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

[J. Altucher]

"How do you motivate yourself to push something out the door even if you know it's not 100% ready?

Perfectionism is the enemy of wealth.

By wealth I don't just mean financial wealth. but also emotional wealth and transformation.

I went to the gym for the first time in my life in 2009. I didn't know how to use a single machine, I was a little bit overweight by my usual standards, and I was totally out of shape.

But I went because I had a specific goal: get in better shape (because I wanted to look better for my yoga instructor girlfriend/now wife).

Figure out your goals.

If your goals is to get feedback from a core group of loyal users, then ship early.

if your goals is to get a speaking gig, then publish your book quickly.

If your goal is to get acquired because you are first in the space, then launch.

If your goal is to get on the NY Times Bestseller list, then wait until you think it's as close to perfect as possible.

Do what it takes to match your goals. Make sure your goals for a product are very clear and do not conflict.

When i write articles about companies without websites I tell them "just put up a website with a contact button". THey don't need a full website.

When I was publishing my last book, "Choose Yourself" I wanted a lot of readers and I wanted to hit bestseller lists so I made it close to perfect and very carefully planned every marketing launch.

When I started stockpickr I had a new version every week. The first version was so bad it crashed all the time and had almost nothing on it.

But the final version had millions of users a month. I had different goals each time.

"100% ready" doesn't mean anything. It's "100% ready according to A, B, C goals" that mean something.

 

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[J. Altucher]

- Can we hope to see you around here again on the forum from time to time?

Definitely, for one thing: ask me questions all this week and next if you want. But I've been checking out other threads and they are very interesting.

 

[TopChef]

James.

Do you have a list of potential black swans on the horizon?

From your conversations with other investors, which potential black swans seem the most plausible to you?

 

[Held for Ransom]

Until this AMA, I'd never heard of James Altucher but after reading through this thread and his new book in its entirety, I can say I am definitely glad he's dropped by.

I think he's got terrific perspectives on a number of different things. His book reaffirmed some of my beliefs and challenged almost an equal number. In many respects, it's exactly what I needed right now.

Great stuff James, thank you for being so generous with your time.

 

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[J. Altucher]

Do you have a list of potential black swans on the horizon?

From your conversations with other investors, which potential black swans seem the most plausible to you?

Don't worry so much about black swans. They are, by definition, rare and unpredictable, regardless of how they are priced.

For instance, there might statistically be a 1 in 10,000 chance of a nuclear war in the US. But it might happen in the next 100 years.

Either way, you lose. Either way, the statistics didn't matter.

What are the more likely black swans? Anything that is highly priced where people say, "we've entered a new era of pricing for this asset" is a likely black swan waiting to happen.

So, one can argue, interest rates and bonds fall under this category.

I can't think of anything else really.

The best way to avoid black swans is to invest in innovation. Innovation will move forward, sometimes more slowly during black swan eras, sometimes more quickly during money-flush eras, but it will always move forward. The way I survived 2008-9 was placing bets on social media. Some didn't survive. Some did very well.

The other way that understanding black swans helps is to understand the aftermath.

At 2008-9 everyone saying it's the end of the world.

Politically and economically I don't care what happened. All I knew was -it's never been the end of the world yet so why should 2008 be.

A current example is Detroit right now. Everybody was saying its very rare, if not impossible, for a major city to go bankrupt. In some cases (states) it's actually unconstitutional to go bankrupt but TV pundits don't seem aware of this (California).

Detroit went bankrupt but it's not a company, it's a city. Detroit can't be "liquidated" to pay bondholders.

So I look at the history of major municipal bankruptcies. There are very very few. Orange County, California in 1994 is the biggest ever.

Guess what: bondholders got paid back 100 cents on the dollar.

So I start to look at closed-end funds that have exposure to Detroit. It turns out almost all of them are at 52 week lows because of this bankruptcy. Not only that but they are all at all-time historical discounts to net asset value and they are all paying around a 10% dividend yield.

This is an opportunity if people are mispricing the black swan.

So that's when the real work begins.
What assets are in the bonds these closed-end funds are holding. What is the likelihood of these assets not paying? What is the difference between Chapter 9 and Chapter 11? What recourses do municipalities have that states or companies or individuals don't have. And so on.

It's actually a good thing that a city can't be liquidated like a company. A city eventually has to come back and borrow again. This means they will work harder than a company to pay back bondholders.

