Thread by @rebootdude

New stuff I learned in year of Covid-19.

This is my father's favorite question, what did you learn this week, month, year? Helps internalize learning.

The promised professional version.

Figured how to sound proof office library and turn it into a recording studio.

@MasterMoltyFoam sheets. Cut into squares and rectangles with ridges etched into them.

Tried a recording box but that just deadened sound.

The key is reflecting surfaces. Find them. Kill them.

You don't have to stick them on the walls or roof. Tried that, didn't work.

Spread the foam squares on your table, edges and corners and it works just as well.

@rodemics are the best. A big step up from all the microphones we had tried in the past.

With the new setup sound quality improved dramatically.

Went from this from a few years ago.

You can hear the echo and feedback from our very bad mic.

To this. Dec '20 for #021Disrupt product launch lessons.

Delivery still sucks since technology can't fix everything but sound quality is better.

Will take delivery that sucks with better sound quality any day of the week.

Work on delivery this year.

From last month at @HabibUniversity. Getting better slowly but still a long way to go.

Talking about things you care about helps. Also practice, early mornings and not being in Covid recovery weeks.

Went from zero on IFRS 17 to disclosures, financial impact assessment + transition mapping IFRS 4 => IFRS 17.

Key takeaway. How do you handle IFRS 4 DAC (Deferred Acquisition Cost) under IFRS 17 for life products?

They don't cover that in @YouTube videos. If you get stuck DM me

I had learnt this earlier but had to be reminded again this year.

I hate doing regulatory disclosure work. There is more to life than being an Appointed actuary.

Turnarounds and strategy are fun. Building disclosures out of millions of records of badly structured data is not.

In distance running you run faster with legs. Different from sprinting.

Focus on stride lengths rather than arm action to increase pace.

Mileage matters.

There is a magical moment between 8 and 10k where true pace comes to you and carries you all the way to 15k.

You also run faster with training maturity as you grow older.

Ran the fastest 5k and 15k this year post Covid-19 as a 50 year old compared to 3 years ago as a 47 year old.

As I said, mileage, form and technique matters. You can beat age over the head with them.

I can still be a good teacher without being a total hard ass about it.

Covid messes up with mental health of my students.

They don't need me going all Freddy Krueger on them.

Sold more digital books via @Twitter thanks to @dvassallo

Give before you ask.
Deliver value before you sell.
Stick to spaces where you have credibility.
Your feed is your portfolio. Don't abuse it.

Also good for building an audience and racking up twitter impressions.

Ten year track record. 50k Twitter impressions in a good year before a follower sent me to @dvassallo.

Now half a million impressions is doable when I want it.

Doesn't come easy. You need to put your heart and soul into it, but now I have the formula and know how to use it.

With the right audience mix, organic @Twitter conversion is significantly better than @LinkedIn or @Facebook

Source: Founder Puzzle launch, August 2020.

I am not going to sell a million copies of my books this year. Or next year for that matter.

If you want to sell a million copies look up @RyanHoliday Perennial Sellers.

If I can't get mine, the least I can do is help Ryan get his.

https://twitter.com/rebootdude/status/1269078371864109056?s=20

Twitter threads rock. I did a lot of them last year. Beats blogging any day of the week.

Put some of them here for safe keeping and easy access.

Still don't know if there is an easier way of doing this.

financetrainingcourse.com/education/2020…

Remote teaching and using the stylus on my touch screen for 6 hours a day leads to inflamed shoulder joints, tendinitis and months of pain.

Need to get back to real world in class teaching otherwise will have to quit teaching permanently.

Simpler themes, faster pages, smaller servers.

@awscloud is getting pricey and expensive. Nothing comes close to their service quality and trust factor compared to their competition but need to optimize sites and servers to reduce hosting bills.

Building Bitcoin price models is more fun than reserving insurance liabilities.

Unfortunately reserving insurance liabilities pays the bills. So I am going to be stuck doing that for a while.

Which reminds me. Teaching is the best way of learning new things.

As I update and refresh my courses, I learn stuff I didn't know before.

I had done bitcoin outlook but never tried my hand at modeling bitcoin prices. Done and dusted this year.
financetrainingcourse.com/education/2020…

For small businesses in frontier markets valuations are still a function of revenues and profitability.

Founders value IP differently than buyers which leads to disconnects in the acquisition process.

If you want better pricing, focus on higher growth, margins and topline.

There are a few light years between putting together a pitch deck and closing an investment round, an exit or an acquisition.

It doesn't work the way we read about it in Wall Street Journal or see in movies.

Put yourself in cold storage tank when the deal is in the wind.

The best way of closing a deal is to not want it. Lower temperatures lead to better conversations.

Here is more conversion data from Founder Puzzles launch sequence broken down by Pre-orders, actual orders and land page clicks.

@Twitter is the clear winner.

What gets measured improves.

True for traffic, impressions, orders, revenues, pace, running and life.