Outcomes depends on numbers. The day we realise this, we do our selves a major service. An example that I read; resonated with me, Picasso created more than 50,000 works of art. How many are considered masterpieces that we still admire today? Around one hundred. In retrospect less than 1% of his creations are still relevant. What's the lesson here? Stop trying to be perfect or being an overnight success. It's a numbers game. It begins with creating things. He created 50k to get to relevance and notoriety and about 20 years from day zero to some recognition. Be courageous enough to share. Put your work out there.

Outcomes

• A beautiful home

• A humidor full of cigars

• A life filled with books

• Walks in Nature

• A body of Water

• A garden

• A compassionate partner

• A slow day

• Every vinyl ever made that you ever wanted

• Bonfire with Family

• Solo world travel

• Michelin star food

Visualise your outcome to achieve it. If you don't know what your end state is, then you can never define a path to it.

What's your rich life? Also define your rich. It is key to have metrics in life as it is in business. Most people remain unhappy because they cant define what happiness means to them, they only compare their outcomes with others and never get satisfied.

Life can run on cheat codes, if you know you'r outcomes it's easier to apply them. Here are some for you to think about.

To build super structures you need to dig first. The tallest towers are built by first digging deep into the ground to build a foundation that no one sees. Don't build hollow towers.

Spacing a time vector between stimulus and response is the cheat code no one taught you but should have. The most powerful change you can make in life is learning to not react to triggers.

Emotional maturity is not a destination it's a process and a journey. Even more important than IQ and EQ is Decency. It takes mastery to be decent and to have a rich life, the foundation has to have a layer of it at every level of the journey.

Over index on the long game, most people are not born with the ability to do that. You may need to change the software that runs in your head to get to the outcomes you desire.

The fear of missing out, the fear of not being able to achieve, the fear of being lesser than others, any and most fears are not good for you.When you can get past fears by learning to deal with them and processing them your outcomes are in your control.

In the end you must know that we all consider our selves rational beings. We aren't. There is nothing objective about our decision making. So as you set your outcomes keep that in mind.

Think about it, your brain takes all your lifes learnings, lessons, the environment, the trauma and the good bits but reacts in a second to the question you plant in it.

This analysis is over indexed on influence it's not objective, clean or rational. Thus you must pause and separate the signal from the noise, even if it's coming from your brain.

One New Thing

You can be in sales and still be an inventor. Or literally being doing any thing and find inspiration in some thing completely different. King Camp Gillette was born on January 5, 1855, in Wisconsin, and raised in Chicago, Illinois. His family survived the Great Chicago Fire of 187. King worked as a salesman for the Crown Cork and Seal Company in the 1890s.

William Painter the founder of the Crown Cork and Seal company also invented the crown cap for bottled carbonated beverages. He encouraged King to develop like the Crown cork, which could be thrown away once used. So came about the Safety Razor by Mr. Gillette.

Gillette founded the American Safety Razor Company on September 28, 1901, to sell his product. Production began in 1903 when he sold a total of 51 razors and 168 blades only.

The second year, he sold 90,884 razors and 123,648 blades. This was achieved due to Gillette's low prices, automated manufacturing techniques, and good advertising.

Until the 1900's Safety Razors required stropping before use and had to be honed by a cutler.

King then introduced the high-profit-margin stamped razor blade made from carbon steel sheet.

By 1917, it recorded 450,000 Razor Units and exceeded 70 million blades. The rest is History.

Gillettes brand is valued between 7-8Bn$. The lesson being he continued to produce.

Boring stuff that scales

Parasites. Well really but not really. What I mean to say is that you may find gold if you dig deep enough. Parasite Cleansers are a big thing now. People are using a variety of natural compounds to clear out parasites without prescription meds. Meaning in regulated markets to get an OTC(over the counter) item without a prescription is big shit and means large sales.

Supplements containing wormseed powder, Rangoon creeper fruit, clove oil, barberry extract, and grapefruit seed extract, make more than 25k USD a month, as per Jungle Scout.

A quiet but rising star and stand alone ingredient in the health space ala amazon is made from Neem trees. Retails for 15$ online. Some googling later I figured it cheaper to buy it in the US than here. Perhaps a joint/dual opportunity to look at some thing local and export to a market that is crazy about its use, albeit even a fad.

Ingredients or genZ, genX driven supplements and natural products are an amazing market that is as boring as it is old, just that a newer generation keeps "discovering things" and if you are on top of your research you can get ahead of the curve and globally participating a supplier side business that wins big. "Every thing old, is New Again" Keep that in mind and you will find a world of boring that can scale. That has been my experience.

Rising signals from online channels like Amazon are a treasure trove to figure out what products to align with what signals and where the growth is coming from.

