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How to Lose Money

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Re: How to Lose Money

#261

Post by DeusExMachina »

Xevi wrote: post #131
DeusExMachina wrote: post #44

> I have over 40,000 students taking my online courses and they have generated a few thousand in gross revenues. I have 400, and I made a living out of it for the past couple of years. Sure, I was earning more when I was a freelancer. So, I guess his point stands, I am losing money in that sense. And if money was the only metric, he would be spot on. But money is not the only reason. It's also true that most people j…

May I ask how you're able to make a living for several years with only 400 students? Do you sell each course for like $500 or more?

Yes, my basic course is $500. My advanced one is $1.000 and it's probably underpriced. Most of my students buy both courses.

Re: How to Lose Money

#262

Post by DC1350 »

IQunder130 wrote: post #252
DC1350 wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A payroll administrator does not like their job and does enjoy solving their employer’s problems. This is so obvious that I feel like you’re trolling. I’m done talking to you.

You are not even reading the comments you are replying to. When you are immersed in a field for a long time, and master it in and out, there's a good chance you'll be able to find something interesting about it. If you can't, you won't start a new company to solve some problem either.

I read the comment. He’s telling me that people are passionate about things that they’re obviously not passionate about. It feels like gaslighting. When I read job descriptions that tell me I’m supposed to care about some guy’s boring company that does nothing interesting I always thought we were just playing a game where we both pretend I care so everything runs smoother. Am I wrong? I genuinely can’t believe people like this think their employees care. He is either a troll or he’s delusional.

Payroll software is just a placeholder for the most boring thing I can imagine.

Re: How to Lose Money

#263

Post by DeusExMachina »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #138
Xevi wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I ask how you're able to make a living for several years with only 400 students? Do you sell each course for like $500 or more?

Not OP: Probably a monthly membership program, $25 per student per month would be $10k gross. Ionic Academy is a good example I can think of, I was a member for just under a year, super helpful and regular content and probably doesn’t need huge amounts of members to be viable

i actually hate subscriptions like those, both as a customer and as a seller.

I prefer to buy/offer a high value course with a price that matches it. I bought several of such corses myself in the past years.

I do offer payment plans for people that can't pay a big lump of money at once, but that's not a subscription they can stop. They still have to pay all installments.

Re: How to Lose Money

#264

Post by DC1350 »

rytis wrote: post #260
DC1350 wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sorry but I still don’t agree > imagine a scenario where someone has been working for years as a payroll administrator or someone who’s been a consultant working on implementing payroll systems for decades These people hate their jobs and only do it for money. No reasonable person would ever do this for fun. Creating new payroll software is just a means to an end that you have to slog through to deal with the int…

I think you're contradicting yourself. Creating new (payroll) software ticks all the boxes you mention, ie running a company (I can run a company that produces payroll s/w), engineering (writing s/w is engineering, no?), making money (selling payroll f/w is making money). So why do you say that this cannot be fun?

The problem domain is only a means to an end. It could be anything, but payroll in this case might be where somebody sees an opportunity to take advantage of just for access to what they really want. I don’t understand why people (and the original article) act like it’s wrong to not care about the problems being solved or to hate the process. It’s just a pet peeve of mine.

Re: How to Lose Money

#265

Post by DeusExMachina »

maverik wrote: post #207
DeusExMachina wrote: post #44

> I have over 40,000 students taking my online courses and they have generated a few thousand in gross revenues. I have 400, and I made a living out of it for the past couple of years. Sure, I was earning more when I was a freelancer. So, I guess his point stands, I am losing money in that sense. And if money was the only metric, he would be spot on. But money is not the only reason. It's also true that most people j…

that is awesome! Are you using a platform like Udemy or something on your own? I'm also curious if you are publishing courses in areas you are genuinely interested in or strictly doing for income?

If I did it strictly for income, I would have gone out of business long ago. I am an iOS developer and I teach iOS development.

I obviously don't love every aspect of it, but still. Income is not a good motivator, especially when you are on your own. You have to like most of what you do, including the business side. I do write code, but most of my time is spent on text for articles, courses, emails, sales pages and video transcripts.

Regarding the technology, I use Wordpress with a couple of plugins. On Udemy you have to compete with a ton of low-priced low-quality stuff and you have no way to differentiate yourself from that.

Re: How to Lose Money

#267

Post by maverik »

DeusExMachina wrote: post #265
maverik wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that is awesome! Are you using a platform like Udemy or something on your own? I'm also curious if you are publishing courses in areas you are genuinely interested in or strictly doing for income?

If I did it strictly for income, I would have gone out of business long ago. I am an iOS developer and I teach iOS development. I obviously don't love every aspect of it, but still. Income is not a good motivator, especially when you are on your own. You have to like most of what you do, including the business side. I do write code, but most of my time is spent on text for articles, courses, emails, sales pages and v…

makes sense. congrats!!

Re: How to Lose Money

#268

Post by icu »

maverik wrote: post #203
icu wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really depends on how you use them. My favourite strategy is to identify a stock I want to own, enter the market by writing a put at a price I want to own the stock at, and then if executed (and the stock price hasn't crashed), write covered calls at an inflated strike price. If the price goes down you can buy back your call and lock in your return, and write another call. I only do this on European style options…

this is a great point. have you read the Psychology of Money?

No, but I will. Thanks for the recommendation! Currently I'm reading Mark Jeavons - The Equity Edge: A complete guide to building wealth through the stock market. It so far has helped me improve my stock selection.

Re: How to Lose Money

#269

Post by edmundsauto »

DC1350 wrote: post #249
nlh wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry but this is just not true. I understand this is your perspective but "these people hate their jobs and only do it for money" is impossibly wrong. Sure, some people hate their jobs, but they're probably not the ones who are thinking about ways to make their jobs more efficient and almost certainly aren't the ones who are going and launching new companies. I've seen a lot of entrepreneurs start a lot of compa…

A payroll administrator does not like their job and does enjoy solving their employer’s problems. This is so obvious that I feel like you’re trolling. I’m done talking to you.

It's your lack of perspective and imagination that makes you think payroll admins do not like their jobs. It is far from obvious that this is true.

Re: How to Lose Money

#270

Post by eloff »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #259
eloff wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

we're talking about options trading, not cars or drugs. The theory is a remarkably good approximation to reality in this case. If you feel otherwise, you did not establish your point.

I can support my point with decades of data that average retail investor only looses money. I can support it with recent barrelrolls that GME price was doing, with 2008, etc. Our societies literally have enshrined in law that most people cannot be trusted with financial instruments. https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/glossary/G3061.html What do you have to support the claim that "The theory is a remarkably good…

I think I understand where you're coming from now.

You're saying that even although both parties are happy with the trade they made, when one party is a professional and the counter-party is an amateur, the amateur is likely misguided and has a much higher chance of getting the worse end of the deal.

That seems very likely to be true and applies to much more than just stock market options. Salary negotiations have that imbalance of knowledge/power as well. Probably even dating follows that pattern if one partner is much more experienced than the other.

Is that a fair characterization of your argument?

I don't actually see a problem here though - I mean it's pretty obvious professionals beat amateurs at just about anything. I don't think we would want to make rules to prevent the amateurs from playing the game. There are already some rules to restrict access to e.g. margin, naked options trading by amateurs - are you saying we should have more regulations and restrictions on the little guys for their own protection?

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