BC LIFE LESSONS
Saved by @Shubham51ngh

I'm not gonna lie.

My success is 95% attributable to running with the right people and being in the right place at the right time.

 The lucky part for me:

It’s a flywheel and it’s all about momentum.

I’ve learned a lot from those folks. I’ve learned a lot about business and management and real estate.

My network is growing.

And I’ll continue to get even more opportunities and meet more people.
My advice:

Surround yourself with great people, add value to their lives so they keep you around, and focus on spotting opportunities.

Do the not fun, hard, sweaty work early so you can build up capital. Then work smart and keep the flywheel going.
And the thing you need to realize:

50% of people are negative, incompetent, mean and take more than they add.

Like crabs. They pull you back down into the bucket. Instead of lifting you up to help you win.

Cut the crabs (even the family crabs) out of your life.
The other 50% have an abundance mindset.

They don’t complain or blame.

They believe you winning is good for them. So they want you to win and will do things to help you win because they know it comes back around.

These are the folks you need to find, help and spend time with.
And when it comes to opportunities:

99% of the battle is energy and excitement.

Because most opportunities aren’t that sexy or that fun.

They are disguised under a bunch of sweaty, not-fun work and sacrifice.

Be able to get excited about something you may not see for years.
Most people can’t do this.

The moment the going gets tough they shake their head, shrug their shoulders, and the excitement is gone.

So they give up or start half-assing it.

And then they’re stuck living in the moment and working for that paycheck next Friday.
Another reason people fail:

They think they need to hit a grand slam and make millions in that first 6 months.

So they play a high risk, high reward, low odds game.

Instead of working on something sweaty and tough but against crappy competition with better odds.
The way to win is to make that first $1000 on the side with a sure bet.

Then $10,000.

Then $100,000 in a year.

All without taking huge risk.

And then getting more aggressive and pouring it on. Making $500k for a few years.

By then you know enough to really win.
Because it’s easy to be lucky when you stack the odds in your favor.

And play a game that isn’t hard to win.

With people who want to lift you up vs bring you down.
Because hey, look at me.

I’m just a country boy from Indiana with a school nurse mom and a construction manager dad.

I scored 23 on my ACT.

And I started moving some boxes when I was away at college.

More from Nick Huber

Nick Huber
Nick Huber
@sweatystartup
Entrepreneurship culture in America is all messed up and it’s a shame.

TechCrunch. Product Hunt. Shark Tank.

It’s all about new ideas. Changing the world. Innovation. 0 to 1. Blue ocean. Venture capital and exits and scalability.

And ITS ALL A LIE.

You ask the average american who a real entrepreneur is they’ll say Jobs, Musk or Zuck.

We read their books and idolize them and hang on their every word.

So the brightest among us think they need a moat. A new idea. Something revolutionary.

Were setting them up for FAILURE.

I took an entrepreneurship course at Cornell in 2011. 24 kids with new ideas. Big plans. Pitch decks looking for series As.

I was #25 with a regular old-fashioned business.

When professors asked me what my differentiator was I didn’t have an answer.

I saw a company out there doing sweaty, non scalable work. They were terrible at it.

I started by trading my time for money. Bought a $1500 cargo van. Used the things I had in my life to make some profit.

I wasn’t trying to educate a customer base.

I wasn’t following my passion.

I didn’t need funding or a network.

I wasn’t competing against brilliant folks from Stanford.

I want trying to prove a concept.

I wasn’t emotionally attached to anything except adding value.
ENTREPRENEUR
Nick Huber
Nick Huber
@sweatystartup
The hardest thing about entrepreneurship, real estate, or anything else worth doing:

You have to be able to look at incomplete information...

Or a complicated problem without a clear-cut solution...

And make a good decision on which way to proceed.

A thread 👇👇👇

There is nobody who can take you by the hand and lead you through a step by step guide to win.

Everybody's journey is different.

The 1,000 important decisions I made to win will look nothing like yours.

This is why success is so hard to teach..

Because there is one skill you need to have to win:

Resourcefulness.

The ability to find what you need and figure out solutions to problems that there are no correct answers to.

Life isn't a textbook.

You can't turn three pages back and look up the answer. You can't ask a teacher.

When you are an entrepreneur there is nobody out there who can help you answer problems except YOU.

And this is the opposite of what most people are used to doing.

High school and college teach you to comply and look up the answer and memorize. Google gives us answers to any question we have at our finger tips.

Except what to do when a problem in your business arises.
ENTREPRENEUR
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Nick Huber
Nick Huber
@sweatystartup
A THREAD on how most real estate folks structure deals with outside investors.

Most people utilize the "preferred equity" structure when they raise money from outside investors. They "syndicate" deals.

