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

[MJ DeMarco]

Like to post something but it doesn't need its own thread?

This thread is for you!

Thought I'd create a random thoughts and chit-chat thread for anyone who'd like to post something, but it doesn't need it's own thread.

For example, I just learned today that an idea I had years ago for an airport valet service is now reality. Not only is it reality, but it is growing and grabbing funding.

The service is EXACTLY as I envisioned it would be.

OAK and LAX Long-Term Airport Parking : Never Park Again

Darn it!

The old, "Damn, I had that idea!!" strikes again!

That said, I might invest as they are taking accredited investor money.

 

Don't like ads? Remove them while supporting the forum. Subscribe.

[Chris25]

For example, I just learned today that an idea I had years ago for an airport valet service is now reality. Not only is it reality, but it is growing and grabbing funding.

The service is EXACTLY as I envisioned it would be.

I was reading a book about this topic a while ago by Elizabeth Gilbert. She describes how ideas are an energetic life-form looking for a human partner. If it thinks that you can do the job, it will pay you a visit. But, if it notices that you won't collaborate to the execution, it will find someone else. It will not wait for you forever.

Now I know that this is magical realism, but it always stuck with me in a way to remind me that if I don't take action, someone else will.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Been thinking about hiring a house cleaner.

Recently received a direct mail advertisement from a cleaning company.

The ad was effective enough to get me interested to investigate the company, perhaps calling and hiring.

As I wrote in Unscripted, "advertising" more than likely indicates a productocracy doesn't exist and the company NEEDS advertising to survive.

I want to do business with productocracies, not marketers.

In my investigation at Yelp and other places, this company pretty much had the worst online reviews of all the cleaning companies.

As I wrote in Unscripted and explored via the productocracy concept, if your company can't survive without advertising, you're running a marketing company.

 

Don't like ads? Remove them while supporting the forum. Subscribe.

[windchaser]

Based on true events:

Meanwhile in social media:

“I quit my job to start a new business”
10 likes
3 comments: Good luck!

“I will be joining [huge corporation X] next week”
200 likes
100 comments: Congrats!!

“My company just raised a $1M round at a $20M valuation”
50 likes
5 comments: Congrats! Great job!
30 comments: With a rich daddy and connections anyone could do it

“I got admitted at Harvard”
300 likes
120 comments: Congrats!!/ You are a rockstar!/ Well done!


Meanwhile at the bank:

- I would like to borrow $20k to start my new business
- Ok, I will need a detailed business plan including sales forecasts for the next 3 years, then we will see what we can do depending on the guarantees you provide.


- I would like a student loan for $200k to attend Harvard
- Congratulations! I will need the admissions offer.

 

[MTF]

Quality of life in the Bay Area is turning to sh*t. Literally.

• If you walk around the financial district it is not uncommon to see someone shooting needles and pooping on the sidewalk. Every time I go for a walk it's pretty much guaranteed that I will see human poop on the ground. San Francisco's Sidewalk Poop Crisis, Explained - CityLab
• Due to the lack of cleanliness, there is a growing epidemic of a flesh eating bacteria that acts like a staph infection on steroids
• Tech money is pouring in and causing a price war for real estate, causing the cost of living to skyrocket. A middle class home 2 blocks away from me was bought for $2.8M cash and they completely gutted out the interior because it hasn't been updated since the 1970's.
• An overwhelming majority of homes in SF are renting out their garage for multiple people to live in
• Homeless people are on every intersection begging for handouts
• traffic has gone nuts(bumper to bumper traffic from 7am-10am, to give you an idea)

If you live in the Bay Area then it's probably in your best interest to leave unless you work in tech or have your own business here.

I'm now traveling in the US and it's my first time here. I've been to Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah (just the Monument Valley and surroundings so just a tiny tiny portion of the state) and now Hawaii.

My observation - and I hope that nobody from the US will get mad at me lol - is that quality of life in the mainland US (I'm only talking about the places I visited, and I'm not sure about Hawaii yet as I just got here) seems to be lower than in Europe and many other countries I've visited. I thought that people saying that were exaggerating but now I tend to agree.

