GM - This newsletter is about growth; in life and business. Sorry it took so long to get this one out.

In this edition:

• Alumni Networks FTW

• Dungeon News

• Qui Quearit Limina

• Law of Diminishing Returns

• Sidequests

Tiny thought: Seek thresholds, be comfortable on the edge.

The Seeker ⭖ Quaestor Lucis

“In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few.” - Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Master

Where and whom you work with, may be more important than what you choose to work on.

From the PayPal mafia, to the AI mafia - is optimizing for alumni networks the key to future opportunity exposure?

“If there’s someone greater out there to work with, go work with them. When people ask for advice about choosing the right startup to join, I say, “Pick the one that’s going to have the best alumni network for you in the future.” Look at the PayPal mafia—they worked with a bunch of geniuses, so they all got rich. Pick the people with the highest intelligence, energy and integrity that you can find.” - Naval Ravikant (source).

Many of the so-called PayPal mafia are now members of the so-called AI-mafia; from building billion dollar commerce platforms, to riding the network wave and striking it rich in the AI boom, it looks like Naval got it right.

If you’re young, and starting out: Where you choose to work, and who you choose to work with is infinitely more valuable than your morning routine, gym routine, hustle mindset, etc.

More reading: “The AI-mafia is forming”

Dungeon News

• Dungeon+Forte SEO Friday Space: Listen to the recording of our space from Friday, July 19th, on “Local SEO Strategies, Rank and Rents, etc.”. (NOTE: due to the crowd strike disaster yesterday, there were a number of technical issues with the space, but I’m told the recording is still Worth listening to.

• Damien is progress rapidly on his SEO tools project, theSEOlabs. Find it in the #Follow-Alongs section of the Discord.

The Sovereign - Qui Quaerit Limina, “Who Seeks The Threshold”.

"A liminal deity is a god or goddess in mythology who presides over thresholds, gates, or doorways; "a crosser of boundaries" - Wikipedia

Maybe you are at a crossroads, maybe you are unsure of your direction. Maybe you are looking backwards, when you should be looking forwards, or vice versa. The past carries stories, and the future is for making them.

If that’s you, standing at a crossroads, the most important step is the first step. That’s the most important thing to do, and the hardest thing to do. 

The second most important thing to do is to keep moving your feet forward. A journey begins with a single step, but you won’t reach your destination unless you keep going. 

The third most import thing to do - the thing that most people fail to mention or consider, is to enjoy every single step, to suffuse it with meaning, to treat it with reverence, really to celebrate the entire journey. 

You won’t reach the destination if you don’t love the journey, you’ll get easily sidetracked and the promised riches of side quests will distract you endlessly.

Be comfortable way out on the edge, with your foot poised on the threshold, like Janus, become a god of doorways. Open and close them fast.

Sidequests

Links, thoughts, news, random, ideas. Sidequests.

• The 7 highest ROI activities I’ve pursued in business.

• 6 Ways I scaled a B2B SaaS from $100 MRR to $100K+MRR in 12 Months (as a team of 3 with a small budget).

• How to build mental toughness as an entrepreneur (I insult your modern privilege to give you some perspective)

• Avoiding burnout as a solopreneur by seeking your permissionless edge.

Respice Finem - Look To The End

The attention economy is brutal. Honestly, exhausting. You have two choices:

• Play the game

• Make your own game

The Law of Diminishing Returns: An economic principle stating that as investment in a particular area increases, the rate of profit from that investment, after a certain point, cannot continue to increase if other variables remain at a constant. As investment continues past that point, the rate of return begins to decrease.

For creators, marketers, and hustlers: As everyone churns out similar content (ads, SEO, SMM), standing out becomes increasingly difficult, leading to diminishing results.

Solution?

• Play your own games

• Create your own walled gardens

• Forge your own blue oceans

• Operate on the extreme bleeding edge

• LEVERAGE.