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What happens when you stop asking permission and start creating opportunities
The Only Permission You Need Is the One You Give Yourself
At sixteen, Jay Yang sent a cold email to Tyler Denk, CEO of beehiiv. He had a list of ideas. Ways he could help. Value he could add. That email turned into an internship where he built beehiiv 101—a course that helped hundreds of users unlock the platform’s potential.
At seventeen, he sent Noah Kagan a 19-page pitch deck breaking down gaps in his social media and email marketing strategy—and exactly how to fix them. That pitch landed him a Head of Content role paying $150K. While still living at home. While still in high school.
Now he’s written a book about what made all of that possible: You Can Just Do Things: The Power of Permissionless Action.
The core message? Stop waiting. Start acting. The only permission you need is the one you give yourself.
The world rewards those who act. From the moment we’re old enough to dream, we’re handed a script: follow the rules, wait your turn, and maybe, someday, opportunity will knock. But the system is designed to keep you in place—waiting for permission, waiting for approval, waiting for a chance that may never come.
The people who shape the world? They rewrite the script.
People of Accomplishment Went Out and Happened to Things
Leonard da Vinci said it perfectly: “It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”
Read that again. They went out and happened to things.
You’re waiting for opportunities to find you. For doors to open. For someone to notice you, pick you, choose you, validate you.
Meanwhile, the people actually creating the life they want? They’re building prototypes. Cold emailing CEOs. Pitching ideas. Showing up where the action is. Making things happen instead of waiting for things to happen.
Tony Fadell wanted to work on revolutionary products. He built a prototype, pitched the iPod, and revolutionized how the world listens to music.
Steven Spielberg wanted to direct films. He snuck onto a Universal Studios lot, absorbed everything he could, and became the youngest director in Hollywood history.
Taylor Swift wanted a music career. She moved to Nashville, positioned herself where the action was, and knocked on doors until someone gave her a shot.
You’re living in a time when there’s never been more opportunity to build your own thing—a business, a brand, a platform, a life.
The question is: Are you waiting for permission, or are you taking it?
Success Is Something You Create, Something You’re Granted
Success is about luck, connections, or waiting for the right moment—it’s about taking control.
You think you need more experience. Better credentials. The perfect timing. The right connections. Someone to give you a shot.
Wrong. You need to start. To try. To build something. To put yourself out there. To create your own opportunities instead of waiting for someone else to create them for you.
Jay Yang landed a $150K role at seventeen because he created value first, then asked for the opportunity. He showed Noah Kagan exactly what was broken and exactly how to fix it. He made it absurdly easy to say yes.
The traditional path says: get the degree, get the experience, get the credentials, then maybe you’ll get the opportunity.
The permissionless path says: create value, demonstrate competence, make it easy to say yes, then the opportunity creates itself.
Research backs this up: Studies on entrepreneurial action show that action is what advances the opportunity development process. According to action theory, action follows the sequence of goal setting, information seeking, action planning, and execution. Waiting for perfect conditions before acting? That’s a recipe for staying stuck.
The Number One Skill Is Empathy
The number one skill you can have as an entrepreneur, marketer, or just human being is empathy. Being able to put yourself in their shoes and think about what they want.
Most people talk about the golden rule: treat others the way you want to be treated.
But there’s a rule above that: See others the way they want to be treated. It’s about putting yourself in their shoes because they may want to be treated like you want to be treated.
When Jay pitched Noah Kagan, he did his research. He studied Noah’s business. He identified specific problems. He created solutions. He made it so easy to say yes that saying yes became the obvious choice.
Do your research, do your homework, do the work upfront and make it easy to say yes.
You’re thinking about what you want. What you need. What you’re trying to achieve.
Flip it. Think about what they want. What they need. What problem you can solve for them. How you can make their life easier, better, more successful.
Empathy is your competitive advantage. Understanding what someone else actually values—and delivering that—is how you create opportunities for yourself.
Become a Learning Machine
Charlie Munger said: “I constantly see people who rise in life who are necessarily the smartest or most talented, but they’re learning machines.”
The smartest people in the room end up leading. The people who never stop learning do.
Jay’s book is built on stories, biographies. Stories from people throughout history who have applied this permissionless approach to their life and to their career to create opportunities.
Why stories instead of tactics? Because Morgan Housel taught him: “Memorize the stories, highlight the facts, and skip the fluff.”
Stories stick. They show you what’s possible. They reveal patterns. They demonstrate principles in action.
Becoming a learning machine means consuming voraciously. Reading biographies. Studying people who’ve done what you want to do. Extracting lessons. Applying principles. Iterating constantly.
The psychology of entrepreneurship research confirms this: Entrepreneurial cognition—how entrepreneurs think, learn, and process information—is a critical determinant of success. The people who win are the ones who see every experience as data, every failure as feedback, every challenge as education.
