THE PAPER GUIDE: THE £2,197 GAMBLE THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

Sunday. 8:34 AM.

Black tracksuit. Cold Evian bottle on deck. Watching the city wake up through floor-to-ceiling windows. Mr dnd by nemzzz plays in the background.

Aj's still asleep. Came back around 3. I heard the door, didn't get up.

Sun's hitting Canary Wharf just right. Ten floors below, people already moving. Sunday joggers. Early shifts.

Three years ago, I would've been one of them.

Worse. I would've just finished a Saturday night shift. Black shirt and trousers. Smelling like kitchen grease and expensive wine I couldn't afford to drink.

Aj beside me on the night bus. Both too tired to talk. Just staring out the window wondering if this was it.

THE OBSERVATION:

I don't talk about this much. But it's time.

A lot of you are where Aj and I were three years ago.

Stuck in the same pattern. Trying business models that don't fit. Working jobs that drain you. Hoping the next thing will be different.

We were 17. Working posh hotels in central London. The kind where a bottle of wine costs more than our weekly wage.

Home at 12, sometimes 2 AM. Sleep seven hours. Go college. Back home to try to build before the next shift. Before friends and girls called.

By then, we'd already failed at: Shopify e-commerce. Marketing agency. Trading signals. Facebook dropshipping.

Four attempts. Four failures.

Not because we couldn't execute. We failed because we were building businesses that didn't match how we're wired.

THE PATTERN:

We'd pick a model working for others. Something that looked profitable.

Then force ourselves to do it.

The agency required constant client calls. Discovery sessions. Relationship management.

I fucking hated it. Every call felt like performing. Every conversation drained me.

Aj didn't mind calls. But he hated systematic execution. Repeatability.

We argued constantly.

Me: "We need systems or this doesn't scale."

Aj: "We need to talk to people and figure out what they want."

By the third failure—Facebook dropshipping—we were done.

Not with building. With building wrong.

We had sat down after a shit shift. Both exhausted. Both frustrated.

And admitted something we'd been avoiding:

We're twins. But we're completely different people.

I need solitude. Systems. Processes I can refine without human interaction.

Aj needs people. Conversation. Projects that change every time.

We needed two different business models. Had no idea how to pick the right ones.

So we took a gap year. Kept working hospitality to cover rent. Spent every other hour trying to find the answer.

THE DISCOVERY:

Two months in, scrolling Twitter at 2 AM after a shift.

Found a thread from some founder. $48M Series B. Built three companies. Two private, one public. Knows what he’s talking about.

At the bottom of his bio: linktree.

I clicked. Mostly podcast and newsletter.

But at the bottom: "The Paper Method - £2,197"

A framework for selecting the right business for you.

Energy sources. Skill inventory. Market intersection. Constraint testing.

60 minutes. One sheet of paper. What comes: Full clarity on my next move.

I read the sales page twice. Then looked at the price again.

£2,197.

Started sweating. Literally. Heart racing.

More money than I'd ever spent.

If this didn't work, we were finished. Back to hospitality full-time.

Next day, called Aj from his room. "Yo aj come to my room for a sec."

He walked in. Saw my monitor screen. "What's this?"

"A framework for picking the right business. But it's £2,197."

He didn't hesitate. "How do we know it works?"

"We don't. But look at who made it."

He read for five minutes. Then: "Let's do it."

"It's over two grand."

"So we split it. 50/50. If it doesn't work, we're fucked anyway. If it does, we're out."

That's the difference. I overthink. He decides.

We bought it that night. £1,098.50 each. Basically our entire remaining funds.

THE METHOD:

Framework arrived next day. A PDF. Nothing fancy. Just systematic.

Kitchen table in our old flat. Both of us. One sheet of paper. One pen each.

Five phases:

1. Map energy sources vs drains

2. Inventory actual skills

3. Find market intersection

4. Test against drains

5. 10-year vision

Worked separately. About an hour each. Then compared.

My results: Digital products through faceless content. No calls. Create once, scale infinitely.

Aj's results: Copywriting. Client-based. Different every time. Relationship-driven.

We looked at each other.

"That's why everything failed," Aj said.

We'd been trying to build the same businesses together. We needed completely different models.

THE TIMELINE:

Gave ourselves 90 days.

Day 46: Aj landed his first client. £500 monthly retainer. Texted: "Got one." First win.

Day 68: I sold my first digital product. £47. Felt like £1,000.

Same month: Aj signed two more clients. £1,200 monthly combined retainer.

Day 87: I hit my first £700 day. Three days before deadline.

We made it. Both of us.

THE OUTCOME:

Three years later:

Consistent 4-5 figure months.

High-rise apartment in East London

Work when we want. I prefer late nights. Aj prefers spontaneous bursts.

But here's the thing:

I don't love money. In fact I hate it. It can corrupt the soul. But God keeps me and Aj in check everyday.

The high-rise is nice. The cars are nice. Freedom to buy £800 hoodies without checking the account is nice.

But it's only nice because we're doing what we're wired to do.

I'm not on client calls. I'm building systems in solitude.

Aj's not testing ads alone. He's solving new problems with new people every week.

Two guys. Two business models. Both doing exactly what the Paper Method revealed to us.

Without that framework, we would still be lost.

THE DECISION:

The Paper Method cost us £2,197 at 17 when we couldn't afford it.

It's the only reason we're not still clearing tables at 1 AM.

So we decided:

We're giving it to you. For free.

Not forever. But for now.

The entire framework. The 60-minute sheet. The five-phase process.

Everything that took us from hospitality hell to 4-5 figure months doing what we're built for.

It's inside The Paper Guide.

If you're where we were three years ago—trying shit that doesn't fit, working jobs that drain you, wondering why nothing's clicking—download this.

You don't need £2,197. You don't need to risk your last funds.

You need 60 minutes. One sheet of paper. Honesty to map your actual wiring.

Aj won by day 46. I won by day 68.

You could be next.

Download The Paper Guide here:

This is the blueprint. Without it, we'd still be lost.

Excuses don't build empires.

The right business model does.

—Tai

P.S.

12:32 PFM now.

Aj just woke up. Corteiz tracksuit. Asked what I'm doing.

Told him I'm sending out our “origin story”. The £2,197 gamble. How we gave ourselves 90 days.

He nodded. "About time. Think people will actually use it?"

"Some will. Most won't."

"The ones who download and actually do the work? Those are the ones desperate enough to be honest with themselves."

He's right.

If you're still reading, you're probably one of them.

Download it. Do the work. Find your model.

Build it until you're sitting in your own high-rise wondering how you ever thought anything else would work.

See you there.