In June of 2021, I bought a one-way ticket to New York.
With no job.
A 2-month sublease.
No SSN.
No bank account.
And just a tourist visa.
6 months, later - I’m moving to NYC (legally this time).
This was one of the many risks I took this year.
Last year, I wrote an email and received an outpour of replies. I’m writing this to keep my friends and family updated about my shenanigans - but also to keep in touch in, in a world that’s easy to fall out of it, with the friends that’ve impacted my year.
So here’s a rundown of 2021:
Quote of 2021: It is better to travel well - than to arrive.
Question of 2021: “If not us, who? If not now, when?”
Largest risk: Living a full year unemployed, without FT work, travelling freely, working growth consulting, while balancing social, solo, and physical time.
#1 purchase in 2021: One-way ticket to NYC in June with no job, lease, bank account, or SSN.
Most underated concept/youtube video: Money-to-joy ratio. Too many people optimize for money or for joy, but the most important thing you should care about is how efficiently you turn money into joy.
Most misunderstood fact: How crypto will erase social/race/income inequity.
Most pivotal moment of 2021: Buying my first NFT for $1200 USD.
Top reflection of 2021: It only takes 1 right decision to make you happy, but we usually focus on the wrong ones.
Best movie: Between Minari & CODA.
Best rising AA artist: Audrey Nuna - Space
Best non-fiction book: AntiFragile - If you learn to grow from change, then you’ll start to seek it.
Best fiction book: Siddartha - A monk’s journey of lust, love, and loss; about Buddhism.
Most “WTF” podcast: Balaji Srinivasan - Centralized China vs Decentralized World, The Defi Matrix & more @ Tim Ferris Show
Best long-term investment: 5-15 minute mediation, everyday.
Proudest moment of 2021: Paying off health bills & home renovations for my family in Vietnam. Paying for my dad’s rent while he’s unemployed. And still living the life I want.
Most underrated scientific breakthrough: First use of Alphafold reducing drug dev discovery to weeks & CRISPR curing sickle cell disease. And we’re reversing aging, actually. No seriously.
Hot take of 2021: Owning a home by 30 is one of the largest lies we’ve been sold (by the govt & banks). Owning a mortgage doesn’t make you free - it holds you back.
New favourite pastime: Ring-making/silver-smithing.
This year, I took a lot of risks and learnt a lot.
Here are some of them:
At the beginning of this year, I had a quarter-life crisis - if I was burning out working at startups to make money & retire early - why not retire now?
Is “retiring early” what I really wanted?
So I retired - quit my job and flew to Hawaii.
I had a lot of free time to invest in travel, crafts, read, hobbies, and health. It was great for 3 months.
But then, I felt lonely.
Most of my friends were still pursuing their career - getting promoted, starting their own startups, and taking exciting risks. I felt I couldn’t share those moments with them.
At least for me, I realized I wanted to retire so I could make more memories with friends. And retiring early without friends wasn’t the same.
By March 2021, I experimented with starting a few projects and they all failed.
Luna Sleep Gummies → Worked on for 2 month. Sleep gummies with no melatonin. Stopped because it would cost $20K for a shelf-stable formula with a food lab.
Praizl → Worked on for 2 months. Co-founded a robo-real estate search app. Left because I was no longer passionate about real estate/mission.
Munomi Market → Worked on for 3 months. Virtual farmers market for new food tech. Left because I realized the margins in food were razor thin.
This left in a pretty depressive rut, specially after quitting a well-paying job for this.
But made me realize that I lacked inspiration, energy, and wanted to take a big gamble.
So I booked a one-way flight to NY.
And it’s still the best decision I’ve made.
It’s the reason why:
I got 3 clients for my growth consulting agency from referrals I met in NY.
The reason I got into crypto and went to my first NFT NYC event.
The reason how I met friends who gave me 4 places to crash at while I was in between subleases.
The reason I’ve spent more money on cocktails than dinners in NYC.
The reason I got a dream job referral to Spotify NYC.
And the reason I’m moving to NY in 2022.
Emotionally, leaving all my family and friends in Toronto to go to NY was hard.
But luckily, I had met some incredible New Yorkers in Hawaii when I quit my job.
They welcomed me with open arms - and now some of my closest friends are in NY.
We eat food.
We party until 4am.
We binge anime movies until 4am.
We go on hikes.
We open up to each other.
It’s pretty amazing what I found in NY, and can’t be more grateful for it.
Financially, I moved 70% of my life savings into crypto.
I bought NFTs, some worth $40K now.
I bought Ethereum ETFs in my tax-savings account.
I also lost $20K USD in 30 mins.
Overall, I’m still up 20% when tech stocks are down 40%.
Socially, I’ve grown from 80 to almost ~800 followers on Twitter in just 3 short months.
I’ve become more vocal on Linkedin & Twitter about my thoughts and views on everything from quitting jobs to NFTs to future of the music industry.
At first, I was worried people would judge me. But sharing my hot takes and thoughts has attracted like-minded people that I’d never imagine.
In fact, most of my growth consulting clients mention they reached out after reading my blogs + posts. Even my Spotify manager said he read my posts before interviewing me.
I’ll continue doing this.