Category: Business | Page 3

What are Good Monthly Operating Margins for Software/SAAS Businesses?

Published: June 22, 20202 Comments

If you operate a software business (such as WordPress plugins) or a SAAS, it is important to benchmark your operating profit with that of other similar businesses.

Before we start, it’s important to clear up some definitions:

Gross Margin – Revenue minus Cost of Goods Sold (or Cost of Sales)
Operating Margin – Gross Margin minus Sales, Marketing, General and Admin expenses
Net Margin – Operating Margin minus Interest & Taxes

I’m looking at operating margin % here.

You can take a look at some open metrics over at Baremetrics for a start.

I also asked several of my friends in business and there isn’t one clear answer. The most common percentage I could identify is around 80%, but it’s not always clear what margin they are referring to.

[Read more…]

Can Digital Nomads Legally Pay No Taxes?

Last updated: March 11, 202669 Comments

I spent a good part of my twenties traveling around the world during what was the start of the digital nomad movement.

A recurring theme I kept hearing was the possibility of optimizing taxes by being a digital nomad.

Just walk into any co-working space in South-East Asia, and a 20-year-old from the EU or Canada will swear that flying circles between Thailand, Bali, and Vietnam for a year means nobody has the right to tax his income.

At the time, I kept things simple by paying tax in my home country where I had always paid as a self-employed person.

Need travel and health insurance for digital nomads? Check out SafetyWing.

When I started hearing all the strategies others were using, I started to feel like I was leaving money on the table. So I spent time learning as much as possible about all the options available for legal tax optimization.

What I found: the approach I had chosen was actually one of the safest. The “clever” tactics many nomads were using were grey-area schemes at best — and plain tax evasion at worst.

To this day, as the digital nomad movement has grown into a mainstream lifestyle, I still hear the same strategies bandied around. So here’s my honest take on how a digital nomad should handle taxes — updated for 2026.

[Read more…]

How to Get Rich Without Getting Lucky

Last updated: January 12, 2023Leave a Comment

Many investing and financial independence blogs try to teach you how to attain a level of wealth that will put you and your family in a comfortable position and potentially not having to work for the rest of your life.

I think things are quite simple really.

If you want to get rich, you need to take substantial risks and work extremely hard with a laser-sharp focus on something for several years.

This is how the founders of startups become rich.

This is also how the best investors make outsized returns on their investments.

And who is wealthier than entrepreneurs and investors these days? Sure there are many other illegal ways of getting wealthy, but if you stick to the legal ways, aside from inheriting wealth, entrepreneurship and investing is the way to go.

Building a business is the best way I know of getting richer than the average person. Once your business is successful and you have capital to deploy, investing is the way to multiply that money exponentially to reach even higher levels of wealth and financial independence.

The investing part is what I see many people misuse in two main ways.

The Entrepreneur Who Can’t Let Go

Many entrepreneurs do the first part of building a business and working very hard, but can never let go of the business. It ends up consuming all their life and depriving them of time, which is the most important and unreplenishable asset you have.

It takes them away from their families and from wonderful experiences they could otherwise have had if they were not locked in an office working on their business 24/7. As an entrepreneur, it is very important to keep the exit in mind, be it by selling the business or by putting a management team in place to substitute you.

The Wannabe Investor

On the other hand, I see many other people, especially younger ones, who get into investing too early when they don’t yet have capital to deploy. I highly encourage people to start educating themselves about money and investing at a very early age, however, in my opinion, the actual investing should start at a later stage when you already have substantial capital to deploy.

If you don’t yet have that capital, you are likely to make two mistakes:

You will probably spend too much time thinking and worrying about your investments in comparison to the returns you are likely to make.
You are more likely to invest money you shouldn’t be risking. Money you can’t really afford to lose.

Reason number 2 is also why I don’t like the idea of homeownership for most young people. By buying a home, they are tying up all their money plus future income into an asset that is not really an investment, and will also prevent them from having experiences such as traveling long term and living abroad, which would bring infinitely greater rewards both on a personal level and from an investing and knowledge perspective.

