Tag: entrepreneur

Life Resume

A couple months ago, while I was updating my work resume, I suddenly asked myself: What am I actually proud of? I don’t give a shit about how I improved X% of a client’s operations, increased efficiency by Y, or saved Z amount of dollars for capitalistic companies that treat people as a number and data point.

So what do I care about? Enter the life resume: things that I deem important milestones for me about what I value and what has shaped me to be the “man” I am today.

LIFE EXPERIENCE 

PLYS,  Incorporated______________________ IL → OH → NJ → NY → Nomad

Son, Brother, Godfather, Friend, Lover, Athlete, Artist, US Citizen, Human

June, 1996 – Current

  • Scored 10 goals in a park district soccer game when I was 10 years old, received claps from over-competitive parents and was told that I’m a stud, thus beginning my egotistical nature and God complex 
  • Became an IHSA All-State Tennis player in Doubles due to quitting (being cut from) the varsity soccer team, missing school dances, having no social life, and realizing that Tennis players are, on average, less athletic than other sports teams
  • Won a $10K Business Scholarship after building a business plan and pitching my company called “Cake & Bake”
  • Failed building +30 side hustles, ranging from: lemonade stands to E-Commerce, selling “friendship” and the “possibility of giving my number” to affiliate marketing, coaching Tennis to selling books, trying to build physical products to coding social media apps, and everything in between
  • Built and sold Crazy Men’s Dress Socks, which, after all was said and done, probably broke even due to all my failed marketing campaigns
  • Read +50 books on self-help, productivity, and psychology to improve my crippling anxiety about not currently being Michael Jordan or Elon Musk
  • Created a Mental Models life guide that is +50 pages long and is structured on a use-case basis (when I am eating, when I want to sleep, when I want to get a job, when I want to develop a new skill, etc.)
  • Mastered how to play Riptide, Viva La Vida, Cigarette Daydreams, and other generic white boy music (except Wonderwall) in order to be campfire-ready, impress my drunk friends, and convince pretty girls that I’m actually a cool guy
  • Failed at becoming a “college dropout” and ended up getting the meaningless Magna Cum Laude accolade in Finance and Marketing
  • Cold emailed +5K prospective employers/mentors and scheduled +200 calls/coffee chats in order to land internships and full-time offers
  • Skipped my graduation and booked a bus from Ohio to meet up with some mentors in NYC
  • Made coloring books for executives (aka Management Consulting), where I became very good at going to meetings, preparing for meetings (I can make slides very fast), presenting at meetings, taking notes that could be included in meetings, and of course, scheduling future meetings
  • Cut my chin open and got stitches while riding my longboard around a neighborhood (you should have seen the pebble)
  • Traveled around North America (US, Canada, Mexico) with 3 friends for 2 years, where we visited +40 states, worked remotely from +50 Airbnbs, visited +20 National Parks, hiked, surfed, skied, and somehow didn’t kill each other in the process
  • Saved from drowning by my friend, Ben, while hiking through the Narrows in Zion National Park, Utah
  • Gained and lost +$100K in the stock market through my own personalized investing strategy, buying shares in individual companies I believe in, leveraged ETFs in particular high-growth sectors, and speculating on cryptocurrencies 
  • Quit my consulting job and solo traveled around Europe, Asia, and Africa for +1.5 years, visiting +45 countries 
  • Documented my travels and thoughts through blogs, photos, and films, yielding a culmination of +100K views across all platforms
  • Learned how to land a backside 360 on a snowboard after many attempts of falling on my ass, praying to a Snow God I don’t believe in, and putting +150 days in on the mountains (skiing US, Canada, France, Italy, and Switzerland)
  • Capitalized on my privilege and learned how to be a subpar surfer, traveling to some of the best spots in the world (California, Hawaii, North Carolina, Portugal, Indonesia, Morocco)
  • Given the opportunity to be involved in several love stories while traveling, some that I regret, some that I cherished, and other(s) that may still be ongoing (if only someone would confirm with the other party)
  • Played pick-up basketball in +10 countries around the world
  • Hiked +3 14ers (mountains over 14K feet) in Colorado, US
  • Biked across the Aran Islands off the coast of Ireland
  • Sumitted Pen y Fan (highest peak in South Wales), Bobotov (highest peak in Montenegro), and Mount Toubkal (highest peak in North Africa)
  • Bungee Jumped from Maslenica Bridge (tallest point to jump from in Croatia)
  • Paraglided (in tandem, lame I know) over Lake Ohrid, North Macedonia 
  • Experienced Oktoberfest (Wiesn) in Munich, Germany
  • Hot air ballooned in Cappadocia, Turkey
  • Island hopped around Hawaii, Greece, Indonesia, and Thailand
  • Trekked through the Sahara Desert on camel and foot with the Berbers (indigenous group of nomads) in Morocco
  • Marveled at some of the Wonders of the World (Grand Canyon, Colosseum, Eiffel Tower, Pyramids of Giza, Petra, etc.)
  • Bathed in the Dead Sea (lowest point on earth)
  • Designed a travel app (WIP) to revolutionize the way backpackers/nomads interact and stay in touch with their travel friends 
  • Informed that I could be a professional dancer by +200 drunk people in my life
  • Repeated the exact same 3 magic tricks at parties that I learned when I was 13 years old
  • Notified that only 1 of 8 of my jokes land and are actually funny, but that has never stopped me from trying (quantity over quality approach)