This means in this black swan, like all black swans, we have an opportunity to make a lot of money.

Don't look for the black swans that may or may not happen.

Look for the ones that DID happen and then pluck their graves like a vulture.

 

[Mrs. BRKb]

Great stuff James, thank you for being so generous with your time.

Indeed! I am equally appreciative. This is real time out of real life that you are taking- thanks!

Are you typing a mile a minute, James? Voice dictation? You are so prolific.

 

[angelique]

Thank you, James.

Do you have any sales tips for selling to pre-teens or kids?

 

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[Tony I]

Hey James,

I have been a reader of your blog for a while now. Just finally bought "Choose Yourself". I love your unique, no BS style.

I just had a question about one of your articles "The Easiest Way to Succeed As an Entrepreneur" where you mention how you determined how profitable your company would be from the very start.

I am working on a site that will rely primarily on ad revenue and traffic. Do you feel that this is an effective strategy? Also, any other tips on market validation?

Really appreciate you coming on the forum and delivering such valuable info.

 

[J. Altucher]

I am working on a site that will rely primarily on ad revenue and traffic. Do you feel that this is an effective strategy? Also, any other tips on market validation?

Hi Tony, Don't rely just on ad revenue and don't count on traffic. Here's some possible ideas:

A) Partner (or give equity) with a high-traffic site that could use a site like yours as a bolt-on of sorts. Write articles for that higher traffic site that contains many links back to your site. This will get you more traffic. Do it with more than one site if you can.

B) Just ads is not so good. Other possibilities include:
i. sponsorships
ii. money in exchange for app installs (many apps want to get noticed and will pay per install)
iii. other referral fees
iv. premium services
v. information products for sale
vi. other ecommerce sales

Build up an email subscriber list so you can potentially sell information products down the road.

 

[i3ond]

Thanks for all your time and advice James.


I have two difficult questions.

1. You talked about creating and building business relations, but how do you manage your time and build personal relationships?

2. Your writing and being open and honest doesn't seem like it would be in harmony with your financial work. How do you find balance and maintain trust in a city full of secrets?

 

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[J. Altucher]

2. Your writing and being open and honest doesn't seem like it would be in harmony with your financial work. How do you find balance and maintain trust in a city full of secrets?

I think there is a big feeling that to be successful you can't be open and honest. I have found the exact opposite to be true.

We live in a transparent world. People can sniff out insincerity immediately. To truly stand out you HAVE to be open and honest. Then you succeed.

Let me give a really broad example. Google.

Google is a website. It competes with a trillion other websites.

But if I go to Google and say "Tell me everything you know about motorcycles" Google immediately says

"I don't know anything about motorcycles, but if you go to these ten websites, I think they know A LOT about motorcycles." THen it says, "And oh, by the way, if you go to these three websites, they might also know a lot about motorcycles but, and we're being honest here, they are paying us".

Then you leave Google to go to other websites. But who do you go back to when you need to learn about herpes? Google.

In the same way - be a mini Google in your personal business life and you will find your business life is very lucrative. Google is worth $200 billion or so. Not so bad to be worth a sliver of that.

As far as having time for social life, I rarely do. But, I make sure I only do business with people I like. Often I do business with people I like a lot. So I'm hanging out with my good friends when i"m making money. The best of every world.

 

[J. Altucher]

I wanted to share a post i put on my blog this morning:

How to Self-Publish a Bestseller:

How to Self-Publish a Bestseller: Publishing 3.0 Altucher Confidential

 

[Jake]

I wanted to share a post i put on my blog this morning:

How to Self-Publish a Bestseller:

How to Self-Publish a Bestseller: Publishing 3.0 Altucher Confidential

I just read the email about it and came here to post this

"My most recent book, "Choose Yourself!" sold 53,000 copies since it's release on June 3, hit the Wall Street Journal Bestseller list, was No. 1 on Amazon for all non-fiction books for a few days and is still flirting with No. 1 in its various categories."

Congrats!

 

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[Vigilante]

As a side bar James, you will never see the full number of lives you have impacted and the amount of people you have set free. The book sales above are not just "book sales." To me they represent a potential of lives changed. And then... the book and precepts are passed on. And on. And down a generation. And on.

Your legacy... is bigger... than you. The ripple effect from your words, your transparency, and your real life example... casts impact well beyond what you can see.

And this, for me, is life itself. Well done, sir.

