Do you know that story about Erik Finman that everyone talks about? Well, his story is really interesting, but I’ll tell it in a different way.

It all started when he was only 12 years old and decided to invest one thousand dollars in Bitcoin — back then, one BTC was only $10. Imagine how much courage (or maybe just a lack of fear) a kid needs to have to do that while everyone around him is laughing in his face.

His teachers didn’t believe it, thought it was crazy. But here’s the interesting part: instead of listening to criticism, he simply dropped out of school at 15 and started building his own startup. While kids his age were worried about exams, Erik Finman was building a business.

By 17, he was already a millionaire. After that, instead of going to a traditional college, he chose to travel the world and invest in cryptocurrency projects — basically continuing to do what he believed in.

The point isn’t that everyone has to drop out of school or that taking risks always pays off. But what Erik Finman’s story shows is that sometimes the biggest obstacle is just listening too much to what others think. The people who doubt are usually too comfortable to try something different.

If you have an idea you believe in, the first step is always the hardest. After that, it gets easier.