Podcast Notes Playlist: Latest Episodes

• “A retail store is really a participant in the global world of commerce” – Tobi Lutke
  • The pandemic has closed most physical stores, but virtual stores are still alive and thriving
• One important skill people learn from video games is decision making, strategy, and resource allocation
  • The most important lesson Tobi’s learned from video games is managing his attention
    • “You’re tested at how good are you at paying attention to what’s going on. How well are you investing your attention?” – Tobi Lutke
• The most important realization from personality tests is that people are different and see the world from different perspectives
  • “Just having a working understanding of this and actually having an appreciation for other people’s perspective is just hugely valuable and I think personality tests are a way to get there” – Tobi Lutke
• A key takeaway from stoicism: Only focus on influencing the things you can control, such as yourself
  • For example, you can’t be insulted by what someone says unless you accept the insult 
    • “My brain has assigned the power to this other person to make me feel insulted and I chose to go along with that” – Tobi Lutke
• 2030 came a decade early because of COVID: Everyone is on web conferences, more people are working from home, and online learning has skyrocketedPeople are also getting a glimpse of living in a business world that is almost completely digital

My guest today is Tobi Lutke, the co-founder, and CEO of Shopify.  This is both a timely and evergreen conversation.  Timely, as the world as moved aggressively digital in the past two months, and Shopify powers so much of digital commerce.  Evergreen, because while we touch on Covid and the Shopify business, this is much more a conversation on business and personal principles, learning, design, and growth. Tobi is one of the CEO’s I look up to most for the type of company he is building and for the way he conducts himself.  We discuss business focus, why video games help you learn the power of attention, what design means for products and organizations, and much more. Please enjoy my conversation with Tobi Lutke.

This episode is brought to you by the MIT investment management company (MITIMCO)

Reach out or learn more: 

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://mitimco.org/partner/
• MITIMCo 10 year Letter: https://mitimco.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/MITIMCo-Alumni-Letter.pdf
• MITIMCo brochure: https://mitimco.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/MITIMCo-Brochure_web_2018-12-05.pdf

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.

Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.

Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

Show Notes

(2:35) – (First question) – The launch of the new Shopify shop app

            (2:44) – Deniel Ek Podcast Episode

            (2:45) – Jeff Lawson Podcast Episode

(4:56) – Having the right focus and growing a good business

(9:06) – Marketplace business model vs the merchant driven business model

            9:16 – Bill Gurley Podcast Appearances - 162 | 144 | 137

(11:47) – His role as a decisionmaker as CEO of the company

(14:07) – What does he mean when he talks about quality

(18:28) – His thinking on design and quality

            (18:32) – Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance

            (19:59) – The Design of Everyday Things

(21:06) – Friction as a force in business and manufacturing

(26:04) – His thoughts on systems and being free of process           

(26:08) – The Systems Bible

 (30:01) – The game of Factoria and how it relates to systems

            (32:16) – Transfer Learning

(34:33) – What Real-Time Strategy games have taught Tobi

(38:30) – Building context inside of a company and making it scale

(41:17) – Personality typing

(46:22) – The Tobi Blueprint

(46:04) – Why he likes The Guide to the Good Life and stoicism

(55:38) – Raising kids and the impact of Covid

(1:03:16) – The kindest thing anyone has done for Tobi

Learn More

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub

Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

Functional Medicine is all about looking at the way our systems function together, rather than focusing on one part of the body at a time. The steps you take to support whole-body health work in the same way. Diet, exercise, stress reduction—they simultaneously affect more than just one aspect of your health—and new research has revealed that choices around these things can have major impacts on our sleep, and how that cycles back to support overall optimal health.

In this episode I sit down with Dr. Todd LePine to discuss why so many of us experience issues related to our sleep and what we can do about it.

Dr. LePine graduated from Dartmouth Medical School and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, specializing in Integrative Functional Medicine. He is an Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner. Prior to joining The UltraWellness Center, he worked as a physician at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA, for 10 years. Dr. LePine’s focus at The UltraWellness Center is to help his patients achieve optimal health and vitality by restoring the natural balance to both the mind and the body. His areas of interest include optimal aging, bio-detoxification, functional gastrointestinal health, systemic inflammation, autoimmune disorders and the neurobiology of mood and cognitive disorders. Dr. LePine teaches around the world, and has given lectures to doctors and patients at American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM), Age Management Medicine Group (AMMG), the University of Miami Integrative Medicine Conference, The Kripalu Center in Lenox, MA, and is on the faculty for American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M). Dr. LePine is the head of the Scientific Advisory Board for Designs for Health and a consultant for Diagnostic Solutions Laboratory. He enjoys skiing, kayaking, hiking, camping and golfing in the beautiful Berkshires, and is a fitness enthusiast.

