Welcome to Leo’s Lemonade! You are reading my Notes to my Future Biographers. Please sit down, relax, and enjoy the show. And be sure to leave a comment! 💬
Greetings from Holland!
A few personal updates
Dirty hostel. Filled with gangsters. My luck ran out. I was in a small, cramped room, with extremely poor ventilation. 90+ degrees. I’ve lived in Africa, so I’ve been in worse. But still, it was an unpleasant experience.
I lost my wallet. O.K., it was probably stolen by my roommate, who used to be in a Polish jail. When I found out, I became sick to my stomach. (This was the 2nd time in my Year of Travel that I wanted to go home). I was so overwhelmed by emotion that I ran outside to find some food, even though it was 10:30pm and most places were closed. Eventually, I found a Burger King (after trying 10 other stores), most of which did not accept Visa or Mastercard. As I was standing in line, waiting for my burger, I watched vicariously (for 10 minutes) the employees working in line. During this period, I had the most profound realization ever. “God. This would be a complete waste of my life.” For context, I’ve long contemplated working a retail job, especially since as my funds are running out. Now? No longer. 🙅♂️
I’m O.K. now. I came back to my hostel, watched a movie for an hour, and got over it. Later that night at 2:30am, my roommate (the suspected thief) surprisingly came up to me in the lobby. It was strange. It was like he knew my wallet was lost before I even told him. Immediately he started going off about how it must’ve been the “German guy”, and how he also had something stolen. I then asked (quite straightforwardly) “Do you have my wallet?” He denied this and started taking things out of his backpack. An empty crunched-up cigarette case. A plastic bag of drugs. Nasty stuff, plus he reeked of cigarettes. Basically, I concluded: “I don’t know if he has my wallet, but even if he did, he would never admit it nor give it back to me.”
On the Agenda
(Essay) My Personal Values 🎖
(Update) Humans of the World 💂
(Update) Building a Billion-Dollar Business 💰
(Update) One Year of Travel 🌎
(Bonus) Nikon’s AI-Image Campaign
My Personal Values
Self-awareness is nice, but it’s also hard-to-define, as you’re an amorphous figure, changing by the hour-minute-day, based on your mood, emotions, and circumstances. So who are you?
🙋♂️ Answer. You are what you instinctively do, consistently desire, and invariably find rewarding.
Solo traveling is a great way to develop self-awareness.
Nobody tells you what to do, so you have to figure out for yourself what you want to do.
By freeing yourself from the voices of others (eg. friends, family, co-workers, peers), gives you space to hear your own voice.
By exploring different things you’re able to figure out what you like.
Today I’d like to share 5 of my personal values for two reasons.
To help you understand who I am.
To help you understand who you are, through the lens of me. After all, we learn about ourselves through the reflection of others.
List of My Personal Values
Freedom of Movement
Efficiency of Movement
The Right Vibes
Reactivity > Proactivity
Let’s Be Spontaneous
Value 1: Freedom of Movement
Half my days I sleep in a different city than the one I wake up in. I’ve been doing this consistently, yet other people might find it strange.
For my own sanity, I can’t be stuck in a place for too long. Otherwise I feel drained, my energy plummets, and I feel stuck.
I enjoy having the autonomy to go where I please.
Last year, at South By Southwest, while listening to a talk by Elon Musk’s brother, I left after 2 minutes because I felt bored.
I enjoy going to music concerts alone because (a) I get energy from loud music (b) I get to decide when to leave.
You’ll rarely find me at dinner parties, group tours, or day trips, where I’m stuck in a place for an extended period of time. Instead, I’m shuffling around cafes, libraries, restaurants, and coworking spaces. Sorta like entering portals into new realities.
Tip: Try switching places when you switch activities. For example, if you have a call coming up, maybe go somewhere else to take that call, even if just for freshness’ sake.
Value 2: Efficiency of Movement
I love convenience. That’s why I had the perfect lifestyle in Medellín. Everything I loved was in close reach. My sleeping pod, co-working space, brunch spot, dinner spot, favorite bakery, top 3 cafes, and gym— all within a 300m radius.
