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- 12: Notes To Self
12: Notes To Self
Holding Companies, Adventures, Lost iPhone Trick, "Last Time" Principle, Sampled Songs
Luke Clancy
November 03, 2023
Yo!
Here is your weekly dose of 5 things I’m pondering and exploring.
Holding companies (companies that own other companies and oversee their operations) are fricken’ awesome. Why? Well, you get to see tons of flavors of entrepreneurship. Yo buy businesses that are already working and make money from day 1. Plus, you can get your hands dirty, & create real impact. Pretty sweet right?
Naturally, I wanted to learn more. Lucky for me, a little internet serendipity worked its way into my life.
I stumbled across a newsletter written by the founder of a great holding company (Sieva Kozinsky of Enduring Ventures). Now, I can dive into the good stuff without anyone’s permission or any class pre-requisites. LFG!
A few insights so far:
What do investors want to see in an investment? They want predictable returns for their investment. The more predictable returns are. The more valuable the investment. As an owner you want to build a business that would be valuable for an investor.
One way to gauge your predictability is the “hit by a bus” test. If you as the owner got hit by a bus, would the business keep running without you? For most people the answer is NO. Unfortunately, that means you have a job, not a business.
Research your market - you would never leave your home to drive somewhere unknown without a map. It's the same thing for a business. Research the industry you're in to create a map for your business journey. Speak to 3 people in each of these categories: investment bankers, private equity, customers, owners, suppliers or distributors. Ask them questions like: “what are the best businesses you've seen in this industry? Why do you think they're the best?”
Your job as a sales person is to identify the needs of your buyer and connect those to your solution. But more importantly, you need to understand how the buyer makes a buying decision & who actually makes the decision. So ask questions like “who makes buying decisions for this type of product?” “Who else needs to be involved?” “Is that everyone?” “How do you make these decisions and at what point in the year?” “Is there a budget? Who decides how big the budget is, and when is that decision made? By who?” “What is the last software you bought that is similar to this? How much did you pay? Who was involved in the decision?” “Who may block the purchase of this product? Anyone else?”
2. List of Adventures You Can Do With Your Friends
I started a Sunday tradition of planning a new adventure for each day of the week. If you also want to mix things up, here’s some adventures I keep in my back pocket:
sunset bike ride, stargaze, paintballing, frisbee golf, thrifting, bowling, golf range, bonfire, Japan Garden / forest preserve walk, sauna, hot tub, volleyball, bowling, no phone bar send, ice skating, hot chocolate, movie night, volunteering, holiday decorations, fitness competitions, photography walks, life update slide decks with besties, turkey bowl w/ the fellas, card games, board games, trivia, DJ sesh, laser tag, roller skate, escape room, rage room, trampoline park, archery lessons, sports game, chess tournament, go to a new town and meet the locals, skydiving, new coffee shop, draw, paint.
As Andy from Shawshank Redemption says, “Get busy living, or get busy dying.”
3. Trick To Find Your iPhone w/ Bluetooth Headphones (by Mo’s little brother, Luke)
If you know the phone is somewhere nearby, grab your bluetooth headphones.
Turn them on and let them automatically connect to your phone.
Tell Siri “set a timer for 10 seconds”.
Turn off your headphones right after the timer is set.
Follow the sound, grab your long lost headphones, and shout to the sky “I love you Luke Clancy!”
Yes, that last step is mandatory.
We're unhappy because we're insatiable. After working hard to get what we want, we lose interest in the object of our desire. Rather than feeling satisfied, we feel a bit bored, and in response to this boredom, we go on to form new, even grander desires.
The easiest way to gain happiness is to want the things you already have.
And the easiest way to want the things you already have is to imagine this is the last time you’ll be able to have those things.
The last time you’ll talk to your parents. The last time you’ll take a hot shower. Or the last time you’ll hangout with your friends.
Those moments hit different when you know that life is finite and tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.
What do Juicy, Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe, The Spins, No Diggity, and Jump Around have in common?
They each used some random song from the 60s as the core of their beat.
Check out the playlist to hear 29 famous songs and their original samples.
Thanks for wanting to know more today than you did yesterday! If you liked this edition, send it over to a friend who would like it too 🤝
Cheers,
Luke
PS: Have suggestions for future topics I should explore? Or want to lmk what you like/dislike about the newsletter? I made a form for that.
PPS: Got questions for me? I made a form for that too.