This episode is sponsored by my Sleep Master Class. In this modern world we place too much value on staying busy and deprioritizing sleep, which is why I have created my first ever Master Class. It guides you through the most important steps to getting better sleep, starting today. To learn more about the Sleep Master Class, head over to drhyman.com/sleep

In this episode, Dr. Hyman and Dr. LePine discuss:

• The value in asking if you are waking up refreshed

• How artificial light at night disrupts hormones and sleep

• The importance of getting exposure to natural light in the morning

• How side effects from medication, caffeine, alcohol, eating late at night, and environmental toxins can all affect sleep

• Sleep hygiene routines

• The link between temperature and sleep

• Consequences of chronic sleep deprivation

• Sleep and the immune system

• EMFs (or electric and magnetic fields) and their effects on our physiology 

• Additional treatments for sleep issues

For more information visit drhyman.com/uwc

Products mentioned in this episode:

TrueDark https://truedark.com/

Purity Coffee https://puritycoffee.com/

Oura Ring https://ouraring.com/

Chili https://www.chilitechnology.com/

10-Day Reset https://getfarmacy.com/

Additional Resources:

“Your Brain and Immunity: The Fascinating Connection You Need to Nurture”

https://ultrawellnesscenter.com/2019/06/04/your-brain-and-immunity-the-fascinating-connection-you-need-to-nurture/

“Magical Magnesium”

https://ultrawellnesscenter.com/2020/03/11/magic-magnesium/

“5 Strategies for Better Sleep”

https://ultrawellnesscenter.com/2020/03/19/5-strategies-for-better-sleep-2/

“Why is my teenager so tired?: A personal story”

https://ultrawellnesscenter.com/2018/09/25/why-is-my-teenager-so-tired-a-personal-story/

“8 Simple Hacks for a Better Night's Sleep”

https://drhyman.com/blog/2016/04/13/8-simple-hacks-for-a-better-nights-sleep/

“Sleep Heals”

https://drhyman.com/blog/2018/12/20/sleep-heals/

“Is Coffee Good or Bad for You?”

https://drhyman.com/blog/2016/07/14/is-coffee-good-or-bad-for-you/

“Food Bites with Dr. Hyman – Nighttime Snacking”

https://drhyman.com/blog/2015/05/15/food-bites-with-dr-hyman-nighttime-snacking/

“Food Bites with Dr. Hyman – What can I do to stay asleep and sleep more deeply?”

https://drhyman.com/blog/2015/02/05/food-bites-dr-hyman-can-stay-asleep-sleep-deeply/

“Is There An Antidote to Stress?”

https://drhyman.com/blog/2019/12/31/podcast-ep87/

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

• Lessons from the subscription business:
  • You can probably charge more than you think. Currently, Sam Parr charges $300 annually but plans to increase it in the near future.
  • He only allows an annual billing plan which helps improve cash flow dramatically  
  • Create a long-form sales page, it may seem outdated but it works. Look at any Amazon product, and they have a long sales page with plenty of images and reviews.
    • “Typically, the more expensive the product the longer the sales page needs to be” – Sam Parr
• “Just being an okay copywriter is the number one skill that you can ever have if you want to make money” – Sam Parr
  • Why? Copywriting means understanding human behavior, people’s wants and needs, and manipulating that to lead to a purchase
    • However, you can also use copywriting to convince an employee to join your company, to get people on social media to get behind your movement, or to get investors
      • “If you understand what motivates people and then you understand how to communicate it using words, it’s like I’m going to a gunfight with like a magic sword that shoots laser beams, it’s an unfair advantage.” 
• Sam says it’s possible to make $50 million a year with only 4 writers and an email list
• How would Sam start a newsletter business today?
  • Pick a small but fast-growing niche
  • Identify target customers 
  • Avoid using Substack
  • Charge around $500-1,000 a year
  • Make sure the information he provided is useful
    • “It has to be like a vegetable smothered in peanut butter, in that it can be entertaining and interesting, but at its core, it has to be utility”
      • The information you’re selling should help people make money
  • Spend money on advertising to grow
  • Write viral blog posts for content marketing

Sam Parr (@theSamParr) returns to the podcast for the second time. You may remember his journey as the midwesterner that went from running a hot dog stand to creating an 8-figure ad-supported newsletter. In this episode, Sam shares how he's now on track to build an 8-figure paid newsletter — Trends.co — and how other indie hackers can do the same. We talk growth strategies for media businesses, advertising vs subscription revenue, and why learning to write persuasively is the most important skill any founder can have.

