Q&A is closed, we will come up with a new format for the next one to avoid low quality questions going forward.
Comments
Anonymoussays
24 years old, finishing associate degree in 1 year (need to get it to clean up resume – behind a lot). Do internships/parttime job + learn copywriting on side.
At 25 I have 2 options
Option 1: finish bachelor in 1.5 years (really low cost in EU, approx. 2000€) while doing copywriting & biz (have some ideas) on the side and try to get parttime job in SaaS (if can’t find, just get a B2B sales job) – guaranteed sdr position after/right before I graduate but close to 27 yo when I start.
Option 2: skip bachelor, apply to SaaS companies, work in B2B sales in meantime. Might get an interview if I have 1-2 years exp in B2B sales and an associate. Could be starting 1-2 years earlier but a lot riskier – harder to move to UK without bachelor to work for US based company there because salaries in EU are shit.
Reach out to Sales Directors, BDR/SDR managers directly. Go on LinkedIn, cold mail them – hell, cold call them.
If they like you, they will hire you. No degree needed. Speaking from experience. Just be very eager, willing to work weekends and all that good stuff.
Best you get SaaS job first at shit start-up and then hop later to corporate. That’s what I did.
Bonus tip: Find the location EVERY US SaaS company has an office. Not too hard to find. Go there.
Thoughts on bitcoin and other cryptocurrency price movements being limited by DeFi? Will amount of loaned coins reduce upside of the underlying asset in your view?
2. have about 5k USD in the bank (have no source of income though, quit retail job) should I start affiliate marketing ?
3. Do you guys have any tips for essays regarding applying to top undergrad business schools (e.g. Wharton) ? would it be the same “save the world” but with “money ?
1) same as always, choose tech if you can. If not go to M&A
2) No. you should get a basic form of income up first
3) no we don’t, you would have to do the same fake application where you pretend to be a humanitarian then throw the ideas into the garbage!
With QE in place and 30-year mortgage loans at an all time low (sub-3%) is this a good time to lever up for a personal single family house in 2020 or wait until 2021 (as suggested in one of your articles)?
1) no because you can buy traffic
2) again no all you are doing is paying for clicks so not sure what the question is here, click on ad go to landing page no presence needed
1. In your opinion, what is the best foreign language to learn for young people at this time?
2. Do you think the U.S will be a safe place to live in the future?
3. Thoughts on getting a dumb phone (no features)? I can get all my work done on my laptop including social media posts for my business. The phone is just becoming more and more distracting by the day with the influx of constant media.
Learning chinese as an outsider is like learning japanese as a gaijin.
If you are a young man in a western country (english speaking), you should learn spanish or maybe french or italian. At least you can speak with spanish-speaking people, or get pussy in paris or rome.
johnsays
only mandarin, not cantonese
cantonese is a dying language in every place it used to be dominant (even in the west),
hong kong was the last foothold of cantonese but the chinese government will make mandarin mandatory for all schoolchildren soon
– Is there any reason you left polyphasic sleep out of efficiency? (more wake time, limited downside, seems like a no brainer)
– Why do you recommend holding tech stock as storage of value when the P/E ratios are so high (P/E slashes during downturns)
1) No dont even know what that is will look into it
2) don’t think we’ve said this all we said was to be long crypto and gold/silver since 18 months ago. You just own tech as part of diversified stock portfolio
– How do I learn to control my emotions effectively? Currently doing paid ads and I’m finding myself fearing about loss from paid ads/getting overly excited on winners instead of making rational decisions. Already read Emotional Intelligence 2.0, would really appreciate recommendation for any other good books on emotions.
Looking to fix this very bad habit as I know it will inhibit me in the long run.
1) no need for post 15 minutes stretching after working out and 15 minutes after taking a shower thats it.
2) yes still crypto, gold and thats it for investing
Given current career as an associate in Real Estate PE, wouldn’t it make more sense to leverage knowledge of the sector and build second source of income around that space (either through rental income or maybe prop tech with a friend) rather than trying to master the ecommerce game where you arguably start with no comparative advantage?
Given your comment on Spending (90% of your readers made it with interner biz), also conscious I don’t want to shut myself from what looks like the most likely path to wealth…
How do you find people to design CGI images to test demand for a product? You’ve mentioned conferences in the past but I am wondering what to do during the pandemic.
How much would you expect to spend on CGI images to test demand for a product?
1) go reach out to top tier affiliate marketers if you find a good person/winner he’ll give you a reference. Otherwise you just copy other people’s ads… this has been around for over 7 years now so its easy to find if you’re willing to google and look yourself. No we will not give you our provider! We’re not stupid.
2) A few thousand dollars you don’t need to demand test it so not sure what that means
If you’re looking for lower end and cash strapped use Fiverr or some other freelancer for CGI image creation
Thedudesays
1. Do you guys use predict-it for political bets?
2. Thoughts on online education space. Ex: Making a course on a niche topic with subscription based revenue. Drive traffic through decent sized twitter.