In short, the wannabe investor is foregoing the hard work of building a good capital base, and that will seriously hamper his chances of ever becoming financially independent or wealthy by any measure. That’s why we see so many financial blogs focus so much on frugality (often going to ridiculous extremes). They don’t have the capital, so instead of adopting a growth mindset and looking for ways to make more money (entrepreneurship) they try to save more and more of their average incomes as employees, and that’s not a good way to become wealthy.

At max, you might be able to become financially independent in your forties or fifties but only afford to live in very cheap places, and that’s not real independence in my books.

One of my favorite business gurus, Naval Ravikant, shared some very cool tips on Twitter about getting rich that I felt were worth sharing here on my blog:

Wealth vs Money vs Status

Seek wealth, not money or status. Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth. Status is your place in the social hierarchy.

Ethical Wealth

Understand that ethical wealth creation is possible. If you secretly despise wealth, it will elude you.

What should you avoid?

Ignore people playing status games. They gain status by attacking people playing wealth creation games.
You’re not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity — a piece of a business — to gain your financial freedom.

Basic Rule of Getting Rich

You will get rich by giving society what it wants but does not yet know how to get. At scale.

What should you do?

Pick an industry where you can play long term games with long term people.
Pick business partners with high intelligence, energy, and, above all, integrity. Don’t partner with cynics and pessimists. Their beliefs are self-fulfilling.
Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable.
Arm yourself with specific knowledge, accountability, and leverage.
Specific knowledge is knowledge that you cannot be trained for. If society can train you, it can train someone else, and replace you. Specific knowledge is found by pursuing your genuine curiosity and passion rather than whatever is hot right now. Building specific knowledge will feel like play to you but will look like work to others.When specific knowledge is taught, it’s through apprenticeships, not schools. Specific knowledge is often highly technical or creative. It cannot be outsourced or automated.
Embrace accountability, and take business risks under your own name. Society will reward you with responsibility, equity, and leverage. The most accountable people have singular, public, and risky brands: Oprah, Trump, Kanye, Elon.
Leverage :
“Give me a lever long enough, and a place to stand, and I will move the earth.” — Archimedes
Fortunes require leverage. Business leverage comes from capital, people, and products with no marginal cost of replication (code and media).
8.1 Capital: Capital means money. To raise money, apply your specific knowledge, with accountability, and show resulting good judgment.
8.2 People: Labor means people working for you. It’s the oldest and most fought-over form of leverage. Labor leverage will impress your parents, but don’t waste your life chasing it.
8.3 Products: Code & Media. The Internet has massively broadened the possible space of careers. Most people haven’t figured this out yet.
Types of Leverage
* Permissioned Leverage: Capital and labor are permissioned leverage. Everyone is chasing capital, but someone has to give it to you. Everyone is trying to lead, but someone has to follow you.
* Permissionless Leverage: Product (Code and media) are permissionless leverage. They’re the leverage behind the newly rich. You can create software and media that works for you while you sleep. An army of robots is freely available — it’s just packed in data centers for heat and space efficiency. Use it. If you can’t code, write books and blogs, record videos and podcasts.
Learn Foundational Skills: Leverage is a force multiplier* for your judgement. Judgement requires experience, but can be built faster by learning foundational skills. There is no skill called “business.” Avoid business magazines and business classes. Study microeconomics, game theory, psychology, persuasion, ethics, mathematics, and computers. Reading is faster than listening. Doing is faster than watching.
Set and enforce an aspirational personal hourly rate. If fixing a problem will save less than your hourly rate, ignore it. If outsourcing a task will cost less than your hourly rate, outsource it.
Work as hard as you can. Even though who you work with and what you work on are more important than how hard you work.
[Read Point 3 again].
You should be too busy to “do coffee,” while still keeping an uncluttered calendar.
Play iterated games. All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest.

