Rus - Page 7 of 25 - Opinions on building highly available software businesses

Muscle Bar Soi Taid-ied

by rus

One of the cool things that Unit-27 do is offer a body composition service combined with a meal plan service at the Muscle Bar restaurant. They have some magic, electronic scales which will work out your fat and muscle composition, then based on that and your exercise levels they put together a meal plan so you can reach your goals. The body composition service is also extremely expensive for what it is.

My goals are fat loss and building muscle so a reduced calorie diet was the order of the day, featuring porridge, omelettes and chicken breasts.

After I got diagnosed with diabetes they switched my diet up to even less calories, less than 40g of carbohydrates, made up of blueberries (which are great for diabetics) and fibrous broccoli then grilled chicken and omelettes cooked in coconut oil. Very healthy.

This Muscle Bar is one of the most expensive places to eat on the street, and the customer service isn’t great, often various items I order are forgotten, but it’s one of the only places on the street where you can actually get a handle on what you’re eating, and for a lot of people that is very important. Also they do amazing cake. All of Unit’s places, e.g. Primal, also have great internet which is a perk.

Sony RX100 II Review

by rus

Whilst I have an iPhone 5s, which has a great camera and is very portable, sometimes I want to level up my photography so also bought a [amazon text=Sony RX100&asin=B00K7O2DJU] Mk 2. The Mk 3 is out now, which has a few bonus features but the principle and benefits are the same. The quality of the photos compared to the size of the camera is insane and the main benefit. On it’s own, the Sony RX100 is pocket size but with a case. The photos I’ve taken of the camera itself were taken on my iPhone but the photos below were taken with the [amazon text=Sony RX100&asin=B00K7O2DJU] II.

I haven’t really used most of the features to be honest. The [amazon text=Sony RX100&asin=B00K7O2DJU] has a sick automatic setting which works everything out, then I click the ‘make awesome’ button in iPhoto and they pop!

Ho Chi Minh Is The Digital Nomad College

by rus

That’s how Ho Chi Minh was described to me. If Chiang Mai is high school then Ho Chi Minh is college for digital nomads, and it certainly felt that way as everyone I met was a lot further in to their career path than the people I met in Chiang Mai. Ho Chi Minh is also a mecca for members of the Dynamite Circle which might explain the prevalence of more mature businesses and entrepreneurs out there. At one point I was lucky enough to have dinner with several millionaires so it was good to talk about aspects of business other than bootstrapping for a change.

Leveraging Other Digital Nomads To Find Accommodation

I knew that there were digital nomads in Ho Chi Minh, and I knew that I wanted to connect with them, but that was about all I knew! Fortunately I’m a member of the #nomads Slack chatroom so I simply went in to the Ho Chi Minh chat room and asked for advice. It turned out that one of the members was leaving Ho Chi Minh the day I was arriving and he offered me his apartment whilst I was staying there.

This turned out to be a massive boon as the apartment was in an area known as 18a which is a street that’s practically populated solely by digital nomads, a lot from the Dynamite Circle, and as I walked around I bumped in to 2 friends that I’d met when in Chiang Mai for the Drop Ship Lifestyle conference!

The apartment was basic, but had a big TV, air con, a desk and a sweet old lady who cleaned it but didn’t speak a word of English. She seemed to only want to clean it if I was hungover though. When I left she gave me a lucky envelope with a letter in it. When I told everyone how awesome this was, I was then told that lucky envelopes get lucky money and given back!

Củ Chi Tunnels

Just outside Ho Chi Minh are the Củ Chi tunnels, a massive network of underground tunnels that were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War, and were the Viet Cong’s base of operations for the Tết Offensive in 1968. The tunnels were used as hiding spots during combat as well as serving as living quarters and supply routes. They were hooked up to a network of tunnels spanning most of the country.

The tour I went on was really awesome and you got to see all the spike traps and things. Fitting in the small tunnels kind of sucked though, not one for claustrophobic people!

The Củ Chi Tunnels also have an epic shooting range where I was able to fire an M60.

