These are my Momentos, short personal diary entries I write daily – since 2013 – and publish monthly. Some links are affiliate links.
1
This framework I’ve been building is growing more complex by the day. Now up to 19 types and 5 levels. Need to be careful. Too much complexity and it won’t be useful. The goal of this is to give people the big picture, not every little detail.
2
Someone told me today that eBiz Facts was a genius idea. Nah. Review sites have been around a long time. Nothing special about the idea. I reckon my execution has been solid so far though. And by execution I mean good strategy and a shit ton of work.
3
Even the so-called experts often have no idea what they’re doing. It’s true in online business, and now I’m reading about another example from a century ago: blunders galore throughout Robert Falcon Scott’s tragic expedition to the South Pole.
4
Back and forth the past couple of months with someone whose course I reviewed. Had to cut it off today. He’d started taking up too much of my time and attention and had become increasingly unreasonable. One firm email and a hard filter gave me back some sanity.
5
The streets are alive again. Standing on a corner, munching a giant triangular bread-pie thing I bought for 50 cents, taking it all in. The vendors with their flowers and veggies, the open-air bookstores, the young fella bringing home the shoti, the old man helping people park.
6
First time on a horse, picked a good spot, to and from what some call the Georgian Dolomites, lakeside picnic at the turn. Heading back now and there are tiny white butterflies in the fading sunshine and a giddy dog named Rainbow flushing birds from the long grass.
7
This trip is our first proper holiday in 18 months. Epic mountain view from our balcony, perfect buffet breakfast, nicest lounge area I’ve seen, and we’ll check the pool tomorrow. We won’t make a habit of this but it’s nice to say fuck it and splash out every once in a while.
8
A glass of hot wine on the hotel terrace this eve, almost ten years since my last drop of alcohol. That last drink was part of a blurry and reckless night in Merced, California, right after I quit my day job. I drank like a kid back then. Maybe I’ll drink like an adult now.
9
My best passive income experience yet: didn’t do any real work the past 4 days yet still earned north of $2000. But don’t be fooled: getting to this point took years of working more than most people think reasonable. The road is hard before it gets easy.
10
Oh lovely, there’s an email saying legal action is being taken against me. Something about damages to the effect of $300k. Second time I’ve been threatened with a lawsuit the past few months. Seems my reviews are a little too honest for everyone’s liking.
11
Someone emailed today saying he wanted to build an ecommerce business instead of a freelance business because he didn’t have any skills to freelance. I had to explain that skills are required to build an ecommerce business, too. Somehow that never occurred to him.
12
Dalio harps on about this: people find it hard to appreciate that something might happen if that thing has never happened in their lifetime. I used to think war in the western world was a thing of the past, an artifact of history. But now I’m not so sure.
13
On my morning runs, whenever I pass an old person, I imagine them thinking, “You don’t appreciate how lucky you are to be able to move like that.” And then I try to appreciate how lucky I am.
14
Sluggish the past two days despite lots of sleep. Thinking it might actually be Pressfield’s Resistance. Been working loads on this framework for several weeks and now getting everything ready to publish. Prime time for self-sabotage.
15
Feels like I’m winning at life when I look at my calendar most weeks and there’s almost nothing on there, nowhere I need to be at any particular time. This week the only think scheduled is the monthly group call with FBB folks, and that’s always quite enjoyable.
16
Imagine you were the only human left on Earth, everyone else disappeared. And let’s say you could access enough food to live healthy for another 50 years. Would you want to? Would life be worth living if there were no other humans around to share it with?
17
Mr. Incredible got himself into trouble because he was stuck working a crappy 9-to-5 job. He felt the only way to get some excitement back in his life was to do risky superhero work again. Should have started his own business instead. Plenty of excitement there.
18
Just got a payment that makes it official: this is my first ever month earning more than $10k. Not sure I can brag much though: I’m 38 years old and I started my own business 115 months ago. Clearly I’m not a genius at this. But I am fairly persistent.
19
We play a game called What’s The Difference. Pick two similar things, see if we know or can guess the difference, then look up the right answer. What’s the difference between… broth and stock, steel and iron, vitamins and minerals, weight and mass, a sea and an ocean…
20
Running your own business is far more Darwinian than working a 9-to-5 job, where you can keep your head down and collect paychecks for years. If you do a consistently shit job working for yourself, you don’t get paid. You’re forced to constantly evolve or die.
21
Been reading the autobio of Felix Dennis. He was a self-made millionaire, a magazine publisher, worth about £750 million when he died in 2014. According to Wikipedia, back in 1969 when he was on trial for a minor offense…
Dennis received a more lenient sentence than his co-defendants because he was, in the opinion of the judge, “much less intelligent” and therefore less culpable.
22
Frustrated trying to find real-world examples of different ways to make money online. Bloggers and YouTubers with their “how to make $100 a day” tutorials… most turn out to be spouting theory, zero proof they’ve ever actually earned that much themselves.
23
Genuinely thought I wouldn’t work so hard once the money was flowing easier. More than $3k in deposits the last two days yet I’m still spending long hours in front of my laptop, trying to push this massive chunk of content closer to completion. Nothing I’d rather be doing.
24
“Work smarter, not harder.” 👈 That’s all well and good, but in my experience one of the best ways to get smart is to work hard. Can a terrible athlete become good overnight simply by deciding to stop making dumb plays? No. He only gets better by putting in the reps.
25
I’m making more money than ever but still hesitant to spend it. My laptop is 3.5 years old. My phone is even older. The backpack I use daily has had a hole in it for 9 months. But today I said fuck it and splurged on some fancy Samsung wireless earbuds.
26
I have a doomed label in Gmail. Someone emailed today asking several questions about various ways to make money online, questions they could google but instead they want me to research it all for them and report back. I didn’t reply, just added the label and hit archive.
27
Sometimes I envy old people. There’s surely a peace that comes with being in your 70’s or 80’s. Even if the world goes to shit, you’ve already lived most of your life, squeezed most of the juice out of it. The future isn’t yours to worry about.
28
Out of the taxi, think we found the right building, up five floors and into an apartment, spend the next two hours laughing and chatting with a bunch of people we never met before, drinking Georgian lemonade, eating birthday cake. All because of a sticker on my laptop.
29
Underwhelmed upon finishing Dune last night, but I suspected I was simply too dumb to get it. Read some context online and have a better appreciation of it now. Also found this great quote by Herbert:
“The bottom line of the Dune trilogy is: beware of heroes. Much better rely on your own judgment, and your own mistakes.”
30
If you lived a few hundred years ago, nothing much changed from one generation to the next. Your grandparents had the same tech you did. Fast-forward to now, and the tech I grew up with is already outdated. Does anybody born this millennium even use Facebook?
31
Five years ago I earned $5k in one day. Thought that was it for me, new level, no looking back. But I haven’t had a day like it since. This month I’ve earned more than $18k, almost double my previous best. New level? Or might it be five years before I’m back here again?