In a recent blog post, you recommended everyone who can afford to, should HODL about 5 BTC. Any thoughts/recommendations in terms how much ETH to HODL? 50? 100?
Thanks for all the great advice in the blogs and Twitter feed. Really a huge fan of your content. Loved the books too.
Haven’t done the math but it should be around 5x as much since ethereum total supply is currently 5x as much.
So that would put you at around 40-50 to be safe, helps account for natural inflation in protocol (problem is it’s not a store of value if you’ve researched it correctly).
Can you talk through best practice in your opinion for safe keeping of crypto assets? Or point in the right direction?Currently using coin base with a google Authenticator but want to be more well versed in this arena.
Living in a city feels like a waste right now, especially since I can work remotely from anywhere. Lease ends in April. Recommend leaving the city in 2021 until something approaching normalcy is restored? Best alternatives?
Have you looked into the ARKK ETF? Innovation etf with a healthcare / tech tilt. Well known names outside of the major indices. Any thoughts? Cathie Wood looks to be doing a great job with it
Considering the money printer is almost certainly going brrr once the election saga is over, what effect could that have in accelerating towards the 6 fig forecasts you hear?
Not sure what you mean, it’s just supply and demand. As long as more demand comes in than inflation rate of bitcoin price will rise. Printing of money needs to hit people who can buy. Printing interest free debt and giving it to Boeing won’t help bitcoin or any crypto.
Question:
You’ve put a rough target of 55-60k/BTC for 2021, do you think it can end up significantly higher given FX Research guys at Bulge-Bracket IBs are now putting a highly optimistic target of 250k+/BTC for the same time frame?
Let’s say one has a $100k liquidity event – where would you invest? Stable job (not career), 90th percentile salary, nothing crazy, and already have a rainy day fund in cash.
Current plan 75% Bitcoin (maybe a small amount in a blue chip altcoin e.g. chainlink), 25% tech stocks (my stocks are protected from tax up to that limit).
I’m also playing around with algo trading – my bot is almost ready for action but plan to keep this small scale to start at least.
I generally think most “alts” have poor fundamentals but nonetheless respect the fact that scams pump the hardest (look at ripple this week). Am I right to focus on Bitcoin or being too conservative?
Same answer as every Q&A for the last 5-years. Build a second form of income. All the other stuff you listed isnt even worth thinking about, like comparing a steak to a single lentil
Crypto
1) Bought in some at around the time you guys made that god-tier 4.8k call. Many thanks for that. At what level do you next expect to buy big at?
2) Do you still recommend DCA into crypto? Or stop investing until it fades away from everyone’s mind again (like in 2019)? Or wait for your next call on Twitter?
Opportunities
3) Given that Black Friday discounts are going on. What are your thoughts on buying lifetime deal SaaS applications on discount and then renting them to website owners? For example, I rent them a SaaS cart plugin and if the yield from the rental isn’t good enough, I can always try to resell the license. Basically, the idea is to find websites which aren’t aware of such tools, rent it to them for a certain period and show how they can benefit.
1) Hilariously now, or it could dip a bit more to $15K or so. We even wrote about it in the prior post and a few tweets. When you get to near ATH or slightly past it usually leads to near-term panic sell.
2) Same old DCA is best like everything you’re investing into
3) Have not looked into those deals, if the math works then sure do it. Pretty dangerous to buy a random SaaS if you’re not going to use it with certainty though. (Dangerous meaning time suck, not the money part)
1.) Thoughts on a QR code business for restaurants? Not capital intensive, fragmented market, large TAM. $15-$25 per location/month to provide a scannable QR code menu. Very popular in Brazil at the moment but market isn’t as penetrated in The States (many restaurants still using physical menus).
2.) Thoughts on the USA condiment market 2021? Recently discovered a very unique and delicious sauce that is served with fries and meat. Much better than ketchup, but currently not found in the USA. What sales channels would you focus on for this (selling to restaurants vs. convenient stores/distributors vs. D2C ecom)
3.) Any overall comments on the state of white hat ecom? (health & beauty ecommerce brands)
1) Yes seems like a logical move long-term. Much more efficient to use QR codes
2) No idea! Cannot comment as we’ve never been in that sector
3) Pretty much everything is alive and well. Ignore all the negativity. People have even said affiliates will “die” but it won’t since the need/desire for fast money will always be there.
Like you said, the market in the US is fragmented. However, since this is very easy to implement, you really have to create a competitive advantage, if not, it’s going to be a price war.
Since “no code” is becoming more popular, you might stand out by making the process to create a menu extremely easy, for owners that are ignorant when it comes to tech.
I’m also looking into this space, but like I said, standing out, in a market where anyone can spin up a QR code in a couple days is extremely difficult.
Hypothetically, if you were mid 20s and had outstanding communication (speaking and copywriting) skills, what clients (sector/industry) would you target in 2021 with your online marketing agency side business?
1) engraved on metal
2) No way to predict, the people who claim the “world crashes” at $100K bitcoin have no idea how life works. Gold is $10 trillion and it hasn’t impacted the world in any meaningful way the last 10 years
3) No, we don’t have a competitive edge but if we did then yes it is a great space/sector
I’m a senior math major at a top 20 school that bullshitted my way through classes and don’t know much.
I like economics/markets and think trading is a good career starter. I have some programming experience, but I probably wouldn’t get a good job if I start studying this late.
I can do slow math but quick math is more difficult.
How would you recommend I prepare for interviews, like should I pick up a finance 101 textbook or a probability textbook? Thank you in advance, and additional advice is appreciated.
Go to the frequently asked questions section of the blog immediately. You’re incredibly far behind. You need work experience asap (internships) otherwise unlikely interviews even show up
With your background, you’d only need a few months of studying to land a programming job.
Pick a web language and a framework to focus on: Python/Django, Ruby/Rails, JavaScript/Node.
