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By Will Crozier

Marthena Mercier

In the year 2008, Musee Mary Quinto started purchasing overrun dresses from clothing factories for a very low price. She customize, redecorate, and then sell these items on a markup price. This was her creative yet unique method to generate profit and reducing the amount of clothing rejects disposed by these factories. After several years in operation, she decided to discontinue this business to look for better business opportunities.Musee went to Dubai to work as a sales associate; and there she witness the discrimination and unfair treatment on costumers based on their appearance. This realization made her turn around from being an OFW and went back to the Philippines to start a business of her own.It was year 2012 when she went back to the Philippines and started Marthena Mercier, a clothing business named after her daughter. According to Musee, her mission on this business is toempower women and give hope to those people who think there is no hope in this world. Especially that some of her great employees were single mom.

At the very unexpected point of its operation, the Angel Capitalist found Marthena Mercier and immediately see it’s potential for huge growth, despite lacking resources and people to help pull itself up and make a big step forward. The good news is, there is an existing demand for the product- it’s just that they didn’t have the ability to supply it. The customers keep on asking them if they have new designs but due to lack of resources, they can’t accommodate their customers’ demands.Angel Capitalist have helped Marthena Mercier by providing additional capital for its expansion plans; purchasing additional machines, fabrics, and other necessary materials for a faster and more efficient production.

Up to this day, Marthena Mercier has 8 social media managers , 4 highly-skilled seamstresses, 3 people for packaging and distribution, and has a national e-commerce of 150,000+ active followers on social media.

By Will Crozier

How I Wasted $900k USD on Stupid Shit The Cautionary Tale of an Idiot @thewillcrozier

One of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger’s “mental models” is called “Circle of Competence”. A Circle of Competence is basically the stuff that a person knows really well, something that they’re an expert in. The problem is that most people think their Circle of Competence is much larger than it really is. They think they know way more about way more things than they really do. This is what got me into so much trouble.

My $60k Boneheaded Mistake

A lot of people know that I used to flip old muscle cars before I flipped apartment complexes and houses. I got pretty good at it in Orange County, California back in the day. I’d sell to “rich” folks back east that couldn’t get their hands on rust-free cars. Most of these cars were purchased for $2k-$10k, I’d do minor work on them and sell them for $25k or so.

Fast forward 15 years later and I thought to myself, well, let’s do this again! I bought a 1969 Camaro SS clone for $40k. I planned to put a new 6 speed manual transmission and an Air Conditioning system in it for about $20k combined, but actually ended doing way more and spent about $80k in upgrades. Now that I’m into the car for around $120k, it looks like I’ll be selling it for about $60k.
What I failed to realize is that the methods that I had learned a decade before, on cars a fraction of the price didn’t apply whatsoever to today’s higher end market. I thought I knew what I was doing on “muscle car flips” but I didn’t have a friggin clue.

$100k flushed on Supercars

In my lust for buying cool cars, I burnt through approximately $100k. This included a Corvette Singray, SRT Viper, Bentley Continental GT Speed, Lamborghini Huracan 610-4 AND a 580-2, Ferrari 458 Italia, and a brand new $350k+ Mclaren 720S. (that Mclaren was a pile of shit). I mean, the losses on these cars might have even been worth it, i don’t know. It was a lot of fun. But it was definitely stupid from a financial standpoint, and the money just evaporated.

Where I ran into trouble was breaking my own rules. I knew that I should buy what the market wanted, not what I personally wanted. I overbet on certain options bringing a premium when they actually did not, and overvalued the exclusive nature of that Mclaren when there were only a few of them on American Roads. I thought i knew what I didn’t.

A Rehab Gone South

I used to be something of a house flipping expert. I got my start in RE flipping houses and knew my game quite well. Turns out I knew a lot about 1,500 sq/ft 1960’s homes, and not so much about 7,000 sq/ft recently built homes.
I moved into my personal dream house with the idea to improve the home and recapture the dollars when I sold later on. Many things had me believing this was possible. Nice comps from around the neighborhood showing my $/SQ/FT was low and could support big ticket improvements on the Kitchen etc. I dumped around $200k on a brand new kitchen, family room, living room, guest bath, and windows. I left for Asia and Europe while the work was being completed and returned to a gorgeous, brand new feeling home.

