S2N Spotlight
Today marks a milestone on this new trip of the same journey I started decades ago. My story is turbulent, but it is consistent. My story is filled with heartache and joy. It has been profitable but littered with failures. It has never been short of drama. At 53, I could do with a little less drama. What I am most proud of is that I am an idealist. I have always taken the road less travelled. I stand for substance over form; I guess that is why I chose the name “Signal 2 Noise.”
In letter #98, I wrote about “the tapper” and got enough encouragement to add part 2 to the story. As bizarre as my observation may be, I think my interpretation will fit in nicely with this milestone.
The Tapper Part 2
While my observation of the tapper’s footwork was annoying to the extreme, the annoyance probably stemmed from a partial projection of my own anxiety at the time that I wasn’t happy to admit to myself. Thankfully, that was just a point in time. Two days ago, when I watched him drink his coffee, the annoyance turned to amusement.
The tapper was drinking his coffee with a distortedly high elbow action. His elbow was so high above his shoulder while he drank his coffee that I started chuckling to myself, it almost looked like he was going to pour the coffee on his own head. Here was a guy living the mantra, “Fake it till you make it.” His body language was symbolically trying to make him look bigger than he was, belying an imposter riddled with insecurities and filled with anxiety.
S2N & Mike Reflection
Against the reflections of an imposter like the tapper and others like him, I feel the complete opposite. I know exactly who I am and what I want to do. This is probably startup number 10 that I am doing, and each one felt hard in the beginning, the middle, and the end. S2N is no different.
The newsletter space is overcrowded. I knew that before I started, but I didn’t realise how hard it would be to build a subscriber base. Even giving something away for “free” is hard. The truth is, nothing in life is free. Signing up for a newsletter is an investment in time, so while it might not cost $’s it costs precious time. I am very mindful of that, and I try to respect my readers time by keeping posts pretty short. I hope you will indulge me for my 100th edition.
I could have started the newsletter on Substack, and I probably would have 10x more subscribers than I have now, but I didn’t for a reason, which I will explain below. Here is a simple snapshot of my growth to date (growth off a near-zero base is always flattering in the beginning 😎).
The differentiator with my newsletter is that I always wanted to accompany it with a web portal where my research would remain evergreen with dynamic updating and available for people to peruse in their own time. There is only so much I can share in a daily newsletter; the intention remains that the research portal is where people can find value in their own time, and my daily insights would just be a fraction of S2N’s value.
To achieve this, I cannot use Substack as it is more of a closed system with lots of technical limitations, and I wanted to find a way to automate my work flow from Python code to a website and newsletter. My vision is big; it always has been, but this time I am currently doing it by myself, which is incredibly time-consuming. Yes, coding, research, web design and building, growth hacking with no marketing budget, etc…. I am loving the learning associated with building things from beginning to end, but it takes time. I work from my home office and a few local coffee shops. It feels like I am working harder now than I have ever done in my career, but it doesn’t feel like work. I have been studying current affairs obsessively since I was 10 years old.
There is also a reason why I chose Signal2Noise (dot-News). My vision is that S2N will become a financial media company that will be a source of relevant news in the trading and investing arena. We will provide reviews and insights on industry-related matters, such as software, trading systems, brokers, news of the day etc, with an overwhelming emphasis on relevance.
I am late in the delivery of a new look to the portal and I am in the process of cataloguing all my code so that I can place it on the portal all for free. The business will make its money from sponsorships and advertising, and I will also sell education and coaching packages as soon as I have some time to complete what I started. I am also aiming to sell some shorter-term trading systems and signals that are beyond the scope of the research I share.
I am in advanced discussions with a sponsor that I hope will be my first. I would love and appreciate it tremendously if you would share my letter with people in your circle who you think will benefit from it. The more people who join this journey with me, the more people will be able to benefit from my straight-talking insights and wisdom earned through blood, sweat, and tears.
If you represent a company in the industry that might be interested in advertising sponsorships, please reach out to me via email and we can have a discussion. My hope and prayer is that I am doing Signal2Noise well into my 80’s and that all of you come along with me on the journey.
If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.
S2N Observations
I mentioned yesterday that Biden was finished. Today, he introduced President Zelensky as Putin and his vice president as Trump. His “aides” are doing their best to get him to drop out. To do the debate and then today’s press conference says it all. It reminds me of a phrase in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “hoisted by his own petard.”
My last observation is: don’t be fooled by core inflation dropping in June. It is still way above 2%, and I believe it is forming a base to head higher. The “independent” Fed will never risk doing the right thing in an election year.
