Niall

Dad. Husband. Adult-onset outdoorsman. Entrepreneur.
Growing 2 businesses, while trying to do the same for myself.

[Ethan Brooks @alt_w_v_g]

My wife mentioned a nice private school over dinner this week
She said the campus was beautiful
I asked what's the tuition
She said we should look at it as an investment in him not a cost
I made a note
She said don't make a note
I said I always make notes
She said this isn't a deal
I said everything is a deal
She closed her eyes

She said we'd discuss it Saturday
I agreed

Saturday 7:02am
She came downstairs in her Saturday robe
Coffee in hand
I had my cargo shorts on

The dining room had been cleared
The projector was on
The analyst was at the head of the table
Quarter zip on, three iced coffees, a legal pad, and two laptops
He had been there since 6:44am

I texted him at 11:14pm Friday
The text said dining room 6:45am bring the model
He sent a thumbs up

My wife stopped in the doorway
She said what is this
I said you said you wanted to discuss it
She said this is not a discussion
I did not respond
She sat down anyway

The analyst stood
He said good morning ma'am
She did not respond
He sat back down
A printed deck in front of each seat
A fourth copy in case

Slide 1 Tuition Schedule
$38,500 per year
Thirteen years
$500,500 nominal
Before escalators
The school has raised tuition 4.2% per year for a decade
With escalators $648,000
My wife said okay
I said I'm not done

Slide 2 Opportunity Cost
Even before escalators
$38,500 invested annually
10% nominal return
S&P long-run average since 1928
By his eighteenth birthday $944,000
My wife said we can afford it
I said I know that's not the slide

Slide 3 Terminal Value at Age 65
$83 million
She was quiet

The analyst slid the sensitivity tables across the table
8% return $31 million
10% return $83 million
12% return $222 million
She did not look

She said this isn't about money
I said it's always about money
She said no it isn't
I said then what is it about
She did not answer

She said you can't put a dollar value on his teachers his classmates his environment
I said I can the analyst already did slide 6
He flipped to slide 6
She did not look

She said the school is the best in the city
I said best is a feeling
She said it produces the best students
I said the students were already the best before they got there

She said our son deserves it
I said our son deserves $83 million

My son walked in
He is five
Dinosaur pajamas
He looked at the projector
He looked at the open deck on the table
He looked at slide 3
He said are we modeling pre-tax or after-tax
The analyst opened a new tab
My wife looked at the ceiling

He said what's the discount rate
The analyst set down his pen
She closed her eyes

He said is this the same return assumption from the 529 conversation
The analyst stopped typing
He looked at me
I did not say anything

She stood up
Sat back down

He said dad can I help
I said yes
He pulled up a chair
The analyst handed him a printout
He started reading

My wife watched him read
She watched him for a long time

She said his name
He looked up
She said do you like school
He said the work is too easy and the kids don't ask questions

She did not respond
She looked at the ceiling
She walked out of the room

The analyst started packing up
He said should I follow up Monday sir
I said no follow up needed

He'll be fine

Sent from my iPhone

[Niall @NiallTom]

Nothing quite like playoff baseball!

[Joey 🇪🇸 @suzukiplshomer]

ESPN had to lower the crowd noise from how loud Wrigley was

I love this city so much

[Travis Jamison @Travis_Jamison]

Friday was a special day - My wife became a U.S. citizen

It was a surprisingly beautiful ceremony.

There were 75 people from 33 different nations getting naturalized.

France
Vietnam
Germany
Lithuania
China
Burma
Congo
Canada
Honduras
Russia
Belarus
Namibia
Equador
Ethiopia
And many more.

There were smiles and tears and joy.

Some were solo, two were single mothers with a baby, and some had a huge family there to help celebrate.

In these days of mixed political discourse on immigration, the vibe in the federal courthouse was surprisingly at ease.

Clapping as encouraged, filming was permitted, beautiful music was performed live (National anthem and America the Beautiful)

The federal judge did a fantastic job of ensuring everyone felt welcome.

Went into detail about what becoming a citizen meant, the responsibilities it entailed (including taxes lol), and how their primary job was to keep our democracy working. To go vote.

The actual process of becoming a citizen is rough. Uncomfortable interviews, mountains of paperwork, lawyers, etc. Maybe this is a good thing.

But the actual ceremony was lovely and welcoming.

Feels good.

[Niall @NiallTom]

@MatznerJon I sure hope to!

[Niall @NiallTom]

@allenwalton Well, school can make you directionally smart, but not wise! Been doing this for years and was never confused, had plenty of context with the right practitioner, and never felt worried. Go for it

[Niall @NiallTom]

@Camp4 I've been doing the McGill 3, recommended by Stuart McGill, to try to fix what sitting at a desk for a living has done to my lower back. Will add these to my routine. Bookmarked!

[Niall @NiallTom]

@allenwalton Congrats Allen! Great news

[Niall @NiallTom]

@allenwalton I built about 5 years ago. Happy to chat!