Parting Note:

There are no get rich quick schemes. That’s just someone else getting rich off you.

Apply specific knowledge, with leverage, and eventually you will get what you deserve.

Foot note:

*Force Multiplier: In military science, Force multiplication or a force multiplier refers to a factor or a combination of factors that dramatically increases (hence “multiplies”) the effectiveness of an item or group, giving a given number of troops (or other personnel) or weapons (or other hardware) the ability to accomplish greater things than without it.

How to Withdraw Money from Stripe to Wise (and Save on Currency Conversion)

Last updated: March 13, 20263 Comments

If you run an online business that collects payments through Stripe, you’ve probably noticed how much money you lose on currency conversion every time you withdraw to your local bank account. For businesses based outside the US that sell in USD, this adds up quickly.

The good news is there’s a straightforward way to minimize these fees: connect your Wise (formerly TransferWise) multi-currency account to Stripe.

Here’s exactly how it works and why it’s worth setting up.

The Problem with Default Stripe Withdrawals

When you receive a payment in USD on Stripe and withdraw to a European bank account, Stripe converts the currency for you. Their conversion fee is typically around 1% on top of the mid-market rate, plus a fixed transfer fee.

For small amounts this might seem negligible, but at 10,000 USD per month in revenue, you’re losing around 100 USD just on Stripe’s conversion — every single month. Over a year, that’s 1,200 USD that could stay in your pocket.

Your bank may also add its own conversion spread when the funds arrive, eating into your revenue even further.

The Solution: Stripe + Wise

Wise provides you with local bank account details in multiple currencies — including a US bank account (with routing and account numbers), a EUR account (with IBAN), GBP, and others.

By adding your Wise USD account details as your payout bank account in Stripe, withdrawals go directly into your Wise balance in USD — with no currency conversion on either end. The money simply moves from Stripe’s USD balance to your Wise USD balance.

Once the funds are in Wise, you can convert them to your local currency at the mid-market rate with Wise’s transparent fee (typically 0.4-0.6%, depending on the currency pair). This is almost always cheaper than Stripe’s built-in conversion.

How to Set It Up

The process takes about 10 minutes:

Open a Wise account (if you don’t already have one) and complete verification. You’ll need your ID and proof of address.
Get your USD account details — In Wise, go to your USD balance and click “Get account details.” You’ll receive a US routing number and account number. These are real US banking details, held at a partner bank.
Add the bank account in Stripe — Go to Stripe Dashboard → Settings → Payouts → Add bank account. Select “United States” as the country, enter your Wise routing number and account number.
Set it as your default payout account — Once added, make this your primary payout method.
Wait for verification — Stripe will send two small deposits to verify the account. This usually takes 1-2 business days. Confirm the amounts in Stripe to complete setup.

From this point, all your Stripe payouts will land in your Wise USD balance.

Important: Stripe’s EUR Withdrawal Fee

One thing to note — for European companies, Stripe charges a 1% fee on payouts in non-EUR currencies. So if your Stripe account is registered as a European entity, withdrawing in USD to your Wise account will incur this fee.

In that case, do the math to see whether Stripe’s 1% USD payout fee plus Wise’s cheaper conversion still beats Stripe’s built-in EUR conversion. In most cases it does, but it depends on your volume and the specific currency pair.

If you’re registered as a US entity on Stripe (which some international businesses are), this fee doesn’t apply and the savings are clear-cut.

When to Convert

One underrated benefit of this setup is that you gain control over when you convert your currency. Instead of Stripe converting at whatever rate happens to be active during your payout window, you hold USD in Wise and convert when the rate is favorable.

You can also set up rate alerts in Wise to notify you when EUR/USD (or your preferred pair) hits a target rate. This is especially useful if you’re dealing with large amounts.

