Is it too aggressive to have ~75% of net worth allocated to BTC?
background: 24 y/o, low six-figure net worth, single income stream ~$100k/yr. BTC is by-far the investment I’ve done the most research in. Rest of money is in cash/stocks.
Seems aggressive to us, but if you have a cash buffer feel free to go with it
Might be a valuable add:
75% of your NW at 24 is around 5-10% of NW when you’re 30.
So losing that wouldn’t be that tragic as it is probably less than 3yrs savings. Upside is about 10yrs savings (if no second income etc).
Fair point.
Mid 20’s, 130K total cash & crypto. Have built up an e-comm biz to about $10K/mo profit currently. Developing a new product currently and into the coming year, if successful this product can get me to (conservative estimate) of 30K profit/mo. But I’m also growing bored as I haven’t done any proper travelling in 2 years and am slightly bit depressed, feel sluggish due to the dark cold winter here. Also got laid off from day job recently, but get a severance of about 1.5K/month until Sept 2021.
Would it be wise to take 4-6 weeks off sometime during this winter (before April 2021) and spend it in a happy city that’s familiar to me in South America? Especially if they ease their lockdowns there in the coming 2-3 months? I can still do some work there but obviously won’t be as focused on the new product…
Thanks for the Q&A!
No that is a terrible idea. For hippies and losers.
Get rich first and worry about the social life stuff when the world actually opens. No point in being soft now when you’re finally making money
Haha sounds about right…the answer I needed, but didn’t want to hear.
Thanks, appreciate your blunt honesty.
I know I’m not WSPs but if you’ve been in flow, crank out your new product. If it’s gonna be a grind now or in 6 months, I’d just take your trip. You’re only young once, and let’s be honest if you’re in South America it’s way more fun in your 20s solo speaking spanish/portuguese than 40s or something. Im gonna do the same thing, in just a few weeks.
Ha couldn’t disagree more. You can go when you’re financially set, its 100x easier with women anywhere when rich and in 30s.
Are you going to travel internationally for vacation in 2021 or delay until you can actually properly enjoy biz/first class fights, hotel restaurants etc?
Thinking of doing a compromise like Villa in Bali or Overwater villa in Maldives where you are pretty well isolated and can enjoy without worrying too much (minus shitty flights). But not sure if it is that smart to do in 2021. Thx
In our case no, too much opportunity. Also have a good enough network that traveling isn’t a big deal. Did that for a long time. When it opens up we’ll get back to it
To clarify your answer here, are you saying that there’s so many business opportunities for 2021 that you won’t find time to do much or any travelling? The time is better invested into finding and closing in on the post-covid opportunities?
Yes. If you think it is smart to go and travel and fuck around when the world is entirely changing in 12-18 months you’re either a fool or already rich. If you’re not already rich, then we know which category you’re in.
So much change is happening there are many profitable online ventures now, too many to even talk about and we wouldn’t give away the best ones.
Lost my day job (only $3k/month) but luckily will get ~$1.4K in severance for 8-9 months. My online biz does about $10-12k profit per month. Should I even bother starting another new job until after the severance runs out (I can probably get one that pays $50-65k/year currently) or just focus on growing the ecom biz? You might say the latter is better but for some reason there’s a psychological comfort when you have a day job (stable income) that you know doesn’t fluctuate like the ecomm biz – let’s one take more risk on the business side too. Wondering about your thoughts on this?
Unless you are financially set for life, go and get another basic career/job where you can do the minimum.
If you are financially set for life then it doesn’t matter.
Hi,
Big fan of your tweets and content, a lot of actionable advice so thank you.
1. London based mid 20s working in operations at a tech construction start-up whilst living at home. Earn around £35k a year with £20k in savings (bank account, stocks and shares, crypto) so far.
I have managed to get some time to work with the sales team in the New Year but have been told that the software is difficult to sell in a niche field – should I be looking to make that transition to sales and then leave as quickly as possible to another tech sales role?
2. Currently searching for a second income to earn online with limited start up cost – out of the two options would you recommend an e-commerce business or learning web design and setting up a design agency?
Thanks.
1) probably best to jump to a higher paying position so look for a way to jump laterally (to another firm at minimum). We have no knowledge of Europe so you should reach out to someone in your city
2) e-commerce or something affiliate based is usually best
I know I’m probably SOL, but if you had to be stuck in a lockdown city (with a crappy winter), any advice you would recommend for salvaging the socializing / dating life aspect for first half 2021 ? i.e. online channels or rather just stick to getting together with prior/known friends in the form of small get togethers at home? I am devoting 80%+ of my time to building an online biz which is doing well, but the lack of socialization/dating sucks, guessing I might just have to suck it up…
You have your answer suck it up and worst case just go with whatever you can get till June or so. Seems like at least another 6 months of this is inevitable.
Not sure if there’s a hard answer for this, but basically at what point would you shift focus from a cash generating but no enterprise/sellable value business to one which can be sold but will take quite a while to build up cash flows?
Background info:
24 y/o, my online business (paid traffic lead gen affiliate marketing) basically eclipsed my full time job this month and campaigns are basically generating cash quite passively. Basically can maintain current level with less than 1 hour work a day.
