The more interests you have, the happier you will be.  Imagine if one of your hobbies is analyzing clouds, or cumulonimbuses for the scientifically savvy.  You could step outside any time during the day and entertain yourself for hours.  There are so many things around us that our minds tend to filter things out so we can focus on more important tasks.  If we stopped to admire everything, we’d probably never get anything done!

Income diversification is important during weak economic times since you never know when one stream might dry up.  However, the funny thing is that I’ve never purposely thought about creating new income streams for the purpose of diversification until this year.  Instead, my diverse interests have lead me to have a diverse amount of income!  It never occurred to me to count up my non-job income and figure out what percent it is of total income.  But, as I started adding things up, I was amazed to realize some months would regularly achieve 25% and up to 50% of my gross base salary!

VARIOUS EXAMPLES OF INTERESTS THAT CREATE INCOME

* Watches & Collecting. Ever since I was 8, I’ve been enamored with watches.  I remember my first watch being a black Casio sports watch for $10 bucks and I was hooked!  During the past five years , I’ve been able to collect and sell some of the more coveted watches on the market which can’t just be purchased at any store i.e. Stainless Steel Rolex Daytona, Panerai Ceramic, Patek Philippe Rose Gold Perpetual Calendar, IWC Big Pilot, and several vintage Omega Seamasters for example.  These are the types of watches where you need to get on a waiting list, or get hooked up by your jeweler since you’ve bought so much already.  For a couple years, I made about $10-$15,000 a year buying and selling watches.  When I was a kid, I used to collect sports cards, comics, and ancient (1,000+ year old) coins as well.  I wonder what those are worth now 25 years later.

* Teaching Tennis. I used to give private lessons for $40-50/hour for about 5-10 hours a month. Teaching is a great way to meet new people, keep in shape, and earn some spending money on the side. In fact, one of my dream jobs is to be a tennis instructor in Bora Bora a couple months a year. Who knows, one day I might meet a sugar mama! I no longer teach tennis, but find comfort knowing that if I needed some money, I could.

* Blogging. I love blogging, almost to the point of recognizing that I may have an addiction.  I’ve never focused on blogging as a way to make income, but as the advertising inquiries started flowing in, I realize that one could make thousands of dollars a month from their site so why not.  A lot of the money after the operating costs are donated away, however if I were to one day retire, blogging is definitely a great source of side income.  Every member of the Yakezie should be able to generate $1,000 a month from their sites by the end of this year if they leverage the network and the brand.

* Property. I’ve been buying property for the past 10 years and I don’t think I’ll stop.  I equate real wealth to real assets such as property.  I like the idea of owning land, shelter, and structure instead of just having dollars and cents stashed away in a bank somewhere.  Ever since the beginning of time, having property meant having wealth.  It’s amazing to watch your returns tick up as rent increases, while your payments stay the same.  Inflation works great that way for asset owners.

* Stocks and Bonds. The stock market is a fascinating animal.  I’ve been trading stocks and bonds for about 15 years now and hit the big one in 2000 when some now defunct internet stock returned 52X on my investment in three months.  I’ve never been that lucky again, and have also lost plenty of money too, but that was enough to wet my appetite forever.  As a result, I’ve got a couple stock portfolios along with my 401K which I play around with.  What you come to realize over a long enough period of time is that once you build a large enough portfolio, small returns still mean relatively large absolute dollar amounts.

* Interest Income. The only way to save is to save a lot.  For the past 7 years I’ve been saving at least 50% of my after tax pay.  In fact, I was doing some calculations on the plane ride home, and I’ve actually been saving 65-72% of my after tax pay for the past 3 years.  It’s quite straight forward actually.  All one has to do is save one bi-weekly paycheck a month and you’ve got saving 50% down.  What I find more interesting is the sexy returns one can make just investing in long term CDs.  90% of my cash is locked in 5-7 year CDs yielding 4-4.35%.  The only way to invest in CDs is to choose the maximum duration possible.  That way, you ensure the greatest return on your money.  Again, if you save long enough, you will come to appreciate what a risk free 4% return is worth every year.  Imagine if you had $1 million in a 7 year CD.  Isn’t $40,000 a year in risk-free interest income a nice sum?  I think so.  Especially if you have $2 million returning 4% guaranteed.

