---
id: "action-start-boring-business"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["00:26:45", "00:27:05"]
tags: ["entrepreneurship", "career-strategy"]
related: ["contrarian-blue-collar-wealth", "concept-lunch-pail-jobs"]
action: "Start a blue-collar service business to build equity rather than relying on a W2 salary."
outcome: "Accumulate outsized wealth through business ownership and eventual exit, rather than trading time for a salary."
speakers: ["Jared Dillian"]
sources: ["dillian"]
sourceVaultSlug: "jared-dillian-macro-trading-wealth-2026Jun25"
originDay: 6
---
# Start a traditional service business

## Action

**Start a blue-collar service business to build equity rather than relying on a W2 salary.**

## Outcome

Accumulate outsized wealth through business ownership and eventual exit, rather than trading time for a salary.

## Rationale

To build significant net worth, avoid relying solely on high-paying W2 jobs ([[concept-lunch-pail-jobs]]). Instead:

1. Start or acquire a **traditional, 'boring' service business** (HVAC, plumbing, etc.)
2. Scale it over decades
3. Build **sellable enterprise value**
4. Eventually sell for a multiple of earnings

This is the actionable form of [[contrarian-blue-collar-wealth]] and is exemplified by figures like [[entity-sam-zell]].

## Related

- [[contrarian-blue-collar-wealth]]
- [[concept-lunch-pail-jobs]]
- [[concept-the-wanting-prerequisite]]
- [[quote-business-wealth]]