The Unfair Advantage Venn Diagram
Skills you have, network you can reach, and what genuinely excites you — the overlap is the only business you should start or buy.
- Difficulty
- Starter
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 90%
Sanchez's answer to 'what business should I start' is deliberately not a business. It is a three-circle diagram, because she believes the reason people freeze is not a shortage of options but that they do not actually know themselves. Circle one is your skill set — what you are genuinely good at, including unglamorous things like being able to work absurdly long hours. Circle two is your network — who you know who could help, including relatives with trades. Circle three is what excites you, and she is precise that this does not mean an industry; it means the activity, like loving to sell. The overlap tells you what you could realistically start or buy, and she is explicit that it is more complex than telling someone to go buy a franchise or a window-cleaning business precisely because it is personal. The first gate before the diagram is a binary: do you want to keep your current job or not, because that determines whether you are looking for a side hustle or a full-time commitment.
Origin
Bartlett invented 'Nigel' — 37, never run a business, no knowledge of investing, wants to be a millionaire in ten years, willing to work the hardest, but paralysed by conflicting options. Sanchez used him to show why naming a specific business type is the wrong answer and walked through the diagram instead.
Core principles
- 01The biggest reason people struggle with what to do next is that they do not know themselves.
- 02Decide first whether you are keeping your job — side hustle and full-time hustle are different searches.
- 03Skills include stamina and grind, not just credentials.
- 04Network includes family and in-laws with operating trades.
- 05Excitement means an activity you love, not an industry you find interesting.
- 06The fastest path to wealth is having some type of ownership.
How to run it
- 1
Answer the job question first
Ask whether you want to keep your current job. Sanchez says this is really important because it determines whether you are going to work on something 24/7 or build a side hustle you think could become your full-time hustle.
Pro tip If you are not yet making enough to walk away, you are explicitly looking for the side-hustle variant.
Watch out Skipping this gate produces a search that matches neither situation.
- 2
List your skills honestly, including the unglamorous ones
Sanchez's example Nigel might be good at marketing, or might drive a car service and therefore be genuinely good at working super long hours with the workhorse in him. Both count.
Pro tip Grind capacity is a real, tradeable skill in small-business acquisition.
Watch out Listing only credentialed skills discards your actual advantages.
- 3
Add the network circle
Ask who you know who could help. Sanchez's example is Nigel's brother-in-law who works inside a plumbing business — if Nigel figured out how to buy a business, they could partner and run it together.
Pro tip You do not need to know rich people; you need to know operators.
Watch out Ignoring the network circle produces businesses you have no one to run.
- 4
Add what excites you — as an activity
Sanchez is deliberate that this does not mean an industry. It means Nigel loves sales; he wants to sell people stuff. Activities transfer across sectors; industry enthusiasm does not survive contact with the P&L.
Pro tip Ask what you would happily do all day regardless of what is being sold.
Watch out Choosing by industry is how people end up in a business they love the topic of and hate the work of.
- 5
Take the first move from the overlap
Read the intersection as your candidate set and act. Sanchez says the bigger issue for people is trying to take the first move at all, as opposed to obsessing over industry or sector, and to think in three-to-five-year increments just as you would with a job.
Pro tip Her deal clarity worksheet adds location, how much the business needs to make for you, how much you can put in, and what you absolutely do not want to do.
Watch out Sector obsession is the most common form of productive-looking procrastination here.
In the wild
Bartlett's hypothetical: no business experience, wants to be a millionaire in ten years, willing to work hardest, paralysed by options and hearing words like resi brands and power washing. Sanchez refuses to name a business and runs the diagram instead.
→ Nigel's answer emerges from his own skills (marketing or grind), his network (a plumber brother-in-law) and his excitement (sales), rather than from a trend.
Sanchez's team runs a structured version of the same idea: where do you want the business located, what are you uniquely good at, how much does it need to make for you, how much can you put in, what do you absolutely not want to do.
→ It converts the diagram into filterable criteria for actual deal search.
Common mistakes
Asking which business is best in the abstract
Sanchez refuses to answer 'go buy a franchise' or 'go buy a window-cleaning business' because the right answer is a function of your specific skills, network and excitement. A generic answer is a guess about a person the advisor has never met.
Defining excitement as an industry
She is explicit: by what excites you, she does not mean an industry. Nigel loves sales — that is the usable input. 'I find fitness interesting' is not.
Obsessing over sector instead of taking the first move
Sanchez says the bigger issue is people trying to take the first move at all. Sector analysis feels like progress and defers the only step that generates information.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone paralysed by too many business options who has not yet made a first move, particularly people with a job they may want to keep.
Not ideal for
Operators who already have a live business and a clear thesis — this is a starting-point tool.
From the transcript
“we have something called your unfair Advantage Venn diagram and what your unfair Advantage Venn diagram is is your skill set”
“the biggest reason why people struggle with what to do next is they don't actually know themselves”
“the fastest path to wealth is having some type of ownership”
From the episode
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Codie Sanchez