Density is one measure; efficiency is another. The best feeling in the world is when I satisfy two desires with one swift action. For example, visiting a city & a friend at the same time.
Value 3: The Right Vibes
I chase the right vibes. Which begs the question: “What are the right vibes?” I hated Bali because it was dirty, hot, outdoorsy, partying, and ugly. I loved Cape Town because it was calm, peaceful, aesthetic, healthy, warm, and energetic.
My ideal spot is a brunch place with AC, natural lighting, and pop music playing on the speakers. The interior is clean, modern, and aesthetically pleasing. The people are youthful, attractive, respectful, kind, friendly, and wholesome.
As I’m writing this essay, I’m sitting in “The SUE Store” in Rotterdam. They sell vegan desserts.
👍 I love modern cafes, public libraries, AC, natural lighting, watching people journaling, and live music.
👎 I dislike cigarette smoking, humidity, dirty places, going to the beach, and sitting outdoors in crowded touristy areas.
Every time I move to a new city, I first search for the right vibes. Only then am I at peace.
Value 4: Reactivity > Proactivity
People conflate reactivity with passivity. In reality, they’re opposites. A teddy bear is passive because it cannot respond. You and I are always reacting.
Imagine you want to punch a school bully. The first strike involves courage, nerve, planning, effort, care, execution, and timing. By contrast, counterpunching is easy, quick, efficient, natural, and effective.
As a natural counterpuncher, I take energy directed at me and either (1) send it back or (2) supercharge my next activity.
Remember the pinball game on Microsoft Windows?
The upper white mushrooms are called bouncers. Balls that contact them are accelerated.
As I was headed to bed, I met a guy on a narrow staircase. After a few minutes of chatter, he brought up the Red Light District. I then said: “Do you want to go?” And off we went. On the way, he confessed to me that he was happy because he was too scared to go by himself. Now have a friend in China who can show me around if I were ever to visit.
None of this was proactively planned. Instead, I was just responding to the needs of the other person, as well as my own emotions & internal signals. Whereas self-help books instruct you to “be proactive”, my superpower lies in being re-active.
Value 5: Let’s Be Spontaneous
People often ask me:
What are your plans after your year of travel?
Where will you be next month?
I don’t know. I wake up every day not knowing what I’m going to do. “Next month” is so far out into the future that it might as well not exist. ”Next year” you might as well ask: “What’s your plan in the next life?”
My strategy of “maintaining adaptability by not overplanning” has served me well. On my journey, I’ve changed my route several times - often for the better. My “flexibility” has allowed me to meet up with friends, chase opportunities, and invest time in relationships.
Change is the only constant in this world. Your situation changes. Your health changes. Your feelings change. If I knew exactly what I would be doing over the next 3 months, I would be very depressed. Because that eliminates all the unexpected upsides that will come along the way.
Many people manage anxiety by over-planning. They try to control every aspect of their life. Whereas confidence is real, certainty is an illusion. Here’s a tip to plan in the face of uncertainty:
Try “Hopscotch Planning”
Philosophically - When you’re at 1, plan 2-3. When you’re at 3, plan 4. When you’re at 4, plan 5-6. Repeat…
Practically - I book a place for 2-3 days, then another for 2-3 days. After 2-3 days, I book another for 2-3 days.
Q for You: What are your personal values?
Humans of the World Series 💂
Our Mission: To shine a light on the human experience for what it is. To spotlight individual uniqueness. To make the world a kinder place through storytelling, relatability, and truth.
3 days ago, I watched an epic motivational video about “success”. I was so motivated that I decided to make a little feature presentation showcasing the vision of the project.
