This is an exclusively financial concept to most, but I like to think of it as it applies to value in general.
What can you do for someone that they couldn't (or wouldn't) do previously?
That's an arbitrage opportunity.
The ability to spot arbitrage opportunities in a spreadsheet or a financial terminal ultimately results in the same outcome as identifying a need for a product in an underserved market:
Profit.
Which, again - is not an exclusively financial idea.
Reputational profit, experiential profit, informational profit, etc.
You get something you didn't have before by spotting something no one else could see.
Most people who dominate this strategy don't try and make a 100x return on their first "trade" either.
They find small things that they can do consistently that add up to make a massive difference over time.
The ability to spot and act upon arbitrage opportunities is the thing that builds your compounding advantage over the long-term.
It's a staircase, not a jetpack.
This is a stream-of-consciousness version of the opening chapter in a product currently in the works:
The Permissionless Apprentice
It'll be ready on December 18, and you can preorder it here.
I think it would be good if we collectively decided that the majority of things we categorize as mistakes are simply the necessary stumbling blocks between being bad at something and being competent.
Celebrate mistake makers, they fail so you don’t have to.