Obviously, this is just a very surface observation of a traveler, not a person living here. The US is huge and I'm sure there are many awesome places to live there. Based on where I've been, here are a few outsider observations about the local quality of life:

• Homeless people (or people who appear to be homeless) and beggars are very visible. I don't think I've ever seen that many homeless people in other countries except for some poor countries like Morocco.
  
• I find it much harder to be healthy here (again, I'm referring to the mainland US, as Hawaii seems to be much better in this aspect). Almost all of the restaurants serve fast food, there's a lot of unhealthy stuff added to even the most basic products (I don't think I've ever seen stuff as weird as blueberry-flavored almonds), and unless it's Whole Foods (which is super expensive), in a supermarket you have a much, much bigger selection of junk food than healthy stuff (I can't believe how many flavors of Oreos, M&Ms, etc. people actually need).
• Never before I've seen so many morbidly obese or otherwise unhealthy-looking people. Then again, when you see people having breakfast at 8 am in McDonald's, it's pretty clear why that's the case.
• Again, just my perception limited to just a few places I've been too: it seems to me that food here (and this ties directly to the quality of life) is not that much about quality - it's more about gorging on as much sugary/greasy/etc. stuff as possible than actually enjoying it. The Mediterranean countries (which I often visit) are the opposite. There's more emphasis on food quality, the cuisine is so much healthier, you're supposed to eat slowly and enjoy it.
  
• The cities are not walkable (though still much better than in the Middle East). I find it super weird that there's not a single shop, restaurant, or anything like that for miles - just homes. I thought that it was an exaggeration that you absolutely need a car in the US but now I see why.
• The infrastructure is very dated. Some gas stations look like they're abandoned or not renovated in decades (and man I hate the pre-paid system), my debit card is sometimes not working at all (this has never happened to me anywhere else in the world, including some very exotic places), I have very bad reception on my phone and mobile Internet is slow even in a big city. But maybe T-Mobile in the US is just shit.
  
• The obsession with the military is disconcerting. But that's a sensitive topic so let's leave it at that.
• Just a random observation: not sure if it's only Delta Airlines, but I was shocked that all the flight attendants were 50-60+, and some of them were obese. I've never seen anything like this on any other airline. Flight attendants are supposed to be fit and healthy to be able to help passengers.

On the plus side, the people are very nice, laid-back, and friendly (except for the Border Patrol), it's very easy to drive (love the wide streets and roads), the wide open spaces are incredible (it's crazy that there are so many national parks and monuments here), and the diversity is very cool. I still enjoyed my stay in the US and felt comfortable in most places, but I don't think I'd like to live there (or to be more specific - live in the places that I visited).

And again - I might have had bad luck or maybe I went to the wrong places. Anyway, it's my impression after my first visit, so it might still change if I go back or see other places.

I guess that it could be a good idea for a thread: which places in the world offer the best quality of life and why, so if anyone's interested, I can start it as I really like talking about this topic.

 

[Timmy C]

Random thoughts and rant on how the script has a massive hold on society.

Was at a party last week for grand final day, if your not from Australia you won't get it.

Was speaking to one of my lady friends about investing business etc, we got talking she asked if I read the barefoot investor.

I said is it another ETF circle jerk?

She said no its about a guy who was broke in his 30s and turned it around. I said did he turn it around from writing the book?

She said oh I think he made a bit from the book but Yada Yada.

I started to speak about fastlane ideas indirectly, about having a product or service people want and need making it run separate of my time eventually so I am no longer a slave like everyone else

She says well you'll need to go get a business degree for that and basically told me it wasn't possible....

I left it there and just said yeh I could tell she was just so defeated alive but not living.

The script has a great hold so glad I've taken the red pill.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Spent Friday afternoon with @AllenCrawley trolling the desert.

Afterward, Allen echoed how cool it was to spend the day in the desert (to him "business was closed") but his business still made money, because it's truly open 24/7/365.

Fastlane baby!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I get a daily list of multi-million dollar homes/estates in the valley (5M+) for inspiration and design ideas. Every so often I'll look to see who owns the house and see what they do for a living. It's my little form of confirmation bias that never fails me.