 

[angelique]

James, what is the core message of your book so I'd have an idea of what's in it.

It's about $5 for the Kindle version and he offers a full refund. You can read a sample, using the Kindle option.

 

[1step]

James, what is the core message of your book so I'd have an idea of what's in it.

Hate to be that guy but this is an extremely lazy question and is disrespectful of his time (in my opinion).

Go to amazon.com search for "choose yourself" and go to its amazon details page. Click the image of the book and scroll down, you can see the table of contents as well as the introduction. If you choose you can also read the "book description" and check out user reviews.

 

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[zoborg]

Hi James,

Thanks for taking the time to answer so many questions - its much appreciated.

I would love to know how you keep the balance and focus right e.g.

1) To spend enough time working on your business to make it succesful (especially in the early stages)
2) Be a good parent/husband
3) Keep yourself sane and healthy/exercise
4) When working on 1) Actually having enough mental energy to give it 100%

Having started a business 1 year ago with my wife and still managing 2 kids under 5 (albeit with some childcare not full time) its a very very hard juggling act trying to do both - and seems the focus is always divided?

How did you manage to overcome this? and if its not too personal does your partner also work?

 

[alankong]

James,

Thanks for an AWESOME thread.

What stocks/funds would you recommend for somebody with money in the bank that isn't looking to earn gains from price increases, but through dividends or something similar?

If it is funds, low expense ratios would be preferred. I'd just like the capital to be preserved (I know it's not guaranteed).

Thank you in advance!

 

[Jonleehacker]

James, a lot of your advice and many of the amazing stories from your life, involve considerable amounts of chutzpah.

How does a shy person develop that quality?

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

James, what is the core message of your book so I'd have an idea of what's in it.

Seriously? I've taken the liberty of deleting your message. Don't ask someone to do what you can do on your own in 16 seconds. It's is just disgustingly lazy, and the antithesis of James' message.

 

[pc2dj]

A) Partner (or give equity) with a high-traffic site that could use a site like yours as a bolt-on of sorts. Write articles for that higher traffic site that contains many links back to your site. This will get you more traffic. Do it with more than one site if you can.

Hey James,

Can you elaborate more on this bolting-on strategy?
What are examples of sites that are doing this?

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

How can a service biz turn into a product biz?

Do you mean providing social media marketing & SMS marketing services, can eventually be turned into a SaaS product biz?
Or any service biz can turn into a product biz by relying on SMM & SMS marketing?

 

[Likwid24]

Wow! This thread is pure GOLD. I can't wait to catch up to everything. The way it's going, I may never catch up. Lol.

Thanks James!!!!!

 

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[TheTruth]

@Everyone...


Shhhhhhhhhhh ... Genius at work

I think there is a big feeling that to be successful you can't be open and honest. I have found the exact opposite to be true.

We live in a transparent world. People can sniff out insincerity immediately. To truly stand out you HAVE to be open and honest. Then you succeed.

Let me give a really broad example. Google.

Google is a website. It competes with a trillion other websites.

But if I go to Google and say "Tell me everything you know about motorcycles" Google immediately says

"I don't know anything about motorcycles, but if you go to these ten websites, I think they know A LOT about motorcycles." THen it says, "And oh, by the way, if you go to these three websites, they might also know a lot about motorcycles but, and we're being honest here, they are paying us".

Then you leave Google to go to other websites. But who do you go back to when you need to learn about herpes? Google.

In the same way - be a mini Google in your personal business life and you will find your business life is very lucrative. Google is worth $200 billion or so. Not so bad to be worth a sliver of that.

As far as having time for social life, I rarely do. But, I make sure I only do business with people I like. Often I do business with people I like a lot. So I'm hanging out with my good friends when i"m making money. The best of every world.

 

[Vance]

I must admit, prior to this thread I had never heard of James Altucher. I'm now 1/2 way through his book "Choose Yourself" and one of the great things I'm picking up from the book is, James Altucher doesn't seem to give a sh*t whether I've heard of him or not. And I'm pretty convinced he never will care. Instant credibility right there by my standards.

I grew up in Fairfield, CT., a very affluent town on the coast of Connecticut. Problem was, we were dirt poor and had to live with my Grandmother just to get by. Being poor in a rich town sucks double. James reminds me of the guys I grew up with, the guys I used to hang out with who were like me. The ones who were super smart, started from ground zero, and number one in importance could absolutely laugh at their shortcomings. And we did. Something the rich kids couldn't seem to do.

