About the Course
What is this course about?
In Daniel’s words, “This course is a presentation of a few important ideas that will help you become self-employed, but most importantly stay self-employed.”
It’s a cohort-based course with 6 classes spread across 2 weeks, each one about 2 hours long. There’s no homework and no prep required.
Who’s the instructor?
Daniel Vassallo is the instructor in all of the classes. He worked as a Software Development Engineer for Amazon.
Why do I trust him?
He practices what he preaches. He had success using this small bets approach.
Why did I decide to buy this course?
- The principles are aligned with my own.
- You get amazing guest classes from talented people (Loved Luca Dellana class on success and ergodicity).
- You get access to a community of like-minded people that are on a similar mindset.
- It’s pretty affordable considering all you get.
- It’s short: it’s a small bet. I won’t lose much time if I ended up not liking the course (this was not the case).
What I got out of the Small Bets Course
1. Your first and main goal is to stay in the game
You can’t win if you’re not playing. Avoiding failure is way more important than winning more. It’s about avoiding being bad, not about being good.
Take this tennis analogy:
[…] if you choose to win at tennis – as opposed to having a good time – the strategy for winning is to avoid mistakes.”
How can you get out of the game?
- Working to the point of putting your health in danger: I’ve been through this: after one year in a stressful job, I burned out.
- Putting all your money in one business: good thing I haven’t done this yet
- Spending all your time into one ingle “bet”: I have felt tempted to put all my money and all of my time into one single business idea. I have spent a lot of time on one thing without any success.
2. Procrastinating is not always a bad thing
Procrastination can be a useful signal to guide what you should or shouldn’t be doing. It can provide information you can use to reflect if what you’re doing is what you should be doing.
I used to force myself to do the stuff that I really didn’t feel like doing. I ended up trading my present enjoyment for a better future that often would never come.
Nassim Taleb says it best in his book, Antifragile:
Few understand that procrastination is our natural defense, letting things take care of themselves and exercise their antifragility; it results from some ecological or naturalistic wisdom, and is not always bad—at an existential level, it is my body rebelling against its entrapment.
3. Look for small wins
It’s better to launch more often. You get tighter feedback loops and that means more learning.
Making and launching tiny or small products is a smart move. It’s best to do stuff that has a clear beginning and an end.
Small “bets” don’t need you to invest too much time and money. This makes more sense for an individual with a limited budget. We can’t think like a big investor, we have to take our constraints into consideration. The small bets approach is a safer alternative because you limit your downside, and diversify your time and money in a way that makes sense for an individual.
Often, success brings more success. More wins will make you feel better and more motivated to keep going. More wins will earn you more credibility, which will make more people buy from you.
This course teaches you much more than how to make money. It tells you what are the right mental frameworks that can help you succeed.