Every time, the owner of one these palatial estates is a Fastlaner, or a Slowlaner with massive intrinsic value (doctor, athlete, etc.)

I like making a game of it and guessing what the owner does. Entrepreneur is always the safest, winning bet.

For instance a $9M house just came up for sale in my town.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/13950-E-Bighorn-Pkwy-Fountain-Hills-AZ-85268/95103403_zpid/

I guessed entrepreneur.

I looked up the owner and sure enough, inventor/entrepreneur.

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2016/10/07/medical-technology-inventor-puts-9m-ultra-modern.html
(Looks like the house was for sale prior as well.)

Point is, you can always trust Fastlane mathematics to be behind big wealth. I wrote about it ten years ago and it still holds true today.

 

[AllenCrawley]

Spent Friday afternoon with @AllenCrawley trolling the desert.

I had a blast. A much-needed renewal of the spirit and mind.

Afterward, Allen echoed how cool it was to spend the day in the desert (to him "business was closed") but his business still made money, because it's truly open 24/7/365.

Fastlane baby!

FREEDOM!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Very exciting for me to see TMF #1 on the list.

Essence is a huge magazine, the type of thing that could land on Oprah's desk.

8 Books You Need to Read to Get Your Money Right

'Tis the season to get inspired...and set money goals that matter.

www.essence.com

Nice holiday gift!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

If you live in the Bay Area then it's probably in your best interest to leave

[RANT]
No!!!!!

Please for the love of God, if one is considering leaving, please don't. Stay!

Stay and work out the solution to your problems with the leaders you continue to elect.

Californification is ruining Arizona and Texas. Not that those states don't have their share of problems, but rampant shit and homeless tents on Broadway is not one of them. Please, don't move and take your *shit* to Arizona, no pun intended.

We don't want it.
[/RANT]

 

[amp0193]

Got a premium account with MyHeritage. Traced my ancestors back till the 1400's and still +400 matches to check. Very interesting yet time consuming.

Due to my dad's hobby in ancestry... we were able to meet distant cousins of mine in Sweden last summer, and they showed us my great great grandfather's grave in a small farm village. I saw the plot of land he farmed, and I saw the church he went to. I had lunch in the restaurant that now occupies his elementary school.

The impact of coming into contact with your roots gives me chills. It gave me a sense of belonging or significance. Or maybe it's insignificance. Trying to grasp the infinite string of unlikely coincidences that resulted in my existence.


Has anyone else been able to visit the "motherland"... wherever that is for you?

 

Don't like ads? Remove them while supporting the forum. Subscribe.

[amp0193]

For me, one of the hardest parts of this journey is not having someone to talk about this with.

I just went through my "2nd desert".

You know what really helped?

I reached out to a competitor after hearing him do a podcast interview. (Same niche, but different market segment). We hit it off, and now he is the one person in the world that understands EVERYTHING that I have dealt with in the last 3 years. Because his last 3 years has been virtually identical.

Maybe you could do something similar. Find someone's who's been in your shoes. Or IS in your shoes. They're out there.

 

[MTF]

Conference/networking rant...

I'm at my first conference ever. Thought it would be a casual event with cool business people interested in hanging out, but so far I've mostly met "transformational" coaches, people into spirituality, and other weird stuff (one guy was telling me about his dog reincarnating after 6 months - I thought he was joking, but he was dead serious) as well as people giving talks just to pitch something (with a website straight out of the 90s).

Then there's all the noise and far too many people around, making it extremely hard to connect with anyone except for those I got to know online prior to the event. Also, I can't stand all the "where are you from" questions and vapid small talk.

Glad I didn't have any huge expectations. I suspected this would happen, so I'm not really that disappointed, but it's still a good lesson. I went to this conference primarily to meet people I already knew and as a sort of a "test drive" to be better prepared for the Fastlane summit. If it happens, I'm pretty sure it will be 10000x better than this.

Right now, I can say, based on my personal experience, that big conferences (with more than perhaps 100-150 people) are largely a waste of time for me. Better to connect with select people online and just meet one-on-one or in a small group.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

After Columbus discovered America and headed back to Europe, he didn't stop in Spain first. He first went to Portugal who had earlier turned him down. He met with the King and rubbed it in his face. Only after that did he go to Spain.