The part in the book where James gets blown off by a girl at summer camp had me nearly rolling in my backyard this morning (I specifically took time to read out there first thing this morning based on some teachings in the book). For anyone with a passion for NLP or just the mere fact that we link up memories to our senses (i.e. Will Smith's song "The smell from a grill can spark up nostaliga") you will appreciate this very much.

I've always tried to model successful people in my life since first listening to Tony Robbins years ago in my early twenties. James is the good, the bad, and the ugly all-in-one just like we all are. And just like every "successful" person still is. Only he tells it all, like it is. Quite unlike most other success guru's out there. There is no "made it". There's only "keep on trying to make it and realize "it" never comes, it's here now."

So a huge thanks to MJ and to James to for making this thread happen. I firmly believe books and material come into your life when you need them (although this is a synergistic outcome based on many other factors of your life being in place) and for me this has been absolutely life-changing.

I'd write more but I'm preparing several emails to send out with ideas I have.

 

[andviv]

James, just bought your book and started reading it on my kindle. Thanks a lot for your time here.

Another question:
How long did it take you to develop a thick skin as to not care what others say/think about you?

 

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[jpa0827]

James, does this apply to any business or only new cutting edge VC backed start-ups that are doing something very different?

 

[J. Altucher]

How does a shy person develop that quality?

Jon, I know what you mean because I'm extremely shy.

What happened with me is that I had training-by-force. I did a project once for HBO, a web show for 3 years, where I interviewed people at 3 in the morning on a Tuesday night, every Tuesday night. And I had a crew videotaping it.

So I had to walk up to drug addicts, dealers, pimps, prostitutes, couples fighting, etc and get them comfortable with me within seconds and then get them to spill their life story to me.

So I still remained shy (I am so bad at parties and dinners I can't even go to them) but in situations where I really needed to be "ON" I learned the skill and it turned out to be a different skill from shyness versus not-shyness.

One thing I recommend is watching a lot of standup comedy. Those guys, surprisingly are very shy. BUt you would never be able to tell it. I watch a lot and then take what I learn into my other activities. Daniel Tosh and Louis CK in particular.

 

[J. Altucher]

James, does this apply to any business or only new cutting edge VC backed start-ups that are doing something very different?

Every business. I've done this to "reinvent" myself in standard industries on 3 or 4 different occasions.

Let's say I wanted to reinvent again. For instance, let's say I wanted to write comic books.

I'd spend 6 months on the latest things in the DC and Marvel world. And I'd read the best guys: Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, etc. I'd read books on scripting comic books (Scott McCloud has a good book), etc.

Then I'd start writing down scripts and ideas. This is in the 6-12 months period. MAYBE, I'd start sending them out.

Eventually something will stick somewhere (its a quantity game). This could happen within 2 years.

Now my foot would be in the door. I'd write and throw me all into it and come up with ideas for more titles, etc until I built up good trust.

This could take another 2 years but now I'm getting paid well.

Comic books you can't sell a company but hopefully by 5 years I'd be doing enough titles I could name my price. At least that would be my goal.

I pick "comic books" at random. It could be any field.

 

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[J. Altucher]

How long did it take you to develop a thick skin as to not care what others say/think about you?

I do and I don't have a thick skin.

Some things you just get used to. There's only so many times different people who have no idea who you are call you a douchebag before you realize that there's probably something wrong with them.

It bothers me more when my friends suddenly decide they hate me based on something I wrote.

BUt even then, although it bothers me, I can't control how they think. I listen, I try to learn, but then I move on.

If someone says something on a message board I don't even look at it.

Think about it: when was the last time you wrote a comment on a youtube video. Probably never.

Me neither.

So I just assume these people have other issues.

Now, some people present reasonable constructive arguments. I pay attention to those but I still won't let my feelings get hurt.

We'll all be dead in a hundred years and as I wrote in a recent post (quoting someone else), we will either die smiling or crying and I choose to go out smiling.

 

[Sir Ingenious]

Speaking of standup comedy, I just finished a bio on Bernie Mac.

The book was amazing and the guy went through the same struggles as all of us did. He spilled his guts and bled in that book a whole lot. Ultimately though, the message in that book was loud and clear: he chose himself. And it's worth a read in case if anyone wonders.

The link to the book is right here on Amazon.


So James, do you ever think about releasing a biography of yourself someday?