I’ve been programming professionally for years now and I feel like I hardly know anything. You’re probably smart enough to learn Python, solve 200 Leetcode medium problems, and land a FAANG job in 6-8 months. Install the app “Team Blind” to read success stories like that.
\Any thoughts on buying stocks in frontier markets in south-east asia? Considering what you wrote about Asia outperforming, investing in the right countries could yield extra high returns.
\You guys, surprisingly, mentioned the physical space recently through warehousing. Do you have any other thoughts on where the opportunity lies in supporting online deliveries? Or the space in general.
From an operations standpoint, curious where the EComm guys think the most value is going to be. There’s a lot of talk about staying away from last mile.
The price of tomorrow, sovereign individual & ready player one were all great recommendations btw
You basically want to be in a tax free state so you can offer lower taxes + a storage facility. Call around and see how hard it is to get storage and you’ll see why
This is unlikely achievable with a single person though, so unless you’re already rich doesn’t apply as an option. Need a rich person, a team or something larger scale to pull it off
Thank you for all your work, true compounding! 29, have a business with equity, have the cash buffer and crypto allocation (10% exposure). With extra cash on hand, would you DCA into more Crypto or payoff debt?
For context, I could payoff in full one of the following: a car loan (16k, 2.8% interest rate, 5yr amortization) or student loan (20k, 4.5% rate, 20yr amortization).
Car makes no sense, sell it and drive a cheaper car until financially set for life
For the student loan that’s tough, they may offer some forgiveness so pay off minimal amounts for now until they decide what they are doing with student debt
Would it be ok if I up my 24K gold and platinum jewelry (mene) from 2% to 5%. Buying them seems like a good way to spend money compared to getting other luxury purchases.
thankful for all of your advice on twitter/ site/ books.
\- happened to Gold? Is it still a good storage of value moving forward ?
– Which part of tech and healthcare would benefit the most from the mass printing?
1) same story, 2-3% net worth at most. Likely going to underperform crypto by a wide margin
2) everything “futuristic” since cash is worthless for 3-5 years it means you have to ask what companies will be bigger in 3-5 years (artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, batteries etc). all those are winners. Healthcare is same old, biotech is a big winner
1. Is it worth making more profits lending out crypto with DeFi platforms like Aave?
2. Have you tried any crypto sport betting sites? Are they took risky in your opinion?
3. How do you suggest going about repairing iPhones? Buying broken ones in bulk, then selling on Ebay, or advertising around town that you fix iPhones affordably?
1) It does work, however never used that platform so not commenting there
2) No have not used it, not worth the time so far, for bigger wagers you can go OTC and avoid the hassle of both a network and a bookie
3) Both ideas work, probably best to just offer screen/basic repairs as people damage them. By trying to get broken ones and fixing them, you’re basically buying a really messed up product versus an easy screen replacement
1) In your experience what is the best way/method to market to an email list built from a single product store. In the process of scaling a new business that sells to a good pain point for the work from home trend.
2) What metrics would you look at to analyze restaurant companies etc. for a return to normal trade
1) not sure what this means market an email list? If you have an email list you should be using it to sell your product which is simple copywriting. We’re guessing at your question if you have an email list either 1) sell new product that directly helps their pain point or 2) you have to try and upsell based on their prior purchase. Have never attempted to sell an email list – ie. we wouldn’t sell lead generation by selling the list – just better off selling whole company/biz
2) We don’t invest in restaurants so we can’t comment. There is a consumer overview on this website, type the word consumer into search bar and it’ll pop up
You guys thinks Bitcoin ATM’s are worth a look? had opportunity to buy some 6 years ago think I could still get in touch with the contacts.
Reselling refurbished iPhones/tech products? have a friend who’s successful in that space may able to buy refurbished units wholesale, likely a viable margin? (no idea what they cost to them yet)
Commercial property is going to be flooding onto the market here in uk soon. The hughstreet is dead. Government seems to be easing planning laws anticipating this. What plays do you guys see here?
1) We wouldn’t bother, they are growing rapidly so there is money there but likely a headache to maintain. Again haven’t looked at it though, so feel free to check it out
2) Yes this works, we’ve talked about it hundreds of times in the past.
3) Next year? we’ve said just let the dust settle, anticipate a massive price correction as work remote becomes more and more real for the long-term
Re the new planning laws, all offices are now going to be subsumed into Class E. This means that offices can be converted without planning permission provided they’re being to converted to another use within Class E. imo there aren’t that many profitable uses in this class. Gyms atm might be the best option considering these are now going to be open in all three tiers. other than that, cafes and restaurants are probably the only other profitable uses within Class E, but obviously with the next lockdowns being in force till Easter earliest this probably isn’t a good avenue to explore for now.
With that said, if you’re looking to purchase commercial property with the view to an alternative use, Class O of the GPDO enables office to residential conversions via a relatively simple planning application.
There are also new opportunities now regarding adding additional storeys to residential properties, again with a simple planning application.
More than happy to discuss in further detail if interested.
How do you find your competitive edge? Efficiency states that “people must tell you”.. Thing is, getting compliments from the masses on an arbitrary trait shouldn’t be the basis for a business. Especially if it cant be monetized/scaled…(preferably online)
I doubt everyone in society has “an edge” (as the book states).. anything else to look for besides other people telling you?
If you are improving at a rapid rate that also tells you you’re good at it.
Rapid rate is defined as “within a month you know you can be in the top 10% in that field”. If you can’t tell that then you’re simply not good enough at it or have minimal amounts of life success.
The best place to start is always copywriting, because the results tell you on day one if you are good and how fast you are improving
Crypto space is complex and needs a lot of time and effort to really understand the developments. Other than investing in BTC and ETH (and any other coins you have listed in the book), what method do you use (if any) to follow crypto space and explore future investment opportunities?
Btw, thanks for your blogposts. I struggle to find free time to start online business as kids have to be home all the time but I still use every available free minute to study, fix past mistakes, focus on the next decade instead of crying over lost opportunities and get better every single day. Your posts have convinced me to always be biased towards action and that excuses like “I don’t have time” don’t matter. Thank you.
