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How to set yourself up for success

2025-09-06 · Short · Ali · recording, 1:28 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Mindset, motivation and happiness (also: Business and entrepreneurship) · mode: Personal story

In a Short, Ali says that when he started his first business and his YouTube channel he knew no one doing the same, so he listened to creators' and entrepreneurs' podcasts and videos instead: you become the average of the five voices you hear most.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Knowing no other entrepreneurs or YouTubers; the five voices you hear the most

  • ★★ When Ali started his first business at university, no one he knew was trying to start one, and when he started his YouTube channel he knew not a single other YouTuber; it took him years to meet any. — 00:00:00

  • ★★★ You do not have to know such people in real life, Ali says: listen to their podcasts, read their books and watch their videos, because you become the average of the five voices you hear the most. — 00:00:16

    “You become the average of the five voices you hear the most.”

  • ★★ In the early days of his channel, the voices Ali heard most were Casey Neistat, Peter McKinnon, Sarah Dietschy, Simon Clark and the Video Creators podcast, which gave him advice on growing on YouTube. — 00:00:21 · Peter McKinnon

00:00:29 — The Indie Hackers podcast stories; meeting other creators three years in; moulding your content diet

  • ★★ Around 2015, while coding for his first business, Ali listened all the time to the Indie Hackers podcast, stories of people who coded apps making at least 10k a month, and found them very inspiring. — 00:00:33
  • ★★ Hearing such stories made Ali believe he could start that business or the YouTube channel; only about three years in did his work get big enough that other creators and entrepreneurs wanted to hang out with him. — 00:01:00
  • ★★ Ali says that in the early days it is basically your friends and your content diet, and he believes in moulding your content diet to become the sort of person you want to be. — 00:01:18

Mentioned

Central: average of five people

Also: Casey Neistat · Indie Hackers podcast · Peter McKinnon · Sarah Dietschy · Simon Clark · Video Creators Podcast

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