You heard(read) it here first

Being an angel investor is quite trendy now and so, as inevitably happens when something becomes trendy, every ones doing it online and on twitter specifically.

Personally by investing and loosing my shirt with private companies I’ve learned tons: deep insights on the industries that startups are building in, and I’ve also developed skills on the meta level like how to evaluate the total market size for an opportunity.That is just a massive skill to have period. The good news is, you can actually start angel investing at a micro level. Just like micro dosing for random stuff has been popular else where, micro-dosing on investments is a skill an art and has great rewards not to be confused with micro-dosing on drugs.

When I had no money, I took the advisor/mentor route and built a reputation, but I spent 15 years trading time, experience and advice for advisory shares. It hasn't been easy it took years of building networks, investing time, waiting on people, relying on people, tolerating people, understanding people but most of all being decent with people always even when they didn't deserve it. That skill pays dividends you cant figure out today.

That process is long but rewarding perhaps not financially from the get-go. In the intervening time when I did make some money but not Fuck you money, I started writing 2, 5, 8, 12k USD Checks. Initially as charitable acts of good but slowly figuring out that was unsustainable and to grow this, it had to be scalable and my hard earned money couldn't be micro dosed out as grants. That phase lasted a few years I lost some money but gained a whole lot of experience and put structure around my money.

Today the founders that work with me know 100%, that I invest in founders and founders alone. I believe in the power of small data, gut feelings and no FOMO. Emotions are the enemy of angel investors.

I have advisory shares that could fill up a small closet but those are mostly being used as recycled art projects for my kids. Some would argue it's the price you pay for learning and original wisdom. I make bets every time I see a great founder that I can add value to. If you are cashflow positive and need a helping hand to scale, reach out.

Time is not free neither is money. If you have great expertise never be afraid to put a price on it. Whether you chose to charge some one is your choice, but make sure they understand the value you bring. That is the value you can trade to be an angel investor to start off with.

What you should be reading

For Leaders, Decency Is Just as Important as Intelligence

For Leaders, Decency Is Just as Important as Intelligence. I have long held that belief. So I was intrigued when I came across this concept in 2019. Ajay Banga, the CEO of Mastercard, was the first person who was known to have coined this. Our existing generations of leaders weren't really digitally native, but our upcoming generation of leaders will be. How do we make sure they are more humane in a world filled with inequalities? From IQ,EQ and the old DQ we have moved to an other form of intelligence that we must adopt to. In an ever transformative world the new intelligence one must have is Digital, measured by the Digital Quotient.

The story invites all people to envision how DQ can help to reshape technology, education, and well-being in the digital age. It will be widely available soon and I feel its a must read for parents and teen agers alike.

Given that COVID is accelerating the digitization of global society at a pace no one anticipated, we must also understand the risks among children(cyber risks), digital skill gaps and societal instability due to fake news and online threats are todays ground reality. It's not coming to us, it's already here, what ever that change is and how ever we are supposed to cope with it.These are real challenges that need real skills, lessons and experiences to navigate past to be more humane in our digital interactions. A wonderful read to navigate the digital present and future.

Monetise your time

By knowing that your hobby can just be a hobby.

Artists aren't lesser humans for making art for enjoyments sake. Playing an instrument once in a blue moon doesn't cheapen your love for it.

You are human and depriving yourself of real experiences just because they are not paying your rent can really mess with you. How & Why?

The problem is in many cases the choices are either monetise your hobby or *never experience that hobby* because we're so time-poor now. Think about it.

Being time-poor is driving us into this. Recognising how to manage for this, will allow you to monetise the right opportunities vs looking at every thing we do as an opportunity that is monetizable. Understand they are different will make you rich.

Made in Pakistan (Smart Phones)

Air Link started it’s distribution of smart phones in 2012 and currently is a distributor of Samsung, Xiaomi, Apple, Itel, Techno, TCL and Alcatel.

Air Link’s revenue grew from PKR 140 Million in 2012 to PKR 47.3 Billion by the end of June 2021. Air Link’s phenomenal sales growth is a classic example of a population play in a country which is the 5th largest population of the world.

Air Link has now commenced assembling of smart phones in Pakistan and already established 14 retail stores.

Air Link’s manufacturing facility is a direct result of the Government’s initiative to promote assembling and consequential exports from Pakistan. Entry level phones made in Pakistan + E-commerce is great combination. We are a few days away from Air Links IPO , heres to hoping that we have more indigenous solutions at scale.

One Last Thing

Nannies

Norland Nannies to be exact make between 100-150k USD a Year. Let that sink in. Why? Because if you monetise the right skills you win. If there is one business we should be building domestically, it is this.

"Mehnat main Azmat". We need to look past the standard and stale career and business choices we have domestically as the world around us evolves. I cant wait for the day when some one yearns to be in this space locally. That would be at scale transformation in more ways than one.