However I’m starting to get an itch to build something sellable with my own content and products (basically something like the big sites on flippa and empireflippers) but also don’t want to prematurely leave the affiliate marketing space when I know I’m doing nowhere near the volume I could be doing. But I’m also getting terribly bored of running the same types of campaigns over and over again.
Let me know if any more details needed for a good answer.
Also highly appreciate your work, started reading the blog near end of college and changed my priorities in a positive direction.
If you’re only working a couple hours a week, then you should keep it for as long as possible and work on your next project.
If the work hours go up for some reason or becomes a headache to maintain then you should sell it
Only reason you should sell it now at 1 hour per week is if you think profits will decline or you won’t have time to maintain it.
Do you foresee any explicit tax increases in 2021?
And if yes, more likely on personal income, corporate income, property or capital gains?
We’re pretty negative on the tax environment after 2021 or so. Particularly if you are rich on paper and easily taxable (think $10M real estate).
– I don’t believe (redacted) has info about non-fungible coins, what are some I should do more research on?
– Blockchain offers 5% “dividend payments” for Bitcoin, worth it or keep coins in cold storage?
I plan on taking action on these two items in 2021…
I can provide the other transaction ID’s if needed.
1) start with rarible thats a good beginning point there are tons or articles on it
2) your call, we would just keep in cold storage unless experimenting for fun with small amounts
Focused on paying down 50k of debt in the past two years while in SaaS sales.
Does it make sense to move into tech roles if I’ve been doing sales for the past 3 years (this year made 100K)? Recently covid lay off.
I would be starting at mid-50/60k a year, no equity, but should be moving up pretty quickly as I am very knowledgeable on tech and cybersecurity.
Own two affiliate websites under a year old, netting 1k/year.
If you can easily move to a higher performance/cash comp position do it
Otherwise the real money is always in the side biz.
So right now due to recent layoff, you should get another career to at least pay the bills while working on your affiliate/other ideas
What new Blogs/People are you currently following into the new year?
Any changes to efficiency based on 2020 events?
1) nothing new
2) no, just more accelerated and tech is better. Wall Street is dying fast stick with M&A
Really appreciate all that you guys do! Any advice for late 20s, w/family of 4? Income about 90k a year, cash btw 100k-150k, renting rn but looking to buy home if price settles a bit.
Not sure whether to invest, save the cash for purchase, +/- focus on 2nd income stream?
Same answer… second income stream
I just transitioned to sales and got my first client. B2B services, not tech. My income is low right now but low 6 figures might be doable in a year or two. Should I go all-in on maxing out career income to hit 100-110K before starting a side biz? I have the opportunity to work for a super affiliate (to learn the game etc) or could do iPhone repair on the side.
That sounds reasonable try to get a good cash flow, you don’t need tons, if you get to 80-90K then you can comfortably work on a real second form of income
Your thoughts on military officer as a route?
Upside: College paid for, most of the pay isn’t taxable, benefits and discounts as part of it.
Downside: Pay is less than your main routes, and the pay is set/capped. Time is not your own.
Tough call lots of benefits, generally you’re still better off in a white color “good paying” job/career and then do a side business.
Offer for a $25K loan with 2.99% APR for 60 months.
No other debt, 70K a year currently with 35K in stocks/crypto, living in a very LCL city and state. I’m planning to take it and use 10K now for crypto/stock. Keeping 15K in reserve for a big dip/opportunity.
Is that the best use for the loan for 2021? (I’m assuming the loan is worth taking) Thanks again, learned a ton
If you have to ask… you don’t have a secondary income up. Only take the loan if you can generate more than 3% return otherwise you’re just wasting time…
Given how much bitcoin has shot up since the last Q&A, any thoughts on what your next big buy will be in 2021?
We’d stay long BTC should go to $50K or so
16k-ish was spot on too.
Any thoughts on a 2021 price range for a significant buy?
No just dollar cost as always, if there is an obvious buy we’ll tweet it like we always do.
If we sell a product on crypto again then you know we’re calling the top again as explained in Spending for Max return.
Don’t you have any concerns for a rushed vaccine (gene therapy, in fact) that Bill Gates and the likes have pushed tremendously since the pandemic (or scamdemic as some people call it) as the only tool (even mandates) to return back to normal? I myself am concern that this new untested vaccine might have adverse long-term effects to people who end up taking it.
Enjoy your blog tremendously. Keep up the good work!
Usually lots of issues with first trials so who knows. We don’t have any inside info, just assume you will work from home in the future.
Hi guys, thank you for all you do.
I may have to convert my crypto to cash to fund a new business in the next few years. Most of my crypto was bought on an exchange (KYC, bad I know).
I know there are ways (coinjoin, wasabi, etc.) to avoid having the crypto associated with me and sell anonymously. I am also fine paying the taxes, but wanted to know your thoughts. Thanks
Talk to a tax person.
Would you invest in clubs/restaurants in Miami. Knowing there is high migrations into Miami but for another year covid will be prevalent.
26 y/o, income 60k/yr post tax as manufacturing engineer for aerospace, going back to school for masters in mechanical engineering, set to finish in 2023 (big chunk paid for by company, masters will leverage me into next higher pay grades in my industry). Will continue to work from home till at least Fall 21′.
Have 2 affiliate sites that did became profitable pre-covid but now traffic is too expensive and people aren’t as willing to buy my product (health e-book, I know, bad business model) as back then when the economy was doing well.
