Fastlane AMA: James Altucher; Startups, Publishing, Bloggin More...

[J. Altucher]

My wife and wife's family think I'm retarded because I like to rent

Owning causes the biggest "commitment bias". Because so much is invested into it (its probably the biggest investment of one's life) people refuse to admit that it might not be the right solution.

So it's impossible to argue with people about it. In every way, if you look at the math, the math on renting is better. But I've given up on arguing. I just present the math and people can do what they want with it.

But I will never own again (I've owned twice).

 

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[thecalmpickle]

Hey James,

What's your biggest challenge in your life right now?

What are areas in your life do you personally need more ideas and help with?

What is one thing you wish someone would do for you but are not yet receiving?

 

[J. Altucher]

What's your biggest challenge in your life right now?

Every day i draw two imaginary circles: where I can deliver value & what gives me the most pleasure. Then I try to focus my day around the intersection.

For instance, I like to help people and write. So this forum works for me. It's great, in fact.

My challenge is in eliminating the things that are not in that intersection. There's always other things to do but I am learning more and more how to focus on the intersection.

Ways to do it:
- ignore things not in the intersection. this turns out to be more possible than I had oriignally thought
- understand the psychological roots of why I do certain things (for love, for more money than I need, for "safety", etc)
- delegation
- analyzing the areas that do not provide a lot of benefit but seem to scratch an itch (an example might be getting in an email argument with someone)
- avoiding going to events I dont want to go to (I hate weddings and theater for instance)

 

[J. Altucher]

What are areas in your life do you personally need more ideas and help with?

I am at a transition point in writing:
- personal stories combined with self-help
- fiction
- financial

Trying to figure out which (maybe all) areas to go in. But after almost 600 posts about my personal stories there are only so many ways I can write how broke I was and how I got out of it without being boring.

So reading a lot now and trying to see which directions appeal to me.

 

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[J. Altucher]

What is one thing you wish someone would do for you but are not yet receiving?

Nothing. I have pretty low expectations on people and so my expectations are consistently exceeded.

 

[Berto]

Thanks for the great thread James!

My question is about personal marketing as an entrepreneur.

Do you see any benefit of marketing yourself via your blog and your authorship?

...Even in cases where you are writing to people who are not your current business's target demographic?​

I'm interested in getting my personal blog going, with rants and lessons learned on entrepreneurship (many similar to yours).

However, my current business' demographic has nothing to do with entrepreneurship or the overall lessons I've learned. So doing this would take time away from working on my brand, which does have a far bigger short-term impact.

So... has the blogging and book writing been worth it with regards to your business success? Has it helped build up the Rolodex in the right places?

Thanks once again!

 

[Jake]

Owning causes the biggest "commitment bias". Because so much is invested into it (its probably the biggest investment of one's life) people refuse to admit that it might not be the right solution.

So it's impossible to argue with people about it. In every way, if you look at the math, the math on renting is better. But I've given up on arguing. I just present the math and people can do what they want with it.

But I will never own again (I've owned twice).

Agreed. I can see it possibly making sense in the U.S with super low interest rates if you know where you want to live forever but if you enjoy mobility then renting makes sense. I like mobility (neighbors always get old fast) and the numbers in Bangkok don't make purchasing a smart move. The numbers can be a bit better on some condos but the buildings normally go to hell over the years.

Happy renter here. If I find myself worth millions one day I may purchase a penthouse in the city if I intend to stay here long term but renting is easy..and I've been a landlord..and it sucked.

 

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[biggeemac]

James, thank you very much for doing this. I have become a big fan of yours and have taken a lot of your advice to heart......all though I DID recently buy a house last year. But I've "been there" "done that" now and can see your logic. It's great that people in this age of information and social network connections are able to reach out to people and talk to them.....where in the past, that wasn't possible.

Again, thank you !

Micah

 

[Jake]

I am at a transition point in writing:
- personal stories combined with self-help
- fiction
- financial

Trying to figure out which (maybe all) areas to go in. But after almost 600 posts about my personal stories there are only so many ways I can write how broke I was and how I got out of it without being boring.

So reading a lot now and trying to see which directions appeal to me.

Maybe another post on how to validate an idea. I need to read more of your blog but I have read the post where you talk about stockpickr and how you ensured it's massive profitability before it was even built. Excellent post by the way and I'd love to read more on the subject. If you've written more can you direct me to the posts?

 

[InMotion]

Maybe this will be helpful. He has a search function on his site but I find more specific articles this way; including keyword im searching for and his blog name.

stockpickr+Altucher Confidential

Google


How did you approach the hedge funds that you sold your trading systems to? Altucher Confidential

 

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[zoomzoom]

Starting Over and Smarter

Hi James,

I'm a 50 YO self employed woman, I'm starting over in life, literally, lost my job, so I learned web designs and seo. I create promotional campaigns for myself and website/seo makeovers for local business. I'm still just learning the ropes so I'm not making enough to say I make a good living yet but I'm getting by. My husband has thrown a new "fly in the ointment" and has left for greener pastures a few months back so my "check-mate" is that I am selling our (jointly owned) home and moving to another part of the country with my two teen kids.