AI IS ALREADY HERE
IT’S NOT THIS
IT’S THIS
AI IS AN AMPLIFIER
IT AMPLIFIES THE GOOD
IT AMPLIFIES THE BAD
TO CREATE A BETTER WORLD
WE MUST AMPLIFY THE GOOD
INTRODUCING…
EACH ONE OF US
AMONG MANY
WE ARE ALL UNIQUE
WE
LOVE
YOU
BUT NOT JUST ANY YOU…
A PASSIONATE YOU
A PURPOSEFUL YOU
A POWERFUL YOU
A YOU THAT ACHES
A YOU THAT PERSEVERES
A YOU THAT CONQUERS
A YOU THAT CREATES
A YOU THAT INSPIRES
A YOU THAT AWAKENS
We’re Looking For:
12 Content Creators
Writers
Editors
Photographers
Cinematographers
1-2 Business Partners
“Humans of the World” is a Media Moonshot 🌙
50 x 50 x 50 strategy
50 creators spotlighting 50 people in 50 regions
Social Media → Feature Films
Largest Media Org by 2050
First 4 Features
Thanks Anna (🇩🇰) for your continued support & helping me with the HotW #3 feature.
Photography credits: Amanda Carlsen, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Brandon Woelfel, Christopher Campbell, Nirav Patel, and Shubham Dhage.
Building a Billion-Dollar Business Series 📺🍿
Leo is “Building a Billion-Dollar Business”® while doing his “One Year of Travel, New Year New Me”®. He is currently founding a technology startup which he hopes will be the largest in the world. Follow along!
Table of Contents
Last month, I said our first priority was assembling the team. I finally have good news to share…
UPDATE - I recruited one of the best startup engineers in India. 🔥🔥
I feel like I won the lottery. I only had to go through 50 people to get to Aadhar. For a man of his ability, I would’ve thought at least 1,000. I am so blessed & grateful. With Aadhar, our founding team is (almost) in place.
Aadhar was a 98% intuition hire. I never looked at his resume, nor do I particularly care to. I just got really good vibes, & could see myself working with him for the next 5 years. He is both technically capable and super driven. When I told him I was “Building a billion-dollar business”, he said: “Why not make it a few billion dollars?”
With a lot of other people, I’m often doubting. “Can they perform?” “Can they get the job done?” With Aadhar I never doubted from the beginning. This is such a good feeling to have.
With our team in place, we can finally start building. Here’s a reminder of what we’re doing:
Peers is a subscription-based, discussion platform where creators go to engage with their fans and vice versa.
We are targeting large YouTube creators (>1M subs) in the United States (& their fanbases). To build the platform correctly, we must understand the psychology of our users.
What Do Creators Want?
Creators do not want another social media platform.
“Ughhhhh, now I have to post on this one?? 😮💨”
Creators want a place to interact with their fans.
Currently, they go on Twitter or Reddit to see what their fans are saying about them. Unfortunately, these platforms suck.
Creators want to get paid.
Seriously, who doesn’t want to get paid?
What Do Fans Want?
Fans want to interact with the creator.
Fans want to be entertained.
Seriously, who doesn’t want to be entertained?
Based on the above, the product must satisfy 4 criteria:
Be THE place creators go to interact with fans
Creators get loaded 💰💵🤑
Fans can interact with the creator
Fans get entertained 🍿🎬😎
Therefore the product will have 3 core features.
Feature 1: Creator Communities - Think Reddit forums, but instead of /r/topic it’s p/creator
Satisfies (1) Be THE place creators go to interact with fans, (3) Fans can interact with the creator, (4) Fans get entertained 🍿🎬😎
Feature 2: Direct Messaging With Tips
Satisfies (2) Creators get loaded 💰💵🤑 (3) Fans can interact with the creator
Feature 3: Peers Score + Fan Ranking System
Satisfies (1) Be THE place creators go to interact with fans (3) Fans can interact with the creator (4) Fans get entertained 🍿🎬😎
In Conclusion…
We also have some cool features lined up beyond the Minimum-Viable-Product (MVP), such as roles & badges, a live community chat, and even a storefront!
We Have The Vision … Now It’s Time To Execute! 🪚💥
Aadhar says let’s start with User Onboarding. So I dived deep into account registration & how it works. Basically, there’s a spectrum in the amount of info you collect, ranging from “totally anonymous” to “we know everything about you”.
The tradeoff is this. The more verification required, the more burdensome it is for users to create an account. For Peers, we’ve elected to make it as easy as possible for fans to sign up. We allow anonymous accounts, which can boost the quality of discussion, as fans are more free to express what they think.