In your case best to just look at bitcoin and maybe 2-3 others you’ve heard about.
After that stop researching everything. And we mean EVERYTHING. The only thing you should care about is getting a business up and running. Everything else is a 12th or 13th priority. Make enough to keep your regular income (ie. make sure in good standing) then rest of time is on online biz. Forget investment ideas, forget “twitter research”, forget “trends and influencers”. Go straight to work
In short, keep main job for your family, all other time should only be focused on earning second income stream, stop reading, stop thinking about investments stop everything else. It’s a waste of life.
I will admit that the stock market is a distraction. The crazy valuations make it very attractive to find the next big thing but I know that what you are recommending has better RoI and it is a better recipe for winning over the long term.
You mention NEO in Triangle Investing. Have your views on it changed since then?
Here in Australia a lot of exchanges are de-listing Monero. Is this type of thing a huge concern for it’s price long-term?
For someone who wants fast online income, is freelance copywriting still a good option going into 2021? (have started an online e-commerce business but would like something more immediate while sales start to come in).
No not really, it’s probably a dead project though if the other ones work which is fine
No… That’s quite literally the point if you understood what it does
Fastest sustainable online income is always time for money exchange based on what your current skillset is, copywriting is a necessary skill to get rich (period) so both are fine
1. I’ve noticed paid traffic is getting more expensive recently for better positions for product in health niche for affiliate site, have you guys noticed the same? Used to pay ~0.10-0.25 cpc but now paying ~.075-1.00 cpc. Really eating into profits.
2. When dead tired from career/biz/working out, how do you guys like to take breaks? I do enjoy coffee shop breaks and people watching for body language, but can’t do that nowadays. PEDs are out of the question.
3. 26 y/o, can’t imagine going to massages weekly or scheduling skin cleanings with a dermatologist! Would you guys start looking more into your health as performance declines (assuming in 30s) or ASAP to really get the most out of the early years of taking care of myself?
1) Yes this was due to covid+election cycle. Will normalize
2) No offense if you’re 26 you should never be tired. PEDs don’t come into play till 35 or so. Our guess if you’re serious is that your diet is a mess and messing up energy levels
3) You should fix it now, since health is a forever thing. It is never too early to invest in your health
I have my own practice (medical) and plan to create a website/business teaching students how to pass boards, etc next year.
Do I run the website under the current business or form a new Company/s-Corp.
With crypto, Im looking to just long and DCA into the coins as to save time.
with btc and altcoins, other than reading the whitepapers and follow what you said in triangle-investing, would you say that it is worth while to look into the source code of each coin or a select few as to get better understanding? I am an software Engineer and think I could take advantage the fact that I could understand the code, but not sure how time consuming it would be?
I recently bought a couple BTC and a sizable amount of ETH, per recommendation. Moving forward, I plan to DCA into both and forget about them for a couple of years. Since ETH is not a SoV, just holding it seems off.
Does it make sense to stake ETH2 anytime soon?
The most visible online responses seem really emotional either towards yay or nay.
If you want to stake it’s less risky to wait until proven then do it, maybe in a few months to a year depending on your tolerance
mshiddensecretsays
Is ecommerce branding all the mission statement to a particular group of people?
I feel like the design can easily be replicated by spying and modeling after nice stores. Running traffic won’t necessarily get you good CAC though so is it fair to say it’s all about the story you give?
Hahaha absolutely not, we recommend learning copywriting and coming back. This is a crazy question/belief that is taught in nonsense places like business school
Learn to make ads that convert and you won’t think like this ever again
previously had an idea of a educational course product, made an okay fake landing page, ran google keyword ads and had a few email subscribers, conversion rate was like $1.67 some per sign up, would you think that it is expensive? How many sign ups do you think is sufficient to validate your idea before you go full force with the implementation? and do you think $1.67 is kinda expensive per sign up?
You’ve given us no information to tell you yes or no. How much money will you make per sign up, that’s all you need to know to figure out if its expensive or worth it or not.
I’m going to spend a fraction of my BTC to buy an office chair, in your previous post you mentioned investing in ergonomics for the coming year was a good idea.
What type of office chair do you guys use / recommend? A high end Herman Miller Aeron around ~$1000 or would a decent one from Staples at $400 suffice?
You can find used Herman Millers for 400-700, if you search around Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.
There is very little drop in quality between used and new.
If you live near a major city, many recently defunct startups or companies will sell them
Qianlongsays
Honestly go for a top end gaming chair. Gamers sit in these for 10-12 hrs a day, they are engineered for ergonomics and comfort and you can get a solid one for $400-$500. Recommend you check out Secret Lab
SpareBusinessCashsays
You guys provide so much value here, life changing in my case, thank you.
My question revolves around my business cash sitting in my bank account, from my online biz, I have about $125K sitting in my bank account. I have a surplus because I expect to use ~40% on a new product we are developing (patented) but it will take 3-6 more months, another 20-40% for working capital.
The remaining cash about 10-15% I was wondering if it would be a good idea to simply exchange it into BTC and let it sit at BTC rather than having it sitting as fiat currency, which is being inflated away anyways. Your thoughts? Since 10% is a small amount I don’t think I’ll need to exchange it back to fiat anytime soon for working capital needs.
Long time reader. Been working on side biz for the past year and finally at a point to pull the trigger to go full time in the new year. Any advice on finding quality US cosmetic manufacturers without being able to go to trade shows per usual recommendation?
1. Your prediction was entirely on point in your last post about there being a crypto correction (literally one day after your post). How were you able to determine this so accurately? (any specific metrics you used)
2. If you started a crypto based business how would you be able to scale this as all the major ad platforms have blocked ads for anything other than crypto (assuming an ads budget of less than $5000).
3. Are you going to stake your ether or is it too risky? (lockup wise)
1) no we just follow this market closely
2) again do not know never started a crypto biz so we have no idea, last to know honestly
3) after proven, yes. Maybe in a year
1. How do you see affiliate websites for men improvement in general (mainly clothing, accesories, and more) for 2021, Any trends you have been noticing?