Turns out my Circle of Competence is much, much smaller than my big ego had led me to believe. Sub Zero and Viking can help sell a place, but the flow of floorplan, fickle and ever changing architectural design styles, and financial market headwinds matter much more to buyers on million-dollar-plus homes than they do on my little starter flip homes.

That transaction left me about $200k lighter than before I bought. Am I learning anything yet?

$600k Given Away to Somebody. Not Quite Sure Who.

I used to be an SEC Registered Stock Broker and Investment Advisor Representative. I worked for Fidelity and for TD Ameritrade. I spent a lot of time dealing with both stocks and options while there. During my career in this field I started to get delusions of grandeur that I knew what I was doing.

Then December 2018 happened. I had pushed several million dollars into an covered call options strategy (one of the very most conservative strategies a person can use). It seemed like each time I went to sleep I would wake up with losses of about $25k- $50k. $50K GONE IN A SINGLE NIGHT. In the space of a single month I had destroyed about $750k of account value, with a slight uptick at the end for a net loss of $600k. I hope I made somebody’s Christmas extra special. It was probably somebody who didn’t really need the extra cash though…

There are many asterisks and side notes that need to be mentioned about this stock market story, like how I’m still in it and still making good money doing it, but without any doubt, I overplayed my knowledge by a long shot. I got cocky and exposed too much of my account to risks that I didn’t fully understand.

Besides paying better attention to the concept of Circle of Competency in an attempt to keep my ass out of trouble, I’ve developed a new heuristic approach for myself: Buy super expensive assets, and rent cheap liabilities. I had already known this concept in theory, but there’s something about burning through a million dollars on pointless junk that will permanently ingrain these lessons into one’s mind. 

By Will Crozier

Thanksgiving 2018

Ambition certainly can be the enemy of gratitude. I feel increasingly grateful as the years pass me by. This year I feel especially grateful for the following:

A healthy body that does not distract from goals and enjoyment of this amazing life. What an unfair gift.

A fun, supportive, loving, and adventurous wife. The poor SOBs without this.

Freedoms beyond what I ever imagined possible. Can this actually be real?

An opened mind to living life differently, without the weight of expectations and limiting dogmas. (Forcefully opened by other people, not by myself) We all see nations, religions, politics, family and money punking other people. When we finally realize they are punking us too, our mind is freed.

Excellent friends. The best. The kind I learn from, appreciate, emulate, and let me into the inner workings of their lives. I strive to be worthy of our friendship, but usually fail as I’m too self absorbed 99% of the time.

Thank you all for sharing your gratitude as well. I very much enjoy reading the things that are making your lives rich and full!

By Will Crozier

13 simple concepts to get rich for a money Newbie

Every week I get asked “How can I make money” from my non-entrepreneurial friends, so I thought I’d put together a simple, yet powerful list to help spark interest or give a little direction to anybody who wants to build financial wealth in their lifetime. I’ve picked up a lot of these concepts from super smart people, from life experience, and from my own victories and losses. Now go stack some of your own cash. @thewillcrozier

1- Forget saving your way to wealth. That’s like walking from LA to New York. Sure, it’s possible, but you might be 65 by the time you get there. It’s important to find a better “vehicle” so there’s time to enjoy the wealth.

2- That “better vehicle” is owning your own business. Whatever you do, make sure you own a business. If necessary, wrap a business around your career. Ie- If you mow lawns for a living, buy 100 mowers and hire 100 employees. If you are a barber, buy 5 shops with 5 chairs each and lease them out. If you are an engineer, make contacts in your business, and then start your own firm.

3- School is irrelevant when it comes to getting rich. It will help you make 95k a year instead of 35k a year, but will teach you nothing about making 1MM+ a year. School is great for training your future employees.

4- For the most part, politicians are poor. Celebrities are poor. Athletes are poor. Business people own all of those people and control all the wealth in this world. If you own a plumbing supply company, you can have more wealth than 99% of the politicians, celebrities, and athletes out there.

5- Your house is an expensive luxury item. Don’t confuse it for anything else. Enjoy one if you can afford it, otherwise rent cheap and dump money into your business.

6- IRAs and 401k’s. Do this if you have absolutely ZERO idea of what else to do.

7- You do not need money or good credit to make money. Finding money for your ideas is not a problem. Money will pour from the sky and chase you to the grave if you have a modest track record of success and create opportunities for other to invest in.