Alternatives to Wise

Wise isn’t the only option for this approach:

Payoneer — Also provides local receiving accounts in multiple currencies. Fees are slightly higher than Wise for conversion, but Payoneer has better coverage in some markets.
Mercury — A US-based business banking option that works well with Stripe. Good if you want a full US banking relationship.
Revolut Business — Offers multi-currency accounts with competitive conversion rates. A solid alternative if you already use Revolut.

That said, Wise remains my top recommendation for most online businesses. The fees are transparent, the platform is reliable, and the conversion rates are consistently close to the mid-market rate.

The Bottom Line

If you’re running an online business with Stripe and dealing with multiple currencies, spending 10 minutes to connect a Wise account could save you thousands of dollars per year. It’s one of those small optimizations that compounds over time.

The setup is simple, the savings are real, and once it’s done, it runs on autopilot.

The Best Communities and Networks for Entrepreneurs and Founders

Last updated: July 30, 2023Leave a Comment

Entrepreneurship can be an exciting but lonely experience. You start off with nothing and most likely with your peers thinking you’re chasing an impossible dream, or worse, doing nothing of worth. If you manage to prove your worth and build a successful business, you’ll also lose touch with those same peers because your concerns are quite different from theirs, and they most likely start to regard you as the lucky guy.

They say it’s lonely at the top, and that certainly applies to successful entrepreneurs. You don’t need to achieve great wealth or success to start to feel that. Even the mere fact of owning a business and being fully responsible for your and your family’s financial future (not to mention that of the employees who depend on your company) makes you part of a small group of society.

Baby Bathwater Insititute

The Baby Bathwater Institute is a unique entrepreneurial community that has garnered attention for its unconventional approach to networking and professional development. Founded by Hollis Carter and Michael Lovitch, it’s designed as a curated network of accomplished entrepreneurs, founders, thinkers, pioneers, and good-hearted, open-minded humans, providing a rich environment for collaboration, learning, and growth.

Baby Bathwater’s primary mission is to create an intimate, non-transactional networking environment where authentic relationships can form and thrive. In stark contrast to more traditional business conferences or networking events, Baby Bathwater emphasizes genuine connections over immediate business transactions. The idea is that meaningful, long-term relationships ultimately result in more fruitful collaborations and opportunities, and foster a supportive community where members can turn to each other for advice, support, and resources.

One of the most notable aspects of Baby Bathwater is its carefully curated events. These are often hosted in unique, relaxed settings – from mountain resorts to private islands – designed to foster an atmosphere of authenticity and camaraderie. These multi-day gatherings include educational sessions from industry leaders, but also incorporate social and outdoor activities, providing a balanced, holistic experience that combines professional development with relaxation and fun.

Despite its playful name, the Baby Bathwater Institute is serious about the quality of its membership. Prospective members undergo a stringent vetting process to ensure they align with the community’s values and culture. The aim is to create a diverse, yet harmonious group of individuals who are not just successful in their fields, but are also open-minded, generous in sharing their knowledge, and committed to supporting their peers.

While the Baby Bathwater Institute might not be the typical professional networking group, its distinctive approach resonates with many entrepreneurs seeking a more authentic, relationship-driven community. By fostering deep connections and promoting continuous learning in a relaxed, congenial environment, it offers a refreshing and effective alternative in the landscape of entrepreneurial communities.

While I’m not currently a member of this community since I am not able to travel much with a young family, I’ve interacted with the founders and several members, and they are all legit, good-natured and successful people.

If you can travel to their fantastic events and you’re looking for a mix of fun, learning and networking with good people, then this is a great community to join.

Visit the Baby Bathwater site

Entrepreneurs’ Organization

EO is a global network exclusively for entrepreneurs. EO helps leading entrepreneurs learn and grow through peer-to-peer learning, once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and connections to experts.