2. If i end up launching successfully the website mentioned above i would like to promote your books (for no commission) as it has provided value to me and would like my customers to get that value too.
1) so again never been in that industry so no comment
2) we would strong recommend against that and don’t have an affiliate program. This is a niche website and would do damage to your brand
centralized lending platforms such as Coinloan, Blockfi etc – Worth the risk to have % of your portfolio there vs 100% in cold storage? Currently my portfolio is split between 1/3 cold storage 1/3 across 3 exchanges and 1/3 across 3 lending platforms. Not sure if thats too careless but I feel pretty well diversified.
That seems reasonable if you are ok with the risk you’re taking on the lending side. If you are not ok seeing it go to zero (hack or something low probability) then decrease, but sounds like you are fine.
In software sales. Picking a vertical for 2021 and the financial services sector has traditionally been a big enterprise software spender. Does your bearish viewpoint on the sector apply to the near-term (i.e. 2021) and do you think it will impact their spending habits? Trying to understand if the bearish view was a long-term cryptocurrency reference (5-10+ years) or a short-term low-interest rate reference impacting commercial banking (the group that usually buys software). Thank you.
Didn’t listen to your advice for Tech Sales and went to a vastly higher paying operations gig at a tech company purely due to compensation (with sales opps in the background). Partner is a high end SWE looking to build a product.
What do you think the arithmetic is on going tech sales (at a much lower compensation/RSU level) just to have tech sales experience (as opposed to tech ops).
Hi, you’ve stated a few times that owning say 5 BTC would put someone in the Ultra High Net Worth (UHNWI) range. Would you be able to deconstruct your math and assumptions in more detail? I read that UHNWI is supposed to be a net worth of $30M over. This means the BTC at minimum $6M each (Mkt Cap 126T?). Not questioning the results, but would like to understand about how you get there and your idea of the timeframe. Thank you
Not even close to what we said. It says the proportion owned would be equivalent in rarity to a hnwi, strongly recommend reading again as it was spelled out in a step by step manner.
Age: 22
Net income: 6,500/month (job)
Living expenses: 3,000/month
Job: tech sales lead generation
Hours worked: ~25/week (from home), great political standing
Net worth: ~100k
Recently sober from 12 months of weed abuse and cured depression (thru diet, exercise and sunshine) , I have 10x more focus and energy and can actually follow thru on plans now.
Should I:
A) go all in on online sales & keep my chill day job?
Internet biz exprience (3 months): first attempt $1,500 ad spend, (AliExpress dropshipping laptop accessories), Breakeven.
My plan is to spend 10k testing a branded eCom business in the spiritual jewelry niche for women.
I remember reading your old post saying 50k is required, how does this break down? Does it still apply to simple, ready-made products that only require some custom packaging and good photography?
$3-5 product + custom packaging cost, x5-10 sale price.
Traffic. Paid social + SEO with KILLER pictures (I have cheap access to professional photographers)
B) go all in on work to grow my income, leaving less time for online sales.
I can get promoted to a closing role and make 3k/extra a month if I put in 40 hours.
My political standing will be much weaker (potential manager doesn’t like me) and I’ll work >40 hours a week (will get a crap territory) and be emotionally draining.
This will realistically lead me to an enterprise sales role in 6-8 years where I will cap out at 200k/net with high stress.
Currently I’m leaning A)
I find tech sales boring, the network somewhat valueless & feel my talent in writing/comedy/creativity (often told I should do standup, aced HS English without studying, top ~5% intent skills) would be better used on online sales. The potential profit is much higher, Im also fluent in Mandarin (for negotiating with factories down the line)
Completely unrelated question and nothing relevant in here. The background is just noise/ramble
For fun, same answer. Never quit your day job until your side income is 2x what you make at work. Until then just do the career/job until the metric is achieved. This rule of thumb will never change. Going all in on either is not going to work, you’re young so no excuses.
Thoughts on where to learn ads? I launched a unique social distancing product and haven’t made a single conversion with FB video ads optimized for clicks. It’s unreal.
In a recent blog post, you recommended everyone who can afford to, should HODL about 5 BTC. Any thoughts/recommendations in terms how much ETH to HODL? 50? 100?
Thanks for all the great advice in the blogs and Twitter feed. Really a huge fan of your content. Loved the books too.
Haven’t done the math but it should be around 5x as much since ethereum total supply is currently 5x as much.
So that would put you at around 40-50 to be safe, helps account for natural inflation in protocol (problem is it’s not a store of value if you’ve researched it correctly).
Can you talk through best practice in your opinion for safe keeping of crypto assets? Or point in the right direction?Currently using coin base with a google Authenticator but want to be more well versed in this arena.
Already covered in the book triangle investing, not your keys not your coins.
Living in a city feels like a waste right now, especially since I can work remotely from anywhere. Lease ends in April. Recommend leaving the city in 2021 until something approaching normalcy is restored? Best alternatives?
Already covered any tax free state should be fine
Have you looked into the ARKK ETF? Innovation etf with a healthcare / tech tilt. Well known names outside of the major indices. Any thoughts? Cathie Wood looks to be doing a great job with it
Have not
Considering the money printer is almost certainly going brrr once the election saga is over, what effect could that have in accelerating towards the 6 fig forecasts you hear?
Not sure what you mean, it’s just supply and demand. As long as more demand comes in than inflation rate of bitcoin price will rise. Printing of money needs to hit people who can buy. Printing interest free debt and giving it to Boeing won’t help bitcoin or any crypto.
Question:
You’ve put a rough target of 55-60k/BTC for 2021, do you think it can end up significantly higher given FX Research guys at Bulge-Bracket IBs are now putting a highly optimistic target of 250k+/BTC for the same time frame?
Yes it can go much higher than our rough number which is an assumed price over next 1-3 years or so (rough range).