Wildlife Rescue Station

As part of the Củ Chi Tunnels tour we also went to the Wildlife Rescue Station. The Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Station rescues animals that are confiscated from the illegal animal trade in Ho Chi Minh City or other surrounded provinces. This is the fist multi-species rescue station in the South of Vietnam that can takes of many endangered wild species. After the animals have recovered and have been rehabilitated, they are returned back to the wild.

Not many places will tour to the Wildlife Rescue Station so I was lucky to find a tour that did. They don’t often allow visitors. Unlike the zoos I’ve visited on my travels, the animals here were actually well cared for and seemed quite happy.

Cao Đài Temple

Caodaism is a monotheistic religion officially established in the city of Tây Ninh in southern Vietnam in 1926 and they have the coolest temple ever. This was the last stop on the tour and it was quite cool watching the believers as they prayed.

Vietnamese Food

After all the clean living, and terrible western food, the first thing on my mind when I landed was burgers! I found an awesome place called Chucks that did straight up, awesome burgers. I also had had to eat Pho, several times over, which was amazing. In fact, I can say that, on boring days back home I would visualize landing here, getting my Vietnam visa on arrival dealt with and going straight to a renowned pho soup place. The most memorable experience however was Baba’s Kitchen though. After eating at every Indian restaurant in Chiang Mai and experiencing sub-par, weak Vindaloos I was starting to feel like an invincible iron man who could handle any type of spice thanks to devouring pad ka prao daily. Turns out that the Chiang Mai restaurants were just piss poor. After 3 minutes the waiter at Baba’s came out and bought me yoghurt. Best vindaloo in Asia for sure!

Silicon Power 64GB Jewel J80 USB 3.0 Flash Drive, Titanium Review

by rus

Having a USB stick on hand is always useful, especially as a digital nomad. I’m always meeting people and finding myself needing to share large files or photos. I seem to always be collaborating with someone about something new idea as we mastermind on projects, or finding myself simply swapping photographs of our shared experiences.

I’m always carrying my keys with me, so I wanted something small that would fit on my keyring, blending in with the keys and was rugged enough to withstand being bashed around non stop. The USB 3.0, Titanium [amazon text=Silicon Power 64GB Flash Drive&asin=B00O4VAL32] steps up to that plate.

Made out of Titanium (if you hadn’t have guessed), the [amazon text=Silicon Power 64GB Flash Drive&asin=B00O4VAL32] has been capable of withstanding living on the same keyring as my door key and my scooter key. I can hear it rattling about as I drive so it’s definitely getting a lot of punishment.

The read speed is reasonable, peaking at 120MB/s but the write speed is 1/6th that, peaking at 17MB/s. In theory USB 3.0 can write to around 260 MB/s so that’s a bit poor really. The [amazon text=Silicon Power 64GB Flash Drive&asin=B00O4VAL32] does the job though, is reasonably priced at only $29.99, has massive capacity and is as tough as hell. Also it looks cool on my key ring.

Hiring A Bike At Tiger Muay Thai

by rus

There are dozens of places around Tiger Muay Thai that hire bikes/scooters/mopeds. Most hotels do it, Tiger Muay Thai does it, and there are a few independent places on the street that specialise in it. I hired a bike from 2Home when I was staying there, naively, and paid 2000 THB (£40) for a weeks worth of hire. The bike was ok, but the cost was way too much.

When I moved to BM Guest House, the apartments next door, Star Apartments, were hiring bikes for 2,500 THB (£50) a month. Way better than hiring from 2Home. They also did the thing where they circled the damage to the bike on a bit of paper, as you can see the previous riders kind of sucked. The beauty of the paper being completely blue is it’s pretty much impossible for me to get a fee if I damage it as everywhere is ringed .. 😀

Bike rental should include a helmet, but in reality you should never wear a second hand helmet as you don’t know if it’s been dropped on the floor or already been in an accident. The material inside that offers protection is one use only and disintegrates to absorb the impact force. Saying that most people here don’t wear helmets anyway. There is a Ducati shop a few hundred meters off the street if you want a proper, reliable, full face helmet, but it will cost you.

