Codie Sanchez founded Contrarian Thinking and advocates buying and operating established small businesses as one possible path to ownership. Her investing advice emphasizes examining a business’s numbers rather than accepting a compelling story. — Contrarian Thinking About.

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On Contrarian Thinking and Mindset

  1. Think independently: Sanchez encourages looking for opportunities others overlook, then checking whether the numbers justify the contrarian view. — Young and Profiting E231.
  2. Expect disagreement: Going against a prevailing view can draw criticism; her advice is to test the idea on its merits rather than follow consensus. — Codie Sanchez — Contrarian Lessons.
  3. Act on ambition: Sanchez urges people who feel capable of more to try a concrete next step; this is motivational advice, not an explanation of clinical anxiety. — Codie Sanchez — Bigger Things.
  4. Be contrarian and right: In the interview she invokes another investor’s “contrarian and right” formulation; an unusual thesis still needs evidence. — Young and Profiting E231.
  5. Compare narratives with numbers: She looks for cases where the prevailing story diverges from the business’s underlying numbers. — Young and Profiting E231.
  6. Write your own path: Her account of leaving a conventional career path frames ownership as a way to make more independent choices. — Young and Profiting E231.

On Business and Entrepreneurship

  1. Consider buying rather than starting: Sanchez advocates considering an existing profitable business instead of starting from zero. Acquisition and SBA financing depend on the buyer, business and lender; neither is assured. — Codie Sanchez — Buy a Business.
  2. Learn by operating: Sanchez treats actually running a business as a practical education, while acknowledging the work and risks involved. — BiggerPockets Money 416.
  3. Persist beyond the first attempt: Her retrospective warns that an initial business may fail and that later attempts can be more instructive; future profit is not guaranteed. — Codie Sanchez — 35 Lessons.
  4. Do not quit too soon: In her reflections on selling businesses, she warns that people often abandon a venture before they have learned from it. — Codie Sanchez — 35 Lessons.
  5. Seek meaningful problems: She links the value a business can create to the size of the problem it solves; this is a heuristic, not a revenue formula. — Codie Sanchez — 35 Lessons.
  6. Use a simple deal test: Sanchez prefers businesses whose economics she can explain on a simple sheet or napkin before doing deeper diligence. — Young and Profiting E231.
  7. Examine ordinary businesses: Her acquisition thesis focuses on established, unglamorous businesses, but their returns depend on price, operations and risk. — Young and Profiting E319.
  8. Hire to reduce micromanagement: Her leadership rule connects micromanagement with a possible hiring or values mismatch. — Codie Sanchez — Leadership Principles.
  9. Make performance feedback clear: She argues that a firing should not surprise someone; timely, clear feedback is the underlying leadership principle. — Codie Sanchez — Leadership Principles.
  10. Prioritize company problems: Sanchez describes running a company as repeatedly identifying and prioritizing its most important problems. — Codie Sanchez — Running a Company.

On Wealth and Financial Freedom

  1. Use wealth for optionality: For Sanchez, the appeal of ownership includes the ability to choose more freely and say no, rather than merely buy status goods. — Young and Profiting E319.
  2. Treat money as a tool: Her authored essay frames money as a means to greater agency, not as an end in itself. — Codie Sanchez — The Power of Money.
  3. Watch usable cash: Her retrospective distinguishes cash available to spend from a paper net-worth figure. — Codie Sanchez — 35 Lessons.
  4. Explore additional income streams: Sanchez presents side ventures as one way to develop income beyond a single job; she does not establish that every employer opposes this. — Codie Sanchez — 28 Side Hustles.
  5. Understand financing structures: She discusses seller financing and other negotiated acquisition structures, but a no-cash purchase is conditional and may still entail substantial risk. — Young and Profiting E231.
  6. Look at private small businesses: Sanchez argues that privately owned Main Street businesses can be attractive assets; this is her investment thesis, not a universal comparison with public stocks. — Young and Profiting E319.
  7. Build financial security for independent thought: She says financial security can make it easier to think and act independently. — Young and Profiting E231.

On Work Ethic and Success

  1. Do the work: Her reflections emphasize execution over searching for a shortcut. — Codie Sanchez — 35 Lessons.
  2. Expect work beyond fixed hours: She describes the demands of her own business building as often extending beyond a conventional workday, not a requirement for every entrepreneur. — Codie Sanchez — 35 Lessons.
  3. Prepare for intense stretches: Her retrospective includes late nights and early mornings as part of her own experience; it is not a prescription for permanent overwork. — Codie Sanchez — 35 Lessons.
  4. Protect focus: She warns that distraction can hurt a venture’s execution. — Codie Sanchez — 35 Lessons.
  5. Accept some unglamorous work: Her discussion of ownership says that pursuing work you value can involve tasks you do not enjoy. — Codie Sanchez — Work and Ownership.
  6. Aim high while learning: She urges aspiring performers to strive for excellence rather than rely on minimum effort; it is advice, not a guarantee of results. — Codie Sanchez — High Performers.
  7. Commit deeply: In her retrospective, Sanchez credits sustained commitment or obsession as part of pursuing a venture; the original purpose-and-distraction wording is not verified. — Codie Sanchez — 35 Lessons.
  8. Finish concrete work: Her business advice stresses completing the next actionable task instead of collecting more advice. — Codie Sanchez — Business Truths.

On Personal Growth and Learning

  1. Expect relationships to change: Sanchez says her business journey changed some relationships; this is a personal observation, not an inevitability for everyone. — Codie Sanchez — 35 Lessons.
  2. Admit what you do not know: She advises founders not to be embarrassed by gaps in knowledge. — Codie Sanchez — 35 Lessons.
  3. Look for demonstrated action: Her retrospective advises paying attention to people who have a stake in the outcome, rather than relying only on talk. — Codie Sanchez — 35 Lessons.
  4. Start sooner when ready: She says that, looking back, she regrets not beginning her own business work earlier; this is personal advice, not a universal timing rule. — Codie Sanchez — 35 Lessons.
  5. Try instead of only fearing failure: Sanchez argues that never attempting a meaningful goal can be a greater personal regret than failing at it. — Codie Sanchez — Try Rather Than Regret.
  6. Front-load difficult work: Her interview discusses taking on hard work early to create later options; it does not promise that every painful investment pays off. — Young and Profiting E319.
  7. Let curiosity guide exploration: In the Mindvalley interview, she discusses curiosity as a way to find new opportunities; turning curiosity into cash is possible, not automatic. — Mindvalley Podcast — Codie Sanchez.

Sanchez’s work centers on examining and, where suitable, acquiring established small businesses. Her interviews and Contrarian Thinking explain the opportunity as well as the operational work and financing risks; readers should evaluate any purchase on its own merits. — Young and Profiting E319.

Learn more:

  1. Contrarian Thinking — About Codie Sanchez
  2. Young and Profiting E231 — 7 Boring Businesses You Can Buy Right Now
  3. Young and Profiting E319 — Extraordinary Wealth Buying Boring Businesses
  4. BiggerPockets Money 416 — Codie Sanchez on Buying Businesses
  5. Codie Sanchez — 35 Lessons from Selling Three Businesses
  6. Codie Sanchez — Lessons from Contrarian Investing
  7. Codie Sanchez — Want Your Own Business? Consider Buying
  8. Codie Sanchez — Leadership Principles I Wish I Knew at 22
  9. Codie Sanchez — Running a Company Means Prioritizing Problems
  10. Codie Sanchez — 28 Side Hustles
  11. Codie Sanchez — The Power of Money
  12. Mindvalley Podcast — Building Wealth Through Creative Deal-Making with Codie Sanchez