Random Chat, Thoughts, Posts, and/or Rants Thread

[monnffffiiiiiii]

"So moonfffiiii, what do you do?
- I write online. When people read my stuff, I earn money.
- This is strange.
- Why?
- I don't understand it.
- It's like Youtube. Instead of videos, it's articles.
- Ah. Well. I hope you will find what you want to do at some point.
- That's what I want to do.
- Your brother created a company based on a good idea. You don't have similar ideas?
- I am already earning money writing.
- It's not really substantial.
- Why? I earn more money than you.
- Well...I hope you will find a job at some point.
- "

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

More stark realities about American's and their ability to save for retirement, or I should say, not save.

No wonder "save a $100 a month to get rich!" is so simplistically popular as a low bar to meet, most people can't even do that.

Nearly half of American households have no retirement savings

How do your savings compare?

usafacts.org

 

[savefox]

More stark realities about American's and their ability to save for retirement, or I should say, not save.

No wonder "save a $100 a month to get rich!" is so simplistically popular as a low bar to meet, most people can't even do that.

Nearly half of American households have no retirement savings

How do your savings compare?

usafacts.org

Wait till it's time for anti workers to retire

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Big day at my house today, very relevant to the latest posts at the forum! Hired some window washers!

Wait till it's time for anti workers to retire

They're already retired! That's the whole point of anti-work!

 

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[Xeon]

Employee says ChatGPT carries out 80% of his work duties, which allowed him to take on a 2nd job, report says

Ben, whose name was changed by Vice to preserve his anonymity, said he applied for a second job after realizing he could use ChatGPT at work.

www.businessinsider.com

Genius. Making multiple incomes while working the same number of hours.

 

[Primeperiwinkle]

Ummmm

Hm. I’m going down the rabbit hole. Wanna play?

View: https://youtu.be/xoVJKj8lcNQ

 

[SDE]

“Improving (or not improving) 1% a day is not even noticeable. That’s why it’s so easy for people to say, ‘Nothing is happening,’ and inadvertently cost their lives 1% a day. Focus on that 1% improvement and everything changes.”

- James Altucher, Reinvent Yourself

 

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[Antifragile]

The opposite of courage is conformity.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Big day at my house today, very relevant to the latest posts at the forum! Hired some window washers!

Took the window washers most of the day... the final cost ... take a guess?

Here's a pic, front+back.





We have over 100 windows if you include panes, many are 3 stories high. Let's just say, I wasn't expecting it to be cheap.

BTW: I didn't see a squeegee at all, this guy and his partner had some really professional equipment.

 

[socaldude]

Applying the principles of a book like The Intelligent Investor, it seems that some businesses are more speculative and some businesses are more of a sure-thing.

I think a key thing to remember when being an investor or entrepreneur is that we don't directly experience the casual components beneath the surface. There's all these variant and invariant principles at play that we don't perceive directly. The same thing goes for humans when we experience a negative emotion for example.

It's like when you taste salt, you don't directly taste the 1:1 ratio of Sodium and Chloride ions. You don't go Mmm! delicious that the chloride in there! But then Chloride can kill you if it's in a Gaseous state.

The same with being an investor or entrepreneur. If you leave a component out or miss something then you are bankrupt. Even though you were "partially" correct in your reasoning and assumptions. This is what makes this so hard. You have to get everything right.

 

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[socaldude]

take a guess?

I'll bite.

$500

 

[savefox]

Took the window washers most of the day... the final cost ... take a guess?

Here's a pic, front+back.

View attachment 48533

View attachment 48534

We have over 100 windows if you include panes, many are 3 stories high. Let's just say, I wasn't expecting it to be cheap.

BTW: I didn't see a squeegee at all, this guy and his partner had some really professional equipment.

700-1000

 

[Parks]

Took the window washers most of the day... the final cost ... take a guess?

If there was two of them and it took most of the day I'd guess around $1300. Whoops that's forgetting about the nice neighborhood tax, I'll go $1800.

