Episode Summary: "How To Use The Four Types Of Leverage In Your Life / Business (To 10X Your Income In Half The Time)"

Podcast: Action Academy | Millionaire Mentorship For Your Life & Business
Host: Brian Luebben
Date: November 10, 2025

Overview

In this high-energy, insight-packed solo episode, Brian Luebben breaks down the four major types of leverage essential for entrepreneurs seeking to multiply their income and accelerate their journey to financial freedom. He shares personal stories and actionable guidance for listeners eager to transition from traditional employment to business ownership—highlighting the skills, mindset shifts, and tactics required. The episode is peppered with practical wisdom, encouragement, and a relentless focus on implementation.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Three Seasons of Income Generation (01:12)

• Fixed Season:
  • Definition: Classic salaried roles; income tied directly to hours worked.
  • Insight: “You show up, that's how much money you're going to make, whether you kill it or whether you are terrible.” (01:56)
• Variable Compensation Season:
  • Definition: Roles with a base salary and incentives like commission, bonuses, or overtime.
  • Insight: This phase rewards added input, but still limits scale by personal capacity.
• Entrepreneurial Season:
  • Definition: Self-crafted compensation with unlimited upside or total loss.
  • Brian’s Take: "You are never going to live next to your boss in his neighborhood, as his employee, ever. It's just not going to happen." (05:03)

2. Introduction to Leverage (06:10)

• Transitioning from employment to entrepreneurship is about implementing leverage—doing more with less.
• Personal anecdote: Brian’s coaching costs, goals, and the realization that grinding alone can’t produce exponential business growth.
  • Memorable moment: "You can't grind and hustle your way to a million dollars a year. You need to implement leverage, you need to scale." (09:24, Brian’s coach)

3. The Four Major Types of Leverage (10:30)

• Divided into:
  • Permissioned Leverage (Requires others’ involvement)
  • Permissionless Leverage (Self-initiated and open)

3a. Permissioned Leverage

i. Capital (11:05)

• Definition: Using other people's money (OPM)—via investors, loans, syndication, etc.—to fund your acquisitions or growth.
• Brian on big deals: “All big real estate deals are done with multiple people, multiple partners, and 90% of the time, not the original partner's money. It's always OPM.” (12:31)
• Deal triangle: Every acquisition requires two out of three: capital, expertise, or hustle.

ii. Labor (15:35)

• Definition: Leveraging other people’s time and skills by hiring team members or strategic partners.

• Brian’s Best Practice:

  • “Save up 3 months of however much that rock star is going to cost. And one rock star is worth more than 10 decent people, always.” (16:35)
  • Clear goals and feedback mechanisms are critical; define what “good," “great,” and “spectacular” look like.
  • Advice for leaders: "If you don't have a clear definition of what winning looks like, then the only time that your employee is going to hear from you is when they're messing up." (19:10)

• Skills to Master: Hiring, vision casting, delegation, communication, and feedback/reporting.

3b. Permissionless Leverage

iii. Code (21:05)

• Definition: Using technology, software, or AI (e.g., ChatGPT) to scale or automate business processes.
• Brian’s recommendation: "No matter what industry you're in... you need to be playing and learning about ChatGPT. This technology is single handedly going to change the world as we know it..." (22:17)
• Even non-technical founders should familiarize themselves to stay competitive.

iv. Media (23:45)

• Definition: Creating content (podcasts, blogs, videos) that scales your reach and impact infinitely with the same effort.

• Quote & Example: “You can create one blog post, one YouTube video, one podcast episode that will be out in the world, and 10 years later, people are still referencing it and utilizing it.” (24:20)

• Podcast Growth Anecdote: “I went to a soccer match... 27,000 people. That times two is the normal monthly downloads of this podcast... I'm reaching out to and talking to all of you guys through the same amount of effort, talking into a microphone for an hour once a day, like it's insane.” (26:52)

• Leveraging Permissionless Tools:

  • Combining code + media for viral content (using ChatGPT to generate video ideas, scripts, etc.)
  • Pro tip: "I'll say I want to talk about leverage in a podcast episode. So then I'll go type into ChatGPT, write me 50 viral worthy video titles... and it will pop out 50 titles." (28:13)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Entrepreneurial Living:
  "You are never going to live next to your boss in his neighborhood, as his employee, ever." (05:03)
• On Leverage:
  "You can't grind and hustle your way to a million dollars a year. You need to implement leverage, you need to scale." (09:24, Brian’s coach)
• On Hiring:
  "One rock star is worth more than 10 decent people, always." (16:39)
• On Feedback:
  "Your employee cannot read your mind, that's not what you hired them to do." (18:47)
• On Permissionless Leverage:
  "You can create one blog post, one YouTube video, one podcast episode that will be out in the world, and 10 years later, people are still referencing it." (24:20)
• On Tech Adoption:
  “No matter what industry you're in... you need to be playing and learning about ChatGPT.” (22:17)

Core Actionable Takeaways

• To escape the fixed/variable comp trap, graduate to entrepreneurship and master all four types of leverage.
• Permissioned Leverage:
  • Aggressively seek capital partners and invest in building an A+ team.
  • Learn to cast vision, delegate, and deliver frequent, clear feedback.
• Permissionless Leverage:
  • Start leveraging AI, automation, and media (content creation) for maximum reach with minimal marginal effort.
  • Experiment with powerful tools like ChatGPT to ideate, script, and systematize your marketing/content creation.

Key Segment Timestamps

• Intro & Overview of Seasons: 00:00 – 06:10
• The 4 Types of Leverage Intro: 10:30
• Permissioned Leverage (Capital): 11:05
• Permissioned Leverage (Labor): 15:35
• On Hiring & Feedback: 16:35 – 19:45
• Permissionless Leverage (Code): 21:05
• Permissionless Leverage (Media): 23:45
• Podcast Growth & Content Strategy: 26:52 – 28:20
• Conclusion & Call to Action: 28:30 – 30:10

For motivated professionals ready to 10x their income and unlock freedom, Brian’s message is clear: Leverage is your most powerful multiplier. Master all four types—capital, labor, code, and media—and the path to big wealth and time freedom opens up.