The comment of BB banks is utterly worthless, sell-side research adds no value.
Here we go! My favorite day of the month: WSP QnA.
Current situation:
– Monthly income from employment. Not a “good” job but OK and has equity play involved.
– Have ~ 600k of well diversified crypto portfolio (heavy in alts).
– Sold a small web business recently and know I need to start a new one.
Question 1:
Given my situation, can I just wait for the bull run to go go go and sell at the manic peak (repeat of 2017)?
(I mostly know what you are going to say but I wanted to ask anyway!)
Question 2:
When it is time to sell a significant amount of crypto, what to sell into? USD? It’s not so clear now.
If you were going to liquidate a large portion (75%) of your crypto holdings, what would you sell into? USD? Bitcoin? Real Estate?
Thanks
1) Sell when your portfolio is too unbalanced that is your own choice
2) answer 1 answers the second as well
The only change we’d say is be careful about holding a ton of expensive RE since taxes may ratchet up after all this money printing that occurred.
You guys are the original Gs! Have a great weekend and cheers to 2021
Let’s say one has a $100k liquidity event – where would you invest? Stable job (not career), 90th percentile salary, nothing crazy, and already have a rainy day fund in cash.
Current plan 75% Bitcoin (maybe a small amount in a blue chip altcoin e.g. chainlink), 25% tech stocks (my stocks are protected from tax up to that limit).
I’m also playing around with algo trading – my bot is almost ready for action but plan to keep this small scale to start at least.
I generally think most “alts” have poor fundamentals but nonetheless respect the fact that scams pump the hardest (look at ripple this week). Am I right to focus on Bitcoin or being too conservative?
Same answer as every Q&A for the last 5-years. Build a second form of income. All the other stuff you listed isnt even worth thinking about, like comparing a steak to a single lentil
steak to single lentil lmao
Crypto
1) Bought in some at around the time you guys made that god-tier 4.8k call. Many thanks for that. At what level do you next expect to buy big at?
2) Do you still recommend DCA into crypto? Or stop investing until it fades away from everyone’s mind again (like in 2019)? Or wait for your next call on Twitter?
Opportunities
3) Given that Black Friday discounts are going on. What are your thoughts on buying lifetime deal SaaS applications on discount and then renting them to website owners? For example, I rent them a SaaS cart plugin and if the yield from the rental isn’t good enough, I can always try to resell the license. Basically, the idea is to find websites which aren’t aware of such tools, rent it to them for a certain period and show how they can benefit.
Thanks.
1) Hilariously now, or it could dip a bit more to $15K or so. We even wrote about it in the prior post and a few tweets. When you get to near ATH or slightly past it usually leads to near-term panic sell.
2) Same old DCA is best like everything you’re investing into
3) Have not looked into those deals, if the math works then sure do it. Pretty dangerous to buy a random SaaS if you’re not going to use it with certainty though. (Dangerous meaning time suck, not the money part)
1.) Thoughts on a QR code business for restaurants? Not capital intensive, fragmented market, large TAM. $15-$25 per location/month to provide a scannable QR code menu. Very popular in Brazil at the moment but market isn’t as penetrated in The States (many restaurants still using physical menus).
2.) Thoughts on the USA condiment market 2021? Recently discovered a very unique and delicious sauce that is served with fries and meat. Much better than ketchup, but currently not found in the USA. What sales channels would you focus on for this (selling to restaurants vs. convenient stores/distributors vs. D2C ecom)
3.) Any overall comments on the state of white hat ecom? (health & beauty ecommerce brands)
THANK YOU GUYS. Cheers to 2021
1) Yes seems like a logical move long-term. Much more efficient to use QR codes
2) No idea! Cannot comment as we’ve never been in that sector
3) Pretty much everything is alive and well. Ignore all the negativity. People have even said affiliates will “die” but it won’t since the need/desire for fast money will always be there.
Thanks Gs. Appreciate the insight. Have a great weekend.
Henry,
You will find this tweet useful. OP created a QR menu startup.
Check out his feed, a lot of his followers also created a similar app, after his initial post.
https://twitter.com/levelsio/status/1318890523743182851?s=19
Like you said, the market in the US is fragmented. However, since this is very easy to implement, you really have to create a competitive advantage, if not, it’s going to be a price war.
Since “no code” is becoming more popular, you might stand out by making the process to create a menu extremely easy, for owners that are ignorant when it comes to tech.
I’m also looking into this space, but like I said, standing out, in a market where anyone can spin up a QR code in a couple days is extremely difficult.
Hypothetically, if you were mid 20s and had outstanding communication (speaking and copywriting) skills, what clients (sector/industry) would you target in 2021 with your online marketing agency side business?
Marketing agency? You should have a niche already in that space.
IF you’re asking for the most lucrative spaces for online sales (assuming good at copy writing) this is already covered in efficiency
1) Best ways to store private keys? Do you recommend splitting into different locations?
2) How do you think prices of other assets (Real estate, stocks, etc.) will react when BTC reaches $100K+?
3) If starting today, would you focus on the pets sector for e-commerce?
1) engraved on metal
2) No way to predict, the people who claim the “world crashes” at $100K bitcoin have no idea how life works. Gold is $10 trillion and it hasn’t impacted the world in any meaningful way the last 10 years
3) No, we don’t have a competitive edge but if we did then yes it is a great space/sector
I’m a senior math major at a top 20 school that bullshitted my way through classes and don’t know much.
I like economics/markets and think trading is a good career starter. I have some programming experience, but I probably wouldn’t get a good job if I start studying this late.
I can do slow math but quick math is more difficult.
How would you recommend I prepare for interviews, like should I pick up a finance 101 textbook or a probability textbook? Thank you in advance, and additional advice is appreciated.
Go to the frequently asked questions section of the blog immediately. You’re incredibly far behind. You need work experience asap (internships) otherwise unlikely interviews even show up
I have internship experience, and I’ve gotten an interview to almost everything I’ve applied to
my resume and school are good enough to get interviews. I’m just wondering how to pass them.