 

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[Guest-5ty5s4]

I think a key thing to remember when being an investor or entrepreneur is that we don't directly experience the casual components beneath the surface. There's all these variant and invariant principles at play that we don't perceive directly. The same thing goes for humans when we experience a negative emotion for example.

It's like when you taste salt, you don't directly taste the 1:1 ratio of Sodium and Chloride ions. You don't go Mmm! delicious that the chloride in there! But then Chloride can kill you if it's in a Gaseous state.

The same with being an investor or entrepreneur. If you leave a component out or miss something then you are bankrupt. Even though you were "partially" correct in your reasoning and assumptions. This is what makes this so hard. You have to get everything right.

True. But what I've seen over the years, watching a company run from the inside, is that everything is an "inexact science," and that no matter what you do and how big you get, you're always going to be figuring it out as you go along.

There's no such thing as "getting everything right," as far as getting it right from the beginning. You are constantly taking things apart and putting them back together again, in the direction of "more right."

Just my impression, I think

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Whoops that's forgetting about the nice neighborhood tax, I'll go $1800.

This was my expectation, the actual cost was a nice surprise. My pessimistic expectations were not met = happiness!

It came in at $1020, plus $180 tip, $1200 total.

 

[Parks]

This was my expectation, the actual cost was a nice surprise. My pessimistic expectations were not met = happiness!

It came in at $1020, plus $180 tip, $1200 total.

Wow. If the man hours was a total of 16 for the 2 of them that's $63 an hour. Great for the customer, bad for the producer. Sounds like not a lot of relative value from them.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Wow. If the man hours was a total of 16 for the 2 of them that's $63 an hour. Great for the customer, bad for the producer. Sounds like not a lot of relative value from them.

2 people, started at 8:30, left at 3:00. So it's a lot better than that. Thing is, they used likely $25 in materials, so they raised their labor costs from minimum wage $15/hour to $90+/hour - a 6X improvement on your time. And they were done working at 3pm and avoided the evening rush hour. I doubt college grads are getting paid $90/hour fresh out of uni with their philosophy degree.

 

[Parks]

2 people, started at 8:30, left at 3:00. So it's a lot better than that. Thing is, they used likely $25 in materials, so they raised their labor costs from minimum wage $15/hour to $90+/hour - a 6X improvement on your time. And they were done working at 3pm and avoided the evening rush hour. I doubt college grads are getting paid $90/hour fresh out of uni with their philosophy degree.

Awesome. Did you find them (online, phonebook, ads) or did they find you? (Doorknocking, fliers, etc)

Why did you choose them over others if you found them?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Awesome. Did you find them (online, phonebook, ads) or did they find you? (Doorknocking, fliers, etc)

Why did you choose them over others if you found them?

I have to ask my wife, she was charged with securing the appointment.

 

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[socaldude]

Window cleaning was a gig I considered at one point.

One of the things I loved doing was walking into Home Depot and just roaming the aisles and looking at the different tools and equipment.

I always said to myself "If I can learn how to use this tool I can do this or that service for someone".

You are better off investing in some tools and some flyers and going door to door than going to college LOL.

 

[MitchC]

2 people, started at 8:30, left at 3:00. So it's a lot better than that. Thing is, they used likely $25 in materials, so they raised their labor costs from minimum wage $15/hour to $90+/hour - a 6X improvement on your time. And they were done working at 3pm and avoided the evening rush hour. I doubt college grads are getting paid $90/hour fresh out of uni with their philosophy degree.

I don’t think many college grads ever get to $90 an hour even with “useful” degrees

 

[socaldude]

I don’t think many college grads ever get to $90 an hour even with “useful” degrees

And that's if you even find a job which most likely doesn't exist.

It's because there is so much money and resources being allocated into academia that they don't want it to stop. So the government and colleges are never going to admit to the waste and inefficiency. The same way an alcoholic doesn't admit he has a problem.

They are going to keep pushing the statistics that college grads make $1 Million more than High School grads and that College Grads have a 2% unemployment rate or that the average starting salary is $75k.