FUTURE LIFE

Goals: Visit +100 countries in the world, retire from the working world, drop an album, get sky/scuba dive certified, be a better surfer/snowboarder, be a better friend, be a better human

After writing this out, it’s been great to look back at this to 1) Reflect and show gratitude for the life I’ve been blessed with 2) Use it as an operating model for living. If I ever come across a challenge or opportunity that would make a bullet point on this list, then I have to do it.

“Life is our resume. It is our story to tell, and the choices we make write the chapters. Can we live in a way where we look forward to looking back?”

– Matthew McConaughey

27 Things I Learned Turning 27

Writing this in a cafe in Tel Aviv, Israel, I can’t help but think about my friend Beane while typing this. That guy is obsessed with this number. Well, it feels like just the other day I was the 17-year-old, skinny, acne-prone, cocky, full-of-himself boy who thought he was going to take on the world. Come to think of it…all of that still holds true.

Reflecting on my short time here in this massive playground we call “life,” here’s 27 things I have realized and am trying to understand/implement in my day to day:

(Note: Like most things in life, few of these ideas are original. Inspirations and mentors include, but are not limited to: Tim Ferriss, Naval Ravikant, Jim Rohn, Napoleon Hill, Stephen Covey, Gary Vee, Alex Hormozi, Bill Perkins, Zig Ziglar, and others)