[Niall @NiallTom]

@allenwalton That’s awesome! We’ve gone back and forth on this quite a bit. What led you to going for it?

[Niall @NiallTom]

@BillDA Just flew Miami to get to the Keys yesterday. Been doing that since 2014. Can confirm MIA traffic is at least 25% worse. I go through Key West now any time I can

[Niall @NiallTom]

@allenwalton Congrats! I was in the same boat. 2 girls, then had a boy in Sept. it seems to switch on the 3rd more often than not.

[Niall @NiallTom]

@allenwalton @ankurnagpal @TropicalMBA @AnythingIan Had to back out last minute. Wish I could’ve been there!

[Niall @NiallTom]

@jdigiacomo Harrison - one of the greats!

[Niall @NiallTom]

Probably the best $10k you’ll ever spend on his education.

[Craig Fuller 🛩🚛🚂⚓️ @FreightAlley]

I bought my 16 year-old son a small e-commerce business for $10k on https://t.co/PzXD1LrnTT. We work on it after school.

It did $6k in revenue before we purchased it in January and it just passed the $50k mark.

[Niall @NiallTom]

@Camp4 This is triggering. What a view.

[Niall @NiallTom]

@Camp4 Dang. You're good at this.

[Niall @NiallTom]

@sweatystartup Why I like horses/mules, or llamas. They get you up there with fresher legs, and allow you to stay there longer. Looks like some good glassing in the first pic. Best of luck - shoot straight!!

[Niall @NiallTom]

@DallasAptGP @ShafferB12 @baldridgecpa Anything you can share?

[Nick Huber @sweatystartup]

Entrepreneurship culture in America is all messed up and it’s a shame.

TechCrunch. Product Hunt. Shark Tank.

It’s all about new ideas. Changing the world. Innovation. 0 to 1. Blue ocean. Venture capital and exits and scalability.

And IT’S ALL A LIE.

If you ask the average American who a real entrepreneur is they’ll say Jobs, Musk or Zuck. We read their books and idolize them and hang on to their every word.

So the brightest among us think they need a moat. A new idea. Something revolutionary. We're setting them up for FAILURE.

I took an entrepreneurship course at Cornell in 2011. 24 kids with new ideas. Big plans. Pitch decks looking for series As.

I was #25 with a regular old-fashioned business. When professors asked me what my differentiator was I didn’t have an answer.

"We're just going to pick up people's stuff and store it when they go home for the summer. I'll answer the phone, do things a little better and I think I can make some decent money."

I saw a company out there doing sweaty, non-scalable work. They weren't very good at it and yet they made really good money.

I started by trading my time for money. Bought a $1500 cargo van. Storage Squad was born. Used the things I had in my life to make some profit.
I wasn’t trying to educate a customer base.
I wasn’t following my passion.
I didn’t need funding or a network.
I wasn’t competing against brilliant folks from Stanford.
I want trying to prove a concept.
I wasn’t emotionally attached to anything except adding value.
My customers and my competitors existed. I could study them interacting with each other. I made decisions with my brain, not my heart. I was competing against folks with fax machines, clipboards and paper ledgers.

And the best part... WE WERE PROFITABLE FROM DAY ONE.

Not a single one of those 24 folks in my class succeeded. They all went and got jobs. Their new ideas didn’t catch on. They all had dreams of millions of users and an exit. Scalable models that could work anywhere from a computer. But 99% failed to make a single dollar.

We made enough money in a few years to build our first self storage facility. That grew into the 60+ property $100m+ portfolio we own and operate today. We sold the service business in January 2021 for $1.75 million. We had no debt and no silent partners. My business partner and I split the cash.

So who are the real entrepreneurs? Who are the wealthiest people you know? I’m not talking about money. I’m talking about the people who do what they want to do when they want to do it. Who are they?

Now here comes the hard truth. I know a lot of wealthy entrepreneurs. None of them had new ideas. Very few of them raised VC money. None of them were on shark tank. They all did common things uncommonly well. Regular old businesses just a little better.

BORING STUFF.

Most of them have a few things in common: They worked really hard doing something not fun for 5+ years. Many times 20+ yrs. They started out trading their time for money. They did things that weren’t scalable. Many of them offered services.

They all had to talk to people. Most of the time face to face. They had to sell themselves and their ideas. They didn’t take a lot of risk. Most of them hired coders but few of them were coders.

The main point:

Stop buying into the hype. The click bait. The sexy stories of overnight success and mega riches. Entrepreneurship isn’t that complicated. Do something with good odds, low risk and moderate rewards. Don’t master your craft, master leading other people.

Think with your head, not your heart. It’s not about you and what YOU love or what YOU want to be doing. And lastly.. Start SMALL.

Biz is about momentum. I started 10 yrs ago carrying boxes up spiral staircases. Now I’m buying millions worth of real estate.

And the best part. When you’re successful, experienced, wealthy and you have a killer network...

It’s time to change the world with something BIG.