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Buying the US Constitution – #73

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If you’ve been following along on The Random, I’ve been writing quite a bit about DAOs (check out this issue) and digital property rights (from last issue).

Most of the DAO (decentralized autonomous organizations) examples I’ve been sharing are for media companies and crypto projects. Well, here’s one that really got me thinking.

Earlier this week, investor Packy McCormick (and friends) launched ConstitutionDAO. Their goal? To buy the actual constitution.

Let me digress.

Auction house Sotheby’s is auctioning off one of the official versions of the United States Constitution this Thursday. The estimated price is to go between $15 and $20 million dollars.

ConstitutionDAO’s goal is to purchase this version. They say:

“We’re buying the US Constitution.

For the first time in thirty-three years, one of thirteen surviving copies of the Official Edition from the Constitutional Convention will be publicly auctioned by Sotheby’s. It is the only copy that is still owned by private collectors. The proceeds from the auction will be given to a charity that has been established by the current owner.”

They have all kinds of plans for it, including giving this version to the Smithsonian Institute and then working out a plan to buy more US artifacts.

As I type this, they’ve raised well over $5 million dollars (UPDATE – as of 3:58PM ET on 11/17 they’ve now raised $25 million dollars), with some individuals giving just a few dollars while others are giving tens of thousands. For their giving, they all own part of the new entity.

Crazy, right?

Just a few days ago this would have been impossible, but now because of the blockchain and the token, groups of people can easily come together into a real business and govern themselves.

Will this work? Looks like they have the money depending on how high the bids go. I did give a little bit myself to support the effort.

If they pull this off it will be the largest group purchase in history (according to Sotheby’s) and the most expensive one item in history.

I joined their discord group, which has added over 10,000 members in just a few days.

Why am I telling you all this?

Start thinking of the applications.

Want to keep a historical structure in your town? Start a DAO.
Want to buy a minor league baseball team? Start a DAO.
Want to buy a bar with all your friends? Start a DAO.

Word of warning. There are all kinds of legal landmines here because, well, we know nothing about this new legal formation.

That said, THIS is what the internet was built for. Now groups of people can more easily pool resources, own things, and self-govern.

Thank you Mrs. Token!

FYI, here’s a short podcast on ConstitutionDAO from The Breakdown with NLW.

Speaking of tokens, I found a couple interesting articles around the same topic.

First, Disney seems to have big plans around the metaverse (of course they do). Read more here.

Second, Harvard Business Review did a pretty good overview of the good and bad about NFTs. Read more on that here.

You Don’t Know Stress

My oldest sent me another great video this week…this time about stress.

Here’s a very interesting (and helpful) 13-minute video from psychologist Kelly McGonigal on how we really know nothing about stress.

My takeaways?

Stress itself isn’t good or bad, it’s how you perceive the stress. For example, if you are feeling stress and belief that it’s making you sick, it is. On the other hand, if you believe stress is preparing you for great things, then it is. Stress, with the right attitude, gives your body the same chemical properties as courage.

This reminds me of the quote in the movie Bull Durham.

“If you believe you’re playing well because you’re getting laid or because you’re not getting laid or because you wear women’s underwear, then you are. And you should know that!”

Also, the more you care about other people, the more your body will be resilient against bad stress. Love more, live longer? I think so.

How Are Your Stock Market Gains?

I’m a free subscriber to the Pomp Letter from Anthony Pompliano. In his last newsletter, he questioned this year’s stock market gains.

Since the pandemic started, stock market gains have been crazy good. Or have they?

Well, it depends on what you measure them against.

If you use the highly inflated US dollar, gains look great. BUT, if you look at those gains against, say, Bitcoin, the gains are terrible.

In the last 12 months, S&P 500 gains are 29 percent if US dollars is the denominator. If you use Bitcoin, returns are negative (see chart).

I’m only telling you this because sometimes we need to change our perspective.

Disclaimer: I own S&P stocks and Bitcoin.

Yo Digital Props – #72

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Last issue of The Random I discussed what I believe is a new business model for content creators…basically…the tokenization of everything.