  1. No one owes you anything. And no one cares about what you are feeling or how “hard you’ve had it.” People only care about what you can do for them. How you’ve made them feel.
  2. Privilege breeds more privilege. I’ve lived an easy life according to most definitions. And because I’ve been “born ahead” of other people, the race to certain life milestones has been more accessible, which gives me the ability to get to the next one quicker, and so on. If you are the best football player on your team at a young age, you will play more minutes than your peers, giving you more touches on the ball, more game time experiences, and more opportunities to grow. This only widens the gap. Making it harder and harder for those with less to catch up. It’s incredibly important for me to recognize that I was born with pocket Aces, show gratitude for the life I’ve been handed, and try to pay it forward / even the scales for others I cross paths with.
  3. Life is like Netflix. Avoid the endless scrolling, pick a goddamn movie, and see it through.
  4. Focus on ROE – not return on equity, but return on experience. Memories are all we get to keep at the end of the day. So invest in things that will give you the most memory dividends. For one-time purchases, you can have a memory dividend that pays out every time you relive or retell your stories. With this in mind, it pays more to have experiences earlier in life. Instead of constantly worrying about your Work Resume, think about your Life Resume. What would you put on it?
  5. Add a little bit of spice. Brush your teeth / eat with your non-dominant hand, angle your hats differently, lift up one sock, grow out your hair. Have fun.
  6. Personalize everything. Create your own brand. Create a unique system of writing, thinking, and talking that is specific to you and works for you. Pick a favorite number, favorite color, favorite sports team, etc, and own it.
  7. Don’t ask what the world needs, ask what sets your soul on fire. And go do that.
  8. Don’t wait for people. Do epic shit. Your people will find you.
  9. Taste everything once. You never know what you may like until you try it yourself.
  10. Introduce yourself to everyone. First and last name.
  11. All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be. Pet the dog/cat, smell the flower, ask the girl out, try the new food, watch the sunset, book the ticket, take the flight, ride the wave, jump off a snowboard, sing in karaoke, dance in the street.
  12. Exercise the mind. Come up with 10 new ideas a day. Become an idea machine by taking the quantity over quality approach.
  13. Tell stories. People don’t remember statistics or facts, but they buy into humans. To be human is to have your own story, your own thoughts, emotions, perspective, memories, and experiences. Share it with others.
  14. Take opposing viewpoints on the world and play them against each other, adopting whatever serves your purpose at the time. Examples:
    • When I want to work harder / do more, I tell myself: This is my one life, as far as I know it. I already won the lotto, being born a human, which is 400 Trillion to 1 odds. I have around 85 years of life, so I’m in my second quarter already. The first quarter of life was just learning the rules of this video game we call life, now I need to dominate life and defeat bosses. I need to squeeze the juice and do everything possible to live my best life. To avoid being on my deathbed and have “what if” floating around.
    • When I feel overwhelmed/stressed, I tell myself: This doesn’t matter. Nothing really matters. In a hundred years, I and everyone I know will be dead, and no one will remember anything. I could go on to create the world’s most valuable company, and then be 6 feet under the ground in 50 years. I could also play video games for the rest of my life, and it still doesn’t matter. Legacy doesn’t fucking matter when you’re dead. So no point in my stress. I have lived many a conflict in my life, and most of them never came to pass, but just lived in my head. So screw it, take the day off, and stop applying needless pressure.
  15. You catch more flies with honey. Often, the best way to win an argument is to avoid one altogether.
  16. Wealth comes from VALUE x LEVERAGE x SCALE. VALUE = Time / Money / Improvement in people’s lives. LEVERAGE = Capital x People x Systems. SCALE is derived from the number of people served. In today’s world, the quickest way to grow is with permissionless leverage. (Media or Code)
  17. In a world where everything is finite, play infinite games. My friends, business partners, hobbies, and passions should be lifetime pursuits. Perfection and winning the game is not the goal. The goal is to keep playing the game, and to get one day better, every day.
  18. You get more out of reading 1 book that’s great 5 times, than out of reading 5 mediocre books.
  19. Extraordinary accomplishments come from doing ordinary things for extraordinary periods of time.
  20. Focus time and energy on Multipliers. Multipliers are activities that compound and yield dividends. Once-in-a-lifetime experiences, goodwill to others, financial investments, and personal development are examples. Activities that are directly related to your time, and cannot be shortened in the future, should be avoided, unless you get real enjoyment from them. For this reason, since I don’t like cooking, I should avoid it and prioritize other activities.
  21. You gain status by giving more to the group than you get. Note: status is a tool that can help you accomplish your goals, but it should not be the top priority.
  22. Make sure the girl sitting next to you in the passenger seat is the same girl who would be waiting with you at a bus stop if life turned out differently.
  23. The current economic system is broken. We were not meant to just study things that don’t fascinate us, work a shitty job, retire in old age, and then die. Life is a marathon, but I like to live my life in short sprints. Ideally, I break life into 3 phases: Exploration, Deep Work, and Vacation. When I wake up, I would like to have options of different projects that I find 1) Meaningful 2) Play to my skill sets 3) Make me money 4) Give me the opportunity to grow. I then can pick what I find to be the best fit at the time, and work hard on it. After that, maybe I go dance my ass off in Ibiza, surf in Bali, or visit friends in the US. Once my system is cleared, I start thinking about the next thing, read more books, take more courses, and learn/hone more skills. The cycle repeats, burnout never happens, I still save for “raining days” or old age, but I don’t miss out on the present moment of my current age. Because, at the end of the day, the present is all we have.
  24. You don’t become confident by shouting affirmations in the mirror, you become it by having a stack of undeniable proof that you are who you say you are. Outwork your own self-doubt.
  25. Ready, Fire, Aim. when you see an opportunity, take the shot. If you miss, then you readjust and take another shot. If you end up waiting, aiming for the perfect shot, the opportunity is often already gone
  26. Understand that the 3 biggest decisions in life are 1) what you do 2) who you are with 3) where you live. Practically everything else is cheese.
  27. Time is the most valuable currency in the world. A Billionaire on his deathbed would give all of his net worth for one more year. Imagine how much he would trade to be in your shoes right now. You are worth more than a Billionaire, so act as such, and be resilient with what you trade your time with.
    • Taking into account a life expectancy of 85, and just turning 27, I have approximately 1.8 Billion seconds left. Time Billionaire > Monetary Billionaire, so wake up every day smiling.

