Martin Shkreli's Side of the Story, Drake being a Baby, and Scared Imposter Syndrome
Brock Briggs
Sharing how veterans use military experience to start, buy, and scale businesses ????
Hello and good morning.
This week on the podcast I hosted Doug Pugliese, a former naval aviator and translator. Doug gives a history lesson on the US involvement in LATAM in the late 80’s and his role working with the Paraguayan government. He’s gone on to be a financial professional and now manages 1042 QRP for Alpha Architect which is a financial process for companies that have employee stock ownership programs to manage a sale in a tax efficient way. Good guy, fantastic story.
4 Recommendations
The only thing I ever really heard about the Martin Shkreli story was “Guy with pharma company raises drug prices and goes to jail.” Last week on MFM, they hosted Martin and I was FASCINATED listening to him. He shares a bit about his side of the story and why the narrative on him is largely wrong. I was also blown away by how wildly intelligent and thoughtful he is while simultaneously being someone who should talk a lot less because their blunt thoughts and ideas get them into trouble.
Ken was 102 when he passed away this last week. Ken was actually on liberty the early Sunday morning of the attack on Pearl Harbor. It’s quite a miracle Ken happened to not be on the ship because he enlisted as a crane operator in 1939, two years before Pearl Harbor. Given he had only been in two years, its likely he was still considered junior enlisted and living on board the ship. When he heard the sirens, he grabbed a taxi to the pier and was actually on the aft deck of the ship when a torpedo hit the magazine and an abandon ship was called. Over 1100 died on the Arizona of the 2400 died in Pearl Harbor total death count.
- USMC: 100% - USAF: 87% - Army: 69% - Navy: 60%
When I got out I told myself I wasn’t going to be that veteran that said “in my Navy” this and that. It’s very hard to do that seeing reports like these and I feel for the struggles they’re experiencing.
The Navy specifically has gone through several processes over the last several years that lower the requirements to join and reduce barriers for reenlistment. These include lowering ASVAB requirements for new recruits and waiving personal fitness failures for existing sailors. I believe when you set the bar low, people always find a way to crawl under it.
People want to join to be elite, not just another person and I think the messaging of lower requirements says anyone can do this. Navy is much larger than the USMC and maybe not a perfect comparison, but the stark difference in recruiting efforts is difficult to ignore.
A few weeks ago, someone released a song generated by artificial intelligence that uses voices from popular artists Drake and The Weeknd. The song was really good, though you’ll have trouble finding it anywhere due to the artists and the label, Universal Music Group, throwing an absolute fit over copyright infringement. But can you copyright a voice? Technically no and while some artists think it could be the end of their talent, others like Grimes are embracing it.
1 Thought not being a Scared Imposter
Had a strange feeling this week, one I’m not sure I’ve felt before.
I’ve been in the process of launching a vet ceo peer group. Twice monthly meets for accountability, friends, and learning from high caliber folks. It’s been exciting because it’s new which brings new problems to solve - scheduling, structure, speakers, etc.
This week, after locking in a time to meet, I paused before sending the email out and waited. I waited some more. I closed my laptop and didn’t come back until the next day.
My long term goal has to been to build a self sustaining business outside of my W2. Across the hundred or so odd things I’ve tried, I finally had a product with customers eager to be a part of it and I was too scared to hit send. Scared it’s not going to work, scared it’ll be like other attempts and burn out.
That feeling of uncertainty and that I shouldn’t be here is not a good one, but there’s no way around it.
I should know that many of these people reached out to me. They asked for it.
I should know that I was up front about cost and they’re okay with paying.
I should know that they moved their schedules around to be a part of this.
For some reason that only makes it slightly better.
All of this reminds me I have a long way to go in the entrepreneurship journey and that confidence comes from reps. Finding success once doesn’t indicate you’re off the hook - the next step may require something different of you. Alex Hormozi says all the time, what got you from 0 to 1 won’t get you from 1 to 2. A commitment to continuous learning and improvement is required through it all.
Speaking of continuous learning….
Uploaded on Youtube this week, an early episode but a favorite - Tom Schueman. Tom is the founder of PB Abbate and a hell of a marine. His outlook on continuous learning and commitment to service, both in and out the military, is inspiring. You’ll hear all about those and the founding of PB Abbate in this episode.
1 Personal
I finished spring semester of school this week and MAN I got a lot done.
? 50 edited transcripts to website
? Recorded four 1.5 hour + episodes
? Received order of new thank you cards for show guests. Felt like I'm truly playing a long game when I can order 200 at a time vs my first order of 20
? Took a call about getting the podcast broadcasted on an internet radio station
? Solidified Militia (vet ceo peer group) launch and scheduled first meet
Last week I was talking about?spinning plates? and why you can only work on so many things effectively at once. It was helpful for me to see the amount I accomplished and mentally connect being less busy and getting more done more than in theory.
While ending the week strong, I almost spent the entire week burning my wheels. After I turned in my last final, I mentally was saying Okay whats next, what can I work on for the podcast? I spent a day and a half just thinking of what to do because I didn’t have a clear plan…which is funny because I’ve spent the last 9 months wishing I had more time to do these things.
We make a lot of excuses to ourselves about why we can’t do something, but sometimes those are legit. When X happens I will then be able to do this.
In my head it was “When I finish this semester, I will be able to spend more time working on the podcast.”
Do you see the problem with that sentence?
It should have read “When I finish this semester, I will be able to record this video, talk to this person, and do some other action.”
I lacked concrete plan.
Takeaway - if there’s something in the way of you taking the next step whether it be time or some other step that requires completion, have your plan of attack written out so you can rely on that rather than trying to remember what you ought to be doing.
My best new readers come from people like you. If you dug this post, share it with someone who would be better for reading it. You’re doing me a favor by it, and you get to be the thoughtful person to a friend or coworker when you say “This made me think of you.”
Keep attacking,
B