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The single most expensive mistake in my career

2025-11-12 · Short · Ali · recording, 1:09 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Business and entrepreneurship · mode: Personal story · tags: His medical past

Ali calls not getting mentorship, including from books and podcasts, the most expensive mistake of his entrepreneurship career: for five years from medical school he never read a business book, which he thinks probably cost him millions; he now invests heavily in courses and coaches and tells would-be founders to invest in their education, starting free.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — His most expensive mistake: no mentorship, no business books for five years

  • ★★★ Ali calls not getting mentorship, and trying to make things up and figure business out by himself, the single most expensive mistake of his entrepreneurship career. — 00:00:00

    “The single most expensive mistake in my entire entrepreneurship career has been not getting mentorship”

  • ★★ By mentorship Ali means not only hiring a coach or taking a course, though you can, but also learning from books and podcasts. — 00:00:09

  • ★★ For the first five years of his business, begun at medical school, Ali never read a book about business: he sold things on the internet without ever reading about sales or marketing. — 00:00:17
  • ★★ Once he read business books and podcasts, Ali realised building a business is not hard: there is a method, and people have already worked out sales, marketing, customer success and operations, so there is no need to reinvent the wheel. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ Ali says his mistake of not seeking mentorship has probably cost him millions of dollars over his entrepreneurship career, and he is determined to stop making it. (hedged) — 00:00:43
  • ★★ Ali invests heavily in courses, mentorship and coaches because the right information at the right time can make him a lot of money and save him money, time and mistakes. — 00:00:49
  • ★★★ Ali advises anyone thinking of starting a business to invest in their own education, which need not be expensive: start completely free with YouTube videos and podcasts, then very cheap books and audiobooks. — 00:00:58

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