20s are a wash

I want to treat the rest of my 20s like they are a wash.

Now is not the time to get a safe job. I already did that.

Now is the time to be as risk focused as possible.

I will never be as “free” as I am now.

I have no baggage. No college debt left, no significant other, no parents I need to take care of, no children, nothing.

I can eat like shit and still be ok.

I can barely sleep and be fine.

Not saying I shouldn’t eat and sleep well, but I could survive. And on top of that, it’s not that hard to still eat and sleep well.

I can sleep anywhere (couches, beds without a bed frame, floor) and cook cheaply.

I can live for free with friends or my family.

I can stay in hostels for cheap all around the world.

I’m 26 now, so I have 4 years left.

So let’s think about the worst-case scenario: I wake up broke at 30. I have to move back home with the parents. I have to get the “safe job.”

Most likely scenario: I wake up broke at 30. But I’ve traveled the world, met incredible people, tried starting businesses, tried learning a new language, tried getting jacked in the gym, and learned about all these things I do/do not like. And then I can still use my college education and friends to get the “safe job.”

I understand this “20s are a wash” is a privilege. I am a college grad, I grew up / still have a somewhat stable family household, I have good friends/mentors, my body is fully functional, and I was born with a good mental state. But one thing I have learned in the last couple of years is it’s foolish to not recognize the privilege, but even more foolish to not use it. It would be selfish of me to not go for it. To not try and live my best possible life. If I was to just coast on my privilege, then I would be just taking it for granted. I owe it to my family and friends to go for it.

And the best-case scenario? I think we can all realize how good life can get.

But I think the best will be to look back on my life and not wonder: “what if…”

To know that I went for it.

And the chips fell where they did. But I went all in.

Hell, I was born with pocket Aces.

What a foolish thing to go silently, tiptoeing, safely to my deathbed.

I want scars.

I want the lessons, the failures, the struggles.

I want to point to the scar tissue on my body and say: Got this playing basketball with friends, this from snowboarding, this from longboarding, this from surfing…

When I was studying at Uni, I heard a quote from Peter Thiel that has stuck with me since. He said, “In a world that’s changing so quickly, the biggest risk you can take is not taking any risk.”

What a sad day it would be if I woke up and realized there was no time to try out / risk / do the things I always wanted. (Paulo Coehlo paraphrase)

The happiest I’ve been in my life has always been when I’m doing what I deem “epic shit.”

That’s often when adrenaline and risk are involved.

I could get hurt doing this. I could lose money, get my heart broken, fall off a cliff, get shattered by a wave.

But it’s all risky.

None of us are making it out of this alive.

Nietzsche said: “I know of no better life purpose than to perish in attempting the great and the impossible.”

That makes sense. Why be satisfied with average?

But the key is to listen to my own internal dialogue about what I deem ”great and impossible.”

My definition of “epic shit.”

I don’t need to surf Nazare waves.

But maybe I don’t go back to working in Corporate America for now.

Maybe I don’t play the status games of a high-paying job and instead take the zero pay of startup life.

Follow the “epic shit” and happiness model, cut out the status games and flexing that is engrained in me.

When in doubt about what to do, I should do what scares me.

Because if my dreams and plans don’t scare me, I’m not dreaming big enough.

Travel App Ideas

As many of you already know, I decided to take a gap from Corporate America and travel Europe for a year. In my free time, my mind has been exploding with ideas, and naturally, a lot of them have been in the not-so-niche or unique market of traveling. Here are some high-level thoughts on 4 ideas I’ve had currently. If you end up reading the ramblings of a mid-20s coffee-addicted drifter/nomad, I’d love to hear any feedback or advice you might have.

