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My simple path to getting rich

2026-05-03 · Short · Ali · recording, 2:44 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Business and entrepreneurship · mode: Answering questions · tags: AI

Answering an 18-year-old in Kenya living just above the poverty line, Ali says a YouTube channel is not a good tool for upward social mobility; instead, get a computer, learn a skill such as web design, ads or AI automation for free on YouTube, and sell it to businesses in the US, who pay in US dollars.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — A viewer's DM from Kenya: how to get rich from poverty with only a phone

00:00:29 — Business before YouTube; serve businesses in the US; get a computer; learn skills for free

  • ★ Ali calls the viewer's situation really tough and says he has never had personal experience of it. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ Asked how an 18-year-old just above the poverty line could get rich, Ali says he would not start a YouTube channel, which he calls not a good tool for upward social mobility. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ You can get rich through a YouTube channel, Ali says, but it is generally a lot easier to get rich through a business and then build a YouTube channel as a lead-generation device for that business. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Ali says living in Kenya will make it hard for the viewer to succeed as a YouTuber. — 00:00:58
  • ★★★ For someone in a low-income country with internet access, Ali says the best source of upward social mobility is to use the internet to make money by building something that provides value to people who have money to pay for it. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Ali advises someone in Kenya not to start an internet business serving people in Kenya, because people there famously do not have much money. — 00:00:58
  • ★★★ Ali advises someone in a low-income country to start an internet business providing a service or product for businesses in the US, which have loads of money and pay in US dollars, making things much easier compared with the local currency. — 00:01:38
  • ★★ Since it is very hard to do serious work on the internet with just a phone, Ali would start by finding a way to get a laptop, use an internet cafe or get a basic computer. — 00:01:38
  • ★★★ In the viewer's place, Ali would consider learning web design, Facebook ads, social media marketing or AI automation to offer businesses in the US, something that helps them make more money. — 00:01:38 · Facebook
  • ★★ Ali says you do not need courses to learn these skills: you can learn them for free from YouTube videos. — 00:02:07

  • ★★★ Ali calls it an unfortunate truth that the easiest way to make money quickly is by serving rich people, and the easiest way to serve rich people is to help them make more money. — 00:02:07

    “The easiest way to serve rich people is to help rich people make more money.”

  • ★★ Ali says serving US businesses is not an easy road, but for an 18-year-old with an internet connection and a computer it would probably have the highest likelihood of success. (hedged) — 00:02:07

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: social mobility

Also: Facebook · Kenya · lead generation

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