This issue, I’d like to take you further down the rabbit hole.

Hey Meta

Facebook’s decision to rename their company as Meta has everyone talking about the metaverse. If you’re not familiar, the term metaverse comes from Neil Stephenson’s book Snow Crash, a science fiction novel in the same category as Ready Player One. I highly recommend the read, not only for enjoyment but for training purposes.

Why? In the book there are two kinds of property: one for the real world and one for the digital world (metaverse). I believe this is what’s to come (and that right soon).

So yes, you will own a house and a car and all the things you see around you (the NFTs of the real world). This is the world where property rights are things we can see and touch.

And then you will own your digital property. This goes for digital money like Bitcoin and Ethereum and now a whole new world of digital property made possible with NFTs.

I’ve become obsessed with this concept. I believe it unleashes possibilities for content and creative entrepreneurs that we’ve never thought possible.

Web 1.0 to Web 3

Just like the first wave of the internet, we are just seeing NFTs today as digital replicas of what already exists. For example, when Web 1.0 first came online, websites were pretty much just digital magazines or digital classifieds. Same exact thing as in the real world, just accessible via the web.

Today we are seeing art, but instead of going to a gallery, we can purchase it digitally as an NFT. We know what memberships looks like today, but now you can package them in an NFT or as community tokens (like we do at The Tilt).

Maybe we aren’t at Web 3 yet…how about Web 2.5? Let’s say instead of selling my book on Amazon, I can sell it as an NFT to, say, 300 people…what I might consider my true fans. I can make more money on the NFT version if people are willing to spend more, which a few people will, and also make money off every resale…which is impossible today (I do not make money when a used bookstore sells my book).

If you are a content creator, that’s where I’d be spending my thinking time. What intellectual property do I have and can create, and how do I develop it as digital property that people would want access to?

Think of a musician today. I have a few in my family. They make their living by doing in-person gigs or recording for people. Many people in the middle take their cut. Musicians almost never directly receive compensation from fans. They get what’s left over.

But if I’m starting out in music today, I’m building a small audience of fans. That musician can probably survive off a couple hundred or a thousand true fans, creating custom in-person and digital experiences, music, merchandise and more just for those people who are willing to pay a little more because of the scarcity and because they want to be a part of that musician’s journey.

It’s a game changer for every creative. And, if things work out, I can see more millionaire musicians than ever before. Just think of what just happened with writers on Substack. So many of them went from working for media companies to making millions on Substack the next year. THAT is going to be possible for every creative out there in the next three years because creators now control their own supply chain.

I don’t know where this is going to lead. I actually do think that people will “plug in” to the metaverse to experience life in a different way. When they get there, they’ll want all kinds of experiences, including ones you can offer (as part of their digital property).

Tokenization

Why all this now? Packy McCormick says it well. “Web 3 is the Internet “owned” by builders and users, motivated by tokens.” The tokenization of everything makes this thing possible.

Think about this…in Web 2 everyone was a content creator but only a few companies made all the money (Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, etc.). Almost all the content creation value from millions of creators went to just a few companies.

Web 3 can change everything because the creators won’t have to monetize through the platforms. Sure, creators will still use Facebook and YouTube, but they will drive super fans to purchase unique experiences and merchandise (digital property/NFTs) and won’t have to make money ON the platform.

Facebook (Meta) and company won’t go down without a fight. That’s why the change to Meta. They want to be THE PLACE that people buy all these things (think IOI in Ready Player One) and they want to take a cut. I’m hoping these interactions will happen outside of a centralized network (I’m betting it will).

So, you’ll have your physical property and you’ll have your digital property. As the years go on, we’ll be spending more time in the virtual world experiencing our digital property.

And get this? There are only about 10 million digital wallets right now in the entire world (your Apple wallet doesn’t count…think of a Metamask wallet). 10 million out of 7 billion people. I can’t imagine how big this thing is going to be. This is what the internet was built for.

Here are some great resources if you want more information:

This Tim Ferriss podcast with Chris Dixon and Naval is amazing. It’s two hours long, and worth almost every minute. They talk extensively about digital property rights.

