Friday Fuel - October 30th, 2020
Welcome to all of the new Crashing Up family members who’ve joined since Monday. If you’re reading this but haven’t subscribed, make sure to do so here.
Hi friends👋,
Here’s your weekly boost of Friday Fuel, a collection of things that I’ve been learning from or enjoying recently.
🎙️Friday Features
Today’s guest has built a following sharing his wisdom on mental models and productivity. When he’s not working towards his degree at Columbia University, he’s working to help expand the Visualize Value brand and hosts The Student Mindset Podcast where he interviews amazing guests like Anthony Pompliano, James Clear, and many more.
Without further ado, I bring you my conversation with Brandon Zhang.
🎧 If you want to listen to us chat about the secret to successful online communities, mental models, and mindful productivity, click here.
You can also check out more of his writing and interviews on his personal website. If you want to sign up for a Visualize Value course or join the community, get involved here.
Enjoyed this episode? Let me know your thoughts by replying to this email or shooting me a DM. I’ll use these insights to decide on future guests.
📕What I’ve Been Reading - I strongly believe there are very few jobs that should require a college degree. Candidates should be assessed on merit and skill, not credentials. Especially credentials in which some possess an unfair advantage to obtain. This blog post from Diego Diaz perfectly illustrates the power of the internet as the great equalizer. From college drop out turned janitor, to early stage tech employee, Diego’s story proves how far a little persistence and a desire to learn can take you. To read more about his wild journey, click here.
🎧What I’ve Been Listening To - In the spirit of Morning Brew’s $75 million acquisition by Insider Inc., I listened to COO Austin Rief’s appearance on the A Media Operator Podcast. In this episode, Austin and new Brew hire Jacob Donnelly dive deep into Morning Brew’s business model and the future of the media industry. Austin drops countless gems here, but one of my favorite is his idea on growth. From day one, the Brew has measured its success in opens, not subscribers. This engagement first mindset is essential when building any content centric business. To learn more about the processes and building blocks behind Morning Brew’s success, check out this feature written by its Director of Growth, Jenny Rothenberg.
🤯What’s Blown My Mind Part One - I’ve already shared examples of using GPT-3 to generate websites and emails, but how about VR environments? As more people are gaining access to the OpenAI API, even more GPT-3 use cases are surfacing and the possibilities are truly endless. The video below shows how one string of text can create an entire new virtual world.
Pretty amazing.
🤯What’s Blown My Mind Part Two - A few weeks ago, we covered the economics of vending machines. Now let’s take a look at the business of storage units. In this thread, Nick Huber breaks down the acquisition, rejuvenation, and sale of an 155 unit portfolio of filled (and abandoned) storage units. Towards the end, he shares his full P&L statement (click into thread). Let’s just say after a few more years Nick should be repurposing one of these units as a safe.
This is proof that even the unsexiest of businesses can be wildly profitable. To see more examples like this, check out Nick’s newsletter and podcast, The Sweaty Startup.
🎤A Quote I Enjoyed -
Enjoyed today’s newsletter? Let me know by clicking one of the three links below. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. If you want to help see this grow, you can share with your most intelligent and curious friends by clicking the button below.
If you’re new here and want to catch up on some old editions, here are a couple of my favorites: Cash is King and Shovels in a Gold Rush. You can also follow me on Twitter or check out randymginsburg.com for more writing.
Thanks and see you on Monday,
Randy