How to become Clark Kent and the story of Michael Jordan

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These are the highlights of the past week!

1/ Most Entrepreneurs try to "become rich" 💰 just from their work: their Startup, their business, their "job". But I can tell you that from my vast experience, most Entrepreneurs (me included) made a considerable amount of life-changing money from their companies but 🔟 times more through "other paths".

Seriously.

Like my friend Michael (we never met, but I consider him a friend).

Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. He made tons of money by dunking on people's faces, but he made 10x while chilling at his home.

🔹 Like with Nike_and Air Jordan's_. Air Jordan's are a separate brand, and Michael makes 10% just because he is Michael.

🔹 Also, Michael is an investor in Epic Games (the creator of Fortnite - a game that made $5 Billion a couple of years ago).

🔹 Then he bought an NBA Team for $300M. That team (Charlotte Hornets) is worth around $2 Billion right now. He made more money with this than when he was an active basketball player.

🔹 There are tons of other stories (like investing in a big NFT company, creating a NASCAR team, and tons more) that you can read in this excellent Twitter thread.

What I am trying to say is there are many ways to skin a cat. But you have to be a Jack of many trades, Master of Anything.

2/ As you may know, I am obsessed with storytelling.

Story telling + Commitment + Financial knowledge are the only skills needed to create anything you want

I strongly believe that.

When I heard that one of my favorite Film Makers / Storytellers (CaseyNeistat) - Casey - has a course, I knew I had to take it. I was concerned about the time commitment as the course goes non-stop for a whole month and is pretty brutal. Thankfully my wife Katya got it to me as a gift 🎁 so that I wouldn't make any excuses.

The concept is that you'll learn how to improve your storytelling skills, and you'll create two short videos in 30 days. Long story short, my first short video is here, and it is about garbage bins🚮.

I choose a topic that is pretty boring to work on how I can make things interesting. Anyone can make a video about something exciting, but what about something that is painfully boring?

I hope that all my other videos will also improve. We'll see.

3/ Let's talk about secret identities and Alter Egos.

In the book The Alter Ego Effect, Todd Herman talks about how we can fabricate an alternative persona that is "better at the things we are not". You might know this as "fake it until you make it". Why do we want to do this?

Because we end up becoming what we think we are.

Here are the steps to try it out:

1. Write down what part you want to improve/change and why. Do you want to be more confident to be more social? Write this down.
2. Create a crazy detailed image of your Alter Ego. What "you" wear, drink, eat, watch TV, the music you hear, things you like, things you hate, places you want to go on vacations - the more detailed, the better. Let your imagination create a persona that would thrive in an environment where you have your challenges. Write this down.
3. Give your Alter Ego their Heroic Origin Story. You need to have a glorious part. A past of successes and kicking ass. Create that past. Write it down.
4. Pick a name. Yes, it has to be different.
5. Find your cape. Clark Kent (Superman) had glasses. You need to have an item that "activates" your persona. It is your costume. Some ideas are wearing a bracelet or a ring. When you wear the item, the Alter Ego is on.

Now that you have everything visualize it. Read your notes every day and visualize that persona. It works spectacularly well in new places when people don't know you.

The whole idea is that you harvest the "feelings" of that persona and not necessarily change your whole appearance.

So next time you are on vacation, let your Alter Ego take control. Just don't try to fly.

4/ New York has its first "NFT ATM" 🏧, and it's really weird as its sounds!

Neon is an NFT marketplace aiming to make buying an NFT "as simple as buying a toothbrush" – which means using an old-fashioned credit card and a literal, physical vending machine.

🤔 So, what is it like to use a Vending Machine to buy NFTs?

Basically, it is fairly simple. You walk into an NFT ATM and buy one using your credit card. Currently, you can buy two different NFTs; "color" for $5.99 and a "party pigeon" for $420.69.

🤔 But, what do I buy actually, and what can I do with it?

Of course, it's impossible to own a color. What you own is a "proof of ownership" on the Solana blockchain that represents that particular color. People collect NFTs to trade them and sell them. Mostly, you are buying it to show it off, and there is no promise of future value. No one can ever sell you an NFT as a great investment. That's bulls**t. You should buy the art if you like it and connect with it.

5/ Guess who is trying to copy my $Victory coins?

IHOP. 🥞

For my European friends, IHOP is a huge restaurant that specializes in pancakes. IHOP decided to start giving away PanCoins that you can redeem as coupons.

Definitely, they don't have a fancy app as I do, but I am definitely going to add functionality to convert your $Victory to $PanCoins.

Having said that, here is a link for 10 $Victory coins for the first ten of you that is fast enough to claim them!

In the next couple of weeks, you should be able to redeem 🎫 them for cool stuff!

That's all for now. See you next week!

-- Jon V (as in Victory) 🚀

- Thu 10 March 2022