Thinking Out Loud | Edition 1

Good morning & happy Sunday. Grab a cup of coffee & sit back.

Thought of the week 💭

Yesterday we celebrated my Dad’s 50th birthday. If there is one thing I can take away from him it’s this: the results from doing hard things is never about the short term. It’s about the compounding effects long term. Don’t avoid hard things because you’re worried about sucking now — it won’t matter over a longer time horizon.

I’m mentally lazy…

My immediate thought when getting assigned something to do is “how can I get this done as fast as possible?”.

It took me 20 years to realize their is a difference between getting things done, and getting things done RIGHT. I used to think everything was just a to-do list.

This habit comes from school. I’ve never been negatively reinforced for turning school assignments in ASAP. Since middle school, if you assigned me homework it would be done in the next hour. The first 3 semesters of college I finish all my assignments for the semester in the first month.

So, this lazy thinking spiraled into me always looking to get things done as fast and easy as possible.

I used to ask myself…
- What are the easiest classes I can take?
- How can I get this product out faster?

But, now I’m done with fast and easy… for the most part. There is a time and place for it.

I stumbled upon this pod/talk by Graham Weaver, a Stanford prof and PE investor.

Why this matters:

If you look at who you are today and your biggest accomplishments, it is probably not because of 1 direct thing you did…

It’s actually a result of multiple things in your life compounding: your family life, environment, school, friends, sports, etc.

For me, it was soccer. Everything I do today is 100% just a continuation of the habits I formed during that period of my life. I got bored with life so I replaced soccer with business.

TLDR: Things are going to compound eventually…if you always do what’s easy short term, that is the type of person you will become long term.

So I thought about what 2 “hard things” I’m avoiding doing now that I know long-term will compound in some way.

I’m committing to doing 2 “hard” things this summer:

#1: Learning how to code — I avoid this so much even though most of my classes are super technical now. I tell myself I don’t like it. Yea… no one likes anything they suck at.

#2: Finance — Instead of graduating a year early (lol), I’m staying an extra semester to double major in Finance, even though I’m not very interested in most of that world at all.

So, I’ll keep you updated this summer.

#2: Tweet of the week 🫨

The real MVP here is Mark’s accountant… he sold an NBA team for $3.5 billion dollars this year… that’s a < 12% tax rate.

What’s Brewin’ ☕ 

#1: I got to talk to Shaan Puri from the My First Million Podcast 

I’m always shocked by how accessible people who you think are “famous” really are.

I think it’s like within 6 connections you can probably meet anyone.

To test this I thought of the most famous person: Taylor Swift
—> Connection 1: Trainer Andrew (former client of mine)
—> Connection 2: Travis Kelce

I used to help Andrew with marketing. He was my first client! He trains Travis Kelce who is dating Taylor Swift… pretty insane right?

I’ve gotten to talk to most people I want to with (1) a great cold email, or (2) just showing up first on less popular platforms like Twitter.

#2: I deleted LinkedIn from my phone

No other words. This app is the worst — but congrats on your summer internship at Goldman Sachs, Chad. Plus, the people I’m interested in talking to don’t use LinkedIn to set up chats. Killer cold emails and Twitter has worked wonders so far.

#3: Cottage Cheese + 1 Date

I eat cottage cheese with fruit for breakfast and lunch. It’s simple, & takes less than 5 minutes to make. My total cooking time for all 3 meals of the day is 15 minutes.

Anyways, I started adding 1 date into my bowl. This was a GAME CHANGER. Highly recommend.

#4: Eating less meat to not die

If you don’t know who Bryan Johnson is, here is the TLDR: He sold his company to Paypal for $800M and now is a longevity influencer. He’s trying not to die and is documenting exactly how he’s reverse aging (click here to see his protocol)

Here is what I found interesting: He doesn’t eat much meat.

I used to eat chicken every day. Over the last year, I switched over to Tofu and mostly plant-based. The only time I eat chicken is when I go out for dinner so about once a week.

Here is what I notice when I stick to mostly plant-based VS. chicken:
- I don’t feel foggy the next day
- Less inflammation overall in the body
- Close to no acne
- When I do eat chicken, I feel full so much faster

For the most part, I will continue being mostly plant-based. I don’t see myself ever being like a full-on vegetarian.

Let’s talk biz 🚦 

futureadmit.com

I’m projecting revenue this month will be 5x from last months which is pretty crazy. Since February I’ve just been heads down in the product. I stumbled upon a few different pricing structures that I am going to be testing out soon like subscriptions. May will be my last fully product focused month. I’ve been getting good feedback in general so it’s going well.

My Info Diet💡

Here are 3 pieces of business content I loved this week

#1: Naval’s Almanack

This is a must read for anyone. A mix of life philosophy, career advice, health, wealth, etc. There’s a free PDF version linked above.

#2: Youtube

I re-watch this pod every few months. Great convo & energy.

#3: Andrew Wilkinson’s new podcast

Andrew owns Tiny — they buy wonderful businesses. He’s a fascinating guy — the Warren Buffet of internet businesses as they say.

Trend: Buying/Investing in Businesses 🤫

The biggest trend of 2022-2024 has been this concept of buying businesses instead of starting them. I think after you have an exit, or have enough cash on hand, this is the way to go. Something I’m exploring & looking into for sure.

From the very little experience I have, I think the first year of starting a business is like pushing a bolder up a hill. Being able to speed that up and get to the compounding faster makes sense.

Now, you can do the same thing private equity does but on a smaller scale.

The landscape of private equity/holding companies is going to change. We’ll see more influencers and celebrities start them and it makes SO MUCH sense.

Their distribution gives them access to top deals & they can make an immediate impact on the business.

Example: Kim Kardashian & SKYY

If Kim Kardashian talks about your business, it’ll be worth letting her invest in it, and she’ll get an instant return.

Signing Off 👋 

I’m leaving you with 1 question:

Every opportunity once looked like a risk.

What decision in your life looks like a risk now, but is actually something your future self would consider an opportunity?