At the very end of Coach Vass’ return to Just Press Record we talked about his consideration about becoming an advisor, and how one of the nagging realities he just couldn’t shake as he thought through it was, (paraphrased): Even if AI doesn’t take all of these jobs, do I really want to start in an industry that’s being hollowed out by AI, because how am I going to be one of the few who are left?
It’s a great question.
If you’re a student or any new entrant to a field, you can and should be asking a version of this question.
It’s been hanging in my head since we recorded and I want to at least map the quick answer I gave him. It was on the spot but I stand by it. Funny how in-real-time reactions can draw stuff like this out of you in concise ways.
My philosophy has two main parts, and then a related third part as an outcome.
What you do is who you are,*
Who you do it with matters,
Good work for good people at a reasonable profit makes a career and a life.
Where people get caught up is the scale function - they start chasing some aspirational version of identity or wealth that doesn't match who they actually are. But that's not where you start.
Start here instead: (1) What do you do, and (2) who do you do it for? Then, (3) how much money do you actually need from it?
From those three questions alone, you can rule in or rule out most paths. Test the answers against your personality and your actual objectives. That's it.
Vass tells all sorts of stories about learning about and trying out various trading methodologies and styles. It’s fascinating to me because, A. he’s no dummy, and B. as a football coach’s consultant, he knows all about different styles of play with various advantages in different situations.
He gets the intuitive math in a way most people have never practiced. Whether or not he sees it exactly this way, his success in that prior domain is super informative in this one.
So let’s assume for a second Vass did want to become an advisor (or an attorney, or an accountant, or - pick your white collar job of choice).
The real question is not what will AI do to that field.
The real question is, after what he’s going to do which the name of each field basically gives away, is who will he do it for (re: who will hire him) and what’s the profit margin look like.
AI has nothing more than tool-based answers to this.
Because, and let’s go out on a limb, if coaches and athletes already come to Vass for advice, that’s his "who.” They are already there. From here the name of the game is provide more value than you cost, and that’s a function of understanding what people want from the relationship.
Happiness and success both come out of now making this more than that.
Yes, he could scale up the practice, and become the preeminent version of this in some fantastic way, and exit to private equity in a flash and a bang, but - he doesn’t have to do any of that. That’s all the stuff that AI might have something more to say about or interfere with.
But AI versus the small, the nimble, and the personal - there are still massive advantages here. For personality driven businesses and brands, that’s not something to be scared of.
And if you’re a new entrant to a space and this is actually your goal?
You are your own limit.
As I told Vass, get that friggin’ scoreboard out of your life. Whatever other people are telling you you’re supposed to measure it by? Get it gone. What you do and who it’s for is the baseline to build on. Solve everything else from there.
*but your job is not your sole identity, or at least it shouldn’t be. Don’t forget that. It’s important.
