G

Georgia Tech data science to Paid Media pipeline. VC Backed Founder Building

[G @greg_steckel]

A few things I believe that most people on here won't agree with:

1. Earning money is hard. $100k a year is a lot of money. Twitter acts like it's easy but it isn't.

2. Sports betting is a disaster for society. Quietly destroying a lot of men's lives.

3. Politics is a total waste of time. Putting energy towards it is inversely correlated to happiness.

4. Vaping and weed are better for your body than alcohol, but worse for your career and life. They remove ambition and energy and make you less social.

5. Marrying a doctor or a lawyer is high status, but low enjoyment. These folks live stressful lives with very little flexibility.

6. Waiting till 35 to think about kids is a huge mistake. These folks are all going to regret not having more, earlier.

7. Silicon Valley influencers and tech titans are out of touch with the true needs of Americans. They could benefit by spending some time in a Walmart. Most people are trying to figure out how to put food on the table. They don't need another app for their meta glasses.

Which one am I wrong about?

[G @greg_steckel]

Every barrier to entry is a barrier keeping your competition out.

[G @greg_steckel]

Total revenue: $22,400 on a $6,100 buy.

Gross margin: 55 to 70%.

"Why don't more people do this?"

The auction sites look like they were built in 2004. The listings are written in military jargon nobody understands. Most items don't ship. You drive there and load them yourself.

[G @greg_steckel]

3 diesel generators: bought for $4,200, sold for $28,000.

200 military sleeping bags: bought for $640, sold at $45 each = $9,000.

Decommissioned ambulance: bought for $6,100.

Stripped the medical equipment, sold separately for $3,400.

Sold the van for $19,000.

[G @greg_steckel]

The US military throws away $7 billion worth of usable equipment every year. Humvees, generators, forklifts, shipping containers. It gets classified as "surplus," moved to a warehouse, and auctioned to the public for pennies.

Some receipts:

[G @greg_steckel]

Met a guy at a strip club in Atlanta who said he's never had a job in his life.

Thought he was a drug dealer. He pulled out his phone and showed me a Chase business checking account with $940,000 in deposits for the year.

He buys and sells government surplus.

[G @greg_steckel]

Agents are becoming the decision makers in both B2C and B2B. Every business will be selling not just to humans, but to their agents.

Everything becomes B2A: business to agents.

[G @greg_steckel]

Meta went from having your Instagram and WhatsApp data to now having access to your email, calendar, DoorDash, Amazon and pretty much everything.

[G @greg_steckel]

Here is the part nobody is talking about. The agent is making the purchasing decisions. One person said they knew nothing about that burger place. The agent researched it, told them what to order, and they said okay without thinking about it.

[G @greg_steckel]

The entire tax code was written by business owners, for business owners. If you just take a W2 paycheck, you are subsidizing the lives of the rich.

A guy making $80,000 at a normal job takes home about $60,000 after taxes. A guy making $80,000 through his own LLC writes off his phone, his WiFi, a portion of his rent, his car, and his meals. He pays taxes on the pennies left over and keeps the rest.

How to start:
1. Open a single-member LLC in your state ($100-$300)
2. Open a separate business checking account
3. Start any side hustle. Consulting, freelance, flipping couches. Doesn't matter, as long as there is intent to make a profit
4. Write off the percentage of your life used for "business"

But the biggest cheat code of owning an LLC isn't the tax write-offs. It's the banks.

A normal guy begs for a $5,000 personal loan at 12% interest. But if you have an LLC and a 740 personal credit score, you can walk into the business card desk at Chase or Amex and get $80,000 at 0% interest for 18 months.

The algorithm doesn't ask for tax returns. It just sees the 740 score and hands over the bag.

[G @greg_steckel]

Top 5 ecom niches that print money:

1. Hair loss

The avatar breaks into postpartum shedding, stress thinning, PCOS and failed creams. You get a new angle for every sub avatar. The problem is visible every morning in the shower, so you never have to pay to teach someone they have it.

2. Skincare

One foundation sells to a woman covering acne and a woman hiding wrinkles. Same SKU, two avatars, two creative lanes. COGS plus shipping sits at 30% of selling price, which leaves enough room to buy traffic at scale.

3. Supplements

The product gets consumed. Subscribe and save turns the second purchase into revenue you did not pay ads for. The niche has enough depth to launch a second and third product into the same customer base.

4. Intimate and hormonal health

People search for this quietly and rarely ask their friends. The ad is the entire education. AI animation lets you show what Meta would never let you show with a real person.

5. Men's testosterone and performance

The buying decision is ego driven, so the research phase is short. One winning native can be rewritten into a VSL, an authority figure and a static without new research.

These all solve a problem the customer already knows they have.

[G @greg_steckel]

Age yourself by naming the first way you ever made money online.

[G @greg_steckel]

Levels of wealth:

I have enough...
...for emergencies ($10k)
...for food and shelter ($30k)
...to invest ($100k)
...to survive on passively ($1M)
...to retire on comfortably ($4M)
...to live like the 1% passively ($20M)
...to live like an asshole ($100M)

Everything else is Monopoly money.

[G @greg_steckel]

If AI labs want personal assistants to take off at scale, they need to stop marketing vacations, reservations, and party planning. These are not problems.

The problem facing Americans is the cost of living. Agents can offer a ton of help here.

"I just got a $2,800 bill for an ER visit I thought insurance covered. What happened?"
Agent matches the bill to the insurer's explanation of benefits, flags discrepancies, checks coverage and financial aid, prepares a dispute, and follows up until it's resolved.

"I take six prescriptions. I'm pretty sure I'm overpaying. Can you fix that?"
Agent compares insurance copays, GoodRx, Cost Plus Drugs, and local pharmacies. Finds discounts, arranges transfers, and monitors prices before every refill.

"I spend $250 a week on groceries at Safeway. Can you get that under $200 without changing what we eat?"
Agent reviews receipt photos, compares local prices and coupons, finds cheaper equivalents, builds a shopping cart, and tracks weekly savings.

"My car insurance renewal just jumped from $180 to $245 a month. Can I get a better deal?"
Agent retrieves current coverage, gets competing quotes with matching limits, checks discounts, and prepares a switch without a coverage gap.

"I'm paying Comcast $115 a month for internet. That seems ridiculous."
Agent checks competing plans at the address, tests eligibility for promotions, contacts retention, and presents the best offer before making changes.

Each case is well scoped, with clear success states and defined processes. Perfect setups for agent success.

[G @greg_steckel]

In a 2019 interview, Weaver revealed his earnings had already exceeded the original $2 million offer. He was still receiving payments decades after recording the songs as a child.

Disney offered her child a fortune. She negotiated for his future.

[G @greg_steckel]

In the early 1990s, Disney offered a 13-year-old boy $2 million to sing in an animated movie. His mother turned it down.

[G @greg_steckel]

The Lion King became a worldwide phenomenon. The soundtrack sold millions of copies. The film returned to theaters, reached new audiences through home video and streaming, and became one of Disney's most enduring properties.