CONCLUSION

Each of the six items above is like a hobby or a game to me.  Play the game long enough and one day, you’ll wake up as I’m waking up now to discover the income potential of them all.  If the six hobbies can regularly generate over 50% of my day job income, I’m pretty sure that I will retire and move on to different things.  Will I be able to achieve 50% of my day job income in 6-7 years?  Possibly.  However, in the meantime, I’m just having fun!

This week, I’ll be introducing an exciting new online product which will hopefully be a 7th income stream besides my day job.  This product of building a profitable online store is incredibly thorough and I’m pumped to try it out.  I think it will be a fun process and I hope many of you who are interested in building multiple income streams buy the product and join me on the journey!

Any hobbies you have that are generating income?  What percentage of your day job income would you need for your hobbies to make before you can quite your day job?  How many income streams do you have?

Regards,

Sam

Ouch.  I’m so sore it feels so good baby!  I gave it a go with Meredith the personal trainer for a free 45 minute trial session and she did things to me that no woman has ever done before.  She made breathe heavily and sweat profusely!

She showed me exercises I never would have thought of doing to solely focus on getting me into shape for tennis.

45 Minute Trial Routine

* Sumo squat rope wave.  Whuh?

* Three TRX exercises to improve the quads, core, and shoulders.

* Wind sprints on the treadmill 3 minutes jog, 30 seconds sprint, 30 seconds rest 8X up to 12 mph.  I would never do these voluntarily.  Why suffer?

* Pro-roller stretches to roll out the calves, quads, IT bands and hamstrings.  Talk about pain all over.

* Side stepping through a maze for quickness and agility.

* Core training with cable pulleys three different ways.

* Four different stretches for the back, torso, and legs.

In retrospect, all the stuff I’ve been doing at the gym has been all wrong.  I was doing bench presses, butterfly squeezes, lat pull-downs, biceps, and triceps.  That’s it really.  I never bothered to do anything cardio, or work on the muscles that would help improve my serve or backhand.  I just went the easy route.  There is also 100% NO CHANCE I would have ever done any wind sprints or anything to make me sweat.  Again, I hate working out so I just focused on doing the easiest exercises that required the least amount of effort!

USING THE BLOG TO SAVE SOME MONEY

I’ve decided to go with Meredith, but not for 10 sessions for $795.  The original plan was to spread the 10 sessions over two months.  However, that’s an amount I don’t feel entirely comfortable with.

Instead, I plan to start off with 5 sessions for $395 and go once a week or two and work out once a week or two on my own.  After each session, I plan to record all the exercises she’s taught me and compile the top 5 exercises to continue on my own after the 5 sessions are over.

Trouble Saying No

The difficult part I foresee is actually not staying dedicated to whatever routine she gives me.  What I fear most is telling Meredith after my 5 sessions are over that I will no longer need her services.  She’s young, recently moved here from Southern California and is building her list of clientele.  I feel bad not using her for more training sessions to help her financially.

The thing is, I shouldn’t feel bad since it’s my money.  This might be the downside of going with a young female personal trainer.  If I went with a 40 year old male veteran, I probably would feel less guilty for not renewing.  Women really are more trustworthy and better negotiators than men!

INSTANT IMPACT

After playing a couple sets of doubles tennis I challenged the 15 year old high school sophomore student to a singles match.  He’s super fit, with not an ounce of fat on him.  We had already play for 1.25 hours, but I was ready for some more.  The kid had a big forehand and some penetrating volleys.  No matter, he went down 3-6 in 40 minutes.  My lower back started getting sore, but I wanted more!

I was tired, but not nearly as tired after training with Meredith for 45 minutes the other day.  So off we played for our third hour.  In 35 minute the kid, who is supposed to play #1 for his high school this year went down 2-6.  My endurance didn’t fail this time.

$395 is a lot of money, but not so much if it helps me achieve my goal of winning a tennis tournament this year.  I get to learn about the best exercise techniques from a professional,  get in better shape, and who knows, maybe even extend my life by several months!  How much would you spend to extend your life for even just one month?

Readers, do you have trouble saying “no” to spending money on someone who is nice to you and provides good service?  Is it harder to say no to attractive women if you are a man or a woman?

Regards,

Sam

Working out sucks.  I hate it with a passion because I find it so wasteful to expend energy on doing nothing.  I would rather use the energy to build a house in Somalia, landscape the backyard, or play sports than lift some stupid weights.  That said, working out is also convenient because there’s a gym right across from me that I attend before every team or client dinner outing.  I figure I better pump some iron and jog a little before blitzing my diet!