Here's the basics:

The person (or team of people) putting the deal together is the "sponsor". Also called general parter. Referred to on twitter as the GP.

They find the property, do all the work, hire the management company and take fees. They often co-sign debt and always secure the financing.

The investor is generally passive, doing no work and putting in cash. This is the "limited partner". Referred to on twitter as the LP.

They don't co-sign debt. They simply read reports and ask the sponsors questions and cash checks every month (if the deal is going well).

There are two equity classes.

"Preferred equity" belongs to the LPs. Cash talks, so this is a higher class of shares. They are first in the "capital stack" behind the debt (bank loan).

"Common equity" belongs to the sponsor. They are generally last in the capital stack.

Sponsors generally co-invest. That means they hold both equity classes. A 10% co-invest is standard.

That means the GP has skin in the game. His 10% co-invest makes him both an LP and a GP.
BUSINESS , REAL ESTATE
Nick Huber
Nick Huber
@sweatystartup
We've used "seller financing" on two self storage deals in the past year.

And it raised our cash on cash return by 20%+.

And lowered the amount of capital we needed by $500k.

Here's a THREAD about a deal of mine and how this magical debt structure can work.

👇👇

My method is simple. In the late stages of negotiation I submit two offers:

One at a lower price.

And one at the exact price the seller wants but with him holding back 10-20% of the purchase price in the form of a 2nd mortgage (with a second position to your bank loan).

Contrary to popular belief seller financing rarely includes the seller holding back 70-80% and acting as your bank.

Two reasons:

#1 most have some debt on the property.

#2 most want most of their money now.

Have you heard the saying:

"you name the price and i'll name the terms?"

This is a case of that situation exactly.

Lets paint a picture here:

Last week I was negotiating with a seller on a property in a small western PA town.

Not many interested buyers so I knew I had some leverage.

His asking price was $4.5MM. I wanted to pay $4.2M.

After a week or two and a lot of back and forth I found his lowest number.
MARKETING
Nick Huber
Nick Huber
@sweatystartup
How you know you've made it:

You get to stop doing business with assholes.

No asshole clients.

No asshole partners.

No asshole investors.

In the early days, when you're hungry, you have to do what you have to do.

Bend over backwards for customers.

Deal with disrespectful partners.

Take investments from folks who don't have the same vision as you do and bend the terms to their liking.

As you build enough experience and wealth this slowly shifts.

And you can start firing the bad customers.

Breaking up with the bad partners.

And buying out the bad investors.

This is different than F U money.

F U money is the next phase...

It happens a few million later when you become one of the assholes.

Tip:

Get F U money but don't become an asshole.

This transformation happens through leverage.

When we start, we have none. Others have it all.

You have no negotiation power because they have everything YOU need and YOU are a commodity.
FINANCE

More from Life lessons

Positive Call
Positive Call
@Positive_Call
3 things to give up to be successful

// thread //

Success.

It's something that everyone strives to achieve.

Looks different for everyone:

- home
- family
- great career

Success is all about vision.

Change your vision. Change your life.

Achieving anything in life:

- provides power
- makes you proud
- triggers self-esteem

1. Unhealthy lifestyle

“Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live.” - Jim Rohn

Achieving things in life starts with a healthy body and calm mind.

2 things to keep in mind:

- healthy diet
- physical activity

Small steps.
But, one day you'll thank yourself.

2. Short term mindset

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” - Mae West

Successful people:

- get up early
- ignore the noise
- read a lot [focus]
- set long-term goals
- focus on short-term habits

Being average is easy.

Choose to be exceptional.

3. Playing small

“Your playing small doesn't serve the world. We're all meant to shine.”
- Williamson

If you never try, you'll be part of someone else’s dream.

So:

- voice your ideas
- don't be afraid to fail
- don't be afraid to succeed

If you play small, you stay small.
LIFE LESSONS
Patrick the Tax Advisor \U0001f525
Patrick the Tax Adviso...
@AskForTaxAdvice
1) Every tax loophole I know.

No sales. Pure content.

If you appreciate my stuff, push this huge thread.

I’m tired of stalling at 9k.

If this group gets big enough, I could do so much more for you.

RT! Like! Tell your mother! Let’s go!!!

***Thread***

2) Pre-loopholes

Make sure tax is part of your wealth strategy.

How much of your income you keep matters even more than how much you make.

Tax is your largest expenses. Tattoo that on your wallet because it’s the truest thing you’ll read today.

3) Almost any expense can be deductible.

I’ve written threads on deducting your vacation. Even getting paid to go on vacation.

If you are speaking money and it relates to a profit motive, there is a good chance you can deduct it. Start capturing these expenses for analysis.

