Trying to work out how to pay someone $1,000,000 to run the software products we build. What's the most you've ever paid a single employee?

🎒After a decade, I have made nomads.com free for everyone now! Well almost free, it's $1 to sign up to avoid getting lots of spam The reason is 1) I have made enough money (from it) 2) charging for a community artificially limits the size, if you put the price at $299 you get 50 new members per month, at $99 you get 200 people, at $29 you get 400 people, etc. And this always annoyed me, I don't want to put a limit but I had to, to be able to make money from it, so it's free now I want it to be it the biggest community for digital nomads, world travelers, sovereign thinkers and network state type people For years it has has a great sponsor with @SafetyWing and I think that's maybe a better model for the future, get much more people in and then just add more sponsors Right now for the record it has 43,252 paid members (so about 300/mo for 12 years!), so it will be interesting to see what it can grow too I think now that AGI is on the horizon (or some say already here), online and offline (IRL) communities will become really important. People are talking more to AI now than to humans, and there was already a loneliness epidemic before AI Making new friends and dating is not so easy for people now. And with remote work and entrepreneurship, people lack a space like an office where people would usually make friends or meet partners I made most of the friends I have now through traveling and living around the world for the last 10+ years (and many via my site too), and I also met my girlfriend through those friends! So I think communities can have a real role in that post-AGI Post-AGI business wise, communities also have a moat where many of my SaaS apps do not. So there is some urgency I feel to make Nomads in to the best community there is for those people. But that's why I have to remove any limitations to its growth now So in a way after 12 years I am switching to the subsidized VC model a bit, but still 100% bootstrapped, kinda like "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain" Having enough money now I can afford to do these things and figure out the business model later, which I think will be more sponsors Enjoy and please sign up and tell me what to improve!!! 😊

WOW, umm...this is kind of a huge deal. Complete stab in the back to sellers if true. Like holy shit, I didn't think seller sentiment could get any lower but this is taking money directly out of seller pockets.

The joy in this dude at seeing these trains is off the charts!

If we’re horse trading, why don’t we grant the removal of birthright citizenship, but require passing a civics exam to remain a citizen? The results would be fascinating, I bet. :-) Both feel pretty Un-American TBF

It’s always rich guys convincing poor people to rage against taxes they don’t pay. Funny, that…

USA. A Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving. Chips. Salsa. Unrequested. Free. I stopped the waiter. "We have not earned these." "They just come with the table, man." They come with the TABLE. In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation, weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner. This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you. Eat. I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. And then — I must report this calmly — the basket emptied, and a new one appeared. "Did we…?" "Refill," the waiter said. "It's bottomless." Bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined. My friend warned me. "Don't fill up on chips, dude." Too late. I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished — an unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man. I was not hungry. I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy. Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived. I know the rule now. I have made my peace with the basket. One basket. Two at the most. Who am I deceiving. There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa, and I intend to honor all of it.

I know comparing modern society to Idiocracy is really played out but man

Okay, bear with me. This is gonna be a rant... Okay, first off, go find 20-30 people that you actually want to follow back that maybe have some authority. Put them on a list and actually engage with them, real questions, real responses to their stuff. Hopefully they are probably large accounts that are likely to go viral. You want to give real replies on their stuff and follow them. Eventually, some will follow you back. What you're looking for initially is social proof. You should also be posting real, useful, expert content on your timeline at the same time. Maybe pin something to the top of the timeline that shows you actually know what you're talking about and is really interesting. That makes people want to follow you. This should help those people that you engage with actually want to follow you as you're in their comments. Other people will see you as well. Eventually, come see your page. The toughest part is going to be zero to 1,000 followers. 1,000 to 10,000 followers. After 10,000, it gets much, much easier. For virality's sake, you probably want to go find things in your niche that are trending. X used to be an expertise platform. It's much more now of a news platform. Now, what I mean by that is, as things start to take off, quote tweet them with an interesting take that gives context and aligns you as an expert as well. This will end up showing those tweets more to those people that already engage with the initial viral tweet. Say something from Anthropic, for example, or something from OpenAI if you're in the AI space. Then just get in people's DMs. Be useful, be real, be legitimate. Don't be afraid to follow people. Give them actual real value. Eventually, the hope here is that one of the original pieces of content that you're creating daily gets seen by someone that appreciates the level of effort you've been putting in to really be useful in their comments. It's a slow-building process, but eventually it does work. I would also then maybe have something like a newsletter in your bio as a way to capture emails and take people off the platform. I would then also, early on, mention places that you've worked or big accomplishments that you've had in the past in your bio so that there's more social proof. Sorry, that's a long rant, and it's not so simple, but it is doable. It's not so easy, but it is simple. The other piece that's really tough to admit is that some people are just better at writing really interesting content. You can see there are certain people that just have a je ne sais quoi when they tweet. People find it interesting, people find it useful, and they get into the algorithm, they get into the conversation. Some people really just are bad on this platform. Everyone can be a creator, but it's important they find the platform that they best perform on. Thank god for wispr and voice to text allowing me to do this haha

¡ HOT JOBS ! These DTC companies are hiring humans, make a friend and find your way in. @KendraScott | Manager, Marketplace - Hybrid | Austin, TX - Focus on Amazon FBA; TikTok Shop - 5+ years in eCommerce @PoshPeanut | Head of Ecommerce - Glendale, CA - $200k - $250k - Evolve digital flagship - Daily site health; shape roadmap - 4+ years experience with Shopify+ @fringesport | Director of Ecommerce - Austin, TX | Hybrid - Base: $120k - $150k - Target Comp: $170k - $250k - 5+ years experience - Not a “scale Meta spend” role. Not a “build a big team” role. Not a strategy-deck job. Not a remote role. @IRONMANtri - Ecommerce Manager - Tampa, FL - Hands-on manager, driving strategy - Day-to-day coordination - Own eCommerce, registration platform, B2B - 5-7+ years merchandising experience

I think physical standards make sense for people we send to space. Would be willing to make some agreement for certain presidents. We good here? @TedRall

Every word strikes…

Gotta be a political cartoonist pointing this out @TedRall

A must watch

It’s fun to see many newbie entrepreneurs and digital nomads discovering the joys of Da Nang. It’s always been a peripheral spot, but deserving of some main stage attention! Need to get back…

Norm- “Friend of mind said he thought the worst part of the Cosby thing was the hypocrisy…. I disagree.” Jerry Seinfeld - “You disagree?” Norm Macdonald - “Yeah…. I think it was the r*ping.”

Love this movie…

Solid guide to Saigon here.

This is wild…

Maybe she should be our Secretary of War?