Howdy friends!

This is Jonah Baer with The Baer Necessities – where I share what I'm learning and writing every week on work, life, & the journey along the way.

Also – Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Mardi Gras weekend to 134 of you reading this! Much love to all of you for letting me take up room in your inbox every week.

We're about to experience a major winter storm in Memphis (and across the country) that we haven't seen in a VERY long time. Memphis is expected to get 8-12 inches over the course of the next day (we'll see if that actually happens), and I saw New Orleans is supposed to get some ice too. Very strange times for us Southerners!

Before we get into the Necessities, I wanted to tell you about Nightcap:

Mike Benarde, a friend of mine from college, started Nightcap with his younger sister Shirah, and they recently pitched their startup on Sharktank. Spoiler alert: they won a $60k deal with Lori!

🍸 Nightcap (Protect Yourself From Drink Spiking) is a hair scrunchie that can be transformed into a drink cover to prevent your drink from getting spiked in a bar. It's solving the HUGE problem of drink spiking across the country.

Since appearing on SharkTank, their sales have blown through the roof. And Lori even said it should be in EVERY woman's hands. If you're interested in learning more, make sure you check them out HERE.

(PS I'm seriously not getting any affiliate deals with this - I just really believe in the problem that Nightcap is solving and the brilliant founders behind it).

Go check out Nightcap.

---

Just a few other things from me:

• 🏆 My Top 3 Essays from January: I analyzed my top-performing mini essays from January. You can see my top 3 essays on Twitter here.
• 📆 Keeping The Email Weekly: Last week, I tweeted and pondered in my newsletter about switching this from a weekly to a bi-weekly email. After some consideration, I decided not to do it. Main reason: I like writing this email on a weekly basis too much and promised to send weekly from the start. I'm also someone who would overthink it if I did it every two weeks.
• 💡 Guide to getting started in crypto: I'm considering creating this based on my work experiences and what I've learned in the space. It wouldn't be for traders but for people seriously interested in the technological and monetary implications of crypto and DeFi. Reply "YES" to this email if you're interested and I'll respond with more of my ideas here.

Here are the 4 things I wanted to share this week:

• 🎧. Mark Cuban on The Defiant (TLDR: Mark is bullish on crypto & DeFi!)
• 📗 10 Days of Pure Solitude (from Will Mannon)
• 📕 Creating a Decision Journal (Farnam Street)
• 🐦 My Favorite Tweets

----------

🎧 Podcast: Mark Cuban on The Defiant

"America 2.0 is going to be built on blockchain. A big part of that is going to be DeFi... America and this pandemic was changed because of DeFi."

-- Mark Cuban

I was very impressed by this podcast with Mark Cuban and his knowledge of all things DeFi (Decentralized Finance) & Web 3. He's obviously very well-versed in the crypto industry, and it showed. You could tell he knows what he's talking about and has some insightful views on Bitcoin vs. Ethereum. For those reading this who might be new to crypto, this is a candid interview on what's happening in the space from one of the original Internet innovators.

Want to learn more about DeFi and don't know where to start? Check out this DeFi tutorial from The Defiant on Youtube here.

Listen to the full episode: Mark Cuban on The Defiant

---------

📗 Short Blog: 10 Days of Pure Solitude (from Will Mannon)

Will Mannon is one of my favorite new follows on Twitter, and I knew I needed to check this blog out when I stumbled across it. He wrote about his experience spending 10 days in complete solitude in a cabin last fall. I also did a solo trip to Colorado last summer (to visit a friend), but this blog made me want to do a full solo trip soon (even if it's only for a couple days). One of the closing paragraphs from Will said it perfectly:

"I believe that nearly everyone alive today thirsts for time alone, free of inputs. We only get the smallest sips of solitude amidst our hectic, phone-filled days. My trip was like guzzling the good stuff straight from the pitcher."

Read the full blog: 10 Days of Pure Solitude

---------

📕 Creating a Decision Journal (Farnam Street)

I love the Farnam Street blog and their many lessons on mental models, decision making, and living a good life.

This particular page is on why you should start a decision journal. I'd also go one step further and say that you should review your decisions and share them in public (if they're able to be shared). The blog explains why you should start a decision journal better than I ever could:

"A decision journal helps you collect accurate and honest feedback on what you were thinking at the time you made the decision. This feedback helps you see when you were stupid and lucky as well as when you were smart and unlucky. Finally, you can get the feedback you need to make better decisions."

Read the full blog: Creating a Decision Journal: Template And Example Included

---------

🐦 Favorite Tweets

• 14 steps for acquiring your startup's first customers: (@Julian)
• Clubhouse is being powered by a company called Agora ( $API). $API is already valued @ $9B+ but has some interesting opportunities. - (@TrungTPhan)
• I’m doing my first “personal retreat” next week. Got the ok from my wife to book a cabin in the woods, channel my inner Thoreau, and go find myself. (@davenemetz - founder of Bleacher Report)
• An #SEO thread for new sites: how to get organic traffic fast. (@jmoserr)

• Morgan Stanley is considering buying Bitcoin through $150 billion investment group (@Blockworks_)
• Content strategy 101 (1.) Find a topic you’ve learned a lot about in the last two years. (2.) Create content for your two-years-ago self. (@dickiebush)

---------

Most Clicked Link Last Week: Loose Cannon

Question I'm Pondering:

Reviewing my goals I set in January - were my goals my own, or simply what I thought I should want?

That's all I have for you this week!

Let me know if you have anything cool you learned this week (podcasts, books, articles, tweets, etc) that you think I would like too. Always love hearing from you!

I hope you have an amazing start to your week, and stay warm everyone!

Until next week,

Jonah

P.S: If you loved this email, share it with a friend, coworker, or family member!

If you hated it or have suggestions, you can unsubscribe and let me know how I can make it a better.

Share with a friend!