One of my goals in 2011 is to win a tennis tournament.  To do so, I have to improve my endurance given I faded in both tournaments since we had to play back to back matches each day.  The season really gears up in March, leaving me with a solid two months to get in shape.  I know there is no way in hell I will be able to go to the gym 3X or more a week so I’ve thought about enlisting a personal trainer for help.

THE BIG BUCKS MIGHT BE WORTH IT

For $795, I get 10 one hour sessions with any trainer of my choice at my local club.  Yes, $795 sounds like a ridiculous amount of money, which is part of the reason why hiring a PT might just work!  If you’re spending $79.5 a session, it’s likely you will always attend and work your butt off to see results.  If the sessions were free, I’d probably slack off here and there until I don’t go at all.  Think about how often you go to your gym’s free classes.  If you’re honest, the answer is not as much as you should.

I always thought hiring a physical trainer was for clueless rich people who need a lot of hand holding.  I mean come on, who can’t read the little instructions on the machine and move one’s arms back and forth?  Who can’t go on Youtube and watch a workout video and emulate what they’ve seen at the gym?  And then I realized, maybe it’s not all just about getting fit.

WHY DO I FEEL GUILTY?

As I was surveying the 12 trainer’s bios with pictures on the wall, I found myself gravitating towards a very fit and attractive looking woman.  I could choose the beefcake body builder guy, the Madonna-arms looking woman, the crazy-eyed man, the woman in this post’s picture (momeee), or this attractive looking woman named Meredith.  Who would you choose if you had the choice?

Meredith has three years of personal training experience and is obviously in great shape.  She’s an ex-athlete herself and can empathize with me on all the mental anguish that athletes go through during crucial match scenarios.  I met her in person and she’s very friendly and fun to talk to.  She invited me to observe her train one fella and I obliged.  She was terrific and her client obviously felt the same when he told me to jokingly “get in line“.

Do you remember in school where there was this really hot girl (or guy) in your class you had a crush on?  The class could be the most boring subject on Earth, but it didn’t matter because you got a chance to see her for 50 minutes.  A personal trainer like Meredith is like that.  She makes you automatically want to get in shape because she’s very attractive and you develop this unconscious desire to look good for her.  OK, maybe it’s a very conscious desire since you’re scheming to ask her out once you’re ripped.  She not only introduces you to some great exercises, she’s also 100% behind you for a full hour.  Some people pay thousands of dollars an hour for this type of companionship.  Just ask Elliot Spitzer or Charlie Sheen!

So what do you think folks?  I know that if I spend $795 for 10 sessions with Meredith, I will be in the best shape of my life and ready to achieve one of my many goals for 2011 of winning a tennis tournament.

Is it wrong that I am gravitating towards the personal trainer who I think will motivate me the most?  Any of you have success with a personal trainer?  Is this one big waste of money?

Regards,

Sam

Yale law professor and mother of two Amy Chua penned an incredibly fascinating article entitled, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” on the WSJ.  Professor Chua is a first generation American who went to Harvard undergrad and then to Harvard Law School.  As a tenured professor teaching at the most prestigious law school in the world, I feel for her kids first and foremost!  Think about all the expectations that are put on them since her husband, Jeb, is also a tenured law professor at Yale.

Let’s say you had parents who walked 10 miles to school every day.  Do you think there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that you will have a car in high school?  You might, but you’d feel guilty every time you get behind the wheel and your parents will likely remind you as well.  In the end, you’d probably compromise and either bike to work, have your parents drop you off, or walk yourself.

Here’s a non-offensive excerpt from her article where she justifies calling kids names such as “lazy”, “fatty”, “worthless”, “stupid”, and “disgraces” when they aren’t performing up to par:

“As a parent, one of the worst things you can do for your child’s self-esteem is to let them give up. On the flip side, there’s nothing better for building confidence than learning you can do something you thought you couldn’t.”  Amy Chua

I agree with her quote, but I definitely don’t agree with calling one’s kids names to shame them into conforming.  The main issue I have with Amy’s view is that she pits Asian mothers against “Western Mothers” who are by default deemed inferior.  I would be incredibly insulted if I was a Western Mother because who is Amy to impose her dictator-like ways on me.  Amy talks in stereotypes all article long about how Asian children always seem to be gifted in math & sciences and music.  Amy argues that it is in fact no coincidence since Asian mothers are such master motivators and disciplinarians.