Just wanted to share that since I thought it's fascinating and hilarious. We need to be more like Columbus.

 

[IceCreamKid]

Quality of life in the Bay Area is turning to shit. Literally.

• If you walk around the financial district it is not uncommon to see someone shooting needles and pooping on the sidewalk. Every time I go for a walk it's pretty much guaranteed that I will see human poop on the ground. San Francisco's Sidewalk Poop Crisis, Explained - CityLab
• Due to the lack of cleanliness, there is a growing epidemic of a flesh eating bacteria that acts like a staph infection on steroids
• Tech money is pouring in and causing a price war for real estate, causing the cost of living to skyrocket. A middle class home 2 blocks away from me was bought for $2.8M cash and they completely gutted out the interior because it hasn't been updated since the 1970's.
• An overwhelming majority of homes in SF are renting out their garage for multiple people to live in
• Homeless people are on every intersection begging for handouts
• traffic has gone nuts(bumper to bumper traffic from 7am-10am, to give you an idea)

If you live in the Bay Area then it's probably in your best interest to leave unless you work in tech or have your own business here.

 

[Longinus]

 

[million$$$smile]

Oh the dichotomy of it all.

We live in a world where smoking a joint is still illegal in many states along with the Food and Drug Administration deeming cannabis unsafe or effective for medical treatment, and yet the FDA and the Dept. of Health & Human Services allows full body scanning in airports that are potentially life-threatening to the general public.

Read up on the inordinate amount of TSA agents that have come down with cancer, strokes and heart disease.
Media Ignores Growing Number of Cases of Cancer Among TSA Body Scanner Operators
These body scanners really haven't been independently tested to the nth degree...

And now we will soon be inundated with high frequency 5G radiation. Talk about a possible way of eliminating overpopulation. Someone ought to write a fictionalized story on that subject.

I just don't trust it nor the guberment behind it.

From now on, I'll take the pat down folks, you can keep your full body scanners for your other victims...

Off the rant.

 

Don't like ads? Remove them while supporting the forum. Subscribe.

[Ninjakid]

I kinda miss the old internet around 2005.

it was like the Wild West, nothing had as much of a grand meaning. People just put stuff online because they thought it was cool. Was less serious. You could only access it through PC, and the internet was like this mysterious and esoteric no-man's land that few people understood.

Now it's just like Disneyland. Safer than ever, but the fun is taken out of it. Every place you visit someone is trying to get you to subscribe to an email list. Everything has some political agenda, there's a premium version for more content...

yeah the old internet was fun, but YouTube and Wikipedia is pretty cool, not to mention this forum.

 

[Bhanu]

Random Thoughts : Last Thursday one of my close relative passed away . He was an inspiration to me . He started from zero and built a very successful business . He lost one hand due to an accident at a young age . He could have sit at home and cursed his fate but he was a fighter . He started a small Tuition class at home . He taught basic Mathematics to kids for living . Slowly he opened a school and then few more schools . His schools now have over 1000 kids . He was always smiling ,always very respectful and very passionate. His story is one of Hard work, being humble and not complain ever. I am sad that god took him away so early (he was mid 40s only) . God took away his hand at young age, made him work so hard and when all was falling in place took him away .
Few things I learnt from him :
- Never Complain however bad your situation is.
- Always be humble , treat other with respect.
- You can die anytime so always try to live your fullest . There should be no place of sadness , suffering . Just fill your life with work and march towards your aim . If you succeed your life will be worth living ,if you fail you will die satisfied that you never gave up on your dreams .
May his soul rest in peace.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Never underestimate the ubiquity of human stupidity, even with people with money. OMG I gotta invest in that new hot IPO ... then you buy the wrong shares.

 

[YoungPadawan]

Does Lightning McQueen buy car insurance, or life insurance?

If oil is made from dinosaurs, and plastic is made from oil, plastic dinosaurs are made from real dinosaurs.

2006 is as far away as 2030.