Transcript, speaker information, and more: https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/161-sam-parr-of-the-hustle

• Entrepreneurship is dying for 3 reasons:
  • More broken families
  • An outdated educational system
  • A tough marketplace
• “The folks who are in their 20s and 30s are starting businesses at multi-generational lows” – Andrew Yang
• “We’re seeing record levels among dysfunction among young people that are hand-in-hand with smartphone adoption and social media use” – Andrew Yang
• Marriage and birthrates have fallen to historic lows in the US
  • “If you are a non-college graduate man you have a less than 50/50 shot of ever being married in your life” – Andrew Yang
• “Our educational system is designed for an agrarian/industrial economy” – Andrew Yang
  • “You’re preparing kids for an economy that stopped existing a long time ago”
• The US has systematically underinvested in vocational education
  • Only 6% of American high school students are in technical or apprenticeship tracks. For comparison, in Germany it’s 50%
• “We have this completely unresponsive out of date educational system that is not actually preparing our kids with real skills, it’s just pretending and then they’ve also ginned up the price tag” – Andrew Yang

Andrew Yang shook up politics in 2020 by running for president as an optimistic, data-driven entrepreneur who was simultaneously more aware of the dark side of American capitalism than any of the other candidates. And he has not relented on his mission to help people learn to kick ass in every area of their lives, while at the same time constantly pointing out the demented ways that our economic and educational systems squash initiative and produce financial insecurity. On this episode of Impact Theory, Andrew Yang and Tom Bilyeu engage in an eye-opening discussion of the current recession, our long-term decline in entrepreneurship, and what individuals can do right now to make it through tough times.

This episode is brought to you by:

Impact Theory University: university.impacttheory.com

Mack Weldon: For 20% off your first order, visit mackweldon.com and enter promo code impact

Policygenius: policygenius.com

SHOW NOTES:

Andrew and Tom discuss the ways that being entrepreneurs have defined them [1:20]

Andrew talks about why entrepreneurship is in such serious decline [4:24]

Andrew explains that the economy doesn’t line up success with actual value [10:21]

Tom shares the story of how he became obsessed with skill sets and mindset [14:59]

Andrew describes the family conditions that make it hard for many people to succeed [19:33]

Tom and Andrew discuss Geoffrey Canada and early learning [26:21]

Andrew talks about how out of date and unresponsive the education system is [29:25]

Tom explains why he stopped cheating in college, and focused on acquiring skills [34:06]

The job market has systematically gotten more punitive and volatile [36:21]

How can you protect yourself from the current economic recession? [41:47]

Andrew and Tom discuss positive advice for making it through tough times [43:15]

Andrew talks about what he’s reading right now [46:56]

Tom and Andrew express their admiration for each other [49:03]

Andrew shares the impact he wants to have on the world [53:23]

QUOTES:

“When I was the CEO of my company, I felt like I was the head of a family, of a really big household.” [1:56]

“I would want to team up with Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs and be like, look, these jobs are awesome. We have a massive shortage of people to fill those jobs. And we have an overabundance of people who are going to college.” [31:36]

“It doesn’t feel like it. But just try to help someone. Just by helping someone, it will end up making you stronger. You will end up building connections and a sense of value.” [46:19]

FOLLOW:

WEBSITE: yang2020.com

INSTAGRAM: https://bit.ly/2yfKSKd 

FACEBOOK: https://bit.ly/2Szl2aV 

TWITTER: https://bit.ly/2SvFvgI

PlanB (pseudonymous Bitcoin quant) & Saifedean (Bitcoin economist)  rejoin me to talk about PlanB’s latest work on S2FX, and some of the  debates being had on S2F modelling as well as addressing some of the  criticism. We will also talk about Bitcoin as it goes through phase  transitions, and the implications on the Bitcoin industry, and the rest  of society.

PlanB Links:

Saifedean Links:

Prior episodes:

Relevant episodes:

Sponsor links:

Stephan Livera links: