Samza Round-Up - 1/18/2023

This Week's Round-Up

It's that time of the year when your habits become important. People start wavering on their New Year's Resolutions, ditching gyms and healthy foods for their 2022 habits.

Remember: it's never too late to hit the reset button and start over on that habit you wanted to create. Who cares if it's January 1st or 19th? Build those systems and that structure to push you in the direction you want to go, and continue to put yourself in situations to succeed. And, even if you have all the right habits and systems, sometimes you're just not going to want to do it, and that's just too bad. Doing it even when you don't want to is the quickest way to success.

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Bank earnings are flashing a warning sign

Goldman Sachs missed their projected earnings numbers by a lot (worst in a decade). I believe this is just the beginning of one of the tougher years in the banking industry in years. Think about it: the Fed is attempting to control inflation and make the market pull back before they stop raising rates. If these trends don't reverse before summer, there's no reason to think that the Fed won't continue to raise through this time.

This puts stress on banks. And it contributes to the 26% decline in bank earnings in 2021 compared to 2020. Combining the headwinds of inflation, higher cost of funds, and the need to set aside more funds for loan-loss reserves results in a potentially nasty recipe for the big banks across the country. Time will tell if I'm correct, but I do think there are some notable warning signs in the banking sector.

Bitcoin rallies 25% as crypto markets rebound

Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are up 25% and 30%, respectively, since the new year began. This comes despite all of the bad press surrounding FTX and SBF muddying the waters. I am noticing that this could be the start of the flight to quality crypto assets, instead of consumers playing around with alt-coins that might disappear next Tuesday.

I've been saying this for months: if the use-case for crypto becomes real and outweighs the negative press and scandals that have been erupting throughout the industry the past few months, BTC and ETH will be the main benefactors. My contrarion take on the past few months of crypto: it was actually a good thing for the long-term crypto market. The scandals and fraud were negative, of course, but people now realize that not everything should be an investment vehicle. This is driving the smart money back to the OG's: Bitcoin and Ethereum. Time will tell if my thesis is correct.

$900 Offer

Want $900 for 15 minutes of effort? Chase Bank is offering $900 for opening a checking and savings account. Yeah, seriously.

What are the requirements? All you have to do is connect your direct deposit to the new checking account and have your paycheck deposited into the new checking account within 90 days for $300. Deposit $15,000 or more into the savings account and keep it there for 90 days and collect $200. Do both at the same time, and add $400 to these totals for a cool $900. 

I like Chase's platform more than most bank's as well, so there's no reason why you shouldn't just switch your bank altogether and keep all your money there anyways!

A Glimpse Into My World

This week, it was all about systems for me.

Amazon FBA

I created a "catchall" email to maximize the coupons and one-time deals online retailers give out, enabling me to use these multiple times on repeat purchases. I also tinkered with my email folders, setting up automation that now adds purchase information (date, amount, retailer) to my master purchase sheet when an email lands in the "Purchased" email folder. I've also found my tracking of packages and cancellations wasn't optimized, so I added "Shipped," "Delivered," and "Cancelled" folders to my inbox. I'll now be able to reconcile my master sheet and credit card statements directly with this email system, which will minimize missing purchases/shipments.

Home Cleaning Business

I dialed back ads this week, as I was focusing on onboarding two teams of two cleaners, and parting ways with a cleaner of mine who had been performing poorly since the New Year. I got signed up with Angi and Yelp, and have been surprised at the cost effectiveness of these platforms when compared to Google. Finally, I developed a content calendar for Facebook/LinkedIn/Nextdoor posting, and am ready to stragecially target groups around the Twin Cities for organic growth.

Other Developments

I decided to get re-certified on QuickBooks Online, and began pitching bookkeeping services to companies in my Twitter network and in my expertise arena (service businesses, marketing agencies, resellers). If you know someone who might need someone to take over their books, shoot me an email!

I'm also collecting beginning to collect every delinquent tax list for the states of Nevada and Arizona to run a direct mail campaign beginning in early February until June 1. Expecting to send north of 2,000 letters to land owners in those states to buy their properties.

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