 

[Limitless4Life]

I always wondered why there are no gyms in airports. Or ‘nap rooms’. I’d pay $10/hr for a bed in the airport instead of laying on the ground using my backpack as a pillow.

Imagine hitting heavy weights/cardio then sauna before your flight? Grab a juice/protein shake on the way out... That would be sick. Something rich people would pay a premium for because it’s a better use of time than sitting around.

 

[LuckyPup]

Is anyone else pumped for nanotechnology?

A little. Get it? A little.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Imagine your life is so empty, so meaningless, that you think about threatening officials for a stupid football game that has zero impact on your life in the grand scheme of things.

For the life of me, I can't figure out sports team zealotry and human beings.

Your team wins you get nothing but some pseudo fake bragging rights over other zealots who value the pseudo fake bragging rights. We won! You won? No, you didn't win. You sat on the couch, stuffed your face with chips, and watched for 3 hours. You win NOTHING. You don't get money, rings, respect, vacations, consumer goods, you get NOTHING but the entertaining 3 hours you enjoyed watching the game.

The business of dead dreams is a trillion dollar business.

Report: Concern around NFL over officials that 'f - - - ed up' NFC championship living in Southern California

 

[MJ DeMarco]

What do you guys think about this?

UBI is a socialist dream and the aftermath of our education system pumping out vast swaths of Marxist adults ill-prepared for the advancing technology world. Instead of adults equipped with degrees in engineering, robotics, and programming, we have an adults armed with degrees in art history, gender studies, and 16th century poetry. Yea, that's why UBI might be ultimately come to pass -- not because its a good idea, but because the people with bad ideas keep pushing more bad ideas to fix their last bad idea.

 

[Andy Black]

I had a buddy stop by today, after me not returning his call after a few hours. He just wanted to chit chat, but I was busy catching up on weeding my yard while back and forth with my manufacturer and a potential supplier, so my head was not in the same space as his. I’m absolutely infatuated with getting my business off the ground and it’s hard to separate from it mentally and talk to “normal people”.

He was proud to announce that he wants to lift his truck higher than it is, so he’s selling off some stuff so he can do it. He’s been struggling financially from a recent divorce, so I’m busy judging his decisions while he’s explaining this to me, looking for approval. Being one to normally live and let live, I oblige the conversation again as I scratch and peck at my landscape. Not rude, but not totally engaged - in the background, I’m thinking about my business.

He then went into talking about game of thrones, talking about the heat of the scenes and asking me if I watch it. Again, I’m mentally not engaged. I’m notoriously anti - TV, have been all my life. Something about spending time watching other people, especially fictional people and stories, actually kind of pisses me off, it makes me feel wasteful of my very finite time. (I know this may get me flack, given posts above). I’d be just fine without a TV or cable/Netflix, but my wife is a different story.

So it seems I’ve gotten pretty sterile in some of my friendships. Anybody else experiencing this? Life is meant to be lived, to experience, but a lot of my interactions with others seem unsatisfying. It’s like if it doesn’t stimulate some kind of growth or value for one of us in the conversation, I don’t appreciate it.

A little sad actually - just not sure if for me or them. I don’t want to be the a**hole that drifts away from all his friends, but I don’t know if I can help it. I notice that I’m a lot more judgmental now as a serious entrepreneur.

Perhaps this will fade as the intensity from startup levels out?

Your friend just went through a divorce and has financial difficulties. Maybe he’s feeling down and doesn’t quite know how to help himself? Maybe he doesn’t want you to tell him he should raise his truck, but wants you to ask him if that’s the smart thing to do when he’s low on funds?

I get less judgemental the older I get, but more inclined to speak my mind (if I think it will help someone).

 

[MJ DeMarco]

LOL

 

[socaldude]

New pet store opened up at my local mall.

Walked in and Labrador retrievers, French bull dogs, Winnie dogs go for around $4K.

Oh and there is also the option of buying it in payments.

Why don't people just go to the local shelter and adopt a dog?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

We should move our clocks back half an hour and stop changing it twice a year.

One of the great benefits of living in Arizona, I don't miss messing with the clocks!