You’re already smart enough. Now become a learning machine.
Memorize the Stories, Highlight the Facts, Skip the Fluff
Memorize the stories, highlight the facts, and skip the fluff.
This is how you read. How you learn. How you extract wisdom from everything you consume.
Stories are how humans have passed down wisdom for thousands of years. They’re memorable. Visceral. Real. When you read about Tony Fadell building the iPod or Steven Spielberg sneaking onto studio lots, you remember the lesson in a way you’d forget if someone just told you “be bold” or “take initiative.”
Facts give you data. Numbers. Evidence. Research. They ground the stories in reality.
Fluff? Skip it. You know when you’re reading fluff. The repetitive stuff. The obvious stuff dressed up as insight. The filler paragraphs. Move past it.
Read with purpose. Extract what’s useful. Apply what resonates. Discard the rest.
Your time is valuable. Your attention is precious. Protect both by consuming intentionally.
The System Is Designed to Keep You Waiting
The system is designed to keep you in place—waiting for permission, waiting for approval, waiting for a chance that may never come.
Think about the traditional path: Apply to college. Wait for acceptance. Complete your degree. Wait for graduation. Apply to jobs. Wait for interviews. Wait for offers. Accept a position. Wait for promotion. Wait for raises. Wait for retirement.
Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.
The whole system is built on gatekeepers. On credentials. On proving yourself according to someone else’s criteria. On asking permission at every turn.
And while you’re waiting? The permissionless people are building. Creating. Launching. Learning. Iterating. Succeeding and failing and trying again.
They’re rewriting the script while you’re following it.
Entrepreneurship research shows: Entrepreneurship is a mechanism by which many people enter society’s economic and social mainstream, aiding culture formation, population integration, and social mobility. You create your own path forward.
You’re allowed to step off the conveyor belt. You’re allowed to build something different. You’re allowed to stop asking permission and start taking action.
The system keeps you waiting because waiting keeps you controllable, predictable, safe.
Be ungovernable. Act anyway.
Make It Easy to Say Yes
Every successful pitch, every landed opportunity, every opened door comes down to one principle: make it ridiculously easy to say yes.
Jay sent Noah Kagan a 19-page deck identifying problems and proposing solutions. He did the work upfront. He showed competence. He demonstrated value. He made saying yes the easiest decision Noah could make.
Most people send vague pitches. “I’d love to work with you.” “I think I could add value.” “Let me know if there’s anything I can help with.”
Cool. What value? Help with what? Why you? Why now?
Make it specific. Make it actionable. Make it impossible to ignore.
“Here are three problems I noticed. Here’s exactly how I’d fix them. Here’s the outcome you’d see. Here’s what I need from you to make it happen.”
Do the homework. Show the work. Remove every possible barrier to yes.
Do your research, do your homework, do the work upfront and make it easy to say yes.
The path of least resistance wins. Be the path of least resistance.
The Door Might Be Unlocked After All
You’re standing in front of a door. You assume it’s locked. You assume you need permission to open it. You assume someone has to let you in.
What if you just tried the handle?
Most doors are unlocked. Most opportunities are available. Most paths are open. You’re just too scared to try the handle because you’ve been taught to wait for someone to open it for you.
Remember that door might be just locked after all. You just need to try the handle.
Steven Spielberg walked onto a studio lot. He tried the handle. It opened. He absorbed everything. He became the youngest director in Hollywood history.
Taylor Swift knocked on doors in Nashville. She tried the handles. Some opened. One led to her entire career.
You’re assuming rejection before you’ve even tried. You’re assuming impossibility before you’ve even attempted. You’re assuming locked doors everywhere when most of them are just waiting for someone brave enough to turn the handle.
Try the handle. The worst that happens? It’s locked and you try another door. The best that happens? It opens and your entire life changes.
Stop assuming. Start trying.
Document Your Journey, Build in Public
Documenting your story online is one of the most powerful things you can do.
You’re building something. Learning something. Trying something. And you’re doing it privately, quietly, secretly.
Meanwhile, the people actually creating opportunities are documenting everything. Sharing their journey. Building in public. Creating a body of work that demonstrates competence, chronicles growth, attracts opportunities.
Jay built his platform by sharing what he was learning. By documenting his journey. By creating content that added value to others while simultaneously building his own credibility.
When Tyler Denk or Noah Kagan received his emails, they could see his work. His thinking. His ability to create value. The evidence was public.
Building in public creates:
- Proof of competence – Your work speaks before you do
- Serendipity engines – Opportunities find you
- Learning accountability – Public commitment drives action
- Network effects – Your work attracts your people
Start documenting. Share what you’re learning. Create in public. Build your body of work.
Your future opportunities are watching.
Advice Only Works If You Take Action On It
Advice is only as good as your ability to take action on them. Take actions on the things mentioned in this book and you’ll stand out more than the rest.
You’ve read the books. Listened to the podcasts. Consumed the content. You know what to do.
Now do it.
Knowledge alone changes nothing. Understanding creates zero results. Insight without action is just intellectual entertainment.
The gap between knowing and doing is where most people get stuck. They consume wisdom and feel productive. They plan and strategize and prepare and never actually start.
Action theory research confirms: Action is critical to advance in the opportunity development process. The entrepreneurial process unfolds over time through the prelaunch, launch, and postlaunch phases, and action drives movement through each phase.
You move forward by moving. By trying. By doing. By taking imperfect action and learning from it.
This book, this essay, every piece of wisdom you’ve ever consumed—it all means nothing unless you apply it.
Stop consuming. Start creating. Stop learning. Start doing. Stop preparing. Start acting.
Unconventional Steps for Unconventional Success
All of us have taken some or all of these steps to achieve the things we are most proud of in life. Unconventional steps for unconventional success.
The conventional path is crowded. Everyone’s following the same script. Getting the same degrees. Applying to the same jobs. Waiting for the same opportunities.
You want unconventional results? Take unconventional steps.
Cold email the CEO. Build the thing before someone hires you to build it. Create the role you want instead of applying for roles that exist. Demonstrate competence publicly before someone asks for credentials privately.
Jay’s entire career is built on unconventional steps:
- Emailing CEOs as a teenager
- Creating pitch decks for companies that hire him
- Building courses for products he uses
- Writing books about philosophy he applies
None of that is conventional. All of it worked.
Research on entrepreneurial agency shows: Entrepreneurship provides a mechanism for entering the economic and social mainstream through culture formation and social mobility. You create unconventional paths to conventional (and unconventional) success.
The rules are guidelines for people who want average results. You want exceptional results? Write your own rules.
This Book Will Give You Fuel to Step Out
This book will give you the fuel to step out and do what you were called to do!
You know what you’re called to do. Deep down. In that quiet voice that gets drowned out by fear and doubt and practicality.
The thing you think about late at night. The project you keep postponing. The idea you keep dismissing. The leap you keep delaying.
You’re waiting for confidence. For certainty. For perfect conditions. For someone to tell you it’s okay to try.
This is that permission. This is that sign. This is that fuel.
You can just do things. You really can. The barriers are mostly in your head. The gates are mostly unlocked. The opportunities are mostly available.
What you’re called to do is waiting for you to stop waiting and start doing.
Step out. Start now. Act today.
The fuel is here. The door is unlocked. The only thing missing is your decision to try the handle.
Truths to Carry With You
The only permission you need is the one you give yourself.
People of accomplishment went out and happened to things.
Success is something you create, something you’re granted.
Empathy is your number one skill—understand what others want.
Make it easy to say yes by doing the work upfront.
Become a learning machine—constantly absorb, apply, iterate.
Memorize the stories, highlight the facts, skip the fluff.
The system is designed to keep you waiting—step off the conveyor belt.
Most doors are unlocked—you just need to try the handle.
Document your journey—build in public, create proof of competence.
Advice only works if you take action on it—knowledge without action is entertainment.
Unconventional steps lead to unconventional success.
The world rewards those who act, those who wait.
You’re already smart enough—now become relentless.
Your future opportunities are built by your current actions.
Stop asking permission—start creating value.
Research shows: action advances the opportunity development process.
Waiting for perfect conditions guarantees staying stuck.
Your biggest barrier is assuming doors are locked before trying.
The path of least resistance wins—be that path.
You’re called to something—stop waiting and start doing.
Build your body of work publicly—opportunities will find you.
The fuel is here. The door is unlocked. Just turn the handle.
Resources for Going Deeper
Jay Yang’s Work:
- You Can Just Do Things: The Power of Permissionless Action
- The Spark Newsletter – Jay’s weekly insights
- beehiiv 101 Course – The course Jay created at 16
- Follow Jay on LinkedIn
Related Books Mentioned:
- Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan
- Biographies of founders, entrepreneurs, and athletes
- Morgan Housel on reading effectively
Entrepreneurship & Action Research:
- The Psychology of Entrepreneurship: Action and Process – Annual Review 2023
- Entrepreneurship Research and Practice: A Call to Action – American Psychologist
- Action Theory Process Model – ResearchGate
On Permissionless Action:
- Research on entrepreneurial agency and self-efficacy
- Studies on action theory and opportunity development
- Literature on entrepreneurial cognition
“The world rewards those who act. Stop waiting. Start acting. The only permission you need is the one you give yourself.”
The door is unlocked. Try the handle. Your entire life might change.
What are you waiting for?
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