Already covered in the questions part.
With your background, you’d only need a few months of studying to land a programming job.
Pick a web language and a framework to focus on: Python/Django, Ruby/Rails, JavaScript/Node.
I’ve been programming professionally for years now and I feel like I hardly know anything. You’re probably smart enough to learn Python, solve 200 Leetcode medium problems, and land a FAANG job in 6-8 months. Install the app “Team Blind” to read success stories like that.
\Any thoughts on buying stocks in frontier markets in south-east asia? Considering what you wrote about Asia outperforming, investing in the right countries could yield extra high returns.
yes if you know the area well, the problem is really political risks and other things you don’t worry about in the usa
Probably better to buy an index across asia
\You guys, surprisingly, mentioned the physical space recently through warehousing. Do you have any other thoughts on where the opportunity lies in supporting online deliveries? Or the space in general.
From an operations standpoint, curious where the EComm guys think the most value is going to be. There’s a lot of talk about staying away from last mile.
The price of tomorrow, sovereign individual & ready player one were all great recommendations btw
You basically want to be in a tax free state so you can offer lower taxes + a storage facility. Call around and see how hard it is to get storage and you’ll see why
This is unlikely achievable with a single person though, so unless you’re already rich doesn’t apply as an option. Need a rich person, a team or something larger scale to pull it off
Thank you for all your work, true compounding! 29, have a business with equity, have the cash buffer and crypto allocation (10% exposure). With extra cash on hand, would you DCA into more Crypto or payoff debt?
For context, I could payoff in full one of the following: a car loan (16k, 2.8% interest rate, 5yr amortization) or student loan (20k, 4.5% rate, 20yr amortization).
Car makes no sense, sell it and drive a cheaper car until financially set for life
For the student loan that’s tough, they may offer some forgiveness so pay off minimal amounts for now until they decide what they are doing with student debt
close to 2M net worth and about 5% in BTC.
Would it be ok if I up my 24K gold and platinum jewelry (mene) from 2% to 5%. Buying them seems like a good way to spend money compared to getting other luxury purchases.
thankful for all of your advice on twitter/ site/ books.
Probably not wise, it looks like crypto is eating market cap from precious metals.
Look into other assets if you’re fine with both BTC and Gold, and look at maybe stocks, your own biz etc.
If you already have 2-3% in metals that’s enough
\- happened to Gold? Is it still a good storage of value moving forward ?
– Which part of tech and healthcare would benefit the most from the mass printing?
1) same story, 2-3% net worth at most. Likely going to underperform crypto by a wide margin
2) everything “futuristic” since cash is worthless for 3-5 years it means you have to ask what companies will be bigger in 3-5 years (artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, batteries etc). all those are winners. Healthcare is same old, biotech is a big winner
1. Is it worth making more profits lending out crypto with DeFi platforms like Aave?
2. Have you tried any crypto sport betting sites? Are they took risky in your opinion?
3. How do you suggest going about repairing iPhones? Buying broken ones in bulk, then selling on Ebay, or advertising around town that you fix iPhones affordably?
1) It does work, however never used that platform so not commenting there
2) No have not used it, not worth the time so far, for bigger wagers you can go OTC and avoid the hassle of both a network and a bookie
3) Both ideas work, probably best to just offer screen/basic repairs as people damage them. By trying to get broken ones and fixing them, you’re basically buying a really messed up product versus an easy screen replacement
1) In your experience what is the best way/method to market to an email list built from a single product store. In the process of scaling a new business that sells to a good pain point for the work from home trend.
2) What metrics would you look at to analyze restaurant companies etc. for a return to normal trade
1) not sure what this means market an email list? If you have an email list you should be using it to sell your product which is simple copywriting. We’re guessing at your question if you have an email list either 1) sell new product that directly helps their pain point or 2) you have to try and upsell based on their prior purchase. Have never attempted to sell an email list – ie. we wouldn’t sell lead generation by selling the list – just better off selling whole company/biz
2) We don’t invest in restaurants so we can’t comment. There is a consumer overview on this website, type the word consumer into search bar and it’ll pop up
You guys thinks Bitcoin ATM’s are worth a look? had opportunity to buy some 6 years ago think I could still get in touch with the contacts.
Reselling refurbished iPhones/tech products? have a friend who’s successful in that space may able to buy refurbished units wholesale, likely a viable margin? (no idea what they cost to them yet)
Commercial property is going to be flooding onto the market here in uk soon. The hughstreet is dead. Government seems to be easing planning laws anticipating this. What plays do you guys see here?
1) We wouldn’t bother, they are growing rapidly so there is money there but likely a headache to maintain. Again haven’t looked at it though, so feel free to check it out
2) Yes this works, we’ve talked about it hundreds of times in the past.
3) Next year? we’ve said just let the dust settle, anticipate a massive price correction as work remote becomes more and more real for the long-term
LDN, I’m a planning consultant in England.
Re the new planning laws, all offices are now going to be subsumed into Class E. This means that offices can be converted without planning permission provided they’re being to converted to another use within Class E. imo there aren’t that many profitable uses in this class. Gyms atm might be the best option considering these are now going to be open in all three tiers. other than that, cafes and restaurants are probably the only other profitable uses within Class E, but obviously with the next lockdowns being in force till Easter earliest this probably isn’t a good avenue to explore for now.
With that said, if you’re looking to purchase commercial property with the view to an alternative use, Class O of the GPDO enables office to residential conversions via a relatively simple planning application.
There are also new opportunities now regarding adding additional storeys to residential properties, again with a simple planning application.
More than happy to discuss in further detail if interested.
How do you find your competitive edge? Efficiency states that “people must tell you”.. Thing is, getting compliments from the masses on an arbitrary trait shouldn’t be the basis for a business. Especially if it cant be monetized/scaled…(preferably online)
I doubt everyone in society has “an edge” (as the book states).. anything else to look for besides other people telling you?