NATURE vs. NURTURE

I’ve always wondered how I’d turn out if my parents hadn’t been there for me.  I got into a lot of trouble growing up because I had little regard for personal property or the law frankly.  I remember my friends and I would trespass onto this farm in the mountains so we could have firecracker wars and sneak a smoke.  We were in the 5th grade.

There were other times where my friends and I would skip school to go movie hopping and chase girls.  We’d go around town with our illegal mopeds.  Another time I remember punching my friend in the face because he pushed me over while I tied my shoe.  That was in the 9th grade and I got suspended for a couple days.

My parents weren’t super strict, but they laid down the law when I didn’t obey.  With enough disciplinary action, I grew out of my rebellious teenage stage and started hitting the books hard.  They basically told me if I didn’t do well in academics and sports, I would severely lessen my chances of making a comfortable living for myself because no good school would accept me.  They somehow instilled in me the absolute fear of ending up on the streets.

I’m almost certain that if my parents weren’t there to set me straight, I would end up struggling financially and be stuck in a job that I hated.  Then again, I wonder if nature would have eventually kicked in to set me straight on my own.  Perhaps it would, but if it kicked in at age 22 instead of 14, it may have been too late.

PERHAPS IT’S A LOT OF NURTURE AND A LITTLE BIT OF NATURE

I used to think that I would always send my kids to public school because I experienced both and didn’t feel private school was any better.  I used to believe that my kids would be able to discern what’s right from wrong and not hang out with the bad crowd.  Now I have my doubts.

Private school administrators know parent’s insecurities and therefore skillfully market to their fears.  “Why risk your child’s future?“, is a favorite line to convince parents to spend $20,000 a year in 7th grade tuition vs. $0 for a public education.  And you know what?  I’m starting to get nurtured by their propaganda as well.  If I’ve got the money, why risk sending your kid to a less nurturing environment, even if you have all the confidence in the world your kid is good.  Why risk tarnishing your star?

Parental guidance, phenomenal teachers who inspire, and good peers are instrumental to the development of a child.  Not everyone can be a success, however you define the world.  But, with the right environment, there’s no doubt in my mind that a child’s potential will be maximized.

Readers, how were your parents growing up?  Do you wish they pushed you harder?  If they pushed harder, do you feel you would be more successful?  What percentage does nurture play in the part of a child’s development?  Are Asian parents superior as Amy Chua believes?

Regards,

Sam

You guys have really rocked the discussions with multiple 100+ comment posts this year!  You’d think this was a big blog or something.  I can’t begin to thank you enough for your contributions and what I’ve learned from you.  A post recap of 2010 is a good exercise to not only discover what worked best for some guidance in the new year, but to also give new readers a chance to catch up via one easy page.

There are literally 36 posts in the queue for 2011, with some of them just screaming to get out.  Why has the queue gotten so large?  Two things mainly:

1) Using a wine terminology, it’s good to give each post a chance to breathe.  Often times there’s so much discussion that to post a new post the very next day feels off.  This is the main reason why I don’t post everyday.  A topic needs to be sussed out thoroughly before we move on.  I like to respond individually to all comments who require a response.  Also, I love reading all the other great blogs out there every other day.

2) I guess I just like to write a lot.  There is always something ridiculous going on in the world that needs addressing.  If you are a blogger who is afraid of running out of ideas, don’t be.  Just read the newspaper, turn on the TV, or go out and socialize with friends.  Remember, if you can speak forever, you can blog forever!

For 2011, I probably should only have a queue 10 deep because I’ve found multiple times that I forget what I wrote just a month ago, and sometimes the topic gets stale or irrelevant.  Let’s add that to the blogging new year goal!  Happy reviewing.

TOP POSTS FOR 2010

CAREER

* The Dark Side Of Early Retirement (150+ comments) – Open your eyes and realize that not everything is as it seems.  If you go out for a $100 per person dinner, of course you will rave that it was one of the best meals you’ve ever had.  If you don ‘t, you’d feel like a fool for spending that much money.

* The Curse Of Making Too Much Money And Not Pursuing Your Dreams (160+ comments) – Is a story about my friend Lyndon who makes $300,000 at a prestigious firm, who isn’t entirely happy because all he dreams about is becoming a professional photographer.  Golden handcuffs really are hard to break!  You can read the follow up post Wealth Is An Illusion Of Happiness (95+ comments) after.