1. Now that I’m going back to school, where’s the fine line in outsourcing things such as web design as opposed to doing it myself?
2. For my affiliate sites, am I better off stopping traffic until the economy is in a better state then re-running ads maybe Fall of 21?
3. What to do in my spare time after day job & school work – continue on current affiliate websites or start a new online venture?
1) if you can recognize good and bad design you’re good to go
2) no affiliates are making millions right now
3) Not sure what this means, work, do your side job rest of extra time = your choice
Can you give a snapshot of your portfolio (%) going into 2021 (Stocks, bonds, cash, crypto, RE, gold etc).
No we won’t there is already info on what we own on this website. Also the numbers are becoming unreasonable to copy
male 22, college dropout. Thank you x1,000 for your actionable advice. Apart from being heavily invested in BTC:
#1 – I left my stagnating company for a new job, 100k to 140k raise.
Funny because I was interviewing hard in June/July, no one wanted me, this led me to go all in on building an online biz instead while I hired a Filipino VA to complete half my day-job, 2 months later I get a call from a recruiter then get a massive raise, lowered targets, WFH from forever and some nice pre-IPO stock.
#2 My online biz has become profitable for a week now, average $100 profit a day. WTF HAHAHA this feels surreal, I grinded my ass off for 3 months only! Amazing what extreme focus can do! Even though I still have a long way to go, I literally feel invincible right now walking down the street, this is real “empowerment”. I have improved at my day job because I can talk to business owners with more empathy, and have 0 fear about losing my job. I can easily find another one because I can sell like a mf, but I can’t wait to scale this up to 1k/day and quit soon lmao!
1 question:
What tools/software do you recommend for time management?
I tried scheduling dedicated on google calendar but found it quite useless because I don’t have enough experience to accurately estimate how long a task will take me. I just have rough chunks like “cold calls” – “ad creatives” – “fix website” right now.
I just try to wake up and sleep at the same time and grind hard in between at the moment, but feel like I could be so much more efficient with an easy-to-manage software, any tips?
WE don’t use any tools…. So this is the worst place to ask. You either want to work or don’t.
All real work is “spring stop rest sprint” the idea of sitting there plugging in numbers all day is for white collar slavery. Real work is always print grind, rest rest, sprint grind repeat.
Could you please share with us your overall thoughts on the vaccine?
We doubt it works well and eventually we have to lock down through june again. We have no inside info all we know is first iterations *almost* never work.
Just wanted to say thanks for all the great advice: I just graduated at a Top 10 school thanks to your books and post.
Currently interviewing with Google, Oracle, and a few other smaller but high growth potential software companies with unique products. I’m confident interviewing at each place and I’m qualified for all the positions which are Account Strategist/BDR/SDR roles.
Assuming I get offers, how would you recommend choosing between them?
I’m deliberating on a 3-5-years or less timeline where I save a bunch, learn a lot, and focus free-time on following the business building advice you passed here and in Efficiency.
Choose the highest paying one easy. Then get online income up and running or you’ll never make it out
I am someone who works in big tech sales with an eCom biz
My advice is to pick the one with permanent WFH with a hands-off manager and weak colleagues for low competition. All you need is $3000 a month in savings to run advertisements, this should be easily doable with a $90,000 salary if you just live at home.
This lets you hit your targets quickly, leaving time to work on your side business.
Another tip, never overshoot your targets too much. They will simply raise your targets. Software sales is a different game, never let the ego get to you. Once you start working you’ll realize that its just about being at the right place at the right time.
Also, prestige is over. Congrats on the Google/Oracle interviews, but like WSPB said, unless you can start a side biz, you’ll never get out!
Thoughts on ARPA, and its multi-party computation blockchain technology?
It could completely disrupt the custodian banking industry
Have not looked at it so can’t comment
What are your thoughts on the custodian banking (securities lending, global transaction banking, FX Sales) industry long term?
Could DeFi and blockchain custody completely disrupt it? What should I do at 23 years old if I am 1 year into the asset servicing space? Could it be going the way of Sales and Trading?
I feel like I could identify the coins that are going to disrupt the industry I am part of, invest in them, hit a 100X and retire?
Is this a feasible way to approach one’s career (lol). Hedge against it with crypto?
Which of your multiple questions do you want?
1) it’s bleak, you know this, so you take the best paying stable job in finance (if you’re stuck in finance which is dying) and invest into crypto to hedge.
47 years old, full time affiliate marketer since 2010.
My asset allocation is:
15% cash/equity
20% house where we live in
25% pension fund (about 40% in stocks, all locked until 60+)
40% crypto (mainly BTC, some ETH, rest alt/shitcoins)
I “hope” that BTC gets to 60k in 6 to 9 months (stock-to-flow model etc) and I plan to sell 2/3 of my crypto assets then, put them gradually into stocks and this would fit my definition of being “financially independent” (but I want to continue to work at least 50%).
What is my chance to succeed (BTC price target)? Or would you sell some BTC already now due to my over-exposure to crypto? (I’m a HODLer since early 2015 so I already went through a crypto crash once.
1) we have no idea, we think $50K is possible but no one can tell you the future or give you odds. We’re not fortune tellers
2) Seems like you are fine if you’re already independent without crypto.
No real expenses or debt for 2021 — I’ll be staying at parents for the year building second stream of income.
