25/52: Old Skool
#CapitalAtRisk
The 2010s was the decade of the Entrepreneur.
The 2020s will be the decade of the Investor.
“There is a huge advantage to being a little imperfect”
Morgan Housel
Old Skool rules
At a recent meal with 9others someone asked:
What are the old school methods that work better than the current way of doing things — for sales, loyalty, networking…?
Anon1
The discussion that followed reminded me of Morgan’s book, above, and how he encourages the reader to think about what will be the same one hundred years from now, and not about how to predict what will be new or different.
Top Secret
And that was what the questioner at 9others was getting at too — we’re often too obsessed with what new thing — a technique, a mental model or a piece of technology — a rival might come up with or could give us an edge if we did.
Perhaps we should instead wonder what ‘old school’ methods would actually be more of an advantage than the latest whizzy way of doing something.
I won’t divulge the 9others discussion, but here are some of my own ideas for the curious:
Read history books. I read this during the 2020 lockdowns, which was just tremendous and set me down the path of reading more history and fewer forecasts. Others since then have included Bolivar by Marie Arana, Our Boys by Helen Parr, The 38 Letters from J. D. Rockefeller to his son by J. D. Rockefeller and Bismarck by Jonathan Steinberg. In fact today, while reading in my hammock2 I noted down a quote from Lao Tzu, (c. 551-479 B.C.) for an upcoming investor update.
Send letters3. As in real, pen & paper letters. As some of you know I have this paper, which I simply run through my printer to put a header and footer onto it, and I have a few decent pens to write the letters to you with (I find a proper, thick, inky, fountain pen with black ink is best).
Have a paper diary. I listened to Hector Hughes say he has one on this podcast. Having a paper diary means you don’t have a Calendly available to all the world to take up your time with4.
ROI
What’s the Return on Investment of doing a few things the old way?
I think the ROI is a bit of wisdom, some peace, and the calm feeling of confidence when everyone else is running around like a ‘busy idiot’.
Inspired? Will you make any changes?
Or are you going to keep things the same as ever…?
In other news
🍻 Under a month to go, so all about the 9others Summer Party, which is on Thursday 10th July in London. This is when everyone who has been to a meal with 9others, plus other good folks, meet and help each other out. Details and signup here.
More from me?
If you like my writing you can get more by buying my book, ‘Find your 9others’. It’s on Amazon here.
And if you’ve already read ‘Find your 9others’ please leave an Amazon review here.
Q&A
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Important: None of these posts are investment advice. If you are thinking about investing you should seek the advice of a suitably qualified independent advisor.
#CapitalAtRisk
What is discussed at the meals with 9others is done so under the Chatham House Rule.
If you have the space pleeeeeease treat yourself to a hammock. Yes, it’s a luxury but reading a book in a hammock slung between two trees without your phone is borderline essential.
There’s something rather magical about sending a letter. I’d very much encourage you to do this, and hand write them too — don’t be tempted to take a photo of what you wrote! Just write it, stick it in an envelope and pop it in the postbox. The fun part is that you might never know whether it arrived or not. And even if it did arrive the person might not read it. You’ll only know if they reply and the reply arrives, and that might not happen for many weeks or even months later. Wonderful!