For creators, we’re going to be selective about who can make an account. We’re only targeting large YouTube creators (& there are only so many of them). For now, we’ll require manual approval & minimum base (eg. 1M subscribers).
I thought my designs were quite good 😇, until Aadhar said:
“This is probably not an efficient use of your time. I recommend hiring a UI/UX designer. I’ve worked with one before who designed the whole thing in 2 weeks at ~$1,100.”
My first reaction was: “O.K. Challenge accepted. How hard can this design thing actually be? (turns out quite hard)”
So I spent the next hour watching Figma tutorials on “design systems” and managed to scrape this together:
It was BRUTAL. I’d work for 15 minutes, get exhausted, go outside for a walk, work for another 15 minutes, get exhausted again…
Completely unsustainable. Point taken, Aadhar.
So I did the next-best-thing and made a job post on Upwork:
Within 30 minutes, I received 35 proposals and 11 more in DMs. I selected one, hired her the next day (at $10/hr, on my own 🪙), & off we go!
Career Tip: I recommend not becoming a freelance UI/UX designer. It’s such a competitive marketplace and it’s hard to distinguish yourself.
Update: It’s been 2 days working since working with the designer and she sent us some basic wireframes:
I’ll update you when more things come…
PS:
This is one of the few instances where I really enjoy having 200 readers and not 200,000 readers. If I had that many readers, I would probably not make most of this information public. But I’d to show everyone how hard it is to build a startup, as well as how fun it is!
How You Can Help: If (by any chance) you know a superstar, really really good, “product-person” - who can take the company to the next level - then please let me know!
One Year of Travel, New Year New Me Series ✈️🌍
Leo quit his corporate job to embark on the “One Year of Travel, New Year New Me”® challenge, where he spends 12 months in 12 countries. So far he’s lived in Bali, Portugal, Vietnam, South Africa, Argentina, Colombia, Australia, Japan, Spain, and The Netherlands. Follow along!
I spent the past 1.5 weeks at The Hague and Rotterdam. To be honest, I didn’t feel like exploring any touristy sites. So instead I’ll share my daily routines.
My Routine in Den Haag:
Wake Up at 10 or 11am (Yes, I’m a Late-Riser)
Eat at The Foodmaker
Work at the Public Library:
Go to Basic Fit (the Gym) whenever I feel tired:
Work in the Hostel Basement (because the public library closes at 5pm):
Bed at 11pm (because the hostel lobby closes then 🥲)
I usually retire to my dorm (where 7 other people are sleeping) and either work quietly or watch a movie in pitch darkness.
My Routine in Rotterdam:
Wake Up at 10am, 11am, or 12pm
Have a Vegan Dessert at The Sue Store
Eat at Healthful
Work at the Erasmus University Library (1hr walk)
Walk Home at 11pm and Work in my Hostel Lobby Eating Area. Sleep.
5. Nikon’s AI-Image Campaign
Did you know AI can generate any image you can imagine? Nikon (Japanese 📷 Co.) recently made a commercial, where they share stunning real-life photos overlayed with a crafted AI prompt. The campaign is called “Don’t Give Up On The Real World”. Many of the prompts I found funny so I would like to share:
/imagine a mutant umbrella tree shaped like a nuclear bomb explosion.
/imagine a realistic minecraft cliff at the seashore in winter season
/imagine an Egyptian pharaoh is hiding from his enemies in a sweet world made of chocolate
/imagine a latte skatepark in the middle of the desert in Mars
/imagine a psychedelic mountain range painted in colors with expressionism art style
/imagine Manhattan skyscrapers a hundred years after the zombie apocalypse
/imagine multicolored surreal mini volcanoes erupting water like a fountain
Which one is your favorite?
Anyways, I’m off to London today ✈️. Hit me up if you’re there! And I’ll probably be headed to Vienna in July, so stay tuned!
Leo A
PS: If you have 5 seconds, please leave a comment or reply to this email. It really motivates me!
...values...
...1...read garfield...
...2...recommend garfield to others...
...3...be nice...
...4...do good...
...5...help others be nice and do good...
Solo travel was the best decision Ive ever made. Glad to see you are still enjoying it and taking all the ups and downs in stride. These times will pay memory dividends for life!