The 4th Wealth Building Opportunity Since 2002

We're in the early days of AI. Now's the time to act. Don't get caught sitting on the beach.

We're on the doorstep of an opportunity, folks.

And I'm not going to miss this one.

Since I entered the workforce in late 2002, there have been waves. These waves create opportunity. And the biggest, most bodacious wave of them all is heading right for us.

Will we jump on our board and ride it, go pro on a selfie stick, grabbing some epic video inside the barrel?

Or will we be caught on the beach with Pliny in hand, wishing we had been in the water but realizing now we're too late?

AI, and specifically its impact on owning and operating a business, represents the 4th significant wealth-building opportunity since 2002. Here's a rundown of the other three and why the 4th, AI, is one you need to act on right now:

Wave 1: Post-2008 Housing Crash (2010-2011)

Banks failing. Government bailouts. Courthouse steps flooded with cash buyers. Everywhere you look, a "For Sale" sign and an overgrown, dried-out front lawn.

If you're old enough to remember, you remember. Home prices fell by more than 30% from their 2006 peak, and in many hard-hit areas, the decline was 50% or more.

But, once we emerged from the dip, opportunity abounded.

From 2010 to 2024, national home prices more than doubled. And in those hard-hit areas, well, they've tripled and more.

If you could have found a way to purchase real estate in 2010, it would have been a massive opportunity. And one we may not see again.

Wave 2: The Dawn of Social Media Advertising (2012-2016)

Remember when the idea of adults using social media was scoffed at? After all, it was "for the kids." Granted, My Space wasn't exactly where a well-adjusted adult wanted to be.

But then came along Facebook and Twitter, and of course, wherever the "eyeballs" are, advertising dollars flow.

So, when Facebook had its IPO in 2012 and really doubled down on attracting advertisers via hyper-targeting, I, along with many others, jumped on board.

Thus ensued the "golden age" of social media marketing: you could target creepily for a very low cost.

I remember running ads for kitchen & bath CRATE based on household income, gender, page-like preferences, and about 1,000 other data points that are now off-limits due to privacy concerns. And not many others in my market were doing that. (Remodelers are NOT early adopters by nature.)

The result? 51% year-over-year growth in 2015, 22% in 2016 and 39% in 2017.

Then Cambridge Analytical happened. 😒

Wave 3: Early Crypto (2015-2018)

We all know crypto bros who love to tell us when they bought a particular coin. Most of them sound like antibiotic ointments, and it's lost on me.

Alas, 2015-2018 was a great time to jump in.

Here's the deal: if we had invested in Bitcoin in 2015 (five years after its inception), we could have bought it for under $500. As of this writing, it checked in at $108,964. That's a lovely little jump.

Now, of course, not all cryptocurrencies have performed nearly as well. And there has been a boatload that has tanked or been fraudulent.

We'd be fooling ourselves to not consider crypto as a fantastic wealth-building opportunity. I missed the boat on it. I'm not missing the next wave.

Wave 4: AI Application in Small and Mid-Sized Business (SMB) (2024-forever)

Which brings me to the 4th wave: AI.

Now, AI is already affecting nearly every aspect of our lives, whether we are aware of it or not.

But what I'm specifically referring to is AIs' impact on those who own and operate SMBs.

At the root of the "wealth" side of the equation is the opportunity to scale your business without incurring a proportional amount of labor overhead.

At my two businesses, we're moving towards an AI-forward mindset. We've identified an "Early Adoption" team that will be testing AI platforms and opportunities in the year to come. These are individuals who are a bit more technically inclined and have job descriptions where we feel AI can have the most impact at the moment. (And I wrote a free guide on how to do the same in your business here…)

Here are the simple numbers: AI will help us grow top-line revenue. AI will help us accomplish this without requiring additional personnel. This will increase gross margin while keeping overhead fixed, leading to more "dollars at the end of the day." It's that simple.

Now, the "invisible hand of capitalism" will, of course, cause the competition to do the same, right?

This is why speed wins in AI.

The wealth-building opportunity lies in the "spread" between how quickly you roll out AI and how quickly the competition does. So, should you just "ease" into AI adoption in your business? You can. But don't expect to grab an above-market profit return...

My favorite part of all this is the application in businesses with a real-life component. This is why I really like the future of construction, home services, anything where real people will need to do real work for the foreseeable future.

The reason I like this is that 1: these industries tend to not adopt early, leaving more AI spread to be realized, and 2: the sucky competition (those who are not good contractors, for example) won't be able to AI themselves out of their poor execution, and AI will actually be fuel on their inevitable dumpster fire.

So, Where to Go From Here?

Learn and adopt.

Podcasts, youtube, courses, even books. Eat them up if you are a business owner or operator. Be a sponge, because things are changing daily.

And start using it. Sign up for a ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini Pro account. Then, start asking the AI how you can use it. It will tell you. It's that creepy.

"Hey chat, I need to describe my business for the credit officer at a new bank I'm working with. Can you help me do that?"

Sit back and watch what happens.

Thanks for reading this post. I appreciate you. In return, all I ask is that you please share this with those you know who may be interested.

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