4) One of the easiest ways here - have a business reason you are taking your vacation. Maybe for a rental property. Maybe for a retreat. Maybe for recruiting.

It needs to be four house per day of your non travel days, but that isn’t that hard.

5) Burn in your brain that paying more tax than you should doesn’t make you a better person (or worse if you find ways to save).
LIFE LESSONS
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George Mack
George Mack
@george__mack
THREAD: The top 0.1% of ideas I’ve stumbled upon on the internet.

The rabbit holes (without the distractions).

1. Directional Arrows of Progress

“Study the undeniable arrows of progress.” - @wolfejosh

• The future is kinda like a crossword puzzle.

• Nobody is going to spell out for you - but clues exist.

• Wolfe uses the trend line of history as clues for the future.

• E.g. Look at this directional arrow of progress

• Every time the computer gets more powerful, smaller and closer to our bodies.

• Wolfe used this trend line to bet that Brain-Machine interfaces will be huge and started funding companies in the space.


2. The Cobra Effect

”When a measure becomes a goal, it ceases to become a measure” - @G_S_Bhogal

• British colonialists tried to reduce the snake population in India.

• They offered bounties for dead cobras with cash given out to the killers

• The incentives back-fired...

• The local population started breeding cobras & killing them.

• When the government discovered this, the reward program was scrapped.

• The cobra breeders then released their $0 snakes into the street, making the problem much worse.
LIFE LESSONS
Ankur Warikoo
Ankur Warikoo
@warikoo
The art of cold emailing

A thread...

Cold emailing is the act of sending an email (or a DM) to someone who doesn’t know you (hence the word, cold!)

Every day I get 300+ emails, most from those I do not know, and a shocking number of them are poorly written.

Here are 10 things that work for emails that I reply to

1. A different (but not aggressive) subject line

Ask yourself, what is the most likely subject line that EVERYONE will tend to write.
And then DO NOT write that.

What works?
Personalization (I think Vidur and Uzma will love this)
Intrigue (This is when I first saw you)

What doesn’t work?
Common themes (Seeking investment; Job application)
Aggression (Your content sucks - true story btw. It was used only to catch attention)
Buzzwords (AI/ML startup by Stanford founder)

2. The salutation

It is crazy how this small thing is so impactful.
How do you start your email?

Hi Ankur / Hey Ankur / Good Morning Ankur / Dear Mr. Warikoo etc

Adding harmless emoticons helps (😊)
LIFE LESSONS
Danny Baldus-Strauss
Danny Baldus-Strauss
@BackpackerFI
23 lessons I learned on my path from $0 to $2M in 8 years

// THREAD

1. “Play long term games with long term people” @naval

Anything that provides instant gratification is probably bad for you and your wealth.

Anything that provides delayed gratification is likely good for you.

There’s no such thing as “get rich quick” or “overnight success”

2. “Focus on the $10K+ questions, not the $5 ones.” @ramit

Spend time focusing on the big decisions like asset allocation & building good credit rather than the $5 Starbucks decisions.

Set an hourly rate for yourself.

Outsource everything that’s under that rate to save time.

3. Invest early and often. Time in the market > timing the market

Consistency is the name of the game.

Automate everything.

Sometimes investing can be boring and that’s a good thing.

Early on, investing more and often is far more important than yield or portfolio performance.

4. Learn to avoid lifestyle inflation.

You really do need less than you think, trust me.

Get out in nature, and you’ll see.

Freedom + time are worth much more than nice cars and clothes.

Keep your lifestyle flat even as you get promoted and make more.

Invest the difference.
ALL , LIFE LESSONS

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GREG ISENBERG
GREG ISENBERG
@gregisenberg
Life is crazy. Today is a good day to stop and reflect

10 simple questions that CHANGED my life

(startup life, personal life)

Here they are:

Q: Can you really control that?

Smart people know what they can and cannot control

If you're living in the past, you're nostalgic
If you're living in the future, you're anxious
If you're living in the present, you're at peace

Q: Did you start today with a victory?

Starting every day with a victory sets you up to win

I don't care what it is:

- Make your bed
- Make a wonderful coffee
- Hug your wife or children

No such thing as a small win. It's a win!

You'll win more, if you start winning early

Q: What are you optimizing for?

#MFSA
1. Money
2. Freedom
3. Stability
4. Ability

The world rewards those who are focused

Perfectly prioritize

Are you being optimistic?

Guaranteed: more luck when you're optimistic
ALL , GENERAL
Suhail
Suhail
@Suhail
1/ The first 18 months of starting a company is often life or death. I must've made 5 different companies that each failed within 9 mo. 😭 Each time the company failed I figured out what I could do better. Eventually startup #6 got to $40K/mo by month 18. Here’s what I learned...

