This episode starts with my six-year-old walking up to me one afternoon and asking, "Dad, what's a sixpence?" I follow that question all the way down.

I dig into the 400-year life of the sixpence, a British coin quietly debased over decades until there was no silver left in it at all, and finally withdrawn in 1980, largely without anyone noticing while it happened. From there I get into what debasement actually looks like in real time, why every generation assumes the money it grows up with is permanent, and why being a good capital allocator means being a student of change as much as a student of markets.

Also covered: the books that have shaped how I think about money (Menger, Lynn Alden, Saifedean Ammous), where Bitcoin fits into this story without being the whole story, and the question I've been sitting with since that conversation: what do I own today that feels permanent, but probably isn't?

Between 2023 and 2025, my Bitcoin position grew so fast I thought I'd solved the wealth problem. Then the market turned, hard and fast, and I found out exactly what I'd built.

Turns out I was asking one asset to be four things at once: my growth, my income, my emergency fund, and my peace of mind. When volatility hit, all four failed together.

In this episode I walk through what actually happened (the renovation, the forced selling, the hardest six months of my marriage) and the framework I'm now using instead: every dollar needs one job, not four.

Growth. Purchasing power over the long run.
Income. Money through the front door, however you make it.
Optionality. Cash and available capital, your buffer to survive and act.
Stability. The base layer you never sell, the thing that lets you sleep.

The mistake wasn't buying Bitcoin. It was the architecture.

If you want to try the exercise: write down everything you own, and one sentence next to each, what job is this actually doing for you. If you can't answer it, you've found the weakest part of your portfolio.

A few weeks ago I sent an early version of my business to 44 people I trust. My main aim: tell me why it wouldn't work. Well over twenty replied. One even told me to get a job. All of it was valuable. What I didn't realise at the time was that I was accidentally building a market intelligence database. This process has fundamentally changed how I think about building Bitcoin Custody Architect.

In this episode I share Version 1 of that report.

What you'll hear:

This is Version 1. I expect it to look very different by Version 10. That's the whole point.

If you have a custody story, a recovery experience, an inheritance challenge, or a mistake you learned from, I'd genuinely love to hear from you. Every conversation improves the next version of this report.

Reach out on X or head to jakewoodhouse.io/bca

I asked Bitcoin Twitter a simple question this week: if you own meaningful Bitcoin, which worries you more, a 50% price drop, or losing access to it?

Almost everyone said losing access. The thread is worth reading: https://x.com/jakewoodhouseio/status/2069199376166301735

One reply put it simply: a 50% drop means you've lost half. Losing access means you've lost it all.

That's what this episode is about.

I recently reviewed one of my own Bitcoin setups and found a gap. A vault I'd created that wasn't properly documented; specifically the derivation path required to rebuild it independently if my provider disappeared. I've been doing this for over a decade and still found a problem.

That's a provider dependency: when your recovery process depends on a specific company, software, or service remaining available.

In this episode I cover what that actually means in practice: a friend's Sparrow update prompt and why pausing before clicking yes was the right instinct; the AUSTRAC Travel Rule coming into effect in Australia on 1 July 2026; a Ledger that died inside a 2-of-3 multisig and turned it into a 2-of-2 overnight; and the questions every Bitcoiner should be able to answer about their own setup right now.

Self-custody is not a destination. It's a process.

If your family cannot recover your Bitcoin without you, you have a Bitcoin dependency. If you cannot recover your Bitcoin without your provider, you have a provider dependency. Both are worth solving.

jakewoodhouse.io/bca

Could Your Family Recover Your Bitcoin Without You?

Most people who hear that question feel something shift. Because the honest answer is no. Or maybe. Or they haven't really thought about it.

In this episode I introduce the concept of Bitcoin Dependency, and why it's the most under-examined risk in every serious Bitcoin holder's life. If your family cannot recover your Bitcoin without you, you do not have a Bitcoin custody plan. You have a Bitcoin dependency.

