Every Sunday morning I like to write about 3 random things that are on my mind.
Sometimes these things are about business…
Sometimes they’re about life…
And other times they’re just truly random.
So with that said…
Let’s dig into the first thing on my mind this morning.
1. You can make a lot of money spotting trends before they “pop”
Back when I was in highschool, I was really into emo and pop-punk music.
So I’d roll around in my Ford Ranger listening to bands like Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance, Saves The Day etc…
Those were my jams.
What’s funny is that after being “dead” for more than a decade, that kind of music is becoming popular again.
And smart marketers are cashing in on it.
In fact, one of the biggest live event creators (LiveNation) is putting on an entire festival in Vegas next weekend that is all emo/pop punk music.
And guess what?
They sold out two weekends worth of shows almost instantly.
That’s pretty incredible for a first year festival.
But that just shows you the power of being able to see trends, and then tapping into them.
It’s much easier to find desire among a group, and then to sell that group something that satisfies that desire than it is to try and create that desire.
So keep that in mind.
Alright let’s hop to the second thing on my mind this morning…
2. You will be pulled in many directions, but you want to stay on your path
I mentioned this before, but ever since I sold Copy Accelerator I’ve had more opportunities come my way then at any other point in my life.
People are offering me equity to be partners in their company…
Others are sending me pitch decks for investments…
Numerous people have texted and emailed me to see if I’m interested in starting a company with them.
So I’m feeling a lot of “pull” to jump into new things.
But here’s the thing…
I’ve only been out of CA for about 3 months now.
And my plan is to take time off…
Travel…
Spend time with my friends/family…
And keep my business ventures to a minimum.
That’s my goal.
And I’m really enjoying doing that right now.
However…
There is constant pressure to get pulled off that path.
And if I let other people dictate what I should be doing, I could easily wind-up working 10 hours a day building some business that I don’t even care about.
And there’s a big lesson in that for you…
People are always going to try to pull you in THEIR direction.
So you have to have good boundaries.
You have to be able to say “no”.
And you can’t try to please everyone.
If you want to stay on your path, and not get distracted, you have to stay committed to what it is that YOU want to do.
Alright let’s do one more of these before I wrap it up for the day.
3. You will always miss out on investments, but if you let those haunt you, you’ll be miserable
Here’s a few investments I was told about early on that I missed out on…
– Bitcoin (2013 or so)
– Thrive Market – I was able to invest in one of the early stages, but I passed (they’re now a billion dollar company and will probably go public at some point)
– LMNT – this is an electrolyte drink that Robb Wolf created that has really taken off. I was able to invest in one of the early stages, but I passed on it and now I regret it.
– Primal Kitchen – I actually did invest in Primal Kitchen at a later stage round and got a 2x return on my investment when they sold to Kraft for $200 million. However I passed on the early stage rounds for no good reason. I probably would have had a 10x or 20x return had I gotten in early.
There’s probably a lot more investments I’m forgetting here…
But you get the gist.
Do I wish I would have put a bunch of money in all of these deals?
Of course.
But I’m learning to not dwell on it.
Cause if you’re always thinking about the deals you missed out on, it will eat you alive.
Mike Dillard taught me that with crypto.
He said “you’re gonna miss out on coins, but if you let that weigh on you, it’ll eat you alive”
Basically you have to understand that even the best investors miss out on deals.
They all have a story about the “one that got away”.
It’s just part of the game.
And the more you can internalize that, and the more you understand that it’s normal to miss out on deals, then the better off you’ll be in the long run.
Make sense?
I hope so.
Cause that’s all I got for ya this morning.
Hope you got a nugget or two from this.
Enjoy your Sunday.
– Justin
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