This Bankless podcast featuring Chris Dixon talks about what the world will be like in Web 3. This will blow your mind.

Love this post from Doug Kessler on why B2B marketers need to care about Web 3. Great for beginners if you still don’t get this stuff.

Here is Your Next Business Model – #71

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Recently my wife and I stumbled upon an establishment called the Sugar Factory. Upon approaching, we gazed at the giant menu outside the store…more than 50 sugary drinks in huge fishbowls of every color imaginable. The majority cost a whopping $39.

I wasn’t into it, but my wife sure was.

We sat down at a table overlooking the ocean and ordered up our drinks. We ordered a Strawberry Hustle (see picture), a concoction of vodka, rum, triple sec, a pound of sugar, strawberry gummies and sugary fruit slices.

Drink for The Sugar Factor

First, the wait staff placed the huge glass in front of us, just ice filled to the brim covered in candy. Five minutes later, another person came over to pour in the drink. Pouring a drink, I’ve learned, is an event.

She asked me if I wanted to record it (which I did) and as the liquid was transferred from her cup to ours, the bubbles and smoke engulfed the table. It was amazing.

My wife and I were committed to finishing it, and we did in about a half hour (followed later by a nap).

The whole experience was magical. Everyone was taking pictures and eyeing all the amazing creations from table to table. There was a birthday party on the other side of the room where a few of the kids drank from a giant mug made of chocolate cake larger than their heads.

The Sugar Factory has locations in Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas, New York and more. They’ve created a one-of-a-kind experience that you can’t get anywhere else. Everything on the menu is laced with heaping mounds of sugar, from the cheeseburgers with sugary buns to their World-Famous Sugar Factory King Kong Sundae that feeds 12 for $99.

Why am I mentioning this?

Each one of us, in order to build an audience, needs to create a one-of-a-kind experience. That means being the leading expert in our industry niche, serving up content in a totally original way, fulfilling audience pain points no one else can do, or just leaning so far into what makes you…well…you that building an audience takes only time and consistency.

The Sugar Factory has a content tilt. It’s working for them (new stores are popping up all over the world).

If you are struggling with building an audience, maybe you need to lean a little more in one direction and commit to your content tilt. Or, better said, go big or go home.

The Audience Will Choose

Last week I penned an article on how community coins (also called creator coins or social tokens) could be the next great business model for content creators. Please check it out here and let me know what you think.

To be honest, I’ve been struggling with what Web3 (the next evolution of the Internet) means for content creators. I think this new technology gets us closer (very close in fact) to the ultimate in business models…that the creator (owner) and the audience (community) share in the financial success.

Community tokens are one way to do this. NFTs are another. We are also seeing new business structures, called DAOs, that, in my opinion, will became a major form of business construction in the next year. As you’ve read in this newsletter, being part of a DAO means shared ownership and shared decision making (like a collective).

One big driver behind this change is that humans can now own things on the web, and sometimes those things can increase in value. Chris Dixon of a16z penned an article on tokenization (h/t to @Michael_ in The Tilt’s Discord group) and stated that tokens give users property rights and the ability to own a piece of the Internet.

Picture this. Let’s say you spend most of your time on sites like Facebook. Facebook takes all the data you create and then uses it to advertise to you. You become the product. You get nothing but targeted ads in exchange for your data. But today, you have a choice to spend your time on Facebook, or you can spend it as part of community (like The Tilt) where you can earn tokens for helping to grow the community. You are still giving up your data, but in one scenario you can’t own that as property and in another you can.

That’s where we are going. We will be given more choices about where we can spend our time online. In some places we can actually create and earn assets. In others, large centralized companies will monetize you.

I know this is deep, but I’m really diving down the rabbit hole here. I think this is going to be dimensions bigger than anything we’ve seen on the web so far.

This week, two podcasts helped me wrap my arms around what’s happening. The first is Tom Bilyeu’s interview with Robert Breedlove on the history of money and why Bitcoin is a thing. Even if you don’t care anything about crypto, please listen to the first part to understand why what the Federal Reserve is doing right now is morally wrong and further increasing the wealth divide.