2/ Stay focused! Ignore things that are a waste of time: meetups & conferences, meetings with no clear agenda, fundraising if you're not fundraising, reading lots of tech media articles, etc. Every week should feel like significant progress in the first year.

3/ Your first 5 hires will be the difference between life or death. Choose carefully. Be picky. Many of the things we do at the company still are a result of those early hires' legacy. Have fun as a tight knit team. It will change & evolve as you get bigger so enjoy this moment.

4/ Growth may be flat for the first 9 months. It's gonna be okay. Almost every company has experienced this: Airbnb had to sell cereal in-between, Slack failed as a gaming company first, Tesla sold only 147 cars after 6 years! You probably won't be an overnight success either.

5/ In the beginning, do customer support yourself. You will learn a lot about why your product sucks. I did 5,000+ support tickets when it was the two of us. Delight customers & fix things fast while you learn. It will help you build an amazing intuition about your customers.
STARTUPS
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Anshul Pandey
Anshul Pandey
@Anshulspiritual
Rig Ved 1.36.7

To do a Namaskaar or bow before someone means that you are humble or without pride and ego. This means that we politely bow before you since you are better than me. Pranipaat(प्राणीपात) also means the same that we respect you without any vanity.

1/9


Surrendering False pride is Namaskaar. Even in devotion or bhakti we say the same thing. We want to convey to Ishwar that we have nothing to offer but we leave all our pride and offer you ourselves without any pride in our body. You destroy all our evil karma.

2/9

We bow before you so that you assimilate us and make us that capable. Destruction of our evils and surrender is Namaskaar. Therefore we pray same thing before and after any big rituals.

3/9

तं घे॑मि॒त्था न॑म॒स्विन॒ उप॑ स्व॒राज॑मासते ।
होत्रा॑भिर॒ग्निं मनु॑षः॒ समिं॑धते तिति॒र्वांसो॒ अति॒ स्रिधः॑॥

Translation :

नमस्विनः - To bow.

स्वराजम् - Self illuminating.

तम् - His.

घ ईम् - Yours.

इत्था - This way.

उप - Upaasana.

आसते - To do.

स्त्रिधः - For enemies.

4/9

अति तितिर्वांसः - To defeat fast.

मनुषः - Yajman.

होत्राभिः - In seven numbers.

अग्निम् - Agnidev.

समिन्धते - Illuminated on all sides.

Explanation : Yajmans bow(do Namaskaar) before self illuminating Agnidev by making the offerings of Havi.

5/9
RELIGION
Justin Jackson
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
A lot of bootstrappers think they have a marketing problem:

"I need to get better at marketing."

But, it's more likely that you have a product problem:

"Do customers really want this? Do they care enough about this to switch to a new solution?"

☝️ this is why most of my book, @marketingdevs, is about:

1. Choosing the right market
2. Building something they want

"If your product is remarkable, getting noticed is a lot easier." – @peldi


I was reminded of this concept again this morning while reading @pjrvs' book (Company of One):

"Sales increase when you honestly evaluate what someone needs and then teach them the value of what you're selling."


To succeed, your product has to offer an outcome that is highly desirable to a large group of customers.

The number of sales your product receives is a multiple of these two variables:

1. How big is the target market?
2. How desirable is the outcome you're offering them?
STARTUPS
Anu Satheesh \U0001f1ee\U0001f1f3
Anu Satheesh 🇮🇳...
@AnuSatheesh5
Srikanteshwara Temple,
#Nanjangud  #Karnatakatemples 🚩

Srikanteshwara Temple or
Nanjundeshwara Temple is a famous Shiva Temple located in Karnataka at the bank of river  Kapila. Temple is also called Varanasi of South. Nanjunda means one who has consumed poison.


Story is  related to the Samudra Mathanam when Paramashiva had to consume halahala.

Parashurama worshipped Mahadeva here to relieve himself from the curse of Mathru Hatya. While clearing the place to do poojas Parashurama's  axe hit the Shivalingam and it began bleeding, that


mark is still visible even today. Thus
it is also believed that Parashurama did Shiva Prathishta here

Sthala Puranam says that, once there was a demon named Keshi who disturbed the people in the area, after  getting blessing from Brahma Deva  and Mahavishnu. Mahadeva appeared


here and killed demon Keshi and blessed this place as Papa Vinashini. Whoever praying to Srikanteshwara or Nanjundeshwara, after bathing in the  Kabini River will be relieved from all sins.

Nanjundeshwaraya Namah
🙏🕉🙏
ALL