Nomadista (Schengen/Travel Itinerary) App

  • Concept: Travel itinerary and calculator app for US citizens abroad
  • Current Market Problem: Non-visa and visa requirements are quite confusing for US citizens
    • The most visited countries for Americans are all in the Schengen zone (includes 26 countries)
    • Schengen rules are complicated
      • Out of a 180 period, (that begins once you step foot in a Schengen country) you can only be in a Schengen country for a total of 90 days. These 90 days do not have to be consecutive. (e.g. you can be in Schengen for 10 days, leave for 10 days, and keep doing that. As long as you don’t spend more than the allotted 90 days out of the 180-day period) The time period does not reset when you leave the Schengen zone, but only once the 180-day period has passed.
    • Schengen rules are strict
      • Some people have received massive fines, been put in prison, and even been banned from the Schengen zone for several years due to overstaying beyond the 90-day limit.
    • The current solution for handling Schengen is other calculator apps, but the majority are buggy and shit
      • The user interface is non-intuitive, a lot of the calculators do not work properly, and some do not take into account the first day of the Schengen zone as your start of the 180-day period
    • Every country outside of Schengen also has its own rules about how long a US citizen can stay in the country with or without a visa
  • Why I think I am a good person to solve this issue:
    • I am the customer. I am traveling Europe for the next year, which would be a total of two Schengen cycles (meaning I can only be in the Schengen zone for 6 months of the year). Originally I planned on spending a lot more time in the Schengen zone, but upon finding out about the law, knew I had to pivot my plans. I tried all of the current solutions in the market for Schengen calculators, saw they were shit, and then decided to build my own basic google sheet that calculated if I was “Schengen or Other Country policy clear” with my itinerary of places I wanted to visit. I still use my program when I change my travel plans (which happens often) and wish my own program was an app for easier usability
  • Concerns:
    • Don’t have my PC anymore (just a Mac without excel), so I built the program in Google Sheets rather than Excel, which is what I would normally use. With this in mind, it will take time to convert the program to an overall, full-scale application.
    • Schengen countries and Non-Schengen countries could change requirements, making this program moot, or in need of an update to the backend data
    • The typical long-term traveler does not like to plan and resort to itineraries (but I bet they also don’t like getting deported or fined…)
    • Limited Market (US-focused initially). The majority of travelers in Europe are European and allowed to travel freely if they are from a Schengen area.

CityRank App

  • Concept: As the name implies, this would be an app that allows you and your friends to rank the cities you visited
  • Rationale: We as humans love to rank and compare things. It’s part of our nature and how we filter our reality. We decide what food we like best, what sport is our favorite, and what car we want to drive. This is included in our commonplace conversations: “Who would win in a fight: Gorilla or Lion?”, “What level of attractiveness is that person on a scale from 1-10?” As superficial or artificial as this is, it’s not going away. We enjoy it for two reasons:
    1. Entertainment’s sake (these are subjective answers)
    2. The possibility that it can actually help us in making future, more informed decisions. (If a friend said their favorite food is Octopus, and you have never tried it, you are probably more likely to now try it in the future)
  • Purpose: In order to receive entertainment or education from an individual’s ranking, we need to respect their ranking framework and see how they came to their conclusion. This app completes just that, and can be used:
    1. For personal reference
    2. To share with your friends to get their opinion
    3. To analyze your friends’ rankings and determine if that’s a place you want to travel to in the future
  • App Layout:
    • Tab 1 includes the framework for the city rank. It includes a list of metrics, plus the ability to customize this list based on your own personal preferences, such as:
      • Location
      • Arts / Culture
      • Shopping / Restaurants
      • Nightlife
      • Transportation
      • Outdoors / Nature
      • People
      • Architecture
      • Weather
      • Activities / Entertainment
      • Cost of Living
    • Tab 2 is the manual entry where you add in the cities you have visited, and rank that city based on the framework or metrics from tab 1
    • Tab 3 is the data visualization page, where you can see the list of your “top 10 cities” and have the ability to sort based on specific metrics or country views (e.g. best cities for Nightlife, the best city in all of Spain, etc.)
      • Once new data from Tab 2 is entered into the system, Tab 3 will be automatically updated, allowing you to share your “new city profile” with your friends through IG, FB, and other social profiles.
        • Think “Spotify Unwrapped,” but for traveling instead of music
    • Tab 4 is the feed section where you can view your friends or travel influencer city rankings, and see if you need to add a city to your next vacation/trips

