Happy Sunday! And Happy Halloween 🎃! My wife (who's a nurse) believes that I'm not educated enough on the topic to speak about the medical field. She said that my point about nutrition not being taught to doctors isn't nuanced enough and that's it's more complicated than I had laid out. She made some great points. I bring this up because I want Stir readers to challenge me and make counter arguments where you see appropriate.

Anyways, on to the Stir!

The World of Zillow

Ever wondered how Zillow made money?

The company lists houses for sale or rent, making money from sponsored listings, advertising and agent fees. But in 2019, they started ramping up a side hustle: house flipping.

They recently announced they would be stopping for the rest of 2021 because of labor shortages and a massive backlog of properties that it's already bought.

It will be interesting to see if Zillow returns to house flipping. It turns out that its a much more difficult business than just listing properties on a website — and it's a lot less profitable too. Zillow's gross profit margin was around 9% in its Homes division. Its Internet, Media and Tech division? More than 90%.

In separate news, Facebook is gunning for Zillow. They have announced plans of setting up a real estate marketplace on their app. IMO, this would be pretty much destroy Zillow. Facebook Marketplace killed CraigsList and they'll likely do the same to Zillow if they move forward with it.

The World of Million vs Billion vs Trillion

Our brains have a hard time understanding big numbers. It just kind of lumps them altogether. Our government officials will use the words millionaires and billionaires in the same breath, when the two couldn't exist in farther worlds from each other. Let's put the numbers into something we can easily understand.

How many seconds ago was 1 millions seconds? Take a guess. Think for a minute. What do you think it is? Answer: 12 days ago.

How close were you? I didn't have a clue when I answered this question.

Ok next one, how many seconds ago was 1 billion seconds? Use the 1 million seconds to guide your answer. Ok, you have it? Answer: 32 years ago.

That's the difference between a millionaire and a billionaire: 12 days or 32 years! We aren't talking about the same thing here.

Ok, now when you hear that Biden announced $1.5 Trillion budget for something. Let's put that in perspective. How much is a trillion?

How long ago was a trillion seconds? Answer: 31,689 years ago.

The differences between a million, a billion, and a trillion are astronomically absurd. Our brains don't quite get it without an explanation like the one above.

The World of Wisdom

Attaining possessions is not the goal. Money itself is not the goal. Our worth is not measured by the weight of our bank accounts but, rather, by the weight of our souls. The path to money, the places money can take us, the time and freedom and opportunity money can bring — these are what we're really after. - Tony Robbins

End Note

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Live free,

Brennen