My question: The real estate market in my area is still pretty dead so I don't think I'm going to recover much of our equity but I'm realistically thinking that my share with be 65 to 80 k after the sale, with realtors commissions and division with husband - I know you don't recommend buying a home so what then should I do with my money as a secure investment while I rent a condo. At my age I was thinking I would just buy a condo for 150k and use the 70k as a down payment for security but would love to hear an alternative plan.

Thank you in advance for taking the time for a "q and a"

 

[TedM]

No, I would start out by building your brand through knowledge. What is the fastest way to get them to say "yes" to something. If they are a magazine editor then the best way to get them to say yes is if you offer GREAT content for FREE.

Thank you! I really appreciate your comments.

 

[moranpob]

1. If you had to start all over again from scratch, what you'd do to create a mutli million dollar business (which niche/business?)
2. you talk a lot about investing etc....what are the best resources to learn about all this investing/stocks etc?

thanks a lot!

 

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[Orthodoc65]

I'm a 48 y/o surgeon who earns about $500k per year but have accumulated little in income producing assets. What do you recommend I invest in to set myself up for a time when I can walk away from medicine and be a full time investor /business owner?

 

[Dr Noisewater]

Thank you James!

 

[J. Altucher]

Do you see any benefit of marketing yourself via your blog and your authorship?

...Even in cases where you are writing to people who are not your current business's target demographic?

Absolutely. When I expanded beyond by "business horizon" I made almost infinitely more money, more opportunities thrown my way, more everything.

Because I became a trusted voice. Information is a commodity. Trust is rare.

 

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[J. Altucher]

I'm a 48 y/o surgeon who earns about $500k per year but have accumulated little in income producing assets. What do you recommend I invest in to set myself up for a time when I can walk away from medicine and be a full time investor /business owner?

I would diversify into income producing stocks only. Look at energy stocks, MLPs, utilities with high dividends, etc. I would never put more than 2% of your portfolio into any one investment. Set aside 10% for more speculative plays (so 5 plays max).

HOWEVER, I'd also be opportunistic.

I will tell you what I am doing now. Detroit just got hit with a shitstorm.

So all municipal bonds with Michigan exposure are at 52 week lows. I am looking at closed-end funds that are exposed to Detroit and Michigan, looking at their underlying assets, and seeing which assets are most likely to continue performing despite this Chapter 9 filing.

This is where opportunity is because the NAV will go up, the discount to NAV (net asset value) will go up, and the dividends right now are huge (10% as-if taxed).

I can't do this research on my own so I call other fund managers who are more expert and look at what others are buying.

 

[J. Altucher]

1. If you had to start all over again from scratch, what you'd do to create a mutli million dollar business (which niche/business?)

I love service businesses because they are profitable from the start. Because I'm fascinated by publishing, I'd open a publishing services business to help authors get edited, marketed, designed, published, rights sold, etc.

I also think there's huge opportunity for selling information products via email marketing.

And there's still opportunity opening up a service business that can turn into a product business on social media marketing and SMS marketing.

I also want to do "the smart toilet". You pee, then urinalysis happens to tell you every day how healthy or sick you are.

 

[J. Altucher]

I know you don't recommend buying a home so what then should I do with my money as a secure investment while I rent a condo. At my age I was thinking I would just buy a condo for 150k and use the 70k as a down payment for security but would love to hear an alternative plan

Either way you are going to be draining money with mortgage interest and maintenance or rent. 70k is not a lot to retire on unfortunately.

I am sorry for what happened with you and your husband. I hope he is being financially supportive.

50 is no so old. My best recommendation is you invest in yourself. This is where the highest returns are. Keep building teh webbusiness and seo business, but expand your services even more - build FB pages, do Pinterest content, manage twitter presences and blogs for your clients, and even set up SMS campaigns for your clients (have them put QR codes on their products and people scan them to get coupons, etc).

Build out your services and charge more. You will make more andmore money over time and have a good list of clients and maybe you will even be able to sell your business.

 

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[Jonleehacker]

James, have you ever seen this, thought it might be interesting to you:

[video=youtube;oSkOVkgd8hY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oSkOVkgd8hY[/video]

 

[J. Altucher]

2. you talk a lot about investing etc....what are the best resources to learn about all this investing/stocks etc?

Read everything you can about Warren Buffett. Investing is not about trading or making money or charts or whatever. investing is about understanding business.

 

[J. Altucher]

A small commercial break. Joe DiMaggio's family asked me to do a blog post commemorating the anniversary of his 56 game hitting streak. They just posted it. Proud to be part of that:

Create Your Own 56-Day Hitting Streak by

 

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[Jonleehacker]

If I were a first-time author I'd:

A) improve my writing by writing every day and reading every day and developing a unique perspective. This takes practice and time.
B) start blogging for very popular sites to improve my skills AND my audience
C) leverage that into linking to your twitter account and personal blog to improve your audience.