Entrance to the EO requires you to have a business that generates more than a million dollars in revenue per year, and costs around $6000 to join. It’s aimed at entrepreneurs who are experienced and successful and certainly not at those just starting off on their journey,

Although it might seem a bit elitist, I think the requirements and high fees make sense. The success of the organization depends on its members sharing many of the same concerns and dilemmas, as well as providing useful contacts and advice to each other. It’s safe to say that a beginner entrepreneur will not have the same concerns and capacity to help others that a seasoned entrepreneur at the helm of a $1m and multiple-employee business will.

There are several events throughout the year, and you get subsidized rates to first-class hotels and tours as part of your membership. You’ll find entrepreneurs of all ages and industries in the EO, which means you will also widen your field of knowledge and be able to learn from other sectors that you were previously unfamiliar with or even unaware of.

An important feature of the EO is the local chapter that meets in your city. Big cities like Barcelona even have several chapters. Each local chapter consists of around 8 members who meet for half a day on a monthly basis to discuss their personal and business lives as well as network between themselves. This peer group support addresses the problem I described at the beginning of this article directly, and many EO members vouch that these meetings are the most important benefit of being in the EO.

Apply to join the EO

Dynamite Circle

The Dynamite Circle was created by Tropical MBA founders Dan & Ian, and has grown over the years to become the number one network for young entrepreneurs that work online in some form or fashion. It’s not limited to online business owners, however, the majority of people in it have remote teams and online businesses.

That’s to be expected given that the Tropical MBA was originally all about becoming location-independent, and one of the forces that gave rise to the digital nomad movement. Nowadays both founders have given up the digital nomad days and are based in their own respective cities, although they retain the freedom to move if they wish to. This is a path that has been followed by many others including myself. Constantly traveling from one place to another eventually gets tired, and you’re bound to fall in love with one place more than all the others and want to base yourself there. In my case, that place is Barcelona.

The Dynamite Circle holds big meetups in several cities every year, with the biggest events of the year being DC Austin in April and DC Bangkok in October. You will also find smaller groups that meet up informally in most major cities.

An online forum is also an integral part of the DC, and you will all other DC members on the forum ready to help and give advice to your dilemmas. If you wish to, there is also the possibility to be placed into a mastermind group that meets every so often online and discusses things in further depth.

I’ve been a member of the DC for a number of years and found a ton of good information in the online forums, so I’d say that the value of the advice and content there has already covered the cost of joining. I’ve also realised that many of the online business entrepreneurs I followed online have been in the Dynamite Circle themselves for quite a while.

A question was recently asked on how DC members would describe businesses and people within the Dynamite Circle. Here are some replies I felt were really good:

DC businesses are optimized for profit and lifestyle vs trying to impress people.

It’s popular in the business world to think that the point of starting businesses is simply to make money. Not here in the DC. We believe our businesses can be so much more– a path to personal freedom, legacy, a secure foundation for a family or community, or as a means forfinding deeper meaning and abundance.

Low overhead / lean, founder operated, online, positive cashflow, bootstrapped.

Online-first, location independent businesses between 6-8 figures a year.

To be honest I should probably have joined the group back in 2012 when I lived in Chiang Mai and everybody was talking about it. Unfortunately, I had attended one of their meetups then and I didn’t particularly click with the people present there, so I wasn’t that enthusiastic about joining.

Looking back at the forum postings though I can see that I could have picked up on certain things earlier than I eventually did. For example, there was talk of Bitcoin and crypto back in 2014, when I started reading up on crypto seriously only in 2016. That’s just one of the many benefits of being part of a circle of driven and highly informed people. You get to know about opportunities years before anyone else does, and thus have a headstart in capitalizing on them.

Join the Dynamite Circle

Young Presidents Organization

The Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) is a global network of young chief executives and business leaders. Founded in 1950 in New York City, it was conceived as a space for young presidents of businesses to learn from each other, share experiences, and grow together both professionally and personally. YPO has grown into an international organization with thousands of members across the globe.

YPO prides itself on fostering a peer network where members can confidentially discuss business and personal matters. This can be especially helpful for young executives who may not have the same depth of experience as their older counterparts. Being able to tap into the collective wisdom of a global network can provide unique insights, mentorship, and guidance.