1) No we don’t care already bet on trump
2) great industry, way to make money only problem is creating high quality credentials similar to what google is doing
3) practice? Not sure what you mean here, your brain is just a muscle like your legs or arms
1) I’m 23 and living at home right now. I was planning on moving to Boston soon but now I’m wondering if it even makes sense to move to the city in the near future? Given everything going on right now I feel like most of the fun and appeal of living in a big city has been killed, at least for the time being. I don’t want to pay $2k a month for a box in the city if I can’t even enjoy the city experience.
Thoughts? Should I move or hold off?
2) What are your opinions on smoking weed? I like to vaporize a little weed at night after I lift and have found that it actually helps me push for a couple more hours and work on my side business after my day job. I work in tech sales as an SDR and after a full day of grinding I’m so worn out that getting some dopamine back in my system with a little weed helps me dial back in for round 2… call it a PED if you want haha. I’m obviously not referring to smoking all day and being high 24/7, but do you think this is doing more harm than good? Should it be kept to weekends only?
3) How should I go about trying to negotiate working remote permanently after Covid? I’m a top performer, recently got promoted to team lead and have proven that I can do my job much more efficiently from home. I absolutely HATED going into the office… it’s easily the worst part about working a 9-5. Working remote = far less stress, better results and more time for my health and side business. I don’t get the people that say they like going into the office to “socialize”… wtf is that? Get some friends.
1) yeah just go with cheaper housing…
2) For losers going to move on, you can smoke once in a blue moon for fun
3) you shouldn’t because all politics occurring the main HQ. unless you have a side business running already you’re killing your own career
These questions are concerning to say the least, looks like a bunch of ways to guarantee your own failure. So look seriously in the mirror and ask if any of these ideas are going to make you successful and you know the real answer inside
SDR too, started smoking weed after work/gym everyday to recover energy to work on eCommerce side biz for about 4 months now.
I’ve tried coffee (can’t sleep) & cigarettes/nicotine patches (noticeable psychological dependence after ~10 days), nothing works better than weed. Unfortunately I’ve noticed my memory & ability to feel joy decrease recently from being stoned every night, instead I’ve been waking up at 6am to work on business before the 9-5 grind of commission whoring
Not sure what the question is here, motivational speeches are for losers. Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods did not need motivation. They are internally motivated like any successful person.
It means they are more interested in reading about how other people succeeded. This is obvious as it refers to biographies.
Inspiration is not motivation, not even close. Inspiration is thinking of how to solve something, motivation is someone outside trying to tell you to work hard (never works since most are lazy and never want to work for anything)
Jaysays
Just want to say thank you im the baruch kid trying to raise his gpa still able to finesse jp morgan and prudential investment bank analyst program interviews if i get 5 As this semester i’ll be at a solid 3 thanks for opening my eyes to investment banking next is to start a small business!
Do you guys stay in touch with friends from your early/mid 20’s? If so, did they have to get to a similar level of success (finances/social status) and if they didn’t, did the differences in lifestyle just make the friendship drift apart?
Have several contacts that are 20+ years of history. That said, yes unless they are successful you drift apart as your lives are too different. It’s a good thing
Right now it is better to just be an investor since you can invest in the projects while making tons of money doing other things (software, M&A banker etc). Waste of time to actually develop since you can just invest at next to nothing
1) Would leasing a luxury car right now be a bad idea? Located in NYC (Brooklyn, job requires a car to get around plus not using MTA now with covid.. plus tax deductions). Or sticking to old car better for safety?
33 years old, 1M net worth, 200K/yr W2 job with small 3-year old real estate side business generating 35K cash flow a year. Considering raising private capital and going exponential with RE holdings. Any concern with too much leverage if the debt is for income-producing assets that clear a certain COC return bar? Concentrating on B-class and C-class 8+ cap rate rental properties and feel there’s some insulation there from economic downturn, but curious to get your thoughts given market uncertainty.
Can’t help as we don’t know your industry. Again our view is you take your passive income that is near guaranteed and that should match interest payments. But your risk = your decisions.
College Grad Looking to eliminate housing expense. Is it more efficient to purchase a fixer upper through an agent Or through a tax sale, Craigslist, etc?
Should someone outsource a website build and advertising to a 3rd party? Have you seen people figure it out on their own? I’m selling weight loss pills.
Yes you have to put yourself in a situation that requires confrontation, you could take up boxing for fun. Just dont take it ultra seriously and get hurt
1) Is there an easy way – especially in NY where for example, BlockFi BTC interest accounts are not feasible – to receive returns on loans as a crypto holder?
2) What is your outlook on NYC, will you return in 2021?
3) For fun, will you write a 4th book?
1) yes get a different address all you need is a server this takes 5 seconds if really interested in doing that. Being in NYC won’t matter at all.
2) dead until 2022, probably recovers then
3) No clue maybe in a couple years
1) empire flippers has worked fine in the past, we usually hear through word of mouth though
2) same big ones google/FB. When bids went low, lots of money was made (still being made)
1. I am 23, graduated from a top business school with degrees in economics & data analytics and am working for a prominent consulting firm that you know of. My question is: what would you recommend as a strategy to transition into tech? I have been searching to ask someone who has successfully made that kind of jump, but turns out consulting is comprised entirely of burnouts who want to exit to industry (see: die slowly) and insecure overachievers who plan to work 100 hour weeks just to not make partner because “it’s all about who you know.” I have a highly transferrable skillset but not sure how proceed other than blindly cold contact local (NYC) tech startup / sales guys. What would you do?