It definitely pays to shop around, and whilst there are horror stories of bikes getting stolen back by the owner and being charged for damage that never happened, I haven’t heard of that happening to anyone who’s rented along this street. Those stories are always from a few years ago from other areas of Thailand. The businesses on Soi Tad-ied are trying to be as legitimate as possible and in it for the long haul.

Gerber 22-01769 Shard Keychain Tool Review

by rus

The [amazon text=Gerber 22-01769 Shard Keychain Tool&asin=B002ZK45IQ] is one of the most useful, little pocket tools I’ve used. Whilst I’d like to be carrying something like a full on Leatherman multi-tool, the overly paranoid security agents won’t even let you take a cork screw on board a plane, let alone a swiss army knife. The Gerber Shard is completely innocuous however, no deadlier than a key but about a million times more useful!

Whilst small, at only 7cm (2.75 inches) the [amazon text=Gerber 22-01769 Shard Keychain Tool&asin=B002ZK45IQ] is rugged and lightweight with a protective titanium coating. Even when sliding the Shard on to my keyring the abrasion didn’t effect the surface at all.

Whilst the [amazon text=Gerber 22-01769 Shard Keychain Tool&asin=B002ZK45IQ] features a small and medium flat screwdriver, a Philips head screwdriver, a wire stripper, pry bar, bottle opener and lanyard hole, I’ve only used the Phillip’s head (to remove the back off a TV), the lanyard hole (to fit the Shard on to my keyring .. is that really a feature?) and of course the bottle opener (to open bottles ..).

At $5 the Gerber Shard is a no-brainer, offering a really useful basic toolset on something the size of a key. I can see this travelling with me forever at the rate it’s going!

Primal Fitness Gym

by rus

A new gym has opened up on Soi Tad-eid called Primal Fitness, owned by the same people that run Unit 27. This now makes 4 gyms on the street, including Tiger Muay Thai’s, Unit 27’s small gym area and Titan Fitness. Primal Fitness is the best gym here however, hands down.

Primal Fitness only has one squat rack, which is a major let down, 2 would have been nice, fortunately I haven’t seen more than 2-3 other people in the gym at the same time so far and I’ve only had to wait once.

They have a full range of Hammer Strength machines for every exercise you’d want, but no assisted chin up/pull up machine. Also there are no resistance bands in the actual gym, only at Unit 27.

The 2 reasons Primal Fitness is the best gym on the street is pretty simple. First, quality of equipment, the equipment in Tiger Muay Thai feels like the cheapest they could find and benching can be scary at times due to the amount the bench wobbles. Secondly, the range of equipment, whilst having a similar range to Tiger, Primal outclasses Titan with whats available.

Primal Fitness is 2,500 THB (£50) for a month which is about the same that Titan and Tiger are charging.

Lifeproof Nüüd iPhone 5s Case Review

by rus

I’m one of those people that likes to actually use things, rather than pamper them, and my phone is no exception. I also like a nice phone that isn’t covered in scratches and hasn’t experienced water damage. When I bought my iPhone 5s back in June last year (11 months ago) I knew that I’d need a rugged case to have a hope in hell of keeping it working based on my experience carrying an iPhone 4 through Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The phone was waterlogged on day one due to heavy rain in England, repaired a week later in Prague, then somehow a hole appeared in the glass front which kept spreading as chunks of glass fell out, letting water and dust in. 2 days back in England it just decided to stop working entirely. Never again!

The [amazon text=Lifeproof Nüüd iPhone 5s case&asin=B00H3T48A4] comes in 2 parts that sandwich your phone, completely enveloping the entire phone, other than the screen. There is a gasket around where the case fits the screen which keeps water out and the case comes with a see through screen protector that doesn’t inhibit touch sensitivity in any way, keeping the glass scratch free.

