@dickiebush: Princeton grad.BlackRock trad...

Princeton grad.
BlackRock trader.
Making $180k at 22.

But the biggest "jaw-drop" moment in my 20s?

Getting this $5,000 PayPal payment from a stranger on the internet.

Here's my full story (and how you can do the same):🧵

After college, I was checking every box:

• Princeton grad
• NYC finance life
• BlackRock trader
• 22 years old on track to make $180k

But then I witnessed something that changed everything:

A 38-year-old colleague asked for permission to go to his son's Little League game.

His boss said no.

I thought: "If I do everything right for 14 more years, I'll be sitting here having to ask permission to go to my kids' game?"

Uh oh.

But I didn't quit right away (a big mistake most people make).

Instead, I looked for ways to passively pursue new opportunities while working a full-time 9-5.

My schedule:

• Wake up at 4:30 AM
• Write for 2 hours
• BlackRock during the day
• Build in the evenings

I started a newsletter inside BlackRock.

After 3-4 months I realized:

"Why am I capping myself with people in this company when I could use social media and unlock millions of new eyeballs?"

That led to starting my own newsletter in January 2020.

After 9 months, growth was slow.

So, I committed to a 30-day writing challenge:

Write and publish something every single day for 30 days on 𝕏.

If it didn't work, I'd find something else.

On Day 27, I hit publish.

Zero likes. Zero comments. Zero retweets.

Went to bed thinking, "Cool, this is almost over."

When I woke up, the post had been retweeted by Naval and others. 4-5k likes.

I went from 250 subscribers to 1,000 overnight.

Then the DM that changed everything:

Someone wanted me to write a thread about their work.

When they asked how much I'd charge, I froze.

I had never made a single dollar online.

Afraid to quote a price and get rejected, I said:

"I have no clue what to charge. This would be my first time. How about I do it and you pay whatever value it provides?"

(I was going to ask for $500...)

At the weekend, I went ALL IN.

Spent Saturday and Sunday immersing myself in their content.

15 hours diving deep into every article, interview, and keynote I could find.

I delivered. Their response? "This is sooooooo good! Super helpful."

Then came the payment question.

They asked, "Where can I send the payment?"

I sent my PayPal and $5,000 hit my account.

Here's what I responded back to him:

$5,000?

I thought it was a typo.

I messaged them: "Did you mean to send this much?"

Their response: "Dude this was amazing, is that enough for you?"

That moment completely broke my brain about the potential of ghostwriting.

As I continued writing, my 30-day writing challenge turned into my @ship30for30 program with @nicolascole77.

Today, we've built multiple 7-figure businesses:

• Ship 30 for 30
• Premium Ghostwriting Academy
• Write with AI
• Typeshare

If you take away one thing from this thread, let it be this:

You never know which post, thread, or article will change your life trajectory forever.

• Start writing today
• Put in the work
• Hit publish

But if I was restarting today, here's what I'm bullish on:

Premium Ghostwriting.

It's how I landed that $5k client with almost zero writing experience.

So I put together this free, 5-day email course to help you get started as a Premium Ghostwriter.

Get instant access here: x.premiumghostwritingblueprint.com/?el=dickie_aut…

Boom, thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed this, then follow me @dickiebush for more posts on digital writing.

Then, I'd appreciate it if you jumped back to the top and reposted the first post to share it with others:

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