2. Just for fun, if you don’t have an answer I understand. Question: Have you seen ad campaigns used to successfully promote art/music? I make house (club) music on the side and was considering using the profits from previous record deals to run an ecom-fashioned ad campaign to independently promote records instead of dealing with the retards at the labels. Seem viable or waste of effort?
1) don’t kow how this would work, at most you could go into tech sales. So look into our post on that and reach out to tech sales people (we never went in so can’t help)
2) Do not know never went into that space.
The dream job for Bain, Mckinsey, BCG consultants in tech is becoming a PM. If you want to succeed though, I’d work hard to find a mentor who’s either succeeded in going from Consulting to PM or is a strong PM.
It’s also hard to break in without a referral. PMing is the “hot” job since it’s only slightly less well paid than engineering, but is perceived to have a lower barrier to entry. Everyone and their mother thinks they can pick up PMing fast vs trying to pick up engineering scares people away. This means there’s a bajillion applications for every opening.
“tech sales” has an extremely low barrier to entry with very high income potential – 300k+ within 5 years in SF/NY (40 hour weeks) but is extremely stressful, boring & repetitive
I’ve been working in this industry for 2 years since graduation and have absolutely 0 desire to stay for longer than 5 years total
just curious when tech sales is mentioned, what sort of companies should I be looking at?
Also what sort of internships did you pursue while in school to apply for these jobs or if you didn’t have any how did you get your resume to stand out?
Thanks!
TJ McConnellsays
You guys always seem well informed regarding the markets, social issues, sports bets, etc. You’ve mentioned news is largely a waste of time in the past but how do you stay informed, knowing this?
I’m 30, just had a minor windfall, and started hitting that stage in life where I have enough capital that I’m being called by private wealth managers. I’ve talked to a few, but it’s still unclear to me if they’re worthwhile.
Given this isn’t tackled in the FAQ, do you guys use private wealth managers? Are they worth it? And who should/shouldn’t use them?
In case you’re not familiar, broad overview is that you persuade financial advisors to put their clients money in your company’s (asset manager) funds and you get basis points on sales and AUM of your region. It’s about 40 hours a week (great for side biz), you wine and dine clients but comp could get hit hard within 10 years due to increased passive investments, lower fees, etc… the positive is that the vast majority of financial advisors aren’t very smart so it’s not the hardest sell.
1) USA for sure, Canada is an oil and gas based economy and commodities which isn’t great. not a lot of tech/M&A available there
2) No clue so cant say much. Never looked into it
Internals usually cap out at ~130k give or take. Wholesaling is pretty transactional, especially on the fund side since the space is so commoditized at this point.
You could probably go BDR -> Enterprise AE in 3 years total or less if you play it right, the path to an external wholesaler gig usually takes much longer.
If you can land a spot at a top fund shop or annuity shop (annuity guys pull in crazy money, especially externals) and get fast tracked to the field it could be worth it, otherwise I’d recommend tech 100%.
99.9% of my conversations are dull. it’s the same story, same complaints, same goals of money/women/fitness. what do you talk about with people when you need to network?
1) I know you guys are willing to make predictions – thoughts on where the price of Gold end up over the next couple of years?
2) Thoughts on luxury goods (particularly, watches) as an investment (not indulgence), as part of a safe-haven diversification strategy as the Fed continues to print and prop up equities? Obviously, luxury goods by definition are non-essential (and think non-essential good generally will be subject to deflationary pressures), but on the flip side, if you buy right–Patek, Submariner, etc.–the typical consumer universe is likely those benefiting from the inflationary effect on asset prices. Curious what you think.
1) No idea maybe $3,000 or so
2) Same story already covered, just go with items that have stood the test of time, rolex, certain art/rare coins etc. That’s really it
Experiencing website speed issues with Hostgator, do you have positive experience with any other hosting providers?
Playing around with paid traffic (google, bing) – started filtering by age group, devices, what other filters could I add for better quality traffic on those streams?
Do you guys adopt regular browsing practices regarding online privacy, such as VPNs & what not?
1) Go ahead and look around, we have had no issues
2) can’t help here? This depends on what you’re selling and who you want to target
3) Of course yes. Why would you ever login without some remote access/VMs/Tor Network. Just foolish
You mentioned resume writing service to move onto products eventually. I started resume writing, and turns out I was good enough at it to grow from $200 p month to about $7k in 4 months. Should I stick with it, or should I still explore creating a product? If the latter, what product do you think I’d be good at creating?
Hi WSPs – Thank you for this Q&A. Looking to distribute a COVID related item for a manufacturer in Canada. Should I structure an agreement where I earn a 5%+ per sale up to a period of say X years? Similar to consulting referral agreement. And if this can fly, maybe open up a B2C route to build a brand in the US too.
You should always structure it in the most performance oriented way. Go through all the biz models you can come up with choose the one that aligns you with performance based comp. Your ideas are not going to help us make a conclusion because there were no options presented.
1) You have said “you should always be open to new technologies. It is your job to stay on top of new developments that can help you scale without additional overhead.”