The case is rated to a depth of 2 meters for an hour. It is not an underwater case for divers, rather your last defence against dropping it in a sink or toilet or somehow ending up in the sea or a swimming pool whilst carrying it. When I got the case my friends had a fun game of putting my phone in my pint. Dick move but the case did it’s job. Over the last 11 months the case has also weathered swimming pools, the sea and the Thai Somgkran water fights. My phone suffered no damage! The phone also survived Thailand’s rainy season. Often I’d get caught out only for my pockets or bag to actually flood and fill with water. With out the case I’m pretty sure Thailand’s weather would have drowned it.

The outer case is made of a hard rubber, offering shock protection for drops of up to 2 meters. This is the game changer for me because whilst all the interactions I’ve had with water so far have been intentional, I drop my phone accidentally, a lot, on all kinds of surfaces, including hard concrete. The case has stood up to everything I’ve thrown at it, literally. Due to the raised lip around the screen, the screen is also protected from drops on to surfaces.

To complete the waterproof experience, there is a detachable 3.5mm phono cable that screws in to a purpose built hole. This creates a watertight seal allowing you to plug your own headphones in. It’s a bit of a pain to be honest as I keep accidentally leaving the cable at home, and am deathly afraid of losing it, but it’s also the only way to make the case waterproof whilst still offering sound, unless you go bluetooth… mm Dre Beats anyone? 😀

I’ve been using the [amazon text=Lifeproof Nüüd iPhone 5s case&asin=B00H3T48A4] solidly for 11 months now under all kinds of conditions. It’s experienced 15 flights, beer, swimming pools, water pistols, sand, sea, concrete floors, being in the same pocket as my keys, flooding whilst in my gym bag, countless other mishaps and it’s still going. The exterior is showing signs of weathering though as you can see from these pictures. Probably down to abrasion as much as anything else. I think the case is still going to be good for at least another year the way it’s going though as the external damage is minimal and doesn’t effect it’s waterproofing in any way.

This review couldn’t be complete with out some shots of the iPhone 5s outside the case. As you can see the phone is pretty much in perfect condition. There is a tiny amount of damage along one of the edges, but nothing compared to what my mate’s iPhone 5s ended up looking like after just one week with out a case. They are notorious for losing their finish along the edges. The glass and back are completely scratch free and when the time comes to upgrade I should be able to get a good price for the phone still. One of the nice things about Apple products is they do retain value if kept in good condition!

One criticism of the [amazon text=Lifeproof Nüüd iPhone 5s case&asin=B00H3T48A4] is sometimes people can’t hear me when I speak and I often have to clean the inside around the camera lens cover as it has a habit of making the photos blurry (you might have noticed that on this blog!). These issues aren’t that big of a deal though as without this case I wouldn’t have a phone!

Property Magic: How to Buy Property Using Other People’s Time, Money and Experience

by rus

With the success of my Amazon business I’m wondering what the next stage is, I’m already investing in the development of a SaaS platform which will be an interesting side project to run but property has been at the forefront of my mind for a long time. I was considering saving up and buying a property 100% out right, with no mortgage, for it’s rental income, but this book might have changed my mind!

The book details a scheme, or series of steps, where by you by a property for below market rates, e.g. a £150,000 property for £100,000. You then get a mortgage for 75% of the sale value, e.g. £75,000 and put down a deposit of £25,000. You then remortgage the property for 75% of it’s actual value, £112,500 netting you £37,500 cash in hand!

Using the book’s approximate rule of every £20,000 borrowed means £100 of interest repayment a month, you’re then paying £750 a month on the mortgage interest, but that’s ok as in theory if you’ve done your due diligence and bought the property in a sort after with reasonable rates, you should be able to rent out the property for maybe £1250 a month covering the mortgage and giving you a bit of cash in hand!

You then have the £37,500 in cash to put down for the mortgage deposit on another property .. rinse and repeat buying 1 property a month until you have 12 properties, with a net worth of £1,000,000, a rental profit of £50,000 a month after everything is paid off, but £750,000 in debt..

The book also posits a theory that property doubles in price every 10 years though. So in 10 years time when your £1,000,000 property portfolio doubles in price to £2,000,000 you can just sell half of it, i.e. £1,000,000 worth letting you easily pay off that £750,000 debt you’ve accrued. This then means your monthly profits from the rent sky rockets as you no longer have interest to pay off, and also leaves you with an extra £250,000 in your pocket to do with as you wish.

