Today was unreal! It’s been so surreal that I had a grin on my face the entire day. It was the last day in the condo near On Nut BTS station and today begins the “vacation” mode of the Southeast Asia trip. I thought I was not going to enjoy it because I want to focus on work but it’s been incredible so far, and I think it’s going to be a trip to remember.
I cleaned up the apartment (I think it’s cleaner now than when I arrived) and went to Tom n Tom’s coffee shop at the Habito plaza; the one with the terrible internet. I’ve always had trouble getting online at most of the Tom n Tom locations throughout Asia. They have this out-of-date login system that complicates the login process. It should be a seamless integration like Starbucks, which is why I’m such an advocate for Starbucks. There are a lot of haters, but I think they have so many things right and they pioneered the coffee “third place” culture throughout the world.
While at the coffee shop, I had the most incredible brain dump of ideas that I was shaking with excitement. I’ve always been a big picture person, and I mentally get stuck when I can’t see the interweaving of ideas and goals I set for myself. Today was one of those days when so many things clicked on so many levels.
I’m a big fan of the idea of jotting down ideas that come and then letting them marinate. You don’t need to do anything with the idea but let it sit in the back drop of your mind until new experiences, conversations, visuals, or something connects the idea.
So this is how the brain-melting idea came to me. As I was sitting down, there was two English speaking gentlemen having a conversation. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but they were in really close proximity. They mentioned that they were part of some network that they felt helped them move their professional career forward. I didn’t think much of it, but as I was sitting at my computer, I thought, “That would be something helpful for Christian entrepreneurs.”
Keep in mind, the idea of doing something with Milliardco. has been on my mind. Also, remember in the previous post I figured out that I could logistically make Milliardco into an E-com platform and integrate a Learning Management System (LMS). Then after having that conversation with my buddy Mike about being more active on social media with Milliardco., the gears starting turning. But it wasn’t until hearing about the idea of creating a network that I thought “Dang that would be pretty helpful for Christian entrepreneurs” that sparked a waterfall of connections.
This is how everything started to come together. I’ve been thinking about creating an education platform for something. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I know that it’s something I wanted to do. I’ve also seen a trend with successful business people that have built a following on their “personal” page (It could be Instagram, website, Facebook, etc. – The platform used is irrelevant, it’s the idea of building a following around your interests that matters). What I noticed they’ve done by having a large following is they can segue into new businesses quickly because they already have a following of people that are interested in the things they are interested in.
These are the people have inspired me to think this way:
- Mike Dillard
- Ryan Moran
- Jose Zuniga
- Tai Lopez
- Alex Mehr
- Jonna Jinton
They’ve all built a following that loves what they do, and when they want to launch another business, they have easy access to a captivated audience they can get feedback from and an audience that knows, like, and trusts them, with credit cards ready. So no matter what business they do, they have a PERSONAL following that they continue to provide value to. It’s their tribe of people that like what they are about and get value from their content. I think it’s a win-win situation for both parties. The beauty of this concept is that even if a business fails, they can quickly prototype and test new businesses because they have a personal following regardless if their business fails. They can just start a new business with existing customers. The hardest thing for businesses is creating a viable product OR selling a product. If you have a market already, then you reduce one of the variables. You just focus on finding the right product. If they do it right, they can have a following for life.
Think about it. The smart celebrities do this. I think the best example of this strategy is the Kardashians, unfortunately. They are smart business people regardless of what people think about them. I’m not a fan of what they promote or do, but taking away all that, they are a shrewd business family. They can literally sell anything and their fans will buy it. It’s a ATM machine.
Okay, so let me bring this all together by recapping all the ideas that have brought me to the brain dump.
- I felt Milliardco. could be something more but I wasn’t sure what it was.
- I saw the podcast that interviewed the creator of Millo.co which was strikingly similar in name to Milliardco. and the Millo website was a personal blog turned multimillion dollar business.
- I found out I could create an E-com site and LMS on the “tech stack” I’m using for the Milliardco. website
- I had a conversation with my buddy Mike about Milliardco. and even him saying I have something with Milliardco.