What do you use to find such tech? Only conferences? I have seen you mentioning advanced tech that I didn’t know about
2) what’s your take on calisthenics?
3) are you pro taking daily omega 3 fatty acids supplements? If no, why?
1) usually though your personal network, only hang out with winners and they will tell you what they are hearing/using as long as you are not a competitor
2) no comment on it, feel free to do it
3) No clue what that is, we only recommend fish oil if you don’t eat seafood that day
I’m 3 years out of school, in tech, in my mid twenties.
How do you build your contact list/network in the early years of your career? Is this just a matter of keeping in touch with everyone you work with or get to know during work? Or do you typically spend time with them outside of work at bars, golf, coffee etc.
I want to make sure I’m doing the right things now so that I have a solid network 10 years down the line, but unsure how to proceed.
Same answer different day! Build skills people need and be a person of value and the network shows up. Networking is for losers who go to conferences praying someone will “hire them” because they are cool/nice guys. Those days are dead.
sorry posted an earlier comment without my second question – delete this one if its too much trouble.
I live in a tier 2/3 city depending on who you as. Thinking of starting a condo property management business as a side biz. The business seems straightforward enough and would also be a great way to learn a little more about RE. What do you think?
Do you think I am better off
A. Staying in finance and aiming for MM PE (I don’t work for “name brand” IB firm so will be a bit of a challenge)
B. Starting a business/company on my own
C. Making a minority investment in a business and gaining operations experience while scaling the business with the current owner (“entrepreneurship through acquisition” but not a majority stake).
Some of the companies I work with in my IB role are sub-$5M EBITDA and I am practically an outsourced CFO for some clients so I don’t think it is too arrogant to suggest I could drive value in a <$2M EBITDA business. I have experience with roll-up transactions which could help in a mom and pop market.
Thoughts on industries to target in the ~$1M EBITDA range compared to what you recommend in "Efficiency"?
We have no idea, just do the same thing we outlined in the book. Get into banking or PE and then start an e-commerce business.
The above just looks like a bunch of scenarios that will never occur. IF you were in the situation for any of them A, B, or C you would not ask a question like this. Call it rude, we don’t care since it is clear and obvious you’re not in any of these situations.
Partially recruiting for A but not my main focus so struggling to get traction since I’m not pedal to the medal. Thank you – off my rear and on to e-comm it is!
Moneysays
I know you guys were big on skin care in ecom.
As affiliates are you still in skin care/nutra or have you moved to leadgen (refi/solar/etc) or doing both?
I’m still in nutra but thought I’d ask because I’ve seen people make the switch.
We left affiliate marketing several years ago, feel free to make the switch if profits are higher. Affiliate will never die so just keep trying till you find your niche
Would like if you do a book review on The Sovereign Individual (1997) by James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg since you’ve mentioned the concept of the Sovereign Individual when discussing decentralization/delocalization.
Or is it too simply summed up by saying “as work becomes location-independent, governments will be forced to compete for people as customers instead of being a monopoly treating people as subjects (governments competing to entice the best people)”?
24 years old, finishing associate degree in 1 year (need to get it to clean up resume – behind a lot). Do internships/parttime job + learn copywriting on side.
At 25 I have 2 options
Option 1: finish bachelor in 1.5 years (really low cost in EU, approx. 2000€) while doing copywriting & biz (have some ideas) on the side and try to get parttime job in SaaS (if can’t find, just get a B2B sales job) – guaranteed sdr position after/right before I graduate but close to 27 yo when I start.
Option 2: skip bachelor, apply to SaaS companies, work in B2B sales in meantime. Might get an interview if I have 1-2 years exp in B2B sales and an associate. Could be starting 1-2 years earlier but a lot riskier – harder to move to UK without bachelor to work for US based company there because salaries in EU are shit.
We have no idea as we’re not from europe. As a rule of thumb choosing the harder option is usually the best choice so probably #1.
You should reach out to people in your industry in europe, we’re not a good source for this type of decision
EU SaaS salesguy here:
Reach out to Sales Directors, BDR/SDR managers directly. Go on LinkedIn, cold mail them – hell, cold call them.
If they like you, they will hire you. No degree needed. Speaking from experience. Just be very eager, willing to work weekends and all that good stuff.
Best you get SaaS job first at shit start-up and then hop later to corporate. That’s what I did.
Bonus tip: Find the location EVERY US SaaS company has an office. Not too hard to find. Go there.
Thoughts on bitcoin and other cryptocurrency price movements being limited by DeFi? Will amount of loaned coins reduce upside of the underlying asset in your view?
No this makes no sense, anything that creates a market for it or allows it to be more productive should lead to increase in price
1. tech o m&A
2. have about 5k USD in the bank (have no source of income though, quit retail job) should I start affiliate marketing ?
3. Do you guys have any tips for essays regarding applying to top undergrad business schools (e.g. Wharton) ? would it be the same “save the world” but with “money ?
1) same as always, choose tech if you can. If not go to M&A
2) No. you should get a basic form of income up first
3) no we don’t, you would have to do the same fake application where you pretend to be a humanitarian then throw the ideas into the garbage!
With QE in place and 30-year mortgage loans at an all time low (sub-3%) is this a good time to lever up for a personal single family house in 2020 or wait until 2021 (as suggested in one of your articles)?