A solid strategy as long as you have the balls to go £750,000 in debt and capital saved to cover any emergencies and worst case scenarios.

Whilst I was reading the book I couldn’t help but remember the documentary The Queen of Versailles, where the Siegel family did essentially the exact same scheme but investing in new build hotels. Their property empire crumbled due to the economy shifting, mismanagement of funds and an overly ambitious attempt to build the largest and 4th most expensive house in the USA. Wikipedia says they’re back on the up and up now but I have the feeling they were too rich to fail to a certain extent.

My initial plan was to try and save up £90,000 and buy a 2 bed flat, out right, that I could then rent out for £800pm. Using Simon’s method if I buy a £90,000 flat for £60,000 with a £45,000 mortgage and £15,000 deposit, I could then remortgage it for £67,500 returning £7,500 in cash to me. Using the £20,000 rule that would mean interest repayments of £337.50 a month, but with £800pm rent, extras aside that’s £462.50 profit. 3 flats like this and I’d be doing, an optimistic, £1200pm profit. In reality it would be less as I’d get property managers involved, but those 3 flats would only require £45,000 deposit and after the remortgage I’d get £22,500 back anyway that I could put in a standard savings account and keep aside in case of emergency, e.g. if one or some of the properties didn’t have renters in for a while. With interest repayments of roughly £1,000 a month across all 3 properties that £22,500 would cover 22 months worth of all 3 properties being empty, which if chosen correctly would be very unlikely1

It’s a very interesting idea, but I want to read a few more books on property investing first before I try anything like this. Also it will be difficult to buy UK property whilst I’m abroad I think.

Blood Sugar 101: What They Don’t Tell You About Diabetes

by rus

Blood Sugar 101 is based on the author’s award winning website and as a newbie to diabetes I found the information in it extremely useful and laid out in a well written and ordered manner.

The book is basically a meta analysis of every single scientific paper covering diabetes that Jenny Ruhl has been able to collate, though I can’t help but feel that the book edges on the side of a gentle approach to the reader as it misses out a lot of the pertinent research that I’ve anecdotally read over the years and have been readdressing since I was diagnosed.

Each chapter of the book does answer a lot of the really important questions, but some are better than others, such as:

What is normal blood sugar?
How diabetes develops
What really causes diabetes?
Blood sugar levels and organ damage
Must you deteriorate?
How to lower blood sugar
Making your diet work
Diabetes drugs
Insulin
Supplements and healing foods
Exercise
Is it really type 2?
Working with doctors and hospitals

All the chapters are great and informative but I feel the ones covering lifestyle, e.g. diet and exercise, leave a lot to be desired. The opening gambit of the book is “this is not your fault, it is a genetic problem you are not responsible for”, even going so far as to say that the onset of diabetes is the cause of obesity. This may be the case for type 1 diabetics but everything I’ve read about type 2 diabetes correlates with the fact that my lifestyle last year deteriorated and I bought this on myself due to my shitty diet, lack of exercise and putting on 25kg of weight. Blaming yourself and taking responsibility for your actions are not the same thing.

The book also doesn’t mention any of the research from Newcastle University suggesting that type 2 diabetes is caused by fat cells damaging the pancreas and that reversal might be possible simply by losing weight. The impression I’m left with after reading is that personal responsibility seems to be completely removed from causality, not much can be done and you should look forwards to a life time of medication.

Maybe I’m naively hopeful, and whilst the book is definitely informative and I recommend reading it, it does feel that the oversight of having a gentle approach to the lifestyle surrounding diabetes is a horrible marketing ploy designed not to offend readers who’s diabetes may have been caused by the kind of awful lifestyle I was leading and who do not want to take control and admit it.

Here for example is a fantastic story about Reddit user ketoapsey who, using a ketogenic diet, put on 4kg of muscle, dropped her HbA1c down to 4.5% and now uses a lot less insulin to manage her type 1 diabetes, over a 6 month period. Her results are amazing and very inspiring.