The second podcast is Raoul Pal’s interview with Yat Siu on the importance of NFTs as digital property and what we should expect from the Internet in the next 12-18 months. Warning: this episode will blow your mind. Also, I think Real Vision forces you to sign up with an email. It’s free, but still, it’s worth it in my opinion.

And…if you signed up for that, make sure you check out my interview re: $TILT coin on Real Vision. Super fun.

NFTs as Game Changer

If you still don’t get that tokens and NFTs are a game changer, read this Coindesk article. A lot of people think of NFTs and immediately believe an NFT is the JPG. It’s not. The NFT is the proof of digital rights. That’s the difference.

Are You Doing Your To-Do List Wrong? – #70

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If you’ve been a long-time subscriber of The Random, you know how often I’ve talked about Warren Buffett’s 25/5 Goal-Setting Strategy. It basically goes like this:

First, list 25 things you want to accomplish in the next year.

This should take a week or two. Look at all areas of your life. Ask yourself:

What do I want to accomplish in my career?

What financial goals do I want to tackle?

How’s my health? What can I do better?

How about my family? How do I find more quality time?

What about charitable goals? Is there a cause I should align with?

Don’t stop until you get to at least 25.

Then narrow it down to five.

Take the entire list and select the MOST IMPORTANT five goals.

Once you have selected the five, circle each one. Remember, circle five. No more, no less.

Then you detail your plan for five and go to work.

Okay, that’s great for the annual goals, but what about your daily “to-do” list?

Charles Duhigg, a writer at the New Yorker, says most people do this completely wrong.

He says that most of us create a list of things that need to be done, and then we cross them off as we complete them.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The solution? Look at your to-do list and “…ask yourself what is the most important thing I could do today? Write that on your to-do list, and then stop writing.”

Duhigg says we need to force ourselves into this habit so that everyday we start to focus on making a greater impact, instead of doing what’s easiest or most rewarding.

Think about this for a second.

We can spend our entire day answering emails or on social media or binge watching The Squid Game. Being busy is not being productive. It’s not necessarily meaningful. It doesn’t help others. It won’t help us grow.

I don’t know about you, but this is challenging for me. Here are some things that helped.

Create your “one thing” first thing in the morning.

Do your “one thing” before you open email or review social media.

If you have an office door, close it until the “one thing” is complete.

I’m thinking of this a little like Ted Lasso has the word “Believe” taped everywhere he goes. I’m considering posting “One Thing” on the wall, to make sure I stay focused during the day.

Integration? Theoretically, these two goal-setting formulas can work well together. Each day, look at your Buffett goals and do “one thing” to move that goal along.

Bullish on In-Person Events

Exactly a week ago today I was on the keynote stage at Content Marketing World 2021 in Cleveland, Ohio. It had been two years since I spoke in person at this event, and it was great being back on stage again.

If you’d like the details on my keynote, I shared them in my latest Content Inc. podcast available here.

For obvious reasons, the event was a bit smaller than normal, but what was lacking in numbers was made up in enthusiasm. Simply put, people were overjoyed to be around other human beings again. NOTE: To attend, you either needed to be vaccinated or show proof of a negative test.

I had a number of conversations at the event with attendees about the future of events. There was no consensus. Some felt that the future of events would be small, niche events. Others believed that most events would stay online.

Me? As I’ve said before, 2022 and 2023 are going to be HUGE for in-person events. And, at the same time, attendee expectations have gone down.

Boxed lunch instead of hot meal? Totally fine.

Fewer breakouts and more general sessions? Yes please.

Errors and miscommunication? Lots of forgiveness going around.

Even the sponsors seemed happy with fewer leads.

All this means that it’s going to be the perfect environment for profitable shows in the next few years. AND, the largest and most impactful events will be launched in the next few years. Economic recessions work that way (HP, Hyatt, Uber all launched during recessions) and the same will happen for this event recession.

Do you smell that? That’s opportunity.

The Death of Emojis in Subject Lines

best practice is to not use emojis in email subject lines.