8- Getting rich won’t happen overnight, nor will it take 30 years. If you have the right ideas, and work hard, think in terms of 3-7 years. This amount of time will pass by anyway, you might as well make a metric sh*t ton of cash while it does.

9- There is good debt and bad debt. Good debt is business loans, inventory loans, or loans on commercial buildings. Bad debt is for expensive cars you can’t afford, vacations on credit cards, or store cards for bags and shoes. Try to get hundreds of millions of dollars into good debt. The anecdote is this: Bankers call you Sir or Ma’am if you have a million dollars in the bank, or if you owe a million dollars to the bank. Both are equally valuable to them.

10- If you want juicy steaks, join a BBQ class or club. You’ll have excellent steaks in no time. If you want to have a physically fit body, join a boot camp and go through hell with other motivated folks. You’ll be fit and strong in several months. If you want to be a millionaire, join a small business club or real estate club to talk to and partner with other millionaires. You’ll be worth millions within a few years. Yes, it really is that simple.

11- Don’t waste your time cutting back on small expenses like Netflix, buying cheaper food, couponing, or hunting big sales at stores. You’ll be miserable and can’t realistically cut expenses below a certain threshold anyway. Instead focus on earning way more money. It’s a lot easier to earn 10x the national average then to spend 10x less the national average.

12- Real Estate is a proven model for making wealth and there are dozens of ways to enter the real estate business and make money. Buying an existing business is also a great way to dramatically shorten the time needed to make real money in life. Consider buying a small chain of flower shops from the old lady who wants to retire, or the cargo trailer manufacturing company that needs new energy to make it thrive. Whether it’s Real Estate or Small Business, use loans, investors, employees, and new team members to increase returns, reduce risk, and successfully leverage money and time for everybody’s benefit. Find all of these things at a local networking meetup. There are dozens of them in your town, just search Facebook for them. Network, network, network. If you are too shy, pretend that you’re not and then go and network. Nobody will know that you’re actually faking it anyway.

13- Don’t take money advice from the poor or middle class. They don’t know what the hell they are talking about, even if they say it with all the confidence in the world. At the same time, ignore the Gurus selling courses, posing with rented cars and girls. Better to find somebody local who isn’t selling anything. Rich people will give you all this info for free. Be kind, respect their time, and add value to their life in any way you can. Sometimes that can simply be enjoying their hobbies with them.

Bonus- There’s a rumor that money “Changes” a person. It does not. It just takes that person and amplifies their character 100 times over, making them seem extra awesome or super douchey.

By Will Crozier

Don’t just hustle. Instead, produce results.

People often confuse the words “speed” and “velocity”, or use them interchangeably. However speed is only one part of the velocity equation.

Velocity has two parts: Speed & Vector
or, in different terms:
Results have two parts: Hustle & Direction

One can climb 5 steps and then descend 5 steps with a lot of speed (hustle), but have not gained any ground (results).

Carefully choose your vector (direction) and then apply speed (hustle). Hustle is extremely important, but less so than what you work on, or who you work with. — at Metro Manila.

By Will Crozier

Time Would Have Passed Anyway @ Guangzhou, China

I first came to China 6 years ago. I rode economy class and didn’t sleep a wink on that 16 hour flight. I couldn’t afford anything better than the $30 a night local (read horrible) hotels. I rode the metro to all appointments.

The first question I would ask any vendor was MOQ? (Minimum order quantity) the dreaded answer was usually one full container. What on Earth was I going to do with 1300 ceiling fans? Vendors would size me up quickly and assign me to their interns so I could waste their time.

Happy hour and networking was usually conducted at some Starbucks rip-off. A common question was “How big is your warehouse”. The honest answer was about 600 sq/ft, one of my “hard down” 1 bedroom units at my latest project.

6 years later things have changed. First class in the air, and I slept most of the trip. Hotel Limo and Mr Crozier sign at the bridge gate . I never touch a bag, no tips accepted. Check-in at the Executive Lounge, auto upgrades every time to the top floor suites.

Vendors send their Benz and pretty sales ladies to pick me up at the hotel to tour factories. Who tours me around? The owner, of course, and he also makes me Chinese Tea while discussing China-American politics. I don’t ask MOQ anymore. I place multiple 40 HQ container orders per month or quarter.

