My worst business failures
2026-06-30 · Short · Ali · recording, 1:19 · watch on YouTube
Topic: Business and entrepreneurship (also: Mindset, motivation and happiness) · mode: Personal story · tags: His own numbers, His medical past
Ali lists the money-making schemes that failed at school, from a pyramid affiliate scheme to a spy-skills forum and StarCraft 2 build orders, before his medical school tutoring business reached £150,000 a year; he sees the failures as skill-building: "either your business is growing or you are".
What is said
The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).
00:00:00 — Seven failed money-making schemes at school, then the med school tutoring business
- ★★ Ali had about seven business failures before his eighth business succeeded; at school he cooked up a new money-making scheme every year. — 00:00:00
- ★★ Ali's failed school schemes: freelance web design, a pyramid affiliate marketing scheme, a forum teaching teenagers martial arts, lockpicking and spy skills inspired by the Cherub and Alex Rider books, another pyramid scheme, and affiliate marketing for StarCraft 2 Protoss build orders. — 00:00:00
- ★ At school Ali also tried making an online game, which turned out to be far harder than he thought. — 00:00:29
- ★★★ About seven years later Ali's first proper business succeeded: tutoring students to get into medical school, which took him to £10,000 in revenue, then £80,000, then £150,000 the following year. — 00:00:29 · 6med
- ★★ The medical school tutoring business taught Ali the ropes of entrepreneurship; without the seven failures before it, he does not think he would have landed on the idea or executed it as well. — 00:00:29 · 6med
00:00:58 — Failures as skill growth: either your business is growing or you are
- ★★ Ali does not see his seven business failures as a waste of time: they were fun, and he learned skills every time. — 00:00:58
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★★★ Ali likes the phrase "either your business is growing or you are": if making money is not working yet, your skills are growing, and by sticking with it and adjusting course with new data you are basically guaranteed to succeed. — 00:00:58
“either your business is growing or you are”
Threads in this video
- retold · Ali and his friend James try a new money-making business every year at secondary school, and all five fail — Ali's failed school schemes: freelance web design, a pyramid affiliate marketing scheme, a forum teaching teenagers martial arts, lockpicking and spy skills inspired by the Cherub and Alex Rider books, another pyramid scheme, and affiliate marketing for StarCraft 2 Protoss build orders. (00:00:00)
- looked back · SixMed, Ali's medical school admissions courses (2012) — About seven years later Ali's first proper business succeeded: tutoring students to get into medical school, which took him to £10,000 in revenue, then £80,000, then £150,000 the following year. (00:00:29)
- refine · How do you deal with rejection and failure? — Ali likes the phrase "either your business is growing or you are": if making money is not working yet, your skills are growing, and by sticking with it and adjusting course with new data you are basically guaranteed to succeed. (00:00:58)
- mentioned · Ali starts learning to code at 11, wanting to make a text-based game like Kings of Chaos — At school Ali also tried making an online game, which turned out to be far harder than he thought. (00:00:29)
Mentioned
6med · affiliate marketing · Alex Rider · Cherub · StarCraft II
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