Howdy ,

Writing to 128 friends from my backyard in Memphis 🏠

I'm Jonah Baer and this is the Baer Necessities, where I share what I'm learning, working on, and the journey along the way.

After living out of my suitcase for 3 weeks in Hawaii (Oahu and Kauai), it feels good to be back in the mainland. Now that I've had some time to regroup and celebrate Passover with the family (my favorite Jewish holiday), I'm thinking a lot about my next adventure(s) - wherever that may take me...

Flying home from this epic trip, I couldn't help but think about the little decisions that take you on journeys which reverberate for years. The microscopic moments of fate and decisions that transform everything. The feeling in your gut that you know when something is right. I felt it when I visited Florida State in high school. I felt it when Derek Strauss and I had the idea to start a blockchain conference. I felt it when I attended Venture For America Selection Day in 2019. And I feel it now after this trip to Hawaii with so many amazing people.

And it's not over yet. Traveling and working remotely in beautiful places across the world isn't going out of style anytime soon, even as the world heads back towards some sort of "normal". Digital nomadism is here to stay. And the future of work and travel will never look the same.

I'm inexplicably grateful for this trip, the many lessons I learned, and, most importantly, the incredible people I became friends with along the way.

"The person who is willing to say yes to experience is the person who discovers new frontiers."

- John Templeton

Question to ponder: What could you say yes to today that might change everything for you tomorrow?

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The Necessities

Here are 5 cool things I think you should check out. Only the Necessities:

• 🎧 Balaji Srinivasan on The Tim Ferriss Show: [HIGHLY RECOMMEND] You will walk away from this podcast episode thinking "WTF did I just listen to" in the best way possible. I know I did. They talked about the risks/opportunities in crypto, life extension, network states, the pseudonymous economy, and Balaji's newest venture: 1729 (which aims to give $1000 in BTC everyday to people for doing microtasks). Balaji has the track record to back up his futuristic theories as a Stanford PhD, former Coinbase CTO, and previous founder of a bio startup.

• 🎧 Packy McCormick on the Nathan Barry Show: If you've followed this newsletter for a while, you know I'm obsessed with Packy's Not Boring newsletter and his business analysis deep-dives every week (read his post on NFTs for a taste of his writing). This interview with him on The Nathan Barry Show was an awesome conversation on his tactics for running his newsletter and how writing longer posts turned out to be the best thing he ever did. My biggest takeaways: throw a lot of things at the wall, write about what you're interested in, don't put too much pressure on yourself in the early days (but be consistent), and find your sweet spot.

• 📝 No Meetings, No Deadlines, No Full-Time Employees: This blog by Sahil Lavingia (founder of Gumroad) has been in my queue for a while and I finally got around to reading it. Thank god I did. It's a fascinating case study of what a remote company could look like with absolutely no meetings, deadlines, or full-time employees. It's not a structure for everyone, but it shows that you can run a million-dollar company and not be stuck in meetings for 8 hours a day. For more from Sahil, I recommend checking out Reflecting on my Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company.

• ₿ How to Get a Job in Crypto: With the buzz around crypto right now, I've had a few friends ask me how they can transition into a job in crypto. This guide from Massari analyst Mason Nystrom is exactly what you should do to get a job in the industry. My two cents: do something that will make you stand out. Start writing about DeFi projects, host a meetup, create an MVP for a new product, or volunteer to help existing projects. Generally, build cool things and you will attract even cooler opportunities in crypto.

• 🐦 THREAD from Jason Yanowitz: Why Every Company Needs a Bitcoin Strategy

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Personal Update: I'm joining a new writing community called Compound starting tomorrow. Compound helps you by plugging you into an active writing community, giving you writing resources and workshops, and allowing your work to be edited by dozens of people in their community. Now, I'll be forced to write weekly blogs again after taking a short publishing break. Expect a lot more original essays coming from me in the coming months!

Before you go, do you have any feedback for my newsletter? Things you would like to see me write about? Articles or videos you want to share with me? I'm always open to feedback and ideas as I look to take the Necessities to the next level this Spring.

Until next time,

Jonah

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