as well.

Comment below on your most creative “side door”.

Let’s inspire the next generation of builders.

If you enjoyed this thread, give me a follow:

@RomeenSheth

I run a $50M+ bootstrapped business and invest a few million dollars a year in Founders that are way better than me.