1. I have around ~50 PTO days accumulated. How would you recommend deploying that?
I am considering either a lump sum of 4 weeks OR one day each week throughout the year.
2. What are thoughts on DeFi space for building out second stream of income?
Not so much for trading but more for leveraging eng background to build and sell tools and infra.
1) our view is to take the lump sum if you can… unclear what the situation is but dont get yourself fired by taking off a month
2) we have limited amounts involved nothing worth talking about as the space is volatile and new so it could get hacked like other new projects
thanks for all your actionable advice and commentary – I hope to break some ground in 2021
spent over 4 months creating an ecommerce store, then finally got to testing the market and the results were awful.
Not sure what went wrong, could be a low-demand product, high price point, not connecting with audience (although I don’t believe any of those were actually an issue). The site’s been closed for over a month now.
– How would you go about self-diagnosing possible issues in this realm? I have limited sales/marketing skills and contemplating taking online courses to understand it better.
– When would it make sense to scrap the project and move on to something else?
1) we can’t help you with that limited info and it doesn’t sound like you have even tried to figure it out to be honest. Step 1 are your ads converting if not why? Step 2 if you didnt do step 1, did you prove to yourself you can make ads that convert. Step 3 if you didnt do either step 1 or 2… prove you can make ads that convert by becoming an affiliate.
2) should scrap if you can’t answer any of the above.
27, making 40k. I’m learning SWE (self study and school)..to get to to 6 figures, and have the skills to build a side income.
These skills take a while to learn and with tech changing constantly..I feel like I’m always missing opportunities. Best advice for me to catch up ASAP?
Same as efficiency, get into the 6 figure role and start a biz on side. Biz is always 100x more valuable than career
Two questions:
(1) I work for a Big 4 accounting firm (I’m in my mid 20s) and am considering focusing on tech/healthcare or tax. Tech/healthcare is the obvious play but tax isn’t going anywhere (and tax is (surprisingly) more interesting). Thoughts on which path to pursue? Considering whether there might be opp to combine interests (e.g., crypto tax advisory, etc.).
(2) NW is around $600k (half is tied up in property we are selling), 50% tech/healthcare ETFs, 4% crypto (aiming for 10% crypto), 40% cash, 6% TIPs. Thinking about using 50% of current cash (i.e., 20% of NW) in a RE debt deal or just putting more in the market/crypto. Thoughts on how to deploy cash and on NW allocation generally? Thanks.
1) tax sounds fine
2) if you’re in your mid 20s more should be in crypto and high-tech
Getting any info on bonuses on the street this year? As a whole, industry has been working some of the worst hours ever this year, and deals have been getting done since late summer, but also seems like management teams have good excuse to pay down and keep their margins up.
It was up slightly call it +5%. Eventhough record profits, only the top of top got paid.
Why? No one can get competing offers in this environment!
Starting at a BB summer 2021 – which should I join as an analyst:
A) Tech coverage, so ECM, DCM, M&A and 85 hours per week
B) Generalist sell-side M&A (but transactions under 2 billion) and 70 hours per week
Concerns with A: hours leave less time for side biz, ecm/dcm are dying
Concerns with B: no buy-side M&A, some deals in dying industries, PE exit ops lean to middle market firms due to smaller transactions
Easy go to M&A, there is no real value in ECM/DCM for buyside so your comment makes little sense.
Age 27. NW slightly over 1M invested as you guys mentioned in Triangle Investing. Income 700-800k/year working 50hrs/week. Having second stream of income small size. Building the third stream of income but not quite there yet. Getting offer to work remotely with pay cut. How much pay cut should I consider given I want the flexibility and still work on something on the side? Should I consider semi or full on digital nomad lifestyle?
You should be willing to go down about 20%. Right now, no reason to do it since everyone is working from home already. Your call though seems like you’re not ready to take a pay cut if you’re only working 50 hours a week and haven’t had any of the biz ideas scale big enough
Currently, what’s the best exchange to purchase crypto on?
Wouldn’t recommend it but if you must use an exchange its binance usually
35 year old male working and making good money as an IT contractor in the healthcare sector (dev/dev lead and data science).
Studied econ/maths/stats (basically financial engineering) at bachelor level. Ended up working in tech and studied CS for my master’s degree.
Spent my twenties involved in eCommerce, self-taught web development, and set up a couple of online businesses. Didn’t make it big at the time due mainly to a lack of money and experience.
Now, I’m considering options to ramp things up. I have time, but not a lot of money.
Which option do you prefer from the following:
1. Specialise in IT for healthcare sector + build a new e-Commerce biz on the side.
2. Focus on pure development work, build portfolio, and aim for FAANG/startups.
3. Pivot towards more lucrative contractor dev work in quant finance / the City.
Sounds like #1 or #2 are the best.
Choose the one that fits your skills, this is jsut a ramble and doesn’t say much. Choose either 1 or 2. Make sure your skill align with the work, your interests don’t matter
Is taking out student loans in 2021 to buy bitcoin a bad idea?
Extremely dangerous.
I’m a Web Designer looking to build websites for Personal Trainers that work online and in-person.
Is this a bad niche since you guys most of the gyms will suffer in 2021?
Just offer web design for everything. Better to broaden out as your niche is small enough
Is it too aggressive to have ~75% of net worth allocated to BTC?
background: 24 y/o, low six-figure net worth, single income stream ~$100k/yr. BTC is by-far the investment I’ve done the most research in. Rest of money is in cash/stocks.