No we think 2022 is when you get back in, right now the pain in RE is finally coming through
When demand testing a consumer product, is a social media presence required? (IG following, FB page etc.)
Does that change when you go into production? Understand that a large social media following would be helpful, but not sure if its required.
Thanks!
1) no because you can buy traffic
2) again no all you are doing is paying for clicks so not sure what the question is here, click on ad go to landing page no presence needed
1. In your opinion, what is the best foreign language to learn for young people at this time?
2. Do you think the U.S will be a safe place to live in the future?
3. Thoughts on getting a dumb phone (no features)? I can get all my work done on my laptop including social media posts for my business. The phone is just becoming more and more distracting by the day with the influx of constant media.
1) cantonese/mandarin
2) yes
3) never used one, you should have emotional maturity to be responsible
Learning chinese as an outsider is like learning japanese as a gaijin.
If you are a young man in a western country (english speaking), you should learn spanish or maybe french or italian. At least you can speak with spanish-speaking people, or get pussy in paris or rome.
only mandarin, not cantonese
cantonese is a dying language in every place it used to be dominant (even in the west),
hong kong was the last foothold of cantonese but the chinese government will make mandarin mandatory for all schoolchildren soon
– Is there any reason you left polyphasic sleep out of efficiency? (more wake time, limited downside, seems like a no brainer)
– Why do you recommend holding tech stock as storage of value when the P/E ratios are so high (P/E slashes during downturns)
1) No dont even know what that is will look into it
2) don’t think we’ve said this all we said was to be long crypto and gold/silver since 18 months ago. You just own tech as part of diversified stock portfolio
– How do I learn to control my emotions effectively? Currently doing paid ads and I’m finding myself fearing about loss from paid ads/getting overly excited on winners instead of making rational decisions. Already read Emotional Intelligence 2.0, would really appreciate recommendation for any other good books on emotions.
Looking to fix this very bad habit as I know it will inhibit me in the long run.
Yeah that’s another one of those experience things. Keep doing it over and over until you’re desensitized to it
1) What’s your mobility / flexibility routine (maybe do a post)?
2) Are you still buying Crypto given prices so high or waiting for another dip?
1) no need for post 15 minutes stretching after working out and 15 minutes after taking a shower thats it.
2) yes still crypto, gold and thats it for investing
Will airlines continue being zombie businesses going forward? Could Elon Musk even fix the industry, or is it fundamentally not possible? Thanks.
We expect it to recover in 2022
Given current career as an associate in Real Estate PE, wouldn’t it make more sense to leverage knowledge of the sector and build second source of income around that space (either through rental income or maybe prop tech with a friend) rather than trying to master the ecommerce game where you arguably start with no comparative advantage?
Given your comment on Spending (90% of your readers made it with interner biz), also conscious I don’t want to shut myself from what looks like the most likely path to wealth…
Many thanks!
Sure that can work. Our experience is clearly tailored to online sales but your strategy can work if done correctly
Thank you!
Do you see value in pursuing a career in crypto? I am currently recruiting for IB but have a strong interest in the crypto and defi.
Right now no, better to just take high earning career and invest in the space
How do you find people to design CGI images to test demand for a product? You’ve mentioned conferences in the past but I am wondering what to do during the pandemic.
How much would you expect to spend on CGI images to test demand for a product?
1) go reach out to top tier affiliate marketers if you find a good person/winner he’ll give you a reference. Otherwise you just copy other people’s ads… this has been around for over 7 years now so its easy to find if you’re willing to google and look yourself. No we will not give you our provider! We’re not stupid.
2) A few thousand dollars you don’t need to demand test it so not sure what that means
If you’re looking for lower end and cash strapped use Fiverr or some other freelancer for CGI image creation
1. Do you guys use predict-it for political bets?
2. Thoughts on online education space. Ex: Making a course on a niche topic with subscription based revenue. Drive traffic through decent sized twitter.
3. How to optimize memory and quick thinking?
1) No we don’t care already bet on trump
2) great industry, way to make money only problem is creating high quality credentials similar to what google is doing
3) practice? Not sure what you mean here, your brain is just a muscle like your legs or arms
1) I’m 23 and living at home right now. I was planning on moving to Boston soon but now I’m wondering if it even makes sense to move to the city in the near future? Given everything going on right now I feel like most of the fun and appeal of living in a big city has been killed, at least for the time being. I don’t want to pay $2k a month for a box in the city if I can’t even enjoy the city experience.
Thoughts? Should I move or hold off?
2) What are your opinions on smoking weed? I like to vaporize a little weed at night after I lift and have found that it actually helps me push for a couple more hours and work on my side business after my day job. I work in tech sales as an SDR and after a full day of grinding I’m so worn out that getting some dopamine back in my system with a little weed helps me dial back in for round 2… call it a PED if you want haha. I’m obviously not referring to smoking all day and being high 24/7, but do you think this is doing more harm than good? Should it be kept to weekends only?
3) How should I go about trying to negotiate working remote permanently after Covid? I’m a top performer, recently got promoted to team lead and have proven that I can do my job much more efficiently from home. I absolutely HATED going into the office… it’s easily the worst part about working a 9-5. Working remote = far less stress, better results and more time for my health and side business. I don’t get the people that say they like going into the office to “socialize”… wtf is that? Get some friends.
