Every morning, in every city in America, the trash has to be picked up. The streetlights have to come on, the water has to run, and somebody has to fix the roof on the public library. None of that is optional, and all of it is paid for by someone. The question I want you to sit with is simple: why shouldn’t that someone be you?

I recorded this episode from a quiet library in Dubai, where I was speaking at the World Government Summit, and the setting fit the message. Most millionaires are not made in the loud places we celebrate. They are made next door, in plumbing companies and landscaping crews and janitorial firms, by people who figured out how their city actually works. A city is capitalism operating in plain sight. It has a budget, procurement officers, contracts and vendors, and it renews many of those contracts year after year.

Cities don’t reward hype. They reward reliability. Show up, do the job well, follow the rules, and you can stay in business for decades. I walk through why a smaller city can be a better starting point than a big one, the four common ways people enter these businesses, and how a single contract can become the foundation of a family’s first real wealth. This is also the thinking behind my book Capitalism for All.

If you have ever felt shut out of wealth because you didn’t invent an app or know a venture capitalist, this conversation is for you. Stop asking what’s hot and start asking what’s essential. Then go find the thing your city cannot live without, and learn to own it.

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