* The Comfortable Lifestyle Business Or The Big Payout? (80+ comments) – A question my VC/Internet poker buddies always talk about during our Friday night games.  $20-30,000 a month working 4 hours a day or a chance for mega-millions?  You decide!

* How to Make Six Figures At Almost Any Age (100+ comments) – It’s true, you can make over $100,000 if you want to.  I explain to you how.  But, if you don’t want to, no sweat and don’t throw rocks at me!  Just telling you that it’s much easier than you think.  Hopefully, after you read the ideal income for maximum happiness post, you’ll decide to give it a shot.  I entered this post in Free Money Finance’s bracket challenge for charity.

LOVE AND LIFESTYLE

* Do “C” Students Deserve “A” Lifestyles? (75+ comments) – I think I’ve discovered why there are so many personal finance issues in the world.  People are delusional.  Not everybody can be the best at whatever they do, yet everybody expects to get compensated like the best.  When they don’t, things get out of hand, like buying a $50,000 BMW when you only make $50,000!

* How To Get Your Super Motivated Boyfriend To Marry You (60+ comments) – Is one that’s dear to my heart because it got rejected by Wisebread (who are great folks btw) for a guest post, and helped give me the motivation to start the Yakezie Personal Finance & Lifestyle Network and write even more freely here on Financial Samurai.  The gist of the post is to give insight to women on the massive pressure society places on men to succeed.  It’s seldom talked about because men are supposed to never cry and always be strong.  Once you understand your SMB, you will win his heart.

* The Mental To Physical Connection For A Healthier Lifestyle (85+ comments) – Discusses the importance of creating a symbiotic relationship between work, writing, and physical activity.  When we were in school, it was instilled in us to study hard, play sports, and delve into the arts.  We lose all that when we grow older and tend to just focus on work.  We gain weight, forget how to play a musical instrument, and lose track of our youth.  Bring it back.

* West Coast Living – Yes It Really Is That Much Better! (100+ comments) – Is a response to reader’s displeasure when I openly and honestly inquired about how East Coast living is because a friend was considering moving from California to the East Coast (90+ comments) for a job interview.  I’m not sure why readers had to bash the West Coast so much after the East Coast post.  Perhaps it’s a reflection of something?  Or maybe some of you are just meanies!  I donno.

* Is There Ever A Right Time To Upgrade Your Engagement Ring? (80+ comments) – Is a discussion about a friend who never thought he was going to get married until one day he found a women 10 years his junior.  What ensues is kind of ridiculous, and I decided to write the new rule for engagement ring buying (80+ comments)  to counteract her ridiculousness!

* How To Get Girls If You Live At Home With Mom And Dad (100+ comments) – Is a tongue-in-cheek discussion of how to make the best of a non ideal situation thanks to the economy.  My attempt at humor doused with a side of truth.

BIG GOVERNMENT & PERSONAL FINANCE

* Be A Sloth And Don’t Roth! Why Converting To A Roth IRA is A Mistake (125+ commets) – It’s important to wake up from your dream state and realize that not everything the government tries to tell you is good.  With logical reasoning, buttressed by simple mathematics, you realize that having a Roth IRA puts you in donkeyville.  The comments by Joe TaxPayer are particularly money.

* Insuring The Uninsured Is Worth It (140+ comments) – Was written after President Obama rammed his healthcare bill through.  I strongly believe that nobody should ever die or go broke due to a lack of health care in America.  Disease and sickness attacks everyone, not just the poor.

* Millionaires Need Love Too Ya Know (100+ comments) – Is a discussion with a millionaire buddy who feels he is 1000% entitled to collecting unemployment benefits even though he’s financially fine.  “I paid hundreds of thousands into the system, I sure as hell plan to get some of that money back!”

* Someone Always Farts In A Crowd – The Moral Hazard Of America (50+ comments) – Discusses my encounter with a rascally kid who lets out a big one during a show.  Someone is always letting one go, and often times you don’t know who.  Hence, you might as well let one rip as well and blame someone else!

* Don’t Have Children If You Can’t Take Care Of Yourself (140+ comments) – There are 140 million orphans in the world.  If you can’t take care of yourself first, perhaps it’s a good idea not to have children before you can.  Perhaps even consider adopting.