In the meantime most people could have gotten a head start and gotten their hands dirty doing gigs that are in demand.

 

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[socaldude]

One thing I used to do as well was investigate different machines.

Being an economics fanatic I know capital drives productivity. So I'm pretty fascinated by how machines create products or services.

There are a lot of machines out there that are cost-effective that can be used to start a business.

Boom, you instantly have yourself a product or service that's uniquely yours. Boom, instant value to sell on the internet. Low fixed costs and overhead. Boom, run some ads and open an e-commerce shipping account.

 

[constant]

Took the window washers most of the day... the final cost ... take a guess?

Here's a pic, front+back.

View attachment 48533

View attachment 48534

We have over 100 windows if you include panes, many are 3 stories high. Let's just say, I wasn't expecting it to be cheap.

BTW: I didn't see a squeegee at all, this guy and his partner had some really professional equipment.

Wow, your home looks great.

I remember saying that "I don't care about big houses" some time ago but with time comes wisdom and now I understand why big houses are awesome.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Awesome. Did you find them (online, phonebook, ads) or did they find you? (Doorknocking, fliers, etc)

Why did you choose them over others if you found them?

She found them on Google and they had good Google reviews. To add on this, immediately after service we were sent a link to review them on Google. So this acquisition cycle is really working for them.

I remember saying that "I don't care about big houses" some time ago but with time comes wisdom and now I understand why big houses are awesome.

In a lot of ways, a big house is like having a bigger company -- you just need to hire more people to manage it. When you have good people (and people who aren't charging you a "big house premium") things go pretty smoothly. Surprisingly, the time to manage this place feels about the same from other houses I've owned. The biggest house I lived in before this house was 5,400 square feet... this is more than twice the size, but NOT twice the headache.

As I've mentioned before, the place where you spend most of your time is worth spending money on. Would love to hear @Envision 's experience if he's moved into his palace!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

She found them on Google and they had good Google reviews. To add on this, immediately after service we were sent a link to review them on Google. So this acquisition cycle is really working for them.

Some more details on her hiring process and the skew that prompted her to hire these window washers...

1) The owner's story was posted on the website, it was a young entrepreneur and it appeal to her.
2) Mention of an insurance policy (our job is hard with high roof lines).
3) Website had a quote estimator.
4) Good reviews
5) MOST IMPORTANT: They replied to her inquiry within 1 hour.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

This might be met with outrage and indignation, but I am asking the question genuinely... when you own a 10,000 square foot home, are there any ways that you consider using it for business or for monetization? Obviously you can use it for branding and marketing, but I'm curious if there's anything else you do with such a huge house that might offset some of the costs, or if in this case, it's purely a private paradise. Either way, I think it's very awesome

 

[Private Witt]

This might be met with outrage and indignation, but I am asking the question genuinely... when you own a 10,000 square foot home, are there any ways that you consider using it for business or for monetization? Obviously you can use it for branding and marketing, but I'm curious if there's anything else you do with such a huge house that might offset some of the costs, or if in this case, it's purely a private paradise. Either way, I think it's very awesome

MJ does with his basketball court. Starts with a friendly game of HORSE and next thing you know 100k plus bets are on the line and he turns into a different MJ crushing souls with amazing dunks.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

This might be met with outrage and indignation, but I am asking the question genuinely... when you own a 10,000 square foot home, are there any ways that you consider using it for business or for monetization? Obviously you can use it for branding and marketing, but I'm curious if there's anything else you do with such a huge house that might offset some of the costs, or if in this case, it's purely a private paradise. Either way, I think it's very awesome

Other than home office deductions, I don't think so. Even if I had a hugely visible personal brand, trying to claim your residence as some part of a brand expense would be playing roulette with the tax man.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

weird thing people do in every workplace:
"I have a question"
"ok"
"You did this wrong."

How is that a question?? Lol

Proper response being... "You're right, looks like I did. Let's figure out a solution for that!"