1) yeah just go with cheaper housing…
2) For losers going to move on, you can smoke once in a blue moon for fun
3) you shouldn’t because all politics occurring the main HQ. unless you have a side business running already you’re killing your own career
These questions are concerning to say the least, looks like a bunch of ways to guarantee your own failure. So look seriously in the mirror and ask if any of these ideas are going to make you successful and you know the real answer inside
wow crazy. exact same situation here.
SDR too, started smoking weed after work/gym everyday to recover energy to work on eCommerce side biz for about 4 months now.
I’ve tried coffee (can’t sleep) & cigarettes/nicotine patches (noticeable psychological dependence after ~10 days), nothing works better than weed. Unfortunately I’ve noticed my memory & ability to feel joy decrease recently from being stoned every night, instead I’ve been waking up at 6am to work on business before the 9-5 grind of commission whoring
hang in there brother we’re gonna get there soon
Aren’t incredible success stories external motivation (which you are against)?
Not sure what the question is here, motivational speeches are for losers. Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods did not need motivation. They are internally motivated like any successful person.
https://twitter.com/WallStPlayboys/status/1270791978570006528
“Smart people don’t enjoy watching the mainstream news because it makes you feel bad.
They either read information (search for truth) or read about incredible success stories.
It changes the wiring of your brain. Delete the news from your channels.”
You say smart people read about incredible success stories, but isn’t that external motivation?
It means they are more interested in reading about how other people succeeded. This is obvious as it refers to biographies.
Inspiration is not motivation, not even close. Inspiration is thinking of how to solve something, motivation is someone outside trying to tell you to work hard (never works since most are lazy and never want to work for anything)
Just want to say thank you im the baruch kid trying to raise his gpa still able to finesse jp morgan and prudential investment bank analyst program interviews if i get 5 As this semester i’ll be at a solid 3 thanks for opening my eyes to investment banking next is to start a small business!
Do you guys stay in touch with friends from your early/mid 20’s? If so, did they have to get to a similar level of success (finances/social status) and if they didn’t, did the differences in lifestyle just make the friendship drift apart?
Have several contacts that are 20+ years of history. That said, yes unless they are successful you drift apart as your lives are too different. It’s a good thing
23. Looking to get into blockchain/DeFi/crypto space given its coming impact over the next couple decades. Previously in saas.
How would you recommend getting involved? Become a blockchain developer, sales, etc.?
Right now it is better to just be an investor since you can invest in the projects while making tons of money doing other things (software, M&A banker etc). Waste of time to actually develop since you can just invest at next to nothing
1) Would leasing a luxury car right now be a bad idea? Located in NYC (Brooklyn, job requires a car to get around plus not using MTA now with covid.. plus tax deductions). Or sticking to old car better for safety?
2) Thoughts on software engineering bootcamps?
3) Are you guys invested in Chainlink?
1) depends, if you need a car sure. The amount it costs is nothing anyway
2) they work, great idea
3) no
33 years old, 1M net worth, 200K/yr W2 job with small 3-year old real estate side business generating 35K cash flow a year. Considering raising private capital and going exponential with RE holdings. Any concern with too much leverage if the debt is for income-producing assets that clear a certain COC return bar? Concentrating on B-class and C-class 8+ cap rate rental properties and feel there’s some insulation there from economic downturn, but curious to get your thoughts given market uncertainty.
Can’t help as we don’t know your industry. Again our view is you take your passive income that is near guaranteed and that should match interest payments. But your risk = your decisions.
College Grad Looking to eliminate housing expense. Is it more efficient to purchase a fixer upper through an agent Or through a tax sale, Craigslist, etc?
Probably best to get a roommate situation until you have enough money to afford something you like
Should someone outsource a website build and advertising to a 3rd party? Have you seen people figure it out on their own? I’m selling weight loss pills.
Almost everyone learns to do it themselves (that’s the successful IP)
How do you get better at dealing with confrontation?
Is it basically just a case of doing over and over again until you become comfortable with it?
Yes you have to put yourself in a situation that requires confrontation, you could take up boxing for fun. Just dont take it ultra seriously and get hurt
1) Is there an easy way – especially in NY where for example, BlockFi BTC interest accounts are not feasible – to receive returns on loans as a crypto holder?
2) What is your outlook on NYC, will you return in 2021?
3) For fun, will you write a 4th book?
1) yes get a different address all you need is a server this takes 5 seconds if really interested in doing that. Being in NYC won’t matter at all.
2) dead until 2022, probably recovers then
3) No clue maybe in a couple years
Sorry can you please clarify what you mean by server?
Parents’ address + VPN would work OK?
Thank you in advance.
Yes or a vmware.
1) Top recommended site for buying an existing online business? 2) what is your post-COVID best performing advertising platform?