Great tips, thank you.

A follow up question. I like to write about trading/investing/finance, self help (probably the area where I can give the most value) and raw/vegan foods (I healed myself of a pretty serious illness by changing my diet).

The problem is the diversity, should I write under three pen names. I have a personal blog but I stopped writing on it because it seems like every post I alienate 2/3 of my readers.

Any advice on how to build an audience in this situation?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

James,

Question regarding self-publishing...

Do you have an intent on selling rights to any of your books for international translation? If so, what's your opinion on a literary agent for this purpose? Or would you do it yourself?

The reason I ask is because my book (The Millionaire Fastlane ) has sold international translation rights in 8 languages-- I've had to do that all on my own and I was wondering if you had thoughts on this process. I'm entirely self-published, right down to the book itself. Thing is, I'm not exactly in love with the process of selling rights, contracts, negotiating, etc.-- the one time I used an agent it went much smoother, and was actually more profitable.

Thanks for the insights on virtually every topic we find dear.

 

[GuestUser8117]

F-A-S-T-L-A-N-E. Thread is gold.

 

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[MarkNNelson]

James,

Love your work, especially Choose Yourself. Thanks for doing the AMA.

So my question is in regards to the daily process, specifically the emotional leg of the stool: What if you've surrounded yourself with people you love, and who love you, but some of them are also the most negative people in your life? They're within your inner circle, closest friends, spouse, kids. You can't just distance yourself from them the same way you could from a coworker or an occasional drinking buddy. What would you do if you woke up tomorrow and Claudia was just consistently negative about everything?

 

[J. Altucher]

Great tips, thank you.

A follow up question. I like to write about trading/investing/finance, self help (probably the area where I can give the most value) and raw/vegan foods (I healed myself of a pretty serious illness by changing my diet).

The problem is the diversity, should I write under three pen names. I have a personal blog but I stopped writing on it because it seems like every post I alienate 2/3 of my readers.

Any advice on how to build an audience in this situation?

Don't worry about alienating readers. Your readers are like you - real people with diverse interests. They don't want to read just about stocks. They want to read your personal story and how you get through day by day just like you do.

To be a successful trader, as all your readers know, requires more than just good stock picks. It requires health and focus and enthusiasm and love for what they do.

So don't be afraid to show your real voice. The voice with enthusiasm and passion. The voice that gets you through the day, whether its with stocks or food or whatever. Write about it all and don't hold back anything. It's only through authenticity that you get to be a better writer, build a better brand, an audience, a book, and whatever else you want.

 

[J. Altucher]

You can't just distance yourself from them the same way you could from a coworker or an occasional drinking buddy. What would you do if you woke up tomorrow and Claudia was just consistently negative about everything?

Two things:

A) Don't engage with the negativity. Just because someone says "the world's going to end" doesn't mean you have to say "no, it's not" which will lead to an argument. Or if its a boss or a co-worker, its ok to nod hi in the hallways but you dont need to engage or kiss a$$.

B) Listen when you can. Try to suppress the urge to "fix" things or solve the negativity. Remember, it's THEIR negativity and not yours. So don't inherit it.

C) Finally, having someone to talk to about it (since I don't know the specifics) is good. I'm suggesting therapy but more for tactical purposes than long-term "who is your mother" type purposes. You have a very specific issue. A therapist has seen that issue a 1000 times and will know how to best respond.

But again, the key with someone who is negative but is forced to be around you, you still don't have to engage.

 

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[J. Altucher]

Do you have an intent on selling rights to any of your books for international translation? If so, what's your opinion on a literary agent for this purpose? Or would you do it yourself?

MJ, yeah, you should totally not be writing, running a business, and negotiating the fine print on Taiwanese and Brazilian rights for your book.

I use About Us | 2 SEAS AGENCY | Foreign Rights & More2 SEAS AGENCY | Foreign Rights & More , Marleen Seegers. She has contacts in every country. Goes to every international book conference, and gets deals done quickly. 10% commission, which I don't mind (less than my literary agent was before I fired him).

 

[Sir Ingenious]

James,

If you have a chance to read this, I would like to really thank you.

I read your earlier post in here about cold e-mailing and I've decided to immediately take action. So, I e-mailed a lifestyle blogger (here's his website) and I suggested 10 things that he should publish, one of them being my weight loss experience. He got back to me within the same day with a couple of things for me to share on his blog. So, we're currently working on a possible guest post about my 265 pound weight loss experience! When it's all and done (hopefully), I'll gladly share it with you guys when it's posted.

So, I would like to also note to y'all to choose yourself (and I bought and read the book as well, which I very highly recommend). It really works!

This turned out to be a very good day.