A Business Lesson from COVID- Is This The Most Important Lesson?

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This is possibly the most important message that I would like to pass onto as many people as possible.

Ever heard about having a strong "why" to do something?

Well this message is my "why" for everything...

First of all I want to start with this...

I do not intend to preach or try to come across as someone who knows exactly what's about to happen and...

DO NOT TAKE ONE PERSON'S WORD FOR ANYTHING THAT YOU LEARN OR HEAR.

That includes mine! Back it up with your own research and take others opinions/ views on board.

OK now that is out the way...

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Exponential Growth

So yesterday I asked my email list this question:

How long do you think you would have to live if there was a magic dropper (that doubles the drops every minute) to fill a watertight stadium with you handcuffed to the top bleachers.

  • 1 drop of water after 1 minute2 drops after 2 minutes
  • 4 drops after 3
  • 8 after 4
  • 16 after 5 etc..

The time is 12:00 midday.

Seriously STOP here and have a guess...

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So what did you think?

Months?

Days?

Hours?

The answer is...

12:50.

50 minutes later the whole stadium would be full and you would be holding your breath for your life.


But this isn't the important part of the message...

At what time would you first realise anything was happening?

At what time do you think the stadium would have a couple of puddles on the pitch that filled just 3% of the stadium?

12:45!!!

At 12:44 you would have been sitting at the top of Old Trafford (or whatever stadium you decided) wondering why on earth I had handcuffed you there for 44 minutes.

At 12:45 you could have spotted a couple of puddles on the pitch if you had good eyesight.

But then...

BAM!

5 minutes later the whole stadium is under water.

Now, I know what you're thinking...

But what if your stadium was bigger? What if your stadium had 130,000 seats instead of Old Trafford's 76,000 capacity?

It doesn't matter!

Because the dropper DOUBLES every minute. So you'd be under water at 12:51 instead!

This is exponential growth.

This is actually very similar to what happens with an online business if you set it up with strong foundations. Just check out Kyles article:

Website Traffic is Like a Moutnain, Stream and River

But this is pretty much what is happening with COVID-19. Look at any news article and you can see that it has been doubling in pretty much every country that has been testing for it (if any of the reports are even remotely accurate!)

But yet some people still aren't taking it seriously!


COVID-19

Now, I don't want to be a "doom and gloom" guy by any means. If anything I think it's bringing out the best in humanity (so far).

This is a joke meme FYI...

  • People are helping those in need.
  • Taking food to the elderly.
  • Being kind, understanding, spending more quality time with their loved ones.
  • Supporting those that are temporarily homeless (the staff in our tower can't go back home due to their area being sectioned off, so many people are bringing them blankets, food, water and they have been given accomodation in a few empty apartments).

However, everyone seems to be aware this isn't going to disappear tomorrow.

Things will not just "go back to normal" any time soon.

Small businesses are disappearing due to their overheads. More and more people are finding out that their "safe secure job" isn't so safe and secure. Pensions are being crippled overnight due to global stock market crashes. And nobody knows when it will "reach the bottom".

So what can we do?

(Man this sounds pretty gloom and doom doesn't it! Eurgh... sorry!)

Well there is one thing anyone can do right now.

It's something I've personally been doing for the last 5 years (I only ever share things that I personally do as I believe you should only ever take advice from people that actually do what they share/ teach... unlike most of the education system)

The one thing you can do with this potential extra time that has been handed to you is...

Improve your financial education!

(This is my BIG why- the education system NEEDS this and I feel like it is letting people down- I don't want my children to go to high school without this being part of the curriculum and I will do everything I can to make sure they get educated on this)

I don't mean start reading about businesses or looking at boring stock charts or reading the Financial Times... unless that floats your boat!

I mean find some genuinely good YouTube videos that also entertain.

Read some books that may actually teach you some stuff AND are entertaining (YES THEY EXIST)

  • Swap out some of your time dedicated to "completing Netflix" and learn what's actually happening to the global economy right now.
  • Learn why things are happening like they are.
  • Figure out some potential things you could be doing with any money that you have.
  • Learn some new skills that could make you new income streams rather than relying on ONLY one.


This is not meant to "fear monger" or scare people. I just want to help as many people as possible learn that one of the biggest opportunities that will ever exist in our lifetime is happening right now.

Look this s*** is going to happen whether we are prepared for it or not.

  • Wouldn't it be better to come out of it understanding more about what you want from your own life?
  • Figuring out what you can add to society?
  • Understanding how you can benefit from a horrendous situation rather than being financially and emotionally crippled from it?

And I want to leave you with this...

DO NOT TAKE ONE PERSON'S WORD FOR ANYTHING THAT YOU LEARN OR HEAR.

That includes mine! Back it up with your own research and take others opinions/ views on board.

Mike "keep changing for the better" Beatty,

P.S. Here is a YouTube series that explains the whole financial system in a VERY entertaining way. No complicated words are used. There are animations throughout. And it is one of the biggest eye openers I've ever had. There are 10 episodes in total at around 30 minutes long (episode 7 is unfolding in front of our eyes, episode 4 explains how the monetary system currently works and all of them are little clues for what to do), so if you do have the time I highly recommend checking this out #swapnetflixforlearning #inafunway

P.P.S. If you agree with this or found it useful, please do share it with someone else in some way.

P.P.P.S Just remember... Tough times do not last. Tough people do.