If you are improving at a rapid rate that also tells you you’re good at it.
Rapid rate is defined as “within a month you know you can be in the top 10% in that field”. If you can’t tell that then you’re simply not good enough at it or have minimal amounts of life success.
The best place to start is always copywriting, because the results tell you on day one if you are good and how fast you are improving
Crypto space is complex and needs a lot of time and effort to really understand the developments. Other than investing in BTC and ETH (and any other coins you have listed in the book), what method do you use (if any) to follow crypto space and explore future investment opportunities?
Btw, thanks for your blogposts. I struggle to find free time to start online business as kids have to be home all the time but I still use every available free minute to study, fix past mistakes, focus on the next decade instead of crying over lost opportunities and get better every single day. Your posts have convinced me to always be biased towards action and that excuses like “I don’t have time” don’t matter. Thank you.
In your case best to just look at bitcoin and maybe 2-3 others you’ve heard about.
After that stop researching everything. And we mean EVERYTHING. The only thing you should care about is getting a business up and running. Everything else is a 12th or 13th priority. Make enough to keep your regular income (ie. make sure in good standing) then rest of time is on online biz. Forget investment ideas, forget “twitter research”, forget “trends and influencers”. Go straight to work
In short, keep main job for your family, all other time should only be focused on earning second income stream, stop reading, stop thinking about investments stop everything else. It’s a waste of life.
Very good advice!
I will admit that the stock market is a distraction. The crazy valuations make it very attractive to find the next big thing but I know that what you are recommending has better RoI and it is a better recipe for winning over the long term.
You mention NEO in Triangle Investing. Have your views on it changed since then?
Here in Australia a lot of exchanges are de-listing Monero. Is this type of thing a huge concern for it’s price long-term?
For someone who wants fast online income, is freelance copywriting still a good option going into 2021? (have started an online e-commerce business but would like something more immediate while sales start to come in).
No not really, it’s probably a dead project though if the other ones work which is fine
No… That’s quite literally the point if you understood what it does
Fastest sustainable online income is always time for money exchange based on what your current skillset is, copywriting is a necessary skill to get rich (period) so both are fine
Are you long Bitcoin SV? Is Craig Wright someone worth listening to/betting on?
No he is an obvious scam.
1. I’ve noticed paid traffic is getting more expensive recently for better positions for product in health niche for affiliate site, have you guys noticed the same? Used to pay ~0.10-0.25 cpc but now paying ~.075-1.00 cpc. Really eating into profits.
2. When dead tired from career/biz/working out, how do you guys like to take breaks? I do enjoy coffee shop breaks and people watching for body language, but can’t do that nowadays. PEDs are out of the question.
3. 26 y/o, can’t imagine going to massages weekly or scheduling skin cleanings with a dermatologist! Would you guys start looking more into your health as performance declines (assuming in 30s) or ASAP to really get the most out of the early years of taking care of myself?
1) Yes this was due to covid+election cycle. Will normalize
2) No offense if you’re 26 you should never be tired. PEDs don’t come into play till 35 or so. Our guess if you’re serious is that your diet is a mess and messing up energy levels
3) You should fix it now, since health is a forever thing. It is never too early to invest in your health
What NW allocation do you recommend for bitcoin? I currently have around 2%.
Or should one’s target be 4-5 bitcoins as per your recent blog post?
would view 2-5% as minimum (not legal or financial advice), other than that increase to as much as you understand it.
Based on having to ask about it, you’re probably fine
I have my own practice (medical) and plan to create a website/business teaching students how to pass boards, etc next year.
Do I run the website under the current business or form a new Company/s-Corp.
Thank you
Most likely S-corp. Unless everything you have is tiny revs, then it doesnt matter
With crypto, Im looking to just long and DCA into the coins as to save time.
with btc and altcoins, other than reading the whitepapers and follow what you said in triangle-investing, would you say that it is worth while to look into the source code of each coin or a select few as to get better understanding? I am an software Engineer and think I could take advantage the fact that I could understand the code, but not sure how time consuming it would be?
Only worth your time if it is your career or you are already worth $5M+ at minimum.
I recently bought a couple BTC and a sizable amount of ETH, per recommendation. Moving forward, I plan to DCA into both and forget about them for a couple of years. Since ETH is not a SoV, just holding it seems off.
Does it make sense to stake ETH2 anytime soon?
The most visible online responses seem really emotional either towards yay or nay.
If you want to stake it’s less risky to wait until proven then do it, maybe in a few months to a year depending on your tolerance
Is ecommerce branding all the mission statement to a particular group of people?
I feel like the design can easily be replicated by spying and modeling after nice stores. Running traffic won’t necessarily get you good CAC though so is it fair to say it’s all about the story you give?
Hahaha absolutely not, we recommend learning copywriting and coming back. This is a crazy question/belief that is taught in nonsense places like business school
Learn to make ads that convert and you won’t think like this ever again
previously had an idea of a educational course product, made an okay fake landing page, ran google keyword ads and had a few email subscribers, conversion rate was like $1.67 some per sign up, would you think that it is expensive? How many sign ups do you think is sufficient to validate your idea before you go full force with the implementation? and do you think $1.67 is kinda expensive per sign up?
You’ve given us no information to tell you yes or no. How much money will you make per sign up, that’s all you need to know to figure out if its expensive or worth it or not.
I’m going to spend a fraction of my BTC to buy an office chair, in your previous post you mentioned investing in ergonomics for the coming year was a good idea.
What type of office chair do you guys use / recommend? A high end Herman Miller Aeron around ~$1000 or would a decent one from Staples at $400 suffice?
If you can afford it choose the higher end ones
You can find used Herman Millers for 400-700, if you search around Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.
There is very little drop in quality between used and new.
If you live near a major city, many recently defunct startups or companies will sell them
Honestly go for a top end gaming chair. Gamers sit in these for 10-12 hrs a day, they are engineered for ergonomics and comfort and you can get a solid one for $400-$500. Recommend you check out Secret Lab
You guys provide so much value here, life changing in my case, thank you.