Seems aggressive to us, but if you have a cash buffer feel free to go with it
Might be a valuable add:
75% of your NW at 24 is around 5-10% of NW when you’re 30.
So losing that wouldn’t be that tragic as it is probably less than 3yrs savings. Upside is about 10yrs savings (if no second income etc).
Fair point.
Mid 20’s, 130K total cash & crypto. Have built up an e-comm biz to about $10K/mo profit currently. Developing a new product currently and into the coming year, if successful this product can get me to (conservative estimate) of 30K profit/mo. But I’m also growing bored as I haven’t done any proper travelling in 2 years and am slightly bit depressed, feel sluggish due to the dark cold winter here. Also got laid off from day job recently, but get a severance of about 1.5K/month until Sept 2021.
Would it be wise to take 4-6 weeks off sometime during this winter (before April 2021) and spend it in a happy city that’s familiar to me in South America? Especially if they ease their lockdowns there in the coming 2-3 months? I can still do some work there but obviously won’t be as focused on the new product…
Thanks for the Q&A!
No that is a terrible idea. For hippies and losers.
Get rich first and worry about the social life stuff when the world actually opens. No point in being soft now when you’re finally making money
Haha sounds about right…the answer I needed, but didn’t want to hear.
Thanks, appreciate your blunt honesty.
I know I’m not WSPs but if you’ve been in flow, crank out your new product. If it’s gonna be a grind now or in 6 months, I’d just take your trip. You’re only young once, and let’s be honest if you’re in South America it’s way more fun in your 20s solo speaking spanish/portuguese than 40s or something. Im gonna do the same thing, in just a few weeks.
Ha couldn’t disagree more. You can go when you’re financially set, its 100x easier with women anywhere when rich and in 30s.
Are you going to travel internationally for vacation in 2021 or delay until you can actually properly enjoy biz/first class fights, hotel restaurants etc?
Thinking of doing a compromise like Villa in Bali or Overwater villa in Maldives where you are pretty well isolated and can enjoy without worrying too much (minus shitty flights). But not sure if it is that smart to do in 2021. Thx
In our case no, too much opportunity. Also have a good enough network that traveling isn’t a big deal. Did that for a long time. When it opens up we’ll get back to it
To clarify your answer here, are you saying that there’s so many business opportunities for 2021 that you won’t find time to do much or any travelling? The time is better invested into finding and closing in on the post-covid opportunities?
Yes. If you think it is smart to go and travel and fuck around when the world is entirely changing in 12-18 months you’re either a fool or already rich. If you’re not already rich, then we know which category you’re in.
So much change is happening there are many profitable online ventures now, too many to even talk about and we wouldn’t give away the best ones.
Lost my day job (only $3k/month) but luckily will get ~$1.4K in severance for 8-9 months. My online biz does about $10-12k profit per month. Should I even bother starting another new job until after the severance runs out (I can probably get one that pays $50-65k/year currently) or just focus on growing the ecom biz? You might say the latter is better but for some reason there’s a psychological comfort when you have a day job (stable income) that you know doesn’t fluctuate like the ecomm biz – let’s one take more risk on the business side too. Wondering about your thoughts on this?
Unless you are financially set for life, go and get another basic career/job where you can do the minimum.
If you are financially set for life then it doesn’t matter.
Hi,
Big fan of your tweets and content, a lot of actionable advice so thank you.
1. London based mid 20s working in operations at a tech construction start-up whilst living at home. Earn around £35k a year with £20k in savings (bank account, stocks and shares, crypto) so far.
I have managed to get some time to work with the sales team in the New Year but have been told that the software is difficult to sell in a niche field – should I be looking to make that transition to sales and then leave as quickly as possible to another tech sales role?
2. Currently searching for a second income to earn online with limited start up cost – out of the two options would you recommend an e-commerce business or learning web design and setting up a design agency?
Thanks.
1) probably best to jump to a higher paying position so look for a way to jump laterally (to another firm at minimum). We have no knowledge of Europe so you should reach out to someone in your city
2) e-commerce or something affiliate based is usually best
I know I’m probably SOL, but if you had to be stuck in a lockdown city (with a crappy winter), any advice you would recommend for salvaging the socializing / dating life aspect for first half 2021 ? i.e. online channels or rather just stick to getting together with prior/known friends in the form of small get togethers at home? I am devoting 80%+ of my time to building an online biz which is doing well, but the lack of socialization/dating sucks, guessing I might just have to suck it up…
You have your answer suck it up and worst case just go with whatever you can get till June or so. Seems like at least another 6 months of this is inevitable.
Not sure if there’s a hard answer for this, but basically at what point would you shift focus from a cash generating but no enterprise/sellable value business to one which can be sold but will take quite a while to build up cash flows?
Background info:
24 y/o, my online business (paid traffic lead gen affiliate marketing) basically eclipsed my full time job this month and campaigns are basically generating cash quite passively. Basically can maintain current level with less than 1 hour work a day.
However I’m starting to get an itch to build something sellable with my own content and products (basically something like the big sites on flippa and empireflippers) but also don’t want to prematurely leave the affiliate marketing space when I know I’m doing nowhere near the volume I could be doing. But I’m also getting terribly bored of running the same types of campaigns over and over again.