The Other 2 App Ideas

  • Wanderlust App:
    • Think Tinder and Pinterest, but for vacation/travel destinations
    • Swipe through profiles of places (left is pass, right is interested)
    • Only get so many swipes per day, with a collation page of all your likes
    • Becomes personalized based on your previous likes
  • Bucketlist App:
    • Travel guide/checklist that includes the “top 10/20 must do” things in that city you are visiting
    • Filter by city and check them off as you complete them. (Includes google maps address for the destination for easier accessibility)
    • Feature to add in additional destination/to-dos for that city, so that way you have all of your checklist items in one place

All 4 Travel Apps Summary

  • Using Google Sheets could be the easiest way to get to an MVP (minimum viable product) to test in the market
    • There are a lot of non-code based App development platforms that will connect to Google sheets or another dataset and help you develop a customized app based on your backend data
    • After researching several app development platforms, my favorite right now is Glide due to their:
      • Relatively easy user interface
      • Learning modules to get up to speed on using the software
      • Pricing (can have 100 public members of the app for free. Up to 1K members and white labeling for $25/month)
        • White labeling would remove all branding from Glide and make the app look like a full-scale, normal iPhone app that can be downloaded through the App Store
  • Obviously, if any of these apps show promise or take off at all, it would definitely be worth creating the app in-house, without using a third-party provider such as Glide
  • If built correctly based on control and inputs, all these apps could be dynamic programs
  • Market Size and Valuation (according to Statista)
    • Total Contribution of Travel & Tourism to Global Economy: 5.81 Trillion USD
    • Number of International Tourist Arrivals Worldwide: 426.9 Million
    • Global Leisure Travel Spend: 2.37 Trillion USD
  • Future monetization strategy for all 4 apps (not really thinking about this at all right now)
    • Freemium pricing (free version, with a premium version without ads)
    • Partner with accommodations (hostels, hotels, BnBs) and airlines to show deals based on the customer’s location and their liked or itinerary destinations

Document, don’t create

It’s been a couple years since I heard the phrase from Gary Vee “Document, don’t create” and it’s been something that has been on my mind a lot.

The phrase takes away “writer’s block” and creative fog. It takes the quantity over quality approach, suggesting that if we keep track of and analyze the things we are already doing, we will find that they can be just as unique and interesting as our one off moments of inspiration.

This documentation process goes hand in hand with the idea of a grassroots approach to everything. We humans tend to overcomplicate the easiest things and often put blame on ourselves for not having the proper equipment or expertise in order to even start. The concept of “just starting” and “documenting” applies the KISS method (keep it simple stupid) and feels less “sexy” to us. No one wants to start at Day 1, admit to others that they are just figuring things out, or trying out new things. But we can’t get to point Z without A. And I find that instead of waiting for creativity to spark, waiting for that perfect path to be laid out in front of us to get to our destination, we need to just get in the car and start driving.

Blank Pages

A blank page is a scary thing for a writer.

You can’t be a entrepreneur without a product/service.

You can’t make music without playing an instrument.

So you need to start.

Begin writing. Build that prototype. Play a chord.

Soon that first paragraph turns into pages, pages into chapters, chapters into books.

With every book, product design, and song, you will get better.

That’s the power of compounding interest.

CIGC

This weekend I consumed one too many beverages and started white-boarding what it means to be an entrepreneur with a friend – we concluded that being an entrepreneur has many forms – a musician, an artist, franchise owner, doctor who owns his own practice, real estate investor, etc. All these products and services offered vary quite drastically, yet it takes a certain type of “personality” in order to 1) decide to do them 2) be good enough to execute

Overall, if I had to give a framework to this “personality” or characteristics, it would be: CIGC

Creativity – Imagination and childlike curiosity in order to dream up a future, better world

Innovation –  The ability to take this idea and apply it to the real world, whether that be in a new or evolving market

Grit – Mixture of perseverance and resourcefulness

Charisma – The art of applying empathy  and getting others to not only understand your vision, but buy into it and want to be apart of this new future

Can you be a successful entrepreneur or inventor without these 4? Yes, as long as you can bring someone on your team that fills the discrepancy.