Unpopular Work Advice That Could Help You Make Millions From an Ex-Wall Street Employee

Codie Sanchez, the former Wall Street dealmaker turned multimillionaire investor, has a message for anyone dreaming of financial freedom: stop hunting for the perfect job and start learning to stomach pain.

In a video shared on her YouTube channel, Sanchez argued that early hardship isn't a setback but the surest path to long-term wealth.

Her advice is brutally simple and wildly unpopular, but it is resonating with ambitious professionals tired of the 'follow your passion' narrative.

According to Sanchez, resilience, not comfort, is the engine behind every self-made millionaire.

She claims that persevering through difficult early employment and professional-level hardships not only makes one resilient but also preconditions wealth in the long term.

'The first job sucks? Good!' she said on a video posted on her YouTube channel. 'It'll suck for you less later,' she added.

This non-standardised view takes shape among ambitious, career-driven professionals who are ready to make their mark and possibly earn millions of dollars through a smooth career.

Who Is Codie Sanchez?

Sanchez is now a prominent investor, author, and founder of Contrarian Thinking and Unconventional Acquisitions, platforms that help entrepreneurs build wealth through unconventional deals.

Her personal net worth is estimated at $17.7 million, and her company, Main Street Holding Company, manages about 25 business portfolios, generating about $50 million in revenue per year.

Sanchez's journey from gruelling early career to multimillion-dollar empire serves as the blueprint for her unorthodox advice.

The Contrarian Path: Take the Hard Job First, the Fun Job Later

Sanchez acknowledges that her advice runs counter to the cultural push to 'chase your dream job'. But she believes taking a comfortable role too early stunts growth.

Her philosophy: take the work that challenges you, drains you, and forces you to grow, then pursue passion once you're tough enough not to crumble.

These challenging first roles teach you how to stay calm under pressure, solve real-world problems, and navigate conflict. When you eventually launch a business or invest in one, those skills become invaluable.

'Let the first job suck,' Sanchez said. 'Let it humble you, sharpen you and make you too tough ever to fire again.'

Why Sanchez Says Early Pain Is Your Biggest Advantage

Most people start their careers expecting fulfilment, creativity and quick promotions. Sanchez insists that the mindset is flawed. Early jobs, she says, should feel miserable because they shape the grit needed for later success.

'The first job sucks? Good!' she told her followers. 'It'll suck for you less later.'

She argues that the unpleasant, tedious and sometimes chaotic first years of work are essential conditioning. Instead of seeing those years as drudgery, Sanchez frames them as the most valuable training period a future entrepreneur will ever get.

'You don't get purpose before you've built pain tolerance,' she said. 'Even crappy early jobs are stepping stones for the next level of the game.'

So, the more you get used to living with the pain, the less it will hit you in the future.

One can always find comfort or even find work precisely as you like it to go with your passions, but Sanchez advises taking up such work when you already have a thick skin.

Even early, seemingly complex jobs are stepping stones.

One learns how to solve problems in a stressful environment, how to be patient and persist in difficult circumstances - qualities that cannot be estimated when you are running your own business or making a considerable investment.

In the situations that you encounter at the workplace, whether it has to be unpleasant colleagues or unrealistic deadlines, you do not simply wish to stay afloat.

Instead, you want to succeed despite the challenges presented, as these challenges are what make you ready to face greater challenges in the future.

'So yeah, let the first job suck,' she said in the video. 'Let it humble you, sharpen you, and make you too tough ever to fire again.'

Resilience, Not Passion, Builds Millionaires

Sanchez makes a blunt point: resilience is the single most underrated skill in business. Books can't teach it. Comfort won't build it. Only pressure, politics, people problems and office chaos can.

'How do you deal with pressure, politics, people or problems?' she asked. 'How do you survive a boss you hate or a team that dumps the work on you?'

Sanchez stated that whenever you take on pressure, cope with office politics, difficult supervisors, and heavy workloads, you are building resilience.

And, according to her, the secret weapon of successful investors and entrepreneurs is their resilience.

'You don't build resilience by reading about it. You build it by taking hits,' she said.

Her view is that these stressful environments, miserable bosses, impossible deadlines and frustrating colleagues, quietly forge the psychological toughness required to run a company or make bold investments.

Millionaires, she argues, aren't shaped by ideal conditions. They're shaped by struggle. 'You don't build resilience by reading about it. You build it by taking hits.'