Of all his brilliant ideas, this one from Charlie Munger impacted me most:

"The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more."

I first read it when I was a dentist in 2019. I wasn’t happy with my career. It paid well, and I loved treating patients, but the work itself felt mechanical. Drill this, fill that. The NHS (our UK healthcare) also built a system that kept you on a carousel, hustling hard to hit quotas—you get paid if you make it, punished if you don’t.

I couldn’t shake this feeling that I was on the wrong path.

I wanted a career where I made an impact with my ideas. I wanted to get paid to think. I wanted to earn with my mind and not my time. I wanted to spend my days learning, and thinking, and building things I was proud of.

Dentistry didn’t feel like the right path.

So in 2020, I began to write online.

I didn’t know that Munger’s idea would ring so true.

The Internet rewards the educator

Underneath the surface layer of shit, great things are happening online. We live in the biggest knowledge-exchange in history. You can share what you are learning, doing, and thinking—and attract people who feel the same.

When you commit to teaching what you know, you are rewarded with a reputation. Reputation swings open many doors: an audience to serve, peers to work with, a platform to make a difference.

You might think this reputation is based on how much you know, but it is actually how much you are willing to share what you know.

For example, when I started writing online, I had no expertise. I sure as shit didn’t want to write about dentine for the next decade.

So I began writing about what I was learning instead.

I never claimed to be an expert, just an explorer—figuring things out and sharing what I find.

The more I built in one direction, the more interesting ideas I had to share. Especially as I began to apply what I learned. And share I did. I haven’t missed a day of content in almost 6 years, including a weekly newsletter and hundreds of hours of free video material.

I’ve built several products and programs for those who wanted to invest further. The result has been 270,000 readers and over $1,000,000 in 5 years.

Sexy graphs are fun and all, but the most important part?

It doesn’t feel like work. It feels like play. Every ounce of energy I invest comes back tenfold because it feels great to help people on a similar mission.

And the fact that writing an email like this—sharing what you know—is part of the process is mindblowing.

This is what happens when you build a business around your ideas.

The more you give, the more you get.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with hundreds of people over the past 5 years. Almost all of them had a deep desire to share what they know, to have a voice, to give their view on a world heading in the wrong direction.

If you have this urge, don’t dampen it.

Don’t talk yourself out of it. Don’t compare yourself to bigger creators and think there is no point. Don’t go for easier goals because the path seems so uncertain.

Because your ideas can make a real difference if you have the guts to share them.

If you don’t know where to start, teach your past self. Fling out a post every day. Focus on content and conversations. You will realise there are thousands of people out there who you can serve.

You just need to find them and prove you are worth paying attention to.

The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more. The Internet just so happened to make it one of the most profitable things, too.

Be the most useful person in your niche,

Kieran