After work, the Factory Bosses want to flash cash, so they take me to the trendiest restaurants and clubs in town. Bottles and bottle promotion girls abound.

Back to work the next morning. My new Factory Boss BFF wants to pick me up and go visit other non competing factories with me, help me negotiate and check quality. Time to meet the mayor and local economic chief too. They like having foreign friends. It makes them look more sophisticated. I’ll take it.

Who pays for everything listed above? Not me. Either vendors do, or points accumulated from biz credit card charges.

Am I bragging? Partially, but the main point of this is to remark at how quickly it all changes. Those 6 years were going to pass anyway. When I stand back for a little perspective, I realize how proud I am of the business that I’ve built from the first penny in, to filing the LLC docs. It’s debt free, recently valued in the millions, throws off cash faster than even I could spend it, had I ever taken a single penny from the biz.

The entire economy surrounding the trips described above came from a simple idea, a lot of work, a little luck, respecting your businesses needs, and your own mental work zone. It’s an amazing feeling of accomplishment to realize that you built it, and built it from nothing.

This is my little side hustle business, an afterthought really. I’m eager to see where this and other future ventures go.

I hope to band together, for the rest of my life, with other doers, entrepreneurs, musicians, doctors, and thinkers. I admire you all for your struggles and your successes. Let’s share both freely. Hope to know more of you soon.

By Will Crozier

I’m A Cliché & Did Everything Wrong

When I used to work for Fry’s Electronics, and as a stock broker for Fidelity, I hated every single minute of my life. Even when I wasn’t at work, I just sat around dreading going back to work. At work I would stare at the clock imagining the hands would speed up so I could just go home. When I finally realized I was literally wishing away years my life, hoping my time would disappear into nothing, I pooled every penny to my name and got the hell outta Dodge.

I packed up my car with my junk with and I moved from LA to Dallas / Fort Worth with no job, prospects, family or friends. I lived in Motel 6 off of Rufe Snow for a few weeks. Eventually I settled into a C Class Complex in Bedford in a 400 sq/ft studio apartment. It cost me $380 a month. I paid 6 months up front. I owned my 81 Cadillac Fleetwood Diesel outright. I had some money in the bank. I was happy and I had a mission. Potential. Limitless potential. I was frickin’ psyched.

Several years later, after a series of successful RE deals, I found myself living in Park Glen in North Fort Worth. I owned my 97 Buick Park Avenue outright. I owned all my Big Lots furniture. No credit card debt. One Friday afternoon I paid off my mortgage on my 1700 sq/ft 1992 built home. It was worth around $120k. I had about $1200 a month coming in semi-passively. My expenses were well under this amount. I was happy. I had a mission. Potential. Quite a bit of potential.

Several years later, after a series of successful apartment deals, I found myself living in the posh Roanoke, Keller, Westlake corridor. I had just purchased my ridiculously huge dream house in cash. ~7,000 sq/ft & ~$1.3mm. Black Lamborghini in the garage. Expenses were up tremendously, but I could certainly afford it. By my own definition, I had “made it”. I was pretty happy. I had “completed” my mission. I’m sure I had potential. I bought more cars. I installed an expensive outdoor kitchen. I was bored.

Naval Ravikant says: “Stop sacrificing today for some imaginary tomorrow.”

There is only today. There is literally only NOW. Stop doing things in life that you do not want to do, and start doing all the things you think you want to do. (very quickly most of those things will disappear, but that’s for another time) What we crave, what we need as Humans is freedom. Nothing short of freedom will do.

Freedom can be had at many different income levels. I had HALF the freedom I wanted at $0 income! I had 75% of the freedom I wanted at $1,200 a month in income. I probably had a little less, maybe 70% of the freedom I wanted at $50,000 a month in income. There’s a lot of gravity to deal with when caring for larger amounts of capital.

If I could talk to 20 year old Will Crozier right now, here is my advice to that ignorant punk:

Get involved in RE or other asset classes that you are excited about and learn them inside out. Free yourself as quickly as possible from whatever enslaves you. Focus on making $5k a month passively. That’s your target. Keep your expenses low. Live for today. Travel now. Meet more people now. Start doing humanitarian work now. Start DJing now. Start taking 2 hour coffee breaks in the middle of a “work day” with a friend now. (and don’t discuss business!) Go watch a movie with your girl at 11am on a Tuesday.

