Dickie's Digest - Money, Harsh Truths, Saddles, Macro, and Mental Models
Hey there - happy Sunday.
A couple of quick things from me this week: First, we are full steam ahead on sign-ups for the January Ship 30 for 30 cohort. If you want to start writing and sharing ideas in 2021, this is the community for you. And trust me - with how much time we’re about to spend online in the winter, now is the time to start.
I want to hook all the Digest readers up with 50% off as a thank you for reading every week. If you’re interested in joining, reply directly to this email.
On the content side, I wrote threads on finding your sacred hours, becoming an idea machine, and a deep dive into my numbers after sharing online for a year. I’ve also been publishing a daily essay on Twitter - my most popular being this one on my favorite question to ask people my age.
That’s it from me! In this week’s Digest:
Have an epic week!
Dickie
💵 10 Things You Should Know About Money
This week, I stumbled across this Google Doc that is potentially the best-hidden gem on the internet. The good news: you can put away every personal finance book and just read this. In just two pages, Paul Doran stamps the idea of assets, liabilities, wealth, and freedom into the mind of the reader. It’s a shame this is only published in a Google Doc - that’s the only reason it isn’t all over the internet.
Paul goes straight at the neck of the average American consumer. Spending money on credit, working all month just to finance their lifestyle, only to be left with no money at the end of it. Meanwhile, the message preached by governments and schools alike is that this is how it’s always been and how it’s supposed to be. I could go on and on about how much truth is in this article. I highly recommend giving it a read.
Look around you. At the end of the month people have no money. In between they are giving up freedom to have no money left at the end of the month. It’s obscene. It’s a raw deal. Look what they are doing in return for that lifestyle. Is that working for them?
Read more: 10 Things You Should Know About Money
🔥 Six Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person
Another hidden internet gem that my friend Jack recommended to me this week. This one was originally written almost 15 years ago but was recently updated. Here’s a snippet of my favorite part:
The essay starts out telling a story of someone whose loved one has just been shot in the street. Panicking and looking for help, someone rushes up to him saying “Step aside” as he pulls out a pocket knife. He’s going to perform surgery right in the middle of the street.
“Are you a doctor?” he asks. “No.” … “But you know what you’re doing… right?”
At that point, the guy gets a little annoyed. He goes on to tell you he’s a nice guy, honest, always on time, and what a great father he is. Confused, you say “How does any of that matter?! My wife is lying here bleeding! I need somebody who knows how to operate on bullet wounds! Can you do that or not?!”
Now the man becomes agitated - why are you so shallow and selfish? Do you not care about his other good qualities? Did you not just hear him say that he always remembers his girlfriend’s birthday?
In that panicked moment, you will take your bloody hands and shake him by the shoulders, screaming, "Yes, I'm saying that none of that other shit matters, because in this specific situation, I just need somebody who can stop the bleeding, you crazy fucking asshole!"
So here is my terrible truth about the adult world: You are in that very situation every single day. Only you are the confused guy with the pocket knife. All of society is the bleeding gunshot victim.
The inconvenient truth: society cares about one thing: what you can do for it. The earlier you realize this, the better shape you’ll be in.
Read more: Six Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person
🐎 We Don’t Sell Saddles Here
In honor of Salesforce acquiring Slack for $30bn, I revised this absolute classic from Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield.
Slack was a revolutionary product. Once people started using it, they quickly realized how great it was. But it was convincing people to try Slack that was hard. They built a great product, but their customers didn’t know they wanted it.
So Stewart wrote this email to the team saying they needed to start marketing from both ends - doing a better job providing people what they want (building a great product), but also better communicating its value so they know they want it.
The result: selling innovation, not the product. Enter, the Acme Saddle Company.
To see why, consider the hypothetical Acme Saddle Company. They could just sell saddles, and if so, they’d probably be selling on the basis of things like the quality of the leather they use or the fancy adornments their saddles include; they could be selling on the range of styles and sizes available, or on durability, or on price.
Or, they could sell horseback riding. Being successful at selling horseback riding means they grow the market for their product while giving the perfect context for talking about their saddles. It lets them position themselves as the leader and affords them different kinds of marketing and promotion opportunities (e.g., sponsoring school programs to promote riding to kids, working on land conservation or trail maps). It lets them think big and potentially be big.
The harsh truth: no one cares what your product does - only what it does for them. But with this in mind, you can define what your product does for them and sell that. Stewart says to ask the question: what do you want your customers to become? Then, your job is to show and tell them all the ways your product will help them become that.
It’s a fascinating essay on marketing and building a product. And from a guy who just had his second billion-dollar exit, he’s clearly onto something.
Read more: We Don’t Sell Saddles Here
☀️ Last week’s most popular link: My 2020 Morning Routine
🎧 This Week in Podcasts
If you love the Digest and its weekly podcast recommendations, consider checking out the Digest Podcast Compendium. It’s a curation of my favorite podcast episodes ever recorded, tagged, and summarized with three key takeaways. Supporters get three new podcasts and summaries every week plus an invitation to a private Slack group to chat about the best episodes.
Raoul Pal on the Pomp Podcast [HIGHLY RECOMMEND]
This was an epic conversation on all things macro. Raoul Pal is the CEO of RealVision. He just went all-in on $BTC, tossing 90% of his net worth behind the digital currency. In this conversation, Pomp and Raoul chat about the COVID crisis, the central bank balance sheet bonanza, the future of crypto, and much more. If you work in financial markets, this one is a must-listen.
George Mack on Modern Wisdom [HIGHLY RECOMMEND]
Any time George Mack is on Modern Wisdom, you know you’re in for a treat. This episode didn’t disappoint. George and Chris talk through the mental models of: numeracy, anchoring, power laws, envy, opportunist cost, and the principal-agent. This was an epic conversation and one I plan on listening to again this week.
🧠 Idea Corner
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