In addition to its networking opportunities, YPO offers a wide range of resources to its members. These include educational events and seminars, curated digital resources, and exclusive experiences. The organization often brings in expert speakers and organizes high-level workshops and seminars to enrich members’ knowledge and skills. Themes often revolve around leadership, innovation, societal impact, and personal development, reflecting the organization’s belief in the holistic development of its members.

Members of YPO must meet specific criteria related to age and the scale of the businesses they lead. This ensures that all members are part of a similar peer group, facing equivalent challenges, and can thus learn from and support each other effectively.

It’s worth noting that while YPO primarily focuses on the professional development of its members, it also places a high value on personal growth and family life. It believes in fostering balanced leaders who excel not only in their business pursuits but also in their personal lives.

Join the YPO

Hampton

Hampton is a private community for founders, CEOs, and entrepreneurs. Each applicant is vetted, and invitations are offered to fewer than 10% of applicants. Hampton aims to be a founder peer network that fosters professional growth and development, learning and education, collective problem solving, and personal connections.

The average Hampton member has $23M in annual revenue, but they have a minimum requirement of at least $1M in revenue or $3M in funding or a previous exit. Most members are digital startups and you must be a founder or CEO. Your 8-person Core group will have similar-sized businesses in similar industries.

Members can expect the following benefits:

Monthly Core Groups – A group of 8 founders with an executive facilitator, who leads discussion where advice and critical feedback is shared to help accelerate your business growth.

Digital Community – Access to a digital and highly engaged community of founders who provide helpful advice, a dedicated digital concierge, and a weekly newsletter.

In-Person Community – In-person event strategy is focused around three pillars: monthly member dinners, annual retreats, and local adventures.

Speaker Series & Education – Unique workshops featuring hard-to-reach experts across a variety of topics.

Exclusive Perks – Discounts with the most popular software companies, tools, and apps.

Hampton community

Tiger21

TIGER 21 (The Investment Group for Enhanced Results in the 21st Century) is an exclusive membership organization for high-net-worth individuals. Founded by Michael Sonnenfeldt in 1999, the group aims to provide a confidential environment for wealth creators to discuss and learn about issues related to wealth management, investing, philanthropy, and family dynamics. TIGER 21 has over 800 members who individually manage personal assets that generally exceed $10 million.

One of the core offerings of TIGER 21 is its group meetings. Members are grouped into small, confidential peer groups that meet regularly. These meetings provide members with an opportunity to discuss personal financial issues, investment strategies, and other topics relevant to high-net-worth individuals. Through these discussions, members can tap into the collective intelligence and experience of the group, providing valuable insights that may be difficult to obtain elsewhere.

In addition to the peer group meetings, TIGER 21 provides a variety of other resources and services. These include educational presentations, expert speakers, and access to an extensive network of high-net-worth individuals and successful entrepreneurs. The organization also hosts events that offer members the opportunity to connect with other successful individuals and broaden their networks.

Furthermore, TIGER 21 recognizes the unique challenges that come with significant wealth, including succession planning, philanthropy, and wealth preservation. To this end, the organization provides resources and facilitates discussions aimed at helping members navigate these complex issues. This includes a focus on “values-based” legacy planning, ensuring that wealth is not only preserved but also used in a way that aligns with the member’s personal values and goals.

Membership involves a thorough vetting process and is limited to individuals with significant personal assets. This allows the organization to maintain a high standard of confidentiality and ensures that all members are of similar financial standing, which facilitates open and meaningful discussions.

Join Tiger21

Vistage

Founded in 1957, Vistage is a leading business advisory and executive coaching organization designed to help improve the effectiveness and enhance the lives of CEOs and business leaders. The organization offers a unique combination of resources for accelerating business performance: peer advisory groups and one-to-one executive coaching sessions.