I also share the personal story that shapes everything about how I think about this, my father dying suddenly when I was twenty, and seventeen years of figuring out what to do with inherited capital without a roadmap left behind. That experience is the foundation of what I now build for clients: a Family Bitcoin Plan.

If you're holding meaningful Bitcoin, have a family, and haven't built a plan around your custody yet; this episode is for you.

Book a free 30-minute discovery call: jakewoodhouse.io/bca

USD $4,444 fixed fee. Everything included. Annual review available at USD $1,111/year. Not every application is accepted.

Most people using AI are re-writing emails or summarising documents. That's fine. But this episode is about something different — using Claude as a daily operational co-pilot to actually build things.

Over the last week and a half I built two separate marketing funnels from scratch. One organic, one paid. Different audiences, different entry points, different conversion paths. I'm not a software developer. I'm a podcast host running a productised consulting business from Byron Bay, whilst homeschooling three kids.

Every time I hit a wall — a WordPress setting I didn't understand, a DNS record I was terrified to touch, a ConvertKit automation I couldn't figure out, a Linkedin Ad setting I didn't understand — I took a screenshot, sent it to Claude, and got unstuck in minutes.

That's the episode. Not theory. Not a tutorial. What this actually looks like in practice.

What's covered:

Links:

I sell a $999 AI Assessment to Australian small businesses. Last Thursday I ran it on my own business — same call, same interview questions, same Claude prompt, same Gamma report, no shortcuts.

The report told me to do something I hadn't seriously considered: cold email outreach to Australian accountants using a tool called Apollo, with my own self-assessment PDF as the proof piece. Something that wasn't even on my radar a week ago, just this morning at 9am, fired out it's first batch of 10 emails.

Honest point: I don't know if it works. Two weeks left in the proof window to find out!

The entire report — the exact PDF a paying client receives — is linked below.

Read the self-assessment: https://jakewoodhouse.io/self-assessment/

Book an AI Assessment: jakewoodhouse.io/ai-assessment

Timestamps

00:00 — Ran the product on myself last Thursday

01:30 — The product: $999, 20-min call, 48hr bespoke PDF, Report-Pays-For-Itself guarantee

06:00 — Did the interview on WhatsApp in the car, on the way to pick up my daughter

08:00 — Four pain points the report flagged

11:30 — The recommendation I didn't see coming: Apollo + Claude

12:30 — Why standard hourly-rate maths doesn't fit a productised service

16:00 — Building Apollo Friday/Saturday: 3,346 verified accountants, three-touch sequence

17:30 — Monday 9am: first 10 emails out. One I sent twice by mistake.

19:30 — Honest uncertainty: I don't know if any convert

22:00 — Why pay $999 if the PDF is free? Template is the format. Product is the bespoke version for your business.

27:00 — Ideas have never been cheaper. Execution has never been more important.

28:00 — "You've got to do paid ads" — what if you're amplifying the wrong thing?

Connect:

Website: jakewoodhouse.io

X / Twitter: @jakewoodhouseio

LinkedIn: Jake Woodhouse

YouTube: @jakewoodhouseio

Instagram: @jakewoodhouseio

Email: [email protected]

A friend mentioned a story to me last week.

Somewhere in suburban Texas, a pool builder has allegedly built an autonomous AI agent that scans satellite imagery for affluent homes without pools, renders a luxury pool into the actual backyard, estimates the build cost, and mails a personalised postcard with a QR code. No human in the loop. Tens of thousands of homes. Inbound qualified leads.

I haven't independently verified the operator. What I have verified is that every component of the workflow is real, accessible, and being discussed openly across Reddit, LinkedIn, and the AI builder community. And the deeper insight — the one that actually matters — is that AI has just collapsed the cost of hyper-personalised outbound marketing by four to five orders of magnitude. For the first time in marketing history, this kind of campaign is economically viable for local-service businesses.

In this episode I walk through the workflow step by step, dig into the unit economics, name the ethical pushback, and pull it into what it means for Australian small business owners — landscapers, fencers, solar installers, granny flat builders, kitchen renovators. Someone is going to do this in your industry in 2026. The only question is who.