Let me know if any more details needed for a good answer.
Also highly appreciate your work, started reading the blog near end of college and changed my priorities in a positive direction.
If you’re only working a couple hours a week, then you should keep it for as long as possible and work on your next project.
If the work hours go up for some reason or becomes a headache to maintain then you should sell it
Only reason you should sell it now at 1 hour per week is if you think profits will decline or you won’t have time to maintain it.
Do you foresee any explicit tax increases in 2021?
And if yes, more likely on personal income, corporate income, property or capital gains?
We’re pretty negative on the tax environment after 2021 or so. Particularly if you are rich on paper and easily taxable (think $10M real estate).
– I don’t believe (redacted) has info about non-fungible coins, what are some I should do more research on?
– Blockchain offers 5% “dividend payments” for Bitcoin, worth it or keep coins in cold storage?
I plan on taking action on these two items in 2021…
I can provide the other transaction ID’s if needed.
1) start with rarible thats a good beginning point there are tons or articles on it
2) your call, we would just keep in cold storage unless experimenting for fun with small amounts
In that case you’re all set
25 y/o,
10k BTC / 5k Gold / 2k Equities / 15k Cash
Focused on paying down 50k of debt in the past two years while in SaaS sales.
Does it make sense to move into tech roles if I’ve been doing sales for the past 3 years (this year made 100K)? Recently covid lay off.
I would be starting at mid-50/60k a year, no equity, but should be moving up pretty quickly as I am very knowledgeable on tech and cybersecurity.
Own two affiliate websites under a year old, netting 1k/year.
If you can easily move to a higher performance/cash comp position do it
Otherwise the real money is always in the side biz.
So right now due to recent layoff, you should get another career to at least pay the bills while working on your affiliate/other ideas
What new Blogs/People are you currently following into the new year?
Any changes to efficiency based on 2020 events?
1) nothing new
2) no, just more accelerated and tech is better. Wall Street is dying fast stick with M&A
Really appreciate all that you guys do! Any advice for late 20s, w/family of 4? Income about 90k a year, cash btw 100k-150k, renting rn but looking to buy home if price settles a bit.
Not sure whether to invest, save the cash for purchase, +/- focus on 2nd income stream?
Same answer… second income stream
I just transitioned to sales and got my first client. B2B services, not tech. My income is low right now but low 6 figures might be doable in a year or two. Should I go all-in on maxing out career income to hit 100-110K before starting a side biz? I have the opportunity to work for a super affiliate (to learn the game etc) or could do iPhone repair on the side.
That sounds reasonable try to get a good cash flow, you don’t need tons, if you get to 80-90K then you can comfortably work on a real second form of income
Your thoughts on military officer as a route?
Upside: College paid for, most of the pay isn’t taxable, benefits and discounts as part of it.
Downside: Pay is less than your main routes, and the pay is set/capped. Time is not your own.
Tough call lots of benefits, generally you’re still better off in a white color “good paying” job/career and then do a side business.
Offer for a $25K loan with 2.99% APR for 60 months.
No other debt, 70K a year currently with 35K in stocks/crypto, living in a very LCL city and state. I’m planning to take it and use 10K now for crypto/stock. Keeping 15K in reserve for a big dip/opportunity.
Is that the best use for the loan for 2021? (I’m assuming the loan is worth taking) Thanks again, learned a ton
If you have to ask… you don’t have a secondary income up. Only take the loan if you can generate more than 3% return otherwise you’re just wasting time…
Given how much bitcoin has shot up since the last Q&A, any thoughts on what your next big buy will be in 2021?
We’d stay long BTC should go to $50K or so
16k-ish was spot on too.
Any thoughts on a 2021 price range for a significant buy?
No just dollar cost as always, if there is an obvious buy we’ll tweet it like we always do.
If we sell a product on crypto again then you know we’re calling the top again as explained in Spending for Max return.
Don’t you have any concerns for a rushed vaccine (gene therapy, in fact) that Bill Gates and the likes have pushed tremendously since the pandemic (or scamdemic as some people call it) as the only tool (even mandates) to return back to normal? I myself am concern that this new untested vaccine might have adverse long-term effects to people who end up taking it.
Enjoy your blog tremendously. Keep up the good work!
Usually lots of issues with first trials so who knows. We don’t have any inside info, just assume you will work from home in the future.
Hi guys, thank you for all you do.
I may have to convert my crypto to cash to fund a new business in the next few years. Most of my crypto was bought on an exchange (KYC, bad I know).
I know there are ways (coinjoin, wasabi, etc.) to avoid having the crypto associated with me and sell anonymously. I am also fine paying the taxes, but wanted to know your thoughts. Thanks
Talk to a tax person.
Would you invest in clubs/restaurants in Miami. Knowing there is high migrations into Miami but for another year covid will be prevalent.
26 y/o, income 60k/yr post tax as manufacturing engineer for aerospace, going back to school for masters in mechanical engineering, set to finish in 2023 (big chunk paid for by company, masters will leverage me into next higher pay grades in my industry). Will continue to work from home till at least Fall 21′.
Have 2 affiliate sites that did became profitable pre-covid but now traffic is too expensive and people aren’t as willing to buy my product (health e-book, I know, bad business model) as back then when the economy was doing well.
