Short(ish) Holiday Edition

“For anyone trying to discern what to do with their life,” the author Amy Krouse Rosenthal said, “PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU PAY ATTENTION TO. That's pretty much all the info you need.”

This was from her tweet. I was really shocked to learn about her terminal illness from her heartbreaking piece, “You May Want To Marry My Husband.”

Holidays and tragedy you ask? Not really, it’s a time for reflection I couldn’t think of any thing better to share as you go ahead to plan your lifes outcomes. When we blather about trivial things, we ourselves become trivial, for our attention gets taken up with trivialities. You become what you give your attention to.

I am on holiday of sorts, so this will be a brief edition with quick lessons and thoughts.

The best outcomes happen with slight changes in mind set. This is the best thread I’ve read in ages on the 3 shifts you need to make to tweak your outcomes to be rich.

In 2024, the original design of Mickey Mouse loses its copyright protection. However, Disney can still take legal action if you draw it in color, because colored Mickey Mouse is still copyrighted until 2035. Are there interesting use cases to build products/services using the black and white versions as they get free of copy right? So, starting at the end of 2024, you can be creative with Mickey Mouse.

Diversification and the belief that you can win by trying to go after ambitious new goals. In 1980 one man who was in the vegetable oil business led unknowingly at the time, one of the largest wealth creation and technology diversification initiatives in modern history. It is some thing that inspires me, I bet it will inspire you. He took some thing boring, un remarkable and completely non sexy and created generationally positive outcomes for 1000s.

In 1980, Western India Vegetable Product Ltd was renamed as ‘Wipro’ & a new vertical of IT services was launched for the domestic market in India. Offering a range of services, including hardware design, networking, communications, and OS support.

Through candid interviews, the perpetrators of Argentina's most notorious bank heist detail how — and why — they carried out the radical 2006 operation. This gives your perspectives on how some people think about scale but likely polar opposite to how you should think about it. It is always interesting to gain perspective, how ever different from ours, it always pays dividends.

Solo founders and the potential to build Multi Million $ Businesses. This has fascinated me for a while. To monetize your time there is no shame in learning from and learning about those who have gone on to build remarkable businesses as solo founders.

BuiltWith: A website that shows what tools other sites are built with. Often used for competitor intelligence. Monetized via 3 subscription tiers. Founder - Gary Brewer Annual Revenue - $14 million+ Employees - 0 full time

Star Dew Valley: A mobile game that monetizes via a one-time download fee (that's it!). Founder - Eric Barone Annual Revenue - $300 million+ Employees - 0 full time

Ugmonk: An e-commerce site that sells physical products designed to help you enjoy work more. Founder - Jeff Sheldon Annual Revenue - $5 million+ Employees - 1 full time (Jeff's wife)

Some of life’s most challenging and irritating problems have simple solutions. Or simpler solutions than we think that exist.

One such issue all over the world is that of mosquitos and the diseases they spread. Some one essentially conquered the fight against mosquitos with $0.50 * Locations , worth of store bought supplies and other materials found at home.

Why is this important? It is because it tells you that you neither need tech, fancy equipment nor do you need an advanced degree to solve problems. Some time you need perseverance.

What it does tell you is that you can use other peoples solutions and can build a services business atop their work which is available in the public domain. Heres one such story for you to read and think about replicating as a service. This one may not be the right one for you but perhaps some thing else can be.

What are Mosquito Dunks?

Mosquito Dunks are small, donut-shaped, floatable larvicide disks that dissolve in water and kill mosquito larvae.

How do Mosquito Dunks work? 

Mosquito Dunks release a bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis aka B.t.i.) in standing water. And once the mosquito larvae consume this bacteria, it enters the stomach cells of the mosquito larvae, where it paralyzes their gut and forces the larvae to starve to death.

And while it’s lethal for mosquito larvae, it’s safe for other living things.

How long do Mosquito Dunks last?

A standard Mosquito Dunk will last about 30 days in approximately 100 square feet of surface water They can be broken into pieces.

What is your Mosquito Dunk Idea? Will you Build it?

Bonus! Thought of the week

To spot counterfeit money, federal agents don't study the fakes. They learn by studying real bills until they become experts. Then, when they come across fake money, they can easily recognize it.

The same principle applies to understanding people and businesses. By being around genuine individuals/businesses and observing their actions, we can learn to recognize authenticity.

The key is to focus on what is real, so we can easily spot what is fake vs over indexing on the fake. As you build some thing new, or make some thing old better, focus on authenticity, you will always win.