To join Vistage, candidates must be either a CEO, business owner, or key executive of a company. The process usually involves an interview with a local Vistage Chair (facilitator), who assesses whether the individual and their business are a fit for the group. The company size, revenues, and other factors may also be considered. A critical requirement is the willingness to learn, share experiences, and provide mutual support in a confidential group setting.

Members can expect several benefits from joining Vistage:

Peer Advisory Groups: Members meet monthly in confidential, peer advisory group meetings facilitated by experienced Chairs. These meetings provide a forum for discussion, problem-solving, and the exchange of insights and ideas.
Executive Coaching: Each member receives one-to-one coaching sessions with their Chair, which can help them tackle individual challenges, set goals, and keep accountable.
Expert Speakers: Vistage meetings often feature expert speakers who deliver workshops on a wide variety of topics relevant to running a business.
Vistage Network: Members gain access to a global network of more than 23,000 business leaders across multiple industries.
Proprietary Research: Vistage also provides its members with access to proprietary research and resources.
Events: Members have the opportunity to attend members-only events, providing additional learning and networking opportunities.

Vistage aims to empower business leaders to make better decisions and achieve better results, promoting both business growth and personal development.

Vistage operates in 20 countries around the world, as of my last knowledge update in September 2021. The countries include the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, and others.

Join Vistage

The Good Life Collective

the good life collective

The Good Life Collective (GLC) is a community I founded in 2022 as an extension of this blog and a way to bring my trusted network together.

The community features a Telegram-based chat that is organized by topics. The chat is where daily interaction between members occurs. When you join, you also gain access to webinars, a weekly newsletter, mastermind, as well as IRL events.

Membership to the GLC is curated, and you can apply to join here. The community is very close-knit and values openness highly. All topics are welcome, but typical discussions tend to center around health, wealth and relationships.

Most members of the community are entrepreneurs that are somewhat location-independent in their late 20s, 30s and 40s. Because many of us have families or are thinking of starting one, we think a lot about how to bring up the next generation, and as a father of young kids, I find these discussions invaluable.

We love to share resources and recommendations, which means that I typically learn something new everyday.

Because we have the same values and similar goals in life, being part of this community feels like an instant expansion of one’s thinking, and it’s also a great place to reach out during tough times. The community has proved to be extremely generous and helpful to get members up and running again after important setbacks, although we also make sure to celebrate big successes.

Join the GLC

ASmallworld

asmallworld

ASMALLWORLD is an exclusive, members-only social network and travel community. Established in 2004, it was one of the first online platforms to leverage the concept of a closed community of prominent and influential individuals from around the world. The aim is to bring together members who share a passion for travel, high-quality experiences, and social interaction.

ASW is often likened to an exclusive Facebook for rich and influential people. As a member, you gain access to various benefits, including invitations to special events, access to carefully curated travel and lifestyle content, and a social network where they can connect with like-minded individuals. The community focuses on fostering deep connections between its members, offering a trusted environment for networking and interaction.

In addition to online networking, ASW organizes IRL events every year, ranging from cocktail parties in major cities worldwide to weekend getaways at exclusive resorts. These events allow members to extend their network and create new relationships in the real world, strengthening the sense of community.

Moreover, ASW provides its members with unique travel privileges. These include access to a selection of high-end hotels and resorts at preferential rates, personalized travel advice, and a variety of additional services to make members’ travel experiences more comfortable and rewarding.

ASW states that it has a strict membership policy, with new members typically needing an invitation from an existing member or going through a rigorous application process.

While the central premise of ASW is about cultivating a community of individuals who share a passion for travel and lifestyle, it also underscores the value of trust, respect, and mutual understanding, principles that members are expected to uphold.

I haven’t joined ASW myself, however I have a few friends who are in it or were in it in the past. I’ve been shown the content and profiles available through the app, and I honestly wasn’t impressed. Based on what I saw in the app, the online videos, and feedback from current and previous members, I concluded that there is no real membership policy, events are full of shallow people where the focus is purely on appearances, and there are few real tangible benefits. This networks seems to be trying to do to many things and not succeeding at any of them particularly well.

