Being low status but high income is one of the most underrated ways to build wealth.

Being low status but high income is one of the most underrated ways to build wealth. Now, I first saw this when Hannah Zhang broke this down and it's been living in my head ever since. But I have my own take on it because I'm not theorizing here. I walked out of one box and into another. So I want you to picture a simple grid. Income on one axis and status on the other. Four boxes in total. You've got the low income boxes and in those boxes you've got work that's invisible or respected but underpaid. So think teachers, artists, early career, everything. All right. Then you've got the high income, high status. So doctors, the lawyers and executives. Everyone's striving piles into that corner which means it's crowded and it's exhausting. And half of the people there can't leave not because of the money, honestly. It's because that somewhere along the way the job stopped being what they do and started being who they are. And that's a hard thing to walk away from. Then there's this, the low status and high income box. The unglamorous business owners, the founders that nobody has heard of yet, the creators, the solopreneurs. Now I stood in the impressive box. I had a director title, the salary people respected, healthcare, 401k, the whole thing. And I walked out on purpose. And now I run two companies that most people have never heard of and I make videos on the internet. Now on paper that sounds like a downgrade, but in my bank account, in my heart, in my mind, in my soul, it's the freest that I've ever been. Now if you're secure enough to not need the applause, this box is wide open and yours for the taking. Most ambitious people won't lower themselves into it though. And here's the thing that gets me. Once you win in the unglamorous box, the status shows up anyway. It just arrives on your own terms.