She lost $900M and went to jail for 11 years for this.

And you might also be one bad decision away from losing everything.

Over this week, I was scrolling through some of Sam Ovens’ old emails and videos while socializing at a blood drive, thinking about what sort of email I should write for my list this week(I’ll give the pre-internet short series a break).

Let me know if he has some new email list I've never heard of.

A lot of copywriters and marketers don't know before Ovens became CEO of Skool, and made that massive leap in net-worth, he was slumming it in the email marketing and copywriting space.

His emails were pretty fire too and he used to send them daily.

It's crazy to imagine but he'll probably be a billionaire in his lifetime.

Being on his list, I used to be incredibly annoyed at his daily emails(not the content but the frequency) but that was before I understood strategy, positioning and that he was playing the long game.

so, he's sort of the inspiration for this weeks email.

Anyway, right now, as you read this, you're making dozens of decisions that will either build your business empire or destroy it.

And here's what terrifies me: you probably don't even realize which ones will haunt you for decades because every decision you make creates a ripple effect that extends far beyond the immediate outcome.

Most entrepreneurs think they're playing chess when they're actually setting themselves on fire.

In the 1970s, Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel conducted what became known as the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment. Children were given a simple choice: eat one marshmallow now, or wait 15 minutes and receive two.

Sounds innocent, right?

Wrong.

The researchers then tracked those kids for 40 years.

The ones who grabbed the marshmallow immediately? Lower incomes. Higher obesity. More failed relationships. The patient ones? Higher SAT scores. Better careers. Happier lives.

Every time you choose the quick dopamine hit over the long-term win, you're programming yourself for mediocrity. And in business? Mediocrity kills.

While at the blood drive shooting the breeze with a a few colleagues and talking about Oven's journey and the Marshmallow, I brought up the old story of Elizabeth Holmes a Stanford drop-out and I was sure Holmes' failed start up would be the perfect story and tie-in to write about this week.

Remember Theranos, the blood-testing company founded by Elizabeth Holmes in 2003?

If not, in 2003, Holmes(a fake blonde but beautiful Stanford dropout) had a compelling vision: revolutionary blood testing that could detect dozens if not hundreds of diseases with just a single drop of blood.

The potential impact was enormous, early disease detection that could save millions of lives and transform healthcare.

But instead of building the technology, she built hype. Instead of solving problems, she sold promises. Instead of creating value, she crafted lies.

For years, it worked, she pulled the wool over most people’s eyes.

She raised $900 million. Graced magazine covers. Got invited everywhere. Hobnobbed with Henry Kissinger. The media called her "the next Steve Jobs."

She maxed out the proverbial custom game character slider that dealt with charisma.

But when investigative journalism and whistleblowers exposed that Theranos's technology was hot garbage, the consequences were swift and severe.

Holmes was sentenced to over 11 years in prison and ordered to pay $452 million in restitution. More importantly, her actions damaged trust in legitimate healthcare innovation for years to come.

This illustrates how first-order consequences (immediate gains from marketing success) can mask devastating second-order consequences (legal repercussions, reputation damage, and industry impact) that compound over time.

One decision to prioritize marketing over substance. One choice to value perception over reality. One moment of weakness that cost her everything.

Holmes didn't understand that every shortcut you take today becomes a trap that catches you tomorrow.

It's not like Holmes was low IQ, she was a Stanford sophomore, fully capable of graduating from an Ivy League and making figures, at least. In another timeline her business would've done really well.

Holmes' mistake was that she graved instantaneous reward.

You see the human brain is designed for survival, not success. It wants immediate rewards, not long-term wins. It craves comfort, not growth. And if you let it drive your business decisions, you'll end up like the kid grabbing the marshmallow, or worse, like Holmes in a federal prison.

Here’s a deeper look at 1st order consequences and it's rippling effects:

Level 1: The immediate gratification (the marshmallow, the quick sale, the shortcut)

Level 2: The hidden costs that show up months later (customer complaints, reputation damage, team turnover)

Level 3: The systemic destruction that emerges years later (industry blacklisting, legal troubles, financial ruin)

Level 4: The permanent damage that follows you forever (prison time, destroyed relationships, unemployability)

The funny thing is most entrepreneurs never make it past Level 1 thinking. They see the immediate reward and grab it, completely blind to the avalanche heading their way.

While the actual winners in business have the opposite habits. They delay instant gratification in lieu of something better.

They practice what I call "consequence mapping", before making any significant decision, they trace the ripple effects 3-5 moves ahead. Like chess masters, they see the whole board while their competitors are focused on the next piece.

This is what consequence mapping thinking looks like:

• Choose the Difficult Path: The most challenging decisions often yield the greatest long-term rewards. Invest in product development over marketing gimmicks, build systems over quick fixes, and prioritize substance over style.

• Map Your Decision Consequences: Before making significant choices, trace the potential ripple effects. Ask yourself: "What happens after this succeeds? What systems am I reinforcing? What precedent am I setting?"

• Focus on Core Value Creation: Never lose sight of your primary value proposition. Whether it's product quality, customer service, or innovation, maintain an unwavering focus on what truly matters to your market.

• Learn from Failure Patterns: Study both your mistakes and others' failures to identify early warning signs of short-term thinking. Use these insights to build better decision-making frameworks.

• Apply Spaced Repetition to Success Habits: Just as spaced repetition helps with learning, consistently reinforcing positive business practices over time creates compound benefits. Small daily improvements in decision-making, customer service, and product development accumulate into significant competitive advantages.

Every day you delay building real value in your business, you're making Holmes' mistake. Every shortcut you take, every corner you cut, every promise you can't keep, you're digging the hole deeper.

Time is not renewable. Holmes lost 11+ years of her life. That's over 4,000 days she'll never get back. Days she could have spent building something real, creating actual value, making a genuine impact. Building the wrong business, even inaction means a loss of time. You're not getting any younger so get to it.

Your decisions today determine your reality tomorrow. The entrepreneur who spends today building systems will be free tomorrow. The one who spends today chasing quick fixes will be trapped by their consequences.

The market rewards substance, not style. You can fool investors for a while. You can fool the media for a season. But you can't fool reality forever. And when the truth comes out, and it always does, there's nowhere to hide.

You can keep making decisions like the kid who grabs the marshmallow, focused on right now, blind to what's coming.

Or you can start making decisions like the kid who waits, sacrificing immediate gratification for exponential long-term rewards.

I hope you apply this to whatever business you're building, copywriting or not.

Till next Saturday,

Fathi