Chapters

0:00 — Intro 0:55 — A phone call with a technical friend

1:50 — What's allegedly happening: the pool workflow

3:30 — How it actually works: the tech stack

6:00 — Why I haven't verified the operator (and why it doesn't matter)

6:55 — The unit economics — traditional CAC vs AI-powered outbound

9:50 — The real unlock: pre-AI vs post-AI cost maths

10:45 — Where else this applies (solar, landscaping, granny flats, kitchens)

13:15 — The surveillance question

15:50 — What this means for your business

20:00 — The AI Assessment — what's actually in it

21:15 — Why incentives inside large companies will hold them back

25:30 — Why solo operators are about to become more viable

27:55 — Wrap

Resources & references:

Get an AI Assessment for your business:

If you're a small business owner and you're thinking "this is exactly the kind of thing I should be exploring but I have no idea where to start" — that's what the AI Assessment is for.

$999 AUD. A 20-minute call. A bespoke PDF report within 48 hours identifying the highest-leverage AI opportunities specific to your business — both quick wins and longer-term builds like the one in this episode. Report-Pays-For-Itself guarantee: if the monthly ROI identified doesn't exceed $999, full refund.

Three slots per week.

👉 jakewoodhouse.io/ai-assessment

Connect:

If you've seen a workflow like this being applied to a different industry — landscaping, solar, fencing, granny flats, anywhere — I'd love to hear from you. Reach out on any of the channels above.

Three months ago, at 4am, my net worth had just halved. Bitcoin had crashed and I'd been heavily exposed. Three kids asleep upstairs, wife asleep. I sat at the laptop and typed one question into ChatGPT: how do I make money?

That rabbit hole became the AI Assessment business I now run, and it became this episode.

This is the actual workflow. The system I copied from my wife. The verification layer that handles AI hallucination. The exact stack producing this podcast — and why I cancelled Buffer this morning. Why the next decade of business building looks nothing like the last one. And the real numbers from real clients: Pete the chartered accountant, $17,400 a month found in a 20-minute call. Mat the landscaper, $1,500 a month sitting in his invoicing alone.

If you run an Australian business and you've known for a while that AI matters but haven't really started — this is for you.

Chapters

00:00 — Welcome

00:33 — 4am, three kids asleep, one question

02:15 — Who this is for

02:35 — Why February changed everything

04:35 — The system I copied from my wife

07:30 — The verification layer (AI hallucinates)

09:45 — The founder journey at 10x speed (vs Entrepreneur First)

12:00 — Rod Bishop: solo founder, no CTO, no VC

13:10 — Why bespoke beats generic

15:30 — Sam's boxing gym

17:30 — The Johnny lighting story

19:00 — The stack (Dale asked)

23:00 — Why organic content first

26:30 — What this means for you (Pete and Mat)

28:30 — Outro

Resources mentioned

Call to action

If you run an Australian small business and want clarity on what AI could actually do for you — book an AI Assessment at jakewoodhouse.io/ai-assessment. 20-minute call. Bespoke report in 48 hours. $999 with a guarantee it pays for itself in month one. If it doesn't, full refund.

Ten days ago I sent an SMS to my warm network offering a free AI Business Assessment. Five business owners said yes. By Friday, I'd run five 20-minute calls, delivered five custom AI roadmaps, and identified between $1,560 and $17,400 of monthly value waiting to be unlocked.

Lewis, a construction and landscaping director in Melbourne, replied: "What once felt overwhelming now feels exciting."

This episode is the story of those 10 days — the SMS that started it, the five calls, the numbers, and the offer that's now live at jakewoodhouse.io/ai-assessment

Chapters

In This Episode

The Offer

AI Business Assessment — $999 AUD

Book yours: jakewoodhouse.io/ai-assessment

Links & References

Take Action:

Connect

The gap isn't access. It's knowing where to start.