Day in the Life of a Founder Motivated by Money
Zack AllenFebruary 12, 20266:04
A day running my overseas recruitment firm from my desk, while my team in the Philippines runs the day-to-day of my $1M a year eCommerce business.
Good morning. Another day working from my computer.
For context: I have an e-commerce business doing about a million dollars a year in revenue, and my team in the Philippines runs the day-to-day. That lets me spend my time helping other business owners do the same thing. We help 7- and 8-figure businesses hire from the Philippines, South Africa and Colombia for remote operations roles.
The desk setup
The essentials right now: cold brew, because it's easy to make in the morning. Wired headphones, always. Earplugs to stay focused. Two notebooks, one for day-to-day work and one for walks and crazy ideas. Sparkling water in a glass. And a shelf of books in the background to look professional on calls.
Building a checkout bot
This morning I'm working on a checkout bot.
Back in my sneaker botting days, I paid thousands of dollars for software that did this. I don't think any of it works anymore, and I wanted something more resilient across different sites so my team can check out inventory faster.
In yesterday's team meeting I asked, "What can we do that would double us?" We identified a few constraints, and one was how much time we spend on inventory checkouts. I said I'd give it a shot.
So I fired up Claude Code. The idea is that the bot takes a screenshot, sends it to AI, and the AI tells it which button to click, basically mimicking a person checking out. If it works, it saves my team hours every day, and they can put that time where it makes us the most money.
Why I work so much
People meet me and say, "Let me guess, you're working today? It's the weekend." Yes, of course I am.
My biggest fear is reaching the end of my life and feeling like I didn't try hard enough to achieve what I wanted. I have an unwavering belief that I'll succeed one day. What scares me is looking back and thinking I could have tried harder.
People ask me how to start a business. Honestly, I don't know. It's all I've ever known. There was never a question of getting a job versus sticking with business, even when the business was failing. If you're asking that question, I'm not sure it's for you.
I think entrepreneurship is one of the most important roles in society. Someone has to organize things, and entrepreneurship is the best way to do it.
Yes, I'm motivated by money
People ask what drives me. I'm motivated by money, and I'm not afraid to say it. Money is great. It buys cool things and solves money problems.
And receiving money from a client means I gave them something they value more than that dollar. They pay $100 because they're getting $400 back. In business-to-business especially, it's all about return. If I make more money, it means I provided more value to the market. If I become a billionaire, it means the market decided what I built was worth billions.
I've already reached the location and time freedom I want, and I'm still motivated by money.
On my team, too
I talked about this in a 1-on-1 today. I love seeing my team earn financial incentives. I think it's a red flag if someone says they're not motivated by money. This is a business. I want people who are, so our incentives line up. The most enjoyable working environment and the most profitable outcome go hand in hand. You don't have to pick one.
End of the day
The week turned out more exciting than I expected. We had three follow-up interviews between candidates and clients today, and two of those candidates are getting hired. That's three new hires starting with clients in the past couple of days.
I wasn't even on some of those interviews. My team handled them, which is a relief. I've done hundreds of interviews, and I burn out after a few in a row.
I also ordered money trees for those clients, part of our client success package.
That's what a locked-in day looks like for me in this season. I haven't left the house. Time to make dinner and call it a night.
Transcript
Show the full transcript
Good morning. Today we got another day in paradise working from my computer. This morning we're working on my overseas recruitment firm. For those that don't know, I have an e-commerce business. We do about a million dollars a year in revenue and all the day-to-day operations are run by my team in the Philippines. That means I spend all my time now helping other business owners do the same thing. So we help seven 8 figureure businesses hire from the Philippines, from South Africa, from Colombia to fill the remote operations roles of their company.
These are the essentials we're working with right now. So, we have, of course, my coffee. Cold brew because it's easy to make in the morning. Doing a little bit of nicotine for work right now. Wired headphones always. Earplugs as well to keep myself focused. We have two notebooks actually. We got this one here for like day-to-day stuff. And this one here for walks and crazy ideas. And then, of course, glass sparkling water.
My favorite. But this office setup is pretty sweet. I got these cool books in the back to make me look professional on calls.
You know you're my baby now. You're special to me.
So, right now I'm working on a checkout bot. Now, back in my sneaker botting days, I had plenty of softwares that did this that I paid lots of money for, several thousands of dollars, but I don't think any of them work anymore, and I wanted something that was a little more resilient to different sites for my team to be able to check out quickly. Cuz we were on the meeting yesterday, and I was like, look, what can we do that's going to double us?
And we identified different constraints, one of them being how much time we spend on checkouts of inventory. And I was like, look, I'll give it a shot. I fired up claude code and now I'm trying to build this in a way where it just uses like a screenshot and then sends that to AI and then the AI tells it what button to click. So we're basically mimicking a person checking out cuz if I can get this to work, it's going to save my team like hours every day on this process and then they can reallocate that time towards where it makes us the most money.
But that's how I'm spending my morning. So I was talking to a friend today about why I work so much. You know, I people will meet me and they'll be like, "Oh, let me guess you're working today. Oh, it's a weekend you're working." And I'm like, "Yeah, of course I am." The the reason why I work all the time is because my biggest fear is that I get to the end of my life and I feel like I didn't try hard enough to achieve what I wanted to achieve.
I I have a like unwavering belief that I will achieve success one day. And my biggest fear is that I get to some point in life where I feel like, "Ah man, I could have tried harder to get there. I didn't really realize that goal as much as I wish I would have. And people ask me about, oh, like how do I start a business? How do I get into business? And I'm like, I honestly don't know.
It's like it's all I've ever known. It's always been the option. There's never been like a question of like, oh, should I go get a job or should I continue trying business even if it's failing? And it's almost like if if you're asking that question, I kind of think that you might not be cut out for it. Like I think that entrepreneurship is the most important role in a society, especially in a capitalistic society.
Like there has to be someone that organizes things together. And I see entrepreneurship as the best way to do that. And along with that, people ask me about mission. Like, oh, what drives you? What motivation? And I realize that it's really just like I know what money can do and I know the power that money brings and I want to achieve that to the fullest extent. Like I'm motivated by money. I'm not afraid to say that.
Like money is dope. Money can buy you cool things. Money can solve money problems. And also the fact that me receiving money from a client or from a customer means that I provided them something that they value in excess of that dollar. like they're tra they're giving me $100 because they're getting $400 in return. Especially when it comes to businessto business. It's like it's all ROI focused. And so if I make more money, it means I was able to provide more value to the market.
If I become a billionaire, it means I was able to provide in excess of billions of dollars of value to the market. Like the market deemed that the product or service that I created was worth a billion dollars. And that is a driving force for me. Even though I'm able to, you know, live a life that I enjoy, I still am motivated by money. Like I I I think that I've achieved the location and the time freedom.
And I was talking about this with my with my on a one-on-one today. I love seeing my team achieve financial incentives. Like I love I think it's a red flag if someone's like, "Oh no, I'm not really motivated by money." It's like, why not? What are we here? Like this is a business. I'm here to make money in the business. If you're not here to make money, then I don't know if you're the best fit for the business.
Like I want someone who is also motivated by money. Our incentives are aligned to the point where working environment and money are handinand. It's not like you have to pick one or the other. It's like the working environment that is most enjoyable for everyone is also the outcome that provides us the most financial money all through the company. All right, this actually ended up being a lot more exciting of a week than I imagined.
We had three follow-up interviews today with candidates with our clients. And two of them are going to be hired, which means in the past like couple days, we've had three new hires that are going to be starting with our clients, which is super super good feeling for me. A couple of those interviews I wasn't even on. I had my team handling those, which is very relieving to me cuz I get really I've done hundreds of these interviews and so I get kind of burnt out after a couple of them.
And then I also I as part of our client success package, we send out money trees. And so I just ordered those for our clients as well. All right, so that's what a locked in day in the life looks like for me right now in the season that I'm in for the business. I have not left the house. Going to make dinner here and call it a night. I'll see you in the next video.