1. Now that I’m going back to school, where’s the fine line in outsourcing things such as web design as opposed to doing it myself?
2. For my affiliate sites, am I better off stopping traffic until the economy is in a better state then re-running ads maybe Fall of 21?
3. What to do in my spare time after day job & school work – continue on current affiliate websites or start a new online venture?
1) if you can recognize good and bad design you’re good to go
2) no affiliates are making millions right now
3) Not sure what this means, work, do your side job rest of extra time = your choice
Can you give a snapshot of your portfolio (%) going into 2021 (Stocks, bonds, cash, crypto, RE, gold etc).
No we won’t there is already info on what we own on this website. Also the numbers are becoming unreasonable to copy
male 22, college dropout. Thank you x1,000 for your actionable advice. Apart from being heavily invested in BTC:
#1 – I left my stagnating company for a new job, 100k to 140k raise.
Funny because I was interviewing hard in June/July, no one wanted me, this led me to go all in on building an online biz instead while I hired a Filipino VA to complete half my day-job, 2 months later I get a call from a recruiter then get a massive raise, lowered targets, WFH from forever and some nice pre-IPO stock.
#2 My online biz has become profitable for a week now, average $100 profit a day. WTF HAHAHA this feels surreal, I grinded my ass off for 3 months only! Amazing what extreme focus can do! Even though I still have a long way to go, I literally feel invincible right now walking down the street, this is real “empowerment”. I have improved at my day job because I can talk to business owners with more empathy, and have 0 fear about losing my job. I can easily find another one because I can sell like a mf, but I can’t wait to scale this up to 1k/day and quit soon lmao!
1 question:
What tools/software do you recommend for time management?
I tried scheduling dedicated on google calendar but found it quite useless because I don’t have enough experience to accurately estimate how long a task will take me. I just have rough chunks like “cold calls” – “ad creatives” – “fix website” right now.
I just try to wake up and sleep at the same time and grind hard in between at the moment, but feel like I could be so much more efficient with an easy-to-manage software, any tips?
WE don’t use any tools…. So this is the worst place to ask. You either want to work or don’t.
All real work is “spring stop rest sprint” the idea of sitting there plugging in numbers all day is for white collar slavery. Real work is always print grind, rest rest, sprint grind repeat.
Could you please share with us your overall thoughts on the vaccine?
We doubt it works well and eventually we have to lock down through june again. We have no inside info all we know is first iterations *almost* never work.
Just wanted to say thanks for all the great advice: I just graduated at a Top 10 school thanks to your books and post.
Currently interviewing with Google, Oracle, and a few other smaller but high growth potential software companies with unique products. I’m confident interviewing at each place and I’m qualified for all the positions which are Account Strategist/BDR/SDR roles.
Assuming I get offers, how would you recommend choosing between them?
I’m deliberating on a 3-5-years or less timeline where I save a bunch, learn a lot, and focus free-time on following the business building advice you passed here and in Efficiency.
Choose the highest paying one easy. Then get online income up and running or you’ll never make it out
I am someone who works in big tech sales with an eCom biz
My advice is to pick the one with permanent WFH with a hands-off manager and weak colleagues for low competition. All you need is $3000 a month in savings to run advertisements, this should be easily doable with a $90,000 salary if you just live at home.
This lets you hit your targets quickly, leaving time to work on your side business.
Another tip, never overshoot your targets too much. They will simply raise your targets. Software sales is a different game, never let the ego get to you. Once you start working you’ll realize that its just about being at the right place at the right time.
Also, prestige is over. Congrats on the Google/Oracle interviews, but like WSPB said, unless you can start a side biz, you’ll never get out!
Thoughts on ARPA, and its multi-party computation blockchain technology?
It could completely disrupt the custodian banking industry
Have not looked at it so can’t comment
What are your thoughts on the custodian banking (securities lending, global transaction banking, FX Sales) industry long term?
Could DeFi and blockchain custody completely disrupt it? What should I do at 23 years old if I am 1 year into the asset servicing space? Could it be going the way of Sales and Trading?
I feel like I could identify the coins that are going to disrupt the industry I am part of, invest in them, hit a 100X and retire?
Is this a feasible way to approach one’s career (lol). Hedge against it with crypto?
Which of your multiple questions do you want?
1) it’s bleak, you know this, so you take the best paying stable job in finance (if you’re stuck in finance which is dying) and invest into crypto to hedge.
47 years old, full time affiliate marketer since 2010.
My asset allocation is:
15% cash/equity
20% house where we live in
25% pension fund (about 40% in stocks, all locked until 60+)
40% crypto (mainly BTC, some ETH, rest alt/shitcoins)
I “hope” that BTC gets to 60k in 6 to 9 months (stock-to-flow model etc) and I plan to sell 2/3 of my crypto assets then, put them gradually into stocks and this would fit my definition of being “financially independent” (but I want to continue to work at least 50%).
What is my chance to succeed (BTC price target)? Or would you sell some BTC already now due to my over-exposure to crypto? (I’m a HODLer since early 2015 so I already went through a crypto crash once.
1) we have no idea, we think $50K is possible but no one can tell you the future or give you odds. We’re not fortune tellers
2) Seems like you are fine if you’re already independent without crypto.
mid-20’s engineer, 200-300k TC, ~300k NW (90% crypto, rest stocks).