My question revolves around my business cash sitting in my bank account, from my online biz, I have about $125K sitting in my bank account. I have a surplus because I expect to use ~40% on a new product we are developing (patented) but it will take 3-6 more months, another 20-40% for working capital.
The remaining cash about 10-15% I was wondering if it would be a good idea to simply exchange it into BTC and let it sit at BTC rather than having it sitting as fiat currency, which is being inflated away anyways. Your thoughts? Since 10% is a small amount I don’t think I’ll need to exchange it back to fiat anytime soon for working capital needs.
Sure that’s fine, sounds like you need to keep 80-85% of it on hand, just invest the difference in anything you have conviction in
Long time reader. Been working on side biz for the past year and finally at a point to pull the trigger to go full time in the new year. Any advice on finding quality US cosmetic manufacturers without being able to go to trade shows per usual recommendation?
Thanks in advance and all the best in 2021!
Go to stores that carry a similar product and the label will show the manufacturing group
1. Your prediction was entirely on point in your last post about there being a crypto correction (literally one day after your post). How were you able to determine this so accurately? (any specific metrics you used)
2. If you started a crypto based business how would you be able to scale this as all the major ad platforms have blocked ads for anything other than crypto (assuming an ads budget of less than $5000).
3. Are you going to stake your ether or is it too risky? (lockup wise)
Thank you
1) no we just follow this market closely
2) again do not know never started a crypto biz so we have no idea, last to know honestly
3) after proven, yes. Maybe in a year
1. How do you see affiliate websites for men improvement in general (mainly clothing, accesories, and more) for 2021, Any trends you have been noticing?
2. If i end up launching successfully the website mentioned above i would like to promote your books (for no commission) as it has provided value to me and would like my customers to get that value too.
1) so again never been in that industry so no comment
2) we would strong recommend against that and don’t have an affiliate program. This is a niche website and would do damage to your brand
centralized lending platforms such as Coinloan, Blockfi etc – Worth the risk to have % of your portfolio there vs 100% in cold storage? Currently my portfolio is split between 1/3 cold storage 1/3 across 3 exchanges and 1/3 across 3 lending platforms. Not sure if thats too careless but I feel pretty well diversified.
thx
That seems reasonable if you are ok with the risk you’re taking on the lending side. If you are not ok seeing it go to zero (hack or something low probability) then decrease, but sounds like you are fine.
In software sales. Picking a vertical for 2021 and the financial services sector has traditionally been a big enterprise software spender. Does your bearish viewpoint on the sector apply to the near-term (i.e. 2021) and do you think it will impact their spending habits? Trying to understand if the bearish view was a long-term cryptocurrency reference (5-10+ years) or a short-term low-interest rate reference impacting commercial banking (the group that usually buys software). Thank you.
Stay away from sector if you can, if selling software try to sell into companies like Amazon, Microsoft, google etc. Those are way safer
Didn’t listen to your advice for Tech Sales and went to a vastly higher paying operations gig at a tech company purely due to compensation (with sales opps in the background). Partner is a high end SWE looking to build a product.
What do you think the arithmetic is on going tech sales (at a much lower compensation/RSU level) just to have tech sales experience (as opposed to tech ops).
Do not know, never worked in tech sales.
How much are you making?
Do U just manage the CRM and admin stuff or directly measure/improve sales productivity ?
Hi, you’ve stated a few times that owning say 5 BTC would put someone in the Ultra High Net Worth (UHNWI) range. Would you be able to deconstruct your math and assumptions in more detail? I read that UHNWI is supposed to be a net worth of $30M over. This means the BTC at minimum $6M each (Mkt Cap 126T?). Not questioning the results, but would like to understand about how you get there and your idea of the timeframe. Thank you
Not even close to what we said. It says the proportion owned would be equivalent in rarity to a hnwi, strongly recommend reading again as it was spelled out in a step by step manner.
Age: 22
Net income: 6,500/month (job)
Living expenses: 3,000/month
Job: tech sales lead generation
Hours worked: ~25/week (from home), great political standing
Net worth: ~100k
Recently sober from 12 months of weed abuse and cured depression (thru diet, exercise and sunshine) , I have 10x more focus and energy and can actually follow thru on plans now.
Should I:
A) go all in on online sales & keep my chill day job?
Internet biz exprience (3 months): first attempt $1,500 ad spend, (AliExpress dropshipping laptop accessories), Breakeven.
My plan is to spend 10k testing a branded eCom business in the spiritual jewelry niche for women.
I remember reading your old post saying 50k is required, how does this break down? Does it still apply to simple, ready-made products that only require some custom packaging and good photography?
$3-5 product + custom packaging cost, x5-10 sale price.
Traffic. Paid social + SEO with KILLER pictures (I have cheap access to professional photographers)
B) go all in on work to grow my income, leaving less time for online sales.
I can get promoted to a closing role and make 3k/extra a month if I put in 40 hours.
My political standing will be much weaker (potential manager doesn’t like me) and I’ll work >40 hours a week (will get a crap territory) and be emotionally draining.
This will realistically lead me to an enterprise sales role in 6-8 years where I will cap out at 200k/net with high stress.
Currently I’m leaning A)
I find tech sales boring, the network somewhat valueless & feel my talent in writing/comedy/creativity (often told I should do standup, aced HS English without studying, top ~5% intent skills) would be better used on online sales. The potential profit is much higher, Im also fluent in Mandarin (for negotiating with factories down the line)
Completely unrelated question and nothing relevant in here. The background is just noise/ramble
For fun, same answer. Never quit your day job until your side income is 2x what you make at work. Until then just do the career/job until the metric is achieved. This rule of thumb will never change. Going all in on either is not going to work, you’re young so no excuses.
Thoughts on where to learn ads? I launched a unique social distancing product and haven’t made a single conversion with FB video ads optimized for clicks. It’s unreal.