* Renters Should Pay More Taxes (120+ comments) – A post discussing how we shouldn’t put the burden of all local taxes on the homeowner since renters enjoy the local parks, libraries, and public services as well.  Renters seem to constantly fight for equality, so let’s do that by making renters pay a Renters Tax just like homeowners pay property taxes.

* Only The Poor Or Super Rich Say Money Can’t Buy Happiness (130+ comments) – Let’s face it, money does buy happiness because it can buy you fantastic experiences.  Furthermore, you never have to worry about money again once you have money.  Don’t be tricked by researchers and the guilty rich.  Find out what the secret income level is for maximum happiness (80+ comments).

THANKS AGAIN!

The discussions have been phenomenal thanks to all of you.  For 2011, I will endeavor to provide an equally wide variety of posts for us to ruminate over and learn from.  If you are the editor of the New York Times or Word Up Magazine, yes, perhaps we should speak about some collaboration!

Next up, predictions for 2011!

Cheers,

Sam

I can’t help it.  I just have to wake up by 6:15am every morning because life just feels too darn exciting!  In fact, I woke up this morning at 4:30am, but that was thanks to my thumping pet rabbit.  Do you remember the feeling during Christmas eve as a kid, when you were so excited you couldn’t sleep?  As a result, you’d sneak down and wait in the middle of the night to see if Santa is coming?  You even tried getting a sneak peak by pealing back a corner of the present to see what you’ve got!  That was me growing up, the constant rascal.

Somewhere in the middle of adolescence and adult hood, I lost that excitement.  Perhaps it was the constant pressure of trying to get good grades so I could get a real job and not have to go back to McDonald’s.  I recall dreading my 8am multi-variable Calculus class during college.  Surprise, surprise, I dropped the class and signed up for Golf III (advanced level baby) instead!  That was when I began to rekindle my excitement as a kid again.  I was learning something I just loved, and couldn’t get enough.

FINDING THAT DESIRE

As soon as I wake up, I can’t wait to check my e-mails and see what’s going on in the world.  Part of the reason why I’m looking to meet more people internationally is because they are up when the East Coast is sleeping.  As a result, I’ll get to interact more with people in the evenings, which is my free time.

There’s very little that makes me happier than building relationships.  In fact, dare I say nothing makes me happier than the relationships we have with our family and friends?  Money is nice, but money is even better when we can spend it on others to help make them happy.

Just the other day, I spent hours painting, caulking, and cleaning our rental apartment.  I went out and bought a new shower head, fixed some fixtures, and even got the carpets professionally cleaned.  All was worth it when my tenant came in and said, “Wow!”  She was smiling from ear to ear, and commented on how sparkly everything looked.  Now that’s gratifying!  We got to talking about her life and her aspirations.   Relationships with clients can be wonderful.

MORE TIME CAN HELP YOU SUCCEED

One of my stretch goals is to try and wake up the same time everybody wakes up on the East Coast (8am EST assumption = 5am PST), and go to bed three hours after them (assumption 12pm PST/3am EST).  In essence, I’m trying to build in 3 more hours of time into my day.  All else being equal, if you have three more hours a day than your competitors, you will undoubtedly win and run circles around them frankly.

Three hours more a day is 90 hours more a month to work on your projects, be them personal projects or work projects.  Let’s say you can only stay awake for one more hour a day.  Don’t you think you can still do amazing things with 30 extra hours a month?  You bet your buns of steel you can!

There’s a large group of people out there who just love to sleep in, myself included!  There’s something so special about hearing the alarm clock, and knowing it’s Saturday and you don’t have to get up.  What I’m saying is that if you find something you just absolutely love to do everyday, you won’t need that alarm clock and will bounce right out of bed every single morning.

LOOK FOR THAT SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS WHILE YOU SLEEP

Practice waking up earlier for one hour a day, everyday for the next month.  You might feel a little groggy in the beginning, but that will start to fade as you focus that extra hour on doing whatever it is you love.  When you start seeing progress in your activity, you’ll discover that waking up early gets easier and easier until you just automatically get up!  Trust me on this folks, you can move mountains with just one hour extra a day for the rest of your life.

Have a fantastic Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Regards,

Sam

Over poker one night, we got to talking about what we always talk about: entrepreneurship.   Out of a table of 10, four work at start-ups, three are at Google, one is a high-tech lawyer, one works as a medical correspondent for CNN, and then there’s me, a hybrid.  I had just got done working on Yakezie.com for three hours after working an 11 hour day, and needless to say, I was a little bit tired.