Now’s here the cool part: Continue doing your RE and business investing at a slow pace, in the background, across the decades in front of you. Keep TIME on your side, with years clicking away without people paying attention. If you compound even at a slow pace, you will create ENORMOUS multi generational wealth, far bigger than you could have ever imagined. We all know that life is short, but “money life” is extremely long. Keep investing until you are 90 years+.

Who knows? Maybe you can keel over dead with with your 1031’s passed down to your kids with that bad ass stepped-up basis. F-You IRS!!

By Will Crozier

Recent Angel Investment

Angel Capitalist project recently funded an inventory & manufacturing loan to a talented clothing designer, Marthena Mercier, here in Metro Manila Philippines. I was thrilled and humbled to receive news that they named their latest line after my family name. Great things to come for them!

By Will Crozier

Will Crozier is at Manila

This is my private email correspondence with one of the closest people in my life suffering with debilitating failure and depression. One email on the topic of finance:

“Dear xx,

I think I can give you a piece of advice that might be very beneficial. I don’t think most people can sort through what I’m going to tell you and have it stick or make any sense. But I think you and I have similar levels of motivation and ambition in life. I think I know THE money shortcut in life. I think I know the THE hack. I know the secret ingredient for guys like you and me. And here it is; free of charge, from me to you: Money is very important. It’s one of the most important things in this life. But it’s not really HOW MUCH you have, but rather it’s HOW YOU GET IT and how you manage it. As quickly as possible in this life, find a method for making $3k-$10k a month from a semi passive biz that can be done from a computer sitting anywhere on earth. If you can get this done, you will have 90% of the freedom, time, and benefit that multi millionaires have.

I am a very happy guy. I got it done! Money has made so much of this possible. But it’s WAAAAY overkill. There’s no need for $10mm or even $1mm. My happiness has come from not worrying about paying for charges on my credit card, not reporting to a boss, being able to stay up late, buy healthy food, or travel the world for several month stretches. Those are my moments of undisputed happiness. But all of that can be had on $5k a month if you manage it properly. The greatest feeling in the world is standing at the airport with a tattered passport, a little foreign cash, good music playing in your earbuds, feeling healthy and looking good, heading out on a trip that you have no idea when you’ll be back or where you’ll even end up going.

After the first $1mm not much changes. Taxes go up, stress goes up, expenses go up, overhead goes up with higher levels of insurance, estate planning, and expectations. With whatever little is left would the second Ferrari really add much to your life experience? The freedom of millions can be fantastic but the same “millionaire lifestyle” (or much better) can be had pulling in $5k from your blog or online consulting gig. And yeah, $5k is approx what the guy with a million bucks decently invested will pull per month after taxes and inflation.

Guys like Tim Ferriss talk about this concept dubbed “The New Rich”, also called Digital Nomads. The idea is to keep expenses low, live in a rental house or Airbnb, use Uber or public transit, develop marketable skills online, build a brand, market yourself, and buy yourself freedom in very short order. Buying cashflow producing assets like rental houses or apartments plays just fine too! (Remember I’m a RE guy at heart… <3 )

This idea makes some people crazy because you will technically have to work “forever”, but the reality in my mind is this: Motivated folks will want to work forever anyway, you should choose something you love to do, and if you manage your time and keep mobile, none of this will bother you. There’s a treacherous lie pushed around by many in the entrepreneurial community: That you’re supposed to retire. You’re supposed to quit and suddenly be complete, having arrived. There’s no such thing as this. Stay engaged. Love what you do, but just do it on your own terms! Your time, your place, your speed.

Bottom line: when you’re ready to bounce, buy your freedom as quickly as you can with an online gig that will get you $3k-$10k a month, then figure yourself out, and figure out what to do with the rest of your life and build an organization around it. (biz or religions, or nonprofit, government, or whatever)

I’ll stop now. I’ll go try to get those books sorted.

Later,
Will”

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Marthena Mercier
Angel Investment in Rizal Philippines based Dress Business
How I Wasted $900k USD on Stupid Shit The Cautionary Tale of an Idiot @thewillcrozier
Thanksgiving 2018
13 simple concepts to get rich for a money Newbie
Don’t just hustle. Instead, produce results.
Time Would Have Passed Anyway @ Guangzhou, China
I’m A Cliché & Did Everything Wrong
Recent Angel Investment
Will Crozier is at Manila