This MILLIONAIRE wants you to copy him!

This MILLIONAIRE wants you to copy him!

Welcome to DreamMail, a newsletter where you can keep up to date with the dreamers you see in my content, as well as actionable advice to help you build your own dream.

If you’re enjoying these updates, you can also grab my latest book to teach kids business.

Guest Of The Week

Many of you may know my good friend Timothy Armoo.  Timo grew up in a South East London council estate. He was surrounded by gangs and knife crime. But he didn’t let his environment define him.

At 14, he started his first business. At 17, he sold his first business, and at 27, he sold his third business, Fanbytes, in a multi-million-dollar deal.

He’s one of the smartest people I know and is one of the only people I know who willingly shares his knowledge without putting it behind a paid course. In January, his book "What's Stopping You" is releasing, and I’d recommend everyone wanting or building a life they love give it a read.

For today’s newsletter, I asked Timo to write 6 things he wished he knew before his entrepreneurial journey. If you enjoy these, you can order Timo’s book here - 

Enter Timo!!

6 Things Timo Wished He Knew Before He Started

When I started in business, I thought success was about having a unique idea, working super long hours and having to sacrifice everything.

It took me a few years and a few mistakes to realise that most of that is wrong.

I wish someone had sat me down and told me these 6 things in my journey.

1. It’s good to copy

I’ve never had an original idea in my life. Yet I’ve made millions.

My first business was a tutoring company - Very unoriginal.
My second was an online magazine - Veryyy unoriginal.

My third (the one that made me millions), connected brands to influencers - an idea I saw work in the U.S that I just copied and brought to the UK and focused on Gen Z.

In school, you’re punished for copying. In business, it’s one of the smartest things you can do.

Building a product is easy. Anyone can do it. Finding demand is the part that sets the successful businesses apart from the unsuccessful ones. When you copy something that already works and adapt it to a new audience, you’re reducing the risk of failure.

I’ve built a career of seeing what has worked somewhere else and then just using it in another industry. It’s changed my life and will change yours too.

Takeaway: Originality is overrated. Just look at things that work in your industry. Then ask yourself how you can bring it to a new audience, or have a new angle. 

2. Everything big starts small

When you’re starting out, it’s easy to look at big entrepreneurs and feel miles behind. You feel like they’re soooo big and you’re a small one-man band trying to make it work. 

But every single mega business started with one customer, one sale, one person believing in it. Just like yours.

I was in such a rush to become successful that I didn’t acknowledge those early moments. Those first contracts, those first employees.

If I could go back, I’d take a photo with every early customer. Frame the first contract. Celebrate every small win, they're the ones that build momentum.

Takeaway: Celebrate those small moments. Document them and be inspired by them. These will create momentum for you and increase your odds of getting bigger.

3. You are not your business

When you start a company, it can swallow you whole. Every thought, every hour, every decision revolves around it.

But you are not your business. Read that again. You are not your business! 

When it’s doing well, that doesn’t make you better than everyone else. When it struggles, that doesn’t make you a failure.

During the most intense periods at Fanbytes, I’d take two or three days off to completely disconnect and do things that had nothing to do with business. Most importantly, do these without feeling any guilt. 

I even had a note on my desk: You are not your business.

At the end of the day, having your health, your friends and people who love you is the most important thing. I know it sounds cliché and I would have thought so too, but having been in the business game now for over a decade, it’s the truest thing ever.

Takeaway: Schedule time that has nothing to do with work. Realise your business is just a thing you do, it’s not who you are.

4. Pay attention to timing

This is a weird one that I wish someone had told me. Market timing is everything.

An idea can be brilliant, but if the market isn’t ready, it dies.

Fanbytes worked because influencer marketing was exploding. Within eight months of us selling, several influencer companies were acquired. We all hit the market at the right time.

One mistake I see founders make is having an idea that THEY may think is a good idea but there is nothing in the market which suggests that it is.

For example, now is a great time to start a business around A.I because it’s exploding, but it’s not a good time to start a business around fashion because there’s no new innovation.

The best question to ask yourself is ‘why now?’ ‘What’s changing in the market that makes this moment right?’

Takeaway: If you have an idea, ask yourself “why now?” The best ideas ride waves that are already forming. Make it easier for yourself to win.

5. Stay in your circle of competence

I’ve failed at seven different ideas and every single one of them, failed for the same reason.

I built something outside my circle of competence.

Your circle of competence is what you’re uniquely good at. It’s your combination of skills, experience, and interests.

So in my case, my circle of competence is marketing and building services businesses.

Every time I’ve tried to start something outside of this, it hasn’t done well.

Too many people try to build businesses far outside what they understand, and then get crushed by people who live and breathe that space.

So stay close to what you know.

Takeaway: Get a blank sheet of paper and answer these questions:

What am I better at than most people?

What comes naturally to me that feels like work to others?

What feels like play to me?

Your answers will show you where your next business should come from.

6. It’s not that deep

This is my personal favourite.

When I first started, I was terrified of failing. Every small setback felt like it could destroy me. I had no money and no backup plan, so everything felt high-stakes.

But over time, I learned that most problems aren’t the end of the world.

 You lose a customer, a deal falls through, an employee quits…and you survive.

The ability to tell yourself “it’s not that deep” is one of the most valuable skills you can have as a founder. It helps you stay calm, think clearly, and keep moving.

Takeaway: Whenever something goes wrong, say it out loud: it’s not that deep. You’ll train your brain to focus on solutions, not fear.

These lessons changed everything for me. But the real question is: what's holding you back from starting?

If you’ve been hesitating on that idea for ages or in the early murky stages of business, I want to invite you to something insane…The What's Stopping You Marathon!!

This is the biggest live event in the UK where entrepreneurs like Simon Squibb, Dan Priestley, Tim Campbell from The Apprentice, and more will help you break through what's stopping you.

And it’s completely FREE!

We're going to help you shape your ideas, smash through your roadblocks, and give you the exact playbook to start

I’ll personally be giving over £10,000 in cash to help you actually launch your business.

This could be your moment.

The only question left is: what's stopping you?

A note from me

5%.

That’s the UK unemployment rate in 2025.

It might not sound too bad right now. But that’s 1.8 million people. And it’s only going to get worse.

AI is getting faster, cheaper, better. And more jobs are going to disappear.

But honestly… I actually think it could be a good thing

Everyone wants to be successful. But the ones who actually make it, are those that needed to be.

When you lose your job, success stops being optional. It becomes mandatory.

And the moment you’ve got nothing to lose… You’ve got everything to gain.

Right now, this very second, you’re holding a supercomputer in your hand. You have access to everything you need to build your dream.

So if you’re unemployed or scared you will be soon…

Don’t wait. Use this bad luck and turn it into good luck.

This isn’t the end. It’s the universe handing you your shot.

See you next week!

- Simon Squibb