No real expenses or debt for 2021 — I’ll be staying at parents for the year building second stream of income.
1. I have around ~50 PTO days accumulated. How would you recommend deploying that?
I am considering either a lump sum of 4 weeks OR one day each week throughout the year.
2. What are thoughts on DeFi space for building out second stream of income?
Not so much for trading but more for leveraging eng background to build and sell tools and infra.
1) our view is to take the lump sum if you can… unclear what the situation is but dont get yourself fired by taking off a month
2) we have limited amounts involved nothing worth talking about as the space is volatile and new so it could get hacked like other new projects
thanks for all your actionable advice and commentary – I hope to break some ground in 2021
spent over 4 months creating an ecommerce store, then finally got to testing the market and the results were awful.
Not sure what went wrong, could be a low-demand product, high price point, not connecting with audience (although I don’t believe any of those were actually an issue). The site’s been closed for over a month now.
– How would you go about self-diagnosing possible issues in this realm? I have limited sales/marketing skills and contemplating taking online courses to understand it better.
– When would it make sense to scrap the project and move on to something else?
1) we can’t help you with that limited info and it doesn’t sound like you have even tried to figure it out to be honest. Step 1 are your ads converting if not why? Step 2 if you didnt do step 1, did you prove to yourself you can make ads that convert. Step 3 if you didnt do either step 1 or 2… prove you can make ads that convert by becoming an affiliate.
2) should scrap if you can’t answer any of the above.
27, making 40k. I’m learning SWE (self study and school)..to get to to 6 figures, and have the skills to build a side income.
These skills take a while to learn and with tech changing constantly..I feel like I’m always missing opportunities. Best advice for me to catch up ASAP?
Same as efficiency, get into the 6 figure role and start a biz on side. Biz is always 100x more valuable than career
Two questions:
(1) I work for a Big 4 accounting firm (I’m in my mid 20s) and am considering focusing on tech/healthcare or tax. Tech/healthcare is the obvious play but tax isn’t going anywhere (and tax is (surprisingly) more interesting). Thoughts on which path to pursue? Considering whether there might be opp to combine interests (e.g., crypto tax advisory, etc.).
(2) NW is around $600k (half is tied up in property we are selling), 50% tech/healthcare ETFs, 4% crypto (aiming for 10% crypto), 40% cash, 6% TIPs. Thinking about using 50% of current cash (i.e., 20% of NW) in a RE debt deal or just putting more in the market/crypto. Thoughts on how to deploy cash and on NW allocation generally? Thanks.
1) tax sounds fine
2) if you’re in your mid 20s more should be in crypto and high-tech
Getting any info on bonuses on the street this year? As a whole, industry has been working some of the worst hours ever this year, and deals have been getting done since late summer, but also seems like management teams have good excuse to pay down and keep their margins up.
It was up slightly call it +5%. Eventhough record profits, only the top of top got paid.
Why? No one can get competing offers in this environment!
Starting at a BB summer 2021 – which should I join as an analyst:
A) Tech coverage, so ECM, DCM, M&A and 85 hours per week
B) Generalist sell-side M&A (but transactions under 2 billion) and 70 hours per week
Concerns with A: hours leave less time for side biz, ecm/dcm are dying
Concerns with B: no buy-side M&A, some deals in dying industries, PE exit ops lean to middle market firms due to smaller transactions
Easy go to M&A, there is no real value in ECM/DCM for buyside so your comment makes little sense.
Age 27. NW slightly over 1M invested as you guys mentioned in Triangle Investing. Income 700-800k/year working 50hrs/week. Having second stream of income small size. Building the third stream of income but not quite there yet. Getting offer to work remotely with pay cut. How much pay cut should I consider given I want the flexibility and still work on something on the side? Should I consider semi or full on digital nomad lifestyle?
You should be willing to go down about 20%. Right now, no reason to do it since everyone is working from home already. Your call though seems like you’re not ready to take a pay cut if you’re only working 50 hours a week and haven’t had any of the biz ideas scale big enough
Currently, what’s the best exchange to purchase crypto on?
Wouldn’t recommend it but if you must use an exchange its binance usually
35 year old male working and making good money as an IT contractor in the healthcare sector (dev/dev lead and data science).
Studied econ/maths/stats (basically financial engineering) at bachelor level. Ended up working in tech and studied CS for my master’s degree.
Spent my twenties involved in eCommerce, self-taught web development, and set up a couple of online businesses. Didn’t make it big at the time due mainly to a lack of money and experience.
Now, I’m considering options to ramp things up. I have time, but not a lot of money.
Which option do you prefer from the following:
1. Specialise in IT for healthcare sector + build a new e-Commerce biz on the side.
2. Focus on pure development work, build portfolio, and aim for FAANG/startups.
3. Pivot towards more lucrative contractor dev work in quant finance / the City.
Sounds like #1 or #2 are the best.
Choose the one that fits your skills, this is jsut a ramble and doesn’t say much. Choose either 1 or 2. Make sure your skill align with the work, your interests don’t matter
Is taking out student loans in 2021 to buy bitcoin a bad idea?
Extremely dangerous.
I’m a Web Designer looking to build websites for Personal Trainers that work online and in-person.
Is this a bad niche since you guys most of the gyms will suffer in 2021?
Just offer web design for everything. Better to broaden out as your niche is small enough