I love going to Friday night poker mainly because I get to bounce ideas off of really smart and incredibly hard working people.  When I hear stories of one start-up player working from 7am to 3am every night for two weeks straight to launch a product offering, I get pumped.  When the Venture Capitalist player recounts his firm rejecting a pitch by Tim Westergren, Pandora’s founder in 2008, I wince, but daydream in amazement.

THE QUESTION

Down about $185 for the evening, I started lamenting what the money will cost in side hustling.  A couple hours of work at least, I thought.  How depressing, thanks to my opponent’s King on the river against my pocket Queens!  I quickly shifted to more pleasant thoughts about the future of start-ups and posed this question in between hands to my fellow sharks:

Would you rather make $15-000-$30,000 a month and “work” only 2-4 hours a day?  Or, would you rather make minimum wage working 12-18 hours a day for two years with a 25% chance of selling your business for $100 million dollars and netting yourself a cool $25 million?  If you don’t, all you are left with are your experiences.

I purposefully left the question open-ended to see what the various responses would be.  Already, one was doing math equations of what the capitalized value of $15,000-$30,000 a month would be based on an expected life expectancy compared to the expected value of the big payout.  After all, we calculate expected value all the time in poker.  Instead, I encouraged my fellow players to stop calculating and go with their gut.

Surprisingly, or perhaps not to be unexpected, every single one of them chose option 2: the big potential payout.  A couple of the entrepreneurs have a $100 million dollar buyout goal in mind, which I find somewhat delusional, but maybe not with Zynga, Youtube, and a host of other companies getting valued in the billions!

As the night wore on, I finally heard someone take the other side after losing $690 in a $2,600 4-way pot when his straight got flushed out.

“Well, $30,000 a month for working only a couple hours a day isn’t so bad.  I think I’ll go with that.”

Readers, what path would you choose?  Go with your gut!

Regards,

Sam

I clicked the 2 minute super nuke button on my microwave before leaving to park my car.  Moose was left outside after a late night of partying and I didn’t want the parking crazies to give me a lovely $70 ticket for blocking my own driveway.

Two minutes should have been enough sizzle time to keep my food toasty before I got back.  Eight minutes later (checked and read the mail too), I came back to ravish my leftover Pad Thai.  Oh, how disappointed I was and so I tweeted:

“If room temperature is considered warm, why does my food always get cold? #Deepthoughts as I ponder the meaning of life while writing.” via @FinancialSamura

My question was sincere, in the moment, and with no time to think.  I got a couple sincerely interesting responses.

“@Financialsamura Is room temperature warm? I thought it was just “eh” :)”

Wrote the lovely @MarenKate with one bagillion followers.  Good clue there as my mind started processing.  Perhaps inappropriately, but always with honestly I responded,

“@marenkate Room temp is definitely at least lukewarm in my mind, but gets hotter when you tweet. Whuh?”

Not as lovely, but equally as intelligent @DrDeanBurke then pitched in and wrote:

“@financialsamura What is the temp of your tongue? Anything cooler, will taste cool…..No charge!”

How should I know what the temp of my tongue is Doc?  I shoulda become a doctor, I’d kill it if I could make money with that advice!

Seconds later, @IWP responds with the lightning bolt answer:

“@Financialsamura Ha, cause it’s because room temperature is colder than you like your food when eating.”

That, in a nutshell is the answer to all suffering, happiness, and disappointment!  You see, not only is everything rational, everything is also relative!  I like my food hot – hot to the point where my tongue and top of my mouth almost burn off.  Anything less is displeasing.

EXAMPLES OF DESIRE & SUFFERING

Back in college, I used to think making $30,000 a year was awesome, and retiring with a million bucks was a monumental achievement.  After working for more than a decade, I no longer think this way.  What a shame, but something at least I recognize.

I used to think my inner tube was the best way to enjoy the ocean.  Not anymore after I witnessed the 150+ yard long mega-yacht called “A” the other month!

So you see, the clear answer to happiness is having low standards (cold food, soggy waffles, inner tubes, one pack gut, low income) and being satisfied with what you have.  Who would have thunk that a key question could be found so instantaneously on Twitter?

Readers, shall I start a series called “Deep Thoughts on Twitter”?  What do you think causes suffering?

Cheers,

Sam