- I had a conversation with Aeron about doing a podcast for Minidesk as a way to provide content to reach B2B customers.
- I had this idea called “The Wisdom Project” that would be a podcast that interview successful Christian business leaders.
- I heard the conversation about networks and how powerful they are.
- I have Network & Market, Unwage, StationGeek, and Minidesk lined up as businesses I’m pursuing.
- I helped my sister with her business, and she mentioned doing conferences as one of their products.
- I’ve had conversations with my buddy Leo who founded Synced Culture, a creative outlet for Christians spreading the gospel through media. We talked about a coworking, coffee shop, TechShop type set up.
- I’ve read up on VC funding because we were connecting with VC’s to fund Minidesk.
So those were all the thoughts swirling in the back of my mind. Now here comes the mind-blowing, idea connecting thoughts that come my way at the coffee shop this afternoon. I still haven’t fully figured out what direction I’ll take with Milliardco. (maybe nothing and keep it as is) BUT The Wisdom Project started to grow some more legs today. I’ve allowed the idea to marinate. I’ve had the idea a while back, and it’s been sitting in my mind as a singular podcast, but I didn’t see more to it, until today.
Then it hit me like a ton of overweight elephants…it’s not just a podcast. The Wisdom Project will be so much more. These are the thoughts that came whirling into my head like it was magically placed there waiting for me to unwrap it.
From the idea of a “Network” these ideas flowed. I’ve thought about the podcast already. The education platform came from learning I could create an LMS within Milliardco. The Network came from hearing the conversation with the guys next to me. The conferences came from my conversation with my sister. The Co-working/incubator/tech shop came from talking to my buddy Leo. The VC firm came from learning about VC funding.
It’s so interesting that these ideas were sitting in the back of my mind waiting for their queue to perk up to figure out ways to connect all these seemingly disparate ideas into a brilliant, cohesive picture. Our minds are great at connecting the dots AS LONG AS we have dots to connect. That means if you aren’t learning, experiencing, and reflecting, you won’t have the ammunition or dots to allow your mind to connect these dots. That’s why most ambitious people are avid learners because the more ideas that linger in the back of their minds the more connections to new things they can come up with.
The Wisdom Project can be much bigger than expected and it’s something I’d launch after a couple of successful business ventures. It’s something I’m incredibly excited about, and it motivates me to develop more successful companies. That was my afternoon, and it couldn’t have been more exciting.
After that intoxicating array of idea melding together, I went to get teppanyaki at the restaurant I went to yesterday. The chicken wings were dancing in my dreams the day before. It was so delicious I had to get it one last time. The food did NOT disappoint.
I had to eat quickly because Jason got to the hotel quicker than I thought. I got a Grab ride and headed over. I’ve been so used to condos that I forgot what it was like to be in a hotel and let me tell you, they are awesome. Jason is a platinum member (He flies a ton and stays in hotels, so he gets a bunch of perks) for the hotel. We got upgraded to a suite, and IT IS CRAZY NICE.
I was smiling from ear to ear the entire time. I almost felt guilty that it was so nice, but it quickly went away because I was enjoying it too much.
I got settled in a bit and then figured out our tour schedules. Instead of going out, we opted to enjoy the hotel, so we went to the infinity pool and grabbed some champagne. It was UNREAL how amazing it was. I felt like I was in a movie. I could have stayed in the pool forever. We eventually forced ourselves out of the pool, well our stomachs forced us out because we were hungry. We were going to go out and eat, but we checked the Executive lounge access that Jason gets as a perk and found out they have a free buffet with free mixed drinks. This hotel experience has been mind-blowing.
After dinner, Jason knocked out, and I went for a massage at my favorite place. It was a huge hassle getting there because Grab wasn’t finding rides, so I eventually took a Tuk-Tuk to get there.
I got my massage and then headed back to get a quick work out in the gym.
I finished and came back to the room to work on this blog post. Now off to bed to wake up in two hours for our floating market tour and then a night tour around Bangkok in a Tuk Tuk (local transport).