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answering a question below...

How does this relate to online business?

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Recent Comments

40

This is exactly what I needed to read. I've already turned off the news and once I've responded to a few more posts here it's off to the YouTube series.

Thank You! There is no time for details here but you have seriously saved my sanity.

PS - I wish every billboard around here was "advertising" your explanation of exponential growth. Where I live we were given stay at home orders that began at midnight but still, there are TOO MANY people out on the streets.

I'm super glad it could help Susan! You're in for a treat with that YouTube series... I genuinely think everyone can protect themself from the lessons learnt from that

Take care Susan, turning off from the media is a smart move for sure

Amazing post, Mike! I had the feeling I needed to educate myself on the financial system in the past last years, read also some books on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and seen a huge amount of videos. These things are not taught at school, we have to be actively educating ourselves and take things into our own hands.

There's a whole episode about cryptocurrencies in that video series. It really is a whole monetary education overview and even gives an insight into what the best way out of this mess is!

I'll have to watch it too then! Thank you!

No problem, I hope it helps!

What a great post, Mike.

I guessed 2:30 btw, wow, I was way off. That is an amazing analogy though.

I will check out the video series for sure. We homeschool, so that's definitely something worthwhile. Video is even better. YouTube has always been a great resource for us.

Stay well,

Michael

Much closer than most guesses I've heard... 2 months, 2 weeks, days etc!

Ah, that's so great that you homeschool. My wife is pregnant with our first child and there's no way I want our kids going to secondary schools with the way things are (I think the early years' stuff is pretty good) but the older kids get the more spoonfeeding and "exam prep" crap stuff they get. It literally closes peoples minds and is actually more harmful in my opinion and from what I've experienced.

My Big Hair Audacious Goal is to help change the system by the time our kids are old enough to be there though... the 10-year clock is about to start ;)

Have you got any good resources you go to for homeschooling?

Hi,

Everyone is a bit different with their homeschool curriculum. If you like computer based learning, Switched On SchoolHouse is a good option. Just make sure you supplement with actual writing assignments also.

You also have to consider your child's learning style. Some children do well with computer based, and some don't.

There's tons of free resources on the internet like Easy Peasy.

The "All you need to know about math, science, etc. In one big fat notebook" series are good resources also and they are fairly inexpensive.

We do mix of different things like Singapore Math, Big Fat Notebooks series, and various others we've picked up along the way.

Some things you need to do:

1. Get a HSLDA (homeschool legal defense) membership. Very cheap.

2. Find a good cover school. You are required to belong to one. Most are like $100 to $200 a year depending on where you live.

3. Try to find a local chapter of homeschoolers that organize field trips, extracurricular activities, some hands on classes, and social interaction with other kids their age. We have one that provides various courses like home economics, archery, science, wood working, and so on. We've even taught some classes there ourselves. They'll usually gather at a large church with classrooms or something like that.

They've organized trips to places like Hyundai, Barber Motorsports, Bluebell Icecream, Hydro Power Plant, Local Weather Stations, and much more. Most parents will accompany their children on these. Sometimes they organize homeschool days at the park, where you can meet many other parents.

You can also do your own field trips. We school Monday through Thursday and Friday's are field trips or projects. You'll find that you can school your children in half the time a public school spends and advance them faster.

Find other homeschool parents in your area through cover schools or Church. They will have info on what's available in your area.

Best of all, you're in control of their learning. You can make it creative and fun for everyone.


Regards,

Michael

Amazing Michael, thank you so much for this it really helps!

I keep meeting more and more people homeschooling and they all say a similar thing about covering the topics way faster. I love the idea of field trips etc. too because that's often the part that some people worry about (socialising and interacting with others).

I've saved this post as I will certainly use it in the future and I'll keep in touch for sure!

Do you have a day job out of curiosity/ do you know homeschooling parents that do i.e. one parent has a day job the other teaches?

Uggh! Old Trafford?

Not a united man are you?.

I think I might need to reconsider our digital friendship! Haha.

Great post Mike, and thanks for the YT channel suggestion - really great videos in there. One of Hidden secrets of money - not getting too political here

- who owns 2Tr US$ worth of US national debt through Treasury bonds?

- Who owns the greatest reserve of USD?

- Who owns the most gold?

(China)

Very curious fact.

Haha, just as we thought we could be friends! If I were a betting man I'd guess you're a Celtics man

Yep, there is a lot of stuff that China has been doing under the radar. Have you ever heard of the East- West cycle?

Apparently there's a switch in the financial leaders of the world every few hundred (or is it thousands I can't remember).

Supposedly it used to be China and the Eastern world but it has been the Western world for all of our lives so most people don't know about this.

But some people speculate the shift is happening now... Russia, China, India about to become the financial heavy weights of the world as Europe and USA decline (heavy stuff for a Weds morning!)

Great perspective, Mike. As someone who lives in NY (in the 2nd epicenter of the US), this is very real. I guess a lot of people just don't under math and how this is an exponential curve. They start to get it when they predict # of ventilators needed vs amount on hand and how serious this situation is.

I am on Day 19 of self quarantine. I'm lucky I can work at home.

Thanks Debbie, yeah I hope everyone cottons in sooner rather than later. It’s just such a shame seeing so many people that have families and feel like they HAVE to keep going to work.

If only financial education was taught to everyone earlier in life then maybe the world would be better equipped to deal with a mess like this!

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