You know that in almost every one of these newsletters I put an emoji in the headline. Well, I went back over the last 15 issues to check on what worked well and what didn’t.

Of the 15 editions, 10 contained emojis in the subject line and five did not contain any emojis.

Guess what?

My top five performing enewsletters DID NOT CONTAIN ANY EMOJIS. No kidding.

And…you might not be seeing any more emojis from yours truly in the near future. 🙂

Content Creators – Give Your Audience Money – #69

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If you’re a listener of my Content Inc. podcast (five minutes every Monday), you know that I’ve been struggling with a new concept.

I’ve been going down the rabbit hole with DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations), Social Tokens, Crypto and more. I’ve learned a lot. I’m also struggling with a number of issues.

In Web 2.0, the content creator could leverage multiple platforms, build an audience and monetize that audience. We did that fairly well at Content Marketing Institute and had a successful exit in 2016. Now, I’m starting to believe that this is a dated model.

I believe that first, it doesn’t have to be just the one creator, one founder, one CEO model. More and more I’m starting to believe that a collective approach to content may work better. I’m watching some of these DAOs, like the Bankless DAO, that aligns under the mission of, well, pretty much the end of banks. They tokenize and then people are compensated initially on their stake, like equity, and then ongoing through their work. So if someone takes on a certain role in the DAO, they can ultimately be an owner.

From the one to the collective. It’s possible to do this now with crypto.

And that leads to the second point, almost one in the same. But when a content entrepreneur builds an audience, the goal is to generate revenue, right? Build a business? Of course. But can that be done while at the same time helping your audience drive revenue? I think so.

I know it doesn’t seem like much, but this is a huge concept. Think of a media company like The New York Times creating and distributing content, while at the same time the readers of that publication generate money or retain some kind of ownership in the New York Times for being part of that community.

When I look at the Content Inc. model and the 10 different ways to drive revenue, I’m thinking…hmm…conferences and events, could the attendees own the event? Training…could the trainees own the training program? Products, could I buy a product and win some long-term value over and above what the product does?

The answer is probably yes and no…all I want to communicate today is that there is something here. This is actually a thing…and it’s moving fast.

If I had to choose right now, I think the best model would be for a creator or multiple creators to start the mission, and then slowly start to give that back to the community (the audience) over time. Seems to be the best of both worlds.

The next time you think about your audience and the value you are delivering, think about if you can help them financially as well as through the information you deliver. And then, let me know what you decided.

A Go-To-Market Framework

I’ve been a fan of Sangram Vajre ever since Robert Rose and I did a case study on his company, Terminus, for the book Killing Marketing. Sangram is one of those people that see the better way. He was doing content marketing before most and built an amazingly successful business.

His new book, called Move: The 4-Question Go-To-Market Framework, is an excellent one for understanding your audience (customer) and how to scale your business for growth. You can get it on Amazon now. And FYI, this is not a paid link. 😊

The Importance of Body Language

My oldest is taking a class on communications and talked to me about the importance of non-verbal communication (and shared a video with me).

When I was in college, I was told that 97 percent of meaning is derived not from verbal words, but non-verbal communication. Could it also be that your body language can shape who you are as a person?

If you get a chance, watch this 20-minute TED talk from Amy Cuddy. It’s a powerful video, and I believe, one filled with truth.

Building Principles

I’m a big fan of Jack Butcher, founder of Visualize Value and a case study in the latest version of Content Inc. He put together an amazing Tweet string I felt compelled to share.

Building Principles:

Value = doing things that other people don’t do, won’t do or can’t do.
Service is a high-touch result generation (building experience), product is low-touch result generation (scaling experience).
In a world of infinite distraction, focus on the only path to freedom.
Sell time to buy experience, sell experience to buy time.
Use free time to build systems that free up time.
You can’t get good unless you get going.
Make media work for you. Write, record, design, edit once, publish twice.
Build once, sell twice.

And finally, in listening to the latest Prof G podcast (always a good listen) he talked incessantly about the importance of time. How we should be doing everything possible to free up time that gives us a chance to make an impact on ourselves or others.