1) empire flippers has worked fine in the past, we usually hear through word of mouth though
2) same big ones google/FB. When bids went low, lots of money was made (still being made)
1. I am 23, graduated from a top business school with degrees in economics & data analytics and am working for a prominent consulting firm that you know of. My question is: what would you recommend as a strategy to transition into tech? I have been searching to ask someone who has successfully made that kind of jump, but turns out consulting is comprised entirely of burnouts who want to exit to industry (see: die slowly) and insecure overachievers who plan to work 100 hour weeks just to not make partner because “it’s all about who you know.” I have a highly transferrable skillset but not sure how proceed other than blindly cold contact local (NYC) tech startup / sales guys. What would you do?
2. Just for fun, if you don’t have an answer I understand. Question: Have you seen ad campaigns used to successfully promote art/music? I make house (club) music on the side and was considering using the profits from previous record deals to run an ecom-fashioned ad campaign to independently promote records instead of dealing with the retards at the labels. Seem viable or waste of effort?
Thanks a lot. Hope you guys are doing well.
1) don’t kow how this would work, at most you could go into tech sales. So look into our post on that and reach out to tech sales people (we never went in so can’t help)
2) Do not know never went into that space.
The dream job for Bain, Mckinsey, BCG consultants in tech is becoming a PM. If you want to succeed though, I’d work hard to find a mentor who’s either succeeded in going from Consulting to PM or is a strong PM.
It’s also hard to break in without a referral. PMing is the “hot” job since it’s only slightly less well paid than engineering, but is perceived to have a lower barrier to entry. Everyone and their mother thinks they can pick up PMing fast vs trying to pick up engineering scares people away. This means there’s a bajillion applications for every opening.
“tech sales” has an extremely low barrier to entry with very high income potential – 300k+ within 5 years in SF/NY (40 hour weeks) but is extremely stressful, boring & repetitive
I’ve been working in this industry for 2 years since graduation and have absolutely 0 desire to stay for longer than 5 years total
Hey john,
just curious when tech sales is mentioned, what sort of companies should I be looking at?
Also what sort of internships did you pursue while in school to apply for these jobs or if you didn’t have any how did you get your resume to stand out?
Thanks!
You guys always seem well informed regarding the markets, social issues, sports bets, etc. You’ve mentioned news is largely a waste of time in the past but how do you stay informed, knowing this?
Humans are predictable so you just use math formulas to decide the bets. No “news or ideas” are relevant at all despite what propel tell you
I’m 30, just had a minor windfall, and started hitting that stage in life where I have enough capital that I’m being called by private wealth managers. I’ve talked to a few, but it’s still unclear to me if they’re worthwhile.
Given this isn’t tackled in the FAQ, do you guys use private wealth managers? Are they worth it? And who should/shouldn’t use them?
No, never use a wealth manager. All you need is a good tax guy for trust funds etc. Be responsible for your own investments or pay the price for life
1. Thoughts on Canada vs. USA in terms of quality of life post-pandemic. Where would you rather live?
2. Thoughts on mutual fund wholesaling industry?
Associate: 50k (1-2 years) —> Internal Wholesaler 100k-300k (3-5 years) —-> External Wholesaler 250k-1m+.
In case you’re not familiar, broad overview is that you persuade financial advisors to put their clients money in your company’s (asset manager) funds and you get basis points on sales and AUM of your region. It’s about 40 hours a week (great for side biz), you wine and dine clients but comp could get hit hard within 10 years due to increased passive investments, lower fees, etc… the positive is that the vast majority of financial advisors aren’t very smart so it’s not the hardest sell.
1) USA for sure, Canada is an oil and gas based economy and commodities which isn’t great. not a lot of tech/M&A available there
2) No clue so cant say much. Never looked into it
Internals usually cap out at ~130k give or take. Wholesaling is pretty transactional, especially on the fund side since the space is so commoditized at this point.
You could probably go BDR -> Enterprise AE in 3 years total or less if you play it right, the path to an external wholesaler gig usually takes much longer.
If you can land a spot at a top fund shop or annuity shop (annuity guys pull in crazy money, especially externals) and get fast tracked to the field it could be worth it, otherwise I’d recommend tech 100%.
23 years old, 25k in bank beyond the 6 months safety net, living in Eastern Europe, 1-0.1% talent in numerics working in tech
1. Should I focus on starting a business here or moving to a higher paid career in US? (note: no visas until end of year)
2. What strategy do you recommend for investing in crypto? Dollar cost averaging or?
1) probably better to move to USA if you can. If not start a new biz asap
2) covered in triangle investing you can just DCA wont matter long term
99.9% of my conversations are dull. it’s the same story, same complaints, same goals of money/women/fitness. what do you talk about with people when you need to network?
Again networking is for losers, create value and become a person of value and people will reach out to you
it’s the same topics with people who reach out, too.
how do you keep up with current events if you’ve shut out social media?
word of mouth
1) I know you guys are willing to make predictions – thoughts on where the price of Gold end up over the next couple of years?
2) Thoughts on luxury goods (particularly, watches) as an investment (not indulgence), as part of a safe-haven diversification strategy as the Fed continues to print and prop up equities? Obviously, luxury goods by definition are non-essential (and think non-essential good generally will be subject to deflationary pressures), but on the flip side, if you buy right–Patek, Submariner, etc.–the typical consumer universe is likely those benefiting from the inflationary effect on asset prices. Curious what you think.
