Where It All Began: The Night I Asked Who We Choose to Serve

Alchemist Nation began with one question I answered on a single night in Las Vegas: who do we choose to serve? The answer was the people who want more, and the mission we have built since came out of that night.

About four years before I first wrote this, I was living in Las Vegas. I had just crossed the multimillionaire mark for the first time, and I had time to reflect. I was looking for the answer to an old question that had been burning in my brain since childhood, and financial freedom brought it back with force. It had taken many forms: What is my purpose? Why am I here? What am I supposed to do? How do I know I am doing the right thing? Am I doing it right?

The Night in Las Vegas

In that Las Vegas apartment, something was different. I had set the intention to answer the question that night, in full detail, and not to stop until the path was clear. I lit a cigar, turned off every light in the studio, and closed my eyes.

I cleared my mind of every thought that tried to creep in and brought it to focus on a single flame. Everything around me was dark, and I only saw the steady dancing of the flame. I could feel its heat, like the lit tip of my cigar. The light grew stronger and the heat increased until I began to sweat from the intensity of that one intention.

In that moment I released the question into the full force of my mind, completely open. The question changed its form many times until it settled on its highest version:

Who do we choose to serve?

At that moment I realized I was not alone inside my head, and that I had never truly been alone. Somewhere inside my mind had always been my servant self, built on the experiences of my life and willing to do whatever my conscious mind asked.

The Questions That Followed

We choose to serve those who want more. That led to the next questions:

• How do we serve them?

• What do they need?

• What do they want?

• How do we get it?

• How do we give it to them?

Each question was clearly asked, and my mind answered each one after going down many paths to decide. I kept writing, without stopping to question it, for four hours straight. Then, as suddenly as it all came, the inferno became a smoldering coal, my mind was cool, and the question had become an answer: a plan as solid as night.

It has taken years of building myself into a person capable of the next leg of that journey. I am full of gratitude for every person, trial and success that built me into someone who takes on challenges that are not only my own, and for this tribe we have built together: alchemists who want more for themselves and for the people they serve.

Remember, other people don’t have to understand your calling. It wasn’t a conference call.

Ready to Go Deeper?

You can run your own return on equity on the calculator with your own numbers. Join us every Saturday at 10:00 AM ET for REAP, Real Estate Acquisition Principles, where we work through one wealth principle per week inside the Alchemist Nation community. The full set lives in the 52 wealth principles, and if you are not sure yet what kind of operator you are, start with the real estate operator archetype quiz. You can find the registration link at AlchemistNation.com under REAP.

Update from Gualter

I first wrote this in October 2022 for our community on Mighty Networks. What I updated for this version:

• Added a short opening that names the question that night produced and what it led to.

• Made the timing explicit: the night came about four years before I first wrote this.

• Cut the drink from the description of that night, and cut the closing line promising the path would be worth it.

• Corrected typos, removed the hashtag, and added the Saturday REAP invitation with links to the 52 wealth principles, the operator quiz and the return on equity calculator.

Originally written October 2022; updated October 2026.

Educational purposes only. Not an offer or solicitation.