Perhaps joining the ASW community might be worthwhile if you travel a lot and want to unlock the discounts at their hotel and resort collection (although I’m pretty sure you can find the same rates elsewhere too), or if you have just landed in a major city and you’re looking to maximise opportunities to meet new people. Apart from this it’s a hard one to recommend.

ASmallWorld

Trends.VC

Trends.vc is a well-regarded community centered around a research service that provides in-depth reports about emerging business, technology, and market trends. It was created by Dru Riley and has been popular with entrepreneurs, investors, and other forward-looking individuals and organizations.

The Trends.vc community provides subscribers with access to a wealth of resources beyond just the reports. Subscribers are able to engage in discussion and networking opportunities, learning from each other and sharing insights. The community is characterized by a collaborative and inquisitive atmosphere, with people coming together to learn, grow, and explore the frontiers of business and technology.

Some of the activities you can expect when joining the community are daily standups, 1:1 networking, masterminds and a host of discounts to popular apps and services.

Join Trends

Sloww

Sloww is a platform dedicated to the slow living movement and was founded by Kyle Kowalski.

He’s an ex-marketing executive turned corporate dropout and solopreneur who found his life purpose after an existential crisis: synthesizing lifelong learning that catalyzes human development. That might sound like a handful, but Kyle has written many articles that expand on his views and lessons, so the best way to get a feeling for what he means is to go through some of his articles on the Sloww blog.

He established the Sloww community as a way to explore and promote a more mindful and deliberate lifestyle, different from the hustle and fast-paced rhythm of modern life, and share the journey with other like-minded people.

On Sloww, Kyle shares insights about topics like mindfulness, purposeful living, and personal development. He creates content to help individuals navigate the complexities of life, focusing on holistic health, well-being, and life satisfaction. Beyond getting access to the premium content Kyle puts out, by joining the community, you will also be able to network online with 1,000+ other members from 50+ countries.

Join Sloww

The Latticework

The Latticework, a community established by Blas Moros, is designed as an intellectual playground for curious minds. Dedicated to lifelong learning, it provides a space for individuals to dive deep into a broad array of topics, ranging from business and economics to philosophy and the arts. Drawing inspiration from Charlie Munger’s idea of a “latticework of mental models,” the community aims to foster a multi-disciplinary approach to learning and problem-solving.

At the heart of Latticework is the belief in the value of understanding fundamental principles across a wide range of disciplines. This approach equips individuals with a robust set of mental models that can be applied to a variety of situations, enhancing decision-making and problem-solving skills. It’s a hub for polymaths and those aspiring to become more intellectually versatile.

One distinguishing feature of Latticework is the premium it places on quality content and in-depth discussions. Rather than focusing on the latest trends or news, the community seeks to explore timeless ideas and principles. This emphasis on enduring knowledge over ephemeral information promotes deep, thoughtful conversations among community members.

Moreover, Latticework isn’t just about acquiring knowledge – it’s also about applying that knowledge and integrating it into one’s life. The community encourages members to share not just what they’re learning, but also how they’re putting that learning into practice. This focus on actionable insights adds a practical dimension to the intellectual pursuits of the community.

Membership in Latticework is open to anyone committed to continual learning and intellectual growth. The community welcomes diverse perspectives and values respectful, open-minded dialogue. For those seeking to broaden their intellectual horizons and engage with a community of thoughtful, curious individuals, Latticework presents a compelling opportunity.

I’m a member of this community, and I derive most value from Blas’ newsletter about mental frameworks together with the Whatsapp chat that he created for the community. The chat is active daily and discussions tend to center around book/resource recommendations to further one’s skills in specific topics, productivity and general advice on how to live better on a day-to-day basis.

Join The Latticework

Do you know of any other networks worth joining? Let me know in the comments section.