1) No idea maybe $3,000 or so
2) Same story already covered, just go with items that have stood the test of time, rolex, certain art/rare coins etc. That’s really it
Experiencing website speed issues with Hostgator, do you have positive experience with any other hosting providers?
Playing around with paid traffic (google, bing) – started filtering by age group, devices, what other filters could I add for better quality traffic on those streams?
Do you guys adopt regular browsing practices regarding online privacy, such as VPNs & what not?
1) Go ahead and look around, we have had no issues
2) can’t help here? This depends on what you’re selling and who you want to target
3) Of course yes. Why would you ever login without some remote access/VMs/Tor Network. Just foolish
You mentioned resume writing service to move onto products eventually. I started resume writing, and turns out I was good enough at it to grow from $200 p month to about $7k in 4 months. Should I stick with it, or should I still explore creating a product? If the latter, what product do you think I’d be good at creating?
Find a way to outsource it and scale it so you don’t have to trade time for money
But going on Twitter/Youtube and seeing guys making $10k/day or $100k/month sometimes makes me question if I’m focusing my time in the right areas.
Any advice?
IF you read our book you would know what they are doing. In fact this was explained explicitly
Also most of the people who post big revenue days are liars since they are just insecure
Post from 2018 “Great Businesses: From Expensive to Cheap” mentioned pizza biz. Any new opinions on cheap food in general?
No, we’ve never actually entered the food biz so nothing new.
Hi WSPs – Thank you for this Q&A. Looking to distribute a COVID related item for a manufacturer in Canada. Should I structure an agreement where I earn a 5%+ per sale up to a period of say X years? Similar to consulting referral agreement. And if this can fly, maybe open up a B2C route to build a brand in the US too.
You should always structure it in the most performance oriented way. Go through all the biz models you can come up with choose the one that aligns you with performance based comp. Your ideas are not going to help us make a conclusion because there were no options presented.
1) You have said “you should always be open to new technologies. It is your job to stay on top of new developments that can help you scale without additional overhead.”
What do you use to find such tech? Only conferences? I have seen you mentioning advanced tech that I didn’t know about
2) what’s your take on calisthenics?
3) are you pro taking daily omega 3 fatty acids supplements? If no, why?
Thanks have a nice weekend!
1) usually though your personal network, only hang out with winners and they will tell you what they are hearing/using as long as you are not a competitor
2) no comment on it, feel free to do it
3) No clue what that is, we only recommend fish oil if you don’t eat seafood that day
I’m 3 years out of school, in tech, in my mid twenties.
How do you build your contact list/network in the early years of your career? Is this just a matter of keeping in touch with everyone you work with or get to know during work? Or do you typically spend time with them outside of work at bars, golf, coffee etc.
I want to make sure I’m doing the right things now so that I have a solid network 10 years down the line, but unsure how to proceed.
Same answer different day! Build skills people need and be a person of value and the network shows up. Networking is for losers who go to conferences praying someone will “hire them” because they are cool/nice guys. Those days are dead.
sorry posted an earlier comment without my second question – delete this one if its too much trouble.
I live in a tier 2/3 city depending on who you as. Thinking of starting a condo property management business as a side biz. The business seems straightforward enough and would also be a great way to learn a little more about RE. What do you think?
Sure this is perfectly fine, just a people business which is a headache
Do you think I am better off
A. Staying in finance and aiming for MM PE (I don’t work for “name brand” IB firm so will be a bit of a challenge)
B. Starting a business/company on my own
C. Making a minority investment in a business and gaining operations experience while scaling the business with the current owner (“entrepreneurship through acquisition” but not a majority stake).
Some of the companies I work with in my IB role are sub-$5M EBITDA and I am practically an outsourced CFO for some clients so I don’t think it is too arrogant to suggest I could drive value in a <$2M EBITDA business. I have experience with roll-up transactions which could help in a mom and pop market.
Thoughts on industries to target in the ~$1M EBITDA range compared to what you recommend in "Efficiency"?
Thanks!
We have no idea, just do the same thing we outlined in the book. Get into banking or PE and then start an e-commerce business.
The above just looks like a bunch of scenarios that will never occur. IF you were in the situation for any of them A, B, or C you would not ask a question like this. Call it rude, we don’t care since it is clear and obvious you’re not in any of these situations.
So keep your IB job and start ecommerce asap.
No not rude, thanks for the reply!
Partially recruiting for A but not my main focus so struggling to get traction since I’m not pedal to the medal. Thank you – off my rear and on to e-comm it is!
I know you guys were big on skin care in ecom.
As affiliates are you still in skin care/nutra or have you moved to leadgen (refi/solar/etc) or doing both?
I’m still in nutra but thought I’d ask because I’ve seen people make the switch.
We left affiliate marketing several years ago, feel free to make the switch if profits are higher. Affiliate will never die so just keep trying till you find your niche
Would like if you do a book review on The Sovereign Individual (1997) by James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg since you’ve mentioned the concept of the Sovereign Individual when discussing decentralization/delocalization.
Or is it too simply summed up by saying “as work becomes location-independent, governments will be forced to compete for people as customers instead of being a monopoly treating people as subjects (governments competing to entice the best people)”?
In summary people become their own countries so to speak and each country fights for top talent (services industry)